2009年10月自学考试英语(二)模拟题及解析(1)

　　Ⅴ.Reading Comprehension

　　That “Monday morning feeling” could be a crushing pain in the chest which leaves you sweating and gasping for breathe.Recent research from Germany and Italy shows that heart attacks are more common on Monday mornings and doctors blame the stress of returning to work after the weekend break.

　　The risk of having a heart attack on any given day should be one in seven, but a six-year study revealed that the average person had a 20 per cent higher chance of having a heart attack on a Monday than on any other day.Working Germans are particularly vulnerable(敏感的，脆弱的), with a 33 percent higher risk at the beginning of the working week. Non-workers, by comparison, appear to be no more at risk on a Monday than any other day. Another study of 11,000 Italians identified 8 am. on a Monday morning as the most stressful time for the heart. and both studies showed that Sunday is the least stressful day, with fewer heart attacks in both countries. The research also indicates that the Monday morning peak seems to be consistent from northern Germany to southern Italy in spite of the differences in diet and lifestyle.

　　The findings could lead to a better understanding of what triggers(触发，激起)heart attacks, according to Dr. Stefan Willich. “We know a lot about long-term risk factors such as smoking and cholesterol(胆固醇)but we don’t know what actually triggers heart attacks, so we can't make specific recommendations about how to prevent them,” he said.However, he suggests that anyone who suffers from heart disease should take it easy on Monday mornings and leave potentially stressful meetings until midweek.

　　31. What is the main idea of the passage?

　　A.Monday morning is always painful.

　　B.Monday morning triggers heart attack.

　　C.There are more heart attacks on Monday mornings.

　　D.There is more stress on Monday mornings.

　　答案：C

　　[解析]此题是要旨题，提问的是文章的中心大意。要旨题的目的在于考查学生对文章中心思想的理解程度和区别主要信息和次要信息的能力。要旨是一篇文章的核心，是作者写作意图的体现，其表现形式因体裁不同而不同。就自学考试而言，文章的要旨通常以主题句的形式出现，并且文章的主题句通常出现在文章的开头部分。本文就属此类文章。本文的主题句出现在第一段第二句话，故C是正确答案。