The past ages of man have all been carefully labeled by anthropologists. Descriptions like ‘Palaeolithic Man’, ‘Neolithic Man’, etc., neatly sum up whole periods. When the time comes for anthropologists to turn their attention to the twentieth century, they will surely choose the label ‘Legless Man’. Histories of the time will go something like this: ‘in the twentieth century, people forgot how to use their legs. Men and women moved about in cars, buses and trains from a very early age. There were lifts and escalators in all large buildings to prevent people from walking. This situation was forced upon earth dwellers of t
hat time because of miles each day. But the surprising thing is that they didn’t use their legs even when they went on holiday. They built cable railways, ski-lifts and roads to the top of every huge mountain. All the beauty spots on earth were ruined by the presence of large car parks.’
The future history books might also record that we were deprived of the use of our 
eyes. In our hurry to get from one place to another, we failed to see anything on the way. Air travel gives you a bird’s-eye view of the world—or even less if the wing of the aircraft happens to get in your way. When you travel by car or train a blurred (="not" clear) image of the countryside constantly smears the windows. Car drivers, in particular, are forever obsessed with the urge to go on and on: they never want to stop. Is it the lure (引诱；诱惑) of the great motorways, or what? And as for sea travel, it hardly deserves mention. It is perfectly summed up in the words of the old song: ‘I joined the navy to see the world, and what did I see? I saw the sea.’ The typical twentieth-century traveler is the man who always says ‘I’ve been there. ’You mention the remotest, most evo
cative (引起记忆的) place-names in the world like El Dorado, Kabul, Irkutsk and someone is bound to say ‘I’ve been there’—meaning, ‘I drove through it at 100 miles an hour on the way to somewhere else.’
When you travel at high speeds, the present means nothing: you live mainly in the future because you spend most of your time looking forward to arriving at some other place. But actual arrival, when it is achieved, is meaningless. You want to move on again. By traveling like this, you suspend all experience; the present ceases to be a reality: you might just as well be dead. The traveler on foot, on the other hand, lives constantly in the present. For him traveling and arriving are one and the same thing: he arrives somewhere with every step he makes. He experiences the present moment with his eyes, his ears and the whole of his body. At the end of his journey he feels a delicious physical weariness. He knows that sound. Satisfying sleep will be his: the just reward of all true travellers. Anthropologists label nowadays’ men ‘Legless’ because _________.
| A．people forget how to use his legs. |
| B．people prefer cars, buses and trains. |
| C．lifts and escalators prevent people from walking. |
| D．there are a lot of transportation devices. |
Travelling at high speed means _________.
| A．people’s focus on the future | B．a pleasure |
| C．satisfying drivers’ great thrill | D．a necessity of life |
Why does the author say ‘we are deprived of the use of our eyes’?
| A．People won’t use their eyes. |
B．In traveling at high speeds, eyes become u seless. |
| C．People can’t see anything on his way of travel. |
| D．People want to sleep during travelling. |
What is the purpose of the author in writing this passage?
| A．Legs become weaker. | |
| B．Modern means of transportation make the world a small place. | |
| C．There is no need to use eyes. | D．The best way to travel is on foot. |
What does ‘a bird’s-eye view’ mean?
| A．See view with bird’s eyes. | B．A bird looks at a beautiful view. |
| C．It is a general view from a high position looking down. | |
| D．A scenic place. |
The high noise of modern life may affect speech and language development in the very young, according to a study that found the auditory (听觉的) parts of the brains of young mice are slower to organize properly in the presence of continuous sounds.
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, reared a group of rats in an environment of continuous background noise and found that their brain circuits that receive and interpret (解释) sound did not develop at the same rate as animals that were raised in a quieter environment.
Edward F. Chang and Michael Merzenich, co-authors of the study appearing in the journal Science, said that the continuous noise delayed the organization of auditory neurons (神经细胞) during a critical two-to-three-week period after the rat pups were born.
For rats not exposed to the noise, the auditory cortex(皮层) neurons during this period gathered into a smaller area and began developing a selective response to sounds.
But for the noiseexposed rats, this organization was slowed, causing a delay in the development of the ability to discriminate(辨别) specific sound tones. The researchers said it took three or four times longer for the rats raised in a noisy environment to reach the basic bench marks (基准) of auditory development seen in the rat pups not exposed to noises.
Although the rat is not a perfect model for what happens in humans, the authors note, the study does suggest that high levels of noise might possibly affect some language learning in babies.
“These findings suggest that environmental noise, which is commonly present in contemporary child-rearing environments, can potentially contribute to auditory and language-related development delays,”the authors wrote in Science.
The authors noted that although the brain development was delayed in rats exposed to the noise, their brains did eventually mature (成熟的) normally.The scientists at California University studied rats_______.
| A．of different age groups | B．with different habits |
| C．in different environments | D．from different areas |
The rats exposed to noise, compared to those not exposed, _______.
| A．were more sensitive | B．were duller |
| C．grew up more slowly | D．gathered together more quickly |
The result of the research mainly tells us that noise _______.
| A．delays brain development | B．stops baby growth |
| C．affects speech and language | D．destroys brains |
The findings of the research are said to have special connections with _______.
| A．causes of noises | B．medical science |
| C．other living things | D．human babies |
Alexis was hot and tired. With rage (愤怒) in her voice she shouted,“Pull me up! I give up. I hate this. This is stupid!” It was at that moment when Jason, the adviser on the trip, looked at me and said,“Ed, I'm going to go down and talk with her.”I then shouted down to Alexis,“ Hold on! You can do this. We know you can!”
Jason grasped another rope, put this climbing harness (系带) on and began to move down the cliff. Within moments Jason was beside Alexis. She had her cheek directly against the face of the rock with her feet barely resting on a small piece of the cliff that jetted (急突) outward. Jason said to Alexis,“I know that you have been on this cliff now for what seems like a long time. Your feet and fingers are cramping (痉挛) up and your forearms feel as though they are on fire. But, Alexis, you are strong. Look how far up you are already. You have taken one of the more difficult parts up the cliff. Alexis, look at the path you have taken.”At that moment, Alexis moved her cheek away from the rock face and looked down. The bright white chalk she used in her hands to give her a better hold, showed the path where her tired hands had moved her upward on the cliff. Jason was right. Alexis had taken the hardest way up the cliff. Jason then looked straight into Alexis' eyes and in a calm voice he said,“You are not alone out here. There are people who care about you, who want to help you and see you succeed. We are going to do this together. Are you ready?” Slowly she nodded and took a deep breath.Jason went down the cliff because _______.
| A．Alexis took a wrong path |
| B．Alexis was trapped in rocks |
| C．Alexis didn't believe in herself |
| D．Alexis' forearms were badly hurt |
We can infer from the passage that _______.
| A．Alexis was finally pulled up by Ed |
| B．Alexis regretted having taken the wrong path up the cliff |
| C．Alexis was immediately sent to hospital after she was pulled up |
| D．Alexis successfully rock-climbed |
The underlined word “hot” in the story means_______.
| A．disappointed | B．angry |
| C．uncomfortable | D．running a high body temperature |
Alexis would probably become _______.
| A．more strongminded | B．easier to give up |
| C．poorer in health | D．less interested in rock climbing |
Generations of children who sat through endless lessons of “chalk and talk” in front of a bossy teacher can take some relief. But the “chalk and talk” method helped them achieve better exam results. Modern classroom techniques may make school days a good deal happier, but contentment(满足) is not the road to success in examinations, according to university researchers.
Their three-year study, monitoring the progress of 2000 teenagers, tried to measure the influence of the “boredom factor” in 17 selected schools in the north of England. The researchers also found that the old-fashioned approach(方法) of teachers ordering pupils about is still alive and producing results. Their conclusions were welcomed yesterday by educationists who were worried by the shift to less formal lessons.
The pupils in the latest study were asked to award teachers marks to measure how frequently they followed or ignored today's fashion for “child-centred” education. A five-point scale was given to spot the teachers who always told them what they should know and what to write down. “It was significant and not anything you would get by chance or accident. Certainly, when you compare the pupil's interest and attitude to school, there is a quite definite and highly significant difference,” one of the researchers said. But the rankings were turned upside down when the team of four researchers looked at how the children did in examination. The sort of methods now frowned upon(不赞同) actually improve the final grades.
The researchers said,“There is nothing wrong with old-fashioned, didactic(说教性的) teaching in the fight place, even if it isn't the flavor at the moment.” However, he insisted the best teachers had always mixed the two techniques to match the needs of pupils, although certain examinations forced some to concentrate more on dictation and learning by rote(死记硬背).University researchers have discovered that _______.
| A．modern teaching methods provide students with entertainment |
| B．students taught by modern techniques are happy and successful |
| C．traditional teaching methods help students score higher |
| D．students like old teaching better than modern teaching at school |
We can infer from Paragraph 3 that _______.
| A．child-centred education promotes friendship among children |
| B．the research findings are not significant enough for a conclusion |
| C．those who show greater interest in school did better in exams |
| D．those who don't show much interest in school may turn out to score higher in tests |
The researchers suggest that _______.
| A．more old methods be used in teaching |
| B．students be taught how to score high in exams |
| C．dictation be used as one of the best teaching methods |
| D．old and new methods be used together |
The best title for this text would be _______.
| A．The Examinationbased Teaching |
| B．Rote Learning Was the Winner |
| C．The Problem of Child-centred Education |
| D．The Problem of the Traditional Method |
1970 was “World Conservation Year”. The United Nations wanted everyone to know that the world was in danger. They hoped that the governments would act quickly in order to conserve nature. Here is one example of the problem. At one time there were 1300 different plants, trees and flowers in Holland, but now only 860 remain. The others have been destroyed by modern man and his technology. We are changing the earth, the air and the water, and everything that grows and lives. We can't live without these things. If we continue like this, we shall destroy ourselves.
What will happen in the future? Perhaps it is more important to ask “What must we do now?” The people who will be living in the world of tomorrow are the young of today. A lot of them know that conservation is necessary. Many are hoping to save our world. They plant trees, build bridges across rivers in forests and so on. In a small town in the United States a large group of girls cleaned the banks of eleven kilometres of their river. Young people may hear about conservation through a record called “No, One's Going to Change our World. ” It was made by Scatles, Cliff Richard and other singers. The money from it will help to conserve wild animals.There are few plants, trees and flowers in Holland now because _______.
| A．there has been a lot of conservation in Holland |
| B．Holland does not need so many plants, trees and flowers |
| C．many plants, trees and flowers don't grow there any more |
| D．some plants, trees and flowers are dangerous |
We shall destroy ourselves if we don't _______.
| A．improve our technology in planting trees |
| B．hear about the record called “No, One's Going to Change our World” |
| C．try our best to save the world |
| D．change the earth |
“No,One's Going to Change our World. ” was _______.
| A．an important book published in 1970 |
| B．a record calling on people to conserve nature |
| C．an idea that nobody would accept |
| D．a rule worked out by the United States |
What is the most important thing for us to do to save our world?
| A．We should clean the banks of our rivers. |
| B．We should know what will happen in the future. |
| C．We should know what we should do and do it now. |
| D．We should plant more trees and flowers. |
Archery(射箭) may be the oldest sport in the world. There are prehistoric drawings which show that bows and arrows were used 20 000 years ago. In early times, animals were always hunted and killed with bows and arrows. Good archers were very important when country fought against country. One of the most famous legends(传奇,传奇故事) in European history is the story of Wilhelm Tell. He was a Swiss who refused to work for an Austrian, and was ordered to shoot an apple from the head of his son. He hit the apple, and then shot the Austrian. Switzerland has been free since then, so the story goes.
Archers shoot at targets at 30, 50, 70 or 90 meters' distance from them. The targets are round,80 centimeters across, and have 5 circles painted round the centre. Bows are made of steel, wood and strong plastic, and arrows of wood. The sport is enjoyed in the open air in summer and in a building in winter. Archery is good for the chest, the arms and the back. Men and women can shoot together since being strong is not so important. Women usually use lighter bows. People who can't walk or who have been ill can also enjoy it. For Zen Buddhists(佛教徒) archery is not only a sport but also something deeper. It helps the individual to understand himself and the meaning of life.Good archers, were needed by countries in order to_______.
| A．make bows and arrows | B．hunt animals |
| C．do drawings | D．kill enemies |
The legend says Switzerland has been free since Wilhelm Tell_______.
| A．killed an Austrian | B．invented a story |
| C．started working for an Austrian | D．shot an apple at his child |
“Target” in Paragraph 2 most nearly means_______.
| A．an image of a person |
| B．something to be aimed at in shooting-practice |
| C．an animal which is painted 5 circles |
| D．a dead animal used for shooting-practice |