Have you ever walked outside thinking it was one temperature but quickly discovered it felt colder? That is because of the “wind chill” effect.
Wind chill is how cold people and animals feel when they are outside, not the actual temperature on the thermometer(温度计). It is based on how quickly your body loses heat when it is exposed to wind and cold. When the wind is strong, your body quickly loses heat, making the temperature of your skin drop.
When scientists first started calculating wind chill, they used research conducted in 1945 by explorers to Antarctica who measured how quickly water froze outside.
But water freezes faster than exposed skin, so the wind chill index based on that data wasn’t accurate.
In 2001, the US government began to measure wind chill more precisely by testing how quickly people’s skin froze.
Twelve volunteers were placed in a chilled wind tunnel. Equipment was stuck to their faces to measure the heat flow from their cheeks, forehead, nose and chin while they walked three miles per hour on a treadmill(跑步机).
The experiment revealed how quickly exposed skin can be damaged, particularly unprotected areas like your fingers, toes, the tip of your nose and your ear lobes. In fact, 40 percent of your body heat can be lost through your head! Signs you might have frostbite(冻疮) are when the skin turns white or pale and you lose feeling in that area.
The information collected from the volunteers helped scientists work out the math to compute wind chill. It involves wind speed and air temperature.
If, for example, the temperature outside is zero degrees Fahrenheit and the wind is blowing at 15 miles per hour, the wind chill is calculated at 19 degrees below zero. At that wind chill temperature, exposed skin can freeze in 30 minutes.
You can find a calculation table at www.nws.noaa.gov/om/windchill/index.shtml.
Experts advise in cold weather that you wear loose-fitting, lightweight, warm clothing, worn on top of each other. Air caught between the clothes will keep you warm. The best cold-weather coats have head coverings made of woven material that keep out water. So next time the temperature drops and you want to play outside, listen to your parents when they tell you to wrap up warm! According to the text, wind chill _______.
| A．means how fast exposed skin freezes |
| B．doesn’t affect your head as much as other body parts |
| C．changes according to the temperature on the thermometer |
| D．changes from person to person depending on their health |
When might a person have frostbite according to the passage?
| A．When his skin turns red and he loses feeling in that area. |
| B．When he is running faster and he is losing strength quickly. |
| C．When his face is exposed and quickly loses heat even indoors. |
| D．When his skin turns pale and he has no feeling in that area. |
What factors influence wind chill?
| A．A person’s body temperature and will speed. |
| B．Wind speed and a person’s strength. |
| C．Air temperature and wind speed. |
| D．The location and air temperature. |
What can we conclude from the passage?
| A．It was in 1945 that scientists first began to calculate wind chill. |
| B．Compared with water, people’s exposed skin freezes more slowly. |
| C．The wind chill index based on Antarctica data is considered a standard. |
| D．With the development of technology, many previous researches have been proven wrong. |
Winter-swimming has become popular in Beijing . Three years ago, few people would go swimming in the icy waters. But now there is a Winter-swimming Enthusiasts Club(冬泳爱好者协会) and it has more than 2,000 members. The oldest is 84 and the youngest is only 7. The members are from all walks of life. They may be workers, peasants, soldiers, teachers, students.
Though it is now the coldest part of the season and the water temperature in the city’s lakes is around 0℃, many winter-swimmers still swim in the icy waters, even when it is snowing. They enjoy themselves in the lake, while the people by the side of the lake are wearing heavy clothes.
Why are so many people interested in winter-swimming? Because winter-swimming can be good for one’s health.
Bei Sha is a good example. He is 69, and he once suffered from heart trouble for 26 years. After ten years of winter-swimming he is now in good health. Scientists are now studying the effects of winter-swimming on health.Among the winter- swimmers the oldest man is ________ years older than the youngest
| A．91 | B．84 | C．77 | D．7 |
Guess what “The members are from all walks of life” mean?
| A．The members do different jobs at different places |
| B．They come from all parts of Beijing. |
| C．They are persons of different ages. |
| D．They are man and woman, old and young. |
Winter-swimming has become popular in Beijing because_________________.
| A．more and more people like to swimming in Beijing |
| B．it is more interesting than swimming in summer |
| C．winter-swimmers are brave men |
| D．winter-swimming does a lot of good to one’s health |
What is the best title for this passage?
| A．People Like Swimming in Winter |
| B．Winter-swimming- a Craze(狂热) in Beijing |
| C．People Benefit from Winter- swimming |
| D．Winter-swimmers are Brave Men |
阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Education for Japanese children is free for the first nine years and all children must go to school for six years of primary schooling and three years of secondary schooling. In the primary and secondary school, about 99.9% of school-age children are present. School usually begins at 8 o’clock in the morning and ends at 3 o’clock in the afternoon on weekdays and at noon on Saturdays. The school year begins in April and ends in March. There is a summer holiday in August and a winter holiday during the New Year season.
After nine years of schooling, students can enter the three-year high school by passing an examination and by paying a small charge each year. After high school, students can go on to study at different kinds of colleges, usually for four years. There are also two-year junior colleges. The passage mainly discusses _____________.
| A．colleges in Japan | B．free education in Japan |
| C．education in Japan | D．school time in Japan |
If you want to go to high school in Japan, you must ______________________.
| A．pay a small amount of money |
| B．study at primary and secondary school for 9 years |
| C．take part in the exam and pay a little money |
| D．pass the exam and pay a little money |
What is not mentioned in the passage?
| A．Types of colleges. | B．Times for schooling |
| C．The teaching staff(教职员工) | D．The number of children attending schools |
How many days do the Japanese students have to go to school every week?
| A．Two days | B．Four and a half days | C．Five days | D．Five and a half days |
Let children learn to judge their own work. A child learning to talk does not learn by being corrected all the time: if corrected too much, he will stop talking. He notices a thousand times a day the difference between the language he uses and the language those around him use. Bit by bit, he makes the necessary changes to make his language like other people’s. In the same way, children learn to do all the other things they learn to do without being taught--- to walk , run, climb, whistle, ride a bicycle --- compare their own performances with those of more skilled people, and slowly make the needed changes. But in school we never give a child a chance to find out his mistakes for himself, let alone(更不用说) correct them. We do it all for him. We act as if we thought that he would never notice a mistake unless he was made to. Soon he becomes dependent on the teacher. Let him do it himself. Let him work out, with the help of other children if he wants it, what this word says, what the answer is to that problem, whether this is a good way of saying or doing this or not.
If it is a matter of right answers, as it may be in mathematics or science, give him the answer book. Let him correct his own papers. Why should we teachers waste time on such routine(常规的) work? Our job should be to help the child when he tells us that he can’t find the way to get the right answer. Let’s end all this nonsense of grades, exams and marks. Let us throw them all out, and let the children learn what all educated persons must some day learn: how to measure their own understanding, how to know what they know or do not know.
Let them get on with this job in the way that seems most sensible(合情理的) to them, with our help as school teachers if they ask for it. The idea that there is a body of knowledge to be learnt at school and used for the rest of one’s life is nonsense(无意义的) in a world as complicated and rapidly changing as ours. Anxious parents and teachers say, “But suppose they fail to learn something essential(基本的), something they will need to get on in the world?” Don’t worry! If it is essential, they will go out into the world and learnt it.What does the writer think is the best way for children to think?
| A．By listening to their parents’ instructions. |
| B．By asking a great many questions. |
| C．By making mistakes and having them corrected. |
| D．By copying what other people do. |
What does the writer think teachers should not do?
| A．Give children correct answers. |
| B．Point out children’s mistakes to them. |
| C．Allow children to mark their own work. |
| D．Encourage children to copy one another. |
According to the passage, learning to speak and learning to ride a bike are _____.
| A．the most important skills | B．the basic skills children should master |
| C．almost the same as learning other skills | D．much different from learning other skills. |
The writer thinks that children’s progress should only be estimated(评估) by ______.
| A．the children themselves | B．their parents |
| C．their teachers | D．education authorities(权威) |
The writer is afraid that children will grow up into adults who are ______.
| A．too selfish | B．too independent |
| C．dependent and unable to use basic skills | D．able to think for themselves |
Driving to a friend's house on a recent evening, I was attracted by the sight of the full moon rising just above my friend’s rooftops. I stopped to
watch it for a few moments, thinking about what a pity it was that most city people? Myself included? Usually miss sights like this because we spend most of our lives indoors.
My friend had also seen it. He grew up living in a forest in Europe, and the moon meant a lot to him then. It had touched much of his life.
I know the feeling. Last December I took my seven-year-old daughter to the mountainous jungle of northern India with some friends. We stayed in a forest rest-house with no electricity or running hot water. Our group had campfires(篝火) outside every night, and indoors when it was too cold outside. The moon grew to its fullest during our trip. Between me and the high mountains lay three or four valleys. Not a light shone in them and not a sound could be heard. It was one of the quietest places I have ever known, a bottomless well of silence. And above me was the full moon, which struck me deeply.
Today our lives are filled with glass, metal, plastic and fibre-glass. We have televisions, cell phones, pagers, electricity, heaters and ovens and air-conditioners, cars, computers.
Struggling through traffic that evening at the end of a tiring day, most of it spent indoors, I thought: before long, I would like to live in a small cottage. There I will grow vegetables and read books and walk in the mountains. I may become an old man there, and wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled and measure out my life in coffee spoons. But I will be able to walk outside on a cold silent night and touch the moon.The best title for the passage would be______.
| A．Touched by the moon |
| B．The pleasures of modern life |
| C．A bottomless well of silence |
| D．Break away from modern life |
The writer felt sorry for himself because________.
| A．there was too much pollution |
| B．he seldom enjoyed the fullest moon outsides |
| C．he didn’t adapt to modern inventions |
| D．there were too many accidents on the road |
What impressed the writer most in the mountainous jungle of northern India?
| A．No modern equipment | B．Complete silence. |
| C．The nice moonlight | D．The high mountains |
Modern things (Paragraph 4) are mentioned mainly to______.
| A．show that the writer likes city life very much |
| B．tell us that people greatly benefit from modern life |
| C．explain that people have fewer chances to enjoy nature |
D．show that we can also enjoy nature at home through them |
The author wrote the passage to_______.
| A．express the feeling of returning to nature |
| B．show the love for the moonlight |
| C．advise modern people to learn to live |
| D．want to share the idea of longing for modern life |
Music is an international language. The songs that are sung or played by instruments are beautiful to all people everywhere.
Popular music in America is what every student likes. Students carry small radios with earphones and listen to music before class, after class and at lunch. Students with cars buy large speakers (扬声器) and play the music loudly as they drive on the street.
Adult drivers listen to music on the car radio as they drive to work. They also listen to the news about sports, the weather, politics, and activities of the American people. But most of the radio broadcast is music.
Pop or popular music singers make much money. They make a CD or tape which radio stations use in every state. Once the popular singer is heard throughout the country, young people buy his or her tapes. Some of the money from these tapes comes to the singer. Wherever the singer goes, all the young people want to meet him or her. Now the singer has become a national star.
Besides pop music, there are two other kinds of music that is important to Americans. One is called folk music. It tells stories about the common life of Americans. The other is called western or country music. This was started by cowboys who would sing at night to the cows they were watching. Today, any music about country life and the love between a country boy and his girl is called western or country music. In America, every student likes ______.
| A．folk music | B．country music | C．pop music | D．western music |
According to the passage, most of the car radio broadcast is ______.
| A．sports | B．the weather | C．politics | D．music |
What do the cowboys do according to the passage?
| A．They sell cows. | B．They watch cows. |
| C．They sing and dance. | D．They travel around. |
How many kinds of music are mentioned in the passage?
| A．Three. | B．Four. | C．Five. | D．Six. |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．Music in America | B．Music Listeners |
| C．Cowboys in America | D．International Language |