Nowadays women appear to have a positive image of themselves as safer drivers than men.
In a survey done for insurer MetLife, 51% of women said they drive more safely. The evidence is on their side: Men are 3.4 times more likely than women to get a ticket for careless driving and 3.1 times as likely to be punished for drunk driving. “Women are on average less aggressive and more law abiding (守法的) drivers, which leads to fewer accidents,” the report says. However, not all male drivers share the same opinion. Of the men surveyed by MetLife, 39% claimed male drivers were safer. The findings did back them upon one point: automotive knowledge. The report showed that more men are familiar with current safety equipment such as electronic stability control，which helps prevent rollover accidents.
Auto safety unavoidably matters to Money. Insurance companies focus on what classes of drivers have the lowest dollar amounts of claims, and for now, that mainly includes women. In general, women pay about 9% less for auto insurance than men. A study by the website Insweb also showed that auto insurance rates are lower for women in most states. Among individual states, women get the greatest, advantage in Wyoming (where they pay 20% less), South Dakota and Washington, D.C, where their insurance costs are 16% lower.
“More than 11,900 male drivers died in US traffic accidents in 2009，compared with just under 4,900 women drivers” according to the study. “Based on miles traveled, men died at a rate of 2.5 deaths per 100 million miles traveled, vs.1.7 deaths for women.”According to the study，female drivers ________.
| A．are more aggressive while driving |
| B．are more interested in auto knowledge |
| C．are more likely to stick to driving laws |
| D．are more familiar with safety equipment |
Insurance companies focus on female driver clients probably because they________.
| A．cause more accidents on the road |
| B．pay more money to the insurance companies |
| C．take the most part of the insurance clients |
| D．have the lowest amount of money on insurance claims |
We can infer from the passage that________.
| A．men are 3.1 times more likely to get tickets than women |
| B．all women in the USA pay the same for their auto insurance |
| C．more female drivers die every year than male drivers |
| D．women are generally safer drivers than the opposite gender |
The writer mainly develops paragraphs by________.
| A．giving examples |
| B．making comparisons |
| C．drawing a conclusion |
| D．presenting an argument |
We’ve heard about radiation from the damaged nuclear reactors in Japan reaching American shores. Experts say so far there is no reason to worry, and point out that we meet radiation every day. Where and how? NPR’s Renee Montagne posed that question to Peter Caracappa, a radiation safety officer and professor of nuclear engineering.
MONTAGNE: How many things emit radiation?
Dr CARACAPPA: Well, radiation and radioactive material is a part of nature. So everything that’s living has some amount of radiation coming from it—a very small amout. Plus there’s radiation in the ground and the air.
So the extremes are uranium in the soil to bananas?
Yes.
By the way, why do bananas have radiation?
Bananas have a lot of potassium(钾). And a small amount of potassium naturally is called potassium 40, which is radioactive
What’s the difference between radiation that’s harmful and not harmful?
Well, the term radiation can apply to a lot of different things. But the harmful radiation is ionizing(离子)radiation. It has enough energy that it can make chemical changes in material. We could get ionizing radiation from an X-ray, for example. It’s the kind of radiation that causes cancer.
The broader definition of radiation includes a lot of things that we call non-ionizing radiation. That includes everything like radio waves and visible light and your microwave.
So what then is the largest contributor of ionizing radiation?
For the natural sources of ionizing radiation, actually the biggest chunk of that tends to come from radon(氡), which is a radioactive material that is present in the air. It can become a concern when it builds up in low-lying areas of homes like basements.
Would it be fair to say that most people do not need to worry about the danger of being exposed to radiation?
I would say that the everyday exposure to radioation that we meet contributes an extremely tiny risk to our life or to our health compared to all of the other risks that we meet in our day-to-day life.We can infer from the first paragraph that radiation is______.
| A．rare | B．powerful | C．dangerous | D．common |
The passage may be _______.
| A．an interview | B．an argument | C．a talk show program | D．a science report |
Whether radiation is harmful or not depends on______.
| A．whether it has a small amount of potassium |
| B．whether it changes chemical in materials. |
| C．whether it has energy to change materials |
| D．whether it is visible in life |
The purpose of writing this passage is to _______.
| A．advise on how to protect us from radiation |
| B．analyze what causes radiation in daily life |
| C．warn people of the danger of radiation |
| D．expect people not to fear everyday radiation |
If you are asked to name some national emblems of China, the dragon will probably be one of the famous images that pop into your head. We Chinese often consider ourselves "the descendants（后代）of the dragon." It is not unfamiliar to you that your parents hope that you "may become the dragon".
As a mythical（神秘的）creature, the dragon is deeply rooted in Chinese culture. Traditionally, dragons are considered to govern rainfall. They have the power to decide where and when the rain falls. In addition, the dragon is a symbol of imperial （帝王的）power. The emperors thought they were real dragons and the sons of the heaven.
But the creature is regarded differently in Western countries. In the Bible, dragons represent the devil（恶人）. Western people usually see dragons as cold-blooded reptiles（爬虫）, like snakes and cruel killers. In their eyes, dragons are also dishonest.
Dragons in Western literature are presented as monsters（怪物）. It is a common tale for a mediaeval knight（中世纪的骑士） to kill a dragon and save a princess and her country from its evil. Even the popular boy wizard Harry Potter has to battle against a dragon.
However, dragons are not all bad in the West. "Puff the Magic Dragon" is a well-known song. The lyrics(歌词) tell a bitter-sweet story of the dragon Puff and his playmate Jackie Paper, a little boy. When Jackie grows up, he loses interest in the imaginary adventures of childhood and leaves Puff upset. Puff represents the innocence of a child's imagination, which is very positive for a dragon. The underlined word” emblems” in the first paragraph means “_______”.
| A．symbols | B．names | C．places | D．parks |
What is a dragon presented as according to Western literature?
A wizard B. A mediaeval knight C. A princess D. A monster The writer gave the example of “ Puff the Magic Dragon” to show_____.
| A．dragons can represent the innocence of child’s imagination |
| B．children don’t like to play with dragons |
| C．dragons are not all bad in the West |
| D．not all people in the West like dragons |
Will it matter if you don't take your breakfast? Recently a test was given in the United States. Those tested included people of different ages, from 12 to 83. During the experiment, these people were given all kinds of breakfasts, and sometimes they got no breakfast at all. Special tests were set up to see how well their bodies worked when they had eaten a certain kind of breakfast. The results show that if a person eats a proper breakfast, he or she will work with better effect than if he or she has no breakfast. This fact appears to be especially true if a person works with his brains. If a student eats fruit, eggs, bread and milk before going to school, he will learn more quickly and listen with more attention to class.
Opposite to(与.....相反) what many people believe, if you don't eat breakfast, you will not lose weight. This is because people become so hungry at noon that they eat too much for lunch, and end up gaining weight instead of losing. You will probably lose more weight if you reduce your other meals.During the test, those who were tested were given ________.
| A．no breakfast at all |
| B．very rich breakfast |
| C．little food for breakfast |
| D．different breakfast or none |
The results of the test show that ________.
| A．breakfast has great effect on work and studies |
| B．breakfast has little to do with a person’s work |
| C．a person will work better if he has a simple(简单的) breakfast |
| D．those working with brains needn’t have anything for breakfast |
The passage mentions that many people believe that if you don't eat breakfast, you will _________.
| A．lose weight |
| B．not lose weight |
| C．be healthier |
| D．gain a lot of weight |
Which of the following is not true according to the passage?
| A．Poor breakfasts affect those who work with brains. |
| B．Eating nothing in the morning may cause one to get fatter. |
| C．Reducing lunch and supper is of less use in weight losing. |
| D．Eating less in lunch and supper may help to lose weight. |
During the summer holidays there will be a revised(修改过的)schedule of services for the students. Changes for dinning-room and library service hours and for bus schedules will be posted on the wall outside of the dining-hall．Weekly film and concert schedules,which are being arranged(安排), will be posted each Wednesday outside of the student club.
In the summer holidays, buses going to the town center will leave the main hall every hour on the half hour during the day．The dining-room will serve three meals a day from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm during the week and two meals from noon to 7:00 pm on weekends．The library will continue its usual hours during the week, but have shorter hours on Saturdays and Sundays．The weekend hours are from noon to5:00 pm.
All students who want to use the library borrowing services must have a new summer card．This announcement will also appear in the next week’s student newspaper.The main purpose of this announcement is to .
| A．tell students of important schedule changes |
| B．tell students of new bus and library services |
| C．show the excellent services for students |
| D．ask students to renew their library cards |
Times for films and concerts are not listed in this announcement because .
| A．they are not to be announced |
| B．they are hard to arrange |
| C．the full list is not ready |
| D．the full list is too long |
At which of the following times will the bus leave the main hall?
| A．8:00, 9:00, 10:00, 11:00 |
| B．8:30, 9:30, 10:30, 11:30 |
| C．8:30,9:00, 9:30,10:00 |
| D．8:00, 9:30, 11:00, 12:30 |
In the summer holidays,the library will have .
| A．no special hours |
| B．special hours on weekdays |
| C．special hours on weekends |
| D．special hours both on weekdays and weekends |
The Great Fire of London started in the very early hours of September 2, 1666. In four days it destroyed more than three-quarters of the old city, where most of the houses were wooden and close together. Over one hundred people became homeless, but only a few lost their lives .
The fire started on Sunday morning in the house of the King’s baker（面包师）in Pudding Lane. The baker, with his wife and family, was able to get out through a window into the roof. A strong wind blew the fire from the bakery（面包房）into a small hotel next door. Then it spread quickly into Thames Street. That was the beginning.
By eight o’clock three hundred houses were on fire. On Monday nearly a kilometer of the city was burning along the River Thames. Tuesday was the worst day. The fire destroyed many well-known buildings, old St Paul’s and the Guildhall among them .
Samuel Pepys , the famous writer, writer about the fire, “People threw their things into the river. Many poor people stayed in their houses until the last moment. Birds fell out of the air because of the heat .”
The fire stopped only when the King finally ordered people to destroy hundreds of buildings in the path（路径） of the fire.With nothing left to burn, the fire became weak and finally died out.
After the fire, Christopher Wren, the architect(建筑师), wanted a city with wider streets and fine new houses of stone．In fact, the streets are still narrow, but he did build more than fifty churches, among which was the new St Paul’s
The fire caused great pain and loss, but after it London was a better place: a city for the future and not just of the past.The underlined word‘family’in the second paragraph probably means____.
| A．house | B．children | C．wife and husband | D．wife and children |
It seems that the writer of the text was most sorry for the fact that .
| A．many people lost their lives |
| B．the birds in the sky were killed by the fire |
| C．many famous buildings were destroyed |
| D．the King’s bakery was burned down |
Why did the writer cite(引用)Samuel Pepys?
| A．Because Pepys was among those putting out the fire. |
| B．Because Pepys also wrote about the fire. |
| C．To show that poor people suffered most. |
| D．To give the reader a clearer picture of the fire. |
How was the fire put out according to the text?
| A．The King and his soldiers came to help. |
| B．All the wooden houses in the city were destroyed. |
| C．People managed to get enough water from the river. |
| D．Houses standing in the path of the fire were destroyed. |