Who's in control of your life? Who's pulling your strings? For the majority of us, it's other people-society, colleagues, friends, family or our religious community. We learned this way of operating when we were very young, of course. We were brainwashed. We discovered that feeling important and feeling accepted was a nice experience and so we learned to do everything we could to make other people like us. As Oscar Wilde puts it, "Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
So when people tell us how wonderful we are, it makes us feel good. We long for this, good feeling like a drug—we are addicted to it and seek it out wherever we can. Therefore, we are so eager for the approval (赞同) of others that we live unhappy and limited lives, failing to do the things we really want to. Just as drug addicts and alcoholics live worsened lives to keep getting their fix（一剂毒品）, we worsen our own existence to get our own constant fix of approval.
But, just as with any drug, there is a price to pay. The price of the approval drug is freedom—the freedom to be ourselves. The truth is that we cannot control what other people think. People have their own agenda, and they come with their own baggage and, in the end, they're more interested in themselves than in you. Furthermore, if we try to live by the opinions of others, we will build our life on sinking sand. Everyone has a different way of thinking, and people change their opinions all the time. The person who tries to please everyone will only end up getting exhausted (tired) and probably pleasing no one in the process.
So how can we take back control? I think there’s only one way make a conscious decision to stop caringwhat other people think. We should guide ourselves by means of a set of values—not values imposed from the outside by others, but innate values which come from within. If we are driven by these values and not by the changing opinions and value systems of others; we will live a more authentic, effective, purposeful and happy life.What Oscar Wilde says implies that________.
| A．most people have a variety of thoughts |
| B．we have thoughts similar to those of others |
| C．other people's thoughts are more important |
| D．most people's thoughts are controlled by others |
What does the author try to argue in the third paragraph?
| A．Changing opinions may cost us our freedom. |
| B．We may lose ourselves to please others. |
| C．We need to pay for what we want to get. |
| D．The price of taking the drug is freedom. |
It can be concluded from the passage that_______.
| A．it's better to do what we like |
| B．we shouldn't care what others think |
| C．we shouldn't change our own opinions |
| D．it's important to accept others' opinions |
The author tries to persuade the readers to accept his arguments mainly by________.
| A．analyzing causes and effects | B．providing examples and facts |
| C．discussing questions | D．making suggestions |
When Xia Min started drinking alcohol（酒精，乙醇） with her classmates at a friend’s birthday, she didn’t realize what would happen to her. She drank a lot and fell into a coma (昏迷). The 15year-old girl from Chongqing never recovered.
Xia’s death is warning to other students. A new rule went into effect on January 1, 2006. Teens are not allowed to buy or drink alcohol. Shops are not allowed to sell it to them.
A 1999 Chinese law forbade (禁止) shops to sell alcohol to youths under 18. But it is not taken seriously by shopkeepers because it doesn’t have specific rules. People hope the new rule will work.
“I tasted alcohol when having the dinner of the last New Year’s Eve,” said Lian Yuqi, a 16-year-old girl in Xiamen. She believes that the new rule will stop teens from drinking and help them grow in a healthy way.
“Although it may be a little disappointing not to have beer at parties, I think we can have soft drinks instead,” she said.Xia Min died from alcohol at the age of ______.
| A．15 | B．16 | C．17 | D．18 |
The underlined word it means ________.
| A．a warning sing | B．a shopkeeper |
| C．the new rule | D．a 1999 Chinese law |
We can know that ________.
| A．it is against the new rule for youths under 18 to drink alcohol |
| B．shops can sell alcohol to a 16 years old youth. |
| C．without an ID card, young people cant buy alcohol |
| D．it seems that the young girl, Liang Yuqi, likes to drink alcohol |
According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
| A．The new rule has worked very well. |
| B．Shopkeepers can sell alcohol to teens above 18. |
| C．Chinas legal drinking age is clearly under18. |
| D．Many teens drink alcohol to show theyve grown up. |
If your mother wants to tell you something , she uses words . Birds can not talk as we do . But some birds can make sounds to warn their young of danger . They have their own ways to make the young birds do certain thing .
The jackdaw is a kind of blackbirds that lives in Europe . Jackdaws live together in flocks. (群) Yong jackdaws do not know their enemies . When an older jackdaw sees a dog , it makes a loud tattling (格格响的)sound. The young birds know this sound means an enemy is nearby. The sounds warns them to know their enemy .
If a young jackdaw is in a dangerous place, a jackdaw parent flies over him from behind .The parent bird flies low over the young birds back, the parents’ tail feathers move quickly from side to side, It is trying to say , “ Follow me .”
At the same time , the parent calls out , “ Key-aw ,Key-aw .” The parent means , “ Fly home with me .” The young bird then follows the older one home .
Young jackdaws do not have to learn what certain sounds mean. They know the meaning of these sounds from the time they hatch （孵化，小鸡等出壳）.The jackdaw lives in _____ .
| A．Europe | B．Australia |
| C．America | D．Africa |
When an old jackdaw sees a dog , it _____ .
| A．calls out “Follow me .” |
| B．makes a loud sound |
| C．flies away |
| D．fights the dog . |
Parent jackdaw can use their tail feathers to ______ .
| A．ask their young to follow them |
| B．play a game with the young |
| C．tell the meal time |
| D．give a warning of a fire |
Which of the following does this story lead you to believe ?
| A．All animal parents can talk to their young. |
| B．Dogs are the most dangerous enemies for jackdaws. |
| C．Young jackdaws know the meaning of their parents sound when they grow older. |
| D．Some birds can give certain information to one another. |
New research shows that the healthy brain may hold memories which we don’t even remember. In The Journal of Neuroscience, experts report that the brain might hold more memories than people realize, but that restoring those memories can be tricky.
Memory Check
First, participants saw a list of 120 real words mixed with 80 nonsense words. Next, they saw another word list and tried to remember which words had been on the first list. Meanwhile, their brains were scanned with functional magnetic resonance(核磁共振) imaging.
While participants reviewed the second word list, their brain scans showed more activity in a certain brain area -- the posterior（后部的） median temporal lobe(脑叶) -- when they saw words that had been on the first word list.
But participants didn’t always remember that they’d seen those words before. Sometimes, they goofed and said they hadn’t seen those words before. In other words, the posterior median temporal lobe was more sensitive to memory than participants’ consciousness, the researchers note.
“Album”of Memories
Another part of the median temporal lobe also attracted the scientists’ attention. The anterior（前面的）median temporal lobe showed more activity when participants thought they were seeing a new word, the study shows.
So, why did participants sometimes mess up their memory recall? It might be that two parts of their brain -- the posterior and anterior median temporal lobes -- might be dueling(决斗) for the upper hand in deciding what actually happened in the past, the study notes.
In other words, memories might have a photo album in the brain, but sometimes we forget what’s on all of the photo album’s pages.A person sometimes has difficulty recalling because.
| A．he is unconscious when he gets his memories |
| B．he forgets what is on the pages of the photo album |
| C．there are two parts in his brain dueling for the upper advantage |
| D．the anterior median temporal lobe is more active than the posterior |
According to the passage the researchers are.
| A．studying how a person remembers things |
| B．studying a magazine The Journal of Neuroscience |
| C．examining posterior and anterior median temporal lobes |
| D．doing experiments to find out what disturbs a person’s memory |
What did the experts discover when the participants saw the words on the first word list appear on the second word list?
| A．The instrument worked faster. |
| B．The participants were more conscious. |
| C．The posterior median temporal lobe was more active. |
| D．The anterior median temporal lobe was more active. |
The underlined wordgoofedin the fourth paragraph means.
| A．made a mess of | B．made an answer for |
| C．made out of | D．made the best of |
Researchers are now using 3D printing to create models of the human heart to help heart specialists. The heart doctors can use the models to better help patients before an operation.
Dr. Bramlet, a children’s heart expert at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, says the 3-D models show information he cannot get any other way.
“And so what we’ve done with the printed models? We’ve pulled it out of the screen so that you can actually hold it in your hand and evaluate the anatomy（解剖）.”
A 3-D printer uses images from a digital display to create a physical model of a human heart. Matthew Bramlet says doctors can use the model to understand the anatomy.
Pictures from medical tests like CAT scan or MRI are sent to a 3-D printer to create a heart in a plaster（石膏）form. The printer then constructs the heart, thin layer by thin layer. Dr. Bramlet says the model matches the real heart in every detail. “When we’re done with the model and made our decision, we want to be able to go back to the source image and confirm those findings,” he says.
Dr. Bramlet has built model hearts for different kinds of heart operations. All of the operations were successful. In his first case, digital images showed only one tiny hole in a baby’s heart. But, the 3-D printed model showed several defects or problems that the baby was born with. Dr. Bramlet says those defects could not be seen easily in the images. The heart surgeon was able to change the type of surgery for the patient based on the 3-D model. He added that 3-D heart models saves time during heart operations.
Kathy Magliato is a heart surgeon at Saint John’s Health Center in Los Angeles. She welcomes the new technology. She says it could help her make better decisions before she operates on the hearts of her patients.
“I can then take this very complicated structure before the operation and I can hold it in my hand and plan an operation around what I’m seeing, touching and feeling. That to me is what can potentially change the game in an operation and save lives.”
Dr Bramlet continues to research the technology. He is working with the National Institutes of Health to build a 3-D library that includes heart models and images that others can use.Whats the main idea of the passage?
| A．The application of 3-D printing in heart operations |
| B．The development of 3-D technology. |
| C．The difficulties of heart operations. |
| D．Heart operations with the help 3-D models. |
What is the biggest advantage of 3-D models in the diagnose of heart problems?
| A．Surgeons can see, touch and feel the 3-D models. |
| B．They can help surgeons save time. |
| C．They can be made exactly like the hearts. |
| D．They can help discover the otherwise hidden heart problems. |
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．The 3-D model can be taken out of a screen. |
| B．CAT scan and MRI are no longer needed. |
| C．The 3-D model is an exact copy of the heart. |
| D．Digital images are not reliable in heart operations. |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．Digital images will mislead heart surgeons. |
| B．More patients will benefit from the 3-D technology. |
| C．Heart operations will never fail with 3-D models. |
| D．Surgeons cannot operate on hearts without 3-D models. |
For many people shopping is considered to be one of the favorite activities. For most of them it is just buying some new clothes or presents for close people. But there is another way for whom shopping is much more than just enjoyable activity, it is a real addiction that in many cases leads to a financial disaster, as well as it brings troubles to person’s life and family.
So why can shopping be so addictive? What are the possible signs to be aware of? And how is it possible to stop the need of spending?
“Some of the new evidence suggests that some people, maybe 10%-15%, may have a genetic preference to an addictive behavior, coupled with an environment in which the particular behavior is caused, but no one really knows why.” However, it is much better understood as to why “shopaholics” continue with their unhealthy and destructive behaviors. Individuals get pleasure from their addiction the same way as if they were under drugs.
And when is it really possible to determine whether simple shopping has crossed the border and has already turned into addiction?
Shopaholics go out and buy things much more often than other people do. They often buy things they do not need. Many shopping addicts go on shopping binges(放纵) all year long and may be forced to buy certain items, such as shoes, clothing or kitchen items. Some just will buy anything. Many times they will spend over their budget limits and get into deep financial trouble, spending well above their income. While someone else will think many times if they can afford this or that thing, shop addicts will not recognize the boundaries of a budget.We can learn from the 3rd paragraph that.
| A．shopping addiction is mainly caused by genetic factors |
| B．shopping addicts are also addicted to drugs |
| C．the real cause of shopping addiction is known already |
| D．shopaholics can’t control their unhealthy and destructive behaviors |
The last paragraph is mainly about.
| A．the destructive behaviors of shopaholics |
| B．the early signs of shopping addiction |
| C．the problems of shopaholics |
| D．the binge of shopaholics |
What could be most probably discussed in the paragraph to follow the passage?
| A．How to treat shopping addiction. |
| B．What really causes shopping addiction. |
| C．When shopping addiction takes place. |
| D．What kind of people can become shopping addicts. |
It can be inferred from the passage that.
| A．shopping addiction can’t cause serious problems |
| B．shopping addicts only want enjoyable activities through buying |
| C．it’s not a good idea to let a shopping addict pay by credit cards |
| D．shopping addiction can spread among different people |