发布时间 : 星期三 文章同等学力人员申请硕士学位英语水平全国统一考试模拟试题更新完毕开始阅读35740bc6b42acfc789eb172ded630b1c58ee9b2b
Passage Three
Wind-generated power offers many advantages for an energy-hungry society becoming increasingly aware of the negative environmental effect of conventional electricity-generating systems. In contrast to coal or oil-fired power station in which the majority of California’s electricity is produced, wind-powered stations have a minimal effect on the environment. They produce neither carbon dioxide missions which add to the Greenhouse Effect nor do they contribute to the phenomenon of acid rain which kills the lakes and forests where it falls. Unlike nuclear plants, wind stations cannot become another Chernobyl.
Wind power, like solar, hydro-electric and tidal power, is infinitely renewable, non-polluting source of energy and is becoming increasingly important in satisfying the state’s energy needs. However, if there is no wind, there will be no power. Even when the wind stations are sited on the windiest hills there is no guarantee that the wind will blow 24 hours a day.
Until ways can be found to store generated power that can be used when the winds die down, wind power will remain a supplementary source of the state’s energy. Present wind towers still require a minimum wind speed of around 25 kilometers per hour to generate commercially usable electricity mean that wind power is not economically competitive with conventional fossil or nuclear stations.
Environmentalists are also concerned about the visual effect wind stations have on the landscape. In order to generate commercially usable quantities of electricity it is necessary to install a large number of wind towers. In the Los Remos scheme there are 150 steel wind towers, each around 30meters high, covering a total area of 80 hectares. They are silent and safe but ugly, making the beautiful Los Remos Range begin to look like Manhattan in miniature.
Harnessing the wind does offer a clean, renewable source of energy , but until technology increases the efficiency and reliability of the system it will not be able to replace conventional fossil fuel or nuclear powered stations.
41. it seems that the chief advantage of wind powered stations lies in______.
A. its non-polluting effects B. its availability at any time C. its satisfaction of the state’s energy needs D. its beautification effects 42. Wind-powered stations would not be a solution to the state’s energy needs if_______.
A. they were not built on the windiest hills.
B. ways to store the generated power were not found C. they were used only for commercial purposes D. ways were not found to increase the wind speed
chief concern of the environmentalists about the wind powered stations is that_______
A. They are affecting the natural sceneries badly B. there is often no wind enough to drive them
C. they are not economically competitive with traditional stations D. they are not commercially renewable
44. According to the passage, which of the following can be harnessed in conventional fossil stations?
A. Uranium. B. Waterfall C. Tide D. Petroleum 45. What is the author’s attitude towards wind-powered station?
A. Objective. B. Negative
C. Indifferent D. Subjective.
Passage Four
The food irradiation process is a simple one. The new U.S. plant, Vindicator of Florida Incorporated in Mulberry, Fla., uses a material called cobalt 60 to irradiate food. Cobalt 60 is radioactive isotope (form) of the metallic element cobalt. Cobalt 60 , which gives off radiation in the form of gamma rays, is also used for radiation therapy for canner patients and for sterilizing hospital equipment. The radioactive isotope is created by bombarding cobalt with subatomic particles in a nuclear reactor. However ,irradiation plants do not themselves contain nuclear reactors.
In the irradiation plant , food is exposed to thin rods of cobalt 60. the rods give off gamma rays , which disrupt chemical processes in contaminating organisms. The disruption breaks down the cell walls of organisms or destroys their genetic material. The dose , set by the . Food and Drug Administration(FDA), is enough to kill organisms on food ,but not enough to produce significant changes in the food itself.
Although irradiation slightly decreases the nutritive value of foods, the loss is less than that produced by some other methods of food preservation. Canning, for example, results in a much greater loss of nutrients.
Those who object to irradiation say that the process may create substances not found
in nonirradiated food. Since the 1960’s researchers have studied irradiated food at microscopic levels to try to find such substances, called unique radiolytic products. After reviewing these studies, the FDA determined that compounds formed during irradiation are similar to substance found in nonirradiated foods and are not dangerous to consume. Destruction of microorganisms that cause illness is an important goal of irradiation. About 250 million cases of food poisoning or 1 per person—occur every year in the U.S., according to FDA estimates. Food poisoning can cause vomiting, diarrhea, fever, headache—and, occasionally, death.
Because of the apparent safety of food irradiation, and the problems presented by contaminated food, scientific groups—including the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations food and Agriculture Association—have voiced nearly universal support for the process. Worldwide ,38 nations have approved irradiation for 355 products.
Like microwave ovens, food irradiation has aroused apprehension and misunderstanding. Yet it has been scrutinized more thoroughly than other methods of food treatment that we have come to regard as safe, and it appears to be a method whose time has come.
46. Cobalt 60, besides irradiating food, is also employed to______.
A. detect metallic flaws B. run a nuclear reactor C. cure cancer patients D. strengthen concrete walls 47. Gamma rays used to irradiate food _______.
A. are generally not strong enough to destroy contaminating organisms B. do not bring about significant changes in the food itself C. may destroy some of the nutrients in the food D. should be submitted to FDA foe approval 48. Irradiated food____
A. certainly loses its nutritive value
B. maintains its nutritive value no different from the nonirradiated C. keeps its nutritive value better than canned food D. is recommended as the best of all preserved foods
49. With case of food poisoning increasing,______
A. food irradiation should be carried out with care B. it is more urgent to irradiate foods
C. medical researches into treatment of the diseased should be strengthened D. Americans are beginning to accept food irradiation 50. the passage may be taken from ______
A. a news report B. a textbook of food processing
C. a book of popular science D. a manual of food irradiation
Passage Five
An Asian engineer is assigned to a U.S. laboratory and almost suffers a nervous breakdown. A U.S. executive tells his staff he’s going to treat them fairly—and creates dissension. A Japanese manager is promoted by his British president, but within six months asks for a transfer. Each of these real-life cases involved people who were regarded as superior employees, but were ill-equipped to cope with the complexities and dangers of intercultural management.
“Multinational companies have studies everything else, now they’re finally looking at culture”, says Clifford Clark, founder and president of the California-based IPI International Inc, one of a small but growing number of consulting firms that specialize in teaching business people from differing cultures how to communicate and work with each other.
“Never show the shoe to an Arab ,never arrive on time for a party in Brazil, and in Japan, don’t think, ‘yes’, means ‘yes’,” advise . consultants Lennie Copland and Lewis Brown Griggs, who have produced a series of films and book to help managers improve their international business skills. But simply learning the social “dos” and “ts” is not the answer ,according to the new culture specialists. The penalties for ignoring different thinking patterns, they point out ,can be disastrous.
For example, the American manager who promised to be fair thought he was telling his Japanese staff that their hard work would be rewarded, but when some workers received higher salary increase than others, there were complaints. “You told us you’d better fair, and you lied to us, “accused one salesman. “It look me a year and a half”, sighed the American, “to realise that ‘fair’, to my staff, meant being treated equally.”
The Asian engineer who suffered in America was the victim of another mistaken expectation. “He was accustomed to the warm group environment so typical in Japan,” said his U.S. manager. “But in our company, we’re all expected to be self-starters, who thrive on working alone. For him ,it was emotional starvation. He’s made the adjustment now, but he’d be humiliated if I told you his name, that’s another cultural difference.”