2010年12月英语四六级考试阅读专项练习(18)

　　Passage 2

　　A growing world population and the discoveries of science may __11__ this pattern of distribution in the future. As men slowly learn to master diseases, control floods, prevent famines, and stop wars, fewer people die every year; and in __12__ the population of the world is __13__ increasing. In 1925 there were about 2,000 million people in the world; by the end of the century there may well be over 4,000 million.

　　When numbers rise the 14 mouths must be fed. New lands must be I bought under cultivation, or land already farmed made to __15__ larger crops. In some areas the accessible land is largely so intensively __16__ that it will be difficult to make it provide more food. In some areas the population is so dense that the land is parceled out in units too __17__ to allow for much improvement in farming methods. Were a larger part of this farming population drawn off into industrial occupations, the land might be farmed much more productively by modern methods.

　　There is now a race for science, technology, and industry to keep the __18__ of food rising faster than the number of people to be fed. New strains of crops are being developed which will thrive in __19 __climates; irrigation and dry-farming methods bring poor lands under the plough, dams hold back the waters of great rivers to __20__ water for the fields in all seasons and to provide electric power for new industries; industrial chemistry provides fertilizers to suit particular soils; aero planes spray crops to destroy insects and many plant diseases.

　　A. ensure B. violently C. alter D. harmful

　　E. cultivated F. unique G. transplanted H. yield

　　I. consequence J. output K. extra L. steadily

　　M. tiny N. unfavorable O. produce

　　Passage 3

　　The process of perceiving others is rarely translated (to ourselves or others) into cold, objective terms. "She was 5 feet 8 inches tall, had fair hair, and wore a colored skirt. " More often, we try to get inside the other person to pinpoint (强调 ) his or her attitudes, emotions, motivations, abilities, ideas, and characters. Furthermore, we sometimes behave as if we can accomplish this difficult job very quickly—perhaps with a two-second glance.

　　We try to obtain information about others in many ways. Berger suggests several methods for reducing uncertainties about others; who are known to you so you can compare the observed person's behavior with the known others' behavior, observing a person in a situation where social behavior is relatively unrestrained or where a wide variety of behavioral responses are called for, deliberately structuring the physical or social environment so as to observe the person's responses to specific stimuli (刺激因素) , asking people who have had or have frequent contact with the person about him or her, and using various strategies in face-to-face interaction to uncover information about another person—question, self-disclosures, and so on.

　　Getting to know someone is a never-ending task, largely because people are constantly changing and the methods we use to obtain information are often imprecise. You may have known someone for ten years and still know very little about him. If we accept the idea that we won't ever fully know another person, it enables us to deal more easily with those things that get in the way of accurate knowledge such as secrets and deceptions. It will also keep us from being too surprised or shocked by seemingly inconsistent behavior. Ironically, those things that keep us from knowing another person too well(e. g. secrets and deceptions) may be just as important to the development of a satisfying relationship as those things that enable us to obtain accurate knowledge about a person (e. g. disclosures and truthful statement).

　　21. According to the passage, if we perceive a person, we are likely to be interested in

　　A. what he wears B. how tall he is

　　C. how happy he is D. what color he dyes his hair

　　22. Some people are often surprised by what other people do. According to Berger, that is mainly because_______.

　　A. some people are more emotional than others

　　B. some people are not aware of the fact that we will never completely know another person

　　C. some people are sensitive enough to sense the change of other people's attitudes

　　D. some people choose to keep to themselves

　　23. We may have known someone for ten years and still know very little about him because_______.

　　A. we don't accept the idea that we might never fully know another person

　　B. we often get information in a casual and inexact way

　　C. we pay more attention to other people's motivations and emotions • 62 •

　　D. we often have face-to-face conversation with him

　　24. There are things that we find preventing us from knowing others. These things are

　　A. disclosures B. deceptions

　　C. stimuli D. interactions

　　25. This passage mainly concerns_______.

　　A. the relationship between people B. the perception of other people

　　C. secrets and deceptions of people D. people's attitudes and characters

　　Passage 4

　　Modern scientists divide the process of dying into two stages—clinical or (emporary death and biological death. Clinical death occurs when the vital organs, such as the heart or lungs, have ceased to function, but have not suffered permanent damage. The organism can still be revived (复活). Biological death occurs when changes in the organism lead to the disintegration(解体) of vital cells and tissues. Death is then irreversible and final.

　　Scientists have been seeking a way to prolong the period of clinical death so (hat the organism can be revived before biological death occurs. The best method developed so far involves cooling of the organism, combined with narcotic(麻醉的) sleep. By slowing down the body's metabolism(新成代谢) , cooling delays the processes leading to biological death.

　　To illustrate how this works, scientists performed an experiment on a six-year-old female monkey called Keta. The scientists put Keta to sleep with a narcotic. Then they surrounded her body with ice-bags and began checking her body temperature. When it had dropped to 28 degrees the scientists began draining blood from an its body. The monkey's blood pressure decreased and an hour later both the heart and breathing stopped; clinical death set in. For twenty minutes Keta remained in this state. Her temperature dropped to 22 degrees. At this point the scientists pumped blood into its body in the direction of the heart and started artificial breathing. After two minutes the monkey's heart became active once more. After fifteen minutes, spontaneous breathing began, and after four hours Keta opened her eyes and lifted her head. After six hours, when the scientists tried to give her a penicillin injection, Keta seized the syringe and ran with it around the room. Her behavior differed little from that of a healthy animal.

　　26. This passage focuses on_______.

　　A. the difference between biological and clinical death.

　　B. the process of dying

　　C. prolonging the period of clinical death

　　D. the nature of clinical death

　　27. The best statement of the main idea of this passage is that

　　A. modem scientists divide the process of dying into clinical and biological death

　　B. biological death occurs when vital organs have suffered permanent damage

　　C. scientists have found a way to prolong the period of clinical death

　　D. cooling delays the processes leading to biological death

　　28. One characteristic of clinical death is______.

　　A. lasting damage to the lungs B. destruction of the tissues

　　C. temporary non-functioning of the heartD. that the organism cannot be revived

　　29. According to the passage, cooling an organism

　　A. speeds up the body's metabolism B. slows disintegration of body tissues

　　C. prevents damage to organs D. revives damaged organs

　　30. One possible benefit of the experiment discussed in the passage is______.

　　A. less crowded cities B. victory over death

　　C. protection against fatal injury D. fewer deaths from heart attacks

　　II. C 12. I 13. L 14. K 15. H 16. E 17. M 18. J 19. N 20. A 21. C 22. B 23. B 24. B 25. B 26. C 27. C 28. C 29. B 30. D