In our world today, the media and entertainment industries are constantly focusing on beauty over brains. Movies, television shows, commercials, and magazines all make use of models and actors whose physical attributes(特性) will sell their product.
As our country is trying to reduce the obesity numbers, eating disorder statistics continue to increase due to the push for thinner people. While obesity is a serious medical condition that can lead to many health problems, many of us try to lose weight for appearance purposes. Children as young as elementary school age have begun to worry about the numbers that appear on the scale. In my opinion, it seems that “fat” has become the new“ugly”.
Two weeks ago, 37-year-old Wisconsin television reporter Livingston, who is 235 pounds, received an email from a man named Krause. In the email Krause attacked her, writing,“Your physical condition hasn’t improved for many years. Surely you don’t consider yourself a suitable example for this community’s young people, girls in particular.”
Today, it seems that a vast majority of people care more about how they look and appear to their peers rather than what is inside. The truth is that every person is built differently; we all come in different shapes and sizes. Just because someone is heavier, that doesn’t mean they eat large amounts of junk food around the day. Likewise, even though a person is thin, that doesn’t mean they are necessarily healthy and fit.
If you are reading this and you struggle with your weight or your appearance, please recognize that you are beautiful and special in your own way. You are worth so much more than you realize, and even if I don’t know you, understand that I respect and support you. Beauty is not defined by size; it is defined by how we treat others and respect ourselves. In the words of the talented film actress Kirstie Alley, “There’s a lot more to life than how fat or thin you are.” With so many people losing weight, it will end in .
| A．models’ and actors’ appearance in ads |
| B．the fall of media and entertainment industries |
| C．more and more people becoming obesity |
| D．more people’s suffering from eating disorder |
The underlined phrase “the numbers that appear on the scale” in the second paragraph may mean .
| A．intelligence | B．weight | C．patience | D．strength |
The writer used the example of Jennifer Livingston to show .
| A．people think “fat” looks ugly |
| B．fat people are becoming cleverer |
| C．physical condition is good |
| D．young people never follow example |
What Kirstie Alley said means .
| A．people should pay attention to the appearance |
| B．there is no need for any people to go on diet |
| C．people are beautiful when they concern others |
| D．there’s always someone who understands and supports you |
The passport photographs of the future could turn out to be more than just another pretty picture if a new computer technique developed by Israeli scientists catches on.
Researchers at Ben-Gurion University, in Israel, have invented a way to hide information such as a fingerprint or signature in color images. They believe this could improve passport safety or be used to produce product bar codes(条形码) or designs that cannot be seen.
“The papers can be faxed, scanned(扫描) and reprinted without hidden data disappearing,” New Scientist magazine said last week.
Joseph Rosen and a team of scientists worked out the new instrument by creating a mathematical model.
The model turns a fingerprint or signature into a series of numbers which are used to shape the dots that make up a color picture.
“Each dot can be forced out of the usual place slightly without noticeably changing the final appearance of the image,” the magazine said.
Several images that can be hidden in a single picture are scanned into a computer which does the work.
The hidden images or fingerprints cannot be shown until the picture is scanned again.
The computer rebuilds the fingerprint by measuring the displacement of the dots in the picture.
The magazine said that if he model is used for passport checkpoints the picture can be unscrambled(解码) to show the fingerprint or signature and checked against the person holding the passport.
The researchers are now working on a handheld, and instrument which could make unscrambling the hidden information easier. The new passport photos will probably contain all EXCEPT _____.
| A．one’s picture | B．one’s fingerprint |
| C．one’s signature | D．one’s blood type |
The writer probably got the information about the new passport photos from ___.
| A．Israeli scientists | B．a radio or TV | C．a newspaper | D．a magazine |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．A New Computer Technique by Israeli Scientists |
| B．A New Way t Hide Information |
| C．The New Passport Photo: More Than Meets the Eye |
| D．Safe Passport Photos |
My father had returned from his business visit to London when I came in, rather late, to supper. I could tell at once that he and my mother had been discussing something. In that half-playful, half-serious way I knew so well, he said, "How would you like to go to Eton?"
"You bet," I cried quickly catching the joke. Everyone knew it was the most expensive, the most famous of schools. You had to be entered at birth, if not before. Besides, even at 12 or 13, I understood my father. He disliked any form of showing off. He always knew his proper station in life, which was in the middle of the middle class, our house was medium-sized; he had avoided joining Royal Liverpool Golf Club and went to a smaller one instead; though once he had got a second-hand Rolls-Royce at a remarkably low price, he felt embarrassed driving it, and quickly changed it for an Austin 1100.
This could only be his delightful way of telling me that the whole boarding school idea was to be dropped. Alas! I should also have remembered that he had a liking for being different from everyone else, if it did not conflict(冲突) with his fear of drawing attention to himself.
It seemed that he had happened to be talking to Graham Brown of the London office, a very nice fellow, and Graham had a friend who had just entered his boy at the school, and while he was in that part of the world he thought he might just as well phone them. I remember my eyes stinging(刺痛) and my hands shaking with the puzzlement of my feelings. There was excitement, at the heart of great sadness.
"Oh, he doesn't want to go away," said my mother, "You shouldn't go on like this.” “It's up to him," said my father. "He can make up his own mind."The house the writer's family lived in was ________.
| A．the best they could afford | B．right for their social position |
| C．for showing off | D．rather small |
His father sold his Roils-Royce because ________.
| A．it made him feel uneasy | B．it was too old to work well |
| C．it was too expensive to possess | D．it was too cheap |
The writer's father enjoyed being different as long as ________.
| A．it drew attention to him | B．it didn't bring him in arguments |
| C．it was understood as a joke | D．there was no danger of his showing off |
What was the writer's reaction to the idea of going to Eton?
| A．He was very unhappy. | B．He didn't believe it. |
| C．He was delighted. | D．He had mixed feelings. |
We can know from the passage that ________.
| A．Children who can go to Eton are very famous |
| B．Children can go to Eton if they will |
| C．It is very difficult for a child to get admitted by Eton |
| D．Children don't have the right to decide whether they will go to Eton |
Mr. Briggs got a job with an insurance company(保险公司) after he left school and went around visiting people in their homes to sell them life insurance. One day, after he had been working for the company for about a year, the insurance manager sent for him and said, “Mr. Briggs, I have been looking at your record as a salesman with our company, and there is one thing that surprises me about it. Why have you been selling insurance only to people over 95 years old, and why have you been giving them such generous（宽厚的）conditions? You’ll ruin our company if you go on like that.”
“Oh, no, sir,” answered Mr. Briggs at once, “Before I started work, I looked at the figures(数字) for deaths in this country during the past ten years, and I can tell you that few people die at the age of 95.”Before he worked in an insurance company, what was Mr.
Briggs?
| A．He was a worker. | B．He was an official. |
| C．He was a student. | D．He was a businessman. |
The word “ruin” in the first paragraph means .
| A．lose | B．break | C．leave | D．destroy |
As a salesman with the company, Mr. Brigs .
| A．visited people to ask them to work with him |
| B．called on people to make them join the company |
| C．saw old people in order to help them |
| D．visited many people so as to offer insurance |
What was it that surprised the manager?
| A．Mr. Briggs sold life insurance only to 95 people. |
| B．Mr. Briggs sold insurance only to people of more than 95. |
| C．Mr. Briggs had ruined the insurance company. |
| D．Mr. Briggs gave people generous conditions. |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Mr. Briggs had studied the figures for deaths for several years. |
| B．Mr. Briggs began to look at the figures after he started work. |
| C．A great number of very old people die every year. |
| D．The number of the very old people who died every year is |
small.
Dog owners now have a little help understanding their furry friends . A new device called Bow-Lingual “translates” dog barks into English , Korea or Japanese.
Bow-Lingual’s Japanese inventors spent much time and money analyzing dog barks . They found that dog noises can be broken down into six different emotions : happiness , sadness , frustration , anger , assertion and desire .
Part of the Bow-Lingual device hangs on the dog’s collar . The other part is a handle-held unit for the owner . When the dogs barks , the unit displays translated phrases .
Some people have scoffed at Bow-Lingual. “Who would pay US$ 120 to read a dog’s mind?” they ask .
But those who have purchased Bow-Lingual praise the device . Pet owner Keiko Egawa , of Japan , says it helps her empathize with her dog , Harry . “Before we go to the park , he always says he wants to play,” says Egawa , “and after a walk , he always says he is hungry.”
Bow –Lingual is not yet available in Chinese . So you’d better keep studying Studio Classroom , or soon your dog may know more English than you do !This passage is mainly talking about .
| A．Bow-Lingual’s inventors | B．dog barks and their different emotions |
| C．talking dogs | D．a little help for dog owners |
Which of the following sentences is TRUE according to the passage ?
| A．Dog owners now can understand their dogs better . |
| B．Bow-Lingual is a new device that enables dogs to talk in English , Korean or Japanese . |
| C．More and more Chinese dog owners would keep studying Studio Classroom in order to know more English than their dogs . |
| D．People who have used the Bow-Lingual say it helps them better understand their dogs . |
What does “scoffed at” mean in the 3rd paragraph ?
| A．shouted at | B．questioned at | C．laughed at | D．doubted about |
How do you understand the sentence “Bow-Lingual is not yet available in Chinese” in the last paragraph ?
| A．Bow-Lingual has not yet appeared in Chinese market . |
| B．Bow-Lingual can not yet recognized Chinese dogs’ barks . |
| C．Chinese dog owners do not know yet how to use Bow-Lingual . |
| D．Dog barks can not yet be translated into Chinese phrases with Bow-Lingual . |
The writer of this passage is most likely to be .
| A．a dog owner | B．a reporter | C．an advertiser | D．an expert on dog barks |
I’m sure many of you have seen Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Multiplicity, or many of the other movies that describe cloning. Most of what you see in these movies is false. What you don’t know is that cloning could be dangerous, to the clone and to our society as a whole. I think human cloning is wrong mainly for four reasons.
What about identity? Humans are promised the right to their own personalities. What would happen if we ignore those rights by giving them someone else’s genetic identity? True, Cloning may prevent people from possessing their identities.
Also, these is a large power struggle here. Cloning means a degree of power and controls over another person’s physical identity and that ignores their rights and their only personalities. The person doing the cloning would have more power than any parent would have.
Cloning would also deal with killing embryos (胚胎). You might not have known, but Dolly, the sheep that was cloned in 1996, was one of over 200 sheep embryos and hers was the only embryo that survived. The rest died or were thrown away. Imagine if the failure rate was that high when we started to clone humans. cloning means running the risk of wasting too much effort
Cloning someone, at this present time, would be extremely dangerous to the birth mother and the clone. In studies done on cows, 4 out of 12 birth mothers died. There is a very high failure rate, which is shown in the cloning of Dolly. Even if you had a few good embryos, failures have been noticeable in animal tests.
So, should we work ahead in the world of cloning? I say no. the risks are greater than the benefits. It’s dangerous to the clone and to the birth mother. We would be killing human lives in the process. It would also be a violation(侵害) of the clone’s right to its own genetic identity and personality.The author thinks human cloning is wrong mainly for ______ reasons.
| A．4 | B．3 | C． 2 | D．5 |
According to the article, what is the author’s opinion about identity?
| A．Cloning itself gives parents great power over identity. |
| B．People’s identity is completely determined by their genes. |
| C．Government has the rights to confirm people’s identities. |
| D．Cloning may prevent people from possessing their identities. |
According to Paragraph 4 ,which is right ? ____.
| A．human cloning is much more difficult than animal cloning |
| B．there are 200 sheep successfully cloned. |
| C．cloning means running the risk of wasting too much effort |
| D．numbers of baby animals are likely to be created by cloning |
Why does the author mention some movies in the first paragraph?
| A．To introduce the topic of the article. |
| B．To present his idea about the movies. |
| C．To state the conclusion first. |
| D．To make the article unusual. |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．What Is Human Cloning |
| B．Human Cloning Is Wrong |
| C．How Does Human Cloning Happen |
| D．Discussion On Human Cloning |