第4部分：閱讀理解(第31-45題，每題3分，共45分)

下面有3篇短文，每篇短文后有5道題。請根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容，為每題確定1個最佳選項。

第一篇 “Don’t Drink Alone” Gets New Meaning

In what may be bad news for bars and pubs, a European research group has found that people drinking alcohol outside of meals have a significantly higher risk of cancer in the mouth and neck than do those taking their libations with food. Luigino Dal Maso and his colleagues studied the drinking patterns of 1,500 patients from four cancer studies and another 3, 500 adults who had never had cancer.

After the researchers accounted for the amount of alcohol consumed, they found that individuals who downed a significant share of their alcohol outside of meals faced at least a 50 to 80 percent risk of cancer in the oral cavity(口腔), pharynx(咽), and esophagus(食管), when compared with people who drank only at meals. Consuming alcohol without food also increased by at least 20 percent the likelihood of laryngeal cancer(喉癌). “Roughly 95 percent of cancers at these four sites traced to smoking or drinking by the study volunteers,” Dal Maso says. The discouraging news, his team reports, is that drinking with meals didn’t eliminate cancer risk at any of the sites.

For their new analysis, the European scientists divided people in the study into four groups, based on how many drinks they reported having in an average week. The lowest-intake group included people who averaged up to 20 drinks a week. The highest group reported downing at least 56 servings of alcohol weekly for an average of eight or more per day. Cancer risks for the mouth and neck sites rose steadily with consumption even for people who reported drinking only with meals. For instance, compared with people in the lowest-consumption group, participants who drank 21 to 34 alcohol servings a week at least doubled their cancer risk for all sites other than the larynx. If people in these consumption groups took some of those drinks outside meals, those in the higher consumption group at least quadrupled(四倍) their risk for oral cavity and esophageal cancers.

People in the highest-consumption group who drank only with meals had 10 times the risk of oral cancer, 7 times the risk of pharyngeal cancer, and 16 times the risk of esophageal cancer compared with those who averaged 20 or fewer drinks a week with meals. In contrast, laryngeal cancer risk in the high-intake, with-meals-only group was only triple that in the low-intake consumers who drank with meals.

“Alcohol can inflame(使發(fā)炎) tissues. Over time, that inflammation can trigger cancer.” Dal Maso says. He suspects that food reduced cancer risk either by partially coating digestive-tract(消化道) tissues or by scrubbing alcohol off those tissues. He speculates that the reason laryngeal risks were dramatically lower for all study participants traces to the tissue’s lower exposure to alcohol.

31. Who are more likely to develop cancer in the mouth and neck?

A. People who drink alcohol at meals.

B. People who never drink alcohol.

C. People who drink alcohol outside of meals.

D. People who drink alcohol at bars and pubs.

32. Which of the following is NOT the research finding about “drinking with meals”?

A. It lowers cancer risk compared with drinking without food.

B. It may be a cause of cancer.

C. It does not eliminate cancer risk at any of the sites.

D. It increases by 20 percent the risk of cancer in all the four sites.

33. How many drinks do the lowest-intake group average per week?

A. 21. B. 20. C. 34. D. 56.

34. Which of the four cancers has the lowest risk?

A. Oral cancer. B. Laryngeal cancer.

C. Pharyngeal cancer. D. Esophageal cancer.

35. According to the last paragraph, tissue’s lower exposure to alcohol

A. reduces the risk of laryngeal cancer.

B. explains why inflammation triggers cancer.

C. accounts for why food can coat digestive-tract tissues.

D. is the reason why food can scrub alcohol off tissues.

參考答案：ADABA

第二篇 The World’s Best-Selling Medicine

Since ancient times, people all over the world have used willow to stop pain. The willow tree contains salicylic acid (水楊酸). This stops pain, but there is one problem. Salicylic acid also hurts the stomach. In 1853, a French scientist made a mixture from willow that did not hurt the stomach. However, his mixture was difficult to make, and he did not try to produce or sell it.

In 1897, in Germany, Felix Hoffmann also made a mixture with salicylic acid. He tried it himself first and then gave it to his father because his father was old and in a lot of pain. His father’s pain went away, and the mixture did not hurt his stomach.

Hoffmann worked for Bayer, a German company. He showed his new drug to his manager, who tested the drug and found that it worked well. Bayer decided to make the drug. They called it aspirin and put the Bayer name on every pill.

Aspirin was an immediate success. Almost everyone has pain of some kind, so aspirin answered a true need. Aspirin was cheap, easy to take, and effective, it also lowered fevers. Aspirin was a wonder drug.

At first, Bayer sold the drug through doctors, who then sold it to their patients. In 1915, the company started to sell aspirin in drugstores. In the United States, Bayer had a patent(專利權(quán)) on the drug. Other companies could make similar products and sell them in other countries, but only Bayer could make and sell aspirin in the United States. In time, Bayer could no longer own the name aspirin in the United States. Other companies could make it there, too. However, Bayer aspirin was the most well known, and for many years, it was the market leader.

By the 1950s, new painkillers were on the market. Aspirin was no longer the only way to treat pain and reduce fever. Bayer and other companies looked for other drugs to make. However, in the 1970s they got a surprise. Doctors noticed that patients who were taking aspirin had fewer heart attacks than other people. A British researcher named John Vane found the reason aspirin helped to prevent heart attacks. In 1982, he won the Nobel Prize for his research. Doctors started to tell some of their patients to take aspirin every day to prevent heart attacks. It has made life better for the many people who take it. It has also made a lot of money for companies like Bayer that produce and sell it!

36. Why didn't the French scientist continue to make the medicine that stopped pain?

A. It didn't work well.

B. It hurt the stomach.

C. It was hard to make.

D. It was not cost-effective.

37. Why was Felix Hoffmann looking for a painkiller?

A. His company told him to do that.

B. He wanted to make a lot of money.

C.His father was in pain.

D.He suffered from headache.

38.Bayer started making aspirin because

A.it helped prevent heart attacks

B.other companies were making it

C.the manager was a scientist

D.it worked well in stopping pain

39.Bayer aspirin was

A.the only drug with the name “aspirin”.

B.the first aspirin sold in the United States.

C.not sold in drugstores in 1915.

D.not easy to find in drugstores

40.What has happened to aspirin since new painkiller came on the market?

A.Companies have stopped selling it.

B.It has become the best-selling painkiller.

C.Its new use has been discovered.

D.Doctors have sold it to patients.

參考答案：CCDBC

第三篇 On the Trail of the Honey Badger

On a recent field trip to the Kalahari Desert，a team of researchers learnt a lot more about honey badgers(獾). The team employed a local wildlife expert，Kitso Khama，to help them locate and follow the badgers across the desert. Their main aim was to study the badgers’ movements and behavior as discreetly(謹慎地)as possible frightening them away or causing them to change their natural behavior. They also planned to trap a few and study them close up before releasing them in view of the animal’s reputation，this was something that even Khama was reluctant to do.

“The problem with honey badgers is they are naturally curious animals，especially when they see something new.”he says.“That，combined with their unpredictable nature，can be a dangerous mixture. If they sense you have food，for example，they won’t be shy about coming right up to you for something to eat. They’re actually quite sociable creatures around humans，but as soon as they feel they might be in danger，they can become extremely vicious(兇惡的). Fortunately this is rare，but it does happen.”

The research confirmed many things that were already known. As expected，honey badgers ate any creatures they could catch and kill. Even poisonous snakes，feared and avoided by most other animals，were not safe from them. The researchers were surprised，however，by the animal’s fondness for local melons，probably because of their high water content. Previously researchers thought that the animal got all of its liquid requirements from its prey(獵物). The team also learnt that，contrary to previous research findings，the badgers occasionally formed loose family groups. They were also able to confirm certain results from previous research，including the fact that female badgers never socialised with each other.

Following some of the male badgers was a challenge，since they can cover large distances in a short space of time. Some hunting territories cover more than 500 square kilometers. Although they seem happy to share these territories with other males，there are occasional fights over an important food source，and male badgers can be as aggressive towards each other as they are towards other species.

As the badgers became accustomed to the presence of people，it gave the team the to get up close to them without being the subject of the animals’ curiosity—or a sudden aggression. The badgers’ eating patterns，which had been disrupted，to normal. It also allowed the team to observe more closely some of the other that form working associations with the honey badger，as these seemed to badgers’ relaxed attitude when near humans.

41. Why did the wildlife experts visit the Kalahari Desert?

A To observe how honey badgers behave.

B To find where honey badgers live.

C To catch some honey badgers for food.

D To find out why honey badgers have a bad reputation.

42. What does Kitso Khama say about honey badgers?

A They show interest in things they are not familiar with.

B They are always looking for food.

C They do not enjoy human company.

D It is common for them to attack people.

43. What did the team find out about honey badgers?

A They were some creatures they did not eat.

B They may get some of the water they needed from fruit.

C They were afraid of poisonous creatures.

D Female badgers did not mix with male badgers.

44. Which of the following is a typical feature of male badgers?

A They don’t run very quickly.

B They defend their territory from other badgers.

C They are more aggressive than females.

D They hunt over a very large area.

45. What happened when honey badgers got used to humans around then

A They became less aggressive towards other creature.

B They lost interest in people.

C They started eating more.

D Other animals started working with them

參考答案：AADDD

（責(zé)任編輯：vstara）

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