There is an old saying in English, “Laughter is the best medicine”. Until recently, few people took the saying very seriously. Now however, doctors have begun to study laughter and the effects (作用) it has on the human body. They have found evidence that laughter really can improve people’s health.
Tests were carried out to study the effects of laughter on the body. People watched funny films while doctors checked their heart rate, blood pressure, breathing and muscles. It was found that laughter has similar effects to physical exercise. It increases blood pressure, the heart rate and the rate of breathing. It also works several groups of muscles in the face, the stomach and even the feet. If laughter exercises the body, it must be helpful.
Other tests have shown that laughter appears to make the effect of pain on the body less. In one experiment doctors produced pain in groups of students who listened to different radio programs. The group which could bear the pain for the longest time was the group which listened to a funny program. The reason why laughter can make pain less seems to be that it helps to produce endorphins (内啡肽) in the brain. These are natural chemicals which make both stress and pain less.
There is also some evidence to suggest that laughter helps the body’s immune system that is the system which fights infection (感染). In an experiment, one group of students watched a funny video while another group served as the control group — in other words, a group with which to compare the first group. Doctors checked the blood of the students in both groups and found that the people in the group that watched the video had an increase in the activity of their white blood cells that is the cells which fight infection.
As a result of these discoveries, some doctors and psychiatrists (精神病学) in the United States now hold laughter clinics, in which they try to improve their patients’ condition by encouraging them to laugh. They have found that even if their patients do not really feel like laughing, making them smile is enough to produce good effects similar to those caused by laughter. We learn from the first paragraph that laughter .
| A．is good for one’s health |
| B．has strong effects to do with some illness |
| C．has been studied long since |
| D．has no effect on the body |
Doctors have found that laughter .
| A．keeps down blood pressure |
| B．has similar effects to physical exercise |
| C．decreases the heart rate |
| D．increases stress and pain |
Which of the following statements is NOT true of laughter according to the passage?
| A．It makes pain less. |
| B．It exercises the body. |
| C．It improves the body’s immune system. |
| D．It can cure cancer. |
Smiling can produce _________.
| A．about the same effects as laughter |
| B．more effects than laughter |
| C．fewer effects on the human body |
| D．no effects on the human body |
The main idea of this passage is that _________.
| A．the doctors should learn how to make people laugh |
| B．there are several ways of studying the advantages of laughter |
| C．tests show that laughter can produce positive effects on human body |
| D．laughter and physical exercise have the same effects on human body |
When you sit in the classroom, do you suddenly feel that summer flew by so quickly? I’m still thinking about taking walks in the park and meeting my friends at night. But I know that the school season is beginning. And homework, tests and routine (常规生活) all come with it.
When I stay in my room and write my homework, I often look out of the window and look back at this summer.
In the past two months of summer break, I spent many evenings in my backyard. I listened to my parents telling stories about their childhood. My brother caught fireflies (萤火虫). Once in a while, we made a barbecue and ate chicken and corn.
Now I’m back to school. It’s difficult to find time to do everything that I want to do, like dancing, reading, and sleeping. How I hope to have another break in my studies! I could read a fun book instead of the boring ones that we have to read for English class.
Still, I should not feel sad. Summer gave me time to relax, good memories, laughter, and the experience of new friendships. But without school, I would never appreciate the happy moments in summer and the responsibilities (责任) that I have now. What’s more, there are only 10 more months to go until summer comes again. And in the meantime, I can have lots of fun with my friends as we begin our high school experience together.The article is written _____.
| A．during the summer break |
| B．in an English class |
| C．in the classroom |
| D．at the beginning of a school season |
From Paragraph 3, we learn that _____.
| A．the writer’s family owns a big farm |
| B．the writer doesn’t like the life in big cities |
| C．the writer had a great time with his family |
| D．his family raises chickens in their backyard. |
What does the writer think of the reading for English class?
| A．fun | B．boring | C．relaxing | D．difficult |
The writer wrote the article to ______.
| A．tell people how he spent his summer break |
| B．show her sadness for the end of the summer break |
| C．show her resolutions for the new term |
| D．express that both summer break and school days should be treasured |
How long should the writer spend before the next summer break comes?
| A．About ten months | B．Only two months. |
| C．Several days. | D．We don’t know. |
In ancient Greece, Socrates was a great philosopher (哲学家), who was widely known for his wisdom (智慧).
One day the great philosopher met a man, who ran up to him excitedly and said, “Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?”
“Wait a moment,” Socrates replied. “Before you tell me, I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Test of Three.”
“Test of Three?”
“That’s correct,” Socrates continued. “The first test is Truth. Are you sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”
“No,” the man replied, “actually I just heard about it.”
“All right, so you don’t really know if it’s true or not,” said Socrates. “Now let’s try the second test, the test of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?”
“No, on the contrary...”
“So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about him even though you’re not sure it’s true?”
The man shrugged (耸肩), a little embarrassed.
“The third test – the filter (过滤) of Usefulness,” Socrates continued. “Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?”
“No, not really...”
“Well,” Socrates said, “if what you want to tell me is neither true, nor good, nor even useful, why do you want to tell me at all?”
The man was ashamed (惭愧的) and said no more.When the man tried to tell Socrates something about his student, Socrates _____.
| A．listened to him carefully | B．told him to go away |
| C．asked him to pass a test | D．walked away quickly |
What is the Test of Three mainly about?
| A．Love, Truth and Honesty. |
| B．Truth, Goodness and Usefulness. |
| C．Wisdom, Love and Goodness. |
| D．Honesty, Wisdom and Truth. |
The third test is to check whether what the man wanted to say is _____.
| A．useful | B．true | C．good | D．funny |
What can we learn from the story?
| A．Don’t tell a lie to a philosopher. |
| B．Truth always hides behind small things. |
| C．No one wants to listen to bad news. |
| D．Think twice before you spread a piece of news. |
Which is Not True according to the passage?
| A．One day a man ran up to Socrates excitedly because he was one of his students. |
| B．Socrates asked the man to pass the Test of Three. |
| C．The man knew what he wanted to tell Socrates was not true. He just wanted to talk with him. |
| D．At last the man felt ashamed. |
STICKS AND STONES may be a name of _____.
| A．a theatre | B．a play |
| C．a person | D．a kind of cafe |
November 6 was _____.
| A．Thursday | B．Friday | C．Saturday | D．Sunday |
On Sunday, you can go there _____.
| A．at 7:30 am | B．at 7:30 pm |
| C．at 3:00 am | D．at 3:00 pm |
What kind of show is it? _____________
| A．An action movie. | B．A love movie. |
| C．A comedy. | D．A documentary. |
Robb Badlam may be a/an __________.
| A．actor | B．writer | C．producer | D．director |
阅读下列材料，回答问题。（共5题，每题2分，共计10分）
If you lose 12 times in a row (连续地), will you just give up? Dale Carnegie, a pioneer in public speaking and self-development, kept trying. And he became famous by showing people how to be successful.
Carnegie was born into a poor family in the United States. The boy didn’t see a train until he was 12 years old. In his teens, he had to get up at 3 am every day to milk the cows for his family.
When Carnegie first entered college, he felt upset because of his ragged (破旧的) clothes and ordinary(平凡的) looks. His mother encouraged him, “Why not try to be better in other things instead of just dress and good looks?”
Carnegie tried to be more active in college. He joined the debate (辩论) team. But one after another, he lost 12 competitions. The young man was very disappointed with himself. He said later that he thought of killing himself after failing so many times. But soon Carnegie was seen practicing public speaking on the riverside. His hard work paid off at last. In 1906, Carnegie won a famous speech contest and became well-known. “Believe that you will succeed, and you will,” he said.
In order to share his success, Carnegie opened schools and wrote books. His best-sellers(畅销书) include How to Win Friends and Influence People and How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. More than 50 million copies of his books have been translated in 38 languages. They are still helping people on the road to success.What did Carnegie have to do every morning in his teens?
Why did Carnegie feel upset when he first entered college?
What did Carnegie do to be more active in college?
What did Carnegie do after failing so many times?
Did Carnegie share his success and help people to succeed?
Nowadays, many children spend hours a day looking at computer screens or other digital (数码的) products. Some eye care doctors say all the screen time has caused more children to have what they call computer vision syndrome (视力综合症).
Nathan Warford is an optometrist in the US. He says he has seen more children having eye problems. “More children come into my office because their parents have noticed that they have headaches (头疼)or red eyes, or because their degree of short-sightedness appears to be increasing (增加)very fast and they’re worried,” he said.
Dr. Warford says part of the problem is that even if their eyes start to feel uncomfortable or they start to get a headache, some children don’t tell their parents, because they don’t want their games or the computer to be taken away. Another part of the problem is that people blink (眨眼睛) less often when they look at the screen.A person who uses a computer or a digital product blinks about a third as much as we normally(正常地) do in everyday life. If eyes can’t stay wet or are too tired, they will not be protected like normal.Which of the following may be caused by too much screen time?
| A．Having wet eyes. | B．Having headaches. |
| C．Having small eyes. | D．Having a toothache |
Why don’t some children tell their parents when their eyes start to feel uncomfortable?
| A．They think it is not serious. |
| B．They want to continue playing computer games. |
| C．They don’t want their parents to worry. |
| D．Their parents don’t care about them. |
People blink aboutas they normally do when they use computers.
| A．a third as much | B．two thirds as much |
| C．half as much | D．as much |
From the passage, we can learn that.
| A．children should blink as much as possible |
| B．tears can’t protect eyes |
| C．blinking is good for eyes |
| D．It’s useless to blink. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Some information about the latest digital products. |
| B．Dr. Warford’s experience of working out eye problems. |
| C．Eye problems in children caused by using digital products. |
| D．It’s bad to use computers . |