最新职称英语学习资料(阅读理解讲义)6_职称英语
passage 42
crystal ear
aone day a friend asked my wife jill if i wanted a hearing aid. " he certainly does," replied jill. after hearing about a remarkable new product, jill finally got up the nerve to ask me if i'd ever thought about getting a hearing aid. "no way," i said. "it would make me look 20 years older." "no, no, "she replied. "this is entirely different. it's crystal ear!"
jill was right. crystal ear is different-not the old-styled body worn or over-the-ear aid, but an advanced personal sound system so small it's like contacts for your ears. and crystal ear is super-sensitive and powerful, too. you will hear sounds your ears have been missing for years. crystal ear will make speech louder, and the sound is pure and natural.
i couldn't believe how tiny it is. it is smaller than the tip of my little finger and it's almost invisible when worn. there are no wires, no behind -the-ear device. put it in your ear and its ready-to-wear mold fits comfortably. since it's not too loud or too light, you may even forget that you're wearing it! use it at work or at play. and if your hearing problem is worse in certain situation, use crystal ear only when you need it.
hearing loss, which typically prior to teenage years, progresses throughout one's lifetime. although hearing loss is now the world's number-one health problem, nearly 90 percent of people suffering hearing loss choose to leave the problem untreated. for many millions, treating hearing loss in a conventional way can involve numerous office visits, expensive testing and adjustments to fit your ear. thank to crystal ear, the " sound solution" is now convenient. almost 90 percent of people with mild hearing loss, and millions more with just a little hearing dropoff, can be dramatically helped with crystal ear. moreover, its superior design is energy-efficient, so batteries can last months. crystal ear is now available to help these people treat their hearing loss with a small hearing amplifier.
练习:
1. why did the writer refuse to wear a hearing aid at first?
a) it looked old-styled.
b) it was too costly.
c) he did not get the nerve to wear one.
d) it would make him look like an old man.
2. which of the following about the features of crystal ear is not true according to
paragraph 2?
a) it is sensitive and powerful
b) it is inexpensive.
c) it is small in size.
d) its sound is pure and natural.
3. according to paragraph 3, crystal ear is very convenient and
a) you can wear it any time you like.
b) you can even clean it yourself.
c) it can signal where it is in case you cannot find it
d) you can even wear while swimming.
4. what does the writer say about hearing loss？
a） about 90 percent of people suffer hearing loss.
b） hearing loss is the world's most frequent health problem.
c） about 10 percent of people wear hearing aids.
d） it is one of the most painful diseases in the world.
5. why do many people leave their hearing problem untreated according to paragraph 4?
a) they suffer only mild hearing loss.
b) crystal ear is not yet available in many places.
c) an conventional way of treating it is very troublesome.
d) they don't want to look like old people.
key: dbabc
passage 43
will quality eat up the u.s. lead in software?
bif u.s. software companies don't pay more attention to quality, they could kiss their business good-bye. both india and brazil are developing a world-class software industry. their weapon is quality and one of their jobs is to attract the top u.s. quality specialists whose voices are not listened to in their country.
already, of the world's 12 software houses that have earned the highest rating in the world, seven are in india. that's largely because they have used new methodologies rejected by american software specialists. for example, for decades, quality specialists, w. edwards deming and j. m. juran had urged u.s. software companies to change their attitudes to quality. but their quality call mainly fell on deaf ears in the u.s. -but not in japan. by the 1970s and 1980s, japan was grabbing market share with better, cheaper products. they used deming's and juran's ideas to bring down the cost of good quality to as little as 5% of total production costs. in u.s. factories, the cost of quality then was 10 times as high: 50%. in software, it still is.
watts s. humphrey spent 27 years at ibm heading up software production and then quality assurance. but his advice was seldom paid attention to. he retired from ibm in 1986. in 1987, he worked out a system for assessing and improving software quality. it has proved its value time and again. for example, in 1990 the cost of quality at raytheon electronics systems was almost 60% of total software production costs. it fell to 15% in 1996 and has since further dropped to belo
w 10%.
like deming and juran, humphrey seems to be wining more praises overseas than at home. the india government and several companies have just founded the watts humphrey software quality institute at the software technology park in chennai, india.
let's hope that u.s. lead in software will not be eaten up by its quality problems.
exercise:
1. what country has more highest-rating companies in the world than any other country has?
a) germany.
b) the u.s.
c) brazil
d) india
2. which of the following statements about humphrey is true?
a) he is now still an ibm employer.
b) he has worked for ibm for 37 years.
c) the us pays much attention to his quality advice.
d) india honors him highly.
3. by what means did japan grab its large market share by the 1970s and the 1980s?
a) its products were cheaper in price and better in quality.
b) its advertising was most successful.
c) the us hardware industry was lagging behind .
d) japan hired a lot of india software specialists.
4.what does the founding of the watts humphrey software quality institute symbolize?
a) it symbolizes the us determination to move ahead with its software
b) .it symbolizes the india ambition to take the lead in software.
c) it symbolizes the japanese efforts to solve the software quality problem.
d) it symbolizes the chinese policy on importing software.
5.what is the writer worrying about?
a) many us software specialists are working for japan.
b) the quality problem has become a worldwide problem.
c) the us will no longer be the first software player in the world.
d) india and japan are joining hands to compete with the us.
key:d d a b c
passage 44
high-speed rail on track
oif an agreement signed in a germany works out, travelers of this asian city may one day be able to zip from the downtown area to its new airport on a train riding a stream of magnetic energy at speeds up to 500 kilometres per hour.
the 40-kilometers-trip ---now sometimes a long hour journey when the traffic is heavy-could be cut to less than 10 minutes.
such are the goals of a costly project designed to help to "shorten" the distance between the city center and the suburban busy airport by making it easier and faster to carry travelers to and back from the airport.
the mayor of the city and germany's thyssen krupp ag worked out an agreement in berlin only several days ago that lays the groundwork for the magnetic levitation train line. they signed a commitment to carry out a feasibility study on the project and outlined the city's intention to import german technology. the project, once completed and acceptable to the two business parties, will be a double-win: the german company can benefit from exporting its technology and the city receiving german technology can improve its traffic and further strengthen its position as a cosmopolis.
called maglev for short, the system under discussion makes use of a high-speed train levitated above a guideway and propelled by magnetic fields. the project has been in the talking stage for several months.
hans ueberschaer, german's ambassador visited the city together with harmut heine, representative of thyssen krupp. they had an initial discussion with the mayor there about the prospect of the project. the talks were believed to be constructive and paved the way for the future talks in berlin, where a commitment was reached.
sources familiar with the talks estimated that the project would cost us$723 million, which would cover everything from land use fees and rail construction to train cars. completion date is 2005. a joint venture company is to be established for the project.
exercise:
1. who paved the way for further negotiations in berlin?
a) the mayor
b) both the german ambassador and the mayor.
c) the german ambassador.
d) the representative from the german company.
2. what was the signed commitment mainly about?
a) finalizing the payment of us$723 million.
b) establishing a joint venture company.
c) conducting a feasibility study.
d) outlining the german company's intention to export its technology.
3. what is the main feature of maglev?
a) the maglev train "floats" above the guideway and zip to its destination.
b) the maglev train zips to its destination on the railway.
c) the maglev train zips to its destination on a double guideway.
d) the maglev train can carry more passengers than the electric train.
4. how large will be the success rate of the agreement signed by the two business parties according to the passage?
a) it is very likely that the city will have a german-built maglev line.
b) it is very likely that krupp will ban the export of its technology.
c) it is very likely that the city cannot afford the high payment.
d) it is very l
ikely that the city will turn to buy us technology.
5. what type of writing do you think this passage belongs to?
a) an article on popular science.
b) an article taken from a transportation book.
c) a commercial contract.
d) a news report.
key:b c a a d
passage 45
unidentified flying object
tunidentified flying object (ufo) is any object or light, reportedly sighted in the sky, that cannot be immediately explained by the observer. sightings of unusual flying objects date back to ancient times, but ufos (sometimes called flying saucers) became widely discussed only after the first widely publicized u.s. sighting in 1947. many thousands of such observations have since been reported worldwide.
at least 90 percent of ufo sightings can be identified as conventional objects, although time-consuming investigations are often necessary for such identification. the objects most often mistaken for ufos are bright planets and stars, aircraft, birds, balloons, kites, aerial flares, peculiar clouds , meteors, and satellites. the remaining sightings most likely can be attributed to other mistaken sightings or to inaccurate reporting, tricks, or delusions, although to disprove all claims made about ufos is impossible.
from 1947 to 1969 the u.s. air force investigated ufos as a possible threat to national security. a total of 12,618 reports were received, of which 701 reports, or 5.6 percent, were listed as unexplained. the air force concluded that "no ufo reported, investigated, and evaluated by the air force has ever given any indication of threat to our national security". since 1969 no agency of the u.s. government has had any active program of ufo investigation.
some persons, however, believe that ufos are extraterrestrial spacecraft, even though no scientifically valid evidence supports that belief. the possibility of extraterrestrial civilizations is not the stumbling block; most scientists grant that intelligent life may well exist elsewhere in the universe. a fully convincing ufo photograph has yet to be taken, however, and the scientific method requires that highly speculative explanations should not be adopted unless all of the more ordinary explanations can be ruled out.
ufo enthusiasts persist, however, and some persons even claim to have been captured and taken aboard ufo's. no one has produced scientifically acceptable proof of these claims. behavioral scientist carl sagan once proposed that "certain psychological needs are met by belief in superior beings from other worlds".
1. what is the significance of the ufo sighting in 1947 according to the passage?
a) it was the first evidence showing the existence of intelligent life outside earth.
b) it helped to explain some sightings of unusual events occurring in the sky.
c) it aroused widespread interest in unidentified flying objects in the sky.
d) it started off a new era of flying saucers in the united states.
2. the second paragraph of the passage focuses on
a) some explanations about ufo sightings.
b) different kinds of ufos reported.
c) people's negative reaction to ufos.
d) interesting claims made about ufos.
3. according to the passage, which of the following about the ufo investigation by the u.s. air force is not true?
a) about 84 percent of the ufo reports received were explained.
b) ufos were once regarded as a potential danger to national safety.
c) there was no evidence that the u.s. was being threatened by the reported ufos.
d) no hard evidence supported the existence of ufos.
4. according to the passage, the belief that some ufos are spaceships from some extraterrestrial civilizations
a) has been supported by a convincing ufo photograph.
b) would be accepted if it met the requirements of the scientific method.
c) has been regarded as some kind of creative thinking.
d) has ruled out other explanations about the origin of ufos.
5. why did carl sagan think there are so many ufo enthusiasts?
a) the belief in ufos gives them psychological satisfaction.
b) the explanation that ufos are only conventional objects is not attractive.
c) they are strongly influenced by science fiction and science fiction films.
d) curiously makes them accept the speculative explanations about ufos.
key: ccaba
passage 46
pollution around the house
tscientists are closely concerned with the structure of buildings and with the quality of building materials. the world health organization (who) observes that the introduction of air conditioning and energy conservation measures have been accompanied by growing problems of indoor air quality. some pollutants arise from insulation products, some from moving cars, and others from modern housing materials. as many europeans spend up to 90%
of their lives in buildings, the health effects of the indoor climate are very important.
some construction materials, including fibreboard, insulation foams and certain glues(for man-made wood floor boards, for example), gives out organic products such as formaldehyde. heat and humidity increase the release of formaldehyde and the gas seriously harms the eyes. paint, lacquer, etc. can also release dangerous gas into indoor air.
construction materials can cause serious damage, especially when they contain asbestos. asbestos is naturally present in rock formations worldwide. it belongs to a family of mineral substances composed of solid, non-combustible fibres. these properties make asbestos a highly sought-after construction material. as early as 1931, however, public health officers in the united kingdom revealed the connection between breathing in asbestos dust and such diseases as lung cancer.
the land on which a building is sited may also contribute to pollution. some kinds of granite or similar rocks contain traces of radium. as it breaks down, this naturally radioactive element produce some kind of radioactive gas that goes through tiny cracks in walls, floors and building materials, and makes its way into the building and the rooms. the better the homes are insulated, the more is the dangerous gas in indoor air. the main effect of this dangerous gas on health is to increase the risk of lung cancer.
1. what is the main idea of the passage?
a) some building materials pollute indoor air.
b) some factors cause indoor air pollution.
c) asbestos can cause lung cancer.
d) the land on which houses are built contributes to indoor pollution.
2. why are europeans particularly concerned with building materials?
a) lots of building materials there are radioactive.
b) they stay home up to 90% of their lives.
c) they have a high rate of lung cancer.
d) they spend most of their time indoors.
3. why is asbestos a sought-after building material?
a) it is a kind of insulation foam.
b) asbestos will not give out dangerous gas.
c) this material is not easy to catch fire.
d) it is rarely present in rock formations.
4. what research results did a health organization in the uk announce in 1931?
a) kinds of dangerous building materials used indoors.
b) the connections of the use of granite with lung cancer.
c) the relationship between polluted indoor air and lung cancer.
d) the relationship between asbestos and disease.
5. why should we be careful about the land on which a building is to be sited?
a) to determine whether the land is firm enough for a building to be sited on.
b) to make sure that the land contains no radioactive material.
c) to make certain that the land releases no formaldehyde or other gases.
d) to check whether it contains any combustible materials.
key : adcdb
passage 47
food fright
aexperiments under way in several labs aim to create beneficial types of genetically modified (gm) foods, including starchier potatoes and caffeine-free coffee beans. genetic engineers are even trying to transfer genes from a cold-winter fish to make a frost-resistant tomato.
a low-sugar gm strawberry now in the works might one day allow people with health problems such as diabetes to enjoy the little delicious red fruits again. gm beans and grains supercharged with protein might help people at risk of developing kwashiorkor. kwashiorkor, a disease caused by severe lack of protein, is common in parts of the world where there are severe food shortages.
commenting on gm foods, jonathon jones, a british researcher, said: "the future benefits will be enormous, and the best is yet to come".
to some people, gm foods are no different from unmodified foods. "a tomato is a tomato," said brian sansoni, an american food manufacturer.
critics of gm foods challenge sansoni's opinion. they worry about the harm that gm crops might do to people, other animals, and plants.
in a recent lab study conducted at cornell university, scientists tested pollen made by bt corn, which makes up one-fourth of the u.s. corn crop. the scientist sprinkled the pollen onto milkweed, a plant that makes a milky juice and is the only known food source of the monarch butterfly caterpillar. within four days of munching on the milkweed leaves, almost half of a test group of caterpillars had died. "monarchs are considered to be a flagship species for conservation." said cornell researcher linda raynor. "this is a warning bell."
some insects that are not killed by gm foods might find themselves made stronger. how so? the insecticides used to protect most of today's crops are sprayed on the crops when needed and decay quickly in the environment. but gm plants produce a continuous level of insecticide. insect species feeding on those crops may develop resistan
ce to the plants and could do so in a hurry, say the critics. insects may also develop a resistance to the insecticide bt.
at the forum on gm food held last year in canada. gm crops that have been made resistant to the herbicide might crossbreed with wild plants, creating "superweeds" that could take over whole fields.
so where do you stand? should gm food be banned in the united states, as they are in parts of europe? or do their benefits outweigh any of the risks they might carry?
1. paragraphs 1,2&3 tries to give the idea that
a) gm foods may bring about great benefits to humans.
b) we cannot recognize the benefits of gm foods too early.
c) gm foods may have both benefits and harm.
d) gm foods are particularly good to the kwashiorkor patients.
2. why is the case of the pollen-sprayed milkweed citied in paragraph 6?
a) it is cited to show gm foods can kill insects effectively.
b) it is cited to show gm foods contain more protein.
c) it is cited to show gm foods also have a dark side.
d) it is cited to show gm foods may harm crops.
3. what happens to those insects when not killed by the spray of insecticide?
a) they may lose their ability to produce offspring.
b) they may have a higher ability to adapt to the environment.
c) they move to other fields free from insecticide.
d) they never eat again those plants containing insecticide.
4. which of the following statements concerning banning gm foods is true according to the passage?
a) underdeveloped countries have banned gm foods.
b) both europe and the u.s. have banned gm foods.
c) most european countries have not banned gm foods.
d) the united states has not banned gm foods.
5. what is the writer's attitude to gm foods?
a) we cannot tell from the passage.
b) he thinks their benefits outweigh their risks.
c) he thinks their risks outweigh their benefits.
d) he thinks their benefits and risks are balanced.
key: acbda
passage 48
diabetes
bmost of the food we eat is turned into glucose for our bodies to use for energy. the pancreas, an organ near the stomach, makes a hormone called insulin to help glucose get into your body cells. when you have diabetes, your body either doesn't make enough insulin or can't use its own insulin well. this problem causes glucose to build up in your blood.
you may recall having some of these signs before you found out you had diabetes.
*being very thirsty.
*urinating a lot - often at night
*having unclear vision from time to time.
*felling very tired much of the time.
*losing weight without trying.
*having very dry skin.
*having sores that are slow to heal.
*getting more infections than usual.
*vomiting.
two main types of diabetes are type 1 and type 2. another type of diabetes appears during pregnancy in some women. it's called gestational diabetes.
one out of ten people with diabetes' has type 1 diabetes. these people usually find out they have diabetes when they are children or young adults. the pancreas of a person with type 1 makes little or no insulin. people with type 1 diabetes must inject insulin every day to live.
most people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes. the pancreas of people with such diabetes keeps making insulin for some time, but the body can't use it well. most people with type 2 find out about their diabetes after age 30 or 40.
some risk factors which make people more likely to get type 2 diabetes are:
* a family history of diabetes.
* lack of exercise.
* weighing too much.
diabetes can hurt your eyes, your kidneys, and your nerves. it can lead to problems with the blood circulation in your body. even your teeth and gums can be harmed. and diabetes in pregnancy can cause special problems.
1. this writing is meant to tell people
a) how to avoid getting diabetes.
b) what to pay attention to when they have diabetes.
c) what diabetes is.
d) about the least development in curing diabetes.
2. a person with diabetes may have had all the following signs except
a) becoming fatter and fatter.
b) becoming thinner and thinner.
c) having to get out of bed at night and night.
d) feeling like to drink a lot of water very often.
3. which of the following statements is true?
a) most persons with type 1 or type 2 diabetes are women in pregnancy.
b) most women in pregnancy may have the danger of getting diabetes.
c) we find more persons with type 2 diabetes among children than older persons.
d) we find more persons with type 2 diabetes among older persons than children.
4. when you have type 2 diabetes, it is sometimes possible to find that
a) your son has diabetes too.
b) your father has diabetes too.
c) your father-in-law is too fat.
d) your
brother does not like sports.
5. people get diabetes because
a) their stomachs are not able to produce enough insulin.
b) their pancreas are not able to produce enough glucose.
c) there is too much glucose in their blood.
d) there is too much insulin in their blood.
keys: cadbc
passage 49
medical education
oin 18th-century colonial america, those who wanted to become physicians either learned as personal students from established professionals or went abroad to study in the traditional schools of london, paris, and edinburgh. medicine was first taught formally by specialists at the university of pennsylvania, beginning in 1765, and in 1767 at king's college (now columbia university), the first institution in the colonies to give the degree of doctor of medicine. following the american revolution, the columbia medical faculty (formerly of king's college)was combined with the college of physicians and surgeons, chartered in 1809, which survives as a division of columbia university.
in 1893 the johns hopkins medical school required all applicants to have a college degree and was the first to afford its students the opportunity to further their training in an attached teaching hospital. the growth of medical schools attached with established institutions of learning went together with the development of proprietary schools of medicine run for personal profit, most of which had low standards and poor facilities. in 1910 abraham flexner, the american education reformer, wrote medical education in the united states and canada, exposing the poor conditions of most proprietary schools. subsequently, the american medical association and the association of american medical colleges laid down standards for course content, qualifications of teachers, laboratory facilities, connection with teaching hospitals, and licensing of medical professionals that survive to this day.
by the late 1980s the u.s. and canada had 142 4-year medical colleges recognized by the liaison committee on medical education to offer the m.d. degree; during the 1987-88 academic year, 47,262 men and 25,686 women entered these colleges and an estimated 11,752 men and 5,958 women were graduated. graduates, after a year of internship, receive licenses to practice if they pass an examination given either by a state board or by the national board of medical examiners.
练习:
1. in 18th-century america,
a) there was no higher institution of learning which taught medicine.
b) there were already a few higher institutions of learning which taught medicine.
c) those higher institutions of learning which taught medicine were better than those in europe.
d) those higher institutions of learning did not give the degree of doctor of medicine.
2. in the 19th-century, all american medical schools
a) began to give their students chances for training in hospitals.
b) had good teachers and fine facilities
c) had large numbers of students.
d) none of the above is true.
3. the american medical association and the association of american medical colleges were
established
a) to ban those proprietary schools of medicine.
b) to build up relations between medical schools and hospitals.
c) to ensure the quality of medical teaching and practice.
d) to prevent some medical schools from making too much profit.
4. in the present-day america, graduates from medical schools
a) have to work in hospitals for a year and pass an examination before they can be recognized as qualified doctors.
b) have to be licensed by the national board of medical examiner before they can serve their internship in hospital.
c) have to pass an examination given by both a state board and the national board of medical examiners.
d) none of the above is true.
5. this passage is largely about
a） how difficult it is to become a doctor in america.
b） how american medical education has developed in history
c） how nice the american medical education system is.
d) how to become a good doctor.
keys: bdcab
passage 50
high stress may damage memory
taccording to a report issued in may 1998, elderly people who have consistently high blood levels of cortisol don't score as well on memory tests as their peers with lower levels of the stress hormone. what's more, high levels of cortisol are also associated with shrinking of the hippocampus, a region of the brain that plays a key role in learning and memory.
the finding suggest that even cortisol levels in the normal, "healthy" range can actually accelerate brain aging.
the study results "now pride substantial evidence that long-term exposure to adrenal stress hormones may promote hippocampal aging in normal elderly humans, " write nada porter and philip landfield of the university of kentu
cky in lexington in their editorial. cortisol is a hormone released in response to stress by the adrenal glands, which sit on top of the kidneys.
over a 5 to 6-year period, dr. sonia lupien and his colleagues measured 24-hour cortisol levels in 51 healthy volunteers, most of whom were in their 70s.
despite wide variation in cortisol levels, the participants could be divided into three subgroups: those whose cortisol progressively increased over time and was currently high(increasing/high); those whose cortisol progressively increased over time and was currently moderate(increasing/moderate); and subjects whose cortisol decreased, but was currently moderate(decreasing/moderate).
the researchers tested the volunteers' memory on six people in the increasing/high category and five people in the decreasing/moderate group. the groups did not differ on tests of immediate memory, but the increasing/high cortisol group had other memory problems compared with those in the decreasing/moderate group.
the researchers also found that the total volume of the hippocampus in those in the increasing/high group was 14% lower than those in the decreasing/moderate group, although there were no differences in other brain regions.
the results suggest that "… brain again can be accelerated by levels of adrenal hormones that are not generally regarded as pathological and that variation within this normal range is related to variation in the rate of brain aging," write porter and landfield. "this further suggests that chronic stress may accelerate the worsening of hippocampus. "
1. the part of the brain important for a person's learning and memory is
a) the cortisol.
b) the adrenal glands.
c) the stress hormones.
d) the hippocampus.
2. when the levels of cortisol go higher, the hippocampus in the brain may
a) become larger.
b) become smaller.
c) be missing.
d) be totally damaged.
3. according to the article, when people feel too worried or nervous or when they overwork,
a) the adrenal glands will produce a stress hormone.
b) the kidneys will produce adrenal glands.
c) the hippocampus will produce high level of cortisol in the blood.
d) the cortisol will produce something that makes a poorer memory.
4. when the total volume of the hippocampus becomes smaller, other brain regions
a) become smaller too.
b) become larger.
c) may remain the same in size.
d) may be damaged.
5. porter and landfield's research shows that
a) the change in the levels if adrenal hormones has nothing to do with the degree of brain aging.
b) the change in the levels of adrenal hormones has a lot to do with the degree of brain aging.
c) the long-term stress will gradually make the hippocampus worse.
d) none of the above is correct.
key: dbacb
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