2017公共英语考试二级考前阅读练习
导语：2017年的公共英语考试又快到了，YJBYS小编提供两篇考前阅读练习给各位考生做吧，记得对答案哦!
Passage One
There are many different kinds of peaches (桃). One clear difference is the one between clingstone一fruit in which the flesh is stuck to the seed inside—and freestone一that in which the seed floats freely. Customers prefer freestone peaches because they don’t want to struggle to get the flesh away from the seed.
And that’s how it goes in stone fruit land. Plant breeders (培育者) are trying all the time to improve the old favorites. Frequently, the changes are designed to meet the demands of the growers or packers. One very delicious family of peach varieties has nearly disappeared because it forms a small “beak”at the bottom of the fruit. That little point is likely to break during packing and shipping, o-pening the door to spoilage (腐烂).
This is certainly not to say that the wants of customers are not important. In fact, they drive some of the most important changes. One thing customers like is red—lots of red. Peaches used to be prized for golden skin; now people are buying red, regarding it as a sign of ripeness.
But red has a hold on people. There’s a story told by those in the stone fruit industry about a marketing experiment. A group of people were given two peaches:one a fairly tasteless red variety, the other a great-tasting gold. Sitting around, tasting and talking about the fruit, the group all agreed that the gold was a much better peach and that was the one they would buy. Then, on the way out the door, they were offered boxes of peaches as a thank-you gift. One held the preferred golden fruit, the other the red. To a person, they picked the red fruit to take home. Red sells.
64.What does the word“stone” mean in the text?
[A] The hard seed inside a fruit.
[B] Containers that packers use.
[C] Small rocks found in the fields.
[D] Soft beaks at the bottom of the fruit.
65.Why do plant breeders try hard to improve peaches?
[A] To get better shaped fruit.
[B] To meet the needs of growers.
[C] To make peaches taste better.
[D] To have a better chance for prizes.
66.Why do people like to buy red fruit?
[A] They believe it is ripe.
[B] It sells cheaper than gold.
[C] It is usually more delicious.
[D] They know it is an improved variety.
67.What can we learn about the peach-tasting group in the last paragraph?
[A] They were experts on marketing.
[B] They took home golden peaches.
[C] They agreed about the taste of peaches.
[D] They said they would buy the red peaches.
答案与解析：
64. 选A。该题属于推断题。stone的本意是“石头”，但结合本文关于桃子的描述，可以推断出它指的是桃子中间的部分，Brthe hard seed in-side a fruit”。
65. 选B。该题属于细节题。从文章第二段第二句“the changes are designed to meet the demands of the growers or packers”可得出答案。
66. 选A。该题属于细节题。从文章第三段最后一句“now people are buying red, regarding it as a sign of ripeness”可以得出答案。
67. 选C。该题属于细节题。此题可以用排除法解答，A选项中，他们并不是专家，而是被实验者，B、D选项不符合文中的表达，可排除。
参考译文：
桃子的种类繁多，它们之间一个明显的区别是粘核桃和离核桃，前者指桃子果肉和内部的核紧密相连的品种，后者指果肉和核彼此脱离的种类。人们总是喜欢离核的桃子，因为他们懒得费力将果肉和桃核剥开。
在核果地带总是这样，作物培育者总是试图改善桃子以迎合老顾客的需求，为迎合种植者和包装商的需求而经常做出变动。一个美味的桃子家族因其底部长着小小的鸟嘴般的东西而几近灭绝。那个小东西在包装和运输过程中可能会破裂，以至于腐烂。
这当然并不意味着顾客的需求是不重要的，其实，他们促使一些重大的`变化发生。顾客喜欢满是红色的桃子。以前人们总是夸赞桃子拥有金黄色的外表;例如，人们都买红色的桃子，认为意味着成熟。
红 色对人们有一定影响。核果工业人士曾讲了个关于营销实验的故事。把两种桃子发给一组人：一种是索然无味的红色桃子，另一种是味道甜美的金色桃子。那组人围 圈而坐，品尝桃子，相互讨论，都认为金色桃子比较美味，是他们买桃的选择。然后，在出门时，有人送给他们几箱桃子作为感谢礼物。一种是受人青睐的金色桃 子，另一种是红色桃子。为了送人，他们选择了红色桃子，于是红色桃子大卖。
Passage Two
Most of you would probably say that what makes you truly happy is your family and the love you share in your relationships, and I couldn’t agree more. But money comes into play in those relationships.
When I talk about money this way to a group, there is always someone who comes up to me and says, “Suze, you are so wrong. Money isn’t the key to life—this is!” At which point their wallet flies open and they show me a photo of their family.
That’s when things get interesting, because I start asking them questions: Did you take that photo with your own camera? It looks like a beautiful beach, was the photo taken on a family vacation? Do you hope to help those beautiful boys and girls go to college?
As their answers are “yes”, I ask them how they provide all of that for their family. That’s when they understand that I had it right.
I totally agree that family and friends are of great importance to our well being; without meaningful relationships, there’s no chance of ever being truly happy. That’s why, every Saturday night, I end my CNBC show with the following words:“People first. Then money. Then things.”
How we deal with the money we have also plays into our happiness. Over the past few decades (十年), the percentage of Americans who say they’re happy hasn’t changed much, while at the same time the average income has doubled. So we have more money, but we’re not much happier on average.
A paradox (悖论)? Far from it. My sense is that while we’re making more money, we arent’t making more of the money we make. We have to pay for a lot of things, and we have to worry about saving for retirement (退休) in a way that our parents and grandparents never did. And as many of you know, it’s really hard to increase your happiness when you’ve got a lot of money worries.
Do you agree, or am I way off base? I’d love to know what do you think about the money/happiness connection.
60.Why do people often show the author their family photos?
[A] They hope to show money is very important.
[B] They want to prove they can afford a holiday.
[C] They think a good family makes them truly happy.
[D] They believe a happy person considers people first.
61.Why did the authur ask the group questions in Paragraph 3 ?
[A] To persuade them to save for the future. '
[B] To ask for advice on holidays abroad.
[C] To know more about each person.
[D] To show them what he meant.
62.Which of the following arguments does the author want to make?
[A] Money is all that matters in our life.
[B] The richer we are, the happier we’ll be.
[C] Money makes a difference to the quality of our lives.
[D] True happiness is achievable from good relationships.
63.What does the underlined words “off base” in the last paragraph most probably mean?
[A] mistaken
[B] unprepared
[C] unnecessary
[D] misunderstood
答案与解析：
60. 选C。题干的意思为“为什么人们通常会把自己的全家福给作者看，”该题属于细节题。
从文章意思可以得知，这些人是想反驳作者的观点，证明家人是幸福的源泉。
61. 选D。题干的意思为“为什么作者问那些人第三段的问题?”该题属于细节题。
作者是想证明自己的观点，通过问问题明晰自己的观点。
62. 选C。题干的意思为“以下哪句话是作者想表达的观点?”该题属于推理题。
本题没有原文，但是作者的观点非常明晰，钱在个人幸福中地位非常重要，可以改善我们的生活质量。
63. 选A。题干的意思为“最后一段下划线词'off base'最可能是什么意思?”该题属于推理题。
从文章的句意理解来看，应该是错误的意思。
参考译文：
我们中的大多数人通常会说家庭和家人的爱是真正使自己幸福的源泉，我也非常赞同此观点，但是钱在这层关系中也非常重要。
每当我在对人们说起钱的时候，总会有人反驳道：“苏斯，你错了，钱不是生活中最重要的因素，这个才是!”边说他们会打开出钱包给我看自己的全家福。
我开始问他们问题，事情就开始变得有趣了。我的问题是你是用自己的相机拍的照吗?这个沙滩真漂亮，当时你们全家在度假吗?你希望帮这些漂亮的孩子上大学吗?”
他们不停地点头，这时我问他们那你们拿什么支付这些花费呢?”;这时，他们才意识到我的观点是对的。
我也完全赞同家人和朋友对个人幸福来说至关重要，没有家人和朋友，我们永远都不会真正的快乐。这就是为什么每周六晚上，在CNBC节目结束时，我总会说人第一，钱第二，事情第三。”
我们如何花钱，对于幸福也很重要。在过去的十年里，美国人的收入翻倍了，但是说自己幸福的人却没有多大变化。难道在有了更多钱之后，我们没有变得更幸福一点吗?
这是一个悖论?其实并非如此。我认为，虽然我们在赚更多的钱，但我们并没有更充分地利用这些钱。我们要支付的开销太大了，还要担忧自己退休后的积蓄，而我们的父母和祖父母从来没有这样担忧过。有了这么多好担心的钱，增强的幸福感从何而来呢?
你同意吗?或者认为我的观点大错特错?我非常想知道你对于钱和幸福之间关系的看法。
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