历年英语四级考试阅读理解部分7

　　1996年1月　

　　Passage One

　　Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage:

　　Space is a dangerous place, not only because of meteors(流星)but also because of rays from the sun and other stars. The atmosphere again acts as our protective blanket on earth. Light gets through, and this is essential for plants to make the food, which we eat. Heat, too, makes our environment endurable. Various kinds of rays come through the air from outer space, but enormous quantities of radiation from the sun are screened off. As soon as men leave the atmosphere they are exposed to this radiation but their spacesuits or the walls of their spacecraft, if they are inside, do prevent a lot of radiation damage.

　　Radiation is the greatest known danger to explorers in space. The unit of radiation is called “rem”. Scientists have reason to think that a man can put up with far more radiation than 0.1 rem without being damaged; the figure of 60 rems has been agreed on. The trouble is that it is extremely difficult to be sure about radiation damage-a person may feel perfectly well, but the cells of his or her sex organs may be damaged, and this will not be discovered until the birth of deformed(畸形的)children or even grandchildren. Missions of the Apollo flights have had to cross belts of high radiation and, during the outward and return journeys, the Apollo crew accumulated a large amount of rems. So far, no dangerous amounts of radiation have been reported, but the Apollo missions have been quite short. We simply do not know yet how men are going to get on when they spend weeks and months outside the protection of the atmosphere, working in a space laboratory. Drugs might help to decrease the damage done by radiation, but no really effective ones have been found so far.

　　51. According to the first paragraph, the atmosphere is essential to man in that ______.

　　A) it protects him against the harmful rays from space

　　B) it provides sufficient light for plant growth

　　C) it supplies the heat necessary for human survival

　　D) it screens off the falling meteors

　　52. We know from the passage that ________.

　　A) exposure to even tiny amounts of radiation is fatal

　　B) the effect of exposure to radiation is slow in coming

　　C) radiation is avoidable in space exploration

　　D) astronauts in spacesuits needn’t worry about radiation damage

　　53. The harm radiation has done to the Apollo crew members _______.

　　A) is insignificant

　　B)seems overestimated

　　C) is enormous

　　D) remains unknown

　　54. It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

　　A) the Apollo mission was very successful

　　B) protection from space radiation is no easy job

　　C) astronauts will have deformed children or grandchildren

　　D) radiation is not a threat to well-protected space explorers

　　55. The best title for this passage would be _______.

　　A) The Atmosphere and Our Environment

　　B) Research on Radiation

　　C) Effects of Space Radiation

　　D) Importance Protection Against Radiation

　　Passage Two

　　Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage:

　　Taste is such a subjective matter that we don’t usually conduct preference tests for food. The most you can say about anyone’s preference, is that it’s one person’s opinion. But because the two big cola(可口可乐)companies—Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola are marketed so aggressively, we’ve wondered how big a role taste preference actually plays in brand loyalty. We set up a taste test that challenged people who identified themselves as either Coca-Cola or Pepsi fans: Find your brand in a blind tasting.

　　We invited staff volunteers who had a strong liking for either Coca-Cola Classic(传统型)or Pepsi, Diet(低糖的)Coke, or Diet Pepsi. These were people who thought they’d have no trouble telling their brand from the other brand.

　　We eventually located 19 regular cola drinkers and 27 diet cola drinkers. Then we fed them four unidentified samples of cola one at a time, regular colas for the one group, diet versions for the other. We asked them to tell us whether each sample was Coke or Pepsi; then we analyzed the records statistically to compare the participants’ choices with what mere guess-work could have accomplished.

　　Getting all four samples right was a tough test, but not too tough, we thought, for people who believed they could recognize their brand. In the end, only 7 out of 19 regular cola drinkers correctly identified their brand of choice in all four trials. The diet-cola drinkers did a little worse-only 7 of 27 identified all four samples correctly.

　　While both groups did better than chance would predict, nearly half the participants in each group made the wrong choice two or more times. Two people go all four samples wrong. Overall, half the participants did about as well on the last round of tasting as on the first, so fatigue, or taste burnout, was not a factor. Our preference test results suggest that only a few Pepsi participants and Coke fans may really be able to tell their favorite brand by taste and price.

　　56. According to the passage the preference test was conducted in order to _______.

　　A) find out the role taste preference plays in a person’s drinking

　　B) reveal which cola is more to the liking of the drinkers

　　C) show that a person’s opinion about taste is mere guess-work

　　D) compare the ability of the participants in choosing their drinks

　　57. The statistics recorded in the preference tests show ______.

　　A) Coca-Cola and Pepsi are people’s two most favorite drinks

　　B) there is not much difference in taste between Coca-Cola and Pepsi

　　C) few people had trouble telling Coca-Cola from Pepsi

　　D) people’s tastes differ from one another

　　58. It is implied in the first paragraph that _______.

　　A) the purpose of taste tests is to promote the sale of colas

　　B) the improvement of quality is the chief concern of the two cola companies

　　C) the competition between the two colas is very strong

　　D) blind tasting is necessary for identifying fans

　　59. The word “burnout” (Line 4, Para.5) here refers to the state of ______.

　　A) being seriously burnt in the skin

　　B) being unable to burn for lack of fuel

　　C) being badly damaged by fire

　　D) being unable to function because of excessive use

　　60. The author’s purpose in writing this passage is to ______.

　　A) show that taste preference is highly subjective

　　B) argue that taste testing is an important marketing strategy

　　C) emphasize that taste and price are closely related to each other

　　D) recommend that blind tasting be introduced in the quality control of colas

　　Passage Three

　　Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage:

　　The concept of “environment” is certainly difficult and may even be misunderstood; but we have no handy substitute. It seems simple enough to distinguish between the organism and the surrounding environment and to separate forces acting on an organism into those that are internal and biological and those that are external and environmental. But in actual practice this system breaks down in many ways, because the organism and the environment are constantly interacting so that the environment is modified by the organism and vice versa(反之亦然).

　　In the case of man, the difficulties with the environmental concept are even more complicated because we have to deal with man as an animal and with man as a bearer(持有者)of culture. If we look at man as an animal and try to analyze the environmental forces that are acting on the organism, we find that we have to deal with things like climate, soil, plants and such-like factors common to all biological situations; but we also find, always, very important environmental influences that we can only class as “cultural”, which modify the physical and biological factors. But man, as we know him, is always a bearer of culture; and if we study human culture, we find that it, in turn, is modified by the environmental factors of climate and geography. We thus easily get into great difficulties from the necessity of viewing culture, at one moment, as a part of the man and, at another moment, as a part of the environment.

　　61. Which of the following words can best describe the popular understanding of “environment” as the author sees it?

　　A) Elaborate.

　　B) Prejudiced.

　　C) Faultless.

　　D) Oversimplified.

　　62. According to the author the concept of “environment” is difficult to explain because _______

　　A) it doesn’t distinguish between the organism and the environment

　　B) it involves both internal and external forces

　　C) the organism and the environment influence each other

　　D) the relationship between the organism and the environment is unclear

　　63. In analyzing the environmental forces acting on man the author suggests that ________.

　　A) biological factors are less important to the organism than cultural factors to man

　　B) man and other animals are modified equally by the environmental forces

　　C) man is modified by the cultural environment as well as by the natural environment

　　D) physical and biological factors exert more influence on other organisms than on man

　　64. As for culture, the author points out that ________.

　　A) it develops side by side with environmental factors

　　B) it is also affected by environmental factors

　　C) it is generally accepted to be part of the environment

　　D) it is a product of man’s biological instincts

　　65. In this passage, the author is primarily concerned with _______.

　　A) the interpretation of the term “environment”

　　B) the discussion on organisms and biological environment

　　C) the comparison between internal and external factors influencing man

　　D) the evaluation of man’s influence on culture

　　Passage Four

　　Questions 66 to 70 are based on the following passage:

　　The speaker, a teacher from a community college, addressed a sympathetic audience. Heads nodded in agreement when he said, “High school English teachers are not doing their jobs.” He described the inadequacies of his students, all high school graduates who can use language only at a grade 9 level. I was unable to determine from his answers to my questions how this grade 9 level had been established.

　　My topic is not standards nor its decline(降低). What the speaker was really saying is that eh is no longer young; he has been teaching for sixteen years, and is able to think and speak like a mature adult.

　　My point is that the frequent complaint of one generation about the one immediately following it is inevitable. It is also human nature to look for the reasons for our dissatisfaction. Before English became a school subject in the late nineteenth century, it was difficult to find the target of the blame for language deficiencies(缺陷). But since then, English teachers have been under constant attack.

　　The complainers think they have hit upon an original idea. As their own command of the language improves, they notice that young people do not have this same ability. Unaware that their own ability has developed through the years, they assume the new generation of young people must be hopeless in this respect. To the eyes and ears of sensitive adults the language of the young always seems inadequate.

　　Since this concern about the decline and fall of the English language is not perceived as a generational phenomenon but rather as something new and peculiar to today’s young people, it naturally follows that today’s English teachers cannot be doing their jobs. Otherwise, young people would not commit offenses against the language.

　　66. The speaker the author mentioned in the passage believed that ________.

　　A) the language of the younger generation is usually inferior to that of the older generation

　　B) the students had a poor command of English because they didn’t work hard enough

　　C) he was an excellent language teacher because he had been teaching English for sixteen years

　　D) English teachers should be held responsible for the students’ poor command of English

　　67. In the author’s opinion, the speaker _______.

　　A) gave a correct judgement of the English level of the students

　　B) had exaggerated the language problems of the students

　　C) was right in saying that English teachers were not doing their jobs

　　D) could think and speak intelligently

　　68. The author’s attitude towards the speaker’s remarks is _______.

　　A) neutral

　　B) positive

　　C) critical

　　D) compromising

　　69. It can be concluded from the passage that ______.

　　A) it is justifiable to include English as a school subject

　　B) the author disagrees with the speaker over the standard of English at Grade 9 level

　　C) English language teaching is by no means an easy job

　　D) Language improvement needs time and effort

　　70. In the passage the author argues that ______.

　　A) it is unfair to blame the English teachers for the language deficiencies of the students

　　B) young people would not commit offences against the language is the teachers did their jobs properly

　　C) to eliminate language deficiencies one must have sensitive eyes and ears

　　D) to improve the standard of English requires the effort of several generations

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