When I was small and my grandmother died, I couldn’t understand why I had no tears. But that night when my dad tried to cheer me up, my laugh turned into crying.
. So it came as no surprise to learn that researchers believe crying and laughing come from the same part of the brain. Just as laughing has many health advantages, scientists are discovering that so, too, does crying.
Whatever it takes for us to reduce pressure is important to our emotional (情感的) health, and crying seems to study found that 85 percent of women and 73 percent of men report feeling better after crying.
Besides, tears attract help from other people. Researchers agree that when we cry, people around us become kinder and friendly and they are more ready to provide support and comfort. Tears also enable us to understand our emotions better; sometimes we don’t even know we’ re very sad until we cry. We learn about our emotions through Crying, and then we can deal with them.
Just as crying can be healthy, not crying — holding back tears of anger, pain or suffering — can be bad for physical (身体的) health, Studies have shown that too much control of emotions can lead to high blood pressure, heart problems and some other illnesses. If you have a health problem, doctors will certainly not ask you to cry. But when you feel like crying, don’t fight it. It’s a natural — and healthy — emotional response (反应).Why didn’t the author cry when her grandmother died?
| A．Because her father did not want her to feel too sad. |
| B．Because she did not love her grandmother. |
| C．Because she was too shy to cry at that time. |
| D．The author doesn’t give the explanation. |
According to the author, which of the following statements is true?
| A．Crying is the best way to get help from others. |
| B．Fighting back tears may cause some health problems. |
| C．We will never know our deep feelings unless we cry. |
| D．We must cry if we want to reduce pressure. |
What might be the most suitable title for the text?
| A．Power of Tears |
| B．How to Keep Healthy |
| C．Why We Cry |
| D．A New Scientific Discovery |
We thought we had it all---a beautiful house, three healthy children and one more on the way, two cars, a couple of four-wheelers for entertainment---and we loved it. Then, the market turned and my husband’s job at a construction company was gone. The company was closing down for good.We both started looking for jobs right away, but there weren’t any to be found. With each passing day we were getting increasingly worried and we continued to work together in order to pull our family through. The more we pulled together, the closer we got. I felt feelings of admiration for my husband that I hadn’t felt in years.
That’s why it was so hard for me to watch him blame himself for our present situation. I continually asked him to stop, but he seemed to want to punish himself for not having a job.
Finally, one afternoon I pulled him aside and said, “We have four healthy children and each other. That’s what’s important. That makes you a rich man.”
“ But what if we lose the house? They’ll hate me—you’ll hate me,” he replied.
I smiled at him and put my hands on both sides of his face to make him look me in the eye. “No matter where we live I will be happy –as long as I have you.” I smiled again. In all the struggling together I had found that deep love for him that I had on the day we said “I do”.
I could see his shoulders and neck relaxed. He held me close and we were able to talk and plan and dream together in a way that we hadn’t for quite some time. It was a turning point for us as a couple and a family.
We are still struggling for out better life, but I consider us well-off because we have something that money can’t buy and no one can take away from us.The underlined sentence in the second paragraph means that________.
| A．they became closer as they struggled together |
| B．they hoped to find jobs in the same company |
| C．neither of them had the courage to ace difficulty |
| D．they were trying to make their relationship closer |
We can learn from the passage that________.
| A．they both found good jobs at last. |
| B．both of them were worried about joblessness. |
| C．her husband was to blame for the unemployment |
| D．they didn’t love each other when they got married |
Which of the following can best describe their present life?
| A．Bitter but easy. | B．Comfortable and happy. |
| C．Hard but warm. | D．Well-off and relaxing. |
The best title of the passage might be________ .
| A．We Have It All | B．We Find It Again |
| C．A Perfect Couple | D．A Hard Time |
Babies are born yogis. Once we were all able to pull our toes up by our ears and laugh about it. Then we aged, got injured, and began carrying stress in our shoulders and back. In short, we lost our balance.
Yoga（瑜伽）is an ancient practice that helps create a sense of union in body, mind, and spirit. It brings us balance. I was seriously out of balance when I started practicing yoga in 1999. I had plantar fascitis(足底筋膜炎) in both feet, and my doctor had warned me against all the things I loved to do: walking, hiking, and playing tennis. I was desperate for exercise. Yoga became my salvation(拯救) and even enhanced my other fitness activities. I practice yoga at least twice a week, but I consider yoga to be part of my daily life because after a while you no longer just practice yoga—you love it.
Yoga becomes part of your physical life. Your body grows stronger, more toned, and more flexible as you move from one pose to the other. I spent a week in Mexico at a yoga retreat(静修), and it was the first vacation on which I lost weight. “Rather than building muscle, yoga builds muscle tone,” says Shakta Kaur Khalsa, author of the K.I.S.S. Guide to Yoga. “Because yoga helps maintain a balanced metabolism (新陈代谢), it also helps to regulate weight. Additionally, yoga stretches muscles lengthwise, causing fat to be removed around the cells.” I do yoga poses throughout the day. After hours at my computer, I stretch my stiff shoulders and arms. When I need a boost of energy, I do energizing poses. When I am feeling exhausted at the end of the day, I do restorative poses.
Yoga becomes part of your mental life. Yoga teaches you to focus on breathing while you hold the poses. This attention to breath is calming; it dissolves stress and anxiety. I use yogic breathing on the tennis courts, in the dentist’s chair, and in traffic jams. You should always leave a yoga practice feeling energized, not tired. If you feel tired after yoga, it means you spent the time “fighting” yourself, trying to force yourself into poses. In yoga, you “surrender” to the pose by letting go of the tension.
Yoga becomes part of your spiritual life. Yoga is practiced by people from all religions; it is not restricted to any religious group. Yoga teaches “right” living in how we deal with ourselves and others. As I work on a difficult pose, I learn patience, forgiveness, and the value of gentleness. Yoga advocates proper eating, but you don’t have to be a vegetarian to practice yoga.What would be the best title for this passage?
| A．What’s Yoga? | B．How I Do Yoga Poses |
| C．The Benefits of Yoga | D．The Varieties of Yoga |
According to the third paragraph, yoga can help people __________.
| A．grow taller | B．lose weight |
| C．become flexible in thinking | D．make more friends |
People feel tired after yoga because __________.
| A．they consume energy in practicing yoga |
| B．they respond well to yoga poses |
| C．they spend too much time on yoga |
| D．they force themselves into yoga poses |
If this passage continues, what will the writer most probably write about in the next paragraph?
| A．Yoga as a means to keep fit. | B．Different yoga poses. |
| C．Popularity of yoga all over the world. | D．Encouraging people to do yoga. |
In the UK, students’ residence halls are run as profit-making business, but this can occasionally be to students’ disadvantage.
As many universities choose to contract out their hall’s management to private companies, room rents are rising and student rights are suffering.
In 2006, 55 percent of student rooms were managed by private companies --- only 27 percent by universities and colleges, the National Union of Students (NUS) has reported.
These private companies are improving the hall’s facilities in return for higher room rents. The most noticeable example of this trend is the growth in luxury halls. These are halls for students willing to pay more for larger rooms with better services.
Chancellors Court, at Edinburgh University in Scotland, is one such luxury hall. Rooms are divided between standard and large, with larger rooms costing 173 pounds each week, 40 pounds more than smaller rooms. They come with a scenic view, color TV, fast Internet connection and a modern bathroom.
Other luxury halls have private gyms for their residents. Private companies capitalize (用…以牟利) on their investment by renting out the students rooms to travelers over the summer vacation period.
But the NUS is concerned that luxury halls are affecting room rents at standard un-privatized halls. Most students in the UK pay on average 126 pounds a week for a private room in catered (提供餐饮的) halls of residence, the International Students Advice and Welfare organization has reported. According to the NUS, rent in UK halls of residence has risen by almost a quarter from 2005 to 2007.
Veronica King, NUS vice-president of welfare, wants the privatization of university accommodation to stop.
“For the students for whom luxury is not affordable, there is a significant risk that accommodation costs, coupled with the burden of complete fees, may reduce the choice of where to go to university,” she said.
Legal quarrels with privatized (私有化了的) halls may also account for some of the 10 percent per year rise in student complaints to the office of the Independent Adjudicator(裁定者) for Higher Education (OIA). The OIA is an independent student complaints scheme that has authority over all higher education institutions in England and Wales.
Rob Behrens, chief executive of the OIA, said he was unsurprised by the rise in complaints. “The bottom line is that students today are more self-confident in thinking about what their rights are and what are the things they can get form the commitments they make.” Why are room rents rising in British universities?
| A．Because the world is facing a financial crisis. |
| B．Because most universities are getting bored about students’ complaints. |
| C．Because many universities let private companies run students’ halls. |
| D．Because not all universities can meet the demands of the students. |
Which of the following is not mentioned about a luxury hall?
| A．Students have to pay more for a luxury hall. |
| B．Students can have a good view in a luxury hall. |
| C．Students can enjoy their own gym in a luxury hall. |
| D．Students can have an Internet connection free of charge. |
Why do some students want to pay more for a luxury hall?
| A．Because they just want to show that they are rich. |
| B．Because they are better served in a luxury hall. |
| C．Because there are too much complaints about small rooms. |
| D．Because there are no other choices. |
What may happen to those who can’t afford the accommodation fee?
A. They may borrow more money from the bank.
B. They may go to work in OIA.
C. They may not go to college.
D. They may go abroad for further study.
When we think about giving help to developing countries, we often think about giving money so that these countries can build schools and hospitals, buy food and medicine, or find clean water supplies. These seem to be the most important basic needs of the people we are trying to help. However, it's far from enough. Ladies and gentlemen, we've got to come up with some better ideas to help them.
I was very surprised, then, when I read about a plan to make cheap laptop computers for children in developing countries. A man called Nicholas Negroponte invented a cheap laptop computer, which can run without electricity. He decided to invent this computer after he visited a school in Cambodia.
The laptop which Mr. Negroponte has designed is a little different from the normal laptop computers you can buy in the shops. One difference is that it is covered in rubber so that it is very strong and won't be damaged easily. As an electricity supply can be a problem in developing countries, the computer also has a special handle so that children can wind the computer up to give it extra power when needed.
These special laptop computers will cost less than 100 US dollars and Mr. Negroponte wants to build as many as 15 million machines in the first year of production. The idea is that these computers will help the children's education as they will be able to access the Internet. These computers might not help the people in developing countries immediately, but by improving children's education they should help people to find their own solutions to their problems in the long term.
Another idea to help children in developing countries is to recycle old mobile phones so that they can be used again. In the UK, and, probably in many other countries too, millions of mobile phones are thrown away every year. The waste created by throwing away these old phones is very bad for the environment, so it seems to be an excellent idea to recycle them. In this way we will be able to achieve two important goals at the same time. We will reduce the waste we produce and help others. In other words, we will be able to 'kill two birds with one stone', and that is always a good thing.It's an excellent idea to recycle old mobile phones because _______.
| A．it reduces waste and can help others |
| B．it prevents waste and can earn lots of money |
| C．it can send the waste produced by developed countries to other countries |
| D．it is good for the environment and very educative for phone users |
The author gives the example of Mr. Negroponte's cheap computers _______.
| A．to show what high tech can bring us. |
| B．to illustrate the kindness of people in the developed countries |
| C．to show how to find business opportunities in developing countries |
| D．to give an example of how to help developing countries |
Which of the following statements is TRUE about Mr. Negroponte's cheap computers?
| A．His computers don’t need any power to function well. |
| B．His computers are covered with rubber so that they are very cheap. |
| C．His computers will help children in developing countries to have better education. |
| D．His computers will help people in developing countries to find all the solutions. |
Where does this passage probably come from?
| A．A magazine | B．A newspaper | C．A lecture | D．An advertisement |
I made a promise to myself on the way down to the vacation beach cottage. For two weeks I would try to be a loving husband and father. Totally loving. No ifs, ands or buts.
The idea had come to me as I listened to a talk on my car radio. The speaker was quoting a Biblical passage about husbands and their wives. Then he went on to say, “Love is an act of will. A person can choose to love.” To myself, I had to admit that I had been a selfish husband. Well, for two weeks that would change.
And it did. On arriving at the beach cottage, I kissed Evelyn meeting me at the door and said, “That new yellow sweater looks great on you.” “Oh, Tom, you noticed”, she said, surprised and pleased. Maybe a little puzzled. After the long drive, I wanted to sit and read. Evelyn suggested a walk on the beach. I started to refuse, but then I thought, “Evelyn’s been alone here with the kids all week and now she wants to be alone with me.” We walked on the beach while the children flew their kites.
So it went. Two weeks of not calling the Wall Street firm where I am a director; a visit to the shell museum though I usually hate museums. Relaxed and happy, that’s how the whole vacation passed. I made a new promise to keep on remembering to choose love.
There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment, however. Evelyn and I still laugh about it today. On the last night at our cottage, preparing for bed, Evelyn stared at me with the saddest expression.
“What’s the matter?” I asked her.
“Tom,” she said in a voice filled with distress, “I don’t?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well…that checkup I had several weeks ago…our doctor…did he tell you something about me? Tom, you’ve been so good to me…am I dying?”
It took a moment for it all to be understood. Then I burst out laughing.
“No, honey,” I said, wrapping her in my arms. “You’re not dying; I’m just starting to live.”From the story we may infer that Tom drove to the beach cottage ______.
| A．with his family | B．with Evelyn | C．alone | D．with his children |
During the two weeks on the beach, Tom showed more love to his wife because ______.
| A．he was determined to be a good husband |
| B．he had made a lot of money in his Wall Street firm |
| C．she looked lovely in her new clothes |
| D．the doctor said his wife was seriously ill |
The author says, “There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment.” What does “one thing” refer to?
| A．He praised her sweater, which puzzled her. |
| B．She insisted on visiting a museum, which he hated. |
| C．He knew something about her illness but didn’t tell her. |
| D．He was so good to her that she thought she must be dying. |