Conventional wisdom says that hardship can make us old before our time. In fact, a new study suggests that violence not only leaves long-term scars on childrens bodies, but also changes their DNA, causing changes that are equal to seven to ten years of premature aging.
Scientists measured this by studying the ends of childrens chromosomes(染色体), called telomeres, says Idan Shalev, lead author of a study published in Molecular Psychiatry.
Telomeres are special DNA sequences which prevent the DNA in chromosomes from separating. They get shorter each time a cell divides, until a cell cannot divide any more and dies.
Several factors have been found to shorten telomeres, including smoking, radiation and psychological stresses such as being treated badly when young and taking care of a chronically ill person.
In this study, researchers examined whether exposure to violence could make children’s telomeres shorten faster than normal. They interviewed the mothers of 236 children at ages 5, 7 and 10, asking whether the youngsters had been exposed to domestic violence between the mother and her partner; physical maltreatment by an adult; or bullying. Researchers measured the children’s telomeres—in cells obtained by swabbing the insides of their cheeks—at ages 5 and 10.
Telomeres shortened faster in kids exposed to two or more types of violence, says Shalev. Unless that pattern changes, the study suggests, these kids could be expected to develop diseases of aging, such as heart attacks or memory loss, seven to 10 years earlier than their peers.
Shalev says there is hope for these kids. His study found that, in rare cases, telomeres can lengthen. Better nutrition, exercise and stress reduction are three things that may be able to lengthen telomeres, he says.
The study confirms a small but growing number of studies suggesting that early childhood adversity imprints itself in our chromosomes, says Charles Nelson, a professor of pediatrics and neuroscience at Harvard Medical School.The new study found that ________.
| A．hardship can change a childs aging |
| B．violence leaves scars on a childs mind |
| C．violence can speed up a childs aging |
| D．hardship has a long term effect on a childs mind |
According to the text, telomeres ________.
| A．are at the ends of peoples chromosomes |
| B．can help prevent DNA from separating |
| C．can make a cell die quickly |
| D．become shorter before they die |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?
| A．Violence can cause quick cell division in childrens body. |
| B．Researchers measured the childrens telomeres from their legs in the study. |
| C．Being treated badly will make a childs telomeres shorten faster. |
| D．Children who have shorter telomeres may have a heart attack earlier. |
What is the best title for the text?
| A．Violence Aging Childrens DNA |
| B．Childrens Changing DNA Patterns |
| C．Violence and Telomeres |
| D．The Function of Telomeres |
Culture shock begins with the "honeymoon stage". This is the period of time when we first arrive in which everything about the new culture is strange and exciting. We may be suffering from "jet lag" but we are thrilled to be in the new environment, seeing new sights, hearing new sounds and language, eating new kinds of food. This stage can last for quite a long time because we feed we are involved in some kind of great adventure.
Unfortunately, the second stage can be more difficult. After we have settled down into our new life, we can be very tired and begin to miss our homeland and our family, friends, pets. All the little problems in life seem to be much bigger and more disturbing when you face them in a foreign culture. This period of cultural adjustment can be very difficult and lead to the new arrival of rejecting or pulling away from the new culture.
The third stage is called the "adjustment stage". This is when you begin to realize that things are not so bad in the host culture. Your sense of humor usually becomes stronger and you realize that you are becoming stronger by learning to take care of yourself in the new place. Things are still difficult, but you are now a survivor.
The fourth stage can be called "at ease at last". Now you feel quite comfortable in your new surroundings. You can cope with most problems that occur. You may still have problems with the language, but you know you are strong enough to deal with them.
There is a fifth stage of culture shock which many people don't know about. This is called "reverse culture shock". Surprisingly, this occurs when you back to your native culture and find that you have changed and that things there have changed while you have been away. Now you feel a little uncomfortable back home. Life is a struggle!
64. When does culture shock happen?
A. When you reach your teens
B. When you move to a big city
C. When you meet foreign people for the first time
D. When you go to live in a foreign country
65. How do you feel during the first stage of culture shock?
A. Lonely and depressedB. Bored and homesick
C. Happy and excitedD. Angry and frustrated
66. One's sense of humor becomes stronger in the "adjustment stage" because_________.
A. he gradually gets used to the language and culture
B. he has to understand jokes in a new culture
C. humor can help him to become stronger
D. he often plays jokes on others to be popular
67. Why might reverse culture shock be a problem?
A. It hardly ever happens. B. It is extremely stressful.
C. Most people do not expect it.D. It only happens to young people.
Students throughout the world spend their money in different ways. A detailed study on student spending indicated that young people's spending habits have changed greatly over the past few years. The study also says that the change is about the same around the world, however. Here are some examples of popular student spending habits---both healthy and also unhealthy---around the world today.
Students these days have too much brand awareness, so their spending on clothes is now quite high. On average, students buy one or two complete sets of new clothes each month, and this makes their total spending higher.
Student spending shows quite an up-and-down pattern as they get older. Students spend a lot more money in high school than before their high school years because when they enter high school, their exposure (接触到) to branded goods increases. As the students get close to graduation, their expenses start to go down. This is the time when they have to become more responsible about money and start to understand its importance.
Students also spend a lot more on entertainment than their parents did when they were young, because of the easy access to entertainment these days. Shopping is considered to be quite entertaining because of all the different forms of amusement presented by shopping malls. These attract students to buy things.
Student spending on food hasn't increased much, but there has been a marked increase in the use of alcohol. There are several more places in which students can drink now. The culture of having parties has also grown a lot among students too, and students usually end up spending a lot on alcohol in such places.
This is not such a bad situation, actually. The study indicates that although student spending has shot through the roof, at the same time, they are financially much stronger today than they were in the past. This is compensation (补偿，回报), and probably it is just another branch of the life that we are living in this speedily advancing world.
60. What is the passage mainly about?
A. Unhealthy student spending habits.
B. Why student spending is changing.
C. How a student should spend money.
D. A study on student spending.
61. Why do students spend less money just before graduation?
A. They see fewer products.
B. They are more conscious of the value of money.
C. They have no time to entertain themselves or go shopping.
D. Their spending on clothing goes down.
62. What can we learn from the passage?
A. Student spending habits are becoming worse and worse.
B. Today's students spend more money on entertainment than on clothing.
C. Today's students are better at earning money than their parents.
D. Student spending on food has increased the least.
63. Which of the following best shows the structure of the passage?
①Paragraph 1;②="Paragraph" 2;③="Paragraph" 3;④="Paragraph" 4;
⑤="Paragraph" 5;⑥="Paragraph" 6;
三、阅读理解(共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分)
请阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选题，并在答题卡上将该选项的标号涂黑。
Even before my father left us, my mother had to go back to work to support our family. Once I came out of the kitchen, complaining, "Mom, I can't peel potatoes. I have only one hand."
Mom never looked up from sewing. "You get yourself into that kitchen and peel those potatoes," she told me, "And don't ever use that as an excuse for anything again!"
In the second grade, our teacher lined up my class on the playground and had each of us race across the monkey bars, swinging from one high steel rod (杆) to the next. When it was my turn, I shook my head. Some kids behind me laughed, and I went home crying.
That night I told Mom about it. She hugged me, and I saw her "we'll see about that" look. The next afternoon, she took me back to school. At the deserted playground, Mom looked carefully at the bars.
"Now, pull up with your right arm," she advised. She stood by as I struggled to lift myself with my right hand until I could hook the bar with my other elbow. Day after day we practiced, and she praised me for every rung I reached. I'll never forget the next time, crossing the rungs, I looked down at the kids who were standing with their mouths open.
One night, after a dance at my new junior high, I lay in bed sobbing. I could hear Mom come into my room. "Morn," I said, weeping, "none of the boys would dance with me."
For a tong time, I didn't hear anything. Then she said, "Oh, honey, someday you'll be beating those boys off with a bat." Her voice was faint and cracking. I peeked out from my covers to see tears running down her cheeks. Then I knew how much she suffered on my behalf. She had never let me see her tears.
56. Which of the following expressions can be used most suitably to describe Mom's attitude when she made the child to peel potatoes?
A. Cruel. B. Serious. C. Strict. D. Cold.
57. What does the sentence "I saw her 'we'll see about that' look" imply?
A. Mom believed every aim could be achieved if you stuck to it.
B. The race across monkey bars was not difficult enough for a child to give up.
C. Mom was determined to prove she herself was better than the teacher.
D. What the child had said brought Mom great attraction and curiosity.
58. When the child looked down at the kids, they were standing with their mouths open because_________.
A. they felt sorry for what they had done before
B. they were afraid the author might fall off and get hurt
C. they wanted to see what the author would do on the bars
D. they were astonished to find the author's progress
59. The most probable conclusion we can draw after reading the passage is_________.
A. the last incident was sad enough to make Mom weep
B. the child's experience reminded Mom of that of her own
C. Mom could solve any problem except the one in the last paragraph
D. in fact Mom suffered more in the process of the child's growth
One day when Isaac Newton was reading a book under an apple tree on the farm, an apple fell down and hit him on the head. For most people that would be the end of the story, but not for Newton. Why did the apple fall out of the tree? Does everything fall? What makes things fall? Can anything stop things from falling? Are the sun, moon, and stars falling? Why don’t they ever hit the ground?
So many questions. Newton spent many years answering these questions by thinking and doing experiments. He made up the law of gravity. According to this law everything pulls everything else to itself by a force called gravity. How strong that force is depends on how heavy the things are and how close together.
Newton’s law of gravity not only explained how things fall on earth, but now planets move around the sun and how moons move around planets. A friend of his, Edmund Halley, decided to try Newton’s theory on comets. People had been studying comets for hundreds of years without figuring them out, so he decided to study their reports and compare them to Newton’s theory.
Up till then people had thought that comets just came and went, and that nobody could know when or why. But Newton’s law of gravity gave rules that Halley could use to study the records of comets. He found some reports of a big bright comet that he was sure was the same one, coming back every 75 years. He predicted when it would come back next.
If anybody still didn’t believe Newton, then the appearance of Halley’s Comet just when Halley had predicted it using Newton’s ideas was enough to convince them. Halley’s Comet has come a few times since then, always right on schedule. You’ll be able to see it on its next trip near the sun and earth when you’re old enough to be a grandparent.
71.The passage starts with a story _____________.
A.because it was such a funny one
B.because Newton liked to eat apples
C.to show how much Newton liked reading
D/to show what started Newton’s discovering gravity
72.According to the author, Newton was especially different from others in that ____________.
A.he liked reading under apple trees
B.he liked to find out how things worked
C.he was very quiet and patient
D.he was so much interested in science
73.Newton’s law of gravity can tell us that _____________.
A.gravity has no relationship with the weight of things.\
B.how things fall on earth
C.it is not of help to the study of comets
D.it can explain everything in the world
74.The underlined word “ convince” in the last paragraph probably means “______________”
A. make… believe B. make… doubt
C. make… understand D. make… interested
75. Which of the following is TRUE about Edmund Halley?
A. He discovered a big bright comet.
B. He helped Newton to create his theory.
C. He predicted when the same comet would come back.
D. He studied the same comet for 75 years.
In 2008, the main candidates ( 候选人 ) for President each used this expression ：You can put lipstick ( 口红 ) on a pig, but it is still a pig.” This means that it is a waste of time to change something from ugly or unpleasant-looking to beautiful.
There are other expressions about improving a pig’s appearance, like this one: “ A hog in a silk waist coat is still a hog.” Hogs are similar to pigs, only bigger. Americans use many other expressions about pigs, hogs and female hogs called sows, like this one, “ You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” This means you cannot create something valuable from something that has no value. Then there is the expression “ Cast pearls before swine ( 猪 ).” That means wasting something valuable on someone who will not be thankful or care about it.
Hogs which are very large animals, take up a lot of space but people should not take up more than their share. If one of your children is taking up too much space sitting in front of the television, other children might say : “ Do not hog the couch.” And a road hog is a driver who uses more than his share of the road. Such a driver increase dangers for other drivers.
Pigs terms are also used in American politics. Farmers mark their pigs’ ears to identify them. In politics, earmarks are money set aside for projects in a congressman’s ( 议员 ) home state.
In many areas, pigs provide ham, bacon and other pork products to eat. All Americans want to be able to bring home the bacon because they want to earn enough money to provide the necessities of life. Experts say this term was first used in the 1920s. But it is believed to come from the much older game of catching a greased ( 涂了油的 ) pig. This was a popular event at country fairs in which the winner was awarded the pig.
66.The author writes this passage mainly to ________________.
A.express his support for the President Election
B.criticize ( 批评 ) the bad influence caused by expressions about pigs
C.discuss some problems caused by expressions about pigs
D.introduce some expressions used in American daily life
67.If you give a good book to a person who can’t read, which of the following is the most suitable to describe it?
A.Cast peals before swine.
B.You can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig.
C.A hog in a silk waistcoat is still a hog.
D.You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
68.A driver who takes up too much space on the road is often referred to as ________________.
A. a greased pigB. a couch hog C. a road hogD. a road earmark
69. How many words which refer to the same animal are mentioned in this passage?
A. Six B. Four C. Five D. Three
70. Which of the following expressions are similar to “ You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.?
A. When pigs fly! B. To eat like a pig.
C. To sell a pig in a pork. D. To sweat like a pig.