About six years ago I was eating lunch in a restaurant in New York City when a woman and a young boy sat down at the next table, I couldn't help overhearing parts of their conversation. At one point the woman asked, “So, how have you been?” And the boy—who could not have been more than seven or eight years old—replied. “Frankly, I've been feeling a little depressed lately.”
This incident stuck in my mind because it confirmed my growing belief that children are changing. As far as I can remember, my friends and I didn't find out we were “depressed”, that is, in low spirits, until we were in high school.
Undoubtedly a change in children has increased steadily in recent years. Children don't seem childlike anymore. Children speak more like adults, dress more like adults and behave more like adults than they used to.
Whether this is good or bad is difficult to say, but it certainly is different. Childhood as it once was no longer exists. Why?
Human development depends not only on born biological states, but also on patterns of gaining social knowledge. Movement from one social role to another usually involves learning the secrets of the new social positions. Children have always been taught adult secrets, but slowly and in stages; traditionally, we tell sixth graders things we keep hidden from fifth graders.
In the last 30 years, however, a secret-revelation（揭示） machine has been equipped in 98 percent of American homes. It is called television. Television passes information to all viewers alike, whether they are children or adults. Unable to resist the temptation （诱惑）, many children turn their attention from printed texts to the less challenging, more attractive moving pictures.
Communication through print, as a matter of fact, allows for a great deal of control over the social information which children will gain. Children must read simple books before they can read complex materials. According to the author, feeling depressed is ____________.
| A．a sure sign of a mental problem in a child |
| B．a mental state present in all humans, including children |
| C．something that cannot be avoided in children's mental development |
| D．something hardly to be expected in a young child |
According to the author, that today's children seems adult-like results from ______.
| A．the widespread influence of television |
| B．the poor arrangement of teaching content |
| C．the fast pace of human scientific development |
| D．the rising standard of living |
What does the author think of communication through print for children?
| A．It enables children to gain more social information. |
| B．It develops children's interest in reading and writing. |
| C．It helps children to read and write well. |
| D．It can control what children are to learn. |
What does the author think of the change in today's children?
| A．He feels their adult-like behavior is so funny. |
| B．He thinks the change worthy of note. |
| C．He considers it a rapid development. |
| D．He seems to be upset about it. |
Anyone who ever wondered why a dying plant, say, a freshly-cut red rose may appeal to a lady friend, might take some comfort in science, which once again offers us a reasonable answer to one of the world’ s great mysteries.
Beyond a common preference in people for blue, “the long history of color preference studies has been described as ‘confusing and contradictory(矛盾的)’,” write scientists Anya Hurlbert and Yazhu Ling of England’ s Newcastle University, authors of a new study in the journal Current Biology. “This fact is perhaps surprising,” they said, “though the popularity of the concept that little girls differ from boys in preferring pink.”
But the scientists believe they have an answer to this scientific mystery, discovering women’s preference for red, hidden above the average liking for blue.
In their study, the pair quickly flashed color cards, displaying many different aspects, at 208 volunteers, mostly Britishers but with a number of Han Chinese, who moved to the United Kingdom recently. Tested in three different experiments, the researchers found out a small but significant preference for reddish colors in the female volunteers.
Puzzled, the authors realized that most of the difference between men and women came in the form of a preference for green VS red in the color cards, regardless of the other slight differences such as the slightly blue ones that everyone liked. Why might this be?
Evolution might offer an answer, they reason. Human color perception(感知), the assessment of three separate color types — red — green — blue— in our vision (视觉) is a relatively recent addition to our line of mammals(脯乳动物)
Adding weight to their argument, they found the women who are most typically feminine(女性的) on a psychological survey also had the biggest preference for reddish colors. “My love is like a red, red rose,” wrote the Scottish poet Rober Burns in 1794.What does the first paragraph probably tell us ?
| A．Scientific research can help people solve the mystery. |
| B．When we are tired, we can turn to science for help. |
| C．Science can make our study interesting and contradictory. |
| D．We should turn to scientific invention for comfortable life. |
The word “pair” in Para.4 refers to _____.
| A．boy and girl | B．the two authors |
| C．research and result | D．pink and blue |
According to the passage, ______________.
| A．boys like blue better than girls |
| B．girls like pink better than boys |
| C．men like red better than women |
| D．men and women both like green |
How did the scientist do the research?
| A．By asking questions | B．By telephoning the interviewees |
| C．By adding numbers | D．By doing experiments |
What is the purpose of writing this article?
| A．To sell products packed in red | B．To introduce the history of color |
| C．To inform us of a research finding | D．To analyze men’s taste for color |
The Friends of the Amazon is a nonprofit association helping to preserve the forest, its wildlife and its native cultures in the Peruvian Amazon. We are located 3 degrees south of the equator in the Region of Loreto, which is roughly the size of Montana and is one of the richest areas in the world in terms of flora(植物群) and fauna（动物群）. Our team consists of lawyers, ecologists, sociologists, medical professionals and native Amazonians working together to protect the forest and its people from destruction. We use litigation（诉讼）, filing lawsuits against those who seek to destroy the forest and its native cultures. In addition to legal processes, we promote health, education, and the conservation of native plants and animals.
The Amazon Rainforest is commonly referred to as the "lungs of the planet" whose trees are essential for absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2, a greenhouse gas that causes global warming) and converting it into oxygen, thereby mitigating the rise of global temperatures and climate change. An estimated 120 billion tons of carbon dioxide is absorbed in the Amazon Rainforest and global emissions of carbon dioxide increase with every tree of the rainforest that is cut down. That is why the survival of the Amazon Rainforest is vital for the survival of our planet, without which rising global temperatures could melt the polar icecaps and cause flooding of our coastal cities.
Currently, the Amazon is under siege（围攻）, with an estimated 1000 hectares being destroyed everyday. After harvesting old growth forests, corporations are often replacing the native forest with palm oil plantations instead of reforesting with native tree species. Palm oil trees are native to Africa, not the Amazon, and due to high profits, their promotion by international aid agencies and recent legislation in Peru, palm oil plantations represent perhaps the single greatest threat to the native Amazon Rainforest.
In addition to conventional logging and deforesting to make room for crops such as palm oil and soybeans, the Amazon forest faces a new threat in the form of REDD projects and “Carbon Cowboys”. REDD refers to Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation by using carbon offsets (“carbon credits”). Under the guise of REDD projects, scammers are tricking native communities into signing unjust contracts in English without legal representation which essentially give these so called Carbon Cowboys the forest for free. These cheaters are making false promises of "billions of dollars in profits" from REDD and voluntary carbon offset （碳补偿）projects by lying that they are representatives of the United Nations and World Bank in order to trick vulnerable indigenous Amazonians into ceding their land by signing unjust contracts with hidden clauses that give the Carbon Cowboys a power of attorney to do whatever they want with the forest for a period of 100 years. Friends of the Amazon is actively filing lawsuits against these Carbon Cowboys and those who support them.
For further information on our programs and to find out how you can help preserve the Amazon Rainforest, please contact:
Friends of the Amazon
153 Túpac Amaru Street
Iquitos, Peru
Phone: (+51) 985665374
For more specific information on supporting the goals of our nonprofit organization, please contact us using the email address listed below.
If you would like to learn how you can help preserve the Amazon Rainforest and its indigenous people, please contact us for more information at:
info(at)friendsoftheamazon.org The Friends of the Amazon is the name of _________.
| A．your best friend | B．a non-profit organization |
| C．a historic hero | D．a famous carbon cowboy |
What does the underlined word “converting ” in the second paragraph mean?
| A．changing | B．increasing | C．reducing | D．burning |
Why is the survival of the Amazon Rainforest vital for the survival of our planet?
| A．Because this forest absorbs a lot of carbon dioxide emitted by the world |
| B．Because people rely on this forest to get enough wood to build houses and furniture |
| C．Because people living here can get a large sum of compensation to offset carbon dioxide |
| D．Because the United Nations and the World Bank are helping preserving the land here |
We can learn from the passage that palm oil trees _____________.
| A．have produced much profit for the local people. |
| B．are native to Amazon and fit in well with their surroundings |
| C．are native to Africa and may do great harm to the native Amazon trees |
| D．are used to replace the native forest because the local people can profit from them |
The purpose of this article is _______.
| A．introduce the largest rain forest in the world |
| B．to appeal to the government to take some measures to get rid of Carbon Cowboys |
| C．to advertise the rain forest as a favourite tourist destination |
| D．to arouse the awareness of the public to help conserve the “lungs of our planet” |
If you have ever gone through a toll booth(收费所), you know that your relationship to the person in the booth is not the most intimate you'll ever have. It is one of life's frequent affairs: You hand over some money; you might get change; you drive off.
Late one morning in 1984, headed for lunch in San Francisco, I drove toward a booth. I heard loud music. It sounded like a party. I looked around. No other cars with their windows open. No sound trucks. I looked at the toll booth. Inside it, the man was dancing.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"I'm having a party," he said.
"What about the rest of the people?" I looked at the other toll booths.
He said, "What do those look like to you?" He pointed down the row of toll booths.
"They look like……toll booths. What do they look like to you?"
He said, "Vertical coffins. At 8:30 every morning, live people get in. Then they die for eight hours. At 4:30, like Lazarus from the dead, they reemerge and go home. For eight hours, brain is on hold, dead on the job. Going through the motions."
I was amazed. This guy had developed a philosophy, a mythology about his job. Sixteen people dead on the job, and the seventeenth, in precisely the same situation, figures out a way to live. I could not help asking the next question: "Why is it different for you? You're having a good time."
He looked at me. "I knew you were going to ask that. I don't understand why anybody would think my job is boring. I have a corner office, glass on all sides. I can see the Golden Gate, San Francisco, and the Berkeley hills. Half the Western world vacations here……and I just stroll in every day and practice dancing."According to the first paragraph, in most cases, how do you describe the relationship between drivers and toll booth?
| A．most intimate | B．very tense | C．pretty ordinary | D．extremely hostile |
Why did the author go to San Francisco?
A. To attend a party
B. B. To have a meal
C. To dance with the worker in the toll booth
D. To hand in the repair fee of his carThe underlined name “Lazarus” mentioned in the eighth paragraph probably refers to a person___________.
A. who was very active in his life
B. B. who was dead and revived from death
C. who was going to San Francisco
D. who liked dancing at workAccording to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
| A．The author passed by the toll booth every day. |
| B．The worker enjoyed his work very much. |
| C．Only western people like to spend their holidays in the Berkeley hills. |
| D．The dancing worker was getting badly along with his colleagues. |
After hearing what the worker said, the author would probably_________.
| A．go to the worker’s senior to complain about his bad attitude towards job. |
| B．go climbing the Golden Gate and the Berkeley hills to have a vacation. |
| C．learn to take a positive attitude to job and appreciate valuable things in life. |
| D．go back home instead of wasting time traveling to San Francisco. |
Successful people in international business understand the cultures of other countries and learn to change their practices in different cultures. They understand the importance of avoiding business decisions based on misconceptions—mistaken ideas.
One cause of misconceptions is ethnocentrism, the belief that one’s own culture’s way of doing things is better than the way of other cultures. It’s ethnocentrism that leads to failure in international business. To avoid ethnocentrism, it’s necessary to study the different elements（组成部分）of culture: language, values and attitudes, and customs and manners.
Language
A. knowledge of the local language can help international business people in four ways. First, people can communicate directly. Second, people are usually more open in their communication with someone who speaks their language. Third, an understanding of the language allows people to infer meanings that are not said directly. Finally, knowing the language helps people to understand the culture better.
Values are people’s basic beliefs about the difference between right and wrong, good and bad . An attitude is a way of thinking or acting. Values and attitudes influence international business. For example, many people in the United States believe that chocolate from Switzerland is better than chocolate from other countries, and they buy a lot of it.
Customs and manners
Customs are common social practices. Manners are ways of acting that the society believes are polite. For example, in the United States, it is the custom to have salad before the main course at dinner, not after. It’s not acceptable to talk with food in mouth at table. Failure to understand the customs and manners of other countries will bring difficulty selling their products. Orange juice as a breakfast drink of an American company in France doesn’t sell well because the French don’t usually drink juice with breakfast. A. knowledge of the local language allows international business people _________.
A. to be more open with their customers
B. to have a better idea of their own culture
C. to express their thoughts indirectly
D. to communicate without outside helpThe act of many people buying chocolate of Switzerland shows the role of ________.
| A．attitudes | B．values | C．manners | D．customs |
What would be the best title for the text?
| A．Misconceptions in Business |
| B．Basic Beliefs in Business |
| C．International Business Culture |
| D．Successful International Business |
The author’s purpose of writing this article is to tell people ___________
| A．how to take a right attitude in business |
| B．how to avoid misunderstandings in business |
| C．how to use a local language in business |
| D．how to act politely and properly in business |
Over the years, Americans have become used to salt．Most people have no idea how much salt they consume-on average, about 9 to 12 gram per person per day, according to the American Heart Association．That's twice the amount recommended by the government．
A new study last week showed eating even a little less salt could greatly help the heart．The scientists said the results would be thirteen percent fewer heart attacks, eight percent fewer strokes（中风）, four percent fewer deaths and eleven percent fewer new cases of heart disease．
Researchers also found that the benefits would be greatest for African Americans and women．As a group, African Americans tend to have higher blood pressure than the general population, and "many studies suggest that they may be more sensitive to salt," says Dr.Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, an epidemiologist（流行病学家）at the University of California, San Francisco．Her analysis found that a reduction of 3 gram of salt per day would reduce heart attacks 8% on average; among African Americans, that rate would drop 10%．A similar result was found in women, whose stroke risk dropped 8% with a 3-g reduction in salt intake; in men, the risk fell 5%．
They and public health professionals in the United States are interested in a national campaign to persuade people to eat less salt．
However, other scientists say such a campaign is an experiment with the health of millions of people．
Michael Alderman, a high blood pressure expert and professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, says that eating less salt results in lower blood pressure．But he says studies have not clearly shown that lowering salt means fewer heart attacks or strokes．
“Salt has other biological effects． Calling for reductions in the national diet could have good effects, as well as harmful results． There is not enough evidence either way,”said Michael Alderman．Eating too much salt may lead to the following EXCEPT．
| A．stroke | B．heart disease | C．high blood pressure | D．lung cancer |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．Most Americans take more salt than advised． |
| B．African women eat more salt than Americans． |
| C．One's origin determines how much salt he can eat． |
| D．Good health is just on the basis of having less salt． |
The author's attitude toward the study is．
| A．cold | B．objective | C．subjective | D．doubtful |
What's the best title of the passage?
| A．The Benefits of Eating Less Salt． |
| B．A New Study on Salt and Diseases． |
| C．An Argument Over Salt and Health． |
| D．The Harm Caused by Too Much Salt． |