松动的石头大学英语四级信息匹配

2021年1月19日发(作者：坐山观虎斗)
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专业整理
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大学英语四
、
六级考试信息匹配题阅读训练


Directions:
In
this
section,
you
are
going
to
read
a
passage
with
ten
statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one
of
the
paragraph.
Identify
the
paragraph
from
which
the
information
is
derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is
marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding
letter on Answer Sheet 2.


Passage 1
Surviving the Recession
A)

America
’
s recession began quietly at the end of 2007. Since then it has
evolved into a global crisis. Reasonable people may disagree about whom
to blame. Financiers who were not as clever as they thought they were?
Regulators falling asleep at work? Consumers who borrowed too much?
Politicians who thoughtlessly promoted home-ownership for those who
could not afford it? All are guilt; and what a mess they have created.
B)

Since
2007
America
has
shed
5
million
jobs.
More
than
15%
of
the
workforce are jobless or underemployed
—
roughly 25 million workers. The
only
industries
swelling
their
payrolls
are
health
care,
utilities
and
the
federal government. The value of listed shares in American firms collapsed


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by 57% from its peak in October 2007 to a low in March this year, though
it has since bounded back somewhat. Industrial production fell by 12.8%
in the year to March, the worst slide since the Second World War. Mark
Zandi, an economist at Moody
’
s , predicts that the recession
will shrink America
’
s economy by 3.5% in total.
“
For most executives, this
is the worst business environment they
’
ve ever seen.
”

C)

Times are so tough that even bosses are taking pay cuts. Median
（
中位
数的
）
pay for chief executives of S&P 500 companies fell 6.8% in 2008.
The overthrown business giants of Wall Street took the biggest knock,
with average pay cuts of 38% and median bonuses of zero. But there was
some pain for everyone: median pay for chief executives of non-financial
firms in the S&P 500 fell by 2.7%.
D)

Nearly every business has a sad tale to tell. For example, Arne Sorenson,
the president of Marriott hotel, likens the crisis to the downturn that hit
his
business
after
September
11
th
,
2001.
When
the
twin
towers
fell,
Americans stopped travelling. Marriott had its worst quarter ever, with
revenues per room falling by 25%. This year, without a terrorist attack, the
hotel
industry
is
“
putting
the
same
numbers
on
the
board
”
,
says
Mr.
Sorenson.
E)

Other
industries
have
suffered
even
more.
Large
numbers
of
builders,
property firms and retailers have gone bankrupt. And a disaster has hit
Detroit. Last year the American car industry had the capacity to make 17


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million vehicles. Sales in 2009 could be barely half of that. The Big Three
American carmakers
—
General Motors, Ford and Chrysler
—
accumulated
ruinous costs over the post-war years, such as gold-plated health plans
and
pensions
for
workers
who
retired
as
young
as
48.
All
three
are
desperately restructuring. Only Ford may survive in its current form.
F)

Hard times breed hard feeling. Few Americans understand what caused
the recession. Some are seeking scapegoats
（
替罪羊
）
. Politicians are
happy to take advantage. Bosses have been summoned to Washington to
be scolded on live television. The president condemns their greed.
G)

Business folks are bending over backwards to avoid seeming extravagant.
Meetings
at
resorts
are
suddenly
unacceptable.
Goldman
Sachs,
an
investment bank, cancelled a conference in Las Vegas at the last minute
and rebooked it in San Francisco, which cost more but sounded less fun.
H)

Anyway, the pain will eventually end.
American business will regain its
shine.
Many
firms
will
die,
but
the
survivors
will
emerge
leaner
and
stronger
than
before.
The
financial
sector
’
s
share
of
the
economy
will
shrink, and stay shrunk for years to come. The importance of non-financial
firms will accordingly rise, along with their ability to attract the best talent.
America will remain the best place on earth to do business, so long as
Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress resist the temptation to
interfere too much, and so long as organized labors does not overplay its
hand.



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I)

Mr.
Obama
’
s
plan
to
curb
carbon
dioxide
emissions
（
排放
）
,
though
necessary, will be far from cost-free, whatever his sunny speeches on the
subject might suggest. The shift to a low-carbon economy will help some
firms, hurt others and require every organization that uses much energy
to
rethink
how
it
operates.
It
is
harder
to
predict
how
Mr.
Obama
’
s
proposed reforms to
the failing health-care system will turn out.
If he
succeeds in curbing costs
—
a big if
—
it would be a huge gain for America.
Some
business
will
benefit
but
the
vast
bulk
of
the
savings
will
be
captured by workers, not their employers.
J)

In the next couple of years the businesses that thrive will be those that are
tight with costs, careful of debt, cautious with cash flow and extremely
attentive to what customers want. They will include plenty of names no
one has yet heard of.
K)

Times change, and corporations change with them. In 1955 Time
’
s Man of
the Year was Harlow Curtice, the boss of GM. His firm was leading America
towards “
a new economic order
”
, the magazine wrote. Thanks to men like
Curtice,
“
the bonds of
scarcity
”
had been broken and America was rolling
“
to an all-time high of prosperity
”
. Soon, Americans would need to spend
“comparatively
little time earning a living
”
.
L)

Half a century later GM is a typical example for poor management. In
March its chief executive was fired by Time
’
s current Man of the Year, Mr.
Obama. The government now backs up the domestic car industry, lending


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it
money
and
overseeing
its
turnaround
plans.
With
luck,
this
will
be
short-lived.
But
there
is
a
danger
that
Washington
will
end
up
micromanaging not only Detroit but also other parts of the economy. And
clever as Mr. Obama
’
s advisers are, history suggests they will be bad at
this.


1.

The America
’
s recession affected the hotel industry as badly as the 9/11
terrorist attack.
2.

Businessmen
are
trying
to
avoid
seeming
wasteful
in
response
to
the
recession.
3.

In the near future, a thriving business will go with cautious management
tactics.

4.

Much doubt remains whether the Obama administration will do well in
micromanaging the America
’
s economy.
5.

A combination of causes is responsible for the current American recession,
which began in 2007.
6.

The
government
is
not
supposed
to
interfere
too
much
in
American
businesses.
7.

The big Three American carmakers need restructuring to survive due to
their accumulation of the ruinous costs over the post- war years.
8.

In March, GM
”
s chief executive was fired by Obama for poor management.
9.

According to the author, Obama
’
s plan to limit carbon dioxide emissions


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will by no means be inexpensive.
10.

At the worst time, the total value of listed shares in American firms shrank
by fifty-seven percent.

(D G J L A



H E L I B)
Passage two
Small schools Rising

A)

This year
’
s list of the top 100 high schools shows that today, those with
fewer students are flourishing.
B)

Fifty
years
ago,
they
were
the
latest
thing
in
educational
reform:
big,
modern, suburban high schools with students counted in the thousands.
As baby boomers
（
二战后婴儿潮时期出生的人
）
came of high- school age,
big schools promised economic efficiency. A greater choice of courses,
and, of course, better football teams. Only years later did we understand
the trade-offs this involved: the creation of excessive bureaucracies
（
官僚
机构
）
,the
difficulty
of
forging
personal
connections
between
teachers
and students. SAT scores began dropping in 1963; today, on average, 30%
of students do not complete high school in four years, a figure that rises
to 50% in poor urban neighborhoods. While the emphasis on teaching to
higher, test-driven standards as set in No Child Left Behind resulted in
significantly better performance in elementary (and some middle) schools,


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high schools for a variety of reason seemed to have made little progress.
C)

Size isn
’
t everything, but it does matter, and the past decade has seen a
noticeable countertrend toward smaller schools.
This has been due, in
part, to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has invested $$1.8
billion
in
American
high
schools,
helping
to
open
about
1000
small
schools
—
most
of
them
with
about
400
kids
each,
with
an
average
enrollment of only 150 per grade. About 500 more are on the drawing
board. Districts all over the county are taking notice, along with mayors in
cities
like
New
York,
Chicago
and
San
Diego.
The
movement
includes
independent public charter schools, such as No.1 BASIS in Tucson, with
only
120
high-schools
and
18
graduates
this
year.
It
embraces
district-sanctioned
magnet
schools,
such
as
the
Talented
and
Gifted
School, with 198 students, and the Science and Engineering Magnet, with
383, which share a building in Dallas, as well as the City Honors School in
Buffalo, N.Y., which grew out of volunteer evening seminars for students.
And it includes alternative schools with students selected by lottery
（
抽
签
）
, such as H.B Woodlawn in Arlington, Va. And most noticeable of all,
there is the phenomenon of large urban and suburban high schools that
have split up into smaller units of a few hundred, generally housed in the
same grounds that once boasted thousands of students all marching to
the same band.
D)

Hillsdale High School in San Mateo, Calif., is one of those, ranking No. 423


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—
among the top 2% in the country
—
on Newsweek
’
s annual ranking of
America
’
s top high schools. The success of small schools is apparent in the
listings.
Ten
years
ago,
when
the
first
Newsweek
list
based
on
college-level test participation was published, only three of the top 100
schools had graduating classes smaller than 100 students. This year there
are 22. Nearly 250 schools on the full Newsweek list of the top 5% of
schools nationally had fewer than 200 graduates in 2007.
E)

Although many of Hillsdale
’
s students came from wealthy households, by
the
late
1990
average
test
scores
were
sliding
and
it
had
earned
the
unaffectionate
nickname
“
Hillsjail
”
.
Jeff
Gibert,
a
Hillsdale
teacher
who
became
principal
last
year,
remembers
sitting
with
other
teachers
watching
students
file
out
of
a
graduation
ceremony
and
asking
one
another in astonishment,
“
How did that student graduated?
”

F)

So in 2003 Hillsdale remade itself into three
“
houses
”
, romantically named
Florence, Marrakech and Kyoto. Each of the 300 arriving ninth graders are
randomly assigned to one of the houses, where they will keep the same
four core subject teachers for two years, before moving on to another for
11
th
and 12
th
grades. The closeness this system cultivates is reinforced by
the institution of
“
advisory
”
classes. Teachers meet with students in groups
of 25, five mornings a week, for open-ended discussions of everything
from homework problems to bad Saturday-night dates. The advisers also
meet with students privately and stay in touch with parents, so they are


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deeply invested in the students
’
success.
“
We
’
re constantly talking about
one another
’
s advisers,
”
says English teacher Chris Crockett.
“
If you hear
that yours isn
’
t doing well in math, or see them sitting outside the dean
’
s
office, it
’
s like a personal failure.
”
Along with the new structure came a
more demanding academic program, the percentage of freshmen taking
biology jumped from 17 to 95.
“
It was rough for some. But by senior year,
two-thirds have moved up to physics,
”
says Gilbert.
“
Our kids are coming
to school in part because they know there are adults here who know them
and care for them.
”
But not all schools show advances after downsizing,
and
it
remains
to
be
seen
whether
smaller
schools
will
be
a
cure-all
solution.
G)

The Newsweek list of top U.S. high schools was made this year, as in years
past,
according
to
a
single
metric,
the
proportion
of
students
taking
college-level exams. Over the years the system has come in for its share of
criticism for its simplicity. But that is also its strength: it
’
s easy for readers
to understand, and to do the arithmetic for their own schools if they
’
d like.
H)

Ranking
schools
is
always
controversial,
and
this
year
a
group
of
38
superintendents
（
地区教育主管
）
from five states wrote to ask that their
schools be excluded from the calculation.
“
It is impossible to know which
high
schools
are
‘
the
best
’

in
the
nation,
”

their
letter
read,
in
part.
“
Determining whether different schools do or don
’
t offer a high quality of
education requires a look at many different measures, including students
’



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overall academic accomplishments and their subsequent performance in
college.
And
taking
into
consideration
the
unique
needs
of
their
communities.
”

I)

In the end the superintendents agreed to provide the data we sought,
which is, after all, public information. There is, in our view, no real dispute
here; we are all seeking the same thing, which is schools that better serve
our
children
and
our
nation
by
encouraging
students
to
make
tough
subjects under the guidance of gifted teachers. And if we keep working
toward that goal, someday, perhaps a list won
’
t be necessary.


1.

In
practical
use,
simplicity
is
still
considered
a
strength
of
Newsweek
’
s
school ranking system in spite of the criticism it receives.
2.

As a result setting up big schools, students
’
performance declined.
3.

Newsweek
ranked
high
schools
according
to
their
college-level
test
participation.
4.

Half a century ago, big, modern, suburban high schools were established
to ensure efficient education for baby boomers.
5.

It is agreed that qualified teachers, better services and encouragement are
keys to reaching the ultimate goal of school education.
6.

The most noticeable trend in high school
education is the
splitting of
large schools into smaller ones.
7.

It
is
still
unknown
whether
smaller
schools
will
be
a
solution
to
all


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educational problems.
8.

High schools funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are small
in size.
9.

Different
measures
should
be
used
in
assessing
the
quality
of
school
education.
10.

The
“
advisory
”

classes
at
Hillsdale
were
set
up
so
that
students
could
maintain closer relationship with their teachers.
(G B D B I


C F C H F)
Passage 3.

Highways
A)

Early in the 20
th
century, most of the streets and roads in the U.S. were
made of dirt, brick, and cedar wood blocks. Built for horse, carriage, and
foot
traffic,
they
were
usually
poorly
cared
for
and
too
narrow
to
accommodate
（
容纳
）
automobiles.
B)

With
the
increase
in
auto
production,
private
turnpike
（
收费公路
）
companies under local authorities began to spring up, and by 1921 there
were 387000 miles of paved roads. Many were built using specifications of
19
th
century Scottish engineers Thomas Telford and John MacAdam (for
whom the macadam surface is named), whose specifications stressed the
importance of adequate drainage. Beyond that, there were no national
standards for size, weight restrictions, or commercial signs. During World


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War I. roads throughout the country were nearly destroyed by the weight
of trucks. When General Eisenhower returned from Germany in 1919, after
serving in the U.S. army
’
s first transcontinental motor convoy
（
车队
）
, he
noted:
“
The old convoy had started me thinking about good, two-lane
highways, but Germany
’
s Autobahn or motorway had made me see the
wisdom of broader ribbons across the land.
”

C)

It would take another war before the federal government would act on a
national highway system. During World War II, a tremendous increase in
trucks and new roads were required. The war demonstrated how critical
highways were to the defense effort. Thirteen percent of defense plants
received all their supplies by truck, and almost all other plants shipped
more than half of their products by vehicle. The war also revealed that
local
control
of
highways
had
led
to
a
confusing
variety
of
design
standards. Even federal and state highways did not follow basic standards.
Some states allowed trucks up to 36000 pounds, while others restricted
anything
over
7000
pounds.
A
government
study
recommended
a
national highway system of 33920 miles, and congress soon passed the
Federal-Aid
Highway
Act
of
1944,
which
called
for
strict,
centrally
controlled design criteria.
D)

The interstate highway system was finally launched in 1956 and has been
hailed as one of the greatest public works projects of the century. To build
its 44000-mile web of highways, bridges, and tunnels, hundreds of unique


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engineering designs and solutions had to be worked out. Consider the
many
geographic
features
of
the
country:
mountains,
steep
grades,
wetlands, rivers, deserts and plains. Variables included the slope of the
land, the ability of the pavement to support the load, the intensity of road
use,
and
the
nature
of
the
underlying
soil.
Urban
areas
were
another
problem.
Innovative
designs
of
roadways,
tunnels,
bridges,
overpasses,
and
interchanges
that
could
run
through
or
bypass
urban
areas
soon
began to weave their way across the country, forever altering the face of
America.
E)

Long-span,
segmented-concrete,
cable-stayed
bridges
such
as
Hale
Boggs in Louisiana and the Sunshine Skyway in Florida, and remarkable
tunnels like Fort McHeny in Maryland and Mt. Baker in Washington, met
many
of
the
nation
’
s
physical
challenges.
Traffic
control
systems
and
methods of construction developed under the interstate program soon
influenced highway construction around the world, and were invaluable in
improving the condition of urban streets and traffic patterns.

F)

Today, the interstate system links every major city in the U.S. with Canada
and Mexico. Built with safety in mind, the highways have wide lanes and
shoulders, dividing medians, or barriers, long entry and exit lanes, curves
engineered for safe turns, and limited access. The death rate on highways
is half of all other U.S. roads (.86 deaths per 100 million passenger miles
compared to 1.99 per 100 million on all other roads).


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G)

By
opening
the
North
American
continent,
highways
have
enabled
consumer goods and services to reach people in remote and rural areas of
the country, spurred the growth of suburbs, and provided people with
greater options in term of jobs, access to cultural programs, health care,
and other benefits. Above all, the interstate system provides individuals
with what they cherish most: personal freedom of mobility.
H)

The
interstate
system
has
been
an
essential
element
of
the
nation
’
s
economic growth in terms of shipping and job creation: more than 75
percent the nation
’
s freight deliveries arrive by truck; and most products
that arrive by rail or air use interstates for the last leg of the journey by
vehicle. Not only has the highway system affected the America economy
by
providing
shipping
routes,
it
has
led
to
the
growth
of
spin-off
industries like service stations, motels, restaurants, and shopping centers.
It has allowed the relocation of manufacturing plants and other industries
from urban areas to rural.
I)

By the end of the century there was an immense network of paved roads,
residential streets, expressways, and freeways built to support millions of
vehicles. The highway system was officially renamed for Eisenhower to
honor
his
vision
and
leadership.
The
year
construction
began
he
said:
“
Together,
the
united
forces
of
our
communication
and
transportation
systems are dynamic elements in the very name we bear
—
United States.
Without them, we would be a mere alliance of many separate parts.
”



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1.

Many of the problems presented by the country
’
s geographical features
found solutions in innovative engineering projects.
2.

A century ago, there were almost no national standards for paved roads in
the U.S.
3.

The interstate system was renamed after Eisenhower in recognition of his
vision and leadership.
4.

General Eisenhower felt that the broad motorways made more sense than
the two-lane highways of America.
5.

It was in the 1950s that the American government finally took action to
build a national highway system.
6.

Under
safety
considerations,
the
death
rate
on
interstate
highways
is
much lower than that of other American roads.

7.

Trucks
using
the
interstate
highways
deliver
more
than
seventy-five
percent of the freight in U.S.
8.

Thanks
to
the
highways,
American
people
can
go
anywhere
they
like
around the country.
9.

To
a
certain
extent,
the
development
of
interstate
highway
system
in
America has promoted the nation
’
s economic growth.
10.

In terms of highway construction, the whole world was influenced by the
U.S.
(D B I B D


F H G H E)


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Passage 4
The Magician
The revolution that Steve Jobs led is only just beginning

A)

When it came to putting on a show, nobody else in the computer industry,
or any other industry for that matter, could match Steve Jobs. His product
launches, at which he would stand alone on a black stage and produce as
if by magic an
“
incredible
”
new electronic gadget
（
小器具
）
in front of an
amazed
crowd,
were
the
performances
of
a
master
showman.
All
computers do is fetch and work with numbers, he once explained, but do
it fast enough and
“
the results appear to be magic
”
. Mr. Jobs, who died
recently
aged
56,
spent
his
life
packaging
the
magic
into
elegantly
designed, easy-to-use products.
B)

The reaction to his death, with people leaving candles and flowers outside
Apple stores and politicians singing praises on the internet, is proof that
Mr. Jobs had become something much more significant than just a clever
money-maker.
He
stood
out
in
three
ways
—
as
a
technologist,
as
a
corporate leader and as somebody who was able to make people love
what had previously been impersonal, functional gadgets. Strangely, it is
this last quality that may have the deepest effect on the way people live.
The era of personal technology is in many ways just beginning.


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C)

As a technologist, Mr. Jobs was different because he was not an engineer
—
and that was his great strength.
Instead he was keenly interested in
product
design
and
aesthetics
（
美
学
）
,
and
in
making
advanced
technology simple to use. He repeatedly took an existing but half-formed
idea
—
the
mouse-driven
computer,
the
digital
music
player,
the
smartphone, the tablet computer
（
平板电脑
）—
and showed the rest of
the industry how to do it properly. Rival firms competed with each other
to follow where he led. In the process he brought about great changes in
computing, music, telecoms and the news business that were painful for
existing firms but welcomed by millions of consumers.
D)

Within the wider business world, a man who liked to see himself as a hippy,
permanently in revolt against big companies, ended up being hailed by
many of those corporate giants as one of the greatest chief executives of
his time. That was partly due to his talents: showmanship, strategic vision,
an
astonishing
attention
to
detail
and
a
dictatorial
management
style
which
many
bosses
must
have
envied.
But
most
of
all
it
was
the
extraordinary trajectory
（
轨迹
）
of his life. His fall from grace in the 1980s,
followed by his return to Apple in 1996 after a period in the wilderness, is
an inspiration to any businessperson whose career has taken a turn for the
worse. The way in which Mr. Jobs revived the failing company he had
co-founded and turned it into the world
’
s biggest tech firm (bigger even
than Bill Gate
’
s Microsoft, the company that had outsmarted Apple so


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dramatically
in
the
1980s),
sounds
like
something
from
a
Hollywood
movie.
E)

But what was perhaps most astonishing about Mr. Jobs was the absolute
loyalty
he
managed
to
inspire
in
customers.
Many
Apple
users
feel
themselves to be part of a community, with Mr. Jobs as its leader. And
there
was
indeed
a
personal
link.
Apple
’
s
products
were
designed
to
accord with the boss
’
s taste and to meet his extremely high standards.
Every
iPhone
or
MacBook
has
his
fingerprints
all
over
it.
His
great
achievement
was
to
combine
an
emotional
spark
with
computer
technology,
and
make
the
resulting
product
feel
personal.
And
that
is
what put Mr. Jobs on the right side of history, as technological innovation
has moved into consumer electronics over the past decade.
F)

As
our
special
report
in
this
issue
(printed
before
Mr.
Job
s’
s
death)
explains,
innovation
used
to
spill
over
from
military
and
corporate
laboratories to the consumer market, but lately this process has gone into
reverse. Many people
’
s homes now have more powerful, and more flexible,
devices than their offices do; consumer gadgets and online services are
smarter
and
easier
to
use
than
most
companies
’

systems.
Familiar
consumer products are being adopted by businesses, government and
the
armed
forces.
Companies
are
employing
in-house
versions
of
Facebook
and
creating
their
own
“
app
stores
”

to
deliver
software
to
employees.
Doctors
use
tablet
computers
for
their
work
in
hospitals.


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Meanwhile, the number of consumers hungry for such gadgets continues
to swell. Apple
’
s products are now being snapped up in Delhi and Dalian
just as in Dublin and Dallas.
G)

Mr.
Jobs
had
a
reputation
as
a
control
freak
（
怪人
）
,
and
his
critics
complained that the products and systems he designed were closed and
inflexible, in the name of greater ease of use.
Yet he also
empowered
millions of people by giving them access to cutting-edge technology. His
insistence on putting users first, and focusing on elegance and simplicity,
has become deep-rooted in his own company, and is spreading to rival
firms too. It is no longer just at Apple that designers ask:
“
What would
Steve Jobs do?
”

H)

The gap between Apple and other tech firms is only likely to narrow. This
week
’
s announcement of a new iPhone by a management team led by Tim
Cook, who replaced Mr. Jobs as chief executive in August, was generally
regarded as competent but uninspiring. Without Mr. Jobs to shower his
star dust on the event, it felt like just another product launch from just
another technology firm. At the recent unveiling of a tablet computer by
Jeff Bezos of Amazon, whose company is doing the best job of following
Apple
’
s lead in combining hardware, software, content and services in an
easy-to- use bundle, there were several attacks at Apple. But by doing his
best to imitate Mr. Jobs, Mr. Bezos also flattered him. With Mr. Jobs gone,
Apple
is
just
one
of
many
technology
firms
trying
to
arouse
his


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uncontrollable spirit in new products.
I)

Mr. Jobs was said by an engineer in the early years of Apple to emit a
“
reality distortion
（
扭曲
）
field
”
, such were his powers of persuasion. But
in
the
end
he
created
a
reality
of
his
own,
channeling
the
magic
of
computing into products that reshaped entire industries. The man who
said in his youth that he wanted to
“
put a ding in the
universe”
did just
that.


1.

Steve Jobs was obsessed with elegant and user-friendly gadgets, which
was his great strength.
2.

In spite of the user-friendliness of Apple products, critics complained that
they were closed and inflexible.
3.

Steve
Jobs
fulfilled
his
promise
and
had
succeeded
in
redefining
the
products in computer industries.
4.

Steve Jobs started the era of personal technology, which has a profound
impact on people
’
s way of life.
5.

Steve Jobs was thought highly of by leaders of many large companies for
his achievements and personal charm.
6.

Integrating the easy-to-use elements to the utmost, Amazon has become
the best Apple follower many technology firms.
7.

Apple
’
s products are very popular in many industries and places, bringing
much comfort and convenience to people
’
s life and work.


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8.

No
one
can
be
compared
with
Steve
Jobs
in
showmanship
in
the
computer industry or any other related industries.
9.

Having so many faithful users was the most amazing part of Steve Job
s’

success.
10.

For
those
who
have
suffered
failures
in
business,
Steve
Jobs
’

life
experience serves as an inspiration.
(C G I B D


H F A E D)

Passage 5

Should Sugar Be Regulated like Alcohol and Tobacco?

A)

Sugar poses enough health risks that it should be considered a controlled
substance just like alcohol and tobacco, argue a team of researchers from
the
University
of
California,
San
Francisco
(UCSF).
In
an
opinion
piece
called
“
The Toxic Truth About Sugar
”
published Feb. 1 in
Nature
, Robert
Lustig, Laura Schmidt and Claire Brindis argue that it
’
s wrong to consider
sugar just
“
empty calories.
”
They write:
“
There is nothing empty about
these
calories.
A
growing
body
of
scientific
evidence
is
showing
that
fructose
（
果糖
）
can trigger processes that lead to liver toxicity and a host
of other chronic diseases. A little is not a problem, but a lot kills
—
slowly.
”


B)

Almost everyone
’
s heard of
—
or personally experienced
—
the well-known
sugar high,
so perhaps the
comparison between sugar and alcohol or


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tobacco shouldn
’
t come as a surprise. But it
’
s doubtful that Americans will
look favorably upon regulating their favorite vice. We
’
re a nation that
’
s
sweet on sugar: the average U.S. adult downs 22 teaspoons of sugar a day,
according to the American Heart Association, and surveys have found that
teens swallow 34 teaspoons.

C)

To counter our consumption, the authors advocate taxing sugary foods
and controlling sales to kids under 17. Already, 17% of U.S. children and
teens are obese
（
肥胖的
）
, and across the world the sugar intake has
increased three times in the past 50 years. The increase has helped create
a
global
obesity
plague
that
contributes
to
35
million
annual
deaths
worldwide
from
noninfectious
diseases
including
cancer,
heart
disease
and
diabetes.
Linda
Matzigkeit,
a
senior
vice
president
at
Children
’
s
Healthcare, said
“
We have to do something about this or our country is in
danger. It
’
s not good if your state has the second-highest obesity rate.
Obese children turn into obese adults.
”

D)

“
There are good calories and bad calories, just as there are good fats and
bad
fats,
good
amino
acids
（
氨基酸
）
and
bad
amino
acids,
”

Lustig,
director of the Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health program at
UCSF, said in a statement.
“
But sugar is toxic beyond its calories.
”
The food
industry
tries
to
imply
that
“
a
calorie
is
a
calorie,
”

says
Kelly
Brownell,
director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University.
”

But this and other research suggests there is something different about


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sugar,
”
says Brownell.

E)

The UCSF report emphasizes the metabolic
（
新陈代谢
）
effects of sugar.
Excess
sugar
can
alter
metabolism,
raise
blood
pressure,
affect
the
signaling
of
hormones
and
damage
the
liver
—
outcomes
that
sound
suspiciously similar to what can happen after a person drinks too much
alcohol. Schmidt, co- chair of UCSF
’
s community Engagement and Health
Policy program, noted on CNN:
“
When you think about it, this actually
makes a lot of sense. Alcohol, after all, is simply made from sugar. Where
does vodka come from? Sugar.
”

F)

But there are also other areas of impact that researchers have investigated:
the effect of sugar on the brain and how liquid calories are interpreted
differently by the body than solids. Research has suggested that sugar
activates the same reward pathways in the brain as traditional drugs of
abuse like morphine o heroin. No one is claiming the effect of sugar is
quite that strong, but, says Brownell,
“
it helps confirm what people tell you
sometimes, that they hunger for sugar and have withdrawal symptoms
when they stop eating it.
”
There
’
s also something particularly tricky about
sugary drinks.
“
When calories come in liquids, the body doesn
’
t feel as
full,
”
says Brownell.
“
People are getting more of their calories than ever
before from sugared drinks.
”

G)

Other
countries,
including
France,
Greece
and
Denmark,
impose
soda
taxes, and the concept is being considered in at least 20 U.S cities and


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states.
Last
summer,
Philadelphia
came
close
to
passing
a
2-cents-per-ounce soda tax. The Rudd Center has been a strong advocate
of a more modest 1-cent-per-ounce tax. But at least one study, from 2010,
has raised doubts that soda taxes would result in significant weight loss:
apparently people who are determined to eat
—
and drink
—
unhealthily
will find ways to do it. Teens
—
no surprise
—
are good at finding ways to
get
the
things
they
can
’
t
have,
so
state
policies
banning
all
sugar-sweetened
drinks
from
public
schools
and
providing
only
water,
milk or 100% fruit juices haven
’
t had the intended effect of steering kids
away from drinking sugared drinks: the average teen consumes about 300
calories per day
—
that
’
s nearly 15% of his daily calories
—
in sweetened
drinks, and the food and drink industry is only too happy to feed this
need.
H)

Ultimately, regulating sugar will prove particularly tricky because it goes
beyond health concerns; sugar, for so many people, is love.
A plate of
cut-up vegetables just doesn
’
t pack the same emotional punch as a tin of
home-made chocolate chip cookies, which is why I took my daughter out
for a cupcake and not an apple as an after-school treat today. We don
’
t do
that regularly
—
it
’
s the first time this school year, actually
—
and that
’
s what
made it special. As a society, could we ever reach the point where we
’
d
think apples
—
not a cupcake
—
are something to get excited over? Says
Brindis, one of the report
’
s authors and director of UCSF
’
s Philip R. Lee


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Institute for Health Policy Studies:
“
We recognize that there are cultural
and
celebratory
aspects
of
sugar.
Changing
these
patterns
is
very
complicated.
”

I)

For
inroads
（
进展
）
to
be
made,
say
the
authors
in
their
statement,
people have to be better educated about the hazards of sugar and agree
that something
’
s got to change: many of the interventions
（
干预
）
that
have
reduced
alcohol
and
tobacco
consumption
can
be
models
for
addressing
the
sugar
problem,
such
as
imposing
special
sales
taxes,
controlling
access,
and
tightening
licensing
requirements
on
vending
machines
（
自动售货机
）
and snack-bars that sell high sugar products in
schools and workplaces.
J)

We
’
re
not
talking
prohibition,
”

Schmidt
said.
“
We
’re
not
advocating
a
major
imposition
of
the
government
into
people’
s
lives.
We
’
re
talking
about gentle ways to make sugar consumption slightly less convenient,
thereby moving people away from the concentrated dose. What we want
is to actually increase people
’
s choices by making foods that aren
’
t loaded
with sugar comparatively easier and cheaper to get.
”


1.

To
address
the
sugar
problem,
the
author
suggests
that
the
licensing
requirements
on
vending
machines
and
snack- bars
selling
high
sugar
products be tightened.
2.

Liquid sugar increases your calories intake before you realize it because


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the body interprets differently when calories come in liquids.
3.

In order to relieve the public worry about sugar intake, the food industry
suggests that sugar is only a source of energy.
4.

Excessive
sugar
intake
worldwide
contributes
to
thirty-five
million
noninfectious disease-related death a year.
5.

In the author
’
s opinion, the practice of imposing sugar taxes is unlikely to
yield the intended effect.
6.

Education should be conducted to raise people
’
s awareness of its hazards
in order to reduce sugar consumption.
7.

Americans might hold a negative attitude toward government regulation
of sugar consumption.
8.

A gentle way to steer people away from sugar is to make inexpensive,
low-sugar foods comparatively easier to get.

9.

Some
researchers
think
sugar
should
be
considered
a
controlled
substance because excessive intake of sugar results in liver toxicity and
various diseases.
10.

The regulation of sugar will be complicated because sugar may convey a
sense of affection.

(I F D C G


I B J A H)

Passage 6
British Cuisine: the Best of Old and New


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