2015年英语四级考试每日一练(2月2日)
1、根据以下资料,回答题:
Drink from plastic bottles can raise the body's levels of a controversial "gender-bending" chemical by more than two thirds, according to tests.
Experts have been concerned about the possible health effects of bisphenolA (BPA.--an everyday chemical used in many plastic food and drink containers and tins as well as clear baby bottles--which is officially classified as toxic in some countries.A study found that participants who drank for a week from polycarbonate (聚碳酸酯) bottles showed a 69 percent increase in their urine (尿液) of BPA.
Researchers did not say how much liquid was drunk per day.Researchers from Harvard School ofPublic Health studied 77 students, who had first undergone a seven-day "washout" phase in which theydrank all cold beverages (饮料) from stainless steel bottles in order to minimise BPA exposure.
They were then given two polycarbonate bottles and asked to drink all cold beverages from themduring the next week.Previous studies have suggested that high levels of BPA consumption are linked tobirth defects, growth problems and an increased risk of heart disease.In particular there are fears thatheating the bottles, as parents would do when warming their baby's milk, causes the chemical to leak inpotentially dangerous quantities into the liquid contained within.
"If you heat those bottles, as is the case with baby bottles, we would expect the levels to beconsiderably higher.This would be of concern since infants may be particularly susceptible to BPA'shormone gland-disrupting (扰乱腺体极速分泌) potential." said the senior author of the latest study, Karin B.Michels.
Most adults carry BPA in their bodies but expert opinion on the risks is divided.The European Food Safety Authority believes that people naturally convert the chemical into less harmful substances in the body.
Previous studies had found that BPA could leach (渗出 ) from polycarbonate bottles into theircontents, but this study is the first to show the size of the corresponding increase in urinary BPAconcentrations in humans.
Harvard researcher Jenny Carwile said, "While previous studies have demonstrated that BPA is linkedto adverse health effects, this study fills in a missing piece of the puzzle--whether or not polycarbonateplastic bottles are an important contributor to the amount of BPA in the body."
What do we know about bisphenol A (BPA.from the beginning of the passage?
A.It is certain substance taken in by human beings every day.
B.It is a component contained in a number of plastic products.
C.It is an element that plays a decisive role in people's gender.
D.It is a kind of chemical that is universally regarded poisonous.
2、
Questions are based on the following passage.
To get a sense of how women have progressed in science, take a quick tour of the physics department at the University of California, Berkeley. This is a storied place, the 36 of some of the most important discoveries in modern science--starting with Ernest Lawrence's invention of the cyclotron (回旋加速器.in1931. A generation ago, female faces were 37 and, even today, visitors walking through the first floor of LeConte Hall will see a full corridor of exhibits 38 the many distinguished physicists who made history here, 39 all of them white males.
But climb up to the third floor and you'll see a 40 display. There, among the photos of current faculty members and students, are portraits of the 41 head of the department, Marjorie Shapiro, and four other women whose research 42 everything from the mechanics of the universe to the smallest particles of matter. A sixth woman was hired just two weeks ago. Although they're still only about 10 percent of the physics faculty, women are clearly a presence here. And the real 43 may be in the smaller photos to the right: graduate and undergraduate students, about 20 percent of them female. Every year Berkeley sends its fresh female physics PhDs to the country's top universities. That makes Shapiro optimistic, but also 44 "I believe things are getting better," she says, "but they're not getting better as 45 as I would like.
A.circumstance
B.confidence
C.covers
D.current
E.deals
F.different
G.exposing
H.fast
I.honoring
J.hope
K.presently
L.rare
M.realistic
N.site
O.virtually
第36题应填____
3、听音频:
根据听到的内容回答题
A.The woman is now working in a kindergarten.
B.The man will soon start a business of his own.
C.The man would like to be a high school teacher.
D.The woman is going to major in child education.
4、Questions are based on the following passage.
The mobile phone is a magic device widely used these days. Although it has been nearly 30 years since the first commercial mobile-phone network was launched, advertisers have yet to figure out how to get their ___36___ out to mobile-phone users in a big way. There are 2.2 billion cell-phone users worldwide, a ___37___ that is growing by about 25% each year. Yet spending on ads carried over cell-phone networks l’t year ___38___ to just $ 1.5 billion worldwide, a fraction of the $ 424 billion global ad market.
But as the number of eyeballs glued to ___39___ screens multiplies, so too does the mobile phone's value as a pocket billboard (广告的). Consumers are ___40___ using their phones for things other than voice calls, such as text messaging, downloading songs and games, and ___41___ the Internet. By 2010,70 million Asians are expected to be watching videos and TV programs on mobile phones. All of these activities give advertisem ___42___ options for reaching audiences. During soccer's World Cup last summer, for example, Adidas used real-time scores and games to ___43___ thousands of fans to a website set up for mobile-phone access. "Our target audience was males aged 17 to 25 ," says Marcus Spurrell, Adidas regional manager for Asia. "Their mobiles are always on, always in their pocket-you just can't ___44___. cell phones as an advertising tool. " Mobile-phone marketing has become as ___45___ a platform as TV, online or print.
A.accessing
B.amounted
C.approaching
D.attract
E.casual
F.charactexs
G.fresh
H.ignore
I.increasingly
J.messages
K.patiently
L.tiny
M.total
N.violated
O.vital
第36题为( )
5、根据以下资料,回答题:
Wbrld Must Adapt to Unknown Climate Future
A.There is still great uncertainty about the impacts of climate change,according to the latest report from the Intefgovernmental Panel on Climate Change,released today.So if we are to survive and prosper, rather than trying to fend off specific threats like cyclones,we must build flexible and resilient(有弹性的)societies.
B.Today’s report is the second of three instalments(分期连载)of the IPCC’s fifth assessment of climate change.The first instalment,released last year,covered the physical science of climate change.It stated with increased certainty that climate change is happenin9,and that it is the result of humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions.The new report focuses on the impacts of climate change and how to adapt to them.The third instalment,on how to cut greenhouse gas emissions,comes out in April.
C.The latest report backs off from some of the predictions made in the previous IPCC report,in 2007.During the final editing process.the authors also retreated from many of the more confident projections from the final draft,leaked last year.The IPCC now says it often cannot predict which specific impacts of climate change—such as droughts,storms or floods——will hit particular places.
D.Instead,the IPCC focuses on how people call adapt in the face of uncertainty,arguing that we must become resilient against diverse changes in the climate.“The natural human tendency is to want things to be clear and simple.”says the report’s co-chair Chris Field of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Stanford,Califomia.“And one of the messages that doesn’t just come from the IPCC,it comes from history,is that the future doesn’t ever turn out the way you think it will be.”That means,Field adds,that‘'being prepared for a wide range of possible futures is iust always smart”.
E.Here New Scientist breaks down what is new in the report,and what it means for humanity’s efforts to cope with a changing climate.A companion article,“How climate change will affect where you live”,highlights some of the key impacts that different regions are facing.What has changed in the new IPCC report?
F.In essence,the predictions are intentionally vaguer.Much of the firlner language from the 2007 report about exactly what kind of weather to expect,and how changes witl affect people,has been replaced with more cautious statements.The scale and timing of many regional impacts,and even the form of some,now appear uncertain.
G.For example,the 2007 report predicted that the intensity of cyclones over Asia would increase by 10to 20 per cent.The new report makes no such claim.Similarly,the last report estimated that climate change would force up to a quarter of a billion Africans into water shortage by the end of this decade.The new report avoids using such firm numbers.
H.The report has even watered down many of the more confident predictions that appeared in the lcaked drafts.References to“hundreds of millions”of people being affected by rising sea levels have been removed from the summary,as have statements about the impact of warmer temperatures on crops.“I think it's gone back a bit,”says Jean Palutikof of Griffith University in Brisbane,Queensland,Australia,who worked on the 2007 report.“That may be a good thing.In the fourth [climate assessment]we tried to do things that weren’t really possible and the fifth has sort of rebalanced the whole thing.”
So do we know less than we did before?
I.Not really,says Andy Pitman of the University of New South Wales in Sydney,Australia.It is just more rigorous language.“Pointing to the sign of the change,rather than the precise magnitude of the change,is scientifically more defensible,”he says.
J.We also know more about what we don’t know,says David Karoly at the University of Melbourne.“There is now a better understanding of uncertainties in regional climate proj ections at decadal timescales(时标).”
Are we less confident about all the impacts of climate change?
K.Not quite.There are still plenty of confident predictions of impacts in the reponv—at least in the draft chapters that were lcaked last year,and which are expected to be roughly the same when they are released later this week.These include more rain in parts ofAfrica,more heatwaves in southem Europe,and more frequent droughts in Australia(see“How climate change will affect where you live”).It also remains clear that the seas are rising.How do we prepare in cases in which there is low confidence about the effects of climate change?
L.That’s exactly what this report deals with.In many cases,the uncertainty is a matter of magnitude,so the choices are not hard.“It doesn’t really matter if the car hits the wall at 70 or 80 kilometres an hour,”says Karoly.“You should still wear your seat belt.”So when it comes to sea.1evel rise or heatwaves,the uncertainty does not change what we need to do:build sea walls,use efficient cooling and so forth.
M.But in some cases——such as African rainfall,which could go up or down——the models are not giving us great advice.so all we know is that things will change.“We are not certain about the precise nature of regional change,but we are absolutely certain there are going to be profound changes in many regions,”says Pitman.Even then,there are things we can do that will always help.A big one is getting people out of poverty.The report says poverty makes other impacts worse and many suggested adaptations are about alleviating it.The IPCC suggests giving disadvantaged groups more of a voice,helping them move when they need to and strengthening social safety nets.
N.What’s more,all countries should diversify their economies,rather than relying on a few main sources of income that could flood or blow ovel Countries should also find ways to become less vulnerable to the current climate variability.That means improving the way they govem resources like water,the report says.
O.In short,we must become more resilient.That would be wise even if the climate was stable.Our current infrastructure often cannot deal with the current climate,says Karoly,pointing to events like the recent UK floods.“We don’t have a resilient system now,even in extremely well developed countries.”
注意:此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。
Focusing on the clue of climate change instead of the severity of climate effects is scientifically more reasonable.
填空题
6、听音频,回答下面各题。
Twenty-four years and two days ago,on a Tuesday morning,the space shuttle Discovery(26)__________ to low Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral,Florida.As NASA's newest eye in the sky,the Hubble Space Telescope,is an(27)__________ which can peer deep into the cosmos and capture the universe’s inhabitants in exquisite detail.It had taken(28)__________ of design and planning to get the telescope ready for work.The next day,on April 25,astronauts delivered the telescope to space.
Then,scientists eagerly(29)__________ Hubble to start revealing cosmic secrets.We all know what happened next.A flaw in the telescope’s(30)__________ mirror meant the images weren’t sharp.(31)__________ incredibly faint objects,such as very distant galaxies,wasn’t possible.It would be three years before the first of five servicing missions let astronauts correct the defect and(32)__________ Hubble’s vision to what it should have been.
Since then,though,the Hubble space telescope has(33)__________ delighted Earthlings with its breathtaking views of stars,galaxies,and our planetary neighbors.Its impact on science has been no less important.Among other discoveries,Hubble helped scientists determine that the universe is expanding at an(34)__________ rate.This discovery,which happened in the late 1990s,is something we still can’t fully explain.
Here,(35)__________ Hubble’s 24th launchiversary,are 25 images that might be slightly less familiar…and I've added one to grow on,just for good measure.
__________
简答题
7、上海菜系(cuisqne)是中国年轻的地方菜系,有着400多年的历史。同其他中国菜系一样,本菜系具有“色、香(aroma)、味”三大要素。上海菜的特点是注重调料(seasoning)的使用、食材的质地和菜的原汁原味。其中著名的有特色点心“南翔小笼”(Nanxiang Steamed Meat Dumplings)和特色菜“松鼠鲑鱼”(Squirrel—Shaped Mandarin Fish)。“南翔小笼”是猪肉馅,皮薄个小、汁醇味美。“松鼠鲑鱼”色泽黄亮,形如松鼠,外皮脆而里肉嫩,汤汁酸甜适口。
8、我国是茶叶的原产地,茶叶产量堪称世界之。饮茶在我国,不仅是一种生活习惯,更是一种源远流长的文化传统。中国人习惯以茶待客,并形成了相应的饮茶礼仪。按照我国传统文化的习俗,无论在任何场合,敬茶与饮茶的礼仪(the et i quette to offer tea and dr i nk tea)都是不可忽视的一环。以茶待客时。一般应当事先将茶沏好,装入茶杯,然后放在茶盘之内端入客厅。如果客人较多,务必要多备上几杯茶,以防供不应求。
9、You should write a short essay entitled Should the University Campus Be Open to Tourists?
写作导航
1.指出名校校园正成为旅游新热点这一社会现象,
2.对于校园是否应对游客开放,人们看法不一,
3.提出自己的看法:大学校园应偶尔对外开放。
10、
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