If English means endless new words, difficult grammar and sometimes strange pronunciation, you are wrong. Haven’t you noticed that you have become smarter since you started to learn a language?
According to a new study by a British university, learning a second language can lead to an increase in your brain power. Researchers found that learning other languages changes grey matter. This is the area of the brain which processes information. It is similar to the way that exercise builds muscles.
The study also found the effect is greater, the younger people learn a second language.
A team led by Dr Andrea Mechelli, from University College London, took a group of Britons who only spoke English. They were compared with a group of “ea
rly bilinguals” who had learnt a second language before the age of five, as well as a number of later learners.
Scans showed that grey matter density(密度)in the brain was greater in bilinguals than in people without a second language. But the longer a person waited before mastering a new language, the smaller the difference.
“Our findings suggest that the structure of the brain is changed by the experience of learning a second language,” said the scientists.
It means that the change itself increases the ability to learn.
Professor Dylan Vaughan Jones of the University of Wales, has researched the link between bilingualism and maths skills. “Having two languages gives you two windows on the world and makes the brain more flexible,”he said. “You are actually going beyond language and have a better understanding of different ideas.”
The findings were matched in a study of native Italian speakers who had learned English as a second language between the ages of two and 34. Reading, writing, and comprehension were all tested. The results showed that the younger they started to learn, the better. “Studying a language means you get an entrance to another world,” explained the scientists... The main subject talked about in this passage is_______.
| A．science on learning a second language | |
B．man's ability of learning a  second language |
|
| C．language can help brain power | D．language learning and maths study |
..In the second paragraph, the writer mentions “exercise” in
order to_______.
| A．say language is also a kind of physical labor |
| B．prove that one needs more practice when he (she) is learning a language |
| C．to show the importance of using the language when you learn the language |
| D．make people believe language learning helps grey matter work well |
.. We may know from the scientific findings that______
__.
| A．the earlier you start to learn a second language the higher the grey matter density is |
| B．there is no difference between a later second language learner and one who doesn't know a second language |
| C．the experience of learning a second language has bad effect on people's brain |
| D．the ability of learning a second language is changing all the time |
.. In the last two paragraphs, the author wants to tell us that_______.
| A．learning a second language is the same as studying maths |
| B．early learning of a second language helps you a great deal in study other subjects |
| C．Italian is the best choice for you as a second language |
| D．you’d better choose the ages between 2 and 34 to learn a second language |
My wife passed away a few years ago, and I went through the worst time in my life. I even wanted to kill myself. Just for my kids, I had to continue to live and work as a small town doctor at my medical clinic in Hawaii. My kids had gone to live on the mainland, and I was alone. Then they asked me to have a family trip.
On our trip, we turned on the TV at the motel and saw the second plane crash into the World Trade Center. Seeing it falling down, I said to my kids：“ I'm going to Afghanistan.”And a few weeks later, International Medical Corps sent me to set up 20 clinics in provinces where people had no health care. In these field clinics surrounded by frightening shoots or deadly bombs ，we were eventually serving 27,000 patients a month in a very busy schedule.Tired and nervous, I gradually had a sense of achievement, a sense of purpose, and my depression went away.
In the years to follow, I went to Indonesia after the tsunami (海啸), Pakistan after the earthquakes, Sudan after the civil war, and Iraq after more and more bombs. Each time after disasters one after another, hundreds of people were killed, wounded and many more had to flee. We once set up movable clinics in an area with 19,000 refugees,_and it was supposed to hold 13,000 originally. Flu broke out, one of the biggest killers of kids in refugee camps, and it spread like wildfire. Water and food were also serious problems. “Adventure or not？”I often asked myself.
When my wife passed away, I thought my life was gone. But in reality, it was just getting started. At the end of her life, she went unconscious. I held her head in my hands and told her of all the places we would visit and the exciting adventures we would have.
I thought about the moment many times during my“adventures”. I didn't know how predictive those words would be，but I knew that she was still with me.Where has the doctor been in the past few years?
| A．Some countries where he could set up clinics. |
| B．Some African countries where flu broke out. |
| C．The places where the earthquakes happened. |
| D．The places that the horrible disasters struck. |
How would the doctor describe his life after he had worked in Afghanistan?
| A．Tired and troublesome. | B．Busy and risky. |
| C．Meaningful and helpful. | D．Frightening and depressing. |
The underlined word“ refugees” means people________.
| A．who are robbed, killed, or wounded | B．who suffer from flu in movable clinics |
| C．who like to take adventures | D．who have lost homes because of disasters |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The doctor's wife encouraged him to work in foreign countries. |
| B．What the doctor said to his wife before her death became reality. |
| C．The doctor's adventures made him understand the love of his wife. |
| D．With the true love of his wife, the doctor started to change his life. |
Pregnancy(妊娠) and childbirth kill more than 536,000 women a year. More than half of the cases happened in Africa, according to the World Health Organization. In fact, most of the deaths are preventable with basic medical care.
The five leading causes are bleeding, infection, high blood pressure, longtime labor and bad abortions (流产). Mothers' deaths from such causes were largely reduced nearly a century ago in developed countries.
Experts say that what kill many women are “the three delays”— the woman's delay in deciding to go to the hospital, the time she loses traveling there and the hospital's delay in starting treatment. Only about 15 percent of births have dangerous complications(并发症)．
Women lack education and information about birth control. Husbands and inlaws, may decide where a woman gives birth and insist that she stay at home to save money. However, there is no single solution to a problem with so many factors—shortages of doctors, nurses, drugs, equipment, roads and t
ransportation—though hospital officials are trying many things now.
One stopgap measure to solve the problem for the present has been to train assistant medical officers, to perform certain operations. Some African countries
are now struggling to train more assistants and midwives (接生婆) , and provide places for pregnant women to stay near hospitals.
But there is a long way to go. Only 20 percent of women in the continent give birth at the hospital. More than 50 percent stay at home to give birth, and the rest go to local clinics that cannot handle emergencies.Which is not included in the five leading causes of women's deaths during pregnancy and childbirth?
| A．Infection. | B．High blood pressure. |
| C．Traveling long distances. | D．Bleeding. |
The underlined word “stopgap” probably means “________ ”in the passage.
| A．final | B．temporary | C．effective | D．instant |
What can we learn from this passage?
| A．The governments of African countries have to take more effective measures to save pregnant women. |
| B．Developed countries should help African countries reduce mothers'deaths. |
| C．The husbands in poor countries should take responsibility for their wives'deaths. |
| D．Most problems that cause women's deaths during pregnancy and childbirth can be treated or prevented. |
What is the author's attitude towards the future of preventing women's deaths during pregnancy and childbirth?
| A．Positive. | B．Negative. | C．Objective. | D．Subjective. |
I used to believe in the American dream that meant a job，credit and success. I wanted it and worked toward it like everyone else, all of us separately chasing the same thing.
One year, through a series of unhappy events, it all fell apart. I found myself homeless and alone. I had my truck and $ 56. I searched the countryside for some place I could rent for the cheapest possible amount. I came upon a deserted cottage in a small remote valley.I hadn't been alone for 25 years. I was scared, but I hoped the hard work would distract and heal me.
I found the owner and rented the place for$ 50 a month.The locals knew nothing about me. But slowly they started teaching me the art of being a neighbor. They dropped off blankets, tools and canned deer meat and began sticking around to chat. They would ask if I wanted to meet cousin Albie or go fishing. They started to teach me a belief in a different American dream, not the one of individual achievement but 
of neighborliness. Men would stop by with wild berries, ice cream or truck parts to see if I was up for courting. I wasn't, but they were civil anyway.The woman on that mountain worked harder than any I'd ever met. They taught me how to store food in the stream and keep it cold and safe._I_learned_to_keep_enough_for_an_extra_plate_for_company.
What I had believed in, all those things I thought were necessary for a civilized life, were nonexistent in this place.Up on the mountain, my most valuable possessions were my relationships with my neighbors.
After four years in that valley, I moved back into town. 
I saw a lot of people were having a really hard time, losing their jobs and homes. With the help of a real estate broker (房地产经纪人) I chatted up at the grocery store, I managed to rent a big enough house to take in a handful of people. It's four of us now，but over time I've had nine come in and move on to other places from here. We'd all be in shelters if we hadn't banded together.
The American dream I believe in now is a shared one. It's not so much about what I can get for myself; it's about how we can all get by together.Before a series of unhappy events happened, the writer________.
| A．had a wellpaid job | B．worked hard for his American dream |
| C．worked hard and liked to share | D．felt hopeless about his American dream |
What does the underlined word
“it” in the second paragraph refer to?
| A．The house. | B．The job. |
| C．The company. | D．The American dream. |
Remind children that bad things don’t last. It may sound simple, but the message is extremely important. “Children often don’t have the experience to know that when something bad happens---they lose an important game or their best friend lets them down---it’s not the end of the world,” explains Nancy Leffert, a senior research scientist with the Research Institute, an American adolescents(青少年) and children’s research group. “They think their bad feelings will last for ever, or that one failure will ruin everything.”
Unfortunately, that kind of thinking discourages motivation(动机). “If a child believes that the cause of her upset is lasting, or that nothing she does will make a difference, it decreases her ability to keep on trying.” says Dorothy Rich, president of the MegaSkills Education Center of the Home and School Institute, based in Washington. Any time you can help your child see that a situation is not lasting, that a result can be changed, or that one opinion does not reflect reality, you give her reason to hope.
Case in point: “When my daughter Kathy was eight, art was one of her favorite subjects,” says Beth, a mother of two. “Then she got an art teacher who gave a great deal of praise to one student and barely noticed the rest. Kathy was ready to give up until I explained to her, “Never stop doing your best just because one person doesn’t give you praise.” Beth had to repeat the advice often, and finally her daughter got the message. “Kathy is 12 now, and art is still one of her strongest subjects.”According to the passage we know many children__________.
| A．know how to face a failure |
B．try their best  to avoid a situation of failure |
| C．don’t want to stay in bad feelings for ever |
| D．tend to take a failure as the end of the world |
Which of the following is RIGHT about Nancy Leffert?
| A．She is concerned about children’s attitudes towards failure. |
| B．She is the president of the Education Center. |
| C．She strongly believes that bad things won’t last long. |
| D．She is the director of the Research Institute. |
Which of the following can a parent say to his children to show that one’s opinion does not reflect reality?
| A．“If you call your friend and apologize, he won’t stay mad at you.” |
| B．“Go ahead. Don’t care what other people think.” |
| C．“You have lost today, but you can try again tomorrow.” |
| D．“That may be what your teacher thinks, but I see it differently.” |
The best title of the passage is__________.
| A．Help Children Promote Problem Solving Ability |
| B．Tell Children Not to Let Failure Ruin Them |
| C．Set Reasonable Hopes for Your Children |
| D．Teach Your Children to Be Happy |
She was born to wealth and power in a time when money and politics were left to the men. Later, as The Washington Post’s publisher, Katharine Graham became one of America’s most powerful women.
Despite a privileged background, Katharine had to deal, while growing up, with the high demands her mother placed on her children. Katharine’s love of journalism, which she shared with her father, led to her career after college at The Washington Post, the newspaper her father bought in 1933．At the Post, Katharine met Phil Graham, a young, charming lawyer who became her husband. When, in 1945, Katharine’s father chose Phil over her to take over his struggling paper, Katharine didn’t object and stayed at home as a wife and mother of four.
While Phil’s successful efforts to restore the Post to fame made the Grahams popular members of the Washington social scene, Katharine privately suffered great pain from her husband’s increasingly harmful behavior caused by severe depression. When Phil committed suicide, the 46-year-old Katharine found herself thrown into a new job, that of newspaper publisher. But determined to save the family paper for her c
hildren, Katharine rose to the challenge of running the Post, attending meetings in every department, working endlessly to prove herself to her critics, and becoming the toast of Washington.
In 1971, Katharine ordered the Post to print a copy of the Pentagon Papers, the top-secret documents revealing the truth about the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. What’s more, her courageous decision and support for her journalists prepared the Post to break the most important political story in modern history: Watergate（水门事件）, one of the greatest scandals（丑闻）in American political history. Katharine managed to keep control over the most disorganized situation when it was reported, all the time insisting the news stories be accurate and fair. Watergate made the Washington Post an internationally known Paper and Katharine was considered as the most powerful woman in America. Katharine Graham was born in a time when __________.
A． women were not permitted to achieve their goals |
| B．women were not given the chance to receive education |
| C．women did not have equal opportunities as men in some ways |
| D．women could not enter any field despite their privileged backgrounds |
When her husband was chosen to take charge of the newspaper, Katharine Graham ______.
| A．was strongly against the idea |
| B．was not happy to be rejected |
| C．didn’t believe her husband would do a good job |
| D．was willing to take her share of responsibility |
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．Katharine Graham was free to do whatever she liked in her early life. |
| B．When Katharine Graham first took over the Post, her critics doubted her ability. |
| C．Katharine Graham was successful in her career but suffered severe depression. |
D．It was Katharine Graham’s husband who made  the greatest contributions to the Post. |
Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Ups and downs of The Washington Post |
| B．Katharine Graham's family life and career |
C．Katharine Graham: from housewif e to successful publisher |
| D．Katharine Graham: a woman who controlled American journalism |