The power of humor and laugher is numerous. They entertain us and make us feel good. But, above all, we have discovered that humor and laughter are the best medicine. They relieve pain, reduce stress and anxiety, and are anti-aging and longevity facilitators（促进者）.
They are extremely necessary for helping us to find and maintain a balance between life and work. However, they are slipping away from us. We have become far too serious. The only ones who still enjoy humor, laughter, fun and play to the fullest are young children. Children tend to laugh an average of 200 times a day. For adults, however, it is a totally different story.
In the 1950s people laughed on average 18 times a day. Today, we are lucky if we average between 4-6 times a day.
As a matter of fact, a recent study found that people laugh 6 more times in the presence of one person but 30 more times in a group of people. You can get a chuckle(咯咯笑) from jokes you get on the Internet, but it is not the same as belly jiggling laughter (a deep laugh) you get when you interact with others.
Socializing(交际) with friends and relatives was much looked forward to. However, this is no longer the case. In fact, the majority of people can hardly find time, nor do they have the inclination towards socializing outside home. They turn to electronic media such as television, computers, the Internet, videos, CDs, and audio equipment, which can provide them with instant self-entertainment at the push of a button.
The workplace does not fare(进展) much better. Due to the pressures to produce more in the same or fewer hours available and to compete, for example, in a manufacturing field with cheaper labor elsewhere in the world, humor and laughter in the workplace have gradually eroded（逐渐毁坏） away.
I have developed a real appreciation, perhaps closer to a strong desire for the power of humor and laughter. This encouraged me to write my first book titled “The Power of Humor” and subsequently my second book titled “Kids Say the Goggonest Things” based on the natural humor, laughter, play and fun that kids experience and they freely share with parents, grandparents and teachers.
From writing about humor and laughter, people start to ask me to speak up for them. To date, I have developed a number of humor-laughter topics that I use in my keynote presentations. You are invited to subscribe to my free monthly e-magazine “The Humormeister’s Forum” by clicking on the Free Humor E-zine navigation button on the website.According to the author, laughter is leaving us partly because ________.
| A．the pace of change in our lives is becoming faster |
| B．we fail to reflect on fun times in our lives |
| C．we treat everything in a serious way |
| D．humor of situations lies beneath |
The fourth paragraph mainly tells us that ________.
| A．researchers have made a new discovery about the effect of laughter |
| B．people laugh more heartily when spending time with others |
| C．we can entertain ourselves with the help of the Internet |
| D．getting a deep laugh nowadays is difficult |
The underlined word “inclination” in Paragraph 5 most probably means “________”.
| A．destination | B．tendency | C．attitude | D．approach |
Which of the following articles can we most probably find in “The Humormeister’s Forum”?
| A．The power of honesty. |
| B．Don’t be your own worst enemy. |
| C．Live life purposefully: The relationship within. |
| D．Funny Christmas stories to share with your loved ones. |
C
Researchers have just offered evidence in a study that says obesity appears to spread through social ties, much like a virus. When one person gains weight, their close friends often follow. But the findings might also offer hope.
If friends help make obesity acceptable, then they might also be influential in losing the fat. The researchers note that support groups are already an effective tool in dealing with other socially influenced problems, like alcoholism.
The findings appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers used information collected from? 12 000 people. It was collected between 1971 and 2003 as part of the Framingham Heart Study.
The information was highly detailed. There was even contact information for close friends of the people in the study.
The researchers examined more than 40 000 social ties. They found that a person’s chances of becoming severely overweight increased by 57% if a friend had become obese.
A sister or brother of a person who became obese had a 40% increased chance of becoming obese. The risk for a wife or husband was a little less than that.
Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School was a lead investigator in the study. He says there is a direct causal relationship between a person getting fat and being followed in weight gain by a friend.
The study found that the sex of the friends was also an influence. In same—sex friendships, a person had a 71% increased risk of becoming obese. Men had a 44% increased risk of becoming obese after weight gain in a brother. In sisters, it was 67%.
The researchers also considered the effect of where people lived in relation to each other. James Fowler of the University of California,San Diego, was the other lead investigator. He says a friend who lives a few hundred kilometers away has as much influence as one in the same neighborhood. He says the study demonstrates the need to consider that a major part of people’s health is tied to their social connections.
Both investigators say their research shows that obesity is not just a private medical issue, but a public health problem.
59.What does the underlined sentence in Para. 2 mean?
A.Obesity has a negative influence on a close friend.
B.Friends might also play a part in losing weight.
C.One might have a positive influence on one’s friend.
D.Friends usually don’t follow each other to lose weight.
60.Who is mostly likely to gain weight?
A.A man who has a fat brother. B.A husband who has a fat wife.
C.A wife who has a fat husband. D.A woman who a fat female friend.
61.Which of the following statements doesn’t the passage agree with?
A.You are sure to lose weight if you have a skinny friend.
B.If one gains weight, one’s friends are likely to get fat.
C.A person’s health is closely linked with his/her social relationship.
D.Even if the friend lives far away, the influence still remains.
62.The reason why the study involves both family members and friends is that_______
A.researchers fail to find a more different sample
B.researchers have different ideas for family members and friends
C.researchers can meet these people regularly
D.researchers can compare the results
B
The government of Norway is planning to build an unusual storage center on an island in the Arctic Ocean. The place would be large enough to hold about two million seeds. The goal is to represent all crops known to scientists. The British magazine New Scientist published details of the plan last month. The structure will be designed to protect the world’s food supply against nuclear war, climate change and other possible threats. It will be built in a mountain on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. The mountain is less than one thousand kilometers from the North Pole, the northernmost position on Earth.
An international group called the Global Crop Diversity Trust is working on the project. The director of the group, Cary Fowler, spoke to New Scientist. He said the project would let the world rebuild agriculture if, in his words,“the worst came to the worst.” Norway is expected to start work next year. The project is expected to cost three million dollars. Workers will drill deep in the side of a sandstone mountain. Temperatures in the area never rise above zero degrees Celsius. The seeds will be protected behind concrete walls a meter thick and high—security doors.
The magazine report says the collection will represent the products of ten thousand years of farming. Most of the seeds at first will come from collections at seed banks in Africa, Asia and Latin America. To last a long time, seeds need to be kept in very low temperatures. Workers will not be present all the time. But they plan to replace the air inside the storage space each winter. Winter temperatures on the island are about eighteen degrees below zero Celsius. The cold weather would protect the seeds even if the air could not be replaced.
Mr. Fowler says the proposed structure will be the world’s most secure gene bank. He says the plant seeds would only be used when all other seeds are gone for some reason. Norway first proposed the idea in the 1980s. But security concerns delayed the plan. At that time, the Soviet Union was permitted use of Spitsbergen. New Scientist says the plan won United Nations approval in October at a meeting in Rome of the Food and Agriculture Organization.
55.The project is meant to_______.
A.increase the world’s food production in the future
B.carry out some scientific experiments on plant genes
C.protect crop seeds from dying out in case of possible disasters
D.build an exhibition centre of the world’s plant seeds
56.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the above passage?
A.The government of Norway will perform the project alone.
B.Seeds to be collected there were produced ten thousand years ago.
C.Spitsbergen is chosen because it is away from the threat of unclear war forever.
D.Temperature is a major consideration when choosing the storage place.
57.We can infer from the text that_______.
A.People will get newlydeveloped seeds from the center every year
B.The storage center will greatly promote the development of world agriculture
C.Norway meant to have built the storage centre more than 20 years ago
D.There haven’t been any seed storage centers in the world before
58.What is probably the best title of the passage?
A.Noah’s Ark(诺亚方舟) of Plant Seeds in Plan. B.The Best Place to Store Seeds.
C.Concerns of World Food Supply. D.A New Way to Feed the World.
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，从每篇短文后所给各题的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项。
A
One stormy night many years ago, an elderly man and his wife entered the hall of a small hotel in Philadelphia. Trying to get out of the rain, they came to the front desk hoping to get some shelter for the night.
“Could you possibly give us a room here?” the husband asked.
The clerk, a friendly man with a winning smile, looked at the couple and explained that there were three conventions in town.“All of our rooms are taken,” the clerk said.“But I can’t send a nice couple like you out into the rain at one o’clock in the morning. Would you perhaps be willing to sleep in my room? It’s not exactly a suite, but it will be good enough to make you folks comfortable for the night.”
When the couple declined, the young man pressed on.“Don’t worry about me; I’ll make out just fine.” the clerk told them. So the couple agreed.
As he paid his bill the next morning, the elderly man said to the clerk,“You are the kind of manager who should be the boss of the best hotel in the United States. Maybe someday I’ll build one for you.” The clerk looked at them and smiled. The three of them had a good laugh. As they drove away, the elderly couple agreed that the helpful clerk was indeed exceptional, as finding people who are both friendly and helpful isn’t easy.
Two years passed. The clerk had almost forgotten the incident when he received a letter from the old man. It recalled that stormy night and enclosed a round—trip ticket to New York, asking the young man to pay them a visit.
The old man met him in New York, and led him to the corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th street. He then pointed to a great new building there, a pale reddish stone, with turrets and watchtowers thrusting up to the sky.“That,” said the older man,“is the hotel I have just built for you to manage.”“You must be joking,” the young man said.“I can assure you I am not,” said the older man, a sly smile playing around his mouth.
The older man’s name was William Waldorf Astor, and that magnificent structure was the original Waldorf—Astoria Hotel. The young clerk who became its first manager was George C.Boldt. This young clerk never foresaw the turn of events that would lead him to become the manager of one of the world’s most glamorous hotels.
51.The purpose of the author writing this story is to_______.
A.give people a good laughB.cover some facts
C.promote the business of Waldorf—Astoria HotelD.deliver a lesson
52.Which of the statements about the story is NOT true?
A.The story took place at about one a.m..
B.The old couple was too poor to afford a luxurious room.
C.The clerk was willing to help those in need.
D.The clerk received an unexpected invitation from the old man.
53.The underlined word “conventions” in Para.3 can be replaced by_______?
A.rooms B.suites C.meetings D.hotels
54.Which of the following proverbs suits the story the best?
A.Every little thing helps. B.Make hay while the sun shines.
C.Man proposes； God disposes(处理,决定). D.One good turn deserves another.
E
Researchers have just offered evidence in a study that says obesity appears to spread through social ties, much like a virus. When one person gains weight, their close friends often follow, but the finding might also offer hope.
If friends help make obesity acceptable, then might also be influential in losing the fat. The researchers note that support groups are already an effective tool in dealing with other socially influenced problems, like alcoholism.
The findings appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, The researchers used information collected from 12,000 people. It was collected between 1971 and 2003 as part of the Framingham Heart Study.
The information was highly detailed. There was even contact information for close friends of the people in the study.
The researchers examined more than 40,000 social ties. They found that a person’s chances of becoming severely overweight increased by 57% if a friend had become obese.
Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School was a lead investigator in the study. He says there is a direct causal relationship between a person getting fat and being followed in weight gain by a friend.
The study found that the sex of the friends was also an influence. In same-sex friendships, a person had a 70% increased risk of becoming obese. Men had a 44% increased risk of becoming obese after weight gain in brothers. In sisters, it was 67%. Between husbands and wives, it was a little less than 40%.
The researchers also considered the effect of where people lived in relation to each other. James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego, was the other lead investigator. He says a friend who lives a few hundred kilometers away has as much influence as one in the same neighborhood. He says the study demonstrates the need to consider that a major part of people’s health is tied to their social connections.
Both investigators say their research shows that obesity is not just a private medical issue, but a public health problem.
67. What does the underlined sentence in Para2.mean?
A. Obesity has a negative influence on a close friend.
B. Friends might also play a part in losing weight.
C. One might have a positive influence on one’s friend.
D. Friends usually don’t follow each other to lose weight.
68. Who is mostly likely to gain weight?
A. A man who has a fat brother.
B. A husband who has a fat wife.
C. A wife who has a fat husband.
D. A woman who a fat female friend.
69. Which of the following statements doesn’t the passage agree with?
A. You are sure to lose weight if you have a skinny friend.
B. If one gains weight, one’s friends are likely to get fat.
C. A person’s health is closely linked with his /her social relationship.
D. Even if the friend lives far away, the influence still remains.
70. The reason why the study involves both family members and friends is that _____.
A. researchers fail to find a more different sample
B. researchers have different ideas for family members and friends
C. researchers can meet these people regularly
D. researchers can compare the results
D
Anyone for rocket salad? The Chinese are now growing huge vegetables from seeds they sent into space.
If you are the type who worries about the air miles travelled by fruits and vegetables, these beauties aren’t for you. It's because they have travelled a little further than most.
The seeds from which they grew were fired into space, where they orbited the earth for two weeks. Once they returned they were grown in hothouses, producing the monster kinds seen here.
China, which is behind these space fruits and vegetables, says they could be the answer to the world's food crisis.
The 21-pound tomatoes, nine-inch
chillies, 15-stone pumpkins and large watermelons growing at the Gu
angdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences’ hothouses can feed many more than their smaller cousins, and may have more nutrients, the scientists say.
Researcher Lo Zhigang said, "Traditional agricultural development has taken us as far as we can go and demand for food from a growing population is endless. Space seeds offer the opportunity to grow fruits and vegetables bigger and faster. "
He admitted he and his colleagues could not explain why time in orbit caused the seeds to change genetic structure. But they guessed exposure to the cosmic（宇宙的）radiation that attacked the spacecraft in orbit, as well as the near zero gravity conditions, microgravity, could play a part.
"We don't think there's any threat to human health because the genes themselves do not change; just their order changes," he said. "With genetically-modified（GM）crops you have seen environmental problems because they have added genes that can damage other organisms. But with space seeds they don't gain genes; they can only lose them. "
He also claimed the Vitamin C content in some space vegetables was nearly three times higher than in common vegetables, while levels of zinc are also increased.
Western scientists are doubtful. NASA researchers who have experimented with seeds in space say there is not enough benefit to show the cost is reasonable.
63. What do the underlined words "these beauties" in Paragraph 2 probably refer to ______?
A. Beautiful views along the air routes. B. Travelling experiences in space.
C. Seeds fired into space. D. Giant vegetables.
64. We can infer from Lo’s words in Paragraph 6 that _______.
A. our conventional agriculture has developed too slowly.
B. we are asking too much from nature
C. space seeds may help meet our demand for food
D. we'll grow crops in space in the future
65. Why the seeds changed their genetic structure _______.
A. remains to be proved
B. is discovered by Lo Zhigang
C. has something to do with the conditions in hothouses
D. is due to the radiation that attacked them directly
66. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?
A. Western scientists’ doubt is unreasonable.
B. Western scientists don’t believe that Chinese scientists have succeeded in the experiment.
C. Western scientists have proved space seeds to be of no benefit.
D. Western scientists think the cost of space seeds outweighs the benefits