Part Ⅳ Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth)(25 minutes)

Section A
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Directions: 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
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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 never�瞖nding 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 one�瞱ay 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 _____ .
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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

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