单选题 Rarely do major diseases have a single cause. They are usually the result of a complex interaction between many factors, including genetic, environmental and lifestyle components. Many media reports, however, can tead us to believe that if we gave up something that we might otherwise enjoy, we could completely escape that particular affliction.
Clearly, this is not the case. Vegetarians die of cancer of the colon (结肠). Teetotallers die of liver complaints, including cirrhosis (硬化). People who never go out in the sun contract skin melanomas (黑素瘤). Always, there are other factors at work than the single element being examined in a scientific study.
Quite often the alleged benefits of a particular nutritional element are the result not so much of the element itself but of the lifestyle and general diet of the people who consume it most. People who eat lots of "healthy" foods, including fiber, carrots, broccoli etc. , also tend to drink less alcohol, take more exercise, avoid too many fatty foods and smoke less. Only when a study can rule out all of these other factors and often we do not know what these factors might be can we say that there is a causal link between two things. That is not to say that things like fiber and broccoli have no beneficial effects at all. But those with sedentary lifestyles cannot expect these foods to make them healthy.
There is, however, one thing which increases the likelihood of dying relatively young, even when all of the other factors have been taken into account. It is one of the biggest killers even among those who lead lifestyles which, by any criteria, are clearly healthy ones. This single, incontrovertible risk factor is that of being poor. Recent report from the Cancer Research Campaign suggested that 12 700 deaths could have been avoided between 1986 and 1990 if inequalities in cancer care did not exist in England and Wales. Comparing cancer survival rates, the study found that England and Wales fared unfavorably with Europe and the US, but the most affluent regions of these two countries exhibited similar figures to the European average.
In an attempt to counter this disparity the government has announced plans for the provision of Health Action Zones which seek to encourage greater cooperation between health and social services, targeting both rural and inner city areas. The emphasis of this new scheme however appears to focus on inadequacies within health education in these areas, rather than attacking the broader issues of social inequality.

单选题 According to the first paragraph, what are we likely to read in many media reports?

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解题思路] 要注意本题的关键词in many media reports。原文第一段并没有明确说明媒体报道的内容是什么。首句明确指出。一些重大疾病很少是由一种原因造成的。第三句指出，但媒体的报道使我们相信，如果我们放弃享受某一样东西，我们就可以防止某些疾病的发生。由此推断媒体宣传的内容是“一些重大疾病是由一种原因造成的”，所以[A]为正确答案。作者并不同意某一种疾病只是由一种原因导致的，即不同意媒体报道的内容，但是作者并没有建议说我们就应该享受尽可能多的东两，所以[B]错误。[C]与第一段内容不相干，应排除。[D]在文中并没有提及。

单选题 The fact that a vegetarian can die of colon cancer indicates that ______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解题思路] 由原文第二段可知，某一种疾病是多种因素造成的，而不仅仅只是科学研究试图证明的某一种因素造成的。例如素食者也会患结肠癌，不喝酒的人也会患肝病，不晒太阳的人也会患黑素瘤。由此可以确定答案为[C]。[A]是毫无根据的推断，可排除。[B]本身没错，但例证的目的不在此。第二段最后一句指出，多种因素导致某一疾病，而没有提到未知病因的问题，故排除[D]。

单选题 According to the author, fiber and broccoli are the so-called "healthy" foods because ______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解题思路] 原文第三段第一句指出，某一营养食品的所谓好处，与其说是由这一营养食品本身造成的倒不如说是由生活方式和饮食造成的。后面的四句进一步证明第一句提出的论点的正确性，由此推断出[A]为正确答案。健康食品本身是有好处的，只是其作用的发挥与生活方式相关，故[B]说法错误。作者在第三段提到如果生活方式不好，那么健康的食物也不能使他们健康，但并不是说这些健康的饮食不能给那些惯于久坐的人带来营养物质，故[C]错误。吃健康食品和不良生活习惯之间并没有直接联系，所以[D]也错误。

单选题 Cancer survival rates found in the study were lower in Wales than in the US because ______.

单选题 According to the author, to reduce cancer deaths in England and Wales, the government should ______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解题思路] 作者在文中最后一句指出政府出台的新医疗方案只注重健康教育方面存在的不足，而不是着手解决广泛存在的社会不平等的问题。显然，这是作者对政府的不满之处，由此推测政府应该做的是解决社会不平等的问题，因此答案为[C]。文章最后一段第一句表明，政府鼓励健康和社会服务间更好的合作，不管是在农村还是市中心地区，但原文的意思既不是[A]也不是[B]，所以都排除。[D]文中没有提及。