小编寄语:英语四级六级考试,阅读是不可或缺的一大部分,生词多,理解难,时间少,是不少考生抱怨的问题。要想在考场上做好阅读理解,必须在平常多阅读,掌握新词汇,提高阅读速度。而沪江小编就为大家准备了阅读材料系列,供大家练习。

我们的这个阅读系列旨在为大家提供一些阅读材料,不一定跟四六级考试的难度、篇幅、内容完全一样。对于很多童鞋纠结这是四级还是六级范围的阅读,其实没有必要。如果大家觉得比较简单,就当作泛读材料了解了解,认识几个新单词或新表达方式也不错。如果大家觉得这些材料理解上有难度,不妨当做挑战自己的拔高训练,希望大家都有进步^^

【今日推荐阅读】

There are many known risk factors associated with suicide: those who take their own lives are statistically more likely to be white, male, and/or low-income. Surveys show that they are also more likely to have histories of depression, own fire arms and feel isolated. Many are divorced or have substance abuse problems. But a team of researchers found another risk factor that is less intuitive, even though it may be just as valid: living at a high altitude.

The team, lead by Dr. Barry Brenner from the University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland Ohio, analyzed 19 years worth of cause-of-death data from all 2,584 U.S. counties (between 1979 and 1998). In their study, published in High Altitude Medicine & Biology, they compared the 50 counties with the highest suicide rate to the 50 counties with the lowest, and found that county altitude was on average almost eight times higher in the areas with high suicide rates.

Even when the researchers controlled for five other suicide-related factors — two measures of income,race, age and population density of the county — the correlation was still strong. Wrote the scientists:

Prior reports of increased suicides in the U.S. Mountain Region (e.g., Colorado) have prompted speculation that the excess is owing to greater access to rearms, increased isolation, or reduced income. Even after controlling for these variables in our analysis, the positive correlation between altitude and suicide still exists, which suggests that the increased suicide rate in the regions with greatest altitude, such as the Mountain Region, may be owing to, at least in part, its altitude per se.

The authors note that there may be physiological reasons why high altitude may contribute to suicides; low barometric pressure in mountainous regions, for example, causes the body to become less efficient in transporting oxygen from the air, and these changes can affect brain functioning. In addition, they note, it's only suicides, and not other deaths that are positively associated with higher altitudes. While the results still need to be replicated, they at least suggest that achieving the "mountain high" may come at a dangerous price.

【内容简介】

本篇文章开篇介绍了导致自杀的一般原因,如收入低,有抑郁症病史,感到孤独等,并由此引出一个新发现——自杀还与海拔有关。

接着,文章开始介绍这项研究的相关数据和过程,这其中还涉及到其他因素,如种族、年龄、密集程度等。

最后一段,文章从海拔对人生理的影响进行剖析,说明海拔通过影响人的生理,进而影响人的大脑功能,导致人们想不开而寻短见。

【词汇短语讲解】

correlation  相互关系,相关,关联 

e.g. Do you know the correlation between one's character and life?

你知道人的性格和生活的相互关系吗?

②prompt  v. 提示,激起,促进   adj. 敏捷的,立刻的,迅速的

excess  n. 超过,过量,过剩     adj. 过量的,额外的

e.g. He always spends in excess of his income.

他总是入不敷出。

④文中的一些重点短语 associate with 与……有联系的   more likely to 更有可能的   compare…with……把……与……作比较

owing to  由于,归因于    in addition  另外

【快速阅读支招】

这类研究性文章我们关键是要先找到主题句(或主题段),一般都会出现在开篇或结尾处。另外这类文章通常的行文规律是研究发现——研究过程和对象介绍——研究补充内容。大致浏览文章结构和基本内容后我们就可以根据题目进行排查,比如主旨题,我们可以对照文中核心句或核心段落;态度题一般来说答案绝对不可能是极端类的态度,一般都是客观,温和型的。而细节题则要根据题目中透露的信息去相关段落查找。

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