If you want to stay young, sit down and have a good think. This is the research finding of a team of Japanese doctors, who say that most of our brains are not getting enough exercise and, as a result, we are growing old unnecessarily soon.
Professor Taiju Matsuzawa wanted to find out why quite healthy in northern Japan appeared to be losing their ability to think and reason at a rather early age, and how the speed of getting old could be slowed down.
With a team of researchers at Tokyo National University, he set about measuring brain volumes of a thousand people of different ages with different jobs. Computer technology helped the researchers to get most exact measurements of the volume of the front and side parts of the brain, which have something to do with intellect and feelings, and decide the human character. As we all know, the back part of the brain, which controls task like eating and breathing, does not contract with age.
Contraction of front and side parts—as cells die off—was seen in some people in their thirties, but it was still not found in some sixty and seventy-year-olds.
Matsuzawa concluded from his tests that there is a simple way to prevent the contraction—using the head.
The findings show that contraction of the brain begins sooner in people in the country than in the towns. “Those with least possibility,” says Matsuzawa, “are lawyers, followed by university professors and doctors. White collar workers doing the same work day after day in government offices are, however, as possible to have contracting brains as the farm worker, bus driver and shop assistant.” The team of doctors wanted to find out _____.
| A．at what point people grow mentally old |
| B．how to make people live longer |
| C．the size of certain people’s brains |
| D．which people are the most clever |
Their research findings are based on _____.
| A．an examination of farmers in northern Japan |
| B．tests given on a thousand old people |
| C．examining the brain volumes of different people |
| D．using computer technology |
The doctors’ tests show that _____.
| A．our brains contract as we grow older |
| B．one part of the brain does not contract |
| C．sixty-year-olds have better brains than thirty-year-olds |
| D．some people’s brains have contracted earlier than other people’s |
The most possible conclusion of the passage is that _____.
| A．most of us take more exercise |
| B．it’s better to live in the town |
| C．the brain contracts if it is not used |
| D．the more one uses his brain, the sooner he becomes old |
For as long as I can remember, I have been very bad at arguing with people. As soon as someone disagrees with me, I get angry because I feel attacked, like the other person is out to show that I am wrong. And for some reason, I hate being wrong! So my immediate reaction is to get very defensive, I raise my voice, and I end up saying something I later regret. Needless to say, the whole thing ends with me beating myself up, and the other person feeling alienated (疏远) from me. This bothers me especially because my mother does the exact same thing and I hate it!
I have noticed this tendency in me for a long time now, but I have never been able to stop. I did some anger management work with a therapist (治疗专家) a while ago, but because I moved and turned to an advisor at school who cannot see me regularly, I have not been able to continue this important work. They tell you to stop and count to 10, control your breathing, calm yourself down before you talk. But that's the whole problem, I could never think of stopping myself until it was too late! The hurtful things had already come out of my mouth, and I was stuck picking up the pieces.
Right now the problem is urgent because my relationship with a wonderful boyfriend is in danger because of my insecurity and hatred of being wrong. He is closing himself off to me because I have hurt him, and no doubt I am no longer attractive as a woman with no confidence in herself and a bad temper. How do I stop ruining my relationships and hating myself? How do I stop hating being wrong?
1. In what situation will the writer get angry easily?
A. When she has argument with people.
B. When people disagree with her.
C. When she is attacked.
D. When she does something wrong.
2. What does the underlined part in the first paragraph mean?
A. My mother disagrees with me.
B. My mother alienates herself from me.
C. My mother has the same problem with me.
D. My mother does the same wrong to me.
3. In the second paragraph, what does the underlined word "tendency" refer to?
A. Being bad at arguing with people.
B. Hating being wrong.
C. Being lost to others.
D. Hating my mother.
4. We can infer from the third paragraph that
A. the writer feels helpless with her problem
B. the writer finds it hard to count from one to ten
C. the writer has received effective advice about her problem
D. the writer is under the treatment of a therapist
5. What did the writer imply in the last paragraph?
A. She is closing herself off to her boyfriend.
B. She is much hurt by her boyfriend.
C. Her boyfriend has broken up with her.
D. She has to solve her problem in no time.
ISC (HS) Reference No. S006864 New South Wales
Student Date of Birth: 19/08/1988 Department of Education and Training
International Students Centre
Hong Xue 827-839 George Street PO Box 707
60 Waratah Street Broadway NSW 21007
Croydon Park NSW 2133Phone: (612) 9217 4801 1300 302 456
Fax: (612) 9212 6721
http://www.tafensw.edu.au/international/
WARNING LETTER
Dear Hong Xue,
As you are aware, your student visa regulations set out a number of conditions applying to your visa. It has come to our attention that you are failing to meet the following conditions: You must maintain accommodation, support and general welfare arrangements that have been approved by your education provider if you:
●have not turned 18; and
●are not staying in Australia with:
--a parent
--a custodian(监护人); or
--a relative who has been nominated(指定)by your parent or a custodian, is aged at least 21 and is of good character.
Note: You must not change those arrangements without the written approval of your education provider.
You must obey the following rules:
1. During term time you must:
a) remain in your homestay during the school term;
b) come home every night; and
c) inform your guardian at all times of your whereabouts.
2. On weekends you must:
a) have your guardian's permission to stay with friends; and
b) inform your guardian of the name, address and phone numbers of people you are visiting.
3. You must return your guardian's telephone calls.
This will be your only warning. If you continue to breach(违反)your student visa regulations we will report you to the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs. Such action may lead to the cancellation(取消)of your student visa. Please contact me on (612) 9217 4801 or fax (612) 9212 6721 if you have questions about your enrolment.
Yours sincerely
Tracey Carlon
Student Advisor
International Students Centre
NSW Department of Education and Training
1. What's the purpose of writing this letter?
A. To remind the recipient (收信人) of the conditions for applying for a student visa.
B. To warn the recipient not to do anything against his student visa regulations again.
C. To tell the recipient how to contact his student advisor.
D. To inform the recipient of the student visa regulations.
2. What can be learned about the recipient from this letter?
A. He is under 18 and studies in Australia with his parents.
B. He is required to come home every night according to the rules.
C. He can stay with his friends on weekends if permitted.
D. His student Visa has been cancelled.
3. To which address should the recipient reply if he feels like answering the letter?
A. Hong Xue at 60 Waratah Street, Croydon Park NSW 2133.
B. Tracey Carlon at the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs.
C. Hong Xue at NSW Department of Education and Training.
D. Tracey Carlon at 827-839 George Street, PO Box 707, Broadway NSW 21007.
The common cold is the world’s most widespread illness. People believe that colds are caused by cold. They are not. They are caused by viruses passing on from person to person. You catch a cold, and it would be reasonable to expect the Eskimos to suffer from them forever. But they do not. And in isolated arctic regions explorers have reported being free from colds until coming into contact again with infected people from the outside world by way of packages and mail dropped from airplanes.
During the First World War soldiers who spent long periods in the trenches(战壕), cold and wet, showed no increased tendency to catch colds.
In the Second World Was prisoners at the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp, naked and starving, were astonished to find that they seldom had colds.
At the Common Cold Research Unit England, volunteers took part in experiments in which they gave themselves to the discomforts of being cold and wet for long stretches of time. After taking hot baths, they put on bathing suits, allowed themselves to be dipped with cold water, and them stood about dripping wet in wind. Some wore wet socks all day while others exercised in the rain until close to exhaustion. Not one of the volunteers came down with a cold unless a cold virus was actually dropped in his nose.
In the cold we have nothing to do with catching colds. Why are they more frequent in the winter? Despite the most pains-taking research, no one has yet found the answer. One explanation offered by scientists is that people tend to stay together indoors more in cold weather than at other times, and this makes it easier for cold viruses to be passed on.
No one has yet found a cure for the cold. There are drugs and painkillers such as aspirin, but all they do is to relieve the symptoms(症状).
1. Besides the experiments in England, the writer offered more examples to support his argument.
A、3 B、4 C、5 D、6
2. Which of the following does not agree with the chosen passage?
A、The Eskimos do not suffer from colds all the time.
B、Colds are not caused by cold.
C、People suffer from colds just because they like to stay indoors.
D、A person may catch a cold by touching someone who already has one.
3. Arctic explorers may catch colds when .
A、they are working in the inolated arctic regions
B、they are writing reports in terribly cold weather
C、they are free from work in the isolated arctic regions
D、they are coming into touch again with the outside world
4. Volunteers taking part in the experiments in the Common Cold Research Unit .
A、suffered a lot B、never caught colds
C、often caught colds D、became very strong
第三部分：阅读理解(共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分)
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项。
Many people often say there is more stress (压力) in today's society than in years past. In fact, these people are comparing our lives with that of the cave man, who didn't have to worry about the stock market or the atomic bomb. They forget that the cave man worried about being eaten by a bear while he was asleep, or about dying of hunger--things that few people worry much about today.
Actually stress is a normal state of affairs, and it's important that people understand what they are talking about when they speak about stress. Whenever anyone experiences something unpleasant, for lack of a better word they say they are under stress. Yet there is such a thing as pleasant stress--as in the case of the Olympic winner at the moment of his glory, or a conductor as his orchestra(乐队) performs particularly well. They are just sending out excitement, and they are giving off all the stress hormones(荷尔蒙)exactly the same as if they were in low spirits or had just heard of a death in the family. We call the pleasant or healthy kind "eustress” and the unpleasant or unhealthy kind "distress".
Then how can people deal with stress? The secret is not to avoid it but to "do your own thing". It implies doing what you like to do and what you are made to do at your own speed. For most people, it is really a matter of learning how to live and how to behave in various situations, to decide: “Do I really want to take my father's business or be a musician?” If you really want to be a musician, then be one.
1. What can be inferred from the first paragraph?
A. Modern people experiences more stress than the cave man.
B. The cave man experienced more stress than modern people.
C. People don't suffer more stress today; it's just that they think they do.
D. Modern people have the same worries as the cave man did.
2. In which of the following situations will you feel "eustress"?
A. Your favorite football team has lost an important game.
B. You have failed an important examination.
C. You are informed of an accident of your best friend.
D. You have won the first prize in an English competition.
3. The purpose of writing the passage is to let us know
A. stress does not necessarily refer to unpleasant experience
B. distress is what people call the pleasant kind of stress
C. an Olympic winner feels the same stress as one who loses a family member
D. people will feel eustress and distress at the same time
4. According to the passage, how can people deal with stress?
A. Do things that you really want to do.
B. Do whatever you're expected to do.
C. Try to do things successfully.
D. Refuse to do whatever you're told to.
Fear and its companion pain are two of the most useful things that men and animals possess, if they are properly used. If fire did not hurt when it burnt, children would play it until their hands were burnt away. Similarly, if pain existed but fear did not, a child would burn itself again and again, because fear would not warn the child to keep away from the fire that had burnt him or her before. A really fearless soldier-and some do exist –is not a good soldier because he is soon killed; and a dead soldier is of no use to his army. Fear and pain are therefore two guards without which men and animals might soon die out.
In our first sentence we suggested that fear ought to be properly used. If, for example, you never go out of your house because of the danger of being knocked down and killed in the street by a car, you are letting fear rule you too much. Even in your house you are not absolutely safe: a plane may crash on your house, or ants may eat away some of the wood in your roof, and they later may fall on you, or you may get cancer !
The important thing is not to let fear rule you, but instead to use fear as your servant and guide. Fear will warn you of dangers; then you have to decide what action to take.
In many cases, you can take quick and successful action to avoid the danger. For example, you see a car coming straight toward you; fear warns you, you jump out of the way, and all is OK.
In some cases, however, you decide that there is nothing that you can do to avoid the danger. For example, you cannot prevent a plane from crashing into your house, and you may not want to go and live in a desert where there are no plants. In this case, fear has given you its warning; you have examined it and decided on your course of action, so fear of this particular danger is no longer of any use to you, and you have to try to overcome it.
1. Children would play with fire until their hands were burnt away if _______.
A. they were given no warning beforehand
B. they didn’t have any sense of pain at all
C. they had never burnt themselves
D. they felt afraid of the fire
2. A really fearless soldier _______.
A. is of a little use to his army
B. is not afraid of battles at all
C. is nothing but a dead soldier
D. is easy to get killed in a battle
3. People sometimes succeed in timely avoiding dangers because _______.
A. they are warned of the danger and take quick action
B. they are quick both in mind and in action
C. they are calm in face of danger
D. they have gained much experience
4. It is implied but not stated that _______.
A. fear is always something helpful
B. too much fear is harmful
C. fear should be used as a servant and guide
D. fear is something strange and particular