閱讀理解題

　　第一篇

Ulcers

　　Even though ulcers appear to run in families, lifestyle plays more of role than genetic（基因的） factors in causing the illness, according to a report in the April 13th Journal of Internal Medicine. In particular, smoking and stress in men and the regular use of pain releasing medicines in women were linked with an increased risk of developing an ulcer（潰瘍）.

　　Overall, 61% of ulcer risk appears to be due to environmental factors, such as smoking, and the remaining 39% is due to genes according to Dr. Ismo Raiha of the University of Turkey and colleagues at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Some researchers had suggested that families may spread Helicobacteria pylori（幽門螺旋菌）, the bacteria（細(xì)菌） that can cause ulcers. However, the new study suggests this is unlikely, according to the report.

　　Raiha and colleagues studied data from more than 13,000 pairs of twins "to examine the roles of genetic and environmental factors in the origin of peptic ulcer disease," they explain. Both twins were more likely to develop an ulcer if the pair were genetically the same as compared with a pair of fraternal（由兩受精卵發(fā)育而成的） twins, suggesting that there must be some genetic susceptibility（敏感性） to ulcer development.

　　However, the risk was no greater in twins living together compared with twins living apart, suggesting that shared exposure to H. pylori was not to blame. "Environmental effects were not due to factors shared by family members, and they were related to smoking and stress in men and the use of analgesics in women," the authors wrote. "The minor effects of shared environment to disease liability do not support the concept that the grouping of risk factors, such as H. pylori infection, would explain the genetic factor of peptic ulcer disease," they concluded.

　　1 The report attributes the risk of men developing an ulcer partly to

　　A smoking and stress.

　　B the kinds of food they eat.

　　C the size of the family.

　　D the use of certain medicines.

　　2 61% of ulcer risk seems to be caused by

　　A unknown factors.

　　B economic factors.

　　C environmental factors.

　　D genetic factors.

　　3 The purpose of the research on twins by Raiha and colleagues was to examine

　　A the relationship between family members.

　　B the effect of pain-releasing medicines.

　　C the roles of genetic and environmental factors in the origin of ulcer.

　　D the symptoms of ulcer.

　　4 Raiha and colleagues found environmental effects related to all the following factors EXCEPT

　　A the regular use of pain-releasing medicines

　　B shared exposure to H. pylori.

　　C smoking.

　　D stress.

　　5 In the last paragraph, the word "suggesting" could be best replaced by

　　A assuming.

　　B implying.

　　C proposing.

　　D believing.

　　第二篇

Sleep Necessary for Memories

　　Burning the midnight oil before an exam or interview does harm to the performance according to a recent research which found that sleep is necessary for memories to be taken back into the brain. A good night's sleep within 30 hours of trying to remember a new task is a required condition of having good recall in the weeks ahead, scientists have found.

　　The research, published in the December issue of Nature Neuroscience, showed that it was the act of sleep, rather than the simple passage of time, that was critical for long-term memory formation.

　　"We think that getting that first night's sleep starts the process of memory consolidation（鞏固）," said Robert Stickgold, a sleep researcher at Harvard Medical School who conducted the latest study.

　　"It seems that memories normally wash out of the brain unless some process nails them down. My suspicion is that sleep is one of those things that does the nailing down." Professor Stickgold said.

　　With about one in five people claiming that they are SO chronically short of sleep that it affects their daily activities, the latest work emphasizes the less well-understood side effect－serious memory impairment（損害）.

　　Volunteers in an experiment found it easier to remember a memory task if they were allowed to sleep that night. But for those kept awake, no amount of subsequent sleep made up for the initial loss.

　　Professor Stickgold's team trained 24 people to identify the direction of three diagonal（斜線形的）bars flashed for a sixtieth of a second on a computer screen full of horizontal（水平的）stripes.

　　Half of the subjects were kept awake that night, while the others slept. Both groups were allowed to sleep for the second and third nights to make up for any differences in tiredness between the volunteers.

　　Those who slept the first night were significantly and consistently better at rememberin9 the task while the second group showed no improvement despite enjoying two nights of catch-up sleep.

　　6 The research published in Nature Neuroscience showed that what was essential to the formation of long-term memory was

　　A intelligence.

　　B time.

　　C food.

　　D sleep.

　　7 Which of the following statements about the research is NOT true?

　　A It was done within 30 hours.

　　B It was headed by Professor Stickgold.

　　C It focused on long-term memory formation.

　　D There were altogether 24 subjects in the experiment.

　　8 Stickgold's research focused on the side effect produced by

　　A memory impairment.

　　B lack of sleep.

　　C low work efficiency.

　　D memory recall.

　　9 In Stickgold's experiment, those who were kept awake on the first night

　　A could very well remember the direction of the diagonal bars.

　　B didn't do any better after two nights' sleep.

　　C were as tired as those who were not.

　　D could recall the direction of more bars than those who were not.

　　10 Those who slept the first night

　　A couldn't remember the task.

　　B could not sleep the second and third nights.

　　C performed slightly better than those who did not.

　　D did much better than those who did not.

　　第三篇

A New Cause of Suffering

　　A conference on obesity（肥胖癥）was recently held in Vienna. Two thousand experts from more than fifty countries attended the conference. According to statistics, 1.2 billion people worldwide are overweight, and 250 million are too fat. Obesity is rapidly becoming a new cause of suffering.

　　Professor Friedrich hopichler of Salzberg said: "we are living in the new age but with the metabolism（新陳代謝）of a stone-age man .I have just been to the United States. It is really terrible. A pizza（比薩餅） shop is appearing on every corner. We have been occupied by fast food and Coca-Cola-ization."

　　Many of the experts stressed that obesity was a potential killer. Hopichler said: "eighty per cent of all diabetics（糖尿病人）are too fat, also fifty per cent of all patients with high blood pressure and fifty per cent with fatty tissue complaints. Ten per cent more weight means thirteen pet cent more risk of heart disease. Reducing one's weight by ten per cent leads to thirteen per cent lower blood pressure."

　　Another expert Hermann Toplak said that the state health services should improve their financing of preventive programs. "the health insurance pays for surgery（such as reducing the size of the stomach）when the body-mass index（身體質(zhì)量指數(shù)）is more than 40. That is equivalent to a weight of 116 kilograms for a height of 1.60 meters. One should start earlier."

　　Toplak said tat prevention should begin in school. "Child obesity has a close relation with the time which children spend in front of TV sets."

　　11 How many people are suffering from obesity in the world?

　　A 250,000,000

　　B 25,000,000

　　C 1,200,000,000

　　D 120,000,000

　　12 the united states is cited as a country where

　　A obesity is not a problem at all.

　　B you can find many new things.

　　C terrible things happen all the time.

　　D it is easy to buy fast food.

　　13 according to the article, obesity is associated with all the following EXCEPT

　　A high blood pressure.

　　B fatty tissue complaints.

　　C stomachache

　　D heart disease

　　14 Hermann Toplak suggested that more money should be spent on

　　A surgery

　　B fat people

　　C preventive programs

　　D state health services.

　　15 in Toplak's opinion, the more time a child spends watching TV

　　A the better he will do in his studies

　　B the more likely he will get too fat

　　C the less likely he will get too fat

　　D the more friends he will have at school

　　【參考答案】

　　1. A　　2. C　　3. C　　4. B　　5. B

　　6. D　　7. A　　8. B　　9. B　　10. D

　　11. A　 12. D　 13. C　 14. C　 15. B