大学生英语竞赛D类阅读理解专项强化真题试卷22

A World Without Time or Number The Piraha are an isolated Amazonian tribe of hunter-gatherers who live deep in the Brazilian rainforest. The tribe has survived for centuries, although there are now only around 200 people left. The Piraha, who communicate mainly through hums and whistles, have fascinated ethnologists for years, mainly because they have almost no words for numbers. They use only three words to count: one, two, and many. [*] We know about the Piraha thanks to Dan Everett, a Professor of Phonetics, who spent seven years with the tribe in the 1970s and 1980s. Everett discovered a world without numbers, without time, without words for colours, without subordinate clauses and without a past tense. Their language, he found, was not just simple grammatically: it was restricted in its range of sounds and differed between the sexes. For the men, it has just eight consonants and three vowels: for the women, who have the smallest number of speech sounds in the world, to seven consonants and three vowels. To the untutored ear, the language sounds more like humming than speech. The Piraha can also whistle their language, which is how men communicate when hunting. Their culture is similarly constrained. The Piraha can’t write, have little collective memory, and no concept of decorative art. In 1980 Everett tried to teach them to count: he explained basic arithmetic to an enthusiastic group keen to learn the skills needed to trade with other tribes. After eight months, not one could count to ten: even one plus one was beyond them. The experiment seemed to confirm Everett’s theory: the tribe just couldn’t conceive the concept of number. The Piraha’s inability to count is important because it seems to disprove Noam Chomsky’s influential Theory of Universal Grammar, which holds that the human mind has a natural capacity for language, and that all languages share a basic rule structure, which enables children to understand abstract concepts such as number. Questions 71 -75 Complete the summary with a maximum of three words from the passage. The Piraha is a tribe who has lived in the Brazilian rainforest for hundreds of years. They communicate just with【R1】______. This has made many ethnologists interested in them. Their language is very special, not only because it is simple【R2】______, but also because it is different【R3】____the sexes. Men and women acquire different【R4】______. Although a professor of phonetics has tried to teach them【R5】______, he failed. This seems to disprove Noam Chomsky’s influential Theory of Universal Grammar.

Get Stressed, Stay Young [*] For decades doctors have warned us about the dangers of stress and have given us advice about how to cut down our stress levels. Everyone agrees that long-term stress, for example, having to look after someone who has a chronic illness, or stressful situations where there is nothing we can do, or being stuck in a traffic jam, is bad for our health and should be avoided whenever possible. However, some medical experts now believe that certain kinds of stress may actually be good for us. Dr. Marios Kyriazis, an anti-aging expert, claims that what he calls “good stress“ is beneficial to our health and may, in fact, help us stay young and attractive and even live longer. Dr Kyriazis says that “ good stress“ can strengthen our natural defenses which protect us from illnesses common among older people, such as Alzheimer’s, arthritis(关节炎), and heart problems. He believes that “good stress“ can increase the production of the proteins that help to repair the body’s cells, including brain cells. According to Dr. Kyriazis, running for a bus and having to work to a deadline are examples of “good stress“, which are situations with short-term, low or moderate stress. The stress usually makes us react quickly and efficiently, and gives us a sense of achievement—we did it! However, in both these situations, the stress damages the cells in our body or brain and they start to break down. But then the cells’ own repair mechanism “ switches on“ and it produces proteins which repair the damaged cells and remove harmful chemicals that can gradually cause disease. In fact, the body’s response is greater than is needed to repair the damage, so it actually makes the cells stronger than they were before. “ As the body gets older, this self-repair mechanism of the cells starts to slow down,“ says Dr. Kyriazis. “The best way to keep the process working efficiently is to ’ exercise’ it, in the same way you would exercise your muscles to keep them strong. This means having a certain amount of stress in our lives. “ Other stressful activities that Dr. Kyriazis recommends as being good stress include redecorating a room in your house over a weekend, packing your suitcase in a hurry to reach the airport on time, shopping for a dinner party during your lunch break or programming your DVD player by following the instruction manual. Question 71—75 Complete the summary with a maximum of three words from the passage. In the past, stress was considered to be harmful to our health. Therefore, we always【R1】______the stress levels when possible. But recently medical experts claim that some “ good stress“ can be beneficial to our health and help us stay young and attractive. That is because the self-repair mechanism of this kind of stress can【R2】______, and produce proteins that repair the damaged cells and remove【R3】______. To prevent the cells from【R4】______, we must have some stress in our daily life. Such stress can【R5】______our self-repair mechanism.

Trees for Democracy I am Wangari Maathai. When I was growing up in Nyeri in central Kenya, there was no word for desert in my mother tongue, Kikuyu. Our land was fertile and forested. But today in Nyeri, as in much of Africa and the developing world, water sources have dried up, the soil is parched and unsuitable for growing food, and conflicts over land are common. So it should come as no surprise that I was inspired to plant trees to help meet the basic needs of rural women. As a member of the National Council of Women of Kenya in the early 1970s, I listened as women related what they wanted but did not have enough of energy, clean drinking water, and nutritious food. [*] My response was to begin planting trees with them, to help heal the land and break the cycle of poverty. Trees stop soil erosion, leading to water conservation and increased rainfall. Trees provide fuel, material for building and fencing, fruits, fodder, shade, and beauty. As household managers in rural and urban areas of the developing world, women are the first to encounter the effects of ecological stress. It forces them to walk farther to get wood for cooking and heating, to search for clean water, and to find new sources of food as old ones disappear. My idea evolved into the Green Belt Movement, made up of thousands of groups, primarily of women, who have planted 30 million trees across Kenya. The women are paid a small amount for each seedling, giving them an income as well as improving their environment. The movement has spread to countries in East and Central Africa. Read the passage carefully and then complete each blank in the summary in a maximum of three words from the passage. When Wangari Maathai was a child, there were few【R1】______in Nyeri. However, today in Nyeri as well as in other parts of Africa and the developing world, there are【R2】______water sources, parched soil and common land conflicts. As a member of the National Council of Women of Kenya, she heard that many women lacked energy,【R3】______ and nutritious food which they wanted. Therefore, she was inspired to initiate the【R4】______Movement which was made up of thousands of groups. Most of the members are women, because they bear the brunt of the effects of【R5】______.

In Britain, the traditional white wedding in a village church, with in-laws wearing silly hats, is going out of fashion. One in six couples now prefer to get married abroad, and the more exotic or eccentric the location, the better. But are they making a terrible mistake? First and foremost, a wedding, with all its traditions and rituals, is a rite of passage to be shared with family and close friends. Understandably, there are those who want to avoid the stress and expense of a big wedding and choose a low-key affair instead. I have no problem with that—it’s a matter of personal choice. But in my view, a couple who opt for a holiday instead of a wedding, are running away from reality. Celebrities are known for their short-lived marriages, but not surprisingly, marriages that began in exotic locations have even less chances of surviving. Britney Spears, for instance, married a childhood friend in the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas and their marriage was over after 55 hours. Photos of Renee Zellweger and her country singer groom exchanging vows on a Caribbean beach looked rather romantic, but they separated after four months. It is worth considering the list of top wedding destinations—Cyprus, Italy, Greek islands. Caribbean, Mauritius. What strikes me is that these are honeymoon destinations and personally, I think that the honeymoon has a completely different function from the wedding. Honeymoons are for the couple, a welcome escape from everyday life, a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. A wedding, on the other hand, is all about family and friends. In my opinion, marriages for life need to be rooted in life, not in fantasy. However lavish or modest the wedding, it has no meaning if the people who are there for you every day of your life cannot afford the airfare to the chosen exotic location. My advice to a couple who are tempted to tie the knot on a Caribbean beach is this: don’t do it unless you can afford to pay for your nearest and dearest to go with you. Read the passage carefully and then complete each blank in the summary in a maximum of three words from the passage. Now 1/6 British couples prefer to get married abroad, instead of holding the【R1】______ white wedding in a village church. But in the author’s opinion, they are making a mistake. On the one hand, a wedding is a special ceremony to【R2】______family and friends. A couple choosing a holiday instead of a wedding are【R3】______ Pop stars’【R4】______ marriages have proved marriages that began in exotic locations seem to have even less chances of surviving. On the other hand, weddings are totally different with honeymoons. Marriages for life need to be rooted not【R5】______, but in life. The author’s advice is: no matter how extravagant or modest the wedding is, don’t get married at an exotic location unless you can afford to pay for your family and friends to go with you.