A

(2017·河东区一模)

Do you ever wish for a little more time to do everything you need to do？Well，on July 1 you’ll be getting it—but only one more second.

On July 1 at exactly 7：59：59 a．m.Beijing time (or on June 30 at 23：59：59 UTC，Coordinated Universal Time)，the world’s atomic(原子的) clocks will pause for a single second，or，more precisely，change to the unusual time of 7：59：60，according to theverge.com.The addition of a leap second(闰秒)，announced by the Paris Observatory，is to keep our clocks in time with the slowing of Earth’s rotation(旋转) and astronomical time as measured by the sun.

Just one extra second could cause big problems and affect the way computers and websites work，however.When the last leap second was added back in 2012，more than a few websites had some trouble.As reported by Phys.org，popular sites like the community website Reddit crashed when the leap second was added.

For Reddit，the problem was eventually found to be with a Linux system that got confused when it checked the network time and found an extra second.

Speaking to Wired about the problem back in 2012，Linux creator Linus Torvalds commented：“Almost every time we have a leap second，we find something.It’s really annoying，because it’s code(代码) that is almost never used，and thus not tested by users under their normal conditions.”

Companies have had to think of their own solutions，and Google’s “leap smear” may be the best-known example.As company engineer Christopher Pascoe explains in a blog post，companies usually try to fix the problem by turning back the clocks by one second at the end of the day so that they play that second again.

However，Pascoe believes this creates problems.He asked：“What happens？Does e-mail that comes in during that second get stored correctly？”

Google has a solution：Cut the extra second into milliseconds and then put these tiny amounts of time into the system throughout the day.“This means that when it became time to add an extra second at midnight，”says Pascoe.“Our clocks have already taken this into account over the course of the day.”

For many companies without Google’s money，however，the leap second will likely still cause some crashes.Don’t worry，though—at least it won’t last long! 语篇解读 本文主要介绍了“闰秒”带来的影响及其解决方案。 1．Why do we need to add a leap second? A．The world’s atomic clocks are set to do so. B．To keep in time with the world’s computers.

C．To keep atomic clocks in time with the slowing of Earth’s rotation. D．To record the changes to astronomical time. 答案 C

解析 细节理解题。根据文章第二段中“The addition of a leap second(闰秒)，announced by the Paris Observatory，is to keep our clocks in time with the slowing of Earth’s rotation(旋转) and astronomical time as measured by the sun.”可知，闰秒是由于地球自转变慢引起的，为了与由太阳测量的天文时间一致而增加一秒，故选C。

2．What happened to the website Reddit when the leap second was added in 2012? A．It crashed because of a virus attack. B．Its network time added two extra seconds. C．All of the code in its Linux system went wrong.

D．One of its software systems got confused and the site broke down. 答案 D

解析 细节理解题。根据第三段最后一句和第四段中“the problem was eventually found to be with a Linux system that got confused when it checked the network time and found an extra second”可知，闰秒发生时，网站崩溃，运行系统混乱，故选D。 3．What does the underlined word “something”refer to in the 5th paragraph? A．The code not working properly. B．The extra second. C．The problem. D．Normal conditions. 答案 A

解析 代词指代题。根据文章第五段中“we find something.It’s really annoying，because it’s code(代码) that is almost never used，and thus not tested by users under their normal conditions”可知，something指代后文出现的一些从没使用过和测试过的代码，即代码不正常地工作，故选A。

4．How do companies usually deal with the problem of the extra second? A．By shutting down computers at the end of the day.

B．By stopping receiving emails that come in during that second. C．By turning the clocks back by one second at the end of the day. D．By cutting the extra second into milliseconds throughout the day. 答案 C

解析 细节理解题。根据第六段中“companies usually try to fix the problem by turning back the clocks by one second at the end of the day so that they play that second again”可知，解决额外一秒的做法是在一天结束时将时钟往回调一秒，故选C。

5．What’s Christopher Pascoe’s attitude toward Google’s solution to the problem? A．Unfavorable. C．Approving. 答案 C

解析 推理判断题。根据倒数第二段中“‘This means that when it became time to add an extra second at midnight，’says Pascoe.‘Our clocks have already taken this into account over the course of the day.’”可知，午夜时分多一秒时，时钟已经在白天将这一秒考虑在内了，所以Pascoe认同这个方法，故选C。

B

(2017·和平区一模)

Soaping up your hands may do more than just get rid of germs.It may wash away the inner confusion you feel right after being forced to make a choice between two appealing choices，according to a new study.The study builds on past research into a phenomenon known as “the Macbeth effect”．

It turns out that Shakespeare was really onto something when he imagined Lady Macbeth trying to clean her conscience(良心) by rubbing invisible bloodstains from her hands.A few years ago，scientists asked people to describe a past wrong act.If people were then given a chance to clean their hands，they later expressed less guilt than people who hadn’t cleaned.

This finding fascinated W．S.Lee，a researcher.“Anything from the past，any kind of negative emotional experiences，might be washed away，” says Lee.

He decided to test hand washing’s effect on one kind of bad feeling：the tension we feel after being forced to choose between two attractive choices，because picking one choice makes us feel that we’ve lost the other.People usually try to calm this

B．Doubtful. D．Cautious.

inner conflict by later exaggerating(夸大) the positive aspects of their choice.

He had students rank 10 different music CDs.Then he offered students one CD as a gift.Some students then used liquid soap.Others only looked at the soap or sniffed(嗅) it.“Actually，you do not need water and soap，” says Lee.

Later，the students again had to rank all the music.People who didn’t wash their hands had the normal response—they scored their take-home CD higher，suggesting that they now saw it as even more attractive than before.But this wasn’t true for the hand washers.They ranked the music about the same.“They feel no need at all to justify the choice，” says Lee.

But the implications of it just aren’t clear.Schwarz says it’s too soon to know whether people should head for a sink after making a tough choice.He says washing may help decision-makers by cleaning away mental disorder，but perhaps if they don’t go through the usual post-decision process of justifying their choice，they might feel more sorrow in the long run.

语篇解读 本文主要讲述了用香皂洗手会帮助人们缓解作决定时的紧张与不安的情绪。 6．The Macbeth effect refers to the fact that . A．people feel less ashamed after washing their hands

B．soaping up one’s hand may help wash away the inner confusion and make a decision C．people feel less guilty by getting rid of invisible germs from their hands D．Shakespeare did scientific research before writing Macbeth 答案 A

解析 推理判断题。由第二段内容可知，人们在洗手后会感到良心上的愧疚感减轻，故选A。 7．According to Lee，after people make the choice . A．they will overstate the goodness of their chosen choice B．they will feel regretful for not choosing another

C．they will feel free due to the feeling of losing the other choice

D．they will think nothing of their chosen choice any more to calm their inner conflict 答案 A

解析 细节理解题。由第四段内容可知，在做出两个选项的选择后，人们通常会紧张不安，以夸大自己所选择的事物的优点来使内心平静，故选A。

8．According to Lee，those hand washers consider justifying their choice . A．more scientific

B．unnecessary