雅思阅读模拟题

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雅思阅读模拟题：Next Year Marks

Part I

Reading Passage 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14 which are based on

Reading Passage 1 below.

Next Year Marks the EU's 50th Anniversary of the Treaty

A.

After a period of introversion and stunned self-disbelief, continental

European governments will recover their enthusiasm for pan-European

institution-building in 2007. Whether the European public will welcome a return

to what voters in two countries had rejected so short a time before is another

matter.

B.

There are several reasons for Europe’s recovering self-confidence. For

years European economies had been lagging dismally behind America (to say

nothing of Asia), but in 2006 the large continental economies had one of their

best years for a decade, briefly outstripping America in terms of growth. Since

politics often reacts to economic change with a lag, 2006’s improvement in

economic growth will have its impact in 2007, though the recovery may be ebbing

by then.

C.

The coming year also marks a particular point in a political cycle so

regular that it almost seems to amount to a natural law. Every four or five

years, European countries take a large stride towards further integration by

signing a new treaty: the Maastricht treaty in 1992, the Treaty of Amsterdam in

1997, the Treaty of Nice in 2001. And in 2005 they were supposed to ratify a

European constitution, laying the ground for yet more integration—until the calm

rhythm was rudely shattered by French and Dutch voters. But the political

impetus to sign something every four or five years has only been interrupted,

not immobilised, by this setback.

D.

In 2007 the European Union marks the 50th anniversary of another treaty—the

Treaty of Rome, its founding charter. Government leaders have already agreed to

celebrate it ceremoniously, restating their commitment to “ever closer union”

and the basic ideals of European unity. By itself, and in normal circumstances,

the EU’s 50th-birthday greeting to itself would be fairly meaningless, a routine

expression of European good fellowship. But it does not take a Machiavelli to

spot that once governments have signed the declaration (and it seems unlikely

anyone would be so uncollegiate as to veto it) they will already be halfway

towards committing themselves to a new treaty. All that will be necessary will

be to incorporate the 50th-anniversary declaration into a new treaty containing

a number of institutional and other reforms extracted from the failed attempt at

constitution-building and—hey presto—a new quasi-constitution will be ready.

E.

According to the German government—which holds the EU’s agenda-setting

presidency during the first half of 2007—there will be a new draft of a

slimmed-down constitution ready by the middle of the year, perhaps to put to

voters, perhaps not. There would then be a couple of years in which it will be

discussed, approved by parliaments and, perhaps, put to voters if that is deemed

unavoidable. Then, according to bureaucratic planners in Brussels and Berlin,

blithely ignoring the possibility of public rejection, the whole thing will be

signed, sealed and a new constitution delivered in 2009-10. Europe will be

nicely back on schedule. Its four-to-five-year cycle of integration will have

missed only one beat.

F.

The resurrection of the European constitution will be made more likely in

2007 because of what is happening in national capitals. The European Union is

not really an autonomous organisation. If it functions, it is because the

leaders of the big continental countries want it to, reckoning that an active

European policy will help them get done what they want to do in their own

countries.

G.

That did not happen in 2005-06. Defensive, cynical and self-destructive,

the leaders of the three largest euro-zone countries—France, Italy and

Germany—were stumbling towards their unlamented ends. They saw no reason to

pursue any sort of European policy and the EU, as a result, barely functioned.

But by the middle of 2007 all three will have gone, and this fact alone will

transform the European political landscape.

H.

The upshot is that the politics of the three large continental countries,

bureaucratic momentum and the economics of recovery will all be aligned to give

a push towards integration in 2007. That does not mean the momentum will be

irresistible or even popular. The British government, for one, will almost

certainly not want to go with the flow, beginning yet another chapter in the

long history of confrontation between Britain and the rest of Europe. More

important, the voters will want a say. They rejected the constitution in 2005.

It would be foolish to assume they will accept it after 2007 just as a result of

an artful bit of tinkering.

雅思阅读模拟题：Sleep medication

Sleep medication linked to bizarre behaviour

12:44 06 February 2007

NewScientist.com news service

Roxanne Khamsi

New evidence has linked a commonly prescribed sleep medication with bizarre

behaviours, including a case in which a woman painted her front door in her

sleep.

UK and Australian health agencies have released information about 240 cases

of odd occurrences, including sleepwalking, amnesia and hallucinations among

people taking the drug zolpidem.

While doctors say that zolpidem can offer much-needed relief for people

with sleep disorders, they caution that these newly reported cases should prompt

a closer look at its possible side effects.

Zolpidem, sold under the brand names Ambien, Stilnoct and Stilnox, is

widely prescribed to treat insomnia and other disorders such as sleep apnea.

Various forms of the drug, made by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis,

were prescribed 674,500 times in 2005 in the UK.

A newly published report from Australia’s Federal Health Department

describes 104 cases of hallucinations and 62 cases of amnesia experienced by

people taking zolpidem since marketing of the drug began there in 2000. The

health department report also mentioned 16 cases of strange sleepwalking by

people taking the medication.

Midnight snack

In one of these sleepwalking cases a patient woke with a paintbrush in her

hand after painting the front door to her house. Another case involved a woman

who gained 23 kilograms over seven months while taking zolpidem. “It was only

when she was discovered in front of an open refrigerator while asleep that the

problem was resolved,” according to the report.

The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, meanwhile,

has recorded 68 cases of adverse reactions to zolpidem from 2001 to 2005.

The newly reported cases in the UK and Australia add to a growing list of

bizarre sleepwalking episodes linked to the drug in other countries, including

reports of people sleep-driving while on the medication. In one case, a

transatlantic flight had to be diverted after a passenger caused havoc after

taking zolpidem.

Hypnotic effects

There is no biological pathway that has been proven to connect zolpidem

with these behaviours. The drug is a benzodiazepine-like hypnotic that promotes

deep sleep by interacting with brain receptors for a chemical called

gamma-aminobutyric acid. While parts of the brain become less active during deep

sleep, the body can still move, making sleepwalking a possibility.

The product information for prescribers advises that psychiatric adverse

effects, including hallucinations, sleepwalking and nightmares, are more likely

in the elderly, and treatment should be stopped if they occur.

Patient advocacy groups say they would like government health agencies and

drug companies to take a closer look at the possible risks associated with sleep

medicines. They stress that strange sleepwalking and sleep-driving behaviours

can have risky consequences.

“When people do something in which they’re not in full control it’s always

a danger,” says Vera Sharav of the New York-based Alliance for Human Research

Protection, a US network that advocates responsible and ethical medical research

practices.

Tried and tested

“The more reports that come out about the potential side effects of the

drug, the more research needs to be done to understand if these are real side

effects,” says sleep researcher Kenneth Wright at the University of Colorado in

Boulder, US.

Millions of people have taken the drug without experiencing any strange

side effects, points out Richard Millman at Brown Medical School, director of

the Sleep Disorders Center of Lifespan Hospitals in Providence, Rhode Island,

US. He says that unlike older types of sleep medications, zolpidem does not

carry as great a risk of addiction.

And Wright notes that some of the reports of “sleep-driving” linked to

zolpidem can be easily explained: some patients have wrongly taken the drug

right before leaving work in hopes that the medicine will kick in by the time

they reach home. Doctors stress that the medication should be taken just before

going to bed.

The US Food & Drug Administration says it is continuing to "actively

investigate" and collect information about cases linking zolpidem to unusual

side effects.

The Ambien label currently lists strange behaviour as a “special concern”

for people taking the drug. “It’s a possible rare adverse event,” says

Sanofi-Aventis spokesperson Melissa Feltmann, adding that the strange

sleepwalking behaviours “may not necessarily be caused by the drug” but instead

result from an underlying disorder. She says that “the safety profile [of

zolpidem] is well established”. The drug received approval in the US in

1993.

雅思阅读模拟题：Food agency takes on industry

Food agency takes on industry over junk labels

Felicity Lawrence

Thursday December 28, 2006

The Guardian

1. Consumers are to be presented with two rival new year advertising

campaigns as the Food Standards Agency goes public in its battle with the

industry over the labelling of unhealthy foods.

2. The Guardian has learned that the FSA will launch a series of 10-second

television adverts in January telling shoppers how to follow a red, amber and

green traffic light labelling system on the front of food packs, which is

designed to tackle Britain's obesity epidemic.

3. The campaign is a direct response to a concerted attempt by leading food

manufacturers and retailers, including Kellogg's and Tesco, to derail the

system. The industry fears that traffic lights would demonise entire categories

of foods and could seriously damage the market for those that are fatty, salty

or high in sugar.

4. The UK market for breakfast cereals is worth ￡1.27bn a year and the

manufacturers fear it will be severely dented if red light labels are put on

packaging drawing attention to the fact that the majority are high in salt

and/or sugar.

5. The industry is planning a major marketing campaign for a competing

labelling system which avoids colour-coding in favour of information about the

percentage of "guideline daily amounts" (GDAs) of fat, salt and sugar contained

in their products.

6. The battle for the nation's diet comes as new rules on television

advertising come into force in January which will bar adverts for unhealthy

foods from commercial breaks during programmes aimed at children. Sources at the

TV regulators are braced for a legal challenge from the industry and have

described the lobbying efforts to block any new ad ban or colour-coded labelling

as "the most ferocious we've ever experienced".

7. Ofcom's chief executive, Ed Richards, said: "We are prepared to face up

to any legal action from the industry, but we very much hope it will not be

necessary." The FSA said it was expecting an onslaught from the industry in

January. Senior FSA officials said the manufacturers' efforts to undermine its

proposals on labelling could threaten the agency's credibility.

8. Terrence Collis, FSA director of communications, dismissed claims that

the proposals were not based on science. "We have some of the most respected

scientists in Europe, both within the FSA and in our independent advisory

committees. It is unjustified and nonsensical to attack the FSA's scientific

reputation and to try to undermine its credibility."

9. The FSA is understood to have briefed its ad agency, United, before

Christmas, and will aim to air ads that are "non-confrontational, humorous and

factual" as a counterweight to industry's efforts about the same time. The

agency, however, will have a tiny fraction of the budget available to the

industry.

10. Gavin Neath, chairman of Unilever UK and president of the Food and

Drink Federation, has said that the industry has made enormous progress but

could not accept red "stop" signs on its food.

11. Alastair Sykes, chief executive of Nestlé UK, said that under the FSA

proposals all his company's confectionery and most of its cereals would score a

red. "Are we saying people shouldn't eat confectionery? We're driven by

consumers and what they want, and much of what we do has been to make our

products healthier," he said.

12. Chris Wermann, director of communications at Kellogg's, said: "In

principle we could never accept traffic light labelling."

13. The rival labelling scheme introduced by Kellogg's, Danone, Unilever,

Nestlé, Kraft and Tesco and now favoured by 21 manufacturers, uses an

industry-devised system based on identifying GDAs of key nutrients. Tesco says

it has tested both traffic lights and GDA labels in its stores and that the

latter increased sales of healthier foods.

14. But the FSA said it could not live with this GDA system alone because

it was "not scientific" or easy for shoppers to understand at a glance.