2014年职称英语理工类A级字典版小抄

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（理工A）2014年完形填空 15. “Liquefaction” Key to Much of Japanese Earthquake Damage （“液化”是日本地震破坏的关键） The massive subduction zone1 earthquake in Japan caused a significant level of soil "liquefaction" that has surprised researchers with its widespread severity, a new analysis shows. "We've seen localized3 examples of soil liquefaction as extreme as this before, but the distance and extent of damage in Japan were unusually severe," said Scott Ashford, a professor of geotechnical engineering4 at Oregon State University5. "Entire structures were tilted and sinking into the sediments," Ashford said. "The shifts in soil destroyed water, drain and gas pipelines6, crippling the utilities and infrastructure these communities need to function. We saw some places that sank as much as four feet." Some degree of soil liquefaction7 is common in almost any major earthquake. It's a phenomenon in which soils soaked with water, particularly recent sediments or sand, can lose much of their strength and flow during an earthquake. This can allow structures to shift or sink or collapse . But most earthquakes are much shorter than the recent event in Japan, Ashford said. The length of the Japanese earthquake, as much as five minutes, may force researchers to reconsider the extent of liquefaction damage possibly occurring in situations such as this. "With such a long-lasting earthquake, we saw how structures that might have been okay after 30 seconds just continued to sink and tilt as the shaking continued for several more minutes," he said. "And it was clear that younger sediments, and especially areas built on recently filled ground, are much more vulnerable." The data provided by analyzing the Japanese earthquake, researchers said, should make it possible to improve the understanding of this soil phenomenon and better prepare for it in the future. Ashford said it was critical for the team to collect the information quickly, before damage was removed in the recovery efforts. "There's no doubt that we'll learn things from what happened in Japan10 that11 will help us to reduce risks in other similar events ," Ashford said. "Future construction in some places may make more use of techniques known to reduce liquefaction, such as better compaction to make soils dense, or use of reinforcing stone columns." Ashford pointed out that northern California have younger soils vulnerable to liquefaction ---on the coast, near river deposits or in areas with filled ground. The "young" sediments, in geologic terms, may be those deposited within the past 10,000 years or more. In Oregon, for instance, that describes much of downtown Portland, the Portland International Airport and other cities. Anything near a river and old flood plains is a suspect12, and the Oregon Department of Transportation has already concluded that 1,100 bridges in the state are at risk from an earthquake. Fewer than 15 percent of them have been reinforced to prevent collapse. Japan has suffered tremendous losses in the March 11 earthquake, but Japanese construction standards helped prevent many buildings from collapse ---even as they tilted and sank into the ground. 12. Free Statins With Fast Food Could Neutralize Heart Risk (快餐加免费降胆固醇药物可以降低罹患心脏病的风险) Fast food outlets could provide statin drugs free of charge so that customers can reduce the heart disease dangers of fatty food, researchers at Imperial College London suggest in a new study． Statins reduce the amount of unhealthy ‖LDL‖ cholesterol in the blood. A wealth of trial data has proven them to be highly effective at lowering a person’s heart attack risk . In a paper published in the American Journal of Cardiology，Dr Darrel Francis and colleagues calculate that the reduction in heart attack risk offered by a statin is enough to offset the increase in heart attack risk from Composer germson

eating a cheeseburger and drinking a milkshake． Dr Francis，from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London，who is the senior author of the study, said:‖Statins don’t cut out a11 of the unhealthy effects of cheeseburgers and French fries．It’s better to avoid fatty food altogether．But we’ve worked out that in terms of your possibility of having a heart attack. Taking a statin can reduce your risk to more or less the same degree as a fast food meal increases it.‖ ―It’s ironic that people are free to take as many unhealthv condiments in fast food outlets as they like, but statins, which are beneficial to heart health, have to be prescribed. It makes sense to make risk-reducing statins available just as easily as the unhealthy condiments that are provided free of charge．It would cost less than 5 pence per customer 一not much different to a sachet of sugar.‖ Dr Francis said． When people engage in risky behaviours like driving or smoking, they’re encouraged to take measures that lower their risk, 1ike wearing a seatbelt or choosing cigarettes with filters. Taking a statin is a rational way of lowering some of the risks of eating a fatty meal． 10. Chicken Soup for the Soul:Comfort Food Fights Lneliness（心灵鸡汤：爽心食品排解孤独感） Mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, may be bad for your arteries， but according to a study in Psychological Science, they’re good for your heart and emotions ．The study focuses on ―comfort food‖ and how it makes people feel． "For me personally ,food has always played a big role in my family,‖ says Jordan Troisi, a graduate student at the University of Buffalo, and lead author on the study．The study came out of the research program of his co—author Shira Gabriel．It has looked at non-human things that may affect human emotions．Some people reduce loneliness by bonding with their favorite TV show, building virtual relationships with a pop song singer or looking at pictures of loved ones．Troisi and Gabriel wondered if comfort food could have the same effect by making people think of their nearest and dearest. In one experiment, in order to make participants feel lonely, the researchers had them write for six minutes about a fight with someone close to them．Others were given an emotionally neutral writing assignment. Then, some people in each group wrote about the experience of eating a comfort food and others wrote about eating a new food．Finally ,the researchers had participants complete questions about their levels of loneliness． Writing about a fight with a close person made people feel lonely．But people who were generally secure in their relationships would feel less lonely by writing about a comfort food．"We have found that comfort foods are consistently associated with those close to us．"says Troisi．"Thinking about or consuming these foods later then serves as a reminder of those close others．"In their essays on comfort food, many people wrote about the experience of eating food with family and friends. In another experiment, eating chicken soup in the lab made people think more about relationships, but only if they considered chicken soup to be a comfort food．This was a question they had been asked long before the experiment, along with many other questions, so they wouldn’t remember it. Throughout everyone’s daily lives they experience stress, often associated with our connections with others," Troisi says．"Comfort food Can be an easy remedy for loneliness． 14. Sharks Perform a Service for Earth's Waters（鲨鱼有益于地球水系） It is hard to get people to think of sharks as anything but a deadly enemy1. They are thought to attack people frequently. But these fish2 perform a valuable service for earth's waters and for human beings. Yet business and sport fishing3 are threatening