Passage One (2008 年 6 月 )
Global warming may or may not be the great environmental crisis of the 21st century, but—regardless of whether it is or isn’t—we won’t do much about it. We will argue over it and may even, as a nation, make some fairly solemn-sounding commitments to avoid it. But the more dramatic and meaningful these commitments seem, the less likely they are to be observed.
Al Gore calls global warming an “inconvenient truth”, as if merely recognizing it could put us on a path to a solution. But the real truth is that we don’t know enough to relieve global warming, and—without major technological breakthroughs—we can’t do much about it.
From 2003 to 2050, the world’s population is projected to grow from 6.4 billion to 9.1 billion, a 42% increase. If energy use per person and technology remain the same, total energy use and greenhouse gas emissions （mainly, CO2） will be 42%higher in 2050. But that’s too low, because societies that grow richer use more energy. We need economic growth unless we condemn the world’s poor to their present poverty and freeze everyone else’s living standards. With modest growth, energy use and greenhouse emissions more than double by 2050.
No government will adopt rigid restrictions on economic growth and personal freedom （limits on electricity usage, driving and travel） that might cut back global warming. Still, politicians want to show they’re “doing something”. Consider the Kyoto Protocol （京都议定书）. It allowed countries that joined to punish those that didn’t. But it hasn’t reduced CO2 emissions （up about 25% since 1990）, and many signatories （签字国） didn’t adopt tough enough policies to hit their 2008-2012 targets.
The practical conclusion is that if global warming is a potential disaster, the only solution is new technology. Only an aggressive research and development program might find ways of breaking our dependence on fossil fuels or dealing with it. The trouble with the global warming debate is that it has become a moral problem when it’s really an engineering one. The inconvenient truth is that if we don’t solve the engineering problem, we’re helpless.
- What is said about global warming in the first paragraph?
A） It may not prove an environmental crisis at all.
B） It is an issue requiring worldwide commitments.
C） Serious steps have been taken to avoid or stop it.
D） Very little will be done to bring it under control. - According to the author’s understanding, what is Al Gore’s view on global warming?
A） It is a reality both people and politicians are unaware of.
B） It is a phenomenon that causes us many inconveniences.
C） It is a problem that can be solved once it is recognized.
D） It is an area we actually have little knowledge about. - Greenhouse emissions will more than double by 2050 because of .
A） economic growth
B） wasteful use of energy
C） the widening gap between the rich and poor
D） the rapid advances of science and technology - The author believes that, since the signing of the Kyoto Protocol, ______.
A） politicians have started to do something to better the situation
B） few nations have adopted real tough measures to limit energy use
C） reductions in energy consumption have greatly cut back global warming
D） international cooperation has contributed to solving environmental problems - What is the message the author intends to convey?
A） Global warming is more of a moral issue than a practical one.
B） The ultimate solution to global warming lies in new technology.
C） The debate over global warming will lead to technological breakthroughs.
D） People have to give up certain material comforts to stop global warming.
Passage Two (2013 年 12 月 )
In recent years, a growing body of research has shown that our appetite and food intake are influenced by a large number of factors besides our biological need for energy, including our eating environment and our perception of the food in front of us.
Studies have shown, for instance, that eating in front of the TV (or a similar distraction) can increase both hunger and the amount of food consumed. Even simple visual cues, like plate size and lighting, have been shown to affect portion size and consumption.
A new study suggested that our short-term memory also may play a role in appetite. Several hours after a meal, people’s hunger levels were predicted not by how much they’d eaten but rather by how much food they’d seen in front of them-in other words, how much they remembered eating. This disparity( 差 异 ) suggests the memory of our previous meal may have a bigger influence on our appetite than the actual size of the meal, says Jeffrey M. Brunstrom, a professor of experimental psychology at the University of Bristol.
“Hunger isn’t controlled solely by the physical characteristics of a recent meal. We have identified an independent role for memory for that meal,” Brunstrom says. “This shows that the relationship between hunger and food intake is more complex than we thought.”
These findings echo earlier research that suggests our perception of food can sometimes trick our body’s response to the food itself. In a 2011 study, for instance, people who drank the same 380-calorie ( 卡路里 ) milkshake on two separate occasions produced different levels of hunger-related hormones ( 荷尔蒙 ), depending on whether the shake’s label said it contained 620 or 140 calories. Moreover, the participants reported feeling more full when they thought they’d consumed a higher-calorie shake.
What does this mean for our eating habits? Although it hardly seems practical to trick ourselves into eating less, the new findings do highlight the benefits of focusing on our food and avoiding TV and multitasking while eating.
The so-called mindful-eating strategies can fight distractions and help us control our appetite, Brunstrom says.
- What is said to be a factor affecting our appetite and food intake?
A) How we perceive the food we eat.
B) What ingredients the food contains.
C) When we eat our meals.
D) How fast we eat our meals. - What would happen at meal time if you remembered eating a lot in the previous meal?
A) You would probably be more picky about food.
B) You would not feel like eating the same food.
C) You would have a good appetite.
D) You would not feel so hungry. - What do we learn from the 2011 study?
A) Food labels may mislead consumers in their purchases.
B) Food labels may influence our body’s response to food.
C) Hunger levels depend on one’s consumption of calories.
D) People tend to take in a lot more calories than necessary. - What does Brunstron suggest we do to control our appetite?
2060
A) Trick ourselves into eating less.
B) Choose food with fewer calorie.
C) Concentrate on food while eating.
D) Pick dishes of the right size. - What is the main idea of the passage?
A) Eating distractions often affect our food digestion.
B) Psychological factors influence our hunger levels.
C) Our food intake is determined by our biological needs.
D) Good eating habits will contribute to our health.