Marriages improve after children grow up and move out，according to an academic study，
which suggests an“empty nest”is not always a bad thing．
Popular wisdom has it that parents’relationships may suffer once their young fly the coop，
because they feel they have lost their purpose in life．However,a new study by researchers at the
University of California,Berkeley，has found that many couples actually feel happier when their
children leave home because they are able to enjoy spending time together．
In total，123 American mothers born in the 1930s were tracked for 18 years and asked to rate
their satisfaction levels shortly after marrying,when they were bringing up babies，once their
children reached their teenage years and finally at age 61，when almost all had“empty nests”．
Although not all said they were happier in general，most claimed their marriages had improved since their children had left home．Researchers believe this is not just because the spouses were spending more time together,but because they were able to enjoy each other’s company more．
One of the participants in the study,which is published in the jourmal Psychological Science，
said：“Once the kids grow up…there’s some of that stress removed…that responsibility removed，so things are a little more relaxed．’’
Psychologist Sara Gorchoff,who carried out the investigation，said：“The take-home message
for couples with young children is‘hang in there’．”Her co-author Oliver John added：“Don’t wait until your kids leave home to schedule quality time with your partner．”
However,Dr Dorothy Rowe，from the British Psychological Society，said the effects of living
in an“empty nest'”will depend on the parents’relationship with their children．“If yod’re just
waiting for them to leave home so you Can get on with your life，then of course you’11 be pleased to see them go，”she said，‘‘But if you’ve built your life around your children you’11 be terribly lonely．”For some parents，their world falls apart when their Children leave．’’
72．It is commonly believed that
A．marriages improve after children leave home
B．an“empty nest'’is always a happy thing
C．parents’relationships may suffer once their young grow up and move out
D．parents will be pleased after their children leave home
73．When did many couples feel happier according to the study?
A．At age 61．when almost all had“empty nests”．
B．Shortly after marrying．
C．Once their children reached their teenage years．
D．When they were bringing up babies．
74．Marriages improve after children fly the coop not because
A．many couples are able to spend time together
B．many couples arc able to enjoy each other’s company
C．things are a little more relaxed
D．many couples needn’t work at all
75．The author ofthe passage tends to agree that ．
A．parents should build their life around their kids
B．parents should schedule quality time with each other before kids leave home
C．parents’relationship with their kids has no effect on marriages at all
D．parents should be pleased to see their kids leave home
If you go into the woods with your friends, stay with them. If you don’t, you may get lost. If you do get lost, this is what you should do.
Sit down and stay where you are. Don’t try to find your friends — let them find you. You can help them to find you by staying in one place.
There is another way to help your friends or other people nearby to find you. Give them a signal by shouting or whistling three times. Stop. Then shout or whistle three times again. Any signal given three times is a call for help. You will be helped by others.
Keep up the shouting or whistling, always three times together. When people hear you, they will know that you are not just making noise for fun. They will let you know they have heard your signal. They will give two shouts, two whistles or two gunshots. When a signal is given twice, it is an answer to a call for help.
If you don’t think that you will get help before night comes, try to make a little house and cover up the holes with branches with lots of leaves and grass. What should you do if you get hungry or need to drink some water? You should have to leave your little branch house to look for a brook. Don’t just walk away. Pick off small branches and drop them as you walk so that you can find your way back.
The most important thing to do when you are lost is — stay in one place.How do you let people believe that you are not just making noise for fun?
| A．Stop now and then. | B．Go on shouting or whistling. |
| C．Shout over and over at the top of voice | D．Shout or whistle three times once a while. |
If nobody answers you after your signal, what should you do then?
| A．Give two gunshots. | B．Shout louder. |
| C．Stop shouting. | D．Make a house. |
If you feel thirsty when you are lost in the forest, what should you do?
| A．Go and find a brook. |
| B．Light a fire and make yourself some tea． |
| C．Go to find a brook and leave marks behind you. |
| D．Find something to hold the water. |
What’s the best title for the passage?
| A．What Do Three Shots And Two Shots Mean In A Forest |
| B．How To Find Your Friends When You Are Lost In The Woods |
| C．What To Do If You Get Lost In A Forest |
| D．The Most Important Thing To Do Is To Stay In One Place |
Have you ever noticed advertisements which say “Learn a foreign language in 6 weeks, or your money back! From the first day your pronunciation will be excellent. Just send…” and so on? Of course, it never happens quite like that. The only language that is easy to learn is one’s mother tongue. And think how much practice that gets! Before the Second World War people usually learnt a foreign language in order to read the literature of the country.
Now speaking a foreign language is what most people want. Every year millions of people start learning one. How do they do it? Some people try at home, with books and records of tapes; some use radio or television programmes; some use computers and network; others go to evening classes. If they use the language only 2 or 3 times a week, learning it will take a long time, like learning a foreign language at school. A few people try to learn a language fast by studying for 6 or more hours a day. It is clearly easier to learn the language in the country where it is spoken.
However, most people cannot afford this, and for many it is not necessary. They need the language in order to do their work better. For example, scientists and doctors chiefly need to be able to read books and reports in the foreign language. Whether the language is learnt quickly or slowly, it is hard work. Machines and good books will help, but they cannot do the student’s work for him. According to some advertisements, you ______.
| A．have to pay your money if you cannot master a foreign language in 6 weeks |
| B．needn’t pay you money if you cannot learn a foreign language in 6 weeks |
| C．must pay your money if you cannot master a foreign language in 6 weeks |
| D．will be paid much money if you cannot learn a foreign language in 6 weeks |
Now most people try to learn a foreign language in order to ______.
| A．read the literature of the country | B．read books and reports |
| C．do their work better | D．go to foreign countries |
Learning a foreign language is a hard job ______.
| A．only for scientists and doctors | B．only for the students at school |
| C．for those people at home | D．for most people |
Recently there was a major discovery in the scientific research — the mapping of all DNA in a human gene(基因) is complete. Couple of years ago, this seems an impossible task for scientist to accomplish. All this progress in science leads us to believe that the day, when the human being will be cloned, is not far away. Human cloning has always been a topic of argument, in terms of morality(道德) or religion.
Taking a look at why cloning might be beneficial, among many cases, it is arguable that parents who are known to be at risk of passing a genetic limitation to a child could make use of cloning. If the clone was free of genetic limitations, then the other clone would be as well. The latter could be inserted in the woman and allowed to ripen to term. Moreover, cloning would enable women, who can’t get pregnant, to have children of their own.
Cloning humans would also mean that organs could be cloned, so it would be a source of perfect transfer organs. This surely would be greatly beneficial to millions of unfortunate people around the world that are expected to lose their lives due to failure of single (or more) organ(s). It is also arguable that a ban on cloning may be unlawful and would rob people of the right to reproduce and limit the freedom of scientists.
Arguments against cloning are also on a perfectly practical side. Primarily, I believe that cloning would step in the normal “cycle” of life. There would be a large number of same genes, which reduce the chances of improvement, and, in turn, development — the fundamental reason how living things naturally adapt to the ever-changing environment. Life processes failing to do so might result in untimely disappearance. Furthermore, cloning would make the uniqueness that each one of us possesses disappear, thus leading to creation of genetically engineered groups of people for specific purposes, and chances are that those individuals would be regarded as “objects” rather than people in the society.
Scientists haven’t 100% guaranteed that the first cloned humans will be normal. Thus, this could result in introduction of additional limitations in the human “gene-pool”.
Regarding such arguable topics in “black or white” approach seems very innocent to me personally. We should rather try to look at all “shades” of it. I believe that cloning is only legal if its purpose is for cloning organs; not humans. Then we could regard this as for “saving life” instead of “creating life”. I believe cloning humans is morally and socially unacceptable.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Genetic limitations will be beneficial for some women. |
| B．A large number of genes will prevent us from developing. |
| C．First cloned humans might be normal according to scientists. |
| D．Forbidding cloning might limit the freedom of scientists. |
What’s the author’s opinion on cloning?
| A．It should be entirely banned. | B．It is acceptable if it is used for cloning organs. |
| C．It will take away the right to reproduce. | D．It should be used in creating life. |
Where can you read this article?
| A．In a story book. | B．In a magazine. |
| C．In a science fiction. | D．In a novel. |
Which of the following shows the structure of the passage(1—6 refer to paragraph 1—6)?
They are among the 250, 000 people under the age of 25 who are out of work in the Netherlands, a group that makes up 40 percent of the nation’s unemployed. A storm of anger boils up at the government-sponsored (政府资助的) youth center, even among those who are continuing their studies.
“We study for jobs that don’t exist,” Nicollets Steggerda, 23, said.
After thirty years of prosperity, unemployment among 10 member nations of the European Community has reached as much as 11 percent, affecting a total of 12.3 million people, and the number is climbing.
The bitter disappointment long expressed by British youths is spreading across the Continent. The title of a rock song “No Future” can now be seen written on the brick walls of closed factories in Belgium and France.
One form of protest(抗议) tends to put the responsibility for a country’s economic troubles on the large numbers of “guest workers” from Third World nations, people welcomed in Western Europe in the years of prosperity.
Young Europeans, brought up in an extended period of economic success and general stability, seem to be similar to Americans more than they do their own parents. Material enjoyment has given them a sense of expectation, even the right to a standard of living that they see around them.
“And so we pass the days at the discos, or meet people at the café, and sit and stare,” said Isabella Cault. "There is usually not much conversation. You look for happiness. Sometimes you even find it.”Unemployment in the Netherlands has affected _______
| A．about 0.6 million people | B．250,000 people |
| C．1ess than half of the population | D．one million people |
What Nicollete Steggerda said (Para.2) means that ________.
| A．what the students learn is more than necessary |
| B．the students cannot get work after graduation |
| C．the students’ aim in study is not clear |
| D．school education is not sufficient |
The underlined word ‘‘it” in the last paragraph most probably refers to ________.
| A．material enjoyment | B．a sense of expectation |
| C．a job | D．happiness |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．British youths have pity on the unemployed on the Continent． |
| B．British youths care about unemployment in France and Belgium． |
| C．British youths show their disappointment over joblessness． |
| D．British youths have confidence to find work on the Continent． |
With alarming regularity, we read about oil tankers having accidents near land and the terrible consequences of the oil spills(泄露) on people, nature, and the environment.
Millions of dollars have been used in developing special chemicals to help dismiss the spills and to clean up the animals, beaches, and land spoiled by the oil. Unfortunately, when many of these chemicals are used, more damage is caused to the environment, especially to lives in the sea.
Of all of today’s environmental disasters, an oil spill may actually be one of the least serious. Although oil is poisonous, it is a natural material. In the end, it breaks down naturally. There are, of course, long-term effects, but it is usually more serious in the short term.
Nature by itself works better than chemical materials, but when there is a spill we demand that governments act immediately with as much hi-tech knowledge as possible. In 1967 the tanker Torrey Canyon sank off the Sicily Isles near the coast of England and spilled 120,000 tones of oil into the ocean. If you go there today, you will find it hard to see any sign that it ever happened.
Governments seem to accept the risk of transporting millions of tons of oil by ship every day so that we can fill up our cars and drive around and cause even more environmental damage. Interestingly, the biggest companies in the world produce cars, and the next biggest supply the gasoline to make them run!
We should be thinking more about reducing our dependency on oil. Governments should be encouraging research into new technologies, such as cars run by solar power(太阳能), electricity, hydrogen, and so on. Much of this research has, in the past, been held back by the oil, gas, and coal.
If the world’s millions of cars were 10% more efficient(高效的) — and the industry could easily produce cars at least twice as efficient — we would need many fewer tankers crossing the oceans each year. If this happened, the risks of oil spills would be reduced, and the air we breathe would be cleaner and fresher, too.What is the passage mainly talking about?
| A．Oil tanker accidents. | B．What oil pollution is. |
| C．Oil spills pollution. | D．How to reduce oil pollution. |
How does the author support the idea that oil spills are not as serious as people believe?
| A．By giving an example. | B．By making an argument. |
| C．By giving a description. | D．By drawing a diagram. |
What does the underlined word “risk” in Paragraph 5 refer to?
| A．Transportation depending more on oil. |
| B．More environmental damage being caused. |
| C．Millions of tons of oil spilling into the sea. |
| D．Poisonous oil breaking down naturally. |
Which suggestion is made for reducing oil tank accidents according to the passage?
| A．We should build safer oil tankers in the near future. |
| B．Tankers should not be allowed to sail near the coastlines. |
| C．We should develop new technologies to cut oil use. |
| D．Countries should build more oil pipelines under the sea. |