If Confucius(孔子)were still alive today and could celebrate his September 28 birthday with a big cake, there would be a lot of candles. He’d need a fan or a strong wind to help him put them out.
While many people in China will remember Confucius on his special day, few people in the United States will give him a passing thought. It’s nothing personal. Most Americans don’t even remember the birthdays of their own national heroes.
But this doesn’t mean that Americans don’t care about Confucius. In many ways he has become a bridge that foreigners must cross if they want to reach a deeper understanding of China.
In the past two decades, the Chinese studies programs have gained huge popularity in Western universities. More recently, the Chinese government has set up Confucius Institutes in more than 80 countries. These schools teach both Chinese language and culture. The main courses of Chinese culture usually included Chinese art, history and philosophy(哲学). Some social scientists suggest that Westerners should take advantages of the ancient Chinese wisdom to make up for the drawbacks of Westerners philosophy. Students in the United States, at the same time, are racing to learn Chinese. So they will be ready for life in a world where China is an equal power with the United States. Businessmen who hope to make money in China are reading books about Confucius to understand their Chinese customers.
So the old thinker’s ideas are still alive and well.
Today China attracts the West more than ever, and it will need more teachers to introduce Confucius and Chinese culture to the West.
As for the old thinker, he will not soon be forgotten by people in the West, even if his birthday is. The opening paragraph is mainly intended to ________
A. provide some key facts about Confucius |
B.attract the readers’ interest in the subject |
C.show great respect for the ancient thinker |
D.prove the popularity of modern birthday celebrations |
We can learn from Paragraph 4 that American students______
A. have a great interest in studying Chinese |
B.take an active part in Chinese competitions |
C.try to get high scores in Chinese exams |
D.fight for a chance to learn Chinese |
What is the best title for the passge?
A.Forgotten Wisdom in America |
B.Huge Fans of the Chinese Language |
C.Chinese Culture for Westerners |
D.Old Thinker with a Big Future |
The passage is likely to appear in ___________.
A.a biography |
B.a history paper |
C.a newspaper |
D.a philosophy textbook |
LONDON----Here’s a new warning from health experts: Sitting is deadly.
Scientists are increasingly warning that sitting for prolonged periods — even if you also exercise regularly — could be bad for your health. And it doesn’t matter where the sitting takes place — at the office, at school, in the car or before a computer or TV — just the overall number of hours it occurs. Several studies suggest people who spend most of their days sitting are more likely to be fat, have a heart attack or even die.
In an editorial published this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Elin EkblomBak of the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences suggested that authorities rethink how they define physical activity to highlight the dangers of sitting.
While health officials have issued guidelines recommending minimum amounts of physical activity, they haven’t suggested people try to limit how much time they spend in a seated position.
"After four hours of sitting, the body starts to send harmful signals," Ekblom-Bak said. She explained that genes regulating(调节) the amount of glucose(葡萄糖) and fat in the body start to shut down.
Even for people who exercise, spending long periods of time sitting at a desk is still harmful. Tim Armstrong, a physical activity expert at the World Health Organization, said people who exercise every day — but still spend a lot of time sitting — might get more benefit if that exercise were spread across the day, rather than in a single bout.(一回)
Still, in a study published last year that tracked more than 17,000 Canadians for about a dozen years, researchers found people who sat more had a higher death risk, independently of whether or not they exercised.
"We don’t have enough evidence yet to say how much sitting is bad," said Peter Katzmarzyk of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, who led the Canadian study. "But it seems the more you can get up and interrupt this sedentary behavior, the better."
Figures from a U.S. survey in 2003-2004 found Americans spend more than half their time sitting, from working at their desks to sitting in cars.
Experts said more research is needed to figure out just how much sitting is dangerous, and what might be possible tooffset those effects.
"People should keep exercising because that has a lot of benefits," Ekblom-Bak said. "But when they’re in the office, they should try to interrupt sitting as often as possible," she said. What is the best title for the text?
A.Not Sitting Too Much While Working | B.How To Avoid Sitting Too Much |
C.Sitting Too Much Could Be Deadly | D.More And More People Sit Too Much |
According to the research,______________.
A.the more time you spend in exercising in a single bout, the healthier you will be. |
B.those who often sit too much are sure to grow fat or suffer from a heart attack. |
C.regular exercise is effective to get rid of the side effect of sitting too much. |
D.you had better not sit for more than four hours in a single bout. |
How does the danger of sitting too much affect the human body?
A.It results in a higher death risk. |
B.It increases glucose and fat in the body. |
C.It makes a person unable to exercise long enough in a day. |
D.It causes the gene to fail to balance the glucose and fat in the body. |
In the opinion of Ekblom-Bak, you’d better have a rest in the office by________.
A.sending your friends e-mails |
B.having a walk around your office |
C.chatting online or playing computer games |
D.listening to music with your head on the desk. |
One genetic mutation(基因突变)occurs on average for every 15 cigarettes that a typical lung-cancer patient smokes, according to a study that has found for the first time all of the mutations happen during the lifetime of a cancer patient.
Scientists have completed a full genetic examinations of the genomes(基因组) of cancer patients, and hope the information will lead to a basic understanding of the causes of cancer—and possibly drugs and treatments—by making out the mutations that turn a healthy cell into a cancerous tumor cell.
They studied a lung-cancer patient who had about 23,000 DNA mutations in his lung cells that were connected with exposure(暴露) to the toxins found in cigarette smoke and had built up over his lifetime.
They also looked at a patient with malignant melanoma(恶性黑色肿瘤), the most dangerous form of skin cancer, who had got 30,000 special mutations known to be connected with exposure to sunlight.
Scientists believe this new finding into the genetics of cancer will finally lead to new drugs and perfect treatments that aim at the specific changes to the gene that cause the disease, as well as new techniques for discovering following cancers that have escaped from treatment in other parts of the body.
“For the first time, we have a complete map of all mutations in a cancer cell,” said Dr. Peter Campbell, who led the Cancer Genome project to work out the whole DNA system of tumor cells in order find the mutations.
A similar method was performed on the cells of a patient with skin cancer, which is how the researchers were able to show that the malignant skin cells contained changes that resulted from exposure to light.
“These are the two main cancers in the developed world for which we know the chief exposure. For lung cancer it is cigarette smoke, and for malignant melanoma it is exposure to sunlight,” Professor Campbell said.What can the genetic examination of the genomes of cancer patients be used for?
A.To help the professors to win the Nobel Prizes. |
B.To advance the study of reason and cure of cancer. |
C.To make the medicine industries earn more money. |
D.To help the cancer patients reduce their pain. |
The underlined word in the third paragraph can be placed by_____.
A.smoke | B.sunlight | C.cell | D.poison |
Which of the following statements is right according to the passage?
A.The lung-cancer patient had 30,000 mutations in his lung cells. |
B.The genetics of cancer will finally lead to new drugs soon. |
C.It’s the first time that people mapped mutations in a cancer cell. |
D.Dr. Peter tries to invent a new drug with the DNA system. |
What’s the similarity between malignant melanoma and skin cancer of patients?
A.Their smoking too much in daily life. |
B.Their receiving too much sunshine. |
C.Their refusing to accept treatment. |
D.Their interest in travelling abroad. |
Application (申请) date lStudents in New York should send their applications before July 18, 2011. lStudents of other cities should send their applications before July 16, 2011. lForeign students should send their applications before July 10, 2011. |
CourseslEnglish LanguageSpoken English: 22 hours Reading and Writing: 10 hours lAmerican History: 16 hours lAmerican Culture: 16 hours |
StepslA letter of self-introductionlA letter of recommendation(推荐) ﹡ The letters should be written in English with all the necessary information. |
CostlDaily lessons: $200lSports and activities: $100 lTravels: $200 lHotel service: $400 ﹡You may choose to live with your friends or relatives in the same city. |
Please write to: Thompson, Sanders 1026 King' s Street New York, NY 10016, USA E-mail: KC-Summer-School@ yahoo.com |
You can most probably read the text in ________.
A.a textbook | B.a travel guide |
C.a newspaper | D.a telephone book |
Which of the following is true about King' s College Summer School?
A.Only top students can take part in the program. |
B.Visits to museums and culture centers are part of the program. |
C.King' s College Summer School is run every other year |
D.Only the teachers of King' s College give courses. |
If you are to live with your relatives in New York, you will have to pay the school __
A.$200 | B.$400 | C.$900 | D.$500 |
What information can you get from the text?
A. You can write to Thompson only in English.
B. The program will last two months.
C. As a Chinese student, you can send your application on July 14, 2011.
D. You can get in touch with the school by e-mail or by telephone.
It was midnight in Paris and we were rolling toward Avenue Bosguet. As we came to the Pont Alexandra Ⅲ, the taxi slowed down, for the traffic light was red against us, and then, without stopping, we sailed through the red in a sudden burst of speed. The same performance was repeated at the Alma Bridge. As I paid the driver, I asked him why he had driven through two red lights.
“You ought to be ashamed of yourself, breaking the law and endangering your life that way.” I protested.
He looked at me, astonished, “Ashamed of myself? I am a law abiding(守法的) citizen and have no desire to get killed either.” He cut me off before I could protest.
“No, just listen to me before you complain. What did I do? Went through a red light. Well, did you ever stop to consider what a red light is? What it means?”
“Certainly,”I replied. “It’s a stop signal and means the traffic is rolling in the opposite direction.”
“Half-right,”said the driver, “But incomplete. It’s only an automatic(自动的) stop signal. And it does not mean that there is cross traffic. Did you see any cross traffic during our trip? Of course not. I slowed down at the light, looked carefully to the right and to the left. Not another car on the street at this hour. Well, then! What would you have me do? Should I stop like a stupid animal because an automatic, brainless machine turns red every forty seconds? No, sir,”he shouted, “I am a man, not a machine. I have eyes and a brain and judgment, given me by God. Ashamed of myself, you say? I would only be ashamed of myself if I let those blinking lamps do my thinking for me. Good night,sir.”At the Alma Bridge,__________.
A.the writer stopped the taxi and aid the driver |
B.the taxi went through a red light again |
C.there was a performance the writer had already watched |
D.the writer began to criticize the driver |
To the taxi driver, a red light__________.
A.was not a stop signal |
B.should not work at midnight |
C.sometimes made mistakes in judgment |
D.didn’t always mean that there was cross traffic |
The main reason the driver dared to drive through the red light was that_______
_________.
A.he found there was![]() |
B.he thought it a shame to be controlled by a machine |
C.he knew no other driver would see him at this hour |
D.he didn’t trust any brainless machine |
According to the passage, the driver thought of what he had done was____________.
A.law abiding | B.law breaking |
C.something to be proud of | D.something to be ashamed of |
When Omega was born in Uganda, she did two things: Smile and then sing. When Omega was 4 years old, her talent(天赋) for music was recognized, so she became one of the youngest members of the first African Children’s Choir(合唱团). She traveled the world with the choir, and it was from this experience that she grew into a singer today.
Although having a beautiful voice, she had to find other ways besides music to earn a living at first. When she was 16, her parents sent her to the USA to study. Like her mother, Omega wanted to become a doctor and do something meaningful in her country of Uganda.
However, like many artists, music was so much a part of her that she had to choose. With encouragement from her family and friends, she opened her own production company(制作公司) after graduation. Since then, she has been working as an artist. Her songs make people feel good about life. Apart from that, she is also i
nterested in health care and education. Omega is one of those Ugandan females who are showing the world their valuable talents.
Her experiences in the Choir helped Omega to ____.
A.burst into song | B.recognize her music talent |
C.travel the world | D.become a singer |
What is the meaning of the underlin
ed sentence in paragraph three?
A.music was very important to her |
B.music took her a lot of time |
C.music cost her so much money |
D.music was the last thing she would choose |
We can learn from the passage that Omega is ____.
A.a good teacher | B.a famous African artist |
C.a kind politician | D.a warm-hearted doctor |