大学生英语竞赛A类阅读理解专项强化真题试卷6

[*] As most area residents know, a collection of 30 brightly painted, oversized fiberglass statues of Nipper, the canine symbol of the Victor Talking Machine Co., has been on display throughout Moorestown since June. Officially titled “ Nipper 2005 “ , the ongoing installation has been well received. But is it art? Ever since Chicago unveiled the 360 bovine sculptures that made up “Cows on Parade“ in 1999, many American cities have displayed their own exhibits of brightly painted animals. Underscoring their playful nature, the projects often bear painfully clever names— hence, Cincinnati’s “Big pig Gig“(425 swine), Buffalo’s “Herd About Buffalo“(150 bison). This summer, Crabtown Project“(nearly 200 crabs)descended on Baltimore. Right now, Zion, Illinois, is hosting “Swarm and the City“(81 bees). For many in the fine arts community, this is a case of kitsch gone wild. “ It’s the scourge of Western civilization,“ said Tom Eccles, former director of the Public Art Fund, a nonprofit New York group, who says that he can’t find a rational reason for the success of these projects. Arts, he argues, is more than putting paint on cute fiberglass animals. Inquires art critic Edward Sozanski commented, “ For reasons I can’t begin to fathom, the animals appear to be an unusually effective fundraising gimmick. “ The problem, he believes, is that they encourage low standards for artists and for funding public art. He and others in the art world are bothered by seeing people respond so well to something unoriginal and temporary, especially in cities that produce so much top-quality art. Yet the fiberglass phenomenon remains wildly popular. Superficially, at least, the reasons are obvious. Most ordinary folks, children especially, find the sculptures just plain fun. They’re relatively cheap, so corporate patrons can easily sponsor local artists to decorate them. Because they are usually displayed for only a few months, they aren’t around long enough to become eyesores. And when their time is up, they’re auctioned off for charity, civic institutions, or other worthy causes Moorestown’s Nipper sculptures are due to be sold off on Sunday to benefit several community groups. But the big reason animal art has exploded is that it draws people and money to downtown commercial districts, supplying many stores with a badly needed economic jolt. “Cow Parade“ yielded $200 million and two million tourists for Chicago, according to some estimates. The roughly one million visitors who came to Cincinnati to inspect its “Big Pig Gig“ generated more than $ 124 million in merchant sales. Mike Hurley, the owner of Fiberglass Farm, a casting company in Belfast, Maine, pointed out that these projects bring together artists, communities, families, and businesses around a mutual interest, which has resulted in success for the displays. Of course, “success“ can be evaluated according to many different criteria. The cultural critics deride animal art in part because the statues often have little to do with their communities. The topic of the “Ewe Revue“(43 sheep)in Rochester, Mich., was difficult for most people to connect to the local area. Organizers were inspired by the city’s former Western Knitting Mill, which was once among the world’s leading wool suppliers. The Moorestown Nippers have a rather stronger connection to their site. The founder of the Victor Co. and the owner of the American rights to “ His Master’s Voice,“ the painting that immortalized Nipper, was Eldridge Johnson, who settled in Moorestown after establishing his company in nearby Camden. Redundancy is another issue. At least 20 cities have had cow parades. Both Kankakee County, III, and Raleigh, N. C., have sported wolves. After the success of Cincinnati’s pig gig, Peoria, III, and Seattle, Wa., responded with porcine projects of their own. “ These plastic animals are supposed to generate civic or regional identity,“ said Erika Doss, author of Spirit Poles and Flying Pigs: Public Art and Cultural Democracy in American Communities(Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995). But Doss believes the displays fail to accomplish that goal because they are so similar to each other. Doss, who teaches art history at the University of Colorado at Boulder, also interprets the rise in animal art as resulting from the death of individual artistic expression. “ I think it’s boring, this lack of risk-taking. Let’s see something more interesting. “ she said. “ I’m completely torn,“ said Tom Finkelpearl, director of the Queens(N. Y.)Museum of Art and author of Dialogues in Public Art(MIT Press, 2001). “ Most people in the public art community think these works give public art a bad name. On the other hand, they inspire imagination, and they’re not doing any harm. I think we’re going to experience cow fatigue and it’s going to die out. So we elite in the art world don’t have to worry about it too much. “ Finkelpearl knows whereof he speaks. Some time ago, his then 11-year-old son asked for a miniature replica of one of the entries from CowParade New York 2000 that was selling in his own museum gift shop. “ My kid has grown up with a steady diet of high art,“ Finkelpearl said, laughing, “And this is what he wanted. “ Questions 66 to 70 Answer the following questions with the information given in the passage.

[*] There’s good news and bad news about life in modern cities— first, the bad. People who study population growth predict a nightmare by the year 2025: the global population will be more than 8 billion, and almost 4 billion of these people will be living in cities in developing countries such as India and Nigeria. Population growth is already causing unbelievable overcrowding. Nairobi, Kenya, has basic services for 200,000 people but has a population of 5 million. Mexico City is home to almost 25 million people. By the year 2025, population experts predict, 660 million people will be living in cities in India. Due to overcrowding, these cities have problems with air pollution, disease, and crime. People spend hours in gridlock—that is, traffic so horrible that it simply doesn’t move—when they commute daily from their homes to their work and back. There isn’t enough water, transportation, or housing. Many people don’t have access to health services or jobs. Now the good news: in some cities, instead of worsening, urban life is actually getting much better. It might not be a surprise to find that life in affluent cities is improving. But what about cities that aren’t rich? The city of Curitiba, Brazil, proves that it’s possible for even a city in a developing country to offer a good life to its residents. The mayor of Curitiba for twenty-five years, Jaime Lem-er, was an architect and a very practical person. Under his leadership, the city planners established a list of priorities—in other words, a list of what was most important to work on. They decided to focus on the environment and on the quality of life. With an average income of only about $ 200 per person per year, Curitiba has the same problems as many cities. However, it also has some creative solutions. One creative solution is the method of garbage collection. In neighborhoods that garbage trucks can’t reach, poor people bring bags of trash to special centres. At these centres, they exchange the trash for fresh produce—such as potatoes and oranges—or for bus tickets. At a recycling plant, workers separate bottles, plastic, and cans from other trash. Two-thirds of Curitiba’s garbage is recycled , which is good for the environment. And the plant gives hobs to the poorest people, which improves their lives. Due to careful planning, Curitiba does not have the same traffic problems that most cities have. The statistics are surprising. The population has grown—now twice the size it was in 1974— but traffic has actually decreased 30 percent. Curitiba needed a mass—transit system but couldn’t afford an expensive subway. City planners began, instead, with an unusual system of buses in the centre lanes of five wide major streets. At each bus stop, there is a forty-foot-long glass tube. Passengers pay before they enter the tube. Then they get on the bus “subway style“ —through wide doors. This allows people to get on and off the bus quickly and efficiently. People don’t crowd onto the bus: loading and unloading takes only thirty seconds. This makes commuting more pleasant and also helps to solve the problem of air pollution. Then there is the problem of street children. To help solve this problem, Jaime Lerner talked seriously with owners of factories and stores. Each factory and store owner agreed to take care of a few street children—to give them a meal every day and a small amount of money. In exchange, the children do small, simple jobs in the garden or office. In addition, the city hired teenagers to keep the public parks clean. Clearly, overcrowding in big cities worldwide is the cause of serious problems. However, the example of Curitiba provides hope that careful planning and creative thinking can lead to solutions to many of them. Curitiba is truly, as Lewis Mumford once said of cities in general, a “ symbol of the possible“. Questions 71 to 75 Complete the summary below with information from the passage, using no more than three words for each blank. There’s good news and bad news about life in modern cities. Researchers have estimated that the【E1】______will be more than 8 billion. 4 billion of these people will be living in cities in developing countries such as India and Nigeria. It will cause【E2】______. By the year 2025, with big population living in Indian cities, people will face problems of air pollution, disease and crime. The good news is that in some cities, urban life is actually getting much better. Curitiba proves that it is possible for a city in developing countries to offer good life to its residents. The mayor of Curitiba, Jaime Lerner, has come up with lots of solutions to problems ahead of Curitiba. One creative solution is the method of【E3】______. People bring their trash to special centres and exchange it for something useful. The trash is then recycled and put to use again. Besides , Curitiba’s city planners install a forty-foot-long glass tube at each bus stop for passengers to pay the fare before getting on the bus. This not only saves time but also helps to reduce【E4】______. Jaime Lerner also makes effort to help street children. He asks the owners of factories and stores to allow these children to do simple jobs in exchange for【E5】______or some money. In addition, the city hires them to keep the public parks clean.

It seemed normal when Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son wanted to play chess with his parents. However, it was unusual when he revealed that he already knew how to play—before anyone taught him. Apparently the two-year-old had learned all of the rules by watching his parents. By age 4, he was competing in national tournaments. By age 12, he was Vietnam’s youngest champion. [*] Another two-year-old child, Jay Greenberg, likewise surprised his parents by drawing pictures of musical instruments that he had never seen. They soon discovered that Jay “ heard music in his head. “ He began to compose music at age 3. By age 10, he was attending the prestigious Julliard Conservatory in New York, composing full symphonies. Jay was noted not only for the quality of his musical work, but also the speed at which he was able to produce it. That is, while talented professional composers normally write five or six symphonies in a lifetime, Jay wrote five by the age of 12. Child prodigies such as these are a mystery to experts and non-experts alike. On the one hand, they attract praise and attention from everyone they meet: on the other hand, they attract criticism and they find it difficult to fit in with the rest of the world. Child prodigies are highly intelligent, but this is not the only factor that sets them apart. They are considered prodigies because of their exceptional ability in one domain, or area. Experts define prodigy as “a young child who displays mastery of field that is usually undertaken by adults. “ Child prodigies usually appear in structured areas such as language, math, drawing, chess, and music. They are not as likely to appear in less structured domains such as medicine, law, or creative writing, areas that require experience. Child prodigies can focus their attention for long periods of time, concentrating on tasks that would bore other children of the same age. Two-year-old Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son had the concentration to play chess for hours at a time. The distinction of “prodigy“ thus goes beyond mere intelligence. For explanations, experts look in two directions: nature, the child’s unique biology, and nurture, the child’s environment. When researchers look to nature to explain child prodigies, they study innate or inborn qualities. For example, they look at whether the brain structure of a prodigy is different from that of a child with average intelligence. Technology is a great help on answering this question. For instance, scientists utilize imaging technology to see the amount of activity in different parts of the brain. These brain scans reveal that the frontal lobe of a prodigy’s brain is very active, unlike children with average intelligence doing the same tasks. Their frontal lobes are virtually inactive. Scientists have proven that the frontal lobe of the brain controls many aspects of thought and concentration. This may explain how prodigies can focus on a task, solve complex problems, and learn quickly. When researchers look to nurture to explain child prodigies, they focus on the child’s environment instead of the child’s biology. The most important factor on the nurture side is the parents. Raising a child prodigy is extremely challenging. It requires considerable patience, creativity, and resourcefulness. Some parents are delighted by the extraordinary abilities of their children. They make use of all the resources they have or can find to support them. For example, Jay Greenberg’s parents bought their 2-year-old son a cello when he requested it and arranged for music lessons. Other parents are not so supportive of their child prodigy. On the contrary, some parents even see their offspring’s gifts as a way to draw attention to themselves and their own interests. Boris Si-dis, for example, was a well-known scientist with strong opinions about making the most of one’s intelligence and about raising children. When his son Billy was born, Boris saw the child as an opportunity to test his theories. When people are unusual, they attract attention. In the case of child prodigies, the attention they receive is both positive and negative. It is positive because most people admire intelligence. It is negative because prodigies are very different from other people. They are a challenge for teachers, who expect 7-year-olds to prefer Batman to Beethoven. They are a challenge to parents, who want to help them but often lack the resources or find their needs and desires difficult to understand and meet. They present a challenge to scientists, who want to study them without further isolating them from normal society. And they challenge the world because they reveal the tendency that people have to reject those who are different from the norm. Questions 56 to 60 Mark each statement as either true(T)or false(F)according to the passage.

Read the following passage. Choose from the sentences A—G the one which best fits each gap of 61—65. There are two extra sentences which you do not need to use. For most of human history, “business“ was done one to one—people traded goods and services with each other individually, as families, or as small tribal groups. 【R1】______They were farmers, tailors, laborers, soldiers. They exchanged their goods or services for everything else they needed. Regions started to specialize in a few types of goods and services and commenced regular trading with other regions. Societies created currency, which allowed people to sell their work for money and then use that money to buy the work of others. Urban areas grew and business practices expanded. Eventually, several tradespeople joined together to make one larger business enterprise—a company. [*] In the mid 16th century, the Muscovy Company had a monopoly on trade routes from England to Russia—the only way to ship things between England and Russia was to pay Muscovy. In 1555, it became the first joint-stock company. A joint-stock company is one in which investors give money to help a company expand operations. They then receive a portion of the profit that the company makes. The investors own stock in the company. Muscovy’s success inspired many imitators. Joint-stock companies soon started to multiply.【R2】______ In the 1670s, the English East India Co. became the first company to offer many different types of products and services, and to have parallel operations in many countries at the same time— the first multinational corporation. It reached the height of its power in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The East India Co. even became a military force. It occupied nations and created its own currency. It monopolized trade between East and West in tea, opium, and gunpowder. 【R3】______It dominated the U. S. oil industry. People said that Standard Oil was a monopoly and that this was wrong. Rockefeller defended his company: “ We were all in a sinking ship if competition continued. “ For Rockefeller, monopolies were good. Competition prevented companies from growing large enough to provide certain services society needed. Some public utilities(electricity, water, trash removal)still operate as monopolies. This allows local government to control and monitor the quality of these services on behalf of the people using them. 【R4】______In the early part of the 20th century, companies needed to compete with each other to attract customers. This meant that people had more choices about what they bought. Price went down and quality went up. General Motors(GM)executive Alfred Sloan adopted a policy that corresponded to these changes in the marketable and people’s expectations. He declared in 1924 that his company would have “a car for every purse and purpose. “ GM would put the customer first, not the company. This “customer-first“ principle changed the automotive industry, and made GM one of the most successful businesses in the United States. 【R5】______In the 1970s, trader Michael Milken started working with “junk bonds“. These were high-risk investments that had the potential to increase many times in value. The possibility of high returns in a small investment induced thousands and thousands of people to buy junk bonds. Milken became rich and famous. Soon, however, most of these high risk investments failed. Investors lost millions of dollars. In 1989, Milken went to jail for fraud, for tricking people into buying something that was actually worthless. Questions 61 to 65 A. Most of them wanted to control trade routes from Europe to the New World. B. For most business, however, Rockefeller’s ideas about competition proved to be wrong. C. Business in the new millennium is changing yet again. D. Finding workers with the right educational background, work experience, and language skills can also be very difficult. E. As time went on and societies formed, people began to specialize, to devote their time and energy to one type of work. F. As more and more companies expanded into corporations in the 1950s and 60s, people found new ways to make money from successful, and unsuccessful, businesses. G. By the 1870s, many corporations had become strong and powerful. John D. Rockefeller, for example, built the Standard Oil Company into a huge, super-efficient corporation.

Every year, new roller coasters are built that are bigger, faster, and wilder than ever. Tower rides are dropping us farther. Flat rides are spinning us with unimaginable new twists. It all seemed like good clean fun until June 2, 2001. A 28-year-old woman was found unconscious after a three-minute ride on the Goliath roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. Paramedics rushed her to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The Los Angeles County coroner attributed her death to a pre-existing condition. The woman had a brain aneurysm that could have broken at any time. Rather than calm people, the coroner’s ruling created a controversy that may continue for years to come. The death was one of fifteen fatalities or serious brain injuries that had occurred over the prior ten years among otherwise healthy people who had just taken thrill rides. By the tens of thousands, children and adults line up for thrill rides in amusement parks a-round the world. These rides are designed to provide the extreme physical sensations you just don’t get walking down the street. To find out whether riders need to be as fit as jet pilots to handle the thrills, popular mechanics asked one of the people best qualified to answer, Captain David L. Steinhister. He is a flight surgeon for the U. S. Air Force Thunderbirds. “ We fly visiting media representatives, who are everyday people, in our jets and subject them to g-forces in excess of those found on roller coasters. We have not had any instances of brain trauma,“ Steinhister said. “As flier, we train to handle and tolerate the heavy g-forces, as high as nine g’s. Our visitors will experience sustained g-forces of more than twice the forces found on a roller coaster with no lasting ill effect. “ But Steinhister adds that they always screen these people prior to flights to be sure they’re healthy. Would Air Force-style preflight medical screening have saved any of those who died soon after coaster rides? That will remain a matter of speculation, but it does raise the question of whether more regulations are needed on thrill rides. The amusement industry doesn’t think so, and the scientific evidence that exists appears to concur. The latest evidence to support the amusement industry’s position appeared in the October 2002 issue of the Journal of Neurotrauma. University of Pennsylvania scientists Dr. Douglas H. Smith and David F. Meaney coauthored the article, “ G-force, Roller Coaster and Brain Trauma: On the Wrong Track?“ Smith is a brain trauma researcher who studies the effects of automobile crashes. Meaney is a bioengineer who studies brain trauma. [*] “According to our data,“ says Smith, “it’s unlikely that amusement rides cause brain injuries. “ The team took g-force data from three high-g-force roller coasters and input the data into a mathematical model for head accelerations. They then compared the results to known thresholds for various types of head injuries. They found that the high-est head accelerations from roller coaster rides were far below the minimum thresholds for other types of injuries. U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission(CPSC)statistics support Smith and Meaney’s results. While injuries and occasional fatalities do occur, they are primarily a result of a ride malfunction or from rider horseplay. Statistically, amusement parks are still one of the safest places to have fun. According to the most recent data provided by the CPSC and the National Sporting Goods Association, in the year 2000 there were far fewer emergency room treated injuries per 1000 visits at amusement parks than there were for many other recreational activities. In that year, the CPSC estimates, there were 6, 594 emergency room-treated injuries related to amusement park rides. Most of those were minor. In comparison, each year an estimated 20,000 people are treated for injuries sustained at music concerts. And about 200,000 school children visit emergency rooms for injuries sustained on a playground. The low incidence of injury on rides is credited largely to one organization. Since 1978, the American Society for Testing and Materials(ASTW)has worked with numerous members of the U. S. amusement industry to draft standards and regulations for rider safety. The manufacturers and the ASTM also obtain and analyze data on g-force. They use this data to revise the design and construction of rides. One important aspect of their work has to do with the relationship between g-force and the height and speed of the coasters. The surprising fact is that there is no relationship. G-forces are created by how tightly one changes direction while in motion. When a roller coaster train goes faster, it also goes through a larger radius turn in order to maintain the same g-force as a slower train rolling through a tighter curve. And so, even though advances in technology have led to faster and more thrilling rides, g-force levels on roller coasters have not changed much in the past two to three decades. Today’s machines also benefit from the use of computer programs that automatically calculate g-force along every section of the ride.