2008年12月英语六级阅读备考的技巧及词汇五

　　Lesson9

　　36. We learn from the passage that olestra is a substance that_______.

　　A) contains plenty of nutrients

　　B) renders foods calorie-free while retaining their vitamins

　　C) makes foods easily digestible

　　D) makes foods fat-free while keeping them delicious

　　37.The result of the search for an easily digestible fat turned out to be_______.

　　A) commercially useless

　　B) just as anticipated

　　C) somewhat controversial

　　D) quite unexpected

　　38.Olestra is different from ordinary fats in that_______.

　　A) it passes through the intestines without being absorbed

　　B) it facilitates the absorption of vitamins by the body

　　C) it helps reduce the incidence of heart disease

　　D) it prevents excessive intake of vitamins

　　39.What is a possible negative effect of olesira according to some critics?

　　A) It may impair the digestive system.

　　B) It may affect the overall fat intake.

　　C) It may increase the risk of cancer.

　　D) It may spoil the consumers appetite.

　　40.Why are nutritionists concerned about adding vitamins to olesira?

　　A) It may lead to the over-consumption of vitamins.

　　B) People may be induced to eat more than is necessary.

　　C) The function of the intestines may be weakened. 跨段

　　D) It may trigger a new wave of fake food production.

　　Imagine eating everything delicious you want - with none of the fat. That would be great, wouldnt it?

　　New fake fat products appeared on store shelves in the United States recently, but not everyone is happy about it. Makers of the products, which contain a compound called olestra, say food manufacturers can now eliminate fat from certain foods. Critics, however, say the new compound can rob the body of essential vitamins and nutrients and can also cause unpleasant side effects in some people. So its up to decide whether the new fat-free products taste good enough to keep eating.

　　注：eliminate消除

　　Chemists discovered olestra in the late 1960s, when they were searching for a fat that could be digested by infants more easily. Instead of finding the desired fat, the researchers created a fat that cant be digested at all.

　　Normally, special chemicals in the intestines grab molecules of regular fat and break them down so they can be used by the body. A molecule of regular fat is made up of three molecule of substances called fatty acids.

　　The fatty acids are absorbed by the intestines and bring with them the essential vitamins A, D, E, and K. When fat molecules are present in the intestines with any of those vitamins, the vitamins attach to the molecules and are carried into the bloodstream.

　　Olestra, which is made from six to eight molecules of fatty acids, is too large for the intestines to absorb. It just slides through the intestines without being broken down. Manufacturers say its that ability to slide unchanged through the intestines that makes olestra so valuable as a fat substitute. It provides consumers with the taste of regular fat without any bad effects on the body. But critics say olestra can prevent vitamins A, D, E, and K from being absorbed. It can also prevent the absorption of carotenoids , compounds that may reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, etc.

　　Manufacturers are adding vitamins A, D, E, and K as well as carotenoids to their products now. Even so, some nutritionists are still concerned that people might eat unlimited amounts of food made with the fat substitute without worrying about how many calories they are consuming.

　　简短回答题评分原则及标准

　　1. 评分原则

　　简答题要求考生在读懂文章的基础上，用正确简洁的语言回答问题。在评分时应同时考虑内容和语言。每题满分为2分，最低为0分。

　　2. 给分标准

　　2分--答出全部内容，语言正确;

　　1分--答出部分内容，语言正确;

　　0分--没有答对问题。

　　扣分标准

　　语言有错误扣0.5分，每题由于语言错误扣分不能超过0.5分;

　　涉及无关内容者扣0.5分;其答案中有相互矛盾的内容，则内容矛盾的部分均不得分;

　　整句原封不动照搬应扣分;照搬一句扣0.5分;照搬两句及两句以上者扣2分;

　　考生所给答案超过10个单词扣0.5分。

　　Part IV Short Answer Questions

　　Joe Templer should have known better: after all, he works for a large auto-insurance company. It wont hurt to leave the key in the truck this once, he thought, as he filled his gas tank at a self-service gas station. But moments latter as he was paying the money he saw the truck being driven away.

　　In 1987, 1.6 million motor vehicles were stolen in the United States-one every 20 seconds. If current trends continue, experts predict annual vehicle thefts could exceed two million by the end of the decade.

　　Vehicle theft is a common phenomenon, which has a direct impact on over four million victims a year. The cost is astonishing.

　　Many police officials blame professional thieves for the high volume of thefts. It is a major money-maker for organized crime. Typically, stolen cars are taken to pieces and the parts sold to individuals. But as many as 200.000 cars are smuggled out of the country every year. Most go to Latin America, the Middle East and Europe.

　　Only about 15 percent car thefts result in an arrest, because few police departments routinely conduct in-depth auto-investigations. When thieves are arrested, judges will often sentence them to probation , not immediately put them in prison because the prisons are overcrowded with violent criminals.

　　One exception is a Michigan program that assigns 92 police officers to work full-time on the states 65,000 car theft cases a year. Since 1986, when the effort began, the states auto-theft rate has fallen from second in the nation to ninth.

　　How can you protect your car? If you live in a high-theft area or drive an expensive model, consider a security system. It may cost anywhere from $25 to $1,000. Some systems engage automatically - simply removing the key disables the fuel pump the fuel pump and the starter. When cars are equipped with such systems, thefts may drop by one-third. In some states, you may be able to sue a device that transmits radio signals, allowing stolen cars to be tracked by police.

　　Questions:

　　71. What is the passage mainly about?

　　________________________________________________________

　　72. What does the author think Joe Templer should be blamed for?

　　Leaving the key in the truck

　　73. How serious did the author predict the annual vehicle theft could in the United States in 1989?

　　________________________________________________________

　　74. What are the two ways thieves sell the stolen cars?

　　________________________________________________________

　　75. What type of security system can help the police track down a stolen car?

　　________________________________________________________

　　Lesson10

　　21.What brought about the decline in the demand for American farm products?

　　A) The impact of the Great Depression.

　　B) The shrinking of overseas markets.

　　C) The destruction caused by the First World War.

　　D) The increased exports of European countries.

　　22.The chief concern of the American government in the area of agriculture in the 1920s was ______.

　　A) to increase farm production

　　B) to establish agricultural laws

　　C) to prevent farmers from going bankrupt

　　D) to promote the mechanization of agriculture

　　23.The Agricultural Adjustment Act encouraged American farmers to ______.

　　A) reduce their scale of production

　　B) make full use of their land

　　C) adjust the prices of their farm products

　　D) be self-sufficient in agricultural production

　　24.The Supreme Court rejected the Agricultural Adjustment Act because it believed that the Act ______.

　　A) might cause greater scarcity of farm products

　　B) didnt give the Secretary of Agriculture enough power

　　C) would benefit neither the government nor the farmers

　　D) benefited one group of citizens at the expense of others

　　25.It was claimed that the new laws passed during the Roosevelt Administration were aimed at ______.

　　A) reducing the cost of farming

　　B) conserving soil in the long-term interest of the nation

　　C) lowering the burden of farmers

　　D) helping farmers without shifling the burden onto other taxpayers

　　In the 1920s demand for American farm products fell, as European countries began to recover from World War I and instituted austerity programs to reduce their imports. The result was a sharp drop in farm prices. This period was more disastrous for farmers than earlier times had been, because farmers were no longer self-sufficient. They were paying for machinery, seed, and fertilizer, and they were also buying consumer goods. The prices of the items farmers bought remained constant, while prices they received for their products fell. These developments were made worse by the Great Depression, which began in 1929 and extended throughout the 1939s.

　　In 1929, under President Herbert Hoover, the Federal Farm Board was organized. It established the principle of direct interference with supply and demand, and it represented the first national commitment to provide greater economic stability for farmers.

　　President Hoovers successor attached even more importance to this problem. One of the first measures proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he took office in 1933 was the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which was subsequently passed by Congress. This law gave the Secretary of Agriculture the power to reduce production through voluntary agreements with farmers who were paid to take their land out of use. A deliberate scarcity of farm products was planned in an effort to raise prices. This law was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on the grounds that general taxes were being collected to pay one special group of people. However, new laws were passed immediately that achieved the same result of resting soil and providing flood-control measures, but which were based on the principle of soil conservation. The Roosevelt Administration believed that rebuilding the nations soil was in the national interest and was not simply a plan to help farmers at the expense of other citizens. Later the government guaranteed loans to farmers so that they could buy farm machinery, hybrid grain, and fertilizers.

　　26.The author says that the powerful computers of today ______.

　　A) are capable of reliably recognizing the shape of an object

　　B) are close to exhibiting humanlike behavior

　　C) are not very different in their performance from those of the 50s

　　D) still cannot communicate with people in a human language

　　27.The new trend in artificial intelligence research stems from ______.

　　A) the shift of the focus of study on to the recognition of the shapes of objects

　　B) the belief that human intelligence cannot be duplicated with logical, step-by-step programs

　　C) the aspirations of scientists to duplicate the intelligence of a ten-month-old child

　　D) the efforts made by scientists in the study of the similarities between transistors and brain cells

　　28.Conrad and his group of AI researchers have been making enormous efforts to ______.

　　A) find a roundabout way to design powerful computers

　　B) build a computer using a clever network of switches

　　C) find out how intelligence developed in nature

　　D) separate the highest and most abstract levels of thought

　　29.Whats the authors opinion about the new AI movement?

　　A) It has created a sensation among artificial intelligence researchers but will soon die out.

　　B) Its a breakthrough in duplicating human thought processes.

　　C) Its more like a peculiar game rather than a real scientific effort.

　　D) It may prove to be in the right direction though nobody is sure of its future prospects.

　　30.Which of the following is closest in meaning to the phrase the only game in town ?

　　A) The only approach to building an artificially intelligent computer.

　　B) The only way for them to win a prize in artificial intelligence research.

　　C) The only area worth studying in computer science.

　　D) The only game they would like to play in town.

　　In the 1950s, the pioneers of artificial intelligence predicted that, by the end of this century, computers would be conversing with us at work and robots would be performing our housework. But as useful as computers are, theyre nowhere close to achieving anything remotely resembling these early aspirations for humanlike behavior. Never mind something as complex as conversation: the most powerful computers struggle to reliably recognize the shape of an object, the most elementary of tasks for a ten-month-old kid.

　　A growing group of AI researchers think they know where the field went wrong. The problem, the scientists say, is that AI has been trying to separate the highest, most abstract levels of thought, like language and mathematics, and to duplicate them with logical, step-by-step programs. A new movement in AI, on the other hand, takes a closer look at the more roundabout way in which nature came up with intelligence. Many of these researchers study evolution and natural adaptation instead of formal logic and conventional computer programs. Rather than digital computers and transistors, some want to work with brain cells and proteins. The results of these early efforts are as promising as they are peculiar, and the new nature-based AI movement is slowly but surely moving to the forefront of the field.

　　Imitating the brains neural network is a huge step in the right direction, says computer scientist and biophysicist Michael Conrad, but it still misses an important aspect of natural intelligence. People tend to treat the brain as if it were made up of color-coded transistors, he explains, but its not simply a clever network of switches. There are lots of important things going on inside the brain cells themselves. Specifically, Conrad believes that many of the brains capabilities stem from the pattern recognition proficiency of the individual molecules that make up each brain cell. The best way to build and artificially intelligent device, he claims, would be to build it around the same sort of molecular skills.

　　Right now, the notion that conventional computers and software are fundamentally incapable of matching the processes that take place in the brain remains controversial. But if it proves true, then the efforts of Conrad and his fellow AI rebels could turn out to be the only game in town.