Question

The Today I learned–The New York Times’ fun column always highlights some surprising and interesting facts. In that spirit,The New York Times lists some of the most eye-catching things out of the column and edits them into What I Learned This Year.Following are some facts out of What I Learned in 2016.

The world’s most-used natural resource (apart from water,listed at the second place and air,as the champion) is sand,which consists of extremely small pieces of stone-and it’s disappearing.

A team’s success (at work) is often driven by 3 factors (with the importance from high to low) —its culture,the interpersonal relationship and the IQ or talent of its individuals.

Giraffes have been keeping a secret from most of us for a long time: They’ really four different species,not one.    The Greenland Shark lives at least 272 years and it could live as long as 512 years,which makes it the oldest living thing with a backbone（脊椎）on Earth.

More that 70 percent of Americans think Granola Bars (格拉诺拉燕麦棒)are healthy.Interesting,less than 30 percent of nutritionists（营养学家）agree.

Nearly 80 percent of teenagers say they don’t like to eat cereal porridge（燕麦粥）for breakfast,because they have to clean up the bowls after eating it.

It’s myth that closing unused apps on your smartphone will prolong battery life.And turning off Wi-Fi doesn’t help,either.

Annual percentage of highway death had been going down for the last four decades till it last year recorded the largest increase in 50 years.Blame Snapchat and other smarphone apps.

Death from gun-shooting is as enough as from car accidents in the United Stated and as scarce as from lightning strikes in Japan,which owns the reputation of one of the safest countries.

1.According to the passage,the world’s most-used natural resource is______.

A. water    B. air    C. sand    D. stone

2.According to the passage,the most important factor of a team’s success is_____.

A. a team’s culture    B. the interpersonal relationship    C. individual IQ    D. individual talent

3.Which of the following descriptions is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Most people still don’t know that giraffes have four species.

B. The Greenland Shark is the oldest living life on Earth.

C. Cereal porridge is as unhealthy as Granola Bars for teenagers.

D. Closing unused apps on smart phones will prolong battery life.

4.The underlined word “scarce” in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to ____.

A. enough    B. safe    C. familiar    D. rare

Answer

☞D选项 rare

【解析】试题分析：纽约时报有一个有趣的栏目The Today I learned，报纸从这个栏目中选取了一些最吸引眼球的东西，编辑成为What I Learned This Year。本文节选了2016年What I Learned This Year中列出的一些事实。

1.细节理解题。根据第二段The world’s most-used natural resource (apart from water,listed at the second place and air,as the champion)…可知，世界上最常用的自然资源是空气。故选B。

2.细节理解题。根据第三段A team’s success (at work) is often driven by 3 factors (with the importance from high to low) —its culture,the interpersonal relationship and the IQ or talent of its individuals.可知，一个团队成功是由三个因素决定的，按重要性从高到低是：团队文化；人际关系和个人天赋。故选A。

3.细节理解题。根据第四段Giraffes have been keeping a secret from most of us for a long time: They’ re really four different species,not one.可知，大部分人不知道长颈鹿有四种。故选A。

4.词句猜测题。根据下文which owns the reputation of one of the safest countries.可知，日本是最安全的国家之一，因此推断在日本因电击死亡的人数不多，因此句意为：在美国枪击事件的死亡和汽车事故的死亡一样多，和日本的雷击一样少。故画线词词义为：稀少的，与D项rare意义相近。故选D。

【名师点睛】

高考中词义推断可以是一个单词的意义推断，也可以是一个短语或句子的意义推断，既可以是生词意义，也可以是熟词新意；还可以是对替代词所替代内容的判断。词义猜测主要的解题策略有：语境猜测、语法猜词和常识猜词。运用语法和常识以达到猜词的目的是词义猜测策略的一种。例如小题4：

【解题剖析】此题属于猜测词义中依据语法猜测词义。

【答案定位】根据画线句下文which owns the reputation of one of the safest countries.是非限制定语从句解释书名Japan可推断，日本是最安全的国家之一，在日本因电击死亡的人数不多。

【推理关系】题干The underlined word “scarce” in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to ____.☞文章内容Death from gun-shooting is as enough as from car accidents in the United Stated and as scarce as from lightning strikes in Japan.在美国枪击事件的死亡和汽车事故的死亡一样多，和日本的雷击一样少。故画线词词义为：稀少的，与rare意义相近。