“If you talk to the plants, they will grow faster and the effect is even better if you’re a woman.” Researchers at Royal Horticultural Society carried out an experiment to find that the voice of a woman gardener makes plants grow faster.
The experiment lasted a month and by the end of the study scientists managed to discover that tomato plants grew up two inches taller when women gardeners talked to them instead of male.
Sarah Darwin was the one making the plants the best growth. Her voice was the most “inspiring” for plants than those of nine other gardeners when reading a passage from The Origin of Species. The great-great-granddaughter of the famous botanist （植物学家）Charles Darwin found that her plant grew about two inches taller than the plant of the best male gardener.
Colin Crosbie, Garden Superintendent at RHS, said that the finding cannot yet be explained.He says that women have a greater range of pitch and tone（音高和音色）which might have a certain effect on the sound waves that reach the plant. “Sound waves are an environmental effect just like rain or light ,”said Mr Grosbie.
The study began in April at RHS Garden Wisley in Survey. Scientists started with open auditions(听力) for the people who were asked to record passages from John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer's Night Dream and Darwin's The Origin of Species.
Afterwards researchers selected a number of different voices and played them to 10 tomato plants during a period of a month. Each plant had headphones connected to it. Through the headphones the sound waves could hit the plants. It was discovered that plants that “listened” to female voices grew taller by an inch in comparison to plants that heard male voices.What does the passage talk about?
| A．Plants enjoy men’s voices than women’s. |
| B．A science experiment in a museum. |
| C．Voice’s influence on plant growing. |
| D．Strange findings at Royal Horticultural Society. |
What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 4 mean?
| A．Plants need sound as well as rain and light. |
| B．Sound is basic for the plant to grow. |
| C．Sound has a good effect as rain or light does. |
| D．Plants can’t live without sound, rain or light. |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．The experiment ended in May. |
| B．Scientist can explain the findings clearly. |
| C．Plants enjoy listening to the passages from famous works. |
| D．The findings are of great importance to human beings. |
(B)
Lights Out at Bedtime
There are plenty of good reasons to power up a personal desktop or laptop computer in the evening — writing e-mails，chatting on social networks or making purchases over the Internet，for instance．But various studies indicate that people who stare at a PC’s bright monitor shortly before going to bed probably sleep less soundly than they would otherwise because the light seriously affects their natural wake-sleep cycle．"They haven't proved it though，" says Dieter Kunz，the team's director at Charite's Psychiatric Clinic in St．Hedwig's Hospital in Berlin．
Similarly，exposure to just 10 minutes of normal bathroom lighting is enough to free the sleep hormone melatonin，which regulates people's natural wake-sleep cycle and makes them sleepy at nightfall．
Ten years ago，a team of British and American researchers detected a photo-pigment（光敏色素） in the human eye that signals to the body whether it is day or night，summer or winter．The photo-pigment is especially sensitive to blue light．
"The blue light more or less tells the body，'It's daytime，be awake，'" Kunz says．Monitors have a mostly cold white light content and scientists suspect the photo-pigment may react similarly to it．So the longer people look into the bright light，the more awake they become - and then sleep poorly．
A lot of people have difficulty "switching off" in the evening．About half of the women in Germany and a quarter of the men sleep poorly．
Environmental factors are only one of the possible causes．Job stress as well as personal and health concerns are also the main reasons for their sleep problems．
In addition，electronic objects' standby lights and indicator lamps can be annoying in the dark and affect sleep．"Sound scientific evidence is still lacking on this matter，" Kunz notes．
According to Kunz，those who cannot go without their computer in the evening should turn down the blue content if possible and lower the brightness somewhat．"But nobody does that because，after all，you want to concentrate while working at the computer and the light helps the brain．"The passage is mainly about ____________．
| A．natural wake-up cycles |
| B．the effect of light on sleep |
| C．personal and health concerns |
| D．functions of computer monitors |
The underlined word “which” in Paragraph 2 refers to_____．
| A．normal bathroom lighting |
| B．10-minute exposure to lighting |
| C．the release process of a chemical |
| D．a chemical affecting one’s sleep cycle |
We can learn from the passage that ______．
| A．the blue light has a calming effect． |
| B．the photo-pigment tells people day or night |
| C．women in Germany use computers more often than men |
| D．it has been proved that standby lights affect people’s sleep |
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
(A)
I had to knock on the taxi to get his attention．Finally，the driver，a man about 60，looked up from behind the wheel and apologized，“I’m sorry，but I was reading a letter．” He sounded as if he had a cold or a cough．
Since I was in no hurry，I told him to finish his letter．He shook his head，explaining that he had already read it several times and almost knew it by heart．Curious，I asked whether it was from a child or maybe a grandchild．“This isn’t family，”he replied．“though he might just as well have been a regular member of the family．Old Ed and I grew up together．”
They were always friends．But since he moved away from the neighborhood 30 years ago，it’d generally just been postcards at Christmas time between them．A couple of weeks ago，Ed died．“I should have kept in touch．” He repeated this，more to himself than to me．To comfort him，I said sometimes we just didn’t seem to find the time．“But we used to find the time，” he said．“Take a look．” He handed the letter over to me．
The first sentence “I’ve been meaning to write for some time，but I’ve always delayed it．” reminded me of myself．It went on to say that he often thought about the good times they had had together．When I read the part where it said “Your friendship really means a lot to me，more than I can say because I’m not good at saying things like that”，I found myself nodding in agreement．
We had gone several kilometers and were almost at my hotel, so I read the last paragraph: “So I thought you’d like to know that I was thinking of you.” And it was ended with “Your Old Friend, Tom.”
“I thought your friend’s name was Ed,” I said.
“I’m Tom,” he explained. “It’s a letter I wrote to Ed before I knew he’d died. I never put it in the mailbox. I guess I should have written it sooner.” His face was pale as he wiped his eyes with a handkerchief.
When I got to my hotel room I didn’t unpack right away．I had to write a letter and post it．Who wrote the letter？
| A．Tom |
| B．Old Ed． |
| C．The author． |
| D．The driver’s grandchild． |
It can be inferred from the passage that the driver regretted_____．
| A．missing Ed’s funeral |
| B．moving away from his neighborhood |
| C．forgetting to send Ed Christmas cards |
| D．not being able to keep in touch with Ed |
From Paragraph 4，we learn that the author _______．
| A．often fails to write to his friends |
| B．has no intention to write to his friends |
| C．had many great moments with his friends |
| D．was good at expressing his feelings to friends |
What message does the passage probably try to convey？
| A．Comfort your friends when they are feeling down． |
| B．Life is unpredictable so live each day as if it were your last． |
| C．Remember to always mail your letters after expressing your words． |
| D．Always make time to value and experience your lasting friendships． |
On a stormy day last August, Tim heard some shouting．Looking out to the sea carefully, he saw a couple of kids in a rowboat were being pulled out to sea.
Two 12-year-old boys, Christian and Jack, rowed out a boat to search a football．Once they’d rowed beyond the calm waters, a beach umbrella tied to the boat caught the wind and pulled the boat into open water．The pair panicked and tried to row back to shore．But they were no match for it and the boat was out of control.
Tim knew it would soon be swallowed by the waves.
“Everything went quiet in my head,” Tim recalls（回忆）．“I’m trying to figure out how to swim to the boys in a straight line.”
Tim took off his clothes and jumped into the water．Every 500 yards or so, he raised his head to judge his progress．“At one point, I considered turning back,” he says．“I wondered if I was putting my life at risk.” After 30 minutes of struggling, he was close enough to yell to the boys, “Take down the umbrella! Let’s aim for the pier（码头）,” Jack said．Tim turned the boat toward it．Soon afterward, waves crashed over the boat, and it began to sink．“Can you guys swim?” he cried．“A little bit,” the boys said.
Once they were in the water, Tim decided it would be safer and faster for him to pull the boys toward the pier．Christian and Jack were wearing life jackets and floated on their backs．Tim swam toward land as water washed over the boys’ faces.
“Are we almost there?” they asked again and again．“Yes,” Tim told them each time.
After 30 minutes, they reached the pier.Why was the boat far into open water?
A．The boys rowed too fast．
B．The big current carried it.
C．The wind blew it．
C．The boys tried to get attention..Why did the two boys go to the sea?
| A．To go boat rowing |
| B．To get back their football. |
| C．To swim in the open water |
| D．To test the umbrella as a sail. |
What does “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to?
| A．The beach |
| B．The water |
| C．The boat |
| D．The wind |
Why did Tim raise his head regularly?
| A．To take in enough fresh air |
| B．To consider turning back or not. |
| C．To check his distance from the boys． |
| D．To ask the boys to take down the umbrella. |
How can the two boys finally reach the pier?
| A．They were dragged to the pier by Tim. |
| B．They swam to the pier all by themselves. |
| C．They were washed to the pier by the waves. |
| D．They were carried to the pier by Tim on his back. |
A schoolgirl saved her father's life by kicking him in the chest after he suffered a serious allergic (过敏的) reaction which stopped his heart.
Izzy, nine, restarted father Colm's heart by stamping (踩) on his chest after he fell down at home and stopped breathing.
Izzy's mother, Debbie, immediately called 999 but Izzy knew doctors would never arrive in time to save her father, so decided to use CPR.
However, she quickly discovered her arms weren't strong enough, so she stamped on her father's chest instead.
Debbie then took over with some more conventional chest compressions (按压) until the ambulance arrived.
Izzy, who has been given a bravery award by her school, said: "I just kicked him really hard．My mum taught me CPR but I knew I wasn't strong enough to use hands．I was quite scared．The doctor said I might as well be a doctor or a nurse．My mum said that Dad was going to hospital with a big footprint on his chest.”
"She's a little star," said Debbie, "I was really upset but Izzy just took over．I just can't believe what she did．I really think all children should be taught first aid．Izzy did CPR then the doctor turned up．Colm had to have more treatment on the way to the hospital and we've got to see an expert."
Truck driver Colm, 35, suffered a mystery allergic reaction on Saturday and was taken to hospital, but was sent home only for it to happen again the next day．The second attack was so serious that his airway swelled, preventing him from breathing, his blood pressure dropped suddenly, and his heart stopped for a moment.
He has now made a full recovery from his suffering.From the passage, which of the sentences about Debbie is true?
| A．She thought it useless to teach children first aid. |
| B．She thought if her daughter became a doctor, she would kick him harder. |
| C．She did nothing to help her husband. |
| D．She was proud of her daughter. |
Izzy kicked her father in the chest ______ .
| A．to express her helplessness |
| B．to practise CPR on him |
| C．to keep him awake |
| D．to restart his heart |
What's the right order of the events?
| ①Izzy kicked Colm. ②Debbie called 999. ③Izzy learned CPR. ④Colm's heart stopped. |
A．3124
B．4231
C．3421
D．4312What does Paragraph 8 mainly talk about?
| A．What Colm suffered． |
| B．Colm's present condition. |
| C．What caused Colm's allergy． |
| D．Symptoms of Colm's allergic reaction. |
Why does the author write the news?
| A．To describe a serious accident． |
| B．To prove the importance of CPR. |
| C．To report a 9-year-old girl's brave act． |
| D．To call people's attention to allergic reaction. |
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Do you want to get home from work knowing you have made a real difference in someone's life? If yes, don't care about sex or age! Come and join us, then you'll make it!
Position: Volunteer Social Care Assistant
(No Pay with Free Meals)
Place: Manchester
Hours: Part Time
We are now looking for volunteers to support people with learning disabilities to live active lives! Only 4 days left．Don't miss the chance of lending your warm hands to help others!
Role:
You will provide people with learning disabilities with all aspects of their daily lives．You will help them to develop new skills．You will help them to protect their rights and their safety．But your primary concern is to let them know they are valued.
Skills and Experience Required:
You will have the right values and great listening skills．You will be honest and patient．You will have the ability to drive a car and to communicate in fluent written and spoken English since you'll have to help those people with different learning disabilities．Previous care-related experience will be a great advantage for you.The text is meant to ______ .
| A．leave a note |
| B．send an invitation |
| C．present a document |
| D．carry an advertisement |
What does the underlined part mean?
| A．You'll make others' lives more meaningful with this job. |
| B．You'll arrive home just in time from this job. |
| C．You'll earn a good salary from this job. |
| D．You'll succeed in getting this job. |
The volunteers’ primary responsibility is to help people with learning disabilities ______ .
| A．to get some financial support |
| B．to properly protect themselves |
| C．to learn some new living skills |
| D．to realize their own importance |
Which of the following can first be chosen as a volunteer?
| A．The one who can drive a car. |
| B．The one who has done similar work before. |
| C．The one who has patience to listen to others. |
| D．The one who can use English to communicate. |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the text?
| A．A girl can’t apply for the position． |
| B．You can get salaries from the position. |
| C．Free meals are available． |
| D．You can get the position in 5 days. |