2014年大学英语六级改革后模拟试题（2）_第2页

　　Part Ⅲ Reading Comprehension (40 minutes)

　　Section B(原快速阅读理解调整为长篇阅读理解，篇章长度和难度不变。篇章后附有10个句子，每句一题。每句所含的信息出自篇章的某一段落，要求考生找出与每句所含信息相匹配的段落。)

　　Directions: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it.Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraphfrom which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Eachparagraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter onAnswer Sheet 2.

　　Daylight Saving Time (DST)

　　How and When Did Daylight Saving Time Start?

　　[A] Benjamin Franklin—of “early to bed and early to rise” fame—was apparently the first personto suggest the concept of daylight savings. While serving as U.S. ambassador to France inParis, Franklin wrote of being

　　awakened at 6 a.m. and realizing, to his surprise, that the sun would rise far earlier than heusually did. Imagine

　　the resources that might be saved if he and others rose before noon and burned less midnightoil, Franklin, tongue half in cheek, wrote to a newspaper.

　　[B] It wasn’t until World War I that daylight savings were realized on a grand scale. Germanywas the first state to adopt the time changes, to reduce artificial lighting and thereby savecoal for the war effort. Friends and foes soon followed suit. In the U.S. a federal lawstandardized the yearly start and end of daylight saving time in 1918—for the states that choseto observe it.

　　[C] During World War II the U.S. made daylight saving time mandatory^ 强制的)for the wholecountry, as a way to save wartime resources. Between February 9, 1942, and September 30, 1945, the government took it a step further. During this period daylight saving time wasobserved year-round, essentially making it the new standard time, if only for a few years. Manyyears later, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was enacted, mandating a controversial month-longextension of daylight saving time, starting in 2007.

　　Daylight Saving Time: Energy Saver or Just Time Suck?

　　[D] In recent years several studies have suggested that daylight saving time doesn’t actuallysave energy—and might even result in a net loss. Environmental economist Hendrik Wolff, ofthe University of Washington, co-authored a paper that studied Australian power-use datawhen parts of the country extended daylight saving time for the 2000 Sydney Olympics andothers did not. The researchers found that the practice reduced lighting and electricityconsumption in the evening but increased energy use in the now dark mornings—wiping out theevening gains. That’s because the extra hour that daylight saving time adds in the evening is ahotter hour. “So if people get home an hour earlier in a warmer house, they turn on their airconditioning,” the University of Washington’s Wolff said.

　　[E] But other studies do show energy gains. In an October 2008 daylight saving time report toCongress, mandated by the same 2005 energy act that extended daylight saving time, theU.S. Department of Energy asserted that springing forward does save energy. Extendeddaylight saving time saved 1.3 terawatt (太瓦)hours of electricity. That figure suggests thatdaylight saving time reduces annual U.S. electricity consumption by 0.03 percent and overallenergy consumption by 0.02 percent. While those percentages seem small, they couldrepresent significant savings because of the nation’s enormous total energy use.

　　[F] What*s more, savings in some regions are apparently greater than in others. California, forinstance, appears to benefit most from daylight saving time—perhaps because its relativelymild weather encourages people to stay outdoors later. The Energy Department report foundthat daylight saving time resulted in an energy savings of one percent daily in the state.

　　[G] But Wolff, one of many scholars who contributed to the federal report, suggested that thenumbers were subject to statistical variability (变化)and shouldn’t be taken as hard facts. Anddaylight savings, energy gains in the U.S. largely depend on your location in relation to theMason-Dixon Line, Wolff said. “The North might be a slight winner, because the North doesn’thave as much air conditioning,” he said. “But the South is a definite loser in terms of energyconsumption. The South has more energy consumption under daylight saving.”

　　Daylight Saving Time: Healthy or Harmful?

　　[H] For decades advocates of daylight savings have argued that, energy savings or no, daylightsaving time boosts health by encouraging active lifestyles—a claim Wolff and colleagues arecurrently putting to the test. “In a nationwide American time-use study, we’re clearly seeingthat, at the time of daylight saving time extension in

　　the spring, television watching is substantially reduced and outdoor behaviors like jogging,walking, or going to

　　the park are substantially increased,” Wolff said. “That’s remarkable, because of course thetotal amount of daylight in a given day is the same. ”

　　[I] But others warn of ill effects. Till Roenneberg, a university professor in Munich (慕尼,黑),Germany, said his studies show that our circadian (生理节奏的)body clocks—set by light anddarkness—never adjust to gaining an “extra” hour of sunlight to the end of the day duringdaylight saving time.

　　[J] One reason so many people in the developed world are chronically (长期地)overtired, hesaid, is that they suffer from “social jet lag. ” In other words, their optimal circadian sleepperiods don"t accord with their actual sleep schedules. Shifting daylight from morning toevening only increases this lag, he said. “Light doesn’t do the same things to the body in themorning and the evening. More light in the morning would advance the body clock, and thatwould be good. But more light in the evening would even further delay the body clock. ”

　　[K] Other research hints at even more serious health risks. A 2008 study concluded that, atleast in Sweden, heart attack risks go up in the days just after the spring time change. “Themost likely explanation to our findings is disturbed sleep and disruption of biologicalrhythms,” One expert told National Geographic News via email.

　　Daylight Savings! Lovers and Haters

　　[L] With verdicts (定论)on the benefits, or costs, of daylight savings so split, it may be nosurprise that the yearly time changes inspire polarized reactions. In the U.K., for instance, theLighter Later movement—part of 10:10, a group advocating cutting carbon emissions—arguesfor a sort of extreme daylight savings. First, they say, move standard time forward an hour,then keep observing daylight saving time as usual—adding two hours of evening daylight towhat we currently consider standard time. The folks behind Standardtime .com, on the otherhand, want to abolish daylight saving time altogether, calling energy-efficiency claims“unproven. ”

　　[M] National telephone surveys by Rasmussen Reports from spring 2010 and fall 2009 deliverthe same answer. Most people just “don’t think the time change is worth the hassle (麻烦洽勺事).” Forty-seven percent agreed with that statement, while only 40 percent disagreed. ButSeize the Daylight author David Prerau said his research on daylight saving time suggests mostpeople are fond of it. “I think if you ask most people if they enjoy having an extra hour ofdaylight in the evening eight months a year, the response would be pretty positive.”

　　46. Daylight savings，energy gains might be various due to different climates.

　　47. Disturbed sleep and disruption of biological rhythms may be the best explanation to higherheart attack risks in the days after the spring time change.

　　48. A research indicated that DST might not save energy by increasing energy use in the darkmornings, though it reduced lighting and electricity consumption in the evening.

　　49. Germany took the lead to save wartime resources by adopting the time changes andreducing artificial lighting.

　　50. A university professor studied the effect of daylight saving time and sounded the alarm ofits negative effects.

　　51. Social jet lag can partly account for people’s chronic fatigue syndrome in developedcountries.

　　52. The figure of a study in the U.S. suggested that DST could save a lot of energy nationally.

　　53. Supporters of daylight savings have long considered daylight saving time does good topeople’s health.

　　54. A group advocating cutting carbon emissions launches the Lighter Later movement to backa kind of extreme daylight savings.

　　55. A scholar contributing to a federal report suggested that the amount of saved energy hadsomething to do with geographic position.