A 69-year-old grandmother with no teeth of her own has eventually won a long legal battle to stop a Scottish regional council(政务委员会)adding fluoride(氟化物)chemical to the public water supply.
In a case which has already cost the taxpayer £1,000,000, the judge ruled that it was beyond the powers of the local authority to add the chemical to the water in order to reduce tooth decay.
At her home last night Mrs Catherine fluoride to public drinking water made it into some kind of dirty soup. “Where would it stop?” she asked. “They might come up with the idea of putting drugs into the water to keep the unemployed quiet.” It was a horrible poison, she said, that could have caused al kinds of diseases, including cancer.
The judge, however, concluded that there was no evidence to suggest that the inclusion of fluoride in the water supply would have had a negative effect on pulpier health. Although the chemical might serve as an efficient and convenient means of achieving a beneficial effect on the dental health of consumers generally, he said, and its use was greatly favored by the dental profession, he could also understand why some members of the public, Mrs McColl in particular, might be passionately opposed to the action of the Water Authority in assuming the right to improve public well-being without consulting t77he public in the first case. The Authority’s legal duty to provide “wholesome” water for public consumption which was both safe and pleasant to drink ,did not, he said, extend to their right to safeguard public health by chemical means.
72.Mrs McColll felt so strongly about the fluoride issue that she eventually .
A.took the local council to court
B.had a physical fight with the judge
C.urged the authority to apologize
D.spent much money removing the chemical
73.According to what the judge said in the passage, adding fluoride to the water .
A.wasn’t proved to be harmful
B.was the duty of the local authority
C.was strongly poised by dentists
D.was surely beneficial to the public
74.Form the passage we learn that people like Mrs McColl are more concerned about .
A.the improvement of their personal health
B.the problem of unemployment in their community
C.the chemicals to be used for the improvement of water quality
D.their right to be informed of the authorities’ decisions
LONDON Thursday July 26(Reuters)—Eddy missed his girlfriend Anna so much he flew back to Britain from Australia to propose(求婚) to her. The problem is she did the same in the opposite direction.
He and Anna even managed to miss each other when they sat in the same airport waiting room in Singapore at the same time to wait for connecting flights.
Anna, heartbroken, when she arrived at Eddy’s Sydney flat to find he had flown to London, told The Times, “It was as though someone was playing a cruel joke on us.“
“He is the most romantic(浪漫的) person I have ever known. I think our problem is that we are both quite impulsive(冲动的) people. We are always trying to surprise each other.”
After an 11,000-mile flight across the globe, she was greeted by Eddy’s astonished roommate asking what she was doing there.
Eddy, a 27-year-old engineer, had taken a year off to travel round Australia. But he was missing Anna, a 26-year-old secretary, so much he got a job on a Sydney building site(工地) and started saving for a surprise.
He then flew home to Britain and went to her flat armed with an engagement(订婚) ring, wine and flowers.
“I really missed Anna and I’d been thinking about her all the time. I was so excited when she phoned me from Australia,” he said.
Eddy then asked Anna to marry him on the phone. “I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry but I accepted,” she said.
Anna was given a tour of Sydney by Eddy’s friends before going back home. Eddy had to stay in Britain for two weeks because he could not change his ticket. What does the last sentence of the first paragraph tell us?
A.Anna flew to Britain from Australia to marry him. |
B.Anna flew to Australia from Britain to marry him. |
C.Anna flew to Britain from Australia to propose to him. |
D.Anna flew to Australia from Britain to propose to him. |
The underlined word “miss” in Paragraph 2 most probably means_______.
A.escape from | B.fail to understand |
C.fail to meet | D.long to see |
Eddy got a job on a Sydney building site because he________.
A.wanted to travel round Australia |
B.needed money to pay his daily cost |
C.was an engineer at this building site |
D.hoped to make money from this job |
Which of the following is TRUE about Eddy and Anna according to the text?
A.Eddy proposed to Anna on the phone and Anna accepted. |
B.Anna stayed in Australia waiting for Eddy’s arrival. |
C.Anna had a good time touring Sydney with Eddy. |
D.Eddy met Anna in the airport waiting room by chance. |
Many years ago, when I was fresh out of school and working in Denver, I was driving to my parents’ home in Missouri for Christmas. I stopped at a gas station(加油站)about 50 miles from Oklahoma City, where I was planning to stop and visit a friend. While I was standing in line at the cash register(收款台), I said hello to an older couple who were also paying for gas.
I took off, but had gone only a few miles when black smoke poured from the back of my car. I stopped and wondered what I should do. A car pulled up behind me. It was the couple I had spoken to at the gas station. They said they would take me to my friend’s. We chatted on the way into the city, and when I got out of the car, the husband gave me his business card.
I wrote him and his wife a thank-you note for helping me. Soon afterward, I received a Christmas present from them. Their note that came with it said that helping me had made their holidays meaningful.
Years later, I drove to a meeting in a nearby town in the morning. In late afternoon I returned to my car and found that I’d left the lights on all day, and the battery(电池)was dead. Then I noticed that the Friendly Ford dealership - a shop selling cars - was right next door. I walked over and found two salesmen in the showroom.
“Just how friendly is Friendly Ford?” I asked and explained my trouble. They quickly drove a pickup truck to my car and started it. They would accept no payment, so when I got home, I wrote them a note to say thanks. I received a letter back from one of the salesmen. No one had ever taken the time to write him and say thank you, and it meant a lot, he said.
“Thank you” - two powerful words. They’re easy to say and mean so much.The words “took off” underlined in Paragraph 2 mean “______”.
A.turned off | B.moved off | C.put up | D.set up |
What happened when the author found smoke coming out of his car?
A.He had it pulled back to the gas station. |
B.The couple sent him a business card. |
C.The couple offered to help him. |
D.He called his friend for help. |
The battery of the author’s car was dead because_______.
A.something went wrong with the lights |
B.the meeting lasted a whole day |
C.he forgot to turn off the lights |
D.he drove too long a distance |
By telling his own experiences, the author tries to show______.
A.how to write a thank-you letter |
B.how to deal with car problems |
C.the kind-heartedness of older people |
D.the importance of expressing thanks |
Some people succeed in unbelievable ways.
Roussel was orphaned at the age of eight and went to live with his grandfather. He built on the music he had learned from his mother, entertaining himself by reading through the family music collection and playing his favorite songs on the piano.
Three years later, Roussel’s grandfather died, and his aunt adopted him. Her husband arranged for young Albert to take regular piano lessons. Summer vacations at a Belgian seaside resort added a second love to his life -- the sea. He studied to be a naval cadet (海军学员), but still made time to study music.
In the French Navy, while he served on a warship based at Cherbourg, he and two friends found the time to play the music of Beethoven and other composes (作曲家). Roussel also began composing. At the Church of the Trinity in Cherbourg on Christmas Day 1892, he had his first performance as a composer.
That success encouraged Roussel to write a wedding march, and one of his fellow offices offered to show it to a well-known conductor (指挥家), Edouard Colonne. When Roussel’s friend returned with the manuscript (手稿), he reported that Colonne had advised Roussel to give up his naval career and devote his life to music.
Not long afterwards, at the age of 25, Roussel did just that. He applied characters that he had developed in the navy to his composing and became a major force in twentieth century French music. As for Eduoard Colonne’s inspiring advice that Roussel devote his life to music, Roussel's navy friend later admitted that he had made it up and that he had never even shown Roussel's manuscript to the conductor.Which of the following shows the right order of the story?
a. Roussel gave up his naval career.
b. Roussel was adopted by his aunt.
c. Roussel read through the family music collection.
d. Roussel had his first performance as a composer in Cherbourg.
A.c, b, d, a | B.b. c, d, a | C.b, c, a. d | D.c, b, a, d |
What ______ did played the most important part in Roussel's final success.
A.his mother | B.the husband of his aunt |
C.his navy friend | D.Edouard Colonne |
We can infer from the article that______.
A.Roussel's aunt adopted him after his grandfather died. |
B.Roussel read through the family music collection in his grandfather's. |
C.Colonne advised Roussel to give up his naval career and devote his life to music. |
D.If Roussel hadn't joined the navy, he might not have achieved so much. |
Which of the following is the best title of the passage?
A.A clever musician | B.A white lie |
C.A helpful conductor | D.A great manuscript |
A smart phone (智能手机) is a mobile phone built on a mobile operating system, with more advanced computing abilities than a common phone. The first smart phones enabled the users to send and receive emails. Later models added the function of portable media players, pocket video cameras, and GPS navigation (导航) units to form one multi-use device. Many modem smart phones also include touch screens and web browsers (浏览器) that display web pages.
A recent report says we spend an average of two hours and 40 minutes each day looking at a smart phone. That doesn’t mean making calls, but playing phone games and browsing the Web.
Nowadays we always find people checking emails in a restaurant, taking a picture of the food when it arrives, or checking a message during a conversation instead of traditional communication. It’s no secret that our lives are being affected by our smart phones obsession.
However, this phenomenon has never been presented so vividly as in the short YouTube film I Forgot My Phone. Despite only being online for a few days, it's already been viewed more than 10.5 million times. Whether it will be screened in the cinema remains to be seen.
Ironically, YouTube’s data show that the site gets a billion views per day from mobile devices, so a lot of those people watched it on their phones.
The short film, written by and starring actress Charlene Deguzman, shows groups of people in various social situations, the majority of whom are absorbed in their phones instead of the world around them. To a certain extent, we all do it.People prefer a smart phone to a common one, because the latter only can help us ______.
A.check emails | B.send messages | C.find the destination | D.watch a video |
The underlined word “obsession” in the third paragraph most probably means “______”.
A.devotion | B.contribution | C.addiction | D.emotion |
Which of the following is right?
A.People spend as average of two hours and 40 minutes each day using smart phones. |
B.The film hasn’t been put on in the cinema. |
C.The film is written by an actor named Charlene Deguzman. |
D.The film has already been viewed more than 105 million times in the first few days. |
When the writer mentions the number of people watching the film from mobile devices in the fifth paragraph, he mainly feels ______.
A.encouraged | B.depressed | C.proud | D.satisfied |
A new study has found evidence of aggressive (攻击性的) behavior in children who drink four or more servings of soft drinks every day. Information for the study came from the mothers of 3,000 5-year-olds. Researchers asked the women to keep a record of how many servings of soft drinks their children drank over a two-month period. They were also asked to complete a checklist of their children’s behavior.
The researchers have found that 43 percent of the children drink at least one daily serving of soda, and 4 percent of the youngsters have even four or more sodas to drink every day.
Shakira Suglia, a famous expert, says they’ve found that children who drink the most soda are more than twice as likely as those who drink no soda to show signs of aggression.
“For the children who consume four or more soft drinks per day, we see more withdrawn behaviors, which make them hard to get along well with others.”
The aggressive behaviors include destroying possessions belonging to others, taking part in fights and physically attacking people.
The researchers have determined the link after considering factors like the child’s age and sex. They have also considered other possible influence, such as whether the boys and girls are eating sweets or giving fruit drinks on a normal day. In addition, the researchers have examined parenting styles and other social conditions that may be taking place in the home.
Researches are trying to find why young children who drink a lot of soda have behavior problems. An ingredient often found in soft drinks is caffeine, which helps to make people feel energetic. Doctor Suglia suggests that caffeine could cause the 5-year-olds to be more aggressive. Earlier studies of adults have found the highest sugar levels in those who carry weapons (武器) and show signs of negative social behavior.What section of a newspaper is the passage probably taken from?
A.Scientific Technology | B.Science Fictions | C.Social News | D.Health Report |
The underlined word “withdrawn” in paragraph 4 can probably be replaced by the word ______.
A.backward | B.unsocial | C.generous | D.friendly |
Researchers studied the following aspects of the children except ______.
A.age | B.sex | C.games | D.parents |
According to the research, which of the following is right?
A.Mothers were asked to keep a record of how many servings of soft drinks their children drank over a three-month period. |
B.4 percent of the youngsters have even four or fewer sodas to drink every day. |
C.Children who drink no soda show fewer aggressive behaviors. |
D.Children with the highest sugar levels tend to carry weapons and show signs of negative social behavior. |
After a further study on ingredients in soda, Shakira Suglia implies that the direct cause of the aggressive behaviors may be ______.
A.soft drinks | B.attention problems | C.caffeine | D.social conditions |