2012年考研英語閱讀理解精讀篇（七）_跨考網(wǎng)

　　TEXT THREE

　　When Catholic clergy or “pro-life” politicians argue that abortion laws should be tightened, they do so in the belief that this will reduce the number of terminations. Yet the largest global study of abortion ever undertaken casts doubt on that simple proposition. Restricting abortions, the study says, has little effect on the number of pregnancies terminated. Rather, it drives women to seek illegal, often unsafe backstreet abortions leading to an estimated 67,000 deaths a year. A further 5m women require hospital treatment as a result of botched procedures.

　　In Africa and Asia, where abortion is generally either illegal or restricted, the abortion rate in 2003 (the latest year for which figures are available) was 29 per 1,000 women aged 15-44. This is almost identical to the rate in Europe—28—where legal abortions are widely available. Latin America, which has some of the world's most restrictive abortion laws, is the region with the highest abortion rate (31), while western Europe, which has some of the most liberal laws, has the lowest (12).

　　The study, carried out by the Guttmacher Institute in New York in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and published in a British medical journal, the Lancet, found that most abortions occur in developing countries—35m a year, compared with just 7m in rich countries. But this was largely a reflection of population size. A woman's likelihood of having an abortion is similar whether she lives in a rich country (26 per 1,000) or a poor or middle-income one (29).

　　Lest it be thought that these sweeping continental numbers hide as much as they reveal, the same point can be made by looking at those countries which have changed their laws. Between 1995 and 2005, 17 nations liberalised abortion legislation, while three tightened restrictions. The number of induced abortions nevertheless declined from nearly 46m in 1995 to 42m in 2003, resulting in a fall in the worldwide abortion rate from 35 to 29. The most dramatic drop—from 90 to 44—was in former communist Eastern Europe, where abortion is generally legal, safe and cheap. This coincided with a big increase in contraceptive use in the region which still has the world's highest abortion rate, with more terminations than live births.

　　The risk of dying in a botched abortion is only part of a broader problem of maternal health in poor countries. Of all the inequalities of development, this is arguably the worst. According to a report published this week by Population Action International, a Washington-based lobby group, women in poor countries are 250 times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than women in rich ones. (2)Of the 535,000 women who died in childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications in 2005, 99% were in developing countries, according to another report by a group of UN agencies, including WHO, also out this week. Africa accounted for more than half such deaths.As the UN report noted, countries with the highest levels of maternal mortality have made the least progress towards reducing it. A woman in Africa has a one in 16 chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth, compared with one in 3,800 for a woman in the rich world.

　　1. The word “botched” (Line 5, Paragraph 1) most probably means_____

　　[A] awkward.

　　[B] wrong.

　　[C] backward.

　　[D] bungled

　　2.The fact that the abortion rate in Africa and Asia in 2003 is almost identical to that in Europe implies that_____.

　　[A] the abortion rate has nothing to do with a country’s national wealth.

　　[B] the abortion rate has nothing to do with a country’s restricting measures on abortion.

　　[C] the abortion rate cannot be lowered through the legal measures.

　　[D] the abortion rate cannot be lowered by the implement of tightened abortion laws.

　　3. The conclusion of the study can be proved by the following proofs offered in the passage except that _____

　　[A] the abortion rate in countries with strict aboriton laws is higher than that of the counties with liberal laws.

　　[B] there are much more abortions occuring in developing countries than in developed countries.

　　[C] there was a dramatic drop in former communist Easter Europe between 1995 and 2005.

　　[D] there was a big increase in contraceptive use in the region which still has the world’s highest abortion rate between 1995 and 2005.

　　4. Women in poor countries are much more likely dying in childbirth or pregnancy than women in rich countires because of _____

　　[A] botched procedures of abortion in poor countries.

　　[B] inequalities of development between rich and poor countries.

　　[C] ignorance of and little emphasis on the maternal health in poor countries.

　　[D] strict abortion laws in poor countries.

　　5. The passage is mainly about_____

　　[A] a study on the aborition rate between developed and developing countries.

　　[B] a study on the aborition laws in different countries.

　　[C] a study on the general maternal health condition in different countries.

　　[D] a study on the influence of the aboriton laws on the abortion rate.

　　文章剖析

　　這篇文章介紹了嚴(yán)格限制墮胎的法律對墮胎率的實際影響。文章第一段提出一項全球調(diào)查表明限制墮胎對降低墮胎率影響很小;第二段給出一些數(shù)據(jù)說明嚴(yán)格的墮胎法律不能降低墮胎率，反而起到相反作用;第三段指出大部分墮胎發(fā)生在發(fā)展中國家;第四段用另外一組數(shù)據(jù)說明了墮胎法與墮胎率的關(guān)系;第五段是一個引申，引申到貧窮國家婦女健康問題。

　　詞匯注釋:

　　botch v. 做得拙劣 lest conj.以免, 免得

　　sweeping adj. 范圍廣大的, 總括的; 籠統(tǒng)的 contraceptive n. 避孕用具

　　難句突破：

　　(1) The study, carried out by the Guttmacher Institute in New York in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and published in a British medical journal, the Lancet, found that most abortions occur in developing countries—35m a year, compared with just 7m in rich countries.

　　[主體句式] The study found that…

　　[結(jié)構(gòu)分析]這是一個復(fù)合句，其主語的定語為兩個并列的分詞短語：carried out by… 和published in…，而賓語從句中破折號后面的成分可以看作是補(bǔ)語。

　　[句子譯文]這項研究由紐約的Guttmacher研究所和世界衛(wèi)生組織合作進(jìn)行，發(fā)表于英國醫(yī)療期刊Lancet上，該研究發(fā)現(xiàn)大多數(shù)墮胎都發(fā)生在發(fā)展中國家，一年大約有3500萬例，而在富裕國家中一年只有700萬例。

　　(2) Of the 535,000 women who died in childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications in 2005, 99% were in developing countries, according to another report by a group of UN agencies, including WHO, also out this week.

　　[主體句式] 99% were in developing country.

　　[結(jié)構(gòu)分析] 這是一個復(fù)合句，由of構(gòu)成的介詞短語是句子主語的定語，該介詞短語中有一個who引導(dǎo)的定語從句修飾名詞women;according to構(gòu)成的介詞短語是句子的狀語，在該狀語中also out this week是report的補(bǔ)語。

　　[句子譯文] 而根據(jù)本周聯(lián)合國機(jī)構(gòu)(包括世界衛(wèi)生組織)的一個組織的另外一個報道，2005年死于生產(chǎn)或懷孕相關(guān)并發(fā)癥的53萬5千名婦女中，99%是在發(fā)展中國家。

　　題目分析：

　　1. The word “botched” (Line 5, Paragraph 1) most probably means_____1.“botched”這個詞(第一段第六行)最有

　　可能指_____

　　[A] awkward.[A] 笨拙的。

　　[B] wrong.[B] 錯誤的。

　　[C] backward.[C] 落后的。

　　[D] inferior.[D] 低劣的。

　　[答案]D

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆

　　[分析]猜詞題。根據(jù)上下文，限制流產(chǎn)會逼迫婦女去進(jìn)行一些非法的、不安全的秘密墮胎，從而引發(fā)死亡，還有另外一些婦女因為某些程序需要進(jìn)行住院治療。那么可以推斷，這種程序因為是在非法的不安全的地方進(jìn)行的，比如一些小診所，那么應(yīng)該是一些拙劣的手術(shù)程序，選項D符合。

　　2.The fact that the abortion rate in Africa and Asia in 2003 is almost identical to that in Europe implies that_____2.2003年非洲和亞洲的墮胎率幾乎和歐洲的相同，這個事實說明_____

　　[A] the abortion rate has nothing to do with a country’s national wealth.[A] 墮胎率和一個國家的富裕程度無關(guān)。

　　[B] the abortion rate has nothing to do with a country’s restricting measures on abortion.[B]墮胎率和一個國家限制墮胎的措施無關(guān)。

　　[C] the abortion rate cannot be lowered through the legal measures.[C] 通過法律措施不能降低墮胎率。

　　[D] the abortion rate cannot be lowered by the implement of tightened abortion laws.[D] 實施嚴(yán)格的墮胎法律不能降低墮胎率。

　　[答案]C

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆☆

　　[分析]推理題。文章第二段指出，雖然亞洲和非洲在墮胎方面限制嚴(yán)格，歐洲墮胎合法，但墮胎率卻相同。下文又提到雖然拉美國家有最嚴(yán)厲的墮胎法，但墮胎率最高，而歐洲法律最寬松，墮胎率卻最低。再結(jié)合 第一段提到研究發(fā)現(xiàn)限制墮胎并不能降低墮胎數(shù)量，可以得出，題目中的這個事實也說明了嚴(yán)格的墮胎法并不能有效降低墮胎率。

　　3. The conclusion of the study can be proved by the following proofs offered in the passage except that _____3.下列選項除了_____都能證明研究得出的結(jié)論。

　　[A] the aboriton rate in countries with strict aboriton laws is higher than that of the counties with liberal laws.[A]有嚴(yán)格限制墮胎法律的國家的墮胎率比實施寬松墮胎法律國家的高

　　[B] there are much more abortions occuring in developing countries than in developed countries.[B] 發(fā)展中國家墮胎例數(shù)比發(fā)達(dá)國家多

　　[C] there was a dramatic drop in in former communist Easter Europe between 1995 and 2005.[C]1995到2005年期間，前共產(chǎn)主義東歐的墮胎率急劇降低。

　　[D] there was a big increase in contraceptive use in the region which still has the world’s highest abortion rate between 1995 and 2005.[D] 從1995年到2005年期間避孕措施大幅度增加的國家而今仍擁有世界最高的墮胎率

　　[答案]B

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆

　　[分析] 推理題。題干要求找出哪個論據(jù)不能證明本文中提到的研究得出的結(jié)論。首先由文章第一段得知該研究的結(jié)論是限制墮胎對降低終止懷孕數(shù)量影響頗微，而文章中心也是在論證限制墮胎并不能有效降低墮胎率。那么，選項A是文章第二段的論據(jù)，可以說明這一點。B在第四段中提到，但提到這一點主要是由于人口數(shù)量的原因，因此不能證明研究結(jié)論。C在第五段提到，世界整體放松對墮胎的法律限制引起了墮胎率的下降，特別是前社會主義東歐，這一點也可以說明。D也在第四段提及，雖然墮胎措施加大，但效果卻相反，也可以證明。因此，只有B是不能證明該結(jié)論的。

　　4. Women in poor countries are much more likely dying in childbirth or pregnancy than women in rich countires because of _____4. 相對富裕國家而言，貧窮國家的婦女死于生產(chǎn)或懷孕的可能性更大，這是因為_____

　　[A] botched procedures of abortion between rich and poor countries.[A] 貧窮國家低劣的墮胎手術(shù)程序。

　　[B] inequalities of development in poor countries.[B] 貧窮國家發(fā)展的不平衡。

　　[C] ignorance of and little emphasis on the maternal health in poor countries.[C] 貧窮國家對婦女健康問題知之甚少且重視不足。

　　[D] strict abortion laws in poor countries.[D] 貧窮國家實施嚴(yán)格的墮胎法律。

　　[答案]C

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆

　　[分析] 細(xì)節(jié)題。題干提到的問題在最后一段中提到，首先提到因低劣的墮胎而死的危險只是貧窮國家婦女健康的一方面問題而已，因此A選項錯誤。而該段進(jìn)一步指出，聯(lián)合國的一個報道發(fā)現(xiàn)孕產(chǎn)婦死亡率最高的國家為降低該死亡率進(jìn)行努力的進(jìn)展也最慢，因此主要原因就是這些國家不注重這方面問題的解決。因此，選項C為正確答案。B選項顯然與原文無關(guān)，而D選項與實際情況并不相符。

　　5. The passage is mainly about_____5.這篇文章主要是關(guān)于____

　　[A] a study on the aborition rate between developed and developing countries.[A] 對發(fā)達(dá)國家和發(fā)展中國家不同墮胎率的研究。

　　[B] a study on the aborition laws in different countries.[B] 對不同國家墮胎法律的研究。

　　[C] a study on the general maternal health condition in different countries.[C] 對不同國家婦女健康總體情況的研究。

　　[D] a study on the influence of the aboriton laws on the abortion rate.[D] 關(guān)于墮胎法對墮胎率影響的研究。

　　[答案]D

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆

　　[分析] 主旨題。這篇文章主要通過一個全球的研究說明實施嚴(yán)格的墮胎法對降低墮胎并沒有作用，反而有相反的效果。因此，文章主要是關(guān)于墮胎法對墮胎率影響的研究，D為正確答案。文章的各個段落中也涉及到了其他三個選項的內(nèi)容，但都不是文章的主題，而是圍繞著主題分別展開論述的。

　　參考譯文

　　天主教牧師或反對墮胎合法化的政治家們要求加緊墮胎方面的法律，他們這樣做是因為相信這樣就可以降低墮胎數(shù)量。然而迄今為止最大的全球墮胎調(diào)查卻讓大家對這個簡單的主張產(chǎn)生了懷疑。該研究表明，限制墮胎對降低終止懷孕數(shù)量影響頗微，這樣反而使得婦女尋求一些非法、不安全的秘密墮胎，而每年因此死亡的婦女達(dá)67000人，還有另外500萬婦女因為手術(shù)拙劣需要住院治療。

　　一般來說，墮胎在非洲和亞洲或是非法的，或是受到限制，2003年(可提供數(shù)據(jù)的最近年份)其墮胎率為每1000名15至44歲的婦女中有29名。這個數(shù)字和歐洲墮胎率幾乎相同(歐洲為28名)，而在歐洲墮胎廣為可行。而擁有世界上最嚴(yán)格的墮胎法的拉丁美洲有最高的墮胎率(31名)，在世界上擁有最寬松的墮胎法律的西歐墮胎率最低(12名)。

　　這項研究由紐約的Guttmacher研究所和世界衛(wèi)生組織合作進(jìn)行，發(fā)表于英國醫(yī)療期刊Lancet上，該研究發(fā)現(xiàn)大多數(shù)墮胎都發(fā)生在發(fā)展中國家，一年大約有3500萬例，而在富裕國家中一年只有700萬例。不過這在很大程度上也反映了人口規(guī)模。一個婦女不論在哪里，墮胎的可能性大致相同，在富裕國家是千分之二十六，在貧窮或中等收入國家是千分之二十九。

　　為了避免人們認(rèn)為這些規(guī)模龐大的大陸性數(shù)字揭示了一些現(xiàn)象，但也同樣掩蓋了一些，那么只要看看那些改革法律的國家的情況，這一點也同樣可以證實。1995年至2005年期間，有17個國家放寬了墮胎法律，有3個國家加強(qiáng)了墮胎的限制，然而墮胎數(shù)量卻從1995年的近4600萬例下降為2003年的4200萬例，使得全世界墮胎率由千分之三十五下降到千分之二十九。而最大的降幅——從千分之九十降到千分之四十四——發(fā)生在前共產(chǎn)主義的東歐，在該國墮胎一般是合法的、安全的，而且是廉價的。而在同一時期，世界上墮胎率最高的地區(qū)(墮胎數(shù)比出生人數(shù)多)，其避孕措施使用則增幅較大。

　　在貧窮國家，因拙劣的墮胎技術(shù)而死亡的風(fēng)險只不過是婦女健康這個廣泛的問題的一部分而已。但在所有的發(fā)展不平衡中，這可以說是最糟糕的?；卦谌A盛頓的一個游說團(tuán)組織“國際人口行動”本周發(fā)表的一篇報道聲稱，貧困國家婦女在懷孕或生產(chǎn)中死亡率是發(fā)達(dá)國家婦女的250倍。而根據(jù)本周聯(lián)合國機(jī)構(gòu)(包括世界衛(wèi)生組織)的一個組織的另外一個報道，2005年死于生產(chǎn)或懷孕相關(guān)并發(fā)癥的53萬5千名婦女中，99%是在發(fā)展中國家。半數(shù)以上的死亡婦女在非洲。正如聯(lián)合國報道所指出的，孕產(chǎn)婦死亡率最高的國家為降低該死亡率進(jìn)行努力的進(jìn)展也最慢。一個非洲婦女因懷孕或生產(chǎn)的死亡幾率是16次中有一次，而在富裕國家這個數(shù)字為3800次中有一次。