In the Caucasus (高加索) region of Russia, nearly 50 out of every 100,000 people live to celebrate their 100th birthday, and many don’t stop at 100! By comparison, in America only 3 people in 100,000 reach 100. But these Russian old people aren’t alone. The Pakistanis, who live high in the Himalaya Mountains, and the Ecuadorans (厄瓜多尔人) of the Andes Mountains seem to share the secret of long life, too.
These people remain healthy in body and spirit despite the passage of time. While many older persons in industrial societies become weak and ill in their 60s and 70s, some Caucasians aged 100 to 140, work in the fields beside their great-great-grandchildren. Even the idea of aging is foreign to them. When asked “at what age does youth end?” most of these old people had no answer. Several replied, “Well, perhaps at age 80.”
What accounts for (解释) this ability to survive to such old age, and to survive so well? First of all, hard physical work is a way of life for all of these long-living people. They begin their long days of physical labor as children and never seem to stop. For example, Mr. Rustam Mamedov is 142 years of age. His wife is 116 years old. They have been married for 90 years. Mr. Mamedov has no intention of retiring from his life as a farmer. “Why? What else would I do?” he asks. All these people get healthful rewards from the environment in which they work. They all come from mountainous regions. They live and work at elevations (海拔) of 1,660 to 1,000 meters above sea level. The air has less oxygen and is pollution-free. This reduced-oxygen environment makes the heart and blood vessel (血管) system stronger.
Another factor that may contribute to the good health of these people is their isolation. To a great extent (程度), they are separated from the pressures and worries of industrial society. Inherited (遗传) factors also play some role. Most of the longest-living people had parents and grandparents who also reached very old ages. Good family genes may, therefore, be one factor in living longer.
| A．become weak and hopeless |
| B．benefit from physical work |
| C．are too old to work in the fields |
| D．are still working in the fields |
| A．Retiring from their lives as farmers. |
| B．Having been married for 90 years. |
| C．Hard physical work. |
| D．Having no intentions. |
| A．Clean mountain air. | B．Daily hard work. |
| C．Good genes | D．Stress and pressure. |
| A．the state of being separated | B．pressure |
| C．lack of physical labour | D．worry |
| A．Russian people live longer than Americans |
| B．People in the city live longer than those in the country |
| C．The reason why mountainous people live longer |
| D．Pressures and worries contribute to long life |
We can make mistakes at any age. Some mistakes we make are about money, but most mistakes are about people. “Did Jerry really care when I broke up with Helen?” “When I got that great job, did Jim, as a friend, really feel good about it? Or did he envy my luck?” “And was Paul friendly just because I had a car?” When we look back, doubts like these can make us feel bad.
But when we look back, it is too late.
Why do we go wrong about our friends, or our enemies? Sometimes what people say hides their real meanings. And if we do not really listen, we miss the feeling behind the words. Suppose someone tells you, “You're a lucky dog!”(你真幸运!) Is he really on your side? If he says, “You're a lucky guy(人,家伙)!”,that is being friendly. But “a lucky dog”, there is a bit of envy in those words. What he may be saying is that he does not think you deserve your luck.
“Just think of all the things you have to be thankful for” is another phrase that says one thing means another. It could mean that the speaker is trying to get you to see your problem. But this phrase contains the thought that your problem is not at all important.
How can you tell the real meaning behind someone's words? One way is to take a good look at the person talking. Do his words fit the way he looks? Is what he says shown by the tone of voice? The look in his eyes? Stop and think. The minute you spend thinking about the real meaning of what people say to you may save your another mistake.When the writer recalls(回想) some of the things that happened between him and his friends, he _______.
| A．feels happy, thinking how nice his friends were to him |
| B．feels he might not have understood his friends' true feelings |
| C．think it a mistake to have broken up with his girl friend |
| D．is sorry that his friends let him down |
When the writer talks about someone saying, “You're a lucky dog!”, he is saying that _______.
| A．the speaker is just friendly |
| B．this sentence suggests the same as “You're a lucky guy!” |
| C．the word “dog” should not be used to apply to people |
| D．sometimes the words show that the speaker is a bit envious |
This passage tries to tell you how to _______.
| A．avoid(避免) mistakes about money and friends |
| B．get an idea of friendly people |
| C．avoid mistakes in understanding what people tell you |
| D．keep people friendly without trusting them |
PALO ALTO, California—“Switching off the television may help prevent children from getting fatter—even if they do not change their diet or increase the amount they exercise, ”US researchers said last week.
A study of 192 third and fourth graders, generally aged eight and nine, found that children who cut the number of hours spent watching television gained nearly two pounds(0.9 kg) less over a one-year period than those who did not change their television diet.
“The findings are important because they show that weight loss can only be the result of a reduction in television viewing and not any other activity,” said Thomas Robinson, a pediatrician(儿科专家) at Stanford University.
“American children spend an average of more than four hours per day watching television and videos or playing video games, and rates of childhood being very fat have doubled over the past 20 years,” Robinson said.
In the study, presented this week to the Pediatric Academic Societies' annual meeting in San Francisco, the researchers persuaded about 100 of the students to reduce their television viewing by one-quarter to one-third.
Children watching fewer hours of television showed a significantly smaller increase in waist size and had less body fat than other students who continued their normal television viewing, even though neither group ate a special diet or took part in any extra exercise.
“One explanation for the weight loss could be that the children unstuck to the television may simply have been moving around more and burning off calories,” Robinson said.
“Another reason might be due to eating fewer meals in front of the television. Some studies have suggested that eating in front of the TV encourages people to eat more,” Robinson said.The author tries to tell us in the first two paragraphs that _______.
| A．children will get fatter if they eat too much |
| B．children will get thinner if they eat less |
| C．children will get fatter if they spend less time watching TV |
| D．children will get fatter if they spend more time watching TV |
According to the passage, the time American children usually spend on watching TV_______.
| A．is more than four hours a day | B．is less than four hours a day |
| C．doubled in the last twenty years | D．is more than on any other activities |
The time children spend on TV viewing every day is suggested to be about _______.
| A．six hours | B．eight hours | C．three hours | D．one hour |
Which one of the followings is right?
| A．Children usually eat fewer while watching TV. |
| B．Children usually eat more while watching TV. |
| C．Children eat the same amount of meals while watching TV. |
| D．Children usually eat nothing while watching TV. |
Jane Austen, a famous English writer, was born at Steventon, Hampshire, on December 16,1775,and died on July 18,1817.She began writing early in life, although the prejudices of her times forced her to have her books published anonymously(匿名).
But Jane Austen is perhaps the best known and best loved of Bath's many famous local people and visitors. She paid two long visits here during the last five years of the eighteenth century and from 1801 to 1806,Bath was her home. Her deep knowledge of the city is fully seen in two of her novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, which are largely set in Bath. The city is still very much as Jane Austen knew it, keeping in its streets and public buildings the well-ordered world that she described so well in her novels. Now the pleasure of learning Jane Austen's Bath can be enhanced (增强)by visiting the Jane Austen Centre in Gay Street. Here, in a Georgian town house in the heart of the city, you can find out more about Bath in Jane Austen's time and the importance of Bath in her life and work.
The Centre has been set up with the help and guidance of members of the Jane Austen Society. After your visit to the Centre, you can look round the attractive shop, which offers a huge collection of Jane Austen related books, cards and many specially designed gifts. Jane Austen quizzes are offered to keep the children busy.
You can also have walking tours of Jane Austen's Bath, which is a great way to find out more about Jane Austen and discover the wonderful Georgian city of Bath. The tour lasts about one and a half hours. The experienced guides will take you to the places where Jane lived, walked and shopped.Jane Austen paid two long visits to Bath _______.
| A．in her early twenties | B．in her early teens |
| C．in her late twenties | D．in her late teens |
What can we learn about Bath from the passage?
| A．Bath has greatly changed since Jane Austen's death. |
| B．The city has changed as much as Jane Austen knew it. |
| C．Bath remains almost the same as in Jane Austen's time. |
| D．No changes have taken place in Bath since Jane Austen's time. |
The author writes this passage in order to_______.
| A．attract readers to visit the city of Bath |
| B．ask readers to buy Austen's books |
| C．tell readers about Jane Austen's experience |
| D．give a brief introduction to the Jane Austen Society |
It takes you about one and a half hours_______.
| A．to get to the Jane Austen Centre in Gay Street |
| B．to buy Jane Austen related books, cards and gifts |
| C．to find a guide to take you to the Centre |
| D．to look around the city of Bath on foot |
Ever since news of widespread food recalls caused by a carcinogenic dye broke, there has been confusion(混淆) over possible links to the country of the same name, but Sudan officials say there is no connection whatever.
Sudan1 is a red industrial dye that has been found in some chilli powder, but was banned in food products across the European Union (EU) in July 2003.
Since the ban was put in place, EU officials have been striving to remove some food products from the shelves. So far 580 products have been recalled.
Last week Sudan's Embassy in the United Kingdom asked the Food Standards Agency (FSA) for clarification of the origin of the dye's name.
Omaima Mahmoud Al Sharief, a press official at Sudan's Embassy in China, explained the purpose of the inquiry was to clear up any misunderstanding over links between the country and the poisonous dye.
“We want to keep an eye on every detail and avoid any misunderstanding there,” she said. “Our embassy to Britain asked them how the dye got that name and whether the dye had something to do with our country. But they told us there was no relationship.”
The FSA, an independent food security watchdog in Britain, received a letter from the Sudanese embassy last week.
“They asked us why the dye is named Sudan, however, we also do not know how it got the name,” she said. “People found the dye in 1883 and gave it the name. Nobody knows the reason, and we cannot give any explanation before we find out.”
Sudan dyes, which include Sudan1 to 4,are red dyes used for colouring solvents(溶剂),oils, waxes, petrol, shoe and floor polishes. They are classified as carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.What does the underlined word mean in Paragraph One?
| A．Causing cancer. | B．Having side effect. |
| C．Containing poison. | D．Poisonous. |
How did the Sudan1 get its name?
| A．The dye is often produced in Sudan. |
| B．The dye has something to do with the country named Sudan. |
| C．Nobody is sure of the origin of the name. |
| D．Many foods produced in Sudan contain the dye. |
We can infer from the passage that _______.
| A．the Sudan government is paying much attention to the food safety |
| B．Sudan1 is often used to be added to the food |
| C．people didn't realize the danger of Sudan1 until 2003 |
| D．many food shops will be closed down |
Which of the following is the best title?
| A．Keep away from Sudan1 |
| B．No Sudan1 dye links to the country |
| C．How Sudan1 dye got its name |
| D．Pay attention to the food safety |
Five years ago, David Smith wore an expensive suit to work every day.“I was a clothes addict(迷),” he jokes.“I used to carry a fresh suit to work with me so I could change if my clothes got wrinkled(皱的).” Today David wears casual clothes—khaki pants and a sports shirt—to the office. He hardly ever wears a necktie.“I'm working harder than ever,” David says,“and I need to feel comfortable.”
More and more companies are allowing their office workers to wear casual clothes to work. In the United States, the changes from formal to casual office wear have been slow. In the early 1990s,many companies allowed their workers to wear casual clothes on Friday(but only on Friday).This became known as “dress-down Friday” or “casual Friday”.“What started out as an extra one-day-a-week benefit for workers has really become an everyday thing,” said business adviser Maisly Jones.
Why have so many companies started allowing their workers to wear casual clothes? One reason is that it's easier for a company to attract new workers if it has a casual dress code. “A lot of young people don't want to dress up for work,” says the owner of a software company,“so it's hard to hire people if you have a conservative dress code.” Another reason is that people seem happier and more productive when they are wearing comfortable clothes. In a study made by Levi Strauss and Company, 85 percent of employers said that casual dress has a side effect on work. Supporters of casual office wear also say that a casual dress code helps them save money. “Suits are expensive, if you have to wear one every day,” one person said.“For the same amount of money, you can buy a lot more casual clothes.”David Smith refers to himself as having been “a clothes addict” because _______.
| A．he often wore khaki pants and a sports shirt |
| B．he couldn't stand a clean appearance |
| C．he wanted his clothes to look tidy and clean all the time |
| D．he didn't want to spend much money on clothes |
David Smith wears casual clothes now, because _______.
| A．they make him feel at ease when working |
| B．he cannot afford to buy expensive clothes |
| C．he looks handsome in casual clothes |
| D．he no longer works for any company |
According to this passage, which of the following is FALSE?
| A．Many workers don't like a conservative dress code. |
| B．Comfortable clothes make workers more productive. |
| C．A casual clothes code is welcomed by young workers. |
| D．All the employers in the U.S. are for casual office wear. |
According to this passage, which of the following is TRUE?
| A．Company workers started to dress down about twenty years ago. |
| B．Dress-down has become an everyday phenomenon since the early 1990s. |
| C．“Dress-down Friday” was first given as a favor from employers. |
| D．Many workers want to wear casual clothes to impress people. |