单选题 An "{{U}}epidemic{{/U}}of poverty" in Britain is having a dramatic impact on the survival rates and health chances of children from poor families, an influential coalition will warn this week in a major report that casts doubt on government efforts to close the inequality gap.
End Child Poverty, a network of children's charities, church groups, unions and think-tanks, claims that the gap between rich and poor represents a "huge injustice" in British society and has become one of the major factors affecting child mortality rates.
Its report, based on a wide-ranging analysis of government data, finds that children from poor families are at 10 times the risk of sudden infant death as children from better-off homes. And it reveals how babies from disadvantaged families are more likely to be born underweight less than children from the richest families. Poorer children are two-and-a-half times more likely to suffer chronic illness when toddlers and twice as likely to have cerebral palsy, according to the report, "Health Consequences of Poverty for Children". "Poverty is now one of the greatest dangers faced by our children, " said Nick Spencer, one of the report's authors and professor of child health at the University of Warwick. "If poverty were an infection, we would be in the midst of a full-scale epidemic."
The report is likely to revive the debate on child poverty and focus attention on Labor's record when it comes to tackling social inequalities. In March 1999, the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, promised to eradicate child poverty "within a generation". This was later defined as a commitment to end child poverty by 2020, with a target of halving the number of children living in poverty by 2010/11. But while the current row over social inequality has tended to focus on education and benefits, the implications for health have been largely ignored. Now, however, the End Child Poverty report highlights how socio-economic factors affect the entire life of children born into poverty, from fontal development and early infancy through to teenage years and adulthood.
The government claims it is closing the gap between rich and poor, but accepts that more needs to be done. The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, said in June: "Although we have already lifted hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty with new tax credits, more people in work and better public services, the latest figures show we have not made enough progress."
单选题 The word "epidemic" (Line 1, Para.1) most probably means ______.
  • A. serious illness
  • B. dangerous illness
  • C. widespread illness
  • D. inanimate illness
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 词义推测 “epidemic出现在文章第一段第一句话中：An 'epidemic of poverty' in Britain is having a dramatic impact on the survival rates and health chances of children from poor families...(一场贫穷流行病正在对贫困家庭的孩子的存活率和健康状况产生巨大的影响。)从第三段最后一句话“If poverty were an infection，we would be in the midst of a full-scale epidemic.”可以得知，epidemic是流行病的意思，C选项与文章表达相符合。 本题针对文章第一段内容命题，属于词义推测考查类题目。此类题目的正确答案一般要根据上下文内容进行推测。 其他选项与文意不符，故排除。
单选题 According to paragraph 2 and 3, we will find child poverty can not produce ______.
  • A. high death rate of infancy
  • B. cerebral paralysis
  • C. chronic disease
  • D. overweight
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节 根据问题定位于二、三段，选项D与文中所说的underweight是反义词，同时问题中问的是“not produce”，所以它是正确选项。A、B、C三个选项，用词可能与原文不完全一致，但表达的意思在文中都有提到，均不符合题意。 本题针对文章第二、三段内容命题，属于事实细节考查类题目。此类是题目一般根据题干定位到原文作答。 A、B、C三个选项虽然表达的意思在文中都有提到，均不符合题意。
单选题 Which of the following is true according to the passage?
  • A. Children from poor families usually have more risks of disease than children from rich families.
  • B. The number of children living in poverty can be halved by 2010/11.
  • C. Education and benefits are ignored when handling social inequality.
  • D. Socio-economic factors can influence the entire life of children.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 推理判断 选项A在文章的第三段前半部分有论证，例如突发婴儿死亡率、体重不足、慢性病、脑瘫等。因此A为正确答案。 本题针对文章第三段内容命题，属于事实细节考查类题目。此类题目的正确答案一般需要在原文相关内容中寻找。 选项B文章只是将它设为发展目标，还没有真正实现，选项用“can”太过肯定。选项C的语意正好和文章相反。选项D文章只是提到社会经济因素是如何在最初本源时影响贫困孩子从少年到成年的，没有指所有儿童，范围被扩大了。
单选题 What Gordon Brown said in the last paragraph means ______.
  • A. we have pulled hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty currently
  • B. new tax credits with more people in work are helpful to solve the problem of child poverty
  • C. the problem of child poverty has not been solved thoroughly
  • D. we have not made enough progress by this time
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 推理判断 根据题干定位到最后一段最后一句The Prime Minister，Gordon Brown，said in June: "Although we have already lifted hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty with new tax credits, more people in work and better public services, the latest figures show we have not made enough progress."布朗提到英国已使成千上万的儿童脱离贫困，但是这些进步还远远不够。这说明英国对这一问题还没有解决好，还需要采取更大的努力来解决这一问题，选项C符合题意。 本题针对文章最后一段内容命题，属于推理判断考查类题目。此类题目要根据原文相关内容进行推理。 选项A、B、D都只是布朗原话的陈述，没有进一步推敲，不符合题意。
单选题 Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
  • A. In Britain child poverty is quite profound.
  • B. Poverty is UK's hidden child killer.
  • C. Child poverty is the source of all kinds of issues.
  • D. Government should take measures to tackle the problem of child poverty.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 主旨大意 文章重点说明贫困家庭出身的儿童比富裕家庭的孩子得病的概率大很多，为了解决这一难题，大众和政府都应有所行动。选项B概括了文章的中心，为正确答案。 本题针对整篇文章内容命题，属于主旨大意考查类题目。此类题目的正确答案一般要根据文章的整体总结归纳。 选项A profound是褒义词，用在此处与文章意图相悖。选项C太绝对，文章只是指出儿童贫困能产生很多问题。选项D虽然有理，但不是整个文章的中心。