II.阅读理解
全国中学生英语能力竞赛的阅读理解题有如下特点：1.文章长，题量大。如果按平时的速度，可能偏慢，会造成完成不了卷题或挤占其它试题的答题时间。因此，加快阅读速度是应试策略之一；2.材料新颖真实，生活气息浓。所选材料均贴近生活，语言非常地道；3.词汇量大。本部分对词汇量的要求逐年加大，这既是我国经济发展对于更高层次外语人才需求的反映，也是对我国中学英语教学几十年经验与教训的总结；4.主、客观题型兼顾。目前，国内其它考试多为一套色的客观题，客观题虽有利于判卷，但主观题则有利于考查考生的想象、记忆、创新等能力，克服客观题可凭猜测而得出答案的弊端。在大力提倡“素质教育”和“创新教育”的今天，此乃“明智之举”，敢为天下先！
竞赛阅读理解分为两节。A节为客观题，有两篇材料，共10小题。现选B篇分析如下：For thousands of years, we have looked for ways to measure time. Early humans found that the regular movements of the sun, the earth, the moon, and the stars made good ways to measure time. The rising and setting of the sun were used to distinguish (区别) day from night.
But, eventually, people needed to tell time more accurately, or exactly. So, by using the sun’s position in the sky, they divided the day into dawn, morning, midday and evening.
Then it was noted that the sun cast a changing shadow (阴影) as it moved across the sky. Time could be told more accurately by setting up a stick and marking the positions of the sun’s shadow. It was the ancient GREeks who divided each position of this “sundial (日晷)” into hours.
But the sun doesn’t always shine. So, for the past 6, 000 years, many other ways of keeping time have been tried. Slow-burning candles were divided into hours, and the hour-glass was invented. When all the sand in the top of an hourglass has sifted to the bottom, an hour has passed.
Later, the pendulum (钟摆), with its regular back-and-forth movement of weights, was used to move the hands on a clock. Pendulums are still used in grandfather clocks.
Today, even more accurate clocks are in use, such as battery-operated quartz clocks, digital clocks, and clocks run by electrical tuning forks and tiny atoms. These atomic clocks are the most accurate clocks ever invented. The exact time can be kept to within 1 second a century.
本篇讲述的是人类记时方法的演变，由古代的日起日落法、日晷法、燃烛法，到近代的钟摆，再到今天的石英钟、电子钟等，随着科技的发展，记时工具越来越精确，现在可精确到一个世纪的误差在1秒之内。
26.When something is very exact, it is said to be________.
A.slow B.accurate
C.fast D.of poor quality
27.Humans in the old days used________to tell day from night.
A.the rising and setting of the sun
B.battery-operated quartz clocks
C.atomic clocks
D.digital clocks
28.A sundial works by________.
A.tracking the movement of the stars around the sun
B.marking a shadow cast by the moving sun
C.burning candles in the sunlight
D.watching the stars
29.Which of the following was not used in the past to measure time?
A.An hourglass. B.A sundial.
C.Digital clocks. D.A pendulum.
30.Which of the following ways of measuring time is ordered from the least accurate to the most accurate?
A.Sundial, pendulum, sun.
B.Atomic clock, quartz clock, sundial.
C.Sun, pendulum, atomic clock.
D.Digital clock, hourglass, slow-burning candles.
26.B。由第2段中的“But, eventually, people needed to tell time more accurately, or exactly.”可知答案。
27.A。由第1段中的“The rising and setting of the sun were used to distinguish (区别) day from night.”可知答案。
28.B。由第3段中的“Time could be told more accurately by setting up a stick and marking the positions of the sun’s shadow. It was the ancient GREeks who divided each position of this ‘sundial (日晷)’ into hours.”可知答案。
29.C。由最后一段中的“Today, even more accurate clocks are in use, such as battery-operated quartz clocks, digital clocks, and clocks run by electrical tuning forks and tiny atoms.”可知答案。digital clocks(数字式钟)是当代电子技术的产物，古代不可能有。
30.C。根据文章内容和叙述的先后可知答案。
B节为主观题，回答问题或完成句子，有三篇材料，共20小题。主观题在作答时，应做到：1. 答案要切题，切忌答非所问；2. 语言要简洁明了，正确无误，不要长篇大论；3.书写要清楚、工整。现选E篇分析如下：
In most non-Muslim and non-Buddhist countries, drinking alcohol has been part of a traditional way of life for many hundreds of years.
Although
So it must have come as a shock to many Americans when, at the start of the 19th century, a group called the “prohibitionists (禁酒主义者)” began fighting for a law to ban the drinking of alcohol. The prohibitionists believed that alcohol had a bad effect on society and was a threat to law and order.
This was partly true in the cities where most people were very poor. Living conditions were terrible and many people, mainly men, turned to alcohol to try to forget their problems. After years of fighting by the prohibitionists, the Prohibition Act was passed in 1920. It meant that it was illegal (违法的) to make or sell any alcoholic drink.
The effect of the new law was not what had been intended. Liquor was now the one thing on everyone’s mind. Now that it was illegal it became more attractive, in the same way that some drugs are popular today. Many bars reopened as “speakeasies”, secret rooms where drinking and gambling carried on night and day.
As well as failing to stop people drinking, prohibition actually created a whole new kind of criminal (犯罪的) activity. The speakeasies were supplied with illegal drink by underworld dealers. The dealers were often protected by corrupt (腐败的) police and officials.
Before long, organized crime, like the Mafia, was involved in making, supplying, and selling alcohol. It was this kind of business that created powerful gangsters (歹徒) like Al Capone.
By the late 1920s there were more speakeasies than there had been bars. Many people who never drank before, especially women, now went to speakeasies as it became fashionable.
Prohibition finally ended in 1933 because everyone aGREed that it had failed. Drinking had actually increased.
Today, prohibition is often blamed for the widespread existence of organized crime and corrupt officials. The general feeling of mistrust towards the law, which is still found in
44.What has been regarded as a traditional way of life in most non-Muslim and non-Buddhist countries?
45.Who fought for a ban on alcohol?
46.Why did they stop people drinking?
47.In which year did prohibition begin?
48.According to Prohibition Act, what was illegal?
49.Which word in this passage means “illegal rooms for drinking and gambling”?
50.What is prohibition often blamed for?
本篇为我们介绍美国历史上“禁酒运动”产生的背景、发展的过程以及结果。
44.Drinking alcohol. 由第一段中“In most non-Muslim and non-Buddhist countries, drinking alcohol has been part of a traditional way of life for many hundreds of years.”可知答案。
45.The prohibitionists. 由第3段中的“...a group called the ‘prohibitionists (禁酒主义者)’ began fighting for a law to ban the drinking of alcohol”.可知答案。
46.Because they believe that alcohol had a bad effect on society and was a threat to law and order.第3段的最后一句告知我们答案。
47.由第4段中的“the Prohibition Act was passed in
48.由第4段最后一句“It meant that it was illegal (违法的) to make or sell any alcoholic drink.”可知答案。
49.The word “speakeasies”.由第5段末句“Many bars reopened as speakeasies, secret rooms where drinking and gambling carried on night and day.”可知答案。
50.The cause of the widespread existence of organized crime and corrupt officials. 由最后一段的第一句“Today, prohibition is often blamed for the widespread existence of organized crime and corrupt officials.”可知答案。
III.完形填空
NEPCS的完形填空有两节题，均为主观题，A节为选词填空题，难度不大。B节为自由填空，没有任何范围或提示，故难度较大。现将B节分析如下：
Cars did not become necessities for families in the
As cars GREw in popularity in the United States, there were also changes in life style (生活方式). Farmers (65)________were once cut off from society by the isolation (隔绝) of country life now took weekend trips into the city. Workers in the cities (66) longer needed to stay in inner-city housing in order to keep their jobs at nearby factories. Those who made enough money moved out of the (67)________ and into the suburbs. Now that each family had its own car, (68)________to and from work out of the suburbs became a common practice.
In the United States, (69)________remain a necessity for most people even though large cities attempt to build faster and more efficient (有效率的) public transportation systems (运输系统). The increasing costs of buying and maintaining cars make these items (70)________ second largest expense in homes in the
答题时，要善于分析语境，从中获取必要的信息，另外，就是平时多阅读，培养英语语感。
61.根据that time可确定填介词，如：at, before, after等。再结合上文“汽车直到二战之后才成为美国家庭的必需品”和下文“汽车主要是富人的专属品”，可确定填Before。
62.根据动词save和与该词组并列的“limit their use of items限制消费项目”，可确定填money。save money存钱，省钱。
63.from。从……到……。change from the production of wartime things to the production of cars由生产战时物资转向生产汽车。
64.通过破折号后的解释“low oil prices and drivable roads（低油价和可驾驶的公路）”可知为两个其它因素，故填Two。
65.此处为定语从句修饰主语farmers，表示人，且在从句中作主语，故可填who或that。
66.no。on longer不再。既然有汽车，在城里工作的人就“不再”非得在市内居住了。
67.有了家庭汽车，不再非得在市内居住，有人就搬出“城市”到市郊居住，故填cities。
68.有了家庭汽车，从市郊驱车上下班成为常事，可知应使用drive，此处应使用动名词作主语，故填driving。
69.cars。全篇谈论的就是美国汽车进入家庭的情况。最后一段讨论的是今天的情况。出于环保、能源等方面的考虑，各大城市均试图建立快速、高效的公交系统，但家庭汽车对于大多数人来说，仍是必需品。
70.形容词最高级前应使用定冠词，the second largest expense in homes家庭的第二大开支。（未完待续）
