1、专业英语四级（阅读）模拟试卷 147及答案与解析 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 Considering that industry analysts claim that hospita
2、l price calculations are arbitrary, we asked hospitals nationwide a simple question; How do you calculate your sticker prices? Five declined to comment or didnt provide an answer, leaving Murray Askinazi, senior vice-president and CFO of Lawrence Hospital Center in Bronxville, New York, to offer thi
3、s explanation; For an outpatient MRI(核磁共振成像 ), as an example, his hospital calculates its charge based on such factors as the cost of buying or leasing the machinery, the wear and tear on that machine, staff salaries, the climate control and electric bill, cleaning costs, local competitive pricing,
4、and other costs related to the hospitals overhead, like malpractice insurance. Surprisingly, medical services can vary wildly from one hospital to the next. The median charge for acute appendicitis admissions at 289 medical centers and hospitals throughout California, for example, ranged from $1, 52
5、9 to almost $183, 000, an Archives of Internal Medicine study reported in April. Within San Francisco alone, the range between the lowest and highest charge was nearly $172, 000. But hospital sticker prices matter only to a limited extent because they typically get trumped(胜过 )by a higher power: the
6、 amounts that insurance companies are willing to pay for those services. The figures are determined by a negotiated contract that dictates the rate at which the companies will reimburse the hospital on the patients behalf. In addition, the rates paid by Medicare and Medicaid, Askinazi adds, often fa
7、il to cover the hospitals cost of providing the service in the first place, which means some of those costs are often shifted to commercially insured patients. Now, all those factors affect the math for one simple outpatient test. For an inpatient hospital stay, those computations sprout into an int
8、ricate vine in which every service(from radiology to pathology)generates its own charges. The hospital also has facility charges, covering room and board, certain room-use fees(such as the operating room), and nursing services, all of which get consolidated into the bill sent to you and your insuran
9、ce company. As technology advances, those charges rise. Palmer had a client from Louisville, Kentucky, who was astonished to receive a charge of $45, 330 for a prostate surgery and an overnight stay(insurance would cover only $4, 845). The billing department told Palmer that the steep price was not
10、only because it was a robotic procedure but also because patients who receive the high-tech surgery shortly after the hospital starts offering it are helping to recoup(偿还 )the facilitys equipment costs. 1 Which of the following can be inferred from Paragraph Three? （ A） Some of the hospital costs wi
11、ll be covered by commercial insurance companies. （ B） The insurance companies are willing to pay for all the charges. （ C） Hospital sticker prices usually get trumped by a high power from the hospital. （ D） The rate that insurance companies will pay is determined by themselves. 2 “An intricate vine“
12、 in Paragraph Four refers to_. （ A） the difficulty for an inpatient hospital stay （ B） the huge amount of hospital charges （ C） the problem in calculating hospital charges （ D） the complexity of hospital charges 3 The example of Palmers client in the last paragraph indicates that_. （ A） the technolo
13、gy applied in medical services is quite advanced （ B） the client spent $45, 330 on a prostate surgery （ C） the improvement of technology may lead to the rise of hospital charges （ D） the surgery was conducted by robots only 3 Conservationists on Tuesday appealed to countries to urgently address new
14、threats to whales, dolphins and other cetaceans(鲸类动物 )as climate change opens up previously inaccessible areas of the Arctic and industries move in to new areas. As emotional arguments broke out in the annual International Whaling Commissions(IWC)conference between pro- and anti-whaling nations over
15、 the right of small, aboriginal groups to hunt a few whales each year, WWF appealed to countries to better regulate fishing and stop the oil and gas industries devastating populations. “A few thousand whales are killed each year because of whaling but 300, 000 whales, dolphins and other cetaceans ar
16、e killed just in fishing gear. Now the greater threat is from the oil and gas industries. Cetaceans have so far been lucky because the Arctic has been mostly inaccessible but as climate change develops new areas are opening up. These are some of the most important areas left for whales and cetaceans
17、, “ said Wendy Eliott, head of the WWF delegation to the meeting in Panama. “It is essential these issues are addressed by the IWC. But whaling governments like Norway, Iceland and Japan refuse to acknowledge the conservation committee of the IWC and do not participate. “ Shell plans to begin drilli
18、ng operations in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off Alaska as early as this month, and other oil companies are planning new off-shore drilling platforms in the Russian far east near the feeding area of critically endangered western gray whales. There are only an estimated 26 breeding females remainin
19、g and the oil-rich zone off Sakhalin Island is the only place where they can teach their calves to feed, said Elliott. “This could mark the beginning of a massive oil exploration effort, “ she said. The IWC, which is regularly torn by disputes, grants five-year permits to communities with a strong t
20、radition of subsistence whaling. This year, several Caribbean countries, including St. Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as the USA, Russia and Denmark are asking approval from the commission for their annual quota of whales to be renewed. Most whaling opponents do not try to block small-scale abo
21、riginal hunts as they do not threaten larger whale populations. While governments argue that the use of whales and dolphins contribute to national food security, cultural preservation and sustainable livelihoods, some are seen by conservationists as ill-disguised commercial whaling. On Monday, pro-w
22、haling countries led by Japan shot down a Latin American-led proposal to create a no-kill zone for whales in the southern Atlantic Ocean. Argentina, Brazil, South Africa and Uruguay put forward a proposal to declare the southern Atlantic a no-kill zone for whales, a largely symbolic measure as whali
23、ng ended there long ago. Thirty-eight countries voted in favor of the measure and 21 voted against, with two abstentions. Under commission rules, proposals need to enjoy a “consensus“ of 75% support for approval. 4 According to the passage, the heated disputes in the annual IWC conference were about
24、_. （ A） the urgency of handling new threats to whales （ B） the small native groups right of whale hunting （ C） the poor management of fishing （ D） the drilling of oil in Arctic 5 Which of the following is NOT mentioned as the responsibilities of IWC? （ A） To regulate whales hunting. （ B） To make wha
25、les adapt to climate change. （ C） To grant whaling permits. （ D） To renew annual quota of whales. 6 We can learn from the passage that the proposal about the no-kill zone was_. （ A） denied （ B） accepted （ C） postponed （ D） up in the air 6 Alzheimers disease has no cure. There are, however, five drug
26、s known and approved that can slow down the development of its symptoms. The earlier such drugs are administered, the better. Unfortunately, the disease is usually first noticed when people complain to their doctors of memory problems. That is normally too late for the drugs to do much good. A simpl
27、e and reliable test for Alzheimers that can be administered to everybody over the age of about 65, before memory-loss sets in, would therefore be useful. Theo Luider, of the Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, and his colleagues think they have found one but it works only in women. They
28、made their discovery, just reported in the Journal of Proteome Research, by tapping into a long-term, continuing study that started in 1995 with 1, 077 non-demented and otherwise healthy people aged between 60 and 90. At the beginning of the project, and subsequently during the periods 1997-99 and 2
29、002-04, participants were brought in for a battery of neurological(神经学的 )and cognitive investigations, physical examinations, brain imaging and blood tests. During the first ten years of the study, 43 of the volunteers developed Alzheimers disease. When Dr. Luider compared blood samples from these p
30、eople with samples from 43 of their fellow volunteers, matched for sex and age, who had remained Alzheimers-free, he found something startling. Levels of a substance called pregnancy zone protein had been unusually high, even before their symptoms appeared, in some of those who went on to develop Al
31、zheimers disease. Those “some“ , it turned out, were all women. On average, levels of pregnancy zone protein in those women who went on to develop Alzheimers were almost 60% higher than those of women who did not. In men, levels of the protein were the same for both. The reason for this curious resu
32、lt seems to be that the brain plaques(斑块 )associated with Alzheimers disease are themselves turning out pregnancy zone protein. Certainly, when Dr. Luider applied a chemical stain specific to that protein to the plaques of dead Alzheimers patients he found the protein present in them. Confusingly, t
33、hough, it was there in the plaques of both sexes. Presumably, female cells(and therefore the plaques of female brains)make more of it than male cells do. But that remains to be proved. Whatever the reason, however, this result means that women, at least, may soon be able to tell whether and when the
34、y are at risk of Alzheimers and thus do something about it before they start losing their minds. 7 What can we learn from the first paragraph? （ A） No medication can slow down the development of Alzneimers symptoms. （ B） People who always complain are most likely to have Alzheimers disease. （ C） Doc
35、tors had better tackle Alzheimers disease when people are 65 years old. （ D） To detect Alzheimers disease before memory loss is crucial. 8 What does Dr. Luiders study tell us about the pregnancy zone protein? （ A） It never increases before the appearance of Alzheimers symptoms. （ B） Levels of it rem
36、ain stable for mens lifetime. （ C） Women developing Alzheimers usually have lower levels of it. （ D） The brain plaques connected with Alzheimers produce it. 8 It was not so long ago that parents drove a teenager to college campus, said a tearful goodbye and returned home to wait a week or so for a p
37、hone call from the dorm. Mom or Dad, in turn, might write letters yes, with pens. But going to college these days means never having to say goodbye, thanks to near-saturation of cellphones, e-mails, instant messaging, texting, Facebook and Skype. Researchers are looking at how new technology may be
38、delaying the point at which college-bound students truly become independent from their parents, and how phenomena such as the introduction of unlimited calling plans have changed the nature of parent-child relationships, and not always for the better. Students walking from biology class to the gym c
39、an easily fill a few minutes with a call to Moms office to whine(抱怨 )about a professors lecture. Dad can pass along family news via e-mail. Daily text messaging is not uncommon. Some research suggests that todays young adults are closer to their parents than their predecessors. Professors have figur
40、ed out that some kids are e-mailing papers home for parents to edit. And Skype and Facebook might be more than just chances to see a face thats missed at home; parents can peer into their little darlings messy dorm room or his messy social life. Experts said the change dates to 9 - 11, which upped p
41、arents anxiety over being out of touch with their children. And the rising cost of college can threaten parents willingness to let children make mistakes as they learn how to be adults. Many of todays college students have had so much of their schedule programmed, so they may not know what to do wit
42、h time and solitude, said Barbara Hofer, a Middlebury College psychology professor. Researchers are looking at these changing relationships, formed in the last few years after parents got smartphones and Facebook accounts too and learned how to use them. “Theres a tremendous diversity in how kids ha
43、ndle this. Some maintain old rules. But for many, many young people, they grow up essentially with the idea that they dont have to separate from their parents, “ said Turklea, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology whose specialty is technology and relationship. “Its about having an
44、adolescence that doesnt include the kind of separation that we used to consider part of adolescence, “ she added. Hofer and colleagues surveyed students at Middlebury in Vermont and at the University of Michigan, two schools different in many ways. But at both, parents and students were in contact f
45、requently, an average of more than 13 times a week. The parents of todays college students were advised to get involved in the childrens lives to communicate, communicate, and communicate. All that talk can signal a close, useful relationship, but it also can leave kids lacking what they need to fen
46、d for themselves. 9 It can be inferred from the passage that_. （ A） parents feel greatly relieved after sending their children to college （ B） parents today have quick access to their childrens campus life （ C） todays young adults are well-prepared for dealing with loneliness （ D） there is a lack of
47、 communication between young adults and their parents 10 According to the passage, the change of parent-children relationships has little to do with_. （ A） childrens strong desire to be independent （ B） easy access and low cost of communication （ C） the rising cost of higher education （ D） parents a
48、nxiety derived from 9-11 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 is this passage mainly concerned with? 12 PASSAGE TWO 12 What cause(s)the bigger
49、 threat to whales according to Wendy Eliott? 12 PASSAGE THREE 13 What does the word “non-demented“ in Paragraph 2 probably mean? 14 How does the author feel about Dr. Luiders study? 15 PASSAGE FOUR 15 What is the passage mainly concerned with? 专业英语四级（阅读）模拟试卷 147答案与解析 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. 【知识模块】 阅
