考研英语阅读理解七.docx

1、考研英语阅读理解七考研英语阅读理解-(七)(总分：100.00，做题时间：90分钟)一、BSection Reading Comprehension/B(总题数：4，分数：100.00)Music is a mystery. It is unique to the human race: no other species produces elaborate sound for no particular reason. It has been, and remains, part of every known civilization on Earth. Lengths of bone fa

2、shioned into flutes were in use 40,000 years ago. And it engages peoples attention more comprehensively than almost anything else: scans show that when people listen to music, virtually every area of their brain becomes more active.Yet it serves no obvious adaptive purpose. Charles Darwin, in The De

3、scent of Man, noted that neither the enjoyment nor the capacity of producing musical notes are faculties of the least direct use to man in reference to his ordinary habits of life. Then, what is the point of nmsic. Steven Pinker, a cognitive psychologist, has called music auditory cheesecake, an exq

4、uisite confection crafted to tickle the sensitive spots of at least six of our mental faculties. If it vanished from our species, he said the rest of our lifestyle would be virtually unchanged. Others have argued that, on the contrary, music, along with art and literature, is part of what makes peop

5、le human; its absence would have a brutalizing effect.Philip Ball, a British science writer and an avid music enthusiast, comes down somewhere in the middle. He says that music is ingrained in our auditory, cognitive and motor functions. We have a music instinct as much as a language instinct, and c

6、ould not rid ourselves of it. He goes through each component of music to explain how and why it works, using plentiful examples drawn from a refreshingly wide range of different kinds of music, from Bach to the Beatles, and from nursery rhymes to jazz.His basic message is encouraging and uplifting:

7、people know much more about music than they think. They start picking up the rules from the day they are born, perhaps even before, by hearing it all around them. Very young children can tell if a tune or harmony is not quite right and most adults can differentiate between kinds of music even if the

8、y have had no training.Music is completely Usui generis/U. It should not tell a non-musical story; the listener will decode it for himself. Many, perhaps most, people have experienced a sudden rush of emotion on hearing a particular piece of music; a thrill or chill, a sense of excitement or exhilar

9、ation, a feeling of being swept away by it. They may even be moved to tears, without being able to tell why. Musical analysts have tried hard to find out how this happens, but with little success. Perhaps some mysteries are best preserved.（分数：25.00）(1).It can be inferred from the first paragraph tha

10、t A. except mankind species produce sounds with specific purposes. B. the earliest flutes were made of bones 40,000 years ago. C. peoples attention is more attentively attracted by music. D. peoples brains go inactive in an environment with no music.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.解析：(2).To which of the following

11、statements would Steven Pinker most probably agree? A. Music selves no facility for the formation of peoples habits. B. Music and exquisite dessert share great similarities. C. The absence of music brings little effect to human life. D. Music helps to erase the brutal characteristics in human.（分数：5.

12、00）A.B.C.D.解析：(3).According to Philip Balls research, which of the following is true? A. Human beings are born to be professional musicians. B. There exist no sharp differences among various types of music. C. People usually learn music by means of hearing around. D. Mankind posses a natural music i

13、nstinct and cant wipe it off.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.解析：(4).The saying sui generis (Line 1, Para. 5) is closest in meaning to A. unique. B. touching. C. overwhelming. D. mysterious.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.解析：(5).Which of the following would be the best title of the text? A. Sounds Wonderful-The Science of Music B

14、. Mission Impossible-The Mystery of Music C. Touching Always-The Power of Music D. Anti-Brutalization-The Effect of Music（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.解析：As people in rich countries know very well, eating too much food and burning too few calories is why a substantial number of us are overweight or obese. Now, h

15、owever, a remarkable change in perspective has come from the discovery that obesity actually provides people with temporary protection from the harmful effects of fat.The insight has come from re-examining the common assumption that fatness itself drives the development of metabolic syndrome, which

16、is what causes so much of the actual damage. The syndrome comes with a mixture of fife-threatening effects, with cardiovascular disease (diseases relating to the heart and blood vessels) and type 2 diabetes being among the most serious. In fact, it now seems that body fat may be a barrier that stops

17、 millions of Americans and fatty citizens elsewhere from going on to develop the syndrome. And the real damage is caused by the inflammatory effect of high levels of fat in the bloodstream. And ironically, its fat cells that protect us from this by serving as toxic dumps, locking away the real villa

18、ins of the modem diet.The problem is that this protection only lasts so long, until there is simply no more room inside the fat cells. Thats when they start to break down, leading to a toxic spill into the bloodstream. This sets off an inflammatory response that causes various kinds of damage to bod

19、y tissues. In this way, every excess calorie takes people closer to metabolic syndrome.So what can we do to stop a superabundance of fat triggering the syndrome? Of course theres no substitute for a healthy diet and exercise, but incitation to this effect seem to be of limited use. As with cigarette

20、s and alcohol, a tax on calories-pricing foods by their energy content-is increasingly seen as another lever to change behaviour by malting obesity too costly.The new research may even suggest treatments to combat metabolic syndrome, such as antiinflammatory drugs. One promising candidate is salsala

21、te, an arthritis drug related to aspirin, and the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston is now considering large-scale trials.What might be more helpful, though, is simply a wider recognition that fatty and sugary foods are more directly toxic than we had assumed. Ideally, people should be as well inform

22、ed about the harmful effects of what they eat as, for example, pregnant women are about drinking and smoking.There is a consolation-you have your fat tissue to protect you when you consume that extra burger or sweetened soda. But now you know the perils of pushing your friendly fat cells beyond thei

23、r natural limits.（分数：25.00）(1).Its implied in the first paragraph that the reasons for obesity include overeating and A. lacking exercise. B. absorbing fats. C. keeping unhealthy diets. D. burning calories.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.解析：(2).From Paragraph 2 we know that the real villain of actual damages is A.

24、 fat cells. B. metabolic syndrome. C. cardiovascular disease. D. bloodstream fats.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.解析：(3).The protective function of fat cells stop working once A. their capacity reaches a limit. B. toxin spills into the bloodstream. C. an inflammatory response appears. D. metabolic syndrome is deve

25、loped.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.解析：(4).The author indicates in the text that obesity can be restricted by A. putting fats protective function to full use. B. unifying peoples diet and exercise habits. C. raising the prices of cigarettes and alcohol. D. manipulating food prices by their calorie content.（分数：5.

26、00）A.B.C.D.解析：(5).To combat metabolic syndrome, the authors suggestion is to A. develop more anti-inflammatory drugs. B. ask people to keep away from fatty food. C. strengthen the awareness of the harms of fatty food. D. protect pregnant women from tobacco and wine.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.解析：The technology

27、 revolution may be coming to poor countries via the mobile phone, not the personal computer, as it did in rich ones. And just as the Internet encouraged an entrepreneurial philosophy, and with it the creation of a few too many dotcom firms, Africas surge in mobile-phone use may Uunleash/U the same s

28、ort of business energy, but tailored to local needs.One such initiative is about to begin. TradeNet, a software company based in Accra, Ghana, will unveil a simple sort of eBay for agricultural products across a dozen countries in West Africa. It lets buyers and sellers indicate what they are after

29、and their contact information, which is sent to all relevant subscribers as an SMS text message in one of four languages. Interested parties can then reach others directly to do a deal. Listing offers is free, as is receiving the texts. TradeNet plans to earn revenue by putting advertisements in the

30、 messages, though it hopes the service will become so useful that recipients will eventually want to pay. For the moment, though, the company is busy signing up users and swallowing the cost of sending the messages.Mobile-phone use in sub-Saharan Africa is soaring. Whereas only 10% of the population

31、 had network coverage in 1999, today more than 60% have it, a figure expected to exceed 85% in the coming year, according to the GSM Association, an industry trade group. This provides the infrastructure for businesses like TradeNet to function.TradeNet is the brainchild of Mark Davies, a British dotcom tycoon who gave up the rat race and went to Africa in 2000. In 2005, he started the prototype for TradeNet using around 600,000 of his own money and about 200,000 from aid agencies. An early set of trials last year generated a surplus of trad