Anyone for kimchi(韩国泡菜)？ Around 2,000 women made the traditional dish last week in Seoul, the capital of the Republic of Korea(ROK).
More than 270 tons of kimchi were produced and handed out to needy neighbours.
In the ROK, kimchi is more than a dish to be eaten with every meal, even though Koreans are said to eat about 40 pounds(around 18kg) of kimchi per person each year.
According to Korean.net, the country’s official multilingual website, kimchi represents
“the spirit” of the Koreans.
Kimchi traditionally has a rosy color. Korea.net says: “The color red wards off (避开) evil spirits. The color represents the spirit of the Korean people and kimchi is more than just a food. It’s a culture.”
A meal without kimchi is unthinkable. So what is kimchi?
Joan Raymond, food writer for US website health.com, writes: “It’s a reddish, fermented (发酵的) cabbage dish , made with a mix of garlic salt, vinegar, chili peppers and other spices.
It is served at every meal, either along with or mixed with rice and noodles. It is part of a high-fiber, low fat diet, which has kept obesity(肥胖) at bay.”
Kimchi is used in everything from soups to pancakes and as a topping (配料) on pizza and burgers.
Health.com named kimchi in its list of the world’s top five healthiest foods as it is rich in vitamins, aids digestion and may even reduce the risk of cancer.
A study conducted by Seoul National University claimed that chickens infected with the H5N1 virus (bird flu) recovered after eating food containing the same bacteria found in kimchi.
When Koreans pose for photos, they say “kimchi”, instead of “cheese”.According to the article, which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．Kimchi contains something that can kill the H5N1 virus. |
| B．Kimchi is rated as the healthiest food in the world. |
| C．Kimchi is a cultural treasure for Koreans. |
| D．Each person eats 40 pounds of kimchi per month. |
What does the underlined phrase “keep... at bay” mean?
| A．predict | B．prevent | C．overcome | D．develop |
What does the article mainly talk about?
| A．The nutritional value of kimchi. |
| B．Ways of making kimchi. |
| C．The origin of kimchi. |
| D．Kimchi and what it means to Koreans. |
When should people be made to retire? 55? 65? Should there be a compulsory age limit?
Many old people work well into their 70s and 80s, running families, countries or corporations. Other people, however, despite being fit and highly talented, are forced to retire in their fifties or even earlier because of the regulations of a company or the nation. This essay will examine whether people should be allowed to continue working as long as they want or whether they should be encouraged to retire at a particular stage.
Some people think there are several arguments for allowing older people to continue working as long as they are able. First of all, older employees have an immense amount of knowledge and experience which can be lost to a business or organization if they are made to retire. A second point is that older employees are often extremely loyal employees and are more willing to carry out company policies than younger less committed staff. However, a more important point is regarding the attitudes in society to old people. To force someone to resign or retire at 60 indicates that the society does not value the input of these people and that effectively their useful life is over. Age is irrelevant to a working life, surely if older employees are told they cannot work after 60, this is age discrimination. That they become old does not necessarily mean they are going to be sick. Old people could be more aware, experienced and committed than some youngsters.
Others, however, think that allowing older people to work indefinitely is not a good policy. Age alone is no guarantee of ability. Old people are only ambitious workaholics who are too selfish and self-centered to believe that a younger person could do better. Actually, many younger employees have more experience or skills than older staff, who may have been stuck in one area or unit for most of their working lives. Having compulsory retirement allows new ideas in an organization. In addition, without age limits, however, many people would continue to work purely because they did not have any other plans or roles. A third point of view is that older people should be rewarded by society for their life’s labor by being given generous pensions and the freedom to enjoy their leisure. We now have youngsters who can’t find jobs because old people are choosing not to retire. Old people are not retiring because this new generation of “old people” think they will never die due to modern advances in medicine.
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 and can deprive（剥夺）society of valuable experience and insights. I feel that giving workers more flexibility and choice over their retirement age will benefit society and the individual.What is the purpose of this passage?
| A．To explain the compulsory age limit. |
| B．To discuss the retirement age. |
| C．To examine people’s working life. |
| D．To introduce a particular stage. |
Which of the following is NOT a reason for allowing old people to continue working according to the passage?
| A．Their contribution should be valued. |
| B．Their experience should be made use of. |
| C．They can help the youngsters. |
| D．They are loyal employees. |
It can be inferred in the fourth passage that ______.
| A．the young people have more creative spirits |
| B．Modern advances in medicine make old people never die |
| C．Pensions and freedom are not given to the old now |
| D．old people believe that a younger person could do better |
The passage is arranged as follows:
What is the author’s opinion on the retirement age?
| A．The author thinks when to retire depends on the employees themselves. |
| B．The author is against lengthening the retirement age. |
| C．The author thinks that retirement age varies from country to country. |
| D．The author is in favor of allowing old people to continue working. |
I don’t ever want to talk about being a woman scientist again. There was a time in my life when people asked constantly for stories about what it’s like to work in a field dominated by men. I was never very good at telling those stories because truthfully I never found them interesting. What I do find interesting is the origin of the universe, the shape of space-time and the nature of black holes.
At 19, when I began studying astrophysics, it did not bother me in the least to be the only woman in the classroom. But while earning my Ph.D. at MIT and then as a post-doctor doing space research, the issue started to bother me. My every achievement—jobs, research papers, awards—was viewed through the lens of gender (性别) politics. So were my failures. Sometimes, when I was pushed into an argument on left brain versus (相对于) right brain, or nature versus nurture (培育), I would instantly fight fiercely on my behalf and all womankind.
Then one day a few years ago, out of my mouth came a sentence that would eventually become my reply to any and all provocations（挑衅）: I don’t talk about that anymore. It took me 10 years to get back the confidence I had at 19 and to realize that I didn’t want to deal with gender issues. Why should curing sexism be yet another terrible burden on every female scientist? After all, I don’t study sociology or political theory.
Today I research and teach at Barnard, a women’s college in New York City. Recently, someone asked me how many of the 45 students in my class were women. You cannot imagine my satisfaction at being able to answer, 45. I know some of my students worry how they will manage their scientific research and a desire for children. And I don’t dismiss those concerns. Still, I don’t tell them “war” stories. Instead, I have given them this: the visual of their physics professor heavily pregnant doing physics experiments. And in turn they have given me the image of 45 women driven by a love of science. And that’s a sight worth talking about.Why doesn’t the author want to talk about being a woman scientist again?
| A．She feels unhappy working in male-dominated fields. |
| B．She is fed up with the issue of gender discrimination. |
| C．She is not good at telling stories of the kind. |
| D．She finds space research more important. |
From Paragraph 2, we can infer that people would owe the author’s failures to ________.
| A．the very fact that she is a woman |
| B．her involvement in gender politics |
| C．her over-confidence as a female astrophysicist |
| D．the burden she bears in a male-dominated society |
What did the author constantly fight against while doing her Ph.D. and post-doctoral research?
A. Lack of confidence in succeeding in space science.
B. Unfair accusations from both inside and outside her circle.
C. People’s stereotyped attitude toward female scientists.
D. Widespread misconceptions about nature and nurtured.Why does the author feel great satisfaction when talking about her class?
| A．Female students no longer have to bother about gender issues. |
| B．Her students’ performance has brought back her confidence. |
| C．Her female students can do just as well as male students. |
| D．More female students are pursuing science than before. |
What does the image the author presents to her students suggest?
| A．Women students needn’t have the concerns of her generation. |
| B．Women have more barriers on their way to academic success. |
| C．Women can balance a career in science and having a family. |
| D．Women now have fewer problems pursuing a science career. |
Global warming may or may not be the great environmental crisis of the 21st century, but—regardless of whether it is or isn’t — we won’t do much about it. We will argue over it and may even, as a nation, make some fairly solemn-sounding commitments to avoid it. But the more dramatic and meaningful these commitments seem, the less likely they are to be observed.
Al Gore calls global warming an “inconvenient truth,” as if merely recognizing it could put us on a path to a solution. But the real truth is that we don’t know enough to relieve global warming, and—without major technological breakthroughs—we can’t do much about it.
From 2003 to 2050, the world’s population is estimated to grow from 6.4 billion to 9.1 billion, a 42% increase. If energy use per person and technology remain the same, total energy use and greenhouse gas emissions (mainly, CO2) will be 42% higher in 2050. But that’s too low, because societies that grow richer use more energy. We need economic growth unless we condemn（注定）the world’s poor people to their present poverty and freeze everyone else’s living standards. With modest economic growth, energy use and greenhouse emissions more than double by 2050.
No government will adopt rigid restrictions on economic growth and personal freedom (limits on electricity usage, driving and travel) that might cut back global warming. Still, politicians want to show they’re “doing something.” Consider the Kyoto Protocol (京都议定书). It allowed countries that joined to punish those that didn’t. But it hasn’t reduced CO2 emissions (up about 25% since 1990), and many signatories (签字国) didn’t adopt tough enough policies to hit their 2008-2012 targets.
The practical conclusion is that if global warming is a potential disaster, the only solution is new technology. Only an aggressive research and development program might find ways of breaking our dependence on fossil fuels or dealing with it.
The trouble with the global warming debate is that it has become a moral problem when it’s really an engineering one. The inconvenient truth is that if we don’t solve the engineering problem, we’re helpless.What is said about global warming in the first paragraph?
| A．It may not prove an environmental crisis at all. |
| B．It is an issue requiring worldwide commitments. |
| C．Serious steps have been taken to avoid or stop it. |
| D．Very little will be done to bring it under control. |
According to the author’s understanding, what is A1 Gore’s view on global warming?
| A．It is a reality both people and politicians are unaware of. |
| B．It is a phenomenon that causes us many inconveniences. |
| C．It is a problem that can be solved once it is recognized. |
| D．It is an area we actually have little knowledge about. |
Greenhouse emissions will more than double by 2050 because of ________.
| A．economic growth |
| B．wasteful use of energy |
| C．the widening gap between the rich and poor |
| D．the rapid advances of science and technology |
The author believes that, since the signing of the Kyoto Protocol, ________.
| A．politicians have started to do something to better the situation |
| B．few nations have adopted real tough measures to limit energy use |
| C．reductions in energy consumption have greatly cut back global warming |
| D．international cooperation has contributed to solving environmental problems |
What is the message the author intends to convey?
| A．Global warming is more of a moral issue than a practical one. |
| B．The ultimate solution to global warming lies in new technology. |
| C．The debate over global warming will lead to technological breakthroughs. |
| D．People have to give up certain material comforts to stop global warming. |
Here’s one number to keep in mind during your next cell phone conversation: 50. A new experiment shows that spending 50 minutes with an active phone pressed up to the ear increases activity in the brain. This brain activity probably doesn't make you smarter. When cell phones are on, they emit (发出) energy in the form of radiation that could be harmful, especially after years of cell phone usage. Scientists don't know yet whether cell phones are bad for the brain. Studies like this one are attempting to find it out.
The 47 participants in the experiment may have looked a little strange. Each one had two Samsung cell phones attached to his or her head — one on each ear. The phone on the left ear was off. The phone on the right ear played a message for 50 minutes, but the participants couldn't hear it because the sound was off.
With this set-up, the scientists could be sure they were studying brain activity from the phone itself, and not brain activity due to listening and talking during a conversation. After 50 minutes with two phones strapped to their heads, the participants were given PET scans.
The PET scan showed that the left side (the side with the phone turned off) of each participant's brain hadn't changed during the experiment. The right side of the brain, however, had used more glucose, which is a type of sugar that provides fuel to brain cells. These right-side brain cells were using almost as much glucose as the brain uses when a person is talking. This suggests that the brain cells there were active ― even without the person hearing anything. That activity, the scientists say, was probably caused by radiation from the phone.
Henry Lai, who works at the University of Washington in Seattle, is uncomfortable with the data related to cell phones. Holding a cell phone to your ear during a conversation is “not really safe,” Lai told Science News. Lai is a bioengineer at the University of Washington in Seattle. He wrote an article about the new study for a journal, but he did not work on the study. Bioengineers bring together ideas from engineering and biology.
For those who don't want to wait to find out for sure whether cell phones are bad for the brain, there are ways to talk more safely. You can have short and sweet conversations, use a speakerphone or keep the phone away from your head.Which of the following statement is true?
| A．Scientists are sure that cell phones are bad for the brain. |
| B．In the experiment, the left side of the brain used more glucose. |
| C．Radiation from the phone probably causes the change in the brain. |
| D．Henri Lai wrote a lot of articles about this new study. |
Why weren’t the participants allowed to have a conversation on the phone during the experiment?
| A．Because that would be too noisy and bad for the experiment. |
| B．Because they really looked strange and no one wanted to talk to others. |
| C．Because they were given PET scans and they lost the ability to talk. |
| D．Because the scientists want to be sure of the accuracy of the experiment. |
What is glucose?
| A．A type of sugar that provides vitamin to brain cells. |
| B．Something that the right side of the brain used. |
| C．A type of sugar that gives energy to brain cells. |
| D．Something that makes a human excited. |
According to the last two paragraphs, which is the safest way to use a cell phone?
| A．Holding the cell phone close to your head. |
| B．Using a cell phone more than three hours a day. |
| C．Taking the most powerful cell phone. |
| D．Keeping the cell phone at a distance. |
Where is this article probably taken from?
| A．Literature magazine. | B．Science News. |
| C．Story books. | D．Art Journal. |
Undoubtedly there are a few positive characters who are able to “rise above” their environment, who are able to impress the people with whom they come in contact in spite of their clothes.
Sometimes we read of some learned woman, who has “made good in her profession,” who says that she has not looked in a mirror for years; but such a woman is a rare exception, and one is not safe in gambling with one’s chances of success by following her. It is not the positive characters with whom we are concerned, however, for they are few and somehow manage to take care of themselves. The vast majority of the race are not so blessed, and we need to observe but little to realize that with them the reaction of clothes is an important factor.
School girls should know that clothes may make a career; happiness and leadership in all the years of high school and college life may be affected by the story a Freshman’s clothes tell. Many a girl with a keen mind, who has a natural disregard for clothes, perhaps, or who has not been trained in the appreciation of beauty in clothes, has lost her opportunities for leadership and self-expression which by right her brain power should have given her.
One of the mental capacities which we all exercise and yet exercise most unconsciously is that of passing judgment on the people we meet. In a majority of cases the judgment is superficial and inaccurate; but the estimate is made. Some people may not get their final judgment till they hear one talk and will judge one by the tone of voice and by what is said as the true index; but the vast majority will form an opinion based largely, if not entirely, on appearance. One tells the world daily of one’s ideals, ambitions or good breeding through dress; and it is told so plainly that “he who runs may read” and, perhaps, he who reads may run.According to the first two paragraphs, few people _______.
| A．care about their appearances |
| B．understand the art of dressing themselves |
| C．can catch others’ attention by dressing plainly |
| D．are able to dress properly without professional directions |
Who is the text intended for?
| A．Book writers | B．Women |
| C．Men | D．Fashion designers |
The author thinks it is _______ for most of us to judge the people we meet by what they wear.
| A．natural | B．foolish | C．surprising | D．necessary |
Which of the following can be the best title?
| A．Rise Above Your Environment |
| B．He Who Runs May Read |
| C．Dress to Impress |
| D．Art of Dressing |