Passage One As the defining epidemic of a modem age notable for overconsumption and excess, obesity is hard to beat. The increased availability of high-fat, high-sugar foods, along with more sedentary lifestyles, has helped push the number of obese people worldwide to beyond 400 million, and the number of overweight to more than 1.6 billion. By 2015, those figures are likely to grow to 700 million and 2.3 billion respectively, according to the World Health Organization. Given the health implications—increased risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some cancers—anything that helps people avoid piling on the pounds must be a good thing, right? Those who agree will no doubt welcome the growing success of researchers striving to develop "diet pills" that provide a technical fix for those incapable of losing weight any other way. Last week a study published in The Lancet showed that tesofensine, which works by inducing a sense of fullness, is twice as effective as any other drug at enabling patients to lose weight. There is no question that advances such as this are good news for those with a strong genetic predisposition to obesity. But for the rest of us it is dangerous to see treatment as a more effective solution than prevention. There are several reasons for this. For a start, the traditional ways of maintaining a safe weight, such as limiting what you eat, increase consumption of fruit and vegetables and taking more exercise, are beneficial for our health in many ways. Second, overindulgence in fatty foods has implications for the entire planet. Consider the deleterious environmental effects of the rising demand for meat. As demonstrated in our special issue on economic growth, technological fixes will not compensate for excessive consumption. Third, interfering with the brain circuits that control the desire for food can have an impact on other aspects of a person's personality and their mental and physical health. We need two approaches: more research into the genetics of obesity to understand why some people are more susceptible, and greater efforts to help people avoid eating their way to an early death. Cynics will say we've tried education and it hasn't worked. That is defeatist: getting people to change their behavior takes time and effort, held back as we are by our biological tendency to eat more than we need, and by the food industry's ruthless opportunism in exploiting that. Drugs will be the saving of a few—as a last resort. But the global obesity problem is one of lifestyle, and the solution must be too.
1. In the first paragraph all the figures surrounding obesity reflect ______.
A.a close link between growing obese and developing disease
Passage Two For 150 years scientists have tried to determine the solar constant, the amount of solar energy that reaches the Earth. Yet, even in the most cloud-free regions of the planet, the solar constant cannot be measured precisely. Gas molecules and dust particles in the atmosphere absorb and scatter sunlight and prevent some wavelengths of the light from ever reaching the ground. With the advent of satellites, however, scientists have finally been able to measure the Sun's output without being impeded by the Earth's atmosphere. Solar Max, a satellite from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA), has been measuring the Sun's output since February 1980. Although a malfunction in the satellite's control system limited its observation for a few years, the satellite was repaired in orbit by astronauts from the space shuffle in 1984. Max's observations indicate that the solar constant is not really constant after all. The satellite's instruments have detected frequent, small variations in the Sun's energy output, generally amounting to no more than 0.05 percent of the Sun's mean energy output and lasting from a few days to a few weeks. Scientists believe these fluctuations coincide with the appearance and disappearance of large groups of sunspots on the Sun's disk. Sunspots are relatively dark regions on the Sun's surface that have strong magnetic fields and a temperature about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the rest of the Sun's surface. Particularly large fluctuations in the solar constant have coincided with sightings of large sunspot groups. In 1980, for example, Solar Max's instruments registered a 0.3 percent drop in the solar energy reaching the Earth. At that time a sunspot group covered about 0.6 percent of the solar disk, an area 20 times larger than the Earth's surface. Long-term variations in the solar constant are more difficult to determine. Although Solar Max's data have indicated a slow and steady decline in the Sun's output, some scientists have thought that the satellite's aging detectors might have become less sensitive over the years, thus falsely indicating a drop in the solar constant. This possibility was dismissed, however, by comparing solar Max's observations with data from a similar instrument operating on NASA's Nimbus 7 weather satellite since 1978.
1. According to the passage, scientists believe variations in the solar constant are related to ______.
Passage Three Most people would be impressed by the high quality of medicine available to most Americans. There is a lot of specialization, a great deal of attention to the individual, a vast amount of advanced technical equipment, and intense effort not to make mistakes because of the financial risk which doctors and hospitals must face in the courts if they handle things badly. But the Americans are in a mess. The problem is the way in which health care is organized and financed. Contrary to public belief, it is not just a free competition system. To the private system has been joined a large public system, because private care was simply not looking after the less fortunate and the elderly. But even with this huge public part of the system, which this year will eat up 84.5 billion dollars—more than 10 percent of the U.S. budget—large numbers of Americans are left out. These include about half the 11 million unemployed and those who fail to meet the strict limits on income fixed by a government trying to make savings where it can. The basic problem, however, is that there is no central control over the health system. There is no limit to what doctors and hospitals charge for their services. Other than what the public is able to pay. The number of doctors has shot up and prices have climbed. When faced with toothache, a sick child, or a heart attack, all the unfortunate person concerned can do is pay up. Two-thirds of the population are covered by medical insurance. Doctors charge as much as they want knowing that the insurance company will pay the bill. The medical profession has as a result become America's new big businessmen. The average income of doctors has now reached $100,000 a year. With such vast incomes the talk in the doctor's surgery is as likely to be about the doctor's latest financial deal, as about whether the minor operation he is recommending at several thousand dollars is entirely necessary. The rising cost of medicine in the U.S.A. is among the most worrying problem facing the country. In 1981 the country's health cost climbed 15.9 percent—about twice as fast as prices in general.
1. In the U.S. patients can expect, in medical treatment, ______.
A.occasional mistakes by careless doctors
B.a great deal of personal attention
C.low charge by doctors and hospitals
D.stacking nurses and bad services
A B C D
B
[解析] 细节题。第一段提到美国的医疗措施很不错,专业化很强,对病人照顾周全,医疗器械也很先进等。A、C两项与原文内容不符;B项和文中“a great deal of attention to the individual”是一致的;D项在文中没有体现。故答案为B。
2. Doctors and hospitals try hard to avoid making mistakes because ______.
Passage Four The bird flu virus is mutating and becoming more dangerous to mammals, according to researchers. The discovery reinforces fears that a human pandemic of the disease could yet occur. Avian flu hit the headlines in 1997 when a strain called H5N1 jumped from chickens to people, killing 6 people in Hong Kong. Within 3 days, the country's entire chicken population was slaughtered and the outbreak was controlled. Since then new strains of virus have emerged, killing a further 14 people. As yet, no strain has been able to jump routinely from person to person. But if a more virulent strain evolves, the fear is that it could trigger widespread outbreaks, potentially affecting millions of people. Now, genetic and animal studies show that the virus is becoming more menacing to mammals. Immediate action is needed to stem the virus's transmission, says Hualan Chen from Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, China, who was involved in the research. Chen and colleagues studied 21 H5N1 flu virus samples taken from apparently healthy ducks, which act as a natural reservoir for the disease, in southern China between 1999 and 2002. The researchers inoculated groups of chickens, mice and ducks with virus samples taken from different years and waited to see which animals became ill. Their results are presented this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. As expected, ducks were immune to the virus's effects and the chickens fell sick. However, the mice also became ill, losing weight and the use of their limbs. Crucially, the severity of their illness was linked with the year from which the virus sample was taken. Viruses isolated in 2001 and 2002 made the animals more ill than those isolated earlier on. The findings hint that some time around 2001, the virus became adept at infecting mammals. Genetic analysis of the same samples reveals that the virus's DNA changed over that time, suggesting that accumulated mutations may have contributed to the increased virulence. Researchers are concerned that a virus that has acquired the ability to infect mice could also infect humans. "The disease could resurge at any time," warns virologist Marion Koopmans from the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment in Bilthoven, the Netherlands. The findings highlight the need for improved surveillance to ensure that any future outbreaks are curtailed, she says. Although domestic poultry are easily culled, wild animals are more difficult to contain. "It is impossible to eradicate the natural reservoir," says Koopmans, "so we need to learn to live with it." Birds may not be the only villains in this story, however. Chen believes that pigs may also play a part. In Asia, chickens and pigs are often kept in close proximity, so the virus may have shuffled back and forth between the 2 species, picking up mutations and becoming better at infecting mammalian hosts. Humans may then have caught the disease from swine.
1. This passage is mainly concerned with ______.
A.the spread of the bird flu virus to mammals
B.the domestic and wild poultry population
C.H5N1 isolated only from chicken
D.a new virus strain jumping routinely from person to person
Passage Five Although genetic mutations in bacteria and viruses can lead to epidemics, some epidemics are caused by bacteria and viruses that have undergone no significant genetic change. In analyzing the latter, scientists have discovered the importance of social and ecological factors to epidemics. Poliomyelitis, for example, emerged as an epidemic in the United States in the twentieth century, by then, modern sanitation was able to delay exposure to polio until adolescence or adulthood, at which time polio infection produced paralysis. Previously, infection had occurred during infancy, when it typically provided lifelong immunity without paralysis. Thus, the hygiene that helped prevent typhoid epidemics indirectly fostered a paralytic polio epidemic. Another example is Lyme disease, which is caused by bacteria that are transmitted by deer ticks. It occurred only sporadically during the late nineteenth century, but has recently become prevalent in parts of the United States, largely due to an increase in the deer population that occurred simultaneously with the growth of the suburbs and increased outdoor recreational activities in the deer's habitat. Similarly, an outbreak of dengue hemorrhagic fever became an epidemic in Asia in the 1950s because of ecological changes that caused Aedesaegypti, the mosquito that transmits the dengue virus, to proliferate. The stage is now set in the United States for a dengue epidemic because of the inadvertent introduction and wide dissemination of another mosquito, Aedesalbopictus.
1. The passage suggests that a lack of modern sanitation would make ______ most likely to occur.
A.an epidemic of paralytic polio among adolescents and adults
B.an outbreak of dengue hemorrhagic fever
C.an epidemic of typhoid
D.an epidemic of paralytic polio among infants
A B C D
C
[解析] 这篇短文主要讲述了即使细菌和病毒的基因转变会造成传染病的流行,但是科学家发现社会因素和生态因素是流行病传染的另两个重要因素。 细节题。题目问的是文章暗示,如果没有现代卫生设备,______会很容易发生。根据文中第五句“Thus, the hygiene that helped prevent typhoid epidemics indirectly fostered a paralytic polio epidemic”可知,卫生设备系统抑制了伤寒病和麻痹性脊髓灰质炎疫情的传播,因此,如果没有卫生设备系统,伤寒病和麻痹性脊髓灰质炎将会传播。故选C。 [参考译文] 虽然细菌和病毒的基因突变可导致传染病的流行,一些传染病由细菌和病毒导致,没有进行显著的遗传变化。在分析后一种后,科学家们发现了流行病中社会和生态因素的重要性。例如,20世纪出现在美国的流行疾病——小儿麻痹症,当时的卫生技术能够延迟小儿麻痹症的发病期直到青春期或成年期,而在这段时间的小儿麻痹症感染而产生瘫痪。此前,感染发生在婴儿时期,但它通常因为终身免疫而不会导致瘫痪。因此,有助于防止伤寒疫情的卫生设备系统间接预防了麻痹性脊髓灰质炎的疫情。另一个例子是莱姆病,这是由鹿蜱传播的细菌引起的。它零星的发生在19世纪末,但最近在美国部分地区流行。这主要是由于鹿蜱数量的增加,并且同时郊区的人口增长以及他们在鹿蜱栖息地的户外休闲活动的增加。同样,1950年亚洲的出血性登革热是因为埃及伊蚊的生态变化,蚊子的繁殖传播了登革热病毒。现阶段的美国登革热流行病是因为无意引进另一种蚊子——白纹伊蚊和其广泛传播。
2. According to the passage, the outbreak of dengue hemorrhagic fever in the 1950s occurred for the reason that ______.
A.the mosquito Aedesaegypti was newly introduced into Asia
B.the mosquito Aedesaegypti became more numerous
C.the mosquito Aedesalbopictus became infected with the dengue virus
D.more people began to visit and inhabit areas in which mosquitoes live and breed
A B C D
B
[解析] 细节题。题目问的是根据文章内容,20世纪50年代登革出血热发生的原因是______。根据“dengue hemorrhagic fever in the 1950s”定位到文中倒数第二句“...because of ecological changes that caused Aedesaegypti, the mosquito that transmits the dengue virus, to proliferate”可知由蚊子的繁殖传播了登革热病毒。故选B。
3. It can be inferred from the passage that Lyme disease has become prevalent in parts of the United States because of ______.
A.the inadvertent introduction of Lyme disease bacteria to the United States
B.the inability of modern sanitation methods to eradicate Lyme disease bacteria
C.a genetic mutation in Lyme disease bacteria that makes them more virulent
D.an increase in the number of humans who encounter deer ticks
A B C D
D
[解析] 细节题。题目问的是根据文章内容,莱姆病在美国部分地区流行的原因是______。根据Lyme disease定位到文中第六、七句“Lyme disease, which is caused by bacteria that are transmitted by deer ticks...recently become prevalent in parts of the United States, largely due to an increase in the deer population...and increased outdoor recreational activities in the deer's habitat”可知,莱姆病在美国部分地区流行是由于鹿蜱传播了导致莱姆病的病菌,而越来越多的人又接触到鹿蜱,故选D。
4. Which of the following can most reasonably be concluded about the mosquito Aedesalbopictus based upon the passage? ______
A.It is native to the United States.
B.It can proliferate only in Asia.
C.It transmits the dengue virus.
D.It caused an epidemic of dengue hemorrhagic fever in the 1950s.
A B C D
C
[解析] 细节题。题目问的是根据原文能归纳出下面哪一项关于Aedesalbopictus蚊子的信息?根据the mosquito Aedesalbopictus定位到文章最后一句话“The stage is now set in the United States for a dengue epidemic because of the inadvertent introduction and wide dissemination of another mosquito, Aedesalbopictus”可知,由于白纹伊蚊的大量繁殖,登革热将再次侵入美国。故选C。
5. Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the author's assertion about the cause of the Lyme disease outbreak in the United States? ______
A.The deer population was smaller in the late 19th century than in the mid-20th century.
B.Interest in outdoor recreation began to grow in the late 19th century.
C.In recent years the suburbs have stopped growing.
D.Scientists have not yet developed a vaccine that can prevent Lyme disease.
Passage Six Publishing in scientific journals is the most common and powerful means to disseminate new research findings. Visibility and credibility in the scientific world require publishing in journals that are included in global indexing databases such as those of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). Most scientists in developing countries remain at the periphery of this critical communication process, exacerbating the low international recognition and impact of their accomplishments. For science to become maximally influential and productive across the globe, this needs to change. The economy of electronic publication, open access, and property rights fuel current academic and policy debates about scientific publishing in the industrialized world. The concerns in the developing world (with few ISI-indexed journals) focus on more fundamental questions, such as sustaining local research activity and achieving the appropriate global reach of its science activities. The essence of the African situation is captured by R.J.W. Tijssen's analysis of publications by African authors, which was based not only on data from ISI indexing databases, but also on publications not indexed in this system. Surprisingly, half of the South African citations in the indexed ISI literature are to articles in nonindexed, locally published journals. Also, several nonindexed local journals are cited in the ISI system at about the same rate as are indexed journals. The share of indexed articles with at least one author with an African address remains steady at about 1%. About half of the ISI-indexed papers with at least one author with an African address have non-African partners outside of the continent. These figures vary, country by country, sometimes in surprising ways. For example, 85% of the papers published from Mali or Gabon involve collaborations on other continents, versus 39% and 29%, respectively, for South African and Egypt, the continent's leading research producers. Thus, much of the Africa research system is now highly dependent on collaborations. How can the global reach and potential impact of scientific research in Africa and other developing countries be optimized? Of primary importance is boosting the quality and quantity of work that is locally published, through measures including review of submissions by peers research opportunities. A proliferation of journals, short-lived publications, print-only journals, and poor distribution constitutes a picture that must change. A nationally organized project can probably make the biggest difference, with investment by government and research-support agencies, as well as wide participation by local and regional scientific communities.
1. The author cries for a change in ______.
A.the recognition of new research findings
B.the allocation of research resources
C.the global indexing database
D.global science publishing
A B C D
D
[解析] 归纳题。根据题干关键词组cry for a change 定位到第一段最后一句“...this needs to change. ”可知,this即为本题答案。该段讲到发表文章是新研究成果传播的方式,在科学界的声誉需要在全球索引数据库中的期刊发表成果。而发展中国家的科学家却在这个关键沟通过程的外围逡巡。因此,this指代的是在全球范围内科研领域发表科研成果的现状,故D选项是最佳答案。
2. According to the author, the low international recognition and the impact of scientists of developing countries are attributed to ______.
A.their reluctance to publish the ISI journals
B.their low involvement in international science activities
C.their limited publications in global indexing database
D.their poor understanding of the current scientific practices
A B C D
C
[解析] 细节理解题。根据low international and the impact of scientists of developing countries定位到第一段中Most scientists in developing countries remain at the periphery of this critical communication process, exacerbating the low international recognition and impact of their accomplishments,可知原因为“大多数发展中国家的科学家一直都在这一关键沟通进程(全球发表)外围徘徊”,因此本题答案为C。
3. The survey conducted by Tijssen justified the author's view that ______.
A.to publish is to disseminate new research findings across the globe
B.new research findings ought be published in the globally indexed journals
C.such importance should be attached to global collaborations in doing science
D.most scientists in developing countries remain marginalized in global science publishing
4. To address the current situation, the author argues that it is imperative that ______.
A.developing countries establish a set of standards in science of publishing
B.scientists have their own journals in developing countries
C.more scientific studies be both qualified and quantified
D.quality and quantity be desired in the local journals
A B C D
D
[解析] 细节理解题。通过“address the current situation(解决现有问题)”定位到最后一段。该段首句提出:该如何优化非洲和其他发展中国家科研的影响力呢?紧随其后作者谈到of primary importance(至关重要的)是提升本土发表文章的质量和数量。因此本题答案为D。
5. Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?