Since we are social beings，the quality of our lives depends in a large measure on our interpersonal relationships．One strength of the human condition is our possibility to give and receive support from one another under stressful(有压力的)conditions．Social support makes up of the exchange of resources among people based on their interpersonal ties．Those of us with strong support systems appear better able to deal with major life changes and daily problems．People with strong social ties live longer and have better health than those without such ties．Studies over types of illnesses，from depression to heart disease，show that the presence of social support helps people defend themselves against illness，and the absence of such support makes poor health more likely．
Social support cushions stress in a number of ways．First，friends，relatives and co-workers may let us know that they value us．Our self-respect is stengthened when we feel accepted by others in spite of our faults and difficulties．Second，other people often provide us with informational support．They help us to define and understand our problems and find solutions to them．Third．we typically find social companionship supportive．Taking part in free-time activities with others helps us to meet our social needs while at the same time distracting(转移注意力)us f rom our worries and troubles．Finally，other people may give us instrumental support--money aid，material resources，and needed services--that reduces stress by helping us resolve and deal with our problems．What does the word“cushions”mean?
| A．gets rid of | B．makes up of | C．takes place of | D．lessens the effect of |
The researches show that people’s physical and mental health_____.
| A．depends on their ability to deal with daily werries and troubles |
| B．is related to their courage for dealing with major life changes |
| C．lies in the social medical care systems which support them |
| D．has much to do with the amount of support they get from others |
Helping a sick neighbor with some repair work in spare time is an example of_____.
| A．informational support | B．social companionship |
| C．the strengthening of self-respect | D．instrumental support |
Why are interpersonal relationships important?
| A．They can cure types of illnesses． | B．They can deal with life changes． |
| C．they can smooth away daily problems． | D．They can make people live more easily． |
As the sound of footsteps behind her grew louder, she quickened her pace. She didn’t want to turn around as the memory of that morning’s newspaper headline made her afraid of what she would see: “City Killer Claims Fourth Victim.”
“Why did I stop for a few drinks in the bar after work?” she thought to herself. Now it was dark and the streets deserted. She was alone and a sitting duck.
She felt as if she was walking in the rain. Her clothes were damp from nervous sweat and as each short hot breath hit the night air, it turned to steam, coating her glasses in a thin film so all she saw seemed covered in fog.
The footsteps were closer now. She needed to get off this street. Her eyes began a useless search for an open store or lighted window. Passing a small lane she looked through，for a possible escape route. But the lane was a dead - end and she laughed to herself at the irony.
The sound of a car behind her turning onto the street interrupted her self – pity. Escape was at hand. But as she was about to throw herself onto the road and shout for the car to stop, the car’s headlights cast a shadow that paralyzed （使瘫痪） her with terror.
It was the footsteps’ owner. The figure was huge and in its raised arm it held what looked like a lead-pipe, no doubt the one that was about to claim victim number five.
The shadow dissolved as the car passed by and disappeared into the distance. She felt a hand on her shoulder. It was all happening as if in slow – motion. She was waiting for her life to flash before her eyes like all those novels said it would – but it didn’t. The only thing she thought of was her dear husband. She recalled phoning him from work that very afternoon and joking about, of all things, the city killer. It was a night full of ironies.
There was a voice talking to her now but she was lost in thoughts of her fate and didn’t respond. The hand then began turning her around. It was surprisingly gentle given what was about to come. She allowed it to guide her without resistance. （抵抗；反抗）
She looked up. She recognized the face, but she didn’t know from where. Its mouth was still talking to her but she couldn’t understand. Then she remembered. The face belonged to the foreign looking man who had served her at the bar. She looked down to his hand and saw in it not a lead – pipe but a rolled up copy of a work report she had been correcting in the bar as she drank.
His words suddenly started to register in her brain and she could hear him. “Miss, Miss. Are you OK? You left this in the bar and it looked important so I thought I’d better give it to you.”The woman was feeling nervous because .
| A．she had left her report in the bar |
| B．there was a killer in the city |
| C．she was being followed by someone |
| D．the streets were dark and empty |
The underlined expression “a sitting duck” (paragraph 2) is closest in meaning to “ ”.
| A．an easy target | B．a frightened person |
| C．a foolish animal | D．a still position |
What is the correct order of events that happened to the woman on the day of the story?
a. She went for a drink in a bar. b. She corrected the report.
c. She heard loud footsteps. d. She read the newspaper.
e. She called her husband. f. She felt a hand on her shoulder.
| A．d,c,a,e,b,f | B．c,d,a,e,f,b | C．d,a,b,e,c,f | D．d,e,a,b,c,f |
Why did the woman laugh when she looked into the lane?
| A．She was excited because she thought it may be a way to escape. |
| B．She felt bitter because she had no chance to escape. |
| C．She was becoming more and more nervous. |
| D．She realized that she was behaving foolishly. |
Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
| A．It was raining when she left the bar. |
| B．The woman had felt nervous about the city killer for days. |
| C．The temperature was very low that evening. |
| D．The woman was behaving unreasonably. |
Women, as all research suggests, are far more critical of their appearance than men. Most of them are likely to feel dissatisfied with their reflection in the mirror.
It is quite possible that men looking in the mirror are either pleased with what they see or indifferent. Research shows that men generally have a much more positive body-image than women---if anything, they may tend to over-estimate their attractiveness. Some men looking in the mirror may literally not see the flaws in their appearance.
Why are women so much more self-critical than men? Because women are judged more on their appearance than men, and standards of female beauty are considerably higher and more inflexible. Women are continually bombarded (轰炸) with images of the “ideal” face. And constant exposure to idealized images of female beauty on TV, magazines and billboards makes exceptional good looks seem normal and anything short of perfection seem abnormal and ugly. It has been estimated that young women now see more images of outstandingly beautiful women in one day than our mothers saw throughout their entire adolescence.
Also, most women trying to achieve the impossible standards of female beauty have in fact become progressively more unrealistic during the last century. In 1917, the physically perfect woman was about 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed nearly 10 stone. Even 25 years ago, top models and beauty queens weighed only 8% less than the average women, now they weigh 23% less. The current media ideal for women is achievable by less than 5% of the female population---and that’s just in terms of weight and size. If you want the ideal shape, face etc., it’s probably more like 1%.The passage is mainly to _____________.
| A．compare different views on beauty between women and men |
| B．tell us that standards of female beauty are very high |
| C．explain why women are more critical of their appearance than men |
| D．show us that women pay more attention to their appearance than men |
Which of the following is NOT the reason why women are more critical of their appearance?
| A．People pay more attention to their appearance than men’s. |
| B．The criterion (标准；准则) used to judge women’s beauty is more critical and less changeable. |
| C．Idealized images of female beauty are constantly shown in different media. |
| D．Women tend to pursue perfection by nature. |
Which statement is true about men?
| A．Few men will feel pleased when they are looking themselves in the mirror. |
| B．Men looking in the mirror usually ignore the flaws in their appearance. |
| C．It is likely that men will consider themselves more attractive than they really are. |
| D．Men don’t care about their body image. |
Nowadays, if an average woman weighs 110 pounds, then a physically perfect woman should weigh about _________.
| A．85 pounds | B．101 pounds | C．90 pounds | D．135 pounds |
What can be inferred from the last paragraph?
| A．Most women try to achieve the standards of beauty. |
| B．The standards of female beauty. in the past were more easily achieved than today. |
| C．Women are more unrealistic in their pursuit of beauty than men. |
| D．Less than 5% of the female population can achieve the current media ideal for women. |
Billie Holiday was one of the greatest jazz(爵士音乐) singers in America. Her life was just a mixture of success and tragedy. Her singing expressed her experiences and feelings.
Billie Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan in 1915 in Baltimore, Maryland. Her parents were Sadie Fagan and Clarence Holiday. They were young when their daughter was born. Their marriage failed because Clarence Holiday was often out. He traveled as a musician with some of the earliest jazz bands and inspired his daughter.
Sadie Fagan cleaned people’s houses to make a living. But she could not support her family with the money she earned. So she moved to New York City where the pay was higher. She left her daughter in Baltimore with one of her distant relatives.
The young girl Eleanora Fagan changed her name to Billie, because she liked a movie star, Billie Dove. The talented Billie Holiday loved singing. She sang and listened to music whenever she could. In one place near her home there was a machine that played records. The building was a theater where many famous singers also performed their newly-made songs for free.
Billie cleaned floors and did other jobs for the theater so that she could listen to the records. It was there that young Billie first heard the records of some famous black American blues artists of the 1920s. she heard Bessie Smith sing the blues. And she heard Louis Armstrong play the horn. Both musicians had a great influence on her.
Billie Holiday once said, “I do not think I’m singing. I feel like I am playing a horn. What comes out is what I feel. I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That is all I know.”Billie Holiday’s parents divorced because _______.
| A．Sadie Fagan wanted to move to New York City |
| B．the family couldn’t support itself |
| C．Clarence Holiday spent too much time in working |
| D．Clerence Holiday was a strange person |
Who might originally have had an influence on Billie Holiday’s career in music?
| A．Sadie Fagan | B．Clerence Holiday. | C．Bessie Smith. | D．Louis Armstrong |
From the passage, we can learn that ______.
| A．Sadie Fagan was fond of living in New York |
| B．Clerence Holiday didn’t love his wife at all |
| C．Billie lived a happy childhood |
| D．Billie had a gift for music |
The underlined sentence “ What comes out is what I feel” means _____.
| A．Billie Holiday doesn’t like to sing for others |
| B．Billie Holiday’s songs reflect her unhappy childhood |
| C．Billie Holiday is fond of the songs written for herself |
| D．Billie Holiday’s music is greatly determined by her emotions |
In order to listen to the records in the theater, Billie Holiday_______.
| A．cleaned floors for the theater | B．changed her name |
| C．moved to New York | D．separated from her parents |
Deserts are found where there is little rainfall or where rain for a whole year falls in only a few weeks' time. Ten inches of rain may be enough for many plants to survive (存活) if the rain is spread throughout the year. If it falls within one or two months and the rest of the year is dry, those plants may die and a desert may form.
Sand begins as tiny pieces of rock that get smaller and smaller as wind and weather wear them down. Sand dunes (沙丘) are formed as winds move the sand across the desert. Bit by bit, the dunes grow over the years, always moving with the winds and changing the shape. Most of them are only a few feet tall, but they can grow to be several hundred feet high.
There is, however, much more to a desert than sand. In the deserts of the southwestern United States, cliffs (悬崖) and deep valleys were formed from thick mud that once lay beneath a sea more than millions of years ago. Over the centuries, the water dried up. Wind, sand, rain, heat and cold all wore away at the remaining rocks. The faces of the desert mountains are always changing--very, very slowly--as these forces of nature continue to work on the rock.
Most deserts have a surprising variety of life. There are plants, animals and insects that have adapted to life in the desert. During the heat of the day, a visitor may see very few signs of living things, but as the air begins to cool in the evening, the desert comes to life. As the sun begins to rise again in the sky, the desert once again becomes quiet and lonely. Many plants may survive in deserts when_______.
| A．the rain falls only in a few weeks |
| B．the rain is spread out in a year |
| C．there is little rain in a year |
| D．it is dry all the year round . |
Sand dunes are formed when_______.
| A．there is plenty of rain in a year |
| B．sand piles up gradually |
| C．the sea has dried up over the years |
| D．pieces of rock get smaller |
The underlined sentence in the third paragraph probably means that in a desert there is_______.
| A．too much sand | B．more sand than before |
| C．nothing except sand | D．something else besides sand |
It can be learned from the text that in a desert_______.
| A．there is no rainfall throughout the year |
| B．life exists in rough conditions |
| C．all sand dunes are a few feet high |
| D．rocks are worn away only by wind and heat |
What’ the best title of this passage?
| A．Deserts. | B．The plants in the deserts. |
| C．The rainfall in the deserts. | D．Sand dunes. |
The UK's education system is ranked（排列） sixth best in the developed world, according to a global league table published by education firm Pearson in October,2012.
The first and second places are taken by Finland and South Korea.The rankings combine international test results and data such as graduation rates between 2006 and 2010.
Sir Michael Barber, Pearson's chief education adviser, says successful countries give teachers a high status and have a "culture" of education.
International comparisons in education have become increasingly significant - and this latest league table is based upon a series of global test results combined with measures of education systems, such as how many people go on to university.
The two education superpowers - Finland and South Korea - are followed by three other high-performing Asian education systems - Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.
The UK is then only ranked at the head of an above-average group including the Netherlands, New Zealand, Canada and Ireland.
These are ahead of a middle-ranking group including the United States, Germany and France. At the lowest end are Mexico, Brazil and Indonesia.
These comparisons draw upon tests that are taken every three or four years, in areas such as maths, science and literacy - and so present a picture lagging by several years.
Looking at education systems that succeed, the study concludes that spending is important, but not as much as having a culture that is supportive of learning.
It says that spending is easier to measure, but the more complex impact of a society's attitude to education can make a big difference.
The success of Asian countries in these rankings reflects the high value attached to education and the expectations of parents. This can continue to be a factor when families migrate to other countries, says the report.
Looking at the two top countries - Finland and South Korea - the report says that there are many big differences, but the common factor is a shared social belief in the importance of education and its "underlying moral purpose".What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．The two different education superpowers |
| B．The result of one report about education system . |
| C．The UK's education system is worst. |
| D．Finland and South Korea’S education system |
According to Sir Michael Barber, Hong Kong’s education system is ranked in the world.
| A．2nd | B．3rd | C．4th | D．5th |
All of the following statements is NOT true EXCEPT ________.
| A．At the lowest end are Mexico, Brazil and Indonesia. |
| B．Education firm Pearson is disappointed at The UK's education system. |
| C．The United States’ education system is one of the best. |
| D．There are many big differences in Finland and South Korea. |
What does the underlined phrase “comparisons” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?
| A．比较 | B．结果 | C．研究 | D．考试 |
What’s the common factor about the education system at the two top countries?
A. The shared social belief in the importance of education and its "underlying moral purpose".
B. The developed economy.
C The high value attached to education and the expectations of parents.
D. Having a culture that is supportive of learning.