Not all memories are sweet. Some people spend all their lives trying to forget bad experiences. Violence and traffic accidents can leave people with terrible physical and emotional scars. Often they relieve these experiences in nightmare(梦魇).
Now American researchers think they are close to developing a pill, which will help people forget bad memories. The pill is designed to be taken immediately after a frightening experience. They hope it might reduce, or possibly erase(抹去) the effect of painful memories.
In November, experts tested a drug on people in the US and France. The drug stops the body releasing chemicals that fix memories in the brain. So far the research has suggested that only the emotional effects of memories may be reduced, not that the memories are erased.
The research has caused a great deal of argument. Some think it is a bad idea, while others support it.
Supporters say it could lead to pills that prevent or treat soldiers’ troubling memories after war. They say that there are many people who suffer from terrible memories.
“Some memories can ruin people’s lives. They come back to you when you don’t want to have them in a daydream or nightmare. They usually come with very painful emotions,” said Roger Pitman, a professor of Psychiatry(精神病学) at Harvard Medical School. “This could relieve a lot of that suffering.”
But those who are against the research say that changing memories is very dangerous because memories give us our identity(特质). They also help us all avoid the mistakes of the past.
“All of us can think of bad events in our lives that were horrible at the time but make us who we are. I’m not sure we want to wipe those memories out,” said Rebecca Dresser, a medical ethicist(伦理学家).
57. The passage is mainly about_____.
A.a new medical invention |
B.a new research on the pill |
C.a way of erasing painful memories |
D.an argument about the research on the pill |
58. The drug tested on people can_____.
A.cause the brain to fix memories |
B.stop people remembering bad experiences |
C.prevent body producing certain chemicals |
D.wipe out the emotional effects of memories |
59. We can infer from the passage that_____.
A.people doubt the effects of the pills |
B.the pill will stop people’s bad experiences |
C.taking the pill will do harm to people’s health |
D.the pill has been produced in America |
60. Which of the following doe
s Rebecca Dresser agree with?
A.Some memories can ruin people’s lives |
B.People want to get rid of bad memories. |
C.Experiencing bad events makes us different from others. |
D.The pill will reduce people’s sufferings from bad memories. |
There’re five people at our table, including myself. I’ve already learnt a great deal about them in the short time we’ve been at sea, although we rarely meet except at meal times.
First of all, there’s Dr Stone. He’s a man of about sixty five, with gray hair and a friendly face. He gave up his work a short while ago and is now traveling round the world before he retires to some quiet country village. As a young man, he served for many years as a doctor in the army and visited many countries. He’s told us a lot about the city to which we are going.
Then there’s “Grandmother”. I call her that because her name escapes me. In spite of being a grandmother, she looks rather young, not more than fifty, she’s on her way to visit a daughter who went to Australia some years ago. Naturally she is very excited at the thought of seeing her again, and her three grandchildren, whom she has never seen.
Then there’s a man I don’t care for very much, an engineer by the name of Barlow. He has been on leave in England and is now returning to his work in Singapore.
The other person who sits at our table is Mrs. Hunt. I’ve found out hardly anything about her. She’s extremely quiet and rarely talks, except to consult(咨询)the doctor about children’s various illness. She’s on her way to join her husband in India.
64. What can we know about Mr. Stone?
A. He is a doctor in the army now.
B. He is going to give up his work.
C. He knows a lot about the city the author is going to.
D. He has been retired for many years.
65. The writer calls the second person “Grandmother” because_______.
A. she looks old B. She has three daughters
C. he respects her D. he can’t think of her name
66. Which of the following is TRUE?
A. Dr Stone lives in a quiet village now. B. “Grandmother” is an Australian.
C. Barlow works in Singapore D. Mrs Hunt is a woman of many words.
Four hundred and three babies are crying loudly. Do you know how to make them quiet in 41 seconds? There is an amazing new product on sale in Japan which does exactly this. It is an LP (a long-playing record) of sounds from inside a mother's body, which a hospital doctor recorded. In tests with the record she played the LP to 403 crying babies. After 41 seconds none of the babies was crying and 161 of them were sleeping.
The record began as an experiment by Professor Hajime Minooka of the Nippon Medical University near Tokyo. He was looking for something natural that helps new-born babies go to sleep. The sound of the mother's heart-beat and other body sounds are the things the babies heard inside their mothers. They feel safe and happy when they hear these sounds again. And they go to sleep.
Hospitals in Osaka and Tokyo are using the LP. 10,000 young couples are using it too. Toshiba Music Company who make and sell the records are very happy. One and a half million couples(夫妇) marry every year in Japan. Many will have babies, so the LP will definitely(明确的、干脆地) be a hit!
60.The experiment was made on ___ babies.
A. 10,000B. 564C. 403D. 161
61. What is TRUE according to the text?
A. About 55% of the crying babies fall asleep after 41 seconds hearing the LP.
B. The LP sounds were first recorded by Professor Hajime Minooka.
C. The LP is produced and sold by Toshiba Music Company.
D. One million and a half babies are born in Japan every year.
62. Babies feel ___ when they hear these LP sounds.
A. the sounds be their mothers' voices
B. as if they were inside their mothers
C. the music natural and soft
D. themselves sleeping together with their mothers
63 "Many will have babies, so the LP will definitely be a hit!" The word "hit" means"____".
A. popularityB. amazementC. strikeD. experiment
When I was sixteen years old, I made my first visit to the United States. It wasn’t the first time I had been abroad. Like most English children, I learned French at school. I had often been to France, so I was used to speaking a foreign language to people who didn’t understand French. But when I went to America, I was really looking forward to having a nice and easy holiday without any language problems.
How wrong I was! The misunderstandings began at the airport. I was looking for a public telephone to give my American friend Daisy a call and tell her that I had arrived. A friendly old man saw me looking lost and asked if he could help me.
"Yes, "I said, "I want to give my friend a ring. "
"Well, that's nice, "he said. "Are you getting married? But aren't you a bit young?"
"Who is talking about marriage?" I replied. "I only want to give my friend a ring to tell her I've arrived. Can you tell me where there's a phone box?"
"Oh! "he said. "There's a phone downstairs. "
When at last we met, Daisy explained the misunderstanding to me.
"Don't worry, "she said to me. "I had so many difficulties at first. There are lots of words which the Americans use differently in meaning from the British. You' ll soon get used to all the funny things they say. Most of the time, British and American people understand each other!"
56. The writer thought ______ in America.
A. he wouldn't have any language difficulties
B. he would not understand the Americans
C. the Americans might not understand him
D. he would have difficulty at the airport
57. The writer wanted to _____.
A. buy a ring for his friend
B. make a call to his friend
C. go to the telephone company
D. see his friend off
58. From the passage we can see that "give somebody a ring" ______.
A .means the same in America as in England
B. means "call somebody" to the old man
C. has two different meanings
D. means "be going to get married" in England
59. In the last paragraph the underlined word "they" refers to ______.
A. the old man and the boyB. the Americans
C. the British D. the French
Bells sound. Lighted messages appear. Men and women work at computers. They talk on the telephone. At times they shout and run around.
This noisy place is a stock exchange (证券交易所). Here expert salespeople called brokers buy and sell shares(股份) of companies. The shares are known as stocks. People who own stock in a company own part of that company.
People pay brokers to buy and sell stocks for them. If a company earns money, its stock increases in value. If the company does not earn money, the stock decreases in value. Brokers and investors(投资者)carefully watch for any changes on the Big Board. That is the name given to a list of stocks sold on the New York Stock Exchange.
Investors and brokers watch the Big Board to see if the stock market is a bull market or a bear market. In a bear market, prices go down. In a bull market, prices go up.
Investors in a bear market promise to sell a stock in the future at a set price. But the investor does not own the stock yet. He or she waits to buy it when the price drops.
The meaning of a bear market is thought to come from an old story about a man who sold the skin of a bear before he caught the bear. An English dictionary of the sixteen hundreds said, to sell a bear is to sell what one has not.
Word experts dispute the beginnings of the word bull in the stock market. But some say it came from the long connection of the two animals – bulls and bears – in sports that were popular years ago in England.
Investors always care about the possibility of a company failing. In the modern world, a company that does not earn enough profit (利润)is said to go belly up. A company that goes belly up dies like a fish. Fish turn over on their backs when they die. So they are stomach, or belly up.
Stock market investors do not want that to happen to a company. They want a company whose stock they own to earn more profit than expected. This would sharply increase the value of the stock. Investors are hoping for a windfall(横财).
72. The first paragraph is written for the purpose of ________.
A. making readers interested in buying stocks
B. telling readers the place is so busy
C. telling readers people in the stock exchange are busy
D. attracting readers’ attention to the topic of the passage
73. A fresher of a stock market probably turns to a (n) _______ for advice.
A. company B. investor
C. broker D. word expert
74. John bought his stock from a company which has gone belly up this year. We can infer _________ .
A. John would lose money this year
B. John would earn money this year
C. the stock market is a bear market
D. the stock market is a bull market
75. The reason why investors pay attention to the company whose stock they own is that _______ .
A. the company belongs to them
B. the company earns much money
C. they work for the company
D. they are financially connected with the company
Tom was a clever boy, but his parents were poor, so he had to work in his spare time and during his holidays to pay for his education. In spite of this, he managed to get to the university, but it was so expensive to study there that during the holiday he found it necessary to get two jobs at the same time so as to make enough money to pay for his studies.
One summer he managed to get a job in a butcher’s shop(肉店)during the day-time, and another in a hospital at night. In the shop, he learnt to cut meat quite nicely, so the butcher often left him to do all the serving while he went to the back room to do the accounts(账目). In the hospital , on the other hand, he was , of course , allowed to do the simplist jobs, like helping to lift people and to carry them from one part of the hospital to another. Both at the butcher’s shop and at the hospital, Tom had to wear white clothes.
One evening at the hospital, Tom had to carry a woman from her bed to the place where she was to have an operation. The woman was already feeling frightened at the thought of the operation before he came to get her, but when she saw Tom, that finished her.
“No! No!” she cried. “Not my butcher! I won’t be operated on by my butcher!” and fainted away(昏厥).
68. Tom made enough money by ________.
A. studying in the university B. working in a butcher’s shop
C. doing two jobs D. cutting meat well
69. Tom was a student, but at the same time he was__________.
A. a butcher and a doctor B. a manager and a doctor
C. an assistant D. a manager
70. The woman patient recognized Tom because ____________.
A. he was wearing white clothes
B. he had sold meat to her
C. he was now working in the hospital
D. he was going to operate on her
71. When she saw Tom, that finished her, the sight of Tom _________.
A. plunged her into deep sorrow
B. made her decide not to have an operation
C. broke her heart
D. took all her strength and courage away