专业英语八级分类模拟题阅读理解(三十)

专业英语八级分类模拟题阅读理解(三十)

READING COMPREHENSION

TEXT A

What if architects could build living systems rather than static buildings — dynamic structures that modify their internal and external forms in response to changes in their environment? This provocative idea is making waves in the field of architecture. Houses, for example, might shrink in the winter to reduce surface area and volume, thus cutting heating costs. They could cover themselves to escape the heat of the summer sun or shake snow off the roof in winter. Skyscrapers could alter their aerodynamic profiles, swaying slightly to distribute increased loads during hurricanes.

Such \"responsive architecture\" would depend on two sorts of technology: control systems capable of deciding what to do, and structural components able to change the building's shape as required. Architects have been working to improve the control systems in buildings for many years, but shape-shifting technology is at a much earlier stage of development.

One approach being pursued by researchers is to imitate nature. Many natural constructions, including spiders' webs and cell membranes, are \"tensegrity systems\" — robust structures made up of many interconnected elements which can be manipulated to change shape without losing their structural integrity. \"These structures can bend and twist, but no element in the structure bends and twists,\" says Robert Skelton of the Structural Systems and Control Laboratory at the University of California in San Diego. \"It's the architecture of life.\"

While Dr Skelton is working on solving the engineering equations associated with tensegrity

systems, Tristan d'Estrée Sterk at the Office for Robotic Architectural Media & the Bureau for Responsive Architecture, an architectural practice based in Vancouver, Canada, has begun to construct prototypes of shape-changing \"building envelopes\" based on tensegrity structures. Lightweight skeletal frameworks, composed of rods and wires and controlled by pneumatic \"muscles\shape. Mr.Sterk is also developing the \"brain\" needed to control such a building based on information from internal and external sensors.

Cars are already capable of monitoring their own performance and acting with a certain degree of autonomy, from cruise-control systems to airbag sensors. Such responsive behaviour is considered normal for a car; architects argue that the same sort of ideas should be incorporated into buildings, too.

And just as the performance of a car can be simulated in advance to choose the best design for a range of driving conditions, the same should be done for buildings, argues Gian Carlo Magnoli, an architect and the co-director of the Kinetic Design Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is devising blueprints for responsive houses. \"We need to evolve designs for the best performing responsive-building models,\" he says.

So will we end up with cities of skyscrapers that wave in the breeze? It sounds crazy. But, says Mr.Sterk, many ideas that were once considered crazy are now commonplace. \"Electricity was a batty idea, but now it's universal,\" he says. Dynamic, intelligent, adaptable buildings are \"the logical next step\

A.The change of internal and external forms.

B.The alteration of aerodynamic profiles.

C.Control systems applied to manual controls.

D.Structural components capable of changing the building's shape.

答案：D

[解答] 事实细节题。由题干关键词technology将答案定位于第二段首句。冒号后介绍了两种技术：控制系统和结构构件。D“能改变建筑物形态的结构构件”为技术之一，故为答案。A“内外部形态的改变”是说明房子外表的变化，而非技术，故排除。B“空气动力形态的改变”是“有反应的建筑物”的功能，可以排除。C“适用于人工控制的控制系统”，文中只是提到“control systems capable of deciding what to do”，C与其不符，可以排除。

2. According to Para. Three, many natural constructions

A.can cause change to elements in the structure.

B.are motivated by biological material architecture.

C.can change their shape without affecting their structural integrity.

D.are fragile structures made up of many interconnected elements.

答案：C

[解答] 事实细节题。由题干关键词many natural constructions可将答案定位于第三段第二句。由该句which引导的定语从句“which can be manipulated to change shape without losing their structural integrity”得知答案为C。A与第三句Robert Skelton所说的话相反，故排除。B利用cell membrane进行无关联想。D中fragile与破折号后robust意思相反，很容易排除。

3. What contribution does Sterk make to responsive architecture?

A.He makes archetypes of shape-changing building frames.

B.He uses rods and wires to be the walls of a building.

C.He does more for responsive architecture than Dr Skelton.

D.He has invented the \"brain\" to control building.

答案：A

[解答] 事实纠节题。由题干关键词Sterk将答案定位于第四段段首处。复杂句的主干提到...Sterk... has begun to construct prototypes of shape-changing \"building envelopes\"，由此得知答案为A。B是对该段第二句的错误理解。C不是对Sterk贡献的具体描述，而且文章也没有比较两者的贡献孰多孰少，故排除。D的错误在于其现在完成时态，该段末句使用的是现在进行时态，故排除。

4. To which of the following does Magnoli probably agree?

A.Cruise-control systems should be incorporated into buildings.

B.Architects need to perfect the designs of responsive building for the best models.

C.The development of buildings is nothing compared to that of cars.

D.The performance of a building should be monitored in advance.

答案：B

[解答] 推理判断题 A对 B错。由题干关键词Magnoli将答案定位于第六段。根据该段末句他所说的话可知答案为B“建筑师需要完善有反应建筑的设计方式以便设计出最出色的模型”。第五段提到汽车的cruise-control systems是为了说明自动行为的可行性，建筑领域可以参考其方法，而不能直接套用，故A错误。C“建筑的发展根本无法和汽车的发展相提并论”，文章提到两者的发展并不是为了对比，而是为了表明建筑可以从中学习，故C错误。D是对第六段首句的错误理解，也可排除。

5. What's the author's attitude toward dynamic structures?

A.Pessimistic.

B.Skeptical.

C.Ambivalent.

D.Optimistic.

答案：D

[解答] 观点态度题。最后一段以设问句开头，随后引出Sterk的话“many ideas that were once considered crazy are now commonplace”，然后给出electricity的例子，由此可知作者对动态结丰勾持乐观态度，故答案为D“乐观的”。A“悲观的”、B“怀疑的”、C“矛盾的”均可排除。

TEXT B

It is a universally acknowledged fact that human beings possess a larger brain than animals. This allows us to coordinate our lives better and communicate with each other on a higher, more sophisticated level. Language is a mode of communication where with a limited number of words we can produce an infinite number of sentences. It gives us the chance to discuss ideas and look at

the world with a critical eye. This process provides us with the opportunity to stimulate our intelligence which in turn enables us to improve our means of communication. It is of utmost importance to note that we have developed our linguistic abilities so that we not only have the option of interacting verbally and through signs but also on a written basis.

The central question to be examined is: How does language actually influence our specifically animal operations? A case in point would be that when we look at an object, for example a tree, do we see it in its pure, realistic and natural way or is language imposing a certain influence in the way we look at this tree? Do we regard it as an object of nature which is a tall woody plant having a single, usually, long and straight main stem, generally with a few or no branches on its lower part? Or are we simply seeing it that way because of the context of the language in our culture? One theory which supports this point of view is the Saphir-Whorf hypothesis.

Since the languages of the world differ in regard to their semantic and structural characteristics, it seems somewhat logical to argue that people speaking widely different languages would also differ in the way they viewed and thought about the world. An example may illustrate this point. If one must classify things such as camels, automobiles or snow in certain ways, then one must perceive them differently from someone who does not require to make these distinctions. Eskimos may have a number of different meanings for the word \"snow\whereas we only have one. In Maltese, for example, there is no word which specifically describes the word \"snow\". It is translated as \"silg\" which literally translated means \"ice\". From this we can deduce that it is still debatable whether we perceive the world in its real form or whether we are affected by the language of our society without us realising. Hence one can infer that language imposes meaning on everything existing in our world through the human being.

Consequently, meaning must be placed at the center of any attempt to explain language. But, meaning lies not in the words but in the people. We use words to approximate the meanings we

wish to communicate, but these words still remain imperfect and incomplete representations of our meanings. After having delved deeper into this subject, we can conclude that language is the trait which decisively distinguishes man from all other creatures and that human language is arguably the single most remarkable characteristic which we have and the one that most truly sets our species apart. Undeniably, other creatures do have a way of communicating with each other and appear to do this through some sort of signaling system which allows them to pass on information within their species and occasionally even with members outside their own species. The bottom line is that the human language is so utterly different from all of these other signaling systems, that we are obliged to treat it as a truly unique phenomenon.1. Without linguistic ability, human beings could only

A.look at the world with a critical eye.

B.interact on a written basis.

C.have a face-to-face exchange with others.

D.verbally communicate their feelings, emotions and thoughts.

答案：C

[解答] 事实细节题。第一段第四句提到“语言给了我们……用探索批判的眼光看待世界的机会”，该段最后一句说“我们已经发展了我们的语言能力，因此不但可以口头交流和通过手势交流，还可以进行书而交流”，因此A、B、D三项都是语言赋予我们的优势，均排除。答案选C，如果人类没有语言能力，就只能面对面交流(而不能跨时空交流)。

2. According to Paragraph Two, language influences

A.the way people view the world.

B.the way people behave.

C.the way people voice ideas.

D.our culture.

答案：A

[解答] 事实细节题。第二段主要举了一个例子，说明语言对我们具体的本能行为的影响。我们看到的一棵树究竟是客观世界存在的树，还是一种文化中的语言在人们心中唤起的意象。换言之，该段讨论了语言对人们观察和感知客观世界的方式施加的影响，故答案选A。

3. It can be inferred that the Saphir-Whorf hypothesis advocates all the following EXCEPT

A.language shapes people's world views.

B.the differences in language reflect the different views of different people.

C.in addition to instinct, people are also affected by the confines of their language.

D.what one thinks is determined by their language.

答案：C

[解答] 推理判断题 A对 B错。第二段最后一句谈到“支持这种观点的一种理论就是Saphir-Whorf假说”，而这种观点就是指上面提及的“语言影响人们观察世界的方式”，即“语言影响人们的世界观”，据此判

断Saphir Whorf假说支持A“语言形成人们的世界观”、B“不同的语言反映了不同的人们的不同的观点”和D“人们的思维由语言决定”。C“除了受本能的影响，人们也同样受语言范围的影响”错往前一部分，第二段首句就提示人的本能行为本身也受语言的影响。

4. Which of the following is the most significant function of language?

A.To classify things.

B.To make distinctions.

C.To communicate meaning.

D.To impose meaning.

答案：C

[解答] 事实细节题。由选项可知本题答案出自第三段。该段通过举“雪”的例子说明所说语言差异很大的人在看待和思索世界的方式上也有很大差异，该段最后又由此推出“语言通过人类将世界上存在的一切事物都赋予了含义”，而语言本身主要是用于交流的，因此人和人之间的交流其实也就是语言赋予事物的“含义”的交流，故语言的最重要的功能是C“交流含义”。本题答案可以在第四段第三句得到验证。

5. According to the author, which of the following is CORRECT?

A.People can always find the right words.

B.People often fail to use words properly.

C.People wish to communicate with each other.

D.Words cannot communicate our meanings perfectly.

答案：D

[解答] 事实细节题。第四段第三句说“我们用的单词只是大致接近我们想要交流的意思，但这些词在表达我们的意思时仍是不完美、不完整的”，D“单词不能完美地传达我们的意思”是对此句的同义转述，故选为答案。

TEXT C

Flats were almost unknown in Britain until the 1850s when they were developed, along with other industrial dwellings, for the laboring classes. These vast blocks were plainly a convenient means of easing social conscience by housing large numbers of the ever-present poor on compact city sites. During the 1880s, however, the idea of living in comfortable residential chambers caught on with the affluent upper and upper-middle classes, and controversy as to the advantages and disadvantages of flat life was a topic of conversation around many a respectable dinner-table. In Paris and other major European cities, the custom whereby the better-off lived in apartments, or fiats, was well established. Up to the late nineteenth century in England only bachelor barristers had established the tradition of living in rooms near the Law Court: any self-respecting head of household would insist upon a West End town house as his London home, the best that his means could provide.

The popularity of flats for the better-off seems to have developed for a number of reasons. One is the introduction of the railways, which had enabled a wide range of people to enjoy a holiday staying in a suite at one of the luxury hotels which had begun to spring up during the previous decade. Hence, there is no doubt that many of the early luxury fiats were similar to hotel suites, even being provided with communal dining-rooms and central boilers for hot water and heating. Rents tended to be high to cover overheads, but savings were made possible by these communal

amenities and by tenants being able to reduce the number of family servants.

One of the earliest substantial London developments of flats for the well-to-do was begun soon after Victoria Railway Station was opened in 1860, as the train service provided an efficient link with both the City and the South of England. Victoria Street, adjacent to both the Station and Westminster, had already been formed, and under the direction of the architect, Henry Ashton, was being lined, with blocks of residential chambers in the Parisian manner. These fiats were commodious indeed, offering between eight and fifteen rooms apiece, including appropriate domestic offices. The idea was an emphatic departure from the tradition of the London house and achieved immediate Success.

Perhaps the most notable block in the vicinity was Queen Anne's Mansions, partly designed by E.R. Robson in 1884 and recently demolished. For many years, this was London's loftiest building and had strong claims to be the ugliest. The block modeled on the American skyscraper, and was nearly 200 feet high. The cliff-like walls of dingy brick completely overshadowed the modest thoroughfare nearby. Although bleak outside, the mansion fiats were palatial within, with sumptuously furnished communal entertaining and dining rooms, and lifts to the uppermost floors. The success of these tall blocks of flats could not have been achieved, of course, without the invention of the lift, or 'ascending carriage' as it was called when first used in the Strand Law Courts in the 1870s.1. Flats first appeared in Britain in the middle of the 19th century when

A.they were principally built for those families with several servants.

B.people were not conscious of the crowded housing of the less well-to-do.

C.there was increasing concern over accommodation for the poor.

D.people became conscious of the social needs of the rural population.

答案：C

[解答] 事实细节题。由Flats first appeared将信息定位于第一段。由该段第一句中的“for the laboring classes”和第二句中的“a convenient means of easing social conscience by housing large numbers of the ever-present poor”可知，公寓当时是作为解决穷人住房问题的一种方式而出现的，故排除A，选C，其中的concern是原文social conscience的同义转述。B反向干扰。D具有较大的干扰性，但其中的rural population文中未提及。

2. English upper-middle-class families preferred to

A.live mainly outside London, where it was healthier and cheaper.

B.live in the West End.

C.live near their working place.

D.live in London, but mainly not in the West End.

答案：B

[解答] 事实细节题。第一段的后半部分谈到住在公寓的想法在中上层流行起来，其中，尾句冒号后的内容谈到：任何一个自重的户主都会坚持在伦敦西区(豪华住宅区)找一套城市住宅作为他在伦敦的家，故B正确。A、D都错误理解了冒号后的内容。C属于主观臆断。

3. One effect of the railways' coming to central London was to stimulate the building of

A.large and well-appointed hotels.

B.blocks of self-contained fiats.

C.rows of elegant town houses.

D.fiats similar to hotel suites.

答案：D

[解答] 推理判断题 A对 B错。题干中的the railways' coming to对应第二段第二句的 the introduction of the railways，故将答案定位于该段。作者在该段第二句指出，铁路使得人们能在豪华的酒店套房度假；接着hence后谈到，而许多早期的豪华公寓与旅馆的套房相似，因此可以推断，铁路的发展刺激了类似酒店套房的公寓的建造，故D正确。A“大而设备完善的旅馆”恰好将该处信息理解错了。B、C说的是维多利亚火车站开放以后的情况。

4. The immediate success of the flats in Victoria Street could be attributed to

A.the unusual number of rooms each fiat contained.

B.their revolutionary style of architecture.

C.the ease with which they could be used as offices.

D.their French style of architecture.

答案：A

[解答] 推理判断题 A对 B错。由题干关键词将信息定位于第三段末。其中倒数第二句谈到了维多利亚街道上的公寓都非常宽敞，每个套房包含八到十五个房间；接着，末句谈到，这种构思脱离了“伦敦之家”

的传统，且很快取得了成功。由此可见，A正确。B中的revolutionary言过其实了。C是对原文中提到的“每个套房中有专属的家庭办公室”的错误理解。D中的French style对应该段倒数第三句中的the Parisian manner，但该项不是题干问及的原因。

5. Which of the following is true about the interior and exterior of Queen Anne's Mansions?

A.They were elegantly decorated both inside and outside.

B.They were grim from the outside and had a modest decor inside.

C.They were flashy from the street but nondescript inside.

D.They were plain outside but with lavish interior.

答案：D

[解答] 推理判断题 A对 B错。根据Queen Anne's Mansions将信息定位于尾段。该段出现了大量描述公寓内外不同的表达，如描述其外部的the cliff-like walls of dingy brick, bleak outside等，描述其内部的palatial within, sumptuously furnished等。综合而言D正确。

TEXT D

Luis Figueroa lives down the street from UC Merced, the newest campus in the University of California system. So it's not surprising that the 21-year-old studies from the comfort of his own home. But he's not enrolled at Merced: from his living-room computer, Figueroa is earning his bachelor's degree in business administration at Columbia College in Missouri, some 2,000 miles away. At $630 per course — about $1,800 per semester — his online degree will cost far less than even in-state tuition at UC. Not only that, Figueroa is able to continue working full time in a

management-training job with AT&T in Merced, a job he feels lucky to have in the current economic climate. \"Once I realized I had time constraints, I knew the traditional classroom wouldn't work,\" he says. \"Courses online are open 24 hours a day, and I'm able to go there any time I want.\"

That convenience is one of the main reasons nearly 4 million American students took at least one online course in the 2007-08 school year, according to a study by the Sloan Foundation. The same study found that online enrollment is growing at a rate more than 10 times that of the higher-education population at large — 12.9 percent vs. 1.2 percent for traditional \"in seat\" students. Nowhere is the growth faster than among younger students like Figueroa who are opting for online learning, even when the traditional classroom is — in his case — right outside the front door. \"This is a generation that lives online,\" says Vicky Phillips, founder and CEO of Geteducated.com, a service that ranks online learning institutions. \"Everything is instant, accelerated, and accessible, and they expect their education to be that way too. For them there is no clear line between the virtual world and the actual world.\"

Once targeted at older, working adults, distance learning has moved into the education mainstream at stunning speed over the past couple of years, as technology allows ever- richer, more-interactive learning experiences online — and as college costs continue to rise and classrooms are packed to capacity. For traditional brick-and-mortar institutions, that has meant a scramble to enter a lucrative market that used to be the exclusive territory of for-profit institutions such as the University of Phoenix and Kaplan University. Established brand-name educators — including Stanford, Cornell, Penn State, and MIT, which has placed its entire curriculum online through its OpenCourseWare program — now offer extensive online learning options and are competing with the for-profits for students. \"The stigma is gone,\" says Phillips. \"Online learning has reached mass cultural acceptance. It's no longer the ugly stepsister of the higher-education world.\"

Online offerings these days can sometimes even surpass the classroom experience. Aaron

Walsh, a professor at Boston College and a former videogame designer, has pioneered Immersive Education, a method of teaching through virtual worlds. Meeting in Second Life instead of a physical classroom, says Walsh, allows for some feats that gravity renders impossible, like having art-history students fly to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel or biology majors to take a Magic Schoolbus-like trip through the human body. Using videos, podcasts, live chats, Webcams, and wikis, educators increasingly see online learning as a way to engage the videogame generation with pedagogy that feels more like entertainment than drudgery. Students in the new homeland-security master's degree program at the University of Connecticut this fall, for example, will have coursework that resembles Grand Theft Auto: dwelling in a cybercity called San Luis Rey plagued with suicide bombers, biochemical attacks, and other disasters. At Arizona State, students in an Introduction to Parenting class raise a \"virtual child.\" They have to post the progress of their online charge through all the phases of childhood. \"The classes are so much more interactive, and I can log on when I'm most ready to learn,\" says Jaquelyn Holleran, a junior majoring in family and human development at ASU. \"I like that so much better than having to rush to class or sit through a lecture that's boring.\"

As the largest generation since the baby boom attends college at a time of shrinking budgets and soaring costs, many educators believe that online learning holds the greatest promise for expanding the capacity of the U.S. higher-education system. And digital classrooms will surely play an important role in helping the Obama administration pursue its goal of raising the percentage of college graduates in the U.S. to first in the world by 2020 (at least 10 other countries now stand in the way). The surge in students with jobs and families, and those in the military, has also caused online enrollments to soar. Sarah Gerke, an Army private stationed in Iraq, keeps up with her coursework at Columbia College in Missouri, despite the occasional bombing. \"Even if I could attend in person,\" she writes in an e-mail from Camp Liberty, \"I think I would stick with online classes for the convenience.\"

For public institutions such as the University of Michigan and the University of Massachusetts, online learning not only extends their brand, it's a cost-effective way to serve more students. At UMassOnline, enrollment among students under the age of 25 has increased 91 percent over the past three years. At Thomas Edison State College in Trenton, N.J., that growth rate over the same period is more than 100 percent. \"The best way to lower the cost of higher education is to graduate on time,\" says UMass president Jack Wilson. \"More and more we see students using online learning as an accelerator, a way to move more quickly through their undergraduate program.\"1. The study by the Sloan Foundation shows that

A.about 4 million American students took online course in the 2007-08 school year.

B.the online enrollment is growing at a rate of more than 10 times per year.

C.the ratio of traditional \"in seat\" and online enrollment growth rate is 12.9 to 1.2.

D.the biggest reason that so many people take online course is its convenience.

答案：A

[解答] 事实细节题。第二段首句提到在2007-08学年将近400万美国学生至少参加了一门在线课程，故A项正确。第二句说参加在线课程的人数正以高于接受高等教育人口数量十倍的速度增长，不是说参加在线课程的人数每年以十倍的速度增长，故B项错误。文章说在线学习人数与传统课堂学习人数的增长率是12.9%，和1.2%，C项中二者的比率颠倒了，故错误。首句提到参加在线课程学生人数之多主要的原因之一是其便利性，没有说便利性是人们参加在线过程最主要的原因，故D项错误。

2. According to Phillips, what was the attitude of people towards online learning?

A.It's a convenient way of learning.

B.It's a cost-effective way of learning.

C.It's a bad-reputed way of learning.

D.It's an excellent way of learning.

答案：C

[解答] 推理判断题 A对 B错。第三段尾句菲利普斯说“坏名声的时代已经过去了。在线学习已为大众文化所接受。它再也不是高等教育世界里丑陋的后来者了。”由此可以推断出，以前人们认为在线学习不是一个可取的方式，故C项正确。A、B、D三项说的都是现在人们对在线学习的看法，且不是Phillips的看法，皆可排除。

3. By Immersive Education method, students can

A.enjoy some feats in physical classroom that gravity renders impossible.

B.go to a city plagued with suicide bombers, biochemical attacks and so on.

C.learn how to be a parent by raising an adopted child through Internet.

D.have a simulated trip through the human body in front of a computer.

答案：D

[解答] 事实细节题。第四段第二句提到浸入式教育是一种通过虚拟世界进行教学的方式。下文举例进行说明，其中提到生物学专业的学生可以搭乘一班神奇校车——进行人体内的旅行。由此可知D项正确。A、B、C三项不符合浸入式教育的虚拟环境条件，故排除。

4. If you take course at UMassOnline,

A.you'll get a special degree different from campus-going counterparts'.

B.you can spend a shorter time to get a degree than going to campus.

C.you'll receive higher standardized curricula than traditional education.

D.you can accept class counseling from teachers at anytime you want.

答案：B

[解答] 事实细节题。尾段段末杰克·成尔海逊提到越来越多的学生把在线学习当做一种加速器，一种更快地完成本科学习的方式。由此可知在UMass在线学习，可以比在学校花费更短的时间完成学业，故B项正确。文章说的是UMass在线会授予学生和去学校上课的学生同样的学位，故A项错误。文章提到UMass在线的课程和学校的课程是相同的，故C项错误。文章没有提到在UMass在线可以随时接受老师的辅导，故排除D项。

5. Compared with the traditional form, online education has all the advantages EXCEPT

A.online degree costs a lot less than in-class education.

B.online education has many conveniences.

C.online education is far more interesting than traditional form of education.

D.online education provides colorful activities which greatly enhance social life.

答案：D

[解答] 事实细节题。文章没有提到在线教育可以提供丰富多彩的活动来促进学生的社交生活，且根据常识丰富的社交活动应该是传统的学校教育的优势，故D错，为答案。根据首段第四句可知在线学位比州内大学便宜，故排除A。由二段首句可知学生们选择在线学习正是由于其便捷性，故排除B。C项是对第四段第四句的同义转述，可排除。