The wife shared in the management of her husband?s personal property, but the opposite was not always true. Women seemed perfectly prepared to defend their own inheritance against husbands who tried to exceed their rights, and on occasion they showed a fine fighting spirit. A case in point is that of Maria Vivas. Having agreed with her husband Miro to sell a field she had inherited, for the needs of the household, she insisted on compensation. None being offered, she succeeded in dragging her husband to the scribe to have a contract duly drawn up assigning her a piece of land from Miro?s personal inheritance. The unfortunate husband was obliged to agree, as the contract says, ?for the sake of peace.? Either through the dowry or through being hot-tempered, the wife knew how to win herself, with the context of the family, a powerful economic position.

　　51.Originally, the purpose of a dowry is to_________.

　　A give a woman the right to receive all her husband?s property

　　B help a woman to enjoy a higher position in the family

　　C protect a woman against the risk of desertion

　　D both A and C

　　52.According to the passage, the legal status of the wife in marriage was__________.

　　A higher than that of a single woman

　　B higher than that of her husband

　　C lower than that of her husband

　　D the same as that of her husband

　　53. Why does the author give us the example of Maria Vivas?

　　A To show that the wife shared in the management of her husband?s personal property.

　　B To show that the wife can defend her own inheritance.

　　C To prove that women have powerful position.

　　D To illustrate how women win her property.

　　54.The compensation Maria Vivas got for the field is____________.

　　A some of the land Miro had inherited

　　B a tenth of Miro?s land

　　C money for household expenses

　　D money form Miro?s inheritance

　　55. The author?s attitude towards Maria Vivas is_____________.

　　A sympathetic B disapproval C indifferent D objective

　　【參考答案】Passage1

　　歐洲南部的婦女在10和11世紀時享有較高的社會地位，這并未獲得廣泛認識。作為一個妻子，女性的地位受到其嫁妝的保護。誠然，嫁妝最初的目的是防止女性被拋棄;但是，它在當時家庭和社會現實生活中起著更重要的作用。妻子的嫁妝使她有權獲得其丈夫十分之一的財物。妻子有權利拒絕丈夫所做的任何交易，但這不僅僅只是一項權利而已;文件表明她與丈夫一樣平等地享有真正的決定權。文件沒有表明丈夫和妻子在法律地位上有任何差別。

　　妻子享有管理丈夫私人財產的權利，但是反之則不然。如果丈夫要越權侵犯她們的利益，女性們會時刻準備著捍衛自己的利益，有時她們還會表現出一種堅強的斗爭精神。Maria Vivas就是一個典型的例子。為了家庭的需要，她同意其丈夫Miro出售一塊屬于她的土地，但是她堅持要求獲得補償。但是丈夫沒有給她提供補償，于是她把丈夫拖到一個文書處，起草了一份合同，成功地把他丈夫的一塊私人土地劃歸自己。正如合同所寫的，“為了和平”，這個不幸的丈夫不得不同意。要么借助嫁妝，要么通過發脾氣，妻子知道如何在家庭中為自己贏得強大的經濟地位。

　　51. 【解析】[C 推斷題。本文介紹了歐洲南部10和11世紀嫁妝對女性在婚姻中地位的重要性。雖然嫁妝最初的目的是防止女性被拋棄，但實際上它的作用遠遠不止于此。它使妻子在婚姻中的地位與丈夫平等，并保障了妻子的經濟利益。女性在維護自己的利益上，是很堅定果敢的，Maria Vivas就是一個例子。見第一段第三句，“Admittedly, the purpose of this was to protect her against the risk of desertion...”，雖然在實際生活中嫁妝有更重要的作用，但最初它的作用只是為了防范女性被丈夫拋棄，所以C為正確答案。

　　52.【解析】[D 細節題。根據本文，妻子在婚姻中的法律地位和丈夫是平等的。見第一段最后一句，“In no case do the documents indicate any degree of difference in the legal status of husband and wife”文件中并沒有表明丈夫和妻子在法律地位上有任何的差別，也就是說他們的地位是平等的，所以D為正確答案。

　　53.【解析】[B 推斷題。作者舉Maria Vivas的事例，是為了說明妻子是能夠捍衛自己的利益的。見第二段第二句，“Women seemed perfectly prepared to defend their own inheritance...they showed a fine fighting spirit.”如果丈夫要侵占自己的利益，女性們就時刻準備著捍衛自己的利益，有時她們還表現出很強的斗爭精神。接下來作者就舉了Maria Vivas的例子，說明女性是有能力捍衛自己的利益的。所以B為正確答案。

　　54.【解析】[A 細節題。Maria Vivas得到的一份作為補償的土地，本來是屬于Miro的個人財產。見第二段第五句，“None being offered, she succeeded in... assigning her a piece of land from Miro?s personal inheritance”由此知A為正確答案。

　　55.【解析】[D 推斷題。作者對Maria Vivas所持的態度是客觀的。作者客觀地介紹了Maria Vivas的事例，并沒有表示出同情、不滿或者是漠不關心，所以A、B、C都是錯誤答案。

　　高考英語閱讀理解強化練習2：

　　Forget Twitter and Facebook, Google and the Kindle. Television is still the most influential medium around. Indeed ,for many of the poorest regions(地區)of the world, it remains the next big thing——finally becomes globally available. And that is a good thing, because the TV revolution is changing lives for the better.

　　Across the developing world, around 45% of families had a TV in 1995; by 2005 the number had climbed above 60%. That is some way behind the U.S. , where are more TVs than people, and where people now easily get access to the Internet. Five million more families in sub-Saharan Africa will get a TV over the next five years. In 2005 , after the fall of the Taliban(塔利班),which had outlawed TV, 1 in 5 Afghans had one. The global total is another 150 million by 2013——pushing the numbers to well beyond two thirds of families.

　　Television’s most powerful effect will be on the lives of women. In India, researchers Robert Jensen and Emily Oster found that when TVs reached villages, women were more likely to go to the market without their husbands’ approval and less likely to want a boy rather than a girl. They were more likely to make decisions over child health care. TV is also a powerful medium for adult education. In the Indian state of Gujarat, Chitrageet is a popular show that plays Bollywood songs with words in Gujarati on the screen. Within six months, viewers had made a small but significant(有意義的) improvement in their reading skills.

　　Too much TV has been associated with violence, overweight and loneliness. However, TV is having a positive influence on the lives of billions worldwide.

　　( ) 1. The underlined word “outlawed” in paragraph 2 probably means “ ”.

　　A. allowed B. banned C. offered D. refused

　　( ) 2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

　　A. Americans used to get access to the Internet easily.

　　B. The world’s TV sets will total 150 million by 2013.

　　C.45% of families in the developing countries had a TV in 2005.

　　D. Over two thirds of families in the world will have a TV by 2013.

　　( ) 3. The author intends to .

　　A. stress the advantages of TV to people’s lives

　　B. persuade women to become more independent

　　C. encourage people to improve their reading skills

　　D. introduce the readers some websites such as Google

　　( ) 4. What would be the best title for the passage?

　　A.TV Will Rule the World B.TV Will Disturb the World

　　C.TV Will Better the World D.TV Will Remain in World

　　【語篇解讀】本篇文章為議論文。本文圍繞著電視仍然是世界上最有影響力的媒體說起，并用事實進一步證明了電視的存在會讓我們的生活越來越好

　　60.答案B。

　　【解析】詞義猜測題。由本句中the Taliban及1 in 5 Afghans had one可以猜測出，塔利班在政期間是對電視持反對態度，因此是禁止的。故選項B符合題意。

　　61.答案D。

　　【解析】細節理解題。根據第二段最后一句中“pushing the numbers to well beyond two thirds of families”可知，到2013年，世界上三分之二的家庭都將會有一臺電視。因此選D項。

　　62.答案A。

　　【解析】推理判斷題。根據最后一段第二句“However, TV is having a positive influence on the lives of billions worldwide”可以推斷出，作者主要強調電視對人類生活積極的方面。故選A項

　　63.答案C。

　　【解析】主旨大意題。由第一段第二句“Television is still the most influential medium”及第三段第一句“Television’s most powerful effect will be on the lives of women”及文章最后一段第二句“However, TV is having a positive influence on the lives of billions worldwide.”可知，本文主要講的是電視將會讓人們生活越來越好。由此可知應選C項。