朗阁

　　P1 轮船搜救事件

　　P2 Stress of Workplace

　　P3 Biology of Bitterness

　　朗阁*徐航点评

　　1. 本场考试的难度中等偏上，虽然填空题在P1P2P3都考到了，并且占比达到 10题以上，但是P1的难度高于*篇的平均水平，同时P2和P3都考到单选，对其他题型的速度有较大挑战。第二篇和第三篇都是老题，考生要注意机经的补充。

　　2. 整体分析：涉及社会类(P1)、工作类(P2)、科学类(P3)。

　　本次考试*篇回归到经典的填空+判断的组合，但话题难度高。第二篇和第三篇不出意外地出现人名观点配对和段落细节配对，以及摘要题。不同于以往考试的是，单选题连续在P2P3两篇都出现了，对于第二篇的话题难度来说应该难度不大，但第三篇生物研究类话题想要拿到较高正确率需要考生夯实词汇以及单选的检查技巧。

　　3. 部分答案及参考文章：

　　Passage 1：轮船搜寻事件

　　题型：判断+填空

　　待回忆

　　Passage 2：Stress of Workplace

　　题型：人名观点配对+单选+摘要填空

　　A How busy is too busy? For some it means having to miss the occasional long lunch; for others it means missing lunch altogether. For a few, it is not being able to take a “sickie” once a month. Then there is a group of people for whom working every evening and weekend is normal, and frantic is the tempo of their lives. For most senior executives, workloads swing between extremely busy and frenzied. The vice-president of the management consultancy AT Kearney and its head of telecommunications for the Asia-Pacific region, Neil Plumridge, says his work weeks vary from a “manageable” 45 hours to 80 hours, but average 60 hours.

　　B Three warning signs alert Plumridge about his workload: sleep, scheduling and family. He knows he has too much on when he gets less than six hours of sleep for three consecutive nights; when he is constantly having to reschedule appointments; “and the third one is on the family side”, says Plumridge, the father of a three-year-old daughter, and expecting a second child in October. “If I happen to miss a birthday or anniversary, I know things are out of control.” Being “too busy” is highly subjective. But for any individual, the perception of being too busy over a prolonged period can start showing up as stress: disturbed sleep, and declining mental and physical health. National workers’ compensation figures show stress causes the most lost time of any workplace injury. Employees suffering stress are off work an average of 16.6 weeks. The effects of stress are also expensive. Comcare, the Federal Government insurer, reports that in 2003-04, claims for psychological injury accounted for 7% of claims but almost 27% of claim costs. Experts say the key to dealing with stress is not to focus on relief – a game of golf or a massage – but to reassess workloads. Neil Plumridge says he makes it a priority to work out what has to change;that might mean allocating extra resources to a job, allowing more time or changing expectations. The decision may take several days. He also relies on the advice of colleagues, saying his peers coach each other with business problems. “Just a fresh pair of eyes over an issue can help,” he says.

　　C Executive stress is not confined to big organisations. Vanessa Stoykov has been running her own advertising and public relations business for seven years, specialising in work for financial and professional services firms. Evolution Media has grown so fast that it debuted on the BRW Fast 100 list of fastest-growing small enterprises last year – just after Stoykov had her first child. Stoykov thrives on the mental stimulation of running her own business. “Like everyone, I have the occasional day when I think my head’s going to blow off,” she says. Because of the growth phase the business is in, Stoykov has to concentrate on short-term stress relief – weekends in the mountains, the occasional “mental health” day – rather than delegating more work. She says: “We’re hiring more people, but you need to train them, teach them about the culture and the clients, so it’s actually more work rather than less.”

　　D Identify the causes: Jan Elsnera, Melbourne psychologist who specialises in executive coaching, says thriving on a demanding workload is typical of senior executives and other high-potential business people. She says there is no one-size-fits-all approach to stress: some people work best with high-adrenalin periods followed by quieter patches, while others thrive under sustained pressure. “We could take urine and blood hormonal measures and pass a judgment of whether someone’s physiologically stressed or not,” she says. “But that’s not going to give us an indicator of what their experience of stress is, and what the emotional and cognitive impacts of stress are going to be.”

　　E Eisner’s practice is informed by a movement known as positive psychology, a school of thought that argues “positive” experiences – feeling engaged, challenged, and that one is making a contribution to something meaningful – do not balance out negative ones such as stress; instead, they help people increase their resilience over time. Good stress, or positive experiences of being challenged and rewarded, is thus cumulative in the same way as bad stress. Elsner says many of the senior business people she coaches are relying more on regulating bad stress through methods such as meditation and yoga. She points to research showing that meditation can alter the biochemistry of the brain and actually help people “retrain” the way their brains and bodies react to stress. “Meditation and yoga enable you to shift the way that your brain reacts, so if you get proficient at it you’re in control.”

　　F The Australian vice-president of AT Kearney, Neil Plumridge, says: “Often stress is caused by our setting unrealistic expectations of ourselves. I’ll promise a client I’ll do something tomorrow, and then promise another client the same thing, when I really know it’s not going to happen. I’ve put stress on myself when I could have said to the clients: ‘Why don’t I give that to you in 48 hours?’ The client doesn’t care.” Over-committing is something people experience as an individual problem. We explain it as the result of procrastination or Parkinson’s law: that work expands to fill the time available. New research indicates that people may be hard-wired to do it.

　　G A study in the February issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology shows that people always believe they will be less busy in the future than now. This is a misapprehension, according to the authors of the report, Professor Gal Zauberman, of the University of North Carolina, and Professor John Lynch, of Duke University. “On average, an individual will be just as busy two weeks or a month from now as he or she is today. But that is not how it appears to be in everyday life,” they wrote. “People often make commitments long in advance that they would never make if the same commitments required immediate action. That is, they discount future time investments relatively steeply.” Why do we perceive a greater “surplus” of time in the future than in the present? The researchers suggest that people underestimate completion times for tasks stretching into the future, and that they are bad at imagining future competition for their time.

　　Question 1-5

　　Use the information in the passage to match the people (listed A-D) with opinions or deeds below.

　　Write the appropriate letters A-D in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.

　　NB You may use any letter more than once.

　　A Jan Elsnera

　　B Vanessa Stoykov

　　C Gal Zauberman

　　D Neil Plumridge

　　1 Work stress usually happens in the high level of a business.

　　Answer: A

　　2 More people’s ideas involved would be beneficial for stress relief.

　　Answer: D

　　3 Temporary holiday sometimes doesn’t mean less work.

　　Answer: B

　　4 Stress leads to a wrong direction when trying to satisfy customers.

　　Answer: D

　　5 It is not correct that stress in the future will be eased more than now.

　　Answer: C

　　Question 6-8

　　Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

　　Write your answers in boxes 19-21 on your answer sheet.

　　6 Which of the following workplace stress is NOT mentioned according to Plumridge in the following options

　　A Not enough time spend on family

　　B Unable to concentrate on work

　　C Inadequate time of sleep

　　D Alteration of appointment

　　Answer: B

　　7 Which of the following solution is NOT mentioned in helping reduce the work pressure according to Plumridge

　　A Allocate more personnel

　　B Increase more time

　　C Lower expectation

　　D Do sports and massage

　　Answer: D

　　8 What is point of view of Jan Elsnera towards work stress

　　A Medical test can only reveal part of the data needed to cope with stress

　　B Index somebody samples will be abnormal in a stressful experience

　　C Emotional and cognitive affection is superior to physical one

　　D One well designed solution can release all stress

　　Answer: A

　　Question 9-14

　　Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer.

　　Write your answers in boxes 9-14 on your answer sheet.

　　Statistics from National worker’s compensation indicate stress plays the most important role in 9

　　Answer: workplace injury which cause the time losses. Staffs take about 10

　　Answer: 16.6 weeks for absence from work caused by stress. Not just time is our main concern but great expenses generated consequently. An official insurer wrote sometime that about 11

　　Answer: 7% of all claims were mental issues whereas nearly 27% costs in all claims, Sports Such as 12

　　Answer: golf as well as 13

　　Answer: massage could be a treatment to release stress; However, specialists recommended another practical way out, analyse 14

　　Answer: workloads once again.

　　13-20 匹配

　　13 A

　　14 D

　　15 B

　　16 D

　　17 C

　　18-20 选择

　　18 B

　　19 D

　　20 A

　　21-25 填空

　　21 workplace injury

　　22 16.6 weeks

　　23 7%

　　24 golf

　　25 massage

　　26 workloads

　　Passage 3：Biology of Bitterness

　　题型：段落细节配对+摘要填空+单选

　　To many people, grapefruit is palatable only when doused in sugar. Bitterblockers like adenosine monophosphate (单磷酸腺苷) could change that.

　　A There is a reason why grapefruit juice is served in little glasses: most people don’t want to drink more than a few ounces at a time. Naringin, a natural chemical compound found in grapefruit, tastes bitter. Some people like that bitterness in small doses and believe it enhances the general flavor, but others would rather avoid it altogether. So juice packagers often select grapefruit with low naringin though the compound has antioxidant properties that some nutritionists contend may help prevent cancer and arteriosclerosis.

　　B It is possible, however, to get the goodness of grapefruit juice without the bitter taste. I found that out by participating in a test conducted at the Linguagen Corporation, a biotechnology company in Cranbury, New Jersey. Sets of two miniature white paper cups, labeled 304and 305, were placed before five people seated around a conference table. Each of us drank from one cup and then the other, cleansing our palates between tastes with water and a soda cracker. Even the smallest sip of 304 had grapefruit ‘s unmistakable bitter bite. But 305 was smoother; there was the sour taste of citrus but none of the bitterness of naringin. This juice had been treated with adenosine monophosphate, or AMP, a compound that blocks the bitterness in foods without making them less nutritious.

　　C Taste research is a booming business these days, with scientists delving into all five basics-sweet, bitter, sour, salty, and umami, the savory taste of protein. Bitterness is of special interest to industry because of its untapped potential in food. There are thousands of bitter -tasting compounds in nature. They defend plants by warning animals away and protect animals by letting them know when a plant may be poisonous. But the system isn’t foolproof. Grapefruit and cruciferous vegetable like Brussels sprouts and kale are nutritious despite-and sometimes because of-their bitter-tasting components. Over time, many people have learned to love them, at least in small doses. “Humans are the only species that enjoys bitter taste,” says Charles Zuker, a neuroscientist at the University of California School of Medicine at San Diego. “Every other species is averse to bitter because it means bad news. But we have learned to enjoy it. We drink coffee, which is bitter, and quinine [in tonic water] too. We enjoy having that spice in our lives.” Because bitterness can be pleasing in small quantities but repellent when intense, bitter blockers like AMP could make a whole range of foods, drinks, and medicines more palatable-and therefore more profitable.

　　D People have varying capacities for tasting bitterness, and the differences appear to be genetic. About 75 percent of people are sensitive to the taste of the bitter compounds phenylthiocarbamide and 6-n-propylthiouracil. and 25 percent are insensitive. Those who are sensitive to phenylthiocarbamide seem to be less likely than others to eat cruciferous vegetables, according to Stephen Wooding, a geneticist at the University of Utah. Some people, known as supertasters, are especially sensitive to 6-n-propylthiouraci because they have an unusually high number of taste buds. Supertasters tend to shun all kinds of bitter-tasting things, including vegetable, coffee, and dark chocolate. Perhaps as a result, they tend to be thin. They’re also less fond of alcoholic drinks, which are often slightly bitter. Dewar’s scotch, for instance, tastes somewhat sweet to most people. ” But a supertaster tastes no sweetness at all, only bitterness,” says Valerie Duffy, an associate professor of dietetics at the University of Connecticut at Storrs.

　　E In one recent study, Duffy found that supertasters consume alcoholic beverages, on average, only two to three times a week, compared with five or six times for the average nontasters. Each taste bud, which looks like an onion, consists of 50 to 100 elongated cells running from the top of the bud to the bottom. At the top is a little clump of receptors that capture the taste molecules, known as tastants, in food and drink. The receptors function much like those for sight and smell. Once a bitter signal has been received, it is relayed via proteins known as G proteins. The G protein involved in the perception of bitterness, sweetness, and umami was identified in the early 1990s by Linguagen’s founder, Robert Margolskee, at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. Known as gustducin, the protein triggers a cascade of chemical reactions that lead to changes in ion concentrations within the cell. Ultimately, this delivers a signal to the brain that registers as bitter. “The signaling system is like a bucket brigade,” Margolskee says. “It goes from the G protein to other proteins.”

　　F In 2000 Zuker and others found some 30 different kinds of genes that code for bitter-taste receptors. “We knew the number would have to be large because there is such a large universe of bitter tastants,” Zuker says. Yet no matter which tastant enters the mouth or which receptor it attaches to, bitter always tastes the same to us. The only variation derives from its intensity and the ways in which it can be flavored by the sense of smell. “Taste cells are like a light switch,” Zuker says. “They are either on or off.”

　　G Once they figured put the taste mechanism, scientists began to think of ways to interfere with it. They tried AMP, an organic compound found in breast milk and other substances, which is created as cells break down food. Amp has no bitterness of its own, but when put it in foods, Margolskee and his colleagues discovered, it attaches to bitter-taste receptors. As effective as it is, AMP may not be able to dampen every type pf bitter taste, because it probably doesn’t attach to all 30 bitter-taste receptors. So Linguagen has scaled up the hunt for other bitter blockers with a technology called high-throughput screening. Researchers start by coaxing cells in culture to activate bitter-taste receptors. Then candidate substances, culled from chemical compound libraries, are dropped onto the receptors, and scientists look for evidence of a reaction.

　　H Tin time, some taste researchers believe, compounds like AMP will help make processed foods less unhealthy. Consider, for example, that a single cup of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup contains 850 milligrams of sodium chloride, or table salt-more than a third of the recommended daily allowance. The salt masks the bitterness created by the high temperatures used in the canning process, which cause sugars and amino acids to react. Part of the salt could be replaced by another salt, potassium chloride, which tends to be scarce in some people’s diets. Potassium chloride has a bitter aftertaste, but that could be eliminated with a dose of AMP. Bitter blockers could also be used in place of cherry or grape flavoring to take the harshness out of children’s cough syrup, and they could dampen the bitterness of antihistamines, antibiotics, certain HIV drugs, and other medications.

　　I A number of foodmakers have already begun to experiment with AMP in their products, and other bitter blockers are being developed by rival firms such as Senomyx in La Jolla, California. In a few years, perhaps, after food companies have taken the bitterness from canned soup and TV dinners, they can set their sights on something more useful: a bitter blocker in a bottle that any of us can sprinkle on our brussels sprouts or stir into our grapefruit juice.

　　Questions 1-8

　　The reading Passage has seven paragraphs A-I.

　　Which paragraph contains the following information?

　　Write the correct letter A-I, in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet.

　　1 Experiment on bitterness conducted

　　2 Look into the future application

　　3 Bitterness means different information for human and animals

　　4 Spread process of bitterness inside of body

　　5 How AMP blocks bitterness

　　6 Some bitterness blocker may help lower unhealthy impact

　　7 Bitterness introduced from a fruit

　　8 Genetic feature determines sensitivity

　　Question 9-12

　　Summary

　　Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using no more than two words from the Reading Passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 9-12 on your answer sheet.

　　The reason why grapefruit tastes bitter is because a substance called 9 contained in it. However,bitterness plays a significant role for plants. It gives a signal that certain plant is 10 .For human beings,different person carries various genetic ability of tasting bitterness. According to a scientist at theUniversity of Utah, 11 have exceptional plentyof 12 ,which allows them to perceive bitter compounds.

　　Questions 13-14

　　Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

　　Write your answers in boxes 13-14 on your answer sheet.

　　13 What is the main feature of AMP according to this passage?

　　A offset bitter flavor in food

　　B only exist in 304 cup

　　C tastes like citrus

　　D chemicalreaction when meets biscuit

　　14 What is the main function of G protein?

　　A collecting taste molecule

　　B identifying different flavors elements

　　C resolving large molecules

　　D transmitting bitter signals to the brain

　　答案供参考

　　27-34 匹配

　　27 B

　　28 I

　　29 C

　　30 E

　　31 G

　　32 H

　　33 A

　　34 D

　　35-38 填空

　　35 Naringin

　　36 Poisonous

　　37 supertasters

　　38 taste buds

　　39-40 选择

　　39 A

　　40 D

　　考试预测

　　1. 本场考试是2021年春节后的*场考试，不少考生反映难度不低。阅读成为本场考试的失分科目。

　　2. 下场考试，预测*篇依然会出现句子填空以及判断，也许会有heading或者少量配对。第二篇和第三篇大概率还会出现细节类题目例如段落细节配对，人名观点配对，和多选题。第三篇稳定出现单选的概括较大。

　　3. 目前考试越来越偏向于大段阅读的题型，考生要加强大段阅读的速度和理解能力，做到边读边理解。

　　4. 下场考试的话题可能有关科技类，社会类和管理类。

　　5. 重点浏览2014到2018年机经。拓展机经文章的阅读量对考试很有帮助。