专业英语八级解析阅读题

专业英语八级解析阅读题

Text A

Countless medical studies have concluded that playing too many video games can be harmful to

one's health. Now, however, it turns out that one of the more popular video- game consoles on the

market, the Xbox 360, could be used to save lives.

A computer scientist at the University of Warwick in England has devised a way to use an Xbox 360

to detect heart defects and help prevent heart attacks. The new tool has the potential to revolutionize

the medical industry because it is both faster and cheaper than the computer systems that are

currently used by scientists to perform complex heart research.

The system, detailed in a study in the August edition of the Journal of Computational Biology and

Chemistry, is based on a video-game demo created by Simon Scarle two years ago when he was a

software engineer at Microsoft's Rare studio, the division of the U.S.-based company that designs

games for the Xbox 360. Scarle modified a chip in the console so that instead of producing graphics

for the game, it now delivers data tracking how electrical signals in the heart move around damaged

cardiac cells. This creates a model of the heart that allows doctors to identify heart defects or

conditions such as arrhythmia, a disturbance in the normal rhythm of the heart that causes it to pump

less effectively.

What used to take hours can be calculated in seconds, without having to employ an extremely

expensive, high-performance computer,

Oxford University, tells TIME.

To create a heart model now, researchers must use supercomputers or a network of PCs to crunch

millions of mathematical equations relating to the proteins, cells and tissues of the heart, a

time-consuming and costly process. Scarle's Xbox system can deliver the same results at a rate five

times faster and 10 times more cheap, according to the study.

hardware,

just quickly and cheaply grab that extra bit of computing power they otherwise wouldn't be able to

get.

Scarle attributes his breakthrough creation to his unusual background of working as a software

engineer in the gaming industry and performing electrocardio-dynamics research at the University of

Sheffield in England. The idea for the heart-modeling tool came from a

developed at Microsoft in which a player tries to gun down enemies in an arena meant to resemble a

heart.

science [based on] the cool things us game developers do,

The Xbox 360 isn't the only video-game console that is being used for scientific research. At the

University of Massachusetts campus in Dartmouth, scientists are using Sony PlayStations to simulate

black-hole collisions to try to solve the mystery of what happens when a super massive black hole

swallows a star.

So perhaps parents shouldn't be too worried if their children are spending an inordinate amount of

time playing video games. Who knows, today's Grand Theft Auto or Halo addict may end up

discovering a new moon around Saturn or finding a cure for cancer.1. Which of the following is NOT

true about the Xbox 360?

is a popular video-game.

was originally developed to detect heart defects.

is a good example that video games can benefit human beings.

is preferred by the medical industry in terms of its speed and cost.

答案：

B

[

解答

]

此 题是事实题。由第一、

三段可知，

Xbox 360

经过芯片改装之后被

用 于心脏检查。

2. What can be inferred from the passage?

author criticized the gaming industry.

author doubts if video games can be beneficial.

author believes that video games are good for one's health.

author believes that video games can help scientific research if properly used.

答案：

D

[

解答

]

此题是推断题。文章主题是电子游戏可以对人类有用。

3. What does

d

ive

答案：

D

[

解答

]

此 题是词义理解题。结合上下文可知，家长不必太担心孩子花太多的时间玩电子游戏。

4. What is the author's attitude toward playing video games?

ting

of hatred

-minded

roving

答案：

C

[

解答

]

此 题是推理概括题。

由最后一段可知，

作者认为家长不必太担心孩 子玩电子游戏，

或许明天他

们会因为玩电子游戏而成为一名科学 家。故作者对玩电子游戏持开放态度。

5. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

: A Kind of New Video Games

: A Kind of Magical Video Games

Xbox Can Help Fight Heart Disease

g Video Games Can Benefit Children

答案：

C

[

解答

]

此 题是推理概括题。文章主题是如何使用

Xbox

来诊断心脏疾病 ，故选项

C

为正确答案。

Text B

Since early November, cases of H1N1 have continued to decline nationwide, and scientists keeping

track of the numbers say that as pandemics go, 2009 H1N1 may turnout to be a mild one

—

at least for

the time being.

The question now on health officials' minds is: Will there be a second wave of cases in the new year?

The answer depends on whom you ask.

world's leading experts in influenza,

and Prevention (CDC), told reporters recently.

we'll have another surge in cases. About half said, No, we think it's not likely. And one said, Flip a coin.

It is an accurate reflection of how unpredictable the influenza virus can be. Although flu activity has

been waning for the third week in a row, health officials warn that there are still four to five months left

in the official influenza season, plenty of time for the virus to make its rounds and find new hosts.

story of pandemics, and the story ofH1N1 in general, is the story of persistent uncertainty where we

never quite know what we are going to get or when,

Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

How severe the current H1N1 pandemic seems depends on what you use as a measuring stick.

Compared with previous pandemics, like the 1918 Spanish flu, which killed 20 million people and

infected up to 40% of the world's population, or even the far less deadly 1957 and 1968 bouts with a

strain of H1N1 influenza similar to the 2009 strain, things don't seem as bad this time around. Fewer

people are getting severely ill when infected, and fewer have died or required hospitalization from the

flu than in previous pandemics.

Marc Lipsitch, an epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health, and his colleagues studied

the course of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic last spring in two cities

—

New York and Minneapolis

—

and

determined that 0.048% of people who developed symptoms of H1N1 died, and 1.44% required

hospitalization. Based on that data, published in PLoS Medicine, Lipsitch anticipates far fewer deaths

from 2009 H1N1than was initially believed. By the end of the flu season in the spring of 2010, Lipsitch

predicts, anywhere from 6,000 to 45,000 people will have died from H1N1 in the U.S., with the number

most likely to end up between 10,000 and 15,000. Those estimates are far below the death toll of the

1957 flu, which killed 69,800 people in the U.S., according to government figures, and smaller also

than the early predictions for the2009 H1N1 flu deaths, which ranged from 30,000 to 90,000.

It is not clear, however, that past pandemics are an appropriate gauge for evaluating the current flu

or that the new projections are based on complete data. The eventual death toll of 2009 H1N1 may be

less grim than the outcomes of previous pandemics, but it should be noted that 90 years ago, and

even 40 years ago, health officials lacked the antiviral therapies and nationwide vaccination capabilities

that are available today. That may have contributed to pandemics having a more devastating effect on

the health of past populations.

The new estimates are also less alarming than those provided

—

also by Lipsitch

—

to the President's

Council of Advisers on Science and Technology last summer near the start of the pandemic. At the

time, researchers had only patchy data on the number of people infected by, and seeking treatment

for, the new flu. The initially bleak prediction of the impact of H1N1

—

with up to 50% of the U.S.

population becoming infected in the fall and winter of 2009, resulting in as many as 90,000 deaths

—

was based on modeling of previous pandemics.

Fortunately, the worst case scenario did not come to pass.

we have now is a lot milder than the worst case consistent with the data we had in the summer or

spring,

Still, Lipsitch and other health officials acknowledge that the 2009 H1N1 pandemic is not over. What

worries health officials most is that as both seasonal and H1N1 flu viruses circulate among the

population, the two strains could recombine into a more virulent and aggressive version that could

cause more widespread illness and even death. How viruses behave once they nestle into a host is

completely unpredictable, but scientists know that in a lab dish, seasonal and H1N1 flu strains mix and

match readily.

wave coming on the heels of the current wave,

A second wave could still prove more deadly than the seasonal flu, especially for young children. To

date, 189 children have died of influenza in the U.S., the majority of them related to H1N1 infection,

and that number is already higher than the total number of pediatric deaths attributed to flu in 2008.

Lipsitch says that if current trends hold,H1N1 may end up causing as many influenza deaths, if not

more, than the seasonal flu, which kills about 36,000 Americans each year. Instead of hitting the

elderly the hardest, though, most of the deaths may be among young children and infants.1. What can

be inferred from the passage?

is not as severe as experts expected.

is likely to have a second wave of H1N1.

is not likely to have a second wave of H1N1.

one knows for sure whether there will be a second wave of H1N1.

答案：

D

[

解答

]

此题是推理判断题

A

对

B

错。由第二段可知，对于是否会有 第二波甲流疫情，回答不一。

2. Which of the following words can best feature the H1N1 virus?

ictable

答案：

C

[

解答

]

此题是推理概括题。由第三段可知。

3. What can be inferred from Paragraph 6?

A.H1N1 is different from past pandemics.

ted by past pandemics, H1N1 is not as severe.

ed with past pandemics, H1N1 is not so severe.

is hard to say if H1N1 is less severe than past pandemics.

答案：

D

[

解答

]

此 题是推断题。

以往疫情数据并不是一个很好的衡量当前疫情的指标，

因此，

不好说孰轻孰重。

4. Which of the following is the best title for this passage?

H1N1 Virus: How Does It Behave?

H1N1 Pandemic: Is It More Severe?

H1N1 Pandemic: Is a second wave Possible?

H1N1 Pandemic: Who Is Most Likely to Be the Victim?

答案：

C

[

解答

]

此 题是推理概括题。由全文可知，卫生专家当前最关心的是是否会有第二波甲流疫情发生。

5. Who is most likely to be the victim of H1N1?

under age 65.

children.

elderly.

s.

答案：

B

[

解答

]

此题是事实题。由最后一段可知，甲流的最大受害者是小孩。

Text C

The scientific name is the Holocene Age, but climatologists like to call our current climatic phase

the Long Summer. The history of Earth's climate has rarely been smooth. From the moment life began

on the planet billions of years ago, the climate has swung drastically and often abruptly from one state

to another

—

from tropical swamp to frozen ice age. Over the past 10,000 years, however, the climate

has remained remarkably stable by historical standards: not too warm and not too cold, or Goldilocks

weather. That stability has allowed Homo sapiens, numbering perhaps just a few million at the dawn of

the Holocene, to thrive; farming has taken hold and civilizations have arisen. Without the Long

Summer, that never would have been possible.