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几则考研英语阅读训练题及详解
In 1967,in response to widespread public concern aroused by medical reports of asbestos related deaths, the National Medical Research Council organized a committee of enquiry to investigate the health threats associated with the use of asbestos in the building industry.
After examining evidences provided by medical researchers and building workers and management, the Council published a report which included advices for dealing with asbestos. The report confirmed the findings of similar research in the United States and Canada. Exposure to relatively small quantities of asbestos fibers, they concluded, was directly responsible for the development of cancers, asbestosis and related diseases. Taking into account evidence provided by economists and building industry management, however, the report assumed that despite the availability of other materials, asbestos would continue to play a major role in the British building industry for many years to come because of its availability and low cost.
As a result, the council gave a series of recommendations which were intended to reduce the risks to those who might be exposed to asbestos in working environments. They recommended that, where possible, asbestos free materials should be employed. In cases where asbestos was employed, it was recommended that it should be used in such a way that loose fibers were less likely to enter the air. The report recommended that special care should be taken during work in environments, which contain asbestos. Workers should wear protective equipment and take special care to remove dust from the environment and clothing with the use of vacuum cleaner.
The report identified five factors, which determine the level of risk involved. The state and type of asbestos is critical to determining the risk factors. In addition, dust formation was found to be limited where the asbestos was used when wet rather than dry.
The choice of tools was also found to affect the quantities of asbestos particles that enter the air. Machine tools produce greater quantities of dust than hand tools and, where possible, the use of the latter was recommended.
A critical factor takes place in risk reduction is the adequate ventilation of the working environment. When work takes place in an enclosed space, more asbestos particles circulate and it was therefore recommended that natural or machine ventilation should be used. By closely following these advices, it was claimed that exposure can be reduced to a reasonably practical minimum.
1. Exposure to asbestos fibers can cause cancer _____ .
A) only when asbestos is used in building industry
B) only when it is used in large quantities
C) even if it is used in small quantities
D) if they are used when wet rather than dry
2. Exposure to asbestos fibers is harmful to people's health _____ .
A) so the use of asbestos is limited
B) but asbestos will continue to be used for a long time to come
C) so other new kinds of materials are under development
D) but they will not be so when ventilation devices are used
3. It can be inferred from the passage that the real danger comes from _____ .
A) the asbestos dust that people take in
B) the contact of the worker's skin with asbestos particles
C) the inferior quality of the asbestos itself
D) the excessive use of man made asbestos material
4. Evidence from the economists and the building industries shows that _____ .
A) exposure to asbestos fibers is cancer causing
B) asbestos is in extensive use in building industry
C) use of asbestos is being reduced gradually
D) exposure to asbestos fibers can be reduced significantly
详解：
1．(C) 第二段第二、三句指出，几方面的研究都表明：直接接触并吸收少量的石棉绒(asbestos fibres)也会导致癌症、石棉沉着病或其他相关病症。D不正确。为了减少其危险性，应该设法不让石棉绒进入空气，使用水浸过的石棉就可以减少工作环境中石棉绒的含量(见第四段第三句)。可见，D表达的内容与原文正好相反。
2．(B) 第二段第四句指出，报告同时也认为，虽然已有了其他建筑材料，石棉在英国建筑业未来的许多年中将继续起重要作用，因为它易得到且成本低。A与D都不对，因为即使如此，石棉对人仍有伤害,见第(63)题题解。全国医学研究会所给的一些建议只能减少(reduce)石棉绒对人体的伤害，却不能杜绝之，见第三段第一句。C也不对，其他材料业已存在(见本题题解上文)，而不是正在研制(under development)。
3．(A)石棉沉着病(asbestosis)是指石棉被吸进肺中沉积在内而形成肺病，因此，又被称作“石棉肺”。在使用石棉的过程中，石棉碎绒(loose fibers)进入空气中，形成石棉绒尘(dust)，并被工人吸入肺中造成肺癌等疾病。研究会所提出的几个建议也首先是针对如何降低工作环境中石棉绒尘的含量，从而降低石棉的使用给建筑工人造成的危害。
4．(B) 石棉的使用给建筑工人造成了危害，但来自经济学家与建筑业的调查表明：虽然有可供利用的其他材料，石棉在英国建筑业中还将大量使用一段时间，因为它易得到且成本低(参阅第二段最后一句)。所以，B表达的内容最为贴切。
The energy crisis, which is being felt around the world, has dramatized how the careless use of the earth's resources has brought the whole world to the drink of disaster. The over development of motor transport, with its increase of more cars, more highways, more pollution, more suburbs, more commuting, has contributed to the near-destruction of our cities, the breakup of the family, and the pollution not only of local air but slap of the earth's atmosphere. The disaster has arrived in the form of the energy crisis.
Our present situation is unlike war, revolution or depression. It is also unlike the great natural disasters of the past. Worldwide resources exploitation and energy use have brought us to a state where long-range planning is essential. What we need is not a continuation of our present serious state, which endangers the future of our country, our children, and our earth, but a movement forward to a new norm in order to work rapidly and effectively on planetary problems.
This country has been falling back under the continuing exposures of loss morality and the revelation that lawbreaking has reached into the highest places in the land. There is a strong demand for moral revival and for some devotion that is vast enough and yet personal enough to enlist the devotion of all. In the past it has been only in a way in defense of their own country and their own ideals that any people have been able to devote themselves wholeheartedly.
This is the first time that we have been asked to defend ourselves and what we hold dear in cooperation with all the other inhabitants of this planet, who share with us the same endangered air and the same endangered oceans. There is a common need it reassesses our present course, to change that course and to devise new methods through which the world can survive. This is a priceless opportunity.
To grasp it we need a widespread understanding of nature if the crisis confronting us - and the world - a crisis that is no passing inconvenience, no by - product of the ambitions of the oil-producing countries, no environmentalists' mere fears, no by-product of any present system of government. What we face is the outcome of the invention of the last four hundred years. What we need is a transformed life style. This new life style can flow directly from science and technology, but its acceptance depends on a sincere devotion to finding a higher quality of life for the world's children and future generation.
1. Which condition does the author feel has nearly destroyed our cities？
A) Lack of financial planning.
B) The breakup of the family.
C) Natural disasters in many regions.
D) The excessive growth of motors.
2. According to the author, what is one example of our loss of morality?
A) Disregard for law.
B) Lack of devotion.
C) Lack of cooperation.
D) Exploitation of resources
3. By comparing past problems with present ones，the author draws attention to the _____ .
A) significance of this crisis
B) inadequacy of governments
C) similarity of the past to the present
D) hopelessness of the situation
4. What contribution does the author feel people must now make？
A) Search for new energy sources.
B) Outlaw motor transportation.
C) Accept a new life style.
D) Adopt a new form of government.
详解：
1. (D) 文章第一段指出，能源危机表明，人肆无忌惮地使用地球资源已使世界处于灾难的边缘(brink)：现代交通运输的过度发展使城市濒临毁灭(neardestruction)、使家庭解体、污染了城市的空气和大气层。
2. (B) 第三段指出，现在，许多道德的丧失与腐败现象被揭露出来，甚至国家的最高层(the highest places in the land,指国家高级官员)也不依法办事。这些道德的丧失与腐败使国家岌岌可危。所以，道德需要新生，人需要新的奉献精神，需要用部分人的巨大奉献精神来带动所有人的奉献精神。过去，人们曾经为保卫自己的国家和民族以及自己的理想全心全意地奉献过自己。由本段第二、三句可以看出，第一句主要是指人们奉献精神的缺乏，含义为：解决目前的危机还需要人们做出奉献。A不对，原文中所说的“违法”(lawbreaking)主要指腐败，具体地讲，是指高级官员们不能尽职尽责而以权谋私。
3. (A) 在前三段中，作者指出了目前所存在的问题。在第四段，作者指出了这一危机的性质。与过去不同的是，我们首先要学会保护我们自己和我们珍视(hold dear)的东西，我们的合作者不再是某国某地域的人，也不是我们的同志了，而是生活在地球上的所有人，因为，我们都同时面临着同一个问题。我们需要共同努力(a common need)来衡量评价一下我们正在走的道路(course)或改变这一道路，以找出我们共存的途径。在文章最后一段，作者更具体地说明了我们所应该做的事情。
4. (C) 在文章的最后一段，作者提出了危机的对策。人们都应充分理解(a widespread understanding)我们所面临的危机的性质——它决不是暂时的(passing),我们所需要的是一种新的生活方式(a transformed lifestyle)，它当然要以科学技术为基础，但要接受它却需要人“摈弃”、“取缔”。
The Supreme Court's recent decision allowing regional interstate banks has done away with one restriction in America's banking operation, although many others still remain. Although the ruling does not apply to very large money-center banks, it is a move in a liberalizing direcion that could at last push Congress into framing a sensible legal and regulatory system that allows banks to plan their future beyond the next court case.
The restrictive laws that the courts are interpreting are mainly a legacy of the bank failures of the 1930's. The current high rate if bank failure - higher than at any time since the Great Depression - has made legislators afraid to remove the restrictions. While their legislative timidity is understandable, it is also mistaken. One reason so many American banks are getting into trouble is precisely that the old restrictions make it hard for them to build a domestic base large and strong enough to support their activities in today's telecommunicating round-the-clock, around-the-world financial markets. In trying to escape from this restrictions, banks are taking enormous, and what should be unnecessary, risks. For example, would a large bank be buying small, failed savings banks at inflated prices if federal law and states regulations permitted that bank to explain instead through the acquisition of financially healthy banks in the region? Of course not. The solution is clear. American banks will be sounder when they are not geographically limited. The house of Representative's banking committee has shown part of the way forward by recommending common-sensical, though limited, legislation for a five-year transition to nationwide banking. This would give regional banks time to group together to form counterweights to the big money-center banks. Without this breathing space the big money-center banks might soon extend across the country to develop. But any such legislation should be regarded as only a way station on the road towards a complete examination of American's suitable banking legislation.
1. The author's attitude towards the current banking laws is best described as one of _____ .
A)concerned dissatisfaction
B)tolerant disapproval
C)uncaring indifference
D)great admiration
2. Which of the following best describes why the restrictive banking laws of the 1930's are still on the book？
A) The bank failures of the 1930's were caused by restrictive courts.
B) Banking has not changed in the past 50 years.
C)The banking system is too restrictive，but no alternatives have been suggested.
D) Legislators apparently believe that banking problems similar to those of the Depression still exist today.
3. The author argues that the change to a nationwide banking systems should be _____ .
A)gradual，so that regional banks have a chance to compete with larger banks
B)postponed，until the consequences can be evaluated
C)immediate，because we cannot afford any more bank failures
D)accelerated，to overcome legislative fear
4. Which of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage？
A) The current banking law must be interpreted by the Supreme Court to be useful to today's banks.
B)Although there are currently many bank failures，the nature of banking has not really changed that much.
C) Money center banks currently have too much power as compared with the regional banks.
D) Because current laws are not responsive to contemporary banking needs, banks have been forced to take needless and dangerous risks.
详解：
1．(A) 意为：忧虑和不满。第一段指出，最高法院(the Supreme Court)最近一项裁决使地区性州际银行(regional interstate bank)在美国银行业务中摆脱了一项限制，虽然许多限制尚存。这项裁决(ruling)并不适用于金融中心银行，但是，它标志着向放宽的方向迈进了一步，放宽最终会使国会制定(framing)一个合理的法律法规制度，对银行的未来发展做出规划，而无需等待法院的再一次裁决(beyond the next court case)。文章最后一句指出，但是，这样的立法只能被看作是全面制定合理的美国银行法的一个小插曲。显然，在作者看来，美国国会需要全面修改现行银行法，而不应该仅停留在对它的修修补补上。
2．(D) 意为：立法者显然相信雷同于大萧条时代的金融问题目前仍然存在。第二段第一、二句指出，法庭目前所依据的限制法主要是30年代遗留下来的防止银行破产的法律。由于目前所显示的银行破产率高于30年代大萧条(the Great Depression) 以后任何一个时代，立法者对废除限制表示担心。这种担心在作者看来是错误的。
3．(A)意为：“循序渐进的，以便地区银行可以和大银行竞争”。最后一段指出，道理是明摆着的，废除地区性限制，美国银行业的发展会更健康。众议院提议实行五年的放开国内区域性限制的转换期(transition)，这项提案虽然有其局限，但却颇有道理，可以将银行改革推进一步。这种做法可以给地方银行重组的时间，以便同大金融中心银行相抗衡，因为，如果没有这一喘息机会，大金融中心银行很快就会占领全国。
4．(D) 意为：“因为目前法律已不能满足现代银行业发展的需要，银行不得不去冒一些无谓的风险”。第二段第五句指出，为了摆脱限制，银行正在冒着巨大(但却没必要的)风险。 |
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