A new study by a Penn State College of Medicine research team found that honey is a better and safer treatment for children than cough medicines.
Ian Paul, the study’s lead researcher, was motivated to test honey because treating coughs in children has recently become a sticky subject. Coughing is the body’s way of clearing irritated (受刺激的) airways to help you breathe. But too much coughing can irritate your lungs and throat even more. It can also make it tough to get the sleep your body needs to heal. Hoping to ease the suffering of their children, parents often give them cough medicines.
But there have never been any good studies showing that they work. Cough and cold medicines may also cause serious side effects. Hundreds of kids die in the hospital each year after receiving too much cough medicine by mistake. Last October, the US Food and Drug Administration suggested that parents should not give cough medicines to children under 6.
In order to search for a different solution, Paul designed a study that involved 105 kids who were sick with coughs and other cold conditions. At bedtime, the kids took buckwheat (荞麦) honey, honey-flavored (蜂蜜味的) DM (one of the most common ingredients in cough medicines), or no treatment. Parents and kids in the no-
-treatment group knew they weren’t getting anything, but the other two groups weren’t told which treatment they were getting.
The surveys showed that kids who swallowed about 2 teaspoons of buckwheat honey before bedtime coughed less and slept better than kids in the other groups. “When parents want something for their kids to take,” Paul says, “honey seems like the best option”.
But what gives honey its healing power? Substances called antioxidants (抗氧化剂) may be part of the answer. All honey contains antioxidants that protect our cells from damage. Studies show that antioxidant levels in the body rise after someone swallows honey.
Which of the following can be the best title for this passage?
| A．No cough medicines to children |
| B．Sweet solution to kids’ coughing |
| C．Best treatment for your cold |
| D．Cough medicines don’t work |
We can learn from Paragraph 2 that coughing ______.
| A．sometimes does good to people |
| B．can cure lung and throat diseases |
| C．is more harmful to children |
| D．helps improve children’s diet |
During Paul’s experiment, the kids who received treatment ______.
| A．seemed much worse than before |
| B．knew they weren’t getting anything |
| C．coughed less and slept better |
| D．had no idea what they swallowed |
We were standing at the top of a church tower. My father had brought me to this spot in a small town not far from our home in Rome. I wondered why.
"Look down, Elsa," Father said. I gathered all my courage and looked down. I saw the square in the center of the village. And I saw the crisscross (十字形) of twisting, turning streets leading to the square. "See, my dear," Father said gently. "There is more than one way to the square. Life is like that. If you can't get to the place where you want to go by one road, try another."
Now I understood why I was there. Earlier that day I had begged my mother to do something about the awful lunches that were served at school. But she refused because she could not believe the lunches w
ere as bad as I said.
When I turned to Father for help, he would not help. Instead, he brought me to this high tower to give me a lesson. By the time we reached home, I had a plan.
At school the next day, I secretly poured my lunch soup into a bottle and brought it home. Then I asked our cook to serve it to Mother at dinner. The plan worked perfectly. She swallowed one spoonful and sputtered, "The cook must have gone mad! "Quickly I told what I had done, and Mother said firmly that she would take up the matter of lunches at school the next day!
In the years that followed I often remembered the lesson Father taught me. I began to work as a fashion designer two years ago. I wouldn't stop working until I tried every possible means to my goal, Father's wise words always remind me that there is more than one way to the square.
What did the author want her mother to do earlier that day? _______
| A．Do something delicious for lunch. |
| B．Ask the father to taste her awful lunch. |
| C．Dismiss the mad cook. |
| D．Speak to the school about lunch. |
The underlined sentence in the fifth paragraph means ______ .
| A．the cook agreed to serve the soup to Father |
| B．the matter of lunch hasn’t been settled |
| C．her father persuaded her mother successfully |
D．the method the author thought of was e ffective |
By sharing her own experiences, the author tries to tell us________.
| A．when one road is blocked, try another |
| B．how bad the lunch of her school is |
| C．how wise her father is |
| D．about the church rower' near her home |
Remembering names is an important social skill．Here are some ways to master it．
◆Recite and repeat in conversation．
When you hear a person’s name，repeat it．Immediately say it to yourself several times without moving your lips．You could also repeat the name in a way that does not sound forced or artificial．
◆Ask the other person to recite and repeat．
You can let other people help you remember their names．After you’ve been introduced to someone，ask that person to spell the name mad pronounce it correctly for you．Most people will be pleased by the effort you’re making to learn their names．
◆Admit you don’t know．
Admitting that you can’t remember someone’s name can actually make people relaxed．Most of them will feel sympathy if you say，“I’m working to remember names better．Yours is right on the tip of my tongue．What is it again?”
◆Use associations．
Link each person you meet with one thing you find interesting or unusual．For example，you could make a mental note: “Vicki Cheng -- tall, black hair.” To reinforce（加强）your associations, write them on a small card as soon as possible.
◆Limit the number of new names you learn at one time.
When meeting a group of people, concentrate on remembering just two or three names. Free yourself from remembering everyone. Few of the people in mass introductions expect you to remember their names. Another way is to limit yourself to learning just first names. Last names can come later.
◆Go early.
Consider going early to conferences, parties an
d classes. Sometimes just a few people show up on time. That's fewer names for you to remember. And as more people arrive, you can hear them being introduced to others -- an automatic review for you.
How will most people feel when you try hard to remember their names? _________
| A．They will be angry. |
| B．They will be guilty |
| C．They will be delighted. |
| D．They will be discouraged. |
If you can't remember someone's name, you may _________.
| A．telephone others to help you | B．tell him a white lie |
| C．ask him for another name card | D．tell him the truth |
For 52 years my father got up every morning at 5:30 am, except Sunday, and went to work. He returned home at 5:30 pm, for dinner at 6:00 pm. I never remember my father having a night out with his children. All he asked from me as a daughter was to hold his hammer while he repaired something, just so we could have some time to talk to each other.
For 22 years, after I left home for college, my father called me every Sunday. Nine years ago, my father, 67 years old, spent three days painting my house. He asked me to hold the paint brush for him and talk to him. But I was too busy and I could not take the time to hold the paint brush, or talk to my father.
Five years ago, my father spent five hours making a swing（秋千）for my daughter. Again, all he asked me to do was to give him a glass of tea, and talk to him. But again, I had some clothes to wash, and the house to clean.
On January 16, 1996, my father telephoned me as usual, this time from my sister’s home in Florida. I had to get to church, and I cut the conversation short.
The call came at 4:40 pm. That day, my father was in hospital in Florida. I got on an airplane immediately, and on the way, I made up my mind that when I arrived, I would make up for the lost time, and have a nice long talk with him.
I arrived in Florida at 1:00 am, but my father had passed away at 9:12 pm. This time it was he who did not have time to talk, or time to wait for me.
When the author was young, her father ______.
| A．was busy with his work | B．disliked his children |
| C．often talked to his children | D．never cared about his children |
How old was the author’s father when he made a swing for his granddaughter?
| A．45. | B．67. | C．71. | D．76. |
When painting the house, the father asked the author to hold a paint brush because ______.
| A．he wanted to make his work easy |
| B．he was too old to work all by himself |
| C．he just wanted his daughter to help him |
| D．he wanted to have a talk with his daughter |
The underlined phrase “passed away” in the last paragraph probably means “______”.
| A．arrived | B．lost | C．left | D．died |
Most people think that the older you get, the harder it is to learn a new language. That is, they believe that children learn more easily and efficiently than adults. Thus, at some point in our lives, maybe around age 12 or 13, we lose the ability to learn languages well. Is this idea a fact or myth(悬念)？
Is it true that children learn a foreign language more efficiently than adults? On the contrary, research studies suggest that the opposite may be true. One report, on 2,000 Danish children studying Swedish, concluded that the teenagers learned more, in less time, than the younger children. Another report, on Americans learning Russian, showed a direct improvement of ability over the age range tested; that is, the ability to learn increased as the age increased, from childhood to adulthood.
There are several possible explanations for these findings. For one thing, adults know more about the world and therefore are able to understand meanings more easily than children. Moreover, adults can use logical(逻辑的) thinking to help themselves see patterns in the language. Finally, adults have more self-discipline (self-control) than children.
All in all, it seems that the common idea that children are better language learners than adults may not be a fact, but a myth.The main idea of the passage is that .
| A．teenagers are more difficult to teach |
| B．Danish teenagers can learn Swedish faster than younger children |
| C．adults are more logical than children |
| D．the ability to learn languages increases with age |
If most people’s idea of learning languages is true, people may lose ability to learn languages well .
| A．at an early age | B．when they reach their twenties |
| C．at an old age | D．after they become young men |
According to the passage, teenagers can learn a foreign language __________ than younger children.
| A．harder | B．more efficiently | C．more slowly | D．more carefully |
The reason why adults understand meanings more easily than children is that .
| A．adults have more self-discipline |
| B．adults like to play more than children |
| C．adults have more knowledge than children |
| D．adults accept new things more easily than children |
The explanation for older student’s better achievement not mentioned in the above passage is that.
| A．adults know more about the world. | B．adults can use logical thinking |
| C．adults have more self-discipline. | D．adults can read better. |
There is an English saying that “Laughter is the best medicine.” Until recently, few people took the saying seriously. Now however, doctors have begun to look into laughter and the effects it has on the human body. They have found that laughter can really improve people’s health.
Tests were carried out to study the effects of laughter on the body. People watched funny films while doctors checked their hearts, blood pressure, breathing and muscles. It was found that laughter has similar effects to physical exercise. It increases blood pressure, makes the heart beat quicker and makes people breathe deeper; it also works on several groups of muscles in the face, the stomach, and even the feet. If laughter exercises the body, it must be beneficial.
Other tests have shown that laughter appears to be able to reduce the effects of pain on the body. In one experiment doctors produced pain in groups of students who listened to different radio programs. The group that tolerated（忍耐）the pain for the longest time was the group which listened to a funny program. The reason why laughter can reduce pain seems to be that it helps to produce a kind of chemical in the brain which diminishes both stress and pain.
As a result of these discoveries, some doctors in the United States now hold laughter clinics, in which they help to improve their patients’ condition by encouraging them to laugh. They have found that even if their patients do not really feel like laughing, making them smile is enough to produce beneficial effects similar to those caused by laughter.According to the passage, the following statements are true except.
| A．Laughter is good for health |
| B．Laughter can make you become old quickly |
| C．Laughter helps to reduce pain. |
| D．Laughter, just like physical exercise, is good for our body. |
The underlined word “diminishes” in the third paragraph means “”.
| A．delays | B．prevents | C．increases | D．reduces |
Some doctors hold laughter clinics because .
| A．they want to earn more money. |
| B．they think they will help the patients recover from illnesses. |
| C．they want to improve their patients’ condition. |
| D．they want their patients to practice how to laugh |
According to the author, we should .
| A．laugh as much as possible | B．watch more funny films |
| C．smile all the time | D．spend more time in laughter clinics |
The best title for this passage may be .
| A．Both laughter and physical exercise are good for health |
| B．Laughter clinics help patients improve their condition |
| C．Laughter can reduce the effects of pain |
| D．Laughter is the best medicine. |