Part ⅣReading Comprehension (Reading in Depth)(25 minutes)
Section ADirections: In this section, there is a short passage with 5 questions or incomplete statements. Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete the statements in the fewest possible words on Answer Sheet 2.
Questions 47 to 51 are based on the following passage.
Many of the workers who served at the World Trade Center after the September eleventh attacks became sick. They breathed a harmful mix of dust, smoke and chemicals in the ruins of the Twin Towers and a third building that fell. Some went days without good protection for their lungs. Five years later, many of the thousands who worked at Ground Zero in the early days after the attacks still have health problems.
Doctors at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City have announced the results of the largest study yet of these workers. The study confirmed high rates of breathing problems in members of the building trades, firefighters, police officers and other workers. Almost seventy percent of the workers in the study had a new or worsened breathing problem. These problems developed during or after their time working in the mountain of wreckage. About sixty percent still had breathing problems at the time of their examination. The researchers say they decided to study the effects on breathing first because other disorders might be slower to appear. Mount Sinai says it tested almost twelve thousand people between two thousand two and two thousand four. Eight out of ten of them agreed to have their results used in the report. The new results added strength to a Mount Sinai study released in two thousand four. That study was based on only about one thousand workers.
Some lawmakers have sharply criticized city and state officials for letting workers labor at Ground Zero without satisfactory equipment. Officials have also been criticized for saying the air was relatively safe. State and federal officials have promised more than fifty million dollars to pay for treatment of the workers. Doctor Robin Herbert is one of the directors of the Mount Sinai testing program. She says people are still coming to the hospital for treatment of problems that were caused by the dust at Ground Zero. In her words: “My worry is that money will be gone in a year, and what happens then?”
47. What caused the health problems to workers after the September eleventh attacks according to this passage?
48． Who suffer the breathing problems most according to the latest study?
49． The researchers decided to study the effects on breathing first
because
might appear in a later period of time.
50.
are sharply criticized by some lawmakers because they let workers labor at Ground Zero without satisfactory equipment.
51. What measures have the officials promised to take to deal with the health problem?
Section B
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statement. 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 Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.
Passage One
Questions 52 to 56 are based on the following passage.
With the prospect of coal and petroleum supplies running out and with air pollution becoming an increasing concern, the major countries of the world are seeking alternate sources of energy. If a means to obtain energy from water, especially from the ocean, can be effected economically, it would provide a neverending supply of energy, since 70% of the earth’s surface is ocean and another 10% is fresh water in rivers and lakes.
From the beginning of time man has used waterpower as a source of working energy—waterfalls and dams—but these are fresh water sources and are landlocked. The seas have contributed little or nothing in the way of power. The use of temperature variation between currents is one area of exploration. Ocean water is heated by the sun near the equator and drawn by the rotation of the earth toward the poles, where it cools and drops toward the ocean floor and starts its journey back toward the equator. The differential between the two currents is 1℃ and 7℃. To use it, the scientists must find the places where they run near land and are not too far away from each other.
America, the greatest consumer of energy, has been working on another kind of thermal sea energy proposal. One plan would somewhat resemble the operation of a refrigerator on a vast scale. Warm water would be the heat source, cold water the heat sink. A component such as fog would be liquid at a cold temperature and turn to gas as it warmed.
Oceans also offer wave power, tides and the chemical reaction of salt water as potential sources of energy. All these uses are theoretically possible. Britain is interested in wave power, using a string of “tear drop” devices that depend on very active wave areas at 100 feet depths. In addition to this, the British are working on a method that the Japanese have already put into practical use on a small scale for powering their navigational boats. This method is called an oscillating(振蕩) water column and rides the waves with a series of cylinders(氣缸) having oneway air valves. Wave movement produces air under pressure that has only one escape route—to a turbine(渦輪) that powers a generator.
52. The use of water referred in this passage is .
A) a new concept compared with other ways of natural resources
B) less expensive than petroleum and other means of energies
C) now being used more from the ocean than from rivers and lakes
D) being developed to supplement other sources of energy
53. In the matter of developing energy from ocean water, Britain is .
A) working on an old Japanese method
B) the most advanced country in the field
C) following the lead of the United states
D) consolidating their work with operations
54. The development of oceanic water power is important to America because .
A) there is a severe shortage of coal and petroleum
B) it is the cheapest method of producing energy
C) petroleum supplies are being steadily drained
D) obtaining energy from ocean water are simpler
55. Getting energy from the ocean is important to .
A) Russia because of its limited coal and petroleum resources on land
B) America because it is the greatest consumer of energy in the world
C) Asia because most of Asian countries lack other sources of energy
D) South America because a great part of the population is very poor
56. The oscillating water column produces power from .
A) the turbine that powers the generator
B) the generator that produces electricity
C) the cylinders that drives the turbine
D) the air that escapes from the turbine
Passage Two
Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.
The civilization(文化) of the Renaissance was the creation of prosperous cities and of rulers who drew substantial income from their urban subjects in the Italian city states and the countries of England and France. The commerce that kept cities alive also provided the capital and the flow of ideas that helped build Renaissance culture. During the early Middle Ages foreign trade had virtually come to a halt. By the 11th century, however, population growth and contact with other cultures through military efforts such as the Crusades（十字軍東征） helped revive commercial activity. Trade slowly increased with the exchange of luxury goods in the Mediterranean region and various commodities such as fish, furs, and metals across the North and Baltic seas. Commerce soon moved inland, bringing new opulence to the citizens of towns along major trade routes. As traffic along these routes increased, existing settlements grew and new ones were established.
The cities of Italy were located between western Europe and the area along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea known as the Levant. Italy’s leadership in the Renaissance was due in part to its central location for trade. The cities became important and wealthy commercial centers, and the riches collected by the merchants of Venice, Genoa, Milan, and a host of smaller cities supported Italy’s political and cultural achievements.
Important towns developed beyond Italy as well. Especially with the expansion of trade, towns grew along the Danube and Rhine rivers of Europe; around the North Sea and the Baltic Sea; and in the Low Countries of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands where northern and southern trade routes met. Wherever these towns were located, they became a unique element in a medieval world that up to this time was dominated by seignorialism(領主制), an agricultural system in which the primary economic and political relationship was between landowners and their tenants.
57. The Renaissance .
A) was an ideological movement throughout the world
B) took place in Italy only
C) was originated in Italy
D) was influential in most European countries
58. The commerce .
A) was an important element in building the Renaissance culture
B) kept the people in cities alive with food and clothes
C) brought about the exchange of ideas
D) was always prosperous between city states
59. The location of the important cities shares a similarity that .
A) they are all Italian cities
B) they are all located by important routes
C) they are all prosperous with commerce
D) they are all located by seaside
60. The most probable meaning of the word “opulence” (Line 9,Para.1)may be .
A) technologiesB) commercial means
C) cultureD) prosperity
61. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?
A) Italy was merely an important cultural center during the Renaissance.
B) During the Middle Ages, foreign trade once was stopped.
C) The development of cities had great bearings to commerce.
D) Geographical locations were significant in the booming of cities.
