在各种英语考试中，阅读所占的比重总是最大。而在学生们的英语学习和教师们的英语教学中，阅读策略总是被忽略，学生们在英语阅读中花费了许多时间可是收效甚微。小编精心收集了2017高考英语短文，供大家欣赏学习!

2017高考英语短文篇1

Violin prodigies (神童), I learned, have come in distinct waves from distinct regions. Most of the great performers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were born and brought up in Russia and Eastern Europe. I asked Isaac Stern, one of the world’s greatest violinists the reason for this phenomenon. “It is very clear,” he told me. “They were all Jews and Jews at the time were severely oppressed and ill-treated in that part of the world. They were not allowed into the professional fields, but they were allowed to achieve excellence on a concert stage.” As a result, every Jewish parent’s dream was to have a child in the music school because it was a passport to the West.

Another element in the emergence of prodigies, I found, is a society that values excellence in a certain field to nurture (培育) talent. Nowadays, the most nurturing societies seem to be in the Far East. “In Japan, a most competitive society, with stronger discipline than ours,” says Isaac Stern, children are ready to test their limits every day in many fields, including music. When Western music came to Japan after World War II, that music not only became part of their daily lives, but it became a discipline as well. The Koreans and Chinese as we know, are just as highly motivated as the Japanese.

That’s a good thing, because even prodigies must work hard. Next to hard work, biological inheritance(遗传) plays an important role in the making of a prodigy. J. S. Bach, for example, was the top of several generations of musicians, and four of his sons had significant careers in music.

2017高考英语短文篇2

Elizabeth Blackwell was born in England in 1821, and moved to New York City when she was ten years old. One day she decided that she wanted to become a doctor. That was nearly impossible for a woman in the middle of the nineteenth century. After writing many letters asking for admission(录取) to medical schools, she was finally accepted by a doctor in Philadelphia. She was so determined that she taught school and gave music lessons to get money for the cost of schooling.

In 1849, after graduation from medical school. she decided to further her education in Paris. She wanted to be a surgeon(外科医师) , but a serious eye problem forced her to give up the idea.

Upon returning to the United States, she found it difficult to start her own practice because she was a woman. By 1857 Elizabeth and her sister, also a doctor, along with another woman doctor, managed to open a new hospital, the first for women and children Besides being the first woman physician and founding her own hospital , she also set up the first medical school for women.

2017高考英语短文篇3

New York, 10 November 5:27 pm, yesterday. Biggestpower failure in the city's history.

Thousands of people got stuck in lifts. MartinSaltzman spent three hours between the 21st and22nd floors of the Empire State Building. "Therewere twelve of us. But no one panicked. We passedthe time telling stories and playing word games. Oneman wanted to smoke but we didn't let him. Firemen finally got us out."

"It was the best night we've ever had," said Angela Carraro, who runs an Italian restaurant on42nd Street. "We had lots of candles on the tables and the waiters were carrying candles ontheir trays. The place was full and all night, in fact, for after we had closed, we let the peoplestay on and spend the night here."

The zoos had their problems like everyone else. Keepers worked through the night. They usedblankets to keep flying squirrels and small monkeys warm. While zoos had problems keepingwarm, supermarkets had problems keeping cool. "All of our ice cream and frozen foods melted,"said the manger of a store in downtown Manhattan. "They were worth $50,000."

The big electric clock in the lobby(大厅) of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in downtown Manhattanstarted ticking (滴答) again at 5:25 this morning. It was almost on time.

2017高考英语短文篇4

A simple flower made headlines in the British press last week. How could that be?

British Prime Minister David Cameron and his ministers were attending a reception hosted by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. They insisted on wearing poppies(罂粟花) in their buttonholes.

What’s wrong with that?

According to the Global Times, Chinese officials apparently had asked the UK delegation not to wear poppies. The British said that poppies meant a great deal to them on that day and they would wear them all the same.

So what’s the significance of the poppy? It’s a flower which has different cultural and symbolic meanings for British and Chinese people.

From the Chinese point of view, the poppy is a symbol of China’s humiliation at the hands of European powers in the Opium Wars of the 19th century. Britain forced China to open the borders to trade – including in the opium – which was made from poppies grown in India.

Yet from the British viewpoint the poppy is a reminder of the killing during World War I. Red poppies grew on the battlefields of Flanders in Belgium where many thousands of British soldiers died or were buried. Since then, Poppy Day (November 11) has become a time in the UK to wear poppies and remember the sacrifices of British soldiers and civilians in times of war.

So you can see that the poppy sets off strong feelings in the hearts of Chinese and British people for different reasons. And it makes sense for us to try to understand each other’s standpoint.

Of course cultural differences can also be interesting and funny. And what one nation thinks is an acceptable gift may be viewed differently by their guests from overseas. US President Barack Obama gave a gift of an iPod to Britain’s Queen – a dull person with no interest in music. Obama also presented Gordon Brown with a fine selection of American movies. But they were in US format and impossible to play on British DVD players.

Many countries have diplomats stationed overseas. Diplomats provide information and advice to their governments back home. However, sometimes it would seem that even diplomats can overlook the cultural significance of a small flower.