1、专业英语四级（阅读）模拟试卷 206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 (1) Considering that industry analysts claim that hos
2、pital 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
3、 this explanation: For an outpatient MRI (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 prici
4、ng, and other costs related to the hospitals overhead, like malpractice insurance. (2) 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 fro
5、m $1,529 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. (3) But hospital sticker prices matter only to a limited extent because they typically get trumped (胜过 ) by a higher
6、 power; the 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 add
7、s, often fail 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. (4) Now, all those factors affect the math for one simple outpatient test. For an inpatient hospital stay, those computations spr
8、out into an intricate 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 yo
9、u and your insurance company. (5) 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
10、 steep price was not 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 Para.3? （ A） Some of the hos
11、pital costs will 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 higher power from the hospital. （ D） The rate that insurance companies will pay is determined by themselves. 2 The
12、 phrase “an intricate vine“ in Para.4 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
13、 _. （ A） the technology 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 (1) Conservationists on Tuesday appealed to countries
14、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. (2) As emotional arguments broke out in the annual International Whaling Commissions (IWC) conference between pr
15、o- 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 devastating populations. (3) “A few thousand whales are killed each year because of whaling but 300,000 whal
16、es, 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 inaccessible but as climate change develops new areas are opening up. These are some of the most important
17、areas left for whales and cetaceans,“ said Wendy Eliott, head of the WWF delegation to the meeting in Panama. (4) “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 part
18、icipate.“ (5) 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 east near the feeding area of critically endangered western gray whales. There are only
19、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 exploration effort,“ she said. (6) The IWC, which is regularly torn by disputes, grants five
20、-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 approval from the commission for their annual quota of whales to be renewed. Most whaling o
21、pponents 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 preservation and sustainable livelihoods, some are seen by conservationists as ill-di
22、sguised commercial whaling. (7) 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 and Uruguay put forward a proposal to declare the southern Atlantic a no-kill zone
23、 for whales, a largely symbolic measure as whaling ended there long ago. (8) 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 hea
24、ted 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 the Arctic 5 Which of the following is NOT mentioned as the responsibilities
25、of IWC? （ A） To regulate whale hunting. （ B） To make whales adapt to climate change. （ C） To grant whaling permits. （ D） To renew the 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
26、(1) 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 is usually first noticed when people complain to their doctors of memory problems.
27、 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 useful. (2) Theo Luider, of the Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, and his c
28、olleagues 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 non-demented and otherwise healthy people aged between 60 and 90. At the beginni
29、ng of the project, and subsequently during the periods 1997-1999 and 2002-2004, participants were brought in for a battery of neurological (神经学的 ) and cognitive investigations, physical examinations, brain imaging and blood tests. (3) During the first ten years of the study, 43 of the volunteers dev
30、eloped 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 of a substance called pregnancy zone protein had been unusually high, e
31、ven before their symptoms appeared, in some of those who went on to develop Alzheimers disease. (4) 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 me
32、n, levels of the protein were the same for both. (5) 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. Luider applied a chemical stain specific to that protein to the p
33、laques of dead Alzheimers patients he found the protein present in them. (6) 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 do. But that remains to be proved. Whatever the reason, h
34、owever, 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. 7 What can we learn from the first paragraph? （ A） No medication can slow down the development of Alzheimers s
35、ymptoms. （ 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 is crucial. 8 What does Dr. Luiders study tell us about the pregnancy zone protein
36、? （ A） It never increases before the appearance of Alzheimers symptoms. （ B） Levels of it remain stable for mens lifetime. （ C） Women developing Alzheimers usually have lower levels of it. （ D） The brain plaques connected with Alzheimers produce it. 8 (1) It was not so long ago that parents drove a
37、teenager to college campus, said a tearful goodbye and returned home to wait a week or so for a phone 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, inst
38、ant messaging, texting, Facebook and Skype. Researchers are looking at how new technology may be 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-chi
39、ld relationships, and not always for the better. (2) Students walking from biology class to the gym can 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 sugge
40、sts that todays young adults are closer to their parents than their predecessors. Professors have figured 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 d
41、arlings messy dorm room or his messy social life. (3) Experts said the change dates to 911, which upped parents 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 t
42、odays college students have had so much of their schedule programmed, so they may not know what to do with time and solitude, said Barbara Hofer, a Middlebury College psychology professor. (4) Researchers are looking at these changing relationships, formed in the last few years after parents got sma
43、rtphones and Facebook accounts too and learned how to use them. “Theres a tremendous diversity in how kids handle 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
44、 Massachusetts Institute of Technology whose specialty is technology and relationship. “Its about having an adolescence that doesnt include the kind of separation that we used to consider part of adolescence,“ she added. (5) Hofer and colleagues surveyed students at Middlebury in Vermont and at the
45、University of Michigan, two schools different in many ways. But at both, parents and students were in contact frequently, 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.
46、All that talk can signal a close, useful relationship, but it also can leave kids lacking what they need to fend 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 chil
47、drens campus life （ C） todays young adults are well-prepared for dealing with loneliness （ D） there is a lack of 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 i
48、ndependent （ B） easy access and low cost of communication （ C） the rising cost of higher education （ D） parents anxiety 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
49、provided. 10 Passage One 11 What is this passage mainly concerned with? 11 Passage Two 12 What causes the bigger threat to whales according to Wendy Eliott? 12 Passage Three 13 What does the word “non-demented“ in Para.2 probably mean? 14 How does the author feel about Dr. Luiders study? 14 Passage Four 15 What is the passage mainly concerned with? 专业英语四级（阅读）模拟试卷 206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 fou
