D
Many people rely on a cup of coffee or two to wake them up in the morning or pick them up during the working day, but now a chemist has come up with a speedy alternative to crafting a cup of coffee.
U.S. biochemist Ben Yu has created `Sprayable Energy,` which claims to be the world`s first caffeine - based topical energy spray.He said tired workers can spray a `shot` of caffeine onto their skin without experiencing a strong buzz, loading up on unnecessary calories or being stuck with a nasty aftertaste like they might get from drinking energy drinks or coffee.
The patent-pending caffeine spray is an odourless liquid that is absorbed through the skin and distributed through the body over a number of hours to deliver a caffeine hit that apparently lasts longer than guzzling a cup of coffee.
Each small aluminum bottle of Sprayable Energy contains around 160 sprays - the equivalent amount of caffeine to 40 cups of coffee and the creators say it is a much cheaper way of getting a caffeine fix than popping to a cafe.The only active ingredient in the spray is caffeine, which can naturally enter the human body through the skin by passing through cell membranes as it is very similar to nicotine in structure.Each spritz of Sprayable Energy contains around a quarter of the amount of caffeine found in a cup of coffee, but apparently has the same effect as a full cup.
The website said: `The reason for this is our product not being ingested, isn`t almost entirely metabolised（新陈代谢） by the liver before entering your system and becoming available to your body.`
`Thus, a smaller amount of caffeine can have just the same effect as a very large amount of caffeine ingested through an energy drink or cup of coffee.`c`s website recommends that users apply the spray in places where they normally spritz perfume, such as the neck or wrists, but warns users not to exceed 20 sprays a day.
It claims that after spraying the product on the skin, users will feel `awake and focused without being over-stimulated,` which is common with coffee and energy drinks.What can we learn about Sprayable Energy from the passage ?_______.
| A．A bottle of Sprayable Energyis cheaper than 40 cups of coffee. . |
| B．Sprayable Energy lets users not worry about taking in unnecessary calories.. |
| C．Sprayable Energy can be used at least 20 sprays a day |
| D．The caffeine spray is a colorless liquid that is absorbed through the skin.. |
What does the fifth paragraph mainly tell us ?____
A,Sprayable Energy is taken by mouth...
B.Before Sprayable Energy is absorbed by body, the liver entirely metabolizes it
C.How Sprayable Energy acts on user’s body and how users use the product.
D.Sprayable Energy is convenient but expensive.We can conclude from the passage that ____
| A．Sprayable Energy can not be permitted to be used by people now. |
| B．Sprayable Energy has not already gone into mass production |
| C．each spritz of Sprayable Energy has the same effect as a full cup of coffee |
| D．Sprayable Energy is well received by flagging workers. |
The writer’s attitude towards Sprayable Energy ____
| A．negative. |
| B．positive |
| C．uncertain |
| D．indifferent |
The clock struck eleven at night. The whole house was quiet. Everyone was in bed except me. Under the strong light，I looked sadly before me at a huge pile of that troublesome stuff（东西） they call “books”。
I was going to have my examination the next day. “When can I go to bed？” I asked myself. I didn’t answer，In fact I dared not.
The clock struck twelve. “ Oh，dear！” I cried. “Ten more books to read before I can go to bed！” We pupils are the most wretched creatures（生物） in the world. Dad does not agree with me on this. He did not have to work so hard when he was a boy.
The clock struck one. I was quite desperate（绝望的）now. I forgot all I had learned. I was too tired to go on. I did the only thing I could. I prayed，“Oh，God，please help me pass the exam tomorrow. I do promise to work hard afterwards，Amen.” My eyes were so heavy that I could hardly open them. A few minutes later，with my head on the desk，I fell asleep.The underlined word “wretched”in Paragraph 3 probably means _______ .
| A．very happy. | B．disappointed. |
| C．very unhappy. | D．hopeful. |
Reviewing his lessons didn’t help him because.
| A．it was too late at night. |
| B．he was very tired. |
| C．his eye lids were so heavy that he couldn’t keep them open. |
| D．he hadn’t studied hard before the examination. |
What do you suppose happened to the author？
| A．He went to a church to pray again. |
| B．He passed the exam by sheer luck. |
| C．He failed in the exam. |
| D．He was punished by his teacher. |
The best title for the passage would be __________ .
| A．The Night Before the Examination. |
| B．Working Far into the Night. |
| C．A Slow Student. |
| D．Going Over My Lessons. |
For many blind people, computers are inaccessible. It can cost $1,000 to purchase “screen reader” software, but two blind computer programmers from Australia have solved this problem.
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) graduate James Teh and business partner Michael Curran developed a free, open-source program, called NVDA, which provides a voice to read the words on a computer screen as the cursor(光标) moves over them. NVDA won the blind inventors an award in the grand final program of the ABC’s New Inventors, which aired on September 23. They took home the award for an invention that “might make a real difference to people’s lives or the environment.”
“A sighted person takes for granted that they can sit down at any computer and use it,” Mr Teh said. “We really are in the information age — everything is online these days. So access to computers for the blind is very important, which is why we wanted our software to be free.”
Mr Teh, who majored in software engineering at QUT, said blind students typically didn’t have the money to purchase “screen reader” technology, at the time in their life when they most needed it. Now NVDA could be downloaded on to anyone’s personal computer free of charge.
“It can also be copied to a USB stick, which can be used on any PC at school or university, with no installation required,” he said.
Mr Teh and Mr Curran have drawn on their own experience as blind computer users to develop a product which has some unique features. For example, as the mouse moves up and down the screen, a sound becomes higher and lower to let you know where the cursor is located.
NVDA has been translated into 27 languages, thanks to volunteer translators. To date, there have been over 50,000 downloads.
Mr Teh and Mr Curran have been working on the project since 2006. They worked on their product without any pay for two years. When Mozilla offered some funding in 2008, Mr Teh was able to quit his day job and work full-time developing NVDA.NVDA won an award in the program of the ABC’s New Inventors because it _____.
| A．causes no harm to the environment | B．influences people’ s lives |
| C．is aiming at blind people | D．is easy to use |
Why did James Teh and Michael Curran want their software to be free?
| A．They got funding from Mozilla. |
| B．They belonged to a volunteer group. |
| C．They wanted to help the blind. |
| D．They wanted people to give up “screen reader” software. |
What do we know about Teh and Curran?
| A．They are studying at QUT. | B．They are good at translating. |
| C．They know how the blind feel. | D．They began to develop NVDA in 2008. |
| ABOUT LIPITOR Lipitor(阿伐他汀钙片) is a prescription medicine. Along with diet and exercise, it lowers “bad” cholesterol(胆固醇) in your blood. It can also raise “good” cholesterol. Lipitor can lower the risk of heart attack in patients with several common risk factors, including family history of early heart disease, high blood pressure, age and smoking. |
| WHO IS LIPITOR FOR? Who can take LIPITOR： ●People who cannot lower their cholesterol enough with diet and exercise ●Adults and children over 10 Who should not take LIPITOR： ●Women who are pregnant, may be pregnant, or may become pregnant. Lipitor may harm your unborn baby. ●Women who are breast-feeding. Lipitor can pass into your breast milk and may harm your baby. ●People with liver(肝脏) problems |
| POSSIBIE SIDE EFFECTS OF LIPITOR Serious side effects in a small number of people： ●Muscle(肌肉) problems that can lead to kidney(肾脏) problems, including kidney failure ●liver problems. Your doctor may do blood tests to check your liver before you start Lipitor and while you are taking it. Call your doctor right away if you have： ●Unexplained muscle pain or weakness, especially if you have a fever or feel very tired ●Swelling of the face, lips, tongue, and / or throat that may cause difficulty in breathing or swallowing ●Stomach pain Some common side effects of LIPITOR are： ●Muscle pain ●Upset stomach ●Changes in some blood tests |
| HOW TO TAKE LIPITOR Do： ●Take Lipitor as prescribed by your doctor, ●Try to eat heart healthy foods while you take Lipitor. ●Take Lipitor at any time of day, with or without food. ●If you miss a dose(一剂),take it as soon as you remember. But if it has been more than 12 hours since your missed dose, wait. Take the next dose at your regular time. Don’t： ●Do not change or stop your dose before talking to your doctor. ●Do not start new medicines before talking to your doctor. |
What is a major function of Lipitor?
| A．To help quit smoking. | B．To control blood pressure. |
| C．To improve unhealthy diet. | D．To lower “bad” cholesterol. |
Taking Lipitor is helpful for_________.
| A．breast-feeding women | B．women who are pregnant |
| C．adults having heart disease | D．teenagers with liver problems |
If it has been over 12 hours since you missed a dose, you should__________.
| A．change the amount of your next dose |
| B．eat more when taking your next dose |
| C．have a dose as soon as you remember |
| D．take the next dose at your regular time |
Which of the following is a common side effect of taking Lipitor?
| A．Face swelling. | B．Upset stomach. |
| C．Kidney failure. | D．Muscle weakness |
56yearold becomes 1st woman to swim Atlantic
(AP)－Jennifer Figge pressed her toes into the Caribbean sand, excited and exhausted as she touched land this week for the first time in almost a month. Reaching a beach in Trinidad, she became the first woman on record to swim across the Atlantic Ocean—a dream she'd had since the early 1960s,when a stormy transAtlantic (飞越大西洋) flight got her thinking she could wear a life vest and swim the rest of the way if needed.
The 56yearold left the Cape Verde Islands off Africa's western coast on Jan.12,2009, swimming 19 out of 25 days battling waves of up to 30 feet.The distance from Cape Verde to Trinidad is about 700 miles.Crewmembers are still computing exactly how many miles she swam.
The original plan was for her to swim to the Bahamas—a distance of about 2,100 miles—but inclement (恶劣的) weather forced her to change her plans and she arrived at Trinidad on Feb.5.She now plans to swim from Trinidad to the British Virgin Islands,ending her voyage at the Bitter End Yacht Club in late February.
Her journey came a decade after French swimmer Benoit Lecomte made the first known solo transAtlantic swim,covering nearly 4,000 miles from Massachusetts to France in 73 days.No woman on record had made the crossing.
Figge wore a red cap and wet suit,with her only goodluck charm (护身符) underneath:an old,red shirt to guard against chafing (磨痛),signed by friends,relatives and her father,who recently died.The other cherished (珍惜) possession she kept onboard was a picture of Gertrude Ederle,an American who became the first woman to swim across the English Channel.“We have a few things in common,”Figge said,“She wore a red hat and she was of German descent (血统).We both talked to the sea,and neither one of us wanted to get out.”When did Jennifer Figge want to swim across the Atlantic Ocean？
| A．After she reached a beach in Trinidad. |
| B．After she pressed her toes into the Caribbean sand. |
| C．After her stormy transAtlantic flight in the early 1960s. |
| D．After her graduation from a university. |
Jennifer Figge had to change her plans .
| A．because she wanted to shorten her voyage |
| B．because of bad weather conditions |
| C．because she wanted to end her voyage in late February |
| D．because she wanted to set a new world record |
When did Benoit Lecomte probably make the first known solo transAtlantic swim？
| A．In 1999. | B．In 1988. | C．In 1978 . | D．In 1968. |
For what purpose did Jennifer Figge keep a photo of Gertrude Ederle？
| A．Figge would like to follow her example. |
| B．She had the same red cap as Figge always wore. |
| C．Figge also wanted to swim across the English Channel. |
| D．They were both born in Germany. |
A “blogger” is a person who writes on an Internet website called a “blog”. The word “blog” is a short way of saying “web log”, or “personal website”. Anyone can start a blog, and they can write about anything they like．
There are millions of blogs on the Internet today. They provide news, information and ideas to the people who read them．They contain links to other websites．And they provide a place for people to write their ideas and react to the ideas of others．
A research company called Perseus has studied more than 3,000 web logs. It says that blogs are most popular with teenage girls. They use them to let their friends know what is happening in their lives. The study also says that more than 100,000 bloggers stopped taking part in the activity after a year．
However, some people develop serious blogs to present political and other ideas. For example, the Republican and Democratic parties in the southern state of Kentucky recently started their own blogs. And American companies are beginning to use blogs to advertise their products．
At thesame time, some long-standing blogs have ended. Last week, blogging leader Dave Winer closed his free blog service “weblogs.com”． He said the site became too costly to continue. He started the blog four years ago, and thousands of people had written on it. They are now upset because they did not know that the site was closed．
One blog that is still going strong is called Rebecca’s Pocket．Rebecca Blood created the website in 1999. She wrote about the history of blogs on the site．That article led to a book called The Weblog Handbook．It has been translated into four languages so far．
Miss Blood says Rebecca’s Pocket gets about thirty thousand visitors a month．She writes about anything and everything —— politics, culture and movies. She recently provided medical advice． And she wrote about how to prevent people from being stolen from online bank accounts．The text is mainly written to _______．
| A．introduce an Internet website called “blog” |
| B．introduce a short way of saying “web log” |
| C．tell readers about blogs |
| D．tell readers how to write blogs |
From the text we can learn that blogs cover almost everything except _______．
| A．different ideas | B．medical advice |
| C．advertisements | D．account passwords |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the text?
| A．Politicians don’t use blogs at all． |
| B．A lot of bloggers no longer write or read blogs． |
| C．Those who like to use blogs are mostly teenage girls． |
| D．Dave Winer closed his “weblogs.com” because of the money shortage． |
The reason why Rebecca’s Pocket is still going strong is that _______．
| A．it was created by a woman |
| B．it is about the history of blogs |
| C．it provides useful information and advice |
| D．it has editions in atleast four different languages |