2010年中级职称外语考试试卷

2010年中级职称英语考试试卷 （120分钟内完成） 题号 一 二 三 总 分 得分 一、阅读理解（阅读下列短文并用英语回答问题，共30分） 短文一 (15分) Next to air, water is the element most necessary for survival. A normal adult is 60 to 70 percent water. We can go without food for almost two months, but without water only a few days. Yet most people have no idea how much water they should drink. In fact, many live in a dehydrated state. Without water, we’d be poisoned to death by our own waste products. When the kidneys remove uric acid and urea, these must be dissolved in water. If there isn’t enough water, wastes are not removed as effectively and may build up as kidney stones. Water is also vital for chemical reactions in digestion and metabolism. It carries nutrients and oxygen to the cells through the blood and helps to cool the body through perspiration. Water also lubricates our joints. We even need water to breathe: our lungs must be moist to take in oxygen and excrete carbon dioxide. It is possible to lose a point of liquid each day just exhaling. “By not drinking enough water, many people incur excess body fat, poor muscle tone and size, decreased digestive efficiency and organ function, increased toxicity in the body, joint and muscle soreness and water retention. Water retention? If you are not drinking enough, your body may retain water to compensate. Paradoxically, fluid retention can sometimes be eliminated by drinking more water, not less. “Proper water intake is a key to weight loss,” says Dr. Donald Robertson, medical director of the Southwest Bariatric nutrition center in Scettsdale, Arizona. “If people who are trying to lose weight don’t drink enough water, the body can’t metabolize the fat adequately. Retaining fluid also keeps weight up.” Questions: 1. How long can we keep living without food? 2. What would happen to us without water? 3. What functions does water have? 4. What are the results for many people by not drinking enough water? 5. How can fluid retention be eliminated? 短文二 (15分) While some researchers concentrate on the car and improving its systems and materials, others focus on the fuel that feeds the car. On at least one occasion, car improvements and fuel refinements went hand in hand. When catalytic converters were developed, the petroleum industry had to make gasoline lead(铅)-free. Leaded gasoline produces emissions containing lead, which coats the metals in the converter, rendering them ineffective. Because lead has been linked to cancer and can cause nervous-system damage in children, lead-free gasoline was an important development against automobile pollution. Petroleum companies can create gasoline that pollutes less by using more hydrocarbons from the middle of the weight-spectrum—those that are neither very light nor very heavy. Refiners can also break down or “crack” some of the heavier hydrocarbons to yield lighter compounds. Some gasoline additives include oxygen atoms in their structure. This helps promote more complete fuel combustion. Researchers are also investigating fuels other than gasoline. Methanol emits smaller quantities of pollutants normally associated with gasoline combustion. But it has less potential energy than does gasoline, and it is more difficult to ignite. Methanol also can corrode many of the metals. Finally, methanol produces a harmful compound that irritates the eyes, nose, and throat, and which is thought to cause cancer. On the positive side, methanol burns more completely than does gasoline, and when mixed with 15 percent gasoline to form a fuel called M-85, it achieves satisfactory starting performance. A “flexible fuel” engine can run on either gasoline or methanol or a combination of both. Special sensors determine the type of fuel in use and relay this information to the central computer system. Natural gas is another abundant fuel that experts consider an alternative to gasoline. It is composed mainly of methane gas and is cheaper and much cleaner than gasoline. This fuel’s major drawback is that unlike gasoline and methanol, it is not available as a liquid at normal air temperatures and pressures. Natural gas must be carried in a pressurized tank, or, as a liquid, in an insulated tank—unfamiliar additions to a car’s design that consumers may reject. Refueling with natural gas could take up to several hours. Some scientists are interested in hydrogen as the fuel of the future. Hydrogen burns much more cleanly than do other fuels and is easy to produce. But complex technical problems must be solved before it can be widely used in cars. Electric vehicles are quiet and virtually emission-free. However, the batteries from which they draw energy usually contain harmful chemicals, which become pollutants when the batteries are disposed of. Today’s electric cars can’t go as far or as fast as gasoline-driven vehicles because the battery doesn’t offer the same amount of energy as does gasoline combustion. Furthermore, the battery must be recharged regularly, and the energy to do this comes from power plants that are also a source of pollution. Nevertheless, electric vehicles are the likely choice for meeting zero-emission laws that have been established in some areas, such as California. Questions: 1. Why did the petroleum industry had to make gasoline lead-free? 2. What is the major drawback of natural gas? 3. What fuel is the cleanest in this passage? 4. What is