One day while shopping in a small town in southern California, it was my misfortune to be approached by a clerk．He seemed most unfriendly and not at all concerned about my intended purchase．I bought nothing, and marched angrily out of the store．
On the outside was a dark-skinned young man in his early twenties．His expressive brown eyes met and held mine, and in the next instant a beautiful, bright smile covered his face．I gave in immediately．The power of that broad smile dissolved all bitterness within me, and I felt the muscles in my own face happily responding．
“Beautiful day, isn’t it?” I remarked, in passing．Then I turned back． “I really owe you a debt of thanks,” I said softly．
His smile deepened, but he made no attempt to answer．A Mexican woman and two men were standing nearby．The woman stepped forward and volunteered, “Sir, but he doesn't speak English．Do you want me to tell him something?” In that moment I felt transformed．The young man's smile had made a big person of me．My friendliness and good will toward all mankind stand ten feet tall．
“Yes,” my reply was enthusiastic and sincere, “tell him I said, ‘Thank you’!”
“Thank you?” The woman seemed slightly puzzled．
I gave her arm a friendly pat as I turned to leave． “Just tell him that,” I insisted. “He'll understand．I am sure!”.
Oh, what a smile can do! Although I have never seen that young man again, I shall never forget the lesson he taught me that morning．From that day on, I became smile-conscious, and I practice the art diligently anywhere and everywhere, with everybody．Why did the author leave the store angrily?
| A．He couldn't buy what he wanted. |
| B．The clerk treated him unkindly. |
| C．The clerk didn't speak English. |
| D．The store's goods were too dear. |
By saying "I felt the muscles in my own face happily responding"(in Para. 2), the author means _____.
| A．he smiled back at the young man |
| B．he did not want to smile |
| C．he would thank the young man |
| D．he was still in a bad mood |
The author asked the woman to say “Thank you!” to the young man because the young man _____.
| A．had helped the author before |
| B．taught the author how to smile |
| C．taught the author a valuable lesson |
| D．was a kind employee of the store |
In the passage, the author seems to suggest that we should _____.
| A．be generous to strangers |
| B．practice smiling every day |
| C．help people in trouble |
| D．smile at other people |
We don’t plan to cry, but it just happens. In fact when we feel sad or angry, a good cry is almost impossible to resist. But if you didn’t know what crying was, you’d have to wonder why some strong feelings started water streaming from people’s eyes and why they seemed to feel better afterwards.
Now a US researcher had found there may be more in crying than we think. William H. Frey II, author of “Crying: The Mystery of Tears,” believes it may really be one of the body’s clever self-repair mechanisms. Crying may be a way of getting rid of the by-products of stress, he says.
He has found that tears contain some chemicals which can cause stress. One of these is the hormone prolactin (激素), which is set free when one is feeling stressed. Since women have more of this than men, that might explain why they usually cry more, he suggests.
Unsurprisingly, Dr Frey’s study seemed to prove that most people feel better after a good cry. And sex has nothing to do with it ––– the result was true for women and men. So, next time you feel like bursting into tears, go ahead. If Dr Frey is right, you’ll be doing yourself a favour.The best title of this passage would be ________.
| A．Why Do We Cry | B．Crying and Tears. |
| C．Dr Frey and Crying. | D．Tears and Chemicals |
According to the author, we feel like crying because________.
| A．crying is one of our habits |
| B．we can’t control it |
| C．crying is one of the body’s self-repair mechanisms |
| D．we can get the by-products of stress by crying |
According to the passage, men seem less likely to cry than women because_______.
| A．their bodies contain less hormone prolactin |
| B．their tears contain more chemicals |
| C．they are not so full of feelings as women |
| D．the chemicals in their tears can’t cause stress |
The author advised us________.
| A．to plan to cry very often |
| B．not to cry any more |
| C．to go outdoors without hesitation |
| D．to cry as we want to |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Good cries can make most people feel better |
| B．Only women can feel better after crying. |
| C．It is easy to understand that people feel better after a good cry. |
| D．Crying is sometimes impossible to resist. |
Scientists are making new studies of color and its effects on our health. They have known for a long time that the color of a room or the color of the light in it can affect our feelings and emotions. Many prisons and hospitals have at least one room that is painted pink. Officials have found that light and color can produce physical changes in our bodies.
Professor Falfan worked with a group of 9 disabled children at school in Albert. Two of the children were blind. The other seven had normal sight. The scientists changed the color of the school room, then looked for changes in blood pressure, heart beat and breathing rate. The effects of color changes were the same for the blind children as for those with normal sight. Their blood pressure dropped from about 120 to 100. Similar changes were reported in heart-beat and the breathing. The children also were calmer and less excited. Then the colors of the room were returned to orange and white. Blood pressure, heart-beat and breathing rate went up and the children became excited again.
Professor Falfan said different colors produce different levels of light energy. He said the differences seem to affect chemicals in the brain that carry messages from nerve to nerve and from nerve to muscle.Light and color can affect________.
| A．only one’s feelings and emotions |
| B．one’s energy |
| C．one’s mental changes |
| D．one’s heart-beat, brain activities, blood pressure, feelings and emotions |
The color of pink had a calming effect, that is to say, the color affects __________.
| A．the chemicals in the brain | B．the eyes |
| C．the skin | D．the muscle |
According to the text, orange and white are colors which can make people ________.
| A．calm | B．active | C．sick | D．blind |
The colors in the school room mentioned in the passage were changed from _________.
| A．orange to white | B．orange and white to dark blue |
| C．orange and white to pink or some other colors | D．gray to more colors |
After reading the passage we can conclude that ________.
| A．blind people can be affected by colors, too |
| B．one’s heart will beat fast in a colorful room than in a white room |
| C．the chemicals in the brain change with feelings and emotions |
| D．if one’s blood pressure drops, his breathing will get slower and slower |
When children learn a language, they learn the grammar as well as words or vocabulary. No one teaches them; children just “pick them up”.
Before babies begin to produce words, they produce sounds. Some of these sounds will remain if they occur in the language being learned, and others will disappear. This is called the “babbling stage”.
A child does not learn the language “all at once”. The child first speaks only one-word “sentences”. After a few months, the two-word stage arises. During this stage, the child puts two words together. These two-word sentences have definite patterns and express grammatical and meaningful relationships. Still later, in the telegraphic stage, the child will produce longer sentences. These longer sentences are mainly made up of content words. The child’s early grammar lacks many of the rules of the adult grammar, but gradually it will become perfect.
All normal children everywhere learn language. This ability is not dependent on race, social class, geography, or even intelligence (智力). This ability is uniquely (独特的) for human.This passage is mainly about ___________.
| A．differences between a child’s language and an adult’s |
| B．ways of teaching babies to talk |
| C．children’s learning of the mother language |
| D．the importance of learning foreign languages |
The phrase “pick them up” means____________.
| A．raise them from the ground |
| B．learn them without much effort |
| C．use hands to help carry them |
| D．study very hard and remember them |
During the “babbling stage”, babies ___________.
| A．can only produce sound |
| B．learn to work without falling over |
| C．can understand people’s talk |
| D．begin to produce two-word sentences |
The two-word sentences produced by babies __________.
| A．are simpler than those produced in the “babbling stage” |
| B．are much more difficult than those produced in the telegraphic stage |
| C．are strictly grammatical |
| D．are meaningful and have function |
The passage implies that any children can learn a language as long as he is ___________.
| A．well-educated | B．clever enough |
| C．unique | D．physical normal |
One day a few years ago a very funny thing happened to a neighbour of mine. He is a teacher at one of London’s big medical schools. He had finished his teaching for the summer term and was at the airport on his way to Russia to give a lecture.
He had put a few clothes and his lecture notes in his shoulder bag, but he had put Rupert, the skeleton (人体骨架) to be used in his lecture, in a large brown suitcase. At the airport desk, he suddenly thought that he had forgotten to buy a newspaper. He left his suitcase near the desk and went over to the shop.
When he got back he discovered that someone had taken his suitcase by mistake. He often wonders what they said when they got home and found Rupert.Who wrote the story?
| A．Rupert’s teacher. | B．The neighbour’s teacher. |
| C．A medical school teacher. | D．The teacher’s neighbour. |
Why did the teacher put a skeleton in his suitcase?
| A．He needed it for the summer term in London. |
| B．He needed it for the lecture he was going to give. |
| C．He wanted to take it to Russia for medical research. |
| D．He wanted to take it home as he had finished his teaching. |
What happened at the airport?
| A．The skeleton went missing. |
| B．The skeleton was stolen. |
| C．The teacher forgot his suitcase. |
| D．The teacher took the wrong suitcase. |
Which of the following best tells the teacher’s feeling about the incident?
| A．He is very angry. | B．He thinks it rather funny. |
| C．He feels helpless without Rupert. | D．He feels good without Rupert. |
Which of the following might have happened afterwards?
| A．The teacher got back the suitcase but not Rupert. |
| B．The teacher got back neither the suitcase nor Rupert. |
| C．The teacher got back Rupert but not the suitcase. |
| D．The teacher got back both the suitcase and Rupert. |
If music makes you smarter and exercise helps you to think, surely exercising to music can turn you into an intelligent person.
A team of scientists from Ohio State University did experiments on 33 volunteers who were getting better from heart disease following operation. They found that people who exercised while listening to Italian musician Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” did much better on language ability tests than without music.
“Facts suggest that exercise improves the learning ability of people with heart disease,” said the psychologist Charles Emery, who led the study. “And listening to music is thought to enhance understanding. We just wanted to put the two results together,” he added.
The volunteers said they felt better emotionally and physically after working out with or without the music. But their improvement on the test doubled after listening to music during exercise. Scientists have proved that music can be good for health, education and well-being. It helps reduce stress, sadness and nervousness; encourages relaxation or sleep; wakes up the body and improves memory and thoughts.
In medical fields, music is used widely for patients who have had head hurts before and after operation. “The Four Seasons” was used because of its moderate tempo（舒缓的节拍）and positive results in earlier research. “Exercise seems to cause positive changes in the nervous system(神经系统) and these changes may have a direct result on learning ability,” Emery said.
Scientists have been studying the results of music on understanding since the early 1950s. By 2000, psychologists were using Mozart’s music, especially his violin pieces, to help children with speech disorders. Mozart was chosen because his music is not overexciting and has clear structures. A study showed students who listened to Mozart went on to score higher marks in an intelligence test. With important exams drawing near, your parents will not probably allow you to listen to music. But perhaps now you have good reasons to argue with them.
| A．impress | B．improve | C．provide | D．produce |
| A．music and exercise lead to relaxation or sleep |
| B．33 volunteers work on music in medical fields |
| C．exercising to music makes people healthy and bright |
| D．scientists give suggestions on choosing music to exercise to |
| A．you are supposed to follow your parents’ words |
| B．students should not listen to music before exams |
| C．you have some good reasons to exercise to music |
| D．music might help you to get higher grades in tests |
| A．Exercise seems to cause negative changes without music. |
| B．Exercise reminds people with head hurts of what they’ve learned. |
| C．Scientists often use Mozart’s music, for it is not too exciting. |
| D．“The Four Seasons” is used to help children with speech disorders. |