职称英语阅读理解

第三十八篇

Longer Lives for Wild Elephants

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 age1.

But that may not be true for2 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 infertile，or unable to have babies.

To learn more about how captivity 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 me 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 camps3，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 lived41.7 years.

Scientists don't yet know why wild elephants seem to fare 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 may be to blame4.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. "Currently，zoos are net consumers of elephants，not net producers," Mason says.

词汇：

predator n.食肉动物 captivity/ n.监禁;束缚

ripe adj.成熟的 fare v.过活，生活

infertile adj.不生育的 obesity n.过度肥胖;肥胖症

注释：

1.1ive to a ripe old age：这是一种固定用法，意思是live to an age that is considered to be very

old(长寿，高寿)。

2.be true for：或者be true of：对……适用。短文中第二段第一句：But that may not be true for

the largest land animals on Earth.这里，作为主语的that指的是第一段所陈述的内容。这个句子要传达的意思是：动物园对其他动物来说是一个安栖之地，而对大象来说却不然。

3.logging camps：伐木场。Logging作为名词，意思是：伐木业。

4.stress and obesity may be to blame：压力和肥胖是问题的根源。be to blame：该受责备，应承担责任。

练习：

1.According to the first two paragraphs，unlike other zoo animals，zoo elephants

A.have difficulty eating food.

B.1ive to a ripe old age.

C.are not afraid of predators.

D.develop health problems.

2.Which of the following about the international scientists' research on the life spans of elephants is NOT true?(See paragraph 3)?

A.They compared zoo elephants with wild elephants.

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.

3.What do the scientist find in their research?

A.Female elephants live longer than male elephants.

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.

4.What are the possible causes of stress and obesity Zoo-raised elephants generally suffer from?

A.They do not like living in herds.

B.They do not get enough exercise.

C.They do not live with their families.

D.Both B and C.

5.Which of the following does the author suggest in the last paragraph 7?

A.It may not be a wise policy to keep elephants in the zoo.

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.

答案与题解：

1.D 短文的第一段告诉我们，人们通常认为动物园内的动物没有猎食的困难，也不受其他猎食动物的威胁，所以一般寿命较长。但第一段并没有提及大象。第二段则说，动物园内的大象却不然，它们面临很多健康问题。所以，除了D以外，其他选项均不符合这两段内容。

2.B 第三段告诉我们，动物园，而不是这些研究人员，保存了所有园内动物的详细相关信息。所以应该选择B。其他三个选项均能在该段中找到相关内容。

3.C 短文的第四段提供了答案。该段告诉我们，野生的雌性大象的平均寿命是动物园里的雌性大象平均寿命的3倍还多。

4.D 短文的第五段提供了答案。该段第三句的意思是：动物园里的大象不像野生大象那样活动，因此非常肥胖。他们也不像野生大象那样过着群居的生活，即live in herds and family groups。

5.A 短文通篇陈述了大象在动物园内的生存问题，最后一段是全文的总结。该段第一句指出，对动物园大象的研究向人们提出了一个问题：是否应该将更多的大象关进动物园。该段还重复了第一、第二段的观点：其他动物在动物园能够很好地繁衍生息，而大象却不能。所以，A是正确选择。B、C、D均没有在文中被提及

第三十四篇

Batteries Built by Viruses

What do chicken pox, the common cold，the flu，and AIDS have in common? They're all disease caused by viruses，tiny microorganisms that can pass from person to person. It’s no wonder1 that when most people think about viruses, finding ways to steer clear of2 viruses is what's on people's minds.

Not everyone runs from the tiny disease carriers, though3.In Cambridge，Massachusetts4, scientists have discovered that some viruses can be helpful in an unusual way. They are putting viruses to work，teaching them to build some o f the world’s smallest rechargeable batteries.

Viruses and batteries may seem like an unusual pair, but they're not so strange for engineer Angela Belcher, who first came up with5 the idea. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge，she and her collaborators bring together different areas of science in new ways. In the case of the virus-built batteries，the scientists combine what they know about biology，technology and production techniques.

Belcher’s team includes Paula Hammond，who helps put together the tiny batteries，and Yet-Ming Chiang, an expert on how to store energy in the form of a battery. "We're working on things we traditionally don’t associate with nature," says Hammond.

Many batteries are already pretty small. You can hold A，C and D batteries6 in your hand. The coin-like batteries that power watches are often smaller than a penny. However，every year，new electronic devices like personal music players or cell phones get smaller than the year before. As these devices shrink，ordinary bakeries won’t be small enough to fit inside.

The ideal battery will store a lot of energy in a small package. Right now，Belcher’s model battery，a metallic disk completely built by viruses，looks like a regular watch battery. But inside，its components are very small-so tiny you can only see them with a powerful microscope.

How small are these battery parts? To get some idea of the size，pluck one hair from your head. Place your hair on a piece of white paper and try to see how wide your hair is-pretty thin，right? Although the width of each person’s hair is a bit different，you could probably fit about 10 of these virus-built battery parts，side to side，across one hair. These microbatteries may change the way we look at viruses7.

词汇：

chicken pox水痘 collaborator n.合作者，协作者

microorganism n.微生物 pluck v.拔，摘，采

metallic adj.金属的

注释：

1.no wonder：不足为奇的，难怪

2.steer clear of：避开，绕开

3.though：意思为“然而，可是”。在句中使用时通常放在句末。

4.Cambridge，Massachusetts：马萨诸塞州的剑桥市。本文第三段提到的the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT)in Cambridge即指坐落于剑桥市的麻省理工学院。麻省理工学院于1861年由著名自然科学家威廉·巴罗吉杰斯创立。这是美国的一所私立研究型大学，培养高级科技人才和管理人才，是以理工科为主的、世界一流的综合性大学。

5.came up with：提出

6.A，C and D batteries：A、C、D均为电池型号。

7.These microbatteries may change the way we look at viruses：这些微型电池可能会改变我们看待病毒的方式。作者想表达的意思是：人们一直认为病毒有害无益，现在病毒可用来制作电池，人们对病毒的看法可能会因此而发生变化。

练习：

1.According to the first paragraph，people try to

A.kill microorganisms related to chicken pox，the flu，etc.

B.keep themselves away from viruses because they are invisible.

C.stay away from viruses because they are causes of various diseases.

D.cure themselves of virus-related diseases by taking medicines.

2.What is Belcher’s team doing at present?

A.It is finding ways to get rid of viruses..

B.It is mass-producing microbatteries.

C.It is making batteries with viruses.

D.It is analyzing virus genes.

3.What expression below is opposite in meaning to the word "shrink" appearing in paragraph 5 ?

A.Broaden.

B.Spread.

C.Extend.

D.Expand.

4.Which of the following is true of Belcher’s battery mentioned in paragraph 6?

A.It is made of metal.

B.It is a kind of watch battery.

C.It can only be seen with a microscope.

D.It is a metallic disk with viruses inside it.

5.How tiny is one battery part?

A.Its width is one tonth of a hair.

B.It equals the width of a hair.

C.It is as thin as a piece of paper.

D.Its width is too tiny to measure.

答案与题解：

1.C 短文第一段的大致意思是，许多疾病都由病毒引起，诸如水痘、感冒和艾滋病，所以人们想尽办法躲避病毒。这是C所表达的意思。A不是正确选择，因为文章并没有说人们想方设法去杀死病毒。B的后半句的内容(病毒肉眼看不见)和D的内容(吃药治疗病毒引起的疾病)文中没有提到。

2.C短文的第二段明确提供了答案。

3.D 根据上下文，shrink在此的意思是“收缩"，即“缩小"。所以，它的反义词是expand(增大，扩张)。C不是正确选择，因为extend的意思是become longer，即“延伸”或“加长"。A的意思是“加宽”，也不是答案。B的意思是“伸展，展开"，在一定的上下文里也可以做shrink的反义词，但在第五段这个语境里，B不是最佳选择。

4.D 第六段第二句中提到的metallic disk是指“金属圆盘”，它是微型电池的外形，其内部是由病毒构成的电池部件。微型电池不是由金属组成的，所以A不是答案。本段提到，这种电池looks like a regular

watch battery，与手表里电池外形相似，但并不等同手表电池，所以B也不是正确选择。文章只是说电池的部件(但并没有说整个电池)小到只能用显微镜才能看到，所以C也不是正确的选择。D才是第六段所要表达的主要内容，因此是答案。

5.A 短文最后一段的第四句(“you could probably fit about 10 of these virus-built battery parts，side to side，across one hair”)提供了本题的答案