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 |
Time and how we experience it have always puzzled us．Physicists have created fascinating theories, but their time is measured by a pendulum （钟摆） and is not psychological time, which leaps with little regard to the clock or calendar．As some-one who understood the distinction observed, "When you sit with a nice girl for two hours it seems like a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove, a minute seems like two hours．"
Psychologists have long noticed that larger units of time, such as months and years, fly on swifter wings as we age．They also note that the more time is structured with schedules and appointments, the more rapidly it seems to pass．For example, a day at the office flies compared with a day at the beach．Since most of us spend fewer days at the beach and more at the office as we age, an increase in structured tune could well be to blame for why time seems to speed up as we grow older．
Expectation and familiarity also make time seem to flow more rapidly．Almost all of us have had the experience of driving somewhere we’ve never been before. Surrounded by unfamiliar scenery, with no real idea of when we’ll arrive, we experience the trip as lasting a long time. But the return trip, although exactly as long, seems to take far less time. The novelty of the outward journey has become routine. Thus taking a different route on occasions can often help slow the clock.
When was become as identical as identical as beads（小珠子）on a string, they mix together, and even months become a single day. To counter this, try to find ways to interrupt the structure of your day—to stop time, so to speak.
Learning something new is one of the ways to slow the passage of time. One of the reasons the days of our youth seems so full and long is that these are the days of learning and discovery. For many of us, learning ends when we leave school, but this doesn’t have to be.The underlined sentence in Paragraph 1 is used to show.
| A．psychological time is quite puzzling |
| B．time should not be measured by a pendulum |
| C．physical time is different from psychological time |
| D．physical theory has nothing to do with the true sense of time |
Why do units of time fly faster as we grow older?
| A．Our sense of time changes. |
| B．We spend less time at the beach. |
| C．More time is structured and scheduled. |
| D．Time is structured with too many appointments. |
In Paragraph 3 “novelty” probably means.
| A．excitement | B．unfamiliarity |
| C．imagination | D．amusement |
The purpose of the passage is to.
| A．give various explanations about time |
| B．describe how we experience time psychologically |
| C．show the different ideas of physicists and psychologists on time |
| D．explain why time flies and how to slow it down psychologically |
Obama Still Smokes in Secret
US President Barack Obama has just made life more difficult for cigarette makers. He has just signed a law that will set tough new rules for the tobacco industry. The new law gives the US Food and Drug Administration the power to strictly limit the making and marketing of tobacco products.
At a White House signing ceremony Monday, Obama said that he was among the nearly 90% of smokers who took up the habit before their 18 th birthday.
Obama, who has publicly struggled to give up smoking, said he still hadn’t completely kicked the habit. Every now and then he still smokes in secret.
“As a former smoker I struggle with it all the time. Do I still smoke sometimes? Yes. Am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker? No.” Obama said at a news conference.
“I don' t do it in front of my lads．I don ?t do it in front of my family．I would say that I am 95% cured, but there are times when I mess up, " he said．
"Once you go down this path, it' s something you continually struggle with, which is exactly why the law is so important．The new law is not about me, it' s about the next generation of kids coming up．What we don ' t want is kids going down that path," he said．
Nearly 20% of Americans smoke and tobacco use kills about 440,000 people a year in the United States due to cancer, heart disease, and other serious diseases．The new law makes life difficult for.
| A．Obama |
| B．tobacco industry |
| C．White House |
| D．US Food and Drug Administration |
What do we know about Obama?
| A．He no longer smokes |
| B．He still smokes as usual |
| C．He began to smoke at eighteen |
| D．He is trying hard to give up smoking |
According to the passage, Obama is most concerned about ．
| A．children | B．officials |
| C．his family | D．businessmen |
Babysitter Wanted
I am seeking a babysitter for my 6-month-old son. A few hours on Saturdays and Sundays to help me and then other times as needed. He or she should be over 18, responsible, loving, warm, and have some experience in caring for babies. This position also suits a college student with experience looking for a part-time job. The pay is $10 an hour.
If this sounds like a good job to you, please reply to rebecharv@aol.comor call 800-4964.
Office Manager Wanted
Our company is looking for a full-time experienced manager to run the business. Strong skills in organisation and business management are required for this position. The office manager will be responsible for keeping financial (金融的) records, so he or she should be familiar with computers.
Please reply to jim@californiaaquatics.comor call 800-6978 to apply.
Waiter/ Waitress Wanted
A restaurant is looking for an experienced waiter / waitress. Knowledge of wines and experience in dining are necessary. Must work well under pressure and understand the basics of fine dining and customer service.
If you’re interested, please contact us at job-tkupe-1329358152@craigslist.orgto apply. This is a part-time job.
Office Cleaner Wanted
Looking for a Part-time job? A position in the Mississauga area needs an office cleaner! Part-time 4 hours a day from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm.
Duties include:
●Cleaning the washrooms
●Cleaning the furniture
●Sweeping the floors
●Other general cleaning Some experience is necessary. Pay:$15 per hour
Replyto:job-p3b7u-1365632206@craigslist.orgor call 800-8197.Which of the following position is a full-time job?
| A．Babysitter. | B．Office manager. |
| C．Waiter / waitress. | D．Office cleaner. |
If a college girl with some experience caring for children wants to apply for a job, where should she send an email?
| A．job-p3b7u-1365632206@craigslist.org |
| B．job-tkupe-1329358152@craigslist.org |
| C．jim@californiaaquatics.com |
| D．rebecharv@aol.com |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．The office cleaner has to work three hours each day. |
| B．One can apply for a waiter or waitress by telephone. |
| C．A babysitter earns $5 more than an office cleaner per hour. |
| D．Experience is necessary for all these four jobs. |
Which of the following is necessary for a waiter / waitress?
| A．Being familiar with computers. |
| B．Having knowledge of wines. |
| C．Knowing more about menus. |
| D．Working well with others. |
Bertie knew there was something in the wind．His mother had been sad in recent days, not sick, just strangely sad. The lion had just lain down beside him, his head warm on Bertie’s feet when Father cleared his throat and began, “You’ll soon be eight, Bertie. A boy needs a proper education. We’ve found the right place for you, a school near Salisbury in England.”
His heart filled with a terrible fear, all Bertie could think of was his white lion. “But the lion,” he cried, “What about the lion?”
“I’m afraid there’s something else I have to tell you,” his father said. Looking across at Bertie’s mother, he took a deep breath. Then he told Bertie he had met a circus owner from France, who was over in Africa looking for lions to buy. He would come to their farm in a few days.
“No! You can’t send him to a circus!” said Bertie. “People will come to see him. He’ll be shut up behind bars. I promised him he never would be. And they will laugh at him. He’d rather die. Any animal would!” But as he looked across the table at them, he knew their minds were quite made up.
Bertie felt completely betrayed. He waited until he heard his father’s deep breathing next door. With his white lion at his heels, he slipped downstairs, took down his father’s hunting rifle from the rack and stepped out into the night. He ran and ran till his legs could run no more. As the sun came up over the grassland, he climbed to the top of a hill and sat down, his arms round the lion’s neck. The time had come.
“Be wild now,” he whispered. “You’ve got to be wild. Don’t ever come home. All my life I’ll think of you. I promise I will.” He buried his head in the lion’s neck. Then, Bertie clambered down the hill and walked away.
When he looked back, the lion was still sitting there watching him; but then he stood up, yawned, stretched, and sprang down after him. Bertie shouted at him, but he kept coming. He threw sticks. He threw stones. Nothing worked.
There was only one thing left to do. With tears filling his eyes and his mouth, he lifted the rifle to his shoulder and fired over the lion’s head. Bertie’s mother was sad probably because she ______.
| A．had been seriously ill recently |
| B．had decided to send Bertie to school |
| C．knew selling the lion would upset Bertie |
| D．knew Bertie would hate to go to England |
In the last paragraph, the boy lifted the rifle to ______.
| A．kill the lion out of anger | B．show his anger towards his father |
| C．protect himself from the lion | D．threaten the lion back to the wild |
The passage intends to show that ______.
| A．animal-hunting is popular in Africa |
| B．parents are sometimes cruel to their children |
| C．people and animals can be faithful to each other |
| D．animals usually lead a miserable life in circuses |
Why buy a new car when you can improve the one you have with the latest technology? Here are two new methods that will not only make life behind wheel more comfortable but may also end up saving you money.
| WI-FI on Wheels It’s not enough that children complain about having nothing to watch on television. These days, they even complain about having nothing to watch in the car. Fortunately, for every unsatisfied youth, there is a new technological solution: Wi-Fi Internet access for the back seat of your vehicle. In the United States, Chrysler is the first to offer such a system, which turns any Chrysler or Dodge into a Wi-Fi hotspot. Called UConnect, the $499 dealer-installed option is a high-speed cell-like Internet connection with a wireless router that sits in your car’s trunk. Monthly service costs $29 for Internet access, which is available to any device that has Wi-Fi and is within 100 feet of your car. With UConnect, passengers can check emails messages on a laptop, send instant messages to friends or watch YouTube videos online. It allows passengers to search for movie listings on a smart phone or connect a Sony PSP video game player to the Web. It also offers the ability to freely upload photos from a Wi-Fi-equipped digital camera to an online sharing service like Flickr. For critics who claim that putting Wi-Fi Internet access in a car feeds the danger of driver distraction, parents may well disagree: What’s more distracting, the temptation to check email or a lot of children talking to you from the back seat? |
Watch Your Back Blind spots behind cars and SUV’s make backing up dangerous as well as potentially deadly for children. Nationally, the group Kids and Cars estimates that two children a week are killed by cars backing up. The Transportation Department is establishing visibility standards for future vehicles, but there’s no need to wait. A back-view back system can be an expensive option in a new car. In the 2008 Subaru Tribeca, for example, the back-view camera option is available only in connection with the inner navigation system, at a price of $2,400. And professionally equipped systems can cost $400 or more. However, there are now inexpensive back-view packages you can help yourself, such as the $130 Audiovox ACA250 Wireless Vehicle Rear Observation System. It includes a camera that increases on a back license-plate holder and grasps onto a vehicle’s backup light. It can send a back-view image to a small L.C.D. Monitor that can be carried into electronic equipment and increased on the dashboard(仪表板). Audiovox claims the camera housing is not afraid of dust. In some areas where radio waves are plentiful, the image can be affected by occasional interference, but the picture, with its wide 110-degree camera point, is good enough to see things or children behind you. |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．DIY methods for your car. |
| B．How to save money in your life? |
| C．The way of putting a back-view system. |
| D．The importance of putting internet access in your car. |
What’s the parents’ attitude to the safety concern of car Internet access?
| A．They agree with the critics’ opinion. |
| B．They consider it a great danger for driving. |
| C．They think that talking with children is more dangerous. |
| D．They believe it unnecessary to have car Internet access. |
What’s the potential danger for children?
| A．Electronic equipment. | B．Backing-up car. |
| C．Earphones behind the wheel. | D．Highway engine failure. |
How can the back-view package see the back of the car?
| A．With a cell phone. |
| B．With an inner navigation system. |
| C．With a dashboard. |
| D．With a camera onto the side of backup light. |