2017年9月3日GRE填空阅读逻辑机经预测

短篇阅读

Attempts to brand the belly dance as an act of seduction are both demeaning and distorting. Throughout Middle Eastern history, Oriental dance---the Western term for belly dance---was primarily performed at such family occasions as weddings, births, and festivals. Early evidence indicates that it originated as a fertility dance. 17,000 year-old rock engravings found in the caves of Addaura, near Palermo in Sicily, depict women swaying their hips in what appears to be a fertility rite, as do ancient Egyptian tomb paintings and Greek sculptures. In some early cultures, women gathered around one of their own when she was in labor, circling and mimicking her contractions with their stomach undulations in an effort to ease her through the birthing process.

Early civilizations were far less regimented than those of today. Even so, it was believed that women were primarily responsible for procreation. Tribes in the South Seas, New Guinea, East Polynesia, Africa, and Greece not only thought that conception would be impossible, but also that the human race would die unless the women performed the fertility dance. In some cases, women were revered for their seeming command over the mysteries of nature; there are even accounts of females being brought into fields to touch the crops, so as to ensure a bountiful harvest.

1. The passage supports which of the following assertions?

A. Belly dancing requires little formal training.

B. The author does not view seduction as a respectable use of the belly dance.

C. Women who have had training in belly dance will have easier pregnancies.

答案：B

解析：

The passage says nothing about the training required for the belly dance. Even though the dance originated in primitive societies, we cannot assume that it doesn’t involve a formal or structured learning process. Eliminate choice (A). Choice (B), in contrast, agrees with the author’s assertion in the first sentence of the passage, so keep it. Choice (C) seems tempting, in light of what the author discusses at the end of the first paragraph, but such an assertion assumes that there are no other factors affecting a woman’s pregnancy. Furthermore, the women in labor described in the passage may not have known how to belly dance. Even if they had, it was the other women’s dancing that is alleged to have helped them, not their own. Choice (B) is the best answer.

2. Which sentence, in which the author makes a conclusion, is not supported with any factual or anecdotal evidence?

答案：Early civilizations were far less regimented than those of today.

解析：答案是第二段第一句，因为第二段第一句之后接了even so，然后就跳到关于女性责任上去了。

长篇阅读

In laboratories, healthy adult human brain neurons typically live no more than a few hours, making extensive research impossible. Furthermore, scientists’ inability to reproduce healthy neurons has prevented the use of neurons in experimental treatments of severe neurological disorders.

However, two researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have successfully maintained mature, human brain neurons in long-term cultures by using cells obtained during surgery on an 18-month-old victim of unilateral megalencephaly. The rare disorder, in which one side of the brain grows substantially larger than the other, occurs when neurons in the abnormal hemisphere undergo too many cell divisions before they mature. The neuronal imbalance in the brain of the infant caused seizures, prompting surgeons to remove the enlarged hemisphere---a treatment that has proven successful in similar cases. The researchers then took neurons from the excised brain matter and placed them in a blood-rich culture medium. After days, many of the cells had died, but a few continued to grow and divide. Nineteen months later, the team had subcultured colonies of neurons onto new culture plates more than 20 times, with no significant changes in cellular appearance or growth characteristics.

Scientists still don’t know what triggers the proliferation of neurons in unilateral megalencephaly. The neurons cultivated at Johns Hopkins---unlike those culled from tumors are not cancerous, and accordingly are much more valuable as research tools. Finally, the experiment presents the possibility that such neurons could be used in experimental treatments that currently use fetal brain cells, sidestepping an uncomfortable ethical issue.

1. It can be inferred from the passage that the removal of a hemisphere of the brain

A. will allow researchers to expand their knowledge of neurological workings

B. is necessary to cure unilateral megalencephaly

C. is a viable medical procedure in some cases

D. is usually performed on infants who suffer from unilateral megalencephaly

E. is a rare procedure that is performed as a last resort

答案：C

解析：

The second paragraph says that the neuronal imbalance causes seizures prompting surgeons to remove the enlarged hemisphere – a treatment that has proven successful in similar cases. "Some cases" is nice and wimpy.

2. The passage supplies information to answer which of the following questions?

A. How old is the average unilateral megalencephaly patient?

B. Can fetal brain cells be used to treat unilateral megalencephaly?

C. Have scientists found a way to allow cells from victims of unilateral megalencephaly to exist outside of the body?

D. How long can neurons culled from tumors be sustained outside the body?

E. Will scientists find further experimental uses for neurons culled from unilateral megalencephaly victims?

答案：C

解析：根据文章第二段可知科学家们已经找到了让细胞在体外存活的方法，可以解答C的问题，其它选项问题无法从文章中找到确定答案。

3. In the second paragraph, select the sentence in which a term is introduced that requires elucidation in a later sentence.

答案：However, two researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have successfully maintained mature, human brain neurons in long-term cultures by using cells obtained during surgery on an 18-month-old victim of unilateral megalencephaly.

解析：

符合题目要求的是第一句话，其中提到了一个生词也就是megalencephaly。之后第二句话就是在解释这个单词的意义。所以选择第二段第一句。

逻辑阅读

Employees of companies that offer corporate fitness programs consistently take fewer sick-days than do employees of companies that do not offer fitness programs. Thus, corporate fitness programs are shown to have a positive effect on the health of a company’s workforce.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

A. Other benefits offered by companies that do not offer corporate fitness programs surpass the benefits offered by companies that do offer such programs.

B. Companies that offer corporate fitness programs attract employees who are more health conscious than the employees of companies that do not offer such programs.

C. The health benefits of a corporate fitness program depend upon the particular makeup of the program.

D. Employees who participate in corporate fitness programs are not measurably less healthy than people who exercise on their own.

E. People who participate in fitness programs not offered by their employees are generally healthier than people who participate in corporate fitness programs.

答案：B

解析：

文章的逻辑在于“公司提供健身—少生病—其他公司也应该提供健身”

反驳方式可以是：

1.否认逻辑，也就是健身和生病无关

2.找他因，不是健身使得员工少生病而是有其他的原因

A.没有提供健身的公司除了健身这一项外，有其他更多的好处------那么人们应该去没健身的公司，没有否认逻辑也没有找他因，错

B.有健身的公司吸引了更多有健康意识的人，这个“他因”不算明显，但是员工少生病与他们的意识有关而不是公司的健身项目的功劳，保留

C. makeup，毫无关系，没有体现任何逻辑，直接排除

D.参加健身项目的人更健康，承认文中逻辑，没有削弱，错

E.参加员工提供的健身的人比公司健身的人更加健康(员工?明明是雇主提供的)，错

综上，选择B