中国留学之家，中国最优秀的留学咨询公司，全球顶尖大学申请专家！英语四级考试新题型模拟训练

monster - 2008-7-6 22:45:00

一、快速阅读

If it weren’t for nicotine, people wouldn’t smoke tobacco. Why? Because of the more than 4000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, nicotine is the primary one that acts on the brain, altering people’s moods, appetites and alertness in ways they find pleasant and beneficial. Unfortunately, as it is widely known, nicotine has a dark side: it is highly addictive. Once smokers become hooked on it, they must get their fix of it regularly, sometimes several dozen times a day. Cigarette smoke contains 43 known carcinogens, which means that long-term smoking can amount to a death sentence. In the US alone, 420,000 Americans die every year from tobacco-related illnesses.

Breaking nicotine addiction is not easy. Each year, nearly 35 million people make a concerted effort to quit smoking. Sadly, less than 7 percent succeed in abstaining for more than a year; most start smoking again within days. So what is nicotine and how does it insinuate itself into the smoker’s brain and very being?

The nicotine found in tobacco is a potent drug and smokers, and even some scientists, say it offers certain benefits. One is enhance performance. One study found that non-smokers given doses of nicotine typed about 5 percent faster than they did without it. To greater or lesser degrees, users also say nicotine helps them to maintain concentration, reduce anxiety, relieve pain, and even dampen their appetites (thus helping in weight control). Unfortunately, nicotine can also produce deleterious effects beyond addiction. At high doses, as are achieved from tobacco products, it can cause high blood pressure, distress in the respiratory and gastrointestinal systems and an increase in susceptibility to seizures and hypothermia.

First isolated as a compound in 1828, in its pure form nicotine is a clear liquid that turns brown when burned and smells like tobacco when exposed to air. It is found in several species of plants, including tobacco and, perhaps surprisingly, in tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplant (though in extremely low quantities that are pharmacologically insignificant for humans).

As simple as it looks, the cigarette is highly engineered nicotine delivery device. For instance, when tobacco researchers found that much of the nicotine in a cigarette wasn’t released when burned but rather remained chemically bound within the tobacco leaf, they began adding substances such as ammonia to cigarette tobacco to release more nicotine. Ammonia helps keep nicotine in its basic form, which is more readily vaporised by the intense heat of the burning cigarette than the acidic form. Most cigarettes for sale in the US today contain 10 milligrams or more of nicotine. By inhaling smoke from a lighted cigarette, the average smoker takes 1 or 2 milligrams of vaporised nicotine per cigarette. Today we know that only a miniscule amount of nicotine is needed to fuel addiction. Research shows that manufacturers would have to cut nicotine levels in a typical cigarette by 95% to forestall its power to addict. When a smoker puffs on a lighted cigarette, smoke, including vaporised nicotine, is drawn into the mouth. The skin and lining of the mouth immediately absorb some nicotine, but the remainder flows straight down into the lungs, where it easily diffuses into the blood vessels lining the lung walls. The blood vessels carry the nicotine to the heart, which then pumps it directly to the brain. While most of the effects a smoker seeks occur in the brain, the heart takes a hit as well. Studies have shown that a smoker’s first cigarette of the day can increase his or her heart rate by 10 to 20 beats a minute. Scientists have found that a smoked substance reaches the brain more quickly than one swallowed, snorted (such as cocaine powder) or even injected. Indeed, a nicotine molecule inhaled in smoke will reach the brain within 10 seconds. The nicotine travels through blood vessels, which branch out into capillaries within the brain. Capillaries normally carry nutrients but they readily accommodate nicotine molecules as well. Once inside the brain, nicotine, like most addictive drugs, triggers the release of chemicals associated with euphoria and pleasure.

Just as it moves rapidly from the lungs into the bloodstream, nicotine also easily diffuses through capillary walls. It then migrates to the spaces surrounding neurones – ganglion cells that transmit nerve impulses throughout the nervous system. These impulses are the basis for our thoughts, feelings, and moods. To transmit nerve impulses to its neighbour, a neurone releases chemical messengers known as neurotransmitters. Like nicotine molecules, the neurotransmitters drift into the so-called synaptic space between neurones, ready to latch onto the receiving neurone and thus deliver a chemical “message” that triggers an electrical impulse.

The neurotransmitters bind onto receptors on the surface of the recipient neurone. This opens channels in the cell surface through which enter ions, or charged atoms, of sodium. This generates a current across the membrane of the receiving cell, which completes delivery of the “message”. An accomplished mimic, nicotine competes with the neurotransmitters to bind to the receptors. It wins and, like the vanquished chemical, opens ion channels that let sodium ions into the cell. But there’s a lot more nicotine around than the original transmitter, so a much larger current spreads across the membrane. This bigger current causes increased electrical impulses to travel along certain neurones. With repeated smoking, the neurones adapt to this increased electrical activity, and the smoker becomes dependent on the nicotine.

Questions 1 – 7

1. Although nicotine is probably the well-known chemical in cigarettes, it is not necessarily the one that changes the psyche of the smoker when cigarettes are smoked.

2. In spite of the difficulties, according to the text more than thirty-five million people a year give up smoking.

3. It has been shown that nicotine in cigarettes can improve people’s abilities to perform some actions more quickly.

4. Added ammonia in cigarettes allows smokers to inhale more nicotine.

5. Snorted substances reach the brain faster than injected substances.

6. Nicotine dilates the blood vessels that carry it around the body.

7. Nicotine molecules allow greater electrical charges to pass between neurones.

Questions 8 - 10

8. Cigarette companies would have to cut the nicotine content in cigarettes by _________ to prevent them from being addictive.

9. According to the passage, a cigarette can raise a smoker’s heart rate by _________ a minute.

10. In order to transmit nerve impulses to its neighbour, a neurone sends _________ known as neurotransmitters.

二、长对话

Conversation 1

19. (A) Two different types of bones in the human body.

(B) How bones help the body move.

(C) How bones continuously repair themselves.

(D) The chemical composition of human bones.

20. (A) They defend the bone against viruses.

(B) They prevent oxygen from entering the bone.

(C) They break down bone tissue.

(D) They connect the bone to muscle tissue.

21.(A) They have difficulty identifying these cells.

(B) They aren't sure how these cells work.

(C) They've learned how to reproduce these cells.

(D) They've found similar cells in other species.

22. (A) To learn how to prevent a bone disease.

(B) To understand differences between bone tissue and other tissue.

(C) To find out how specialized bone cells have evolved.

(D) To create artificial bone tissue.

Conversation 2

23. (A) A new fuel for buses.

(B) The causes of air pollution.

(C) A way to improve fuel efficiency in buses.

(D) Careers in environmental engineering.

24. (A) Her car is being repaired.

(B) She wants to help reduce pollution.

(C) Parking is difficult in the city.

(D) The cost of fuel has increased.

25. (A) A fuel that bums cleanly.

(B) An oil additive that helps cool engines.

(C) A material from which filters are made.

(D) An insulating material sprayed on engine parts.

三、选词填空

The biggest safety threat facing airlines today may not be a terrorist with a gun, but the man with the 1 computer in business class. In the last 15 years, pilots have reported well over 100 2 that could have been caused by electromagnetic interference. The source of this interference 3 unconfirmed, but increasingly, experts are pointing the blame at portable electronic device such as portable computers, radio and cassette players and mobile telephones.

RTCA, an organization which advises the aviation（航空）industry, has recommended that all airlines ban（禁止）such devices from being used during “ 4 ” stages of flight, 5 take-off and landing. Some experts have gone further, calling for a total ban during all flights. Currently, rules on using these devices are left up to individual airlines. And although some airlines prohibit passengers from using such equipment during take-off and landing, most are 6 to enforce a total ban, given that many passengers want to work during flights.

The difficulty is 7 how electromagnetic fields might affect an aircraft’s computers. Experts know that portable device emit radiation which 8 those wavelengths which aircraft use for navigation and communication. But, because they have not been able to reproduce these effects in a laboratory, they have no way of knowing whether the interference might be dangerous or not.

The fact that aircraft may be vulnerable（易受损的）to interference raises the risk that terrorists may use radio systems in order to damage navigation 9 . As worrying, though, is the passenger who can’t hear the instructions to turn off his radio because the music’s too 10 .

A)definite

B)incidents

C)effects

D)remains

E)critical

F)particularly

G)reluctant

H)refreshing

I)portable

J)enormous

K)predicting

L)liberal

M)affects

N)equipment

O)loud

四、改错

Most people work to earn a living and they

produce goods and services. Goods are either

agricultural (like maize) or manufactured (like

cars). Services are such things like education, 1._________

medicine, and commerce. These people provide 2.__________

goods; some provide services. Other people provide

both goods or services. For example, in the same 3.__________

garage a man may buy a car or some service which

helps him maintain his car.

The work people do is called as economic 4.__________

activity. All economic activities taken together make

up the economic system of a town, a city, a country,

or the world. Such economic system is the sum-total 5.__________

of what people do and what they want. The work

people do either provides what they need or provides

the money with that they can buy essential 6.__________

commodities. Of course, most people hope to have

enough money to buy commodities and services which

are essential but which provide some particular 7. __________

personal satisfaction, such as toys for children, visits 8. __________

the cinema, and books.

The science of economics is basic upon the facts 9. __________

of our everyday lives. Economists study our everyday

lives and the general life of our communities in order

to understand the whole economic system of which we

are a part. They try to describe the facts of the

economy in which we live, and to explain how it

works. The economist methods should of course be 10. __________

strictly objective and scientific.

五、短问

In 1749, Benjamin Franklin wrote “Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania”. This article served as a basis for the academy that he founded. The academy was a private secondary school, which offered a practical curriculum that included a variety of subjects and useful skills. English grammar, classic, composition, rhetoric(修辞学), and public speaking were to be the chief language studies rather than Latin and Greek. Students could also choose a second language based on their vocational interests. For example, prospective clergyman might study Latin and Greek; physicians could choose Latin, Greek, and French; businessmen might elect French, German, and Spanish. Mathematics was to be taught for its practical application to book-keeping rather than as an abstract intellectual exercise. History would be the chief ethical(伦理的) study. By studying biographies of great men, students were to learn moral and ethical principles. Franklin’s curricular proposal was especially noteworthy because it brought many practical skills into the formal school that so far had been ignored. They included carpentry, ship-building, engraving, printing, painting, cabinetmaking, farming, and carving. With a prophetic(先知的) insight into the course of civilization and education, Franklin suggested that special attention be given to science, invention, and technology.

By the mid-nineteenth century, there were many academies functioning throughout the nation, especially at the secondary level. These academies offered a wide variety of curricula and courses, ranging from traditional Latin and Greek to very practical and utilitarian(实用的) studies. The late nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw the emergence of high school and the junior high or middle school, which incorporated utilitarianism, vocationalism, and commercialism, such as Franklin had recommended in his proposals of the mid-eighteenth century.

Questions:

1.Why did Franklin write “Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania”?

________________________________________________________

2.What did the chief language studies exclude?

_______________________________________________________

3.What was the main purpose of the ethical study?

_______________________________________________________

4.Which word in the first paragraph could be used to describe the curriculum offered at the academy?

_______________________________________________________

5.What did the formal school overlook?

_______________________________________________________

六、翻译

1. A lot of people nowadays have muscular problems in the neck, the shoulders and the back _______________________________________(主要是由于工作中的压力和紧张造成的).

2. More than 3 million children have health insurance now, and ___________________________ (超过250万的家庭已经摆脱贫困).-

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