Directions:There are 20 passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer.
Test One Despite being thought of by most as a time for celebration, birthdays pose a serious health risk, according to a huge new study. Researchers who studied the deaths of more than two million people found we are 14 percent more likely to die on our birthday than any other day. The scientists suspect the stress of anniversary reaction hypothesis, or birthday blues, as the cause for the increase in death rates, however. But according to the study, causes of birthday deaths included increased rates of heart attacks, stroke, cancer, and suicide. One interesting finding is that more suicides happen on birthdays, though only in men. Researchers say that this increase could be related to more alcohol being drunk on birthdays. But the explanation was rejected by the scientists who believe that the event itself is largely responsible. Heart attacks and strokes they suspect are more common on the special day because of stress linked to celebrating a birthday—especially for older people.
1. Which of the following can be the best title of this passage?
Test Two Last year, physicist Professor Richard Muller and colleagues published results from a new project analyzing the Earth's temperature record. The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature (BEST) project basically backed up established temperature records from Nasa and others; the world is indeed warming, and by about as much as we previously thought, it concluded. Professor Muller was attacked in some quarters for not waiting for the formal process of peer review in a scientific journal before launching the data publicly. He responded that his method—to put the draft out there openly and let everyone respond who wants to—is increasingly the norm in physics. In his view, it's the right way to do things. A couple of weeks ago, in a New York Times article accompanying the release of five more BEST papers that are being submitted to scientific journals, Professor Muller went further, saying that the majority of 20th Century warming could be laid at the door of greenhouse gas emissions. By contrast, analysis by established bodies such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) holds that only after mid-Century did greenhouse gases drive the warming—prior to that, it was predominantly down to natural causes such as solar cycles and a decline in the frequency of large volcanoes.
1. Which of the following is NOT true about Professor Muller according to the First Paragraph?
A.He published the results from a new project.
B.He analyzed the established temperature records.
C.He supported the established temperature records.
3. The phrase "be laid at the door of" (Para. 3) most probably means "______".
A.be attributed to
B.be placed nearby
C.be looked down upon
D.be opposed to
A B C D
A
[考点] 词组含义 此题考查考生根据上下文判断词组含义的能力。问题问:文章第三段中的词组“be laid at the door of”是______含义。文章第三段提出,穆勒教授认为,20世纪全球变暖主要是______温室气体排放。第四段通过使用词组“By contrast”使语义发生了转折,指出政府间气候变化专门委员会(IPCC)这样的机构与穆勒教授的看法完全相反。他们认为,直到20世纪中期之后,温室气体排放才使得地球变暖。由此可以推断,穆勒教授与IPCC这样的机构在地球变暖是否应归因于温室气体排放这个问题上有截然不同的看法。因此,词组“be laid at the door of”的意思是“归因于”。所以本题正确答案是A。 干扰项B:放在附近;干扰项C:蔑视;干扰项D:反对。
Test Three I've been reporting on extraordinary people for 25 years as a television journalist, but this small Oregon town and the man at its center, Woody Davis, stand alone in my memory. When I read a newspaper clip about the community's reaction to Woody's declining health, I knew that this would be a special story. But nothing prepared me for what happened when I traveled to Oregon last December and began knocking on doors. Every single person knew Woody and had countless stories to tell about his selflessness and generosity. For five decades, he helped plow cars out of snow, cut wood, repaired farm equipment, and more. He was the perfectly good neighbor, and in his time of need, the community was rallying around him. I'd never seen anything like it. Folks in this small town east of Portland are now going out of their way to thank Woody for the thousands of good deeds he's done for them over the past 50 years. Recently, they all got together to cut and stack his firewood for winter. A couple of guys fixed up his old pickup. Someone even built him a beautiful wooden box and invited the whole town to sign it. Woody's son Clint said all the work his dad did for people had been repaid tenfold. "Bill Gates could not come to Corbett and buy this. You can't buy the love that people have poured out for Dad." A few months ago, Woody was diagnosed with ALS—Lou Gehrig's disease. Doctors tell him he has about six months. The disease, which attacks the nervous system, is already making it hard for him to lift much of anything or even talk. But his attitude remains unaffected. "What do you think of what everybody's been doing for you?" I asked. "I feel blessed that I'm dying slowly." I really didn't think I'd heard him right. "Wait, did you just say you feel blessed that you're dying slowly?" "Because people have a chance to express to me how they feel," he said. In most communities, death is whispered, and praise is saved for the eulogy (悼词、颂词). But Woody Davis and the people of Corbett, Oregon, show us why that may be too late. Turns out even angels like to know they've made a difference.
1. What is implied by the author in Paragraph One?
Test Four A committee has released its final report on ways to improve math education for American students. The National Mathematics Advisory Panel was created two years ago. The panel examined thousands of reports, along with survey results from more than seven hundred algebra (代数) teachers. Yet the report, released last month, is short on detailed advice. It says existing research does not show just what knowledge or skills are needed for effective math teaching. The solution? More research. The report does say basic math skills must be taught completely in the early years of school. Children should be able to add and subtract in the third grade. By the end of fifth grade, they should be able to multiply and divide. Teachers should avoid revisiting skills year after year. And, the experts say, it is wrong to think children are "too young" or "not ready" to learn certain content at certain ages. The report says a major goal for kindergarten through eighth grade should be understanding fractions. These skills are needed for algebra. Yet, the report says, at the present time they seem to be severely underdeveloped in American students. Schools are urged to prepare more students to take algebra by the eighth grade. Many people think math success depends largely on natural talent or ability; the experts say it depends on effort. Studies have shown that children improve in math when they believe that their efforts to learn make them "smarter." The report also calls for strengthening the math preparation of elementary and middle school teachers. And it urges publishers to shorten math textbooks, which are often up to a thousand pages long. The panel says math books are much smaller in many nations where students do better in math than American children. Publishers say American textbooks have to meet the goals of different states for what should be taught in each grade. Also, the report calls for more research on the effects of using calculators. Many algebra teachers expressed concern about their use in the lower grades. And the report says gifted students who can move through the material much faster than others should be permitted to do so. The math panel says the educational system needs major changes. If not, it warns that the United States will lose the mathematical leadership it possessed during most of the twenty first century.
1. What is the US National Mathematics Advisory Panel intended to do according to the text?
Test Five As my fine professor of economics Lowell Harriss used to tell us, economics is the study of the allocation of scarce goods and services. What could be scarcer or more precious than love? It is rare, hard to come by and often fragile. My primary life study has been about love. Second comes economics, so here, in the form of a few rules, is a little amalgam (统一体) of the two fields: the economics of love. In general, and with rare exceptions, the returns in love situations are roughly proportional to the amount of time and devotion invested. The amount of love you get from an investment in love is correlated, if only roughly, to the amount of yourself you invest in the relationship. If you invest caring, patience and unselfishness, you get those things back. High-quality bonds consistently yield more return than junk, and so it is with high-quality love. As for the returns on bonds, I know that my comment will come as a surprise to people who have been brainwashed into thinking that junk bonds are free money. They aren't. The data from bond research, W. Braddock Hickman, shows that junk debt outperforms high quality only in rare situations, because of the default risk. In love, the data is even clearer. Stay with high-quality human beings. And once you find that you are in a junk relationship, sell immediately. Junk situations can look appealing and seductive, but junk is junk. Be wary of it unless you control the market. In every long-term romantic situation, returns are greater when there is a monopoly. If you have to share your love with others, if you have to compete even after a brief while with others, forget the whole thing. You want to have monopoly bonds with your long-term lover. At least most situations work out better this way. The returns on your investment should at least equal the cost of the investment. If you are getting less back than you put in over a considerable period of time, back off. To coin a phrase: Fall in love in haste, repent at leisure.
Test Six As home prices continue to decline and loan defaults mount, federal regulators are bracing for dozens of American banks to fail over the next year. But after a large mortgage lender in California collapsed late Friday, Wall Street analysts began posing two crucial questions: Just how many banks might falter? And, more urgently, which one could be next? The nation's banks are in far less danger than they were in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when more than 1,000 federally insured institutions went under during the savings-and-loan crisis. The debacle, the greatest collapse of American financial institutions since the Depression, prompted a government bailout that cost taxpayers about $125 billion. But the troubles are growing so rapidly at some small and midsize banks that as many as 150 out of the 7,500 banks nationwide could fail over the next 12 to 18 months, analysts say. Other lenders are likely to shut branches or seek mergers. "Everybody is drawing up lists, trying to figure out who the next bank is, No. 1, and No. 2, how many of them are there," said Richard X. Bove, the banking analyst with Ladenburg Thalmann, who released a list of troubled banks over the weekend. "And No. 3, from the standpoint of Washington, how badly is it going to affect the economy?" Many investors are on edge after federal regulators seized the California lender, IndyMac Bank, one of the nation's largest savings and loans, last week. With $32 billion in assets, IndyMac, a spinoff of the Countrywide Financial Corporation, was the biggest American lender to fail in more than two decades. Now, as the federal administration grapples with the crisis at the nation's two largest mortgage finance companies (住宅信贷公司), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a rush of earnings reports in the coming days and weeks from some of the nation's largest financial companies are likely to provide more gloomy reminders about the sorry state of the industry. The future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is vital to the banks, savings and loans and credit unions, which own $1.3 trillion of securities issued or guaranteed by the two mortgage companies. If the mortgage giants ever defaulted on those obligations, banks might be forced to raise billions of dollars in additional capital.
1. Wall Street analysts raised two questions concerning bank crisis when ______.
A.home prices in large cities are still in decline
B.loan defaults in New York City are on the rise
C.a large mortgage lender company bankrupted
D.the nation's banks are in less danger than before