2023年大学英语期末考试题阅读题题库急加.doc

第一次
Why do smokers tend to weigh less than nonsmokers and gain weight when they give up the habit?
Contrary to “common knowledge”, nonsmokers do not generally eat more than smokers, nor do they exercise less, studies find. Research performed on smokers at rest indicates that nicotine (尼古丁) itself can increase basal metabolic (新陈代谢旳) rates, meaning smokers burn more energy than nonsmokers during periods of inactivity. But surveys suggest most smokers smoke not while completely at rest, but while performing light activities such as desk work that can increase metabolic rates by two or three times. Unless nicotine’s metabolic effects increase proportionally with metabolic rates, its influence on weight might be insignificant.
Now a study shows that nicotine’s effects on body-fuel consumption indeed increase proportionally with increases in activity. “These results indicate that the metabolic effect of nicotine may play a greater part in accounting for body-weight differences between smokers and nonsmokers than was previously believed,” says Kenneth A. Perkins and his colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
The researchers gave a nicotine nose spray to individuals performing light work — in this case riding an exercise bicycle modified to allow easy riding while subjects remain seated in a comfortable armchair. The activity raised resting metabolic rates two to three times.
By analyzing air breathed out, the researchers calculated energy consumption in the armchair bicyclists before and after giving the nose spray and compared the relative changes with subjects in the control group given placebo (（试验药物用旳）无效对照剂) nose sprays. Relative to their baseline bicycle expenditures, individuals in the nicotine group expended considerably more energy than did those in control group while doing the same amount of work. With nicotine, Perkins says, “It’s as if the body is becoming much less efficient in using its stored energy.”
While the results may seem discouraging to smokers who’d like to quit without gaining weight, Perkins notes that walking an extra mile a day should make up for the difference in metabolic efficiency. And he says smokers would have to gain “well more than 50 pounds” to counterbalance the health risks of continued smoking.

1. What might “common knowledge” say about smokers and nonsmokers?
A)  Smokers eat more and exercise more than nonsmokers.
B)  Smokers eat less and exercise less than nonsmokers.
C)  Smokers eat less and exercise more than nonsmokers. √
D)  Smokers eat more and exercise less than nonsmokers.

答案：C

2. When might nicotine influence smokers’ weight significantly?
A)  When Nicotine’s metabolic effects and metabolic rates increase at the same rate. √
B)  While smokers are exercising.
C)  While smokers are at rest.
D)  When Nicotine’s metabolic effects increase proportionally with the amount of light activities.

答案：A

3. The word “subjects” in the fourth paragraph means .
A)  people under medical treatment
B)  researchers
C)  people undergoing an experiment √
D)  addicted smokers

答案：C

4. What have the researchers found out in their study?
A)  People in the armchair expended more energy than people doing desk work.
B)  People in the control group breathed out more air.
C)  People without nicotine nose spray are becoming much less efficient in using energy.
D)  People in the nicotine group consumed more energy. √

答案：D

5. Why do the study results seem discouraging to some smokers according to the passage?
A)  Because they want to gain weight to tackle the health risks of continued smoking.
B)  Because they want to quit smoking and still keep fit. √
C)  Because they want to walking an extra mile a day to lose some weight.
D)  Because they want to keep fit without having to quit smoking.

答案：B
A certain amount of controversy has been caused by the publication of a new report by a team of educationalists headed by Pro. B. J. Smith. The report claims to have statistical evidence that children who attend a number of different schools through their parents having to move around the country are more than normally vulnerable to a vicious cycle of low academic achievement. There are also indications, says Professor Smith, of an unusually high rate of psychological dismay among such children.
The professor, who has long suspected that the effect on children whose parents travel to different parts of the country in search of work has not been sufficiently researched, stresses that this is not merely an expression of prejudice. “We are not dealing here with opinions,” he says, “It’s true, my personal feeling is that for children’s well-being, they should stay in one school. However, our findings are based on research and not on any personal attitudes that I or my colleagues may have on the subject.”
Capt. Thomas Muller, an Army lecturer for the past 20 years and himself a father of two, said, “I’ve never heard such rubbish. As far as I’m concerned, absolutely no harm is done to the education of children who change schools regularly — as long as they keep to the same system as in our Army school. In my experience — and I’ve known quite a few of them — Army children are as well-adjusted as any others, if not more so. What the Professor doesn’t appear to appreciate is the fact that in such situations children will adapt much better than adults.”

When this was put to Professor Smith, he said that at no time had his team suggested that all such children were backward or dismayed in some way, but simply that in their experience there was a clear tendency.

“Our findings indicate that while the extremely bright child can cope with regular emotional turbulence without harming his or her general academic progress, the majority of children suffer from constantly having to enter a new learning environment.”

6. What does Professor Smith’s report suggest?
A)  Children shouldn’t change schools too often. √
B)  Children who have to move around the country are better at academic achievement.
C)  Children attending many schools have caused a certain amount of controversy.
D)  Children who attend different schools are more vulnerable to vicious diseases.

答案：A

7. What does Professor Smith think of the findings of the research?
A)  They are proved by the research. √
B)  They are just based on his personal feeling.
C)  They may merely be an expression of prejudice.
D)  They are based on personal attitudes.

答案：A

8. What does Capt. Thomas Muller think of children who change schools regularly?
A)  They can actually deal with the new environment better than adults. √
B)  They do no harm to the education.
C)  They find it difficult to keep to the same system.
D)  They are generally ill-adjusted.

答案：A

9. How does Professor Smith defend himself again Capt. Thomas Muller?
A)  He suggests that children having regular emotional turbulence do not harm their academic progress.
B)  He argues that only a few children will suffer from changing schools regularly.
C)  He stresses that the majority of children tend to suffer from constantly adapting to a new learning environment. √
D)  He believes that extremely bright child likes to enter a new learning environment.

答案：C

10. What does the passage mainly talk about?
A)  How army children get used to a new learning environment.
B)  Whether children would be affected by changing schools regularly. √
C)  The procedure Professor Smith followed to conduct a study.
D)  The opinions people have about children who often change schools.

答案：B
Recently there has been a tendency to sympathize with thieves whose operations have been carried out on a grand scale, and no attempt whatever has been made to hold them responsible. Some of the most thievish (像窃贼旳) transactions have flourished and are still flourishing. Their success and their wealth are the only things recognized. They are honored as financiers and men of affairs, looked up to and respected.

In reality they are nothing more and nothing less than a lot of merciless and heartless thieves. Fraud is fraud and cheating is cheating despite the artistic manner in which it is committed or the size of the scale upon which it is operated.

It is time these men were classed properly and placed where they rightly belong, for they are no better than the miserable sneak-thief who steals a penny from a blind man’s dog.

For the past two or three years working people who have made sacrifices to save a few pennies have been cheated most unmercifully. Their hard-earned savings have been stolen from them by every possible scheme from the obvious looting (打劫) of a bank to the higher and more artistic method of legalized high risk, complex financial products. Men high up in the financial world have lent their names to some of the most shady and notorious schemes that ever dishonored a community or a people. Because of this the most diligent and economical (节俭旳) American people have been induced to place their hard-earned and carefully guarded savings in what they were led to believe was a safe investment, only to find out when too late that they had fallen into the hands of a gang of extremely respectable cheats. They cannot recover what they have lost.

The thief is too powerful to be affected by the law while the victim is too weak to put its machinery in motion. It may be that the law is defective, or it may be that those having its machinery in charge are influenced by the wealth of the transgressors (违犯者). Whatever or whichever it is that is responsible ought to be investigated and the evil remedied.

11. What does the tendency mentioned in the first paragraph reflect?
A)  People encourage some of the most thievish transactions to flourish.
B)  People only respect success and wealth without any moral judgment. √
C)  People prefer to carry out operations on a grand scale.
D)  People have made attempt to hold thieves responsible.

答案：B

12. How did working people lose their hard-earned savings?
A)  They lent their money to men high up in the financial world.
B)  They were cheated by the bank. √
C)  They were unlucky in investment.
D)  They were robbed by the thieves nearby.

答案：B

13. When the writer says “a gang of extremely respectable cheats” in Paragraph Four, it is implied that .
A)  they are well-educated but ill-behaved √
B)  they are respectable in artistic cheating
C)  they are cheats with respectable goals
D)  they are not well-educated but respected

答案：A

14. What could be a possible reason for the thieves to escape from law according to the passage?
A)  They are powerful enough to ignore the law.
B)  There are defects in the law. √
C)  They are wealthy enough to compensate the victims.
D)  The victim is too weak to investigate them.

答案：B

15. It can be inferred from the passage that .
A)  there are too many thieves and robbers
B)  industrious and honest people should be highly paid
C)  moral standards are always upheld
D)  any thief should be punished √

答案：D
    People often ask which is the most difficult language to learn, and it is not easy to answer because there are many factors to take into consideration. Firstly, in a first language the differences are unimportant as people learn their mother tongue naturally, so the question of how hard a language is to learn is only relevant when learning a second language.

    A native speaker of Spanish, for example, will find Portuguese much easier to learn than a native speaker of Chinese, for example, because Portuguese is very similar to Spanish, while Chinese is very different so first language can affect learning a second language. The greater the differences between the second language and our first, the harder it will be for most people to learn. Many people answer that Chinese is the hardest language to learn, possibly influenced by the thought of learning the Chinese writing system, and the pronunciation of Chinese does appear to be very difficult for many foreign learners. However, for Japanese speakers, who already use Chinese characters in their own language, learning writing will be less difficult than for speakers of languages using the Roman alphabet.

    Some people seem to learn languages readily, while others find it very difficult. Teachers and the circumstances in which the language is learned also play an important role, as well as each learner's motivation for learning. If people learn a language because they need to use it professionally, they often learn it faster than people studying a language that has no direct use in their day to day life.

    Apparently, British diplomats and other embassy staff have found that the second hardest language is Japanese, which will probably come as no surprise to many, but the language that they have found to be the most problematic is Hungarian. This does not mean that Hungarian is the hardest language to learn for everyone, but it causes British diplomatic personnel, who are generally used to learning languages, the most difficulties.

    Different cultures and individuals from those cultures will find different languages more difficult. In the case of Hungarian for British learners, it is not a question of the writing system, which uses a similar alphabet, but the grammatical complexity, though native speakers of related languages may find it easier, while struggling with languages that the British find relatively easy.

16. Why is it hard to say which language is the most difficult to learn?
A)  Because it is only relevant when learning a second language.
B)  Because differences between languages are unimportant.
C)  Because people learn their mother tongue naturally.
D)  Because many factors have to be considered. √

答案：D

17. Who will find Portuguese much easier to learn?
A)  A native speaker of Japanese
B)  A native speaker of Hungarian
C)  A native speaker of Spanish √
D)  A native speaker of Chinese

答案：C

18. What is the most problematic language to British diplomats and other embassy staff?
A)  Japanese
B)  Spanish
C)  Hungarian √
D)  Chinese

答案：C

19. Why do many people think Chinese is the hardest language to learn?
A)  Because the pronunciation of Chinese is difficult. √
B)  Because the grammar of Chinese is complex.
C)  Because Chinese is not directly used in their life.
D)  Because Chinese uses the Roman alphabet.

答案：A

20. What factors cannot affect learning a second language according to the passage?
A)  each learner's motivation for learning
B)  neighboring countries √
C)  teachers and the circumstances
D)  first language

答案：B
    In 1976, Winkler wrote a My Turn about the overwhelming reaction to the character he played on the popular television sitcom (情景喜剧), “Happy Days”. The show was at its peak, and Fonzie was its superstar. In fact, Americans related so strongly to the c