职称英语的阅读理解部分为三篇文章，通常有一篇文章来自当年职称英语考试用书上阅读理解的练习题部分，但有时文章后面的问题表达方式，被选项的表达方式及内容， 或被选项顺序都可能发生调整，有时甚至会出现文章后的部分问题重新设置的情况，另外2篇文章都是来自职称英语考试用书以外的文章.。

Sports Star Yao Ming

IfYao Ming is not the biggest sports star in the world, he almost certainly the tallest.At 2.26m, he is the tallest player in the National Basketball Association (NBA)and holds the record as the most towering Olympian ever to competein the Game.

Butwhat really stands out about the giant center is his celebrity (名气). Few, if any, Chinese athletes are as well-known asYao Ming around the world. People across the globe are fascinated with Yao, notonly for his basketball prowess(接杰出的才能)but also for being a symbol of international commerce.

WhenYao joined the Houston Rockets as the No. 1 pick in the 2002 NBA draft he wasthe first international player ever to be selected first. His assets on thecourt are clear enough 一 no NBA player of his size has ever possessed his mobility, so he is ahandful (难对付的人)foropponents on either end of the court. But what makes Yao invaluable to theRockets organization is his role as a global citizen and as a bridge tomillions of potential basket ball fans in China.

Whenit was announced in February that Yao would miss the rest of the NBA season andpossibly the Olympics with a stress fracture (骨折)in his left foot, a collective shudder spread across China. After considerabledebate and discussion, Yao opted to get his foot surgically treated in anoperation that placed several tiny screws across the bone, to offer hisoverburdened foot more support. The surgery was a success, and though theestimated four-month recovery period will leave him little time to prepare withTeam China. Yao has vowed to be ready for the Beijing Olympics.

Yaowrapped up a 10-day trip to China, where he underwent a series of traditional Chinesemedicine (TCM) treatments, hoping to accelerate his recovery process.Westernexperts are generally skeptical of TCM’s benefits, although new research from the University of Rochestersuggests that a certain compound derived from shellfish may indeed stimulatebone repair.

“Thereis no reason to dismiss TCM, “Yao told a press conference in Beijing. “It’s been used in our countryfor thousands of years. I don’t think that it’sshort on science.”

36. The word“towering”inParagraph 1 means

A. large.

B. fat.

C. tall.

D. great.

37. Opponents find it very difficult to controlYao Ming because of his

A. assault.

B. mobility.

C. defense.

D. celebrity.

38. Yao Ming had to undergo a series of TCMtreatments because

A. he wanted to make a more rapid recovery.

B. his right foot had been hurting.

C. the surgical operation had been a failure.

D. he couldn't afford all the medicalexpenses.

39. Which statement about Yao Ming is NOT true?

A. He is an NBA player.

B. He fractured his left foot.

C. Hemissed the Athens Olympics.

D. He is an international figure.

40. In general, the Western experts' attitudetowards TCM is

A. indifferent.

B. positive.

C. doubtful.

D. negative.

参考答案：CBACC

Deforestation and Desertification(沙漠化)

TheSahel zone lies between the Saharadesert and the fertile savannahs(热带大草原)ofnorthern Nigeria and South Sudan. The word sahel comes from Arabic and means marginal or transitional ,andthis is a good description of thesesemi-arid(半干旱)lands,whichoccupy much of the Western African countries of Mail,Mauritania,Niger,and Chad.

Unfortunately, over the last century theSahara desert has steadily crept southwards eating into once productive Sahellands. United Nations surveys show that over 70 percent of the dry land inagriculture use in Africa has deterioratedover the last 30 years. Droughts have become more severe, the most recentlasting over twenty years in parts of the Sahel region. The same process ofdesertification is taking place across southern Africa as the Kalahari desertadvances into Botswana and parts of South Africa.

One ofthe major causes of this desert advance ispoor agricultural land use, driven by the pressures of increasing population.Overgrazing一 keeping too many farm animals on the land一means that grasses and other plants cannot recover, and scarce water suppliesare exhausted. Overcultivation一 tryingto grow too many crops on poor land一 resultsin the soil becoming even less fertile and drier, and beginning to break up. Soilerosion (侵蚀) follows, and the land turns into desert.

Another cause of desertification is loss of tree cover. Trees are cutdown for use as fuel and to clear land for agricultural use. Tree roots help tobind the soil together, to conserve moisture, and to provide a habitat forother plants and animals. When trees are cut down, the soil begins to dry andloosen, wind and rain erosion increase, other plant species die, and eventuallythe fertile top soil may be almost entirely lost, leaving only bare rock anddust.

The effects of loss of topsoil and increased drought are irreversible. Theyare,however, preventable. Careful conservation of tree cover and sustainableagricultural land use have been shown to halt deterioration of soils and lessenthe effects of shortage of rainfall. One project in Kita in south-west Malifunded by UNDP has involved local communities in sustainable management offorest,while at the same time providing a viable(有活力的)agriculturaleconomy. This may be a model for similar projects in otherWest African countries.

35 order to prevent desertification,the author proposes ___.

A. making good use of international aids

B. developing a sustainableagricultural economy

C. gaining international support

D. converting agricultural land intoforest

答案：b

36.The Sahel zone is an area which ___.

A. is covered with sad and grass

B. has a long history

C. occupies much of South Nigeria

D. belongs to Sudan

答案：a

37. What is the situation about thedesertification in Africa?

A. The deserts are replaced withgrasslands

B. The deserts are expanding

C. the deserts are moving northwards

D. the deserts are being deserted

答案：b

38. The word “deteriorated ” in paragraph2 means ___.

A. deepened

B. suffered

C. slipped

D. worsened

答案：d

39. What is the root causeof desertification?

A. poor farming

B. overpopulation

C. radical climate change

D. disappearance of rare plant species

答案：a

40. In order to prevent desertification,the author proposes ___.

A. making good use of international aids

B. developing a sustainableagricultural economy

C. gaining international support

D. converting agricultural land intoforest

答案：b

OlderVolcanic Eruptions

Volcanoes were more destructive in ancient history, not because theywere bigger，but because the carbon dioxide(二氧化碳)theyreleased wiped out life with greater ease.

Paul Wignall from the University of Leeds was investigating the linkbetween volcanic eruptions and mass extinctions. Not all volcanic eruptionskilled off large numbers of animals, but all the mass extinctions over the past300 million years coincided with huge formations of volcanic rock. To hissurprise, the older the massive volcanic eruptions were, the more damage theyseemed to do. He calculated the "killing efficiency" for thesevolcanoes by comparing the proportion of life they killed off with the volumeof lava (熔岩) that they produced. He found that sizefor size, older eruptions were at least 10 times as effective at wiping outlife as their more recent rivals

The Permian (二叠纪)extinction, for example, which happened 250 million years ago, is marked byfloods of volcanic rock in Siberia that cover an area roughly the size ofwestern Europe. Those volcanoes are thought to have pumped out about 10gigatonnes (十亿吨) of carbon as carbon dioxide. The globalwarming that followed wiped out 80 percent of all marine genera (种类)at the time, and it took 5 million years for the planet to recover. Yet 60million years ago, there was another huge amount of volcanic activity andglobal warming but no mass extindtion. Some animals did disappear but thingsreturned to normal within tens of thousands of years. "The most recentones hardly have an effect at all," Wignall says. He ignored theextinction which wiped out the dinosaurs (恐龙) 65million years ago, because many scientists believe it was primarily caused bythe impact of an asteroid (小行星). Hethinks that older volcanoes had more killing power because more recent lifeforms were better adapted to dealing with increased levels of CO2.

Vincent Courtillot, director of the Paris Geophysical Institute in France,says that Wignall's idea is provocative. But he says it is incredibly hard todo these sorts of calculations. He points out that the killing power ofvolcanic eruptions depends on how long they lasted. And it is impossible totell whether the huge blasts lasted for thousands

or millions of years. He also adds that itis difficult to estimate how much lava prehistoric volcanoes produced, and thatlava volume may not necessarily correspond to carbon dioxide emissions.

41.Older volcanic eruptions did moredamage than more recent ones because

A. older volcanoes were brighter.

B. carbon dioxide made the earth muchwarmer

C. older volcanoes were hotter

D. carbon dioxide killed off life moreeasily

答案：d

42. Wignall calculated the killing powerof those older volcanic eruptions by

A. estimating how long they lasted

B. counting the dinosaurs they killed

C. comparing the proportion of lifekilled with the volume of lava produced

D. studying the chemical composition oflava

答案：c

43. When did dinosaurs become extinct?

A. 300 million years ago.

B. 250 million years ago

C. 65 million years ago

D. 60 million years ago

答案：c

44. It can be inferred from Paragraph 3that the cause of dinosaur extinction is_______

A. a political issue.

B. self-evident.

C. quite certain

D. controversial

答案：d

45. What is the main thesis of thearticle?

A. Volcanic eruptions are not alwaysdeadly.

B. Carbon dioxide emissions often giverise to global warming.

C. Older volcanic eruptions are moredestructive

D. It is not easy to calculate the killingpower of a volcanic eruption

答案：c