Air pollution is a leading cause of cancer and classified among Group 1,or top, human carcinogens (致癌物质), said the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is the World Health Organization's (WHO) cancer agency, on Oct 17,2013.
The most widely used system for classifying carcinogens comes from the IARC, which places them into five groups. Group 1 carcinogens definitely cause cancer in humans. Group 2A is probably carcinogenic to humans, Group 2B is possibly carcinogenic, the carcinogenicity of Group 3 in humans is unclassifiable, and Group 4 is probably not carcinogenic to humans. Only a little more than 100 are classified as Group 1 cancer-causing substances, including ultraviolet radiation and tobacco smoke.
“Our task was to evaluate the air everyone breathes rather than focus on specific air pollutants,” the lARC's Dana Loomis said in a statement. “The results from the reviewed studies point in the same direction: the risk of developing lung cancer is significantly increased in people exposed to air pollution.”
In 2010, lung cancer resulting from air pollution killed 223,000 people worldwide, and there was also convincing evidence that it increases the risk of bladder (膀腕) cancer, according to the IARC.
Air pollution is already known to raise risks for a wide range of illnesses, including respiratory and heart diseases.
Air pollution is global, although the levels of it vary over space and time.
Loomis said people in Asia, eastern North America, some places in Central America and Mexico, as well as North Africa have relatively high exposure. Developing countries with large populations and booming manufacturing sectors, such as China, are particularly at risk.
Many cities in China, such as Beijing, frequently see smog. This week, Harbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang province, became the first Chinese city to officially suspend classes due to serious smog
Many developed countries face similar problems, although to a lesser degree than most developing nations. In Europe, levels of many pollutants have fallen. But between 91 and 96 percent of Europeans living in cities are exposed to levels of PM2.5—tiny particles with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers—that are higher than the WHO safety limits, says a report published by the European Environment Agency on Oct 15.
Although both the composition and levels of air pollution can vary dramatically from one location to the other, the 1ARC said its conclusions apply to all regions of the world.
“Given the scale of the exposure affecting people worldwide, this report should send a strong signal to the international community to take action without further delay,” said Christopher Wild, director of the IARC.What might be the best title of the passage?
| A．Signals of air pollution |
| B．Safety limits of air pollution |
| C．Air pollution, cancer risk |
| D．Air pollution, smog risk |
What’s the main task of IARC?
| A．To focus on cancer-causing substances. |
| B．To evaluate the air quality. |
| C．To study the developing risk of cancer. |
| D．To send signals to the international community. |
Why should the international community take action without further delay?
| A．The composition and levels of air pollution vary from place to place. |
| B．More and more people in developing countries are exposed to air pollution. |
| C．Developed countries face air pollution, the level of which is higher than the safety limits. |
| D．A large number of people worldwide are exposed to air pollution. |
第二部分．阅读理解（共25小题。第一节每小题2分，第二节每小题1分；满分45分）
第一节阅读下面五篇短文，从每题后所给的四个选项中选出最佳答案。
Most of us lead unhealthy lives; we spend far too much sitting down. If in addition we are careless about our diets, our bodies soon become loose and fatty and our systems slow moving. There are some aspects(方面) of our unhealthy lives that we cannot avoid. I am thinking of such features of modern city life as pollution, noise, rushed meals and stress. But keeping fit is a way to reduce the effects of these evils. The usual suggestion to a person who is looking for a way to keep fit is to take up some sport or other. While it is true that every weekend you will find people playing football and hockey in the local park, they are outnumbered a hundred to one by the people who are simply watching them.
For those who do not particularly enjoy competitive sports — and it is especially difficult to do so if you are not good at them — there are such separate activities as cycling, walking, jogging and swimming. What often happens though is that you do them in such a leisurely way, so slowly, that it is doubtful if you are doing yourself much good, except for the fact that you have at least managed to get up out of your armchair.
Even after you have found a way for keeping in shape, through sport or gymnastics, you are still only half way to good health, because, according to the experts, you must also master the art of complete mental and physical relaxation(放松). It has to do with deep breathing, emptying your mind of all thoughts, meditation, and so on. Yoga, as practiced in the West, is the most widely known and popular of the systems for achieving the necessary state of relaxation. It seems ironical (讽刺性的), though, that as our lives have improved in a material sense we have found it increasingly necessary to go back to forms of activity — physical effort on the one hand and relaxation on the other — which were the natural way of life of our forefathers.
41. Pollution, noise and stress are examples of _____.
A. the causes of unfitness B. unavoidable things in town
C. the things we can completely do away with D. bad features of modern living
42. We don’t get much out of separate sports because we _____.
A. don’t do them very often B. don’t do them actively enough
C. find it hard to get out of our armchairs D. don’t find them interesting
43. To be healthy we must _____.
A. keep fit and active B. have a sound mind
C. be active and practise Yoga D. keep fit and learn to relax
44. Our forefathers were healthy because______.
A. their way of life closely connected with both exercise and relaxation
B. they were careful to get plenty of fresh air
C. they spent most of the time out of doors
D. their environment was not polluted
Just how far does the euro(欧元) have to fall before Europe actually becomes reasonable?
Anyone traveling to the old continent from the U.S. in recent years has learned the hard way how expensive it is. The situation has improved in the last couple of months, thanks to the Greek financial crisis. But it still has a way to go.
Alarm about Greece—and other financially unstable countries in Europe—has dragged down the euro sharply. In November, before the crisis struck, you needed about $1.49 to buy one euro. Today you need only about $1.36. That's a 9% cut.
What does that mean for you, the would-be traveler? It's a big sale.
As recently as November, when the euro was flying high, the OECD estimated that countries like France, Italy and Germany were about a third more expensive than the U.S. Not all European countries were quite as expensive for the American visitor: Greece only cost about 17% more than the US, while the Czech Republic (which is not part of the eurozone) was actually about 15% cheaper than back home.
Fast-forward two months, and the situation looks somewhat better.
At current exchange rates, places like France will still cost you about 23% more than the U.S., but cheaper countries such as Spain and Greece are now only about 6% more expensive. The Czech Republic's a fifth cheaper than the U.S.
European prices will only break even(持平) with the U.S. if the euro falls to about $1.10, says the OECD. But is it going to get there?
Greece's financial crisis may or may not be over. Members of a labor union just occupied part of the finance ministry to protest against the planned austerity(紧缩) measures. No, it doesn't inspire confidence!
Julian Jessop, chief international economist at the Capital Economics consultancy in London, sees the euro falling to $1.25 by year-end. “We still think the euro should be a lot lower,” he says. “We think the outlook for the European economy is a lot worse than for the U.S. And Greece is only a symptom of a wider problem: Does the eurozone make sense as a currency union?” If he's right, you may want to wait to change your money or book a trip.
67. In the passage the writer offers some suggestions to the travellers from______.
A．USAB．Europe C．Greece D．China
68. The underlined word “it” in the passage refers to ______.
A.the planned austerity measures
B.Greece’s financial crisis
C.the protest from a labor union
D.the decline of the euro in value
69. Julian Jessop has a negative attitude toward the euro because he thinks ______.
A.Greece’s financial crisis may not be over
B.the euro will drop to $ 1.25 by the end of the year
C.the European economy is a lot worse than the US’
D.the other European countries have a similar problem like Greece
70. The purpose of the author writing the passage is to tell the readers that ______.
A.the euro shall be further reasonably lowered
B.travelers to Europe will save less in the future
C.the economic situation in Europe is worsening
D.the Greek financial crisis influences the whole Europe
The idea for a science experiment can come from an unusual place. After watching a YouTube video of a dancing bird named Snowball, a scientist in California decided to study the ability of animals to keep the beat.
Bird lovers have long claimed that their pets have rhythm, and there are many videos of dancing birds online. Until now, scientists have suspected that humans are the only animals that can accurately keep rhythm with music.
Thanks to Snowball, that scientific opinion is changing. Snowball is a cockatoo, a kind of parrot, and his favorite song is "Everybody" by the Backstreet Boys. When he hears the song, he moves his feet and rocks his body with the tempo, or pace of the music, as though he is the only bird member of the boy band.
Aniruddh Patel is a neuroscientist, or a scientist who studies how the brain and the nervous system contribute to learning, seeing and other mental abilities. He works at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego. After seeing Snowball's dance online, Patel visited the cockatoo at the bird rescue facility he's called home for two years. The scientist played "Everybody" for Snowball and also played versions of the song that were sped up or slowed down. Sometimes, Snowball danced too fast or too slowly. Often, when there was a change in tempo, Snowball adjusted his dancing to match the rhythm. In other experiments, scientists have observed the same abilities in preschool children.
Patel isn't the only scientist who has studied Snowball's moves. Adena Schachner, who studies psychology at Harvard University, also wanted to know more about the dancing bird. Schachner's team played different musical pieces for Snowball and a parrot named Alex, as well as eight human volunteers. The scientists observed that the birds and the humans kept time to the music with about the same accuracy.
Schachner and her team watched thousands of YouTube videos of different animals moving to music. Not all the animals could dance, however. From watching the videos, the scientists observed that only animals that imitate sounds, including 14 parrot species and Asian elephants, accurately moved in time to music.
63. The underlined words “that scientific opinion” in the third paragraph refers to the theory that ______.
A.birds like Snowball have the ability to keep the beat
B.humans are the only animals that can accurately keep rhythm with music
C.the brain and the nervous system contribute to some mental abilities
D.bird pets can have their special rhythm under human’s instruction
64. From the fourth paragraph we may know that ______.
A.Patel is the only scientist who has studied Snowball’s moves.
B.Snowball is able to adjust his dancing to match the rhythm.
C.Snowball cannot dance to the versions of the song Everybody.
D.it is the brain and the nervous system that control the mental abilities.
65. The idea of studying animals’ ability to keep the beat comes from ______.
A.bird lovers’ discovery
B.humans musical sense
C.the same abilities in children
D.videos of dancing birds
66. According to the scientists, Snowball’s ability to dance to music is probably related to the fact that ______.
A.it is the only bird member of the Backstreet Boys band
B.it has the ability to imitate sounds
C.it is a kind of dancing parrot
D.it has the same abilities as preschool children
Despite all the reports of Internet security attacks over the years, including the recent ones on Google’s e-mail service, many people have reacted to the break-ins with a shrug（耸肩）.
Mr. Shulman and his company examined a list of 32 million passwords that an unknown hacker stole last month from RockYou, a company that makes software for users of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. The list was briefly posted on the Web, and hackers and security researchers downloaded it.
The list provided an unusually detailed window into computer users’ password habits. Typically, only government agencies like the F.B.I. or the National Security Agency have had access to such a large password list.
Some Web sites try to keep back the attackers by freezing an account for a certain period of time if too many incorrect passwords are typed. But experts say that the hackers simply learn to trick the system, by making guesses at an acceptable rate, for instance.
To improve security, some Web sites are forcing users to mix letters, numbers and even symbols in their passwords. Others, like Twitter, prevent people from picking common passwords.
Still, researchers say, social networking and entertainment Web sites often try to make life simpler for their users and are reluctant to put too many controls in place.
Even commercial sites like eBay must weigh the consequences of freezing accounts, since a hacker could, say, try to win an auction(拍卖) by freezing the accounts of other potential buyers.
But owing to the reality of our overcrowded brains, the experts suggest that everyone choose at least two different passwords — a complex one for Web sites where security is vital, such as banks and e-mail, and a simpler one for less risky places, such as social networking and entertainment sites.
Mr. Moss relies on passwords at least 12 characters long, figuring that those make him a more difficult target than the millions of people who choose five- and six-character passwords.
“It’s like the joke where the hikers run into a bear in the forest, and the hiker that survives is the one who outruns his companions,” Mr. Moss said. “You just want to run that bit faster.
59. The underlined sentence “Many people have reacted to the break-ins with a shrug” shows that many people ______.
don’t take seriously the hacker’s break-ins
are worried and frightened at the hacker’s break-ins
don’t know what to do with the hacker’s attacks
are eager to get helps from the experts
60. According to the passage, which of the following web sites needs a more complex password?
A social web site.
An entertainment web site.
A commercial web site.
A government web site.
61. The Internet users are advised to______ in order to keep back the hackers.
mix letters, numbers and symbols as well
choose passwords with at least 12 characters
choose passwords with 5 or 6 characters
choose at least two different passwords
62. Which would be the best title for the passage?
Password, Simple or Complex?
Popular Passwords, High Risk!
Clever Hackers, Stupid Netizens.
Hacker, the Enemy of Internet Security.
The young woman seated next to us at the sushi(寿司) bar gave off an alien air; her looks and style, we thought, made it likely that she was not American born.
But then she spoke in perfect American English, with the typical characteristic of many young Californians.
As it turns out, however, she wasn’t from these parts after all; she was born in Iran and spoke only Farsi(波斯语) until her arrival here two years ago. What classes, we wondered, had she attended to learn the language so well?
“I didn’t,” she said. “I used Rosetta Stone.”
Those yellow boxes sold at shopping-mall and airport newspaper stands may be the most recognizable example of PC-based language learning, but it certainly isn’t the only one.
With the growth of broadband connectivity and social networks, companies have introduced a wide range of Internet-based language learning products, both free and fee-based, that allow students to interact in real time with instructors in other countries, gain access to their lesson plans wherever they are in the world, and communicate with pen pals who are also trying to remember if bambino means baby.
Learning a language sometimes seems as difficult as dieting. The solution is to figure out how to stay interested after the curiosity wears off.
To fight against boredom, online language programs have introduced crossword puzzles, interactive(交互的) videos and other games to reward users for making progress.
Online courses are either fee-based, free or a combination. Starter kits(入门套件) of fee-based programs may cost just a few hundred dollars, but the cost to reach higher levels of comprehension and speaking can easily be $1,000.
While that may sound expensive, language company managers say it isn’t; college courses often cost many thousands of dollars to reach the same level.
So, cost aside, how do you choose which program to use? The answer is that one size doesn’t fit all.
55. Which of the following is the fact about “Rosetta Stone”?
A. Rosetta Stone is only a special stone with the name Rosetta on
B. Rosetta Stone is a free PC-based language learning product.
C. Rosetta Stone is a reference book for English learners to use.
D. Rosetta Stone is a language-learning software
56. The case of the young woman in the passage is meant to tell the reader that ______.
A. the woman is one of many successful language learners
B. the woman likes Rosetta Stone very much
C. many people are benefiting from the Internet language learning products
D. Rosetta Stone is one of the successful PC-based language instructors
57. We can learn from the passage that ______.
A. they offer the English learners all kinds of free courses
B. learners can communicate with teachers at any time
C. students can compare notes with their e-pals about language study
D. advanced online courses usually cost more than the college ones of the same level
58. What information will be most probably provided following the last paragraph?
A. An introduction of different online language learning products.
B. An introduction of different language learning methods.
C. The strengths and weaknesses of Internet language learning products.
D. A comparison between online and college language learning.