According to a famous optical(光学) expert, Alexander, who recently visited Shanghai, the developed countries in Europe and America have made rules that children must wear resinous(树脂) glasses instead of the traditional glasses made of glass. This is because the glass glasses are more likely to do harm to children’s eyesight.
Alexander pointed out: wearing the right glasses as soon as possible is still the best way to cure and put right children’s eyesight problems.
In America and Japan the resinous glasses have taken up 80 percent of the glasses market. And some European countries and America have made it a law that children, teenagers and drivers must wear resinous glasses. Now, about 10 million children in China have different eyesight problems and they need timely treatment.
But still, too many parents are buying the traditional glass glasses for their children. This is mainly because many parents know little or nothing about the good points of the resinous glasses. Besides, the price for the new glasses is a little higher than the traditional ones.
1. This news article mainly wants to tell us _______.
A. Alexander visited China and introduced a new type of glasses
B. we should wear resinous glasses instead of glass glasses
C. resinous glasses are popular in Europe and America
D. glasses can be made of other materials instead of glass
2. According to Alexander, the “timely treatment” to eyesight problems is _______.
A. to stop wearing glass glasses any more
B. to buy a pair of glasses and wear them right away
C. to wear suitable resinous glasses at the right time
D. to buy glasses made in Europe, Japan or America if possible
3. It can be inferred from this news text that _______.
A. resinous glasses are not on sale in China yet
B. resinous glasses are not acceptable in China
C. glass glasses have disappeared on western market because there is a law against them
D. glass glasses are the first choice in China not only because of their price
(1—3 BCD)
Playing with toy blocks (积木) may lead to improved language development in young children, a new study reported.
Early childhood is an important period in the development of young minds. The newborn brain grows three times in size between birth and age 2. Scientists have said that certain activities during this important period may promote (促进) healthy development while others may hold it back, and development of memory and language may especially be helped by imaginative play.
After six months, language scores among half of the 175 children aged 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 who were sent plastic blocks were 15 percent higher than a matched group that did not receive the free blocks, according to the study by researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Parents were given ideas about how to help their children play with the blocks, then were told 
to keep diaries of their children’s activities over four days. Finally, all the parents filled out questionnaires that judged their children’s vocabulary, grammar, and other language abilities. Study author Dimitri Christakis said unstructured play with blocks motivated children’s thinking, memory and physical skills at a time when a child’s brain is growing rapidly. “They are the foundation of thought and language,” he wrote of the skills learned from building blocks. “Older children begin to make up stories for these objects .”
Such play may also take the place of less helpful activities such as watching TV, he said, adding parents ought to have doubts about some toy-makers’ words. “An increasing number of media-based products are making ungrounded (无根据的) claims that they can make children smarter, more literate, and more musical,” Christakis said.What can we learn from the second paragraph?
| A．Parents should allow their children to play as long as they want. |
| B．The brains of kids develop very quickly before they are two years old. |
| C．Playing blocks can help children do well in sports at school. |
| D．Activities, like imaginative play, may delay the development of the brain. |
According to the study, about ________ children’s language scores were 15 percent higher than those of children who didn’t play with blocks.
| A．87 | B．55 | C．23 | D．157 |
Building blocks helps kids gain language skills because _________.
| A．young children always talk to themselves while building blocks |
| B．their parents can teach them when they are playing with blocks |
| C．their parents are given ideas on how to develop their brains |
| D．it can help them improve thinking, memory and physical skills |
The aim of the passage is probably to _______.
| A．raise the present level of children’s language ability |
| B．encourage parents to let their babies play with blocks |
| C．improve parents’ knowledge of raising children |
| D．encourage makers of blocks to develop more toys |
We can infer from what Mr Christakis said that _____.
| A．television will be definitely replaced by blocks |
| B．the market will be full of media-based toys |
| C．we can’t always believe what toy makers say |
| D．toy makers care about kids’ development very much |
Today, innovations(创新) to make our lives more eco-friendly can be found everywhere. There are energy-efficient automobiles, eco-friendly light bulbs, and clothes made by fashion designers using sustainable(可持续的) environmental practices. Industries around the world have also begun to take a serious look at how their operations affect the local and global environment.
The university of Colorado has been named one of the top green colleges and universities in the United States. This university was one of the first to start a student-led recycling program in the 1970s and toda
y supplies students with reusable shopping bags to use both on and off campus. The entire University of Colorado also uses low flow wa
ter fixtures(设备) and has reduced water usage by 40 percent since 2002.
When it comes to going green, Warren Wilson College has been recognized in many places. The Sierra Club and The Princeton Review have named the college as one of America’s greenest colleges and universities, while the school has also received the Outstanding College Recycling Award from the Carolina Recycling Association, as well as awards from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education(AASHE). For a small college, Warren Wilson has made enormous efforts to be an eco-friendly campus since its beginning, and today owns a campus farm, a seeding program, and an extensive recycling program. Warren Wilson was also the first College to have an LEED platinum certified(白金认证的) residence hall, and its building services department is also 100 percent GreenSeal certified. According to College Stats, Warren Wilson College is one of the first institutions in the United States to be almost completely self-sufficient(自给自足的) while also engaging students to incorporate sustainability into all academic programs.
Going green efforts at Oberlin College have not gone unnoticed. Oberlin College spends 22 percent of its food budget on buying food from local farmers, with most of the food raised or harvested with organic and sustainable practices. Oberlin has also stopped selling bottled water on campus and offers discounts to students who use their own storage containers when purchasing beverages and food items. Among Oberlin’s other eco-friendly accomplishments is a green graduation ceremony, which includes programs printed on 100 percent recycled paper. The author writes the first paragraph mainly to tell us that ____.
| A．we can find new ways to be eco-friendly |
| B．everyone is aware of being eco-friendly |
C．industries are reducing their influence on the environment |
| D．American colleges and universities care much about environmental issues |
What do we know about the University of Colorado?
| A．Its recycling program is followed by other universities. |
| B．It produces reusable shopping bags by itself. |
| C．It uses special systems to save water. |
| D．It is the most eco-friendly university. |
Which of the following about Warren Wilson College is TRUE?
| A．The Princeton Review praised it for its teaching methods. |
| B．Its residence hall’s building material is platinum. |
| C．It owns a campus garden and a seeding program. |
| D．It sustains itself almost without help from others. |
Students in Oberlin College can _____.
| A．grow their own food on campus |
| B．pay less with their own containers |
| C．help the college make its food budget |
| D．recycle paper at their graduation ceremony |
How is the text organized?
| A．Main idea – Comparison. |
| B．Opinion – Discussion – Description |
| C．Introduction – Supporting examples. |
| D．Introduction – Explanation – Conclusion. |
Please help! I live in Germany with my wife and three kids. My parents live in the UK. I want my kids to have as much contact with their grandparents as possible. The kids all use e-mail, Skype and SMS but my parents won’t. I’ve bought them a laptop, paid for broadband, given them both mobile phones and a digital camera, but they won’t use them. My parents say they hate computers and new technology. What can I do with these “technophobes”?
Daniel, Buremburg, Germany
Actually, the original technophobes were the Luddites, a group of cloth workers in 19th century Britain during the Industrial Revolution. The Luddite cloth workers, who traditionally made cloth by hand, were worried that machines were going to take away their jobs and way of life. These machines could make cloth much faster and cheaper than humans. In 1811 and 1812 the Luddites destroyed the machines that they hated so much, but the British government supported th
e factory owners. Many Luddites were arrested. Charlotte Bronte’s novel Shirley will tell your parents all about it.
Laura, Valencia, Spain
Laura makes some
interesting points, I think. Technophobes has been a common theme in science fiction. Frankenstein, one of the first science fiction, is a warning of what could happen if humans began to experiment with human life.
Freda, Copenhagen, Denmark
One thing you could try is to find hardware that is designed for older people to use. An example is the mob
iles made by the US company, Jitterbug. Instead of icons and menus the Jitterbu
g phones ask users simple “yes/no” questions and have larger keypads. The company realized that there are potentially 100 million older users in the US alone.
Graham, Patras, Greece The underlined part “the technophobes” in the passage refers to ______.
A．those who are rea dy to try new technology |
| B．those who are addicted to the Internet |
| C．those who refuse to use modern technology |
| D．those who are devoted to inventing new things |
Which of the following is TRUE of the Luddites?
| A．They called themselves the technophobes. |
| B．They got full support from their factory owners. |
| C．They preferred to keep their traditional working methods. |
| D．They were killed by the government. |
Who has put forward a practical and useful suggestions?
| A．Laura. | B．Freda. | C．Daniel. | D．Graham. |
The passage is probably taken from _____.
| A．a personal blog | B．a letter between friends |
| C．a personal diary | D．a speech on new technology |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．Daniel would buy her parents a novel written by Shirley. |
| B．Charlotte Bronte wrote about technophobes in her novel Shirley. |
| C．Daniel would buy her parents cell phones with icons and menus. |
| D．Daniel worried about her children using e-mails. |
American author Mark Twain once noted that “life would be surely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18.” Twain’s words were only one of many complaints about aging. The ancient Greek poet Homer called old age “hateful”, and William Shakespeare termed it “terrible winter”.
Alexander the Great, who conquered most of the known world before he died around 323 B.C., may have been looking for a river that healed the ravages of age. During the 12th century A.D., a king called Prester John ruled a land that had a river of gold and a fountain of youth.
But the name linked most closely to the search for a fountain of youth is 16th-century Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon. He thought it would be found in Florida. In St. Augustine, the oldest city in the U.S., there’s a tourist attraction. It is said to be the fountain of youth that Ponce de Leon discovered soon after he arrived in what is now Florida in 1513. However, elderly visitors who drink the spring’s water don’t turn into teenagers.
But the tale of the search for a fountain of youth is so appealing(有吸引力的) that it survives anyway, says Ryan K. Smith, a professor of history. “People are more attracted by the story of looking and not finding than they are by the idea that the fountain might be out there somewhere.”
Still, a few grains of truth have helped to support the story. Kathleen Deagan, a professor of archaeology, says a graveyard and the remains of a Spanish mission dating back to St. Augustine’s founding in 1565 have been discovered near the so-called fountain of youth. Michelle Reyna, a spokesperson for the Fountain of Youth Arc
haeological Park in St. Augustine, says the fountain has been a tourist attraction since at least 1901 and may have been attracting visitors since 1860. According to the passage, who searched for a fountain of youth?
| A．Ponce de Leon | B．William Shakespeare. | C．Kathleen Deagan | D．Michelle Reyna |
What does the underlined word “ravages” in the second paragraph probably mean?
| A．Growth. | B．Limits. | C．Damages. | D．Benefits. |
What is the attitude of people towards the fountain of youth?
| A．People find much pleasure in looking for it. |
| B．People believe the existence of it somewhere. |
| C．People have no interest in searching for it. |
| D．People consider the idea of the fountain of youth absurd(荒谬的). |
The passage mainly tells us _____.
| A．how the fountain of youth came into being |
| B．why some famous people hate becoming old |
| C．how to remain young forever |
| D．whether the fountain of youth exists |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The underlined words “the story” refers to Alexander the Great ruling a land that had a river of gold and a fountain of youth. |
| B．Augustine, which is the oldest city in the U.S, lies in Florida. |
| C．Some elderly visitors find themselves younger after drinking the water from the fountain of youth. |
| D．Kathleen Deagan is the spokesperson for the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park. |
The rumors had been spreading for months but it still came as a shock when the hospital would be closing. It had served this poor neighborhood for nearly 100 years but it would close because of the health care crisis.
The day after the announcement co-workers found out that pretzels(椒盐饼干) had been eliminated. Soft pretzels are the lifeblood of this city. So losing access to soft pretzels is no small matter. 
I said, “I only have $6. I’m not sure how many pretzels I need. You see, I work at a hospital and it’s closing and they stopped selling pretzels.” The man’s smile disappeared. “What hospital?” “Oh, Northeastern Hospital.”
The guy looked deeply shocked. “I used to sell medical supplies and that was one of my hospitals.” Then he turned around and grabbed a box of 25 pretzels and slid them across the counter.
I was surprised by his generosity and started to reach for my wallet, “Oh I can pay. Please let me …” The guy smiled, “Just tell them Joe Sullivan said to do something nice for someone else.”
And so that day everyone in medical records was treated to a soft pretzel. Word spread fast as people came asking, “Is it really true?” It was as if I’d carried in a box of gold. It mattered to them that a stranger cared. The underlined word “eliminated” in Paragraph 2 means _____.
| A．highly priced | B．added | C．overcooked | D．removed |
Why did the author decide to buy pretzels for his co-workers?
| A．To show his generosity. | B．To make them feel less sad. |
| C．To show his thanks to them. | D．To encourage them to work hard. |
To buy 25 pretzels, the author should pay ____.
| A．$25 | B．$12.5 | C．$12 | D．$50 |
According to the passage, Joe Sullivan used to be a ____.
| A．cook | B．doctor | C．shopkeeper | D．salesman |
What can be the best title of the passage?
| A．A nice treat |
| B．The rumor that came true |
| C．Tell them Joe cared |
| D．Northeastern Hospital is closing down |