US researchers have found traces of an anc
ient lake on Mars recently, increasing hopes of discovering evidence that billions of years ago the Red planet hosted life.
The lake, which dates back some 3.4 billion years, appears to have covered as much as 80 square miles and was up to 1,500 feet deep, said the team from the U
niversity of Colorado.
“This is the first clear evidence of shorelines on the surface of Mars,”said Boulder’ s research associate, Gaetano Di Achille, in a study published in the latest edition of Geophysical Research Letters.
“The identification of the shorelines and accompanying geological evidence allows us to calculate the size and volume of the lake, which appears to have formed about 3.4 billion years ago.”
Analysi
s of the images has shown the water carved out the canyon (溪谷) in which it was found, which then opened out into a valley depositing (使淤积) sediment (沉积) which formed a delta (三角洲).
“Finding shorelines is a great discovery to us,” said assistant professor Brian Hynek, adding it showed the lake existed at a time when Mars was thought to have been cold and dry.
Scientists believe the oldest surfaces on Mars formed during the wet and warm era known as the Noachan epoch, about 4.1 billion to 3.7 billion years ago.
The newly discovered lake is believed to date from the Hesperian era and postdates the end of the warm and wet period on Mars by 300 million years, according to the study.
Scientists believe deltas next to the lake may well hold secrets about past life on Mars as such places on Earth have become the natural deposits of organic carbon and other markers of life.The size of the lake found on Mars is ______.
| A．80 square miles | B．1,500 square miles |
C．3.4 billion square miles |
D．300 million square miles |
When the lake existed, the weather on Mars was ____.
| A．hot and wet | B．wet and warm | C．cold and dry | D．cold and wet |
Why do scientists think deltas near the lake may hold secrets about past life on Mars?
A．Because similar places on Earth have become natural deposits of marker s of life. |
| B．Because someone has put secrets about past life on Mars there. |
| C．Because past life has been found in other deltas on Mars. |
| D．Because some people are said to have already seen life marks there. |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．The Noachan epoch was a wet and warm era. |
| B．The lake might have existed 3.4 billion years. |
| C．The discovery can’ t fully prove that the Mars once hosted life. |
| D．The lake traces prove that there exists life on Mars now. |
The dyed bun scandal (染色馒头丑闻) deals another blow to shoppers' confidence in buying food products, as well as the reputation of local sellers. Li Zhen reports on shoppers’ reactions in Shanghai.
An investigation by the municipal government revealed that Shanghai Shenglu Food Company produced more than 3,000 steamed buns daily. These were then sold across the city, including large supermarkets such as Hualian, Lianhua and Dia.
Fewer steamed buns were for sale at this Lianhua Supermarket. More than 32,000 buns were taken off store shelves when the scandal emerged.
Mr. Wang, Sales Manager of Lianhua Supermarket, said, “We removed the dyed steamed buns produced by Shenglu as soon as we learned of the incident. We gave customers who had bought the steamed buns from our outlets refunds with their receipts. Despite the scandal, our sales volume has been fine so far.”
However, most customers we met remained concerned about food safety. Steamed buns are a regular breakfast food for Ms. Gao. She used to buy them mostly from supermarkets because she felt it was in a clean and safe environment.
But now, she has second thoughts about buying the popular snack.
Ms. Gao, Shanghai shopper, said, “I can’t believe that even steamed buns from the supermarkets are no longer safe. The only places I trusted to shop at were major supermarkets and specialist shops. But now even there, product quality cannot be guaranteed. I really don't know where to buy my goods from in the future.
Shoppers at supermarkets who still bought steamed buns said they had few options. “I feel like giving up supermarkets. But I really don’t know where to do my food shopping. I can't make these things myself.” said Ms. Tang, Shanghai shopper.The colored buns were sold in some large supermarkets EXCEPT ______.
| A．Hualian | B．Lianhua | C．Shenglu | D．Dia |
What Ms. Gao and Ms. Tang said suggests that ______.
| A．they still trust major supermarkets when shopping |
| B．they will make food by themselves |
| C．they will never go to supermarkets |
| D．they feel confused about where to buy safe food |
The underlined word in the last paragraph can be replaced by ______.
| A．choices | B．ideas | C．hints | D．marks |
What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．Major supermarkets removed the dyed steamed buns. |
| B．Dyed steamed buns brought great loss to major supermarkets. |
| C．Famous supermarkets are involved in the bun scandal. |
| D．Dyed bun scandal hurts consumers’ confidence. |
Where can you most probably read the passage?
| A．In a fashion magazine. | B．In a newspaper. | C．In a guideline book. | D．In an official document. |
Psychology(心理学) has a new application in the field of medicine. Many doctors, together with their patients, are looking for alternative methods of treatment of physical problems. In large hospitals, modern therapy（疗法） seems to focus on the physical disease. Patients may feel they are treated like broken machines. Some doctors have recognized this as a problem. They are now using psychological therapy, in which the patient is working with the doctors against the disease with the help of medicine. The patient does not wait for the medicine and treatment to cure him or her, but instead the patient joins in the fight.
The doctor knows that a disease affects a patient's body physically. The body of the patient changes because of the disease. He is not only physically affected, but also has an emotional response to the disease. Because his mind is affected, his attitude and behavior change. The medical treatment might cure the patient's physical problems, but the patient's mind must fight the emotional ones. For example, the studies of one doctor, Carl Simonton, M. D., have shown that a typical cancer patient has predictable attitudes. She typically feels depressed, upset, and angry. Her constant depression makes her acts unfriendly toward her family, friends, doctors, and nurses. Such attitudes and behaviors prevent recovery. Therefore, a doctor's treatment must help the patient change that. Simonton's method emphasizes treatment of the “whole” patient.
The attitude of a cancer patient receiving radiation therapy, an X-ray treatment, can become more positive. The physician who is following Simonton's psychological treatment plan suggests that the patient imagine that he or she can see the tumor（肿瘤） in the body. In the mental picture, the patient "sees" a powerful beam of radiation like a million bullets of energy. The patient imagines the beam hitting the tumor cells and causing them to shrink. For another cancer patient, Dr. Simonton asks him to imagine the medicine going from the stomach into the bloodstream and to the cancer cells. The patient imagines that the medicine is like an army fighting the diseased cells and sees the cancer cells gradually dying and his blood carry away the dead cells. Both the medical therapy and the patient's positive attitude fight the disease.
Doctors are not certain why this mental therapy works. However, this use of psychology does help some patients because their attitudes about themselves change. They become more confident because they use the power within their own minds to help stop the disease.
Another application of using the mind to help cure disease is the use of suggestion therapy. At first, the doctor helps the patient to concentrate deeply. The patient thinks only about one thing. He becomes so unaware of other things around him that he is asleep, or rather in a trance（催眠状态）. Then the physician makes “a suggestion” to the patient about the medical problem. The patient's mind responds to the suggestion even after the patient is no longer in the trance. In this way, the patient uses his mind to help his body respond to treatment.
Doctors have learned that this use of psychology is helpful for both adults and children. For example, physicians have used suggestion to help adults deal with the strong pain of some disease. Furthermore, sometimes the adult patient worries about her illness so much that the anxiety keeps her from getting well. The right suggestions may help the patient to stop being anxious. Such treatment may help the patient with a chronic（慢性的）diseases. Asthma （哮喘） is an example of a chronic disorder. Asthma is a disease that causes the patient to have difficulty in 
breathing. The patient starts to cough and sometimes has to fight to get the air that he or she needs. Psychology can help relieve the symptoms of this disorder. After suggestion therapy, the asthma patient breathes more easily.
Physicians have learned that the psychological method is very useful in treating children. Children respond quickly to the treatment because they are fascinated by it. For example, Dr. Basil R. Collison has worked with 121 asthmatic children in Sydney, Australia, and had good results. Twenty-five of the children had Excellent results. They were able to breathe more easily, and they did not need medication. Another forty-three were also helped. The symptoms of the asthma occurred less frequently, and when they did, they were not as strong. Most of the children also felt better about themselves. Doctors have also used suggestion to change habits like nail-biting, thumb-sucking, and sleep-related problems.
Many professional medical groups have accepted the medical use of psychology and that psychology has important applications in med
icine.What does the passage mainly discuss?
| A．How suggestion therapy benefits adults and children. |
| B．How modern therapy focuses on the disease. |
| C．Responses from the medical world. |
| D．How to use the mind against disease. |
How does psychological therapy work?
| A．The patient waits for the medicine and treatment to cure him. |
| B．The doctor uses medical treatment to cure the patient's problems. |
| C．The doctor, the medicine, and the patient work together to fight disease. |
| D．The patient uses his mind to cure himself. |
What can we learn from the studies of Carl Simonton, M. D.?
A. The medical treatment can cure the patient's mental disease.
B. The treatment of a patient by treating the body and the mind is necessary.
C. The mental treatment is more important than medical treatment.
D. Few patients have emotional response to the disease.The use of psychological therapy is helpful to some patients in that.
| A．the medical effect is better with psychological therapy than without it |
| B．the patients can see a powerful beam of radiation hitting their tumor cells |
| C．the patients' attitudes towards themselves have changed |
| D．the patients are easy to accept the methods the doctors use to treat them |
It can be learned from the passage that suggestion therapy cannot be used to.
| A．help adults deal with the strong pain of some diseases |
| B．help the patients with chronic diseases |
| C．help change some bad habits |
| D．help cure patients of insomnia（失眠症） |
According to the passage, which of the following remains unknown so far?
| A．The value of mental therapy. |
| B．The effectiveness of suggestion therapy. |
| C．The working principle of suggestion therapy. |
| D．The importance of psychology in medical treatment. |
Long after the 1998 World Cup was won, disappointed fans were still cursing(
咒骂) thedisputed refereeing (裁判) decisions that denied victory to their team. A researcher was appointed to study the performance of some top referees.
The researcher organized an experimental tournament (锦标赛) involving four youth teams. Each match lasted an hour, divided into three periods of 20 minutes during which different referees were in charge.
Observers noted down the referees’ errors, of which there were 61 over the tournament. Converted to a standard match of 90 minutes, each referee made almost 23mistakes, a remarkably high number.
The researcher then studied the videotapes to analyse the matches in detail. Surprisingly, he found that errors were more likely when the referees were
close to the incident. When the officials got it right, they were, on average, 17 meters away from the action. The average distance in the case of errors was 12 meters. The research shows the optimum (最佳的) distance is about 20 meters.
There also seemed to be an optimum speed. Correct decisions came when the referees were moving at a speed of about 2 meters per second. The average speed for errors was 4 meters per second.
If FIFA, football's international ruling body, wants to improve the standard ofrefereeing at the next World Cup, it should encourage referees to keep their eyes on the action from a distance, rather than rushing to keep up with the ball, the researcher argues.
He also says that FIFA’s insistence that referees should retire at age 45 may be misguided. If keeping up with the action is not so important, their physical condition is less critical.The experiment conducted by the researcher was meant to _______.
| A．reexamine the rules for football refereeing |
| B．analyse the causes of errors made by football referees |
| C．set a standard for football refereeing |
| D．review the decisions of referees at the 1998 World Cup |
The findings of the experiment show that _______.
| A．errors are more likely when a referee keeps close to the ball |
| B．the farther the referee is from the incident, the fewer the errors |
| C．the more slowly the referee runs, the more likely will errors occur |
| D．errors are less likely when a referee stays in one spot |
The word “officials” (Line 2, Para. 4) most probably refers to _______.
| A．the researchers involved in the experiment |
| B．the inspectors of the football tournament |
| C．the referees of the football tournament |
| D．the observers at the site of the experiment |
What is one of the possible conclusions of the experiment?
| A．The ideal retirement age for an experienced football referee is 45. |
| B．Age should not be the chief consideration in choosing a football referee. |
| C．A football referee should be as young and energetic as possible. |
| D．An experienced football referee can do well even when in poor physical condition. |
Many trees in the Brackham area were brought down in the terrible storms that March. The town itself lost two great lime trees from the former market square. The disappearance of such s
triking features had changed the appearance of the town centre entirely, to the annoyance of its more conservative inhabitants(居民).
Among the annoyed, under more normal circumstances, would have been Chief Inspector Douglas Pelham, head of the local police force. But at the height of that week's storm, when the wind brought down even the mature walnut tree in his garden, Pelham had in fact been in no fit state to notice. A large and healthy man, he had for the first time in his life been seriously ill with an attack of bronchitis.
When he first complained of an aching head and tightness in his chest, his wife, Molly, had tried to persuade him to go to the doctor. Convinced that the police force could not do without him, he had, as usual, ignored her and attempted to carry on working. Predictably, though he wouldn't have listened to anyone who tried to tell him so, this had the effect of fogging his memory and shortening his temper.
It was only when his colleague, Sergeant Lloyd, took the initiative and drove him to the doctor's door that he finally gave in. By that time, he didn't have the strength left to argue with her. In no time at all, she was taking him along to the chemist's to get his medicine and then home to his unsurprised wife who sent him straight to bed.
When Molly told him, on the Thursday morning, that the walnut tree had been brought down during the night, Pelham hadn’t been able to take it in. On Thursday evening, he had asked weakly about damage to the house, groaned(含糊不清地说) thankfully when he heard there was none, and pulled the sheets over his head.
It wasn't until Saturday, when the medicine took effect, his temperature dropped and he got up, that he realised with a shock that the loss of the walnut tree had made a permanent difference to the appearance of the living-room. The Pelhams' large house stood in a sizeable garden. It had not come cheap, but even so Pelham had no regrets about buying it. The leafy garden had created an impression of privacy. Now, though, the storm had changed his outlook.
Previously, the view from the living-room had featured the handsome walnut tree. This had not darkened the room because there was also a window on the opposite wall, but it had provided interesting patterns of light and shade that hid the true state of the worn furniture that the family had brought with them from their previous house.
With the tree gone, the room seemed cruelly bright, its worn furnishings exposed in all their shabbiness. And the view from the window didn’t bear looking at. The tall house next door, previously hidden by the tree, was now there, dominating the outlook with its unattractive purple bricks and external pipes. It seemed to have a great many upstairs windows, all of them watching the Pelhams' every movement.
“Doesn’t it look terrible?” Pelham whispered to his wife.
But Molly, standing in the doorway, sounded more pleased than dismayed. “That's what I’ve been telling you ever since we came here. We have to buy a new sofa, whatever it costs.”Why were some people in Brackham annoyed after the storm?
| A．No market could be held. | B．The police had done little to help. |
| C．The town looked different. | D．Fallen trees had not been removed. |
In the third paragraph, what do we learn about Chief Inspector Pelham’s general attitude to his work?
| A．He finds it extremely annoying. | B．Не is sure that he plays an important role. |
| C．Не considers the systems are not clear enough. | |
| D．He does not trust the decisions made by his superiors. |
What aspect of the Pelhams’ furniture does “shabbiness” in paragraph 8 describe?
| A．its condition. | B．its colour. | C．its position. | D．its design. |
As a result of the storm, the Pelhams’ living-room _____.
A．was pleasantly ligh ter |
B．felt less private |
| C．had a better view | D．was in need of repair |
Why did Molly sound pleased by her husband’s comment?
| A．It proved that he was well again. | B．She agreed about the tree. |
| C．She thought he meant the sofa. | D．It was what she expected him to say. |
A person named Bernard Jackson today is a free man, but he has many bitter memories. He spent five years in prison after a jury (陪审团) wrongly convicted (判处……有罪) him of raping two women. At Jackson’s trial, although two witnesses testified that Jackson was with them in another location at the time of the crime, he was convicted anyway. Why? The jury believed the testimony (证词) of the two v
ictims, who positively identified Jackson as the man who had attacked them. The court eventually freed Jackson after the police found the real criminal.
Many factors influence the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. For instance, witnesses sometimes see photographs of several suspects before they try to identify the person they saw in a group of people. They can become confused by seeing many photographs of similar faces. The number of people in the group, and whether it is a person or a photograph, may also affect a witness’s decision. People sometimes have difficulty identifying people of other races. The questions the police ask witnesses also have an effect on them.
Many people believe that police officers are more reliable than ordinary people. Psychologists decided to test this idea, and they discovered that it is not true. Two psychologists showed a film of crimes to both police officers and civilians. The psychologists found no difference between the police and the civilians in correctly remembering the details of the crimes.
Despite all the possibilities for inaccuracy, courts cannot leave out eyewitness testimony from a trial. American courts depend almost completely on eyewitness testimony to resolve (决定) court cases. Sometimes it is the only evidence to a crime, such as rape. Furthermore, eyewitness testimony is often correct. Although people do sometimes make mistakes, and convict innocent people, more importantly, eyewitness testimony has rightly convicted a larger number of guilty people.
American courts depend on the ability of the twelve jurors, and not the judges, to determine the accuracy of the witness’s testimony. It is their responsibility to decide if a certain witness could actually see, hear and remember what happened. Bernard Jackson was found guilty and sentenced 5 years’ prison because.
| A．the police discovered evidence leading to his guilt |
| B．he admitted the crime of raping two women |
| C．the victims insisted that he was the attacker |
| D．the eyewitness proved the victims’ testimony |
The following statements may be the reasons for why sometimes the eyewitness’ testimony is not accurate EXCEPT .
| A．the eyewitness is confused by the police’s questions |
| B．the eyewitness is shown photos of many similar faces |
| C．the eyewitness lacks the professional help from police |
| D．the eyewitness can’t identify people of other races clearly |
An inaccurate eyewitness testimony may lead to.
| A．the misunderstanding of the case | B．the disbelief in the court |
| C．the disrespect for the eyewitness | D．the conviction of an innocent person |
Eyewitness testimony is important because.
| A．it can be relied on to detect criminals in all cases. |
B．it is sometimes the only way to resolve court cases. |
| C．it is sometimes the only clue for police investigation. |
| D．it is more reliable than physical evidences to a crime. |
According to the text, we can infer that.
| A．police identification is more reliable than that of the ordinary people |
| B．eyewitness testimony is valuable, though sometimes incorrect. |
| C．crime victims often fail to give positive identification of the suspects |
| D．the jury relies on the judge rather than the eyewitness for a decision |