Passage 3 Question 31 to 35 are based on the following passage:
Researchers assert that poor and minority populations are more likely to be expo sed to environmental hazards and may suffer disproportionately from certain dise ases as a result.
For example, diseases such as asthma(气喘), which seem to strike minority and i nner-city populations disproportionately, are at epidemic proportions. The rates of these diseases are increasing too fast to be simply a result of genetic caus es alone. Researchers believe that the issue of health disparities(悬殊) is most ly environment and behavior. Other data show that black babies are at greater ri sk of birth defects, infant mortality and sudden infant death syndrome than whit e children are and native American children in Oklahoma have high levels of lead (铅) in their blood.
Not only did these at-risk communities have higher levels of exposure to enviro nmental stressors, they are also less able to deal with them effectively. “We u rge policy makers to secure against adverse outcomes for these communities,” a researcher said, “Communities at risk for environmental exposure must have acce ss to information so that they will be empowered to do something.”
Research programs are being conducted to investigate environmental causes and po ssible interventions for health disparities between the poor and wealthy and am ong ethnic groups.
Bob Lynch, assistant Professor of occupational and environmental health at the University of Oklahoma Health Science centre, presented data from an interventi on that helped lower the blood lead levels of a community of native American chi ldren in Oklahoma who lived near the remnants of lead-laced mines. The “Tribal Efforts Against Lead” intervention began with convincing people not to let thei r children play in a pile of toxic waste. Factors associated with elevated blood lead levels also include household income and cleanliness, in addition to inter actions with lead-based paint, dust or soil. When the researchers began the stud y, around 42% of the children in the predominantly native American population ha d elevated blood lead levels, compared to a national average of around 3%. The r esearchers documented a drop in the proportion of children with elevated blood l ead levels from 24% in 1997 to 11% in 2000. Lynch said that what he learned from the intervention was that minority communities such as the native American popu lation he worked with often “resent” being studied.“You can lessen that,” he advised, “by involving the community in the design of the research, giving the m full knowledge and giving something back to the community.”
31.Poor and minority people are more likely to have certain diseases because____. A) they live in poor environments where they have no access to medical institutions B) they live and work in more dangerous surroundings C) they are more likely to be exposed to epidemic diseases D) they don’t know that their health is in danger
32.According to the reseachers, the fact that some people have greater danger of having certain diseases cannot be fully explained by genetic causes be cause____. A) poor and minority people suffer disproportionately from certain diseases B) there are health disparities between the poor and the wealthy C) certain diseases among the poor and the minorities spread too quickly D) poor and minority people are more likely to be exposed to environmental hazards
33.The word “intervention” in this passage refers to____. A) ways to narrow the gap between the wealthy and the poor B) ways to solve environmental pollution in places where the poor and the minorities live C) ways to protect the poor and the minorities from diseases due to environmental exposure D) ways to help the poor and the minorities to fight against dangerous environmental pollution
34.From the last paragraph we know that____. A) Lynch’s reseach began in 1997 B) Lynch’s work was not very successful as people resented being studied C) native American children benefit greatly from Lynch’s work D) the proportion of children with elevated blood levels in native American population is the same with the national average now
35.We can infer from the passage that____. A) government have established institutions to protest the poor and the minorities from certain diseases B) in the United States those who live in the centre of big cities are often poor people C) the poor and minorites people everywhere warmly welcome the research conducted on them D) children of the poor the minority families are likely to have elevated blood lead levels
Passage Three 短文大意：研究发现贫穷及少数民族人群更易暴露于有害环境中，其后果是他们的某些疾病的发病率远高于其他人群。科学家对这一现象进行了研究并试图改变这一现状。 31. 【参考译文】穷人以及少数民族的人更容易患有某些疾病，这是因为____。【试题分析】这是细节推理题。【详细解答】文章第一句话，研究者声称贫穷以及少数民族人群更容易暴露在危险环境中，因而可能过多地遭受疾病的侵扰，与B相符。 32. 【参考译文】据研究者们看，某些人更易患某些疾病这一事实并不能完全从遗传角度得以解释，这是因为____。【试题分析】这是推理判断题。【详细解答】文章第二段第二句话：“The rates of these diseases are increasing too fast to be simply a result of genetic causes alone.”与C相符。 33. 【参考译文】“intervention”一词在文章中指的是____。【试题分析】这题根据上下文推测词意【详细解答】“intervention”一次出现在第四、五段共五处，根据上下文可推出其所指。 34. 【参考译文】从最后一段我们得知____。【试题分析】这是细节辨析题【详细解答】血液含铅量超标的孩子的比例从24%降到11%，这一数据足以说明Lynch的工作颇有成效，土著孩子受益不浅。因此C是正确选项，B是错误的。全国比例为3%，因此D是错误。Lynch开始这项研究时土著孩子中血液含铅量超标的比例为42%，而97年为24%，因此开始时间必然早于97年，因此A是错的。 35. 【参考译文】从这段文字我们可以推断____。【试题分析】这是细节题。【详细解答】从第二段第一句话可看出，minority and inner-city populations即指上段poor and minority。
