1、考博英语-225 及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Reading Comprehensio(总题数：0，分数：0.00)二、Passage 1(总题数：1，分数：15.00)Nuclear power“s danger to health, safety, and even life itself can be summed up in one word: radiation. Nuclear radiation has a certain mystery about it, partly because it cannot be detected by human
2、senses. It can“t be seen or heard, or touched or tasted, even though it may be all around us. There are other things like that. For example, radio waves are all around us but we can“t detect them, sense them without a radio receiver. Similarly, we can“t sense radio activity without a radiation detec
3、tor. But unlike common radio waves, nuclear radiation is not harmless to human beings and other living things. At very high levels, radiation can kill an animal or human being outright by killing masses of cells in vital organs. But even the lowest levels can do serious damage. There is no level of
4、radiation that is completely safe. If the radiation does not hit anything important, the damage may not be significant. This is the case when only a few cells are hit. And if they are killed outright, your body will replace the dead cells with healthy ones. But if the few cells are only damaged, and
5、 if they reproduce themselves, you may be in trouble. They reproduce themselves in a deformed way. They can grow into cancer. Sometimes this does not show up for many years. This is another reason for some of the mystery about nuclear radiation. Serious damage can be done without the victim being aw
6、are at the time that damage has occurred. A person can be irradiated and feel fine, then die of cancer in five, ten, or twenty years later as a result. Or a child can be born weak or liable to serious illness as a result of radiation absorbed by its grandparents. Radiation can hurt us. We must know
7、the truth.（分数：15.00）(1).According to the passage, the danger of nuclear power lies in _.（分数：3.00）A.nuclear mysteryB.radiation detectionC.radiation levelD.nuclear radiation(2).Radiation can cause serious consequences even at the lowest level _.（分数：3.00）A.when it kills few cellsB.if it damages the few
8、 cellsC.though the damaged cells can repair themselvesD.unless the damaged cells can reproduce themselves(3).The word “significant“ in Paragraph 3 most probably means _.（分数：3.00）A.responsibleB.meaningfulC.fatalD.harmful(4).Radiation can hurt us in the way that it can _.（分数：3.00）A.kill large numbers
9、of cells in main organs so as to cause death immediatelyB.damage cells which may grow into cancer years laterC.affect the healthy growth of our offspringD.all of the above(5).Which of the following can be best inferred from the passage?（分数：3.00）A.The importance of protection from radiation cannot be
10、 over-emphasizedB.The mystery about radiation remains unsolvedC.Cancer is mainly caused by radiationD.Radiation can hurt those who are not aware of its danger三、Passage 2(总题数：1，分数：15.00)In some ways, the United States has made spectacular progress. Fires no longer destroy 18,000 buildings as they did
11、 in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, or kill half a town of 2,400 people, as they did the same night in Peshtigo, Wisconsin. Other than the Beverly Hill Supper Club fire in Kentucky, in 1977, it has been four decades since more than 100 Americans died in a fire. But even with such successes, the Unit
12、ed States still has one of the worst fire death rates in the world. Safety experts say the problem is neither money nor technology, but the indifference of a country that just will not take fires seriously enough. American fire departments are some of the world“s fastest and best equipped. They have
13、 to be. The United States has twice Japan“s population, and 40 times as many fires. It spends far less on preventing fires than on fighting them. American fire-safety lessons are aimed almost entirely at children, who die in disproportionately large numbers in fires but whom, contrary to popular myt
14、h, start very few of them. Experts say the fatal error is an attitude that fires are not really anyone“s fault. That is not so in other countries, where both public education and the law treat fires as either a personal failing or a crime. Japan has many wood houses, of the estimated 48 fires in wor
15、ld history, that burned more than 10,000 buildings, Japan has had 27. Penalties for causing a severe fire by negligence can be as high as life imprisonment. In the United States, most education dollars are spent in elementary schools. But the lessons are aimed at too limited an audience, just 9 perc
16、ent of all fire deaths are caused by children playing with matches. The United States continues to rely more on technology than laws or social pressure. There are smoke detectors in 85 percent of all homes. Some local building codes now require home sprinklers. New heaters and irons shut themselves
17、off if they are tipped.（分数：15.00）(1).The reason why so many Americans die in fires is that _.（分数：3.00）A.they took no interest in new technologyB.they did not attach great importance to preventing firesC.they showed indifference to fighting firesD.they did not spend enough money on fire facilities(2)
18、.Although the fire death rate has declined, the United States _.（分数：3.00）A.still has the worst fire death rate in the worldB.is still alert to the fire problemC.is still training a large number of safety expertsD.is still confronted with the serious fire problem(3).It can be inferred from the passag
19、e that _.（分数：3.00）A.fire safety lessons should be aimed at American adultsB.American children have not received enough education of fire safety lessonC.Japan is better equipped with fire facilities than the Untied StatesD.America“s large population accounts for high fire frequency(4).In what aspects
20、 should the United States learn from Japan?（分数：3.00）A.Architecture and building materialB.Education and technologyC.Laws and attitudeD.All of the above(5).To narrow the gap between the fire death rate in the United States and that in other countries, the author suggests _.（分数：3.00）A.developing new t
21、echnologyB.counting more on laws and social pressureC.placing a fire extinguisher in every familyD.reinforcing the safeness of household appliances四、Passage 3(总题数：1，分数：15.00)There are hidden factors which scientists call “feedback mechanisms“. No one knows how they will interact with the changing cl
22、imate. Here“s one example: plants and animals adapt to climate change over centuries. At the current estimate of half a degree centigrade of warming per decade, vegetation (植物) may not keep up. Climatologist James Hansen predicts climate zones will shift toward the poles by 50 to 75 kilometres a yea
23、rfaster than trees can naturally migrate. Species that find themselves in an unfamiliar environment will die. The 1,000-kilometre-wide strip of forest running through Canada, the USSR and Scandinavia could be cut by half. Millions of dying trees would soon lead to massive forest fires, releasing ton
24、s of CO 2 and further boosting global warming. There are dozens of other possible “feedback mechanisms“. Higher temperatures will fuel condensation and increase cloudiness, which may actually damp down global warming. Others, like the “albedo“ effect, will do the opposite. The “albedo“ effect is the
25、 amount of solar energy reflected by the earth“s surface. As the northern ice and snow melt and the darker sea and land pokes (戳) through, more heat will be absorbed, adding to the global temperature increase. Even if we were to magically stop all greenhouse-gas emissions tomorrow, the impact on glo
26、bal climate would continue for decades. Delay will simply make the problem worse. The fact is that some of us are doing quite well the way things are. In the developed world prosperity has been built on 150 years of cheap fossil fuels. Material progress has been linked to energy consumption. Today 7
27、5 percent of all the world“s energy is consumed by a quarter of the world“s population. The average rich world resident adds about 3.2 tons of CO2 yearly to the atmosphere, more than four times the level added by each Third World citizen. The U.S., with just seven percent of the global population, i
28、s responsible for 22 percent of global warming.（分数：15.00）(1).“Feedback mechanisms“ in Paragraph 1 most probably refers to _.（分数：3.00）A.how plants and animals adapt to hidden factorsB.how plants and animals interact with the changing climateC.how climate changesD.how climate zones shift(2).James Hans
29、en predicts that the shift of climate zones will be accompanied by _.（分数：3.00）A.the cutting of many treesB.desirable environmental changesC.successful migration of speciesD.unsuccessful migration of trees(3).We can learn from the passage that _.（分数：3.00）A.some feedback mechanisms may slow down globa
30、l warmingB.the basic facts of global warming are unknownC.developing countries benefit from cheap fossil fuelsD.developed countries have decided to reduce their energy consumption(4).It can be inferred from the passage that _.（分数：3.00）A.the developing world has decided to increase its energy consump
31、tionB.a third-world citizen adds less than a ton of CO2yearly to the atmosphereC.the world climate would soon gain its balance if we stopped greenhouse gas emissionsD.future prosperity of the world is dependent on cheap fossil fuels(5).Which of the following is the main topic of the passage?（分数：3.00
32、）A.Material progress and energy consumptionB.Prosperity and cheap fossil fuelsC.Impact of global warming on climateD.Plants and animals in the changing climate五、Passage 4(总题数：1，分数：15.00)Learning disabilities are very common. They affect perhaps 10 percent of all children. Four times as many boys as
33、girls have learning disabilities. Since about 1970, new research has helped brain scientists understand these problems better. Scientists now know there are many different kinds of learning disabilities and that they are caused by many different things. There is no longer any question that all learn
34、ing disabilities result from differences in the way the brain is organized. You cannot look at a child and tell if he or she has a learning disability. There is no outward sign of the disorder. So some researchers began looking at the brain itself to learn what might be wrong. In one study, research
35、ers examined the brain of a learning-disabled person, who had died in an accident. They found two unusual things. One involved cells in the left side of the brain, which control language. These cells normally are white. In the learning-disabled person, however, these cells were gray. The researchers
36、 also found that many of the nerve cells were not in a line the way they should have been. The nerve cells were mixed together. The study was carried out under the guidance of Norman Geschwind, an early expert on learning disabilities. Doctor Geschwind proposed that learning disabilities resulted ma
37、inly from problems in the left side of the brain. He believed this side of the brain failed to develop normally. Probably, he said, nerve cells there did not connect as they should. So the brain was like an electrical device in which the wires were crossed. Other researchers did not examine brain ti
38、ssue. Instead, they measured the brain“s electrical activity and made a map of the electrical signals. Frank Duffy experimented with this technique at Children“s Hospital Medical Center in Boston. Doctor Duffy found large differences in the brain activity of normal children and those with reading pr
39、oblems. The differences appeared throughout the brain. Doctor Duffy said his research is evidence that reading disabilities involve damage to a wide area of the brain, not just the left side.（分数：15.00）(1).Scientists found that the brain cells of a learning-disabled person differ from those of a norm
40、al person in _.（分数：3.00）A.structure and functionB.color and functionC.size and arrangementD.color and arrangement(2).Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?（分数：3.00）A.Learning disabilities may result from the unknown area of the brainB.Learning disabilities may result from damage to
41、a wide area of the brainC.Learning disabilities may result from abnormal organization of brain cellsD.Learning disabilities may result from problems in the left side of the brain(3).All of the following statements are true EXCEPT that _.（分数：3.00）A.many factors account for learning disorderB.a learni
42、ng-disabled person shows no outward signsC.reading disabilities are a common problem that affects 10 percent of the populationD.the brain activity of learning-disabled children is different from that of normal children(4).Doctor Duffy believed that _.（分数：3.00）A.he found the exact cause of learning d
43、isabilitiesB.the problem of learning disabilities was not limited to the left side of the brainC.the problem of learning disabilities resulted from the left side of the brainD.the problem of learning disabilities did not lie in the left side of the brain(5).According to the passage we can conclude t
44、hat further researches should be made _.（分数：3.00）A.to investigate possible influences on brain development and organizationB.to study how children learn to read, write and use numbersC.to help learning-disabled children to develop their intelligenceD.to explore how the left side of the brain functio
45、ns in language learning六、Passage 5(总题数：1，分数：20.00)Visual impairment (视觉障碍) carries with it a reduced or restricted ability to travel through one“s physical and social environment until adequate orientation and mobility skills have been established. Because observational skills are more limited, self
46、-control within the immediate surroundings is limited. The visually impaired person is less able to anticipate hazardous situations or obstacles to avoid. Orientation (定方向) refers to the mental map one has of one“s surroundings and to the relationship between self and that environment. The mental ma
47、p is best generated by moving through the environment and piecing together relationships, object by object, in an organized approach. With little or no visual feedback to reinforce this mental map, a visually impaired person must rely on memory for key landmarks and other clues. Landmarks and clues
48、enable visually impaired persons to affirm their position in space. Mobility (移动), on the other hand, is the ability to travel safely and efficiently from one point to another within one“s physical and social environment. Good orientation skills are necessary to good mobility skills. Once visually i
49、mpaired students learn to travel safely as pedestrians (行人) they also need to learn to use public transportation to become as independent as possible. To meet the expanding needs and demands of the visually impaired person, there is a sequence of instruction that begins during the preschool years and may continue after high school. Many visually impaired children lack adequate concepts regarding time and space or objects and events in their environment. During the early years much attention is focused on the devel
