Read the passage carefully．Then answer the questions or complete the statements in the fewest possible words.
Most people look forward to retirement as a time when they can finally take up activities that they never had the time or energy to pursue before．But some recent studies on people in their golden years are disturbing: they suggest that retirees are more likely to suffer from depression and possibly higher rates of other diseases such as heart disease and high blood pressure．That’s why a new study of French workers is welcome news.
Led by Hugo Westland, a professor of psychology at Stockholm University, the study of more than 14,000 workers found lower rates of depression and fatigue (疲劳) in people after they got tired while they were still employed.
The scientists followed the employees of the French national gas and electric company for 14 years．They found in the year immediately after retirement, the volunteers reported 40% fewer depressive symptoms than they had in the year before their retirement．The researchers also found an 81% drop in reports of both mental and physical fatigue over the same time period.
Clearly, said Westerlund, much of these decrease in physical and mental fatigue can be traced back to relief from the stresses of work．The decline in depressive symptoms suggests that retirement may be having a positive mental effect, too, which may have a lot to do with the generous pensions (养老金) that French workers enjoy．Most retirees in that country still benefit from about 80% of their yearly salaries.
“The economic or financial situation in retirement is very important,” Westerlund says．“We don’t know if the decrease in fatigue and depressive symptoms is because of the removal of something bad while in work or the addition of something good while in retirement．But no matter the reason, if life in retirement is not comfortable, then we won’t see the improvements we did.”
However, in European nations like France, governments are considering changes to pension plans, which may affect retirees’ health after they leave their jobs－with less of a financial safety net, workers may no longer seem so mentally and physically happy to be out of work．
(Note: Answer the questions or complete the statements in NO MORE THAN EIGHT WORDS.)According to some recent studies, retired people may have depression and higher rates of other diseases like __________.
Westerlund’s group found that in the year just after the retirement most retired French workers felt much less tired both __________.
What does the word “improvements” in paragraph 5 refer to?
Retirement may make people happier with __________.
In March 1987, I started a new magazine called Creating Excellence. It was a very proud moment for me. I’d worked hard for over a year to create it, and the premiere issue (首次发刊) was a real success.
Shortly after we mailed 25,000 copies, I received one in the mail. But this one wasn’t as beautiful as the ones we’d sent out. It was marked in red ink correcting the grammatical errors (语法错误) in it. A talented editor had read the issue carefully and found more errors than I could have imagined.
I felt abashed. A magazine called Creating Excellence should be perfect in its content (内容). The stories were good, but the errors this woman had found showed that we were far from being excellent.
At first, I was upset with my editor for not having caught more mistakes, and also upset with the woman who seemed to have taken pleasure in pointing them out. Later, I was upset with myself for not having employed a better editor.
Then I realized that I had to face up to my mistakes. I called the woman who had shown me that we were not so excellent. I thanked her for taking the time to read our magazine so carefully. As painful as it was, I accepted responsibility for it.
Then I offered her the job of editing our publication. The result was a great improvement in it; we could now be very proud of our magazine.
From this I learnt that an upsetting moment could be an opportunity to see the truth, and accepting responsibility could help to prevent one making the same mistakes for a second time, and to make "excellence" a reality.From the first paragraph we learn that _____.
| A．the author put little effort into his first magazine |
| B．the author’s job was selling magazines |
| C．the author was very satisfied with his work |
| D．the author experienced a total failure |
What does the underlined word "abashed" mean?
| A．excited. | B．embarrassed. | C．interested. | D．exhausted. |
What do we learn about the woman who had found the errors in the magazine?
| A．She was causing trouble on purpose. |
| B．She liked pointing out the errors of others. |
| C．She contributed a lot to the success of the premiere issue. |
| D．She ended up joining the magazine. |
What do we learn from this passage?
| A．Pride is the biggest enemy of success. |
| B．Success is behind many failures. |
| C．Picking holes in something can help you find a job. |
| D．Accepting responsibility for one’s errors can lead to real excellence. |
Have you ever heard of blogs (博客)? If you haven’t, you should have. It’s here, it’s growing and it’s having an influence on our life. Surf the Internet and you’ll find blogs everywhere. A blog, shortened from “weblog”, is a public Internet journal written by one person or a group of people. It is a website in which a person or a group can place news, personal thoughts, text, photos, video or audio files, or links upon which visitors can comment. A blog lets you post on the Internet without having to know web design or be technical. You are given an environment to make dated entries on the topic of your choice which are “published”, so other people can read them.
Authoring a blog, maintaining a blog or adding an article to an existing blog is called “blogging”. Blogging has revolutionized Internet publishing in the last several years because it gives everyone with Internet access the opportunity to become an online writer. Objects, such as “text and photos” in a blog can be called “blog posts”, “posts”, or “entries”. The person who posts these entries is called a “blogger”.
Now, somewhere around the world, a blog is created almost every 6 seconds. Because it’s great potential, Bill Gates views it as important as e-mail, BBS, and MSN. He’s trying to make blogs the important tools for future business communications.A blog is .
| A．a comment | B．an Internet journal | C．a design | D．a link |
A person can do the following things in a blog EXCEPT _______.
| A．talk to others | B．give comments | C．read articles | D．enjoy photos |
Who is a blogger?
| A．A person who posts letters. |
| B．A person who writes articles. |
| C．A person who posts text or photos in a blog. |
| D．A person who is an online publisher. |
From the passage we know that .
| A．Bill Gates will invent some tools for blogs |
| B．blogs will be an important business communication tool in the future |
| C．so far, only a few persons have created blogs |
| D．blogs will replace e-mail, BBS and MSN in the future |
According to the passage, the reason why blogs are so popular is that they ____.
| A．give everyone the chance to be an online writer |
| B．can be created by people without much knowledge of computer technology |
| C．enable a blogger to place news, personal thoughts, text and photos and give comments |
| D．all of the above |
To find how the name Canada came about we must go back to the 16th century. At that time, the French dreamed of disclosing and controlling more land, of expanding(扩展)trade beyond(超出) their borders and of spreading their faith(信仰) across the world .In 1535, Francois I ,King of France, ordered a navigator (航海家) named Jacques Cartier to explore(探险) the New World and search for a passage to India.
Cartier first arrived at the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, which he wanted to explore. He did not know what to expect but he hoped that this Gulf was just an arm of the ocean between two islands. If it was, he would soon be on his way to the Far East. So he sailed upstream along the St. Lawrence River. However, insteadorreaching Asia he arrived at QuebecorStadacona, as the Indians called it. It was at this point that the term “ Canada” entered the country’s history. Apparently the word “Canada” came from an Indian work “Kanata”, which means communityorvillage. Cartier first used it when he referred to StadaconaorQuebec. What a huge “ village” Canada is!In the early sixteenth century , the King of France ordered Cartier to ______
| A． find the new world |
| B． build an entirely new country |
| C． go and visit the American Indians |
| D． get more information about America and find a way to Asia |
Having reached the Gulf of St. Lawrence Cartier thought _____
| A． he had already got to India |
| B． it was a water way to the New World |
| C． it was a water passage to the East |
| D． he had sailed into the Atlantic |
In the early sixteenth century , Quebec was only ____.
| A． an Indian village |
| B． a little town in southern Canada |
| C． a village at the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence |
| D． the place which we call Canada now |
Pick out the right statements from the following _____
| A． Quebec was a village and Stadacona was another |
| B． Cartier mistook Quebec for Stadacona |
| C． Stadacona was a village in Quebec |
| D． Stadacona was what the Indians called Quebec then |
“Canada” was first used to refer to _____
| A． a small town in Stadacona |
| B． the place called Quebec |
| C． a long water passage |
| D． a huge village including Quebec and Stadacona |
Lisa is ten years old. She is disabled because she has brain damage. She could not do even the simplest thing until a year ago. She could not comb her hairorfeed herself. Her parents loved her. And they treated her like a baby.
Mr. Ching has a daughter and a son. They are both grown. They live far from their father. Mr. Cling felt lonely. He decided to become a foster grandfather to a handicapped child. And that was how he met Lisa.
Foster grandparents are grandparents who are not related by birth but foster parents love the children they care for. They also help the handicapped children in special ways. They help to dress and feed the children. They read to them and tell them stories. They also help with handicapped children’s therapy. Therapy is the treatment of a diseaseordisorder. It helps the children overcome their handicaps.
Mr. Cling became a foster grandparent to Lisa when she was nine years old. At first, Lisa was shy. She was afraid because Mr. Cling was a stranger. But he came to see her every day, gradually she began to trust him. At last, Lisa let Mr. Cling do things for her.
Cling speaks for most foster grandparents when he say, “We all benefit. The handicapped children benefit because we help them live more useful lives. And we benefit because we know the children need us and love us. For any person, there is no greater happiness than that.”Why did Lisa need help?
| A．She was a baby |
| B．She did not want to do anything. |
| C．She had brain damage. |
| D．She was a blind girl. |
What does the underlined word “foster” in paragraph 2 mean?
| A．Elderly | B．Related by birth |
| C．Not related by birth | D．King-hearted |
Which five things do foster grandparents do for handicapped children?
a help with their treatment b dress them c live in their homes
d feed them e charge them money f read to them
g tell them stories h make fun of them
| A．a,b,d,e,f | B．a,c,e,f,h | C．b,c,d,f,g | D．a,b,d,f,g |
Why did Mr. Cling foster Lisa?
| A．Lisa needs looking after. |
| B．The passage doesn’t mention of. |
| C．Lisa need caring for and Mr. Cling also gets enjoyment from it. |
| D．Mr. Cling is too lonely. |
The best title for this passage is ________.
| A．Lisa, A Handicapped Girl |
| B．Why Did He Do That? |
| C．Foster Grandparents |
| D．The Greatest Happiness! |
The advertisement appeared in my e-mail—“1-800-Flowers: Mother’s Day Madness —for just $39.99！” I almost clicked on it, forgetting that those services would not be needed this year. My mother, Margaret Feiddman, died at the age of 89, and so this is my first Mother’s Day without my mom.
In my childhood, my mom appeared to be a typical suburban housewife of her generation. She sewed many of my sisters’ clothes, including both of their wedding dresses and boy’s suits for me. And on the side, she won several national bridge tournaments(桥牌锦标赛).
My mom left many indelible marks on me. The first was to never lose heart and to be independent. My dad died suddenly when I was 19. My mom worked hard for a couple of years. But in1975, I won a scholarship to study in Britain and my mom surprised us all by announcing that she decided to go with me. When I met difficulties, she always said: “You’re a man, so never lose heart, never be knocked down, and try your best to pursue(追求) your dreams.”
My mom’s other big influence on me is a sense of optimism. She had taken her knocks. But every time life knocked her down, she got up and kept on marching forward, encouraged by the saying that pessimists(悲观者) are usually right, optimists are usually wrong, but most great changes are made by optimists.
How I wish to listen to my mother’s words, and give my best regards on this Mother’s Day, but I have no chance now! My best friends, treasure(珍惜)your mother’s love!The author mentioned the advertisement to ___.
| A．show he’s tired of the advertisements |
| B．explain he missed his mother very much |
| C．make you believe that he was very kind |
| D．urge the readers to buy the present for their mothers |
What experience of the author’s mother surprised the author?
| A．That she volunteered to go to Britain with her son. |
| B．That she gained knowledge all by herself. |
| C．That she did all the housework by herself. |
| D．That she won several national bridge tournaments. |
What dose the underlined word “indelible” in the 3rd paragraph probably mean?
| A．be out of control | B．be easy to remember |
| C．be destroyed easily | D．be impossible to forget |
We can know about the author’s mother that_____.
| A．She encouraged the author to pursue his dreams |
| B．she felt very lonely in her late life |
| C．She never received a present from her children |
| D．she passed away before the author’s father |
Which can be the best title for the passage?
| A．My Great Mother | B．Mother and I |
| C．Treasure Mother’s Love | D．Mother’s Day Madness |