阅读理解题

　　第一篇

Knitting

　　My mother knew how to knit (编织), but she never taught me. She assumed, as did many women of her generation, that knitting was no longer a skill worth passing down from mother to daughter. A combination of feminism (女权主义) and consumerism (消费主义) made many women feel that such homely accomplishments were now out of date. My Grandmother still knitted, though, and every Christmas she made a pair of socks for my brother and me, of red wool. They were the ones we wore under our ice skates (冰鞋), when it was really important to have warm feet.

　　Knitting is a nervous habit that happens to be productive. It helped me quit smoking by giving my hands something else to do. It is wonderful for depression because no matter what else happens, you are creating something beautiful. Time spent in front of the television or just sitting is no longer time wasted.

　　I love breathing life into the patterns. It's true magic, finding a neglected, dog-eared old book with the perfect snowflake design, buying the same Germantown wool my grandmother used, in the exact blue to match my daughter's eyes; taking it on the train with me every day for two months, working enthusiastically to get it done by Christmas, staying up late after the stockings are filled to sew in the sleeves and weave in the ends.

　　Knitting has taught me patience. I know that if I just keep going, even if it takes months, there will be a reward. When I make a mistake, I know that anger will not fix it, that I just have to go back and take out the stitches (针脚) between and start over again.

　　People often ask if I would do it for money, and the answer is always a definite no. In the first place, you could not pay me enough for the hours I put into a sweater. But more important, this is an activity I keep separate from such considerations. I knit to cover my children and other people I love in warmth and color. I knit to give them something earthly that money could never buy.

　　Knitting gives my life an alternative rhythm to the daily deadline. By day I can write about Northern Ireland or the New York City Police Department and get paid for it, but on the train home, surrounded by people with laptops, I stage my little rebellion: I take out my old knitting bag and join the centuries of women who have knitted for love.

　　1 Why did many women feel that knitting was out of date？

　　A Because their mothers didn't teach them.

　　B Because they were influenced by feminism and consumerism

　　C Because they were feminists.

　　D Because they were consumerists.

　　2 The author wore the red socks her grandmother had knitted for her

　　A when she went to school.

　　B when she went sightseeing.

　　C when she celebrated Christmas.

　　D when she went skating.

　　3 The word "quit" in Paragraph 2 is closest meaning to

　　A "give up".

　　B "speed up".

　　C "slow down"，

　　D "build up".

　　4 Which of the following statements about knitting is NOT true？

　　A Knitting helps one get rid of bad habits.

　　B Knitting helps one get free from a bad mood.

　　C Knitting requires patience，

　　D Knitting is a profit-making business.

　　5 Which of the following is NOT the writer's purpose of knitting？

　　A To save money.

　　B To make full use of her leisure time.

　　C To enrich her life.

　　D To show her love for the family.

　　第二篇

Old Mothers' Children Have Higher Diabetes (糖尿病) Risk

　　Children of older mothers run a higher risk of developing insulin-dependent (胰岛素依赖型的) diabetes, the British Medical Journal said. "A strong association was found between increasing maternal (母亲的) age at delivery and risk of (insulin-dependent) diabetes in the child. Risk was highest in firstborn children and decreased progressively with higher birth order," Professor Edwin Gale and colleagues at Southmead Hospital in Bristol said. Diabetes is a serious, incurable, lifelong disease characterized (以…作为特性) by an inability to control the amount of sugar in the blood. Insulin-dependent diabetes, which mainly affects children, is treated by administering the hormone insulin. Gale looked into 1,375 families in the Oxford area where one or more children had diabetes and found that the risk of a child developing insulin. dependent diabetes increased by 25 percent for each five-year band of the mother's age.

　　The risk of developing diabetes was also linked to the age of the father. For every five-year band of the father's age the risk of the child developing diabetes increased by nine percent. The risk of diabetes was highest among the firstborn children of mothers who started their families late and the risk decreased by about 15 percent for each subsequent child, the BMJ said. The older the mother, the earlier the start of insulin-dependent diabetes in the child. Other studies have already shown that children born to older mothers, over the age of 35, have an increased risk of diabetes but this study is the first to establish that risk increases continuously in relation to increasing maternal age, Dr. Polly Bingley of Southmead Hospital told Reuters (路透社). The new study is the first to show that risk is related to birth order.

　　The study also partly explains increasing diabetes. Between 1970 and 1996 the proportion of children born to mothers aged between 30 and 34 increased to 28 percent from 15 percent and this could account for rising numbers of childhood diabetes patients, the scientists said in the BMJ.

　　The diabetes charity Diabetes UK agreed that the study may have uncovered a reason for the alarming increase in the rate of (insulin-dependent) diabetes among children in recent years. "This study may well provide a clue to the understanding of this problem. It is most likely that there are a number of factors to explain the increase," Diabetes UK said. There are some 1.4 million diagnosed diabetes sufferers in Britain, the charity Diabetes UK said. Of these 1.4 million sufferers there are 20,000 people under age 20 who suffer from insulin-dependent diabetes.

　　6 According to the passage, the risk of a child developing insulin-dependent diabetes is linked to all the following factors EXCEPT

　　A the maternal age at delivery.

　　B the age of the father.

　　C birth order.

　　D the amount of sugar he or she consumes.

　　7 What kind of child may be at the highest risk of developing insulin-dependent diabetes？

　　A The children whose fathers are five years younger than their mothers.

　　B The children whose mothers are five years younger than their fathers.

　　C The third-born children whose fathers got married late.

　　D The first-born children whose mothers started their families late.

　　8 What is the correlation between the mother's age and the time when the child develops insulin-dependent diabetes？

　　A The younger the mother, the earlier the start of diabetes in the child.

　　B The older the mother, the earlier the start of diabetes in the child.

　　C The older the mother, the later the start of diabetes in the child.

　　D The mother's age has little to do with the time when the child develops insulin-dependent diabetes.

　　9 According to the passage, the alarming increase in the rate of diabetes, among children in the UK may partly be explained by the rise in

　　A the proportion of children born to mothers aged above 30.

　　B the incidence of diabetes in the whole country.

　　C the supply of diabetes medicines.

　　D the number of newborn babies.

　　10 How many diagnosed diabetes patients are there in Britain？

　　A About twenty thousand.

　　B About one million and four hundred thousand.

　　C About one million and four thousand.

　　D About one million and four hundred.

　　第三篇

Regeneration of Limbs

　　Most people would agree that it would be wonderful if humans could regenerate limbs. Those who have lost their arms or legs would be complete again. The day is still far off when this might happen. But in the last 10 years, doctors have reported regeneration in smaller parts of the body, most often fingers.

　　Regeneration is not a newly-discovered process. For centuries, scientists have seen it work in some kinds of animals. Break off a lizard's (蜥蜴的) tail, for example, and it will grow a new tail. Scientists now are looking for a way to turn on this exciting ability in more highly-developed animals, including humans. Their experiments show that nerves, cell chemistry and the natural electric currents in the body all seem to have a part in this process.

　　The body of every animal contains general purpose cells that change into whatever kind of cells the body needs. Animals such as the lizard or salamander (蝾螈) use these cells to regenerate a new tail or leg when the old one is broken off. These cells collect around the wound. They form a mass called a blastema (胚基). The cells of the blastema begin to change. Some become bone cells, some muscle cells, some skin cells. Slowly, a new part regrows from the body outward. When completed, the new part is just like the old one.

　　More than 200 years ago, Italian scientist Luigi Spallanzani showed that younger animals have a greater ability to regenerate lost parts than older animals. So do animals lower on the ladder of evolutionary development. The major difference seems to be that less-developed animals have more nerves in their tails and legs than humans do in their arms and legs.

　　Another helpful piece of information was discovered in the late 1800s. Scientists found that when a creature is injured, an electrical current flows around the wound. The strength of the current depends on how severe the wound is and on how much nerve tissue is present.

　　In 1945, American scientist Meryl Rose tested another idea about regeneration. He thought a new limb might grow only from an open wound. Doctor Rose cut off the front legs of some frogs, below the knee. He kept the wounds wet with a strong salty liquid. This prevented skin from growing over the wounds. The results were surprising. Frogs do not regenerate new legs naturally. But these frogs began to grow new limbs. About half of each cut-off leg grew back again. New bones and muscles developed.

　　This research has led doctors to new ways of treating cut-off fingers. Doctors have observed, for example, that many children and some adults will regrow the top of a finger if the wound is left open.

　　11 The passage indicates that

　　A humans can never regenerate limbs.

　　B humans might be able to regenerate limbs in the future.

　　C human limbs may be regenerated on some animals first.

　　D regeneration of human limbs will soon become a reality.

　　12 Which of the following statements is NOT true？

　　A Regeneration is a process discovered centuries ago.

　　B How severe a wound is determines the strength of the current flowing around it.

　　C The lizard, unlike man, is a less-developed animal.

　　D Scientists have lately found that a lizard will grow a new tail if the old one is broken off.

　　13 Regeneration of a part of the body is impossible without

　　A general purpose cells.

　　B bone cells.

　　C muscle cells.

　　D skin cells.

　　14 What kind of animal has a greater ability to regenerate a lost part？

　　A Younger and more highly-developed ones.

　　B Younger and less-developed ones.

　　C Older and less-developed ones.

　　D Older and more highly-developed ones.

　　15 In Dr. Rose's test, frogs with cut-off legs

　　A didn't survive.

　　B began to grow new limbs.

　　C bled freely from their open wounds.

　　D started to grow tails.

　　【参考答案】

　　1. B　　2. D　　3. A　　4. D　　5. A

　　6. D　　7. D　　8. B　　9. A　　10. B

　　11. B 　12. D 　13. A 　14. B 　15. B