Culture helps human societies survive in changing natural environment．For example, the end of the last Ice Age, beginning about 15,000 years ago, brought a big challenge to which humans had to adapt．Before this time, large parts of the northern hemisphere were covered in great sheets of ice that contained much of the earth' s water．In North America, large animals that wandered the vast tundra （冰原） provided people with food and materials for clothing and simple shelters．When the earth became warm, large Ice Age animals disappeared, and many land areas were covered by rising sea levels from melting ice．But people survived, they developed new technologies and learned how to survive on new plant and animal species． Finally some people settled into permanent villages, durable houses and farms．
Cultural adaptation has made humans one of the most successful species on the planet． Through history, major developments in technology, medicine, and nutrition have allowed people to reproduce and survive in ever-increasing numbers．The global population has risen from 8 million during the Ice Age to about 6 billion today．
However, the successes of culture adaptation can also create problems in the long run．Over the last 200 years, people have begun to use large quantities of natural resources and energy and to produce a great amount of material and chemical wastes．The global population now consumes some important natural resources—such as petroleum, wood, and minerals—faster than nature can produce them．Many scientists believe that in the process of burning fuels and producing wastes, people may be changing the global climate in unpredictable and possibly harmful ways．Thus, the adaptive success of the present-day global culture of production and trade may be temporary．What is the first paragraph mainly talking about?
| A．How the human beings survived in the Ice Age． |
| B．What the situation was like during the Ice Age． |
| C．What caused the Ice Age to come to an end． |
| D．Why the Ice Age was very important． |
To deal with the problems, human beings should ______according to the passage．
| A．stop developing any longer |
| B．reduce the overuse of natural resources |
| C．stop the global warming and using natural resources |
| D．save more animals in case they all die out |
Which of the following is the problem caused by cultural adaptation according to the passage?
| A．A very developed culture came into being． |
| B．New technologies have been developed． |
| C．Natural resources have been used up． |
| D．Human activities have done damage to the balance of nature． |
Which of the following can be the best tide of the passage?
| A．Natural Environment Should Be Protected． |
| B．The Success of Cultural Adaptation Is Not Permanent． |
| C．The Global Population Is Increasing Since Ice Age． |
| D．Human Beings Are Capable of Surviving on Earth. |
Something in chocolate could be used to stop coughs and lead to more effective medicines, say UK researchers.
Their study found that theobromine, found in cocoa, was nearly a third more effective in stopping coughs than codeine, which was considered the best cough medicine at present.
The Imperial College London researchers who published their results online said the discovery could lead to more effective cough treatment. “While coughing is not necessarily harmful(有害的) it can have a major effect on the quality of life, and this discovery could be a huge step forward in treating this problem,” said Professor Peter Barnes.
Ten healthy volunteers(志愿者) were given theobromine, codeine or placebo, a pill that contains no medicine, during the experiment. Neither the volunteers nor the researchers knew who received which pill. The researchers then measured levels of capsaicin, which is used in research to cause coughing and as a sign of how well the medicine are stopping coughs.
The team found that, when the volunteers were given theobromine, the capsaicin need to produce a cough was around a third higher than in the placebo group. When they were given codeine they need only slightly higher levers of capsaicin to cause a cough compared with the placebo.
The researchers said that theobromine worked by keeping down a verve activity(神经活动), which cause coughing. They also found that unlike some standard cough treatments, theobromine caused no side effects such as sleepiness.According to Professor Barnes, theobromine ______.
| A．cannot be as effective as codeine |
| B．can be harmful to people’s health |
| C．cannot be separated from chocolate |
| D．can be a more effective cure for coughs |
What was used in the experiment to cause coughing?
| A．Theobromine. | B．Codeine. | C．Capsaicin. | D．Placebo. |
We learn from the text that volunteers in the experiment _____.
| A．were patients with bad coughs |
| B．were divided into the three groups |
| C．received standard treatments |
| D．suffered little side effects |
Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
| A．Codeine: A New Medicine | B．Chocolate May Cure Coughs |
| C．Cough Treatment: A Hard Case | D．Theobromine Can Cause Coughs |
Do you know of anyone who uses the truth to deceive (欺骗)? When someone tells you something that is true, but leaves out important in formation that should be included, he can give you a false picture.
For example, some might say, "I just won a hundred dollars on the lottery (彩票). It was great. I took that dollar ticket back to the store and turned it in for on e hundred dollars!"
This guy's a winner, right? Maybe, maybe not. We then discover that he bought $200 worth of tickets, and only on e was a winner. He's really a big loser!
He didn't say anything that was false, but he left out important information on purpose. That's called a half-truth. Half-truths are not technically lies, but they are just as dishonest.
Some politicians often use this trick. Let's say that during Governor Smith's last term, her state lost one million jobs and gained three million jobs. Then she seeks another term. One of her opponents(对手) says, "During Governor Smith's term, the state lost one million jobs!" that's true. However, and honest statement would have been, "During Governor Smith's term, the state had a net gain of two million jobs."
Advertisers(广告商) will sometimes use half-truths. It's against the law to make false statements so they try to mislead you with the truth. An advertisement might say, "Nine out of ten doctors advised their patients to take Yucky Pills to cure toothache." It fails to mention that they only asked ten doctors and nine of them work for the Yucky Company.
This kind of deception happens too of often. It's a sad fact of life: Lies are lies, and sometimes the truth can lie as well.
| 1． |
How much did the lottery winner lose?
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| 2． |
We may infer that the author believes people should.
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| 3． |
What do the underline words "net gain" in Paragraph 5 mean?
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| 4． |
What can we know from the example of the Yucky Pill advertisement?
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The Queen’s English is now sounding less upper-class, a scientific study of the Queen’s Christmas broadcasts had found. Researchers have studied each of her messages to the Commonwealth countries since 1952 to find out the change in her pronunciation from the noble Upper Received to the Standard Received.
Jonathan Harrington, a professor at Germany’s University of Munich, wanted to discover whether accent (口音) changers recorded over the past half century would take place within one person. “As far as I know, there just is nobody else for whom there is this sort of broadcast records,” he said.
He said the noble way of pronouncing vowels (元音) had gradually lost ground as the noble upper-class accent over the past years. “Her accent sounds slightly less noble than it did 50 years ago. But these are very, very small and slow changes that we don’t notice from year to year.”
“We may be able to relate it to changes in the social classes,” he told The Daily Telegraph, a British newspaper. “In 1952 she would have been hears saying ‘thet men in the bleck het’. Now it would be ‘that man in the black hat’. And ‘hame’ rather than ‘home’. In the 1950s she would have been ‘lorst’, but by the 1970s ‘lost’.”
The Queen’s broadcast is a personal message to the Commonwealth countries. Each Christmas, the 10-minute broadcast is put on TV at 3 pm in Britain as many families are recovering from their traditional turkey lunch. (传统火鸡午餐).
The results were published (发表) in the Journal of Phonetics.The Queen’s broadcasts were chosen for the study mainly because ______.
| A．she has been Queen for many years | B．she has a less upper-class accent now |
| C．her speeches are familiar to many people | D．her speeches have been recorded for 50 years |
Which of the following is an example of a less noble accent in English?
| A．“duaty” | B．“citee” | C．“hame” | D．“lorst” |
We may infer from the text that the Journal of Phonetics is a magazine on _______.
| A．speech sounds | B．Christmas customs | C．TV broadcasting | D．personal messages |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．The relationship between accents and social classes. |
| B．The Queen’s Christmas speeches on TV. |
| C．The changes in a person’s accent. |
| D．The recent development of the English language. |
There was a story many years ago of a school teacher--- Mrs. Thompson. She told the children on the first day that she loved them all the same. But that was a lie. There in the front row was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard. He didn't play well with the other children and he always needed a bath. She did not like him.
Then Mrs. Thompson got to know that Teddy was actually a very good boy before the death of his mother. Mrs. Thompson was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when, like all her other students, Teddy brought her a Christmas present too. It was his mother's perfume(香水)。
Teddy said, "Mrs. Thompson, today you smell just like my Mom used to." After the children left she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she stopped teaching reading, writing and math. Instead, she began to teach children.
Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. The boy's mind seemed to come alive. The more she encourage him, the faster he improved. By the end of the sixth grade, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class.
Six years went by before she got a note from Teddy. He wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole lift. He went to college. Mrs. Thompson got two more letters from him with the last one signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, M. D.(医学博士).
The story doesn't end there. On his wedding day, Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear, "Thank you, Mrs. Thompson, for believing in me. You made me feel important and showed me that I could make a difference."
Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back, "Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you."
| 1． |
What did Mrs. Thompson do on the first day of school?
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| 2． |
What did Mrs. Thompson find out about Teddy?
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| 3． |
In what way did Mrs. Thompson change?
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| 4． |
Why did Teddy thank Mrs. Thompson at his wedding?
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Most people, when they travel to space, would like to stay in orbit for a few days of more. And this stands to reason, if you're paying $20,000 for your trip to orbit! Strain order for tourism to reach its full potential there's going to be a need for orbital accommodation---or space hotels. What would a space hotel actually be like to visit? Hotels in orbit will offer the services you expect from a hotel------private rooms, meals, bars. But they'll also offer two unique experiences: impressive views----of Earth and space---and the endless entertainment of living in zero gravity---including sports and other activities that make use of this.
The hotels themselves will vary greatly----from being quite simple in the early days to huge luxury structure at a later date. It's actually surprising that as later as 1997, very few designs for space hotels were published. This is mainly because those who might be expected to design them haven't expected launch costs to come down far enough to make them possible.
Lots of people who've been to space have described vividly what it's like to live in zero gravity. There are obviously all sort of possibilities for dancing, gymnastics, and zero-G sports. Luckily, you don't need to sleep much living in zero gravity, so you'll have plenty of time for relaxing by hanging out in a bar with a window looking down at the turning Earth below.
Of course all good things have come to an end. Unfortunately, And so after a few days you'll find yourself heading back enough you'll be much more expert at exercising in zero gravity than you were when you arrived. You'll be thinking how soon you can save up enough to get back up again---or maybe you should change jobs to get to work in an orbiting hotel.
| 1． |
When traveling in space, most people would like to stay in orbit for a few days because.
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| 2． |
Which of the following is a unique experience that space hotels will offer?
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| 3． |
Which of the following is not discussed in the passage?
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| 4． |
This passage is mainly about.
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