Our bodies are wonderfully skillful at keeping balance．When the temperature jumps, we sweat to cool down．When our blood pressure falls, our hearts can do something．As it turns out, though, our natural state is always changing．Researchers are finding that everything from blood pressure to brain function changes regularly with the cycles of sun, moon and seasons．And their insights （洞察力） are getting new ways for keeping away such common killers as heart disease and cancer．Only one doctor in 20 has a good knowledge of the scientific use of time in medicine．But according to a new American Medical Association, three out of four are eager to change that．“The field is exploding,” says Michael Smolensky．“Doctors used to look at us like, What spaceship did you get off ? Now they're thirsty to know more．”
In medical school, most doctors learn that people with chronic conditions should take their medicine regularly．“It’s a terrible way to treat disease,” says Dr Richard Martin．For example, asthmatics （气喘患者） are most likely to suffer during the night．Yet most patients try to keep a constant level of medicine in their blood day and night, whether by breathing in on an inhaler （吸入器） four times a day or taking a pill each morning and evening．In recent studies, researchers have found that a large mid afternoon dose of a bronchodilator （支气管扩张剂） can be as safe as several small doses, and better for preventing nighttime attacks．
If the night belongs to asthma, the dawn belongs to high blood pressure and heart disease．Heart attacks are twice as common at 9 a．m．as at 11 p．m．Part of the reason is that our blood pressure falls at night, then rises as we start to work for the day．“Doctors know that,” says Dr．Henry Black of Chicago's Medical Center, “but until now, we haven't been able to do anything about it．” Most blood - pressure drugs provide 18 to 20 hours of relief （减缓）．But because they’re taken in the morning, they're least effective when most needed．“You take your pill at 7 and it's working by 9,” says Dr．William White of the University of Connecticut Health Center “But by that time you've gone through the worst four hours of the day with no protection．” Bedtime medicine would prevent high blood pressure, but it would also push blood pressure to dangerously low levels during the night．Researchers are finding that _________ ．
| A．heart disease and cancer are the most common killers of human beings |
| B．only blood pressure and brain function are decided by cycles of sun, moon and seasons |
| C．the functions of human bodies have much to do with nature |
| D．any change in human bodies goes with changes in the surroundings |
According to the author, it is best for asthmatics to
take their medicine _________ ．
| A．at certain time |
| B．each morning and evening |
| C．when the disease occurs |
| D．at midafternoon |
Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A．Doctors know more about illnesses than before．
B．Doctors in the U．S．used to be thirsty to know more about the new medical field．
C．The researchers' insights are providing new methods to prevent common killers．
D．The correct use of time in medicine attracts more attention in medical circle in the U．S．A．The suggested title for this passage might be _________．
| A．Medicine Is Everything | B．Treatment Is Everything |
| C．Timing Is Everything | D．Prevention Is Everything |
We must do what we can to protect the plants because plants are very important for living things. Life could not go on if there were no plants. This is because plants can make food from air, water and sunlight. Animals and man cannot make food from air, water and sunlight. Animals get their food by eating plants and other animals. Therefore animals and man need plants in order to live. This is why we find that there are so many plants around us.
If you look carefully at the plants around you, you will find that there are two kinds of plants: flowering plants and non-flowering plants. Flowering plants can make seeds. The seeds are protected by the fruits. Some fruits have one seed, some have two, three or four, and some have many seeds. But a few fruits have no seeds at all. An example of a fruit without seeds is the banana fruit. Most non-flowering plants do not grow from seeds. They grow from spores（胚芽）. Spores are very small. Some spores are so small and light that they can float in the air. We may say that spores are quite the same as seeds. When these spores are all on wet and shady places, they usually grow into new plants.Plants can make food from______.
| A．flower, water and air | B．water, sunlight and air |
| C．air, water and soil | D．air, sun and light |
The main idea of the first paragraph is that ______.
| A．plants are important for life |
| B．plants cannot grow without air |
| C．there are many plants in the world |
| D．we can not live without water |
What can we infer（推断） from the passage？
| A．Of all living things animals are most important |
| B．Spores are seeds |
| C．All fruits of flowering plants have seeds |
| D．Without plants, man will die out |
This passage may be taken from______.
| A．a medicine book | B．a novel |
| C．a science magazine | D．an experiment report |
The underlined word “protected” in the passage can be replaced by ______.
| A．damaged | B．polluted | C．prevented | D．guarded |
阅读下面短文, 请根据短文后的要求进行答题。（请注意问题后的字数要求）
[1]Everybody is familiar with Christmas music； its played everywhere. Whether it's the music from a grocery store or random(随机的）songs on the radio， holiday music remains to flood in the air from the day after Thanksgiving to the beginning of December. Christmas music gets extremely over- played through the Holiday season. “'I think the common seasonal Christmas music is annoying because it keeps being played over and over.”said junior Devin McFarland.
[2]The Christmas music still played today is what she heard in her childhood. Some famous Christmas songs have never been changed. The original music is played so much that in some cases people dream about or even sing Christmas music__________. She wishes that there was a wider variety of songs. She likes the newer Christmas songs that bands either re- make or write themselves. "They have a fresher sound to Christmas songs, and they add their own characteristics to them so that they are more like their own songs. ” McFarland explained.
[3]Christmas is known as a happy and homecoming festival, so the holiday season is meant to be spent happily with your family. It is recognized that the music media wants to get the point across and add to the festival atmosphere. But isn't the music being pushed to the public too much?
[4]Most grocery stores play the music non-stop ，Christmas song after Christmas song， disgusting the customers who don't like that kind of music. You can walk through stores and attempt turning off the music, but sometimes it's impossible to do so. On the other hand, almost everyone has witnessed random persons walking along happily and either singing or whistling to the tune of the song that's played throughout the store.What is the main idea of the passage? (no more than 10 words)
Why is the common seasonal Christmas music annoying? (no more than 8 words)
What does the music media hope to tell the public?
Fill in the blank in Paragraph 2 with proper words.(no more than 3 words)
What does the word “them” (Line 6 Paragraph 2) probably refer to? (no more than 4 words)
In the early 1950s, researchers found that people scored lower on intelligence tests if they spoke more than one language. Research in the sixties found the opposite. Bilingual people scored higher than monolinguals, people who speak only one language. So which is it?
Researchers presented their newest studies last month at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The latest evidence shows that being bilingual does not necessarily make people smarter. But researcher Ellen Bialystok says it probably does make you better at certain skills.
Ellen Bialystok said, “Imagine driving down the highway. There’re many things that could capture your attention and you really need to be able to monitor all of them. Why would bilingualism make you any better at that?”
And the answer, she says, is that bilingual people are often better at controlling their attention — a function called the executive control system.
Ms. Bialystok is a psychology professor at York University in Toronto, Canada. She says the best method to measure the executive control system is called the Stroop Test. A person is shown words in different colors. The person has to ignore the word but say the color. The problem is that the words are all names of colors.
Ellen Bialystok said, “So you would have the word blue written in red, but you have to say red. But blue is so salient(显著的), it’s just lighting up all these circuits(电路) in your brain, and you really want to say blue. So you need a mechanism(机制) to override that so that you can say red. That’s the executive control system.”
Her work shows that bilingual people continually practice this function. They have to, because both languages are active in their brain at the same time. They need to suppress(抑制) one to be able to speak in the other.
This mental exercise might help in other ways, too. Researchers say bilingual children are better able to separate a word from its meaning, and more likely to have friends from different cultures. Bilingual adults are often four to five years later than others in developing dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.What’s the best title of the text?
| A．Bilingual People, Smarter |
| B．Monolingual People, Smarter |
| C．Bilingual People, Longer Lives |
| D．Bilingual People, Better at Some Skills |
The underlined word “override” in Paragraph 6 probably means ____.
| A．pay attention to | B．take no notice of |
| C．take an interest in | D．take care of |
In the Stroop Test, supposing you have the word yellow written in white, you will have to say ____.
| A．white | B．yellow | C．blue | D．red |
Which group of people can most likely pass the Stroop Test?
| A．People who can speak only Chinese. |
| B．People who can speak only Japanese. |
| C．People who can speak more than one language. |
| D．People who can speak only English. |
Which of the following statements is FALSE according to the text?
| A．A bilingual child is better at separating a word from its meaning. |
| B．A bilingual child can more easily make friends with a foreign child. |
| C．Bilingual people are more able to monitor several things at the same time. |
| D．It’s not possible for bilingual people to develop Alzheimer’s disease. |
These days we are all conditioned to accept newness, whatever it costs. Very soon, there is no doubt that Apple's tablet (平板电脑) will seem as a vital tool of modern living to us as sewing machine did to our grandparents. At least, it will until someone produces an even smarter, thinner and more essential tablet, which, if recent history is any guide, will be in approximately six months' time. Turn your back for a moment and you find that every electronic item in your possession is as old as a tombstone. Why should you care if people laugh just because you use an old mobile phone? But try getting the thing repaired when it goes wrong. It's like walking into a pub and asking for an orange juice. You will be made to feel like some sort of time-traveler from the 1970s. "Why not buy a new one?" you will get asked.
And so the mountain of electrical rubbish grows. An average British person was believed to get rid of quite a number of electronic goods in a lifetime. They weighed three tons, stood 7 feet high, and included five fridges, six microwaves, seven PCs, six TVs, 12 kettles, 35 mobile phones and so on. Even then, the calculation seemed to be conservative. Only 35 mobiles in a lifetime? The huge number of electronic items now regularly thrown away by British families is clearly one big problem. But this has other consequences. It contributes greatly to the uneasy feeling that modem technology is going by faster than we can keep up. By the time I've learnt how to use a tool it's already broken or lost. I've lost count of the number of TV remote-controls that I've bought, mislaid and replaced without working out what most of the buttons did.
And the technology changes so unbelievably fast. It was less than years ago that I spotted an energetic businessman friend pulling what seemed to be either a large container or a small nuclear bomb on wheels through a railway station. I asked. "What have you got in there? Your money or your wife?" "Neither," he replied, with the satisfied look of a man who knew he was keeping pace with the latest technology, no matter how ridiculous he looked. "This is what everyone will have soon—even you. It's called a mobile telephone."
I don't feel sorry for the pace of change. On the contrary, I'm amazed by those high-tech designers who can somehow fit a camera, music-player, computer and phone into a plastic box no bigger than a packet of cigarette. If those geniuses could also find a way to keep the underground trains running on the first snowy day of winter, they would be making real progress for human beings. What I do regret, however, is that so many household items fall behind so soon. My parents bought a wooden wireless radio in 1947, the year they were married. In 1973, the year I went to university, it was still working. It sat in the kitchen like an old friend—which, in a way, it was. It certainly spoke to us more than we spoke to each other on some mornings. When my mum replaced it with a new-style radio that could also play cassette-tapes, I felt a real sense of loss.
Such is the over-excited change of 21st-century technology that there's no time to satisfy our emotional needs. Even if Apple's new products turn out to be the most significant tablets I very much doubt if they will resist this trend. When you try getting an old mobile phone repaired, ____.
| A．you are travelling through time | B．you are thought to be out of date |
| C．you will find everything wrong | D．you have got to buy a new one |
Throwing away so much electronic rubbish makes the writer feel quite _____.
| A．lost and upset | B．unbelievably fast |
| C．broken or lost | D．regularly wasteful |
The example of the businessman implies that____.
| A．the businessman mastered the latest technology |
| B．mobile phones used to be quite big just years ago |
| C．the businessman was a very ridiculous person |
| D．the writer failed to follow modern technology |
The passage is organized in the pattern of ____.
| A．time and events | B．comparison and contrast |
| C．cause and effect | D．examples and analysis |
Which of the following is conveyed in the passage?
| A．The fast pace of change brings us no good. |
| B．We have to keep up with new technology. |
| C．Household items should be upgraded quickly. |
| D．We should hold on for new technology to last. |
1 Day Fly-Fly Aboriginal Rock Tour
Tour Details
Operator: Adventure North Australia
Destination: Cooktown
Departs From: Cairns
Tour Description
Voted as one of Australia's Must-Do-Experiences. Treat yourself to an amazing day out with Aboriginal Elder Willie Gordon.
Depart Cairns Domestic Airport for the Skytrans Flight to Cooktown. Flight departs Cairns at 6:45 a.m.
Enjoy a 45-minute flight with wonderful views from Cairns to Cooktown as you fly along the coast between the World Heritage rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef. On arrival in Cooktown you will be met by Willie Gordon, the traditional storyteller of the Nugal-warra clan(部落).
Willie Gordon takes guests to his ancestral rock art sites, set high in the hills above Hope Vale, outside Cooktown. Here he shares the stories behind the art, and explains how the paintings speak of the most basic and important quality of life and the knowledge of his people.
The tour takes you through an impressive view of six rock art sites, including an ancestral Birth Cave and the Reconciliation Cave. This includes a 30-minute bush walk on generally easy terrian(地形). (Covered closed-on shoes must be worn.)
Return to Cooktown at 1:15 p.m. where Willie will take you to the Nature Power House Museum, Cooktown's Visitor Information Centre. Lunch is included at the Verhandah Cafe.
The rest of the afternoon is free to explore historical Cooktown before your transfer to Cooktown airport and return flight to Cairns. Flight arrives at Cairns Domestic Airport at 6:40 p.m. Own arrangements on arrival in Cairns.
Prices
Adults: $ 549.00
Children: $ 390.00
Families(2 adults and 2 children): $ 1,869.00According to the passage, how will tourists arrive in Cooktown?
| A．By ship. | B．By car. | C．By air. | D．By train. |
What do we learn about Willie Gordon?
| A．He acts as the guide of the tour. |
| B．He is the owner of the Verhandah Cafe. |
| C．He works in the Nature Power House Museum. |
| D．He is the manager of Adventure North Australia. |
After viewing rock art, tourists will go to__________.
| A．the World Heritage rainforest | B．the Great Barrier Reef |
| C．rock art sites outside the town | D．the Nature Power House Museum |
We learn from the passage that the whole trip lasts about__________.
| A．six hours | B．eight hours | C．ten hours | D．twelve hours |
From the passage, the tour is designed to let the tourists__________.
| A．learn about the custom | B．enjoy the ancient art |
| C．taste the delicious snacks | D．experience the lifestyle |