Text 2
Biologists estimate that as many as 2 million lesser prairie chickens---a kind of bird living on stretching grasslands—once lent red to the often gray landscape of the midwestern and southwestern United States. But just some 22,000 birds remain today, occupying about 16% of the species’ historic range.
The crash was a major reason the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service （USFWS)decided to formally list the bird as threatened. “The lesser prairie chicken is in a desperate situation,” said USFWS Director Daniel Ashe. Some environmentalists, however, were disappointed. They had pushed the agency to designate the bird as “endangered,” a status that gives federal officials greater regulatory power to crack down on threats. But Ashe and others argued that the“threatened” tag gave the federal government flexibility to try out new, potentially less confrontational conservations approaches. In particular, they called for forging closer collaborations with western state governments, which are often uneasy with federal action and with the private landowners who control an estimated 95% of the prairie chicken’s habitat.
Under the plan, for example, the agency said it would not prosecute landowner or businesses that unintentionally kill, harm, or disturb the bird, as long as they had signed a range—wide management plan to restore prairie chicken habitat. Negotiated by USFWS and the states, the plan requires individuals and businesses that damage habitat as part of their operations to pay into a fund to replace every acre destroyed with 2 new acres of suitable habitat. The fund will also be used to compensate landowners who set aside habitat, USFWS also set an interim goal of restoring prairie chicken populations to an annual average of 67,000 birds over the next 10 years. And it gives the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA), a coalition of state agencies, the job of monitoring progress. Overall, the idea is to let “states” remain in the driver’s seat for managing the species，”Ashe said.
Not everyone buys the win-win rhetoric Some Congress members are trying to block the plan, and at least a dozen industry groups, four states, and three environmental groups are challenging it in federal court Not surprisingly, doesn’t go far enough “The federal government is giving responsibility for managing the bird to the same industries that are pushing it to extinction,” says biologist Jay Lininger.
26. The major reason for listing the lesser prairie as threatened is____
[A]its drastically decreased population
[B]the underestimate of the grassland acreage
[C]a desperate appeal from some biologists
[D]the insistence of private landowners
27.The “threatened” tag disappointed some environmentalists in that it_____
[A]was a give-in to governmental pressure
[B]would involve fewer agencies in action
[C]granted less federal regulatory power
[D]went against conservation policies
28.It can be learned from Paragraph3 that unintentional harm-doers will not be prosecuted if they_____
[A]agree to pay a sum for compensation
[B]volunteer to set up an equally big habitat
[C]offer to support the WAFWA monitoring job
[D]promise to raise funds for USFWS operations
29.According to Ashe，the leading role in managing the species in______
[A]the federal government
[B]the wildlife agencies
[C]the landowners
[D]the states
30.Jay Lininger would most likely support_______
[A]industry groups
[B]the win-win rhetoric
[C]environmental groups
[D]the plan under challenge
答案：
26.答案A its drastically decreased population
解析：此题是原因细节题。根据关键词定位到第一段But前后关于lesser prairie chickens 数量2million和22,000的强烈对比。此外第二段第二句“the lesser prairie chicken is in a desperate situation”都可以得知A its drastically decreased population 数量的急剧下降为正确答案。
27.答案C granted less federal regulatory powers
解析：此题是原因细节题。根据关键词定位到第二段第四句，They had …, a state that gives federal officials greater regulatory power. 而But 之后是截然相反的事实，即政府授予了更少的管理权。故而C granted less federal regulatory powers为正确答案。
28.答案A agree to pay a sum for compensation
解析：推断题。题干问的是从第三段推出来：无意伤害的那些人是不会被检举的如果怎么样。根据题干定位到第三段首句“it would not prosecute….as long as ….”，题干中问的if即原文的as long as的同意替换，原文as long as的意思是：只要他们签署了计划。下一句说道，该计划要求个体和企业去支付基金。对应选项A选项“赞同支付赔偿”属于同义替换。
29.答案 D the states
解析：此题是细节题。根据关键词定位到第三段最后一句the idea is to let the“states”remain in the driver’s seat for managing the species, Ashe said. 其中in the driver’s seat对应题干中的the leading role, 故而D states为正确答案。
30. 答案 C environmental groups
解析：文中人物观点题。题干问的是Jay Lininger最可能支持谁，大写人名定位到末段最后一句。最后一句提到：生物学家Jay Lininger说道联邦政府要把责任推给导致鸟类灭绝的企业，显然是对政府和企业的反对。再往前看一句，指出：企业团体和政府部门观点一致，环境学家与其观点恰巧一致。因此，Jay Lininger最支持环境团体的观点了。
Text 3
That everyone’s too busy these days is a cliché. But one specific complaint is made especially mournfully：There’s never any time to read.
What makes the problem thornier is that the usual time-management techniques don’t seem sufficient. The web’s full of articles offering tips on making time to read: “Give up TV” or “Carry a book with you at all times” But in my experience, using such methods to free up the odd 30 minutes doesn’t work. Sit down to read and the flywheel of work-related thoughts keeps spinning-or else you’re so exhausted that a challenging book’s the last thing you need. The modern mind, Tim Parks, a novelist and critic, writes, “is overwhelmingly inclined toward communication…It is not simply that one is interrupted; it is that one is actually inclined to interruption”. Deep reading requires not just time, but a special kind of time which can’t be obtained merely by becoming more efficient.
In fact, “becoming more efficient” is part of the problem. Thinking of time as a resource to be maximised means you approach it instrumentally, judging any given moment as well spent only in so far as it advances progress toward some goal immersive reading, by contrast, depends on being willing to risk inefficiency, goallessness, even time-wasting. Try to slot it as a to-do list item and you’ll manage only goal-focused reading-useful, sometimes, but not the most fulfilling kind. “The future comes at us like empty bottles along an unstoppable and nearly infinite conveyor belt,” writes Gary Eberle in his book Sacred Time, and “we feel a pressure to fill these different-sized bottles (days, hours, minutes)as they pass, for if they get by without being filled, we will have wasted them”. No mind-set could be worse for losing yourself in a book.
So what does work? Perhaps surprisingly, scheduling regular times for reading. You’d think this might fuel the efficiency mind-set, but in fact, Eberle notes, such ritualistic behaviour helps us “step outside time’s flow” into “soul time”. You could limit distractions by reading only physical books, or on single-purpose e-readers. “Carry a book with you at all times” can actually work, too-providing you dip in often enough, so that reading becomes the default state from which you temporarily surface to take care of business, before dropping back down. On a really good day, it no longer feels as if you’re “making time to read,” but just reading, and making time for everything else.
31. The usual time-management techniques don’t work because
[A] what they can offer does not ease the modern mind
[B] what challenging books demand is repetitive reading
[C] what people often forget is carrying a book with them
[D] what deep reading requires cannot be guaranteed
32. The “empty bottles” metaphor illustrates that people feel a pressure to
[A] update their to-do lists
[B] make passing time fulfilling
[C] carry their plans through
[D] pursue carefree reading
33. Eberle would agree that scheduling regular times for reading helps
[A] encourage the efficiency mind-set
[B] develop online reading habits
[C] promote ritualistic reading
[D] achieve immersive reading
34. “Carry a book with you at all times” can work if
[A] reading becomes your primary business of the day
[B] all the daily business has been promptly dealt with
[C] you are able to drop back to business after reading
[D] time can be evenly split for reading and business
35. The best title for this text could be
[A] How to Enjoy Easy Reading
[B] How to Find Time to Read
[C] How to Set Reading Goals
[D] How to Read Extensively
答案：
31.答案D what deep reading requires cannot be guaranteed.
解析：因果细节题。题干指出：传统的时间管理方法不起作用的原因是什么。根据题干定位到第二段首句指出the usual time-management techniques don’t seem sufficient，是题干的同义替换，但要找原因。整段都在分析过程环节，最终原因必然在该段末句提到。直接定位到该段末句，指出深入阅读不仅需要时间，而且是一种仅仅通过有效无法获得的一种时间。结合选项D，深入阅读所需的无法得到确保，是原文末句的同义替换。
32.答案B make passing time fulfilling
解析：题干问的是“empty bottles”暗喻证明了人们在做什么方面有压力，empty bottles直接可以在文中Gary Eberle所说的话中找到：“The future comes at us like empty bottles…”。其所说的话证明的目的必然是为了说明前一句的观点。因此，该题定位到三段“try to slot…but not the most fulfilling kind”，该句就指出：只会处理目标集中的阅读，这是有用的，但不是最有满足感的。结合选项B使流逝的时间更有满足感，是原文的同义替换。
33.答案D achieve immersive reading
解析：文中人物观点题，注意区分文中人物观点和作者观点。题干问的是Eberle赞同为阅读设定规定性时间帮助什么。根据题干精确定位到第四段第二句：“You’d think this might fuel the efficiency mind-set, but in fact, E…..into soul time”，意思是你会认为这可以提升效率性思维设定，但实际上这些行为帮助我们跨入到灵魂阅读时间。对应选项D，获得深入阅读，属于同义替换。
34.答案 A reading becomes your primary business of the day
解析：细节题。题干指出：总是带一本书会起作用如果怎么样。根据题干定位到末段中间部分“carry a book with you at all times can actually work, too … so that reading becomes the default state from which you temporarily surface to take care of business.”，意思是这样的话阅读就成为默认状态，偶尔会出来管理工作（注意business并非默认状态，非主要事情)。对应选项A 阅读成为每天的主要任务，是该句的同义替换。
35.答案 B How to Find Time to Read
解析：标题题，即全文中心主旨医学.全.在.线www.med126.com。通过题干，可发现题干关键词中time复现多次，因此可确定time为全文的主题词。整篇文章都围绕阅读时间来展开，因此正确答案为A如何寻找阅读时间。
Text 4
Against a backdrop of drastic changes in economy and population structure, younger Americans are drawing a new 21st-century road map to success, a latest poll has found.
Across generational lines, Americans continue to prize many of the same traditional milestones of a successful life, including getting married, having children, owning a home, and retiring in their sixties. But while young and old mostly agree on what constitutes the finish line of a fulfilling life, they offer strikingly different paths for reaching it.
Young people who are still getting started in life were more likely than older adults to prioritize personal fulfillment in their work, to believe they will advance their careers most by regularly changing jobs, to favor communities with more public services and a faster pace of life, to agree that couples should be financially secure before getting married or having children, and to maintain that children are best served by two parents working outside the home, the survey found.
From career to community and family, these contrasts suggest that in the aftermath of the searing Great Recession, those just starting out in life are defining priorities and expectations that will increasingly spread through virtually all aspects of American life, from consumer preferences to housing patterns to politics.
Young and old converge on one key point: Overwhelming majorities of both groups said they believe it is harder for young people today to get started in life than it was for earlier generations. While younger people are somewhat more optimistic than their elders about the prospects for those starting out today, big majorities in both groups believe those “just getting started in life” face a tougher a good-paying job, starting a family, managing debt, and finding affordable housing.
Pete Schneider considers the climb tougher today. Schneider, a 27-yaear-old auto technician from the Chicago suburbs says he struggled to find a job after graduating from college. Even now that he is working steadily, he said.” I can’t afford to pay ma monthly mortgage payments on my own, so I have to rent rooms out to people to mark that happen.” Looking back, he is struck that his parents could provide a comfortable life for their children even though neither had completed college when he was young. “I still grew up in an upper middle-class home with parents who didn’t have college degrees,” Schneider said. “I don’t think people are capable of that anymore.”
36. One cross-generation mark of a successful life is_____.
[A] trying out different lifestyles
[B] having a family with children
[C] working beyond retirement age
[D] setting up a profitable business
37. It can be learned from Paragraph 3 that young people tend to ____.
[A] favor a slower life pace
[B] hold an occupation longer
[C] attach importance to pre-marital finance
[D] give priority to childcare outside the home
38. The priorities and expectations defined by the young will ____.
[A] become increasingly clear
[B] focus on materialistic issues
[C] depend largely on political preferences
[D] reach almost all aspects of American life
39. Both young and old agree that ____.
[A] good-paying jobs are less available
[B] the old made more life achievements
[C] housing loans today are easy to obtain
[D] getting established is harder for the young
40. Which of the following is true about Schneider？
[A] He found a dream job after graduating from college.
[B] His parents believe working steadily is a must for success.
[C] His parents’ good life has little to do with a college degree.
[D] He thinks his job as a technician quite challenging.
答案：
36.答案B having a family with children
解析：此题是细节题。根据关键词定位到第二段第一句Across generational lines,…including getting married, having children…即成功的标志包括结婚生子，故而正确选项是B having a family with children.
37.答案C attach importance to pre-marital finance
解析：此题是细节题。根据关键词定位到第三段第一句Young people…to agree that couples should be financially secure before getting married or having children…即年轻人认为夫妻在结婚前或者生小孩前应该在经济上是稳定的，故而C attach importance to pre-marital finance为正确答案。
38.答案D reach almost all aspects of American life
解析：此题是细节题。根据关键词定位到第四段第一句…those just starting…will increasingly spread through virtually all aspects …即这些期待即将渗透到美国生活的各个方面，故而D reach almost all aspects of American life为正确答案。
39.答案D getting established is harder for the young
解析：此题是文中人物观点题。根据关键词定位到第五段第一句…it is harder for young people today to get started in life than it was for earlier generations. 即与年长者相比，现如今的年轻人维持生计更加困难，故而D getting established is harder for the young为正确答案。
40.答案 C His parents’ good life has little to do with a college degree.
解析：此题是正误判断题。根据关键词定位到第六段第五句Looking back…his parents could provide a comfortable life for the children even though neither had completed college when he was young.即父母即便没有上过大学但仍旧可以为孩子提供舒适的生活，故而His parents’ good life has little to do with a college degree.为正确答案。
