题文
A house of cards? Sounds unbelievable, doesn’t it? Not if the architect is 31-year-old Bryan Berg. He’s made a career out of building fantastic card houses, stadiums, capitols, castles — and the world’s tallest card tower. How does he do it?Bryan’s structures are amazing because they are made entirely of perfectly balanced, freestanding playing cards. He never uses glue, tape, or anything else to hold the cards together. Nor does he fold the cards. He’s discovered another way to make a strong house of cards, using a trick from nature.
To make plants strong, nature builds them with cells that have tough walls. Rows and rows of these cells form a grid(格子) that helps leaves and stems keep their shape. Bees use the same kind of repeating pattern to create strong honeycombs, where they live and store honey. Bryan designs similar grids, using cards to create a repeating pattern of cells.
He begins with a single cell made by balancing four cards against one another to form a box. Then he repeats the cell over and over, expanding outward to form the grid, which makes a good foundation for a strong card structure. The larger the grid, the more weight it can carry. Sometimes Bryan uses several cards, instead of just one, to construct the cell walls, making the grid even stronger. The trick, he tells kids when he speaks in classrooms, is to place your cards as tightly together as possible when laying out your grid, making sure the cards are not leaning at all.
After building this solid base, Bryan lays cards across the top to make the floor for the next “story” of the building. He may add towers, columns, steeples, or domes. Using the principle of repeating cells, Bryan builds structures of amazing strength.
In the Cards
Not surprisingly, Bryan has always been interested in building things. Growing up on a “big, old farm” in rural Iowa, he had plenty of room to play. “We were in the middle of nowhere,” Bryan remembers, “with lots of space to do whatever we wanted. I was always making something, using things like sticks or bales of hay.”
Bryan’s grandfather taught him how to stack cards. Bryan’s two interests — building and card stacking — soon combined. But stacking in his family’s farmhouse was challenging. “Our old house had wood floors that weren’t all level,” he reports. “And they weren’t very firm. When people walked around, it was like ‘earthquake action.’ It was a challenge to build something that wouldn’t fall down immediately.”
Bryan constructed tower after tower; he went through a lot of trial and error before he built anything taller than himself. When he placed a few decks of cards on top of his grid, he discovered how strong it was. Bryan’s towers began to grow taller.
How Tall Is Too Tall?
Bryan’s first Guinness World Record for the world’s tallest card tower came in the spring of 1992, when he was in high school. Learning that the world record was 12 feet 10 inches, Bryan built a slim tower that topped out at 14 feet 6 inches. Done as a project for his geometry class, it took him 40 hours and 208 decks of cards. Since then he’s gone on to win world records for even taller buildings. His latest winner measured 25 feet 3.5 inches and used about 2,400 decks of cards. The building, which tapered to a high, narrow point, had 131 stories.
Why don’t these towers fall down? The key is in a good solid base, a repeating pattern of stories, and a tapering top. Bryan likes to point out how card buildings resemble real ones. They are built cell by cell, story by story. The separate parts make one strong whole. The heavier the building, the stronger and more stable it is. But the weight can’t all be at the top.
After spending so much time building something so cool, Bryan admits it’s sometimes painful to see his structures destroyed. But he compares his work to the building of a sandcastle or an ice sculpture.
“They wouldn’t be as special if they were permanent,” he points out. “My buildings are like snowdrifts, or clouds in the sky. They can’t last forever.
小题1:According to the article, which natural structure is a model for Bryan’s card structures?A．A sand dune.B．A honeycomb.C．A snowdrift.D．A thundercloud.小题2:What was Bryan’s first world record? A．The tallest card tower.B．The widest card dome.C．The heaviest card house.D．The sturdiest card structure.小题3:Bryan’s hobby is the result of combining which two boyhood interests?A．Plant cells and honeycombs.B．World records and geometry.C．Building things and stacking cards.D．Playing cards and designing houses.小题4:Why was it a challenge for Bryan to build card structures in his family’s farmhouse?A．The floors of the house were uneven. B．The ceilings in the house were too low.C．The floors of the house were slippery.D．The windows in the house were windy.小题5:In the underlined sentence, the word “tapered” means the top of the building was_________.A．olderB．shinierC．strongerD．thinner 题型：未知 难度：其他题型
答案
小题1:B
小题2:A
小题3:C
小题4:A
小题5:D
解析
文章大意：Bryan建立塔类结构如：card-house的成功经历。本文以A house of cards ？问题引入主题，将Bryan从小开始对塔类结构感兴趣到31岁取得成功的全过程讲述。
小题1:B 细节题。根据第三段，关键句：Bees use the same kind of repeating pattern to create strong honeycombs, where they live and store honey. Bryan designs similar grids, using cards to create a repeating pattern of cells. 判断B正确。
小题2:A 细节题。根据文中Bryan’s first Guinness World Record for the world’s tallest card tower came in the spring of 1992判断A正确。
小题3:C 细节题。根据文中的Bryan’s grandfather taught him how to stack cards. Bryan’s two interests — building and card stacking — soon combined判断D正确。
小题4:A 细节题。根据文章In the Cards的第二段，关键句：Bryan’s structures are amazing because they are made entirely of perfectly balanced, freestanding playing cards.进行判断选A。
小题5:D 细节题。根据文中含有划线句子下面的那一段，关键句：The key is in a good solid base, a repeating pattern of stories, and a tapering top.进行判断。
考点
据考高分专家说，试题“A house of cards? So.....”主要考查你对 [人物传记类阅读 ]考点的理解。人物传记类阅读
人物传记类文章的文体特征：
人物传记是记叙文体的一种，主要描写某人的生平事迹、趣闻轶事、生活背景、个性特征、成长奋斗历程等，包含记叙文的时间、地点、人物、事件等要素。其特点是以时间的先后或事件的发展为主线，空间或逻辑线索贯穿文章始终，脉络清楚，可读性较强。
人物传记类文章的阅读策略和解题技巧：
1、把握文体特征，注意写作手法如前文所述，人物传记是记叙文体的一种，因此在阅读时要把握好时间、地点、人物和事件这四大要素。
其次，还应该注意人物传记类文章的结构多按时间顺序排列，一般采用倒叙的写作手法，有时也采用插叙和补叙等手段。弄清楚人物传记类文章的特征和写作手法，能帮助考生在阅读和回答问题时做到高效省时、准确无误。
2、抓住题干关键词，采用寻读的方法查找细节描述事实细节题是人物传记类文章的主要题型，一般常见以下几种类型：
(1)对号入座题：
这种题的答案一般在原文中可以直接找到，只要读懂文章，掌握文章中的事实，如时间、地点、事件等细节问题，就能选对正确答案。
(2)词义转换题：
这种题常常是原文有关词语和句子的转换，而不能在原文中直接找到。它要求考生能理解原文中某个短语或句子的含义，从而找到与答案意思相同的词语和句子。
(3)是非题：
该题型俗称“三缺一”题型，即题目四个选项中有三个符合文章内容，剩下一个不符合。题干多为：Which of the following isTRUE?或者三个不符合文章内容，剩下一个符合，题干多为：Which of the following…isNOTtrue?或All the following are true EXCEPT
(4)排序题：
这种题要求考生根据动作发生的先后顺序和句子之间的逻辑关系，找出事件发生的正确顺序。可采用“首尾定位法”，即先找出第一个动作和最后一个动作，迅速缩小选择范围，从而快速选出正确答案。
(5)指代理解题：
一般是在人物或事物关系比较复杂的情况下使用的一种题型，所以理清人物及事物之间的逻辑关系是关键所在。可采用“逻辑关系梳理法”，使人物或事件关系清晰条理。不管题型如何，在做事实细节题时，可采用比较实用的方法一有目的的阅读。在阅读时，首先看题目要求我们理解什么细节，找出关键词，然后以此为线索，运用寻读的技巧迅速在文章里找出相应的段落、句子或短语。认真比较选项和文中细节的区别，在正确理解细节的前提下，确定最佳答案。这样一来，既提高了阅读的速度，又能确保答案的准确率。同时，建议阅读文章时把与答案相符的句子或短语用红线标示出来，标号注上是哪一题答案的相关句子，这样在检查时就不必重新阅读整篇文章了。
3、抽丝剥茧，推理判断深层含义推理判断题主要提问那些未曾在文中说明，但已特别暗示的内容，考查考生对文章的准确理解和判断。人物传记类文章常见的推理判断题型为：
(1)细节推断题：
要求考生根据语篇关系，推断具体细节，如时间、地点、人物关系、人物身份、事件等。一般可根据短文提供的信息，或者借助生活常识进行推理判断。
(2)因果推断题：
要求考生根据已知结果推测导致结果的可能原因。考生要准确掌握文章的内涵，理解文章的真正含义。
(3)人物性格、作者态度及观点判断题：
人物传记类文章中有些是考查考生对作者的主导思想、被描写人物的语气、言语中流露的情绪、性格倾向和作者或文中人物态度、观点等方面的理解题。推理判断题要求在理解原文表面文字信息的基础上做出一定推论和判断，从而得到文章的隐含意义和深层意义。解答此类题时，要注意：
(1)吃透文章的字面意思，从字里行间捕捉有用的提示和线索，这是推理的前提和基础。
(2)对文字的表面信息进俐宅掘加工，由表及里，由浅入深。从具体到抽象，从特殊到一般，通过分析、综合、判断等进行符合逻辑的推理。不能就事论事，断章取义，以偏概全。
(3)基于文章内容，以文章提供的事实和线索为依据，立足已知，推断未知。不能主观臆想，凭空想象，随意揣测，更不能以自己的观点代替作者的观点。
(4)把握句、段之间的逻辑关系，了解语篇的结构。要体会文章的基调，揣摸作者的态度，摸准逻辑发展的方向，悟出作者的弦外之音。
(5)注意文中所用词句的感情色彩，是讽刺性的，批评性的，赞成性的，还是反对性的，以便推测作者的观点和态度。
