水木艾迪：阅读理解冲刺之练习题（三）

Text 11

　　Education is an absolute imperative in the emerging global knowledge society, so new ways of providing access to education for a much higher percentage of the population are now being devised.

　　The most dramatic examples of access to education are found in the 11 distance-education mega-universities found around the world. In "distance education," the student is separated in time or space from the teacher or professor. The largest of these high enrollment universities is in China, the China Central Radio and Television University, with more than 3 million students. The English-speaking world has the British Open University, with 215,000 students, and the University of South Africa, with 120,000 students. In addition to the mega-universities, dozens of other national and regional systems are providing education at all levels to students.

　　The base delivery system for the distance-education mega-universities is television, supplemented by other technologies or even some onsite instruction in more-developed countries. Some distance-education systems use two-way interactive video connections to particular locations where students gather; others supplement with the Internet, and still others deliver only by Internet. With video-and-audio-streaming now available, the Internet appears to be the technology of choice for systems where students have access to computers. Of course, these technologies merely add to the radio-- delivered courses that have been offered for years in many countries around the world.

　　The programs and courses offered vary from basic literacy courses to the highest graduate-level programming. Hundreds of university degrees are now available through distance education, where 90% or more of the required credits are given at a distance, as are dozens of master's degrees and a small number of accredited doctoral degrees. One estimate suggests that 50,000 university-level courses are now available through distance-education delivery systems.

　　There will be two main types of educational institutions: those that add value in coursework and those that are certifying agencies. The certifying colleges and universities are those that act as educational bankers for students. Students will earn credits from many places and have the credits or certifications of completion sent to the certifying university, then that certifying university will award the degree when enough credits of the right type have been accumulated. Regent's College of the University of the State of New York and Thomas Edison College of New Jersey are public certifying institutions that give accredited degrees.

　　One vision for some of the remaining residential colleges in the United States, now serving mainly the 18-to-23-year-old population, is that many will become certifying colleges. Students will come to the colleges for their social, artistic, athletic, and spiritual programs. The basic commodity these colleges will sell is membership in the college community. Students will access their courses from colleges and universities around the world, transfer the credits to the college, then gain a degree. Faculty members will serve as tutors and advisers and may provide some courses live. (479 words）

　　51. What is the passage mainly about?

　　[A] The emerging global knowledge society
　　[B] Distance-education mega-universities
　　[C] The largest of these high enrollment universities
　　[D] Two main types of educational institutions

　　52. It may be inferred that the Internet could be the technology of choice in_______.

　　[A] the China Central Radio and Television University
　　[B] the University of South Africa
　　[C] the British Open University
　　[D] the English-speaking world

　　53. We learn from the passage that the distance-education programs may offer all the following EXCEPT______.

　　[A] virtually all the basic literacy courses and the highest graduate-level programming
　　[B] nearly 90% of the required credits
　　[C] courses for master's degrees and accredited doctoral degrees
　　[D] 50,000 university-level courses

　　54. The residential colleges in the United States ______.

　　[A] serve only the 18-to-23-year-old population
　　[B] provide students with social, artistic, athletic, and spiritual programs
　　[C] provide courses from colleges and universities around the world
　　[D] may provide a lot of faculty members to conduct courses lively

　　55. Judging from the context we know that a mega-university is_______.

　　[A] the largest of these high enrollment universities
　　[B] the China Central Radio and Television University
　　[C] the British Open University
　　[D] a university with very large number of students

Text 12

　　To date, over 1 billion Barbie dolls have been sold. The average American girl aged between three and 11 owns a staggering ten Barbie dolls, according to Mattel, the American toy giant. An Italian or British girl owns seven; a French or German girl, five. The Barbie brand is worth some $2 billion--a little ahead of Armani, just behind the Wall Street Journal--making it the most valuable toy brand in the world, according to Interbrand, a consultancy. How is it that this impossibly proportioned, charmless toy has endured in an industry notorious for whimsical fad and fickle fashion?

　　Part of Barbie's appeal is that she has become, according to Christopher Varaste, a historian of Barbie, "the face of the American dream". Barbie is not a mere toy, nor product category: she is an icon. Quite how she became one is hotly debated among the Barbie sorority. Some think she answers an innate girlish desire for fantasy, role-playing and dressing-up. Others believe that Mattel has simply manipulated girls' aspirations to that end.

　　Either way, wrapped up in her pouting lips and improbable figure--buxom breasts, wafer-thin waist and permanently arched feet waiting to slip into a pair of high heels--is an apparently enduring statement of aspiration and western aesthetic. She is, according to M.G. Lord, who has written a biography of Barbie, "the most potent icon of American popular culture in the late twentieth century."

　　Officialdom has recognised Barbie's iconic status. The Americans included a Barbie doll in the 1976 bicentennial time capsule. Earlier this year, the American government buried her in a "women's health" time capsule, alongside a pair of forceps and a girdle. As an emblem of Americana she is subject to pastiche, derision and political statement. Andy Warhol made a portrait of Barbie, the Campbell's soup of toy brands. An exhibition in London earlier this year displayed "Suicide Bomber Barbie" by Simon Tyszko, a British artist. Her hair was blonde, her hair ribbon red, and around her slender waist was wrapped a belt of explosives, attached to a detonator held daintily in her hand.

　　Barbie has not colonised girls' imaginations by accident. Mattel has dedicated itself to promoting Barbie as "a lifestyle, not just a toy". In addition to selling the dolls, Mattel licenses Barbie in 30 different product categories, from furniture to make-up. A girl can sleep in Barbie pyjamas, under a Barbie duvet-cover, her head on a Barbie pillow-case, surrounded by Barbie wall-paper, and on, and on. There are Barbie conventions, fan clubs, web sites, magazines and collectors' events.

　　"She's so much more than a character brand," enthuses a Mattel publicity person, "she's a fashion statement, a way of life." (449 words）

　　56. Which of the following statements is true according to the text?

　　[A] The average American girl aged between three and 11 owns 10 staggering Barbie dolls.
　　[B] Wall Street Journal is the most valuable toy brand in the world.
　　[C] The Barbie brand is the most valuable toy brand in the world.
　　[D] The Barbie brand is worth more than $2 billion.

　　57. How did Barbie become an icon according to the text?

　　[A] Barbie has "the face of the American dream".
　　[B] She answers an innate girlish desire for fantasy, role-playing and dressing-up
　　[C] It is Mattel that manipulated girls' aspirations to that end.
　　[D] Different people have different explanations.

　　58. Barbie's iconic status is shown in all the following EXCEPT______.

　　[A] Barbie doll in the 1976 bicentennial time capsule
　　[B] She was buried in a "women's health" time capsule
　　[C] She is subject to pastiche, derision and political statement
　　[D] Barbie has colonised girls' imaginations

　　59. It can be inferred from the text that Mattel is_______.

　　[A] a man who created Barbie doll
　　[B] the name of a toy manufacturer
　　[C] an individual organization
　　[D] a sorority

　　60. The best title for the text may be ______.

　　[A] Barbie dolls in USA
　　[B] Barbie's appeal
　　[C] Barbie's appeal and iconic status
　　[D] Barbie, the most valuable toy brand

Text 13

　　There are many reasons why London is an attractive place in which to live and to do international business: the time zone, English, the shops, the theatre--and the taxes. A loophole in Britain's law allows many foreigners to avoid paying tax on income generated outside Britain or on the disposal of foreign assets.

　　In most countries, a foreign resident's "domicile" (home country) status is determined by objective criteria. In Britain, it's largely up to the foreigner. So a Greek shipowner who has lived in Britain for years but says that he intends to move back to Athens when circumstances permit is treated differently from one who says he intends to settle in Britain.

　　This rule helps explain why so many rich foreigners choose to live in a city with such rotten weather and congested roads. At least 60,000 are reckoned to benefit from the loophole; and their considerable investments in the better streets of Belgravia, Mayfair and Hampstead have injected many millions into the top end of the property market. If they pulled out, nasty things could happen to the price of penthouses. So there has been considerable alarm in monied circles since Gordon Brown declared that he was going to review the rules in last April's budget. The review is expected this year.

　　It is easy to understand why a Labour chancellor would want to close a loophole that turns Britain into a tax haven for rich foreigners. And it isn't just politicians who disapprove. "Every tax system treats temporary residents differently. What is ridiculous about this system is this archaic, subjective rule about domicile," says Edward Troup of Simmons & Simmons, a City law firm.

　　But there are worries that if the government removes this tax loophole, London will suffer. The change will affect not just rich shipping magnates but foreign staff working for London's international banks. "Whenever governments have looked at this in the past 20 years, they have concluded that the balance of advantages was in favour of leaving the rules as they are," says John Battersby, a tax partner at KPMG, an accountancy firm. "There isn't any easy money for the government because a lot of the people are internationally mobile and won't stay."

　　So far, the Treasury appears inclined to caution. In the November pre-budget report, it stressed the need to balance tax fairness with the ability to attract skilled labour. But rich foreigners are keeping a close eye on the promised review. (419 words）

　　61. The most important reason for London to attract people to do international business is_____.

　　[A] the time zone, English
　　[B] the shops, the theatre.
　　[C] the low taxes
　　[D] escaping paying tax

　　62.The case of the Greek ship owner in paragraph 2 implies that_______.

　　[A] a foreign resident's "domicile" status is different according to different countries
　　[B] a foreign resident prefers to stay in London than in his own country
　　[C] a foreign resident's may benefit from the loophole of the tax
　　[D] a foreign resident's may benefit from his "domicile" status

　　63. The reason for the considerable alarm in monied circles is that______.

　　[A] the rich foreigners may no longer have a tax haven
　　[B] last April's budget was reviewed
　　[C] the loophole of the tax is to be reviewed
　　[D] a review of tax policy is expected this year

　　64. What will be the possible consequence if the government removes this tax loophole?

　　[A] People will get worried about their income.
　　[B] Some foreign staff working for London's international banks will be affected.
　　[C] The balance of advantages was in favour of leaving the rules as they are.
　　[D] A lot of the people will leave London and the government may hardly get money.

　　65. We can draw a conclusion from the text that ______.

　　[A] the Treasury will soon make a decision
　　[B] the Treasury won’t make any decision
　　[C] the tax policy review will not be made in haste
　　[D] rich foreigners are happy with the promised review

Text 14

　　Scientists have known since 1952 that DNA is the basic stuff of heredity. They've known its chemical structure since 1953. They know that human DNA acts like a biological computer program some 3 billion bits long that spells out the instructions for making proteins, the basic building blocks of life.

　　But everything the genetic engineers have accomplished during the past half-century is just a preamble to the work that Collins and Anderson and legions of colleagues are doing now. Collins leads the Human Genome Project, a 15-year effort to draw the first detailed map of every nook and cranny and gene in human DNA. Anderson, who pioneered the first successful human gene-therapy operations, is leading the campaign to put information about DNA to use as quickly as possible in the treatment and prevention of human diseases.

　　What they and other researchers are plotting is nothing less than a biomedical revolution. Like Silicon Valley pirates reverse-engineering a computer chip to steal a competitor's secrets, genetic engineers are decoding life's molecular secrets and trying to use that knowledge to reverse the natural course of disease. DNA in their hands has become both a blueprint and a drug, a pharmacological substance of extraordinary potency that can treat not just symptoms or the diseases that cause them but also the imperfections in DNA that make people susceptible to a disease.

　　And that's just the beginning. For all the fevered work being done, however, science is still far away from the Brave New World vision of engineering a perfect human—or even a perfect tomato. Much more research is needed before gene therapy becomes commonplace, and many diseases will take decades to conquer, if they can be conquered at all.

　　In the short run, the most practical way to use the new technology will be in genetic screening. Doctors will be able to detect all sorts of flaws in DNA long before they can be fixed. In some cases the knowledge may lead to treatments that delay the onset of the disease or soften its effects. Someone with a genetic predisposition to heart disease, for example, could follow a low-fat diet. And if scientists determine that a vital protein is missing because the gene that was supposed to make it is defective, they might be able to give the patient an artificial version of the protein. But in other instances, almost nothing can be done to stop the ravages brought on by genetic mutations. (409 words）

　　66. It can be inferred from the text that Collins and Anderson and legions of colleagues _____.

　　[A] know that human DNA acts like a biological computer program
　　[B] have found the basic building blocks of life
　　[C] have accomplished some genetic discovery during the past half-century
　　[D] are making a breakthrough in DNA

　　67. Collins and Anderson are cited in the text to indicate all the following EXCEPT that ______.

　　[A] time-consuming effort is needed to accomplish the detailed map of in human DNA
　　[B] human gene-therapy operations may be applied to the patients
　　[C] gene-therapy now is already generally used to the treatment and prevention of human diseases
　　[D] information about DNA may be used in the treatment and prevention of human diseases

　　68. The word “pirate” (line 2, paragraph 3) means______.

　　[A] one who robs at sea or plunders the land from the sea
　　[B] one who makes use of or reproduces the work of another without authorization
　　[C] to take (something) by piracy
　　[D] to make use of or reproduce (another's work) without authorization

　　69. We can draw a conclusion from the text that_____.

　　[A] engineering a perfect human is not feasible for the time being
　　[B] it’s impossible for scientists to engineer a perfect tomato
　　[C] many diseases will never be conquered by human beings
　　[D] doctors will be able to cure all sorts of flaws in DNA in the long run

　　70. The best title for the text may be ______.

　　[A] DNA and Heredity
　　[B] The Genetic Revolution
　　[C] A Biomedical Revolution
　　[D] How to Apply Genetic Technology

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