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 |
You may have seen a lot of frogs, but if you haven't, you must have heard about frogs. However, have you heard about a frog that can kill a person?
These smallbrightly colored amphibians (两栖动物)live in the tropical rain forests of Central and South America. They are best known for their ability to kill persons even though they are no more than 2 inches long. If we touch their poisonous skin without proper protection (such as gloves), we may die! For animals of this size that can be so deadly, they are certainly one of the world's most poisonous animals! Who are they? They are poison arrow frogs or, simply, poison frogs.
Poison frogs acquired their name from the Indians. The Indians catch and kill many of these frogs before hanging them upside down over a campfire. As the frogs get hot, the poison drips out of their skin. The Indians collect the poisonous liquid in a bottle and dip(蘸) the tips of their arrows into the bottle. Once the tips are dried, they are ready to be used for their arrows for hunting.
There are about 170 different types of poison arrow frogs in the world. Though most species have bright markings, either in stripes or patches, on their black bodies, some just wear noticeable single-colored coats. Their shocking skin colors-usually in yellow, red, green, blue or orange-serve as a warning sign to other animals. The sign simply says,” Stay away or pay with your life!” Theycertainly do not bluff.We can infer that the Indians may kill poison frogs in order to______.
| A．treat diseases | B．avoid being bitten |
| C．hunt animals | D．eat their meat |
According to the passage, poison frogs______.
A can grow to several meters long
B. like to change colors on the back
C. have bright-colored skin or markings
D. are on the edge of dying outWhich of the following best explains the last sentence of the passage?
| A．Poison frogs don't want to kill others. |
| B．Poison frogs do not just scare others. |
| C．Poison frogs want to stop others from coming near. |
| D．Poison frogs just pretend to be dangerous animals. |
Like lots of small-business owners, Lola Gonzalez had to decide to cut down her company’s nine-person staff (员工) when the economic recovery began to fail last spring. Unlike other companies, she picked an unlikely employee to lay off (解雇): herself.
Her business began to have problems in 2008 after going through her books (账簿)
One day, her husband, Marcos, told her she had to reduce her payroll（薪金总额）by one person. Gonzalez said at a meeting, “I want you all to know that I have to lay somebody off and it’s been a very difficult decision. And that person is me.” Employees first froze in amazement and then burst into laughter until they realized she was serious. Gonzalez ’s employees said they were grateful for her kindness.
Her reason was simple. Although she ran the business and her employees did the legwork (跑腿), she thought she could find work more easily than her staff. Sure enough, she soon got a job as a social worker for a non-profit organization called Devereux Kids. She enjoys her social-worker job now, but the salary (薪水) cut has required some lifestyle changes. She and Marcos no longer eat out daily; they no longer pay for their son’s car and mobile phone, and they changed their car to a smaller one to save $300 a month.
Her business has picked up a bit recently and Marcos has begun to work part-time at Gonzalez’s company. Gonzalez says she has no plan to return to work at her company until the economic situation becomes better, perhaps in a year. Her employees, however, will get Christmas bonuses (奖金) this year.How many workers are there in Gonzalez’s company at present?
| A．8. | B．9. | C．10. | D．11. |
How did her employees feel at first when they heard Gonzalez’s decision?
| A．Happy. | B．Grateful. |
| C．Surprised. | D．Unbelievable. |
After leaving her company, _____________.
| A．Gonzalez sold her car and went to work by bus |
| B．Gonzalez always had meals in a restaurant |
| C．Gonzalez’s son helped her a lot |
| D．Gonzalez changed her lifestyle a lot |
From the text, we can learn that ___________.
| A．Gonzalez will not return to her company in future |
| B．Gonzalez’s business has improved a little lately |
| C．Gonzalez got her social-worker job with great difficulty |
| D．Marcos lost his job and had to work at Gonzalez’s company |
Ireland has had a very difficult history. The problems started in the 16th century when English ruler tried to conquer Ireland. For hundreds of years, the Irish people fought against the English, Finally, in 1921, the British government was forced to give independence to the south of Ireland. The result is that today there are two "Irelands". Northern Ireland, in the north, is part of the United Kingdom. The Republic of Ireland, in the south, is an independent country.
In the 1840s the main crop, potatoes, was affected by disease and about 750,000 people died of hunger. This, and a shortage (短缺) of work, forced many people to leave Ireland and live in the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada. As a result of these problems, the population fell from 8.2 million in 1841 to 6.6 million in 1851.
For many years, the majority of Irish people earned their living as farmers. Today, many people will work on the land but more and more people are moving to the cities to work in factories and offices. Life in the cities is very different from life in the countryside, where things move at a quieter and slower pace.
The Irish are famous for being warm-hearted and friendly. Oscar Wilde, a famous Irish writer, once said that the Irish were "the greatest talkers since the Creeks". Since independence, Ireland has revived (复兴) its own culture of music, language, literature and singing. Different areas have different styles of old Irish songs which are sung without instruments. Other kinds of Irish music use many different instruments such as the violin, whistles, etc. What does the author tell us in paragraph 1?
| A．How the Irish fought against the English. |
| B．How Ireland gained independence. |
| C．How English rulers tried to conquer Ireland. |
| D．How two “Irelands” came into being. |
We learn from the text that in Ireland________.
| A．food shortages in the 1840s led to a decline in population |
| B．people are moving to the cities for lack of work in the countryside |
| C．it is harder to make a living as a farmer than as a factory worker |
| D．different kinds of old Irish songs are all sung with instruments |
The last paragraph is mainly about________.
| A．the Irish character |
| B．Irish culture |
| C．Irish musical instruments |
| D．a famous Irish writer |
What can be the best title for the text?
| A．Life in Ireland | B．A very difficult history |
| C．Ireland, past and present | D．the independence of Ireland |
My wife and I used to feel that it was impossible to be a true friend to someone whose name we didn’t know. How wrong we were! Years of Sunday-morning bus trips through the city with the same group of “nameless” people have changed our thinking. Before the bus takes off, we all join in a conversation: where’s the silent woman who sits up front and never responds to our cheery greetings? Here she comes. Her worn clothing suggests she doesn’t have much money to spare, but she always takes an extra cup of coffee for the driver.
We get smiles from a Mexican couple as they get on the bus hand in hand. When they get off, they’re still holding hands. The woman was pregnant late last year, and one day her change of shape confirmed that she’d delivered the child. We even felt a little pride at the thought of our extended family.
For many months, our only sadness lay in our inability to establish the same friendship with the silent woman at the front of the bus. Then, one evening, we went to a fish restaurant. We were shown to a table alongside someone sitting alone. It was the woman from the bus.
We greeted her with friendly familiarity we’d shown all year, but this time her face softened, then a shy smile. When she spoke, the words escaped awkwardly from her lips. All at once we realized why she hadn’t spoken to us before. Talking was hard for her.
Over dinner, we learned the stay of a single mother with a disabled son who was receiving special care away from home. She missed him desperately, she explained. “I love him… and he loves me, even though he doesn’t express it very well,” she murmured. “Lots of us have that problem, don’t we? We don’t say what we want to say, what we should be saying. And that’s not good enough.” The candles flared on our tables. Our fish had never tasted better. But the atmosphere grew pleasant, and when we parted as friends—we shared names.All the following statements can describe the woman except ______.
| A．poor | B．warm –hearted |
| C．silent | D．cold |
The underlined word “establish” in the 3th paragraph has the same meaning as_________.
| A．keep | B．discover |
| C．set up | D．accept |
The woman had the same problem with her son in the way that ______.
| A．they both disabled people |
| B．they both had some difficulty in expressing |
| C．they both liked bus travel |
| D．they both brought interest to the passengers |
Which of the following might be the best title of this passage?
| A．Friends of the Road | B．The Silent Woman on the Bus |
| C．Going to Work by Bus | D．Different Kinds of Friendship |
Squirrels often communicate with whistles, chirps and chucks, which sound like the word “chuck”. Whistles and chirps are like the sounds that many birds make. Now scientists have translated some of their squirrel-speak.
Hare, a professor of zoology at the University of Maniloha in Winnipeg, and his team managed to record squirrels' alarm calls. The researchers studied the sounds and then played them back to 60 wild squirrels, which the scientists approached individually with a video recorder to capture(抓拍）their responses. Some squirrels lifted their heads up and became alert(警惕的）. Creatures that were more frightened simply ran for their lives and dived into caves.
"In effect then, whistles that mix with chucks say 'there's an enemy of average threat that's here', and whistles without chucks say 'there's an enemy of seemingly average threat around here somewhere', while pure chirps say, 'I'm hiding here because there's an immediate danger. ' " Hare told. Discovery News.
Hare and some other researchers believe such sounds are part of an advanced language that develops just as all other communication systems.
Although squirrels risk their lives when they call out to warn others of threats, other squirrels might admire this behavior, thus increasing the caller’s social status, like humans who look up to heroes. Hare added that other animals, such as birds, probably understand at least some squirrel language, since they also may benefit from the alarm calls.
In fact, another Canadian study found that deep-voiced, black-capped chickadees have their own language too. According to certain research, there are a lot of tidings in chickadees' calls, such as directing fellows' activities, keeping in contact between mates, and raising alarms.
While chickadees and other birds are often welcomed into gardens by homeowners, squirrels are frequently viewed as pests(害兽）. Hare wishes a greater understanding of the complex social lives and communication systems of squirrels will provide “hope that humans will gain a greater appreciation and stop doing harm to these animals”.The text mainly talks about _______ .
| A．the ways for squirrels to escape from their enemies |
| B．the comparison between squirrels and chickadees |
| C．the calling for the protection of squirrels |
| D．the study on the language of squirrels |
If a squirrel is in a very dangerous situation, it would probably make ____.
| A．whistles with chucks | B．pure chirps |
| C．whistles without chucks | D．repeated chucks |
The underlined word “tidings” in paragraph 6 probably means ____.
| A．difficulties | B．noises |
| C．messages | D．languages |
What can be learned from this text?
| A．Squirrels communicate with each other as humans do. |
| B．Some squirrels understand the recorded alarm calls. |
| C．Other animals also well understand the language of squirrels. |
| D．Birds such as chickadees don’t have their own language. |