Question

Orville Wright was born on August 19, 1871 in Dayton, Ohio, USA and died on January 30, 1948. Together with his brother, Wilbur, he was the first airplane builder. The brothers created the first controlled, powered and heavier-than-air human flight.

His parents were Milton Wright and Susan Catherine Koerner and besides the two famous brothers they had five children. One day after a trip his father brought as a gift a small helicopter. The kids loved it and as they played daily with it after a while it broke. The brothers managed to create a new one. Wright even let go his plans of attending Yale. He spent his time helping his ill mother and reading in his father’s library.

In 1884 the family decided to move to Dayton and they remained there until the 1870’s. A printing press was built by the two and Wilbur was an editor. In 1892 they started being fascinated by the aeronautical （航空的） events of that time. Then they started to create an airplane and Wilbur was considered the head of the team. They were the inventors of “three axis-control”, which permitted the pilot to steer the aircraft’s balance.

In 1900 they had their first attempts to make a functional glider（滑翔机）— of course it didn’t have a pilot. After three years they thought of introducing an engine to the glider. At first, their patent(专利) application was refused in 1903, but after one year it was accepted.

Orville’s first flight lasted 12 seconds and had 36.5 meters. He was responsible with the public shows near Washington in the United States. On September 9, 1908 his flight was 62 minutes and 15 seconds long and the success was huge.

1.What might make Wright brothers interested in the plane?

A. The pleasant trip.B. Catherine’s education.

C. The political events.D. Their father’s gift.

2.Wright didn’t go to Yale probably because ________.

A. he had to create a plane

B. he didn’t have enough money

C. he would like to learn by himself

D. his mother asked him to stay at home

3.The underlined word “steer” (in Paragraph 3) probably means ________.

A. keepB. driveC. learnD. enjoy

4.This passage tells us about ________.

A. the plane’s history            B. Milton and his children

C. Orville Wright’s life          D. the development of science

Answer

1.D

2.A

3.A

4.C

【解析】

试题分析：文章主要讲述了Orville Wright的生平、发明及对人类进步作出的巨大贡献。

1. 细节理解题。根据第二段One day after a trip his father brought as a gift a small helicopter. The kids loved it and as they played daily with it after a while it broke. The brothers managed to create a new one.可知，是由于父亲买的飞机模型礼物使他们对飞机产生了兴趣，故选D。

2. 细节理解题。根据第二段The brothers managed to create a new one. Wright even let go his plans of attending Yale. He spent his time helping his ill mother and reading in his father’s library.可知，Wright因为制造飞机而没有去Yale上学，故选A。

3. 猜测词义题。此处指三轴控制的发明使飞行员更好地控制飞机的平衡，steer“控制”与A项同义，故选A。

4. 主旨大意题。文章主要讲述了Orville Wright的生平、发明及对人类进步作出的巨大贡献，故选C。

考点：考查人物故事类短文阅读。

【名师点睛】

关于词义猜测题

做这种类型的题，要根据词、词组、句子所在的语境上下文来判断其意义。因此熟练掌握一些猜词技巧是做好这类题的关键。命题者在出这类题时惯用常规词义来麻痹考生，我们要特别注意熟词生义，切不可脱离语境主观臆断。

下面结合文本及近几年高考试题，对词义猜测的技巧加以解读。

1.根据定义或上下文解释进行猜测

有时短文中出现一个需要猜测其意义的词或短语，下面接着出现其定义或解释，这就是判断该词或短语意义的主要依据。例如：It will be very hard but also very brittle—that is, it will break easily.从后面that is(也就是说)的解释中我们可以了解到brittle 是“脆”的意思。

2.根据同位关系进行猜测

阅读中出现的难词有时后面紧跟一个同位语，对前面的词进行解释，这时可利用同位关系对前面或后面的词义或句意进行猜测。例如：The “Chunnel”, a tunnel(隧道) connecting England and France, is now complete.此句中a tunnel connecting England and France是Chunnel的同位语。因此，The “Chunnel”就是英法之间的海底隧道。

3.根据构词法(前缀、后缀、复合、派生等)进行猜测

在英语中，有很多词可以在前面加前缀，在后面加后缀，从而构成一个词，乍看起来，这个词可能是新词，但掌握了一定的构词知识，就不难猜出它的词义。例如：“Our parties are aimed for children 2 to 10,” Anaclerio said, “and they’re very interactive and creative in that they built a sense of drama based on a subject.”文中interactive是由前缀inter-(相互的)和active(活动的，活跃的)而构成的，同时根据上下文的意思可以判断，该词的含义应是“互动的”。

4.根据转折或对比关系进行猜测

根据上下句的连接词，如but, however, otherwise等就可以看到前后句在意义上的差别，从而依据某一句的含义，来确定另一句的含义。另外，分号也可以表示转折、对比或不相干的意义。例如：A child’s birthday party doesn’t have to be a hassle; it can be a basket of fun.从前后两句的意思可以看出，hassle和a basket of fun肯定是近乎相反的意义。所以不难判断hassle的意思是“困难，麻烦”。