三、阅读理解(共20小题;每小题2分，满分40分)

A

There are lots of good reasons to read blogs, including:

Keeping up with current events: Since local news is useless, and cable news only slightly less so, blogs are often where I learn about the most important news of the day. I also learn of important news that the regular news outlets aren’t even covering (or are covering badly).

The pulse of the times: As someone with a professional interest (as both an anthropologist(人类学家) and a writer) in how people and society act, reading blogs offers me insight into the way people see and react to the world around them.

Things I wouldn’t think to ask: While I am an adept(熟练的) Googler when I need answers to some pressing question, a lot of time I’ve learned things from blogs I wouldn’t have Googled because I didn’t even know I didn’t know them.

The negative side of blog-reading includes:

The echo-chamber effect: I read blogs that, for one reason or another, I like, which means it’s possible that I’m hearing viewpoints and opinions that resonate (共鸣) well with my own to the exclusion of others. To be honest, I don’t think this is a big pro- blem, since blogs aren’t the only medium through which I engage with the world, but it’s something to think about.

Time consumption: I’m not really sure how much time I spend reading blogs every day. An hour in the morning and again in the evening seems about right for most days. Is that time that could be better used for other things?

The other echo-chamber effect: There’s only so much news in any niche(壁龛), so when something noteworthy happens, chances are several sites will end up running the same story with only slight differences. I can either spend time reading each story to make sure I don’t miss any subtle detail, or skip them (which also takes time, and may mean I miss some key detail).

36. What does the author mainly talk about in the passage?

A. Pros and cons of blog-reading.

B. His own addiction to blog-reading.

C. The wide influence of blogs in our life.

D. The right way for blog-reading.

37. It can be inferred that one of the important reasons why the author reads blogs is that _______.

A. it can help to improve his googling skills

B. it can let him know important news more quickly

C. it can be of great help to his professional work

D. it can be a boost to his professional interest

38. The author is especially interested in _______.

A. what other bloggers are reading

B. how other people read blogs

C. how blogs affect people’s attitudes towards society

D. how people see and react to the world around them

39. Which of the following best explains “The other echo-chamber effect”?

A. The same story gets a lot of feedback.

B. The same story is reported repeatedly in different sites.

C. The author wastes a lot of time reading the same story.

D. The author can find different opinions on the same story.

40. What’s the author’s attitude towards blogs?

A. One-sided.  B. Objective.      C. Negative.   D. Critic.

---

B

Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Earth Day. Holidays like these and others could be celebrated every day of the year. While larger projects like helping to clean up local parks are important tasks to tackle, there are also a number of changes you can make in your own household all year long to live greener, according to Barry Kaplan, co-owner of Everything Natural in Clarks Summit. It is the little things that each person can do, he said, that will truly make a difference every day.

Everything Natural owner Barry Kaplan displays is one of the many Earth-friendly cleaning products available at the Clarks Summit store.

“Living as though Earth Day really mattered,” Kaplan said, “helps call attention to something we should be aware of every day. To live greener, or not as wasteful, can include simple life changes that are easy to do.” Kaplan said, “Even if you were to eat one vegetarian meal a week, it has a huge impact. I am not advocating vegetarians, but in our country, we eat more beef than any other country.” Kaplan also suggested that while eating less meat and using products made locally will help the cause, there are many other alternatives.

“Home heating is the largest use of energy that exists. The amount of wood and paper thrown away is enough to heat 50 million homes for 20 years,” Kaplan said. If during the winter, everyone were to turn down their heat a degree or two, Kaplan said it would make a significant difference.

Households should recycle, Kaplan said. “Clarks Summit is a good community for recycling, but it could be better, if every household did.” Kaplan said using recycled paper towels could save millions of trees and landfill space. Also businesses should be more aware of their impact using office paper and the waste of printing emails. At the end of each of Kaplan’s emails it is featured:“Please consider the impact to the environment before printing this email.”

41. What is the purpose of the passage?

A. To promote the cleaning products of the Clarks Summit.

B. To offer advice on how to live greener by doing small things every day.

C. To explain the importance and meaning of some important holidays.

D. To call on people to learn from a pioneer in protecting the earth.

42. Clarks Summit is probably ________.

A. an organization of volunteers

B. a recycling company

C. a store selling green products

D. a society of vegetarians

43. Kaplan asks people to _________.

A. be vegetarians

B. eat more healthy food

C. eat one vegetarian meal every week

D. take Earth Day more seriously

44. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A. Kaplan thinks people should not print emails unless necessary.

B. Kaplan is strongly against people using paper towels.

C. Kaplan emails people to save as much as possible.

D. Recycling is not popular in Kaplan’s com- munity.

45. The underlined “it” in paragraph four probably refers to ________.

A. the amount of wood and paper wasted

B. home heating

C. turning down the heat in winter

D. eating less meat

---

C

A scan of the human genome(基因组) finds that hundreds of our genes have undergone positive natural selection during the past 10,000 years of human evolution.

Genes are the instructions organisms used to make proteins. They are hidden in genetic material, usually DNA, and some come in different versions, called “alleles(等位基因).” Positive natural selection occurs when one allele is favored over another due to changes in the environment.

Researchers from the University of Chicago analyzed the genomes of 209 unrelated individuals from three distinct human populations: East Asians, Europeans and Yorubans from Nigeria. Each population contained about 250 positively selected genes; however, most of the affected genes differed depending on the group.

“This study addresses the question ‘Are humans still evolving?’, and the answer is ‘Absolutely,’” study team member Benjamin Voight said.

“There have been a lot of recent changes—the advent(到来) of agriculture, shifts in diet, new habitats, climatic changes—over the past 10,000 years,” said Jonathan Pritchard, a human geneticist at the University of Chicago who led the study.

The researchers also found positive selection in four pigment genes(色素基因) important for lighter skin in Europeans that were not known before. Scientists think humans evolved lighter skin in Europe as an adaptation to less sunlight.

And in East Asians, they found strong evidence of positive selection in genes involved in the production of ADH, a protein necessary for breaking down alcohol. However, some East Asians can’t metabolize(产生代谢变化) alcohol because they carry a mutation(突变) that prevents them from making ADH. The new finding suggests that the mutation may confer some currently unknown additional benefit.

The text, which used data collected by the International HapMap Project, is detailed in the March 7 issue of the journal Public Library of Science-Biology.

46. What would be the best title for the passage?

A. Alleles leads to positive natural selection

B. The affected genes differ depending on the group

C. The mutation of genes has some additional benefit

D. Hundreds of human genes still evolving

47. The positive selection in four pigment genes is the most important for ________.

A. East Asians  B. Europeans  C. Nigerian  D. Indians

48. The following statements are true EXCEPT that ________.

A. humans evolved lighter skin in Europe as an adaptation to the weather

B. positive natural selection is a good thing for humans

C. the human genome have achieved positive natural selection

D. some East Asians can’t metabolize alcohol because of changes in diet

49. Most of the human genes differed mainly because of the changes of the ________.

A. environment B. population  C. diet   D. climate

50. From the passage we know that the author is most probably ________.

A. a researcher of the human genome

B. a human geneticist

C. a writer of the journal Public Library of Science-Biology

D. a member of the International HapMap Project

---

D

Mary Schaefer has always been interested in how the human element plays out in what, and how, things get done in the workplace. Mary’s belief is that organizations are composed of unique human beings requiring individual attention in order to make the most of what they can contribute to an organization, and at the same time meet their own specific needs for meaningful work. She formed her company, Artemis Path, to help managers and employees see how they can get more from themselves and each other by working WITH what makes us human beings—an unexpected resourcefulness and energy that can only come from a respectful and cooperative work environment.

Having started as a computer systems analyst, over time she noticed that she was more interested in how people reacted to changing job expectations and a changing work environment, how people reacted to learning new skills, and how to overcome the obstacles to that.

As she started pursuing a career in Human Resources and a Master’s in HR, Mary was chosen for several work assignments that allowed her to try out her vision for how people can be more positively engaged in the workplace. She took an active role in leading hundreds of survivors of corporate downsizing to see how they could make positive choices moving forward, rather than be overwhelmed by constant job insecurity.

While leading a manufacturing project team made up of several shop-floor employees, Mary worked with every person on her team on their skill-development needs. In just a few years, several were promoted and were able to significantly expand their career possibilities. Mary was recognized for this and more with an award for being a “champion of human potential”.

51. Mary Schaefer formed her company Artemis Path to ________.

A. help managers employ workers

B. develop human resources

C. solve the problems in the workplace

D. meet people’s needs for meaningful work

52. Speaking of work efficiency, Mary Schaefer thinks a lot of ________.

A. natural environment                B. managers’ role in the team

C. spirit of respect and cooperation      D. employees’ talent

53. The underlined word “overwhelm” is nearest in meaning to ________.

A. defeat    B. frighten    C. satisfy    D. ruin

54. In her work, Mary tried to work out the following BUT ________.

A. how people reacted to changing job expectations

B. how people reacted to a changing work environment

C. how people get individual attention

D. how people can be more positively engaged in the workplace

55. Why did Mary get the title of “champion of human potential”?

A. Because she paid attention to the workers’ needs.

B. Because she was very successful as a businesswoman.

C. Because she treated her employees kindly.

D. Because she developed the employees’ potential greatly.