Healthy knees aren’t the main consideration in choosing high heels,but new research says chunky heels are just as bad for the knees as spindly stilettos（细高跟鞋）.“It takes a long time to feel the effects of knee osteoarthritis（骨关节炎）—and once you do it,it is too late,”said Dr.Casey Kerrigan,leading researcher of the study and associate professor at Harvard Medical School’s department of physical medicine.“I compare it to smoking—one cigarette is not painful,but over a lifetime it is.Wide-heeled shoes feel comfortable,so women wear them all day long,”Kerrigan said.“They are better for your feet than stiletto heels,but just as bad for your knees.”
In the study,researchers had twenty women wear two pairs of shoes with three-inch heels,one with a narrow heel and the other with a thick one.The scientists compared how much pressure was put on the women’s knees by both types of shoes.The women also walked bare-foot to test normal pressure.The scientists found that both types of shoes applied equal amounts of pressure to the knees.Compared with walking barefoot,the heels increased pressure on the inside of the knee by 26 percent.Increased pressure on the knee eventually leads to arthritis,experts say.
The idea that high heels are bad for your health isn’t new—scientists have warned women for years that they contribute to problems ranging from corns to hammer toes,tendonitis,knee pain,sprained(扭伤)ankles and back problems.But in 1998,Kerrigan and a team of Harvard researchers were the first to link high heels and knee osteoarthritis,a painful joint disease that destroys cartilage(软骨)surrounding the knee.The first study looked only at stiletto heels,and Kerrigan said she wanted to study the chunky high-heeled shoes she noticed many women wearing.“This study confirms what we all intuitively（直觉地）know that high-heeled shoes of any kind are not good for our health,”said Dr.Glem Pfeffer,a San Francisco doctor and member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons who was not connected to the study.We learn from the passage that women choose chunky heels because _________.
| A．they want to walk comfortably |
| B．chunky heeled shoes are cheaper than stiletto heeled pairs |
| C．chunky heels do less harm to knees |
| D．chunky heels are not painful at all |
The study mentioned in the second paragraph found that _________.
| A．pressure on the foot is caused by high heels |
| B．the pressure is abnormal while walking barefoot |
| C．arthritis is always caused by pressure on the knees |
| D．both types of shoes have the same harm to the knees |
It can be inferred from the passage that _________.
| A．people got to know the high heels are bad for health recently |
| B．people have known the high heels are bad for health for years |
| C．people haven’t known the high heels are bad for health yet |
| D．people will be warned that the high heels are bad for health soon |
Kerrigan’s late study looked at the chunky high-heeled shoes because _________.
| A．they feel more comfortable |
| B．they are related to knee osteoarthritis |
| C．they are worn by many women |
| D．they are different from stiletto heels |
The best title for the passage may be _________.
| A．Talking Healthy Knees into Consideration |
| B．High-heels Do Harm to Knees |
| C．Chunky Heels and Stiletto Heels |
| D．When Wearing High-heels |
Paracutin was born in Mexico in February, 1943. At the end of one week Paracutin was 500 feet high, and it is now over 9, 000 feet high. Today Paracutin is asleep.
What is Paracutin? It was the first volcano(火山) in the world which was seen from its birth right up to the present day. On February 20, 1943, a peasant and his wife set out to work in their corn fields from the Mexican village of Paracutin. They were surprised to find the earth warm under their feet. Suddenly they heard noises deep in the earth and a small hole appeared in their field. In the afternoon there was a sudden loud noise and stones were thrown high in the air. The peasants ran from the field and turned to watch. They saw the birth of a volcano.
Large quantities of stone and lava(岩浆) broke out and a little hill began to form. By evening this hill was 100 feet high and hot ashes(灰烬) were falling on the village. At night the strong light of the hot lava lit up the countryside. The trees near the village were killed and the villagers had to leave their houses. When the village was destroyed, its name was given to the volcano. The news quickly reached Mexico City, far to the east. Many people came to watch the scene. The volcano grew and grew for ten years and hundreds of square miles of forest were destroyed. Then Paracutin went to sleep. Paracutin was once the name of ________.
| A．a peasant | B．a village | C．an old mountain | D．a Mexican |
What was destroyed in the growing up of the volcano?
| A．The little hill of stone. | B．The villagers living close by. |
| C．The forests and fields round Paracutin. | D．The Mexican peasant and his wife. |
In this passage the writer is trying to ________.
| A．tell us an interesting happening | B．explain a scientific theory |
| C．make us believe something | D．make up an interesting story |
What can we learn about volcanoes from this passage？
| A．New volcanoes may appear in places where people do not expect them to be. |
| B．Volcanoes are always growing. |
| C．Volcanoes are active from time to time. |
| D．New volcanoes are active for only ten years. |
The Man of Many Secrets — Harry Houdini — was one of the greatest American entertainers in the theater this century. He was a man famous for his escapes — from prison cells, from wooden boxes floating in rivers, from locked tanks full of water. He appeared in theaters all over Europe and America. Crowds came to see the great Houdini and his “magic” tricks.
Of course, his secret was not magic, or supernatural powers. It was simply strength. He had the ability to move his toes as well as he moved his fingers. He could move his body into almost any position he wanted.
Houdini started working in the entertainment world when he was 17, in 1891. He and his brother Theo performed card tricks in club in New York. They called themselves the Houdini Brothers. When Harry married in 1894, he and his wife Bess worked together as magician and assistant. But for a long time they were not very successful. Then Harry performed his first prison escape, in Chicago in 1898. Harry persuaded a detective to let him try to escape from the prison, and he invited the local newspapermen to watch.
It was the publicity(宣传) that came from this that started Harry Houdini’s success. Harry had fingers trained to escape from handcuffs and toes trained to escape ankle chins. But his biggest secret was how he unlocked the prison doors. Every time he went into the prison cell, Bess gave him a kiss for good luck — and a small skeleton key, which is a key that fits many locks, pass quickly from her mouth to his.
Harry used these prison escapes to build his fame. He arranged to escape from the local prison of every town he visited. In the afternoon, the people of the town would read about it in their local newspapers, and in the evening every seat in the local theater would be full. What was the result? World-wild fame, and a name remembered today.According to the passage, Houdini’s success in prison escapes depends on _______.
| A．his special tricks and supernatural power | B．his unusual ability and a skeleton key |
| C．his magic tricks and supernatural powers | D．his wisdom and magic tricks |
In the fourth paragraph, the underlined word “this” refers to _______.
| A．his first prison escape | B．the year 1898 |
| C．the publicity | D．Harry Houdini’s success |
It can be inferred from the passage that Houdini became famous _______.
| A．in 1894 | B．before he married |
| C．at the age of 17 | D．when he was about 24 |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．A Skeleton Key | B．A Man of Many Secrets |
| C．World-wild Fame | D．Great Escape |
“You’ll have to take care of the baby today,” a woman told her husband . “ I’m not feeling well.”
“Then you must stay in bed and rest, dear. “ her husband said. “I’ll be pleased to look after our baby. “
“Thank you. I’ll have a quiet day and I’ll soon get better. “ his wife told him.
“Shall I do the shopping for you as well?” her husband asked.
She was very pleased and said, “That will help me very much. I’ll give you a list of things to buy. “
She wrote out the list and gave it to him.
“You can get all these things at the supermarket,” she said.
“You can put the baby in the shopping cart, then you won’t have to leave him outside.”
The man took the baby to the supermarket and put him in the shopping cart. Then he pushed the shopping cart along the rows of things to buy and looked for those that were on his list.
At first all was well, but then the baby began to cry.
Then he started to scream.
And scream!
And SCREAM!
“Keep calm ,George, ” the man said. “Don’t get excited. Don’t shout, George. Don’t lose your temper, George.”
A woman in the supermarket heard him saying these things. She walked up to him.
“I think you are wonderful ,”she said. “You are so patient with your little George. ”
“Madam, ”" the man said, “I’m George. He’s Edward.” Why did the man take care of the baby?
| A．it was his turn. | B．His wife was not well. |
| C．His wife was not at home. | D．He always looked after it. |
Why did the man take the baby to the supermarket?
| A．He had to go shopping. |
| B．He wanted to show the baby to his friend. |
| C．He wanted to give the baby a ride in a shopping cart. |
| D．The baby liked going to the supermarket. |
What did the baby do in the supermarket?
| A．pushed the shopping cart | B．lost its temper |
| C．made a lot of noise | D．helped his father |
Finally we can infer from the story that_____ .
| A．the man was very calm when the baby was crying |
| B．the woman was very pleased to see the man |
| C．the woman mistook George for the baby, while in fact the man was named George |
| D．the man was very busy in shopping, but he couldn’t find all the goods on the list |
Americans have contributed (做贡献) to many art forms, and jazz, a type of music, is one of the art forms started in the United States. Black Americans, who sang and played the music of their homeland, created jazz.
Jazz is a mixture of the music of Africa, the work songs the slaves sang, and religious(宗教) music. Improvisation (即兴表演) is an important part of jazz. This is why a jazz song sounds a little different each time it is played.
Jazz bands formed in the late 1800s. They played in bars and clubs in many towns and cities of the South, especially New Orleans. New Orleans is an international seaport, and people from all over the world come to New Orleans to hear jazz.
Jazz became more and more popular. By the 1920s, jazz was popular all over the United States. By the 1940s, you could hear jazz not only in clubs and bars, but in concert halls as well. Today, people from all over the world play jazz. Jazz musicians from the United States, Asia, Africa, South America, and Europe meet and share their music at festivals on every continent. In this way, jazz continues to grow and change. What can be the best title of the passage?
| A．American Art Forms | B．The Development of Jazz |
| C．The Music of Black Americans | D．The Birthplace of Jazz |
From the text we can learn that ______.
| A．New Orleans is the place where jazz was very popular |
| B．the American people are all jazz lovers |
| C．jazz is merrily sung by black people when working |
| D．jazz may become less popular as time goes on |
It took about______ years to make jazz popular in the United States.
| A．200 | B．120 | C．80 | D．40 |
I’m sure you know the song “Happy Birthday”. But do you know who wrote the song and for whom it was written?
The retired professor, Archibald A. Hill in Lucasville, USA could tell us the story. Ninety-seven years ago, two of Mr. Archibald Hill’s aunts, Miss Patty Hill and Miss Mildred Hill were asked to write some songs for a book called “Song Storied for the Sunday Morning”. Miss Patty Hill and Miss Mildred Hill were both kindergarten teachers then. They loved children very much and wrote many beautiful songs for the book. One of them was the famous “Good Morning to You.” The song said, “Good morning to you, good morning to you, children, good morning to all.” This song was very popular at that time among kindergarten children. But not many grown-ups knew it. A few years later little Archibald was born. As his aunt, Miss Patty Hill sang the song “Happy Birthday” to the melody(曲调) of “Good Morning to you” to her little nephew(侄子). She sang the song like this: Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, Archie! Happy birthday to you!
Miss Patty Hill and her sister had never expected that this song would become so popular, but it really did. People all over the world like the song because of its simplicity in tune(曲调简单) and friendliness in words.Archibald A. Hill was _______.
A. English B. American C. Russian D. Australian Professor Archibald A. Hill was Miss Mildred Hill’s ______.
A. son B. student C. brother D. nephewThe song “Happy Birthday” has a history of _______ years.
| A．97 | B．more than 90 | C．less than 90 | D．about 90 |
The sentence “it really did” means _______.
| A．The song really became popular |
| B．Their wish would really come true |
| C．People all over the world like to listen to the song |
| D．Yes, but the song didn’t become popular |