SomewonderfullycreativeusesofX-优题课

Taiwan police cannot decide whether to treat it as an extremely clever act of stealing or an even cleverer cheat. Either way, it could be the perfect crime, because the criminals are birds—horning pigeons!
The crime begins with a telephone message to the owner of a stolen car: if you want the car back, pay up then, the car owner is directed to a park, told where to find a bird cage and how to attach money to the neck of the pigeon inside. Carrying the money in a tiny bag, the pigeon flies off.
There have been at least four such pigeon pick-ups in Changwa. What at first seemed like the work of a clever stay-at-home car thief, however, may in fact be the work of an even lazier and more inventive criminal mind—one that avoid not only collecting money but going out to steal the car in the first place . Police officer Chen says that the criminal probably has pulled a double trick: he gets money for things he cannot possibly return. Instead of stealing cars, he lets someone else do it and then waits for the car-owner to place an ad in the newspaper asking for help.
The theory is supported by the fact that, so far, none of the stolen cars have been returned. Also, the amount of money demanded-under 3,000 Taiwanese dollars –seems too little for a car worth many times more.
Demands for pigeon-delivered money stopped as soon as the press reported the story. And even if they start again, Chen holds little hope of catching the criminal. “We have more important things to do,” he said.
1. After the car owner received a phone call. He ______.
A. went to a certain pigeon and put some money in the bag it carried
B. gave the money to the thief and had his car back in a park
C. sent some money to the thief by mail
D. told the press about it
2. The “lazier and more inventive” criminal refers to ______.
A. the car thief who stays at home
B. one of those who put the ads in the paper
C. one of the policemen in Changwa
D. the owner of the pigeons
3. The writer mentions the fact that “none of the stolen cars have been returned” to show_____.
A. how easily people get fooled by criminals
B. what Chen thinks might be correct
C. the thief is extremely clever
D. the money paid is too little
4. The underlined word “they” in the last paragraph refers to ______.
A. criminals B. pigeons
C. the stolen carsD. demands for money
5. We may infer from the text that the criminal knows how to reach the car owners because______.
A. he reads the ads in the newspaper
B. he lives in the same neighborhood
C. he has seen the car owners in the park
D. he has trained the pigeons to follow them

第二部分：阅读理解（共20小题;每小题2.5分，满分50分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
Proper arrangement of classroom space is important to encouraging interaction. Most of us have noticed how important physical setting is to efficiency and comfort in our work. College classroom space should be designed to encourage the activity of critical thinking.
We have entered the 21st century, but step into almost any college classroom and you step back in time at least a hundred years. Desks are normally in straight rows, so students can clearly see the teacher but not all their classmates. The message behind such an arrangement is obvious. Everything of importance comes from the teacher.
With a little imagination and effort, unless desks are fixed to the floor, the teacher can correct this situation and create space that encourage interchange among students. In small or standard-size classes, chairs, desks, and tables can be arranged in a variety of ways. The primary goal should be for everyone to be able to see everyone else. Large classes, particularly those held in lecture halls, unfortunately, allow much less flexibility.
Arrangement of the classroom should also make it easy to divide students into small groups for discussion or problem-solving exercises. Small classes with movable desks and tables present no problem. Even in large lecture halls, it is possible for students to turn around and form groups of four to six. Breaking a class into small groups provides more opportunities for students to interact with each other, think out loud, and see how other students’ thinking processes operate all essential elements in developing new modes of critical thinking.
In courses that regularly use a small group format, students might be asked to stay in the same small groups throughout the course. A colleague of mine, John, allows students to move around during the first two weeks, until they find a group they are comfortable with. John then asks them to stay in the same seat, with the same group, from that time on. This not only creates a comfortable setting for interaction but helps him learn students’ names and faces.
1. The primary purpose of desk rearrangement is _______.
A. for the teacher to divide students into small groups.
B. to make it possible for students to interact with each other.
C. for the teacher to find out how students think.
D. to give students more opportunities to practice speaking.
2. The expression “step back in time at least a hundred years” in Paragraph 2 is intended to convey the idea that _______.
A. there is not much change in educational idea over the past hundred years
B. critical thinking was encouraged even a century ago
C. college classrooms often remind people of their college life
D. a hundred years ago, desk arrangement in a classroom was quite different
3. The greatest advantage in allowing each student to find his own group might be that________
A. learning is made comfortable in this way
B. the teacher can easily remember students’ names and faces
C. the teacher saves the trouble in doing that
D. brighter students can help slower ones.
4. It is implied in the passage that ______.
A. students are allowed to changed groups throughout the course in John’s class
B. classroom interaction between students is essential to the teachers
C. a comfortable environment leads to higher working efficiency
D. new kinds of desks and chairs should be made
5. The author mentioned John in the last paragraph in order to ________
A. create a comfortable setting for interaction
B. introduce an approach of learning students’ names and faces easily
C. give an example that students stay in the same seat throughout the course.
D. describe a good seat-arrangement mode in courses with small group format.

British researchers are looking for volunteers willing to eat a piece of chocolate daily for a year in the name of science. The trial(实验) will explore whether flavonoids (类黄酮) found in chocolate and other foods can reduce the risk of heart disease.
“We are looking at a high risk group first,” said Aedin Cassidy, a biochemist who will lead the study.
Previous studies have suggested dark chocolate is rich in the beneficial flavonoids linked with heart health, but experts note the high sugar and fat content of most commercially available chocolate might cancel out some of the advantages. Other research has also shown dark chocolate appears to lower blood pressure, improve the function of blood vessels (血管)and reduce the risk of heart attack.
This has encouraged companies to market specific products containing dark chocolate. Mars Inc has introduced Cocoa Via, a line of dark and premium chocolates that plays up such health advantages.
Cassidy said her team will also publish findings in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showing that flavonoids found in soy and cocoa appear to have the strongest effects of reducing risk of heart disease.
The next step will organize 150 women volunteers with a specific illness. The researchers will look at whether flavonoids help reduce blood pressure, cut cholesterol levels and improve the condition of blood vessels.
Half the women in the year-long study will eat chocolate containing 30 grams of flavonoids found in soy, cocoa and other fruits and vegetables. The others will get chocolate without the active flavonoids.
“This could help doctors give advice to patients on the type and amount of foods to eat to reduce heart disease risk—and it does not necessarily need to be chocolate,” Cassidy said. “If this trial works we will be able to advise on a whole range of foods. People won't have to go around eating specially designed chocolate.”
1. What is the best title for the passage?
A. Volunteers wanted for chocolate study. B. Chocolate is good for health.
C. A new research on heart attacks. D. Flavonoids found in chocolate.
2. What’s the purpose of the trial?
A. To test the advantages of a new kind of chocolate.
B. To find cures for heart disease.
C. To discover how to control blood pressure.
D. To explore the advantages of flavonoids.
3. From Paragraph 3 we can infer that __________.
A. Cassidy’s team has done several studies on chocolate
B. dark chocolate has proved beneficial to health
C. people should eat much chocolate with high sugar and fat
D. most commercially available chocolate doesn’t contain flavonoids
4. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A. All the volunteers will eat the same chocolate.
B. CocoaVia is a company that produces dark chocolate.
C. People who want to take part in the trial should be healthy.
D. Soy, cocoa, some fruit and vegetables contain flavonoids.

Texting is a great way to communicate and teenagers are doing just that. New research shows that on average, teens are sending 2,000 text messages a month, and doctors say it’s causing injuries.
13-year-old Bailey Baker keeps using her thumbs, sending text messages to her friends again and again. The past March may have been her best month ever, texting 8,000 times. Now, she says she’s feeling the pain. “Just mainly back and neck problems and thumb numbness,” she says.
Baylor-Garland Dr. Jane Sadler is seeing more and more teens who simply text until it hurts. She says parents, including Bailey’s mom, have no idea how much their kids are texting. “I was thinking she was texting about 25 texts a day,” says Lisa Baker. “Wrong! We’ve uncovered a problem.” It didn’t take Dr. Sadler long to find the problem. She gave Bailey the once-over and learnt that Bailey had developed Texting Teen Tendinitis(肌腱炎)
“A lot of them report pain in their thumbs, back and neck,” says Dr. Sadler. “When we look into it and examine a little bit further, we see texting is the main cause of the problem.” Dr. Sadler says back pain is caused by poor posture while texting. Bailey often texts for up to 2 hours a day; that’s a lot of wear and tear on the thumbs which over time, can break down. Dr. Sadler tells over-texting teens to look into the future. “What I tell them is ‘Hey, you might be normal now, but when you are 40 or 50, you can get arthritis (关节炎).’”
Dr. Sadler recommends limiting texting to 50 a day, and keeping good posture. Dr. Sadler also says touch screens are easier on the thumbs than keyboards and hand exercises are great to build up those muscles, making it easier to text.
1. How many text messages did Bailey Baker send a day on average last month?
A. Less than 226. B. About 230. C. About 267. D. More than 300.
2. Because of texting, Bailey Baker suffers from the following problems EXCEPT ______.
A. back pain B. neck pain C. headache D. thumb numbness
3. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 3 mean?
A. She gave Bailey Baker a quick examination.
B. She solved Bailey Baker’s problem at once.
C. She gave Bailey Baker a piece of advice.
D. She let Bailey Baker send a text message again.
4. What can we conclude from Paragraph 4?
A. Teenagers won’t get hurt if they stop texting right now.
B. Poor posture while texting is the main cause of injuries.
C. Thumbs won’t ache if teens text for no more than 2 hours a day.
D. Over-texting may have a bad effect on people in the long run.

IV. 阅读理解（30%）
The future is time that is to come. The future is not the present or the past. It is later. We have seen many possible futures in science fiction. They range from the world’s polar ice caps melting to nuclear winters. But not all futures are this morbid. We have seen the human race spread all over our universe, humans and aliens living in harmony together all over the universe.
It is very likely that we will make some kind of breakthrough in our ability to travel through space sometime in the next 150 years. This would give us the ability to rule other planets. Ultimately, the earth will die whether it be 1,000 years or 100,000 years. We will be forced to move to another planet then. It’s really just a matter of time. When we do so, what will we discover?
Personally, I think everyone will be speaking the same language in 200 years. A world government definitely seems to be in our future. It is stable and has few wars. Indeed, the only type of wars that can happen is the civil war.
And what if we face aliens? If they are friendly, we would probably benefit a lot from putting our knowledge together. They must have advanced technology to travel for great distances. We could seriously benefit from their technology. But if they aren’t friendly, then we are in trouble. Hope that we have become advanced enough, smart enough, and generally a better race by the time we meet them. But this is all probably being discussed for nothing, because any race out there among the stars is probably as curious as we are about other creatures.
1. The underlined word in Paragraph 1 can be replaced by ___________.
A. unpleasant B. shocking C. expected D. serious
2. What will humans do if the earth dies?
A. Humans have to face death. B. Humans will travel and live in space.
C. Humans will move to another planet. D. Humans will go back to the past time.
3. According to the author, the following statements are right about aliens EXCEPT that _________.
A. we can learn from aliens if they are friendly
B. when aliens arrive, humans will be smarter than them
C. aliens may be as curious as we human beings about other planets
D. aliens have more advanced technology than us
4. After reading the passage, we can know that the passage is based on_________.
A. scientific facts B. time and space
C. advanced technology D. the author’s imagination

A．X-ray Detectives	B．Creative Uses of Technology
C．Forgery Studies	D．X-ray Painting Techniques