There is an English saying :“laughter is best medicine .”Until recently ,few people took the saying seriously .Now however ,doctors have begun to look into laughter and the effects it has on the human body .They have found that laughter really can improve people’s health .
Tests were carried out to study the effects of laughter on the body .People watched funny films while doctors checked their hearts ,blood pressure ,breathing and muscles .It was found that laughter had similar effects to physical exercise .It increases blood pressure ,the heart beating and breathing ; it also works several groups of muscles in the face ,the stomach ,and even the feet .If laughter exercises the body ,it must be beneficial .
Other tests have shown that laughter appears to be able to reduce the effect of pain on the body .In one experiment doctors produced pain in groups of students who listened to different radio programmes .The group that tolerated(忍耐)the pain for the longest time was the groups which listened to a funny programme .The reason why laughter can reduce pain seems to be that it helps to produce a kind of chemicals in the brain which diminish both stress and pain .
As a result of these discoveries ,some doctors in the United States now hold laughter clinics ,in which they help to improve their patients’ condition by encouraging them to laugh .They have found that even if their patients do not really feel like laughing ,making them smile is enough to produce beneficial effects similar to those caused by laughter .
( )61.Doctors have proved the following EXCEPT that .
A.smiling does good to health
B.laughter can be tolerated
C.there is a way to reduce pain
D.laughter can work the muscles in the feet
( )62.The main idea of the passage is .
A.laughter and physical exercise have similar effects on the human body
B.smile can produce the same effects as laughter
C.pain can be reduced by laughter
D.laughter is the best medicine
( )63.The students who tolerated the pain for the longest time .
A. listened to different radio programmes
B. could produce a kind of chemical
C. don’t have stress of pain
D. listened to a funny programme
( )64.The underlined word “diminish” is similar to .
A. test B. stop C. reduce D. increase
( )65.Doctors hold laughter clinics _________.
A. to give better condition to their patients
B.in order to improve patients’ health
C.to make patients smile
D.to prove smile and laughter have the same effect
Animals are natural resources that people have wasted all through our history.
Animals have been killed for their fur and feathers, for food, for sport, and simply because they were in the way. Thousands of kinds of animals have disappeared from the world forever. Hundreds more are on the danger list today. About 170 kinds in the United States alone are considered in danger.
Why should people care? Because we need animals. And because once they are gone, there will never be any more.
Animals are more than just beautiful and interesting. They are more than just a source of food. Every animal has its place in the balance of nature (生态平衡). Destroying one kind of animal can create many problems.
For example, when farmers killed large numbers of hawks (老鹰), the farmers’ stores of corn and grain were destroyed by rats and mice. Why? Because hawks eat rats and mice. With no hawks to keep down their numbers, the rats and mice multiplied(繁殖)quickly.
Luckily, some people are working to help save the animals. Some groups raise money to let people know about the problem. And they try to get the governments to pass laws protecting animals in danger.
Quite a few countries have passed laws. These laws forbid (禁止) the killing of any animals or plants on the danger list. Slowly, the number of some animals in danger is growing. Animals are important to us mainly because____ .
| A．they give us a source of food |
| B．they are beautiful and lovely |
| C．they keep the balance of nature |
| D．they give us a lot of pleasure |
What has happened to the animals on the earth?
| A．Hundreds of kinds of animals have disappeared forever. |
| B．Many kinds of animals have died out. |
| C．About 170 kinds of animals have disappeared forever. |
| D．All kinds of animals are in danger. |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．People care much about animals because they need them. |
| B．Once a certain kind of animals is gone forever, there will never be any more. |
| C．Killing rats and mice will cause some problems. |
| D．Laws have been passed to forbid the killing of any animals or plants on the danger list in some countries. |
What can we infer from the fact that quite a few countries have passed laws protecting animals in danger?
| A．Every person will know the importance of protecting wild animals. |
| B．Animals in danger will not be killed any more. |
| C．Animals in danger will be kept away from people. |
| D．The number of some animals in danger will increase. |
Speech—the act of uttering sounds to convey meaning—is a kind of human action. Like any other constantly repeated action, speaking has to be learned, but once it is learned, it becomes a generally unconscious and apparently automatic process.
As far as we can determine, human beings do not need to be forced to speak; most babies seem to possess a sort of instinctive drive to produce speech like noises. How to speak and what to say are another matter altogether. There actions are learned from the particular society into which the baby is born; so that, like all conduct that is learned from a society—from the people around us—speech is a patterned activity.
The meandering(漫目无地的)babble(咿呀学语)and chatter of a young child are eventually channeled by imitation into a few orderly grooves that represent the pattern accepted as meaningful by the people around him. Similarly, a child’s indiscriminate(不加分辨的)practice of putting things into his mouth becomes limited to putting food into his mouth in a certain way.
The sounds that a child can make are more varied and numerous than the sounds that any particular language uses. However, a child born into a society with a pattern of language is encouraged to make a small selection of sounds and to make these few sounds over and over until it is natural for him to make these sounds and not others.For an adult, the process of speaking usually involves___________________ .
| A．conscious selection of sounds | B．imitation of those around him |
| C．a drive to make noises | D．unconscious actions |
The selection says that most babies have an instinctive drive to __________ .
| A．express ideas in words | B．make speech like noise |
| C．convey meaning | D．imitate sounds around them |
Conduct that is learned from a society may be called___________________ .
| A．instinctive drive | B．selection | C．automatic activity | D．patterned activity |
The sounds that a child is able to make are ___________________ . .
| A．not as varied as those used in language |
| B．more varied and numerous than those in any language |
| C．far fewer than those needed to form a language |
| D．completely different from the sounds of language |
We may say that a child has learned to speak if he ___________________ . .
| A．makes varied sounds |
| B．carefully considers each sound he makes |
| C．makes only certain sounds naturally |
| D．imitates people around him |
Tea drinking was common in China for nearly one thousand years before anyone in Europe had ever heard about tea．People in Britain were much slower in finding out what tea was like, mainly because tea was very expensive. It could not be bought in shops and even those people who could afford to have it sent from Holland did so only because it was a fashionable curiosity. Some of them were not sure how to use it. They thought it was a vegetable and tried cooking the leaves. Then they served them mixed with butter and salt. They soon discovered their mistake but many people used to spread the used tea leaves on bread and give them to their children as sandwiches.
Tea remained scarce and very expensive in England until the ships of the East India Company began to bring it direct from China early in the seventeenth century. During the next few years so much tea came into the country that the price fell and many people could afford to buy it.
At the same time people on the Continent were becoming more and more fond of tea．Until then tea had been drunk without milk in it, but one day a famous French lady named Madame de Sevigne decided to see what tea tasted like when milk was added．She found it so pleasant that she would never again drink it without milk. Because she was such a great lady her friends thought they must copy everything she did, so they also drank their tea with milk in it. Slowly this habit spread until it reached England and today only very few Britons drink tea without milk.
At first, tea was usually drunk after dinner in the evening No one ever thought of drinking tea in the afternoon until a duchess (公爵夫人) found that a cup of tea and a piece of cake at three or four o’clock stopped her getting “a sinking feeling” as she called it. She invited her friends to have this new meal with her and so, tea-time was born.Which of the following is true of the introduction of tea into Britain?
| A．The Britons got expensive tea from India. |
| B．Tea reached Britain from Holland. |
| C．The Britons were the first people in Europe who drank tea. |
| D．It was not until the 17th century that the Britons had tea. |
This passage mainly discusses_____________.
| A．the history of tea drinking in Britain |
| B．how tea became a popular drink in Britain |
| C．how the Britons got the habit of drinking tea |
| D．how tea-time was born |
Tea became a popular drink in Britain_____________.
| A．in eighteenth century | B．in sixteenth century |
| C．in seventeenth century | D．in the late seventeenth century |
People in Europe began to drink tea with milk because_____________.
| A．it tasted like milk |
| B．it tasted more pleasant |
| C．it became a popular drink |
| D．Madame de Sevigne was such a lady with great social influence that people tried to copy the way she drank tea |
We may infer from the passage that the habit of drinking tea in Britain was mostly
due to the influence of ________.
| A．a famous French lady | B．the ancient Chinese |
| C．the upper social class | D．people in Holland |
Children of America are getting fatter every time. 13% of the children at the age of 6 to 11 are overweight(too fat).
When we look at children’s lives today in the USA, we can see the root(origin)of the problem--sports and foods. Young children like sports but they don’t have enough around the start of high school. That’s especially true for girls. Meanwhile, to make matters worse, schools are becoming much more interested in sports teams. So children are not able to get enough exercise just when they need it the most. There is also the food problem. Children get most of their calories(热量) at restaurants or parties or somewhere else away from home. They often drink too many Cokes. Parents have a lot of fears about telling a child he needs to lose weight-- they are afraid it will push a child into an eating disorder. Some parents fear that pushing children to lose weight means their children will think they’re not good enough, or not loved because of their weight. Parents need to come to terms with the fact that the family is very important to the children. The most useful program for children is called "family weight control". This is good news. Mom and Dad, even if they don’t have weight problems, have to go through the same program as their children and learn how to get some exercise and how to eat healthily.Why are American children getting fatter? The writer thinks_______.
| A．parents also have weight problem as their children |
| B．children drink too many Cokes |
| C．schools are more interested in sports teams |
| D．children have less exercise and eat unhealthily |
The writer wants to tell parents that_______.
| A．overweight children are not loved by people |
| B．children are afraid to lose weight when they have to |
| C．family members can help overweight children a lot |
| D．girls don’t like to exercise |
The writer thinks if mother or father is on the same program as their children, _______.
| A．"family weight control" will be successful |
| B．it will make the children eat much more |
| C．their children will not eat better |
| D．parents will feel sorry about themselves |
Which of the following is NOT the root of overweight problem? _______.
| A．Higher-calorie. | B．Less sports. | C．Family weight control. | D．higher-fat foods. |
What does “come to terms with” probably mean in the passage?
| A．ignore | B．give in to | C．get away with | D．do research into |
There is a story about the moon cake．During the Yuan dynasty, China was ruled by the Mongolian people． Leaders from the preceding Song dynasty were unhappy about being ruled by foreigners, so they began to organize a secret rebellion． The leaders of the rebellion, knowing that the Moon Festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes． Baked into each cake was a message containing the outline of the attack． On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government． Today, these cakes are eaten to commemorate（纪念）this legend and are called Moon Cakes．
For generations, moon cakes have been made with sweet fillings of nuts, mashed red beans, lotus-seed paste or Chinese dates, wrapped in pastry． Sometimes a cooked egg yolk can be found in the middle of this rich tasting dessert． Some people have compared moon cakes to the plum puddings and fruit cakes which are served in the English holiday seasons．
Nowadays, there are hundreds of varieties of moon cakes on sale a month before the arrival of the Moon Festival．According to this passage, people eat moon cakes on the Moon Festival because___________ .
| A．it is a tradition |
| B．moon cakes are tasty |
| C．moon cakes look like the moon |
| D．people want to remember the rebellion against the Mongolian rulers |
The leaders ordered the special cakes to be made in order to _________________
| A．prize the rebels | B．celebrate the holiday |
| C．plan the attack | D．carry the message secretly |
Why did those leaders want to overthrow the government? __________________ .
| A．Because they wanted to rule the country． |
| B．Because they were unhappy that China was ruled by the Mongolian． |
| C．Because they were from the preceding Song dynasty． |
| D．Because they wanted to celebrate the Moon Festival in their way． |
Which of the following statements is WRONG? __________________ .
| A．China was once ruled by the Mongolian people during the Yuan dynasty． |
| B．Moon cakes were originally made to carry a message． |
| C．All moon cakes have a cooked egg yolk in them． |
| D．A variety of moon cakes can be bought a month before the Moon Festival now． |
The best title for the passage is “_______”．
| A．The origin of moon cakes | B．Moon cakes and the Moon Festival |
| C．Moon Festival | D．How the Moon Festival came into being |