学位英语

第4部分：阅读理解(第31?45题，每题3分，共45分)

下面有3篇短文，每篇短文后有5道题。请根据短文内容，为每题确定1个最佳选项。

第一篇 More American Getting High Blood Pressure

The number of Americans with high blood pressure is on the rise thanks in large part to growing rates of obesity (过度月巴胖)，researchers said on Tuesday.

But increasing numbers of those with high blood pressure, also called hypertension are getting the condition treated, researchers from the US government’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) wrote in the journal Hypertention.

High blood pressure can lead to stroke, heart attack, heart failure or kidney (Jff) failure. It is sometimes called the “silent killer” because it has no symptoms, and many people have it for years without knowing it.

Data spanning six years through 2004 showed that 29 percent of US adults had high blood pressure, compared to 24 percent in the six-year period ending in 1994，the researchers said.

“The percentage of the population with high blood pressure is going the wrong way ---it’s increasing，” Dr. Jeffrey Cutler of the NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute said in a telephone interview.

Some of the leading factors behind high blood pressure include being obese or overweight, not getting regular physical activity, smoking and too much salt in the diet.

The study showed blacks continued to have higher rates of high blood pressure than whites.

During the 1999-2004 period, 61 percent of those with high blood pressure were undergoing treatment for it and 35 percent had their blood pressure under control, the researchers said. A number of different drugs are used to treat hypertension.

The finding were based on data on a nationally representative sample of 16,351 US adults for 1988- 1994 and 14,430 adults for 1999-2004.

31 The number of Americans with hypertension is A ? smaller than before

A. the same as before

B. greater than before

C. hard to calculate

32. Hypertension may lead to

A. stroke

B. heart attack

C. kidney failure

D. all of the above

33. Hypertension is sometimes called the “silent killer” because

A. its causes remain unknown

B. it often has no symptoms

C. it’s a lifelong condition

D. it9s treated secretly.

34. Twenty-nine percent of US adults had hypertension

A. during the 1999-2004 period

B. during the 1988-2004 period

C during the 1994-1999 period

D. during the 1988-1994 period

35. which of the following is NOT a likely cause of hypertension?

A.Constant smoking

B. Obesity or overweight

C. Regular physical activity.

D. Too much salt in the diet

Dangers Await Babies with Altitude

Women who live in the world’s highest communities tend to give birth to under-weight babies, a new study suggests. These babies may grow into adults with a high risk of heart disease and strokes.

Research has hinted that newborns in mountain communities are lighter than average. But it wasn’t clear whether this is due to reduced oxygen levels at high altitude or because their mothers are undernourished —many people who live at high altitudes are relatively poor compared with those living lower down.

To find out more，Dino Giussani and his team at Cambridge University studied the records of 400 births in Bolivia during 1997 and 1998. The babies were bom in both rich and poor areas of two cities: La Paz and Santa Cruz. La Paz is the highest city in the world, at 3.65 kilometers above sea level, while Santa Cruz is much lower, at 0.44 kilometers.

Sure enough, Giussani found that the average birth weight of babies in La Paz was significantly lower than in Santa Cruz. This was true in both high and low-income families. Even babies bom to poor families in Santa Cruz were heavier on average than babies bom to wealthy families in lofty La Paz. “We were very surprised by this result，，，says Giussani.

The results suggest that babies bom at high altitude are deprived of oxygen before birth. “This may trigger the release or suppression of hormones that regulate growth of the unborn child, “says Giussani.

His team also found that high-altitude babies tended to have relatively larger heads compared with their bodies. This is probably because a fetus starved of oxygen will send oxygenated blood to the brain in preference to the rest of the body.

Giussani wants to find out if such babies have a higher risk of disease in later life. People bom in La Paz might be prone to heart trouble in adulthood, for example. Low birth weight is a risk factor for coronary heart disease. And newborns with a high ratio of head size to body weight are often predisposed to high blood pressure and strokes in later life.

32. What does the new study discover?

A. Babies bom to wealthy families are heavier

B. Women living at high altitudes tend to give birth to underweight babies

C. Newborns in cities are lighter than average

D. Low-altitude babies have a high risk of heart disease in later life

33. Giussan and his team are sure that

A. babies bom in La Paz are on average lighter than in Santa Cruz

B. people living in La Paz are poorer than those in Santa Cruz

C. the birth weight of babies bom to wealthy families is above average

D. mothers in La Paz are commonly under-nourished

34. It can be inferred from what Giussan says in Paragraph 4 that

A. he was very tired

B. the study took longer than expected

C. the finding was unexpected

D. he was surprised to find low-income families in La Paz

35. The results of the study indicate the reason for the birth of underweight babies is

A. lack of certain nutrition B ? reduction of oxygen levels

A. poverty of their mothers D ? different family backgrounds 40 ? It can be learnt from the last paragraph that

A. underweight babies have a shorter life span

B. babies bom to poor families lack certain hormones before birth.

C. high-altitude babies tend to have high blood pressure in their later life

D. newborns in wealthy families have larger heads compared with their bodies.

第三篇 New US Plan for Disease Prevention

Urging Americans to take responsibility for their health, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson on Tuesday launched a $ 15 million program to try to encourage communities to do more to prevent chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer and diabetess (糖尿病)?

The initiative (倡议)highlights the cost of chronic disease^the leading causes of death in the United States—and outlines ways that people can prevent them, including better diet and increased exercise.

“In the United States today，7 of 10 deaths and the vast majority of serious illness, disability and health care costs are caused by chronic diseases，，，the Health and Human Services Department said in a statement. The causes are often behavioral—smoking, poor eating habits and a lack of exercise.

“I am convinced that preventing disease by promoting better health is a smart policy choice for our future,55 Thompson told a conference held to launch the initiative. “Our current health care system is not structured to deal with the rising costs of treating diseases that are largely preventable through changes in our lifestyle choices.”

Thompson said heart disease and stroke will cost the country more than $351 billion in 2003. “These leading causes of death for men and women are largely preventable, yet we as a nation are not taking the steps necessary for us to lead healthier, longer lives，” he said.

The $ 15 million is scheduled to go to communities to promote prevention, pushing for changes as simple as building sidewalks to encourage people to walk more. Daily exercise such as walking can prevent and even reverse heart disease and diabetes, and prevent cancer and strokes.

The money will also go to community organizations, clinics and nutritionists (营养学家)who are being encouraged to work together to educate people at risk of diabetes about what they can do to prevent it and encourage more cancer screening.

The American Cancer Society estimates that half of all cancers can be caught by screening. If such cancers were all caught by early screening, the Society estimates that the survival rate for cancer would rise to 95 percent.

41. The $15 million program is aimed at

A. promoting disease prevention

B. building more sidewalks

C. helping needy communities

D. wiping out chronic diseases

42. Which of the following is NOT true of chronic diseases in the US?

A. They often result in unhealthy lifestyles.

B. They account for 70% of all deaths.

C. They are responsible for most of the health care costs.

D. They are largely preventable

43 The author mentions all the following as ways of disease prevention EXCEPT

A. better diet

B. daily screening

C. more exercise

D. reduction on smoking

44. The passage indicates that more money spent on disease prevention will mean

A. greater responsibility of the government

B. less money needed for disease treatment

C. higher costs of health care

D. more lifestyle choices for people

45. Early cancer screening can help reduce significantly

A. the death rates for all chronic diseases

B. the kinds of cancer attacking people

C. the cancer incidence rate

D. the cancer death rate

（责任编辑：中大编辑）

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