B
Although man has known asbestos for many hundreds of years, it was not until 160 years ago that it was mined for the first time on the North American continent. H. W. Johns, owner of a New York City Supply Shop for roofers, was responsible for he opening of that first mine.
Mr. Johns was given a piece of asbestos which had been found in Italy. He experimented with the material and then showed its surprising powers to his customers. After putting on a pair of asbestos gloves, which looked much like ordinary work gloves, he took red-hot coals from the fireplace and played with them in his hands. How astonished the customers were to discover that he was not burned at all. You can well imagine that he had increasing business in asbestos roofing materials. However, because it was very expensive to transport them from Italy to the United States, Mr. Johns sent out a young scientist to seek a source nearer home. This young man found great vein in the province of Quebec in Canada.
Ever since 1881 Quebec has led the world in the production of this unusual mineral, which is made up of magnesium, silicon, iron, and oxygen. When it is mined, the asbestos is heavy, just as you would expect a mineral to be. When it is separated, a strange thing happens; the rock breaks down into fine, soft, soapy fibers .
Scientists do not know why the rock can be separated easily into threads,but they have found thousands of uses of this fireproof material, of the so-called “cloth of stone”.
60. Which title best expresses the main idea of this passage?
A. Asbestos mined in Canada B. Fireproof matter
C. A “wonder” mineral D. A new roofing material
61. Johns proved his ability as a salesman by_______.
A. going into roofing business
B. carrying asbestos from Italy
C. sending a trained scientist
D. showing the use of asbestos gloves
62. Which is the most important character of asbestos that the author wants to show us?
A. It is like thread. B. It feels soapy.
C. It burns easily. D. It is unusually heavy.
63. The author’s main purpose in writing this passage was to _______.
A. show the need for more scientists
B. compare asbestos with other minerals
C. increase the sales of asbestos
D. present facts about asbestos
“Clean your plate!” and “Be a member of the clean-plate club!” Just about every kid in the US heard this from a parent or grandparent. Often, it’s accompanied by an appeal: “Just think about those starving orphans in Africa.” Sure, we should be grateful for every bite of food. Unfortunately, many people in the US take too many bites. Instead of “cleaning the plate’, perhaps we should save some food for tomorrow.
According to news reports, US restaurants are partly to blame for the growing bellies(胃口,食欲). A waiter puts a plate of food in front of each customer, with two to four times the amount recommended by the government, according to a USA Today story. Americans traditionally associate (将……联系起来) quantity with value and most restaurants try to give them that. They prefer to have customers complain about too much food rather than too little.
Barbara Rolls, a nutrition professor at Pennsylvania State University, told USA Today that restaurant portion(一分,份额) sizes began (or grew) in the 1970s, the same time that the American waistline began to expand(扩大).
Health experts have tried to get many restaurants to serve smaller portions. Now, apparently, some customers are calling for this too. The restaurant industry trade magazine QSR reported last month that 57 percent of more than 4,000 people surveyed believe restaurants serve portions that are too large; 23 percent had no opinion; 20 percent disagreed. But a closer look at the survey indicates that many Americans who can’t afford fine dining still prefer large portions. Seventy percent of those earning at least $150,000 per year prefer smaller portions; but only 45 percent of those earning less than $25,000 want smaller.
It’s not that working-class Americans don’t want to eat healthily. It’s just that, “after long hours at low-paying jobs, getting less on their plate hardly seems like a good deal. They live from paycheck, happy to save a little money for next year’s Christmas presents.”Parents in the United States tend to ask their children _______.
| A．not to save food | B．to wash the dishes |
| C．not to eat too much | D．not to waste food |
Why do American restaurants serve large portions?
| A．Because Americans associate quantity with value. |
| B．Because Americans have big bellies. |
| C．Because Americans are good eaters. |
| D．Because Americans are greedy. |
Which of the following is NOT true of working-class Americans?
| A．They work long hours. |
| B．They live from paycheck to paycheck. |
| C．They don’t want to be healthy eaters. |
| D．They want to save money for their children. |
What happened in the 1970s?
| A．The US government recommended the amount of food a restaurant gave to a customer. |
| B．Health experts persuaded restaurants to serve smaller portions. |
| C．The United Stated produced more grain than needed. |
| D．The American waistline started to expand. |
What does the survey indicate(表明,显示)?
| A．Many poor Americans want large portions. |
| B．Twenty percent of the Americans want smaller portions. |
| C．Fifty seven percent of the Americans earn $150,000 per year. |
| D．Twenty three percent of the Americans earn less than $25,000 per year. |
If English means endless new words, difficult grammar and sometimes strange pronunciation, you are wrong. Haven’t you noticed that you have become smarter since you started to learn a language?
According to a new study by a British university, learning a second language can lead to an increase in your brain power. Researchers found that learning other languages changes grey matter(（中枢神经系统的）灰白质). This is the area of the brain which processes(加工,处理) information. It is similar to the way that exercise builds muscles.
The study also found the effect is greater when the younger people learn a second language.
A team led by Dr Andrea Mechelli, from University College London, took a group of Britons who only spoke English. They were compared with a group of “early bilinguals ” who had learnt a second language before the age of five, as well as a number of later learners.
Scans showed that grey matter density(密度) in the brain was greater in bilinguals than in people without a second language. But the longer a person waited before mastering a new language, the smaller the difference.
“Our findings suggest that the structure of the brain is changed by the experience of learning a second language,” said the scientists.
It means that the change itself increases the ability to learn.
Professor Dylan Vaughan Jones of the University of Wales has researched the link between bilingualism and maths skills. “Having two languages gives you two windows on the world and makes the brain more flexible,” he said. “You are actually going beyond language and have a better understanding of different ideas.”
The findings were matched in a study of native Italian speakers who had learned English as a second language between the ages of 2 and 34. Reading, writing, and comprehension were all tested. The results showed that the younger they started to learn, the better. “Studying a language means you get an entrance to another world,” explained the scientists.The main subject talked about in this passage is ________.
| A．science on learning a second language |
| B．language learning and the increase in one’s brain power. |
| C．man’s ability of learning a second language |
| D．language learning and the study of maths |
In the second paragraph, the writer mentions exercise in order to _____.
| A．say language is also a kind of physical labour |
| B．prove that one needs more practice when he or she is learning a language |
| C．make people believe language learning helps grey matter work well |
| D．to show the importance of using the language when you learn it. |
What change can we get during the experience of learning a second language?
| A．The increase of the ability to learn. |
| B．The development of muscles. |
| C．The improvement of strange pronunciation. |
| D．A worse understanding of different ideas. |
We may know from the scientific findings that _______.
| A．there is no difference between a later second language learner and one who doesn’t know a second language |
| B．the experience of learning a second language has a bad effect on people’s brain |
| C．the ability of learning a second language is changing all the time |
| D．the earlier you start to learn a second language, the higher the grey matter density is |
In the last two paragraphs, the author wants to tell us that ______.
| A．learning a second language is the same as studying maths |
| B．Italian is the best choice for you as a second language |
| C．early learning of a second language helps you a great deal in studying other subjects |
| D．you’d better start to learn a second language between 2 and 34 |
Sports
All over the world people enjoy sports. Sports help to keep people healthy, happy and help them to live longer.
Sports change with the season. People play different games in winter and summer. Games and sports often grow out of people’s work and everyday activities. The Arabs use horses or camels in much of their everyday life; they use them in their sports, too.
Some sports are so interesting that people everywhere go in for them. Football, for example, has spread around the world. Swimming is popular in all countries near the sea or in those with many rivers.
Some sports or games go back to thousands of years, like running or jumping. Chinese boxing, for example, has a very long history. But basketball and volleyball are rather new. Both of them are just about a hundred years old. People are inventing new sports or games all the time.
People from different countries may not be able to understand each other, but after a game they often become good friends. Sports help to train a person’s character. One learns to fight hard but fight fair, to win without pride and to lose with grace.From the passage we know that ______.
| A．people began to play sports about one hundred years ago |
| B．about 100 years ago people ran or jumped when they played |
| C．basketball has a longer history than volleyball |
| D．not all the games have a long history. |
According to this passage, which of the following is NOT true?
| A．Sports help to train a person’s character. |
| B．People from different countries may not be able to understand each other before a game. |
| C．People swim only because there are a lot of rivers in their country. |
| D．Sports and games can develop the friendship between people all over the world. |
The writer did NOT tell us in this passage that ______.
| A．basketball was invented in America |
| B．sports change with the season |
| C．games and sports often grow out of people’s work and everyday activities |
| D．football is played all over the world |
The writer writes about the Arab’s using camels in their sports to show that _____.
| A．it is a unique sport |
| B．it has a long history |
| C．sports help to train one’s character |
| D．some sports are closely related to people’s work and daily activities |
The underlined word “grace” in the last paragraph probably means “________” in Chinese.
| A．成功 | B．风度 | C．公平 | D．梦想 |
Statistics show that every year, about 4 million students fail to pass the national college entrance exam. However, as China recently publicized students’ scores for this year’s college entrance exam, it seems that schools, parents and society at large give more attention to students who succeed in the exam, few people care about those who fail, the China Education Daily reported.
Some students, after failing the exam, cannot get a timely support from their parents or teachers and begin to display some serious mental problems. How to help these students to get rid of the shadow on their mind has become a problem to be taken seriously.
First, students’ friends, parents and relatives should offer their sympathy and care to them in order to comfort their heart. At this time, parents should not blame students for their failure, otherwise they might bear more psychological (心理的) burden.
Secondly, teachers and the whole society should also offer more support to students who fail the exam.
Lastly, students themselves should also try to overcome their depressions and adjust their mood.
The newspaper urges the general public to offer their care, trust and support to these students. It also expects that students can face their failure bravely and try to start a new life happily.What can we infer from the passage?
| A．After the college entrance exam, more attention is paid to students who failed the exam. |
| B．Students who failed the college entrance exam may suffer from some mental problems. |
| C．People have done a lot to help students who failed the college entrance exam. |
| D．Students failing the college entrance exam know how to remove the shadow on their mind. |
What’s the writer’s attitude towards the students who failed the college entrance examination?
| A．He looks down upon them. |
| B．He expresses concern for them. |
| C．He doubts about their learning ability. |
| D．He feels positive about their optimism. |
What would do harm to students who failed the college entrance examination?
| A．Friends, parents and relatives show more concern for them. |
| B．Teachers and the whole society offer more support to them. |
| C．They themselves get over their depression and adopt an optimistic attitude. |
| D．Parents put the blame on them for their failure. |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Give more attention to students who failed the college entrance exam |
| B．Adjust your mood and start a new life happily |
| C．Who is to blame for their failing the college entrance exam? |
| D．How to get rid of the shadow of failing the college entrance exam |
Genetically modified (转基因 ) foods have become a focus point of agriculture throughout the news today. This has an effect on many different aspects of the agriculture world. From the seed dealer, to the farmer that buys the seed, to the workers that the farmer sells to; all are affected by the new technologies that are involved in this part of production agriculture.
Genetically modified foods have come under heavy fire lately. There are some countries that are against buying these types of foods. They are being tested for safety by the best scientific experts in Europe, the US and the rest of the world. They are not for sale until they have gone through this complete safety process. Since they are a new product, and any slight problem with them could affect a whole country, these tests are very necessary.
These safety tests are carried out because of the new rules that were made with the Novel Foods Regulation. Begun in May of 1997, the Novel Foods Regulation set up an EU-wide pre-market system for all novel foods. A novel food is described as one that has not been eaten by EU consumers widely in the past. By setting up this program the EU hopes to keep its consumers safe from any possible side effects of any new food products.
There are a variety of ways in which genetic modification has helped food producers. They can improve the nutritional (营养的) value or the storage conditions of the food. Today there are only two genetically modified foods that have been allowed for use, these are GM soybean and GM maize.
Despite any safety checks, many people are still cautious about eating genetically modified foods. By providing these people with the necessary information, we can allow them to make decisions about these foods.What do we know about the novel food?
| A．It’s very popular in EU. |
| B．It’s bad for people’s health. |
| C．It’s a new kind of food. |
| D．Its story has been published. |
Genetically foods are allowed to be sold if they are.
| A．tested for safety | B．of high quality |
| C．more nutritional | D．grown in Europe |
From paragraph 2, we can learn that genetically modified foods .
| A．do no harm to people |
| B．have caused some problems |
| C．are well received after being tested |
| D．are criticized and attacked by many people |
What’s the writer’s attitude towards genetically modified foods?
| A．We should warn people that they are too dangerous to be eaten. |
| B．We should give people information about them so that they can decide whether to buy them |
| C．We should encourage people to eat them because they are more nutritional. |
| D．We should tell people that they are trying to fool the farmers. |