Most children, even the youngest of children, are delighted to be around cats and dogs. But these pets carry plenty of germs and allergens（过敏原）, prompting researchers to ask: Are cats and dogs really safe for children？
A study finds that, contrary to many parents’ fears, owning cats or dogs does not increase a child’s risk of developing allergies, and in fact, may actually protect them. The study’s lead author, Dr. Dennic Ownby of the Medical College of Georgia, says that even he was “very surprised” by the results. Ownby and colleagues followed more than 470 children from birth to age 6 or 7, comparing those exposed to cats and dogs during their first year of life to those who were not.
By using skin-prick tests for detecting common allergies, the researchers found that, contrary to what many doctors had been taught for years, children who had lived with a pet were not at greater risk.
Even more remarkable, children who had two or more dogs or cats had an even greater reduction, up to 77 percent, in risk of allergies. Researchers suggest this protective effect may be the result of early exposure to lots of bacteria that are carried by dogs and cats. Exposing young children to these bacteria helps "exercise" their immune systems early in life so that they're better able to resist allergic diseases later.
There's something very important in that first year of life when the immune(免疫) system is developing that we can retrain it away from an allergic response, said Dr. William Davis.
And while researchers are not encouraging parents to buy dogs or cats just to reduce a child’s allergy risk, they say if a family already has one or more animals, there's no need to get rid of them. Why do the researchers feel “very surprised” by the results of the study?
| A．Because the results are contrary to their expectation． |
| B．Because so many children are playing with cats and dogs． |
| C．Because parents are so much worried about their children． |
| D．Because children with animals may develop allergies easily． |
Compared with children who have pets，those who haven’t ______.
| A．will lose the chance to develop immune system |
| B．will reduce the harm from bacteria |
| C．may suffer allergic diseases more often |
| D．can keep doctors away |
The underlined word “it” in the fifth paragraph refers to________.
| A．the early life | B．an allergic disease |
| C．something important | D．immune system |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．How to protect your kids from allergies |
| B．Bacteria do good to your kids |
| C．Your pets may be helping your kids |
| D．Advantages of owning pets |
Hello! The University of Hawaii is located just outside of downtown Honolulu in green Manoa valley. We invite you to visit and want to let you know about our learning programs, the richness of our culture, the beauty of our environment, the spirit of our students and teachers, advanced equipment and modern buildings. We look forward to seeing you come. The following information is given so that your visit will be as easy as possible.
You should get in touch with us ahead of time. You may directly contact the office of the College to schedule appointment service at 1-877-447-3233. To arrange a campus tour please hand in a request through our Online Campus Visit Request Form.
Tours are on weekdays:
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
9:00a.m. — 9:30a.m.: Meet with a University Representative（代表）
9:30a.m. — 11:30a.m.: General Campus Tour with a UHM （The University of Hawaii at Manoa） student
Tuesday & Thursday
1:00p.m. — 1:30p.m.: Meet with a University Representative
1:30p.m. — 3:30p.m.: General Campus Tour with a UHM student
You also can get in touch with us by:
Phone Number: 1 (877) 447-3233, or 1 (808) 956-6524
E-mail: visituhm@hawaii.edu
How do you get to UHM?
It is in Honolulu less than 3 miles away from Waikiki and about 9 miles from Honolulu International Airport.
By car: From Waikiki and from Honolulu International Airport
Taxi: Taxi fare to UHM is about $25.00, except baggage charges and a tip of 10 to 15 percent.
Public bus: Luggage is allowed on city buses. Bus stops are on the second floor of the airport. A one-way fare is $2.00 (in exact change).The University of Hawaii lies _______.
| A．outside green Manoa valley | B．in the business area of Honolulu |
| C．outside the center of Honolulu | D．outside the city of Honolulu |
You will meet with a University Representative if you go there _________.
| A．at 9:00 in the morning on Mondays | B．at 10:00 in the morning on Tuesdays |
| C．at 2:00 in the afternoon on Wednesday | D．at 3:00 in the afternoon on Thursday |
According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．A one-way public bus fare is 2 pounds. | B．Taxi fare to UHM is less than $ 25.00. |
| C．Bus stops are on the first floor of the airport. | |
| D．UHM is about 9 miles from Honolulu International Airport. |
The author writes the passage so that readers can ____.
| A．know about the beauty of the campus | B．know about the learning programs |
| C．know more about the university | D．visit the campus as easily as possible |
Life gets noisier every day and very few people can be free from noise of some sort or another. It doesn’t matter where you live—in the middle of a modern city, or a faraway village—the chances that you will be disturbed by jet aero planes, transistor radios, oil-powered engines, etc. are almost everywhere.We seem to be getting used to noise, too. Some people feel quite lonely without background music while they are working.
Scientific tests have shown that total silence can be very frightening experience for human beings. However, some people enjoy listening to pop music which is very loud, and this can do harm to their eardrums(耳鼓).The noise level in some disco is far above the usual safety level for heavy industrial areas.
One recent report about noise and concentration(专心) suggested that although a lot of people say that any noise disturbs their concentration, what really affects their ability to concentrate is a change in the level of noise. It goes on to say that a background noise, which doesn’t change too much (music, for example) may even help people to concentrate.The best title for this passage is __________.
| A．Noisy Life | B．Background Noise | C．Disturbed Concentration | D．Changeable Noise |
From this passage, the pollution of noise __________.
| A．doesn’t matter much | B．has become worse everywhere |
| C．has become better in big cities | D．has become better in villages |
“Background music” in the passage means __________.
| A．music played in the concert | B．a kind of noise coming into your ears |
| C．music helps people to concentrate | D．music played while people are working |
Some people may have their hearing hurt __________.
| A．while they are in completely silence | B．while they are dancing violently |
| C．while they are listening to pop music | D．while they are listening to soft music |
Scientists have discovered that what prevents people from concentrating is ______.
| A．any kind of noise | B．great changes in level of noise |
| C．background noise | D．various background music |
Britain’s symbolic red phone boxes have become out of date in the age of the mobile, but villages across the country are stepping in to save them, with creative intelligence. Whether as a place to exhibit art, poetry, or even as a tiny library, hundreds of phone boxes have been given a new life by local communities determined to preserve a typical part of British life. In Waterperry, a small village near Oxford, the 120 residents have filled the phone box next to the old house with a pot of flowers, piles of gardening and cooking magazines, and stuck poems on the walls.
They took control of the phone box when telecoms operator BT said it was going to pull it down, an announcement that caused such dissatisfaction that one local woman threatened to chain herself to the box to save it. “I’d have done it, “ insisted Kendall Turner. “It would have been heartbreaking for the village. “ Local councilor Tricia Hallam, who came up with the idea for the phone box’s change, said quite a few people would have joined her, adding, “ We couldn’t let it go because it’s a British symbol.”
Only three feet by three feet wide, and standing 2.51-meter tall, the phone boxes were designed by Giles Gilbert Scott in 1936 for the 25th anniversary of the reign of King George V. Painted in “Post Office red” to match the post boxes, they were once a typical image of England and the backdrop(背景) to millions of tourist photographs.
Eight years ago there were about 17,000 across Britain, but today, in a country where almost everybody has a mobile phone, 58 percent are no longer profitable and ten percent are only used once a month. “On average, maintaining them costs ￡800 a year per phone box-about ￡44 million annually,” said John Lumb, general manager for BT Payphones.Some red phone boxes in Britain have been used for ____.
a. selling flowers b. cooking c. reading d. exhibiting art or poetry
| A．a, b | B．c, d | C．a,b,c | D．b,c,d |
Why do the villagers want to keep the red phone boxes?
| A．Because millions of people visit Britain to see the red phone boxes. |
| B．Because the local people could earn a lot of money from the red phone boxes. |
| C．Because the red phone boxes have already become a symbol of Britain. |
| D．Because the red phone boxes may be useful for some people in emergency. |
What is the color of the British post boxes according to the passage?
| A．Green | B．Red | C．Black | D．Yellow |
What is John Lumb’s attitude towards pulling down the red phone boxes?
| A．supportive | B．Opposed | C．Neutral | D．Indifferent. |
Watercolour is the oldest paints known. It dates back to the early cave men who discovered they could add lifelike qualities to drawings of animals and other figures on the walls of caves by mixing the natural colours found in the earth with water.
Fresco (壁画), one of the greatest of all art forms, is done with watercolour. It is created by mixing paints and water and applying these to wet plaster (灰泥). Of the thousands of people who stand under Michelangelo’s heroic ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, very few know that they are looking at perhaps the greatest watercolour painting in the world.
The invention of oil painting by the Flemish masters in the fifteenth century made fresco painting go down-hill, and for the next several centuries watercolour was used mainly for doing sketches (草图) or as a tool for study. It was not until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that English painters put back watercolour as a serious art form. The English have a widely-known love for outdoors and also small private pictures. The softness of watercolour had a remarkably strong attraction for them.
The popularity of watercolour continued to grow until the twentieth century. The United States passed England as the center for watercolour, producing such well-known watercolour artists as Thomas Eakins and Andrew Wyeth. The purpose of the passage is to introduce _____.
| A．the gradual weakness of fresco painting |
| B．oils’ power or influence over watercolour |
| C．the discovery of watercolour in England |
| D．the start and development of watercolour |
In the 16th and 17th centuries the artists thought _____.
| A．watercolour was softer, and thus better |
| B．oil painting lasted longer, and was better |
| C．watercolour wasn’t fit for finished works |
| D．watercolour was too hard to use in any works |
According to the passage, watercolour painting was put back in England because ____
| A．it was easy to use outdoors | B．it was a strong medium |
| C．it was extremely bright in colour | D．it was suited to popular tastes |
What would the next paragraph most probably deal with?
| A．The works of famous US watercolour artists | B．Modern American oil painters |
| C．The weakness of oils as popular paints | D．Techniques of producing watercolour |
There are many American expressions about insects--- like bees, for example. Bees are known as very hard workers. They appear to be busy, moving around their homes, or hives (蜂窝). So you might say you were as busy as a bee if you spent your weekend cleaning your house. In fact, you might say your house was a beehive of activity if your whole family was helping you clean. You also might say you made a beeline for something if you went there right away. When we go to see a movie, my friend always makes a beeline for the place where they sell popcorn (爆米花) .
Here is an expression about bees that is not used much any more, but we like it anyway. We think it was first used in the 1920s. If something was the best of its kind, you might say it was the bee’s knees. Now, we admit that we do not know how this expression developed. In fact, we do not even know if bees have knees!
If your friend cannot stop talking about something because she thinks it is important, you might say she has a bee in her bonnet (女帽). If someone asks you a personal question, you might say “that is none of your beeswax”. This means none of your business.
Speaking of personal questions, there is an expression when their children ask, “Where do babies come from?” Parents who discuss sex and reproduction (生殖) say this is talking about the birds and bees.
Butterflies are beautiful insects, but you would not want to have butterflies in your stomach. That means to be nervous about having to do something, like speaking in front of a crowd. You would also not want to have ants in your trousers. That is, to be unable to sit still. If you make a beeline for something, you _____ .
| A．are as busy as a bee | B．go quickly and directly towards it |
| C．always go to the same place | D．buy something at a certain place |
The underlined expression “ it is the bee’s knees” ______ .
| A．is not used at all now | B．was first used in the 1820s |
| C．reminds us that bees have knees | D．means “it is very good” |
If you ask your American friend Jack “How old is your wife?” he may say “_____.”
| A．It is none of your beeswax | B．You have a bee in your bonnet |
| C．It is the bee’s knees | D．You are talking about the birds and bees |
When you have butterflies in your stomach, you _____ .
| A．are too sick to sit still | B．have ants in your trousers |
| C．are nervous about something | D．have a stomachache |