2024年1月24日发(作者：)

六级阅读

Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.

Passage one

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 (磨菇) 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 fat 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 be cause 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 practices 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

1

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.

译文

很多美国人对有关食物的多数危险持极度歪曲、夸张的观点。马萨诸塞—阿姆赫特大学食品科学及营养系主任佛卡斯·克拉斯代尔直率地说，如果被细菌污染的鸡肉的危险像一些人认为的那样大，“大街上就会到处躺满中毒的人。”

虽然公众越来越要求安全食品，但世界上没有这样的东西。伯克利的加里福尼亚大学生物化学系主任布鲁斯·阿密兹指出，一棵植物中多达 10%的重量是天然杀虫剂。他说：“植物没有嘴和牙齿来保护自己，它们就使用化学战。”许多自然生成的化学物质虽然量很小，但实验室化验却证明是强致癌物——可引起癌症的物质。如果用食品添加剂的标准来衡量，蘑菇就会被禁止食用。康乃尔大学的营养学家克利斯蒂娜·斯达克断言：“我们从食物中获得的天然化学物质比任何人造的东西都糟糕得多。”

然而问题并不那么简单。尽管美国人没理由害怕坐在餐桌旁，但他们完全有理由要求食物和饮水安全有明显改进。他们不知不觉地、不情愿地吸收了大量各种各样的危险化学物。要是食物中已经含有天然致癌物，再加上几十种新的人造致癌物就不大明智了。虽然大多数

人能抵抗食物和水里的少量污染物，但至少一天少数人会因吃喝的东西而患癌症。

为使食物和供水质量更高，政府需提高管理标准，严格检查计划并强化执行政策。食品工业应该修改某些人们长期接受的做法，或采用危险较小的做法。最重要的也许是消费者将不得不学习如何正确处理和烹制食物。需要解决从田间到加工场、再到厨房的整个食品供应过程中的全部问题。

Passage two

Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.

2

There are some each 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 measurements

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 long-term 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 kilometers 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 switch 730,000 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 or 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

3

the way the earth’s magnetic intensity is measured

B) its explanation of the shift in the earth’s polarity

C) the way the earth’s fluctuation rhythm is defined

30. In Peter Oslo’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

译文

有些地球现象可以预计，但有的人说磁场是个例外。磁场的强度波动，并从轴开始移动，每隔几十万年经历一次奇异的两极转换——这期间北极变成南极，南极变成北极。但磁场是怎么产生的？为什么如此不稳定？

两位法国地球物理学家的开创性研究为揭示这一奥秘提供了一些线索。利用 80 米深海沉淀物的核心，他们测出了历时 400 万年，11 次两极转换期间的磁场强度。分析显示，强度的波动看来有明显、准确的节奏。虽然短期内磁场强度变化不规则，但似乎每次两极转换前都有一个不可避免的漫长衰落过程。当两极转换后——一个历时几十万年的过程，磁场迅速恢复其强度，循环便重新开始。

这些结果引起了地球物理学家们的震惊。人们认为磁场源于地表下 3000 公里处地核外层熔化的铁。通过研究各种岩石和粘土等物质中发现的矿物颗粒，以前的研究者已经能够识别上溯一亿七千万年以来的两极转换，包括最近 73 万年前的那次转换。然而，这种转换是如何发生的？为什么会发生？科学家们争论激烈。有几种理论把两极转换同陨星碰撞这种外来灾难联系起来。但是，在巴尔的摩的约翰斯—霍布金斯大学的地球物理学家彼得·奥尔森说，如果法国研究者正确的话，这几种理论就不可能成立了。奥尔森说，实际上两次转换间预计的衰落强度同 90%的现行研究模式相矛盾。如果这些结果证明正确，地球物理学家将会有一种新理论来指导他们探索地球内部物理学。它的确为将来的研究指出了方向。

Passage Three

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 earning $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.

4

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 al so 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 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

________.

5