Question

How far would you be willing to go to satisfy your need to know? Far enough to find out your possibility of dying from a terrible disease? These days that’s more than an academic question, as Tracy Smith reports in our Cover Story.
There are now more than a thousand genetic tests, for everything from baldness to breast cancer, and the list is growing. Question is, do you really want to know what might eventually kill you? For instance, Nobel Prize-winning scientist James Watson, one of the first people to map their entire genetic makeup, is said to have asked not to be told if he were at a higher risk for Alzheimer’（老年癡呆癥）.
“If I tell you that you have an increased risk of getting a terrible disease, that could weigh on your mind and make you anxious, through which you see the rest of your life as you wait for that disease to hit you. It could really mess you up.” Said Dr. Robert Green, a Harvard geneticist.
“Every ache and pain,” Smith suggested, “could be understood as the beginning of the end.” “That ’s right. If you ever worried you were at risk for Alzheimer’s disease, then every time you can’t find your car in the parking lot, you think the disease has started.”
Dr. Green has been thinking about this issue for years. He led a study of people who wanted to know if they were at a higher genetic risk for Alzheimer’s. It was thought that people who got bad news would, for lack of a better medical term, freak out. But Green and his team found that there was “no significant difference” between how people handled good news and possibly the worst news of their lives. In fact, most people think they can handle it. People who ask for the information usually can handle the information, good or bad, said Green.
【小題1】Which of the following is true about James Watson？

A．He doesn’t want to know his chance of getting a disease.

B．He is strongly in favor of the present genetic tests.

C．He believes genetic mapping can help cure any disease.

D．He is more likely to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease.

【小題2】The first paragraph is meant to__________.

A．ask some questions	B．satisfy readers’ curiosity
C．introduce the topic	D．describe an academic fact

【小題3】According to Paragraphs 3 and 4, if a person is at a higher genetic risk, it is__________.

A．necessary to remove his anxiety	B．impossible to hide his disease
C．better to inform him immediately	D．advisable not to let him know

【小題4】The underlined part “freak out” in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to“_________”.

A．leave off

B．break down

C．drop out

D．turn away

【小題5】The study led by Dr. Green indicates that people__________.

A．can accept some bad news	B．tend to find out the truth
C．prefer to hear good news	D．have the right to be informed

Answer 1

【小題1】A
【小題2】C
【小題3】D
【小題4】B
【小題5】A  

解析試題分析：文章討論了人們愿不愿意知道自己得了病。人們認為知道可能得什么病，會有思想負擔，但Dr. Green的研究表明人們是可以接受壞消息的。
【小題1】細節題：從第二段的句子：Nobel Prize-winning scientist James Watson, one of the first people to map their entire genetic makeup, is said to have asked not to be told if he were at a higher risk for Alzheimer’（老年癡呆癥）. 可知James Watson不想得知得病的機會選A
【小題2】寫作意圖題：從第一段可知作者提出了兩個問題，引出話題：人們愿不愿意知道自己得了病。選C
【小題3】細節題：從第三段的句子：“If I tell you that you have an increased risk of getting a terrible disease, that could weigh on your mind and make you anxious, through which you see the rest of your life as you wait for that disease to hit you. It could really mess you up.”可知如果人們知道可能得什么病，會有思想負擔，所以最好不要告訴他們。選D
【小題4】猜詞題：從前面的句子：It was thought that people who got bad news would, for lack of a better medical term, 可知得到壞消息的人，會崩潰。選B
【小題5】推理題：從最后一段的句子：In fact, most people think they can handle it. People who ask for the information usually can handle the information, good or bad, said Green.可知 Dr. Green的研究表明人們是可以接受壞消息的。選A  
考點：考查社會現象類短文
點評：文章討論了人們愿不愿意知道自己得了病。文章分析了具體的原因。測試考生在閱讀基礎上的邏輯推理能力，要求考生根據文章所述事件的邏輯關系，對未說明的趨勢或結局作出合理的推斷；或根據作者所闡述的觀點理論，對文章未涉及的現象、事例給以解釋。考生首先要仔細閱讀短文，完整了解信息，準確把握作者觀點。