1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 131 及答案与解析Part B (10 points) 0 A feature already built-in to most cell phones could be used to alert every mobile phone user in a specific region to impending disasters, such as the tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia on 26 December, say experts.【R1】 _At an emergency summit held in J
2、akarta, Indonesia, on Thursday, world leaders called for the development of such an early-warning system. One such system already guards the shores of the Pacific Ocean, though without the text message component.【R2】 _The GSM cell phone standard already enables phones to receive short data messages
3、from the nearest cell phone base station on a separate channel from normal voice and text message communications. The Cellular Emergency Alerts System Association(CEASA), a non-governmental organisation based in the UK, is campaigning to have the system turned into a disaster warning service.The “Ce
4、ll Broadcast“ or “Area Information System“ was originally designed to let network operators offer location based services, but is now rarely used. To turn it into an early warning service, a customised PC needs to be installed at the headquarters of each network operator. This contains the geographi
5、cal co-ordinates of all phone masts, enabling operators to target emergency messages to all phones in the required region.“We can define an area very clearly and its scalable to any degree you like,“ says Mark Wood, the secretary general of CEASA who has previously worked as an emergency coordinator
6、 for the United Nations. “You could send a warning to a small village that is about to be washed out, or you could tell an entire region theres a tsunami coming.“ As these messages are delivered separately from other traffic, they ought to get through even when a network is jammed with normal traffi
7、c.【R3】 _But perhaps the biggest obstacle faced is government acceptance, Wood says. “It has to be a system that can only be used by someone with authority and it has to be secure,“ he adds. So far only the Dutch government has given backing to the scheme which is scheduled to go live in the Netherla
8、nds in March 2005. A limited-scale demonstration has also been performed in the US.【R4】 _Unlike voice communications, text messages still get through with a weak and inconsistent signal. For example, Sanjaya Senanayake, a Sri Lankan television worker was able to relay updates about the disaster via
9、text messages which were then posted to his online diary.Another project reverses the use of text messages in emergencies, allowing those on the ground to send calls for help to a single number, which would then be routed via the Internet to the relevant authority.【R5】 _But mobile phones may form on
10、ly part of an overall warning system strategy, says Reid Basher, head of the UNs International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. “You need multiple systems,“ he told New Scientist. “The more systems the better, because it reaches more people.“Word count: 479A. Early warning sensors would be relativel
11、y simple and, at a cost of about $20 million, relatively inexpensive to set up. But experts say these must be combined with an effective means of alerting the population to imminent danger.B. In developing countries cell phone networks are often cheaper and easier to build than landline infrastructu
12、re. And regular text messaging has already proved an effective communication method in some areas during the chaos that followed the tsunamis impact.C. Setting up such a system could prove expensive because most people do not have cell phones. This would mean that the government would have to buy mi
13、llions of them for people in danger zones. Poor countries simply cannot afford to do this, so it is unlikely that any such system will actually be implemented, despite all the optimistic talk that has been going on.D. Text messaging is already popular in East Asia and, to a lesser extent, Europe and
14、 North America. It is also cheap, costing only a few cents per message sent. Text messaging is also fast, reducing crucial warning times.E. The combination of a tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean and the ability to broadcast text messages to every mobile phone in the area has the potential
15、to save many lives should another tsunami strike.F. The programmers behind the project, called the Alert Retrieval Cache, say even in remote communities people typically have access to at least one cell phone, making this a vital communications link.G. Wood estimates that it would cost less than $2
16、million and take a couple of months to add this messaging capability to the four major phone networks that operate in the UK. Users would then need to change the settings on their phone to enable the service, which would require a public education campaign.1 【R1 】2 【R2 】3 【R3 】4 【R4 】5 【R5 】5 In 199
17、4, the Las Vegas police reported that a man had met an attractive woman at a local bar and then blacked out. When he awoke he was lying in a hotel bathtub, covered in ice. He called an ambulance and was rushed to the hospital, where the doctors told him that he had undergone massive surgery in which
18、 one of his kidneys had been removed, most likely by a gang selling human organs on the black market.【R1 】_This story is an urban legend, an incredible tale passed from one person to another as truth.Generally speaking, an urban legend is any modern, fictional story, told as truth that reaches a wid
19、e audience by being passed from person to person. Urban legends are often false, but not always.【R2】 _Folklorists have come up with a number of definitions for urban legend. To most it should be a story with characters and a plot. Others also call widely dispersed misinformation, or facts, urban leg
20、end. For example, the belief that you will automatically pass all of your college courses in a semester if your roommate kills himself is generally considered to be an urban legend.【R3】 _Thematically, there is great variety in urban legends, but several elements show up again and again. Typically, u
21、rban legends are characterized by some combination of humor, horror, warning, embarrassment, morality or appeal to empathy. They often have some unexpected twist that is crazy, but just plausible enough to be taken as truth.【R4 】_The story also includes a moral lesson, in that the businessman ended
22、up in the mess only after flirting with a mysterious woman at a bar.【R5 】_Another is of temporary tattoos coated with drugs being given to children so that they will become addicted, new customers for evil dealers. Despite announcements that this is not true, concerned people continue to spread the
23、word cautioning others about drug-laced tattoos.So regardless of the truth, urban legends will continue. It is human nature to tell bizarre stories, and there will always be an audience waiting to believe them. The urban legend is part of our make-up.A. While these “facts“ dont always have the eleme
24、nts of a story, they are passed from person to person and have the elements of caution, horror or humor found in legends. Urban legends may therefore be a fact or a story. For example, someone could tell you that there are giant alligators in New Yorks sewers, and then tell a riveting story about a
25、group of kids who stumbled upon such an animal.B. Where history is obsessed with accurately writing down the details of events, traditional folklore is characterized by the “oral tradition,“ the passing of stories by word of mouth.C. The warning and moral lesson of this story are clear: Dont go off
26、by yourself, and dont engage in premarital intimacy! If you do, something horrific could happen.D. In the story of the organ harvesters, you can see how these elements come together. The most outstanding feature is its sense of horror: The image of a man waking up in a bathtub, with one less kidney,
27、 is a lurid one indeed. But the real hook is the cautionary element. Most people travel to unfamiliar cities from time to time, and Las Vegas is one of the most popular destinations in the world.E. Theres a good chance youve heard this story, because it has been relayed by word of mouth, e-mail and
28、even printed fliers. But there is no evidence that it ever occurred, in Las Vegas or anywhere else.F. A few turn out to be largely true, and a lot were inspired by an actual event but evolved into something different in their passage from person to person. More often than not, it isnt possible to tr
29、ace an urban legend back to its original sourcethey seem to come from nowhere.G. This is whats called a cautionary tale. A variation of the cautionary tale is the contamination story, which has played out recently in reports about human body fluids being found in restaurant food. One of the most wid
30、espread contamination stories is the long-standing rumor of rats and mice showing up in soda bottles or other prepackaged food.6 【R1 】7 【R2 】8 【R3 】9 【R4 】10 【R5 】10 “When an institution so central to human experience suddenly changes shape in the space of a generation or two, its worth trying to fi
31、gure out why.“ Belinda Luscombe of TIME magazine made that observation in the course of reporting on a major study of marriage undertaken by TIME and the Pew Research Center. 【R1】_Without doubt, marriage has been utterly transformed in the modern world. In Western nations, the concept of marriage as
32、 a sacred covenant has given way to the idea that marriage is merely a legal contract. 【R2】_And the demographics? Brace yourselves. In 1960, 70 percent of all American adults were married. Now, that number is just over half. Eight times as many children are born out of wedlock as compared to that sa
33、me year. In the 1960s, two-thirds of all young adults in their twenties were married. Now, only 26 percent of twenty-somethings are married.Statistics can inform or misinform, and it is possible to find statistical support that puts a happier face on the health of marriage. But in order to find thes
34、e happier statistics, it is necessary to redefine the question. 【R3】_When Belinda Luscombe argues that marriage is “in purely practical terms just not as necessary as it used to be,“ she has a rationale to back up her argument. “Neither men nor women need to be married to have sex or companionship o
35、r professional success or respect or even children.“ All that is truewhen marriage is viewed on the canvas of American culture. Marriage no longer regulates sex. The Sexual Revolution severed sex from marriage in a social sense, and the arrival of The Pill offered a pharmaceutical means of severing
36、sex from reproduction. No-fault divorce arrived as a legal accommodation to marital impermanence, effectively redefining both marital and family law in the process. 【R4】_And yet, Luscombe ends her argument about the “not as necessary as it used to be“ status of marriage with these words“yet marriage
37、 remains revered and desired.“ Really? Well, that all depends on how you define reverence and desire.The TIME/Pew study also revealed more visible contours of the “marriage gap“ that has emerged with respect to income and education levels. For most of the twentieth century, the age of ones first mar
38、riage rose for those young adults pursuing a college education, while those without a college education married earlier. That is no longer the case. Now, it is those marked by lower incomes and educational levels who are marrying lateif at all. In a stunning reversal of social patterns, it is the mo
39、re highly educated who are now more likely to marry. Economic factors are most often cited as the reason for this reversal, but this is not fully convincing. 【R5 】_Who needs marriage? I do. You do. We all doand for reasons far more fundamental than can be explained “in purely practical terms.“Word c
40、ount: 482A. In the cover story for the magazines November 29, 2010 edition, Luscombe summarizes their findings with a blunt statement: “What we found is that marriage, whatever its social, spiritual, or symbolic appeal, is in purely practical terms just not as necessary as it used to be.“B. The deba
41、tes over the legitimization and legalization of same-sex marriage have, among other things, revealed the fact that far too many Americans are simply unarmed for any intellectual conflict on any question related to marriage.C. The limitation of sexual intercourse to marriage went the way of the Sexua
42、l Revolution, even as the ideal of permanence gave way to no-fault divorce and serial monogamy. And as for monogamy, that may be on shaky ground, too. These days, you cant take anything for granted.D. For example, some marriage defenders will assert, accurately, that most Americans will at some poin
43、t be married. But that fact lowers the question of marriage to the minimalist level of “at some point.“E. Social status and professional expectations were liberated from the question of marriage, and many feminists declared that marriage itself was an impediment to the full liberation of women.F. In
44、 far more desperate economic times, couples have managed to get married, stay married, and raise a family.G. Furthermore, as TIME notes, this pattern becomes a formula for disaster, since marriage uniquely provides the stability needed to escape poverty and many social pathologies.11 【R1 】12 【R2 】13
45、 【R3 】14 【R4 】15 【R5 】15 Have you ever watched someone sleep and wondered what he or she was dreaming? The persons outward appearance would never give it away: slow breathing, eyes occasionally fluttering, but mostly the very picture of peace and stillness. But, appearances can be deceiving. When pe
46、ople sleep, theres a lot more going on than meets the eye. The notion of sleep as the bodys ultimate “down time“ has some truth to it, but sleep is also an active process, in which the brain can be remarkably active, even if the body remains(mostly)immobile.Whats Going On During Sleep?【R1】 _Non-REM
47、sleepThis is divided into four stages, with Stage 1 the lightest and Stage 4 the deepest.Rapid-eye movement(REM)sleepDuring REM sleep, dreaming is common, muscles(other than the eyes)are inactive, and electrical activity in the brain is similar to that of an awake person. The blood pressure and hear
48、t and breathing rates may suddenly increase for short periods of time, just as they do during wakefulness.During a typical eight-hour period of sleep, a person drifts from wakefulness to Stage 1 non-REM sleep, through Stages 2, 3 and 4 and finally REM sleep over the first several hours. During the l
49、ast half of the night, REM sleep and Stage 2 sleep alternate for 90 to 120 minutes each. As we age, brief awakenings increase in frequency, while deeper stages of non-REM sleep decrease.Why Do We Sleep?【R2】 _Rodents completely deprived of REM sleep die after a few weeks. Non-REM sleep, meanwhile, seems to be important in providing a sense of restored energy and ability to concentrate during the day. A number of theories about sleep attempt to explain its role or roles: a rest
