Not all memories are sweet. Some people spend all their lives trying to forget bad experiences. Violence and traffic accidents can leave people with terrible physical and emotional scars. Often they relive (重新体验) these experiences in nightmares.
Now American researchers think they are close to developing a pill, which will help people forget bad memories. The pill is designed to be taken immediately after a frightening experience. They hope it might reduce, or possibly erase (抹去), the effect of painful memories.
In November, experts tested a drug on people in the US and France. The drug stops the body releasing chemicals that fix memories in the brain. So far the research has suggested that only the emotional effects of memories may be reduced, not that the memories are erased.
The research has caused a great deal of argument. Some think it is a bad idea, while others support it. Supporters say it could lead to pills that prevent or treat soldiers’ troubling memories after war.
They say that there are many people who suffer from terrible memories.“Some memories can ruin people’s lives. They come back to you when you don’t want to have them in a daydream or nightmare. They usually come with very painful emotions,”said Roger Pitman, a professor of psychiatry (精神病学) at Harvard Medical School.“This could relieve a lot of that suffering.”
But those who are against the research say that changing memories is very dangerous because memories give us our identity (特质). They also help us all avoid the mistakes of the past. “All of us can think of bad events in our lives that were horrible at the time but make us who we are. I'm not sure we'd want to wipe those memories out,” said Rebecca Dresser, a medical ethicist (伦理学家).
Some people fear that although the drug would first be used in only very serious cases, it would become more and more common. “People always have the ability to misuse science,”said Joseph LeDoux, a New York University memory researcher. “All we want to do is help people have better control of memories.”
57. What’s the main idea of the text?
A. People often suffer from bad memories.
B. American researchers are trying to develop a pill.
C. Forget bad memories, and be happy.
D. The research has caused a heated argument.
58. The underlined word “it” in paragraph 4 refers to “_____”.
A. the new drug B. the research into the drug
C. the memory D. the chemical in the drug
59. Which of the following is not the opinion of the supporters?
A. The pill can erase all the memories in the past.
B. Some memories can ruin people’s life. The pill can relieve emotional suffering.
C. The pill can also help many people who suffer from terrible memories.
D. The pill can prevent or treat troubling memories in soldiers after war.
60. Which of the following is not the opinion of the opponents (反对者)?
A. Our memories give us our identity.
B. The memories help humanity avoid mistakes of the past.
C. The drug should be used in only very serious cases.
D. People may not be sure whether they want to wipe the memories out.
When the musical sound rings you, you immediately reach for your pocket ready to have a chat. But although you probably use it all the time, have you ever stopped to think about the manners related to talking on the phone? If you haven’t, here are some tips to guide you.
●Always give the person you are calling plenty of time to get to the phone before you hang up. If the person who answers is not the one you want，give your name and ask if you may speak to the person you want.
●Think about the time you call people. Try not to call too early in the morning(before about 9:00)or too late at night(after about 9:30). Also try not to call at mealtimes.
●If you go by plane to visit your relatives at Christmas, remember to follow airline instructions. Cell phones must be turned off as soon as the plane doors are closed and remain so until the doors open again on arrival.
●When face to face with someone, do not talk on the phone. It is rude to be on the phone when a waiter is trying to take your order in a restaurant, or when you are returning the shoes you have just been trying on in a shop. Finish any face-to-face business before taking a call. Continuing to use the phone while nodding to the person in front of you is quite impolite.
●When in a restaurant with your friends，keep phone conversations short. Make a call only if it is important. Practise speaking in a low voice. If no one looks your way, you’ve got it.
●If you go to a theatre, a concert or a cinema, consider the other people around you. Check that your phone is “off” before you enter. If you are expecting a very important call, put your phone on “vibrate”(振动)and run for the exit as soon as you feel it. If you forget both “off” and “vibrate” and your phone rings, don’t answer it, turn it off straight away.Which is true according to the passage above?
| A．You may call people anytime as you like. |
| B．You may talk loudly on the phone at dinner in the restaurant. |
| C．You may keep on talking on the phone while greeting somebody. |
| D．You may call people as soon as you get on the plane，but not after the doors are closed. |
We may infer from these tips that__________.
| A．some people don’t pay much attention to manners while making cell phone calls |
| B．you may ask to leave a message unless the person you are calling is in |
| C．calling people too early or too late in the morning is not polite |
| D．almost everyone has got a cell phone |
What does the underlined sentence “…you’ve got it” mean in the passage?
| A．You have succeeded in making a call without disturbing others. | |
| B．You have made the phone call brief and interesting. | |
| C．You’ve got the message you are waiting for. | D．You have made a phone call secretly． |
From the tips given above, we can decide the writer is sure to share the opinion that______.
| A．1ike the saying “clothes make a man”, nowadays cell phones make a man | |
| B．as the old saying goes, money talks; nowadays cell phones talk | |
| C．the way we use the cell phones tells what we are like | D．we are what cell phones we use |
Like a growing number of young women in Vietnam’s northern part city of Haiphong, Pham Thi Hue was infected with HIV by her husband, one of the town’s many drug users. But instead of being shamed into silence, as Vietnamese with HIV and AIDS are, the 25-year-old tailor and mother of one went public, appearing on television and at conferences. Her business suffered and her neighbors insulted (辱骂)her, but Hue has now become the public face of Mothers and Wives, an HIV/ AIDS support group established in Haiphong by a Norwegian nongovernmental organization and her neighborhood’s People’s Committee. Last year, she founded a smaller group named after a local flower. People who need advice on treatment or help preparing bodies for burial can dial a hot line and get assistance from able and sympathetic(同情的)HIV victims. “We gather to support each other,” Hue says. “When we are sick, what we need most is encouragement and comfort from people who understand our situation and are willing to share our happiness, as well as our sadness.”
On a hot and damp night last month, Hue welcomed into her small home a very thin woman, also a tailor, who was HIV positive. The woman tearfully told Hue that she had not told anyone about her condition, fearing that she would lose customers and that her daughter would be insulted at school. Hue became the wise elder, offering medical and personal advice. What did Pham Thi Hue do after she was infected with HIV?
| A．She kept silent | B．She worked as usual |
| C．She stayed at home and cried every day. | D．She went public and gave help to others. |
It can be inferred from the passage that the group Pham Thi Hue founded is made up of____.
| A．drug users | B．HIV victims | C．all kinds of patients | D．poor people |
From the passage we can learn that Pham Thi Hue is a woman who is_______.
| A．weak and kind | B．foolish and idle | C．brave and helpful | D．cautious and energetic |
GUATEMALA CITY （Reuters） – A fish that lives in mangrove swamps(红树沼泽) across the Americas can live out of water for months at a time, similar to how animals adapted(适应) to land millions of years ago, a new study shows.
The Magrove Rivulus, a type of small killifish, lives in small pools of water in a certain type of empty nut or even old beer cans in the mangrove swamps of Belize, the United States and Brazil. When their living place dries up, they live on the land in logs(圆木), said Scott Taylor, a researcher at the Brevard Endangered Lands Program in Florida.
The fish, whose scientific name
is Rivulus marmoratus, can grow as large as three inches. They group together in logs and breathe air through their skin until they can find water again.
The new scientific discovery came after a trip to Belize.
“We kicked over a log and the fish just came crowding out,” Taylor told Reuters in neighboring Guatgemala by telephone. He said he will make his study on the fish known to the public in an American magazine early next year.
In lab tests, Taylor said he found the fish can live up to 66 days out of water without eating.
Some other fish can live out of water for a short period of time. The walking catfish found in Southeast Asia can stay on land for hours at time, while lungfish found in Australia, Africa and South America can live out of water, but only in an inactive state. But no other known fish can be out of water as long as the Mangrove Rivulus and remain active, according to Patricia Wright, a biologist at Canada’s University of Guelph.
Further studies of the fish may tell how animals changed over time.
“These animals live in conditions similar to those that existed millions of years ago, when animals began making the transition(过渡) from water onto land,” Wright said.
1. The Mangrove Rivulus is a type of fish that _______.
A. likes eating nuts
B. prefers living in dry places
C. is the longest living fish on earth
D. can stay alive for two months out of water
2. Who will write up a report on Mangrove Rivulus?
A. Patricia Wright.
B. Scott Taylor.
C. Scientists from Belize.
D. Researchers in Guatemala.
3. According to the text, lungfish can ________.
A. breathe through its skin
B. move freely on dry land
C. remain alive out of water
D. be as active on land as in water
4. What can we say about the discovery of Mangrove Rivulus?
A. It was made quite by accident.
B. It was helped by Patricia Wright.
C. It was based on a lab test of sea life.
D. It was supported by an American magazine.
Most young people enjoy some form of physical activity. It may be walking, cycling or swimming, winter skating or skiing in winter. It may be a game of some kind, football, hockey, golf or tennis. It may be mountaineering（爬山）.
Those who have a passion（热情）for climbing high and difficult mountains are often looked upon with astonishment. Why are men and women willing to suffer cold and hardship, and to take risks on high mountains? This astonishment is caused probably by the difference between mountaineering and other forms of activity to which men give their leisure.
Mountaineering is a sport and not a game. There are no man-made rules, as there are for such games as golf and football. There are, of course, rules of a different thing that it would be dangerous to ignore（忽视），but it is this freedom from man-made rules that makes mountaineering attractive to many people. Those who climb mountains are free to use their own methods.
If we compare mountaineering and other more familiar sports, we might think that one big difference is that mountaineering is not a “team game”. We should be mistaken in this. There are, it is true, no“matches”between“teams”of climbers, but when climbers are on a rock face linked by a rope on which their lives may depend, there is obviously teamwork.
The mountain climber knows that he may have to fight forces that are stronger and more powerful than men. He has to fight the forces of nature. His sport requires high mental and physical qualities
A mountain climber continues to improve in skill year after year. A skier is probably past his best by the age of thirty, and most international tennis champions are in their early twenties. But it is not unusual for a man of fifty or sixty to climb the highest mountains in the Alps. They may take more time than younger men, but they probably climb with more skill and less waste of efforts and they certainly experience equal enjoyment.Mountaineering involves.
| A．cold | B．hardship | C．physical risk | D．all of the above |
The difference between a sport and a game has something to do with the kind of .
| A．activity | B．rules | C．uniform | D．participants |
Mountaineering can be called a team sport because.
| A．it is an Olympic event |
| B．teams compete against each other |
| C．mountaineers depend on each other while climbing |
| D．there are 5 climbers on each team. |
Which is the best title for the passage?
A．Mountaineering Is Different from Golf and Football k  |
| B．Mountaineering Is More Attractive than Other Sports |
| C．Mountaineering |
| D．Mountain Climbers |
What makes a person a scientist? Does he have ways or tools of learning that are different from those of others? The answer is “no”. It is not the tools a scientist uses but how he uses these tools that makes him a scientist. You will probably agree that knowing how to use a power is important to a carpenter. You will probably agree, too, that knowing how to investigate(调查),how to discover information, is important to everyone. The scientist, however, goes one step further, he must be sure that he has a reasonable answer to his questions and that his answer can be confirmed by other persons. He also works to fit the answers he gets to many questions into a large set of ideas about how the world works.
The scientist’s knowledge must be exact. There is no room for half right or right just half the time. He must be as nearly right as the conditions permit. What works under one set of conditions at one time must work under the same conditions at other times. If the conditions are different, any changes the scientist observes in a demonstration must be explained by the changes in the conditions. This is one reason that investigations are important in science. Albert Einstein, who developed the theory of relativity, arrived at this theory through mathematics. The accuracy of his mathematics was later tested through investigations. Einstein’s ideas were shown to be correct. A scientist uses many tools for measurements. Then the measurements are used to make mathematical calculations that may test his investigations.What makes a scientist according to the passage?
| A．The tools he uses. | B．His ways of learning. |
| C．The way he uses his tools. | D．The various tools he use |
“The scientist, however, goes one step further,” the author says this to show。
| A．the importance of information |
| B．the importance of thinking |
| C．the difference between scientists and ordinary people |
| D．the difference between carpenters and people with other jobs. |
A sound scientific theory should be one that.
| A．does not only work under one set of conditions at one time, but also works under the same conditions at other times |
| B．leaves no room for improvement |
| C．does not allow any change even under different conditions |
| D．can be used for many purposes |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Scientists are different from ordinary people. |
| B．The theory of relativity. |
| C．Exactness is the core（核心）of science. |
| D．Exactness and way of using tools are the keys to the making of a scientist. |