There are many older people in the world and there will be many more. A little-known fact is that over 60 percent of the older people live in developing countries. According to the World Health Organization, by 2020 there will be 1 billion, with over 700 million living in developing
countries.
It is a surprising fact that the population ageing is particularly rapid in developing countries. For example, it took France 115 years for the proportion of older people to double from 7 percent to 14 percent. It is estimated to take China a mere 27 years to achieve this same increase.
What are the implications of these increased numbers of older folk？ One of the biggest worries for governments is that the longer people live ,the more likelihood there is for diseases and for disability. Attention is being paid to the need to keep people as healthy as possible, including during old age, to lessen the financial burden on the state.
Another significant problem is the need for the younger generations to understand and value the older people in their society. In some African countries, certainly in Asia, older people are respected and regarded as the ones with special knowledge. Yet traditions are fading away daily, which does not ensure the continued high regard of older people. As society changes, attitudes will change.
Much needs to be done to get rid of age discrimination (歧视) in employment. Life-long learning programs need to be provided to enable older people to be active members in a country's development.
Social security policies need to be established to provide adequate income protection for older people. Both public and private schemes are vital in order to build a suitable safety net.
To achieve equality in such matters will take considerable time and effort. One thing is sure:there is no time to be lost.The proportion of older people .
| A．is bigger in developed countries than in developing countries |
| B．will increase much faster in China than in France |
| C．is one-seventh of the population in developing countries |
| D．will be sixty percent in developing countries by 2020 |
According to the passage, which of the following are governments most worried about?
| A．The longer life and good health of people. |
| B．The diseases and disability of older people. |
| C．The loss of taxes on older people. |
| D．The increasing respect for older people. |
It is stated directly in the passage that older people should .
| A．be treated differently in different cultures |
| B．enjoy a similar lifestyle |
| C．be valued by the younger generations |
| D．be ignored as society changes |
Which of the following measures is NOT mentioned to solve the population ageing problem？
| A．Getting rid of age discrimination in employment. |
| B．Ensuring adequate income protection for older people. |
| C．Supplying life-long learning programs to older people. |
| D．Providing free health care for sick older people. |
The author concludes in the last paragraph that .
| A．governments have spent lots of time in solving the ageing problem |
| B．people are too busy to solve the population ageing problem |
| C．population ageing is a hard problem,but it needs to be solved urgently |
| D．much time and effort will be lost in solving the ageing problem |
Tourism probably started in Roman times. Rich Romans visited friends and family who were working in another part of the Roman Empire. But when the empire broke down, this kind of tourism stopped.
In the early 17th century, the idea of the “Grand Tour” was born. Rich young English people sailed across the English Channel（英吉利海峡）. They visited the most beautiful and important European cities of the time, including Paris in France, and Rome and Venice in Italy. Their tours lasted for two to four years, and the tourists stayed a few weeks or months in each city. The “Grand Tour” was an important part of young people’s education---but only for the rich.
In the 18th century, tourism began to change. For example, people in the UK started to visit some towns, such as Bath to “take the waters”. They believed that the water there was good for their health. So large and expensive hotels were built in these towns.
In the 19th century, travel became much more popular and faster. When the first railways were built in the 1820s, it was easier for people to travel towns, so they started to go for holidays by the sea. And some started to have holidays in the countryside as cities became larger, noisier and dirtier.
Traveling by sea also became faster and safer when the first steamships were built. People began to travel more to faraway countries.
The 20th century saw cars become more and more popular among ordinary people. Planes were made larger, so ticket prices dropped and more people used them.
Thus tourism grew. In 1949, Russian journalist Vladimir Raitz started a company called Horizon Holidays. The company organizes everything---plane tickets, hotel rooms, even food----and tourists pay for it all before they leave home. The package tour and modern tourist industry was born.
The first travel agency in China was set up as early as 1949. But tourism did not take off until 1978. In 2002, the industry was 500 billion yuan and became an important part of China’s social development. In the early times, the travelers _____.
| A．all came from Roman | B．were very young and strong |
| C．had lots of money | D．traveled by boat |
Which is NOT true about “Grand Tour”?
| A．It was a long journey. | B．The young men learned a lot from it. |
| C．Those who took the tour weren’t rich. | D．Most of its destinations were in Europe. |
_____ played the most important role in the tourism development.
| A．Education | B．Money | C．Transportation | D．People’s ideas |
Modern tourism was born _______.
| A．in 1949 | B．in Roman times | C．in the early 17th century | D．in the early 19th century |
The underlined phrase “take off” in the last paragraph means ______.
| A．a plane rising into the air | B．develop very fast |
| C．remove hats and clothes | D．bring down the prices |
US bees operation keeping groups have been attacked seriously by so called Colony Collapse Disorder (蜂群衰竭失调)．Almost 1/2 of their worker bees have vanished during the past season．This disorder has also been reported in Israel, Europe and South America．Bees fly away from the hive and never return．Sometimes they are found dead; other times they are never foun
d．Many crops and trees depend on pollination--- by bees to help them grow．
A new report says a virus may be at least partly responsible for the disorder in honey bee colonies in the United States．This virus is called Israeli acute paralysis virus．It was first found in Israel in 2004．Lan Lipkin at Columbia University in New York and a team reported the new findings in Science Magazine．Doctor Lipkin says the virus may not be the only cause．He says it may work with other causes to produce the collapse disorder．
The team found the virus in colonies with the help of a map of honey bee genes that was published last year．They examined thirty colonies affected by the disorder．They found evidence of the virus in twenty-five of them, and in one healthy colony．The next step is further testing of healthy hives．
The researchers suggested that the United States may have imported the disorder in bees from Australia．They say the bees may 
carry the virus but not be affected．
The idea is that unlike many American bees, the ability of Australian bees to fight disease has not been hurt by the varroasis mite．This insect attacks honey bees, wh
ich could make the disorder more likely to affect a hive．Australian bee producers object to these suspicions．
And some researchers suspect that bee production in the United States is down mainly because of the weather．Honey bees gather nectar from flowers and trees．The sweet liquid gives them food and material to make honey．But cold weather this spring in the Midwest reduced the flow of nectar in many flowers．Many bees may have starved．Dry weather in areas of the country could also be playing apart．
Wayne Esaias is a NASA space agency scientist who keeps bees in his free time．He lives in central Maryland, where he has found that flowers are blooming a month earlier than they did in 1970, which may be partly responsible for the disorder. Wayne Esaias is organizing a group of beekeepers to document nectar flow around the country.What is the author’s attitude toward the cause of this disorder?
| A．Doubtful | B．Neutral | C．Supportive | D．Negative |
The passage is mainly developed by.
| A．presenting the effect and analyzing its causes |
| B．making comparisons between two countries |
| C．providing data and examples |
| D．following the time order |
How many possibilities may be involved in the bee disorder according to the passage?
| A．Three | B．Four | C．Five | D．Six |
From the passage we can infer that.
| A．American bees are more likely to defend themselves against hurt from other insects than Australian ones |
B．A collection of plants production in the U.S may be influenced by  the bee disorder |
| C．Israeli acute paralysis virus should be responsible for the disorder |
| D．The solution to the disorder will be found eventually |
You must have been troubled by when to say “I love you” because it is one of the greatest puzzles in our life.
What if you say it first and your partner doesn’t love you back? Or if they do say it but you don’t feel they mean it? Being the first to declare your love can be nerve racking(紧张）and risky and can leave you feeling as vulnerable as a turtle with no shell. But is the person who says it first really in a position of weakness? Doesn’t it pay to hold back, play it cool and wait until the other half has shown their hand fast?
A really good relationship should be about “being fair and being equal,” says psychologist Sidney Crown. “But love is seldom equal.” All relationships go through power struggles but, he says, if a love imbalance continues for years, the rot will set in. “That feeling of ‘I’ve always loved you more’ may be subverted(颠覆，破坏) for a time, but it never goes away completely and it often emerges in squabbling(大声争吵).” In love, at least, the silent, withholding type is not always the most powerful. “The strongest one in a relationship is often the person who feels confident enough to talk about their feelings,” says educational psychologist Ingrid Collins. Psychosexual therapist Paula Hall agrees. “The one with the upper hand is often the person who takes the initiative. In fact, the person who says ‘I love you’ first may also be the one who says ‘I’ m bored with you’ first.” Hall believes that much depends on how “I love you” is said and the motivation of the person saying it
. “Is it said when they’re drunk? Is it said before their partner files off on holiday, and what it really means is ‘Please don’ t be unfaithful to me’ ?” By saying ‘I love you’, they are really saying ‘Do you love me?’ If so, wouldn’t it just be more honest to say that. Collins agrees tha
t intention is everything. “It’s not what is said, but how it’s said. What it comes down to is the sincerity of the speaker.” What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．The importance of “I love you” |
| B．The meaning of “I love you” |
| C．The time of saying “I love you” |
| D．The place of saying “I love you” |
In the first sentence the author means that _________.
| A．it is easy to say “I love you” |
| B．it is hard to say “I love you” |
| C．we have many troubles in our life |
| D．people usually do not know when to say “I love you” |
According to the expert, a good relationship should
be _______.
| A．fair and equal | B．fair and kind |
| C．powerful and equal | D．confident and fair |
In the third paragraph, the phrase “with the upper hand” means _________.
| A．being low in spirit | B．having only one hand |
| C．being active | D．being passive |
①Researches show what we already suspected: Three out of four babies who died of SIDS(婴儿猝死) involved co-sleeping. We’ll say it again. The safest course is not to sleep with babies.
②We know the argument: Bad parenting, not co-sleeping, is to blame for the dozens of babies’ deaths. Some parents stick to co-sleeping because it helps them bond with their newborns. They say those who give co-sleeping a bad name either had been drinking, used drugs or were too tired to notice that they rolled over on their children.
③But, most of the cases did not involve drugs or alcohol. There’s a “but” here, however. Submitting to a test for drugs or alcohol in these cases is voluntary, so it’s difficult to know with certainty.
④Organizations like the Black Health Coalition and others have explained the safe way to co-sleep. While we understand those arguments, we also know that mistakes can happen and that it only takes one time for something to go terribly wrong. The risk outweighs the benefit.
⑤In all likelihood
, parents will continue to co-sleep, and some will do so without ever having an incident, but babies are too vulnerable(易受伤的) for parents to take such chances. Therefore, the best place for babies to sleep is in their own beds, on their backs, with no pillows, blankets or toys. No parent wants a tragedy to occur. The best way to make sure the tragedy doesn’t happen is to allow babies to sleep alone in their own cribs.According to the author, most of the SIDS cases happened because of ________.
| A．drugs | B．co-sleeping | C．drinking | D．bad parenting |
Some parents think sleeping with their babies can ________.
| A．keep the babies healthy |
| B．give co-sleeping a good name |
| C．prevent themselves from drinking |
| D．develop a good relation with their babies |
The author holds the opinion that ________.
| A．parents can sleep with babies, but cautiously |
| B．co-sleep helps to bring babies closer to parents |
| C．parents can’t take chances to sleep with their babies |
| D．accidents only happen to those careless parents |
Which of the following best describes the structure of the text?
| A．① | B．①② | C．① | D．① |
↙↘ ↓ ↙↓↘ ↙↓↓↘
②③④③④②③④②③④⑤
↘ ↙ ↓↘↓↙
⑤⑤⑤
I have to admit: I don’t flush the toilet every time I go to the bathroom. In fact, I firmly believe “If it’s yellow, let it mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down.”
I’m sure a lot of it has to do with the fact that I work at home. Alone (well, except for the cats and dogs). All day. And I drink a lot of water, which makes for many trips to the bathroom.
Another thing I have to admit: I also try to use very little toilet paper. I wash my hands after, though. Every time. (So maybe the water I don’t use flushing makes up for the water used to wash my hands?)
Ironically, my husband, who only uses toilet paper when necessary, always flushes. But he doesn’t seem to mind that I don’t flush every time. Or, at least not enough to file for divorce yet.
Posted by Juliet Farmer
Jun 14, 2010 at 10:21 PM
Comments (2)
When I’m at home alone I do not flush every time I pee(小便). My husband hates that, though, so when he’s home, I flush a little more often. I grew up doing that because I had a family that lived with huge tanks and you have to do it that way because it’s easier on the system, so it doesn’t bother me. I do flush when I’m out in public, at people’s houses that don’t have big tanks and when we have company!
CherBearCM, Jun 15, 2010 at 4:21 PM
Not always. But I have 4 children who are always hanging from the door knob（球形捏手） while I pee anyway. So I’m lucky I have time to wash my hands after. The average toilet uses 8 gallons of water per flush! Much less than what it takes to wash my hands after. (just saying)
luvbnmomnwife, Jun 15, 2010 at 4:32 PMCherBearCM doesn’t flush the toilet every time she pees ______.
| A．because she can’t afford so much water |
| B．because her husband doesn’t like that |
| C．when she is with her friends |
| D．when she is alone |
luvbnmomnwife seems to enjoy ________.
| A．washing hands after using the toilet |
| B．taking care of her four children |
| C．peeing with her kids watching |
| D．flushing the toilet after peeing |
The text is taken from ________.
| A．a newspaper | B．a website |
| C．a magazine | D．a handbook |
Which of the following titles best suits the text?
| A．Stop flushing your toilet! |
| B．Do you flush the toilet every time? |
| C．Don’t forget to flush the toilet after peeing! |
| D．Do you realize the importance of saving water? |