In the 1960s, medical researchers Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe developed a checklist of stressful events. They appreciated the tricky point that any major change can be stressful. Bad events like "serious illness of a family member" were high on the list, but so were some helpful life-changing events like marriage.
When you take the Holmes-Rahe test you must remember that the score does not show how you deal with stress ---it only shows how much you have to deal with. And we now know that the way you deal with these events dramatically affects your chances of staying healthy. By the early 1970s, hundreds of similar studies had followed Holmes and Rahe. And millions of Americans who work and live under stress worried over the reports. Somehow the research got boiled down to a memorable message. Women's magazines ran titles like "Stress causes illness".
If you want to stay physically and mentally healthy the articles said avoid stressful events. But such simplistic advice is impossible to follow. Even if stressful events are dangerous, many — like the death of a loved one — are impossible to avoid. Moreover, any warning to avoid all stressful events is a prescription for staying away from chances as well as trouble. Since any change can be stressful, a person who wanted to be completely free of stress would never marry, have a child, take a new job or move. The idea that all stress makes you sick also takes no notice of a lot of what we know about people. It supposes we’re not active in the face of the difficult situation. But what about human ability and creativity? Many come through periods of stress with more physical and mental strength than they had before. We also know that a long time without change or challenge can lead to boredom and physical and mental pressure.The result of Holmes-Rahe’s medical research tells us _________.
| A．the way you deal with major events may cause stress |
| B．what should be done to avoid stress |
| C．what kind of event would cause stress |
| D．how to deal with sudden changes in life |
The score of the Holmes-Rahe test shows ______.
| A．how you can deal with life-changing events |
| B．how helpful events can change your life |
| C．how stressful a major event can be |
| D．how much pressure you are unde |
Why is “such simplistic advice” impossible to follow according to the author?
| A．No one can stay on the same job for long. |
| B．No prescription is effective in reducing stress. |
| C．People are sure to get married. |
| D．You could reduce stress by doing nothing. |
According to the passage people who have experienced ups and downs may become _______.
| A．nervous when faced with difficulties |
| B．physically and mentally tired |
| C．more able to deal with difficulties |
| D．cold toward what happens to them |
A team of engineers at Harvard University has been inspired by Nature to create the first robotic fly. The mechanical fly has become a platform for a series of new high-tech integrated systems. Designed to do what a fly does naturally, the tiny machine is the size of a fat housefly. Its mini wings allow it to stay in the air and perform controlled flight tasks.
“It’s extremely important for us to think about this as a whole system and not just the sum of a bunch of individual components (元件),” said Robert Wood, the Harvard engineering professor who has been working on the robotic fly project for over a decade. A few years ago, his team got the go-ahead to start piecing together the components. “The added difficulty with a project like this is that actually none of those components are off the shelf and so we have to develop them all on our own,” he said.
They engineered a series of systems to start and drive the robotic fly. “The seemingly simple system which just moves the wings has a number of interdependencies on the individual components, each of which individually has to perform well, but then has to be matched well to everything it’s connected to,” said Wood. The flight device was built into a set of power, computation, sensing and control systems. Wood says the success of the project proves that the flying robot with these tiny components can be built and manufactured.
While this first robotic flyer is linked to a small, off-board power source, the goal is eventually to equip it with a built-in power source, so that it might someday perform data-gathering work at rescue sites, in farmers’ fields or on the battlefield. “Basically it should be able to take off, land and fly around,” he said.
Wood says the design offers a new way to study flight mechanics and control at insect-scale. Yet, the power, sensing and computation technologies on board could have much broader applications. “You can start thinking about using them to answer open scientific questions, you know, to study biology in ways that would be difficult with the animals, but using these robots instead,” he said. “So there are a lot of technologies and open interesting scientific questions that are really what drives us on a day to day basis.” The difficulty the team of engineers met with while making the robotic fly was that __________.
| A．they had no model in their mind |
| B．they did not have sufficient time |
| C．they had no ready-made components |
| D．they could not assemble the components |
Which of the following can be learned from the passage?
| A．The robotic flyer is designed to learn about insects. |
| B．Animals are not allowed in biological experiments. |
| C．There used to be few ways to study how insects fly. |
| D．Wood’s design can replace animals in some experiments. |
Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
| A．Father of Robotic Fly |
| B．Inspiration from Engineering Science |
| C．Robotic Fly Imitates Real Life Insect |
| D．Harvard Breaks Through in Insect Study |
Have you ever looked toward the sky on a fall day and witnessed a group of migrating birds? If so, you probably noted the V-shaped formation of the birds or the birds flying in a ball-like formation. Why do birds fly this way? Many theories have been developed to explain the formation patterns of different types of birds.
One theory is that birds fly in certain formations to take advantage of the laws of nature. The birds know that flying in a V-shaped pattern will save energy. Like the lead cyclist in a race who decreases wind force for the cyclists who follow, the lead bird cuts wind force for the birds that follow. This decrease in wind force means that the birds use up to 70 percent less energy during their flight. When the lead bird becomes tired, a more rested bird takes over that position.
But saving energy is important for more than one reason. Sometimes food is short during migration flights. Keeping energy enables the birds to fly longer distances between meals.
When food is sighted, the birds guide one another in a different way. When a bird identifies a familiar feeding area, it might turn around in order to signal the group to change direction. Then, this bird becomes the new leader. It helps guarantee that other birds will know exactly where it is going. Then the whole group makes a change in direction, gently streaming from the sky down to the ground. This formation is like an arrow pointing to the location of food.
Scientists have also studied the birds that sometimes fly in a ball-like formation. Researchers believe that the birds come together if a predator（天敌） is spotted. The predator may then become impatient waiting for a single bird to fly away from the group. The birds will often dip and dive as a group, frustrating even the most persistent enemy. Scientists report that this is a very effective method of defense against an attack.
The birds care for their fellow fliers through teamwork. As transportation expert Henry Ford once said, “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” When it comes to teamwork, these feathered fliers are a soaring success! According to the passage, we can learn that birds ___________.
| A．move faster than cyclists |
| B．prefer to fly in a V formation |
| C．are smarter than other animals |
| D．play different roles in a formation |
When food is sighted, ____________.
| A．the group follows the discoverer |
| B．the lead bird decides what to do |
| C．the discoverer leaves the group |
| D．the whole group forms a stream |
To protect themselves from attack, birds will _____________ .
| A．break into groups |
| B．come close together |
| C．change directions |
| D．fly up and down |
Which is the best title for the passage?
| A．A Bird’s-Eye View of Teamwork. |
| B．Success Takes Care of Itself. |
| C．The Strongest Will Survive. |
| D．A Science Behind Flying. |
Almost every machine with moving parts has wheels, yet no one knows exactly when the first wheel was invented or what it was used for. We do know, however, that they existed over 5, 500 years ago in ancient Asia.
The oldest known transport wheel was discovered in 2002 in Slovenia. It is over 5, 100 years old. Evidence suggests that wheels for transport didn’t become popular for a while, though. This could be because animals did a perfectly good job of carrying farming tools and humans around.
But it could also be because of a difficult situation. While wheels need to roll on smooth surfaces, roads with smooth surfaces weren’t going to be constructed until there was plenty of demand for them. Eventually, road surfaces did become smoother, but this difficult situation appeared again a few centuries later. There had been no important changes in wheel and vehicle design before the arrival of modern road design.
In the mid-1700s, a Frenchman came up with a new design of road—a base layer(层)of large stones covered with a thin layer of smaller stones. A Scotsman improved on this design in the 1820s and a strong, lasting road surface became a reality. At around the same time, metal hubs(the central part of a wheel)came into being, followed by the pneumatics tyre(充气轮胎)in 1846. Alloy wheels were invented in 1967, sixty years after the appearance of tarmacked roads(柏油路).As wheel design took off, vehicles got faster and faster.What might explain why transport wheels didn’t become popular for some time?
| A．Few knew how to use transport wheels. |
| B．Humans carried farming tools just as well. |
| C．Animals were a good means of transport. |
| D．The existence of transport wheels was not known. |
What do we know about road design from the passage?
| A．It was easier than wheel design. |
| B．It improved after big changes in vehicle design. |
| C．It was promoted by fast-moving vehicles. |
| D．It provided conditions for wheel design to develop. |
How is the last paragraph mainly developed?
| A．By giving examples. |
| B．By making comparisons. |
| C．By following time order. |
| D．By making classifications. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．The beginning of road design. |
| B．The development of transport wheels. |
| C．The history of public transport. |
| D．The invention of fast-moving vehicles. |
Doctors are known to be terrible pilots. They don’t listen because they already know it all. I was lucky: I became a pilot in 1970, almost ten years before I graduated from medical school. I didn’t realize then, but becoming a pilot makes me a better surgeon. I loved flying. As I flew bigger, faster planes, and in worse weather, I learned about crew resource management(机组资源管理),or CRM, a new idea to make flying safer. It means that crew members should listen and speak up for a good result, regardless of positions.
I first read about CRM in 1980.Not long after that, an attending doctor and I were flying in bad weather. The controller had us turn too late to get our landing ready. The attending doctor was flying; I was safety pilot. He was so busy because of the bad turn, he had forgotten to put the landing gear(起落架)down. He was a better pilot—and my boss—so it felt unusual to speak up. But I had to: Our lives were in danger. I put aside my uneasiness and said,“We need to put the landing gear down now!”That was my first real lesson in the power of CRM, and I’ve used it in the operating room ever since.
CRM requires that the pilot/surgeon encourage others to speak up. It further requires that when opinions are from the opposite, the doctor doesn’t overreact, which might prevent fellow doctors from voicing opinions again. So when I’m in the operating room, I ask for ideas and help from others. Sometimes they’re not willing to speak up. But I hope that if I continue to encourage them, someday someone will keep me from“landing gear up”. What does the author say about doctors in general?
| A．They like flying by themselves. |
| B．They are unwilling to take advice. |
| C．They pretend to be good pilots. |
| D．They are quick learners of CRM. |
The author deepened his understanding of the power of CRM when .
| A．he saved the plane by speaking up |
| B．he was in charge of a flying task |
| C．his boss landed the plane too late |
| D．his boss operated on a patient |
In the last paragraph“landing gear up”probably means .
| A．following flying requirements |
| B．overreacting to different opinions |
| C．listening to what fellow doctors say |
| D．making a mistake that may cost lives |
Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
| A．CRM:A New Way to Make Flying Safe |
| B．Flying Makes Me a Better Doctor |
| C．The Making of a Good Pilot |
| D．A Pilot-Turned Doctor |
Given that many people's moods (情绪)are regulated by the chemical action of chocolate, it was probably only a matter of time before somebody made the chocolate shop similar to a drugstore of Chinese medicine. Looking like a setting from the film Charlie& the Chocolate Factory, Singapore's Chocolate Research Facility (CRF) has over 100 varieties of chocolates. its founder is Chris Lee who grew up at his parents' comer store with one hand almost always in the jar of sweets.
If the CRF seems to be a smart idea, that's because Lee is not merely a seasoned salesperson but also head of a marketing department that has business relations with big names such as Levi's and Sony. That idea surely results in the imagination at work when it comes to making different flavored(味道)chocolates.
The CRF's produce is "green"， made within the country and divided into 10 lines, with the Alcohol Series being the most popular. The Exotic Series——with Sichuan pepper, red bean (豆).cheese and other flavors一also does well and is fun to taste. And for chocolate snobs，who think that they have a better knowledge of chocolate than others, the Connoisseur Series uses cocoa beans from Togo, Cuba, Venezuela , and Ghana, among others. What is good about chocolate?
| A．It serves as a suitable gift. |
| B．It works as an effective medicine. |
| C．It helps improve the state of mind. |
| D．It strengthens business relations. |
Why is Chris Lee able to develop his idea of the CRF?
| A．He knows the importance of research. |
| B．He learns form shops of similar types. |
| C．He has the support of many big names |
| D．He has a lot of marketing experience. |
Which line of the CRF produce sells best?
| A．The Connoisseur Series. |
| B．The Exotic Series. |
| C．The Alcohol Series. |
| D．The Sichuan Series. |
The words "chocolate snobs" in Paragraph 3 probably refer to people who
| A．are particular about chocolate |
| B．know little about cocoa beans |
| C．look down upon others |
| D．like to try new flavors |