国开网100万⁺专项题库

阅读下面的短文，根据文章内容从A、B、C三个选项中选出一个最佳选项。

According to experts, the advantage of modified food is that it helps in preventing the occurrence of allergies and also has a long shelf life. However, a major portion of the population is against the consumption of genetically modified food and is concerned about its disadvantages. If you are also confused about the consumption of genetically modified food, read through the pros and cons given below and decide for yourself.

Advantages of Genetically Modified Foods

●One of the most prominent advantages of genetically modified food is that it helps in controlling the occurrence of certain diseases. Certain foods cause allergy to people. Their genetic modification alters the DNA system of these foods, thereby making them non-allergic.

●Another major advantage of such type of foods is that they grow faster than their traditionally grown counterparts. As a result, there is greater productivity and more food.

●A person need not bother about any additional costs, such as buying chemicals and pesticides, when it comes to genetically engineered food. The food is naturally pest-resistant.

●Farming these foods can be a great way to fight world hunger. Since these crops grow faster or more effectively, increased production would help countries wherein crops may not normally prosper because of less than desirable environmental conditions.

●The increased shelf life of these food products helps in reducing the quantity of rotten food.

Disadvantages of Genetically Modified Foods

●The biggest disadvantage of genetically modified food is that they have harmful effects on the human body. The consumption of these genetically engineered foods can lead to development of diseases that are immune to antibiotics.

●Chances of developing cancer are high in people who regularly consume engineered food.

●Since it is an unnatural way of producing foods, there is an increased health hazard such as allergens, transfer of antibiotic resistance markers and unknown effects.

●Since the production of engineered food involves infusing animal genes in the crops and tampering with nature, it might not be good for consumption in the long run.

How does genetically modified food control the occurrence of certain diseases? 1

A. By cross-pollinating.

B. By conventional crossbreeding.

C. By altering the DNA system of these foods.

2. Do farmers need to buy any chemicals and pesticides if they plant genetically modified food? 2

A. Yes, they need to. Because the food is not resist to pests.

B. No, they don’t need to. Because the food is naturally pest-resistant.

C. No, they don’t need to. Because the chemicals and pesticides are provided by the government.

3. Which statement is not the advantage of genetically modified food? 3

A. It may have harmful effects on human body.

B. Genetically modified food grows faster than their traditionally grown counterparts.

C. Farming genetically modified food can help fight world hunger.

4. What would happen to a person if he regularly consume genetically modified food? 4

A. He would get cold.

B. He would lose some weight.

C. He would have cancer.

5. Which title is the best for this passage? 5

A. Can genetically modified foods combat world hunger?

B. Genetically modified mood: our answer is no

C. Genetically modified foods: pros and cons

二、阅读理解：阅读下面的短文，根据文章内容进行判断，正确写“T”错误写“F”。

课外选材

Wide World of Robots

Engineers who build and program robots have fascinating jobs. These researchers tinker (修补) with machines in the lab and write computer software to control these devices. "They're the best toys out there," says Howle Choset at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Choset is a roboticist, a person who designs, builds or programs robots.

When Choset was a kid, he was interested in anything that moved--cars, trains, animals. He put motors on Tinkertoy cars to make them move. Later, in high school, he built mobile robots similar to small cars.

Hoping to continue working on robots, he studied computer science in college. But when he got to graduate school at the Califomia Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Choset's labmates were working on something even cooler than remotely controlled cars: robotic snakes. Some robots can move only forward, backward, left and right. But snakes can twist (扭曲 ) in many directions and travel over a lot of different types of terrain (地形) . "Snakes are far more interesting than the cars," Choset concluded.

After he started working at Carnegie Mellon, Choset and his colleagues there bagan developing their own snake robots. Choset's team programmed robots to perform the same movements as real snakes, such as sliding and inching forward. The robots also moved in ways that snakes usually don't, such as rolling.

Choset's snake robots could crawl (爬行) through the grass, swim in a pond and even climb a flagpole.

But Choset wondered if his snakes might be useful for medicine as well. For some heart surgeries, the doctor has to open a patient's chest, cutting through the breastbone. Recovering from these surgeries can be very painful. What if the doctor could perform the operation by instead making a small hole in the body and sending in a thin robotic snake?

Choset teamed up with Marco Zenati, a heart surgeon now at Harvard Medical School, to investigate the idea. Zenati practiced using the robot on a plastic model of the chest and they tested the robot in pigs.

A company called Medrobotics in Boston is now adapting the technology to surgeries on people.

Even after 15 years of working with his team's creations, "I still don't get bored of watching the motion of my robots," Choset says.

Choset began to build robots in high school. 1

2. Snake robots could move in only four directions. 2

3. Choset didn't begin developing his own snake robots until he started working at Carnegie Mellon. 3

4. Zenati tested the robot on people after using it in pigs. 4

5. The robotic technology for surgeries on people has brought a handsome profit to Medrobotics. 5