1、专业英语四级（阅读）模拟试卷 1及答案与解析 0 The government has launched its consultation on better measures of child poverty, hut it really has to be asked, better for whom? This is a government that looks set to preside over a truly dramatic increase in child poverty. The Institute for Fiscal Studies projects that af
2、ter a decade of steady reductions in child poverty rates, 300, 000 more children will be living in poverty in the UK by 2015. Big cuts to tax credits, a three-year freeze in child benefit, uprating out-of-work benefits using CPI rather than the more generous RPI all will make vulnerable families poo
3、r over the course of this parliament. So what does the government do about it? Rather than review its policies and ask how it can seek to fulfill its legal commitments under the Child Poverty Act 2010, it launches a consultation on the way that child poverty is measured. Poverty is a complex phenome
4、non and no single indicator can fully capture the condition. The CPA 20/0 recognizes this, urging governments to make progress against four specific measures; relative poverty, absolute poverty, material deprivation and persistent poverty. Alongside this, we also track numerous other indicators of c
5、hild wellbeing in the UK such as educational achievement, health outcomes and subjective experience. Both lain Duncan Smith and David Laws sought to convince the audience at the launch of the consultation that the government was not in retreat from the income measures contained in the CPA 2010. But
6、in truth, the consultation document is peppered with digs at the relative measure, suggesting that changes to this indicator do not tell us anything meaningful about “real“ poverty. The consultation also seeks to dilute the relevance of income by developing a “multidimensional indicator“ of child po
7、verty. This indicator will blend together measures of work-lessness, unmanageable debt and family stability among others to produce a single headline number that can be tracked over time. At best, the government is combining poverty with its many consequences. At worst, it is simply changing the yar
8、dstick against which they will be measured. Consider, for example, the proposal that parental worklessness be a key defining feature of the new child poverty measure. Using current definitions, 60% of children living in poverty today have at least one parent in work. Any measure that insists poverty
9、 is about worklessness will simply airbrush these 1.4 million children out of the picture altogether. Equally worryingly, the consultation insists that any new poverty measure must resonate with the public. The latest British Social Attitudes survey shows just how widespread negative views of vulner
10、able groups in society are, but also makes clear that much of this shift in public opinion has been caused by current and previous government policies. So, should we expect better measures of child poverty as a result of the consultation? Not better for the children growing up in low-income families
11、 for sure. And given the broader costs to society of child poverty, not better for anyone else except, perhaps, a government that we suspect may be trying to avoid being held to account. 1 What will NOT lead vulnerable families to poverty according to the first paragraph? （ A） Sharp decline in tax c
12、redits. （ B） A three-year freeze in child benefit. （ C） Increasing unemployment benefits. （ D） The adoption of RPI instead of CPI. 2 The multidimensional indicator adopts the following measures EXCEPT_. （ A） educational accomplishment （ B） unemployment （ C） unpayable debt （ D） family stability 3 The
13、 authors attitude towards parental unemployment as a child poverty measure is_. （ A） supporting （ B） opposing （ C） neutral （ D） uncertain 4 It can be inferred from the last paragraph that_. （ A） we can get better measures of child poverty from this consultation （ B） (hanging the child poverty measur
14、es cant help poor children （ C） the government cant benefit from better measures of child poverty （ D） the government avoids taking the responsibility 5 The passage is mainly about_. （ A） poor children in the world （ B） the multidimensional indicator of child poverty （ C） consultation on child pover
15、ty yardstick （ D） government policies on child poverty 5 Conservationists on Tuesday appealed to countries to urgently address new 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 emot
16、ional arguments broke out in the annual International Whaling Commissions(IWC)conference between pro-and anti-whaling nations over 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 devastatin
17、g populations. “ A few thousand whales are killed each year because of whaling but 300, 000 whales, dolphins and other cetaceans are 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 inaccessib
18、le but as climate change develops new areas are opening up. These are some of the most important areas left for whales and cetaceans, “ 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,
19、 Iceland and Japan refuse to acknowledge the conservation committee of the IWC and do not participate. Shell plans to begin drilling 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
20、 east near the feeding area of critically endangered western gray whales. There are only an estimated 26 breeding females remaining 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 exp
21、loration effort, “ she said. The IWC, which is regularly torn by disputes, grants five-year permits to communities with a strong tradition of subsistence whaling. This year, several Caribbean countries, including St Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as the USA , Russia and Denmark are asking appro
22、val from the commission for their annual quota of whales to be renewed. Most whaling opponents do not try to block small-scale aboriginal 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
23、 preservation and sustainable livelihoods, some are seen by conservationists as ill-disguised commercial whaling. On Monday, pro-whaling 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
24、and Uruguay put forward a proposal to declare the southern Atlantic a no-kill zone for whales, a largely symbolic measure as whaling 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
25、a “consensus“ of 75% support for approval. 6 According to the passage, the heated disputes in the annual IWC conference were about_. （ 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
26、Arctic 7 What causes the bigger threat to whales according to Wendy Eliott? （ A） Weather changing. （ B） Whale hunting. （ C） Fishing equipment. （ D） Oil and gas industries. 8 Which of the following is NOT mentioned as the responsibilities of IWC? （ A） To regulate whales hunting. （ B） To make whales a
27、dapt to climate change. （ C） To grant whaling permits. （ D） To renew annual quota of whales. 9 The only place for the western gray whales to teach their babies to feed is near （ A） Beaufort sea （ B） Chukchi sea （ C） Alaska （ D） Sakhalin Island 10 We can learn from the passage that the proposal about
28、 the no-kill zone was_. （ A） denied （ B） accepted （ C） postponed （ D） up in the air 10 Alzheimers disease has no cure. There are, however, five drugs known and approved that can slow down the development of its symptoms. The earlier such drugs are administered, the better. Unfortunately, the disease
29、 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 simple 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 usefu
30、l. 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 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
31、 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 2002-04, participants were brought in for a battery of neurological(神经学的 )and cognitive investigations, physical examinations, brain imaging and blood t
32、ests. During the first ten years of the study, 43 of the volunteers developed Alzheimers disease. When Dr. Luider compared blood samples from these people with samples from 43 of their fellow volunteers, matched for sex and age, who had remained Alzheimers-free, he found something startling. Levels
33、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 Alzheimers disease. Those “some“ , it turned out, were all women. On average, levels of pregnancy zone protein in those women who went on to develop Alzh
34、eimers 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 result seems to be that the brain plaques(斑块 )associated with Alzheimers disease are themselves turning out pregnancy zone protein. Certainly, when Dr. Lui
35、der applied a chemical stain specific to that protein to the plaques of dead Alzheimers patients he found the protein present in them. Confusingly, though, 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 d
36、o. 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 they are at risk of Alzheimers and thus do something about it before they start losing their minds. 11 What can we learn from the first paragraph? （ A） No
37、 medication can slow down the development of Alzheimers symptoms. （ B） People who always complain are most likely to have Alzheimers disease. （ C） Doctors had better tackle Alzheimers disease when people are 65 years old. （ D） To detect Alzheimers disease before memory loss appears is crucial. 12 Th
38、e word “non-demented“ in Paragraph 2 probably means_. （ A） physically disabled （ B） unconscious （ C） mentally clear （ D） low-spirited 13 What does Dr. Luiders study tell us about the pregnancy zone protein? （ A） It never increases before the symptoms of Alzheimers appear. （ B） In men, levels of it r
39、emain stable for their lifetime. （ C） Women developing Alzheimers usually have lower levels of it. （ D） The brain plaques connected with Alzheimers produce it. 14 How does the author feel about Dr. Luiders study? （ A） Confused. （ B） Optimistic. （ C） Indifferent. （ D） Meaningless. 15 The passage is m
40、ainly about_. （ A） the development stages of Alzheimers disease （ B） the pregnancy zone protein （ C） a new discovery concerning Alzheimers disease （ D） patients of Alzheimers disease 15 Diamonds, sparkling under an African sun, have an attraction commensurate(相称的 )with their high price and beauty. F
41、or Anglo-American the opportunity to get their hands on some more has proved too much to resist. On November 4th the global mining giant announced that it would acquire the 40% of De Beers, a company that mines two-fifths of the worlds diamonds, from the Oppenheimer family for $5.1 billion. This tak
42、es Anglo-Americans stake in De Beers to 85% ; the rest is owned by the government of Botswana, where the firm digs up its gems. The price looks right. Demand for diamonds has bounced back after the credit crisis in 2008 and the following recession in the rich world. More and more wealthy Indians and
43、 Brazilians seem keen to sport a “rock“ to show just how well they are doing. And the shrewd Oppenheimers do not seem to be getting out of the business because its future looks bleak. There is apparently no family member who wants to take on diamond mining. Nicky Oppenheimer, De Beerss chairman, for
44、esaw the sale in February when he stood down from the hoard of Anglo-American. For Anglo-American it resolves the issue of its non-controlling stake in De Beers. Analysts have long reckoned it should either sell or try to increase its stake. In fact the firm might yet spin off De Beers with an IPO.
45、The terms of the deal allow the Oppenheimers to pocket some more cash from a flotation(债券发行 )or sale in the next couple of years, suggesting that such an outcome is not unlikely. It would also make sense. Anglo-American is a different beast to the global diversified mining giants that would count as
46、 its competitors. It stood apart from the wave of mining mega-mergers over the past decade or so except as a potential target. The consolidation and the emergence of huge markets for the worlds resources have propelled BHP Billiton, for instance, to become one of the worlds biggest listed companies.
47、 Many would claim that Anglo-American has suffered as a result. Once one of the worlds biggest miners, it now ranks alongside Xstrata, a company just ten years old, which in 2009 even attempted a nil-premium takeover of Anglo. It also has a significant portion of its assets in South Africa. And unli
48、ke its peers it has a large platinum business, as well as all the diamonds. Anglo-Americans recent strategy has been to diversify out of South Africa, where the threat of nationalization, scarcely credible but a fear for investors none the less, hangs over it. Black-empowerment laws, a scarcity of w
49、ater and electricity as well as an obstinate workforce make it a difficult place to operate. Botswana is far more accommodating, but it might also make sense to get out of diamonds; it is a business that is more about branding the rocks and less about the savvy(懂行的 )capital deployment and logistical(物流的 )know-how that are the hallmarks of the mining business. If that is Anglos eventual aim, then the deal looks like a smart move. 16 According to Paragraph 1, we can know Anglo-American_. （ A） would acq
