In the early part of the twentieth century, racism（种族歧视）was widespread in the United States. Many African Americans were not given equal opportunities in education or employment. Marian Anderson (1897-1993) was an African American woman who gained fame as a concert singer in this climate of racism. She was born in Philadelphia and sang in church choirs during her childhood. When she asked for admission to a local music school in 1917, she was refused because she was black. Unable to attend music school, she began her career as a singer for religious activities. In 1929, she went to Europe to study voice and spent several years performing there. Her voice was widely praised throughout Europe. Then she returned to the US in 1935 and became a top concert singer after performing at Town Hall in New York City.
Racism again affected Anderson in 1939. When it was arranged to sing at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC, the Daughters of the American Revolution opposed（反对）it because of her color. She sang instead at the Lincoln Memorial for over 75 000 people. In 1955, Anderson became the first black soloist（独唱） to sing in the Metropolitan Opera of New York City. The famous conductor Toscanini praised her voice as “heard only once in a hundred years”. She was a US delegate（代表）to the United Nations in 1958 and won the UN peace prize in 1977. Anderson eventually triumphed over racism.According to this passage, what did Marian Anderson do between 1917 and 1929?
| A．She studied at a music school. |
| B．She sang for religious activities. |
| C．She sang at Town Hall in New York. |
| D．She studied voice in Europe. |
Toscanini thought that Marian Anderson_________. .
| A．had a very rare(稀有的) voice |
| B．sang occasionally in public |
| C．sang only once in many years |
| D．was seldom heard by people |
Anderson’s beautiful voice was first recognized________ .
A. at the Lincoln Memorial B. in Washington, DC.
C. in Europe D. at the United NationsThis passage shows that Anderson finally defeated racism in the US by____.
| A．opposing the government | B．working for the United Nations |
| C．singing in the streets | D．working hard to perfect her art |
"Hey, don't read in the hallway. Your eyesight will be damaged." You must have heard such warnings many times. Don’t read in dim (暗的)light! This is one of the “pearls of wisdom” that are supposed to help us live a healthy life. Such common beliefs, however, lack scientific basis, according to a paper published recently in the British Medical Journal.
Do you believe in the following everyday wisdom?
Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight.
In dim light, you might blink (眨眼) more, feel discomfort from drying and have trouble focusing. But the majority of eye experts believe it is unlikely to do any permanent damage.
We must drink at least eight glasses of water a day
In 1945, the Nutrition Council in US suggested that people need to consume 2.5 litres of water a day. But the water contained in food, particularly fruit and vegetables, as well as in milk, juice and soft drinks, also counts towards the total.
We only use 10 percent of our brains.
This myth arose as early as 1907. People have long argued about our power of self-improvement and our brains’ potential abilities. But detailed imaging shows that no area of the brain is silent or inactive.
Shaving your legs causes hair to grow black faster and thicker.
This theory is also illusion. Shaving has no effect on the thickness or rate of hair growth,
studies say. Just over time, the edge of hair gets worn away and thus the edge of long hair becomes finer (更细). So hair that is newly grown gives the impression of darkness.What does the paper say about some common beliefs?
| A．They are pearls of wisdom | B．They help us live in healthy ways |
| C．They are well-known theories. | D．They do not have scientific basis. |
Which of the following is true according to the passage ?
| A．Reading in dim light does harm to one’s eyes. |
| B．People need a total of 2.5 litres of water a day |
| C．People use 90 percent of their brains. |
| D．Shaving your legs will give you thicker hair. |
This passage is most likely to be found in __________ ?
| A．a newspaper | B．a science fiction |
| C．a biology textbook | D．a medical book |
While income worry is a rather common problem of the aged, loneliness is another problem that aged parents may face. Of all the reasons that explain their loneliness, a large geographical distance between parents and their children is the major one. This phenomenon(现象) is commonly known as "Empty Nest Syndrome”（空巢综合症）．
In order to find better chances outside their countries, many young people have gone abroad, leaving their parents behind with no clear idea of when they will return home. Their parents spend countless lonely days and nights, taking care of themselves, in the hope that someday their children will come back to stay with them. The fact that most of these young people have gone to Europeanized or Americanized societies makes it unlikely that they will hold as tightly to the value of duty as they would have if they had not left their countries. Whatever the case, it has been noted that the values they hold do not necessarily match what they actually do. This geographical and cultural distance also prevents the grown-up children from providing response in time for their aged parents living by themselves.
The situation in which grown-up children live far away from their aged parents has been described as "distant parent phenomenon", which is common both in developed countries and in developing countries. Our society has not yet been well prepared for "Empty Nest Syndrome".According to the passage, the loneliness of aged parents is mainly caused by ________.
| A．their earlier experience of living alone |
| B．the poor living conditions in their native countries |
| C．the common worry that they have not saved much money |
| D．the distance between where parents live and where their children live |
Many young people have gone abroad, leaving their aged parents behind, to ______.
| A．realize their dreams in foreign countries |
| B．seek a better place for their aged parents |
| C．live in the countries with more money |
| D．continue their studies abroad |
If young people go abroad, __________.
| A．they do not hold to the value of duty at all |
| B．they can give some help to their parents back home |
| C．they cannot do what they should for their parents |
| D．they believe what they actually do is right |
From the last paragraph, we can infer that __________.
| A．the situations in the developed and developing countries are different |
| B．"Empty Nest Syndrome" has arrived unexpectedly in our society |
| C．children will become independent as soon as they go abroad |
| D．the aged parents are not fully prepared for "Empty Nest Syndrome" |
The society discussed in the passage is most probably __________.
| A．France | B．America | C．China | D．Britain |
A car needs gas to run as your body needs food to work for you. Eating the right kinds of food is very important. A good eating habit can help your body grow strong if you take care of what you eat.
There are four main food groups altogether. The dairy group has food like milk, cheese and sour milk. The other three groups are the meat and fish group, the fruit and vegetable group, and the bread and rice group. Each meal should have at least one food from all four main groups. With all of these foods together, you will be given enough energy during the day.
It is easy to get into bad eating habits. You may eat your breakfast in a hurry to get to school on time or you may not have time for a good lunch. It may be easier to eat fish and chips for your supper all the time. But you will find yourself tired and you will not be able to think quickly.
Watching what you eat will help keep your body healthy and strong. It is also good to take some exercise. It will help you eat more if you take a walk or play games in the open air. Having good eating habits with some exercise is the key to your health.According to the passage, which of the following diets do you think is the best one?
| A．Eggs, tomatoes and chicken. | B．Milk, bread, cabbages and beef. |
| C．Corn, fish, ice cream and pork. | D．Rice, beancurd, fish and chicken. |
In this passage the writer mainly tells us that ______.
| A．every person needs food to grow well |
| B．taking exercise can keep your body strong |
| C．the right kind of food with exercise will keep you healthy |
| D．enough energy helps people think more quickly |
“Old wives’ tales” are beliefs passed from one generation to another. For example, most of us remember our parents’ telling us to eat more of certain foods or not to do certain things. Is there any truth in these teachings? Some of them agree with present medical thinking, but others have not passed the test of time.
Did your mother ever tell you to eat your carrots because they are good for your eyes? Scientists now report that eating carrots can help prevent a serious eye disease called macular degeneration. Eating just one carrot a day can reduce the possibility of getting this disease by 40%. Garlic(蒜) is good for you, too. It can kill the type of virus that causes colds.
Unfortunately, not all of Mom’s advice passed the test of medical studies. For example, generations of children have been told not to go swimming within an hour after eating. But research suggests that there is no danger in doing so. Do sweets cause tooth problems? Well, yes and no. Sticky sweets made with grains tend to cause more problems than sweets made with simple sugars.
Even though science can tell us that some of our traditional beliefs don’t hold water, there is still a lot of truth in the old wives’ tales. After all, much of this knowledge has been accumulated(积累) from thousands of years of experience in family health care. We should respect this body of knowledge even as we search for clear scientific support to prove it true or false.The author develops the third paragraph mainly .
| A．by cause and effect | B．by order in space |
| C．by examples | D．by order in time |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?
| A．Eating garlic is good for our eyes. |
| B．Carrots prevent people from catching colds. |
| C．Swimming after a meal is dangerous. |
| D．Sticky sweets are damaging to our teeth. |
What is the author’s attitude toward “old wives’ tales” in the text?
| A．Objective. | B．Subjective. | C．Dissatisfied. | D．Curious. |
The phrase “hold water” in the last paragraph most probably means “.”
| A．to be valuable | B．to be believable |
| C．to be admirable | D．to be suitable |
It’s parents’ worst nightmare. Their child doesn’t come home one evening and is missing for several days.
When a 14-year-old boy from Atlanta, Georgia disappeared earlier this year, his mother turned to her Smartphone for clues using an app（应用程序） called Family Tracker that helped track his location.
“You can see where your loved ones are without having to call or bother them. ”said Roberto Franceschetti of LogSat, the creators of the Family Tracker, which has more than 100,000 users and is available worldwide.
Parents can track the location of their child on a map, send messages, and even sound an alarm on the phone in a long distance.
“We have an option for the sender to make a very unpleasant, noisy sound. It’s a loud alarm and we repeat that sound every two minutes until the person picks it up, ”he said.
Parents don’t need to own a Smartphone to track their children. The service is also accessible through the web, as long as the phone that is being tracked is running the app.
Family Tracker has an additional service that keeps records of all data from the app for a two-week period, which the company calls GPS breadcrumbs.
“With a subscription（预定）, we keep all the locations where people have been on our servers. You can see where your kid has been for the past two weeks. You can find out where someone was at a certain time or when that person was at a specific place, ”Franceschetti explained.
“When somebody gets abducted（劫持）, usually whoever does this throws the phone away or takes the battery out. We were hoping that our app would at least provide information on where the person was abducted or where they had been in the past. ”
But will these types of apps let out personal secrets?
“The advantages are huge compared to the disadvantages. Let’s not forget that the person always has to give initial permission—no one can be tracked unless they allow someone to do it. ”said Franceschetti. According to the passage, all of the following about “Family Tracker” are true EXCEPT that __________.
| A．it can help parents know where their children are |
| B．all parents don’t need to own a Smartphone to track children |
| C．parents can use all the services of the app for free |
| D．it has little to do with letting out personal secrets |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．The app will enjoy a great popularity in the future. |
| B．The loss of children won’t be a nightmare for parents any more. |
| C．The app will repeat the loud alarm continuously whenever parents track children. |
| D．The app can keep records of information for more than half a month. |
Which belong to the functions of the new app?
a. track location b. detect criminals c. send messages
d. protect privacy e. send remote alarm f. record information
| A．a, b, c, e | B．a, c, e, f | C．a, c, d, e | D．a, d, e, f |