Here is an astonishing and significant fact：Mental work alone can’t make us tired.It sounds absurd.But a few years ago，scientists tried to find out how long the human brain could labor without reaching a stage of fatigue (疲劳)．To the amazement of these scientists，they discovered that blood passing through the brain，when it is active，shows no fatigue at all! If we took a drop of blood from a day laborer，we would find it full of fatigue toxins(毒素) and fatigue products.But if we took blood from the brain of an Albert Einstein，it would show no fatigue toxins at the end of the day.
So far as the brain is concerned，it can work as well and swiftly at the end of eight or even twelve hours of effort as at the beginning.The brain is totally tireless.So what makes us tired?
Some scientists declare that most of our fatigue comes from our mental and emotional(情感的) attitudes.One of England’s most outstanding scientists，J.A.Hadfield，says，“The greater part of the fatigue from which we suffer is of mental origin.In fact，fatigue of purely physical origin is rare.”Dr.Brill，a famous American scientist，goes even further.He declares，“One hundred percent of the fatigue of a sitting worker in good health is due to emotional problems.”
What kinds of emotions make sitting workers tired? Joy? Satisfaction? No! A feeling of being bored，anger，anxiety，tenseness，worry，a feeling of not being appreciated－those are the emotions that tire sitting workers.Hard work by itself seldom causes fatigue.We get tired because our emotions produce nervousness in the body.What surprised the scientists a few years ago?
| A．Fatigue toxins could hardly be found in a laborer’s blood. |
| B．Albert Einstein didn’t feel worn out after a day’s work. |
| C．The brain could work for many hours without fatigue. |
| D．A mental worker’s blood was filled with fatigue toxins. |
According to the author，which of the following can make sitting workers tired?
| A．Challenging mental work. |
| B．Unpleasant emotions. |
| C．Endless tasks. |
| D．Physical labor. |
What’s the author’s attitude towards the scientists’ ideas?
| A．He agrees with them. |
| B．He doubts them. |
| C．He argues against them. |
| D．He hesitates to accept them. |
We can infer from the passage that in order to stay energetic，sitting workers need to ________.
| A．have some good food |
| B．enjoy their work |
| C．exercise regularly |
| D．discover fatigue toxins |
The education of thousands of children with reading and sight trouble is being held back because of a lack of awareness of their legal rights, say campaigners.
They are calling for greater efforts to increase awareness of the rights of such children to have text books in design other than standard (标准) print. The campaign is being supported by five times Olympic gold medalist, Sir Steve Redgrave, who has reading trouble.
Pupils have the right to receive text in another way, and parents can take action under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) if they feel their children are being treated in a different way through a lack of support. But new research suggests 89 per cent of print disabled pupils and their parents are unaware of software which changes standard print into other substitutes like combined text and audio files (音频) which can be read or listened to.
Sir Steve has teamed up with software company Dolphin Computer Access to raise awareness of software turning tools. He said: "I recognize that schools have competing priorities (优先权) for their resources (资源), but I would like to see a much greater effort on the part of the government and schools to raise awareness among parents that these additional solutions exist and that their children have a right to use them."
Mike Foster, Dolphin's local MP in Worcester, is backing the campaign. "There is clearly an issue to solve concerning software for special needs. I'll be asking ministers what steps can be taken to improve the situation", he said.What is the best title of this text?
| A．Awareness of legal rights among parents | B．Campaign started for disabled children |
| C．Problems of disabled children | D．Steve — Olympic gold medalist |
Which of the following can best replace the underlined word “backing” in Paragraph 5?
| A．holding back | B．objecting to | C．supporting | D．controlling |
Most print disabled pupils and their parents
________.
| A．don’t know anything about such software |
| B．must cooperate with the software company |
| C．prefer combined text and audio files more |
| D．must take action to receive text in another way |
Sir Steve Redgrave suggests that
________.
| A．government and schools raise awareness of disabled children’s legal rights |
| B．parents take greater efforts to ask the government and schools for help |
| C．parents should take action to raise awareness of software turning tools |
| D．software company work with him to make the products |
What Mike Foster said in Paragraph 5 means
________.
| A．the ministers should be responsible for improving the situation |
| B．the software for special needs has got well along |
| C．the problem about software for special needs is to be dealt with |
| D．how to use the software is a big problem |
Connie Lau hates smoking. “It smells awful, and it’s so bad for you. It breaks my heart to see my friends smoking. I try to get them to give up smoking.” She says.
So why does Connie walk into convenience stores and try to buy cigarettes? She is testing to see if stores will sell cigarettes to a kid who is younger than 18. “You have to be 18 to purchase cigarettes, and I’m 16, so if they sell to me, they’re breaking the law,” Connie says.
Connie isn’t a vigilante (治安队员); She works with local police in her town of Castro Valley, California. Officers drive her to stores, and she goes in alone to try to buy cigarettes. If the person behind the counter sells her a pack, an officer comes in and writes the business a ticket for breaking the law.
Most stores obey the law and don’t sell her cigarettes. The law requires that customers show ID if store employees ask them to. “When they ask your age, you can’t lie,” Connie says. “Most stores don’t sell to me. In a year, we’ve visited almost 150 stores and had only 15 sales.”
Working undercover can be scary, even with police nearby. Connie said one cashier refused to sell her cigarettes and then got angry when he found out her age. He threatened to call the authorities. “To calm him down, the police went in to explain that I was undercover,” she says.
Most teens wouldn’t think of going undercover for the police. What’s Connie’s motivation (动机)? For starters, she can’t stand smoking. But she also believes it’s important for young people like her to try to make a real impact in their communities. In her view, teens can do more than get good grades in school, do chores at home, and do well in out-of-class activities.
Every time she stops the sale of cigarettes to children, she’s helping to uphold the law. “A single teenager can make a big difference,” Connie says. “For the most part, when stores get caught, they learn their lesson and don’t do it again.” According to the law what age of person can the store be allowed to sell cigarettes to?
| A．Under 18. | B．More than 18. | C．16. | D．More than 16. |
Connie goes to convenience stores to
________.
| A．discover whether stores can sell cigarettes to kids |
| B．see which stores can sell cigarettes to her friends |
| C．look for her friends |
| D．arrest the smokers |
What would happen if an owner sells cigarettes to kids?
| A．The owner would be arrested. | B．The owner would be fined. |
| C．The kids would be punished. | D．The kids would be removed from school. |
One reason that Connie works undercover is that
________.
| A．she wants more smokers to quit smoking |
| B．she wants to get good grades in school |
| C．she hopes to make a difference in the area |
| D．she hopes to be excellent in out-of-class activities |
Which of the following might be the main idea of the text?
| A．Smoking can be forbidden with the help of a girl. |
| B．A good way to stop a store from selling cigarettes to kids. |
| C．Connie Lau — a brave girl who goes undercover for the policeman. |
| D．Connie Lau goes undercover to stop stores from selling cigarettes to kids. |
I visited the nearby car factory today with my uncle, who works there. One thing I noticed was that most of the work is now done by robots. Welding (焊接), painting, testing, and many other jobs are performed by robots now.The whole dashboard (仪表板) of the car is now put into the car from above, through the windshield, by a robot. It would have taken two men to do this in the past, and it would have hurt their backs quite a bit. It got me thinking: is it a good thing that robots are replacing factory workers? On one hand, robots generally do a more accurate job than people. They aren’t likely to make many mistakes, and if something goes wrong with one car, an alarm goes off. They do exactly the same thing, every time, without fail. A human worker is never able to do exactly the same thing every time. On the other hand, robots also reduce costs for companies. Companies don’t have to pay robots wages or injury compensation (补偿) if they’re broken. If something in a robot does go wrong, it won’t have to take time off work for a year, or even forever, as could happen to a real person if he breaks his back or burn himself while welding.The obvious downside to all of this is that it increases the unemployment rate. The company will have to bring in some very talented individuals who know how to operate the robots. Unlike regular factory workers, these intelligence workers usually demand a higher pay.We can learn from the first paragraph that _______.
| A．all the workers are replaced by robots now |
B．robots do much of the work instead of workers now |
C．there were no workers in the car factory |
D．the author’s uncle made robots in the factory |
According to the text robots _______.
| A．can do work as accurately as workers |
B．never break down |
C．can do exactly the same thing repeatedly |
D．ask for less money from companies |
The underlined word "downside" in the last paragraph probably means "_______".
| A．weakness | B．favor | C．assistance | D．strength |
It can be inferred from the last paragraph that _______.
A．companies refuse to pay for intelligence workers |
B．robots have helped all of the workers |
C．robots can help solve the problem of unemployment |
D．using robots in factories widely will have a long way to go |
What is the author’s attitude towards using robots in factories?
| A．He is doubtful about it. | B．He thinks it necessary. |
C．He is strongly against it. | D． The text doesn’t mention it. |
Have you dreamed of traveling to cool places, meeting different people, and maybe picking up a language or two? No matter which country you live in, you can fly over the world’s highest waterfalls in Venezuela, study in France or take dancing lessons in Ghana. Besides the excitement of traveling, there is another reason to study abroad. "Obviously, I learned the language and am now fluent, but perhaps what’s more important was how much I learned about cultures, people, and myself." said Andrew, who studied in France.Christina studied in Caracas, Venezuela, a city of 10 million people and a huge change from her hometown of 35,000! Christina said she learned how to better speak for herself and her beliefs and to express herself in another language. What could make you more confident than that?Living away from home can also help you become adapted to the transition (过渡) to college and adulthood. Matthew said that he returned from studying in Australia with confidence, and a real interest in international affairs. "After having gone abroad in high school, I found the transition to college was a breeze — moving 560 miles from home didn’t seem difficult at all after having lived thousands of miles away. "Speaking of college, improving your language skills might help you get into ideal colleges and even land future jobs. Colleges and employers know that studying abroad provides leadership skills in a world that needs much communication. Most of all, it’s fun! You won’t suffer from the general boredom (单调) while you’re studying in a different learning environment.What do we know about Andrew?
| A．He once flew over the world’s highest waterfalls. |
B．He took dancing lessons in Ghana. |
C．He learned about cultures in Caracas, Venezuela. |
D．He studied in France. |
According to Christina, studying abroad enables people to ________.
| A．get along with people around | B．have confidence in themselves |
C．get used to a different life | D．know about different cultures |
By saying "I found the transition to college was a breeze", the author means it is _______ to adapt to college life.
| A．interesting | B．difficult | C．easy | D．disappointing |
From the last paragraph, the greatest thing you can get by studying abroad is to _______.
| A．enjoy the excitement of traveling | B．pick up a new language |
C．enter the university you dreamed of | D．make your life full of pleasure |
What does the text mainly talk about?
| A．The advantages of studying abroad. | B．What to prepare to study abroad. |
C．The experiences of studying abroad. | D．Different opinions on studying abroad. |
Up, Up, and Away!
An adventurer who became the first person to fly across the English Channel on a cluster（簇）of balloons has launched a house into the sky just like in the hit movie Up-in reparation for a more ambitious journey and a new record
Fearless Trappe , from North Carolina, stepped into the cartoon themed home before flying above the leon International Balloon Festivel in Mexico more than a week ago.
The 38-year-old Trappe was using the event as a warm-up for his planned trans-Atlantic flight scheduled for next summer ,He aims to complete the 2,500-mile journey in a seven-foot lifeboat carried by 365 huge helium（氦气）ballooms
The brave man is learning to sail a lifeboat ,in case he meeds to ditch (在海中迫降)into the ocean during the danger-filled adventure
He sill fly at between 18,000 feet and 25,000 feet , beating his previous world altitude record of 21,600 feet ,and must fly uninterrupted a distance ten times longer than his previous world record of 230 miles in order to succeed.
The adventurer Trappe ,who holes records for crossing the Alps, flying the most cluster balloons, and the longest distance , has opent his entire carreer ,building up to this ambitious plan.
“I didn’t wake up one day and think：‘I’ going to fly across the Atlantic, ’”he said “he said Every attempt before this was prepared for this fight ,I’ve been training for a long time”The adventurer flew across the English Channel to
| A．test the balloons |
| B．launch a house |
| C．shoot a hit movie |
| D．prepare for breaking a record |
To finish the journey ,he will fly a distance of
| A．2500 miles | B．18,000 feet | C．25,000 feet | D．230 miles |
About the ambitious journey ,which is NIT mentioned in the passage?
| A．When he will fly | B．How high he sill fly |
| C．How far he will fly | D．How long it will take him |
How many world records does Jonathan hold?
| A．Two | B．Three | C．Four | D．Five |
What does he last paragraph imply?
| A．Trappe can’t sleep worrying about the adventure |
| B．Trappe was born to set world records |
| C．Trappe always keeps his ambition in mind |
| D．Trappe never thought of crossing the Ataantic before |