1、专业英语四级（阅读）模拟试卷 121及答案与解析 一、 SECTION A In this section there are several passages followed by ten multiple-choice questions. For each question, there are four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that you think is the best answer. 0 (1)Every April I am troubled by the same concern-t
2、hat spring might not occur this year. The landscape looks dull, with hills, sky and forest forming a single gray color, like the light color an artist paints on a canvas before the masterwork. My spirit ebbs, as it did during an April snowfall when I first came to Maine 15 years ago. “Just wait,“ a
3、neighbor counseled. “Youll wake up one morning and spring will just be here.“ And look, on May 3 that year, I awoke to a green so startling as to be almost electric, as if spring were simply a matter of moving a switch. Hills, sky and forest revealed their purples, blues and greens. Leaves had unfur
4、led, birds had arrived at the feeder and daffodils were fighting their way towards heaven. (2)It was almost too much to bear, this assault of color, this world of spring in suddenly rapid motion. I watched as those aforementioned hills, sky, and forest revealed their appealing purples, blues, and gr
5、eens. And after my eyes had feasted, the lilacs and honeysuckles competed for attention, exuding a dizzying fragrance. (3)In my neighborhood, there is an old apple tree on an undeveloped lot. It belongs to no one and therefore to everyone. Rising unkempt between railroad tracks and asphalt, its dark
6、, twisted branches sprawl heavenward and earthward in a mire of unpruned abandon. In winter, this tree looks dead as a doornail. And yet each spring, it blossoms so profusely that the air becomes saturated with the aroma of apple. When I drive through it, I make sure my windows are rolled down. It g
7、ives me the feeling of moving in another element, like a kid on a water slide. (4)Until last year, I thought I was the only one who was even aware of this tree. And then, one day, in a fit of spring madness, I set out with pruner and lopper in hand and headed straight for it. I felt that by removing
8、 some dead wood and a few errant branches, I would perhaps prevent its being injured by the weight of its own growth. No sooner had I arrived under its boughs than windows began to go up and neighbors leaned out on sills and stepped onto their porches. Like a person who changes seats on a bus in tra
9、nsit, I had elicited some sort of suspicion. These were people I barely knew and seldom spoke to, but it was as if I had stepped unbidden into their personal gardens. (5)My mobile-home neighbor was the first to speak. “Youre not going to cut it down, are you?“ she asked anxiously. Another neighbor,
10、whose name I knew but little else, called to me. He, too, wanted to question my intentions and winced as I lopped off a wrong-headed branch. “Dont kill it, now,“ he cautioned. (6)In time, half the neighborhood had joined me under the apple arbor. It struck me that I had lived in this neighborhood fo
11、r five years and only now was learning these peoples names, what they did for a living, and how they passed the winter. It was as if the old apple tree were gathering us under its boughs for the sole purpose of acquaintanceship. I recalled Frosts words about the power of trees: The trees that have i
12、t in their pent-up buds To darken nature and be summer woods (7)And, he might have added, “to draw those together who might otherwise never have spoken.“(8)So one thaw had lead to another. Just the other day, I met one of my neighbors at the local store. He remarked how this recent winter had been e
13、specially long and hard. He lamented not having seen or spoken to anyone in our neighborhood at length. And then, recouping his thoughts, he looked at me and said, “We need to prune that apple tree again.“ 1 By saying that “my spirit ebbs“(Para. 1), the author means that _. （ A） he was relieved （ B）
14、 he was gloomy （ C） he was surprised （ D） he was tired 2 The apple tree mentioned in the passage is most likely to _. （ A） be regarded as a delight in the neighborhood （ B） have been abandoned by its original owner （ C） have been neglected by everyone in the community （ D） be attractive only to the
15、author 3 In Para. 4, “neighbors leaned out on sills and stepped onto their porches“ probably because _. （ A） they were surprised that someone unknown was pruning the tree （ B） they wanted to prevented the author from pruning the tree （ C） they were concerned about the safety of the tree （ D） they wa
16、nted to get to know the author 4 Not until last year did the author _. （ A） cease to worry about the tree （ B） become aware of the apple tree （ C） begin to appreciate the neighborhood （ D） make acquaintance with the neighbors 4 (1)Patients and doctors have long understood the power of telling and li
17、stening to personal narratives. Whether among patients in peer support groups or between doctors and patients in the exam room or even between doctors during consultations, stories are an essential part of how we communicate, interpret experiences and incorporate new information into our lives. (2)D
18、espite the existence of storytelling in medicine, research on its effects in the clinical setting has remained relatively thin. While important, a vast majority of studies have been anecdotal, offering up neither data nor statistics but rather stories to back up the authors claims. (3)Now The Annals
19、 of Internal Medicine has published the results of a provocative new trial examining the effects of storytelling on patients with high blood pressure. And it appears that at least for one group of patients, listening to personal narratives helped control high blood pressure as effectively as the add
20、ition of more medications. (4)Monitoring the blood pressure of nearly 300 African-American patients who lived in urban areas and had known hypertension, the researchers at three-month intervals gave half the patients videos of similar patients telling stories about their own experiences. The rest of
21、 the patients received videos of more generic and impersonal health announcements on topics like dealing with stress. While all the patients who received the storytelling DVD had better blood pressure control on average, those who started out with uncontrolled hypertension were able to achieve and m
22、aintain a drop as significant as it had been for patients in previous trials testing drug regimens. (5)“Telling and listening to stories is the way we make sense of our lives,“ said Dr. Thomas K. Houston, lead author of the study and a researcher at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in
23、Worcester and the Veterans Affairs medical center in Bedford, Mass. “That natural tendency may have the potential to alter behavior and improve health.“ (6)Experts in this emerging field of narrative communication say that storytelling effectively counteracts the initial denial that can arise when a
24、 patient learns of a new diagnosis or is asked to change deeply ingrained behaviors. Patients may react to this news by thinking, “This is not directly related to me,“ or “My experience is different.“ Stories help break down that denial by engaging the listener, often through some degree of identifi
25、cation with the storyteller or one of the characters. (7)“The magic of stories lies in the relatedness they foster,“Dr. Houston said. “Marketers have known mis for a long time, which is why you see so many stories in advertisements.“ (8)In health care, storytelling may have its greatest impact on pa
26、tients who distrust the medical system or who have difficulty understanding or acting on health information because they may find personal narratives easier to digest. Stories may also help those patients who struggle with more “silent“ chronic diseases, like diabetes or high blood pressure. In thes
27、e cases, stories can help patients realize the importance of addressing a disease that has few obvious or immediate symptoms. “These types of patients and diseases may be a particular sweet spot for storytelling,“ Dr. Houston noted. (9)This particular benefit from stories comes as welcome news not o
28、nly for patients but also for doctors, who are increasingly reimbursed based on patient outcomes. “Theres only so much the doctor can do, so providers are looking for innovative ways to help their patients,“ Dr. Houston said. While more research still needs to be done, the possibilities for integrat
29、ing storytelling into clinical practice are numerous. In one possible situation, which is not all that dissimilar from popular dating sites, doctors and patients would be able to access Web sites that would match patients to videos of similar patients recounting their own experiences with the same d
30、isease. (10)Dr. Houston is currently involved in several more studies mat will examine the broader use of storytelling in patient care and describe ways in which it can best be integrated. Nonetheless, he remains certain of one thing: Sharing narratives can be a powerful tool for doctors and patient
31、s. (11)“Storytelling is human,“ Dr. Houston said. “We learn through stories, and we use them to make sense of our lives. Its a natural extension to think that we could use stories to improve our health.“ 5 Claims in anecdotal studies are supported by _. （ A） solid evidence （ B） personal narratives （
32、 C） systematic data （ D） scientific statistics 6 According to Para. 6, patients may find that the stories are _. （ A） seldom directly related to them （ B） completely different from their experiences （ C） more interesting than diagnoses or doctors advice （ D） similar to their experiences in one way o
33、r another 7 Marketers have been aware of the importance of_. （ A） establishing similarities between stories in ads and consumers （ B） creating adventurous experiences for consumers （ C） telling and listening to stories in medicine （ D） sharing personal narratives between doctors and patients 7 (1)Al
34、most 60% of five-year-olds in some of Britains poorest areas do not reach a “good level“ of behaviour and understanding double that found in wealthier suburban parts of England, a review into Britains widening social and health inequalities says. (2)Inequalities in childrens development between loca
35、l authorities are revealed by data published by Sir Michael Marmot, professor of epidemiology(流行病学 )and public health at University College London, who last year produced a landmark government review into how wealth affects health. The key determinants of health, he argues, relate to a host of issue
36、s including employment, the welfare state and child development. (3)His new report shows that 44% of all five-year-olds in England are considered by their teachers to be falling behind in their development. However in commuter towns, such as Solihull and Richmond upon Thames, state schools report th
37、is figure to be about 30%. In Haringey, a deprived part of north London, it is almost double. (4)Marmot, a public health specialist and author of Fair Society, Healthy Lives, said: “The evidence is very clear: investing in pre-school years pays most dividends. We already know that by the age of 10 a
38、 child from a poorer background will have lost any advantage of intelligence indicated at 22 months, whereas a child from an affluent family will have improved his or her cognitive scores purely because of his/her advantaged background.“ (5)He pointed out that “education and child development are ke
39、y for health. It is the educated who stop smoking. we know the key driver of teenage pregnancy is not getting early child development. You are not going to get pregnant as a teenager if you develop as a child.“ (6)Only two dozen authorities of the 150 surveyed could claim to have more than half thei
40、r five-year-olds passing the educational standard set by the government. Marmot said he was concerned that the government was just focusing on the “poorest“ in society the middle class of society needed help too. “I have tried to have this conversation with government without much success,“ he said,
41、 adding that “cuts to Sure Start and childrens centres wont help“. (7)There was also an alarming health gap opening up within areas. Marmot pointed out that in Westminster the average life expectancy of male residents was 83, five years longer than the English norm, but this masked wide differences.
42、 The poorest in the London borough could expect to live 17 years less than the richest. (8)Not only is life expectancy linked to social standing, so is the time spent in good health. The review reveals that Wirral, in north-west England, has the biggest difference in “disability-free life expectancy
43、“ between those at the top and those at the bottom of the economic ladder, with wealthy people likely to live 20 years longer without physical impairment. (9)The data is meant to inform ministers as the government has proposed taking public health out of the National Health Service and put under the
44、 control of local authorities. (10)Marmot pointed out that the city council in Birmingham, a conurbation with large areas of poverty, had successfully raised the number of five-year-old attaining a good level of behaviour and understanding from 38% to 55% in five years. (11)However Jim McManus, Birm
45、inghams joint director of public health, said that the “single most effective measure to deal with inequalities had been about 50m spent to improve social housing in the city. We know its a new financial environment and thats quite a challenge“. (12)Others warned the governments plan would turn the
46、clock back. Martin McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “Its important to learn the lessons of history. Public health was taken out of local authority control in 1974 and it was the best thing that ever happened to it.“ (13)“Why put
47、it back? The new plans provide no clue was to whether there will be enough public health funds available and will see councillors who were elected on a platform of schools and the environment suddenly responsible for health.“ 8 The commuter towns such as Solihull and Richmond upon Thames are most pr
48、obably _. （ A） comparatively poor areas （ B） comparatively rich areas （ C） confident of their state schools （ D） giving priority to their state schools 9 According to Marmot, if a teenager gets pregnant, _. （ A） her child may lose the key to good health （ B） her child may miss early child developmen
49、t （ C） it will result in her loss of proper education （ D） its due to her lack of early child development 10 The word “authorities“ in the passage has the closest meaning to _. （ A） child health specialists （ B） administrative districts （ C） authoritative reviews （ D） government officials 二、 SECTION B In this section there are five short answer questions based on the passages in Section A. Answer the questions with No more than TEN words in the space provided. 11 PASSAGE ONE 11 What was the authors neigh
