1996年01月英语四级试题（阅读）

Part III Reading Comprehension (35 minutes)
Direction: There are 4 passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each
of them there are four choices marked A), B) C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding
letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the center.
Passage One
Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage:
Space is a dangerous place, not only because of meteors（流星） but also because of rays from the sun and other stars. The atmosphere again acts as our protective blanket on earth. Light gets through, and this is essential for plants to make the food, which we eat. Heat, too, makes our environment endurable. Various kinds of rays come through the air from outer space, but enormous quantities of radiation from the sun are screened off. As soon as men leave the atmosphere they are exposed to this radiation but their spacesuits or the walls of their spacecraft, if they are inside, do prevent a lot of radiation damage.
Radiation is the greatest known danger to explorers in space. The unit of radiation is called “rem”. Scientists have
reason to think that a man can put up with far more radiation than 0.1 rem without being damaged; the figure of 60 rems has been agreed on. The trouble is that it is extremely difficult to be sure about radiation damage -a person may feel perfectly well, but the cells of his or her sex organs may be damaged, and this will not be discovered until the birth of deformed（畸形的） children or even grandchildren. Missions of the Apollo flights have had to cross belts of high radiation and, during the outward and return journeys, the Apollo crew accumulated a large amount of rems. So far, no dangerous amounts of radiation have been reported, but the Apollo missions have been quite short. We simply do not know yet how men are going to get on when they spend weeks and months outside the protection of the atmosphere, working in a space laboratory. Drugs might help to decrease the damage done by radiation, but no really effective ones have been found so far.
51. According to the first paragraph, the atmosphere is essential to man in that ______.
A) it protects him against the harmful rays from space
B) it provides sufficient light for plant growth
C) it supplies the heat necessary for human survival
D) it screens off the falling meteors

52. We know from the passage that ________.
A) exposure to even tiny amounts of radiation is fatal
B) the effect of exposure to radiation is slow in coming
C) radiation is avoidable in space exploration
D) astronauts in spacesuits needn’t worry about radiation damage

53. The harm radiation has done to the Apollo crew members _______.
A) is insignificant
B)seems overestimated
C) is enormous
D) remains unknown

54. It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
A) the Apollo mission was very successful
B) protection from space radiation is no easy job
C) astronauts will have deformed children or grandchildren
D) radiation is not a threat to well-protected space explorers

55. The best title for this passage would be _______.
A) The Atmosphere and Our Environment
B) Research on Radiation
C) Effects of Space Radiation
D) Importance Protection Against Radiation

 

 57. The statistics recorded in the preference tests show ______.
A) Coca-Cola and Pepsi are people’s two most favorite drinks
B) there is not much difference in taste between Coca-Cola and Pepsi
C) few people had trouble telling Coca-Cola from Pepsi
D) people’s tastes differ from one another

58. It is implied in the first paragraph that _______.
A) the purpose of taste tests is to promote the sale of colas
B) the improvement of quality is the chief concern of the two cola companies
C) the competition between the two colas is very strong
D) blind tasting is necessary for identifying fans

59. The word “burnout” (Line 4, Para.5) here refers to the state of ______.
A) being seriously burnt in the skin
B) being unable to burn for lack of fuel
C) being badly damaged by fire
D) being unable to function because of excessive use

60. The author’s purpose in writing this passage is to ______.
A) show that taste preference is highly subjective
B) argue that taste testing is an important marketing strategy
C) emphasize that taste and price are closely related to each other
D) recommend that blind tasting be introduced in the quality control of colas

62. According to the author the concept of “environment” is difficult to explain because _______
A) it doesn’t distinguish between the organism and the environment
B) it involves both internal and external forces
C) the organism and the environment influence each other
D) the relationship between the organism and the environment is unclear

63. In analyzing the environmental forces acting on man the author suggests that ________.
A) biological factors are less important to the organism than cultural factors to man
B) man and other animals are modified equally by the environmental forces
C) man is modified by the cultural environment as well as by the natural environment
D) physical and biological factors exert more influence on other organisms than on man

64. As for culture, the author points out that ________.
A) it develops side by side with environmental factors
B) it is also affected by environmental factors
C) it is generally accepted to be part of the environment
D) it is a product of man’s biological instincts

65. In this passage, the author is primarily concerned with _______.
A) the interpretation of the term “environment”
B) the discussion on organisms and biological environment
C) the comparison between internal and external factors influencing man
D) the evaluation of man’s influence on culture

67. In the author’s opinion, the speaker _______.
A) gave a correct judgement of the English level of the students
B) had exaggerated the language problems of the students
C) was right in saying that English teachers were not doing their jobs
D) could think and speak intelligently

68. The author’s attitude towards the speaker’s remarks is _______.
A) neutral
B) positive
C) critical
D) compromising

69. It can be concluded from the passage that ______.
A) it is justifiable to include English as a school subject
B) the author disagrees with the speaker over the standard of English at Grade 9 level
C) English language teaching is by no means an easy job
D) Language improvement needs time and effort

70. In the passage the author argues that ______.
A) it is unfair to blame the English teachers for the language deficiencies of the students
B) young people would not commit offences against the language is the teachers did their jobs properly
C) to eliminate language deficiencies one must have sensitive eyes and ears
D) to improve the standard of English requires the effort of several generations

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