In the quest for better health, many people turn to doctors, self help books or herbal supplements. But they overlook a powerful weapon that could help them fight illness and depression, speed recovery, slow aging and prolong life: their friends.
Researchers are only now starting to pay attention to the importance of friendship and social networks in overall health. A 10-year Australian study found that older people with a large circle of friends were 22 percent less likely to die during the study period than those with fewer friends. A large 2007 study showed an increase of nearly 60 percent in the risk for obesity among people whose friends gained weight. And last year, Harvard researchers reported that strong social ties could promote brain health as we age.
“In general, the role of friendship in our lives isn’ t well appreciated,” said Rebecca G. Adams, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. “There are a lot of things on families and marriage, but very little on friendship. It baffles me. Friendship has a bigger impact on our psychological well being than family relationships.”
Bella DePaulo, a visiting psychology professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, whose work focuses on single people and friendships, notes that in many studies, friendship has an even greater effect on health than a spouse or a family member.
It isn’ t entirely clear why friendship has such a big effect. It may be because people with strong social ties also have better access to health services and care. Beyond that, however, friendship clearly has a profound psychological effect. People with strong friendships are less likely than others to get colds, perhaps because they have lower stress levels.
Last year, researchers studied 34 students at the University of Virginia, taking them to the base of a steep hill and fitting them with a weighted backpack. They were then asked to estimate the steepness of the hill. Some participants stood next to friends during the exercise, while others were alone.
The students who stood with friends gave lower estimates of the steepness of the hill. And the longer the friends had known each other, the less steep the hill appeared.
“People with stronger friendship networks feel like there is someone they can turn to，” said Karen A．Roberto, director of the center for gerontology (老年医学) at Virginia Tech.“ Friendship is an undervalued resource. The consistent message of these studies is that friends make your life better.”What’ s the main idea of the passage?
| A．People should make friends as many as possible. |
| B．Friendships do great good to human health. |
| C．People with friends have optimistic attitude. |
| D．Several studies have been done on friendships. |
Which of the following is true?
| A．People haven’t attached importance to friendships. |
| B．A friend can replace doctors and selfhelp books. |
| C．People with many friends may have higher stress levels. |
| D．People who have friends tend to be fat. |
The author mentioned the study in the last three paragraphs to indicate that ________.
| A．students should climb the steep hill with friends |
| B．it takes a long time to make friends |
| C．a friend in need is a friend indeed |
| D．people accompanied by friends remain optimistic in the face of difficulty |
In Paragraph 2 the author aims to tell us ________.
| A．friendship has a strong physical effect on people’s health |
| B．we cannot be too careful when making friends |
| C．older people are likely to have fewer friends |
| D．60 percent of the people without friends will become fat when they get old |
According to Karen A. Roberto, ________.
A. the effect of friendships is overvalued
B. studies on friendships make our life better
C. friends are more important than family members
D. friends can help each other when faced with problems
B
Your body, which has close relations with the food you eat, is the most important thing you own, so it needs proper treatment and proper nourishment（营养）. The old saying "An apple a day keeps the doctor away. " is not as silly as some people think. The body needs fruit and vegetables because they contain vitamin C. Many people take extra vitamins in pill form(丸剂), believing that these will make them healthy. But a good diet is made up of nourishing food and this gives all the vitamins you need. The body doesn't need or use extra vitamins, so why waste money on them?
In the modem western world, many people are too busy to bother about eating properly. They throw away the good habits and throw anything into their stomachs, eating hurriedly and carelessly. The list of illnesses caused or made worse by bad eating habits is frightening.
41. From the first sentence we know that ________,
A. all kinds of food you eat can be made into nourishment
B. your body is made up of the food you eat.
C. what you eat has great effect on your health
D. the more you eat, the better you will feel
42. How do you understand the old saying underlined in the passage?
A. Eating apples regularly brings lots of benefits to our health.
B. Doctors are no longer necessary if we eat an apple every day.
C. The apple is the best among all kind of fruits.
D. An apple is a good way to cure illnesses.
43. What can we conclude from the second paragraph?
A. Our bodies need food, or we can't live.
B. Often eating apples is a good habit.
C. Taking extra vitamin pills is completely useless.
D. A good diet is of great importance for our health.
44. In modern we
stern countries, ________.
A. people don't want to pay more attention to their eating
B. lots of people's illnesses are caused or made worse by bad eating habits
C. people throw everything into their stomachs without digestion（消化）
D. people are only too busy to cook meals for themselves
45. If we want to keep healthy, we should ________ .
A. only eat an apple a day
B. eat properly
C. take as many vitamin pills as possible
D. throw everything into our stomachs slowly and carefully
第二部分:阅读理解(共20小题；每小题2分,满分40分)
阅读下面短文,从A、B、C、D四个选项中,选出最佳选项。
A
How Americans Began to Eat Tomatoes
People have strange ideas about food. For example, the tomato is a kind of very delicious vegetable. It is one of useful plants that can be prepared in many ways. It has rich nutrition and vitamin in it. But in the 18th century, Americans never ate tomatoes. They grew them in their gardens because tomato plants are so pretty. But they thought the vegetable was poisonous (有毒的). They called tomatoes “poison apples.”
President Thomas Jefferson, however, knew that tomatoes were good to eat. He was a learned man. He had been to Paris, where he learned to love the taste of tomatoes. He grew many kinds of tomatoes in his garden. The President taught his cook a way for a cream of tomato soup. This beautiful pink soup was served at the President’s party. The guests thought the soup tasted really good. They never thought their president would serve his honored guests poison apples. Jefferson never spoke to his honored (忠实的) guests about the fact.
36. After you read the passage, which of the following do you think is true?
A. Americans never ate tomatoes after they began to plant them.
B. Americans didn’t eat tomatoes before 19th century.
C. Even now Americans don’t eat tomatoes.
D. In the 18th century Americans ate a lot of tomatoes.
37. The passage tells us that Jefferson was a President who learned to love the taste of tomatoes___.
A. while he was in ParisB. when he was a little boy
C. because his parents told him so D. from books
38. According to the text, _______ made the beautiful pink soup served at the President’s party?
A. the President himself B. a French cook
C. the President’s cookD. the President’s wife
39. From the passage we know all the honored guests invited by Jefferson were .
A. people from other countries B. from France
C. people of his own country D. men only
40. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?
A. All of the guests knew the soup that was served at the President’s party was made of tomatoes.
B. All of the guests thought the soup which was prepared by the President’s cook was nice.
C. All of the guests thought the taste of the beautiful pink soup was nice.
D. None of the guests knew that their president would serve his honored guests poison apples.
D
Sure, it’s good to get along with your teacher because it makes the time you spend in the classroom more pleasant.
And yes, it’s good to get along with your teacher because, in general, it’s smart to learn how to relate to the different types of people you’ll meet throughout your life.
But really, there’s one super-important reason why you should get along with your teacher. When you do, “learning bursts right open,” says Evelyn Vuko, a longtime teacher who writes an education column called “Teacher Says” for the Washington Post newspaper.
In fact, kids who get along with their teachers not only learn more, but they’re more comfortable asking questions and getting extra help. This makes it easier to understand new material and do your best on tests. When you have this kind of relationship with a teacher, he or she can be someone to turn to with problems, such as problems with learning or school issues, such as bullying(欺负人).
As a kid in a primary or middle school, you’re at a wonderful stage in your life. You’re like a sponge(海绵), able to soak up lots of new and exciting information. On top of that, you’re able to think about all this information in new ways. Your teacher knows that, and in most cases, is very excited to be the person who’s giving you all that material and helping you put it together. Remember, teachers are people, too, and they feel great if you’re open to what they’re teaching you. That’s why they wanted to be teachers in the first place --- to teach!
Some kids may be able to learn in any situation, whether they like the teacher or not. But most kids are sensitive to the way they get along with the teacher, and if things aren’t going well, they won’t learn as well and won’t enjoy being in class.
67. In the passage, the teacher mainly talks about _____.
A. how to get along well with teachers
B. the importance of a good relation with teachers
C. how much the students are expected of to get along with teachers
D. how to make the time in the classroom more pleasant
68. “Learning bursts right open” in the third paragraph really means _____.
A. learning becomes easier for you at once
B. you find an opening to learning
C. there’ll be more problems with learning
D. there’ll be no problems with learning.
69. According to the passage, which of the following offers the best reasoning?
A. You are getting on well with your teachers, so you have more questions than others.
B. You find it comfortable to ask questions, so you can build a good relationship with teachers.
C. You have a good relationship with teacher, so you can turn to him/ her when in trouble.
D. You are in trouble, so you can build a good relationship with teachers.
70. Which of the comments is FALSE on teachers and their work according to the passage?
A. Teachers are exited even if you wouldn’t like to accept their teaching.
B. Teachers sometimes have the same feelings as students do.
C. Though few there are still some students who can learn even if they don’t like the teacher.
D. Having a bad relationship with your teachers does more or less harm to your studies.
C
Scientists used to explore on the surface of the ocean. Now they are exploring below the surface, too. They want to know about ocean water and the plant and animal life deep in the ocean.
In 1934 the scientist William Beebe dived 3,000 feet below the surface in a hollow steel ball. In 1935 August Piccard dived 10, 330 feet. In 1960 his son Jean dived to a depth of 35,800 feet.
All these early dives were deep. But the divers could not stay down for very long. They had to come back up to the surface after a few seconds. Scientists needed to stay down longer to study life below the surface. Gradually they succeeded. Cousteau, a Frenchman, was able to keep men down to a depth of 36 feet for one month and to a depth of 90 feet for a week.
Now scientists are developing even better equipment. With this new equipment, men can stay below the surface for days or even weeks. In 1962 Cousteau set up a research station 35 feet below the surface. Then in 1964 he set up another station on the ocean floor of the Red Sea. This was the first undersea station to operate without help from the surface.
Many countries are now studying undersea living things. The former Soviet Union had an undersea laboratory in the Crimean Sea. The United States has a laboratory 50 feet down on the ocean floor off the Virgin Islands. In 1970 five men lived there for two weeks. Then a team of five women scientists stayed in the laboratory. Next came other teams of men. All were there to explore the ocean depths and to make plans for the use of its resources. Scientists hope to find enough mineral, vegetable, and animal wealth there to provide food for the entire world.
64. In order to _____, scientists are exploring below the surface of the ocean.
A. know about the ocean water deep in the ocean
B. know about the plant and animal life deep in the ocean
C. stay down longer to study life of the plant and animal below the surface
D. both A and B
65. Who set up the first undersea station?
A. A Frenchman B. An American
C. A Russian D. The passage made no mention
66. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. Nobody can stay below the surface of the ocean.
B. The early divers could not stay below the surface of the ocean for very long.
C. The purpose of setting up the undersea laboratories is to make plans for the use of the resources in the ocean.
D. Up to now only five women scientists have stayed in the undersea laboratory.
B
Chinese sword play
Learn Chinese swordsmanship and practice Chinese sword play under the instruction of a professional in Ditan Park every Sunday afternoon.
Fee: 60 yuan(US$ 7.2)
Time/Date: 2 pm --- 3:30 pm, October 10.
Place: Meet at the south gate of Ditan Park, across the overpass north of the Lama Temple, Chaoyang District.
Tel: 8457-2772
See Lu Xun’s former residence
Visit the museum and former residence of Lu Xun, the father of Chinese modern literature, and learn about this period of Chinese history, from 1910 to the late 1930’s.
Fee: 50 yuan(US$ 6)
Time/Date: 2:30 pm --- 4:30 pm, October 16
Place: Meet in front of Lu Xun’s Museum, Fuchengmennei Dajie, Xicheng District
Tel: 6432-9341
Hike on Heifengkou Great Wall
Heifengkou Great Wall is about one and a half hours’ drive north of Beijing. The hike starts from the village at the foot of the mountain where the Great Wall meanders to the top.
Fee: 150 yuan(US$ 18) for adults, 100 yuan(US$ 12) for kids under 12.
Time/Date: 8:30 am --- 5:30 pm, October 16
Pick-up: Meet at 8:30 am in front of the Big Easy, at the South Gate of Chaoyang Park, returning by 5:30 pm.
Contact Lucy at lucy @ highclub. cn, or 6553-3920 for signing up.
Tai Chi class
This is a beginner’s level of Chen-style Tai Chi class, instructed by Paul Wang, who speaks excellent English and has a lot of experience teaching Westerners. He is the 12th generation master of Chen-Style Tai Chi, Tai Chi Sword, and Shaolin Temple longquan.
Time/Date: 10 am --- 11:30 am, October 12.
Fee: 60 yuan(US$ 7.2)
Place: In front of Jintai Gallery, inside the West Gate of Chaoyang Park, Chaoyang District
Tel: 6432-9341
Contact Gina at linshujuan@chinadaily. com. cn.
60. The underline word “residence” in the second text possibly refers to ______ .
A. a work B. a famous person C. a park D. a house
61. If John wants to learn Chinese sword play, he may go to _____.
A. Ditan Park at 2 pm --- 3:30 pm, October 10
B. Fuchengmennei Dajie at 2:30 pm --- 4:30 pm, October 16
C. the South Gate of Chaoyang Park at 8:30 am
D. Chaoyang Park at 10 am --- 11:30 am, October 12.
62. If you are free from 10:00 am --- 11:30 am, you may go to _____.
A. learn Chinese sword play
B. hike on Heifengkou Great Wall
C. visit the museum and former residence of Lu Xun
D. take the Tai Chi class
63. In which section of the newspaper can you find the information above?
A. Sports. B. Entertainment. C. Advertisements. D. Brief