In many societies, there is often greater acceptance of light skin than dark skin. Light skin may be seen as a mark of beauty, intelligence and success. These beliefs can lead to social pressure even within the same racial or ethnic group, if some members are darker skinned than others.
The result is that skin lightening has become a common activity across Africa, Asia and other areas of the world. More and more people with dark skin are using skin-lightening products, even if they may face health risks.
They believe that having whiter skin will improve their lives. Many people think they will have a better chance of getting a job or marrying into a better family. Or they want to look like what their society generally considers beautiful.
Some beauty care products and soaps contain chemicals that make skin lighter. This process is also called bleaching. But some of the chemicals are extremely dangerous. One of the chemicals has been linked to kidney (肾) damage and some kinds of cancer. It also causes low birth weight in babies when mothers use it during pregnancy.
At first, bleaching products make the skin color lighter. But after long-term use they can cause problems. They can even make some skin darker. The chemicals in the products block and break down the natural process that gives color to skin. The skin loses its natural barrier to protec
t against sunlight. Then the skin can become thick and discolored. Usually the person will use more of the product in an effort to correct the problem, but this only makes it worse.
Fatimata Ly treats skin cond
itions in the Senegalese capital，Dakar. Doctor Ly says skin bleaching has become a problem throughout Senegal. She says the chemicals are now more dangerous because they are stronger. Some cases have resulted in blackened fingernails, infections and permanent skin damage.
And these are not the only risks. Experts say some people who change their skin color suffer emotional da
mage. They feel regret and sadness. They feel that instead of risking their health, they should have learned to love and accept their skin color as it was. Which of the following words can replac
e the underlined word “bleaching”?
| A．whitening | B．changing | C．lighting | D．pleasing |
Why has the skin lightening become a common activity all over the world?
| A．There are many products that can make the dark skin light. |
| B．Many people with dark skin have no confidence. |
| C．Relatively speaking, light skin has more advantages over dark skin. |
| D．People with dark skin are forced by the pressure of their families. |
According to the text the following are the risks using the bleaching products EXCEPT________.
| A．blackened fingernails | B．permanent skin damage |
| C．emotional damage | D．a waste of time and money |
From the text we can conclude the writer’s attitude toward using the bleaching products is probably ________.
| A．supportive | B．positive | C．doubtful | D．negative |
B
Woman Uses Daughter's Key to "Steal" Car
Charlie Vansant, a college student of Athens, Ohio who reported that his car was stolen, got a surprise when he learned a woman had mistaken it for her daughter's car and taken it－using her key.
Kate Anderson became an accidental car thief when picking up her daughter's car near an Ohio University building last week. Anderson spotted the Toyota Camry（丰田凯美瑞）and used her daughter's key to unlock the car, start the engine and drive home-without realizing that the car wasn't her daughter's.
When Charlie Vansant left class a short time later, he found only an empty parking spot. He first assumed the car had been towed, but when the police couldn't find a record of it, they took a theft report.
The morning after Anderson took the car, her daughter discovered the Camry in the driveway wasn't hers. Anderson said she was able to find Vansant's name on paperwork in the glove compartment and look up his phone number on the website for the university.
When Anderson told Charlie the car was in her driveway, "It sounded real suspicious at first, as she wanted to hold the thing for ransom（赎金）,” said Vansant. He eventually went to the house with a police officer, where he was reunited with his car. According to the police report, the case was closed "because of mistaken car identity", Anderson wasn't charged.
Vansant seemed to blame the car company more than the "thief". "Her key fit not only my lock, but my ignition（点火装置） as well - so high-five for Toyota. I guess." he said.What does the underlined word "towed" mean in paragraph 3?
| A．removed. | B．damaged. |
| C．stolen. | D．sold. |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Mrs. Anderson's daughter discovered the car her mother drove was not hers. |
| B．Mrs. Anderson stole Charlie's car at the request of her daughter. |
| C．Charlie had thought he had to give Anderson money to get his car back. |
| D．Mrs. Anderson used her daughter's key to unlock Charlie's car and drive home. |
What does Charlie mean by "high-five for Toyota"?
| A．He is blaming Toyota for the poor quality of car keys. |
| B．He should thank Toyota for returning his car. |
| C．He wants to celebrate with Toyota for getting his car back. |
| D．He thinks highly of Toyota for producing large quantities of cars. |
What is likely to happen next according to the passage?
| A．Mrs. Anderson was charged with stealing a car. |
| B．Charlie blamed Mrs. Anderson for mistakenly taking his car. |
| C．Charlie would ask the Toyota Company to give him an explanation. |
| D．The Toyota Company would give Charlie a new car as compensation. |
A
It's time for your family to relax and have fun! The following family adventures have links for you to get more information．
Take the Rides of Your Life
Visit Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, to seek thrills "Even though it's located off the beaten track, experts regularly praise Cedar Point as the best overall theme park of the country," says U．S． News & World Report． The park calls itself the roller coaster capital of the world, and with 16 to choose from, it's hard to argue． It's open daily from May 10 through Labor Day; weekends only from Labor Day through November 2．
Tickets start at $ 48．99 per person if purchased online．
http://www．cedarpoint,com．
Wander Free on a Dude farm
Dust off your cowboy boots and ready your cowboy hats for a visit to this Rocky Mountains paradise． Located in Augusta, Montana, "The farm has everything an aspiring cowboy or girl could long for," says Sunset magazine, including hiking trails, fishing trips, campfires with sing-alongs, and, of course, horseback rides． The large farm operates from June through September; kids-only and adults-only
programs are available．
Total cost starts at $ 1,360 per adult, $ 1,276 per teen, and $ 1,168 per child．
http://www．triplejranch．com．
Dig for Dinosaurs
Most kids （and adults） love dinosaurs, and to make their wildest dreams come true, head to Fruita, Colorado． The Museum of Western Colorado offers Dino Digs for children ages five and older． You can choose from one-, three-, and five-day expeditions． "Imagine how your child will feel when she helps unearth the fossilized（化石） bones of ancient species," says Outside magazine． It lasts from May to October．
Digs start at $ 125 per person．
http://www．museumofwesternco．com
Surf Sand Dunes
Swap your snowboard for a sand-board, and head to Sand Master Park in Florence, Oregon． Real Simple recommends learning the basics at this private dune park, "which offers board rentals and lessons - often taught by world-champion sand boarders．" Then you 'can hit the ",slopes" to test your skills． From March to June, and September to November．
Rentals for a sand-board start at $ 10 per day; lessons start at $ 45 an hour per person．
http:/'www．sandmasterpark．com．What is special about Cedar Point?
| A．You can visit Cedar Point on weekends． |
| B．It has 16 roller coasters for you to choose from． |
| C．You can help unearth the fossilized bones of dinosaurs． |
| D．It offers lessons taught by world-champion sand boarders． |
If you have a 3-day holiday in April, which of the following may interest you most?
| A．Take the Rides of Your Life |
| B．Wander Free on a Dude farm |
| C．Dig for Dinosaurs |
| D．Surf Sand Dunes |
Where will you probably find this passage?
| A．A science fiction． |
| B．An adventure storybook． |
| C．A travel magazine． |
| D．A theme park advertisement． |
D
Some inventions are so useful, but seem so simple, that we wonder why no one thought of them long ago.
Post-it Notes were invented about twenty years ago by Art Fry, a scientist at 3M Company. The idea for the product came from an awful experience he often had while singing in his church choir. Fry used pieces of paper as bookmarks to mark the places in his book of songs, but these bookmarks were always falling out. Around that time, Fry heard about a new adhesive (粘合剂) that a colleague, Dr. Spence Silver, had created. This adhesive was special because it was strong enough to hold papers together, but not strong enough to tear the paper when it was removed.
A short time later, Fry realized that his new invention had even more uses than being a great bookmark. He came to this realization when he wrote a note on one of his new “bookmarks” and attached it to a report he was going to give to a colleague. Soon, co-workers were asking Fry for more of his invention so that they could use the new type of notes themselves.
Fry and some other people at 3M believed so much in the new product that they asked the company to give away thousands of the “sticky pieces of paper” for trial use. When some salespeople at 3M went to offices and showed workers just how helpful the new type of notes could be, they immediately received many orders. As more and more people discovered how useful Post-it Notes could be, the product took off.How did Dr. Spence help Art Fry?
| A．He created the Post-it Notes. |
| B．He offered the new adhesive to Art. |
| C．His adhesive made Art’s invention possible. |
| D．He often worked and discussed science with Art. |
Which of the following is a possible use of Post-it Notes?
| A．A note on a friend’s door |
| B．An ad in a newspaper. |
| C．A postcard from abroad. |
| D．An e-mail to a friend. |
Which of the following shows the proper order of the events?
a. The company gave away many “sticky pieces of paper” for people to try.
b. Dr. Spence created a new adhesive.
c. Many orders were received and the Post-it Notes became successful.
d. Fry invented Post-it Notes.
e. His colleagues began to use the new types of notes themselves.
| A．d b a e c | B．b a e d c |
| C．d e a b c | D．b d e a c |
In which column of a newspaper can we read this passage?
| A．Economy | B．Recreation |
| C．Science | D．Culture |
C
If you could take a large snapshot (照片) of everyone in the United States today, it would contain six million more females than males. In this country, women outlive men by about seven years. Throughout the modern world, cultures are different, diets are different, ways of life and causes of death are different, but one thing is the same--- women outlive men.
It starts before birth. At conception, male fetuses(胎儿) outnumber female by about 110 to 100; at birth, the rate has already fallen to about 105 boys to every 100 girls. By the age of 30, there are only enough men left to match the number of women. Then women start taking a lead. Beyond the age of 80, there are nearly twice as many women as men.
“If you look at the top ten or twelve causes of death,” said Deborah Wingard, a disease expert at the University of California at San Diego, “every single one kills more men.” She listed out one sad fate after another – heart disease, lung cancer and so on. Each kills men at roughly twice the rate of that it does women.
More than a century ago American men surpassed and outlived the women. But in the 20th century, women began living longer, primarily because pregnancy（怀孕) and giving birth to children had become less dangerous. The gap grew steadily. In 1946, for the first time ever in the United States, females outnumbered males.
Parts of the reasons are self-made. Men smoke more, drink more and take more life-threatening chances than women. Men are murdered (usually by other men) three times as often as women are. They commit suicide at a higher rate and have more than twice as many fatal car accidents as women do. Men are likely to be involved in alcohol-related deaths.
But behavior doesn’t explain away the longevity gap.
Today, some scientists studying the gender gap believe that the data point to one conclusion: Mother Nature may be partial(偏袒) to women.
Every living thing is assembled according to instructions on its chromosomes (染色体), and humans have 23 pairs of them. But in males, one of these is a weak non-matching pair, expressed by “xy”. The agreement pair in females is “xx”, and its genetic “backup” power is sometimes listed as a clue to woman’s superior restoring force. If the male’s single “x” chromosome isn’t perfect, it is possible for a serious genetic disorder to appear. Some blood diseases, for instance, are diseases caused by a shortcoming in a single gene on the “x” chromosome. They are far more common in males than females.What may the underlined word “outlive” in Paragraph1 mean?
| A．Become stronger than. |
| B．Live longer than. |
| C．Be wiser than. |
| D．Be born more earlier than. |
What can we infer from the second paragraph?
| A．Female fetuses are more than male. |
| B．The female are surpassing the male with age increasing. |
| C．By the age of 30, the female are more than the male. |
| D．Over 90, men are more than women in the United States. |
How many exact diseases are mentioned as examples killing twice men than women?
| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Ten. | D．Five. |
The best title for this passage is _____
| A．Why women live longer than men |
| B．Women are different from men |
| C．American men once lived longer than the women |
| D．Men smoke and drank more than women |
B
I remember my math teacher Mr. Young very well. He stood out because the kids made fun of him. He was missing one of his fingers, and always pointed at students with his middle finger.
I was not very good at English and math. No matter how hard I tried, I just could not figure out why I did not understand what all the other kids found so easy to learn.
One day, I was told that if I got one more E on my report card, I would be taken to the “big prison for kids”.
I tried really hard for weeks. I just couldn’t understand how to make different parts of numbers into whole things.
The day before report cards were to come out, I knew that Mr. Young would give me an E, just like he always did.
I went to Mr. Young and told him that the orphanage (孤儿院) was going to send me to the big prison if I got another E on my report card. He told me there was nothing he could do; it would be unfair to the other kids if he gave me a better grade than I had actually earned. I smiled at him and said, “Mr. Young, do you know how the kids make fun of you because you’re missing your finger?”
He looked at me, moved his mouth to one side and said nothing.
“They shouldn’t do that to you because you can’t help not having a finger, Mr Young. Just like I can’t help not being able to learn numbers and stuff like that,” I said.
The next day, when I got my report card, I tucked it into one of my books. While on the school bus, I opened it: Geography, B+; Mechanical Drawing, C-; English, D-; History, C-; Gym, B+; Art, C; Math, D-.
That math grade was the most favorite one I ever received. Because I knew that someone in the world finally understood what it was like for me to be missing a finger inside my head.From the second paragraph we can infer that the boy is ______ in some subjects.
| A．mind-blowing | B．badly-behaved |
| C．fun-loving | D．slow-witted |
Where may the boy live according to the passage?
| A．In an orphanage. | B．In a big prison. |
| C．In the school dormitory. | D．In his home. |
What grade should the boy have got in the math test this time?
| A．D | B．C | C．B | D．E |
The reason why the boy remembers Mr Young is that ______.
| A．he missed one of his fingers |
| B．he treated his students very well |
| C．he understood the boy |
| D．he taught his students in a special way |