英语四级阅读理解

Passage One

Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.

The prospects for women who are scientists and engineers at major research universities have

improved, although women continue to face unfair treatment in salary and access to some other

resources, a panel of the National Research Council concludes in a new report.

In

recent

years

“men

and

women

faculty

in

science,

engineering

and

mathematics

have

enjoyed comparable opportunities,” the panel said in its report, released on Tuesday. It found

that

women who applied for university jobs and, once they had them, for promotion and

tenure

(

终身

任职

), were at least as likely to succeed as men.

In

another

report

this

week

in

the

Proceedings

of

the

National

Academy

of

Sciences,

researchers at the University of Wisconsin reviewed a variety of studies and concluded that the

achievement

gap

between

boys

and

girls

in

mathematics

performance

had

narrowed

to

the

vanishing point.

Although girls are still of a smaller number in the ranks of young math

prodigies

(

神童

), they

said, that gap is narrowing, which undermines claims that a greater

prevalence

(

流行

) of profound

mathematical

talent

in

males

is

biologically

determined.

The

researchers

said

this

and

other

phenomena “provide abundant evidence for the impact of so

ciocultural and other environmental

factors on the development of mathematical skills and talent and the size, if any, of math gender

gap.”

The research council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, gathered its expert panel

at the request of Congress. The panel surveyed six disciplines

—

biology, chemistry, mathematics,

civil and electrical engineering, and physics

—

and based its analysis on interviews with faculty

members at 89 institutions and data from federal agencies, professional societies and other sources.

The panel was led by Claude Canizares, a physicist who is vice president for research at M.I.T,

and Dr. Sally Shaywitz of Yale Medical School, an expert on learning.

The

Wisconsin

researchers,

Janet

S.

Hyde

and

Janet

E.

Mertz,

studied

data

from

10

states

collected in tests authorized by the No Child Left Behind Act as well as data from the National

Assessment

of

Educational

Progress,

a

federal

testing

program.

Differences

between

girls’

and

boys’

performance

in

the

10

states

were

“close

to

zero

in

all

grades,”

they

said,

even

in

high

schools where gaps had existed earlier. In the national assessment, they said, differences between

girls’ and boys’ performance were “trivial”.

57. We learn from the passage that female scientists and engineers in some universities ________.

A) tend to compare themselves with men

B) suffer from overwhelming unequal treatment

C) find it difficult to get ideal jobs

D) have a future as bright as men

58. According to the researchers at the University of Wisconsin, ________.

A) girls usually think narrowly in math while boys don’t

B) girls can do almost as well as boys in mathematics

C) most girls perform better in mathematics than boys

D) there are very few girls who are really talented in math

59. What is the conclusion of the research council based on?

A) The analysis made by 89 college teachers and data from different agencies.

B) The survey of six subjects, interviews with teachers and data from different kinds of sources.

C) The survey at the request of the Congress and talks with teachers from 89 institutions.

D) The research made by the National Academy of Sciences and the survey within six fields.

60. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A) Neither gender nor age affects students’ performance in ma

thematics.

B) People expect to see gaps between girls’ and boys’ performance in high school.

C) Different tests show different results concerning students’ performance.

D) Data from 10 states are not as accurate as those from the national tests.

61. The passage is mainly about ________.

A) the unfair treatment towards female in universities

B) women bridging gap in science opportunities

C) the achievement of female scientists in universities

D) a national study of teaching methods of mathematics

Passage Two

Questions 62 to 66 are based on the following passage.

It’s time to stop complaining. The economy might be melting down like butter in a hot pot,

but for some people

—

you, maybe?

—

this could be a very good thing.

Here’s why. At no other time in r

ecent history has it been easier or cheaper to start a new kind

of company. Possibly a very profitable company. Let’s call these start

-

ups LILOs, for “a little in, a

lot out;” These are Web

-based businesses that cost almost nothing to get off the ground yet can

turn into great moneymakers.

How do you get started? All that’s required is a great idea for a product that will fill a need in

the 21st century. These days you’d do best if your idea either makes people money or saves them

money. And launching now will make your company stronger later

—

you’ll learn to survive on

fumes until the economy improves.

That’s what John Tayman is doing. He’s an author who lives in San Francisco, where I met

him; he wrote reviews for a business magazine I edited. Tayman knew little about technology and

even

less

about

business.

And

yet

he

dreamed

of

a

website

that

would

summarize

car

reviews

from

other

sources

and

rank

every

model

of

new

car.

“It’ll

be

like

meets

Kelley Blue Book

,” he explained to me during

lunch one day last June. Tayman said he intended to

build the site on the side while continuing to write for a living. He’d work on his new company

only at night and on weekends. Oh, yes, and he had only about $$10,000. “Good luck with that!” I

thought. Ideas are much easier to produce than they are to execute.

Tayman went to work with nothing more than his PowerBook laptop. A very well-organized

fellow, he quickly discovered a bunch of free stuff online

—

instructional manuals and sites that

walk you through the process from start to finish. Within months, Tayman had a virtual staff of 20

employees

working for him in five different countries.

went live in January.

Tayman figures he has worked about 10 hours a week on it and hasn’t spent a ce

nt on marketing

or advertising. Growth is modest but steady: nearly 10,000 people visit each week.

62. What is an advantage of starting a business now?

A) It will guarantee you a big success.

B) It can never be more profitable.

C) It costs you much less than ever before.

D) It keeps you from useless complaining.

63. What is essential to start your business according to the passage?

A) Low-cost products used to be trade.

B) A good idea helping people make or save money.

C) Starting the business as early as possible.

D) Practical products with good quality.

64. What is said about Tayman in the passage?

A) He chooses to run his business in his spare time.

B) He has raised enough funds for his business.

C) He is good at Internet technology and e-commerce.

D) He came up the idea when talking with his friend.

65. How did the author feel on hearing of Tayman’s idea?

A) He was sure that it would make profit.

B) He thought Tayman was out of his mind.

C) He is suspicious of his executive capability.

D) He had no confi

dence in Tayman’s success.

66. How is Tayman’s website going now?

A) It starts to be used by more people now.

B) It has made a huge profit since January.

C) It still copies free stuff from the Internet.

D) It has a capacity of 10,000 visits per week.

Passage One

Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.

When it comes to using technology to foster education, the prevailing wisdom has been that

more is better. Over the past decade, universities around the globe have invested heavily in the

wired

classroom,

adding

everything

from

external

laptop

connections

to

Blu-ray

DVD

players.

But there is little evidence that these devices enhance learning

—

and, critics believe, they might