2011年湖北成人学位英语考试真题及答案（文字版）
Passage 2
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage:
There was one thought that air pollution 'affected only the area immediately around large cities with factories and heavy automobile traffic. At present, we realize that although these are the areas with the worst air pollution, the problem is literally worldwide.On several occasions over the past decade, a heavy cloud of air pollution has covered the east of the United States and brought health warnings in rural areas away from any major concentration of manufacturing and automobile traffic.In fact, the very climate of the entire earth may be infected by air pollution. Some scientists consider that the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the air resulting from the burning of fossil fuels ( coal and oil) is creating a "greenhouse effect"--conserving heat reflected from the earth and raising the world's average temperature.If this view is correct and the world's temperature is raised only a few degrees, much of the polar ice cap will melt and cities such as New York, Boston, Miami, and New Orleans will be in water.
Another view, less widely held, is that increasing particular matter in the atmosphere is blocking sunlight and lowering the earth's temperature--a result that would be equally disastrous.A drop of just a few degrees could create something close to a new ice age, and would make agriculture difficult or impossible in many of our top fanning areas.Today we do not know for sure that either of these conditions will happen (though one recent government report drafted by experts in the field concluded that the greenhouse effect is very possible).Perhaps, if we are lucky enough, the two tendencies will offset each other and the world's temperature will stay about the same as it is now.
26.As pointed out at the beginning of the passage, people used to think that air pollution ( ).
A.caused widespread damage in the countryside
B.affected the entire eastern half of theUnited States
C.had damaging effect on health D.existed merely in urban and industries areas
27.As to the greenhouse effect, the author ( ).
A.shares the same view with the scientists
B.is uncertain of its occurrence
C.rejects it as being ungrounded
D.thinks that it will destroy the world soon
28.The word"offset"in the second paragraph could be replaced by ( ).
A.slip into
B.make up for
C.set up
D.catch up with
29.It can be concluded that ( ).
A.raising the world's temperature only a few degrees would not do much harm to life on earth
B.lowering the world's temperature merely a few degrees would lead many major farming areas to disaster
C.almost no temperature variations have occurred over the past decade
D.the world's temperature will remain constant in the years to come
30.This passage is primarily about ( ).
A.the greenhouse effect
B.the burning of fossil fuels
C.the potential effect of air pollution
D.the likelihood of a new ice age
Passage 3
Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage:
Increasingly, over the past ten years, people--especially young people--have become aware of the need to change their eating habits, because much of the food they eat, particularly processed food, is not good for the health.Consequently, there has been a growing interest in natural foods.Foods which do not contain chemical additives( 添加剂 ) and which have not been afected by chemical fertilizers, widely used in farming today.
Natural foods, for example, are vegetables, fruit and grain which have been grown in soil that is rich in organic(有机的) matter.In simple terms, this means that the soil has been nourished by unused vegetable matter, which provides it with essential vitamins and minerals.This in itself is a natural process compared with the use of chemicals and fertilizers, the main purpose of which is to increase the amount--but not the quality--of foods grown in commercial farming areas.
Natural foods also include animals which have been allowed to feed and move freely in healthy pastures(牧场) .Compare this with what happens in the mass production of poultry: there are farms, for example, where thousands of chickens live crowded together in one building and are fed on food which is little better than rubbish.Chickens kept in this way are not only tasteless as food, they also lay eggs which lack important vitamins.
There are other aspects of healthy eating which are now receiving increasing attention from experts on diet.Take, for example, the question of sugar.This is actually a non-essential food! Although a natural alternative, such as honey, can be used to sweeten food if it is necessary, we can in fact do without it.It is not that sugar is harmful in itself. But it does seem to be addictive: the quantity we use has grown steadily over the last two centuries and in Britain today each person consumes an average of 200 pounds a year! Yet all it does is to provide us with energy, in the form of calories.There are no vitamins in it, no minerals and no fiber.
It is significant that nowadays fiber is considered to be an important part of a healthy diet.In white bread, for example, the fiber has been removed. But it is present in unrefined flour and of course in vegetables.It is interesting to note that in countries where the national diet contains large quantities of unrefined flour and vegetables, certain diseases are comparatively rare. Hence the emphasis is placed on the eating of whole meal bread and more vegetables by modern experts on "healthy eating".
31.People have become more interested in natural foods because ( ).
A.they are more health conscious
B.they want to taste all kinds of foods
C.natural foods are more delicious than processed foods
D.they want to return to nature
32.Soil that is rich in organic matters ( ).
A.has had chemicals and fertilizers added to it
B.contains vegetable matter that has not been consumed
C.has been nourished by fertilizers
D.already contains large quantities of vitamins and minerals
33.Chickens raised in poultry farms are all of the following EXCEPT that ( ).
A.they are fed on food which is little better than garbage
B.they live in very crowded condition C.the eggs they lay lack vitamins
D.they are allowed to move about and eat freely
34.According to the passage, ( ).
A.people need sugar to give them energy
B.sugar is bad for the health
C.the use of sugar is habit forming
D.sugar only sweetens food, but provides us with nothing useful
35.The best title for this passage is ( ).
A.People's Growing Interest in Natural Foods
B.Natural Foods and Healthy Diet
C.I-Iarmful Effects of Sugar
D.The Importance of Fiber in Foods