Many of us believe that a person’s mind becomes less active as he grows older．But this is not true，according to Dr．Lissy F．Jarvik，professor of psychiatry(精神病学)at the University of California，Los Angeles，and a board member of the New Center for Aging at the Veterans Hospital．She has studied the mental functioning of aging persons for several years.For example，one of her studies concerns 136 pairs of twins, who were first examined when they were already 60 years old．As Dr．Jarvik continued the study of the twins into their 70s and 80s，their minds did not generally decline(下降)as was expected．
However，there was some decline in their psycho-motor(精神运动的)speed． This means that it took them longer to accomplish mental tasks than it used to．But when speed was not a factor，they lost very little intellectual (智力的) ability over the years.In general，Dr．Jarvik’s studies have shown that there is no decline in knowledge or reasoning ability．This is true not only into the 30s and 40s，but into the 60s and 70s as well．
As for learning new things，and ability to remember，studies by Dr．Jarvik and others show that the old are equal to the young．It is true that older people themselves often complain that their memory is not as good as it once was．However，much of what we call“loss of memory”is not that at a11．
In the cases where the older person’s mind really seems to decline，it is not necessarilv a sign of a decay due to becoming old or“senility”．Often it is simply a sign of a depressed emotional state．This depression usually can be got rid of by counseling(咨询)with a psychologist，or medicine which fights depression.
In American society，when an older person loses something，we tend to call him or her“senile”．But notice that when a younger person loses something，he does not blame it on senility or loss of memory．He finds some other excuse!A long-term study of 136 pairs of twins showed that the only factor that declined over the years was .
| A．mental health | B．intellectual ability |
| C．the amount of knowledge | D．psycho-motor speed |
According to Dr．Jarvik’s studies，middle-aged and older persons should expect to .
| A．reason better | B．learn fewer new things |
| C．remember less | D．1ose little ability to remember |
The word“senility”most likely means .
| A．excellent health | B．weakness in body and mind because of old age |
| C．occasional forgetfulness | D．giving up one’s life |
Both younger and older persons should realize that .
| A．a sign of a decay due to old age or“senility’’is a common thing |
| B．older persons are wiser than younger ones because of different knowledge amount |
| C．senility or mental decay due to aging is much less common than most of us believe |
| D．a sign of a depressed emotional state is not a reason of decay |
It is difficult for parents of nearly every family to teach their children to be responsible （有责任的）for housework, but with one of the following suggestions, you really can get your children to help at home.
If you give your children the impression that they can never do anything quite right, then they will regard themselves as unfit or unable persons. Unless children believe they can succeed, they will never become totally independent.
My daughter Carla’s fifth - grade teacher made every child in her class feel special. When students received less than a prefect test score, she would point out what they had mastered and declared firmly they could learn what they had missed.
You can use the same technique when you evaluate （评价）your child’s work at home. Don’t always scold and give lots of praise instead. Talk about what he has done right, not about what he hasn’t done. If your child completes a difficult task, promise him a Sunday trip or a ball game with Dad.
Learning is a process（过程）of trying and failing and trying and succeeding. If you teach your children not to fear a mistake of failure, they will learn faster and achieve success at last.The whole passage deals with ________.
| A．social education | B．school education |
| C．family education | D．pre - school education |
The author thinks that________.
| A．there is no way to get children to help at home |
| B．the more encouragement and praise you give, the more responsible and helpful children will become |
| C．it is very difficult to make children responsible for housework |
| D．children can be forced to help with housework |
The article gives us a good suggestion about how to evaluate（评价）your child’s work at home. That is to ________.
| A．praise his success | B．promise him a trip |
| C．give him a punishment | D．promise him a ball game |
The author advises readers to________.
| A．learn from himself, for he has a good way of teaching |
| B．take pride in Carla’s fifth - grade teacher |
| C．do as what Carla’s teacher did in educating children |
| D．follow Carla’s example because she never fails in the test |
Whenever the sun dropped and the blue sky came up, my father and I used to climb the mountain near my house. Walking together, my father and I used to have a lot of conversations through which I learned lessons from his experiences. He always told me, “ You should have goals(目标） like climbing the mountain.” Without the mountain- climbing that we both enjoyed, we couldn’t have enough time to spend together because my father was very busy. I really got a lot from the mountain-climbing. It gave me time to talk with my father and to be in deep thought as well as develop my patience.
Once we climbed a very high mountain. It was so challenging(挑战) for me because I was only ten years old. During the first few hours of climbing, I enjoyed the flowers and trees, and the bird’s singing. But as time passed, I got a pain （痛）in both of my legs. I wanted to give up climbing, but my father said to me, “You can always see a beautiful sky at the top of the mountain, but you can’t see it before reaching the top. Only there can you see all of the nice things, which is just like your life.”
At that time, I was too young to understand his words. But later after that, I got to know the meaning of hope in life. I found myself standing at the top of the mountain, and the sky was as clear as crystal.According to the passage, which advantage that the writer got from climbing the mountain with his father isn’t mentioned?
| A．Deep thought. | B．Exercise. | C．Patience. | D．Communication. |
The underlined word “crystal” in the passage means _______.
| A．岩石 | B．火焰 | C．水晶 | D．寒冰 |
Which of the following is the closest in meaning to the underlined words in the second paragraph?
| A．You will get all you need at the top of the mountain. |
| B．The sky is always as clear as crystal. |
| C．You can find life is full of nice things. |
| D．Never give up half-way. |
We can infer(推断) from the last paragraph that _______.
| A．the writer was very successful in his life |
| B．the writer reached the top of the mountain |
| C．though the writer was young, he could understand his father |
| D．the writer used to stop half-way when he climbed the mountain |
The best title for this passage is ________.
| A．Reaching the Top of the Mountain |
| B．Standing at the Top of the Mountain |
| C．Conversations between Father and Son |
| D．How to Get to the Top of the Mountain |
1. The Dream It is everyone’s dream to work at home or not work at all. You can plan your own hours and work when you want to. There is no more rush hour and no hours that people waste when they get to and from a job every day.
2. The Fact The fact is that this dream can be attained. You can stay at home, work when you want to and make money when you need to. There are plenty of chances for you to make money at home, just by using your computer and the Internet.
3. Start Today! Educate yourself, look closely into all the chances and decide on what works best for you. It will not happen during one night, but you can make the decision today and start to make it happen today.
4. How Could You Do It? Do you have a blog ( 博客) or a personal website like millions of other people? Are you using it to make money? Most of these blogs and website owners are not. But you can do that!
5. _________When you have your computer and the Internet working for you, your businesses will be working for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You will make money while you sleep, travel or do whatever you want to do all day long.
6. Get Going! There are many ways you can make money with your computer. And you can begin your stay-at-home businesses with just a little money. What are you waiting for?In which part of a newspaper would you most probably read this passage?
| A．Sports. | B．News. | C．Culture. | D．Business. |
What does the underlined word “attained”in Point 2 mean?
| A．Broken. | B．Realized. | C．Lost. | D．Destroyed ( 毁坏 ). |
What’s the best title for Point 5?
| A．Sleep 24 Hours a Day. | B．Make Money Every moment. |
| C．Play All Day Long. | D．Travel Around the World . |
Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?
| A．People need a lot of money to start a stay-at-home business. |
| B．People can even use their blogs to make money. |
| C．People can plan their own time when they work at home. |
| D．People can make the best decision and start to make it happy today. |
How is the passage organized（组织）?
| A．By using famous people’s words. |
| B．By giving reasons only. |
| C．By showing a topic （话题）and giving reasons for it. |
| D．By telling old stories. |
There are many colors in nature. But do you know if a color has weight? I think you’ll say “no”. But I am afraid you are wrong. If you don’t believe, you may do a small experiment.
First, put two objects（物体） with the same weight into two boxes. Then cover the box. Third, wrap(裹) one box with a red piece of paper, the other with a white piece of paper. OK. Now hold the boxes with your hand one by one. It is certain that you will think the red one is a little heavier.
Why do you think so? A scientist found that different colors have different weights in a man’s mind. So he did many tests and at last he got the result. That is to say, every color has its own weight in our mind and their order is the same. The heaviest color is red, then blue, green, yellow and white.
The scientist told us that colors also have smell. Can you smell the color? Of course not. Then why did the scientist say so? That is because every color stands for (代表)a kind of light with a certain wavelength(波长). It reaches our brain through sense organs(感觉器官).
According to this discovery, scientists say that people accept the colors they like, and refuse the colors they hate. So your body and mind will be healthy by using the colors you like. Or you’ll be nervous or ill. For example, if you stay in a room with red windows, wallpapers and furniture for two hours, you’ll feel you have been there for four hours. But if the room is blue, you’ll feel you have been there for only an hour. Another example, if a person walks out of a red room and into a blue room, his temperature will fall. That means our body temperature will change with different colors.The idea of the second paragraph is to tell us ________.
| A．a red box is heavier than a white one |
| B．a color has weight in one’s mind |
| C．white paper is lighter than red paper |
| D．you can know the weight of a color by holding it |
Why did the scientist say colors have smell?
| A．Because people can sense(感觉) the light from colors. |
| B．Because we can smell colors with our noses. |
| C．Because every color has its own sweet smell. |
| D．Because every color can give off light of the same length. |
If a person walks from a blue room to a red room, his body temperature will__________.
| A．rise | B．fall | C．stay the same | D．change now and then |
It can be known from the text that________.
| A．colors have order in weight |
| B．colors can change the weight of an object |
| C．people would stay longer in a room with red windows |
| D．colors can affect （影响）our mood （情绪）and health |
This passage is probably a __________.
| A．book review | B．history textbook | C．travel magazine | D．science report |
Sitting on a chair all day in school can make anyone want to move around. So, more and more teachers are letting students have a ball. By sitting on exercise balls instead of chairs , teachers find students’ posture(姿势) and attention improve.
Dottie Pownall, a fifth-grade teacher in West Virginia, USA, has been using balls as chairs since December 2008. “The students love them”, she says. Pownall took a survey(调查) of her students. She found that 80% of the students thought sitting on the balls helped them pay more attention to what they were learning.
The teacher, Pisa Witt, felt so strongly about the use of balls as chairs, she started Witt Fitt. This company encourages the use of the balls. And the company educates not only teachers but also students on how to use them. “Our products are used in 24 states, three provinces in Canada, Puerto Rico (波多黎各) and Japan,” says Witt, “ Research shows that sitting on the balls makes them sit up straighter（直的）. You can slouch(低头垂肩地坐)on a ball,” says Witt, “but it feels bad.” Because the students are moving, their blood (血液) increases. That carries more oxygen( 氧气) to the brain , so the kids have more energy and can pay attention longer.
“Besides, they’re fun.” says Pownall.What will happen if a student sits on a chair all day in school? The student will_________.
| A．pay more attention to his lessons | B．be fun |
| C．like to move around | D．sit up straighter |
How long has Dottie Pownall used the balls?
| A．About four years. | B．Only one year. |
| C．In 2008. | D．Since he was a fifth-grade teacher. |
In how many countries are the balls used as the students’ chairs?
| A．Four. | B．Three. | C．Two. | D．One. |
Teachers choose balls instead of chairs because sitting on balls helps the kids _________.
| A．improve the students’ posture and attention |
| B．slouch on the chairs |
| C．have fun |
| D．Both A and C are correct answers |
Which is better for kids to study in class, sitting on a chair or sitting on a ball?
| A．Sitting on a chair. | B．Sitting on a ball. |
| C．They are the same. | D．We don’t know. |