The World Health Organization (WHO) planned to study the relationship between the eating habits of the people and the disease. Two doctors were chosen to make the study. They flew to Africa south of the Sahara and during the next two months visited ten countries. They found that serious diseases of poor eating, often mistaken for other diseases, existed in all parts of Africa. The diseases were similar and could therefore all be named kwashiorkor. The diseased children are usually from one to four years old. As the illness progresses, the child’s stomach becomes swollen by liquid collecting in the body. The skin changes color and may break out in open sores（疼痛）. The hair changes color and starts to fall out. The patient loses all interest in his surroundings and even in food, and becomes so weak that he wants to lie down all the time. Stomach liquids are no longer produced.
The doctors reasoned that kwashiorkor was found in the young children of this age in many parts of Africa because of lack of milk or meat. Their mothers, after stopping their breastfeeding, gave them foods full of starches（淀粉）instead of greatly needed proteins. They found that the addition of milk to the food of the children suffering from kwashiorkor saved many lives.
The unbelievable thing about kwashiorkor is that the very existence of the disease—which has been killing thousands of children for centuries—was not even recognized in Latin America as recently as ten years ago. The deaths of those children were mistakenly listed as due to other diseases. It was the WHO’s work in Africa that led to the discovery of the problem in Central America.From the passage we learn that kwashiorkor is a disease caused by __________ .
| A．poor living conditions | B．lack of proteins in food |
| C．breastfeeding | D．lack of food |
It is difficult to discover kwashiorkor because ____________________ .
| A．it has no symptoms at all |
| B．it is hard to identify signs of it |
| C．it doesn’t last long enough for careful observation |
| D．it is hardly different from other diseases |
What is mentioned as a simple but reasonable way of curing this disease?
| A．Taking a special medicine. |
| B．Avoiding any food containing starch. |
| C．Having more meat or milk. |
| D．Taking medicine full of proteins. |
What’s the best title for the article?
| A．Milk and Meat Are Daily Necessities |
| B．Kwashiorkor and Improper Eating Habits |
| C．A New Form of Illness in Africa and Latin America |
| D．A Case of Eating Habits |
C
It’s illegal for the police to attach a GPS unit to your car without your permission, as the U.S. Supreme Court settled in 2012. But if the police are in hot pursuit of a bank robber or other escaping criminals that threaten public safety, a GPS tracker is acceptable. But exactly how can the police GPS track a car that is moving fast?
The answer to that question comes from StarChase, a new police technology being used by a small-but growing number of law enforcement agencies. It allows the police to fire 4.5-inch glue-covered GPS bullet-like projectiles (发射体) from an air gun fixed in their police cars. If the GPS tracker makes contact with the escaping robber’s car, it’ll stick no matter how fast the vehicle is going. That way, the police will have a constant read on the car’s location and heading. Aside from simply apprehending (逮捕) criminals, it’s believed this new technology could help save lives. If the police successfully fire a GPS unit at a speeding criminal, they can pull back from a high-risk chase. Chases can be incredibly dangerous to all involved, including innocent bystanders and other drivers. Once the GPS bullet connects, there’s no need for the chase any longer.
Now, predictably, a GPS-loaded gun isn’t cheap. Police departments need to pay about $5,000 per vehicle for the technology, and individual GPS bullets cost as much as $250 each. That may sound expensive, but remember: The alternative is often thousands of dollars in property damage, and great human cost in injury and lost life. According to Star Chase, their GPS bullet system has an apprehension rate of 80% without any report of injury or property damage. If you’d like to learn more about the StarChase system, Popular Mechanics has just published a good article about it. There’s also plenty more information available at the company’s website.When the GPS bullet sticks to the escaping robber’s car, the police can______ .
| A．know the car’s condition |
| B．ensure the robber’s safety |
| C．play a fair game with the robber |
| D．know the car’s position and direction |
The GPS bullets could help save lives mainly because
| A．the bullets won’t hurt people |
| B．they can make the robber’s car stop |
| C．the police can stop the dangerous chasing |
| D．they have more advantages than normal bullets |
From the text we can learn that GPS bullets
| A．are useful for the police |
| B．are widely used in America |
| C．can control the rising crime rate |
| D．can replace the police in the future |
In which part of a newspaper can we read the text
| A．Life | B．Nature | C．Fashion | D．Technology |
B
However urban life strikes you, cities worldwide have been growing every day。However urban life strikes you, cities worldwide have been growing ever more rapidly. Some of this growth has occurred in the developed world, but the most dramatic increase has been in the Third World. Almost all the world’s population growth over the next 30 years will take place in the cities of developing countries
By the year 2030, for the first time in history, 60 percent of the world’s people will be living in cities.
This is actually good news in some ways. “Cities are the fundamental building blocks of prosperity,” says Marc Weiss, chairman of the Prague Institute for Global Urban Development, “ both for the nation and for families.” Industrial and commercial activities in urban areas account for between 50 and 80 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in most countries of the world“ there’s the crazy notion that the way to deal with a city’s problems is to keep people out of them,”Weiss continued. “But the problems of the rural life are even more serious than those of the city.” For better or worse, urban-watchers are clear on one point: The quality of life for most people in the future will be determined by the quality of cities. Those cities will be bigger than ever. And yet, population numbers by themselves don’t determine a city’s prospects; after all, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Hamburg, Germany, have the same population. Nor is explosive growth necessarily the determining factor. “City problems,” one authority points out, “mostly have to do with weak, ineffective, and usually unrepresentative city governments.”In the author’s opinion, _________.
| A．better city, better life |
| B．both urban and rural areas have a larger population |
| C．the larger population, the faster a city develops |
| D．both urban and rural areas have larger gross domestic products |
Which statement is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．The developing countries develop faster than the developed countries. |
| B．Cities contribute more to the GDP than the villagers. |
| C．Some problems are more easily solved in cities than in country. |
| D．It’s impossible to solve urban problems by getting people out of cities. |
The last paragraph implies that ____________.
| A．Public services are ineffective. |
| B．Cities are increasing too fast. |
| C．Population is not linked with development. |
| D．Government should be responsible for the problems in the cities. |
I teach geography at UNLV three times per week. Last Monday, at the beginning of class, I cheerfully asked my students how their weekend had been. One young man said that his weekend had not been so good. He had his wisdom teeth removed. The young man then asked me why I always seemed to be so cheerful. “I choose to be cheerful.” I said. Then I told them a story.
In addition to teaching here at UNLV, I also teach out at the community college in Henderson, 17 miles down the freeway from where I live. One day I drove those 17 miles to Henderson. I exited the freeway and turned onto College Drive. I only had to drive another quarter mile down the road to the college. But just then my car died and wouldn’t start again. So I left my car there and marched down the road to the college.
As soon as I got there I called AAA (美国汽车协会)and arranged for a tow truck (拖车) to meet me at my car after class. The secretary in the office asked me what had happened. “This is my lucky day.” I replied, smiling.
“Your car breaks down and today is your lucky day?” She was puzzled. “What do you mean?”
“My car could have broken down anywhere along the freeway but it didn’t.” I replied, “Instead, it broke down in the perfect place: off the freeway, within walking distance from here. I’m still able to teach my class, and I’ve been able to arrange for the tow truck to meet me after class.” The secretary’s eyes opened wide, and then she smiled. I smiled back and headed for class. So ended my story.
I scanned the sixty faces in my class at UNLV. Despite the early hour, no one seemed to be asleep. Somehow, my story had touched them. Or maybe it wasn’t the story at all. In fact, it had all started with a student’s observation that I was cheerful. An Indian wise man once said, “Who you are speaks louder to me than anything you can say.” I suppose it must be so. Why did the author tell his students the story?
| A．To share his lucky experience. |
| B．To make his class more lively. |
| C．To draw all students’ attention. |
| D．To encourage his students to be positive. |
What happened to the author on his way to the community college?
| A．He parked his car in a perfect place. |
| B．He called AAA for a tow truck to meet him. |
| C．He covered the last quarter mile on foot. |
| D．He drove off the freeway at a wrong exit. |
By saying “it wasn’t the story at all”, the author means that_______.
| A．His story is not convincing |
| B．He shouldn’t have told the story |
| C．His attitude to life has inspired the students |
| D．His story is not as interesting as expected |
What can be concluded from the passage?
| A．Easier said than done. |
| B．You are what you choose. |
| C．Behind bad luck comes good luck. |
| D．A good beginning makes a good ending. |
Next time you hear a funny joke you’d better not laugh too hard. According to a paper published by the British Medical Journal, laughter isn’t always the best medicine. Sometimes it can even be harmful. Professor Robin Ferner from the University of Birmingham, one of the authors of the study, found that bad things could happen to people who laughed too much. He says: “We found people with heartbeat problems which had stopped their heart, we found people who had fainted(昏倒), and we found people who’d dislocated their jaws or burst their lungs.”
It seems that laughing can be no laughing matter. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Professor Ferner says there are benefits to laughing when you want to lose weight, for example. Yes, that’s right: laugh and be slimmer! Professor Ferner explains that: “You use energy when you laugh, you move your diaphragm(横膈膜), you expand your lungs, and both those things can be helpful.”
According to the research, laughing for a quarter of an hour can burn up to 40 calories, and if you laughed all day you’d use up about 2,000 calories, which is what most people consume in a day. But don’t do that or you might end up with a painful jaw. Ouch! Or you might find people looking at you in a funny way.
But I don’t want to finish this article leaving you feeling desperate. Laughter comes naturally for most of us. Babies begin to laugh at around 3-6 months. So give in to your sense of humour and keep smiling. Life is short anyway.
Laughing too much may cause the following harmful results EXCEPT_________.
| A．heart stop | B．diaphragm movement |
| C．lung burst | D．jaw dislocation |
The underlined phrase “doom and gloom” in Paragraph 2 probably means_______.
| A．hopeless | B．funny | C．painful | D．nervous |
How many calories can you use if you laugh for half a day?
| A．About 40. | B．About 1,000. |
| C．About 2,000. | D．About 2,040. |
What is the author’s attitude towards laughing in the last paragraph?
| A．Uninterested. | B．Disapproving. |
| C．Worried. | D．Favorable. |
Every week in China, millions of people will sit in front of their TVs watching teenagers compete for the title Character Hero, which is a Chinese-style spelling bee(拼写大赛). In this challenge, young competitors must write Chinese characters by hand. To prepare for the competition, the competitors usually spend months studying dictionaries.
Perhaps the show’s popularity should not be a surprise. Along with gunpowder and paper, many Chinese people consider the creation of Chinese calligraphy(书法)to be one of their primary contributions to civilization. Unfortunately, all over the country, Chinese people are forgetting how to write their own language without computerized help. Software on smart phones and computers allows users to type in the basic sound of the word using the Latin alphabet. The correct character is chosen from a list. The result? It’s possible to recognize characters without remembering how to write them.
But there’s still hope for the paint brush. China’s Education Ministry wants children to spend more time learning how to write.
In one Beijing primary school we visited, students practice calligraphy every day inside a specially decorated classroom with traditional Chinese paintings hanging on the walls. Soft music plays as a group of six-year-olds dip brush pens into black ink. They look up at the blackboard often to study their teacher’s examples before carefully attempting to reproduce those characters on thin rice paper. “If adults can survive without using handwriting, why bother to teach it now?” we ask the calligraphy teacher, Shen Bin. “The ability to write characters is part of Chinese tradition and culture,” she reasons. “Students must learn now so they don’t forget when they grow up.” says the teacher. What can we learn about the Character Hero?
| A．It’s open to people of all ages and all walks. |
| B．It’s the most-viewed TV programs in China. |
| C．It aims to spread Chinese culture to the world. |
| D．It draws great public attention across the country. |
Why are Chinese people forgetting how to write the characters?
| A．Chinese people don’t refer to dictionaries very often. |
| B．Chinese people no longer use brush pens or practice calligraphy. |
| C．Chinese people are using the Latin alphabet instead of the characters. |
| D．Chinese people needn’t write by hand as often with the help of technology. |
According to Shen Bin, being able to write characters by hand is_________.
| A．necessary for adults to survive in China |
| B．a requirement made by the Education Ministry |
| C．helpful to keep Chinese tradition and culture alive |
| D．an ability to be developed only when you are students |
Where does this text probably come from?
| A．A news report. | B．A science report. |
| C．An advertisement. | D．Children’s literature. |