1、大学英语课程考试阅读 材料 1级Directions: There are 30 reading passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer to each question.Passage 1:Colds are very common. The symptoms o
2、f the common cold include a sore throat, runny nose, stuffed-up nose（鼻塞）, and tiredness. Colds are caused by viruses（病毒）, but scientists cannot explain the exact cause. There is no cure. Many people, however, believe that they know the causes of and cures for the common cold. For example, they belie
3、ve that it is possible to get a cold if we get chilled, if we get extra tired, or if we are too close to a person with a cold. In other words, if we want to prevent catching cold, we should stay warm and dry; we should avoid getting too tired, and we should not be in close contact with people who ha
4、ve colds.Meanwhile, there are probably hundreds of “cures“ throughout the world for the common cold. For example, the following suggestions are popular in quite a number of societies: (l ) drink plenty of water; (2) get extra rest; (3) take a lot of vitamin C, (4) take aspirin; (5) keep warm.Each ye
5、ar people spend a lot of money on cold medicines - pills, liquids, lozenges (含片).But these medicines do not cure colds they can only relieve cold symptoms. In other words, they make us feel better.1. The passage is mainly about _.A. looking for the common coldB. some facts about the common cold C. i
6、ntroducing some patients D. new medicines for curing the common cold2. According to the passage, people with colds feel _.A. quiet B. activeC. thirsty D. tired3. To prevent catching cold, you _.A. should keep away from a person who has a coldB. should wash your hair in cold weatherC. should go out o
7、n a rainy day D. should make yourself tired4. Which of the following is NOT a “cure“ for the common cold?A. Take a lot of vitamin C. B. Drink plenty of water. C. Put on as many clothes as possible.D. Get more rest.5. Which of the following is true about the common cold?A. Scientists are close to fin
8、ding a cure for colds.B. There are hundreds of symptoms of the common cold.C. Many people know what causes the common cold.D. There are no medicines that can cure colds.Passage 2:Every human being, no matter what he is doing, gives off body heat. The usual problem is now to get rid of it. But the de
9、signers of the Johnstown campus of the University of Pittsburgh set themselves the opposite problem - how to collect body heat. They have designed a collection system which uses not only body heat, but the heat given off by such objects as light bulbs（灯泡） and refrigerators(冰箱) as well. The system wo
10、rks so well that no fuel is needed to make the campuss six buildings comfortable.Some parts of most modern buildings - theaters and offices as well as classrooms - are more than sufficiently heated by people and lights and sometimes must be air-conditioned even in winter. The technique of saving hea
11、t and redistributing it is called “heat recovery“. A few modern buildings recover heat, but the Universitys system is the first to recover heat from buildings and reuse it in others.Along the way, Pitt has learned a great deal about some of its producers. The harder a student studies, the more heat
12、his body gives off. Male students send out more heat than female students, and the larger a student is, the more heat he produces. It is tempting to conclude that the hottest prospect for the Johnstown campus would be a hard-working overweight male genius（天才）.1. What is characteristic of the buildin
13、gs on Johnstown campus of the University of Pittsburgh?A. They collect body heat to regulate the temperature inside.B. They are more comfortable to live in than other buildings. C. They use light bulbs to heat the classrooms.D. They consume less fuel to keep the classrooms cool.2. According to the p
14、assage, the technique of heat recovery is used _ .A. to provide a special form of air-conditioning in the cityB. to provide heat for the hot water systemC. to collect heat and reuse itD. to find out the source of heat 3. The phrase “the hottest prospect“ in this passage refers to _.A. the person who
15、 suffers most from heatB. the person who gives off most heat C. the person who needs more heat than othersD. the person who makes better use of body heat4. Which of the following statements is NOT true according the passage?A. The harder a student works, the more heat he or she produces.B. The bigge
16、r a student is, the more heat he or she sends out.C A 1arge and hard-working boy student gives off the most heat.D. A girl student sends out more heat than a boy student.5. Which of the following may be the best title for this passage?A. Recovery of Body Heat B. Body Heat and Sex C. Modern Buildings
17、 Heat SystemD. Ways of Heating BuildingsPassage 3.Not everyone in the world requires the same amount of living space. The amount of space a person needs around him is a cultural difference, not an economic one. Knowing your own psychological(心理上的) space needs is important because they strongly affec
18、t your choices, including, for example, the number of bedrooms in the home. If you were brought up in a two-child family, and both you and your sister or brother had your own bedrooms, the chances are, if you have two children or more, that you also will offer separate bedrooms for them. In America,
19、 for example, they train people to want to have their own rooms by giving them their own rooms when they are babies. This is very rare in the world. In many other countries, the baby sleeps in the same bed with his parents or in a bed near them.The space in the home also shows a lot about psychologi
20、cal space needs. Some families gather closer to each other and the size of their house has nothing to do with it. Others have separate little corners where family members go to be alone.Although it is true that psychological space needs are not decided by economic reasons, they sometimes have to be
21、changed a little because of economic pressures. It is almost impossible, however, to completely change your psychological space needs.1. The passage is chiefly concerned with _ .A. American way of livingB. living requirements in different culturesC. living conditions in developed countries D. space
22、and economic factors2. According to the author, the amount of living space a person needs is decided by _ .A. his financial situations B. the relationship between the family membersC. his cultural background D. how many rooms there are in his house3. The example of American families seems to suggest
23、 that _ .A. psychological space needs are developed when one is very youngB. Americans are more eager to be alone when they are at homeC. it is advisable to let the baby sleep with his parentsD. it is advisable to let the baby sleep with his sister4. Some families gather close to each other at home
24、because _ .A. it satisfies their psychological space needsB. they have no living spaceC. they have been brought up in a small familyD. they have small corners for themselves5. According to the author, psychological space needs _ .A. will change greatly as ones incomes are reducedB. will change if yo
25、u move to a smaller houseC. can hardly be changed altogetherD. can be changed at willPassage 4.Do you believe that only boys do well in science? Does it seem to you that girls have better vocabularies than boys? In your opinion, are boys better at building things ? If your answer to each of those qu
26、estions is “Yes,” you are right.On the average, males score higher on tests that measure mathematical reasoning, mechanical ability, and problem-solving skills. Females show superior ability in tests measuring vocabulary, spelling, and memory.It is known that bones, muscles（肌肉） and nerves（神经） develo
27、p faster in baby girls. Usually, too, baby girls talk at an earlier age than boys do. Scientists think there is a physical reason for this. They believe that the nerve endings in the left side of the brain develop faster in girls than in boys. And it is this side of the brain that strongly influence
28、s an individuals ability to use words, to spell, and to remember things.By the time they start to schoo1, therefore, little girls have an advantage that boys do not have. Girls are physically more ready to remember facts, to spell, and to read. These, of course, are skills that are important in elem
29、entary school.But what have the boys been doing in the years before starting school? They have been developing something called aggression (进攻 ).An aggressive person has courage and energy. He feels strong and independent. He is often the first one to start fight.1. Scientists believe that the diffe
30、rences between boys and girls are determined by _.A ) their personal abilitiesB) their physical conditionC ) their courage and independenceD) their age and sex2. Which of the following is Not true?A ) Girls remember things more easily.B ) Boys score higher on tests that measure mathematical reasonin
31、g.C ) Boys are more skillful at building things.D) Girls are better at facts which measure problem solving ability.3. According to this passage, boys are _.A ) more ready to spellB) more ready to remember factsC ) stronger and more independentD) quicker at learning4. The word “this“ ( Para 3) refers
32、 to_.A ) the difference between boys and girlsB. the ability to solve problems C ) the development of brainsD) the age when babies begin to talk 5. The authors view of the difference between boys and girls is based on_.A ) scientific factsB ) personal experienceC ) social behaviorsD ) logical reason
33、ingPassage 5:Third World countries often mistakenly decided to permit rapid industrialization. When this industrialization occurs, many new factories open, and workers get jobs. Unfortunately, many of these new jobs are not permanent. The leaders of an industry want their factories to be as producti
34、ve as possible, and they will do anything to achieve that goal. Whenever they can, they take advantage of automation, which means that workers are replaced by a more efficient machine. As a result, a worker trained for a specific factory job becomes unemployed, and the profits of the factory owners
35、are maximized.Many experts in Third World economics are concerned about rapid industrialization because it brings problems as well as progress. Citizens of these countries need jobs that will last, not jobs that are temporary. In the opinion of these economists, the leaders of Third World countries
36、should be aware of the dangers as well as the advantages of rapid industrialization.1. The rapid industrialization in Third World countries could mean _.A) more progress to the stateB) more profits to the factory ownersC) more problems to the governmentD) all of the above2. Of the following four poi
37、nts, which one do leaders of an industry consider first?A) More jobs for the workers.B) Rapid development in all the fields.C) Better pay for the workers.D) Highest productivity.3. According to the passage, automation could lead to _.A) more jobs and therefore more payB) fewer machines and therefore
38、 more workers C) more machines and therefore fewer workersD) fewer machines and therefore more workers4. In the sentence “Citizens of these countries need jobs that will last”(Para.2), the word “last” means _.A) follow all the restB) go onC) become lateD) be most recent5. The author wrote the passag
39、e in order to _.A) tell us an interesting storyB) reveal a factC) tell us the disadvantages of automationD) give a warning to some Third World countriesPassage 6:If we were asked exactly what we were doing a year ago, we should probably have to say that we could not remember. But if we had kept a bo
40、ok and had written in it an account of what we did each day, we should be able to give an answer to the question.It is the same in history. Many things have been forgotten because we do not have any written account of them. Sometimes men did keep a record of the most important happenings in their co
41、untry, but often it was destroyed by fire or in a war. Sometimes there was never any written record at all because the people of that time and place did not know how to write. For example, we know a good deal about the people who lived in China 4, 000 years ago because they could write and leave wri
42、tten records for those who lived after them. But we know almost nothing about the people who lived even 200 years ago in central Africa, because they had not learned to write.Sometimes, of course, even if the people cannot write, they may know something of the past. They have heard about it from old
43、er people, and often songs and dances and stories have been made about the most important happenings, and these have been sung and acted and told for many generations. For most people are proud to tell what their fathers did in the past. This we may call “remembered history.” Some of it has now been
44、 written down. It is not so exact or so valuable to us as written history is, because words are much more easily changed when used again and again in speech than when copied in writing. But where there are no written records, such spoken stories are often very helpful.1. Which of the following ideas
45、 is not conveyed in the passage?A) “Remembered history”, compared with written history, is less reliable.B) Written records of the past plays a most important role in our learning of the human history.C) A written account of our daily activities helps us to answer some questions.D) Where there are n
46、o written records, there is no history.2. We know very little about the central Africa 200 years ago because .A) there was nothing worth being written down at that timeB) the people there ignored the importance of keeping a recordC) the written records were perhaps destroyed by a fireD) the people t
47、here had not known how to write3. “Remembered history” (Line 6, Para, 3) refers to .A) history based on a persons imaginationB) stories of important happenings passed down from mouth to mouthC) songs and dances about the most important eventsD) both B) and C)4. “Remembered history” is regarded as va
48、luable only when .A) it is written downB) no written account is availableC) it proves to be trueD) people are interested in it5. It can be inferred (推论) from the passage that we could have learned much more about our past than we do now if our ancestors (祖先) had .A) kept a written record of every pa
49、st eventB) not burnt their written records in warsC) told exact stories of the most important happeningsD) made more songs and dancesPassage 7:The water level of oceans rises and falls alternately (交替地 ) twice a day. This movement of water is called the tide (潮汐). Tides are caused by the pull of the sun and the moon on the earths surface; since the moon is closer, it affects the tides more than the sun. When the moon is directly overhead, it
