2009年考研进入冲刺最后关键阶段：最后希望所有的考研勇士除了复习好之外，也把自己的身体保养好，尤其是天气冷了，要注意保暖工作，不要感冒了。而且以前习惯开夜车的同学也不要太晚睡觉，把生物钟尽量调整过来，并且现在下午多做点英语试题，养成一个在下午做英语试题很有感觉的好习惯，那英语考起来就会巨爽无比，如鱼得水啊！

　　现在下面有2篇阅读，1篇完形和2篇新题型，大家可以最后练练考感，冲刺一下！

　　提醒一下：大家做阅读应该养成做题的良好习惯，永远养成“看题目找答案，看主旨答案定细节答案的习惯！”——首先可以简单阅读一下首段，然后就可以边看题目边找答案了，在做细节题目的时候，始终把握细节要和主旨保持一致的习惯，几个细节题加起来也可以确定真正的主旨是什么了。这样做，又快又准！建议大家把最新的2008年考研的阅读题这样去做做！实践一下！

　　第一篇   阅读理解——从鸡蛋中培养流感疫苗

Modern technology has put men on the moon and deciphered the human genome. But when it comes to brewing up flu to make vaccines, science still turns to the incredible edible egg. Ever since the 1940s, vaccine makers have grown large batches of virus inside chicken eggs. But given that some 36,000 Americans die of flu each year, it’s remarkable that our first line of defense is still what Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson calls “the cumbersome and archaic egg-based production.” New cell-based technologies are in the pipeline, however, and may finally get the support they need now that the United States is faced with a critical shortage of flu vaccine. Although experts disagree on whether new ways of producing vaccine could have prevented a shortage like the one happening today, there is no doubt that the existing system has serious flaws.

Each year, vaccine manufacturers place advance orders for millions of specially grown chicken eggs. Meanwhile, public-health officials monitor circulating strains of flu, and each March they recommend three strains—two influenza A strains and one B strain—for manufacturers to include in vaccines. In the late spring and summer, automated machines inject virus into eggs and later suck out the influenza-rich goop. Virus from the eggs’ innards gets killed and processed to remove egg proteins and other contaminants before being packaged into vials for fall shipment.

Why has this egg method persisted for six decades? The main reason is that it’s reliable. But even though the eggs are reliable, they have serious drawbacks. One is the long lead time needed to order the eggs. That means it’s hard to make more vaccine in a hurry, in case of a shortage or unexpected outbreak. And eggs may simply be too cumbersome to keep up with the hundreds of millions of doses required to handle the demand for flu vaccine.

What’s more, some flu strains don’t grow well in eggs. Last year, scientists were unable to include the Fujian strain in the vaccine formulation. It was a relatively new strain, and manufacturers simply couldn’t find a quick way to adapt it so that it grew well in eggs. “We knew the strain was out there,” recalls Theodore Eickhoff of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, “but public-health officials were left without a vaccine—and, consequently, a more severe flu season.”

Worse, the viruses that pose the greatest threat might be hardest to grow in eggs. That’s because global pandemics like the one that killed over 50 million people between 1918 and 1920 are thought to occur when a bird influenza changes in a way that lets it cross the species barrier and infect humans. Since humans haven’t encountered the new virus before, they have little protective immunity. The deadly bird flu circulating in Asia in 1997 and 1998, for example, worried public-health officials because it spread to some people who handled birds and killed them—although the bug never circulated among humans. But when scientists tried to make vaccine the old-fashioned way, the bird flu quickly killed the eggs.

1. The moon-landing is mentioned in the first paragraph to illustrate_____.

［A］ technology cannot solve all of our human problems

［B］ progress in vaccine research for influenza has lagged behind

［C］ great achievements have been made by men in exploring the unknown

［D］ the development of vaccine production methods can not be stopped

2. What step is essential to the traditional production of flu vaccine?

［A］ Manufacturers implant the vaccine into ordered chicken eggs.

［B］ Scientists identify the exact strain soon after a flu pandemic starts.

［C］ Public health measures are taken as an important pandemic-fighting tool.

［D］ Viruses are deadened and made clean before being put into vaccine use.

3. The foremost reason why the egg-based method is defective lies in_____.

［A］ the complex process of vaccine production ［B］ its potential threat to human being

［C］ the low survival rate for new flu vaccines  ［D］ its contribution to the flu vaccine shortage

4. Which of the following is true according to the passage?

［A］ Flu vaccines now mainly use egg-based technology.

［B］ A bird influenza has once circulated among humans.

［C］ Safety can be greatly improved with cell-culture vaccines.

［D］ Modern vaccine production methods are to replace egg-based methods.

5. In the author’s view, the new vaccine production method seems to be_____.

［A］ remarkable ［B］ criticized ［C］ efficient ［D］ accepted

　　第二篇：阅读理解——从中学到大学的学生间隔年

Talk to any parent of a student who took an adventurous gap year (a year between school and university when some students earn money, travel, etc.) and a misty look will come into their eyes. There are some disasters and even the most motivated, organised gap student does require family back-up, financial, emotional and physical. The parental mistiness is not just about the brilliant experience that has matured their offspring; it is vicarious living. We all wish pre-university gap years had been the fashion in our day. We can see how much tougher our kids become; how much more prepared to benefit from university or to decide positively that they are going to do something other than a degree.

Gap years are fashionable, as is reflected in the huge growth in the number of charities and private companies offering them. Pictures of Prince William toiling in Chile have helped, but the trend has been gathering steam for a decade. The range of gap packages starts with backpacking, includes working with charities, building hospitals and schools and, very commonly, working as a language assistant, teaching English. With this trend, however, comes a danger. Once parents feel that a well-structured year is essential to their would-be undergraduate’s progress to a better university, a good degree, an impressive CV and well paid employment, as the gap companies’ blurbs suggest it might be, then parents will start organizing—and paying for—the gaps.

Where there are disasters, according to Richard Oliver, director of the gap companies’ umbrella organization, the Year Out Group, it is usually because of poor planning. That can be the fault of the company or of the student, he says, but the best insurance is thoughtful preparation. “When people get it wrong, it is usually medical or, especially among girls, it is that they have not been away from home before or because expectation does not match reality.”

The point of a gap year is that it should be the time when the school leaver gets to do the thing that he or she fancies. Kids don’t mature if mum and dad decide how they are going to mature. If the 18-year-old’s way of maturing is to slob out on Hampstead Heath soaking up sunshine or spending a year working with fishermen in Cornwall, then that’s what will be productive for that person. The consensus, however, is that some structure is an advantage and that the prime mover needs to be the student.

The 18-year-old who was dispatched by his parents at two weeks’ notice to Canada to learn to be a snowboarding instructor at a cost of ￡5,800, probably came back with little more than a hangover. The 18-year-old on the same package who worked for his fare and spent the rest of his year instructing in resorts from New Zealand to Switzerland, and came back to apply for university, is the positive counterbalance.

1. It can be inferred from the first paragraph that parents of gap students may_____.

［A］ help children to be prepared for disasters

［B］ receive all kinds of support from their children

［C］ have rich experience in bringing up their offspring

［D］ experience watching children grow up

2. According to the text, which of the following is true?

［A］ the popularity of gap years results from an increasing number of charities.

［B］ Prince William was working hard during his gap year.

［C］ gap years are not as fashionable as they were ten years ago.

［D］ a well-structured gap year is a guarantee of university success.

3. The word “packages” (Line 3, Paragraph 2) means_____.

［A］ parcels carried in travelling        ［B］ a comprehensive set of activities

［C］ something presented in a particular way    ［D］ charity actions

4. What can cause the disasters of gap years?

［A］ Intervention of parents.              ［B］ Careful planning.

［C］ Good health.                          ［D］ Realistic expectation.

5. An 18-year-old is believed to take a meaningful gap year when he/she_____.

［A］ lives up to his/her parents’ expectations

［B］ spends time being lazy and doing nothing

［C］ learns skills by spending parents’ money

［D］ earns his or her living and gains working experience