1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 140 及答案与解析Part ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points)0 “Please dont take your organs to heaven,“ reads the American bumper sticker. “Heaven knows that we need them here on earth. “ Last year more than 7,000
2、Americans died while awaiting an organ transplantalmost double the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq since 2003. In Europe, too, thousands of people whose lives could be extended or transformed(by having sight restored, for example)through transplants forfeit the opportunity for want of ava
3、ilable organs.Research by the World Health Organisation(WHO)has found that only one in ten people in need of a new kidney, the body part most in demand, manages to get one. In the poorest places, of course, a complex transplantwhich in the American health system costs $500, 000is unthinkable for mos
4、t people anyway. But the gap between supply and demand for organs affects the poor too, by creating a market in body parts where abuses are prevalent.In prosperous and middle-income countries, the waiting lists for organ transplants grow ever longer as ageing populations, hypertension and obesity(a
5、big cause of diabetes-driven kidney failure)take their toll. The problem has been worsened by a fall in road deaths in rich countries, whichalong with strokes and heart attacksare the main source of organs for transplant. Small wonder that people scour the globe to procure the organs they or their l
6、oved ones need; or that unscrupulous intermediaries offer help.The latest of many organ-harvesting scandals is now raging in India, one of several poor countries where the sale of organs used to be legal but has now been banned, with the apparent effect of driving the trade underground. A doctor, Am
7、it Kumar, is awaiting trial after reportedly confessing to having performed hundreds of illegal transplants for rich clients from America, Britain, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Greece. He has been accused of luring labourers into his clinics with job offers; victims were then offered up to $2,000, a pri
8、ncely sum, to part with a kidney. Some who refused are said to have had kidneys removed anyway after being drugged.Another kidney racket flourished in South Africa between 2001 and 2003. Donors were recruited in Brazil, Israel and Romania with offers of $5,000-20,000 to visit Durban and forfeit a ki
9、dney. The 109 recipients, mainly Israelis, each paid up to $120,000 for a “transplant holiday“; they pretended they were relatives of the donors and that no cash changed hands.Knowingly or unknowingly, Europeans may have benefited from another racket, operating on their doorstep, in a region where t
10、he West claims to be upholding human rights. Carla del Ponte, until recently the chief prosecutor at the war-crimes court for ex-Yugoslavia, claims in a new book that in 1999, guerrillas from Kosovo harvested the organs of 300 captive Serbs at a secret site in Albania. The authorities in Kosovo and
11、Albania have hotly denied the story.1 Which of the following affects the poor most according to the first two paragraphs?（A）More than 7,000 Americans died during waiting for organ transplant last year.（B） Only 10% people in need could succeed in getting organ transplant operation.（C） Organ transplan
12、t operation is very complex and costly even in America.（D）The larger gap between demand and supply creates markets of body parts.2 The best reason that leads to a larger gap between organ demand and supply is（A）in prosperous and middle-income countries, more and more people die of various diseases.（
13、B） in prosperous countries, the supply of organs reduces for the fewer traffic accident deaths.（C） there is a larger and larger demand while the supply seems to become less and less.（D）more and more nations begin to take measures to ban the once legal sale of organs.3 Which of the following is true
14、according to Paragraph 4?（A）The last of many organ-harvesting scandals is now taking place in India.（B） After being banned the sale of organs in India has now disappeared.（C） Amit Kumar was on trial for performing hundreds of illegal organ transplants.（D）For a large amount of income, some job hunter
15、s went to part with a kidney.4 What does the author feel about the present situation in organ transplant profession?（A）Pleased.（B） Concerned.（C） Indifferent.（D）Sympathetic.5 What message does this passage mainly aim to convey?（A）More people are awaiting to have lives extended or transformed through
16、transplants.（B） Organ transplant operations are too expensive and complex for poor people to have.（C） Organ exchange markets have been in existence in many parts of the world.（D）The gap between demand and supply creates organ markets especially immoral exchanges.5 Improving the balance between the w
17、orking part of the day and the rest of it is a goal of a growing number of workers in rich Western countries. Some are turning away from the ideals of their parents, for whom work always came first; others with scarce skills are demanding more because they know they can get it. Employers, caught bet
18、ween a falling population of workers and tight controls on immigration, are eager to identify extra perks that will lure more “talent“ their way. Just now they are focusing on benefits(especially flexible working)that offer employees more than just pay.Some companies saw the change of mood some time
19、 ago. IBM has more than 50 different programmes promoting work-life balance and Bank of America over 30. But plenty of other firms remain unconvinced and many lack the capacity to cater to such ideas even if they wanted to. Helen Murlis, with Hay Group, a human-resources consultancy, sees a widening
20、 gap between firms “at the creative end of employment“ and those that are not.The chief component of almost all schemes to promote work-life balance is flexible working. This allows people to escape rigid nine-to-five schedules and work away from a formal office. IBM says that 40% of its employees t
21、oday work off the company premises. For many businesses, flexible working is a necessity. Globalization has spread the hours in which workers need to communicate with each other and increased the call for flexible shifts.Nella Barkley, an American who advises companies on work-life balance, says tha
22、t large firms are beginning to understand the value of such schemes, “but only slowly“. For most of them, they still mean little more than child care, health care and flexible working.To some extent, the proliferation of work-life-balance schemes is a function of todays labour market. Companies in k
23、nowledge-based industries worry about the shortage of skills and how they are going to persuade talented people to work for them. Although white-collar workers are more likely to be laid off nowadays, they are also likely to get rehired. Unemployment among college graduates in America is just over 2
24、%. The same competition for scarce talent is evident in Britain.For some time to come, talented people in the West will demand more from employers, and clever employers will create new gewgaws to attract them to join. Those employers should note that for a growing number of these workers the most ap
25、pealing gewgaw of all is the freedom to work as and when they please.6 Employees are demanding more from their employers because（A）they always put their work as the first thing in life.（B） they are pursuing a more balanced lifestyle.（C） they are equipped with special skills.（D）they are focusing on b
26、enefits more than their salary.7 The present situation about the work-life balance problem is that（A）many companies have different programmes for this problem.（B） many companies are ready to take effective solutions.（C） companies are at two extremes in solving this problem.（D）many companies are indi
27、fferent to this problem.8 IBM is mentioned in the third paragraph to show that（A）IBM has many different programmes enhancing work-life balance.（B） flexible working means flexible working time.（C） flexible working includes allowing employees to work outside offices.（D）flexible working can be realized
28、 by flexible shifts.9 According to the passage, work-life balance schemes（A）are now adopted by many large firms.（B） mainly contain child care, health care and flexible working.（C） are welcomed by white-collar workers.（D）are the natural result of labour force competition.10 The word “gewgaws“(Line 2,
29、 Para.6)most probably means（A）jewelry.（B） positions.（C） policies.（D）payment.10 Dieting, according to an old joke, may not actually make you live longer, but it sure feels that way. Nevertheless, evidence has been accumulating since the 1930s that calorie restrictionreducing an animals energy intake
30、below its energy expenditureextends lifespan and delays the start of age-related diseases in rats, dogs, fish and monkeys. Such results have inspired thousands of people to put up with constant hunger in the hope of living longer, healthier lives. They have also led to a search for drugs that mimic
31、the effects of calorie restriction without the pain of going on an actual diet.Amid the trend, it is easy to forget that no one has until now shown that calorie restriction works in humans. That omission, however, changed this month, with the publication of the initial results of the first systemati
32、c investigation into the matter. This study took 48 men and women and assigned them randomly to either a control group or a calorie-restriction regime. Those in the second group were required to cut their calorie intake for six months to 75% of that needed to maintain their weight.The study is a lan
33、dmark in the history of the field, because its subjects were either of normal weight or only slightly overweight. Previous projects have used individuals who were clinically fat, thus confusing the unquestionable benefits to health of reducing fatness with the possible advantages of calorie restrict
34、ion to the otherwise healthy.At a molecular level, it suggests these advantages are real. Those on restricted diets showed drops in body temperature and blood-insulin levelsboth phenomena that have been seen in long-lived, calorie-restricted animals. They also suffered less damage to their DNA.Eric
35、Ravussin, of Louisiana State University, says that such results provide support for the theory that calorie restriction produces a metabolic adaptation over and above that which would be expected from weight loss alone. Nevertheless, such metabolic adaptation could be the reason why calorie restrict
36、ion is associated with longer lifespan in other animalsand that is certainly the hope of those who, for the past 15 years, have been searching for ways of triggering that metabolic adaptation by means other than semi-starvation.The search for a drug that will delay old age is itself as old as the hi
37、llsas is the wishful thinking of the suckers who finance such efforts. Those who hope to find it by mimicking the effect of calorie restriction are not, however, complete snake-oil salesmen, for there is known to be a family of enzymes, which act both as sensors of nutrient availability and as regul
38、ators of metabolic rate. These might provide the necessary biochemical link between starving and living longer.11 We learn from the first two paragraphs that（A）people are crazy about dieting in order to lose some weight.（B） experimental results show that dieting can prolong animals life.（C） in the s
39、tudy, two groups of people were asked to go on a diet.（D）few results have been worked out on the effects of calorie restriction.12 The word “landmark“(Line 1, Para. 3)probably means（A）an event of much profit.（B） an event of great excitement.（C） an event of great significance.（D）an event of unique fe
40、atures.13 The results of previous research on the effects of calorie restriction are unconvincing because（A）the subjects of the research were either of overweight or slightly underweight.（B） calorie-restricted animals showed different physical signs in the research.（C） the decrease in body temperatu
41、re may result from changes of outside temperature.（D）people cannot tell the benefits of losing weight from those of calorie restriction.14 It can be inferred from Paragraph 5 that people（A）have been engaged in the study of the replacement of calorie restriction.（B） have been looking for drugs that c
42、an prolong humans life for ages.（C） can expect a change in their metabolic rate when going on a diet.（D）may benefit from metabolic adaptation in that it may protect their DNA.15 People might take enzymes as a substitute for calorie restriction in that（A）they establish a chemical link between starvin
43、g and living long.（B） they can provide people with enough nutrition.（C） they work in a similar way that calorie restriction does.（D）they are favored by people who finance the drug research.15 In 1979 the United Auto Workers(UAW)had more than 1.5m members, and nine of the countrys ten bestselling car
44、s were American brands. The Toyota Corolla came eighth; the first time a foreign-branded car had cracked the top ten. Today the UAWs membership is around 400,000, and not all of those are car workers: over the years the union has sought recruits on farms, in casinos and at universities. And of the t
45、op ten bestselling cars in America last year, seven were foreign-badged.Americans are not only buying foreign-badged cars, they are also making them: seven of Americas 15 most productive assembly plants last year were foreign-owned. Although the UAW has had some success at organizing foreign-owned p
46、artsmakers, it has so far failed to organize workers at the carmakers themselves. Its attempts in recent years to get into Nissans plants in Tennessee and Mississippi have failed. Now it has set its sights on German carmakers: Mercedes and, especially, Volkswagen.At VWs plant in Chattanooga, Tenness
47、ee, the UAW, with support from IG Metall, which represents workers in VWs German plants, has been pushing for the creation of a works council. In German law, such factory-level bodies are distinct from labour unions: they cannot call for strikes, and their membership is limited to employees at the p
48、lant in question. Their relationships with management tend to be less adversarial than American unions. But the UAW seems to see them as a foot in the door towards eventual union recognition.The status of works councils under American labour lawin particular, whether a company can have a works counc
49、il without a unionis unclear. Managers are legally prohibited from “assisting“ labour unions, and the National Labour Relations Board has tended to interpret that ban strictly. If VW workers do choose a works council, one way of satisfying the law might be to bring in an outside union to represent employees, thereby giving the UAW a way in.It is no coincidence that most of the foreign-owned plants have been built in “right to work“ states in the South. Such states ban “closed shops“ in which employees are forced to join a union at their workplace. This makes it
