B
As I was reading a recent story in Slate on 20-somethings complaining about how the economy was ruining their life plans, I couldn’t help but think the 20-somethings sounded like a bunch of spoiled children who grew up expecting everything to be easy for them. As a 20-something myself, I certainly share their disappointment: my husband and I probably won’t be able to buy a house until we’re in our 40s, and we too are burdened by student loans (贷款). But why should it be any different? Being young persons in America, shouldn’t they take up all of the challenges and opportunities that this country offers?
Consider some of these views shared in the Slate story: Jennifer, 29, owner of a two-bedroom apartment with her husband, worries that she won’t be able to have children for at least a decade because they can’t afford to buy a house yet.
I read that, and I thought, what planet is she living on where you need to own a house in order to have kids? Has she ever visited a developing country, or even downtown areas in this one? Home ownership is a luxury (奢华), not a fertility requirement.
A 26-year-old in the story despairs that he can’t afford to get a Ph.D. in literature. Well, that sounds a bit like expressing disappointment that no one will pay you to write poetry on the beach in Thailand for five years.
Yes, it’s sad that these young people feel so lost. But I think the problem is their extremely high expectations, not economic reality. Beth Kobliner, author of Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties, says that she thinks people’s expectations are slowly adjusting, but today’s 20-somethings grew up at a time when everyone’s wealth appeared to be expanding. Their parents probably saw their home values rise along with their investments. “So you have people who have grown up in an environment where people had great expectations of what living well means,” says Kobliner.
This recession (衰退) will certainly play a role in forcing those expectations into more realistic group. In the meantime, it seems a lot better for our mental health to focus on being grateful --- for our one-bedroom apartments, for living in modern cities, or perhaps just for being able to eat three meals a day --- than on longing for some kind of luxury life.
60. What makes the author think the 20-somethings sound like a bunch of spoiled children?
A. They expect everything to be easy for them.
B. They complain that the economy is spoiling their life plans.
C. They are reluctant to face all of the challenges.
D. They are burdened by student loans.
61. The underlined word “fertility” in Paragraph 3 probably means ______.
A. baby production B. pleasant C. baby comfort D. essential
62. What’s the author’s attitude towards the 20-somthings with high expectation in Paragraph 5?
A. Intolerant. B. Negative. C. Unbelieving. D. Understanding.
63. What is the best title for this passage?
A. How Young People Afford to Continue Their Study
B. Why Young People Can’t Afford to Buy a House
C. When Young People’s High Hopes Create Despair
D. What the 20-somethings’ High Expectations Are
World Health Day is celebrated on 7 April to mark the anniversary of the founding of WHO in 1948. Each year a theme is selected for World Health Day that highlights a priority area of public health concern in the world.
The theme for 2013 is high blood pressure. High blood pressure increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes(中风). If left uncontrolled, high blood pressure can also cause blindness, irregularities of the heartbeat and heart failure. The risk of developing these complications is higher in the presence of other risk factors such as diabetes(糖尿病). One in three adults worldwide has high blood pressure and this increases with age, from 1 in 10 people in their 20s and 30s to 5 in 10 people in their 50s. High blood pressure is most common in some low-income countries in Africa, with over 40% of adults in many African countries thought to be affected.
However, high blood pressure is both preventable and treatable. In some developed countries, prevention and treatment of it has brought about a reduction in deaths from heart disease. The risk of developing high blood pressure can be reduced by: reducing salt intake; eating a balanced diet; avoiding harmful use of alcohol; taking regular physical activity; keeping a healthy body weight; and avoiding tobacco use.
The final and most important goal of World Health Day 2013 is to reduce heart attacks and strokes, which includes as follows:
1.to raise awareness of the causes and consequences of high blood pressure;
2.to provide information on how to prevent high blood pressure
3.to encourage adults to check their blood pressure and to follow the advice of health-care professionals.High blood pressure can cause medical problems like_____.
| A．heart diseases, strokes and blindness | B．strokes, heart failure and diabetes |
| C．heart attacks, blindness and diabetes | D．heart troubles,strokes and cancers |
Who are most likely to be affected by high blood pressure?
| A．Those who are in their 20s | B．Those who are in their 30s |
| C．Those who are in their 40s | D．Those who are in their 50s |
Which of the following can NOT reduce the risk of developing high blood pressure?
| A．Less salt intake | B．Putting on weight | C．Regular exercise | D．No smoking |
The text is mainly about______.
| A．the theme for World Health Day 2013 | B．the causes of high blood pressure |
| C．the treatment of heart attacks and strokes | D．how to reduce the risk of high blood pressure |
How could we have thought so wrongly of as banana peel that it always hits the garbage? Utility of anything seems to be in the eyes of the beholder. The banana peel hasn't been an exception.
What most of us looked at as waste was converted to a thing of utility by Prithwis Mukhopadlyay, a 14-year-old prodigy. This Bengali boy, nourished in the US, Lake Junior High in Woodbury, Minnesota, has come up with an idea to convert banana peels to biogas.(生物气).
It's well known that almost any organic waste can be converted to biogas. But why biogas from banana peel has hit the news is because it produced five times as much biogas as manure(粪), a commonly used source for producing biogas, in the experiments Prithwis conducted.
He filled two airtight containers, one with manure and the other with banana peels. Then he mixed each content with water and connected them to empty jars via pipes to collect the gas produced. He placed a heater next to each jar and measured the gas collected for 60 days. His studies proved that banana peels produced five times more biogas than manure.
This project titled 'Comparison analysis: Eco-friendly source of energy for the future,' earned him a spot in Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge. This weekend, the young whiz is to showcase his research work along with 40 other finalists at Washington. "Initially, I thought of doing a project that would reduce global warming. Things changed after I visited a biogas plant in a village in India during my summer vacations. It was an amazing experience," Prithwis says.Why could Prithwis's finding receive the attention of the media?
| A．Because he is a prodigy. |
| B．Because he is of Bengali descent. |
| C．Because he used an extremely rare organic waste to produce biogas. |
| D．Because his research proved that banana peels can produce more biogas. |
Where did Prithwis derive his inspiration from?
A.Lake Junior High. B Discovery Channel.
C. India. D.His laboratory at home.This article probably appeared in a _________ magazine.
| A．gourmet | B．science | C．computer | D．fashion |
Baby girls make their way directly for dolls as soon as they can crawl, while boys will head for the toy cars, a study has shown. The findings, the first to show differences in very young babies, suggest there is a biological（生物学的） basis to their preferences（偏爱）.
Psychologists Dr. Brenda Todd from City University London carried out an experiment involving 90 infants(婴儿) aged nine months to 36 months. The babies were allowed to choose from seven toys. Some were stereotypically boys' toys - a car, a digger, a ball and a blue teddy. The rest were girls’ toys: a pink teddy, a doll and a cooking set. They were placed a meter away from the toys, and could pick whichever toy they liked. Their choice and the amount of time they spent playing with each toy were recorded.
Of the youngest children (nine to 14 months), girls spent significantly longer playing with the doll than boys, and boys spent much more time with the car and ball than the girls did. Among the two-and three-year-olds, girls spent 50 percent of the time playing with the doll while only two boys briefly touched it. The boys spent almost 90 percent of their time playing with cars, which the girls barely touched. There was no link between the parents’ view on which toys were more appropriate for boys or girls, and the children’s choice.
Dr Brenda Todd said: “Children of this age are already exposed to much socialization(社会化). Boys may be given ‘toys that go’ while girls get toys they can care for, which may help shape their preference. But these findings agree with the former idea that children show natural interests in particular kinds of toys. There could be a biological basis for their choices. Males through evolution have been adapted to prefer moving objects, probably through hunting instincts（本能）, while girls prefer warmer colours such as pink, the colour of a newborn baby.”Baby boys and girls have different toy preferences probably because__________.
| A．baby boys are much more active |
| B．baby girls like bright colours more |
| C．there is a natural difference between them |
| D．their parents treat them differently |
What can we infer from Paragraph 3?
| A．Nine-month-old baby boys don’t play with dolls at all. |
| B．Two-year-old baby girls sometimes play with cars and balls. |
| C．Parents should teach their babies to share each other’s toys. |
| D．The older the babies are, the more obvious their preference is. |
What conclusion did Dr. Brenda Todd draw from the results of the study?
| A．Babies’ preference isn’t affected by social surroundings. |
| B．Adults purposely（故意地） influence their babies preference. |
| C．Baby boys preferring to moving toys will be good at hunting. |
| D．Baby girls preferring warmer colors will be warm-hearted. |
We may read this article in a_________ section of a newspaper.
| A．health | B．science | C．education | D．entertainment |
“Our aim is to take our art to the world and make people understand what it is to move，” said David Belle, the cofounder of parkour (跑酷)．
Do you love running? It is a good exercise, yet many people find it boring. But what if making your morning jog a creative one？Like jumping from walls and over gaps and ground rolls? Just like the James Bond in the movie Casino Royale? Bond jumps down from a roof to a windowsill and then runs several blocks over obstacles on the way. It is just because of Bond's wonderful performances that the sport has become popular worldwide.
Yes, that's parkour, an extreme street sport aimed at moving from one point to another as quickly as possible, getting over all the obstacles in the path using only the abilities of the human body. Parkour is considered an extreme sport. As its participants dash around a city, they may jump over fences, run up walls and even move from rooftop to rooftop.
Parkour can be just as exciting and charming as it sounds，but its participants see parkour much more than that.
Overcoming all the obstacles on the course and in life is part of the philosophy (哲理) behind parkour. This is the same as life. You must determine your destination, go straight, and jump over all the barriers as if in parkour and never fall back from them in your life, to reach the destination successfully. A parkour lover said，“I love parkour because its philosophy has become my life, my way to do everything.”
Another philosophy we've learnt from parkour is freedom. It can be done by anyone, at any time, anywhere in the world. It is a kind of expression of trust in yourself that you earn energy and confidence.Parkour has become popular throughout the world because of ________.
| A．its cofounder, David Belle |
| B．the film, Casino Royale |
| C．its risks and tricks |
| D．the varieties of participants |
The underlined word “obstacles” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to “________”．
| A．streets | B．objects | C．barriers | D．roofs |
Which of the following is TRUE of parkour?
| A．It challenges human abilities. |
| B．It is a good but boring sport. |
| C．It needs special training. |
| D．It is a team sport. |
Which of the following is the philosophy of parkour?
| A．Sports and extremes. |
| B．Excitement and popularity. |
| C．Dreams and success. |
| D．Determination and freedom. |
There were a family of nine: the father, the mother, two boys and five girls. The father worked as a kitchen cleaner at a local school and the rest of the family did the same job-----clean people’s yards.
Then one day, the father lost his job at the school. He asked me if I could allow him to clean my yard.He and his family came to our house three times a week to clean the yard.
One Sunday morning, the father suffered a stroke and died in the hospital two days later. The poor family had lost their main bread-winner. The eldest boy had just completed high school and was getting ready to go to college.
For the following years, Andrew, my husband and I did all our best to help make sure the family got their education, and provided some daily needs, like clothes.. They didn’t have a toilet in their home! Imagine! A mother, a fifteen-year-old girl, and four smaller children without a toilet or bathroom!
The next morning, my friend Peter came to my house. Then I told him I wanted to do something for the poor family. As a helpful man, he promised to offer some money. So together we built a bathroom and a toilet for this family in three days.. And we felt happy, too.
| A．Clearly, they lived a poor life. |
| B．The others were just little kids |
| C．Realizing his situation, I offered him the job at once. |
| D．This brought a lot of smiles and happiness to the family. |
E.Every day we gave her some pocket money.
F.We visited the family once and one thing made us greatly surprised.
G.You would be surprised to know that this poor family lived in just two rooms!