閱讀理解題

　　第一篇

"Salty" Rice Plant Boosts Harvests

　　British scientists are breeding a new generation of rice plants that will be able to grow in soil containing salt water. Their work may enable abandoned farms to become productive once more.

　　Tim Flowers and Tony Yeo, from Sussex University's School of Biological Sciences, have spent several years researching how crops, such as rice, could be made to grow in water that has become salty.

　　The pair have recently begun a three-year programme, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, to establish which genes enable some plants to survive salty conditions. The aim is to breed this capability into crops, starting with rice.

　　It is estimated that each year more than 10m hectares （公頃） of agricultural land are lost because salt gets into the soil and stunts （妨礙生長） plants. The problem is caused by several factors. In the tropics, mangroves （紅樹林） that create swamps （沼澤） and traditionally formed barriers to sea water have been cut down. In the Mediterranean, a series of droughts have caused the water table to drop, allowing sea water to seep （滲透） in. In Latin America, irrigation often causes problems when water is evaporated （蒸發(fā)） by the heat, leaving salt deposits behind.

　　Excess salt then enters the plants and prevents them functioning normally. Heavy concentrations of minerals in the plants stop them drawing up the water they need to survive.

　　To overcome these problems, Flowers and Yeo decided to breed rice plants that take in very little salt and store what they do absorb in cells that do not affect the plants' growth. They have started to breed these characteristics into a new rice crop, but it will take about eight harvests before the resulting seeds are ready to be considered for commercial use.

　　Once the characteristics for surviving salty soil are known, Flowers and Yeo will try to breed the appropriate genes into all manners of crops and plants. Land that has been abandoned to nature will then be able to bloom again, providing much needed food in the poorer countries of the world.

　　1 Which of the following statements about Flowers and Yeo is true?

　　A They are students at Sussex University.

　　B They are rice breeders.

　　C They are husband and wife.

　　D They are colleagues at an institution of higher leaming.

　　2 Flowers and Yeo have started a programme

　　A to find ways to prevent water pollution.

　　B to identify genes that promote growth in salty soil.

　　C to breed rice plants that taste salty.

　　D to find ways to remove excessive salt from soil.

　　3 Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a cause of the problem discussed in the passage?

　　A Natural barriers to sea water have been destroyed.

　　B The water table has gone down after droughts.

　　C Sea level has been continuously rising.

　　D Evaporation of water leaves salt behind.

　　4 The word "affect" in Paragraph 6 could be best replaced by

　　A "influence".

　　B "effect".

　　C "stop".

　　D "present".

　　5 The attitude of the author towards the research project is

　　A positive.

　　B negative.

　　C suspicious.

　　D indifferent.

　　第二篇

Living with Computer

　　After too long on the Net, even a phone call can be a shock. My boyfriend's Liverpudlian accent suddenly becomes hard to understand after the clarity of his words on screen; a secretary's tone seems more rejecting than I'd imagined it would be. Time itself becomes fluid - hours become minutes, and alternately seconds stretch into days. Weekends, once a highlight of my week, are now just two ordinary days.

　　For the last three years, since I stopped working as a producer for Charlie Rose, I have done much of my work as a tele-commuter （遠程交談者）. I submit articles and edit them via E-mail and communicate with colleagues on Internet mailing lists. My boyfriend lives in England, so much of our relationship is computer-mediated.

　　If I desired, I could stay inside for weeks without wanting anything. I can order food, and manage my money, love and work. In fact, at times I have spent as long as three weeks alone at home, going out only to get mail and buy newspapers and groceries. I watched most of the blizzard （暴風雪） of '96 on TV.

　　But after a while, life itself begins to feel unreal. I start to feel as though I've merged with my machines, taking data in, spitting them back out, just another node （節(jié)點） on the Net. Others on line report the same symptoms. We start to strongly dislike the outside forms of socializing. It's like attending an A. A. meeting in a bar with everyone holding a half-sipped drink. We have become the Net opponents' worst nightmare.

　　What first seemed like a luxury, crawling from bed to computer, not worrying about hair, and clothes and face, has become an avoidance, a lack of discipline. And once you start replacing real human contact with cyber-interaction （網上交流）, coming back out of the cave can be quite difficult.

　　At times, I turn on the television and just leave it to chatter in the background, something that I'd never done previously. The voices of the programs soothe （安慰） me, but then I'm jarred （使感不快）by the commercials. I find myself sucked in by soap operas, or compulsively （強制性地） needing to keep up with the latest news and the weather. "Dateline," "Frontline," "Nightline," CNN, every possible angle of every story over and over and over, even when they are of no possible use to me. Work movers from foreground to background.

　　6 Compared with the clear words of her boyfriend on screen, his accent is

　　A obscure.

　　B distinct.

　　C unreal.

　　D misleading.

　　7 The passage implies that the writer and her boyfriend live in

　　A England.

　　B different countries.

　　C the same city.

　　D the same country.

　　8 Living alone in a house, the writer seems to

　　A have totally forgotten her work.

　　B be afraid of her neighbors.

　　C get some comfort from TV programs.

　　D have gone crazy.

　　9 We learn from the passage that the writer

　　A is fed up with the Net opponents.

　　B prefers people to the computer.

　　C is addicted to the computer.

　　D does not like human contact.

　　10 The phrase "coming back out of the cave" in the fifth paragraph means

　　A "coming back home".

　　B "giving up the present job".

　　C "living a luxurious life".

　　D "restoring real human contact".

　　第三篇

The Body Clock

　　Why is it that flying to New York from London will leave you feeling less tired than flying to London from New York? The answer may be a clear case of biology not being able to keep up with technology.

　　Deep inside the brain there is a 'clock' that governs every aspect of the body's functioning: sleep and wake cycles, levels of alertness, performance, mood, hormone levels, digestion, body temperature and so on. It regulates all of these functions on a 24-hour basis and is called the biological clock.

　　The body clock programmes us to be sleepy twice a day, between 3-5 am and again between 3-5 pm. Afternoon tea and nap are all cultural responses to our natural biological sleepiness in the afternoon.

　　One of the major causes of the travellers' malady known as jet lag is the non-alignment of a person's internal body clock with clocks in the external world. Crossing different time zones confuses the biological clock, which then has to adjust to the new time and patterns of light and activity. To make matters more complex, not all internal body functions adjust at the same rate. So your sleep/wake may adjust to a new time zone at one rate, while your temperature adjusts at a different pace. Your digestion may be on a different schedule altogether.

　　Though we live in a 24-hour day, the natural tendency of the body clock is to extend our day beyond 24 hours. It is contrary to our biological programming to 'shrink' our day.

　　That is why traveling in a westward direction is more body-clock friendly than flying east. NASA studies of long haul pilots showed that westward travel was associated with significantly better sleep quantity and quality than eastward flights.

　　When flying west, you are 'extending your day, thus traveling in the natural direction of your internal clock. Flying eastward will involve 'shrinking' or reducing your day and is in direct opposition to your internal clock's natural tendency.

　　One of the more common complaints of travelers is that their sleep becomes disrupted. There are many reasons for this: changing time zones and schedules, changing light and activity levels, trying to sleep when your body clock is programmed to be awake, disruption of the internal biological clock and working longer hours.

　　It is often suggested that you adjust your watch as soon as you board a plane, supposedly to try to help you adjust to your destination's schedule as soon as you arrive. But it can take the body clock several days to several weeks to fully adjust to a new time zone.

　　So, our body clock truly can 'govern' us.

　　11 The role of the body clock is to

　　A enable us to sleep 6 hours a day.

　　B help us adapt to a 24-hour cycle.

　　C regulate the body's functions.

　　D interfere with the body's functions.

　　12 The word "malady" in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to

　　A "condition".

　　B "discomfort".

　　C "injury".

　　D "excitement".

　　13 Flying in a westward direction will

　　A help you sleep better.

　　B increase the degree of jet lag.

　　C shrink your day.

　　D make you overeat.

　　14 Which of the following in NOT mentioned as a reason for the disrupted sleep of travelers?

　　A Crossing different time zones.

　　B Changing light and activity levels.

　　C Working longer hours.

　　D Watching out of the plane for a long time.

　　15 It can be seen from the last two paragraphs that

　　A you can control your own body clock.

　　B it is not difficult to adjust to a new time zone.

　　C adjusting your watch can help you a avoid jet lag.

　　D there isn't much you can do to avoid jet lag.

　　【參考答案】

　　1. D 2. B 3. C 4. A 5. A

　　6. A 7. B 8. C 9. C 10. D

　　11. C 12. B 13. A 14. D 15. D