Part III 阅读理解

Passage One

Who says your job leaves you no time to hit the gym? A detailed new study of U.S physical activity patterns shows that men who work full-time---whether their jobs are active or sedentary---end up getting more exercise than healthy working-age men withoutajob. The new study comes from researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

As part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, some l,800 working-aged adults were askedabattery of questions about their lifestyle and work habits, and, crucially, they then agreed to wear an accelerometer---a device to measure their physical activity---over the course of several days.

Those data from accelerometers providearare opportunity to nail down how much activity the typical American actually does. They show that men or women who work in active jobs do more physical activity on weekdays than men or women working in sedentary jobs. That's perhaps not surprising, but the NIH researchers suggest that it still matters because of an ongoing shift in the economy toward sedentary work.

The more surprising finding is the one that compares full-time workers to people who don't work. The study shows that men with full-time jobs do more physical activity than healthy men without jobs. ("Healthy men", in this case, were those men who said their primary reason for being out of work was something other than health or disability.) In fact, even sedentary full-time workers performed more weekday physical activity overall than the healthy non-workers.

The results looked very different for women.Women in sedentary jobs did less physical activity on weekdays than their healthy non-working peers. So what drives the gender difference? The study looks at the patterns, and can't unfortunately provide too much detail about their causes.

There could be many possible answers, including, perhaps, different abilities to pay for leisure time activities, or different norms and attitudes about work and physical activity. It could also be that more non-working women than men are choosing to be at home running around full-time after the kids.

But the NIH researchers do find evidence to suggest that, whatever causes the difference, healthy non-working women "are replacing work with active pursuits whereas---for some reason---(non-working) men generally are not."

21. The word "sedentary"(Para. l) probably means

    1. being out of job
    2. working part-time
    3. sitting foralong time
    4. being passive in life

    答案 C

22. What is the function of the accelerometers in the study?

    1. They record the amount of activity.
    2. They provide people with more energy.
    3. They indicate gender differences.
    4. They push people to be more active.

    答案 A

    细节题。题目问的是研究中加速计的功能。根据关键词 accelerometers 定位句到第二段最后一句，破折号之间就是对accelerometer 的补 充说明，说它是一种测量身体活动的设备。与A 项"记录活动量"一致,

23. Who do the most physical activity according to the study?

    1. People with sedentary jobs.
    2. People with active jobs.
    3. Healthy women with no jobs.
    4. Healthy men with full-time jobs.

    答案 B

    推理题。题目问的是根据这项研究，谁的活动量最大。根据第三 段可知做活动性工作的人的活动量大于做久坐工作的人，故A 不对，B 对。根 据第四段我们只能得出：①全职工作的男性，无论其工作性质如何，都比不工 作的男性的活动量大；②不工作的女性比做久坐性工作的女性的活动大。因D 混淆。

24. What is the significance of the study?

    1. It indicates the ongoing economic trend.
    2. It provides evidence for gender differences.
    3. It reveals the typical American activity pattern.
    4. It explains the relation between work and activity.

    答案 D

    主旨题。题目问的是本项研究的意义。根据该研究给出的活动量 对比结果，文章的焦点一直在讨论从事不同工作与身体活动量之间的关系,所以 与D 项相符。A 项说"它指出了当前的经济趋势"，这与本篇文章的主旨无关。 B 项"它为性别差异提供了证据"，文章最后三段确实涉及了性别差异，但提到 了尚未明确导致差异的原因。C 项"它揭示了典型的美国活动模式"，在第三段 的第一句确实有提到这个方面,但这是获得研究数据的初衷,不是研究所带来的 意义,所以排除。

25. Which of the following is true about non-working women?

    1. They are busy with their kids all the time.
    2. They are generally from wealthy families.
    3. They engage themselves in other activities.
    4. They rely on their husbands foraliving.

    答案 C

    细节题。题目问的是关于不工作的女性,哪一项是正确的。A 项"她 们总是忙于孩子"是干扰项，文章倒数第二段最后一句提到"更多的不工作女性 而不是男性选择在家全职围着孩子转"，这只是不工作女性选择的一种情况。B 项"她们通常来自富裕的家庭"和D 项"她们依靠丈夫生活",原文都没有提及,属 于无中生有。根据最后一段，"健康的不工作女性正在用积极的活动取代工作， 而(无业)男性通常不会。这表明不工作女性倾向于参与其他活动,而不仅仅只是 照顾孩子。因此，C 项"她们从事其他活动"是最佳选项。

Passage Two

Popular fireworks should be replaced with cleaner drone (无人机) and laser light shows to avoid the "highly damaging" impact on wildlife, domestic pets and the broader environment, new Curtin-led research has found. The new research, published in Pacific Conservation Biology, examined the environmental cost of firework displays by reviewing the ecological effects of Diwali festival activities in India, Fourth of July celebrations across the United States, and other events in New Zealand and parts of Europe.

Examples included fireworks in Spanish festivals impacting the breeding success of House Sparrows, July firework displays being implicated in the decline of Brandt's Cormorant (鸬鹚)colonies in California, and South American sea lions changing their behavior during breeding season asaresult of New Year's fireworks in Chile.

Lead author Associate Professor Bill Bateman, from Curtin's School of Molecular and Life Sciences, said that fireworks create short-term noise and light disturbances that cause distress in domestic animals that may be managed before or afterafirework event, but the impacts to wildlife can be onamuch larger scale.

The annual timing of some large-scale firework events coincides with the migratory or reproductive movements of wildlife, and may therefore have adverse long-term population effects on them. Fireworks also produce significant pulses of highly pollutant materials that also contribute significantly to the chemical pollution of soil, water, and air, which has implications for human as well as animal health.

Bateman said firework bans at sensitive periods for wildlife migration or mating periods could limit the impact. Drone or other light-based shows could as well. "Other than horses, for which there is some evidence that they can be gradually familiarized with flashes of light, there is very little that can be done to address the disturbing impact of noise from fireworks on animals and wildlife," Bateman said.

The future of firework displays may be in the use of safer and greener alternatives such as drones, eco-friendly fireworks or visible-wavelength lasers for light shows. There is growing evidence that these community events can be managed inasustainable way and it's clear that outdated firework displays need to be replaced by cleaner options that are not harmful to wildlife and the environment.

26. The research team examined the impact of fireworks by .

    1. doing experiments on animals
    2. conductingalarge-scale survey
    3. interviewing environmentalists
    4. carrying out an ecological review

    答案 D

    细节题。题目问的是研究团队通过什么考察烟花的影响。A 项"在 动物身上做实验"，B 项"进行大规模的调查"，C 项"采访环保主义者"，这些 在原文中都没有明确提到。D 项"进行生态评估",根据定位句可知研究团队是 通过进行生态评估来考察烟花对环境和野生动物的影响。

27. Big firework events held at certain periods each year .

    1. cause animals to lose their sight and hearing
    2. reduce the breeding rate of domestic animals
    3. pose threats to the migration of wild animals
    4. are gradually familiarized by wildlife

    答案 C

    细节题。题目问的是每年在特定时期举行的大型烟花活______。 A 项"导致动物失去视力和听力"，文章没有提到。B 项"降低家畜的繁殖率", 文章针对家畜只提到了"cause distress",并没有提到会影响家畜的繁殖，B 项 不正确。C 项"对野生动物的迁徙构成威胁"，根据定位句可知烟花活动在野生 动物迁徙或交配等敏感时期会对它们构成威胁，C 项正确。D 项"逐渐被野生 动物所熟悉，文章倒数第二段最后提到对于烟花所产生的噪音对动物和野生生 物的干扰，几乎没有解决办法，D 项不正确。

28. According to the research, what animals can partially adapt to fireworks?

    1. Sparrows.
    2. Sea lions.
    3. Cormorants.
    4. Horses.

    答案 D

29. Bateman suggests thatagreen alternative to fireworks could be .

    1. Drones
    2. parades
    3. travels
    4. circus shows

    答案 A

    细节题。题目问的是贝特曼建议的烟花的绿色替代品。根据定位 句可知有无人机、环保烟花或可见波长激光的灯光秀。只有A 选项有被提到。

30. Which of the following can best summarize the main idea of the passage?

    1. Popular fireworks constituteaprimary source of pollution.
    2. Fireworks have short- and long-term impact on environment.
    3. Ecological effects of fireworks should not be overstated
    4. Fireworks are outdated and should be banned.

    答案 B

    主旨题。题目问的是文章的主要思想。文章首段指出研究的发现, 也是文章的主题：烟花表演对动物及环境都有"极具破坏性的"影响，应该用 更清洁的方式取代它。A 项"流行的烟花是主要的污染源"，文章只讨论了烟 花对环境的影响，没有提到其是主要污染源。B 项"烟花对环境有短期和长期 的影响"，这里全面概括了文章内容。C 项"烟花对生态的影响不应被夸大"， 文章表述的烟花对于动物和环境的影响是基于事实分析,并没有夸大。D 项"烟 花已经过时，应该被禁止"，这个过于绝对,文章并没有提到烟花应该被完全禁 止，而是提出了减少其使用和推厂绿色替代品的建议。

Passage Three

The past two years have shown that employees desire greater flexibility---and they're willing to change jobs to get it. Flexibility has tremendous benefits for employees, including reduced burnout and greater job satisfaction. However, it can also result in rising coordination costs for managers, large amounts of wasted effort, and the inability to respond quickly to client requests.

The brief meetings that once allowed teams to promptly brainstorm solutions and coordinate efforts are now harder to pull together. It can take days to get most members in the same virtual place at the same time (including one person who's half-listening from the dentist's chair).

To increase employee flexibility on their teams, managers need guidance and support. Otherwise, they could burn out on the job or check out to findanew one. Here are some ways managers can offer their teams flexibility without breaking under the coordination costs or significantly halting progress.

First, rethink when employees work together. For complex tasks that require teamwork, it's not feasible to provide employees with complete flexibility (i.e., the ability to work for any duration at any time). However, returning to the standard in-office work week won't work either.

Thus, managers will need to think differently and deeply about project requirements and schedule accordingly. For project-based workflows, managers should carefully map out the project tasks and timetable and issue an advance request for employees to blockaspecific set of days for overlapping work during key project phases (e.g., kickoff, mid-point, finalization).

For less predictable workflows, match scheduling bursts with calendar time. For example, during the second week of the month, employees are expected to be working from 10 a.m.to5p.m., then they're allowed to choose which 40 hours (+/- 10) they work weekly during the rest of the month.

Second, rethink who works together. To provide greater flexibility, managers may need to reorganize their larger teams into multi-team systems of smaller, authorized, and interconnected groups. For example, converting your team of nine into three teams of three enables them to make decisions and makes it easier for employees to help coordinate their work.

Besides, managers must also think more deeply than ever about the structure of their employees' tasks and priorities. Understanding the connections between different tasks is especially crucial for setting priorities to avoid bottlenecks. If everything isapriority, nothing isapriority.

31. Employees desire greater flexibility because it means .

    1. higher efficiency
    2. longer vacations
    3. less exhaustion
    4. lighter workloads

    答案 C

    细节题。题目问的是员工渴望更大灵活性的原因。根据定位句可 知,更大的灵活性可以减少员工的工作疲惫。A 项"更高的效率",B 项"更长的假 期",C 项"更少的疲惫",D 项"更轻的工作量"。只有C 选项与原文相符。

32. The main idea of Paragraphlis that greater employee flexibility may .

    1. bring huge benefits to employees
    2. increase productivity ofacompany
    3. affect response to client requests
    4. pose great challenges to managers

    答案 D

    主旨题。题目问的是第一段的主要观点。第一段先描述了员工渴 望更大的灵活性,并说明灵活性给员工带来的好处。之后,作者用however 一词, 引出本段作者真正关注的焦点：弹性的工作也给管理者带来一些问题。所以第 一段的主要观点即员工更加灵活性的工作会给管理者带来更大的挑战。

33. For managers, increasing employee flexibility

    1. is necessary and possible
    2. depends on their personal will
    3. is difficult but economical
    4. improves team coordination

    答案 A

    推理题。题目问的是对于管理者来说,增加员工的灵活性 。 根据第一、二段可知,从管理者角度,增加灵活性是有必要的,因为如果不增加,员 工会在工作中倦怠或去找新工作。而增加灵活性带来问题如果得到必要的支持 和指导,也是可以实现的。A 项符合,B、C、D 项在原文没有提及。

34. The word "block" (Para. 4) is closest in meaning to .

    1. propose
    2. put off
    3. set aside
    4. restrict

    答案 C

    释义题。题目问的是第四段中"block"的含义。这里的"block"指的 是管理者在项目关键阶段(如启动、中期和收尾)为员工预留出特定的天数,以便 处理一些重叠工作。propose"提议",put off"推迟",set aside"留出,预留",restrict"限 制"。只有选项C 与"block"的意思最接近,表示为了某个目的而预留出时间或空 间。

35. The following suggestions are given to managers EXCEPT .

    1. adjusting project schedules
    2. providing better work conditions
    3. establishing multi-team systems
    4. setting clear tasks and priorities

    答案 B

    细节题。题目问的是给管理者的建议不包括哪一个。第三段最后 一句提到:管理者要思考项目需求,并据此安排日程,A 项符合。第五段第二句提

Passage Four

Conversation goes far beyond talking. It also involves eyes, smiles, and the silences between the words. When those elements hum along together, conversational partners feel most deeply engaged and connected. Like good conversationalists, Dartmouth College scientists have taken that idea and carried it to new places.

They report some surprising findings on the interplay between eye contact and how two people synchronize (同步) nerve activity while talking The researchers suggest, inapaper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, that being in tune withaconversational partner is good---but that occasionally falling out of sync might be even better.

Maintaining eye contact has long been thought to act as the glue that connects two people in conversation. Its absence can signal failure of social function. Similarly, the growing study along this line has largely focused on the way synchrony in individuals' brain activity benefits the social connection between them.

Earlier research by the Dartmouth lab had showed that synchronized pupil expansion serves asareliable indicator of shared attention, which in turn marks greater nerve synchrony. In the new study, which measured pupil expansion during unstructured 10-minute conversations, the researchers found that the initial moment of eye contact---rather than a sustained period of locked gazes marksapeak in shared attention.

Synchrony, in fact, drops sharply just after you look into your conversation partner's eyes and begins to recover only when you and that person look away from each other. "Eye contact is not eliciting synchrony; it's disrupting it," says Thalia Wheatley, the paper's senior author.

Why would this happen? Wheatley contends that making and breaking eye contact ultimately propels the conversation forward. "Perhaps what this is doing is allowing us to break synchrony and move back into our own heads so that we can bring forth new and individual contributions to keep the conversation going," Wheatley says.

Connections between gaze and synchrony might be relevant to research in autism(自闭 症) and other mental disorders that involve non-typical interaction. The findings also help explain frustrations over videoconferencing platforms, on which real eye contact is nearly impossible to make ---or break---because of the positioning of cameras and windows on screens.

36. It can be learned that Dartmouth College scientists .

    1. discovered that conversation is more than talking
    2. doubted the designs of conversational research
    3. explained the findings of conversationalists
    4. found interpersonal synchrony not always desirable

    答案 D

    细节题。题目问的是达特茅斯学院的科学家 。根据第二 段第一句"Dartmouth College scientists have taken that idea."可知对于首段提到 的交流不只是谈话这个观点,达特茅斯学院的科学家是接受了,但并不是他们发 现的,A 项错误。B 项在原文没有提到。根据第二段第二句"They report some surprising findings on the..."达特茅斯学院的科学家是在新领域有发现,并不是C 项"解释对话专家的发现"。根据第二段最后一句"The researchers suggest...being in tune...is good-but that occasionally falling out...might be even better."可知,偶尔 不同步可能会更好,由此可知人际同步并不总是可取的。

37. Previous research on eye contact focused on .

    1. its role in keeping people connected
    2. its patterns in social interaction
    3. the sources of poor social relations
    4. the flow of brain activity in conversations

    答案 A

    推理题。题目问的是先前的眼神交流研究主要集中在 。 利用previous 和eye contact 可以快速定位到第三段,由此可知长期以来人们认 为保持眼神交流是连接两个交谈者的纽带,越来越多这方面研究的主要聚焦在 个体大脑活动的同步性如何促进彼此的社交联系。只有A 选项强调了眼神交流 在维持人们联系中的作用与原文表达相符。B 项"它的社交互动模式",C 项"不 良社会关系的根源",D 项"对话时大脑活动的流程"都没有提及。

38. What is the finding in Wheatley's new study?

    1. Pupil expansion indicates shared attention.
    2. Synchrony is key to success of communication.
    3. Shared attention is the highest at initial eye contact.
    4. Synchrony keeps pace with eye contact.

    答案 C

    推理题。题目问的是惠特利的新研究的发现。利用Wheatley 和 new study 定位到第四段的最后三句话,可知最初的眼神接触是共同注意力的峰 值,与C 项的描述相符。虽然文章提到了瞳孔扩张与共同注意力有关,但这并不 是新研究的特定发现,所以排除A 项。惠特利的新研究没有直接提到同步性是 交流成功的关键,所以排除B 项。第四段最后提到"眼神交流并没有引发同步性; 它在破坏同步性",所以二者并不是同步的关系,排除D 项。

39. How did Wheatley account for the role of eye contact changes?

    1. To createaproper setting foraconversation.
    2. To make people feel respected by others.
    3. To encourage people's independent insights.
    4. To work together with participants' words.

    答案 C

    细节题。题目问的是惠特利如何解释眼神接触变化的作用。在第 五段中惠特利提到"这样做或许是为了让我们打破同步性,回到自己的思维中, 从而提出新的人的观点,便对话得以继续。A 项"为对话创造一个适当的环境", 没有提到;B 项"使人感到被他人尊重",没有提到;C 项"鼓励人们的独立见解", 与文章相符;D 项"配合参与者的话语",原文没有提及。

40. What is the implication of Wheatley's research findings?

    1. Improvement of conversational research design.
    2. Understanding of deficits in communication.
    3. Creativity on patterns of typical interactions.
    4. Reduction of stress over video conferences.

    答案 B

    推理题。题目问的是惠特利研究的结果暗示了什么。第六段中 "..might be relevant to..." "..also help explain…."都表明了惠特利的研究结果的 作用:研究可以应用子自闭症和其他涉及非典型互动的精神障碍的研究,即可以 帮助理解沟通性缺陷,与B 选项相符。根据文章,惠特利的研究为我们提供了对 沟通中眼神接触的新理解,但没有直接为改进对话进行研究设计,也没有提出关 于典型互动模式的创造性见解,所以排除A、C 项。虽然最后提到视频会议平台 上的挫败感,但并未提出减少视频会议中压力的方法或策略,排除D 项。

Blog and Comments

blog and comments are followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four choices A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer and mark your answer on the Answer Sheet. Talking about worry, I think of the most anxiety-provoking time of my life. It was 2008, and Iwas pregnant with my first child.

At my ultrasound checkup, my husband and Ilearned that our son would be born withacongenital (先天的) heart condition. This condition is fatal if not corrected through open-heart surgery within months of birth. For the remainder of my pregnancy, I was almost never completely free of worry: How can we get him the best care?

How will this affect his life? Doesn't this mean that Ishould prevent worry as soon as possible? Yet, that is exactly the wrong thing to do. Suppressing thoughts and feelings never works---and paradoxically increases anxiety while reinforcing the belief that worries are uncontrollable.

I discovered this for myself with my son's heart condition. My worries were constant and exhausting, but putting them aside didn't work. So Itried the opposite. I used my worries. Every time Iworried, I went into action mode: I read every paper published on the condition, I asked our nurses and doctorsamillion questions, and Iimagined best and worst-case scenarios so Icould plan each detail of my son's care.

Gradually Ilearn to worry smart and eventually worry less. Our son is now 14 years old. He loves playing the piano, writing, and wrestling. As his doctors told us after his surgery, there are no restrictions on what he can do.

41. What does the author think of the effort to prevent worry?

    1. It only works at the beginning.
    2. It should start as soon as possible.
    3. It makes the problem even worse.
    4. It isasimple and effective solution.

    答案 C

    细节题。题目问的是作者如何看待消除忧虑的努力。定位句说: 抑制想法和感情是行不通的--而且适得其反,这样做只会增加焦虑。这与C 项的

42. The author's action mode involves the following activities EXCEPT .

    1. reading scientific literature
    2. taking some medical courses
    3. makingathorough action plan
    4. consulting medical professionals

    答案 B

    细节题。题目问的是作者的行动模式不包括哪一项。利用action mode 定位到第三段第五句,作者提到了:阅读了关于这种病症的每一篇论文;向 护士和医生提出无数问题;设想最好和最坏的情况,以便规划儿子的护理细节。 而文中并没有提到参加医学课程。

43. Comment3indicates that the author's suggestions .

    1. lack support from scientific research
    2. can be applied toawider population
    3. look at worry fromanew perspective
    4. may lead to considerable confusion

    答案 A

    推理题。题目问的是评论3 作者的建议。该评论者问道:"这些东 西背后的科学依据在哪儿?"这表明评论者认为作者的建议没有明确的科学支持。

44. Which comment questions the feasibility of the author's suggestions?

    1. Comment 1.
    2. Comment 2
    3. Comment 4.
    4. Comment 5.

    答案 C

    细节题。题目问的是哪个评论质疑了作者建议的可行性。评论4 指出"要是事情真的这么简单就好了",说明该评论者不太同意上面的做法。评论

45. Which comments offer ways of relieving worries?

    1. Commentsland 3.
    2. Comments3and 4.
    3. Comments2and 4.
    4. Comments2and 5.

    答案 D

    细节题。题目问的是提供缓解忧虑方法的评论。评论1 提出"冥 想也很帮助",评论2 提出"跑步非常有帮助"。评论5 提出"针对忧虑的事情会以 某种建设的方式行动起来"。分析选项,