问答题Practice 2　　A good book is often the best urn of a life enshrining the best that life could think out; for the world of a man’s life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries of good words, the golden thou

共用题干
To Survive or to Vanish

1.Over 3.6 billion years ago,the first creature was born in the world.Since then,the earth started its era with life.The history of life on earth has been a history of interaction between living things and their surroundings.To a large extent,the physical form and the habits of the earth's vegetation and its animal life have been molded by the environment. Considering the whole span of earthly time,the opposite effect,in which life actually modifies its surroundings,has been relatively slight. Only in the present century has one species一man acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world.
2.During the past 25 years,this power has not only become increasingly great but it has changed in character. The most alarming of all man's assaults upon the environment is the contamination of air,earth,rivers,and sea with dangerous and even lethal materials. This pollution is for the most part irrecoverable.In this now universal contamination of the environment,chemicals are the sinister partners of radiation in changing the very nature of the world the very nature of its life. Chemicals sprayed on croplands or forests or gardens lie long in soil,entering into living organisms, passing from one to another in a chain of poisoning and death.Or they pass mysteriously by underground streams until they emerge and combine into new forms that kill vegetation,sicken cattle,and work unknown harm on those who drink from once pure wells."Man can hardly even recognize the devils of his own creation,"as a scientist has said.
3.Hundreds of millions of years have passed before the globe produced the life that now inhabits the earth.Given time not in years but in millennia life adjusts,and a balance has been reached.But in the modern world there is no time.
4.The quick steps of change follows the impetuous pace of man rather than the deliberate pace of nature.Radiation is now the unnatural creation of man's tampering with the atom.The chemicals are the synthetic creations of man's inventive mind,having no counterparts in nature.
5.To survive these chemicals would require not merely the years of one man's life but the life of generations.And even this,were it by some miracle possible,would be futile,for the new chemicals come from our laboratories in an endless stream;almost five hundred annually find their way into actual use in the United States alone.Among them are many that are used in man's war against nature.Since the mid l940's over 200 basic chemicals have been created for use in killing insects,weeds,and other organisms described as"pests".
6.It is not my contention that chemical insecticides must never he used.I do contend that we have put poisonous and biologically potent chemicals indiscriminately into the hands of persons largely or wholly ignorant of their potentials for harm. We have subjected enormous numbers of people to contact with these poisons,without their consent and often without their knowledge.I contend,furthermore,that we have allowed these chemicals to be used with little or no advance investigation of their effect on soil,water,wildlife,and man himself. Future generations are unlikely to forgive our lack of concern for the integrity of the natural world that supports all life.

Human's pollution on nature is for the most part_______.
A:man's tampering with the atom
B:enormous numbers of people to contact with these poisons
C:the integrity of the natural world that supports all life
D:inventive
E:irrecoverable
F:relatively slight

请阅读Passage l，完成第小题。
Passage 1
Move over Methuselah. Future generations could be living well into their second century and still doing Sudoku, if life expectancy predictions are true. Increasing by two years every decade,they show no signs of flattening out. Average lifespan worldwide is already double what it was 200 years ago. Since the 1980s, experts thought the increase in life expectancy would slow down and then stop, but forecasters have repeatedly been proved wrong.
The reason behind the steady rise in life expectancy is "the decline in the death rate of the elderly", says Professor Tom Kirkwood from Newcastle University. He maintains that our bodies are evolving to maintain and repair themselves better and our genes are investing in this process to put off the damage which will eventually lead to death. As a result, there is no ceiling imposed by the realities of the ageing process. "There is no use-by-date when we age. Ageing is not a fixed biological process," Tom says.
A large study of people aged 85 and over carried out by Professor Kirkwood discovered that there were a remarkable number of people enjoying good health and independence in their late 80s and beyond. With people reaching old age in better shape, it is safe to assume that this is all due to better eating habits, living conditions, education and medicine.
There are still many people who suffer from major health problems, but modern medicine means doctors are better at managing long-term health conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. "We are reaching old age with less accumulative damage than previous generations. We are less damaged," says Professor Kirkwood. Our softer lives and the improvements in nutrition and healthcare have had a direct impact on longevity.
Nearly one-in-five people currently in the UK will live to see their 100th birthday, the Office for National Statistics predicted last year. Life expectancy at birth has continued to increase in the UK--from 73.4 years for the period 1991 to 1993 to 77.85 years for 2007 to 2009. A report in Science from 2002 which looked at life expectancy patterns in different countries since 1840 concluded that there was no sign of a natural limit to life.
Researchers Jim Oeppen and Dr. James Vaupel found that people in the country with the highest life expectancy would live to an average age of 100 in about six decades. But they stopped short of predicting anything more.
"This is far from eternity: modest annual increments in life expectancy will never lead to immortality," the researchers said.
We do not seem to be approaching anything like the limits of life expectancy, says Professor David Leon from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. "There has been no flattening out of the best of the best--the groups which everyone knows have good life expectancy and low mortality," he says.
These groups, which tend to be in the higher social and economic groups in society, can live for several years longer than people in lower social groups, prompting calls for an end to inequalities within societies.
Within populations, genes also have an important role to play in determining how long we could survive for--but environment is still the most important factor.
It is no surprise that healthy-living societies like Japan have the highest life expectancies in the world. But it would still be incredible to think that life expectancy could go on rising forever. "I would bet there will be further increases in life expectancy and then it will probably begin to slow," says Tom, "but we just don't know."

The underlined phrase "low mortality" in Paragraph 8 could best be replaced by“__________ ”.
查看材料

A．short life span
B．low death rate
C．low illness rate
D．good health condition

请阅读短文，完成此题。
Move over Methuselah. Future generations could be living well into their second century andstill doing Sudoku, if life expectancy predictions are true. Increasing by two years every decade,they show no signs of flattening out. Average lifespan worldwide is already double what it was 200years ago. Since the 1980s, experts thought the increase in life expectancy would slow down andthen stop, but forecasters have repeatedly been proved wrong.
The reason behind the steady rise in life expectancy is "the decline in the death rate of theelderly", says Professor Tom Kirkwood from Newcastle University. He maintains that our bodies areevolving to maintain and repair themselves better and our genes are investing in this process to putoff the damage which will eventually lead to death. As a result, there is no ceiling imposed by thereahties of the ageing process."There is no use-by-date when we age. Ageing is not a fixed biological process," Tom says.
A large study of people aged 85 and over carried out by Professor Kirkwood discovered that there were a remarkable number of people enjoying good health and independence in their late 80s and beyond. With people reaching old age in better shape, it is safe to assume that this is all due to better eating habits, living conditions, education and medicine.
There are still many people who suffer from major health problems, but modem medicine means doctors are better at managing long-term health conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease."We are reaching old age with less accumulative damage than previous generations. We are less damaged," says Professor Kirkwood. Our softer lives and the improvements in nutrition and healthcare have had a direct impact on longevity.
Nearly one-in-five people currently in the UK will live to see their lOOth birthday, the Office for National Statistics predicted last year. Life expectancy at birth has continued to increase in the UK--from 73.4 years for the period 1991 to 1993 to 77.85 years for 2007 to 2009. A report in Science from 2002 which looked at life expectancy patterns in different countries since 1840 concluded that there was no sign of a natural limit to life.
Researchers Jim Oeppen and Dr. James Vaupel found that people in the country with the highest life expectancy would live to an average age of 100 in about six decades. But they stoppedshort of predicting anything more.
"This is far from eternity: modest annual increments in life expectancy will never lead toimmortality," the researchers said.
We do not seem to be approaching anything like the limits of life expectancy, says Professor David Leon from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. "There has been no flattening out of the best of the best--the groups which everyone knows have good life expectancy and low mortalit_y"he says.
These groups, which tend to be in the higher social and economic groups in society, can live for several years longer than people in lower social groups, prompting calls for an end to inequalities within societies.
Within populations, genes also have an important role to play in determining how long we could survive for---but environment is still the most important factor.
It is no surprise that healthy-living societies like Japan have the highest life expectancies in the world. But it would still be incredible to think that life expectancy could go on rising forever. "I would bet there will be further increases in life expectancy and then it will probably begin to slow," says Tom, "but we just donTt know."

Which statement below is TRUE concerning life expectancy according to the passage?
查看材料

A．Life expectancy goes on rising forever.
B．There could be further increases in life expectancy.
C．Life expectancy has slowed down since 1980s and it will stop.
D．Life expectancy in Japan doubles what it was 200 years ago.

共用题干
To Survive or to Vanish

1.Over 3.6 billion years ago,the first creature was born in the world.Since then,the earth started its era with life.The history of life on earth has been a history of interaction between living things and their surroundings.To a large extent,the physical form and the habits of the earth's vegetation and its animal life have been molded by the environment. Considering the whole span of earthly time,the opposite effect,in which life actually modifies its surroundings,has been relatively slight. Only in the present century has one species一man acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world.
2.During the past 25 years,this power has not only become increasingly great but it has changed in character. The most alarming of all man's assaults upon the environment is the contamination of air,earth,rivers,and sea with dangerous and even lethal materials. This pollution is for the most part irrecoverable.In this now universal contamination of the environment,chemicals are the sinister partners of radiation in changing the very nature of the world the very nature of its life. Chemicals sprayed on croplands or forests or gardens lie long in soil,entering into living organisms, passing from one to another in a chain of poisoning and death.Or they pass mysteriously by underground streams until they emerge and combine into new forms that kill vegetation,sicken cattle,and work unknown harm on those who drink from once pure wells."Man can hardly even recognize the devils of his own creation,"as a scientist has said.
3.Hundreds of millions of years have passed before the globe produced the life that now inhabits the earth.Given time not in years but in millennia life adjusts,and a balance has been reached.But in the modern world there is no time.
4.The quick steps of change follows the impetuous pace of man rather than the deliberate pace of nature.Radiation is now the unnatural creation of man's tampering with the atom.The chemicals are the synthetic creations of man's inventive mind,having no counterparts in nature.
5.To survive these chemicals would require not merely the years of one man's life but the life of generations.And even this,were it by some miracle possible,would be futile,for the new chemicals come from our laboratories in an endless stream;almost five hundred annually find their way into actual use in the United States alone.Among them are many that are used in man's war against nature.Since the mid l940's over 200 basic chemicals have been created for use in killing insects,weeds,and other organisms described as"pests".
6.It is not my contention that chemical insecticides must never he used.I do contend that we have put poisonous and biologically potent chemicals indiscriminately into the hands of persons largely or wholly ignorant of their potentials for harm. We have subjected enormous numbers of people to contact with these poisons,without their consent and often without their knowledge.I contend,furthermore,that we have allowed these chemicals to be used with little or no advance investigation of their effect on soil,water,wildlife,and man himself. Future generations are unlikely to forgive our lack of concern for the integrity of the natural world that supports all life.

The effect of life modifying its surroundings has been_______.
A:man's tampering with the atom
B:enormous numbers of people to contact with these poisons
C:the integrity of the natural world that supports all life
D:inventive
E:irrecoverable
F:relatively slight