1、考博英语阅读理解若干篇篇章与问题Passage 1The physical distribution of products has two primary aspects: transportation and storage. Both aspects are highly developed and specialized phases of marketing. The costs of both trans-porting and storing are built into the prices of products. Transportation can be by truck
2、, rail-way, ship, or barge. For some items, such as exotic plants and flowers, or when rapid delivery is essential, air freight may be used.Storage, or warehousing, is a necessary function because production and consumption of goods rarely match: items generally are not sold as quickly as they are m
3、ade. Inventories build up, both in warehouses and at retail establishments, before the foods are sold. The transporta-tion function is involved in bringing goods to a warehouse and taking them from it to retail stores.Storage performs the service of stabilizing market price. If, for example, no agri
4、cultural product could be stored, all food would have to be put on the market immediately. This would, of course, create a glut and lower prices drastically. There would be an immediate benefit to consumers, but in the long run they would suffer. Farmers, because of low prices, would be forced off t
5、he land, and the amount of food produced would decrease. This, in turn, would raise consumer prices.Warehouses for storage are of several types. Private warehouses are owned by manufactur-ers. Public warehouses, in spite of their name, are privately owned facilities, but they are in-dependent of man
6、ufacturer ownership. General-merchandise warehouses store a great variety of products. Cold-storage warehouses store perishable goods, especially food products. Grain ele-vators are a kind of warehouse used to keep wheat and other grains from spoiling. A bonded warehouse is one that stores foods, fr
7、equently imported, on which taxes must be paid before they are sold. Cigarettes and alcoholic beverages are common examples.The distribution center is a more recently developed kind of warehouse. Many large com- panics have several manufacturing plants, sometimes located outside the country. Each pl
8、ant does not make every company product but specializes in one or more of them. The distribution center allows a manufacturer to bring together all product lines in one place. Its purpose is to minimize storage and to ease the flow of goods from manufacturers to retailers rather than build up extens
9、ive inventories. It reduces costs by speeding up product turnover. Very large corporations will have several distribution centers regionally or internationally based1. The main subject of this passage is_.A) transportation and storage B) storage of productsC) distribution center D) two main aspects
10、of product distribution2. Warehousing is important in that _A) inventories build up before the goods are soldB) the prices will go downC) more goods are produced than can be consumedD) the food has to be put on the market immediately3. How many types of warehouses for storage are discussed in the pa
11、ssage?A) 3. B) 4. C) 6. D) 7.4. Where might one find meat and milk?A) Grain elevator. B) Cold-storage warehouse.C) Private warehouse. D) Bonded warehouse.5. What is NOT true of a distribution center?A) It is a relatively new type of warehouse.B) Product is replaced more quickly and costs are down.C)
12、 Some distribution centers are not built in the sane country as the factoryD) It builds up extensive inventories to minimize storage.Passage 2How much pain do animals feel? This is a question which has caused endless controversy. Opponents of big game shooting, for example, arouse our pity by descri
13、bing tile agonies of a badly-wounded beast that has crawled into a comer to die. In countries where the fox, the hare and the deer are hunted, animal-lovers paint harrowing pictures of the pursued animal suffering not only the physical distress of the chase but the mental anguish of anticipated deat
14、h.The usual answer to these criticisms is that animals do not suffer in the same way, or to the same extent, as we de. Man was created with a delicate nervous system and has never lost his acute sensitiveness to pain; animals, on the other hand, had less sensitive systems to begin with and in the co
15、urse of millions of years, have developed a capacity of ignoring injuries and disorders which human beings would find intolerable. For example, a dog will continue to play with a ball even after a serious injury to his foot; he may be unable to run without limping, but he will go on trying long afte
16、r a human child would have had to stop because of the pain. We are told, moreover, that even when animals appear to us to be suffering acutely, this is not so; what seems to us to be agonized contortions caused by pain are in fact no more than muscular contractions over which they have no control.6.
17、 Animal-lovers assume that animals, being hunted, would suffer from _.A) a great deal of agony both in body and in spiritB) mental distress once they are woundedC) only body pains without feeling sadD) crawling into the comer to die7. Supporters of game shooting may argue that animals _.A) cannot co
18、ntrol their muscular contractionsB) have developed a capacity of feeling no painC) are not as acutely sensitive as human beings to injuriesD) can endure all kinds of disorders8. The author feels sure that _.A) animals dont show suffering to usB) dogs are more endurable than human childrenC) we canno
19、t know what animals feelD) comparing animals with human beings is not appropriate9. What is the authors opinion about animal hunting?A) We should feel the same as the hunted animals do.B) We should protect and save all the animals.C) We shouldnt cause suffering to them.D) We should take care of them
20、 if we can.10. This passage seems to _.A) argue for something B) explain somethingC) tell a story D) describe an objectPassage 3In science, a theory is a reasonable explanation of observed events that are related. A the-ory often involves an imaginary model that helps scientists picture the way an o
21、bserved event could be produced. A good example of this is found in the kinetic molecular theory, in which gases are pictured as being made up of many small particles that are in constant motion.A useful theory, in addition to explaining past observations, helps to predict events that have not as ye
22、t been observed. After a theory has been publicized, scientists design experi-merits to test the theory. If observations confirm the scientists predictions, the theory is sup-ported. If observations do not confirm the predictions, the scientists must search further. There may be a fault in the exper
23、iment, or the theory may have to be revised or rejected.Science involves imagination and creative thinking as well as collecting information and performing experiments. Facts by themselves are not science. As the mathematician Jules Henri Poincare said: “Science is built with facts just as a house i
24、s built with bricks, but a collection of facts cannot be called science any more than a pile of bricks can be called a house.“Most scientists start an investigation by finding out what other scientists have learned about a particular problem. After known facts have been gathered, the scientist comes
25、 to the part of the investigation that requires considerable imagination. Possible solutions to the problem areformulated. These possible solutions are called hypotheses. In a way, any hypothesis is a leap into the unknown. It extends the scientists thinking beyond the known facts. The scientist pla
26、ns experiments, performs calculations, and makes ob-servations to test hypotheses. For without hypotheses, further investigation lacks purpose and direction. When hypotheses are confirmed, they are incorporated into theories.11. The word “this“ in the 3rd sentence in paragraph 1 refers to _.A) a goo
27、d example B) an imaginary modelC) the kinetic molecular theory D) an observed event12. Bricks are mentioned in the 3rd paragraph to indicate how _.A) mathematicians approach scienceB) building a house is like performing experimentsC) science is more than a collection of factsD) scientific experiment
28、s have led to improved technology13. In the last paragraph, the author refers to a hypothesis as “a leap into the unknown“ in or- der to show that hypotheses _.A) are sometimes ill-conceived B) can lead to dangerous resultsC) go beyond available facts D) require effort to formulate14. What is a majo
29、r function of hypotheses as implied in the last paragraph7A) Sifting through known facts.B) Communicating a scientists thoughts to others.C) Providing direction for scientific research.D) Linking together different theories.15. Which of the following statements is supported by the passage?A) Theorie
30、s are simply imaginary models of past events.B) It is better to revise a hypothesis than to reject it.C) A scientists most difficult task is testing hypotheses.D) A good scientist needs to be creative.B) Education systems need to be radically reformed.C) Going to school is only part of how people be
31、come educated.D) Education involves many years of professional training.20. The passage is organized by _A) listing and discussing several educational problemsB) contrasting the meanings of two related conceptsC) narrating a story about excellent teachersD) giving examples of different kinds of scho
32、olsPassage 3In science, a theory is a reasonable explanation of observed events that are related. A the-ory often involves an imaginary model that helps scientists picture the way an observed event could be produced. A good example of this is found in the kinetic molecular theory, in which gases are
33、 pictured as being made up of many small particles that are in constant motion.A useful theory, in addition to explaining past observations, helps to predict events that have not as yet been observed. After a theory has been publicized, scientists design experi-merits to test the theory. If observat
34、ions confirm the scientists predictions, the theory is sup-ported. If observations do not confirm the predictions, the scientists must search further. There may be a fault in the experiment, or the theory may have to be revised or rejected.Science involves imagination and creative thinking as well a
35、s collecting information and performing experiments. Facts by themselves are not science. As the mathematician Jules Henri Poincare said: “Science is built with facts just as a house is built with bricks, but a collection of facts cannot be called science any more than a pile of bricks can be called
36、 a house.“Most scientists start an investigation by finding out what other scientists have learned about a particular problem. After known facts have been gathered, the scientist comes to the part of the investigation that requires considerable imagination. Possible solutions to the problem areformu
37、lated. These possible solutions are called hypotheses. In a way, any hypothesis is a leap into the unknown. It extends the scientists thinking beyond the known facts. The scientist plans experiments, performs calculations, and makes ob-servations to test hypotheses. For without hypotheses, further i
38、nvestigation lacks purpose and direction. When hypotheses are confirmed, they are incorporated into theories.11. The word “this“ in the 3rd sentence in paragraph 1 refers to _.A) a good example B) an imaginary modelC) the kinetic molecular theory D) an observed event12. Bricks are mentioned in the 3
39、rd paragraph to indicate how _.A) mathematicians approach scienceB) building a house is like performing experimentsC) science is more than a collection of factsD) scientific experiments have led to improved technology13. In the last paragraph, the author refers to a hypothesis as “a leap into the un
40、known“ in or- der to show that hypotheses _.A) are sometimes ill-conceived B) can lead to dangerous resultsC) go beyond available facts D) require effort to formulate14. What is a major function of hypotheses as implied in the last paragraph7A) Sifting through known facts.B) Communicating a scientis
41、ts thoughts to others.C) Providing direction for scientific research.D) Linking together different theories.15. Which of the following statements is supported by the passage?A) Theories are simply imaginary models of past events.B) It is better to revise a hypothesis than to reject it.C) A scientist
42、s most difficult task is testing hypotheses.D) A good scientist needs to be creative.B) Education systems need to be radically reformed.C) Going to school is only part of how people become educated.D) Education involves many years of professional training.20. The passage is organized by _A) listing
43、and discussing several educational problemsB) contrasting the meanings of two related conceptsC) narrating a story about excellent teachersD) giving examples of different kinds of schoolsPassage 5The phrase “civil disobedience“ is usually attributed to the nineteenth-century American philosopher Hen
44、ry David Thoreau. Although the concept is unquestionably much older (its rootslie in ancient Greek philosophy), the designation is nonetheless telling: people tend to credit Thoreau, an American, with the idea because civil disobedience, is a hallmark of American eth- ics and politics. The clash bet
45、ween the dictates of individual conscience on one hand, and the imperatives of civil law on the other, forms much of this countrys history. Examples range from the incidents leading up to the Revolution through the many social protests of the 1960S.What constitutes an act of civil disobedience? Firs
46、t, an act of civil disobedience requires a formal legal structure that is enforced by the government. Second, it requires as its target a specific law or policy, rather than the entire legal system. This is true even if the protesters ul- timate goal is to alter radically the legal system; an act of
47、 civil disobedience must be directed against one concrete example of that systems inequities. The American civil rights movement, for example, first targeted discrimination on public transportation, then used its victories as a springboard to address other injustices. Third, the act must be done pub
48、licly, because the ef- fectiveness of such a protest depends on its ability to mobilize public sentiment against the protests target. Finally, those protesting must understand the penalties their acts entail-us-ually jailing-and be willing to accept those penalties. This last requirement strengthens
49、 the acts effect on public opinion, since it serves to underscore the injustice of the protests target.21. The word “telling“ in the 2nd sentence in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _.A) inappropriate B) revealing C) insignificant D) challenging22. In the passage, the author mentions that the civil rights movement _.A) focused its early efforts on public transportationB) did not always practice civil disobedienceC) started in nineteenth cen
