1、大学英语四级（阅读）模拟试卷 44及答案与解析 Section B Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice. 0 Keep Our Seas Clean By the year 2050 it is es
2、timated that the worlds population could have increased to around 12 billion. Of these, some 60 percent will live within 60 km of the sea. The agricultural and industrial activities required to support this population will increase the already significant pressures on fertile coastal areas. Death an
3、d disease caused by polluted coastal waters costs the global economy US$12.8 billion a year. Plastic waste kills up to 1 million sea birds, 100,000 sea mammals and countless fish each year. Pollution radioactive elements traceable to reprocessing can be found in seaweeds as far away as the West Gree
4、nland Coast. Heavy metal Trace metal pollution from metal mining, production and processing industries can damage the health of marine plants and animals and render some seafoods unfit for human consumption. The contribution of human activities can be very significant: the amount of mercury introduc
5、ed to the environment by industrial activities is around four times the amount released through natural processes such as weathering and erosion (腐蚀 ). The input of man-made chemicals to the oceans potentially involves an overwhelming number of different substances. 63,000 different chemicals are th
6、ought to be in use worldwide with 3,000 accounting for 90 percent of the total production amount. Each year, anywhere up to 1,000 new synthetic chemicals may be brought onto the market. Of all these chemicals some 4,500 fall into the most serious category. These are known as persistent organic pollu
7、tants (POPs). Theyre resistant to breakdown and have the potential to accumulate in the tissues of living organisms (all marine life), causing hormone disruption which can, in turn, cause reproductive problems, induce cancer, suppress the immune system and interfere with normal mental development in
8、 children. POPs can also be transported long distances in the atmosphere and deposited in cold regions. As a result, Inuit populations who live in the Arctic a long distance from the sources of these pollutants are among the most severely influenced people on the planet, since they rely on fat-rich
9、marine food sources such as fish and seals. POPs are also thought to be responsible for some polar bear populations failing to reproduce normally. Are you eating fish n POPs tonight? Scarily, seafoods consumed by people living in warm and mild regions are also affected by POPs. Oily fish tend to acc
10、umulate POPs in their bodies and these can be passed to human consumers. When oily fish are rendered down into fish meal and fish oils and subsequently used to feed other animals, then this too can act as a pathway to humans. Farmed fish and shellfish, dairy cattle, poultry and pigs are all fed fish
11、 meal in certain countries, and so meat and dairy products as well as farmed and wild fish can act as further sources of these chemicals to humans. Pollution superhighwayNorth and Baltic Seas The North and Baltic Seas also contain some of the worlds busiest shipping lanes. 200,000 ships cross the No
12、rth Sea every year. Many goods transported by ships are hazardous (half the goods carried at sea can be described as dangerous) and loss of dangerous cargoes can result in damage to the marine environment. Chemical tank washings, discharge of oily wastes and wash waters are all significant sources o
13、f marine pollution. In addition there is always the risk of a major oil spill, a risk made worse by the fact that some of the tankers that routinely travel through still have only one body-frame or have other technical defects and crews who are poorly educated. In November 2002, the Prestige oil tan
14、ker went down off the coast of Spain with 70,000 tons of oil on board which polluted 2,890 km of coastline. A few days earlier it had been crossing the Baltic. Solutions Some sources of pollution have been brought under control by international legislation. Countries which signed the London Conventi
15、on have agreed to stop the dumping of radioactive and industrial waste at sea. The OSPAR Convention regulates marine pollution in the North East Atlantic Region while countries which signed the Stockholm Convention have committed themselves to the phase out of a number of persistent organic pollutan
16、ts. Within the European Community, the Water Framework Directive may be expected to bring further reductions in polluting inputs, although it will be over a very long time frame. The additional benefit of the new EU REACH (Registration Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) initiative, which aim
17、s to regulate the production and use of dangerous chemicals at source, remains to be seen. 1 What is mentioned as the most visible and familiar marine pollution? （ A） Toxic discharge. （ B） Oil pollution. （ C） Ocean mining. （ D） Ship wrecks. 2 About one-third of the pollutants entering the sea come f
18、rom _. （ A） land based sources （ B） atmospheric inputs （ C） transport on sea （ D） marine agriculture 3 Marine life dies in creeping dead zones because of the lack of_. （ A） water （ B） organic nutrients （ C） oxygen （ D） air 4 The West Greenland Coast has been polluted by_. （ A） oil tank leakage （ B）
19、sewage discharges （ C） radioactive elements （ D） nuclear power stations 5 How many synthetic chemicals can be classified as POPs? （ A） 63,000. （ B） 4500. （ C） 3000 （ D） 1000 6 Hormone disruption in marine life is the result of_. （ A） tissues of living organisms （ B） breakdown of heavy metal （ C） rep
20、roductive problems （ D） accumulation of POPs 7 What do we learn about the Inuit people? （ A） They live in a tropical region. （ B） Their life is closely related to polar bears. （ C） They are free from the influence of POPs. （ D） They depend on fat-rich marine life for food. 8 In warm and mild regions
21、, farmed fish and shellfish are also affected by POPs because they _ 9 As long as 2890 km of coastline had been polluted by the oil spill of_. 10 The regulation of marine pollution in the North East Atlantic Region is based on _ 10 Yukon Gold Rush Discovery In August 1896, three people led by Skooku
22、m Jim Mason headed north, down the Yukon River from the Carcross area, looking for his sister Kate and her husband George Carmack. The party included Skookum Jim, Skookum Jims cousin known as Dawson Charlie and his nephew Patsy Henderson. After meeting up with George and Kate, who were fishing for s
23、almon at the mouth of the Klondike River, they ran into Nova Scotian Robert Henderson who had been mining gold on the Indian River, just south of the Klondike. Henderson told George Carmack about where he was mining and that he did not want any Indians near him. The group then headed a few miles up
24、the Klondike River to Rabbit Creek to hunt moose. On August 16, 1896, the party discovered rich gold deposits in Bonanza Creek. It is now generally accepted that Skookum Jim made the actual discovery, but some accounts say that it was Kate Carmack. George Carmack was officially credited for the disc
25、overy because the “discovery“ claim was staked in his name. The group agreed to this because they felt that other miners would be reluctant to recognize a claim made by an Indian, given the strong racist attitudes of the time. Gold Rush begins The news spread to other mining camps in the Yukon River
26、 valley, and the Bonanza, Eldorado and Hunker Creeks were rapidly staked by miners who had been previously working creeks and sandbars on the Fortymile and Stewart Rivers. Robert Henderson, who was mining only a few miles away over the hill, only found out about the discovery after the rich creeks h
27、ad been all staked. News reached the United States in July 1897, when the first successful gold seekers arrived in San Francisco on July 15 and in Seattle on July 17, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush. In 1898, the population in the Klondike may have reached 40,000, which threatened to cause a fami
28、ne. Most gold seekers landed at Skagway, Alaska, or the nearby town of Dyea, Alaska, both located at the head of the Lynn Canal. From these towns they traveled the Chilkoot Trail and crossed the Chilkoot Pass, or they hiked up to the White Pass into the Yukon Territory and proceeded to Lake Lindeman
29、 or Lake Bennett, the headwaters of the Yukon River. Here, some 25 to 35 miles (40-56 km) from where they landed, gold seekers built rafts and boats that would take them the final 500-plus miles (800-plus km) down the Yukon to Dawson City, near the gold fields. Gold seekers had to carry a years supp
30、ly of goodsabout a ton, more than half of it foodover the passes to be allowed to enter Canada. At the top of the passes, the gold seekers encountered a Mountie post that enforced that regulation. It was put in place to avert shortages like those that had occurred in the previous two winters in Daws
31、on City. A hard life The climb to the Chilkoot Pass was steep and dangerous, rising a thousand feet in the last half mile (300 m in 800 m). It was too steep for pack animals, and gold seekers had to pack their equipment and supplies to the top. Some 1,500 steps were carved into the ice to aid travel
32、 up the pass. Even though it was not as high, conditions on White Pass were even worse. It was known as the Dead Horse Trail, since about 3,000 animals died along the route. Others took the Copper River Trail or the Teslin Trail by Teslin Lake, and some used the all-Canadian Ashcroft (the Edmonton t
33、rails). The other main route was by steamer about 1,600 miles (2,600 km) up the Yukon River. In 1897, many using this route later were caught by winter ice below Fort Yukon, Alaska, and had to be rescued, but use of this route was implicit in the discovery of gold finds at Nome and St. Michael near
34、the Yukon estuary, and at Fairbanks, Alaska. An estimated 100,000 people participated in the gold rush and about 30,000 made it to Dawson City in 1898. By 1901, when the first census was taken, the population had declined to 9,000. The Klondike field continues to be worked today, although most of th
35、e original deposits were removed in the early 1900s when small claim holdings were consolidated and were worked by large-scale industrial extraction methods, notably steam dredges. Cultural legacy Among the many to take part in the Gold Rush was writer Jack London, whose books White Fang, The Call o
36、f the Wild, and “To Build A Fire“, a collection of short stories, were influenced by his northern experiences, and adventurer “Swiftwater“ Bill Gates. Charlie Chaplins silent movie The Gold Rush (1925), one of the highest grossing movies ever, was set in the Klondike, as was the silent epic The Trai
37、l of 98 (1928) and Mae Wests Klondike Annie (1936). The Gold Rush is an important event in the history of the city of Edmonton, which, until 2005, celebrated Klondike Days, an annual summer fair with a Klondike Gold Rush theme. During the rush, Edmonton was believed to be a viable departure point fo
38、r travel to the Klondike and was heavily advertised as such by local merchants wanting to profit from peoples ignorance, but only a handful made it from that embarkation point long after the rush was over, because of the immense distance and subarctic travel conditions. The tenuous, and arguably fra
39、udulent, connection of Edmonton with the Klondike Gold Rush was a source of much ridicule for years; its origin being but an attempt in the 1960s to imitate the burgeoning success of the Calgary Stampede by finding a historic event the city was in some way involved in to function as a theme. This fi
40、nally led to the renaming of the citys annual summer exhibition in 2006 as Capital EX. 11 What did George and Kate do at the mouth of the Klondike River? （ A） They looked for their sister. （ B） They fished for salmon. （ C） They sought for gold. （ D） They hunted moose. 12 George and the party found p
41、lenty of gold deposits in _. （ A） the Klondike River （ B） the Indian River （ C） Rabbit Creek （ D） Bonanza Creek 13 When did the first gold seekers first arrive in Seattle? （ A） In June 1897. （ B） In July 1897. （ C） In June 1898. （ D） In July 1898. 14 What do we learn about the nearest location to th
42、e gold fields? （ A） It was Dawson City. （ B） It was The Chilkoot Trail. （ C） It was the White Pass. （ D） It was Skagway. 15 The rule that gold seekers had to carry a years supply of goods was enforced by _. （ A） the Indian tribes （ B） the Mining Association （ C） the Canadian Mounties （ D） the City C
43、ouncil 16 The gold seekers could climb up the Chilkoot Pass, thanks to _. （ A） the steps carved into the ice （ B） the handrails in the cliffs （ C） the local Indian guides （ D） the pack animals 17 The Dead Horse Trail was the nickname for_. （ A） the Chilkoot Pass （ B） the White Pass （ C） the Copper R
44、iver Trail （ D） the Teslin Trail 18 In 1901, Dawson City carried out its_. 19 It has been found that the adventurer “Swiftwater“ Bill Gates had greatly influenced_ 20 In 2006, Edmonton had to rename its Klondike Days into_. 20 The Australian state of Victoria is investing in a program to identify ne
45、w opportunities for its food and agriculture industries. As part of this initiative the government conducted extensive research to identify which attributes of a food product are most important to consumers. As income levels rise and education levels improve, consumers around the world are becoming
46、interested in more than just the price and quality of the food they eat. Indeed, some consumers are now willing to pay extra money for food with a special nutritional or health benefit. In addition, some consumers are also choosing food based on how it was produced, including the environmental and e
47、thical impact of production. Victorias Department of Primary Industries designed and researched a report that analyzes preferences for food products with “trust“ attributes, specifically food safety, clean food, green food, animal welfare and ethical food production. The report also determines the r
48、elative importance of the five nominated “trust“ attributes and evaluates their importance in relation to non-trust attributes, such as price and quality. “Consumers are becoming increasingly insightful when making purchasing decisions, and Victorias ability to demonstrate the trustworthiness of foo
49、d products will be vital to maintain consumer confidence in priority export markets,“ the report says. Between February and June 2004, the DPI interviewed 280 food industry shareholders, including retailers, wholesalers, foodservice managers, importers, distributors, and representatives of government, industry bodies and non-government organizations, in 21 of Victorias major food markets, including France, Japan, the UK and the US. The research found, perhaps unsurprisingly, t
