Watercolor（水彩画）istheoldestpain-优题课

Agence Rrance-Presse--- French doctors this week carried out the world’s first operation on a human in zero gravity, using a specially adapted aircraft to create conditions in space.
During a three-hour flight from Bordeaux in southwest France, the team of surgeons and anesthetists (麻醉师) successfully removed a benign tumor (良性瘤) from the forearm of a 46-year-old volunteer. The experiment was part of a program backed by the European Space Agency to develop techniques for performing robotic surgery aboard the International Space Station or at a future Moon base.
“Now we know that a human being can be operated on in space without too many difficulties,” says the team leader Dr. Dominique Martin.
Under normal ground conditions, the operation would be performed under a local anesthetic. Without gravity, the surgeon’s work is harder and the patient’s body reacts differently. Blood doesn’t pump in the same way.
The custom-designed Airbus 300 aircraft performed a series of parabolic swoops (抛物线飞行), each creating between 20 seconds of weightlessness. The process was repeated 32 times.
Fixed inside a custom-made operating block, three surgeons and two anesthetists worked during these periods, with their instruments held in place with magnets around the patient’s bed. The next part of the program is to carry out a remote-controlled operation using a robot controlled from the ground by satellite. This experiment should take place within a year, Martin says.
Anesthetist Dr. Laurent de Coninek says that zero-gravity surgery offers huge promise for space exploration, although it would at first be limited to treating simple injuries. Today more than 400 people have already traveled into space. The chances of injuries occurring during missions will become even greater and to bring a wounded person back to the earth for treatment is both risky for them and expensive.
67. What would be the best title for the test?
A. A Special Operation for Doctors B. First Operation on the Moon
C. World’s First Operation in Zero Gravity D. An Important Experiment for Doctors
68. What’s the purpose of the operation?
A. To have an experiment on space operation. B. To cure the patient.
C. To do it at the request of the patient. D. To reduce the danger of operation on earth.
69. It is difficult for doctors to do operations in space because________________.
A. the patient’s illness will be more serious B. the patient has no feeling about pain
C. the patient’s body reacts differently D. the patient’s flood will stop flowing
70. The last paragraph mainly wants to tell readers________________.
A. there are many people injured in space B. it is necessary to do the experiment
C. it is risky to travel in space D. there is no need to bring patients in space to the earth

MEN VS. WOMEN
COMPARING NICKNAMES
　If Laura, Suzanne, Debra and Rose go out for lunch, they will call each other Laura, Suzanne, Debra and Rose.
　If Mike, Charlie, Bob and John go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Godzilla (怪兽), Peanut-Head and Scrappy.
EATING OUT
When the bill arrives, Mike, Charlie, Bob and John will each throw in $20, even though it’s only for $32.50. None of them will have anything smaller, and none will actually admit they want change back.
　When the girls get their bill, out come the pocket calculators.
MONEY
　A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he wants.
　A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn’t want.
BATHROOMS
　A man has six items in his bathroom: a toothbrush, comb, shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel from the Holiday Inn.
　The average number of items in the typical woman’s bathroom is 337... A man would not be able to identify most of these items.
ARGUMENTS
　A woman has the last word in any argument.
　Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.
CATS
Women love cats.
　Men say they love cats, but when women aren’t looking, men kick cats.
FUTURE
　A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.
　A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.
SUCCESS
　A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.
　A successful woman is one who can find such a man.
MARRIAGE
　A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn’t.
　A man marries a woman expecting that she won’t change and she does.
DRESSING UP
A woman will dress up to go shopping, water the plants, empty the garbage, answer the phone, read a book, and get the mail.
　A man will only dress up for weddings and funerals.
NATURAL
　Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed.
　Women somehow deteriorate (恶化) during the night.
OFFSPRING
　Ah, children. A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments and romances, best friends, favorite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams.
　A man is vaguely (含糊地) aware of some short people living in the house.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Any married man should forget his mistakes. There’s no sense in two people remembering the same thing.
63. This passage is_________________.
A. a story B. an advertisement C. a report D. a humor
64. The purpose of this passage is________________.
A. to inform the readers of some secrets between men and women
B. to remind the readers of the big differences between men and women
C. to amuse the readers using some interesting examples
D. to show that men perform better than women in our daily life
65. When the girls get their bill, they take out the pocket calculators_________________.
A. to make sure they won’t be cheated by the servant B. so that they can share the bill equally among them
C. because they want to know what time it is now D. if they forget to bring their mobile phones
66. What does the underlined sentence mean?
A. A man doesn’t know what to do before he gets married.
B. A man is worried about his future job after he gets married.
C. Anything unexpected will probably happen to a man after he gets married.
D. It’s not easy for a man to find a good job as a woman thinks.

Where have all the boys gone? You may be able to find them in the gym, at work or hanging out, but there is one important place where boys are under-represented, and the problem seems to be getting worse. These days, at high school graduation ceremonies, there are a lot more girls than boys.
In fact, every year, 10 percent more girls graduate from high school than boys. “I think that there’s a tendency to focus on boys as problems at this point, rather than recognizing that boys have problems,” says Joanne Max, PhD. Experts say the problems start in grade school, where there’s often an emphasis on sports instead of reading, for example. “I think that with boys there’s some idea that it’s not masculine(男子汉的)to read,” says Rob Jenkins, an English professor.
There’s also a shortage of male teachers as role models. “I think boys need role models, so if you’re a boy and you don’t have a dad in your home and then you have one male teacher and he’s your athletic coach, then I don’t think you have a message that education is very important,” says Carol Carter, another expert. In addition, classrooms often have too little activity and too much passive listening, which is not conducive (有益的) to boys’ learning.
Experts say parents can fight back in many ways. Read to your sons early and often; show by your action that you value their education. Ask them about their schoolwork, offer help, drop by their classroom and, finally, appeal to their competitive spirit, challenge them to do better and help them understand that their future depends on it.
60. According to the passage, boys have the problem that they think _____________.
A. reading is more important than sports B. it is shameful for boys to read
C. boys should not work as a teacher D. boys lack the gift for reading
61. Carol Carter’s words in the third paragraph implies that ______________.
A. parents play an important role in education
B. athletic coaches contribute a lot to education
C. lack of role model affects boys’ attitudes to school work
D. classrooms lack enough activities that are suitable for boys
62. The passage is written mainly for _____________.
A. parents B. boys C. teachers D. experts

When Charles Stratton was five, he stopped growing. His mother took him to see the famous showman, P. T. Barnum. Mr. Barnum thought a small person would be the perfect addition to his show. He hired Charles’ parents along with him, and they traveled the world together.
He gave the two-foot-tall Charles a name, General Tom Thumb. He taught Tom how to sing, dance, act and tell jokes. When he felt Tom was ready to perform on stage, he made up ads. To stir up great interest, he said that Tom was eleven years old and had come from England.
During the show, Tom fought battles pretendedly with tall people. He also danced upon a wooden plate held by a person who was eight feet tall. Tom’s act was very popular and brought in a lot of money. By the time Tom was an adult, he had grown very rich. He had become a billionaire at the age of twenty five.
Fortunately for Tom, Mr. Barnum added more little people to his show, and Tom became lucky in love as well. One of the little people was Lavinia Warren, a schoolteacher. Tom was able to win her love, and they married.
The ceremony and reception were the talk of the town. They were attended by many rich and famous people and by about 2000 guests. Crowds filled the streets of New York to have a look at their tiny wedding marriage. The couple even met with President on their honeymoon just before going to live in Tom’s house in Connecticut.
Their wedding, which took place during the Civil War, provided a welcome escape from the sad problems of war. Not willing to let this bit of sunshine fade, communities throughout the country sponsored (发起) “Tom Thumb” weddings. In these weddings, small boys and girls, all dressed up, went through marriage ceremony for fun.
56. Which of the statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Charles’ parents supported him and performed together with him.
B. Charles was found and hired by the famous showman.
C. Charles put lots of advertisements to arouse interest.
D. Charles’ success was largely due to Mr. Barnum’s help.
57. Tom would dance on a wooden plate held by an eight-foot-tall person probably because ______________.
A. the wooden plate would make it sound as if Tom was dancing
B. it made Tom look taller
C. the eight–foot–tall man was the only tall person Tom trusted
D. the difference between them would make Tom look even smaller
58. The underlined words “talk of the town” in the second paragraph from the bottom means ______________.
A. it was in the newspaper B. people spread bad rumors about it
C. it was the most popular topic D. it was discussed in a city meeting
59. What does the author think about Tom’s wedding?
A. It helped people cheer up in a dark time. B. People gave it too much of their attention.
C. It was funny and ridiculous. D. Tom and Lavinia were stupid.

The sandstorm has a bad effect on human beings, but it also brings some good results. There wouldn’t have been our Chinese nation if there had been no sandstorms. Sandstorms have existed for millions of years, while the written history of human beings has lasted only 5,000 years. The Loess Plateau(黄土高原) was formed by sandstorms over millions of years. The Yellow River, while moving through the Loess Plateau, carries a great deal of sand and has formed the North China Plain. The Loess Plateau is regarded as the place where Chinese civilization(文明) began. If there had been no Loess Plateau, the North China Plain wouldn’t have existed, nor would have the Chinese civilization.
Sandstorms don’t bring only loess to human beings. When sandstorms move from central Asia to the Pacific regions, they carry some minerals into the air, which will later fall into the ocean in the form of rain. The minerals will help some planktons(浮游生物) to survive. The planktons are eaten by small shellfish, and fish live on these small shellfish, and fish are eaten by humans. This forms a biological chain which shows a relation between humans and nature.
So it is unrealistic to say we should stop sandstorms. What we can possibly do is to reduce their bad influence as much as we can.
59. The underlined sentence in the first paragraph probably means _________.
A. there are many sandstorms in China
B. the land of China was made by sandstorms
C. sandstorms helped to form Chinese civilization
D. the history of sandstorms was longer than that of Chinese nation
60. How does the sandstorm help to form the biological chain?
A. The sandstorm carries lots of rain into the ocean.
B. The sandstorm helps some minerals fall into the ocean.
C. Some minerals directly fall into the ocean in the form of rain.
D. The sandstorm moves from central Asia to the Pacific regions.
61. The writer thinks that _______.
A. the sandstorm only has a bad effect on human beings
B. sandstorms bring about lots of trouble, but we can still make use of them
C. without sandstorms, there would be no Chinese civilization and human beings
D. sandstorms play an active role in the Chinese civilization, so we should protect them
62. The text mainly talks about _______.
A. the history of sandstorms B. what the biological chain is
C. how the Loess Plateau formed D. the good effects of sandstorms