“Old wives’ tales” are beliefs passed from one generation to another. For example, most of us remember our parents’ telling us to eat more of certain foods or not to do certain things. Is there any truth in these teachings? Some of them agree with present medical thinking, but others have not passed the test of time.
Did your mother ever tell you to eat your carrots because they are good for your eyes? Scientists now report that eating carrots can help prevent a serious eye disease called macular degeneration. Eating just one carrot a day can reduce the possibility of getting this disease by 40%. Garlic(蒜) is good for you, too. It can kill the type of virus that causes colds.
Unfortunately, not all of Mom’s advice passed the test of medical studies. For example, generations of children have been told not to go swimming within an hour after eating. But research suggests that there is no danger in doing so. Do sweets cause tooth problems? Well, yes and no. Sticky sweets made with grains tend to cause more problems than sweets made with simple sugars.
Even though science can tell us that some of our traditional beliefs don’t hold water, there is still a lot of truth in the old wives’ tales. After all, much of this knowledge has been accumulated(积累) from thousands of years of experience in family health care. We should respect this body of knowledge even as we search for clear scientific support to prove it true or false.The author develops the third paragraph mainly .
| A．by cause and effect | B．by order in space |
| C．by examples | D．by order in time |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?
| A．Eating garlic is good for our eyes. |
| B．Carrots prevent people from catching colds. |
| C．Swimming after a meal is dangerous. |
| D．Sticky sweets are damaging to our teeth. |
What is the author’s attitude toward “old wives’ tales” in the text?
| A．Objective. | B．Subjective. | C．Dissatisfied. | D．Curious. |
The phrase “hold water” in the last paragraph most probably means “ .”
| A．to be valuable | B．to be believable |
| C．to be admirable | D．to be suitable |
Hilton English Language Center
Information for New Students
CLASS TIME: 9:00a.m.---10:30a.m., 11:00a.m.---12:30p.m., 1:30p.m.---3:00p.m..
The Language Center is open Monday to Friday. Each class has one afternoon free per week. On the first day, go to the lecture hall to check your timetable.
SELF-ACCESS: The language laboratory（Room 1110）is open Monday to Friday from 3:15p.m. to 5:00p.m. for all full-time students.
You can learn how to use computers for language games or word-processing（文字处理）. There are tapes for students to borrow to practice their English. Go in and ask the teacher to show you. If you plan to take public examinations, there are dictation（听写）and listening comprehension tapes for you to practice with. There are cloze exercises on the computers. Ask your class teacher for a list of past exam essays. Students can borrow tapes to take home but they must be returned after two days.
ATTENDANCE（出勤）：All students are expected to attend classes as it is required. Students who do not attend classes will be reported to OSS. Eighty percent attendance is required for students to receive their certificates（证书）when they finish their courses. It is also required by OSS for an extension to your visa.
BOOKS: If students are given course books, the books are their responsibility. If a book is lost, the student will be expected to pay for it.
If students wish to buy books, there is a bookshop in the college specializing in English books（Room 3520）.When do classes begin and end on a full day?
| A．9:00a.m. ---1:30p.m. | B．9:00a.m. ---3:00p.m. |
| C．9:00a.m. ---3:15p.m. | D．3:15p.m. ---5:00p.m. |
How many afternoons does a class meet each week?
| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Four. | D．Five |
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．No teachers are in the language lab. |
| B．90% attendance is required for the students. |
| C．Books can’t be taken out of the center. |
| D．Students can prepare for exams by listening to tapes. |
Timetable can be seen in _____.
| A．the lecture hall | B．Room 3520 |
| C．the classroom | D．Room 1110 |
The books which the students wish to buy are in the _____.
| A．library | B．book-shop in the college |
| C．street | D．classroom |
Now I would like to talk to you about your final exam. The exam will be held next Thursday, the last day of the exam week. Remember to bring two or three pens in case they run out of ink. Unlike the midterm exam, this test will not include multiple-choice （多项选择）questions, it will contain entirely of essays（文章）. You will have to answer three of the five essay questions. The exam will be comprehensive（综合理解性的）, which means you will have to go over all of the subject matters we learnt in class this term. I would suggest you review your midterm exam as well as textbooks and your class notes. The research project will count as 20% and the midterm exam 30%. I will be in my office almost all day next Tuesday. If you run into any problems, please drop in. Good luck to you and I will see you on Tuesday.When will the final exam be held?
| A．Next Tuesday. | B．Next Wednesday. |
| C．Next Thursday | D．Next Friday |
What will be included in the exam?
| A．Only multiple-choice questions. |
| B．Both multiple-choice and essay question. |
| C．Both an oral and written part. |
| D．only essay questions. |
Why does the teacher call the exam comprehensive?
| A．It will be easy to understand. |
| B．It will cover topics from a variety of subjects. |
| C．Students must finish it by themselves. |
| D．Students must complete all parts of it. |
The underlined phrase “run into any problems” in the last paragraph probably means “____”
| A．go into some place | B．meet someone by chance |
| C．have difficulties | D．have the ability to resolve problems. |
When was this talk most likely given?
| A．During the first week of class. | B．During the midterm week. |
| C．On the last day of class. | D．On the last day of the exam week. |
Plants are very important living things. Life could not go on if there were no plants. This is because plants can make food from air， water and sunlight. Animals and man cannot make food from air， water and sunlight. Animals get their food by eating plants and other animals. Therefore animals and man need plants in order to live. This is why we find that there are so many plants around us. If you look carefully at the plants around you， you will find that there are two kinds of plants： flowering plants and non-flowering plants. Flowering plants can make seeds. The seeds are protected by the fruits. Some fruits have one seed， some have two， three or four， and some have many seeds. But a few fruits have no seeds at all. An example of a fruit without seeds is the banana fruit. Most non-flowering plants do not grow from seeds. They grow from spores（胚芽）。 Spores are very small. Some spores are so small and light that they can float in the air. We may say that spores are quite the same as seeds. When these spores are all on wet and shady places， they usually grow into new plants. The main idea of the first paragraph is that ______.
| A．plants are important for life | B．plants cannot grow without air |
| C．there are many plants in the world | D．we can not live without water |
Plants can make food from______.
| A．flower， water and air | B．water， sunlight and air |
| C．air， water and soil | D．air， sun and light |
What can we infer（推断） from the passage ？
| A．Of all living things animals are most important | B．Spores are seeds |
| C．All fruits of flowering plants have seeds | D．Without plants， man will die out |
This passage may be taken from______.
| A．a medicine book | B．a novel | C．a science magazine | D．an experiment report |
The underlined word “protected” in the third paragraph can be replaced by ______.
| A．damaged | B．polluted | C．prevented | D．guarded |
A beautiful and very successful actress（女演员）was the star for a new musical show. Her home was in the countryside, but she did not want to go back there every night, so she bought an expensive house in the centre of the city, got some beautiful furniture and got a man to paint the rooms in new colours.
It was very difficult to get tickets for her show, because everybody wanted to see it. So she decided to give the painter two of the best seats. She hoped that this would make him work better for her. He took the tickets without saying anything, and she heard no more about them until the end of the month, when she got the painter’s bill（账单）. At the bottom(底部) of it were these words: “ Four hours watching Miss Hall sing and dance : 3 pounds,” with this note: “ After 5 p.m., I get 15 shillings（先令）an hour instead of 10 shillings.” The actress bought a house in the centre of the city because _______.
| A．she liked to live in the busiest place |
| B．she didn’t like to live in the country |
| C．her home was far away from where she worked |
| D．she didn’t want to go back to her hometown any longer |
In order to make the painter work better for her, the actress ___________.
| A．gave him two tickets for her show |
| B．sang and danced for him for hours |
| C．paid him 3 pounds |
| D．decided to pay him 15 shillings an hour |
The actress got the painter’s bill ______.
| A．to ask for the money of his painting work |
| B．to ask to pay for his watching her show |
| C．in which he showed his thanks for the tickets |
| D．in which he expressed his dissatisfaction |
It can be learned from the text that one pound is___________ shillings.
| A．10 | B．12 | C．20 | D．15 |
What kind of man was the painter?
| A．He was a careful man. | B．He was a poor man. |
| C．He was not friendly to others. | D．He knew little about music and dances |
阅读理解（共5小题，每小题2分，满分10分）
根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。注意：请把答案写在答题纸上。
Dr. Sylvia Earle wants you to stop eating fish. It’s not because fish are endangered, though wild fish stocks in many oceans are very low. It’s not because they’re bad for you, though fish in many areas are exposed to poisonous substances in the water. .
“Fish are sensitive; they have personalities, says the marine biologist. For Earle, eating a fish would be like eating a dog or a cat. “I would never eat anyone I know personally.”
There’s a lot more to fish than meets the eye: they talk to each other, they like to be touched, and they engage in behavior that can seem very human. . Earle and a growing number of animal rights activists see these as strong arguments against eating fish altogether.
. “While it may seem obvious that fish are able to feel pain, like every other animal, some people think of fish as swimming vegetables,” says Dr. Lynne Sneddon. “Really, it’s kind of a moral question. Is the enjoyment you get from fishing (or eating fish) more important than the pain of the fish?”
Fishermen and (fried) fish lovers are skeptical. “I’ve never seen a smart fish,” says Marie Swaringen as she finishes off a plate of fish at a Seattle seafood restaurant. “.”
“For years, everyone’s been telling us to eat fish because it’s so good for us,” says another diner. “Now I’ve got to feel guilty while I’m eating my fish? ? Don’t eat salad because cucumbers (黄瓜) have feelings?”
| A．What are they going to think of next |
| B．It’s because they’re smart |
| C．The activists also point out that fish feel pain and fish suffer horribly on their way from the sea to the supermarket |
| D．They can remember things and learn from experience |
E. Obviously fish are just a kind of vegetables
F. If they were very smart, they wouldn’t get caught
G. Don’t they feel guilty while eating their fish