2020年军队职称英语考试综合类A级阅读材料汇总

　　为什么有这么多的孩子

　　非洲和亚洲的很多发展中国家，人P增长迅速。原因很简单：这些国家的女人生育率很 高――每个女人平均有三个到七个孩子。这些女人大部分都很穷，没有足够的食物和资源来照顾 家庭。为什么她们要有这么多孩子呢?为什么她们不限制家庭的大小呢?答案是大多数时候她们 没办法选择。这有很多原因。

　　其中之一是经济原因。传统的农业经济中，家庭成员数目多是十分有利的。孩子多意味着田 里的劳动力多且有人给父母养老。在工业经济国家中情况就不同了。多数孩子不帮助家里，而是 增加家庭开销。因此，工业化极大降低了生育率。这是意大利的一个例子，意大利最近几年工业 化发展十分迅速。在20世纪前叶，意大利是个贫穷的农业国家，有着很高的生育率。第二次世界 大战之后，意大利的现代化和工业化十分迅速。世纪之末其生育率降到世界最低，平均每个女人1. 3个孩子。

　　然而经°济并不是唯一重要的影响出生率的因素。以沙特阿拉伯为例，那里并没有以农业为基 础的经济，而且是人均收入最高的国家之一。然而还是有很高的生育率(7.0)。而像墨西哥和印 度尼西亚，主要是农业经济的穷国，但他们的人口还在不断地下降。

　　很明显有其他的因素。最重要的就是妇女的状况。高的生育率往往与妇女缺乏教育与社会地 位低下相关。这就能解释沙特阿拉伯的出生率为什么如此之篼。传统的文化使妇女缺乏教育或者 不能独立，并且在外生存的技能很少。相反，墨西哥、泰国、印度尼西亚的生育率就低。他们的

　　政府给妇女提供更多的教育和机会。

　　另一个重要的因素是计划生育。女人们也许想限制家庭的大小，但是她们没有办法。一些倡 导计划生育的政府为她们提供有效而且不贵的方式，生育率下降。比如新加坡、斯里兰卡、印度 和印度尼西亚、泰国、墨西哥、巴西。在这些国家妇女被提供健康和计划生育的帮助。

　　这些趋势表明有效的控制人口的方案并不依赖于良好的经济状况。如果是致力于帮助妇女适 应她们的需求那么就是有效的。事实上只有这样，才能有机会取得成功。

　　Why So Many Children?

　　In many of the developing countries in Africa and Asia , the population is growing fast . The reason for this is simple : Women in these countries have a high birth rate ― from 3.0 to 7.0 children per woman . The majority of these women are poor , without the food or resources to care for their families ? The answer may be that they often have no choice . There are several reasons for this .

　　One reason is economic . In a traditional agricultural economy , large families are helpful .

　　Having more children means having more workers in the fields and someone to take care of the parents in old age1. In an industrial economy, the situation is different. Many children , do not help a family; instead, they are an expense. Thus, industrialization has generally brought down the birth rate. This was the case in Italy, which was industrialized quite recently and rapidly. In the early part of the twentieth century, Italy was a poor, largely agricultural country with a high birth rate. After World WarⅡ, Italy's economy was rapidly modernized and industrialized. By the end of the century, the birth rate had dropped to 1. 3 children per woman, the world's lowest.

　　However, the economy is not the only important factor that influences birth rate. Saudi Arabia, for example, does not have an agriculture-based economy, and it has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. Nevertheless, it also has a very high birth rate(7.0). Mexico and Indonesia, on the other hand, are poor countries, with largely agricultural economies, but they have recently reduced their population growth.

　　Clearly, other factors are involved. The most important of these is the condition of women. A high birth rate almost always goes together with lack of education and low status for women.2 This would explain the high birth rate of Saudi Arabia. There, the traditional culture gives women little education or independence and few possibilities outside the home. On the other hand, the improved condition of women in Mexico, Thailand, and Indonesia explains the decline in birth rates in these countries. Their governments have taken measures to provide more education and opportunities for women.

　　Another key factor in the birth rate is birth control. Women may want to limit their families but have no way to do so. In countries where governments have made birth control easily available and inexpensive, birth rates have gone down. This is the case in Singapore, Sri Lanka, and India, as well as in Indonesia, Thailand, Mexico, and Brazil. In these countries, women have also been provided with health care and help in planning their families.

　　为了活着吃饭

　　节食可能使你健康长寿，但并不好玩――节食可能不是非做不可的事。即使上了年纪再节食，我们仍然有可能在很大程度上保持青春活力。

　　StephenSpindler和他在Riverside的加利福尼亚大学的同事们已经发现，一只高龄老鼠只要连续四周限制它进食，它的某些肝脏基因就会变得和衰老前一样充满活力，老鼠的肝基因恢复活力不会逆转老鼠在其他方面的老化，但却有助于肝脏代谢药物或除去毒素。

　　Spindler的团队正常饲养三只老鼠直到它们死，而另外三只老鼠只喂正常饲料定量的一半。另外三只老鼠在34个月大的时候――相当于人的70岁，从正常饲养转到半量饲养一个月。

　　研究者检查了这些老鼠肝脏的11000个基因的活动，发现正常饲养的老鼠随着年龄的增长有46条肝脏基因发生变化。这种变化与炎症和身体组织无限激增相关――这大概对老鼠的健康来说是个坏消息。在那些终生节食的老鼠中，这46条肝脏基因中的27条继续像年轻的基因一样活动，但最惊人的发现是那些上了年纪才开始节食的老鼠也能从70%的基因变化中受益。

　　华盛顿附近的国家老年协会的HuberWarner说：“这是这些影响迅速起作用的第一个迹象。”

　　还没有知道热量限制是否在人身上和在老鼠身上一样起作用，但是Spindler怀有希望。他说：“有吸引人的证据表明它能起作用。”

　　如果它确实能在人身上起作用，那就有足够的理由使肝脏焕发青春秋战国。当我们变老时，我们的身体对药物的新陈代谢就不那么高效。Spindler说短期的节食足以使药物充分发挥药效。

　　但是Spindler不能肯定节食是否值得。他说：“老鼠们病少了，活的更长，但是它们感到饥饿。即便明白节食的作用，仍旧很难在饭馆里说我只吃一半。”

　　Spindler希望在不久的将来，我们不必节食，他的公司，加利福尼亚寿命遗传学，正在寻找有热量控制作用的药物。

　　Eat to Live

　　A meager diet may give you health and long life, but it’s not much fun―and it might not even be necessary. We may be able to hang on to most of that youthful vigor even if we don’t start to diet until old age.

　　Stephen Spindler and his colleagues from the University of California at Riverside have found that some of an elderly mouse’s liver genes can be made to behave as they did when the mouse was young simply by limiting its food for four weeks. The genetic rejuvenation won’t reverse other damage caused by time for the mouse, but could help its liver metabolize drugs or get rid of toxins.

　　Spindler’s team fed three mice a normal diet for their whole lives, and fed another three on half-rations. Three more mice were switched from the normal diet to half-feed for a month when they were 34 months old―equivalent to about 70 human years.

　　The researchers checked the activity of 11,000 genes from the mouse livers, and found that 46 changed with age in the normally fed mice. The changes were associated with things like inflammation and free radical production―probably bad news for mouse health. In the mice that had dieted all their lives, 27 of those 46 genes continued to behave like young genes. But the most surprising finding was that the mice that only started dieting in old age also benefited from 70 per cent of these gene changes.

　　“This is the first indication that thee effects kick in pretty quickly,” says Huber Warner from the National Institute on Aging near Washington, D. C.

　　No one yet knows if calorie works in people as it does in mice, bus Spindler is hopeful. “There’s attracting and tempting evidence out there that it will work,” he says.

　　If it does work in people, there might be good reasons for rejuvenating the liver. As we get older, out bodies are les efficient at metabolizing drugs, for example. A brief period of time of dieting, says Spindler, could be enough to make sure a drug is effective.

　　But Spindler isn’t sure the trade-off is worth it. “The mice get less disease, they live longer but they’re hungry,” he says. “Even seeing what a diet does, it’s still hard to go to a restaurant and say: ‘I can only eat half of that’.”

　　Spindler hopes we soon won’t need to diet at all. His company, Life Span Genetics in California, is looking for drugs that have the effects of calorie restriction.

　　美国疾病防治新政策

　　周二，健康及人道服务部秘书托米汤姆森发起了一项耗资1500万美元的计划，大力推进社区在预防诸如心脏病，癌症及糖尿病上发挥更大能量，以鼓励美国人承担起确保自己健康的责任。

　　这一行动强调了慢性病――造成美国国人死亡的主要原因所引起的损失，概括了国人预防疾病的途径，包括改善饮食和增加锻炼。

　　健康和人道服务部在报告中指出，“今天，在美国70%的死亡是由慢性病引起的，绝大多数医疗费用也花在慢性病的治疗上。”

　　原因往往是行为上的――吸烟、不良的饮食习惯以及缺乏锻炼。

　　“我确信通过增进健康来预防疾病是一项利在将来的精明之举。”汤姆森在发起该倡议的会议上说。

　　“我们当前的健康医疗体系不是为应付治疗那些基本上可以通过改变生活方式来预防的疾病的费用不断上升来设立的。”

　　汤姆森说道，全国心脏病和中风在2003年将要耗资3510亿美元。

　　“男性和女性死亡的主要原因都基本上可以预防，但作为一个国家，我们却尚未采取必要措施使人们生活的更为健康长寿，”他说道。

　　调拨1500万美元给社区来推动预防工作，促使变化，细微到修建人行道，鼓励人们多多步行。

　　每天锻炼，比如走步，能够预防以及治疗心脏病及糖尿病，且能预防癌症和中风。

　　这批拨款也将拨给社区组织、诊所及营养师，鼓励他们合作，教育有患糖尿病风险的人们如何去预防，鼓励人们多做早期癌症检查。

　　美国癌症学会估计，所有类型癌症的一半可用早期癌症检查测出，包括针对宫颈癌的巴氏实验、针对乳腺癌的乳房X线照片、结肠镜检查以及前列腺检查。

　　如果这些所有癌症都能够早期检查测出，该组织估计癌症存活率将上升到95%。

　　New US Plan for Disease prevention

　　Urging Amaricans to take responsibility for their health,Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy thompson Tuesday launched a $15million program to try to encourage communities to do more to prevent chronic diseaseslike heart diseases,cancer and diabetes.

　　The initiative highlights the cost of chronic diseases――the leading causes of death in the United States――and outlines ways that people can prevent them,including better diet and increased exercise.

　　“In the United States today,7of 10 deaths and the vast majority of serious illness,disability and health care costs are caused by chronic diseases,”the Health and Human Services Department said in a statement.

　　The causes are often behavioral_smoking,poor eating habits and a lack of exercise.

　　“I am convinced that previenting disease bu promoting better health is a smart policy choice for our future,”Thompson told a conference held to launch the initiative.

　　“Our current health care system is not structured to deal with the escalating costs of treating diseases that are largely preventable through changes in our lifestyle choices.”

　　Thompson said heart disease and strokes will cost the country more than $351billion in 2003.

　　“These leading causes of death for men and women are largely preventable,yet we as a nation are not taking the steps necessary for us to lead healthier ,longer lives,”he said.

　　The $15 million is stated to go to communities to promote prevention,pushing for changes as simple as building sidewalks to encourage people to walk more.

　　Dily exercise such as walking can prevent and even reverse heart disease and diabetes,and prevent cancer and strokes.

　　The money will also go to community organizations,clinics and nutritionists who are being encouraged to work together to educate people at risk of diabetes about what they can do to prevent it and encourage more cancer screening.

　　The Amirican Cancer Sociey estimates that half of all cancers can be caught by screening,including Pap tests for cervical cancer,mammogams for breast cancer,colonoscopies ,and prostate checks.

　　If such cancers were all caught by early screening,the group estimates that the survival rate for cancer would rise to 95 percent.

　　国际航空公司的经营

　　国际航空公司重新发现，商业游客经常定期乘坐国际航班，这甚至成为他们工作的一部分。这并不一定意味着国际航空曾经忽视了商业乘客。相反，汉莎航空公司和瑞士航空公司声称他们总是尽量满足商业人士阶层的乘客。但是许多航空公司被指责说过去太注重由运载量吸引乘客，造成老顾客的流失。公司经常为了数量而非质量进行调整。

　　主要航线的经营本质上是要为乘客找到合适的安排。航空公司可以让低价位机票乘客乘坐宽机身飞机的尾部，不能忘记前端需要让机票价位较高者乘坐。

　　两家主要的廉价航空公司的倒闭并不是巧合。但是低票价需要总是满机以使班机在经济方面可以生存，在最近的萧条期运载量并没有增长。容量过剩和残酷的竞争引起票价下降，迫使一些航空公司到闭，把许多别的公司推到倒闭的边缘。

　　在这种严峻的背景下，航空公司不断转向商业游客以提高利润就不足为奇了。他们付出了大量的时间和精力去满足他们多座位的要求，并将他们与普通游客相区分。

　　在优先取舍的列表上还有准时性，经理们的时间是宝贵的。客机服务是航班为了争取商业人士注意力的有一个领域。免费的饮品，耳机和可口的食物都是很有诱惑力的因素。

　　另外一个发展是强调座位的安排。老乘客对座位的倾斜度很精通---因为这会影响前后座之间的间隙。一等舱提供倾斜式，这样在长时间的旅程中，乘客能得到一个良好睡眠。实践证明，卧椅很受乘客们的喜爱，它将会在所有飞机的前端被普遍应用。

　　航空公司还试图改善地面服务。执行休息室增加了，这样乘客们等待航班的时间可以变得更好过一些。行李处理服务业改善了。不过遗憾的是，在加快繁琐的入境通关手续方面，航空公司能做的很有限。各大洲各阶层的乘客们只有继续厌烦沮丧的份了。

　　尽管航空公司的目的是从它们的竞争对手中吸引商业乘客，航空公司将尽力改变这类乘客的坏习惯――预定昂贵的机票却没有乘坐。这种现象在欧洲尤为广泛，商业人士经常在不同的航班预定返程机票。

　　The Operation of International Airlines

　　International airlines have rediscoved the business traveler, the man or women who regularly jets from country to country as part of the job. This does not necessarily mean that airlines ever abandoned their business travelers. Instead, companies like Lufthansa and Swissair would right argue that they have always catered best for the executive class passengers. But many airlines could be accused of concentrating too heavily in the recent past on attracting passengers by volume, often at the expense of the regular traveler. Too often, they have seemed geared for quantity rather than quality.

　　Operating a major airline is essentially a matter of finding the right mix of passengers. The airlines need to fill up the back end of their wide-bodied jets with low fare passengers, without forgetting that the front end should be filled with people who pay substantially more for their tickets.

　　It is no coincidence that the two major airline bankruptcies were among the companies specializing in cheap flights. But low fares require consistently full aircraft to make flights economically viable, and in the recent recession the volume of traffic has not grown. Equally the large number of airlines jostling for the available passengers has created a huge excess of been to push some airlines into collapse and leave many others hovering on the brink.

　　Against this grim background, it is no surprise that airlines are turning increasingly towards the business travelers to improve their rates of return. They have invested much time and effort to establish exactly what the executive demands for sitting apart from the tourists.

　　High on the list of priorities is punctuality; an executive’s time is money. In-flight service is another area where the airlines are jostling for the executive’s attention. The free drinks and headsets and better food are all part of the lure.

　　Another development has been the accent of seating arrangements. Regular travelers have become well versed in the debate about seat pitch- the amount of room between each passenger. And first-class passengers are now offered sleeperette seats, which, for long journeys, make it possible to snatch a proper night’s sleep. Sleeperettes have proved so popular that they will soon become universal in the front end of most aircraft.

　　桑 拿 浴

　　仪式性的沐浴已经有几千年的历史，并且有多种形式，其中的一种就是桑拿浴。芬兰人完善了蒸汽浴。它可以在一个封闭的房间里将水浇在滚烫的石头上，或是一种干的蒸汽浴这一形式。用热蒸汽干蒸的方式在古罗马很受欢迎，而哥伦布发现美洲大陆前的美洲人则使用充满蒸汽的小屋。

　　最早的桑拿浴很有可能是在地下山洞里。由于当时还没有掌握烟囱技术，山洞里总是充满着火焰引起的浓烟。人们在火槽里生火，加热山洞的四壁。当墙壁达到一定的温度时，将浓烟排出洞外，这使得墙壁还能保持几个小时的高温。今天，有一些人认为有烟的桑拿浴，“烟熏桑拿”，才是真正的桑拿体验，而所有的桑拿浴都应该至少有烟熏或烟味儿的背景。现在，尽管煤油炉和烧木头的火炉仍然可以使用，大多数的桑拿浴都是用电炉。

　　桑拿浴能使人放松并消除压力。肌肉疼痛或关节炎都可以利用桑拿浴的热气减轻疼痛和炎症。热气还可以拓展哮喘患者的肺部通道，使呼吸更加顺畅。桑那浴并不能治愈普通的感冒，但它可以减轻患者的胸闷感，加快康复的速度。在蒸桑拿时，人体温度通常会上升1~2度，就像发低烧一样的感觉。因此，蒸桑拿可以说是印证了一句老话：“伤风时宜吃，发热时宜热。”定期蒸桑拿可以预防感冒的发生。

　　蒸桑拿对皮肤也有好处。它可以促进皮肤的血液循环和出汗。在这个过程中，成年人一般每小时要蒸发2磅的水。出汗可以清除毛孔中的污垢，使皮肤变得光洁。失水只是暂时性的，人体机能能够很快补充合适的水量。在热气交换的过程中，心脏跳动得更快，这就使心血管系统也得到了锻炼，蒸桑拿浴时的心率能从原来的平均每分钟72下，增加到100~150下。

　　健康的心脏可以承受这种变化，而那些心脏病患者在蒸桑拿浴之前应该先征求医生的建议。同样的，老年人和糖尿病患者也应如此。孕妇则不能蒸桑拿浴，尤其是怀孕的头三个月。其实，每个人在刚开始尝试桑拿浴时都应该先是短时间的，直到适应了这种沐浴方式。

　　Sauna

　　Ceremonial bathing has existed for thousands of years and has many forms, one of which is the sauna. The Finns have perfected the steam bath, or sauna, which may be taken, usually in an enclosed room, by pouring water over hot rocks or as dry heat bath. The Japanese, Greeks, Turks and Russians as well as Native Americans have forms of the sweat bath in their bathing rituals. Dry heat and steam baths had advocates in ancient Rome and pre-Columbian Americans used sweat lodges.

　　The earliest saunas were probably underground caves heated by a fire that naturally filled with smoke as chimney making was unknown at that time. a fire kept in a fire-pit would heat the rock walls of the cave. After reaching full heat, the smoke was let out of the cave and the stones would retain heat for several hours. A few people today say that the smoke sauna, “svusauna”, is the only true sauna experience and that all saunas should have at least a background odor or smoke. Today most saunas use electric stoves, although gas and wood-burning stoves are available.

　　Saunas are relaxing and stress relieving. Those with muscle aches or arthritis may find that the heat relaxes muscles and relieves pain and inflammation. Asthma patients find that the heat enlarges air passageways of the lung and facilitates breathing. Saunas do not cure the common cold but they may help to alleviate congestion and speed recovery time. The body’s core temperature usually rises a 1-2 degrees while in the sauna, thus imitating a slight fever. The regular use of a sauna may decrease the likelihood of getting a cold in the first place.

　　Sauna is goof for your skin as the blood flow to the skin increases and sweating occurs. Adults sweat about 2 lbs of water per hour on average in a sauna. A good sweat removes dirt and grime from pores and gives the skin a healthy glow. The loss in water weight is temporary as the body’s physiological mechanisms will quickly restore proper volumes. The cardiovascular system gets work out as the heart must pump harder and faster to move blood to the surface for heat exchange. Heart rate may increase from 72 beats per minute on average to 100-150 beats per minute.

　　A normal heart can handle these stresses but those with heart trouble wishing to begin to use a sauna should seek a doctor’s advice. The elderly and those with diabetes should check with their doctor prior to beginning to take saunas. Pregnant women should not take saunas, particularly in the first three months. Indeed, everyone just starting out should take short sessions at first to become accustomed to this type of bath.