Priscilla Ouchida’s “energy-efficient” house turned out to be a horrible dream. When she and her engineer husband married a few years ago, they built a $100,000, three-bedroom home in California. Tightly sealed to prevent air leaks, the house was equipped with small double-paned(雙層玻璃的)windows and several other energy-saving features. Problems began as soon as the couple moved in, however. Priscilla’s eyes burned. Her throat was constantly dry. She suffered from headaches and could hardly sleep. It was as though she had suddenly developed a strange illness.

　　Experts finally traced the cause of her illness. The level of formaldehyde(甲醛)gas in her kitchen was twice the maximum allowed by federal standards for chemical workers. The source of the gas is her new kitchen cabinets and wall-to-wall carpeting.

　　The Ouchidas are victims of indoor air pollution, which is not given sufficient attention partly because of the nation’s drive to save energy. The problem itself isn’t new. “The indoor environment was dirty long before energy conservation came along,” says Moschandreas, a pollution scientist at Geomet Technologies in Maryland. “Energy conservation has tended to accentuate the situation in some cases.”

　　The problem appears to be more troublesome in newly constructed homes rather than old ones. Back in the days when energy was cheap, home builders didn’t worry much about unsealed cracks. Because of such leaks, the air in an average home was replaced by fresh outdoor air about once an hour. As a result, the pollutants generated in most households seldom build up to dangerous levels.

　　1. It can be learned from the passage that the Ouchidas’ house _______.

　　A) is well worth the money spent on its construction

　　B) is almost faultless from the point of energy conservation

　　C) failed to meet energy conservation standards

　　D) was designed and constructed in a scientific way

　　2. What made the Ouchidas’ new house a horrible dream?

　　A) Lack of fresh air. B) Poor quality of building materials.

　　C) Gas leakage in the kitchen. D) The newly painted walls

　　3. The word “accentuate” (Line 4, Para.3) most probably means “_______”.

　　A) relieve B) accelerate C) worsen D) improve

　　4. Why were cracks in old houses not a big concern?

　　A) Because indoor cleanliness was not emphasized.

　　B) Because energy used to be inexpensive.

　　C) Because environmental protection was given top priority.

　　D) Because they were technically unavoidable.

　　5. This passage is most probably taken from an article entitled “_______”.

　　A) Energy Conservation B) Houses Building Crisis

　　C) Air Pollution Indoors D) Traps in Building Construction

　　參考答案及解析

　　答案：BACBC

　　解析：本篇文章是2001年的四級(jí)閱讀的文章，主要是講室內(nèi)空氣污染的問(wèn)題。第一段通過(guò)一對(duì)夫妻的新房子引出問(wèn)題。第二段分析空氣污染的來(lái)源。第三段講能源節(jié)約和室內(nèi)空氣污染的內(nèi)部聯(lián)系，第四段從能源價(jià)格上深層次的分析了室內(nèi)空氣污染的原因。

　　提示：本篇文章從詞匯的角度以及語(yǔ)法的角度以及篇章的分析上都是一篇很簡(jiǎn)單的文章，選這道題的目的是希望大家能夠從現(xiàn)在開(kāi)始養(yǎng)成一種總結(jié)段落大義的習(xí)慣，對(duì)自己以后閱讀理解能力以及速度的提高有很大的幫助。

　　文章翻譯

　　Priscilla Ouchida’s的節(jié)能房事實(shí)證明是一個(gè)夢(mèng)魘。當(dāng)她和她的工程師老公一年前結(jié)婚的時(shí)候，他們?cè)诩永�福尼亞蓋了一個(gè)三居小房，為了防止透氣，他們給房子裝了雙層玻璃，以及其他的節(jié)能設(shè)施。然而，問(wèn)題也就是從他們搬進(jìn)新家的時(shí)候開(kāi)始的。Priscilla的眼睛熏的睜不開(kāi)，喉嚨發(fā)干。經(jīng)常頭疼想睡覺(jué)。直到后來(lái)生了一種很奇怪的病。

　　專家查詢她的病因的時(shí)候，發(fā)現(xiàn)他廚房的甲醛水平已經(jīng)超過(guò)了政府為化工行業(yè)的工人定的最大標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的2倍。。這些氣體的來(lái)源就是她的櫥柜和他滿地板的地毯。

　　Ouchida夫婦是室內(nèi)空氣污染的受害者。由于國(guó)家提倡節(jié)約能源，所以室內(nèi)空氣污染的問(wèn)題并沒(méi)有收到重視。而問(wèn)題并不是剛剛發(fā)現(xiàn)。“室內(nèi)空氣污染的問(wèn)題在提倡能源保護(hù)之前就已經(jīng)出現(xiàn)了”。Moschandrea說(shuō)，“能源解約某種層度上加重了這個(gè)情況”

　　新建的房子要比舊房子看起來(lái)情況更麻煩。在能源還是很便宜的時(shí)候，房屋的建造者并不是很擔(dān)心不密封的縫隙。而正是因?yàn)檫@些裂縫，在平均每個(gè)房間里面的空氣一個(gè)小時(shí)就可以被外面的新鮮空氣替換。因此，房間里產(chǎn)生的污染物很少到影響健康的程度。

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