Retirement Age
Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely．The " standard" retirement age varies from country to country, but it is generally between 50 and 70, according to the latest statistics, 2011．However, for a long time, people have got into an argument about whether the age of retirement should be increased or reduced in their own countries．
There are several arguments for allowing older people to continue working as long as they are able．Many people think that older employees have a large amount of knowledge and experience which can be lost to a business or organization if they are made to retire．Besides, older employees are often extremely faithful employees to and are more willing to implement company policies than the young．A more important point is regarding the attitudes in society to old people．To force someone to resign or retire at 60 or 65 indicates that the society does not value the input of these people and that effectively their useful life is over．
Allowing old people to work indefinitely （无限地）, however, is not always a good policy．Some people took the strong view that age alone is no guarantee of ability．Many young employees have more experience or skills than older staff, who may have been stuck in one area for most of their working lives．Having compulsory retirement allows new ideas in an organization．On the other hand, older people should be rewarded by society for their life' s labor by being given generous pensions and the freedom to enjoy leisure．They can have time to do whatever they like, that is, they can have their own plans or roles and achieve their retirement goals．
With many young people unemployed or frustrated in low-level positions, there are often calls to compulsorily retire older workers．However, this can affect the older individual' s freedom—and right—to work．In my opinion, giving workers more choices over their retirement age will benefit society and the individual．According to the passage, older people should go on with work because ____.
| A．they will help the business not to fail quickly |
| B．they have grasped much practical experience |
| C．they need to have a sense of achievement |
| D．they want to learn more knowledge |
The underlined word "implement" in Paragraph 2 probably means "______".
| A．take over | B．work on | C．get rid of | D．carry out |
The third paragraph is mainly to tell us that ______．
| A．older people can' t do their work well |
| B．young people usually have new ideas |
| C．it is better for older people to retire on time |
| D．older people would like to do something else |
Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?
When scientists set out to explore the roots of human laughter, some apes（类人猿） were just tickled（胳肢）to help. That’s how researchers made a variety of apes and some human babies laugh. After analyzing the sounds, they concluded that people and great apes inherited laughter from a shared ancestor that lived more than 10 million years ago. Experts praised the work, it gives strong evidence that ape laughter and human laughter are related through evolution（进化）.
Scientists have noted that apes make characteristic sounds during play or while being tickled, especially to signal that they’re interested in playing. It’s been suggested before that human laughter grew out of primate（灵长类动物） roots. But ape laughter doesn’t sound like human laughter. It may be slower noisy breathing. So what does that have to do with the human ha-ha? To investigate that, Marina Davila Ross and her colleagues carried out a detailed analysis of the sounds made by tickling three human babies and 21 other primates, apes included.
After measuring 11 features in the sound from each species, they tried to find out how these sounds appeared to be related to each other. The result looked like a family tree. Significantly, that tree matched the way the species themselves are related, the scientists reported online in the journal Current Biology. They also concluded that while human laughter sounds much different from ape laughter, their typical features could have come from the same ancestor.
Panksepp, who studies laughter-like responses in animals but didn’t participate in the new work, called the paper exciting. Panksepp’s own work concludes that even rats produce laughter in response to playing and tickling, with sounds that can hardly be heard by people. Robert Provine, a scientist, who wrote the book, Laughter: A Scientific Investigation, said the new paper showed some important clues, like ape sounds that hadn’t been realized before.
69. Why did the scientists analyze the laughter made by tickling human babies and apes?
A. To try to discover if they can make characteristic sounds.
B. To see if they interested in playing.
C. To find out if the laughter of apes and humans is related.
D. To find out the differences between humans and apes.
70. Based on Paragraph 3 we can know that researchers measured the features in the sound to ________.
A. find out ape sounds that hadn’t been realized before
B. find out relations among primates’ laughter
C. see what a family tree from each species looks like
D. make a report online in the journal Current Biology
71. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?
A. Panksepp spoke highly of the new research.
B. Rat laughter is likely to be related to ape laughter.
C. Robert Provine provided some new clues for the researchers.
D. Humans don’t enjoy listening to ape laughter.
72. What would be the best title for the passage?
A. Ape study explores evolution of laughter.
B. Apes like to laugh when being tickled.
C. Human laughter and ape laughter are different.
D. Laughter: A Scientific Investigation.
Ayesha and Latisha Jones need to take a break in their own homework to help their dad, because at the age of 52, John Jones is just now learning to read.
“I was so uncomfortable and so ashamed,” he said. For many years, unable to read a menu or a bus schedule, Jones was just one of the estimated 65,000 adults in Buffalo, New York who cannot read above a 5th-grade level.
And a new study shows the problem is getting worse in many states. California, New York and Florida have all shown surprising increases in illiteracy（文盲）rates. The situation has improved in a few states, like Mississippi, Rhode Island and Kentucky. But worldwide, the United States doesn’t perform well.
Fourteen countries rank higher in reading ability than the United States, including Finland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, South Korea, UK, Japan, Sweden, Iceland, Belgium, Austria, France and Norway.
Back in Buffalo, a program called Read to Succeed targets the problem early, teaching preschoolers shapes, colors and letters.
“We have a lot of poverty and that means a lot of children don’t have the skills, but they have the potential（潜质）,” said Helene Kramer of Read to Succeed. The theory is : you’re never too young or too old to learn.
Working with Buffalo’s literacy volunteers has given Jones a fresh start. “They gave me a chance to open a door that I could never open before,” he said. “I could never open it before, because I couldn’t read.” It’s not easy, but Jones says seeing his daughters read inspires him to try.
64. In America, which of the following states has seen an improvement in the situation of illiteracy?
A. New York. B. Mississippi. C. Florida. D. California
65. Helene Kramer would probably think that _______.
A. kids should not learn to read too early
B. old people aren’t able to learn to read
C .poverty contributes to poor reading ability
D. most poor kids have difficulty reading
66. What can we know about John Jones?
A. He is very tired of learning to read.
B. He is thankful for the chance to learn to read.
C. It is easy for him to learn to read.
D. His children don’t like to help him.
67. It can be inferred from the passage that _______.
A. Canadians perform better in reading than Americans
B. American children’s ability to solve problems is quite bad
C. the illiteracy rates in New York have dropped
D. Norway ranks the lowest in reading ability
68. What might be the best title for the passage?
A. America ranks higher in reading ability.
B. volunteers help a man live a new life.
C. Reading offers more chances to children.
D. Find inspiration to fight illiteracy.
A nine-year-old girl named Arwa lives with her parents and six brothers and sisters in an old, two-roomed house. She knows nothing of wealth and power but, in her own way, she has helped make history.
Arwa was the youngest of three Yemeni girls who recently went to court complaining they were married against their will and asking for a divorce（离婚）. It forced the government to change its law on early marriage.
Her father Abdul Ali described how a stranger asked him in the market if he knew some marriageable girls. After visiting their home and seeing Arwa and her 15-year-lold sister, he chose the younger child. Abdul Ali said the man had promised he would wait for the girl to reach puberty（青春期）before calling her to his house but then changed his mind.
So why did he sell his daughter to a stranger? “He gave me $150 and promised another $2,000. I was really in need of money and thought it was a solution for the family,” he explained.
When Arwa fought against her husband, she was beaten. The pain only came to an end when her husband and father quarreled and Abdul Ali allowed her to seek outside help. Then she went looking for a neighbor to lend her money for the journey to court. The judge at court took pity on her and gave her freedom.
Yemen’s Minister for Social Affairs, Professor Amat al-Razak Hammed, recognizes that the government needs to make a change and will personally decide on a legal age of 16. She says that both fathers who marry their children off early and officials who sign the marriage contracts should be punished.
Arwa’s courage to seek a divorce was inspired by another young girl from the capital, Sana’a who has become a national famous person.
60. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 1 refer to?
A. Arwa’s behavior influenced the government to change the law on early marriage.
B. Arwa was the first girl to fight for the right of women to have freedom of marriage.
C. Arwa worked together with the government to draw up new marriage laws.
D. Arwa set a good example to other girls who have similar problems.
61. How much money did Arwa’s father probably get in total by selling her?
A. $150. B.$2,000. C.$2,150. D.$3,000.
62. Which of the following statements about Arwa is NOT true?
A. She is too young to know anything about wealth and power.
B. She got the money for the journey to court from her father.
C. She was one of the Yemeni girls who used the law to seek a divorce.
D. Her husband treated her very badly.
63. According to the new marriage law in Yemen, _______.
A. girls can’t get married until they are 20 years old
B. girls can get married without their parents’ permission
C. officials are forbidden to sign marriage contracts
D. fathers who marry their children off early will be punished
This weekly four-day physical activity schedule will get your kids excited about being active.
Tuesday
When the kids get home from school, don’t let them go straight to the TV and get settled in. Encourage them to get moving and get off the couch by giving them a pedometer（计步器）. Pedometers are the most fun when parents also use one because that turns stepping, walking and running into a game to see who can get the most steps.
Thursday
The kids have done a great job so far this week, but now they are aching for a little more TV time. Instead of turning on cartoons, let them watch fitness movies made just for kids. These movies encourage watchers to get up and dance along to kid-friendly music.
Saturday
Get the whole family out of the house together and over to a park. Bring lots of sports equipment, pack a healthy picnic and have a family competitive sports day. Kids and adults get into groups and play against each other in tennis, basketball or soccer. After everyone has played hard for a couple of hours, stop for a picnic and then if your family isn’t too tired, go back and play some more.
Sunday
Every child loves to play video games and there is no better time to allow kids to play them than on Sunday when no homework is due. But don’t let them play a game that forces them to sit down for hours. Dance games with a floor mat（垫子）to help kids follow the dance moves are popular to kids.
56. What’s the best title for this passage?
A. How to make children like activities.
B. A weekly four-day physical activity plan for kids.
C. Physical activities are important to kids.
D. A plan that will do much good to kids.
57. Parents are advised to use a pedometer together with their kids because ______.
A. they can give their kids some advice about walking
B. it can prevent them from watching TV too much
C. this will allow them and their kids to have a fun competition
D. their kids will not use it if they don’t
58. On Thursday when a kid wants to watch TV, his parents should ______.
A. let him watch it for a short time
B. watch cartoons with him
C . take him out for a walk instead
D. show fitness movies to him
59. The author advises a family to have a meal on Saturday _______.
A. in a park B. in a mountain C. in a restaurant D. at home
The invention of the electric telegraph gave birth to the communications industry. Although Samuel B. Morse succeeded in making the invention useful in 1837, it was not until 1843 that the first important telegraph line was constructed. By 1860 more than 50,000 miles of lines connected people east of the Rockies. The following year, San Francisco was added to the network.
The national telegraph network strengthened the ties between East and West and contributed to the rapid expansion of the railroads by providing an efficient means to monitor schedules and routes. Furthermore, the extension of the telegraph, combined with the invention of the steam-driven rotary printing press by Richard
M. Hoe in 1846, revolutionized the world of journalism. Where the business of news gathering had been dependent upon the mail and on hand-operated presses, the telegraph expanded the amount of information a newspaper could supply and allowed for more timely reporting. The creating of the Associated Press as a central wire service in 1846 marked the arrival of a new era (纪元) in journalism.
71. The main topic of the passage is .
A. the history of journalism B. the origin of the national telegraph
C. how the telegraph network contributed to the expansion of railroads
D. the contributions and development of the telegraph network
72. The word "gathering" in line 11 refers to .
A. people B. information
C. objects D. substances
73. The author's main purpose in this passage is to .
A. compare the invention of the telegraph with the invention of the steam-driven rotary press
B. propose new ways to develop the communications industry
C. show how the electric telegraph affected the communications industry
D. criticize Samuel B. Morse
74. This passage would most likely be found in a .
A. U.S. history book B. book on trains
C. science textbook D. computer magazine
75. It can be inferred from the passage that .
A. Samuel Morse did not make a significant contribution to the communications industry
B. Morse's invention did not immediately achieve its full potential (潜力)
C. the extension of the telegraph was more important than its invention
D. journalists have the Associated Press to thank for the birth of the communications industry