How long do you want to live? How many years might be added to a life? Do you want to live another 100 years or more? Some experts say that scientific advances will one day enable humans to last tens of years beyond what is now seen as the natural limit of the human life span.（寿命）
“I think we are knocking at the door of immortality(永生) , " said Michael Zey, a Montclair State University business professor and author of two books on the future. "I think by 2075 we will see it and that's a conservative estimate(保守的估计)."
At the conference in San Francisco, Donald Louria, a professor at New Jersey Medical School in Newark said advances in using genes as well as nanotechnology(纳米技术) make it likely that humans will live in the future beyond what has been possible in the past. "There is a great push so that people can live from 120 to 180 years," he said. "Some have suggested that there is no limit and that people could live to 200 or 300 or 500 years.
However, many scientists who research into ageing are doubtful about it and say the human body is just not designed to last past about 120 years. Even with healthier lifestyles and less disease, they say the failure of the brain and organs will finally lead all humans to death.
Scientists also differ on what kind of life the super aged might live. "It remains to be seen if you pass 120,you know, could you be healthy enough to have good quality of life?" said Leonard Poon, director of the University of Georgia Gerontology Centre. "At present people who could get to that point are not in good health at all."By saying "we are knocking at the door of immortality", Michael Zey means ______.
| A．they have got some ideas about living forever |
| B．they are sure to find the truth about long living |
| C．they believe that there is no limit of living |
| D．they are able to make people live past the present life span |
Donald Louria's attitude towards long living is that ______.
| A．people can live from 120 to 180 |
| B．it is possible for humans to live longer in the future |
| C．the human body is designed to last past about 120 years |
| D．it is still doubtful how long humans can live |
The underlined word "it"( in Paragraph 4)refers to______.
| A．using genes as well as nanotechnology |
| B．the idea of living beyond the present life span |
| C．a great push |
| D．the conservative estimate |
What would be the best title for this text?
| A．No Limit for Human Life | B．Science, Technology and Long Living |
| C．Living Longer or Not | D．Healthy Lifestyle and Long Living |
Let's travel the world together
Nickname: Zaloxx
Email:jdlxx8@yahoo. com
When to travel: Feb 2010－Apr 2010
Self-introduction.. A 40+ male with strong physical and financial abilities. Hope to travel in
India, Singapore and Thailand for business as well as for fun.
My travel plan: Fly to Delhi and spend 3 weeks in India travelling mostly in north. Fly to
Singapore and Thailand for a few business matters and mainly for fun.
Whom I am looking for: A female to travel with me. She should be an attractive 30－40 healthy romantic lady and love travelling and relaxing.
Together for Christmas and New Year?
Nickname: Rue Rose
Email: sofitsao@taishin, com. tw
When to travel: Dec 2010－Jan 2011
Self-introduction: I am a fit, young, looking 40 years old female, who is easy-going, fun to be with.
My travel plan: Would like to go somewhere hot－Cuba, Africa, Morocco, and so on. Perhaps the Christmas and New Year there are more interesting.
Whom I am looking for: A male much with similar interests. A non-smoker and light drinker.
Travel in good company!
Nickname: Louise
Email: misskennedy@hotmail, co. uk
When to travel: Jan 2010
Self-introduction: 40 years old, fun-loving and easy-going.
My travel plan: I need a break and I am open to anywhere.
Whom I am looking for: A male travel companion(同伴), 24－40. A non-smoker who enjoys
outside activities. Prefer someone that speaks Spanish.
Need a travel companion in Thailand!
Nickname: Gio
Email: esteban407@yahoo, com
When to travel: Feb 2010－Apr 2010
Self-introduction: I am 28 years old from London. I like to keep fit and enjoy hiking and camping.
My travel plan: I plan to visit Thailand and travel around the country to enjoy nature and the sunshine.
Whom I am looking for: Someone around my age. A male who is willing to have an active holiday. If the Londoner and his companion travel in March, 2010, they will probably be in
| A．Cuba | B．Singapore | C．India | D．Thailand |
Why does Rue Rose plan a journey with her companion?
| A．To adventure in cold places. | B．To spend festivals outside. |
| C．To learn Spanish. | D．To solve business matters. |
A lady who wants to be a travel companion can send email to
| A．jdlxx8@yahoo, com | B．sofitsao@taishin. com. tw |
| C．esteban407@yahoo, com | D．misskennedy@hotmail. co. uk |
People in the advertisements above want to.
| A．introduce their travel experiences |
| B．make friends with strangers while traveling |
| C．find proper travel partners |
| D．look for someone to look after them while traveling |
We have two daughters: Kristen is seven years old and Kelly is four. Last Sunday evening, we invited some people home for dinner. I dressed them nicely for the party, and told them that their job was to join Mommy in answering the door when the bell rang. Mommy would introduce them to the guests, and then they would take the guests’ coats upstairs and put them on the bed in the second bedroom.
The guests arrived. I introduced my two daughters to each of them. The adults were nice and kind and said how lucky we were to have such good kids.
Each of the guests made a particular fuss over Kelly, the younger one, admiring her dress, her hair and her smile. They said she was a remarkable girl to be carrying coats upstairs at her age.
I thought to myself that we adults usually make a big “to do” over the younger one because she’s the one who seems more easily hurt. We do it with the best of intentions.
But we seldom think of how it might affect the other child. I was a little worried that Kristen would feel she was being outshined. I was about to serve dinner when I realized that she had been missing for twenty minutes. I ran upstairs and found her in the bedroom, crying.
I said, “What are you doing, my dear?”
She turned to me with a sad expression and said, “Mommy, why don’t people like me the way they like my sister? Is it because I’m not pretty? Is that why they don’t say nice things about me as much?”
I tried to explain to her, kissing and hugging her to make her feel better.
Now, whenever I visit a friend’s home, I make it a point to speak to the elder child first.The underlined expression make a big to do over (paragraph 4) means _____.
| A．show much concern about | B．have a special effect on |
| C．list jobs to be done for | D．do good things for |
The guests praised Kelly for carrying coats upstairs because of her _____.
| A．beautiful hair | B．pretty clothes |
| C．lovely smile | D．young age |
Kristen felt sad and cried because _____.
| A．the guest gave her more coats to carry |
| B．she didn’t look as pretty as Kelly |
| C．the guests praised her sister more than her |
| D．her mother didn’t introduce her to the guests |
We can conclude from the passage that _____.
| A．parents should pay more attention to the elder children |
| B．the younger children are usually more easily hurt |
| C．people usually like the younger children more |
| D．adults should treat children equally |
O. Henry was a pen name used by an American writer of short stories. His real name was William Sydney Porter. He was born in North Carolina in 1862. As a young boy he lived an exciting life. He did not go to school for very long, but he managed to teach himself everything he needed to know. When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas, where he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank. When some money went missing from the bank, O. Henry was believed to have stolen it. Because of that, he was sent to prison. During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and continued writing. He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because simple as the tales were, they would finish with a sudden change at the end, to the readers’ surprise. In which order did O. Henry do the following things?
a. Lived in New York.
b. Worked in a bank.
c. Traveled to Texas.
d. Was put in prison.
e. Had a newspaper job.
f. Learned to write stories.
| A．e, c, f, b, d, a | B．c, b, e, d, a, f |
| C．e, b, d, c, a, f | D．c, e, b, d, f, a |
People enjoyed reading O. Henry’s stories because _____.
| A．they had surprise endings | B．they were easy to understand |
| C．they showed his love for the poor | D．they were about New York City |
What do we know about O. Henry before he began writing?
| A．He was well-educated. |
| B．He was very good at learning. |
| C．He was devoted to the poor. |
| D．He was not serious about his work. |
Where did O. Henry get most material for his short stories?
| A．His life inside the prison. | B．The newspaper articles he wrote. |
| C．The city and people of New York. | D．His exciting early life as a boy. |
A new study has been carried to test the role of story telling in lowering blood pressure. Dr. Thomas Houston, a professor of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, led a group of scientists that researched how pre-recorded videos of hypertension (高血压) patients' talking about their medical histories helped another group of patients with high blood pressure to control their condition over several months.
Houston was surprised by their studies that suggested that communication can be a powerful tool in medicine. They showed that those who had had similar experiences, when talking to someone with a similar background, could help change their behavior to become healthier. Hypertension is difficult to control, since it is dependent on diet, exercise and mental state. Medical treatments with drugs, and lifestyle therapies(疗法) have been relatively ineffective because people find it hard to follow those medical requirements.
In the test, his team carefully chose their story-tellers from 23
0 members of a patients' community with whom they could most easily relate. Next, they divided their study population into two groups. One received three interactive DVDs containing the tellers' stories of their experiences in living with and treating their hypertension. The other were given educational discs on an unrelated health topic. The study volunteers reported that they had listened to the DVDs, and after three months, those who heard the stories of the hypertensive patients lowered their blood pressure.
While the study did not address how the story-telling influenced the patients' behavior, Houston doubts that watching patients of similar backgrounds who had a similar medical experience helped to motivate them to seek medical help to their hypertension. They found that after six months the difference in blood pressure between those who watched the story-tellers and those who observed the unrelated videos remained, suggesting that the story-telling continued to have an effect. We can learn from the text that the pre-recorded videos _________.
| A．tell medical histories of hypertension patients |
| B．introduce some medical treatments of hypertension |
| C．introduce a good lifestyle for hypertensive patients |
| D．tell scientific discoveries of the scientist group |
Houston was surprised to find that _______.
| A．hypertension is really difficult to control |
| B．communication has some medical effects |
| C．medical treatments have no effect at all |
| D．people don't follow the medical requirements |
The underlined word "address" in the last paragraph most probably means _______.
| A．persuade | B．observe | C．attend | D．announce |
Which of the following could be the best title of the text?
| A．The stories of some hypertension patients. |
| B．Medical treatments of blood pressure. |
| C．Storytelling may help lower blood pressure. |
| D．Suggestions about how to lower blood pressure. |
I sometimes wonder if old Finchley has the right personality to be a research scientist. He keeps asking when he’ll be coming back. After all, it was his own fault. Nobody tries out what has just been invented on themselves any more but Finchley. Well, he must have pumped about a thousand cubic centimeters into himself before I noticed he was clearly becoming smaller.
It was funny watching him, because his clothes remained the same in size. They simply piled up around him so that he looked like a small boy in his father’s clothes. But he kept getting smaller and smaller. As my colleague Dawson and I watched him, he disappeared! All we could see was Finchley’s clothes on the floor. They looked so strange, because the lab coat was on top, shirt and trousers inside and, I suppose, underclothes inside again. It gave me a strange feeling, and I think Dawson was a bit shaken, too.
Dawson was sitting on his chair in front of a microscope he’d been using to examine a family of mites(螨虫). He looked through the scope kind of absently again, and was nearly scared to lose awareness when he found old Finchley waving back from the other end.
It seems as if Finchley had taken a free ride on a dust mite and landed on the land of the mite family. Of course, we didn’t know till Finchley told us later. But anyhow, as I said, Dawson nearly passed out. He jumped off his chair and pointed at the microscope, too shocked to speak. Finchley disappeared because ________.
| A．he took something poisonous |
| B．he was changed into a dust mite |
| C．his father’s clothes totally covered him up |
| D．what he and his colleagues invented resulted in his disappearance |
It frightened Dawson to see Finchley _______.
| A．got into his scope by accident | B．was waving through his telescope |
| C．suddenly got lost in his clothes | D．gradually disappeared in the lab |
It can be inferred that Finchley, Dawson and the writer have possibly invented _____.
| A．some kind of medicine | B．a new powerful microscope |
| C．a machine to make people small | D．a new way to make a culture of mite |
It can probably be concluded that Finchley ________.
| A．passed out there and then | B．is not fit to be a scientist |
| C．is a devoted scientist | D．will remain tiny all the time |