備考公共英語五級的考生應該都有這樣的經歷，看不完的英語文章。確實，充足的英語閱讀量是英語五級考試的法寶。下面，小編為大家送上3篇英語五級閱讀文章。
Police and Communities
Few institutions are more important to an urban community than its police, yet there are few subjects historians know so little about. Most of the early academic interests developed among political scientists and sociologists, who usually examined their own contemporary problems with only a nod toward the past. Even the public seemed concerned only during crime waves, periods of blatant corruption, or after a particularly grisly episode. Party regulars and reformers generally viewed the institution from a political perspective; newspapers and magazines - the nineteenth century's media - emphasized the vivid and spectacular.
Yet urban society has always vested a wide, indeed awesome, responsibility in its police. Not only were they to maintain order, prevent crime, and protect life and property, but historically they were also to fight fires, suppress vice, assist in health services, supervise elections, direct traffic, inspect buildings, and locate truants and runaways. In addition, it was assumed that the police were the special guardians of the citizens' liberties and the community's tranquillity. Of course, the performance never matched expectations. The record contains some success, but mostly failure; some effective leadership, but largely official incompetence and betrayal. The notion of a professional police force in America is a creation of the twentieth century; not until our own time have cities begun to take the steps necessary to produce modern departments.
警察與社群
對城市社群來說，很少有比它的警察更為重要的機構了，但少有課題像歷史學家們對此瞭解得那樣少。早期的學術興趣是在政治科學家和社會學家中發展起來的，他們一般只研究他們自己當代的問題而對過去的問題只是偶爾帶過。甚至公眾似乎也僅僅在犯罪浪潮、明目張膽的貪腐或特別的恐怖事件發生時才關心。政黨的忠誠支持者和改革家們通常是從政治的前途來看待警察這個機構;而報紙和雜誌-19 世紀的傳播媒介-則著重活潑生動和驚人的事件。可是城市社會總是把廣泛得可怕的責任交給警察。他們不僅維持秩序、防止犯罪、保護生命財產，而且在過去還要救火、鎮壓罪惡、協助醫療服務、監督選舉、指揮交通、檢查建築物、尋找逃學學生和搜捕逃犯。 除此以外，警察還被認為是公民自由和社會穩定的特別保護者。自然，警察的表現並不盡如人意。他們的記錄中有成功者，但多數是失敗的;有高效率的領導，但多半的人在職務上無能和不講信用。專業警察部隊的概念在美國還是20 世紀的產物;直到我們這個時代，一些城市才開始採取設立現代化部門的必要步驟。
英語五級閱讀文章二Food and Health
The food we eat seems to have profound effects on our health. Although science has made enormous steps in making food more fit to eat, it has, at the same time, made many foods unfit to eat. Some research has shown that perhaps eighty percent of all human illnesses are related to diet and forty percent of cancer is related to the diet as well, especially cancer of the colon. Different cultures are more prone to contract certain illnesses because of the food that is characteristic in these cultures. That food is related to illness is not a new discovery. In 1945, government researchers realized that nitrates and nitrites, commonly used to preserve color in meats, and other food additives, caused cancer. Yet, these carcinogenic additives remain in our food, and it becomes more difficult all the time to know which things in the packaging labels of processed food are helpful or harmful. The additives which we eat are not all so direct. Farmers often give penicillin to beef and poultry, and because of this, penicillin has been found in the milk of treated cows. Sometimes similar drugs are administered to animals not for medicinal purposes, but for financial reasons. The farmers are simply trying to fatten the animals in order to obtain a higher price on the market. Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has tried repeatedly to control these procedures, the practices continue.
食品與健康
我們所吃的食物似乎對我們的健康有深遠的影響。儘管科學上已取得許多進展，使食物更適合我們食用，但與此同時它也使許多食物不宜食用了。一些研究已經表明，人類大概有80%的疾病與飲食有關，40%的癌症，特別是結腸癌，也與飲食有關。不同的文化會使人們更易患某些疾病，這是由這些文化的人們喜好的食物所致。食物與疾病有關並不是新發現。1945 年，政府部門的科研工作者瞭解到，被廣泛用於肉類以保持肉類色澤的硝酸鹽、亞硝酸鹽和其他的新增劑可誘發癌症。可是這些致癌物質依然存在於我們的食物之中。與此同時，要想知道加工食品標籤上的哪些成分對健康有利，哪些成分對健康不利，變得更加困難了。我們吃到的這些新增物並非都是如此直接的。農民常給牛和家禽注射青黴素，因而在受過注射的牛所產牛奶裡發現青黴素。有時讓家禽服用這類藥物並非是為了治病，而是為了經濟上的緣故。農民們只是想使家畜長得更肥壯可以上市場上賣到好價錢。雖然食物和藥品管理局已一再設法控制這種情況的發生，但是這種行為仍在繼續。
英語五級閱讀文章三MARS
Mars According to the best evidence gathered by space probes and astronomers, Mars is an inhospitable planet, more similar to Earth's Moon than to Earth itself - a dry, stark, seemingly lifeless world. Mars' air pressure is equal to Earth's at an altitude of 100,000 feet. The air there is 95% carbon dioxide. Mars has no ozone layer to screen out the Sun's lethal radiation. Daytime temperatures may reach above freezing, but because the planet is blanketed by the mere wisp of an atmosphere, the heat radiates back into space. Even at the equator, the temperature drops to 50℃ ( 60 ) at night. Today there is no liquid water, although valleys and channels on the surface show evidence of having been carved by running water. The polar ice caps are made of frozen water and carbon dioxide, and water may be frozen in the ground as permafrost. Despite these difficult conditions, certain scientists believe that there is a possibility of transforming Mars into a more Earth like planet. Nuclear reactors might be used to melt frozen gases and eventually build up the atmosphere. This in turn could create a "greenhouse effect" that would stop heat from radiating back into space. Liquid water could be thawed to form a polar ocean. Once enough ice has melted, suitable plants could be introduced to build up the level of oxygen in the atmosphere so that, in time, the planet would support animal life from Earth and even permanent human colonies. "This was once thought to be so far in the future as to be irrelevant," said Christopher McKay, a research scientist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. "But now it's starting to look practical. We could begin work in four or five decades." The idea of "terra forming" Mars, as enthusiasts call it, has its roots in science fiction. But as researchers develop a more profound understanding of how Earth's ecology supports life, they have begun to see how it may be possible to create similar conditions on Mars. Don't plan on homesteading on Mars any time soon, though. The process could take hundreds or even thousands of years to complete, and the cost would be staggering.
火星
據宇宙探測器和天文學家收集的有力證據，火星是一個人類不能居住的星球。它不像地球，而更像月球——一個乾涸、荒蕪，看上去沒有任何生命的世界。火星的.氣壓相當於地球上十萬英尺高空處的氣壓。火星大氣的構成中有95%是二氧化碳，而且，火星上沒有能遮蔽太陽致命射線的臭氧層。白天，那裡的溫度可以達到零上，但因為包裹火星的大氣層極為稀薄，熱量又會輻射回宇宙中。就算是在火星赤道，夜裡的溫度也在 50℃。儘管火星上的山谷溝渠說明它曾經被流水蝕刻過，但如今那裡已沒有液態水了。極地冰帽是由固態水和二氧化碳組成的，水也有可能存在於永久凍土之中。儘管困難重重，某些科學家依然認為有可能把火星改造成類似地球的星球。核反應可以用來融化冰凍的氣體最終形成火星大氣層。由此就可以產生溫室效應，阻止熱量散射回宇宙中。液化的水可以融化成極地海洋。足夠量的冰融化後，可將地球上的植物移植上去。植物又可以向大氣層提供氧氣。久而久之火星就可以維持從地球過去的動物生命甚至成為人類的永久居留地。"這一切在過去看起來遙遠得近乎無稽"，國家航天局的一位研究人員，克里斯托弗·麥克凱說，" 但是現在已經開始展現出可能性。四五十年後，我們就可以著手於這項工作。"這種支持者們稱為"移居火星"的想法最早出現在科幻小說中。但隨著研究者對地球上生態如何支援生命的理解越來越深入，在火星上創造類似地球環境也顯得越來越現實。但千萬別計劃很快在火星上建造家園。這個歷程需要幾百乃至上千年，而且耗費將是驚人的。
