1、职称英语理工类 A级（阅读理解）模拟试卷 1及答案与解析 一、 阅读理解 (第 31-45题，每题 3分，共 45分 ) 下面有 3篇短文后有 5道题。请根据短文内容，为每题选 1个最佳选项。 0 Some People Do Not Taste Salt Like Others Low-salt foods may be harder for some people to like than others, according to a study by a Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences food scientist. The res
2、earch indicates that genetic factors influence some of the difference in the levels of salt we like to eat. Those conclusions are important because recent, well-publicized efforts to reduce the salt content in food have left many people struggling to accept fare that simply does not taste as good to
3、 them as it does to others, pointed out John Hayes, assistant professor of food science, who was lead investigator on the study. Diets high in salt can increase the risk of high blood pressure and stroke. That is why public health experts and food companies are working together on ways to help consu
4、mers lower salt intake through foods that are enjoyable to eat. This study increases understanding of salt preference and consumption. The research involved 87 carefully screened participants who sampled salty foods such as soup and chips, on multiple occasions, spread out over weeks. Test subjects
5、were 45 men and 42 women, reportedly healthy, ranging in age from 20 to 40 years. The sample was composed of individuals who were not actively modifying their dietary intake and did not smoke cigarettes. They rated the intensity of taste on a commonly used scientific scale, ranging from barely detec
6、table to strongest sensation of any kind. “Most of us like the taste of salt. However, some individuals eat more salt, both because they like the taste of saltiness more, and also because it is needed to block other unpleasant tastes in food,“ said Hayes. “Supertasters, people who experience tastes
7、more tensely, consume more salt than nontasters do. Snack foods have saltiness as their primary flavor, and at least for these foods, more is better, so the supertasters seem to like them more. “ However, supertasters also need higher levels of salt to block unpleasant bitter tastes in foods such as
8、 cheese, Hayes noted. “For example, cheese is a wonderful blend of dairy flavors from fermented milk, but also bitter tastes from ripening that are blocked by salt,“ he said. “A supertaster finds low-salt cheese unpleasant because the bitterness is too pronounced. “ Hayes cited research done more th
9、an 75 years ago by a chemist named Fox and a geneticist named Blakeslee, showing that individuals differ in their ability to taste certain chemicals. As a result, Hayes explained, we know that a wide range in taste acuity exists, and this variation is as normal as variations in eye and hair color. “
10、Some people, called supertasters, describe bitter compounds as being extremely bitter, while others, called nontasters, find these same bitter compounds to be tasteless or only weary bitter,“ he said. “Response to bitter compounds is one of many ways to identify biological differences in food prefer
11、ence because supertasting is not limited to bitterness. “ 1 In Paragraph 2, John Hayes points out that_. （ A） it is good to health to eat food without salt （ B） many people reject low-salt food completely （ C） many people accept low-salt tasteless food reluctantly （ D） food with reduced salt tastes
12、better 2 The fourth paragraph describes briefly_. （ A） how to select subjects and what to do in the research （ B） how to identify supertasters and nontasters （ C） why to limit the number of subjects to 87 persons （ D） why to select more male subjects than female ones 3 The article argues that supert
13、asters_. （ A） like the taste of saltiness to block sweet tastes in food （ B） like snack foods as saltiness is their primary flavor （ C） consume less salt because they dont like intensive tastes （ D） like to share salty cheese with nontasters 4 Which of the following applies to supertasters in terms
14、of bitter taste? （ A） They like bitterness in foods as well as saltiness. （ B） They like high-salt cheese as it has intense bitter taste. （ C） They prefer high-salt cheese, which tastes less bitter. （ D） They prefer high-salt cheese as it is good to health. 5 What message do the last two paragraphs
15、carry? （ A） Taste acuity is genetically determined. （ B） Taste acuity is developed over time after birth. （ C） Taste acuity is related to ones eye and hair color. （ D） Taste acuity is still a mysterious subject in science. 5 How the First Stars in the Universe Came into Existence How the first stars
16、 formed from this dust and gas has been a burning question for years, but a state-of-the-art computer simulation now offers the most detailed picture yet of how these first stars in the universe came into existence, researchers say. The composition of the early universe was quite different from that
17、 of today, and the physics that governed the early universe were also somewhat simpler. Dr. Naoki Yoshida and colleagues in Japan and the U. S. incorporated these conditions of the early universe, sometimes referred to as the “cosmic dark ages,“ to simulate the formation of an astronomical object th
18、at would eventually shine its light into this darkness. The result is a detailed description of the formation of a protostar the early stage of a massive primordial star of our universe, and the researchers computer simulation, which has been called a “cosmic Rosetta Stone“, sets the bar for further
19、 investigation into the star formation process. The question of how the first stars evolved is so important because their formations and eventual explosions provided the seeds for subsequent stars to come into being. According to their simulation, gravity acted on minute density variations in matter
20、, gases, and the mysterious “dark matter“ of the universe after the Big Bang in order to form this early stage of a star a protostar with a mass of just one percent of our sun. The simulation reveals how pre-stellar gases would have actually evolved under the simpler physics of the early universe to
21、 form this protostar. Dr. Yoshidas simulation also shows that the protostar would likely evolve into a massive star capable of synthesizing heavy elements, not just in later generations of stars, but soon after the Big Bang. “This general picture of star formation, and the ability to compare how ste
22、llar objects form in different time periods and regions of the universe, will eventually allow investigation into the origins of life and planets,“ said Lars Hernquist, a Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University and a coauthor of this latest report. “The abundance of elements in the universe has
23、 increased as stars have accumulated,“ he says, “and the formation and destruction of stars continues to spread these elements further across the universe. So when you think about it, all of the elements in our bodies originally formed from nuclear reactions in the centers of stars, long ago. “ Thei
24、r simulation of the birth of a protostar in the early universe signifies a key step toward the ambitious goal of piecing together the formation of an entire primordial star and of predicting the mass and properties of these first stars of the universe. More powerful computers, more physical data, an
25、d an even larger range will be needed for further calculations and simulations, but these researchers hope to eventually extend this simulation to the point of nuclear reaction initiation when a stellar object becomes a true star. “Dr. Yoshida has taken the study of primordial star formation to a ne
26、w level with this simulation, but it still gets us only to the halfway point towards our final goal. It is like laying the foundation of a skyscraper,“ said Volker Bromm, Assistant Professor of Astronomy at the University of Texas, Austin and the author of a companion article. “We must continue our
27、studies in this area to understand how the initially tiny protostar grows, layer by layer, to eventually form a massive star. But here, the physics become much more complicated and even more computational resources are needed. “ 6 According to the first two paragraphs, the early universe_. （ A） was
28、governed by simpler physics （ B） got fewer stars shinning in it （ C） started over 13 billion years ago （ D） was composed in a way similar to that of today 7 What can the state-of-the-art computer simulation tell us about? （ A） How the Big Bang occurred about 13 billion years ago. （ B） How “cosmic da
29、rk ages“ came into existence. （ C） How dust grains and gases were formed after the Big Bang. （ D） How the first stars came into being after the Big Bang. 8 What does the “astronomical object“ in Paragraph 2 refer to? （ A） Cosmic dark ages. （ B） Dust grains and gases. （ C） A protostar. （ D） The early
30、 universe. 9 According to Paragraph 4, what is NOT true about a protostar? （ A） It developed into a massive star during the Big Bang. （ B） It evolved from pre-stellar gases. （ C） It was able to integrate heavy elements when evolving into a massive star. （ D） It had a mass of one percent of the sun.
31、10 According to the last paragraph, all of the following are goals of the simulation project EXCEPT_. （ A） to know more about the mass and properties of the first stars of the universe （ B） to simulate the process of how the early universe began （ C） to apply the simulation to the study of nuclear r
32、eaction initiation （ D） to discover the truth about the formation of a protostar 10 Blackmarket for Gun in the US As Americans digest the news of another gun atrocity, a mall shooting in Nebraska on December 5th, they cannot be blamed for thinking that guns are in too ready supply. But an article in
33、 the latest Economic Journal suggests that the demand for illegal guns, at least, is not met as easily as people might fear. Sudhir Venkatesh, now of Columbia University, has talked to 132 gang-members, 77 prostitutes, 116 gun-owning youths, 23 gun-dealers and numerous other denizens of Chicagos Gra
34、nd Boulevard and Washington Park neighbourhoods. He did not find many satisfied customers. Chicago has unusually tough restrictions on legal handguns. Even so the black market is surprisingly “thin“ , attracting relatively few buyers and sellers. The authors reckon that the 48 ,000 residents of the
35、two neighbourhoods buy perhaps 1,400 guns a year, compared with at least 200,000 cocaine purchases. Underground brokers sell guns for $ 150350, a mark-up of perhaps 200% over the legal price. They also demand a fee of $3050 for orchestrating the deal. Even then, 3040% of the transactions fall throug
36、h because the seller cannot secure a gun, gets cold feet or cannot agree on a location for the deal. Buyers also find it hard to verify the quality of the merchandise. They often know little about the weapons they covet. “Tony“, who owns a 38 calibre handgun, learnt how to use his weapon by fiddling
37、 with it. He even put a stone in it. “Did it fire?“ Mr Venkatesh asked. “Im not sure. I think it did,“ Tony said. Fortunately for Tony and his peers, their rivals and the victims of crime cannot tell if their guns work any better than they can. Often, showing the “bulge“ is enough to gain the respec
38、t of rival gangs. In robberies brandishing the weapon will usually do. Storekeepers do not wait for proof that it works. Markets can overcome thinness, the paper says; they can also overcome illegality. But they cannot overcome both. A thin market must rely on advertising or a centralised exchange:
39、eBay, for example, has dedicated pages matching sellers of imitation pearl pins or Annette Funicello bears to the few, scattered buyers that can be found. But such solutions are too cumbersome and conspicuous for an underground market. The drugs market, by contrast, slips through the laws fingers be
40、cause of the natural density of drug transactions. Dealers can always find customers on their doorstep, and buyers can reassure themselves about suppliers through repeated custom. There are no fixed and formal institutions that the police could easily throttle. Indeed, the authors argue that the gun
41、 market may be threadbare partly because the drug market is so plump. Gang-leaders are wary of gun-dealing because the extra police scrutiny that guns attract would jeopardise their earnings from coke and dope. Even Chicagos gang-leaders have to worry about the effect of crime on commerce. 11 Some o
42、f the gun transactions are unsuccessful mainly because_. （ A） it is not profitable as the underground price of gun far exceeds legal price （ B） Chicago has surprisingly tough restrictions on the ownership and business of guns （ C） the dealers are unable to guarantee whether the deal is really going
43、to happen or not （ D） it is hard to testify the quality of the guns in actual situations 12 Compared with the gun market, the drug market can be “fat“ mainly because_. （ A） it hardly attracts the polices attention due to the flexibility of the business （ B） the drug dealings are taking place in high
44、er frequency （ C） there are no fixed and formal spots for drug dealing （ D） drug is affordable to a larger number of people 13 The word “cumbersome“(Line 5, Paragraph 5)most probably means_. （ A） transparent （ B） troubling （ C） horrible （ D） stupid 14 The reason why the authors argue that the gun ma
45、rket may be threadbare partly because the drug market is so plump is_. （ A） that the drug transaction is more profitable than gun-dealing （ B） that the police are more dedicated to the gun-dealing than to the drug-dealing （ C） that the gang-leaders are suppressing the gun-dealing in order to maintai
46、n their profit from drug （ D） that the gang-leaders are worried about the effect of crime on commerce 15 Towards the future of gun-dealing, the authors attitude is_. （ A） pessimistic （ B） optimistic （ C） desperate （ D） sorrowful 15 Storms Sink Ships Rescuers have found the bodies of over 130 people
47、killed in two ferry disasters in Bangladesh. The accidents happened during a storm that hit the country on April 21. Hundreds more are missing or feared dead. The two ferries sank in different rivers near the capital city of Dhaka as strong winds and rain hit the South Asian country. The government
48、has since banned all ferries and other boats from traveling at night during the April-May stormy season. One of the ferries, MV Mitali, was carrying far more people than it was supposed to. About 400 passengers fitted into a space made for just 300, police said. The second ferry carried about 100 pa
49、ssengers. “The number of deaths is certain to rise. “ said an official in charge of the rescue work. “No one really knows how many people were on board the ferry or how many of them survived. “ Ferries in Bangladesh dont always keep passenger lists, making it difficult to determine the exact number of people on board. Besides the ferry accidents, at least 40 people were killed and 400 injured by lightning strikes, falling houses and trees and the sinking of small boats. Storms are commo
