Eating too much fatty food, exercising too little and smoking can raise your future risk of heart disease. But there is another factor that can cause your heart problems more immediately: the air you breathe.
Previous studies have linked high exposure (暴露）to environmental pollution to an increased risk of heart problem, but two analyses now show that poor air quality can lead to heart attack or stroke (中风）within as little as a few hours after exposure. In one review of the research, scientists found that people exposed to high levels of pollutants (污染物）were up to 5% more likely to suffer a heart attack within days of exposure than those with lower exposure. A separate study of stroke patients showed that even air that the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers to be of “moderate” (良好）quality and relatively safe for our health can raise the risk of stroke as much as 34% within 12 to 14 hours of exposure.
The authors of both studies stress that these risks are relatively small for healthy people and certainly modest compared with other risk factors such as smoking and high blood pressure. However, it is important to be aware of these dangers because everyone is exposed to air pollution regardless of lifestyle choices. So stricter regulation by the EPA of pollutants may not only improve environmental air quality but could also become necessary to protect public health.The text mainly discusses the relationship between .
| A．heart problems and air quality |
| B．heart problems and exercising |
| C．heart problems and smoking |
| D．heart problems and fatty food |
The underlined word “modest” in Paragraph 3 most probably means .
| A．relatively high | B．extremely low |
| C．relatively low | D．extremely high |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．Eating fatty food has immediate effects on your heart. |
| B．The EPA conducted many studies on air quality. |
| C．Moderate air quality is more harmful than smoking, |
| D．Stricter regulations on pollutants should be made. |
The author’s purpose of writing the text is most likely to .
| A．inform | B．persuade | C．describe | D．entertain |
Thirty years ago not many people would have dreamed of doing the repairs and decorations in their own homes. In those days labor was fairly cheap and most people would have thought it worthwhile to employ a professional painter and decorator, unless of course they were either very hand up or were in the trade themselves.
Today, however, it is quite a different story. Men and women in all walks of life turn their hands to all sorts of jobs round the house including painting, papering, putting up shelves and wall units, and tiling walls and floors. Some people with no professional training of any kind have even successfully built their own houses. These jobs have been made easier today by the introduction of prepared materials, which require the minimum amount of skill to use. In every high street throughout Britain nowadays there is at least one “Do-It-Yourself” shop containing a vast range of timber, tiles, paints, wallpapers and floor coverings besides tools of every description including power drills and many accessories. “Do-It-Yourself” is a booming（繁荣的） business; all these shops do a roaring trade and look like continuing to do so. Probably the main reason for the craze is the high cost of present-day labor and the shortage of building firms willing to do small jobs.Why did people employ professional workers to decorate homes thirty years ago?
| A．Because they could not do it themselves. |
| B．Because professional workers could do much better. |
| C．Because they had no time. |
| D．Because professional workers were very cheap. |
Thirty years later what changes took place?
| A．People could do everything themselves. |
| B．People with no professional training successfully built their own houses. |
| C．Few people chose to be a professional worker. |
| D．New expensive materials required no skills at all. |
What caused the DIY craze?
| A．High cost of professional workers. |
| B．“Do-It-Yourself” is a booming business. |
| C．There were fewer building companies. |
| D．Young people liked to follow the fashion |
What is the speaker telling us ?
| A．Changes in housing.. |
| B．Changes in building. |
| C．How DIY comes into being |
| D．Great changes in these thirty |
After the examination, the doctor told my parents my sight would get worse and that I would lose my sight finally. On the way home from hospital, no one said a word. One day, would I only imagine the scenery beyond the glass rather than see it?
That September, I entered middle school. Most nights I had homework that included an armful of books to read. To keep up with other children, I took great trouble to finish the task. With my nose a couple of inches from the page, I was tired easily. What’s worse, after I had read several pages on my own, the words slipped off the page into inky pools.
However, then I did not have audio books and electronic devices like kids do now. Instead, Mom volunteered to read out loud. Mom worked part-time, cleaned the house, cooked and spent time with Grandma. In spite of being so busy, she showed up in my room like clockwork. She put on her reading glasses. Mom always thought those glasses made her look old. To me, she looked like a teacher.
In my room, Mom’s voice competed with the ticking of the clock. Being forced to focus on listening, I found a way to keep my marks up and compete with the other kids. When the teacher asked a question, I raised my hand with confidence. Teachers praised me for having a good memory. Reading removed my fear for my failing sight, reading also made me curious about other people’s challenges and how they managed. Though I could not use my eyes to fix on each passage, my mind lit up with every new book.
True to what the doctor said, the worst came, but thanks to Mom, my sense of hearing now allows me to “see”. This was the most precious gift from a mother to her child.Why did the author and his parents keep silent on their way back home from hospital?
| A．They all wanted to have a good rest. |
| B．What the doctor said made them worried. |
| C．The author didn’t do well in the exam. |
| D．They focused on the scenery along the road |
How did the author manage to get high marks?
| A．By listening carefully. |
| B．By being confident |
| C．By getting help from his classmates. |
| D．By reading as many books as possible. |
We can learn from the text that.
| A．the author’s sight recovered finally |
| B．reading made the author more sensitive |
| C．the author’s mother didn’t work to look after him |
| D．reading made the author not worry about his sight |
Which of the following could be the title of the text?
| A．My eyesight trouble |
| B．An unforgettable experience |
| C．About Mother’s love |
| D．With ears wide open |
There are many reasons that goals go unfulfilled. For many, goal setting is a never ending circle that starts, stops, and begins again. To help us succeed in reaching our goals, let’s examine the reasons why many people fail at reaching them. Here are 7 Reasons That You Won’t Reach Your Goals:
1. You Don’t Have Any Goals
Too many people are afraid to “set” their goals. Afraid of failing. Afraid of disappointment. Well, you definitely won’t complete them if you don’t try. Make a choice and set your goals. Otherwise you will end up wherever life takes you.
2. You Don’t Start
OK, so you have a goal. What have you done about it? Have you started it yet? What are you waiting for? Procrastination is responsible for the failure of many goals.
3. You Aren’t Willing to “Buy” Your Goals
Yes, you have to buy your goals. Why? Because every goal has a price. It has a cost. Time. Money. Sweat. Sacrifice. You will have to “pay” for your goals in some manner.
4. Your Goals Are Unrealistic.
Make sure that your goals are possible and that you set an adequate time frame for success.
5. You Won’t Stick With It
Over half of goals will be given up within 30 days. You set your goals .You started them. And then...you gave up. Are you using life’s daily happenings as excuses? Goals are not reached through one effort. Rather, they are made in small steps over time.
6. You Will Fail...And You Won’t Get Back Up!
No one succeeds immediately. Those who appear to have effortlessly succeeded have usually put in years of preparation and practice. You have to fall down many times before you will succeed. Skill is learned by doing.
7. You Quit Before The Finish Line
Too many people stop...right before the finish line. It’s almost like they are afraid of succeeding. Often a life event is used as the reason for not finishing. Something always comes up before you finish.
Are you reaching your goals? Which of these is keeping you from succeeding? Set your goals. Stay the course. Always get back up when you fail. And make sure you cross the finish line.What’s the author’s purpose of writing this passage?
| A．To remind people of the importance of setting life goals. |
| B．To convince people of keeping to their life goals. |
| C．To clarify the reasons leading to the failure of achieving goals. |
| D．To persuade people to have big life goals. |
What’s the probable meaning of the underlined word “procrastination” in the second tip?
| A．hesitation | B．delay | C．importance | D．contradiction |
According to the passage, you will not reach you goals, if you _______.
| A．are not willing to spend money seeking helping hands. |
| B．do not take time to make plans for them. |
| C．do not let life take you where it goes. |
| D．are not afraid of succeeding. |
What can be learned from the sixth tip?
| A．He who has hope has everything. |
| B．Two heads are better than one. |
| C．Practice makes perfect. |
| D．Keeping up contributes to success. |
Humans might be the most highly-evolved species on the planet, but most animals possess skills we can only dream of having. Imagine how much electricity we could save if we could see in the dark the way cats do. Imagine leaping from tree to tree like a monkey. Giraffes, which are otherwise calm and good-natured, sleep only 4.6 hours a day.
We realized a long, long time ago that nature provides the best blueprint for invention. We’ve borrowed canals from beavers and reflectors from cat’s eyes. Although the words “bionics”(仿生学) became popular only after the 1960s, history shows that nature has always provided ideas on solving everyday problems. Our archives(档案) don’t go back to the time of Leonardo da Vinci and his bird-like flying machines, but we can take you to the late 19th century, where we applied those same principles for building our first practical airplanes.
To prepare for their flight at Kitty Hawk, the Wright brothers studied the movements of pigeons to figure out how they stayed high up when they were heavier than air. Their success inspired scores of successors to improve on the airplane by studying various aspects of nature. One of Orville Wright’s pupils caught and stuffed seagulls to examine their wingspan. Meanwhile, two French inventors examined spinning sycamore(梧桐) seeds in an effort to apply those same motions, reversed, to a helicopter .
Some examples are more obvious than others. The outside of the airplane designed by the Wright brothers looks like a minimalistic(简单抽象艺术) structure. On the other hand, Barney Connett’s fish submarine actually looks like a fish.
Some bio-inspired concepts have yet to be invented. In the 1960s, the US Army commissioned several university professors to conduct research on the motor skills animals in hope of applying those same abilities to tanks. Tanks that run like horses or jump like grasshoppers(蚂蚱)-sounds shocking, doesn’t it? But imagine how life would change if we could achieve that.“Cats”, “monkeys” and “giraffes” mentioned in paragraph 1 are examples to show______.
| A．they are highly-evolved species as humans |
| B．animals have skills that humans do not possess |
| C．humans can learn animals’ skills |
| D．they are skillful in different ways |
What happened after the Wright brothers’ success?
| A．People carried out a systematic study on pigeons. |
| B．People studied more animals and plants to develop the airplane. |
| C．People could fly their airplane for fun. |
| D．People kept their airplane at a French gallery. |
Which of the following is true about the research carried out by the US Army?
| A．It has cost a large sum of money. |
| B．It has changed our life. |
| C．It has improved the abilities of tanks |
| D．It has not succeeded yet. |
What does the writer want to tell in the passage?
| A．many inventions get ideas from nature. |
| B．Some animals possess unique skills. |
| C．People should protect nature. |
| D．Bionics is far from perfect |
Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are a major cause of climate change, and now a new study has confirmed that atmosphere CO2 is also affecting the ocean chemistry and potentially harming sea life.
Montana State University scientist Robert Dore has been researching the water in the Pacific Ocean for almost two decades. “We’ve been going to the same spot in the Pacific Ocean, and we try and characterize long-term change in the open ocean environment. And one of the key things that we measure is CO2 levels. And we’ve been able to record this increasing quantity of atmosphere CO2 into the ocean.”
Scientists expected that as atmosphere CO2 increased, more and more of the carbon dioxide would be absorbed into the ocean, affecting the chemical balance of the sea water, with a potentially harmful impact on shellfish and coral in particular.
“As carbon dioxide dissolves in the water or seawater in this case, it forms a weak acid, carbonic acid,” Dore explains. “And therefore, as the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere goes up and that exchanges with the surface seawater, it drives the pH down, and makes it more acidic.”
The seawater samples Dore and his colleagues have analyzed confirm what the theory predicts.
The effect was particular striking at about 250 meters down, and again at 500 meters. Dore and his colleagues came up with two possible explanations. It could be that surface water picked up CO2 and then moved to those depths. Or there could be a biological explanation.
“It’s important to realize that the oceans are really becoming acidic. And it can have negative impacts on a whole variety of sea life from fish to coral. It’s potentially catastrophic.”What can be the best title of the passage?
| A．Scientist Researching Seawater |
| B．Sea Life Facing Danger |
| C．Oceans Becoming More Acidic |
| D．Climate Change Affecting Seawater |
With the increase of atmospheric CO2, _______.
| A．more corals will appear in the sea |
| B．the chemical balance of the seawater is affected |
| C．the surface water is becoming warmer |
| D．the pH of the ocean out here has been increasing |
Which of the following shows the process of the impact of atmospheric CO2 on sea life?
a. Sea life is endangered.
b. CO2 goes into the surface water.
c. The ocean chemistry is affected.
d. CO2 decreases the pH and makes the seawater more acidic.
e. CO2 levels in the atmosphere go up.
| A．a→b→c→d→e | B．e→b→c→d→a |
| C．a→e→b→c→d | D．e→d→c→b→a |
Scientist Robert Dore came to the conclusion based on_______.
| A．the expectation of other scientists |
| B．some former theory |
| C．his research and analysis |
| D．a major cause of climate change |