Passage One The popular idea that classical music can improve your maths is falling from favor. New experiments have failed to support the widely publicized finding that Mozart's music promotes mathematical thinking. Researchers reported six years ago that listening to Mozart brings about short-term improvements in spatial-temporal reasoning, the type of thinking used in maths. Gordon Shaw of the University of California at Irvine and Frances Rauscher of the University of Wisconsin in Oshkosh had asked students to perform spatial tasks such as imagining how a piece of paper would look if it were folded and cut in a certain pattern. Some of the students then listened to a Mozart sonata and took the test again. The performance of the Mozart group improved. Shaw found. He reasoned that listening to Mozart increases the number of connections between neurons. But Kenneth Steele of Appalachian State University in North Carolina learnt that other studies failed to find this effect. He decided to repeat one of Shaw's experiments to see for himself. Steele divided 125 students into three groups and tested their abilities to work out how paper would look if cut and folded. One group listened to Mozart another listened to a piece by Philip Glass and the third did not listen to anything. Then the students took the test again. No group showed any statistically significant improvement in their abilities. Steele concludes that the Mozart effect doesn't exist "It's about as unproven and as unsupported as you can get," he says. Shaw however defends his study. One reason he gives is that people who perform poorly in the initial test get the greatest boost from Mozart but Steele didn't separate his students into groups based on ability. "We're still at the stage where it needs to be examined." Shaw says. "I suspect that the more we understand the neurobiology, the more we'll be able to design tests that give a robust effect."
1. It has been recently found out that ______.
A.Mozart had an aptitude of music because of his mathematical thinking
B.classical music cannot be expected to improve one's math
C.the effects of music on health are widely recognized
Passage Two Children are getting so fat they may be the first generation to die before their parents, an expert claimed yesterday. Today's youngsters are already falling prey to potential killers such as diabetes because of their weight. Fatty fast-food diets combined with sedentary lifestyles dominated by televisions and computers could mean kids will die tragically young, says Professor Andrew Prentice, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. At the same time, the shape of the human body is going through a huge evolutionary shift because adults are getting so fat. Here in Britain, latest research shows that the average waist size for a man is 36-38in and may be 42-44in by 2032. This compares with only 32.6 in in 1972. Women's waists have grown from an average of 22 inches in 1920 to 24 inches in the Fifties and 30 inches now. One of the major reasons why children now are at greater risk is that we are getting fatter younger. In the UK alone, more than one million under-16s are classed as overweight or obese—double the number in the mid-Eighties. One in ten four-year-olds are also medically classified as obese. The obesity pandemic—an extensive epidemic—which started in the US, has now spread to Europe, Australia, Central America and the Middle East. Many nations now record more than 20 per cent of their population as clinically obese and well over half the population as overweight. Prof Prentice said the change in our shape has been caused by a glut of easily available high-energy foods combined with a dramatic drop in the energy we use as a result of technology developments. He is not alone in his concern. Only last week one medical journal revealed how obesity was fuelling a rise in cancer cases. Obesity also increases the risk factor for strokes and heart disease. An averagely obese person's lifespan is shortened by around nine years while a severely obese person by many more. Prof Prentice said: "So will parents outlive their children, as claimed recently by an American obesity specialist?" The answer is yes—and no. Yes, when the offspring become grossly obese. This is now becoming an alarmingly common occurrence in the US. Such children and adolescents have a greatly reduced quality of life in terms of both their physical and psychosocial health. So say No to that doughnut and burger.
1. What does the word "sedentary (Para. 2)" mean?
A.Sit still.
B.Eat too much.
C.Study very hard.
D.Passive thinking.
A B C D
A
[解析] sedentary出现在Fatty fast-food diets combined with sedentary lifestyles dominated by televisions and computers could mean kids will die tragically young,...句意为“脂肪含量过高的快餐饮食,加上电视和电脑使得孩子们养成了sedentary的生活方式,极有可能大大缩短年轻一代的寿命”,“电视和电脑”是养成孩子们sedentary的生活方式的原因,由此可见,sedentary指“久坐不动”。
2. Which statement is TRUE?
A.The average waist size for a man is 36-38in.
B.The average waist size for a woman is 30in.
C.In the mid-Eighties, more than half million under-16s in the UK are classed as overweight.
D.The obesity pandemic has now spread to South America.
A B C D
C
[解析] 文章第三段提到In the UK alone, more than one million under-16s are classed as overweight or obese-double the number in the mid-Eighties. “仅仅在英国,就有100多万16岁以下的儿童被归为超重或者肥胖,比80年代中期多了一倍”,可见C项符合。
3. According to Prof Prentice, what are the reasons for the change in our shape?
A.We eat too much and refuse to do physical exercises.
B.High-energy foods are easy to get and technology develops fast.
C.High-energy foods are the main diet and we use technology.
D.High-energy foods are easy to get and we consume less energy.
A B C D
D
[解析] Prof. Prentice指出“...the change in our shape has been caused by a glut of easily available high-energy foods combined with a dramatic drop in the energy we use as a result of technology developments. ”意为“导致我们体形变化的原因是,现代生活中高热量食物随处可见,随手可得,而科技的发展使得人们每天消耗的热量却大大减少”,符合这句句意的是D项。
4. Obesity increases the risk factor of ______.
A.diabetes, short sight, cancer, strokes
B.diabetes, cancer, strokes, psychosocial illness
C.cancer, strokes, fatty, heart disease
D.strokes, heart disease, diabetes, headache
A B C D
B
[解析] 文章开头就指出diabetes(糖尿病)是肥胖引起的病症,其后陆续提到cancer, strokes and heart disease,最后还有“...adolescents have a greatly reduced quality of life in terms of both their physical and psychosocial health. ”(就青少年的生理和心理健康而言,他们的生活质量大大降低了。)即psychosocial illness也与肥胖有关,没有提到“近视”,而且obesity本身就是fatty,因此符合的只有B项。
5. What does the author mean by "So say No to that doughnut and burger"?
A.Answering the question "will parents outlive their children?".
Passage Three Being a man has always been dangerous. There are about 105 males born for every 100 females, but this ratio drops to near balance at the age of maturity, and among 70-year-olds there are twice as many women as men. But the great universal of male mortality is being changed. Now, by babies survive almost as well as girls do. This means that, for the first time, there will be an excess of boys in those crucial years when they are searching for a mate. More important, another chance for natural selection has been removed. Fifty years ago, the chance of a baby (particularly a boy baby) surviving depended on its weight. A kilogram too light or too heavy meant almost certain death. Today it makes almost no difference. Since much of the variation is due to genes one more agent of evolution has gone. There is another way to commit evolutionary suicide: stay alive, but have fewer children. Few people are as fertile as in the past. Except in some religious communities, very few women have 15 children. Nowadays the number of births, like the age of death, has become average. Most of us have roughly the same number of offspring. Again, differences between people and the opportunity for natural selection to take advantage of it have diminished. India shows what is happening. The country offers wealth for a few in the great cities and poverty for the remaining tribal peoples. The grand mediocrity of today everyone being the same in survival and number of offspring means that natural selection has lost 80% of its power in upper-middle-class India compared to the tribes. For us, this means that evolution is over; the biological Utopia has arrived. Strangely, it has involved little physical changes. No other species fills so many places in nature. But in the past 100,000 years even the past 100 years, our lives have been transformed but our bodies have not. We did not evolve, because machines and society did it for us. Darwin had a phrase to describe those ignorant of evolution—they "look at an organic being as average looks at a ship, as at something wholly beyond his comprehension". No doubt we will remember a 20th century way of life beyond comprehension for its ugliness. But however amazed our descendants may be at how far from Utopia we were, they will look just like us.
1. What used to be the danger in being a man according to the first paragraph?
A.A lack of mates.
B.A fierce competition.
C.A lower survival rate.
D.A defective gene.
A B C D
C
[解析] 文章第一段开头是答题的关键:Being a man has always been dangerous...But the great universal of male mortality is being changed. 可见,男性的出生率高于女性,但是随着年龄增加,男女比例呈明显下降趋势。作者试图用这些数据表明,生为男人的危险并不是在于寻找配偶的困难,而是男性的死亡率(male mortality)远远高于女性。
2. What does the example of India illustrate?
A.Wealthy people tend to have fewer children than poor people.
B.Natural selection hardly works among the rich and the poor.
C.The middle class population is 80% smaller than that of the tribes.
D.India is one of the countries with a very high birthrate.
A B C D
B
[解析] 根据第二段最后两句话“The country offers wealth for a few...in upper-middle-class India compared to the tribes. ”(这个国家为少数大城市的人提供了大量的财富,而其他的部落人却很贫穷。今天每个人都有大体相同的存活率和后代人数,这就意味着与部落相比,自然选择在中高阶级印第安人中已经失去了80%的效力。)这与B中“Natural selection hardly works among the rich and the poor”的意思相吻合。
3. The author argues that our bodies have stopped evolving because ______.
A.life has been improved by technological advance
B.the number of female babies has been declining
C.our species has reached the highest stage of evolution
D.the difference between wealth and poverty is disappearing
A B C D
A
[解析] 在第三段中作者写道:“We did not evolve, because machines and society did it for us. ”换言之,机器的使用、社会的进步使我们的生活发生了变化,即A“技术的进步提高了生活质量”。
4. The word "Utopia" in Paragraph 3 most closely means ______.
A.a perfectly adjusted social system
B.a perfectly evolved state of nature
C.a practically left-behind society
D.an ideally organized society
A B C D
B
[解析] Utopia的意思是“完美的社会”。
5. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A.Sex Ratio Changes in Human Evolution.
B.Ways of Continuing Man's Evolution.
C.The Evolutionary Future of Nature.
D.Human Evolution Going Nowhere.
A B C D
D
[解析] 全文主旨题。文章最后一段对全文内容进行了总结:“For us, this means that evolution is over; the biological Utopia has arrived. (这意味着进化已经结束。)”最后作者说,“But however amazed our descendants may be at how far from Utopia we were, they will look just like us. ”这进一步说明,人类的进化早已经停止。
Passage Four Allelomimetic behavior may be defined as behavior in which two or more individual animals do the same thing, with some degree of mutual simulation and coordination. It can only involve in species with sense organs that are well enough developed so that continuous sensory contact can be maintained. It is found primarily in vertebrate, in those species that are diurnal, and usually in those that spend much of their lives in the air, in open water or on open plains. In birds, allelomimetic behavior is the rule rather than the exception, though it may occasionally be limited to particular seasons of the year as it is in the redwing blackbird. Its principal function is that of providing safety from predators, partly because the flock can rely on many pairs of eyes to watch for enemies, and partly because if one bird reacts to danger, the whole flock is warned. Among mammals, allelomimetic behavior is very rare in rodents, which almost never move in flocks or herds. Even when they are artificially crowded together, they do not conform in their movements. On the other hand, such behavior is a major system among large hoofed mammals such as sheep. In the pack-hunting carnivores, allelomimetic behavior has another function that of cooperative hunting for large prey animals such as moose. Wolves also defend their dens as a group against larger predators, such as bears. Finally, allelomimetic behavior is highly developed among most primate groups, where it has the principal function of providing warning against predators, though combined defensive behavior is also seen in troops of baboons.
1. The author implies that alMomimetic behavior occurs most often among animals that ______.
A.prey on other animals
B.are less intelligent than their enemies
C.move in groups
D.have one sense organ that dominates perception
A B C D
C
[解析] 在文章第三段最后—句话中可以找到答案:On the other hand, such behavior is a major system among large hoofed mammals such as sheep. (另一方面,这种行为在长蹄的大型哺乳动物如羊群等身上最为普遍。)羊群以群体活动为主,这种行为比其他哺乳动物更普遍,因此C为正确答案。A、B和D三项均不合题意。文中提到过猛禽在猎取prey animals(被掠食者)时也有这种allelomimetic behavior的功能,但发生在它们身上的可能性远没有发生在被掠食动物身上的可能陛大。
2. Which of the following is most clearly an example of allelomimetic?
Passage Five The biosphere is the name biologists give to the sort of skin on the surface of this planet that is inhabitable by living organisms. Most land creatures occupy only the interface between the atmosphere and the land; birds extend their range for a few hundred feet into the atmosphere; burrowing invertebrates such as earthworms may reach a few yards into the soil but rarely penetrate father unless it has been recently disturbed by men. Fish cover a wider range, from just beneath the surface of the sea to those depths of greater than a mile inhabited by specialized creatures. Fungi and bacteria are plentiful in the atmosphere to a height of about half a mile, blown there hy winds from the lower air. Balloon exploration of the stratosphere as long ago as 1936 indicated that moulds and bacteria could be found at heights of several miles, recently the USA's National Aeronautics and Space Administration has detected them, in decreasing numbers, at heights up to eighteen feet, compared with 50 to 100 per cubic foot at two to six miles (the usual altitude of jet aircraft), and they are almost certainly in an inactive state. Marine bacteria have been detected at the bottom of the deep Pacific trench, sometimes as deep as seven miles; they are certainly not inactive. Living microbes have also been obtained on land from cores of rock drilled (while prospecting for oil) at depths of as much as 1,200 feet. Thus we can say, disregarding the exploits of astronauts, that the biosphere has a maximum thickness of about twenty-five miles. Active living processes occur only within a compass of about seven miles, in the sea, on land and in the lower atmosphere, but the majority of living creatures live within a zone of a hundred feet or so. If this planet were scaled down to the size of an orange, the biosphere, at its extreme width, would occupy the thickness of the orange-colored skin, excluding the pith. In this tiny zone of our planet takes place the multitude of chemical and biological activities that we call life. The way in which living creatures interact with each other, depend on each other or compete with each other, has fascinated thinkers since the beginning of recorded history. Living things exist in a fine balance which is often taken for granted for, from a practical point of view, things could not be otherwise. Yet it is a source of continual amazement to scientists because of its intricacy and delicacy. The balance of nature is obvious most often when it is disturbed, yet even here it can seem remarkable how quickly it readjusts itself to a new balance after a disturbance. The science of ecology—the study of the interaction of organisms with their environment—has grown up to deal with the minutiae of the balance of nature.
1. According to the passage, the "biosphere" is the layer on the earth's surface ______.
A.where the atmosphere meets the sea
B.in which birds, fish and animals would die
C.in which plant and animal life can exist
D.in which earthworms and other invertebrates can live
A B C D
C
[解析] 细节题。第一段第一句对生物圈进行了释义,指出生物圈是生物学家们对一个表层的命名,这个表层是inhabitable by living organisms(能够被活着的有机体居住),选项C的plant和animal life全面涵盖了living organisms,因此选项C正确。
2. The writer states that fungi and bacteria ______.
A.are only found below the normal altitude of jet planes
B.have been found well at the normal altitude of jet planes
C.are not found below the surface of the earth
D.are mainly found below the surface of the earth
A B C D
B
[解析] 细节题。第一段中作者谈到,美国研究发现fungi和bacteria在18英尺的高空含量明显减少,而且那里的细菌大多处于不活跃状态(inactive state),而在2至6英尺高度,也就是与the usual altitude of jet aircraft相当的高度,每立方英尺则有50到100个细菌。四个选项中,只有B项“细菌在与喷气式飞机相当的高度能够被找到”符合文意。
3. The passage says that the biosphere ______.
A.extends only 1,200 feet below the earth's surface
B.is about seven miles in width
C.is as much as twenty-five miles in thickness
D.is a zone only about one hundred feet wide
A B C D
C
[解析] 细节题。第一段中作者明确指出disregarding the exploits of astronauts(不考虑外空的探索),the biosphere has a maximum thickness of about twenty-five miles(生物圈最厚的地方可达25英里),选项C正确。
4. According to the text, the balance of nature is ______.
A.something which we should not take for granted
B.most frequently apparent when it is upset
C.only now becoming of interest to scientists
D.very difficult to preserve
A B C D
B
[解析] 细节题。第二段结尾部分,作者谈到The balance of nature is obvious most often when it is disturbed(自然界的平衡在被打乱时表现得最为明显),选项B符合此意,该选项中的apparent对应原文的obvious,表示“明显”;upset对应原文的disturb,表示“打乱”。
5. The writer says that ecology is primarily concerned with the ______.
A.finer details of the balance of nature
B.role of organisms in the environment
C.way living creatures compete with each other
D.way nature readjusts to a new balance
A B C D
A
[解析] 细节题。文章结尾部分,作者阐明了生态学ecology的研究对象是the minutiae of the balance of nature,句中minutiae指的是“微小的细节”,选项A中finer details与minutia相对应。
Passage Six In a poor, inland, gang-infested part of Los Angeles, there is a clinic for people with type 1 diabetes. As part of the country health care system, it serves persons who have fallen through all other safety-net options, the poorest of the poor. Although type 2 diabetes is rampant in this part of town, type 1 diabetes exists as well. Yet these latter individuals generally lack access to any specialty care—a type of treatment they desperately need due to a complexity of dealing with type 1 diabetes in the setting of poverty and psychosocial stress. The Type 1 Clinic meets one morning per week and is staffed by four endocrinology fellows and a diabetologist, often me. I have the unique perspective of working part of the time in a county setting and the other part of the time in a clinic for people with health insurance, in Beverly Hills. I know what is possible in the treatment of type 1 diabetes. East Los Angeles teaches me what happens when access to care is not available. Most of our patients, in their 20s and 30s and 40s, already have complications of their diabetes many near end stage. Concepts about maintaining near-normal blood glucose levels often miss their mark—lack of education or money or motivation or factors I can't even imagine make the necessity of a patient acting as his or her own exogenous pancreas nearly impossible, especially when there are acute consequences to hypoglycemia and few to moderate hyperglycemia. Historically, in spite of these barriers, we persisted and thought we made a difference. Often, teaching simple carbohydrate counting or switching therapy to long-acting insulin improved patients control and their quality of life. The fellows felt they made a positive impact in the health of their patients. Driving home I would be encouraged by what we had accomplished, although saddened by the severity of the complications suffered by many of our patients. Yet everything changed with the recession of 2008. In Beverly Hills I heard a lot about the demise of the financial markets. Patients of mine had invested with Bermie Madoff. Some, once billionaires, were now millionaires. Personal assistants and housekeepers were laid off, vacation homes were put on the market, and parties became less lavish. But all still live in safe, clean homes, wear designer clothes, and eat high-quality food. The landscape is very different for many of my East LA patterns. The temporary, part-time jobs they had cobbled together to keep food on the table and pay for housing are gone. I—naively—didn't realize how much worse poverty could get. But now many of our patients are young without food and are becoming homeless. One young man, a college student trying to work his way out of poverty by going to school, lost his job and is living in his car. He is still taking classes but is unable to afford more than a dollar meal from a fast-food restaurant once every day or two. Management of his diabetes involves simply keeping him alive with his erratic, poor eating habit.
1. At the beginning, the author describes the patients with an emphasis on ______.