第四部分：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，每题后面有4个选项。请仔细阅读短文并根据短文回答其后面的问题，从4个选项中选择1个最佳答案涂在答题卡相应的位置上。
第一篇
Clone Farm
Factory farming could soon enter a new era of mass production. Companies in the US are developing the technology needed to “clone” chickens on a massive scale, once a chicken with desirable traits has been bred or genetically engineered, tens of thousands of eggs, which will hatch into identical copies, could roll off the production lines every hour. Billions of clones could be produced each year to supply chicken farms with birds that all grow at the same rate, have the same amount of meat and taste the same.
This, at least, is the vision of the US's National Institute of Science and Technology, which has given Origen Therapeutics of Burlingame, California, and Embrex of North Carolina $ 4.7 million to help fund research. The prospect has alarmed animal welfare groups, who fear it could increase the suffering of farm birds.
That's unlikely to put off the poultry industry, however, which wants disease resistant birds that grow faster on less food. “Producers would like the same meat quantity but to use reduced inputs to get there,” says Mike Fitzgerald of Origen, To meet this demand, Origen aims to “create an animal that is effectively a clone”, he says. Normal cloning doesn't work in birds because eggs can't be removed and implanted, Instead, the company is trying to bulk-grow embryonic stem cells taken from fertilized eggs as soon as they're laid. “The trick is to culture the cells without them starting to distinguish, so they remain pluripotent,” says Fitzgerald.
Using a long-established technique, these donor cells will then be injected into the embryo of a freshly laid, fertilized recipient egg, forming a chick that is a “chimera”. Strictly speaking a chimera isn't a clone, because it contains cells from both donor and recipient. But Fitzgerald says it will be enough if, say, 95 percent of a chicken's body develops from donor cells. “In the poultry world, it doesn't matter if it's not 100 percent,” he says.
Another challenge for Origen is to scale up production. To do this, it has teamed up with Embrex, which produces machines that can inject vaccines into up to 50,000 eggs an hour. Embrex is now trying to modify the machines to locate the embryo and inject the cells into precisely the right spot without killing it.
In future, Origen imagines freezing stem cells from different strains of chicken. If orders come in for a particular strain, millions of eggs could be produced in months or even weeks. At present, maintaining all the varieties the market might call for is too expensive for breeders, and it takes years to bread enough chickens to produce the billions of eggs that farmers need.
31 Which statement is the best description of the new era of factory farming according to the first pararaph? __________
A Eggs are all genetically engineered.
B Thousands of eggs are produced every hour.
C Cloned chickens are bulk-produced with the same growth rate, weight and taste.
D Identical eggs can be hatched on the production lines.
32 Which institution has offered $ 4.7 million to fund the research? __________
A The US's National Institute of Science and Technology.
B Origen therapeutics of Burlingame, California.
C Embrex of North Carolina.
D Animal welfare groups.
33 In the third paragraph, by saying “Producers would like the same meat quantity but to use reduced inputs to get there.” Mike Fitzgerald means that he wishes __________.
A chickens' quality could be maintained but with less investment
B chickens' taste could be improved but at less costs
C chickens' growth rate could be quickened but with less inputs
D chickens could grow to the same weight but with less feed
34 Which of the following statements about Origen and Embrex is correct according to the fifth paragraph? __________
A Origen and Embrex will jointly invent machines to increase production.
B Origen wants to purchase an efficient donor cells injecting machine.
C Origen has joined hands with Embrex in producing cell-injecting machines.
D Origen is the leading company in producing embryo-locating machines.
35 The technology of freezing stem cells from different strains of chicken can do all the following EXCEPt that __________.
A farmers can order certain strains of chicken only
B Origen can supply all the strains of chicken the market might need
C chicken farmers order certain strains of chicken for economic reasons
D chicken farmers can be supplied with whatever strain they need
第二篇
The Development of PR
The rise of multinational corporations, global marketing, new communications technologies, and shrinking cultural differences have led to an unparalleled increase in global public relations or PR.
Surprisingly, since modern PR was largely an American invention, the U.S. leadership in public relations is being threatened by PR efforts in other countries. Ten years age, for example, the world's top five public relations agencies were American-owned. In 1991, only one was. The British in particular are becoming more sophisticated and creative. A recent survey found that more than half of all British companies include PR as part of their corporate Planning activities, compared to about one-third of U. S. companies. It may not belong before London replaces New York as the capital of PR.
Why is America lagging behind in the global PR race? Firstly, Americans as a whole tend to be fairly provincial and take more of an interest in local affairs. Knowledge of world geography, for example, has never been strong in this country. Secondly, American lag behind their European and Asian counterparts in knowing a second language. Less than 5 percent of Burson-Marshall's U.S. employees know two languages. Ogilvy and Mather has about the same percentage. Conversely, some European firms have half or more of their employees fluent in a second language. Finally, people involved in PR abroad tend to keep a closer eye on international affairs. In the financial PR area, for instance, most Americans read the Wall Street Journal. Overseas, their counterparts read the Journal as well as the Financial Times of London and The Economist, publications not often read in this country.
Perhaps the PR industry might take a lesson from Ted Turner of CNN (Cable News Net-work). Turner recently announced that the word “foreign” would no longer be used on CNN news broadcasts. According to Turner, global communications have made the nations of the world so interdependent that there is no longer any such thing as foreign.
36 According to the passage, U.S. leadership in public relations is being threatened because of __________.
A shrinking cultural differences and new communication technologies
B increased efforts of other countries in public relations
C an unparalleled increase in the number of public relations companies
D the decreasing number of multinational corporations technologies
37 The underlined word “provincial” (Para. 3) most probably means“__________”.
A rigid in thinking
B interested in world financial affairs
C like people from the provinces
D limited in outlook
38 London could soon replace New York as the centre of PR because __________.
A British companies place more importance on PR than U.S. companies
B British companies are heavily involved in planning activities
C British companies are more ambitious than U. S.
D Four of the world's top public relations agencies are British-owned
39 We learn from the third paragraph that employees in the American PR industry __________.
A enjoy reading a great variety of English business publications
B speak at least one foreign language fluently
C are ignorant about world geography
D are not as sophisticated as their European counterparts
40 What lesson might be the PR industry take from Ted Turner of CNN? __________.
A The American PR industry should develop global communication technologies.
B People involved in PR should avoid suing the word “foreign”.
C American PR companies should be more internationally minded.
D People working in PR should be more fluent in foreign languages.
第三篇
Mysterious Nazca Drawings
One of the most mysterious archaeological spectacles in the world is the immense complex of geometrical symbols, giant ground-drawings of birds and animals, and hundreds of long, ruler-straight lines, some right across mountains, which stretch over 1,200 square miles of the Peruvian tablelands, at Nazca.
Nazca was first revealed to modern eyes in 1926 when three explorers looked down on the desert from a hillside at dusk and briefly saw a Nazca line highlighted by the rays of the sun. But it was not until the Peruvian airforce took aerial photographs in the 1940s that the full magnificence of the panorama was apparent. Hundreds of what looked like landing strips for aircraft were revealed. There were eighteen bird-like drawings, up to 400 feet long; four-sided figures with two lines parallel; and long needle-like triangles which ran for miles. Among the many abstract patterns were a giant spider, a monkey, a shark, all drawn on the ground on a huge scale.
The scale is monumental, but from the ground almost invisible and totally incomprehensible. The amazing fact about Nazca, created more than 1,500 years ago, is that it can only be appreciated if seen from the air. Many, therefore, regarded it as a prehistoric landing ground for visitors from outer space, but Jim Woodman, an American explorer, who was long fascinated by the mystery of Nazca, had a different opinion. He believed that Nazca only made sense if the people who had designed and made these vast drawings on the ground could actually see them, and that led him to the theory that the ancient Peruvians had somehow learned to fly, as only from above could they really see the extent of their handiwork. With this theory in mind, he researched into ancient Peruvian legends about flight and came to the conclusion that the only feasible answer was a hot-air balloon.
To prove his theory, Woodman would have to make such a thing using the same fabrics and fibers that would have been available to the men of Nazca at the time. He started by gathering information from ancient paintings, legends, books and archaeological sites. After many attempts, Woodman built a balloon-type airship. It took him into the air, letting him have the sensation he had never had from viewing the same ground that he had seen many times. His flight was a modern demonstration of an ancient possibility.
41 One of the “most mysterious archaeological spectacles in the world” is __________.
A the size of Nazca
B the lines over mountains
C the Peruvian tablelands
D the huge and complicated ground-drawings
42 Nazca was discovered in 1926 when __________.
A the light shone on the lines
B three explorers viewed the lines from above
C the lines were not hidden by cloud
D the lines followed the rays of the sun
43 The “landing strips for aircraft”(in Paragraph 2) were really __________.
A mysterious archaeological spectacles
B balloon landing places
C deserted airports
D ground-drawings on a vast scale
44 Jim Woodman felt sure that __________.
A the designs could be seen from the air
B the ancient people had learned to fly by accident
C the ancient people were clever and had learned to fly
D Nazca had been designed to help people fly
45 Woodman's flight proved __________.
A Nazca could be seen from a balloon
B the ancient Peruvians somehow managed to see the drawings from above
C the ancient Peruvians flew in balloons
D Nazca was a magnificent sight from the air
