2016年12月大学英语四级答案:2016年12月大学英语四级考试阅读讲义(四十五)

Unit 18
　　Part II Reading Comprehension
　　(35 minutes)
　　Passage One
　　Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage.
　　Birds that are literally half-asleep─with one brain hemisphere alert and the other sleeping─control which side of the brain remains awake, according to a new study of sleeping ducks.考试大
　　Earlier studies have documented half-brain sleep in a wide range of birds. The brain hemispheres take turns sinking into the sleep stage characterized by slow brain waves. The eye controlled by the sleeping hemisphere keeps shut, while the wakeful hemisphere’s eye stays open and alert. Birds also can sleep with both hemispheres resting at once.
　　Decades of studies of bird flocks led researchers to predict extra alertness in the more vulnerable, end-of-the-row sleepers. Sure enough, the end birds tended to watch carefully on the side away from their companions. Ducks in the inner spots showed no preference for gaze direction.
　　Also, birds dozing(打盹) at the end of the line resorted to single-hemisphere sleep, rather than total relaxation, more often than inner ducks did. Rotating 16 birds through the positions in a four-duck row, the researchers found outer birds half-asleep during some 32 percent of dozing time versus about 12 percent for birds in internal spots.
　　“We believe this is the first evidence for an animal behaviorally controlling sleep and wakefulness simultaneously in different regions of the brain,” the researchers say.
　　The results provide the best evidence for a long-standing supposition that single-hemisphere sleep evolved as creatures scanned for enemies. The preference for opening an eye on the lookout side could be widespread, he predicts. He’s seen it in a pair of birds dozing side-by-side in the zoo and in a single pet bird sleeping by a mirror. The mirror-side eye closed as if the reflection were a companion and the other eye stayed open.
　　Useful as half-sleeping might be, it’s only been found in birds and such water mammals(哺乳动物)as dolphins, whales, and seals. Perhaps keeping one side of the brain awake allows a sleeping animal to surface occasionally to avoid drowning.
　　Studies of birds may offer unique insights into sleep. Jerome M. Siegel of the UCLA says he wonders if birds’ half-brain sleep “is just the tip of the iceberg(冰山).” He speculates that more examples may turn up when we take a closer look at other species.
　　11.A new study on birds’ sleep has revealed that .考试大
　　A) half-brain sleep is found in a wide variety of birds
　　B) half-brain sleep is characterized by slow brain waves
　　C) birds can control their half-brain sleep consciously
　　D) birds seldom sleep with the whole of their brain at rest
　　12.According to the passage, birds often half sleep because .
　　A) they have to watch out for possible attacks
　　B) their brain hemispheres take turns to rest
　　C) the two halves of their brain are differently structured
　　D) they have to constantly keep an eye on their companions
　　13.The example of a bird sleeping in front of a mirror indicates that .
　　A) the phenomenon of birds dozing in pairs is widespread
　　B) birds prefer to sleep in pairs for the sake of security
　　C) even an imagined companion gives the bird a sense of security
　　D) a single pet bird enjoys seeing its own reflection in the mirror
　　14.While sleeping, some water mammals tend to keep half awake in order to .
　　A) alert themselves to the approaching enemy
　　B) emerge from water now and then to breathe
　　C) be sensitive to the ever-changing environment
　　D) avoid being swept away by rapid currents
　　15.By “just the tip of the iceberg” (Line 2, Para. 8), Siegel suggests that .
　　A) half-brain sleep has something to do with icy weather
　　B) the mystery of half-brain sleep is close to being sleepers
　　C) most birds living in cold regions tend to be half sleepers
　　D) half-brain sleep is a phenomenon that could exist among other species
　　Passage Two
　　Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage.
　　A nine-year-old schoolgirl single-handedly cooks up a science-fair experiment that ends up debunking(揭穿…的真相)a widely practiced medical treatment. Emily Rosa’s target was a practice known as therapeutic(治疗的)touch(TT for short), whose advocates manipulate patients’ “energy field” to make them feel better and even, say some, to cure them of various ills. Yet Emily’s test shows that these energy fields can’t be detected, even by trained TT practitioners(行医者). Obviously mindful of the publicity value of the situation, Journal editor George Lundberg appeared on TV to declare, “Age doesn’t matter. It’s good science that matters, and this is good science.”
　　Emily’s mother Linda Rosa, a registered nurse, has been campaigning against TT for nearly a decade. Linda first thought about TT in the late ‘80s, when she learned it was on the approved list for continuing nursing education in Colorado. Its 100,000 trained practitioners (48,000 in the U.S.) don’t even touch their patients. Instead, they waved their hands a few inches from the patient’s body, pushing energy fields around until they’re in “balance.” TT advocates say these manipulations can help heal wounds, relieve pain and reduce fever. The claims are taken seriously enough that TT therapists are frequently hired by leading hospitals, at up to $70 an hour, to smooth patients’ energy, sometimes during surgery.
　　Yet Rosa could not find any evidence that it works. To provide such proof, TT therapists would have to sit down for independent testing-something they haven’t been eager to do, even though James Randi has offered more than $1 million to anyone who can demonstrate the existence of a human energy field. (He’s had one taker so far. She failed). A skeptic might conclude that TT practitioners are afraid to lay their beliefs on the line. But who could turn down an innocent fourth-grader? Says Emily: “I think they didn’t take me very seriously because I’m a kid.”
　　The experiment was straightforward: 21 TT therapists stuck their hands, palms up, through a screen. Emily held her own hand over one of theirs─left or right─and the practitioners had to say which hand it was. When the results were recorded, they’d done no better than they would have by simply guessing. If there was an energy field, they couldn’t feel it.
　　16. Which of the following is evidence that TT is widely practiced?
　　A) TT has been in existence for decades.
　　B) Many patients were cured by therapeutic touch.
　　C) TT therapists are often employed by leading hospitals.
　　D) More than 100,000 people are undergoing TT treatment.
　　17. Very few TT practitioners responded to the $1 million offer because .
　　A) they didn’t take the offer seriously
　　B) they didn’t want to risk their career
　　C) they were unwilling to reveal their secret
　　D) they thought it was not in line with their practice
　　18. The purpose of Emily Rosa’s experiment was .
　　A) to see why TT could work the way it did
　　B) to find out how TT cured patients’ illnesses
　　C) to test whether she could sense the human energy field
　　D) to test whether a human energy field really existed
　　19. Why did some TT practitioners agree to be the subjects of Emily’s experiment?
　　A) It involved nothing more than mere guessing.
　　B) They thought it was going to be a lot of fun.
　　C) It was more straightforward than other experiments.
　　D) They sensed no harm in a little girl’s experiment.
　　20. What can we learn from the passage?
　　A) Some widely accepted beliefs can be deceiving.
　　B) Solid evidence weights more than pure theories.
　　C) Little children can be as clever as trained TT practitioners.
　　D) The principle of TT is too profound to understand.

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