Unit 14
Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension
(35 minutes)
Directions: There are 4 reading 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). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.
Passage One
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage:
Many Americans harbour a grossly distorted and exaggerated view of most of the risks surrounding food. Fergus Clydesdale, head of the department of food science and nutrition at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, says bluntly that if the dangers from bacterially contaminated chicken were as great as some people believe. “the streets would be littered with people lying here and there.”
Though the public increasingly demands no-risk food, there is no such thing. Bruce Ames, chairman of the biochemistry department at the University of California, Berkeley, points out that up to 10% of a plant's weight is made up of natural pesticides (杀虫剂). Says he: “Since plants do not have jaws or teeth to protect themselves, they employ chemical warfare.” And many naturally produced chemicals, though occurring in tiny amounts, prove in laboratory tests to be strong carcinogens — a substance which can cause cancer. Mushrooms (蘑菇) might be banned if they were judged by the same standards that apply to food additives (添加剂). Declares Christina Stark, a nutritionist at Cornell University: “We've got far worse natural chemicals in the food supply than anything man-made.”
Yet the issues are not that simple. While Americans have no reason to be terrified to sit down at the dinner table, they have every reason to demand significant improvements in food and water safety. They unconsciously and unwillingly take in too much of too many dangerous chemicals. If food already contains natural carcinogens, it does not make much sense to add dozens of new man made ones. Though most people will withstand the small amounts of contaminants generally found in food and water, at least a few individuals will probably get cancer one day because of what they eat and drink.
To make good food and water supplies even better, the Government needs to tighten its regulatory standards, stiffen its inspection program and strengthen its enforcement policies. The food industry should modify some long-accepted practies or turn to less hazardous alternatives. Perhaps most important, consumers will have to do a better job of learning how to handle and cook food properly. The problems that need to be tackled exist all along the food-supply chain, from fields to processing plants to kitchens.
21. What does the author think of the Americans' view of their food?
A) They overstate the government's interference with the food industry.
B) They are overoptimistic about the safety of their food.
C) They overestimate the hazards of their food.
D) They overlook the risks of the food they eat.
22. The author considers it impossible to obtain no-risk food because .
A) no food is free from pollution in the environment
B) pesticides are widely used in agriculture
C) many vegetables contain dangerous natural chemicals
D) almost all foods have additives
23. By saying “they employ chemical warfare”(Line 4, Para. 2), Bruce Ames means “ ”.
A) plants produce certain chemicals to combat pests and diseases
B) plants absorb useful chemicals to promote their growth
C) farmers use man-made chemicals to dissolve the natural chemicals in plants.
D) farmers use chemicals to protect plants against pests and diseases
24. The reduction of the possible hazards in food ultimately depends on .
A) the government
B) the consumer
C) the processor
D) the grower
25. What is the message the author wants to convey in the passage?
A) Eating and drinking have become more hazardous than before.
B) Immediate measures must be taken to improve food production and processing.
C) Health food is not a dream in modern society.
D) There is reason for caution but no cause for alarm with regard to food consumption.
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage:
There are some phenomena you can count on, but the magnetic field, someday is not of them. It fluctuates in strength, drifts from its axis, and every few 100,000 years undergo dramatic polarity reversal — a period when north pole becomes south pole and south pole becomes north pole. But how is the field generated, and why is it so unstable?
Groundbreaking research by two French geophysicists promises to shed some light on the mystery. Using 80 metres of deep sea sediment (沉淀物) core, they have obtained measured lots of magnetic-field intensity that span 11 polarity reversals and four million years. The analysis reveals that intensity appears to fluctuate with a clear, well-defined rhythm. Although the strength of the magnetic field varies irregularly during the short term, there seems to be an inevitable longterm decline preceding each polarity reversal. When the poles flip — a process that takes several hundred thousand years — the magnetic field rapidly regains its strength and the cycle is repeated.
The results have caused a stir among geophysicists. The magnetic field is thought to originate from molten (熔化的) iron in the outer core, 3,000 kilometres beneath the earth's surface. By studying mineral grains found in material ranging from rocks to clay articles, previous researchers have already been able to identify reversals dating back 170 million years, including the most recent switch730,000 years ago. How and why they occur, however, has been widely debated. Several theories link polarity flips to external disasters such as meteor (陨星) impacts. But Peter Olson, a geophysicist at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, says this is unlikely if the French researchers are right. In fact, Olson says intensity that predictably declines from one reversal to the next contradicts 90 percent of the models currently under study. If the results prove to be valid geophysicists will have a new theory to guide them in their quest to understand the earth's inner physics. It certainly points the direction for future research.
26. Which of the following titles is most appropriate to the passage?
A) Polarity Reversal: A Fantastic Phenomenon of Nature
B) Measurement of the Earth's Magnetic-Field Intensity
C) Formation of the Two Poles of the Earth
D) A New Approach to the Study of Geophysics
27. The word “flip”(Line 6, Para. 2) most probably means “ ”.
A) decline
B) intensify
C) fluctuate
D) reverse
28. What have the two French geophysicists discovered in their research?
A) Some regularity in the changes of the earth's magnetic field.
B) Some causes of the fluctuation of the earth's magnetic field.
C) The origin of the earth's magnetic field.
D) The frequency of polarity reversals.
29. The French geophysicists' study is different from currently prevailing theories in .
A) its identification of the origin of the earth's magnetic field
B) the way the earth's magnetic intensity is measured
C) its explanation of the shift in the earth's polarity
D) the way the earth's fluctuation rhythm is defined
30. In Peter Olson's opinion the French experiment .
A) is likely to direct further research in the inner physics of the earth
B) has successfully solved the mystery of polarity reversals
C) is certain to help predict external disasters
D) has caused great confusion among the world's geophysicists
Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage:
Imagine a world in which there was suddenly no emotion — a world in which human beings could feel no love or happiness, no terror or hate. Try to imagine the consequences of such a transformation. People might not be able to stay alive: knowing neither joy nor pleasure, anxiety nor fear, they would be as likely to repeat acts that hurt them as acts that were beneficial. They could not learn: they could not benefit from experience because this emotionless world would lack rewards and punishments. Society would soon disappear: people would be as likely to harm one another as to provide help and support. Human relationships would not exist: in a world without friends or enemies, there could be no marriage, affection among companions, or bonds among members of groups. Society's economic underpinnings (支柱) would be destroyed: since earning $ 10 million would be no more pleasant than carning $ 10, there would be no incentive to work. In fact, there would be no incentives of any kind. For as we will see, incentives imply a capacity to enjoy them.
In such a world, the chances that the human species would survive are next to zero, because emotions are the basic instrument of our survival and adaptation. Emotions structure the world for us in important ways. As individuals, we categorize objects on the basis of our emotions. True we consider the length, shape, size, or texture, but an object's physical aspects are less important than what it has done or can do to us — hurt us, surprise us, anger us or make us joyful. We also use categorizations colored by emotions in our families, communities, and overall society. Out of our emotional experiences with objects and events comes a social feeling of agreement that certain things and actions are “good” and others are “bad”, and we apply these categories to every aspect of our social life — from what foods we eat and what clothes we wear to how we keep promises and which people our group will accept. In fact, society exploits our emotional reactions and attitudes, such as loyalty, morality, pride, shame, guilt, fear and greed, in order to maintain itself. It gives high rewards to individuals who perform important tasks such as surgery, makes heroes out of individuals for unusual or dangerous achievements such as flying fighter planes in a war, and uses the legal and penal (刑法的) system to make people afraid to engage in antisocial acts.
31. The reason why people might not be able to stay alive in a world without emotion is that .
A) they would not be able to tell the texture of objects
B) they would not know what was beneficial and what was harmful to them
C) they would not be happy with a life without love
D) they would do things that hurt each other's feelings
32. According to the passage, people's learning activities are possible because they .
A) believe that emotions are fundamental for them to stay alive
B) benefit from providing help and support to one another
C) enjoy being rewarded for doing the right thing
D) know what is vital to the progress of society
33. It can be inferred from the passage that the economic foundation of society is dependent on .
A) the ability to make money
B) the will to work for pleasure
C) the capacity to enjoy incentives
D) the categorizations of our emotional experiences
34. Emotions are significant for man's survival and adaptation because .
A) they provide the means by which people view the size or shape of objects
B) they are the basis for the social feeling of agreement by which society is maintained
C) they encourage people to perform dangerous achievements
D) they generate more love than hate among people
35. The emotional aspects of an object are more important than its physical aspects in that they .
A) help society exploit its members for profit
B) encourage us to perform important tasks
C) help to perfect the legal and penal system
D) help us adapt our behavior to the world surrounding us
Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage:
The Carnegie Foundation report says that many colleges have tried to be “all things to all people”. In doing so, they have increasingly catered to a narrow minded careerism while failing to cultivate a global vision among their students. The current crisis, it contends, does not derive from a legitimate desire to put learning to productive ends. The problem is that in too many academic fields, the work has no context; skills, rather than being means, have become ends. Students are offered a variety of options and allowed to pick their way to a degree. In short, driven by careerism, “the nation's colleges and universities are more successful in providing credentials (文凭) than in providing a quality education for their students.” The report concludes that the special challenge confronting the undergraduate college is one of shaping an “integrated core” of common learning. Such a core would introduce students “to essential knowledge, to connections across the disciplines, and in the end, to application of knowledge to life beyond the campus.”
Although the key to a good college is a high—quality faculty, the Carnegie study found that most colleges do very little to encourage good teaching. In fact, they do much to undermine it. As one professor observed: “Teaching is important, we are told, and yet faculty know that research and publication matter most.” Not surprisingly, over the last twenty years colleges and universities have failed to graduate half of their four-year degree candidates. Faculty members who dedicate themselves to teaching soon discover that they will not be granted tenure (终身任期), promotion, or substantial salary increases. Yet 70 percent of all faculty say their interests lie more in teaching than in research. Additionally, a frequent complaint among young scholars is that “There is pressure to publish, although there is virtually no interest among administrators or colleagues in the content of the publications.”
36. When a college tries to be “all things to all people”(Lines 1-2, Para. 1), it aims to .
A) satisfy the needs of all kinds of students simultaneously
B) focus on training students in various skills
C) encourage students to take as many courses as possible
D) make learning serve academic rather than productive ends
37. By saying that “in too many academic fields, the work has no context”(Lines 4-5, Pare. 1) the author means that the teaching in these areas .
A) ignores the actual situation
B) is not based on the right perspective
C) only focuses on an integrated core of common learning
D) gives priority to the cultivation of a global vision among students
38. One of the reasons for the current crisis in American colleges and universities is that .
A) a narrow vocationalism has come to dominate many colleges
B) students don't have enough freedom in choosing what they want to learn
C) skills are being taught as a means to an end
D) students are only interested in obtaining credentials
39. American colleges and universities failed to graduate half of their four-year degree candidates because .
A) most of them lack high-quality faculties
B) the interests of most faculty members lie in research
C) there are not enough incentives for students to study hard
D) they attach greater importance to research and publication than to teaching
40. It can be inferred from the passage that high-quality college education calls for .
A) putting academic work in the proper context
B) a commitment to students and effective teaching
C) the practice of putting learning to productive ends
D) dedication to research in frontier areas of knowledge