高考英语外刊阅读模拟强化训练 完形填空专题六

①

I know it might sound a bit old-fashioned, but I’m a great believer in the power of letters. There’s something 1 and special about handwritten things. Yet the letter has rather fallen out

of vogue and been superseded by faster forms of 2 like emails or texts. But that misses the 3 of the letter. It’s not to convey 4 news. You write an email because there’s something you need to know. But you write a letter because there’s something you want to say. There’s also a subtler 5 to the letter. It’s a powerful and memorable way to touch the ones you 6 . People 7 letters for years. When my gran died and I 8 her house, I found hundreds of letters and cards she had kept, and they told the story of her relationships. Sitting reading them one rainy afternoon, her words 9 out across the vista of time and I felt I knew her.

There’s also a real power in writing handwritten letters. It’s better than mindfulness. It forces you to 10 and think of interesting things that have happened in your life. Psychological studies have shown that putting pen to paper and writing a letter—as outdated as this sounds—has superior 11 to a text or email. It takes longer and requires more thought, which demands the person to give sustained focus on the positive while they write. Psychologists have also argued that as mistakes are harder to 12 than on text or email, you have to be more deliberate and 13 . Most of all, receiving a letter is such a lovely 14 . It can enrich a relationship and allow it to grow and flourish. Be 15 and write to someone you maybe don’t know that well. Who knows where it will lead?

【Reader’s Digest UK (March, 2023)】

1. A. unique B. complex C. fascinating D. beneficial

2.A. connections B. communities C. communication D. technologies 3.A. point B. usage C. meaning D. significance 4.A. forgettable B. fixed C. urgent D. useful 5.A. face B. aspect C. limitation D. advantage

6.A. worry about B. complain about C. debate about D. care about 7.A. steal B. keep C. delete D. swap

8.A. searched B. damaged C. decorated D. cleared 9.A. stretched B. spread C. sped D. swept

10.A. memorize B. remind C. inform D. concentrate 11.A. benefits B. solutions C. similarities D. barriers 12.A. correct B. identify C. exchange D. recommend

13.A. overjoyed B. thoughtful C. overwhelmed D. considerate 14.A. surprise B. story C. experience D. relationship 15.A. energetic B. helpful C. ready D. bold ②

Curry lights the furnace(火炉) of his portable blacksmith’s shop. The furnace glows orange and lets off a low roar. It’ll get up to 2,000 degrees, hot enough to 1 the metal of a tray of disassembled shotgun parts so they can be hammered against an anvil and 2 .

A(an) 3 is watching, and Curry picks out a 9-year-old named Oliver to help him.“This is really magic,”Curry says.“Right before your very eyes, you’re gonna see Oliver4 this gun, this instrument of potential 5 , into something that could never be a gun ever again. It’s gonna be a trowel.”

Curry, a retired bishop, helps police departments 6 their gun buyback programs and repurpose the weapons into 7 tools. The finished tools are 8 to community gardens

and agricultural high schools and the harvested 9 donated to soup kitchens and 10 shelters.

In 2021 almost 49,000 Americans were killed by guns.Curry says the hammer, anvil and forge are powerful 11 that the epidemic of gun 12 can be reshaped into something positive and 13 “When there’s such despair now in our country, people need to know that we can change. There is 14 ,” he says.

Curry wears a constant reminder of that hope around his neck. It’s two large pieces of metal molded into the shape of a 15 .“It’s made out of pieces of an AK-47, the weapon used for

killing. But God’s love breaks it apart, reshapes it, then transforms it into the sign of greatest hope—the cross. And that’s why I wear it.” 【Reader’s Digest USA (March, 2023)】 1. A. soften B. attach C. slide D. bend

2.A. related B. restored C. reshaped D. rehearsed 3.A. attendant B. pupil C. assistant D. crowd

4.A. translate B. transport C. transplant D. transform 5.A. deadly B. harm C. useless D. poisonous 6.A. manage B. charge C. exam D. display

7.A. powerful B. available C. effective D. gardening 8.A. led B. donated C. carried D. contributed 9.A. flowers B. vegetables C. lawns D. fruits 10.A. animals B. homeless C. illegal D. advanced 11.A. symbols B. weapons C. instruments D. facilities 12.A. distributions B. violence C. cases D. consumptions 13.A. significant B. beneficial C. peaceful D. productive 14.A. hope B. attention C. routine D. consideration 15.A. cross B. God C. gun D. metal ③

My wife, Hannah, and I don’t usually keep houseplants. Anything in 1 gets either over-watered or under-watered. But after my diagnosis with a brain cancer, I loved the idea of having something new and green around.

My friend gave me what he said was a lucky bamboo 2 in a deep-green pottery pot with three pencil-size stalks braided together. We 3 the plant in the living room window across from the couch where I spent much of the day. I 4 when I looked at it over the 5 of the mug of coffee Hannah brought me each morning.

I told Hannah I wanted to 6 the plant myself. When it didn’t immediately turn yellow or brown or 7 all its leaves, I was pleasantly 8 .

Tending to the plant gave me a sense of 9 at a time when I sometimes felt useless. Cancer 10 my ability to walk, and the treatment left me fatigued, making it 11 for me to accomplish everyday tasks. I had to 12 help from other people. The enormous change left me feeling adrift and 13 . Watering the plant, as small an act as it was, connected me to a core part of my old 14 and taught me I could still be a caregiver. Plants and people could still depend on me.

Over the next few months, I 15 from surgery. Both the tree and I were thriving. 【Reader’s Digest USA (March, 2023)】 1. A. pots B. plates C. bowls D. containers 2.A. shown B. exhibited C. displayed D. planted 3.A. placed B. presented C. straighten D. watered 4.A. smiled B. roared C. signed D. cried 5.A. way B. front C. edge D. end

6.A. cared for B. accounted for C. exchanged for D. answered for 7.A. harm B. lose C. fall D. blow

8.A. surprised B. horrified C. frightened D. shocked 9.A. belonging B. accomplishment C. guilt D. shame 10.A. limited B. ruined C. destroyed D. promoted 11.A. painless B. hard C. impossible D. undemanding 12.A. rely on B. provide with C. enable to D. update to

13.A. unaffordable B. unsettled C. unabsorbed D. unaccountable 14.A. part B. health C. identity D. body

15.A. recovered B. learned C. kept D. persuaded 答案

①ACACB DBDAD AABAD ②ACDDB ADBBB ABCAA

③ADAAC AAABA BABCA