阅读试题

Eating too much fatty food, exercising too little and smoking can raise your future risk of heart disease. But there is another factor that can cause your heart problems more immediately: the air you breathe.

Previous studies have linked high exposure (暴露) to environmental pollution to an increased risk of heart problem, but two analyses now show that poor air quality can lead to heart attack or stroke (中风) within as little as a few hours after exposure. In one review of the research, scientists found that people exposed to high levels of pollutants (污染物) were up to 5% more likely to suffer a heart attack within days of exposure than those with lower exposure. A separate study of stroke patients showed that even air that the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers to be of "moderate" (良好) quality and relatively safe for our health can raise the risk of stroke as much as 34% within 12 to 14 hours of exposure.

The authors of both studies stress that these risks are relatively small for healthy people and certainly modest compared with other risk factors such as smoking and high blood pressure. However, it is important to be aware of these dangers because everyone is exposed to air pollution regardless of lifestyle choices. So stricter regulation by the EPA of pollutants may not only improve environmental air quality but could also become necessary to protect public health.

阅读试题

53. The text mainly discusses the relationship between 　　 .

A. heart problems and air quality　　

B. heart problems and exercising

C. heart problems and smoking　　　

D. heart problems and fatty food

54. The underlined word "modest" in Paragraph 3 most probably means 　　 .

A. relatively high　

B. extremely low 　

C. relatively low 　

D. extremely high

55. What can we learn from the text?

A. Eating fatty food has immediate effects on your heart.

B. The EPA conducted many studies on air quality.

C. Moderate air quality is more harmful than smoking,

D. Stricter regulations on pollutants should be made.

56. The author's purpose of writing the text is most likely to 　　 .

A. inform 　

B. persuade 　

C. describe　

D. entertain

参考译文

吃太多高脂食物且运动太少而又吸烟会加大你未来患心脏病的风险。但是还有一个立刻就能造成你心脏问题的因素，那就是你呼吸的空气。

先前的研究已将高度暴露于环境污染与增加心脏问题的风险联系起来，但是现在有两种分析表明在质量极差的空气中暴露短短几个小时就可能导致心力衰竭和中风。在一份研究报告中，科学家发现在暴露于污染物的几天里，暴露于高浓度污染物中的人比那些暴露于低浓度污染物中的人患心脏病的机率要高出5%。一份关于中风病人的研究表明就连暴露于美国环保局确认的质量良好和对我们身体健康相对安全的空气中12至14小时仍有提高34%的中风率的风险。

两项研究的作者都强调这些风险对于身体健康的人而言相对较小，与其他的因素如吸烟和高血压相比也确实温和。然而，意识到这些风险是很重要的，因为无论我们选择什么样的生活方式，我们每个人都会暴露在空气污染之中。所以环保局对于污染物的严格界定可能不仅能提高环境空气质量，也是保护公众健康的必要前提。

答案解析

53. A 考查主旨大意。由第一段中"But there is another factor that can cause, your heart problems more immediately: the air you breathe."以及文章接下来的内容可知，本文主要谈论的是心脏病与空气质量之间的关系。

54. C 考查词义猜测。第三段的第一句话讲到两项研究的作者都强调这些风险对于健康的人来说是相对小的，当然与其他危险因素，例如抽烟和高血压相比，风险也是相对低的。因此，"modest"意为"relatively low"。

55. D 考查细节理解。根据文章最后两句的内容可知，应该制定严格控制污染物的规章制度。故D项正确。

56. A 考查写作意图。文章主要告知读者一个研究结果，指出新发现的影响心脏病的因素：我们吸人体内的空气。因此，A项正确。