题目
题型:上海模拟题难度:来源:
Most people think of zoos as safe places for animals, where struggles such as difficulty finding food and avoiding predators don"t exist. Without such problems, animals in zoos should live to a ripe old age.
But that may not be true for the largest land animals on Earth. Scientists have known that elephants in
zoos often suffer from poor health. They develop diseases, joint problems and behavior changes.
Sometimes, they even become unable to have babies.
To learn more about how captivity (监禁) affects elephants, a team of international scientists compared the life spans of female elephants born in zoos with female elephants living outdoors in their native lands.
Zoos keep detailed records of all the animals in their care, documenting factors such as birth dates,
illnesses, weight and death. These records made it possible for the researchers to analyze 40 years of
data on 800 African and Asian elephants in zoos across Europe. The scientists compared the life spans of
the zoo-born elephants with the life spans of thousands of female wild elephants in Africa and Asian
elephants that work in logging camps (伐木场), over approximately the same time period.
The team found that female African elephants born in zoos lived an average of 16.9 years. Their wild
counterparts who died of natural causes lived an average of 56 years--more than three times as long.
Female Asian elephants followed a similar pattern. In zoos, they lived 18.9 years, while those in the
logging camps lived 41.7 years.
Scientists don"t yet know why wild elephants seem to live so much better than their zoo-raised counterparts. Georgia Mason, a biologist at the University of Guelph in Canada who led the study, thinks stress
and obesity (肥胖) may be to blame. Zoo elephants don"t get the same kind of exercise they would in the wild, and most are very fat. Elephant social lives are also much different in zoos than in the wild, where they live in large herds and family groups.
Another finding from the study showed that Asian elephants born in zoos were more likely to die early
than Asian elephants captured in the wild and brought to zoos. Mason suggests stress in the mothers in
zoos might cause them to have babies that are less likely to survive.
The study raises some questions about acquiring more elephants to keep in zoos. While some threatened
and endangered species living in zoos reproduce successfully and maintain healthy populations, that
doesn"t appear to be the case with elephants.
B. 1ive to a ripe old age.
C. are not afraid of predators.
D. develop health problems.
NOT true? (See paragraph 3)?
B. They kept detailed records of all the elephants in their care.
C. They analyzed the records of the elephants kept in zoos.
D. The zoo-born elephants they studied are kept in European zoos.
B. Female zoo elephants live longer than their wild counterparts.
C. Female zoo elephants die much earlier than their wild counterparts.
D. Elephants in zoos and those in the wild enjoy the same long life spans.
B. Elephants are no longer an endangered species.
C. Zoo-born elephants should be looked after more carefully.
D. Zoos should keep more animals except elephants.
答案
核心考点
举一反三
diethylamide glycol ( [化]乙二醇), a low - cost substitute commonly used in automobile antifreeze (防冻剂).
Some countries have banned Chinese-made toothpaste containing diethylamide glycol. China has now
told companies to discontinue its use, even though it says the toothpaste is safe. Another industrial
chemical, melamine, was found in wheat flour used to make pet food in North America. Thousands of
dogs and cats became sick.
The United States has restricted some imports of Chinese seafood because they contained banned
substance. And questions have been raised about other products, including children"s toys covered with
lead paint.
Chinese officials promised to provide the European Union, the biggest trading partner, with detailed
reports on enforcement efforts against unsafe goods.
Meglena Kuneva, commissioner (理事) for consumer protection of the European Union said China
should have kept its promise.
China recently closed three companies linked to the Panama and the pet food scare. And it dismissed
the former head of its food and drug administration. He was found guilty of corruption (腐败) for
approving unsafe drugs. This week, a conference of the State Council approved a proposed special
measure on the supervision of food safety. The Xinhua News Agency said it calls for stronger controls
over producers, greater responsibilities for government and more serious punishment for illegal activities.
But Chinese officials have accused some foreign media of overstating problems with goods made in
China. They say food imports from the United States also fail inspection sometimes. Next Week,
American and Chinese food safety officials are planning to hold 5 days of meetings in Beijing to discuss
cooperation.
B. Five
C. Four
D. Three
B. The former head of food and drug administration was removed from his position.
C. More serious punishment was conducted for leaders linked to it.
D. Both A and B.
B. the safety of "made in China" is doubted
C. there are safety problems with more Chinese products
D. the Chinese government is to blame partly for the product safety problems.
B. more controls are taken of Chinese goods
C. overstated problems with Chinese goods
D. China is losing its trade partners
B. The European Union
C. Chinese officials
D. The Chinese company
"In general, Americans don"t have nutrient, except for iron and calcium," they reported. They have the opposite problem--over-consumption (过度消耗), especially of fat.
The food at many fast food restaurants is often low in vitamins. "People who eat more than 30 percent of total calories away from home eat foods that are generally low in nutrients per calorie," the professors said. More calories and enough nutrient intake (吸收) are required to achieve.
One of the major health risks (风险) is eating too much fat. The professor found than fat consumption became greater as income (收入) went up. It also went up in houses where the female worked. This is probably because these people eat more highly processed (加工的) foods.
B. Eat at home as many times as possible
C. Eat foods with a lot if iron, calcium and fat
D. Eat more highly processed foods
B. They tend to have less nutrition
C.They can save a lot of time
D. They will spend much money on it
B. Frequent dining out
C.Eating at home very often
D. Eating too much fat
B. The Life Style in Modern Society
C. Fast food in the USA
D. Dining out Lowers Nutrient Intake
them lose weight or at least keep them from gaining it.Yet it seems to have exactly the opposite effect,
according to a new study.
Researchers from the University of Texas said those who drank two or more diet sodas a day had
waist size increases that were six times greater than those who didn"t drink diet soda."What we saw was
that the more diet sodas a person drank, the more weight they were likely to gain," said Sharon Fowler.
The study was based on data from 474 participants in a large, ongoing research project, where the
participants were followed for nearly l0 years.
While the findings are surprising, they also offer some explanations.
Nutrition expert, Melanie Rogers, who works with overweight patients in New York, has found that
when patients are switched from regular to diet soda, they don"t lose weight at all."We weren"t seeing
weight loss necessarily, and that was confusing to us," said Rogers.
So why would diet soda cause weight gain? No one knows for sure yet, but it could be that people
think they can eat more if they drink diet soda, and so over-compensate for the missing calories.
A related study found some sweeteners (甜味剂) raised blood sugar levels in some mice."Data from
this and other potential studies suggest that the promotion of diet sodas and artificial sweeteners may be
risky," said Helen P.Hazuda, professor at the University of Texas"s school of medicine."They may be free
of calories, but not of consequences."
B. achieve weight loss
C. stay in fashion
D. gain more energy
B. helps people to be healthier
C. makes people much thinner
D. offers people more calories
B. diet soda does help reduce calories
C. diet soda drinkers tend to eat more food
D. most blood diseases come from diet soda
B. diet soda drinkers and sweetener takers
C. sodas
D. diet sodas and artificial sweeteners
Most people know this joke. But recently, some people have been much more worried about how
the grizzly bear and mountain lion can cross the road.
"Millions of animals die each year on U.S. roads," the Federal Highway Administration reports. In
fact, only about 80 ocelots, an endangered wild cat, exist in the U.S. today. The main reason? Roadkill.
"Eco-passages" may help animals cross the road without being hit by cars. They are paths both over
and under roads. "These eco-passages can be extremely useful, so that wildlife can avoid road accidents," said Jodi Hilty of the Wildlife Protection Society.
But do animals actually use the eco-passages? The answer is yes. Paul Beier of Northern Arizona
University found foot marks left by mountain lions on an eco-passage that went under a highway. This
showed that the lions used the passage.
Builders of eco-passages try to make them look like a natural part of an area by planting trees on and
around them. Animals seem to be catching on. Animals like salamanders (火蜥蜴) and grizzly bears are
using the bridges and underpasses.
The next time you visit a park or drive through an area with a lot of wildlife, look around. You might
see an animal overpass!
B. the driving condition has improved greatly
C. the measure for protecting wildlife fails to work
D. an increasing number of animals are killed in road accidents
B. a fence built for the safety of the area
C. a bridge for animals to get over a river
D. a path for animals to cross the road
B. animals begin to learn to use eco-passages
C. animals are crossing the road in groups
D. animals are increasing in number
B. wild animals may jam the road
C. they may see wild animals in the park
D. they may see wild animals on eco-passages
B. Endangered animals increase because of roadkill
C. Animals fail to cross the road
D. Take steps to protect animals in danger
sitting for prolonged periods - even if you also exercise regularly - could be 1 for your health. And it
doesn"t matter where the sitting takes place - at the office, at school, in the car or before a computer or
TV - just the overall number of hours it 2 .
Research is preliminary, but several studies 3 people who spend most of their days sitting are more
likely to be fat, have a heart attack or even die.
In an editorial 4 this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Elin Ekblom-Bak of the Swedish
School of Sport and Health Sciences suggested that authorities rethink how they define 5 activity to
highlight the dangers of sitting.
While health officials have issued guidelines 6 minimum amounts of physical activity, they haven"t
suggested people try to limit how much time they spend in a seated 7 .
"After four hours of sitting, the body starts to send 8 signals," Ekblom-Bak said. She explained that
genes regulating the amount of glucose and fat in the 9 start to shut down.
Even for people who 10 , spending long stretches of time sitting at a desk is still harmful. Tim
Armstrong, a physical activity expert at the World Health Organization, said people who exercise every
day - 11 still spend a lot of time sitting - might get more benefit if that exercise were spread across the
day, 12 in a single bout.
That wasn"t 13 news for Aytekin Can, 31, who works at a London financial company, and spends
most of his days sitting 14 a computer. Several evenings a week, Can also teaches jiu jitsu, a Japanese
martial art 15 wrestling, and also does Thai boxing.
"I"m sure there are some detrimental 16 of staying still for too long, but I hope that being 17 when
I can helps," he said. "I wouldn"t want to think the sitting could be _18 dangerous."
Still, in a study published last year that tracked more than 17,000 Canadians for about a dozen years,
researchers found people who sat 19 had a higher death risk, independently of whether or not they
exercised.
Figures from a US survey in 2003-2004 found Americans spend more than half their time sitting, from
working at their desks to sitting in cars.
Experts said more research is needed to 20 just how much sitting is dangerous, and what might be
possible to offset those effects.