1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 235 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 Perhaps the most ambitious long-term health study ever planned by the National Institutes of Health (NET) has been hit by a NASA style price shock: Once
2、 estimated at $3 billion over 25 years, the actual cost could be twice that much. The problem became public last week at a Capitol Hill hearing on the NIH budget. Acting NIH Director Raynard Kington said he has launched a high-level re-view of the plan to track the health of 100,000 children from be
3、fore birth to age 21 and that the study will likely be scaled back.The National Childrens Study (NCS) grew out of a 2000 congressional directive to NIH to determine how environmental influences, from chemical contaminants to video games, shape the development of children and affect diseases such as
4、autism and obesity. Researchers plan to recruit a diverse group of pregnant mothers at 105 sites around the United States by knocking on randomly selected doors. Congress provided $192 million in funding this year to set up the sites and launch a pilot study.Kington says he became concerned in early
5、 January after being informed of his staffs latest cost projections. It was since then that Kington realized “there was a fundamental problem in estimating the true costs.“ In order to turn things around, Kington has now added “greatly heightened oversight.“ That includes asking Claude Lenfant, form
6、er director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, to return to NIH as his adviser on the study. NIH will also take a longer pause than originally planned after the 1-year pilot, which began in January at two of seven sites, to revise the protocol and reassess the costs.When trimming begi
7、ns, Kington says he hopes the 100,000 sample size will be “the last thing“ considered for cuts. But the size, number of hypotheses, and the protocols are all on the table. Pediatrician Philip Landrigan, who helped conceive the NCS, hopes not to lose components such as in-home detailed assessments of
8、 each childs development, which are expensive. “Were just waiting to see how this works out,“ says Landrigan, whose team has knocked on more than 1000 doors in Queens and foundthat many women seem interested.The budget problems come as no surprise to former NIH Director Elias Zerhouni, who wanted to
9、 avoid funding for the NCS. Zerhouni says he had “severe reservations“ about the potential cost and felt NIH should complete the pilot before any decisions were made about proceeding with the full study. Instead, “Congress interfered“ by providing the money to move ahead anyway. “It was political ma
10、nagement,“ Zerhouni says, and “I dont think people should be shocked“ at the result.1 It can be inferred from Paragraph 1 that the most ambitious long-term health study _.（A）was planned in a NASA style（B） has met personnel problems（C） will be halted for its huge cost（D）is very likely to reduce budge
11、t2 National Childrens Study aims to _.（A）recruit pregnant mothers as main subjects to study the environment（B） confirm 105 sites around the US are suitable for pilot studies（C） verify whether environmental pollution causes various disease（D）explore the link between environment and the growth of chil
12、dren3 After being informed of the latest cost projections, Kington _.（A）asked his staff to report on the latest cost figures（B） asked Claude Lenfant to resume his post in NTH（C） decided that NIH would end the pilot until costs are reevaluated（D）agreed that NIH would take a while to amend the project
13、4 According to Paragraph 4, which of the following is true of the trimming?（A）The number of hypotheses would be decreased.（B） The sample size would be finalized later on.（C） The protocols would be the focus of discussion.（D）In-home assessments would be prolonged.5 Former NIH Director Elias Zerhouni_
14、.（A）felt it reckless to complete the pilot（B） had foreseen such a serious cost problem（C） thought it was time to make the final decision（D）maintained that Congress interference was no good5 Why in an age of advanced technology, should so many people still cling to an ancient belief? In part it must
15、be because astrologyclaims to tell us something about ourselves, and all of us are interested in ourselves. I think it is because astrology is presented as if it were a science by its modern practitioner, and many people are misled by this.In fact, astrology was never a science. It was not a hypothe
16、sis or theory developed to describe natural phenomena, and until fairly recent times, there was not attempt to test or verify its predictions. Astrology began approximately three thousand years ago in Babylonia; it was applied to monarchs and kingdoms, but not to individuals. It spread in the 6th ce
17、ntury BC as far as India, where it flourishes today. The Egyptians, meanwhile, developed their own kind of astrology. But the astrology now practiced in Europe and America is that developed by the Greeks, who synthesized the ideas of the Babylonians and Egyptians and enriched them with concepts from
18、 their own fertile imaginations. The Greeks believed that the earth was composed of four elements, and the heavens of a perfect crystalline material. The planets themselves were variously thought to be gods, residences of gods, or at least manifestations of gods. The gods were immortal, but otherwis
19、e had the same attributes of anger, happiness, jealousy, rage and pleasure as we do. Now if what the gods thought was capricious, at least the planets were predictable in their movements. Because our own lot in life is so unpredictable, it must be purely at the mercy of gods. But if the gods are the
20、 planets, or somehow associated with them, then we have only to learn the rules of the motions of the planets to understand the whims of the gods and how they shape our own lives. So the belief developed that each of our lives is preordained by the precise configuration of the planets in the sky at
21、the time of our birth.Astrology could not, of course, have seemed as incredible to the ancients as it does to us. The role of the sun influencing our daily and yearly lives is obvious; it was a natural extension to attribute other powers to the other planets as well. It wasnt until the time of Newto
22、n that we understood that the laws of Nature apply to the celestial worlds as well as to the terrestrial one. During antiquity, however, all great scholars believed in astrology.6 Many people are misled by astrology because it is presented by the practitioners as _.（A）a theory that can describe natu
23、ral phenomena（B） a magical key to understanding themselves（C） an ancient belief that had long been applied to monarchs（D）a mysterious power beyond the explanation of science7 While the Greeks developed astrology, they believed that _.（A）the earth was made up of four elements and the heavens（B） the h
24、eavens were made up of a material of pure crystal（C） the ideas of the Babylonians were not imaginative（D）their ideas would soon spread throughout Europe8 It is implied in Paragraph 2 that astrology is based on the belief that _.（A）the gods intentions were hard to predict（B） the fate of our lives are
25、 unpredictable（C） the gods are closely related to the planets（D）the gods have the same attributes as we do9 What is true about the scholars before the time of Newton?（A）Some of them were convinced by astrology.（B） They didnt know the laws of Nature apply to all planets.（C） They played important role
26、s in the development of astrology.（D）Most of them found astrology incredible.10 What is the authors purpose in writing the text?（A）To cast doubt on the origin of astrology.（B） To compare astrology with real sciences.（C） To point out the popularity of astrology.（D）To justify the incredibility of astr
27、ology.10 “Ah, yes, divorce“, Robin Williams once mused, “from the Latin word meaning to rip out a mans genitals through his wallet“. The derivation may not be found in dictionaries, but he was on well-trodden ground in linking divorce to money. This month a survey conducted among financial analysts,
28、 stockbrokers and hedge-fund managers by Mishcon de Reya, a law firm, suggested that theeconomic downturn will prompt an upsurge in divorces among high-earners in Londons financial centre.This pattern is not without precedent; Sandra Davis, who commissioned the study, says that the recession of the
29、early 1990s led to a wave of divorces among the Citys wealthy people.A third of current inquiries to lawyers by those deciding to break the knot, she claims, are linked to the credit crunch.One explanation is that the defecting spouses of high earners are getting out before the crunch reduces the po
30、tential for profitable settlements. As the City boom turns to bust, redundancies are becoming commonplace and huge bonuses a distant dream. Since recent earnings are one of the factors taken into account in divorce settlements, it makes sense to divorce sooner rather than later. Others argue that mo
31、ney and the distractions it buys allow couples to avoid addressing difficulties in their relationship, which come to the fore in more financially-distressed times.For middle earners, the link between divorce rates and economic conditions is less clear-cut, not least since the main marital asset is h
32、ouses rather than spouses. Rising inflation and falling house prices put pressure on marriages and might thus contribute to higher divorce rates. Yet the same factors also make splitting up more complicated. Falling property prices mean that selling the family home may not provide sufficient funds f
33、or two separate homes, especially now that lenders have become much more choosy. “A flagging economy clearly leads to an increase in misery; whether or not it causes a rise in the divorce rate is a debatable point,“ sums up Stephen Jenkins, director of the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
34、One consequence is that more couples are living together after divorce, which raises its own problems. Godfrey Freeman, chairman of Resolution, an association of family lawyers, points out that the lower-earning partners in such couples may find it harder to claim benefits. They are usually refused
35、help, he says, on the grounds that their mortgage is being paid, even if they have no cash of their own to cover everyday expenses.11 In the opening paragraph, the author introduces his topic by providing _.（A）a well-known definition of divorce in the dictionary（B） a downright fact that divorce is l
36、inked to economy（C） an interesting quote of a famous person about divorce（D）a statistic survey that was conducted a long time ago12 According to Sandra Davis, recession of the early 1990s is regarded to have _.（A）affected the whole society in their life style（B） caused some changes in family structu
37、res（C） encouraged more lawyers to consider divorce cases（D）resulted from the divorce trends13 The statement “it makes sense to divorce sooner rather than later“ (Para 3) is used to show that_.（A）the relationship between divorce and economy is well-grounded（B） the divorce wave will finally calm down
38、and disappear（C） wealthy couples are encouraged to settle down as soon as possible（D）people would like to protect their own earnings14 By referring to the middle earners, the author intends to show that _.（A）some couples would like to spend life together even if they break up（B） they are forced to c
39、onsider economic situations after the divorce（C） the link between divorce and money is as evident as in the cases of rich couples（D）they are faced with different problems compared with wealthy classes15 Which of the following is true of the text?（A）There should be some correlations between economy a
40、nd family.（B） Economic depression is sure to have caused the social instability.（C） If the economy grows fast, the lower-earning partners will claim more help.（D）Economic growth depends upon the happy relationship between social members.15 A woman with a twin brother has fewer children. Twin brother
41、s can leave quite an impression. The mere presence of a boy in the same womb as his sister causes her to develop bigger teeth than she otherwise would. Girls with twin brothers perform better on spatial-ability tests. They have better ball skills than most females and are more likely to be short-sig
42、hted. Now it seems that sharingthe womb also has a harmful effect on the sexual reproduction of women with a twin brother.Virpi Lummaa of the University of Sheffield, in Britain, and her colleagues made the claim after studying detailed data from several generations of church records from many paris
43、hes in Finland. They report that women with a twin brother were 15% less likely to get married than were women with a twin sister. Those with a male twin also had a 25% lower chance of giving birth even though they lived just as long as those with a female twin. When the researchers considered only
44、married women, those with a twin brother on average had two fewer children during their lifetimes than did women with a twin sister. And finallyto rule out any influence of sharing a house as well as a wombDr Lummaa checked the results were the same for women whose twin brothers died before they wer
45、e three months old. The researchers reported their findings in this weeks Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.As with the teeth, the supposed cause of untypical female biology is early exposure to testosterone. This hormone is made by a male fetuss developing testes from about seven week
46、s after conception and is thought to diffuse, thus influencing his sisters growth. But the exact mechanism by which a twin brother lowers his sisters chances of reproductive success is unclear.Dr Lummaas results also suggest that, if a woman wishes to maximize the chances of passing on her genes, sh
47、e would do better to avoid producing pairs of twins consisting of one boy and one girl and go for a single-sex combination instead. Mothers included in the study who produced opposite-sex twins had 19% fewer grandchildren than did mothers who gave birth to same-sex twins.Evolutionary theory thus pre
48、dicts that there should be fewer pairs of girl-and-boy non-identical twins than single-sex pairs of non-identical twins. Whether that is so requires another set of figures. Finnish church records, helpful as they are, do not distinguish non-identical same-sex twins from identical ones. In the eyes o
49、f God, unlike those of natural selection, twin girls are created equal.16 Which of the following can be an impression on the sisters by twin brothers?（A）Better musical skills.（B） Shorter views.（C） More spatial-competence.（D）Stronger teeth.17 According to Virpi Lummaa and her colleagues, women with twin brothers _.（A）encounter more difficulties in getting married than only-child women（B） raise two more children during their lifetime than women with a twin sister（C） enjoy a much shorter longevity than women whose female
