1、专业英语八级（阅读）模拟试卷 136及答案与解析 SECTION A MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS In this section there are several passages followed by fourteen multiple-choice questions. For each multiple-choice question, there are four suggested answers marked A , B, C and D. Choose the one that you think is the best answer. 0 Drivi
2、ng along South Street, where the Los Angeles sprawl meets sprawling Orange County, you enter and leave Cerritos three times. Although the city is confusingly shaped, it is easy to tell where it begins. Overhead power cables abruptly disappear and run underground. The grass, watered by innumerable sp
3、rinklers, is a brighter shade of green. Indeed, a blind man could tell where the boundary lies. Crossing into Artesia there is a bump, followed by a series of clumsily patched potholes; a few hundred yards later you re-enter Cerritos and the road is smooth again. Cerritos cannot boast a glorious his
4、tory, old money or natural beauty. Fifty years ago it was a flat area of farmland known as Dairy Valley. These days,“ its a terribly unremarkable place on the way to Disneyland,“ says Tom Irish, a property developer. Yet this small suburban city of some 55,000 people has become remarkable thanks to
5、superb management and geographical good fortune. It reveals much about why Americas suburbs are so appealing, and how they are changing. Like an increasing number of suburbs, Cerritos is both a bedroom community and an economic engine. It began to prosper in the early 1970s when it encouraged car de
6、alers to cluster near the motorway that clips its western edge. Fully 27 outfits now trade there, making it the largest such centre in a car-obsessed state. Cerritos also has a shopping mall and a “town center“, otherwise known as an office park. As a result, it has far more jobs than working reside
7、nts. Last year the city collected $483 in sales taxes per person more than the glitzy city of Santa Monica. And it has leased, not sold, its land, so a future stream of money is guaranteed. What goes on inside the offices seems less important to locals than what they look like. The city has municipa
8、l codes to rival those of notoriously staid Irvine, a planned city in Orange County: dont even think about installing a rotating, blinking or oscillating sign. Sculptures adorn car dealers forecourts. Cerritoss busy library is covered with titanium; its Wal-Mart is clad in granite. It has an opulent
9、 performing arts centre that will host some 140 impeccably populist acts this year. Building work is underway on the local jail, known for good reason as the “sheriffs hotel“. Although Cerritos has a contract with Los Angeless county sheriff for its policing, it pays for the building and the officer
10、s. They have some of the easiest jobs in California. So far this year 53 serious assaults have been recorded, a bit less than one per cop. The city is so peaceful, says Daryl Evans, the police captain, that gang members from nearby cities occasionally meet there to play basketball, knowing they will
11、 not be attacked by rivals. Of course, many American cities have built parks, performing-arts centres and fancy libraries while struggling financially. The key to Cerritoss success may be the timing of its investments. Cities such as Cleveland and Baltimore poured money into museums and other grand
12、projects in the vain hope that they would lure businesses and young, creative folk. Cerritos began by building pipelines and roads, then moved on to business parks, policing and schools (including Californias best high school). Only when it was rolling in money did it break out the titanium. Local o
13、fficials attribute the citys success to fiscal discipline and the ability to follow a long-term plan. That, in turn, is the result of its political culture. Cerritos has a tradition of powerful, long-serving city managers, to whom local politicians frequently defer. As Laura Lee, the mayor, explains
14、, “There are many things we, as elected officials, do not understand.“ Voters, it seems, like this arrangement greatly. In a 2002 poll, an astonishing 96% of residents said they were satisfied with the provision of public services. Such single-mindedness is particularly striking given the citys dive
15、rsity. In 1980 whites comprised more than half of the population. These days Asians do. Striving immigrants are cause and consequence of the citys excellent schools: in Cerritos High School, pupils who speak inadequate English score better in mathematics tests than those who speak English fluently.
16、Yet the newcomers have not formed ghettos. The last census showed that whites and Asians were more intermixed in Cerritos than in all but 16 other American cities. Whites were even more mixed-up with blacks and Hispanics. These days Cerritos faces strong competition. Its car mall has inspired imitat
17、ors? as a result, the value of sales has flattened while the number of vehicles sold seems to be falling. As the city ages, public services will come under increasing strain. Drastic decline is unlikely, but the city may be overtaken though it is almost certain that the places doing the overtaking w
18、ill be bland, car-oriented and suburban. 1 The word “sprawl“ in the first paragraph indicates that_. （ A） the landscape of Orange County is of little variety （ B） Orange County is located in a plain of a considerable size （ C） parts of Orange County extend untidily in different directions （ D） Orang
19、e County is located in a mountainous area 2 According to the fifth paragraph, we can infer that_. （ A） the total number of cops in Cerritos is no less than 53 （ B） gang members of nearby cities enjoy immunity in Cerritos （ C） the crime rates in Cerritos are relatively low （ D） Los Angeles country sh
20、eriff is responsible for the expense of policing Cerritos 3 Which of the following does NOT account for Cerritoss success? （ A） Proper timing of investments. （ B） Advantageous location. （ C） Wealth of previous generations. （ D） Superb management. 4 According to the passage, what impression can we ge
21、t on Cerritos? （ A） The geographic boundaries of the city are of the remarkably regular shape. （ B） It is a thriving commercial center rather than a residential site. （ C） It is one of the most staidly planned cities in the region. （ D） It boasts a lifestyle that is rich in art and recreation. 4 In
22、1751, Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus came up with the novel idea of using flowers as clocks. Morning glories open their trumpet-like petals around 10 a. m. , water lilies at 11 and so on through evening primroses and moonflowers. A full array of these blossoms, planted in a circle, could indicate
23、 the time. It was a whimsical notion. But some 250 years later, scientists are seriously interested in the timekeeping mechanisms of nature. “Theyre so ubiquitous, theyre almost a signature of life,“ says molecular neuroscientist Russell Foster of Imperil College, London. From cockroaches to humans,
24、 Foster explores these internal clocks in a fascinating new book, Rhythm of Life, co-authored with British science writer Leon Kreitzman. The author show how the daily patterns known as circadian rhythms influence far more than our sleep. Heart attacks are more common in the morning. Women tend to g
25、o to labor in the evening. Severe asthma prevail at night. Although we may jet across time zones, circadian rhythms rule. The book traces the century-long quest to unravel their mechanisms, with some starting outcomes including the recent discovery that certain genes switch on and off in 24 hour cyc
26、les. Even our responses to medicines may depend on when we take them. Nature has devised internal clocks for a simple reason: they aid survival. “The early bird really does get the work,“ thanks to a silent wake-up call before dawn. A mimosa plant spreads its fernlike leaves during the day to create
27、 the maximum surface area for photosynthesis, then folds them up at night to reduce water-vapor loss. Its not a mere response to light. “They do this even when kept in the dark,“ says biologist Eugene Maurakis of the Science Museum of Virginia. In humans, the master clock is a tiny clump of cells in
28、 the brain called the suprachiasmatic nuclei. The clocks is reset daily by signals from a novel type of photoreceptor in the eye that Foster discovered. “The blind rely on it, too, provided their eyes havent been removed,“ he says. The result is an orchestrated series of biological events that unfol
29、ds in sequence. In the hours before breakfast, the body releases digestive enzymes gradually to be ready for the first meal. Temperature and blood pressure rise in preparation for the days demands. This helps explain the morning increase in the heart attacks. Cells reproduce at set times. Hormones r
30、ise and fall many of them according to a predetermined schedule. The implications for medicine are profound. By timing treatments to complement daily changes in biochemistry, the authors argues, we can boost efficacy and reduce side effects. In one seminal trial, medical oncologist William Hrushesky
31、 of the Dorn V. A. Medical Center in Columbia, S. C., found that by simply reversing the times when he administered two chemotherapeutic drugs, he could extend survival in women with advanced ovarian cancer from 11 percent at five years to 44 Chronobiology International, more than a dozen ailments c
32、an currently benefit from carefully timed treatments. In one recent study, he notes, something as simple as low-dose aspirin at bedtime reduced the rate of preterm deliver in pregnant women at risk for hypertension from 14 percent to zero. Aspirin in the morning had little effect. Surprised? Not to
33、Foster and Kreitzman. As they show, timing is everything. 5 What does the word “ubiquitous“ in the first paragraph suggest? （ A） All kinds of flowers can indicate the time. （ B） The timekeeping mechanisms are unique to flowers. （ C） Every living thing in nature has got the timekeeping mechanisms. （
34、D） The idea of using flowers as clocks has been widely acknowledged. 6 According to the book Rhythms of Life, which of the following statements is CORRECT? （ A） It is written by a molecular neuroscientist Foster. （ B） Severe asthma is not common at night. （ C） Medicines always function well provided
35、 that they have little side effects. （ D） Circadian rhythms influence us in various aspects. 7 Which of the following is INCORRECT concerning the mimosa plant? （ A） The mimosa plant unfolds its leaves to get light. （ B） The mimosa plant folds leaves to prevent water from losing at night. （ C） The mi
36、mosa plant devises internal clocks in order to survive. （ D） If the mimosa plant is placed in the dark, the internal clocks dont work very well. 7 Most men live in harness. Richard was one of them. Typically he had no awareness of how his male harness was choking him until his personal and professio
37、nal life and his body had nearly fallen apart. He had to get sick in his harness and nearly be destroyed by role-playing masculinity before he could allow himself to be a person with his own feelings, rather than just a hollow male image. Had it not been for a bleeding ulcer he might have postponed
38、looking at himself for many years more. Like many men, Richard had been a zombie, a daytime sleep-walker. Worse still, he had been a highly “successful“ zombie, which made it so difficult for him to risk change. Our culture is saturated with successful male zombies, businessmen zombies, golf zombies
39、, sports car zombies, playboy zombies, etc. They have lost touch with, or are running away from, their feelings and awareness of themselves as people. They have confused their social masks for their essence and they are destroying themselves while fulfilling the traditional definitions of masculine-
40、appropriate behavior. They are the heroes, the providers, the warriors, the empire builders, the fearless ones. Their reality is always approached through these veils of gender expectations. Men evaluate each other and are evaluated by many women largely by the degree to which they approximate the i
41、deal masculine model. Women have rightfully lashed out against being placed into a mold. Many women have described their roles in marriage as a form of socially approved prostitution. They assert that they are selling themselves out for an unfulfilling portion of supposed security. For psychological
42、ly defensive reasons the male has not yet come to see himself as a prostitute, day in and day out, both in and out of the marriage relationship. The males inherent survival instincts have been stunted by the seemingly more powerful drive to maintain his masculine image. He would, for example, rather
43、 die in the battle than risk living in a different way and being called a “coward“ or “not a man“. As a recently published study concluded, “A surprising number of men approaching senior citizenship say they would rather die than be buried in retirement.“ The male in our culture is at a growth impas
44、se. He wont move not because he is protecting his cherished central place in the sun, but because he cant move. He is a cardboard Goliath precariously balanced and on the verge of toppling over if he is pushed ever so slightly out of his well-worn path. He lacks the fluidity of the female who can re
45、adily move between the traditional definitions of male or female behavior and roles. She can be wife and mother or a business executive. She can dress in typically feminine fashion or adopt the male styles. She will be loved for having “feminine“ interests such as needlework or cooking, or she will
46、be admired for sharing with the male in his “masculine“ interests. She can be sexually assertive or sexually passive. Meanwhile, the male is rigidly caught in his masculine pose and, in many subtle and indirect ways, he is severely punished when he steps out of it. Unlike some of the problems of wom
47、en, the problems of men are not readily changed through legislation. The male has no apparent and clearly defined targets against which he can vent his rage. Yet he is oppressed by the cultural pressures that have denied him his feelings, by the mythology of the woman and the distorted and self-dest
48、ructive way he sees and relates to her, and by the urgency for him to “act like a man“ which blocks his ability to respond to his inner promptings both emotionally and physiologically, and by a generalized self-hate that causes him to feel comfortable only when he is functioning well in harness. Pre
49、cisely because the tenor and mood of the male liberation efforts so far have been one of self-accusation, self-hate, and a repetition of feminist assertions, I believe it is doomed to failure in its present form. It is buying the myth that the male is culturally favored a notion that is clung to despite the fact that every critical statistic in the areas of longevity, disease, suicide, crime, accidents, childhood emotional disorders, alcoholism, and drug addiction shows a disproportionately higher male rate. The most remarkable and signi
