Against the assumption that forest fires in Alaska, Canada and Siberia warm the climate, scientists have discovered that cooling may occur in areas where burnt trees allow more snow to mirror more sunlight into space.
This finding suggests that taking steps to prevent northern forest fires to limit the release of greenhouse gases may warm the climate in northern regions. Usually large fires destroyed forests in these areas over the past decade. Scientists predict that with climate warming, fires may occur more frequently over next several centuries as a result of a longer fire season. Sunlight taken in by the earth tends to cause warming, while heat mirrored back into space tends to cause cooling.
This is the first study to analyze all aspects of how northern fires influence climate. Earlier studies by other scientists have suggested that fire in northern regions speed up climate warming because greenhouse gases from burning trees and plants are released into the atmosphere and thus trap heat.
Scientists found that right after the fire, large amounts of greenhouse gases entered the atmosphere and caused warming. Ozone（臭氧）levels increased, and ash from the fire fell on far-off sea ice, darkening the surface and causing more radiation from the sun to be taken in. The following spring, however, the land within the area of the fire was brighter than before the fire, because fewer trees covered the ground. Snow on the ground mirrored more sunlight back into space, leading to cooling.
“We need to find out all possible ways to reduce the growth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.” Scientists tracked the change in amount of radiation entering and leaving the climate system as a result of the fire, and found a measurement closely related to the global air temperature. Typically, fire in northern regions occurs in the same area every 80 to 150 years. Scientists, however, found that when fire occurs more frequently, more radiation is lost from the earth and cooling results. Specifically, they determined when fire returns 20 years earlier than predicated, 0.5 watts per square meter of area burned are soaked up by the earth from greenhouse gases, but 0.9 watts per square meter will be sent back into space. The net effect is cooling. Watts are used to measure the rate at which energy is gained or lost from the earth.
1. According to the new findings, taking steps to prevent northern forest fires may _______.
A. result in a warming climate B. cause the forest fires to occur more frequently
C. lead to a longer fire season D. protect the forests and the environment there
2. Earlier studies about northern forest fires ________.
A. analyze 
all aspects of how northern fires influence climate
B. indicate that forest fires will pollute the atmosphere
C. suggest that people should take measures to protect environment
D. suggest that the fires will speed up climate warming
3. The underlined phrase “soaked up” in the last paragraph most probably means ________.
A. released B. absorbed C. created D. disturbed
4. From the text we can draw a conclusion that forest fires in Alaska, Canada and Siberia may ______.
A. warm the climate as the assumption goes
B. allow more snow to reflect more sunlight into space and thus cool the climate
C. destroy large areas of forests and pollute the far-off sea ice
D. help to gain more energy rather than release more energy
Some people worry about being the target of laughter. These people are frightened. They suffer from an emotional disorder called gelotophobia. That long name comes from the Greek language. The word Gelos means laugh, while photos means fear.
Victor Rubio is an expert on human behavior at the Autonomous University of Madrid. He says people laugh at others for many different reasons. He says being laughed at causes a fear response in the victim. That fear leads the victim to avoid social situations. Sadly, gelotophobia limits the way they lead their lives.
Victor Rubio was among researchers in a huge international study about laughter. The researchers wanted to understand the difference between normal shyness and true gelotophobia. Another goal was to measure the fear of being laughed at within different cultures.
A team from the University of Zurich led ninety-three researchers from many countries in search of answers.
The researchers surveyed more than twenty-two thousand people. They used questions provided in forty-two languages. Their findings were reported in the scientific publication Humor.
Some of the people questioned said they felt unsure of themselves in social situations. But they hid their feelings. Others said they avoided social situations where they had been laughed at before. People also admitted to differing levels of fear that they themselves were the targets of other people’s laughter. The researchers measured and compared all these reactions.
Fear of being laughed at, being made fun of, is a common emotion. But the researchers learned that these feelings differed from nation to nation.
For example, the study found that people in Turkmenistan and Cambodia are likely to hide insecure (不安) feelings when they are around others’ laughter. But people in Iraq, Egypt and Jordan who feel they have been victims before may avoid such situations.
People in Finland were the least likely to believe that people laughing in their presence were making fun of them. Only eight and a half percent of Finns said they would – compared to eighty percent of those questioned in Thailand.
64. The passage is mainly about______________.
A. a common emotion B. laughter
C. shyness D. gelotophobia
65. In which country are people most likely to avoid social situations where they have been laughed at before?
A. Turkmenistan B. Iraq C. Finland D. Thailand
66. According to the text the following is true EXCEPT that ________.
A. people suffer from gelotophobia because they are shy
B. not all the people questioned hid their feelings in social situations
C. perhaps Humor is a magazine
D. people in Finland are the least likely to suffer from gelotophobia
67. A person who suffers from gelotophobia will probably ______.
A. be active in social activities B. be easily laughed at
C. like to laugh at others D. like to stay alone
A new study suggests that the more teenagers watch television , the more likely they are to develop depression (抑郁)as young adults. But the extent to which TV may or may not be to blame is a question that the study leaves unanswered.
The researchers used a national long-term survey of adolescent health to investigate the relationship between media use and depression . They based their findings on more than four thousand adolescents who were not depressed when the survey began in 1995.
As part of the survey, the young people were asked how many hours of television or videos they watched daily. They were also asked how often they played computer games and listened to the radio.
Media use totaled an average of five and one-half hours a day. More than two hours of that was spent watching TV.
Seven years later, in 2002, more than seven percent of the young people had signs of depression. Their average age at that time was twenty-one.
Brian Primack at the Universtiy of Pittsburgh Medical School was the leading author of the new study . He said every extra hour of television meant an eight percent increase in the chances of developing signs of depression.
The researchers say they did not find any such relationship with the use of other media such as movies, video games or radio. But the study did find that young men were more likely than young women to develop depression given the same amount of media use.
Doctor Primack says the study did not explore if watching TV causes depression . But one possibility, like sports and socializing. It might also interfere with sleep, he says, and that could have an influence.
The study was just published in the Archives of General Psychiatry. In December, the journal Social Indicators Research published a study of activities that help lead to happy lives. Sociologists from the University of Maryland found that people who describe themselves as happy spend less time watching television than unhappy people. The study found that happy people are more likely to be socially active, to read, to attend religious services and to vote.
60．The average age of the depressed young people should be when they began to receive the survey.
A．21 B．15 C．14 D．20
61．According to the passage, which of the following can possibly lead to depression?
A．Swimming
B．Attending a party
C．Attending religious services
D．Watching TV for a long time.
62．We can learn from the passage .
A．the survey lasted a short time
B．over 280 teenagers who received the survey became more or less depressed in 2002
C．men are more likely to become depressed than women
D．the study about the relationship between media use and depression was published in the journal Social Indicators Research
63．What is the best title for the passage?
A．Teens, television, depression
B．Depression—the common problem of teens
C．Problems of watching TV
D．Teens—a group enjoying watching TV
第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题，每题2分，满分40分）
It was graduation day at the university where I work and a beautiful day quite unlike the first graduation I attended as a young professor. On that cold day years ago, as we watched the students walking into the hall, one of my colleagues turned to me and said . “Graduation will be one of the happiest and one of the saddest time of your life.” At my inquiry, he answered, “Because the students you have gotten to know have to leave.”
As years went by, my previous confusion about my colleague’s words no longer existed. When I came across naughty students, I have had to rethink why I chose to be a teacher. It obviously isn’t the money. Once a former computer science student of mine called me, asking me if I wanted to have a change. He was working at Nintendo Corporation. His salary was higher than my current one, though I have more education and have worked for over a decade. With my programming skills, he said he could get me hired. I thanked him, but declined his kind offer.
A few days before this current graduation, while working on final grades. I found a note a student ahd slipped in with her homework. She thanked me for beign her teacher and said the things she had learned in my class—not about math, but about life—would be things she would remember long after the math skills had faded away. As I finished reading, I remembered why I had become a teacher.
Now, on this sunny graduation day, as I again observed the sea of blue hats and gowns, I did so with renewed dedication and a deeper sense of satisfaction – I will always be grateful that I am a teacher.
56. How did the author feel when he heard his colleague’s description of graduation for the first time?
A. He quite agreed with his colleague. B. He was very puzzled.
C. He thought it very funny. D. He was very sad.
57. The computer science student called up the author because he ___________.
A. wanted to inform the author of his present job
B. thought the author wasn’t fit to be a teacher
C. wanted the author to share his joy and satisfaction
D. tried to persuade the author to work with him
58. What does the underlined part “blue hats and gowns” in the last paragraph refer to?
A. University colleagues B. Life memories.
C. Graduates’ clothes. D. Decorations in the hall.
59. The author wrote the passage to _________.
A. express his devotion to being a teacher B. compare two different graduation ceremonies
C. talk about the meaning of graduation D. give-advice on how to be a good teacher
Thousands of people in the world are a hundred years old－or more and certain parts of the world are famous for the long lives of their inhabitants: the Vilacamba Valley in Ecuador, and the home of the Hunzas in the Himalayas．
Why do so many people live to a healthy old age in certain parts of the world? What is the secret of their long lives? Three things seem to be very important: fresh air, fresh food and a simple way of life．People work near their homes in the clean mountain air instead of travelling long distances to work by bus, car or train．They do not sit all day in busy offices or factories, but work hard outdoors in the fields．They take more exercise and eat less food than people in the cities of the West．For years the Hunzas of the Himalayas did not need policemen, lawyers or doctors．There was no crime, no divorce and not much illness in their society． They were a happy, peaceful people, famous all over India for their long, healthy lives．
Do you want to live to a hundred years old? Here are some rules for success．Firstly, choose your parents and grandparents carefully．If they lived or live to a good old age, so will you．Secondly, live in the right place．Thirdly, choose the right kind of job．Doctors, dentists and bus-drivers die young．Farmers, priests and orchestral conductors live much longer．If you are in the wrong kind of job, you can still improve your way of life．
An old man in the Caucasus was talking about his past life．"I was young then," he said, as he described his 87th year．His secret was: "Think young and stay young．" An old woman from Missouri, USA, gave this advice, "Drink a little whisky and some warm beer every day．" An English lady just said, "Take a cold bath every morning．" The shortest, simplest piece of advice came from Mr．Jim Chapman, aged 103．"Just keep breathing," he told reporters．
72．Who is most likely to live a long life?
A．A doctor． B．A bus-driver． C．A dentist． D．An orchestral conductor．
73．We can see from the passage that long-lived people avoid ____．
A．working hard B．drinking
C．eating too much D．taking cold baths
74．The passage indicates that we can change our _____to live a long life．
A．jobs B．places of living C．ways of living D．ways of thinking
75．What is mainly talked about in the last paragraph?
A．Whose advice is the best．
B．Who is the most long-lived person in the world．
C．Lifestyles of long-lived people．
D．How long-lived people think of their life．
An annoying problem for humans, who like to boast (夸耀) about all the distant planets and moons we have explored, is that we've never taken a good look right under our noses. The inside of the earth is relatively close, but how can we get there?
The deepest oil well enters a mere six miles into the crust (地壳) (the center of the earth is about 4,000 miles deeper). Russian scientists dug the deepest hole in Siberia, but bottomed out at about 7.5 miles below the surface. The Mohole project, a U.S. plan in the 1950s, called for drilling a hole 25 miles down to the boundary between the hard rocks of the crust and the soft mantle (地幔). Sadly the project involved government supporting.
It gets harder and harder to drill deep into the earth because rocks get softer and softer. Hard but easily broken at the surface, rocks become plastic at depth, and the pressure caused by the weight of the overlaying crust --- about 52,800 pounds per square inch at a depth of ten miles, makes further drilling impossible.
What little we know about the inside of the earth (like the fact that there's a crust, a mantle, and a core) comes from indirect evidence, such as the analysis of earthquakes.
So maybe it's time for a thorough new method to explore the earth's inside. Scientist David Stevenson says we should forget about drilling holes. Instead, we should open a crack (裂缝).
Stevenson suggests digging a crack about a half mile long, a yard wide, and a half mile deep (not with a shovel) but with an explosion on the scale of a nuclear bomb. Next, he'd pour a few hundred thousand tons of molten (熔化的) iron into the crack, along with a robot. The iron, thicker than the surrounding crust, would move downward at about 16 feet per second, carrying the robot with it and opening the crack deeper and deeper. The iron mass would drop for about a week and 2,000 miles to the outer edge of the earth core, the robot sending out data to the surface.
Stevenson compares his idea to space exploration. "We're going somewhere we haven't been before,"he says. "In all possibility, there will be surprises.”
This idea can probably be put in the drawer marked with Isn't Going To Happen. The robot would have to survive temperatures that would melt pretty much anything. But Stevenson's idea may inspire a new look at an old problem. Great things can come from what seems like impossible ideas.
72. Going inside the earth is _____ than going into space.
A. more interesting B. more possible C. easier D. more challenging
73. How deep have we gone into the earth until now?
A. 6 miles. B. 4,000 miles. C. 7.5 miles. D. 25 miles.
74. Which of the following is TRUE about David Stevenson's idea?
A. It is an inspiring but not practical idea now.
B. It is a practical proposal that has come into use now.
C. It is a good proposal that will soon be put into practice.
D. It is a false theory that cannot be carried out at all.
75. What might be the most suitable title for the text?
A. An Annoying Problem for Humans
B. To the Center of the Earth
C. The Mohole Project
D. David Stevenson's Proposal