题目内容

Women who own cats are more likely to have mental health problems and kill themselves because they can be infected by a common parasite that can be caught from cat litter, a study has found.

Researchers found women infected with the Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) parasite(刚地弓形虫), which is spread through contact with cat waste or eating undercooked meat or unwashed vegetables, are at increased risk of attempting suicide.

The study involved more than 45,000 women in Denmark. About a third of the world’s population is infected with the parasite, which hides in cells in the brain and muscles, often without producing symptoms.

The infection, which is called toxoplasmosis(弓形虫病), has been linked to mental illness, such as schizophrenia(精神分裂症), and changes in behavior.

The study’s senior author Doctor Teodor Postolache, an associate professor of psychiatry(精神病学) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in the United States, said, “We can’t say with certainty that T. gondii caused the women to try to kill themselves, but we did find a predictive association between the infection and suicide attempts later in life that deserves additional studies.”

Doctor Albert Reece, vice president of medical affairs at the University of Maryland, said, “T. gondii infection is a major public health problem around the world, and many people don’t realize they’re infected.

“Dr Postolache is a leading expert on suicide neuroimmunology(神经免疫学). Suicide is a critically important mental health issue. About one million people commit suicide and another 10 million attempt suicide worldwide each year. We hope that this type of research will one day help us find ways to save many lives that now end too early in suicide.”

Dr. Postolache’s research team at the University of Maryland was the first to report a connection between T. gondii and suicidal behavior in 2009. He is cooperating with researchers in Denmark, Germany and Sweden to confirm and investigate the way leading to this association.

The T. gondii parasite thrives in the intestines of cats, and it is spread through their waste. All warm-blooded animals can become infected through contact with it. Humans can become infected by changing their infected cats’ litter boxes, eating unwashed vegetables, drinking water from a polluted source, or by eating undercooked or raw meat.

Not washing kitchen knives after preparing raw meat before handling another food item also can lead to infection. Pregnant women can pass the parasite directly to their unborn babies and are advised not to change cat litter boxes to avoid possible infection.

Babies don’t produce antibodies to T. gondii for three months after they are born, so the antibodies present in their blood represented infection in the mothers. The scientists studied Danish health patients to determine if any of these women later attempted suicide, including cases of violent suicide attempts which may have involved guns, sharp instruments and jumping from high places.

The study found that women infected with T. gondii were one and a half times more likely to attempt suicide compared to those who were not infected, and the risk seemed to rise with increasing levels of the T. gondii antibodies.

Dr Postolache noted limitations to the study, such as the inability to determine the cause of the suicidal behavior.

The findings were published online in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

1.The objects of the research are women from _____.

A. Demark                                      B. the USA                            C. Germany                          D. Sweden

2.The common way which is more likely to be infected with the disease is _____.

A. to eat unwashed vegetables or undercooked meat

B. to clean a place where a cat once lived for a time

C. to pass the infection to her unborn baby during a woman’s pregnancy

D. to reuse kitchen tools which have been used to cut raw meat

3.What is the consequence if a woman is infected with the parasite in the passage?

A. Having a high fever.                                                      B. Doing deliberate self-harm.

C. Keeping a depressed mood.                                       D. Becoming bad tempered.

53.

4. What can be inferred from the passage?

A. Women have a higher risk to be infected by the parasite than men.

B. The result of the research may help the scientists to find ways to stop suicide in advance.

C. The scientists will continue their research into the possible connection.

D. The risk of being infected seems to rise with the decreasing levels of the antibodies.

5.Which of the following statements would probably be the best title of the passage?

A. Why are women more likely to commit suicide?

B. Women should keep away from cats.

C. Ways found to deal with women’s mental problems.

D. Are women who own cats at a suicide risk?

 

【答案】

 

1.A

2.B

3.B

4.C

5.D

【解析】

试题分析:本文讲述的是与猫长时间接触的人容易有精神方面的问题。文章介绍了对此现象进行了研究的具体情况。

1.A 细节题。根据文章第三段第一句The study involved more than 45,000 women in Denmark.可知本次研究的对象都是丹麦的女性。故A正确。

2.B 推理题。根据文章第二段1,2行Researchers found women infected with the Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) parasite(刚地弓形虫), which is spread through contact with cat waste可知既然这种病是由于猫的粪便携带的病菌传播的。那么较好的方法就是彻底打扫有猫长时间住的地方,杀死这些病菌。故B正确。

3.B 细节题。根据文章第五段we did find a predictive association between the infection and suicide attempts later in life that deserves additional studies.”可知这种病菌与人们的自杀企图是有关系的,自杀是一种自残的自我伤害的行为。故B正确。

4.C 推理题。根据文章第五段“We can’t say with certainty that T. gondii caused the women to try to kill themselves, but we did find a predictive association between the infection and suicide attempts later in life that deserves additional studies.”可知我们现在无法确定这种病菌与女性自杀之间的联系,但是科学家会继续努力发现这两者之间的联系。故C正确。

5.D 主旨大意题。根据文章主题段第一段Women who own cats are more likely to have mental health problems and kill themselves because they can be infected by a common parasite that can be caught from cat litter, a study has found.可知本文讲述的是与猫长时间接触的人容易有精神方面的问题。文章对此现象进行了研究。故D正确。

考点:考察健康类短文阅读

 

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Beauty has always been regarded as something praiseworthy. Almost everyone thinks attractive people are happier and healthier, have better marriages and have more respectable jobs. Personal advisors give them better advice for finding jobs. Even judges are softer on attractive defendants (被告). But in the executive(主管的)circle, beauty can become a disadvantage.

While attractiveness is a positive factor for a man on his way up the executive ladder, it is harmful to a woman. Handsome male executives were considered having more honesty than plainer men; effort and ability were thought to lead to their success. Attractive female executives were considered to have less honesty than unattractive ones; their success was attributed not to ability but to factors such as luck.

All unattractive women executives were thought to have more honesty and to be more capable than the attractive female executives. Interestingly, though, the rise of the unattractive overnight successes was connected more to personal relationships and less to ability than was that of attractive overnight successes. 

Why are attractive women not thought to be able? An attractive woman considered to be more  feminine (女性的) has an advantage in traditionally female jobs, but an attractive woman in a traditionally manly position appears to lack the “manly” qualities required.

This is true even in politics. “When the only clue is how he or she looks, people treat men and women differently,” says Anne Bowman, who recently published a study on the effects of attractiveness on political candidates. She asked 125 undergraduates to rank two groups of photographs, one of men and one of women, in order of attractiveness. Then the students were told the photographs were of candidates for political offices. They were asked to rank them again, in the order they would vote for them.

The results showed that attractive males completely defeated unattractive men, but the women who had been ranked most attractive invariably (无例外地) received the fewest votes.

In traditioally female jobs, attractiveness ______.

A. adds to thne female qualities required

B. makes women look more honest and capable

C. is of primary importance to women

D. often enables women to succeed quickly

Bowman’s experiment shows that when it comes to politics, attractiveness ______.

    A. turns out to be a disadvantage to men

    B. is more of a disadvantage than an advantage to women

C. has as little effect on men as on women

D. affects men and women alike

The author writes this passage to ______.

A. emphasize the importance of appearance

B. give advice to job-seekers who are attractive

C. demand equal rights for women

D. discuss the negative aspects of being attractive

November not only marks the publication of Toni Morrison’s eagerly anticipated(期待) eighth novel, Love, but it is also the tenth anniversary of her Nobel Prize for Literature. Morrison is the first black woman to receive a Nobel, and so honored before her in literature are only two black men:Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian playwright, poet and novelist, in 1986; and Derek Walcott, the Caribbean-born poet, in 1992. But Morrison is also the first and only American-born Nobel prizewinner for literature since 1962, the year novelist John Steinbeck received the award.

Like Song of Solomon, Love is a multigenerational story, revealing the personal and communal legacy() of an outstanding black family. As Morrison scholars will tell you, Love is the third volume of a literary master’s trilogy(三部曲)investigating the many complexities of love. This trilogy began with Beloved(1988), which deals with a black mother’s love under slavery and in freedom. Jazzy(1993), the second volume, tells a story of romantic love in 1920s Harlem. This latest novel looks back from the 1970s to the 1940s and 50s.

The emotional center of Love is Bill Cosey, the former owner and host of the shabby Cosey’s Hotel and Resort in Silk, North Carolina, described in the novel as “the best and best-known vacation sport for colored folk on the East Coast.” We get to know Cosey through the memories of five women who survive and love him: his granddaughter, his widow, two former employees, and a homeless young girl.

The latest novel, Love, had been described in the promotional material from her publisher as “Morrison’s most accessible work since Song of Solomon.” This comparison to her third novel, published in 1977, was an effective selling point.

61. What would be the best title for the text?

A.      Toni Morrison’s latest novels

B.      Toni Morrison and her trilogy

C.      Toni Morrison and her novel Love

D.     Toni Morrison, the Nobel prizewinner

62. What can we learn about John Steinbeck?

A.      He was a black writer.

B.      He was born in America.

C.      He received the Nobel Prize after Morrison

D.     He was the first American novelist to win a Nobel

63. The similarity between Love and Song of Solomon is that they both _____.

A.      belong to the same trilogy together with Beloved

B.      concern families of more than one generation

C.      deal with life of blacks under slavery

D.     investigate life in 1920s Harlem

64. The novel Love mainly describes ______.

A.      the best-known vacation spot for blacks

B.      the life of an outstanding black family under slavery

C.      the miserable experience of the five women in Harlem

D.     the memories of five women about Bill Cosey

Findings from a new study were presented at a recent meeting of the American Psychosomatic(身心的) Society. Researchers in the United States studied 100,000 women during an eight-year period, beginning in 1994. All of the women were fifty or older. The study was part of the Women’s Health Initiative organized by the National Institutes of Health.

The women were asked questions measuring their beliefs or ideas about the future. The researchers attempted to identify each woman’s personality eight years after gathering the information.

The study found that hopeful individuals were 14% less likely than other women to have died from any cause. The hopeful women were also 30% less likely to have died from heart disease after the eight years.

Hilary Tindle from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania was the lead author of the report. She said the study confirmed earlier research that linked optimistic feelings to longer life.

The researchers also gathered information about people’s education, financial earnings, physical activity and use of alcohol or cigarettes. Independent of those things, the findings still showed that optimists had less of a chance of dying during the eight-year period.

Some women who answered the questions were found to be hostile (怀敌意的), or highly untrusting of others. These women were 16% more likely to die than the others. They also were 23% more likely to die of cancer.

The study also found women who were not optimistic were more likely to smoke and have high blood pressure or diabetes. They were also more likely not to exercise.

Tindle says the study did not confirm whether optimism leads to healthier choices, or if it actually affects a person’s physical health. She also says the study does not prove that negative (消极的) emotions or distrust lead to bad health effects and shorter life. Yet there does appear to be a link that calls for more research.

1. In which part of a newspaper can you read the above passage?

   A. Nation     B. Opinion   C. Science    D. Business

2.Researchers carry out the study to ________.

A. decide who is more likely to enjoy a happier life

B. find out the link between personality and health

C. gather information for the National Institutes of Health

D. compare each woman’s personality changes

3.What can be inferred from the text?

A. Negative emotions cause a shorter life indeed.

B. There may be some link between personality and health.

C. It’s uncertain whether optimism affects one’s health.

D. The more optimistic you are, the longer life you may enjoy.

4.Who is more likely to die of cancer according to the text?

A. A woman who always doubts what others say.    B. A woman who doesn’t exercise.

C. A woman with high blood pressure.            D. A woman with poor physical health.

5. What’s Hilary Tindle’s opinion of the study?

A. Unfair.       B. Useless.      C. Necessary.     D. Reliable.

 

 

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