How important is your mobile phone, better known to Americans as a cellphone? Jack said, “I use my phone all the time. I’m always on my phone.” Ann said, “It’s important to me because it’s like my life saver.” Jenny said, “I need my cellphone. I cannot live without it.”
So far, no studies have proven beyond question that the radio signals from cellphones cause brain cancer or other health problems. But a new study by government scientists in the United States has some people wondering what to think. The scientists have found that holding a cellphone to your ear for more than fifty minutes increases brain cell activity. Even the scientists themselves are not sure about the meaning of their findings.
Dr Nora Volkow led the study. She heads the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health. Dr Volkow says she is not concerned that fifty minutes of cellphone exposure (暴露) would harm anyone. But she says the research does show the need to study whether there are long-lasting effects of repeated exposure over several years.
Her team studied forty-seven healthy volunteers between January and December of 2009. The volunteers had cellphones placed against both ears while the scientists made images of their brain activity. As part of the test, one phone was activated (使激活)for fifty minutes. The other phone was off. After that, the volunteers were tested with both phones turned off. Dr Volkow says the brain scans(扫描) showed increased activity in brain cells closest to the activated phone.
The scans showed how the brain cells used sugar to produce energy, a normal activity. The activity was seven percent higher in areas of the brain closest to the cellphone antenna(天线).
Dr Giuseppe Esposito is a nuclear medicine expert at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington. He says after many years of studies, better kinds of research are still needed to settle questions about cellphone safety. These studies would take years.What the three people said in Paragraph 1 shows that .
A.not everyone needs to use a cellphone |
B.cellphones are the most important thing in our life |
C.cellphones play an important role in our life |
D.cellphones have different functions for different people |
According to Paragraph 2, what is still unknown to scientists?
A.Whether radio signals cause health problems or not. |
B.Whether using a cellphone for too long can lead to brain cancer. |
C.Whether cellphones have more advantages than disadvantages. |
D.Whether people worry about talking on the cellphone for too long. |
The results of the study tell us that .
A.people use cellphones for too long every day |
B.using cellphones has an effect on brain cells |
C.cellphones that are powered off can also affect the brain |
D.increased activity in brain cells has many causes |
Which statement would Dr Giuseppe Esposito probably agree with?
A.Cell phone safety is not an important issue. |
B.It goes without saying that cell phones harm people’s health. |
C.Few studies have been done on whether cell phones are safe to use. |
D.There is still a long way to go to find out whether cell phones are safe to use. |
Melissa Poe was 9 years old when she began a campaign for a cleaner environment by writing a letter to the then President Bush. Through her own efforts, her letter was reproduced on over 250 donated billboards across the country.
The response to her request for help was so huge that Poe established Kids For A Cleaner Environment (Kids F.A.C.E.) in 1989. There are now 300,000 members of Kids FACE worldwide and is the world's largest youth environmental organization.
Poe has also asked the National Park Service to carry out a "Children's Forest" project in every national park. In 1992, she was invited as one of only six children in the world to speak at the Earth Summit in Brazil as part of the Voices of the Future Program. In 1993, she was given a Caring Award for her efforts by the Caring Institute.
Since the organization started, Kids F.A.C.E. members have distributed and planted over 1 million trees! Ongoing tree-planting projects include Kid's Yards – the creation of backyard wildlife habitats (栖息地) and now Kids F.A.C.E. is involved in the exciting Earth Odyssey, which is a great way to start helping.
"Starting the club turned out to be a way to help people get involved with the environment. Club members started doing things like recycling, picking up litter and planting trees as well as inviting other kids to join their club."
"We try to tell kids that it's not OK to be lazy," she explains. "You need to start being a responsible, environmentally friendly person now, right away, before you become a resource-sucking adult."Kids F.A.C.E is _____.
A. a program to help students with writing
B. a project of litter recycling
C. a campaign launched by President Bush
D. a club of environmental protectionWhat can we learn about Poe?
A.She was awarded a prize in Brazil. |
B.She donated billboard across the country. |
C.She got positive responses for her efforts |
D.She joined the National Park Service. |
Kid’s Yards is _____.
A.established in a national park. |
B.started to protect wildlife |
C.a wildlife- raising project |
D.an entertainment park for kids. |
Which of the following can be inferred from the text?
A. Adults are resource-sucking people
B. Poe sought help from a youth organization
C. Kids F.A.C.E members are from the U.S.
D. Kids are urged to save natural resources.
University Room Regulations
Approved and Prohibited Items
The following items are approved for use in residential (住宿的) rooms: electric blankets, hair dryers, personal computers, radios, televisions and DVD players. Items that are not allowed in student rooms include: candles, ceiling fans, fireworks, waterbeds, sun lamps and wireless routers. Please note that any prohibited items will be taken away by the Office of Residence Life.
Access to Residential Rooms
Students are provided with a combination (组合密码) for their room door locks upon check-in. Do not share your room door lock combination with anyone. The Office of Residence Life may change the door lock combination at any time at the expense of the resident if it is found that the student has shared the combination with others. The fee is $25 to change a room combination.
Cooking Policy
Students living in buildings that have kitchens are only permitted to cook in the kitchen. Students must clean up after cooking. This is not the responsibility of housekeeping staff. Kitchens that are not kept clean may be closed for use. With the exception of using a small microwave oven (微波炉) to heat food, students are not permitted to cook in their rooms.
Pet Policy
No pets except fish are permitted in student rooms. Students who are found with pets, whether visiting or owned by the student, are subject to an initial fine of $100 and a continuing fine of $50 a day per pet. Students receive written notice when the fine goes into effect. If, one week from the date of written notice, the pet is not removed, the student is referred to the Student Court.
Quiet Hours
Residential buildings must maintain an atmosphere that supports the academic mission of the University. Minimum quiet hours in all campus residences are 11:00 pm to 8:00 am Sunday through Thursday. Quiet hours on Friday and Saturday nights are 1:00 am to 8:00 am. Students who violate quiet hours are subject to a fine of $25.Which of the following items are allowed in student rooms?
A.Ceiling fans and waterbeds. |
B.Wireless routers and radios. |
C.Hair dryers and candles. |
D.TVs and electric blankets. |
What if a student is found to have told his combination to others?
A.The combination should be changed. |
B.The Office should be charged. |
C.He should replace the door lock. |
D.He should check out of the room. |
What do we know about the cooking policy?
A.A microwave oven can be used. |
B.Cooking in student rooms is permitted. |
C.A housekeeper is to clean up the kitchen. |
D.Students are to close kitchen doors after cooking. |
If a student has kept a cat in his room for a week since the warning, he will face _____.
A.parent visits | B.a fine of $100 |
C.the Student Court | D.a written notice |
My mother got divorced when I was 5 and was left to raise me and my two younger brothers. She didn’t have a formal education, so she had to work two full-time jobs to make ends meet.
One day several years later, I was determined to help. I told the manager of the Don Carlos Motel in Nana Point that I was 15, so I could get a work permit to work as a maid.
Since then, I’ve started to work alongside some of America’s top leaders, written books, and achieved financial independence. It took a lot of hard work and sacrifices.
But what if I was 15 years old today? Would I be able to accomplish the same things in this new, highly competitive world with so many global challenges? It seems hard work and sacrifices aren’t enough anymore.
Today, you need to be extremely adaptable. To progress in your career, it’s not enough to know one thing well. As my friend Sean Harvey, product manager at Google put it when we were speaking to students, “Today, companies aren’t hiring people for a specific position but rather people who are smart and flexible. The way you prove that is by showing you can do multiple things well.”
People need to take more risks to succeed now than ever. The combination of unemployment and slow wage growth means that we are not only at greater financial risk, but we have to take more risks to succeed.
Luckily, the new Internet world of all-the-time connectedness means that anyone with a hot idea, product or service can create a business out of almost nothing. And success can be quick and big. But that success demands more “out of the box” thinking.
And what about our kids? It makes me think a lot about the future that my 3-years-old daughter faces. But no matter what the future brings, I think the best message I’ll give her is to believe in herself. Life won’t get any easier, but the opportunities will come — as they always have — to those who work hard, adapt as they need to, and trust their abilities.We can infer that the author had _________.
A.a difficult childhood | B.a lonely childhood |
C.a normal childhood | D.a happy childhood |
The author achieved financial independence when she was 15 largely due to ______.
A.her strong leadership |
B.her boss’s help |
C.her hard work |
D.her competitive spirit |
Compared to the past, people who want to succeed now need __________.
A.more time | B.more money |
C.to work harder | D.to be more creative |
The author writes the text mainly to __________.
A.describe her childhood |
B.give some suggestions about success |
C.tell a story about her mother |
D.share some useful parenting skills |
Coincidences happen all the time to ordinary people, but the following events are perhaps some of the strangest of them all.
1. In the 19th century, the famous writer, Edgar Allan Poe, wrote a book called The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. It was about four survivors of a shipwreck (船只失事) who were in an open boat for many days before three of them decided to kill and eat the cabin boy whose name was Richard Parker. Some years later, in 1884, the boat Mignonette sank, and only four survivors were left in an open boat for many days. Finally the three older members killed and ate the cabin boy. The name of the cabin boy was Richard Parker.
2. In Monza, Italy, King Umberto I went to a small restaurant for dinner. When the owner took King Umberto I’s order, the King noticed that he and the restaurant owner were doubles, in face and in build. Both men began discussing the resemblance between each other and found many more similarities. Both men were born in the same place, on the same day, of the same year (March 14, 1844, Turin, Italy). On the day that the King married Queen Margherita, the restaurant owner had married a lady named Margherita. The restaurant owner opened his restaurant on the same day that King Umberto I was crowned(加冕) King of Italy. On July 29, 1900, King Umberto I was informed that the restaurant owner had died that day in a shooting accident, and as he expressed his regret, someone in the crowd killed him!
3. Mark Twain was a popular American author who wrote famous books such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain was born on the day of the appearance of Halley’s Comet(哈雷彗星) in 1835, and died on the day of its next appearance in 1910. He himself predicted this in 1909, when he said: “I came in with Halley’s Comet in1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it.”In The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, _________.
A.the boat was named Mignonette |
B.the ship sank after the cabin boy’s death |
C.three people in all eventually survived the shipwreck |
D.Richard Parker was unfriendly to the other survivors |
Whose story is related to astronomy?_________.
A.Mark Twain’s | B.Edgar Allan Poe’s |
C.King Umberto I’s | D.Queen Margherita’s |
The author wrote the text with a feeling of __________.
A.worry | B.regret |
C.amazement | D.satisfaction |
What’s the best title for the text?_________.
A.Unexplained deaths |
B.Terrible events in the world |
C.Well-known people in history |
D.Strangest coincidences in history |
Most nights I lie in bed, ready for an escape from myself, yet a streaming video of everything I ate, how I exercised, the activities of the day won’t stop playing in my mind.
I pause. I breathe. I try to relax once again, but it doesn’t work.
When I’m not exercising — even if I’ve already exercised that day — I’m consumed with anxiety about my next workout. Will something come up and make me miss the gym? What about holidays when the gym is closed?
Exercise has become a disease; it even disguises (伪装,假装) itself as the cure. If I don’t have it as an escape, then what’s left to hold me together? Working out feels like the only way to calm myself, but as soon as I leave the gym or finish a walk, the whole cycle starts over again.
As you might have guessed by now, I suffer from depression and OCD (强迫症). I’m a highly-educated adult woman who knows the risks of this behavior, and yet I can’t stop.
As a society, we’re told over and over that it’s important to exercise. That’s what makes it so easy to keep this addiction a secret; it’s not as obvious as lighting up a cigarette. You can continue to feed your addiction under the guise that you’re just being “healthy”. I not only have to fight the nonstop thoughts in my head but also the “more exercise is better” messages I receive from the media every day.
For me, exercise has become a drug, which is a way to numb the pain I might feel. I wonder what it would be like to “have the problem” of not wanting to go to the gym. It still feels very far away.
Yet I know I can be stronger than this. I can break the cycle I’m in. I can tell my story so as to give up a piece of the secrecy that keeps me sick.
Because no, you don’t want my problem. And finally, neither do I.When the author goes to bed, she___________.
A.can’t breathe normally | B.can’t fall asleep |
C.always feels hungry | D.always feels tired |
The underlined word “it” in paragraph 4 probably refers to ___________.
A.the gym | B.disease | C.exercise | D.the cure |
What is special about the addition to exercise?
A.It is popular among highly-educated people. |
B.It is widely reported by the mass media. |
C.It does little harm to health. |
D.it is not easily discovered. |
We know from the text that the author ____________.
A.is emotionless |
B.lives far away from the gym |
C.is seriously ill |
D.has difficulty in keeping secrets |