59.What would be the best title for this passage?

A. Nurses dislike their jobs.

B. Nurses’ low income

C. Nurses plan to give up their jobs.

D. Nurses’ pressure

答案　 56.B　 57.D　 58.A　 59.C

Passage 30

(辽宁省沈阳二中2008届第四次模拟考试B篇)

It’s not all kangaroos down there

　 People just naturally associate kangaroo, koala and fine beaches with Australia. Yes, you can find many fine sand beaches, white or brown, to enjoy the sunshine and seaside breeze. However, in Queensland, the eastern state of Australia, a night beach tour at this time of the year may bring you a more exciting sight of the miracle of life: You can watch hatching baby turtles making their first steps in a natural environment.

　 On Mon Repos beach, about 14 kilometres east of city of Bundaberg in Queensland, Australia, lies Mon Repos Conservation Park.

　 By day, Mon Repos beach is a sweeping bay of brown sand, a quiet spot for people to sunbathe, surf and fish.

　 By night, it’s home to the largest concentration of endangered marine turtles on the eastern Australian mainland. And the miracle of egg laying and hatching happens from around mid-October to the end of April every year.

　 In order not to disturb the turtles,　 tourists have to follow the instruction of the guides.

　 But this may make the tour more like an adventure: Tourist are usually told to huddle (蜷缩) close together, hold hands and walk close to the shoreline in the dark.

　 At the start of the season (October and November), tourists can view turtle laying their eggs. Turtles first use all four flippers (鳍状肢) to dig a body pit (坑) in the sand and then lay eggs in it. It’s not uncommon for a turtle to lay more than 100 eggs at a time. And her mission isn’t done until she uses her flippers to flick sand and cover the nest.

　 If you go there at the end of the season (March to April), you can see groups of hatchings walk down to the water. It is an astonishing sight as the small creatures，barely two minutes old, race instinctively to the sea,

　 If they survive, the same hatchings will return in 50 years’ time to lay eggs on the very beach where they first emerged(出现).

58. From the passage we know______.

A. 27% of the nurses have another job for extra income.

B. Only 27% of all nurses agree that they are under too much pressure.

C. people are envious of the nurses’ job

D. Few changes to the profession of the nurses have taken place in recent years.

57.The main reason for the decrease of nurses is_____.

A. heavy workload and long-time training

B. poor working conditions

C. change in junior doctors’ hours

D. workload and unhappiness with the pay

56.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

Nurses in Britain are badly paid.

Nurses in UK tend to be older in age than before.

Half of the nurses in UK want to leave their jobs.

There is less work pressure on nurses in UK.

72.What do we learn from the last paragraph?

　 A.Biological power will keep all its promises

　 B.Biotechnology can solve all our future energy problems

　 C.Biological power is cheaper than nuclear power

　 D.Biological power may not be as dangerous as nuclear power

答案　 68.A　 69.D　 70.B　 71.B　 72.D

Passage 29

(辽宁省沈阳二中2008届第四次模拟考试A篇)

A recent survey by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) found that about a third of nurses in UK planned to give up their jobs in the next two years because of the amount of worries and unhappiness with their pay.

　 Among those under 40, the percentage of nurses planning to leave their employers increased from 32% in 2005 to 36% in 2007.

The survey also found that 71% of nurses believed they could be paid more for less effort if they left nursing, compared to 60% in 1997.

　 The research was published as the RCN hosted a meeting for nurse leaders to deal with the growing concerns of the nurses.

　 Josie Irwin, an RCN expert, said, “ Many nurses say that changes in junior doctors’ hours have resulted in an increase in their workload. Nurses are under more and more pressure.”

　 Ms Irwin added, “Only 22% of all nurses disagree that they are under too much pressure.”

　 She also said that 27% of nurses had a second job, with the main reason that they needed some extra income.

　 “Nurses have made it clear that while they enjoy their work, they have more to do than ever and are not being paid enough to do it.” She added. “ For this reason, the RCN is calling for a pay increase for nurses to bring their pay into line with others.”

　 The survey of 4,795 nurses found that some important changes to the profession had taken place in recent years. The average age of the nurses questioned was 42 ---compared to an average of 33 in 1987. The RCN said that the age increase was because people were now becoming nurses later. In the 1960s, the average age of a nurse on the completion of training was 21, but over the last 5 years it has been an average of 29.

71.In 1996, Arthur C. Clarke predicted that______.

　 A.the Chernobyl disaster would happen in two years

B.biological power sources would be put into use soon

C.oil, gas and coal could be repeatedly used in the future

D.dependence on non-renewable power sources would be reduced soon

70.According to passage, it may soon be possible　　 .

A.to make something as good as human skin　　　

B.to make artificial hearts and eyes

C.to transplant human organs　　　　　　　　　

D.to produce drugs without side effects

69.Organic chemistry helps to produce materials that are　　 .

A.as good as wool　 　　 B.as good as an insect’s body

C.better than natural materials　　　　　 D.not as good as natural materials　

68.According to the passage, the science of the future is likely to be　　　 .

A.biotechnology　　 B.electronics　　　　 C.genetic engineering　 　　 　D.nuclear technology　　　

67. According to the passage, the “stump-legged ants”_______.

　 A. have longer legs than ones on stilts　　 B. have longer legs than the common ones

　 C. need more steps to reach their goal　　 D. can arrive at their goal as usual

答案　 64. A　 65.B　 66.D　 67.C　　 　

　Passage 28

(衡阳市八中2008届高三模拟试题D篇)

Until recently, the “science of the future” was supposed to be electronics and artificial intelligence. Today it seems more and more likely that the next great breakthroughs in technology will be brought through a combination of those two sciences with organic chemistry and genetic engineering. This combination is the science of biotechnology.

Organic chemistry enables us to produce marvelous synthetic materials. However, it is still difficult to manufacture anything that has the capacity of wool to conserve heat and also to absorb moisture. Nothing that we have been able to produce so far comes anywhere near the combination of strength, lightness and flexibility that we find in the bodies of ordinary insects.

Nevertheless, scientists in the laboratory have already succeeded in “growing” a material that has many of the characteristics of human skin. The next step may well be “biotech hearts and eyes” which can replace diseased organs in human beings. These will not be rejected by the body, as is the case with organs from humans.

The application of biotechnology to energy production seems even more promising. In 1996 the famous science fiction writer, Arthur C. Clarke, many of whose previous predictions have come true, said that we may soon be able to develop remarkably cheap and renewable sources of energy. Some of these power sources will be biological. Clarke and others have warned us repeatedly that sooner or later we will have to give up our dependence on non-renewable power sources. Coal, oil and gas are indeed convenient. However, using them also means creating dangerously high levels of pollution. It will be impossible to meet the growing demand for energy without increasing that pollution to catastrophic levels unless we develop power sources that are both cheaper and cleaner.

It is attempting to think that biotechnology or some other “science of the future” can solve our problems. Before we surrender to that temptation we should remember nuclear power. Only a few generations ago it seemed to promise limitless, cheap and safe energy. Today those promises lie buried in a concrete grave in a place called Chernobyl, in the Ukraine. Biotechnology is unlikely, however, to break its promises in quite the same or such a dangerous way.