1、专业英语八级-阅读理解(二十五)及答案解析 (总分：100.00，做题时间：90分钟)一、BREADING COMPREH(总题数：0，分数：0.00)二、BTEXT A/B(总题数：1，分数：25.00)There are more than 300 million of us in the United States, and sometimes it seems like were all friends on Facebook. But the sad truth is that Americans are lonelier than ever. Between 1985 and 20
2、04, the number of people who said there was no one with whelm they discussed important matters tripled, to 25 percent, according to Duke University researchers. Unfortunately, as a new study linking women to increased risk of heart disease shows, all this loneliness can be detrimental to our health.
3、The bad news doesnt just affect women. Social isolation in all adults has been linked to a raft of physical and mental ailments, including sleep disorders, high blood pressure, and an increased risk of depression and suicide. How lonely you feel today actually predicts how well youll sleep tonight a
4、nd how depressed youll feel a year from now, says John T. Cacioppo, a neuroscientist at the University of Chicago and coauthor of Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection. Studies have shown that loneliness can cause stress levels to rise and can weaken the immune system. Lonely p
5、eople also tend to have less healthy lifestyles, drinking more alcohol, eating more fattening food, and exercising less than those who are not lonely.Though more Americans than ever are living alone (25 percent of U.S. households, up from 7 percent in 1940), the connection between single-living and
6、loneliness is in fact quite weak. Some of the most profound loneliness can happen when other people are present, says Harry Reis, professor of psychology at the University of Rochester. Take college freshmen: even though theyre surrounded by people almost all the time, many feel incredibly isolated
7、during the first quarter of the school year with their friends and family members far away, Cacioppo says. Studies have shown that how lonely freshmen will feel can be predicted by how many miles they are from home. By the second quarter, however, most freshmen have found social replacements for the
8、ir high-school friends. Unfortunately, as we age, it becomes more difficult to recreate those social relationships. And that can be a big problem as America becomes a more transient society, with an increasing number of Americans who say that theyre willing to move away from home for a job.Lonelines
9、s can be relative: it has been defined as an aversive emotional response to a perceived discrepancy between a persons desired levels of social interaction and the contact theyre actually receiving. People tend to measure themselves against others, feeling particularly alone in communities where soci
10、al connection is the norm. Thats why collectivist cultures, like those in Southern Europe, have higher levels of loneliness than individualist cultures, Cacioppo says. For the same reason, isolated individuals feel most acutely alone on holidays like Christmas Eve or Thanksgiving, when most people a
11、re surrounded by family and friends.Still, loneliness is a natural biological signal that we all have. Indeed, loneliness serves an adaptive purpose, making us protect and care for one another. Loneliness essentially puts the brain on high alert, encouraging us not to eat leftovers from the refriger
12、ator but to call a friend and eat out. Certain situational factors can trigger loneliness, but long-term feelings of emptiness and isolation are partly genetic, Cacioppo says. Whats inherited is not loneliness itself, but rather sensitivity to disconnection.Social-networking sites like Facebook and
13、MySpace may provide people with a false sense of connection that ultimately increases loneliness in people who feel alone. These sites should serve as a supplement, but not replacement for, face-to-face interaction, Cacioppo says. He compares connecting on a Web site to eating celery: It feels good
14、immediately, but it doesnt give you the same sustenance, he says. For people who feel satisfied and loved in their day-to-day life, social media can be a reassuring extension. For those who are already lonely, Facebook status updates are just a reminder of how much better everyone else is at making
15、friends and having fun.So how many friends do you need to avoid loneliness? Theres no magic number, according to Cacioppo. An introvert might need one confidante not to feel lonely, whereas an extrovert might require two, three, or four bosom buddies. Experts say its not the quantity of social relat
16、ionships but the quality that really matters. The most popular kid in school may still feel lonely, Cacioppo says. There axe a lot of stars who have been idols and lived lonely lives.（分数：25.00）(1).Which of the following is NOT among the factors which may cause people to feel lonely? A. Less healthy
17、lifestyles. B. Being far away from family and friends. C. Holiday atmosphere. D. Sensitivity to isolation.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.(2).Which of the following statements is INCORRECT to the passage? A. There were approximately 8% of Americans who claimed to be lonely in 1985. B. College sophomores tend to be
18、 lonelier than freshmen. C. The more you expect of social interaction, the lonelier you feel if the reality is the reverse. D. People who often feel lonely are likely to have lonely children.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.(3).The authors main purpose of mentioning Facebook is to A. compare Facebook with face-to-f
19、ace communication. B. emphasize the supplementary function of Facebook to daily communication. C. illustrate the importance of Facebook in helping people to relieve loneliness. D. introduce the ways to make friends on Facebook.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.(4).Among the following, who tends to be the least lonel
20、y according to the passage? A. A person who is always surrounded by others. B. A person who has a lot of friends on Facebook. C. A person who often moves away from home for a job. D. A person who lives in an individualist culture.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.(5).This passage mainly talks about A. the causes of
21、loneliness. B. the effects of loneliness. C. the ways to avoid loneliness. D. loneliness and lifestyles.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.三、BTEXT B/B(总题数：1，分数：25.00)In 1880, Sir Joshua Waddilore, a Victorian philanthropist, founded Provident Financial to provide affordable loans to working-class families in and arou
22、nd Bradford, in northern England. This month his company, now one of Britains leading providers of home credit small, short-term, unsecured loans began the nationwide rollout of Vanquis, a credit card aimed at people that mainstream lenders shun. The card offers up to 200 ($380) of credit, at a pric
23、e: for the riskiest customers, the annual interest rate will be 69%.Provident says that the typical interest rate is closer to 50% and that it charges no fees for late payments or breaching credit limits. Still, that is triple the rate on regular credit cards and far above the 30% charged by store c
24、ards. And the Vanquis card is being launched just when Britains politicians and media are full of worry about soaring consumer debt. Last month, a man took his own life after running up debts of 130,000 on 22 different credit cards.Credit cards for sub-prime borrowers, as the industry delicately cal
25、ls those with poor credit records, are new in Britain but have been common in America for a while. Lenders began issuing them when the prime market became saturated, prompting them to look for new sources of profit. Even in America, the sub-prime market has plenty of room for growth. David Robertson
26、 of the Nilson Report, a trade magazine, reckons that outstanding sub-prime credit-card debt accounts for only 3% of the $597 billion that Americans owe on plastic. The sub- prime sector grew by 7.9% last year, compared with only 2.6% for the industry as a whole.You might wonder, though, how compani
27、es can make money from lending to customers they know to be bad risks or at any rate, how they can do it legitimately. Whereas delinquencies in the credit-card industry as a whole are around 4%-5%, those in the sub- prime market are almost twice as high, and can reach 15% in hard times.Obviously, is
28、suers charge higher interest rates to compensate them for the higher risk of not being repaid. And all across the credit-card industry, the assessment and pricing of risks has been getting more and more refined, thanks largely to advances in technology and data processing. Companies also use sophist
29、icated computer programs to track slower payment or other signs of increased risk. Sub-prime issuers pay as much attention to collecting debt as to managing risk; they impose extra charges, such as application fees; and they cap their potential losses by lending only small amounts ($500 is a typical
30、 credit limit).All this is easier to describe than to do, especially when the economy slows. After the bursting of the technology bubble in 2000, several sub-prime credit-card providers failed. Now there are only around 100, of which nine issue credit cards. Survivors such as Metris and Providian, t
31、wo of the bigger sub-prime card companies, have become choosier about their customers credit histories.As the economy recovered, so did lenders fortunes. Fitch, a rating agency, says that the proportion of sub-prime credit-card borrowers who are more than 60 days in arrears (a good predictor of even
32、tual default) is the lowest since November 2001. But with American interest rates rising again, some worry about another squeeze. As Fitchs Michael Dean points out, sub-prime borrowers tend to have not just higher-rate credit cards, but dearer auto loans and variable-rate mortgages as well. That mak
33、es a risky business even riskier.（分数：25.00）(1).Sir Joshua Waddiove is mentioned in the first paragraph to A. illustrate the history of credit card companies. B. introduce the issuing of a new credit card. C. show how working class families get affordable loans. D. build up consumers trust in Provide
34、nt Financial.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.(2).Vanquis is different from regular cards in that A. it charges its users no fees at all. B. it leads to a decrease in consumer debt. C. it leads to an increase in consumer debt. D. it charges its users higher interest rates.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.(3).Credit cards, such as
35、Vanquis, are issued because A. credit industry has to look for further growth in a sub-market. B. the politicians began to worry about soaring consumer debt. C. theres plenty of room for growth in the basic market. D. a big number of consumers have very poor credit records.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.(4).Which
36、 of the following is NOT mentioned as a way to reduce risks of credit card industry? A. Charging their users a higher interest rate. B. Using computer programs to track their users. C. Imposing application fees on their users. D. Offering smaller amounts of loans to their users.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.(5).
37、It can be inferred from the passage that A. the failure of credit card providers is caused by the bursting of technology bubble. B. the politicians and the media play a negative part in promoting credit industry. C. higher national interest rate increases sub-prime lenders risks of not being repaid.
38、 D. credit industry has a better chance of development when the economy slows down.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.四、BTEXT C/B(总题数：1，分数：25.00)That the risk-taking end of the financial industry is dominated by men is unarguable. But does it discriminate against women merely because they are women? Well, it might. B
39、ut a piece of research just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Paola Sapienza of Northwestern University, near Chicago, suggests an alternative that it is not a persons sex, that is the basis for discrimination, but the level of his or her testosterone. Besides being
40、 a sex hormone, testosterone also governs appetite for risk. Control for an individuals testosterone levels and, at least in America, the perceived sexism vanishes.Dr.Sapienza and her colleagues worked with aspiring bankers (MBA students from the University of Chicago). They measured the amount of t
41、estosterone in their subjects saliva. They also estimated the students exposure to the hormone before they were born by measuring the ratios of their index fingers to their ring fingers (a long ring finger indicates high testosterone exposure) and by measuring how accurately they could determine hum
42、an emotions by observing only peoples eyes, which also correlates with prenatal exposure to testosterone.The students were then presented with 15 risky choices. In each they had to decide between a 50:50 chance of getting $200 or a gradually increasing sure payout, which ranged from $50 up to $120.
43、Some of this money was actually paid over at the end of the experiment, to make the consequences real. The point at which a participant decided to switch from the gamble to the sure thing was reckoned a reasonable approximation of his appetite for risk.As the researchers suspected, women and men wit
44、h the same levels of testosterone generally switched at the same time, demonstrating similar risk preferences. In other words, women who had more testosterone were more risk-toying than women with less, while the data for men at the lower end of the spectrum displayed a similar relationship. Curious
45、ly, the relationship between testosterone and risk taking was not as strong for men with moderate to high levels of the stuff, though previous studies have shown this relationship can be significant as well.In all cases the correlation was strongest when the salivary measure of testosterone was used
46、, suggesting that it is the here and now, rather than the developmental effects of testosterone on the brain, that is making the difference.The researchers then followed the subjects progress after they graduated, to see what sort of careers they entered. As expected, men were more likely than women
47、 to choose a risky job in finance. Again, though, the difference was accounted for entirely by their levels of salivary testosterone. The researchers also studied the subjects personal investment portfolios after they had graduated, once in June 2008 (pro-crash) and again in January 2009 (post-crash
48、). In a paper that has yet to be published, they demonstrate that the riskiness of these portfolios, too, was strongly correlated with subjects responses in the lottery game. The past year has, presumably, been kind to those with low testosterone levels.（分数：25.00）(1).It is implied that the reason why men dominate financial industry is A. women are simply discriminated against in this domain. B. men generally have higher level of testost
