Coffee is one of the world's most widely-enjoyed drinks. Now, a new research suggests that if you drink enough coffee, it might help you avoid certain kinds of cancer.
Dr. Mia Hashibe of the University of Utah School of Medicine was interested in the connection between coffee drinking and certain cancers of the head and neck. Researchers have looked into this before, but without reaching any firm conclusions. She said, "So this finding from our new study was quite a surprise. We didn't really have any expectation of which direction it could go into."
To sort out the confusion, Hashibe and her assistants used statistical (统计学 ) techniques to, in effect, make one big study out of the earlier smaller studies. She explained, "Thanks to the earlier studies, we have a lot more power than earlier studies that looked at this. And we included 4,000 cancer patients who have cancer of the mouth and throat. And then 9,000 controls, people who do not have cancer. '
Those studies--in Europe and the United States--found that people who drank a lot of coffee were less likely to develop cancers of the mouth and throat. "We saw a protective effect for drinking more than 4 cups of coffee per day," Hashibe said. "This was the 40 percent decrease in risk. We did not see the same effect for drinking three cups or less per day."
Mia Hashibe said there was a weak connection between cancer risk and drinking coffee without caffeine. And she and her assistants found no proof that drinking tea provided the same protection as drinking Coffee. Their research is published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
Hashibe says it is not clear how coffee might protect drinkers from certain cancers. "There are a few chemicals that are known to be antioxidants (抗氧化物)in coffee. So we are thinking perhaps they are playing some sort of protective role against several cancers."This passage is probably taken from __
A.a literature book | B.a travel journal |
C.an old directory | D.a medical magazine |
Dr. Hashibe expected nothing of her research because __
A.it was impossible to get the desired result | B.the research was much surprising in fact |
C.no conclusions had been reached before | D.the research team lacked faith in success |
Which of the following might have something to do with the protection against mouth cancer?
A.Coffee without chemicals. | B.Coffee without caffeine. |
C.Four cups of tea a day. | D.Antioxidants in coffee. |
What do we know about Dr. Mia Hashibe and her research?
A.She knew for sure how coffee may affect drinkers. |
B.She included 4,000 people without cancer in study. |
C.She found an effect for three cups of coffee a day. |
D.She based her research on several earlier studies. |
What would be the best title for the text?
A.Drinking Coffee May Protect Some Cancers | B.Drinking Coffee May Prevent Some Cancers |
C.Drinking Coffee May Cure Some Caneers | D.Drinking Coffee May Cause Some Cancers |
Fifty people died, over 11,000 were injured, and 100,000 houses were heavily damaged or destroyed in an earthquake that struck North China's Hebei Province.
The quake, measuring 6. 2 on the Richter scale (里氏6 .2级) , hit the area 220km northwest of Beijing at 11: 50 a. m. on January 10, 1998.
Scientists made a report of the recent quake. They said that the area of northwestern Beijing, the joint of Shanxi and Hebei Provinces and the Inner Mongolia (内蒙古) were most easily attacked by earthquakes measuring 6 to a bit over 7 on the Richter scale.
However, scientists did not see the recent earthquake earlier. Clouds covered a large area in the northern part of North China before the earthquake and experts say that this prevented satellites from correctly watching the temperature at the correct altitude (纬度).
Experts say that in the last ten years, about 305 earthquakes have taken place in China with 9 measuring over 7 on the Richter scale, 60 measuring over 6, and 236 measuring over 5.
Tens of thousands of people died or were injured. Loss(损失) valued over 10 billion yuan.When the earthquake attacked the area, most people there were unlikely(不太可能的)to ____.
A.sleep in bed | B.work in the fields | C.walk in the streets | D.stay at home |
The report shows that about nine earthquakes in the past ten years are measured over ____ on the Richter scale.
A.7 | B.5 | C.9 | D.6 |
It can be inferred(推断) from the report that the damage caused by the earthquakes could be much less heavy if ____.
A.all the people stayed outside |
B.the earthquake happened at midnight |
C.the people had been warned earlier |
D.the earthquake scale was lower than 6. 2 only |
Which of the following can be reasonable except ____.
A.We can not stop earthquakes |
B.Scientists are working hard at the researches on earthquakes |
C.We can do our best to have fewer damages than ever |
D.Nothing can be done on earthquakes |
When I first got an e-mail account ten years ago, I received communications only from family, friends, and colleagues. Now it seems that every time I check my e-mail,I have an endless series of advertisements and other correspondence that do not interest me at all. If we want e-mail to continue to be useful, we need specific laws that make spamming(发送垃圾邮件)a crime.
If lawmakers do not do something soon to prohibit spam, the problem will certainly get much worse. Computer programs allow spammers to send hundreds of millions of e-mails almost instantly. As more and more advertisers turn to spam to sell their products,individual e-mail boxes are often flooded with spam e-mails. Would people continue to use e-mail if they had to deal with an annoying amount of spam each time?
This problem is troubling individuals and companies as well. Many spam e-mails contain computer viruses that can shut down the entire network of a company. Companies rely on e-mail for their employees to communicate with each other. Spam frequently causes failures in their local communications networks, and their employees are thus unable to communicate effectively. Such a situation results in a loss of productivity and requires companies to repeatedly repair their networks. These computer problems raise production costs of companies, which are, in the end, passed on to the consumer.
For these reasons, I believe that lawmakers need to legislate(立法)against spare. Spammers should be fined, and perhaps sent to prison if they continue to disturb people. E-mail is a tool which helps people all over the world to communicate conveniently, but spam is destroying this convenience.What does the underlined word “correspondence” in the Paragraph l probably mean?
A.messages | B.ideas | C.connections | D.programs |
According to the text, what is the major cause of the flooding spam?
A.Companies rely on e-mail for communications. |
B.More people in the world communicate by e-mail. |
C.Many computer viruses contain spam e-mail. |
D.More advertisers begin to promote sales through spam. |
According to Paragraph 3, who is the final victim of spam?
A.The business. | B.The advertiser. | C.The employee. | D.The consumer. |
What is the purpose of the text?
A.To inform. | B.To educate. | C.To persuade. | D.To instruct. |
Victor’s hobby was collecting stamps. He had stamps from many countries, like England, Canada and China. On his birthday, can you guess what people gave him? That’s right—stamps.
Victor’s favorite stamps came from France. He had almost every stamp from 1954 to 2004. He only needed one. That was a 1974 special edition*. It was very hard to find.
He looked for it everywhere. He asked his friends and relatives to help him. But nobody could find the stamp. It made Victor very sad.
“Don’t worry. Never give up,” his father said to him. “If you have enough patience, you’ll find it one day.”
“I hope so,” Victor said.
Victor also liked writing. He had a pen friend in France. They wrote to each other every month. Victor’s pen friend, Phillip, usually used new stamps to send letters. Sometimes, his mother gave him stamps to use. Once Phillip’s mother gave him a big, green stamp. It looked old. When Victor received the letter, he was very surprised. On the envelope, he looked carefully at the stamp. It was the 1974 special edition stamp. Victor was so happy. He told his sister, his mother and his father.
“You see,” his father said. “You did find your stamp. So, it’s good to have two things in life. ”
“What are they?” Victor asked.
“Friends and patience.” He answered. It was very difficult for Victor to find a special French stamp of _________.
A.1954 | B.1974 | C.1994 | D.2004 |
Who owned the special edition stamp at the very beginning?
A.Phillip. | B.Phillip’s mother. | C.Victor. | D.Victor’s father. |
The passage mainly tells us that ________ is(are)important to people.
A.a happy family | B.a good hobby |
C.relatives and friendship | D.friends and patience |
One day, while a woodcutter was cutting a branch of a tree above a river. When he began crying, God appeared and asked him, "Why are you crying?"
The woodcutter told him that he had dropped his axe into water. God went down into the water and reappeared with a golden axe.
"Is this your axe?" God asked.
The woodcutter said "No."
God again went down and came up with a silver axe." Is this your axe?" God asked.
The woodcutter said "No."
God again went down and came up with a iron axe." Is this your axe?" God asked.
The woodcutter said "Yes."
God was pleased with the man's honesty and gave him all the three axes.
The woodcutter went home happily. One day while he was walking with his wife along the river, his wife fell into the river. W hen he began crying, God appeared and asked him, "Why are you crying?"
"My wife has fallen into water."
God went down into the water and came up with Jennifer Lopez.
"Is this your wife?" God asked him.
"Yes." he said.
God was furious(狂怒的),"YOU CHEAT !Now I am going to curse you."
The woodcutter quickly said, “Forgive me my lord. It is a misunderstanding. IF I say 'No' to Jennifer Lopez, you will come up with Catherine Zeta Jones, If I also say 'No' to her, you will finally come up
With my wife and I will say, 'Yes.' Then you will give all the three to me .I am a poor man .I will not be able to look after all the three. So that's why I've to say 'Yes' "Which of the following best describes the author's tone in telling the story?
A.Optimistic | B.Humoristic | C.Objective | D.Critical |
The impression that the woodcutter makes on you is that he is -----
A.foolish but honest | B.foolish and honest |
C.smart but honest | D.smart and honest |
What can you infer about Jennifer Lopez and Catherine Zeta Jones?
A.They are the secret lovers of the woodcutter |
B.They look much like the woodcutter's wife. |
C.They are both rich women with a lot of gold and silver. |
D.They are both popular with women, much worthy than his wife |
Egypt: Bridging the Gap between School English and Real English
Teaching English in Egypt in general and in my town Damietta in particular, is mainly directed towards helping students to pass their final exams. Unfortunately, most teachers do not adopt a long -term approach that guarantees that their students will be able to use English outside the classroom. So students only concentrate on one skill which is writing. Thus their listening and speaking skills are disabled. What is important to them is to pass the exam which is primarily based on writing .Teachers are not only concentrated with providing their students with questions that are similar to those of the final exam, particularly General Secondary Education Certificate (GSEC) Examination, so students spend most of their time answering typical exam questions.
Most students' scores are high; a lot of students get full marks. However, few students are able to communicate in English because their role plays. As a result, a lot of students complain that they are unable to understand and talk fluently with native speakers of English.
To enable students to communicate freely and spontaneously(自然地) in English, I bring features of real communication into language practice, I always ask students about their own experiences, and suggest groups of students practice what they have learned outside the classroom. This helps lower-achieving students absorb language. Furthermore, role play is a very effective way to improve speaking skills particularly if it is connected to the experience of the students.Who probably write this passage?
A.a teacher | B.a governor | C.a student | D.a reporter |
In Egypt, the students only concentrate on ------
A.listening skill | B.speaking skill | C.reading skill | D.writing skill |
The teachers question their students based on -------
A.what they learn in the class |
B.What their parents expect |
C.The questions that are similar to those of GSEC |
D.The ability that will be used outside the classroom |
Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A.Most of the students can't get high marks but can communicate with the native speakers of English. |
B. Communicating skill is more important than writing skill. |
C.Role play connected to the speaker's experience is more effective in improving his skill. |
D.The lower--achieving students can do better in speaking skill than the upper achieving students. |
Who will responsible for the gap between school English and real English?
A.Their parents | B.The students | C.The school | D.The education sys tem |