Land, unlike labor and capital, has a special feature: It is in strictly fixed supply in total. Because of this, we say that its price is demand-determined. In other words, the price of land is determined completely by what families and firms are willing to pay for it. But not all the land is the same. Some land is more valuable than other land. The value of land to a potential user may depend upon the characteristics of the land itself or upon its location.
Consider the potential uses of a piece of land in a suburb of Kansas City, Allan wants to build a clothing store in that place. He estimates that he can earn economic profits of $ 10,000 per year there because of the land’s excellent location. Bella, another person interested in buying the comer, believes that she can earn $ 35,000 in economic profits if she builds a drug store there. Clearly, Bella will be more likely to get the land.
Because location is often the key to profits, ‘landowners are frequently able to squeeze their renters. One of the most popular locations in the Boston area, for example, is Harvard Square. There are dozens of restaurants in and around the square, and most of them are full most of the time. Despite this seeming success, most Harvard Square restaurant owners are not getting rich, because they must pay very high rents for the locations of their restaurants. A large part of the restaurant’s revenues goes to rent the land.
Although the supply of land is generally perfectly fixed, the supply of land in a given use may not be so. As the population of a city grows, housing developers find themselves willing to pay more and more for land. As land becomes more valuable for development, some farmers sell out, and the supply of land that can be used for development increases.
5. What’s the difference between land and other resources?
A. Land’s supply is strictly fixed. B. The prices of other resources are lower.
C. Land can’t be used up. D. Land is more useful.
6. Which of the following can’t determine the price of a piece of land?
A. Its location. B. Its purchasers’ purpose.
C. The total amount of its supply for general use. D. Its features.
7. Which of the following is wrong according to the passage?
A. The price of a piece of land is changeable.
B. The profit of a shop is often determined by its location.
C. Most Harvard Square restaurant owners would be getting rich, if they paid lower rents for the locations of their restaurants.
D. The supply of land for development might fall down.
8. Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
A. The Use of Land B. The Natural Resources
C. The Land Market D. The Land Development
Researchers in the psychology department at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) have discovered a major difference in the way men and women respond to stress. This difference may explain why men are more likely to suffer from stressrelated disorders.
Until now, psychological research has maintained that both men and women have the same “fightorflight” reaction to stress. In other words, individuals either react with aggressive behavior, such as verbal or physical conflict (“fight”), or they react by withdrawing from the stressful situation (“flight”). However, the UCLA research team found that men and women have quite different biological and behavioral responses to stress. While men often react to stress in the fightorflight response, women often have another kind of reaction which could be called “tend and befriend.” That is, they often react to stressful conditions by protecting and nurturing their young (“tend”), and by looking for social contact and support from others—especially other females (“befriend”)．
Scientists have long known that in the fightorflight reaction to stress, an important role is played by certain hormones (激素) released by the body. The UCLA research team suggests that the female tendorbefriend response is also based on a hormone. This hormone, called oxytocin, has been studied in the context of childbirth, but now it is being studied for its role in the response of both men and women to stress. The principal investigator, Dr. Shelley E. Taylor, explained that “animals and people with high levels of oxytocin are calmer, more relaxed, more social, and less anxious.” While men also secrete (分泌) oxytocin, its effects are reduced by male hormones.
In terms of everyday behavior, the UCLA study found that women are far more likely than men to seek social contact when they are feeling stressed. They may phone relatives or friends, or ask directions if they are lost.
The study also showed how fathers and mothers responded differently when they came home to their family after a stressful day at work. The typical father wanted to be left alone to enjoy some peace and quiet. For a typical mother, coping with a bad day at work meant focusing her attention on her children and their needs.
The differences in responding to stress may explain the fact that women have lower frequency of stressrelated disorders such as high blood pressure or aggressive behavior. The tendandbefriend regulatory (调节的) system may protect women against stress, and this may explain why women on average live longer than men.The UCLA study shows that in response to stress, men are more likely than women to ________.
| A．turn to friends for help |
| B．solve a conflict calmly |
| C．find an escape from reality |
| D．seek comfort from children |
Which of the following is true about oxytocin according to the passage?
| A．Men have the same level of oxytocin as women do. |
| B．Oxytocin used to be studied in both men and women. |
| C．Both animals and people have high levels of oxytocin. |
| D．Oxytocin has more of an effect on women than on men. |
What can be learned from the passage?
| A．Male hormones help build up the body's resistance to stress. |
| B．In a family a mother cares more about children than a father does. |
| C．Biological differences lead to different behavioral responses to stress. |
| D．The UCLA study was designed to confirm previous research findings. |
Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
| A．How men and women get over stress |
| B．How men and women suffer from stress |
| C．How researchers overcome stress problems |
| D．How researchers handle stressrelated disorders |
A famous doctor once received a little child who was badly ill. Thanks to his skill and care, his young patient got well and was soon able to get up and run about again.
The child’s mother was very much obliged to the doctor, and she called on him to thank him for what he had done for her child. “Doctor,” she said, “you have saved my little son. I don’t know how to thank you enough. I feel that money alone cannot repay you, so I have made this little purse with my own hands, as a sign of my gratitude. I hope you will accept it.” The doctor stood up and said coldly, “Madam, a little present like that is very nice between friends, but a doctor needs to be paid properly for what he has done.” The lady was so surprised and hurt so much that she could not reply for a moment. Then she said quietly, “Perhaps you will tell me how much your fee is?”
“Fifty pounds”, he answered.
The lady opened the little purse and took out four fifty-pound bank notes. She handed one of them to the doctor, and put the other three back into the purse. She put the purse into her handbag and, saying good bye to the doctor, went out of the room.The lady was thankful to the doctor because ________.
| A．he had saved her life | B．he had saved her son’s life |
| C．he had lent her some money | D．he often called on her |
The doctor refused the lady’s purse because he thought ______.
| A．the purse should be given between friends |
| B．the purse was too small |
| C．the lady was not kind to him |
| D．the lady just gave him that purse and wouldn’t give him the medical fee |
What the doctor said ______ the lady.
| A．worried | B．interested | C．frightened | D．hurt |
The money in the purse _______.
| A．was only 150 pounds |
| B．was less than 200 pounds |
| C．was much more than the medical fee |
| D．was not enough for the medical fee |
How do you think the doctor would feel in the end?
| A．Sorry and worried | B．Regret and proud |
| C．Excited and proud | D．Sorry and regret |
The works of Shakespeare and Wordsworth are “rocketboosters” to the brain and better than the other selfhelp books，researchers will say this week.
Scientists，psychologists and the English experts at Liverpool University have found that reading the works of Shakespeare and other classical writers has a beneficial effect on the mind，catches the reader’s attention and triggers moments of selfreflection.Using scanners，they monitored the brain activity of volunteers as they read the works by William Shakespeare，William Wordsworth，T.S Eliot and other classical writers.
They then “translated” the texts into more “straightforward”，modern language and again monitored the readers’ brains as they read the words.Scans showed that the more “challenging” articles and poetry set off far more electrical activity in the brain than the modern versions.Scientists were able to study the brain activity as it responded to each word and record how it “lit up” as the readers came across unusual words，surprising phrases or difficult sentence structures.This “lighting up” of the mind lasts longer than the initial electrical spark，shifting the brain to a higher speed，encouraging further reading.
The research also found that reading poetry，in particular，increases the activities in the right side of the brain，an area concerned with “autobiographical memory”，helping readers to reflect on their own experiences in light of what they have read.The experts said this meant the classics were more useful than selfhelp books.
Philip Davis，an English professor who has worked on the study with the university，will tell a conference this week：“Serious literature acts like a rocketbooster (火箭助推器) to the brain.”
“The research shows the power of classical literature to shift mental pathways，to create new thoughts，shapes and connections in the young and the old alike.” The author mentioned Shakespeare and Wordsworth in Paragraph One to________.
| A．show their great achievements |
| B．attract our interest in literature |
| C．introduce the topic of the text |
| D．encourage us to read their works |
According to the text，reading classical works can________.
| A．help deal with some physical problems |
| B．benefit our mind and thinking |
| C．improve our reading skills |
| D．help learn more about history |
The scientists and experts did the experiment by________.
| A．scanning the readers’ brain activities |
| B．reading works of different writers |
| C．lighting up the activities of the brains |
| D．investigating the habits of the readers |
We can learn from Paragraph 4 that reading poetry________.
| A．is concerned with the right side of the brain |
| B．has the same effects as reading selfhelp books |
| C．helps you forget the things in the past |
| D．makes you more serious and objective |
What might be the author’s purpose in writing the text?
| A．To introduce some great writers in England. |
| B．To present a study on brain activities. |
| C．To introduce a research on reading classics. |
| D．To show the power of classical literature. |
When you’re lying on the white sands of the Mexican Riviera, the stresses(压力) of the world seem a million miles away. Hey, stop! This is no vacation-you have to finish something!
Here lies the problem for travel writer and tood critic(评论家),Edie Jarolim “I always loved traveling and always liked to eat, but it never occurred to me that I could make money doing both of those things,” Jarolim said. Now you can read her travel advice everywhere in Arts and Antiques, in Brides, or in one of her there books, The Complate Idiot’s Travel Guide to Mexican Beach Resarts.
……writing began some eight years ago. After getting a PhD in English in Canada, she took a Test Frommer’s travel guides, passed it, and got the job. After working at Frommer’s, Jarolim workedfor a while at Rough Guides in London, then Fodor’s, where she fell so in love with a description of the Southwest of the U. S. that she moved there.
Now as a travel writer, she spends one-third of her year on the road. The rest of the time is spent completing her tasks and writing reviews of restaurants at home in Tucson, Arigona.
As adventurous as the job sounds, the hard part is fact-checking all the information. Sure, it’s great to write about a tourist attraction, but you’d better get the local(当地的)museum hours correct or you could really ruin someone’s vacation. Which country does Jarolim live in now?
| A．Mexico | B．The U. S. | C．The U. K. | D．Canada |
What is most difficrlt for Jarolim?
| A．Working in different places to collect information |
| B．Checking all the facts to be written in the guides |
| C．Finishing her work as soon as possible |
| D．Passing a test to write travel guides |
What do we know about Jarllim from the text?
| A．She is successful in her job |
| B．She finds her life full of stresses |
| C．She spends half of her time traveling |
| D．She is especially interested in museums |
What would be the best title for the text?
| A．Adventures in Travel Writing |
| B．Working as a Food Critic |
| C．Travel Guides on the Market |
| D．Vacationing for a Living |
Would it surprise you to learn that, like animals, trees communicate with each other and pass on their wealth to the next generation?
UBC Professor Simard explains how trees are much more complex than most of us ever imagined. Although Charles Darwin thought that trees arc competing for survival of the fittest, Simard shows just how wrong he was. In fact, the opposite is true: trees survive through their co-operation and support, passing around necessary nutrition “depending on who needs it”.
Nitrogen（氮） and carbon are shared through miles of underground fungi（真菌） networks, making sure that all trees in the forest ecological system give and receive just the right amount to keep them all healthy. This hidden system works in a very similar way to the networks of neurons（神经元）in our brains, and when one tree is destroyed, it affects all.
Simard talks about “mother trees”, usually the largest and oldest plants on which all other trees depend. She explains how dying trees pass on the wealth to the next generation, transporting important minerals to young trees so they may continue to grow. When humans cut down “mother trees” with no awareness of these highly complex “tree societies” or the networks on which they feed, we are reducing the chances of survival for the entire forest.
“We didn’t take any notice of it.” Simard says sadly. “Dying trees move nutrition into the young trees before dying, but we never give them chance.” If we could put across the message to the forestry industry, we could make a huge difference towards our environmental protection efforts for the future.The underlined sentence “the opposite is true” in Paragraph 2 probably means that trees .
| A．compete for survival |
| B．protect their own wealth |
| C．depend on each other |
| D．provide support for dying trees |
“Mother trees” are extremely important because they.
| A．look the largest in size in the forest |
| B．pass on nutrition to young trees |
| C．seem more likely to be cut down by humans |
| D．know more about the complex “tree societies” |
The underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refers to .
| A．how “tree societies” work |
| B．how trees grow old |
| C．how forestry industry develops |
| D．how young trees survive |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Old Trees Communicate Like Humans |
| B．Young Trees Are In Need Of Protection |
| C．Trees Are More Awesome Thart You Think |
| D．Trees Contribute To Our Society |