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Material Girl no more? Madonna says writing children’s books is more satisfying than being a movie star.
Her book, The English Roses, wen t on sale on September 15th, appearing in 100 countries and in 30 languages as the first in her series of tales for children. The pop diva (女歌唱家), whose only book until now was the 1992 photo essay titled “Sex”, said she wrote the books to teach children some of the life lessons she’s learned over the years.
“The most fun that I’ve had of all the things I’ve done successfully has been to write these books. A lot of it has to do with the fact that I’m not doing it to become more famous, and I’m not doing it to become richer. I’m doing it because I want to share something I know with children.”
Hours after its release, the 43page book was already No. 3 on Amazon, com’s sales list. The first print is 1 million copies worldwide, with more than 750,000 in the United States. The English Roses is about a friendship shared by four girls and their mutual (共同的) envy of a beautiful classmate, with illustrations (插图) by fashion artist Jeffrey Fulvimari.
“There is one lifegiving force in the world,” Madonna declared. “When we disconnect from this lifegiving force, that’s when we bring pain and suffering into our lives. Each of the stories has to do with different ways you disconnect from God. ”Madonna also said she was deeply affected by the experience of raising two children, Lourdes, 6, and Rocco, 3. The English Roses is the latest among a growing number of celebritywritten children’s books.
The next book in the series, “Mr Peabody’s Apples,”will be out in November.Each tale is set in a different time and place and has new characters and different illustrators.
1.How many books does Madonna’s series of tales include?
A.At least 3. B.4. C.At least 2. D.6.
2.According to the idea of Madonna, the underlined phrase “life-giving force”in Paragraph 5 refers to .
A.The English Roses. B.God C.Mr Peabody’s Apples. D.her life
3.When Madonna said writing children’s books was more satisfying than being a movie star,she meant that .
A.she was more satisfied with her writing children’s books
B.she was more satisfied as a movie star C.being a movie star was not really successful
D.she was not a Material Girl any more
4.According to the passage,Madonna wrote the book The English Roses in order to .
A.provide children with funB.teach children some life lessons
C.teach children how to become famous D.share her success with children

While still in its early stages, welfare reform has already been judged a great success in many states-at least in getting people off welfare. It’s estimated that more than 2 million people have left the rolls since 1994.
In the past four years, welfare rolls in Athens County have been cut in half. But 15 percents of the people who left in the past two years took jobs that paid less than $6 an hour. The resuit: The Athens County poverty rate still remains at more than 30 percent-twice the national average.
For advocates (代言人) for the poor, that’s an indication that much more needs to be done.
“More people are getting jobs, but it’s not making their lives any better,” says Kathy Lairn,a policy analyst at the Center on Budget and policy Priorities in Washington.
A center analysis of US Census data nationwide found that between 1995 and 1996, a greater percentage of single, female-headed households were earning money on their own, but that average income for these households actually went down.
But for many, the fact that poor people are able to support themselves almost as well without government aid as they did with it is in itself a huge victory.
“Welfare was a poison. It was a toxin(毒素) that was poisoning the family,” says Robert Rector, a welfarereform policy analyst. “The reform is changing the moral climate in lowincome communities. It’s beginning to rebuild the work ethic(道德观), which is much more important.”
Mr. Rector and others argued that once “the habit of dependency is cracked, ”then the country can make other policy changes aimed at improving living standards.
13.From the passage, it can be seen that the auther .
A.believes the reform has reduced the government’s burden
B.insists that welfare reform is doing little good for the poor
C.is overenthusiastic about the success of welfare reform
D.considers welfare reform to be fundamentally successful
14.Why aren’t people enjoying better lives when they have jobs?
A.Because many families are divorced. B.Because government aid is now rare.
C.Because their wages are low. D.Because the cost of living is rising.
15.What is worth noting from the example of Athens County is that .
A.greater efforts should be made to improve people’s living standards
B.15 percent of the people there have been employed for two years
C.50 percent of the population no longer relies on welfare
D.the living standards of most people are going down
16.From the passage we know that welfare reform aims at_______ .
A.saving welfare funds B.rebuilding the work ethics(观念)
C.providing more jobs D.cutting government expenses

Unless we spend money spotting and preventing asteroids(小行星) now, one might crash into Early and destroy life as we know it, say some scientists.
Asteroids are bigger versions of the meteoroids(流星) that race across the night sky. Most orbit the sun far from Earth and don’t threaten us. But there are also thousands of asteroids whose orbits put them on a collision course with Earth.
Buy $50 million worth of new telescopes right now. Then spend $10 million a year for the next 25 years to locate most of the space rocks. By the time we spot a fatal one, the scientists say, we’ll have a way to change its course.
Some scientists favor pushing asteroids off course with nuclear weapons. But the cost wouldn’t be cheap. Is is worth it? Two things experts consider when judging any risk are: (1)How likely the event is; and (2) How bad the consequences if the event occurs. Experts think an asteroid big enough to destroy lots of life might strike Earth once every 500 000 years. Sounds pretty rare-but if one did fall, it would be the end of the world. “If we don’t take care of these asteroids, they’ll take care of us,”says one scientist. “It’s that simple.”
The cure, though, might be worse than the disease. Do we really want fleets of nuclear weapons sitting around on Earth? “The world has less to fear from doomsday(世界末日) rocks than from a great nuclear fleet set against it,” said a New York Times article.
9.What does the passage say about asteroids and meteoroids?
A.They are heavenly bodies different in composition.
B.They are heavenly bodies similar in nature.
C.There are more asteroids than meteoroids.
D.Asteroids are more mysterious than meteoroids.
10.What do scientists say about the collision of an asteroid with Earth?
A.It is very unlikely but the danger exists.
B.Such a collision might occur once every 25 years.
C.Coilisions of smaller asteroids with Earth occur more often than expected.
D.lt’s still too early to say whether such a collision might occur.
11.What do people think of the suggestion of using nuclear weapons to alter the course of asteroids?
A.It sounds practical but it may not solve the problem.
B.It may create more problems than it might slove.
C.It is a waste of money because a collision of asteroids with Earth is very unlikely.
D.Further research should be done before it is proved applicable.
12.We can conclude from the passage that .
A.while pushing asteroids off course nuclear weapons would destroy the world
B.asteroids racing across the night sky are likely to hit Earth in the near future
C.the worry about asteroids can be left to future generations since it is unlike to happen in our lifetime.
D.workable solutions still have to be found to prevent a collision of asteroids with Earth

America is a country on the move. In unheardof numbers, people of all ages are exercising their way to better health. According to the latest figures, 4 percent of American adults exercise regularly-up 12 percent from just two years ago and more than double the figure of 25 years ago. Even non-exercisers believe they would be more attractive and confident if they were more active.
It is hard not to get the message. The virtues of physical fitness are shown on magazine covers, postage stamps, and television ads of everything from beauty soaps to travel books. Exercise as a part of daily life did not catch on until the late 195s when research by military doctors began to show the health benefits of doing regular physical exercises. Growing publicity (宣传) for races held in American cities helped fuel a strong interest in the ancient sport of running. Although running has leveled off in recent years as Americans have discovered equally rewarding-and sometimes safer-forms of exercise, such as walking and swimming, running remains the most popular form of exercise.
As the popularity of exercise continues to mount, so does scientific evidence of its health benefits. The key to fitness is exercising the major muscle groups vigorously (强有力地) enough to approximately double the heart rate and keep it doubled for 20 to 30 minutes at a time. Doing such physical exercises three times or more a week will produce considerable improvements in physical health in about three months.
5.It can be learnt from the passage that the health benefits of exercise .
A.are to be further studied B.are selfevident
C.are yet to be proved D.are supported by scientific evidence
6.A growing interest in sports developed after___________ .
A.an increasing number of races were held in American cities
B.research showed their health benefits
C.scientific evidence of health benefits was shown on TV ads
D.people got the message from magazine covers and postage stamps
7.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A.Exercise-The Road to Health B.Scientific Evidence of Health Benefits
C.Different Forms of Exercise D.Running-A Popular Form of Sport
8.Which of the following is closest in meaning to the phrase “leveled off” in the paragraph 2?
A.“reached its lowest level in popularity” B.“stopped being popular”
C.“stopped increasing in popularity” D.“become very popular”

Even with little exposure to cultural standards of beauty, “infants treat attractive faces as distinctive regardless of the sex, age a nd race of the stimulus(刺激物) faces,” write psychologist Judith H.Langlois and her colleagues in the January DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY.
In their experiment, 5 healthy 6-month-old infants from middle-class families viewed slides showing eight pairs of white male faces and eight pairs of white female faces. Each pair, displayed for 10 seconds, consisted of one attractive and one unattractive face, as previously judged by a group of male and female college students. An experimenter viewed the young participants on a video monitor and recorded the direction and duration of each infant’s gaze.
The 35 boys and 25 girls looked longer at both male and female faces judged as attractive, the researchers found.
Their second study of 6-month-old involved 15 boys and 25 girls, mostly white, who saw eight pairs of slides showing an attractive and an unattractive black female, as previously judged by both white and black college students. Again, the babies looked much longer at attractive faces.
Finally, 19 boys and 20 girls, all 6 months old and almost all of them white, viewed eight pairs of slides showing the faces of 3-month-old boys and girls previously rated as attractive or unattractive by college students. Attractive baby faces drew signficantly longer looks, the psychologists report.
Further studies must explore whether infants take attractive faces as “best examples” of a face, the investigators claim Langlois and a coworker recently reported that attractive faces may possess features that approximate the mathematical average of all faces in particular population.
1.What was found in the first study?
A.Male infants looked longer only at female ones.
B.Females looked more attractive than males.
C.Sixty 6monthold babies looked longer at the attractive faces, male or female.
D.White female faces drew more attention than those of black ones.
2.In the last paragraph, the writer implies that .
A.Langlois and her partners will stop their experiments they accomplished a lot
B.Langlois and her partners will focus on the other fields of infants
C.Langlois and her partners have achieved success in studying the infants’ mind
D.Langlois and her partners have found a more interesting field
3.What can be inferred from the passage?
A.All babies, white or black, tend to share with the college students the preference for attractive faces.
B.White babies prefer white faces to black ones.
C.Babies tend to get interested in the attractive faces of the opposite sex.
D.Beauty has something to do with a person’s age, race and sex
4.The title that best expresses the main idea is .
A.Psychology of Infants B.Beauty in Variety C.Beauty and Race D.Beauty in Infants