“Mobile phone killed my man,” screamed one headline last year. Also came claims that an unpublished study had found that mobile phones could cause memory loss. And a British newspaper devoted its front page to a picture supposedly showing how mobile phones could heat the brain.
For anyone who uses a mobile phone, these are worrying times. But speak to the scientists whose work is the focus of these scares and you hear a different story.
One of the oddest effects comes from the now famous“memory loss” study. Alan Preece and his colleagues at the University of Bristol placed a device that imitated the microwave radiation of mobile phones to the left ear of volunteers. The volunteers were good at recalling words and pictures they had been shown on a computer screen. Preece says he still can’t comment on the effects of using a mobile phone for years on end. But he rules out the suggestion that mobile phones have an immediate effect on our cognitive（认识的）abilities. “I’m pretty sure there is no effect on short-term memory,” he says.
Another expert, Tattersall, remarked that his latest findings have removed fears about memory loss. One result, for instance, suggests that nerve cell synapses（神经元突触） exposed to microwaves become more — rather than less — receptive to undergoing changes linked to memory formation.
An even happier outcome would be that microwaves turned out to be good for you. It sounds crazy, but a couple of years ago a team led by William Adey at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in California found that mice exposed to microwaves for two hours a day were less likely to develop brain tumours when given a cancer-causing chemical.
“If it doesn’t certainly cause cancer in animals and cells, then it probably isn’t going to cause cancer in humans,” says William. And while there’s still no absolute evidence that mobile phone use does damage your memories or give you cancer, the conclusion is: don’t be afraid.Mobile phone users are worried because ______.
| A．they are not sure whether mobile phones can cause memory loss |
| B．it’s said that mobile phones have a lot of side effects |
| C．one headline reported “Mobile phone killed my man” |
| D．a British newspaper showed mobile phones could heat the brain |
According to the scientists, ______.
| A．there is no evidence that mobile phones cause illness in people |
| B．the more people use mobile phones, the healthier they’ll be |
| C．mobile phone users are less likely to develop cancer |
| D．mobile phones’ radiation is the same as the general radiation |
According to this passage, we can know that _____.
| A．the mobile phone is a most wonderful invention |
| B．there’s no need to worry about the radiation from mobile phones |
| C．something must be done to stop people using mobile phones |
| D．mobile phone companies shouldn’t cheat customers |
The underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refers to ______.
| A．mobile phone radiation |
| B．a cancer-causing chemical |
| C．a happy outcome |
| D．a brain tumour |
What would be the best title for this passage?
| A．New Mobile Phones. |
| B．Special Mobile Phones. |
| C．New Special Investigation: Mobile Phones. |
| D．New Investigation. |
Too many cars have created a lot of serious problems in our world. Besides congestion(拥塞), accidents and fast fuel consumption(消费), cars are responsible for a good part of air pollution in big cities. All the time, they are pumping huge amounts of waste gases into the atmosphere. These gases are very harmful, causing disease and even death. Last winter, car fumes(烟雾) formed heavy smog over Beijing, making the sky gloomy for weeks and deteriorating people's health.
One possible solution is to design and develop clean cars and clean fuels. In Tsinghua University, campus buses are driven by electricity. In Beijing some of the public buses begin to run on natural gas, which does not give off as much carbon dioxide as the petrol. But it may take decades for the new models of clean cars to completely replace the traditional ones.
Another solution is to develop modern public transportation systems and restrict （限制）the use of private cars. If the price of petrol rises constantly and the public vehicles（交通车辆） are efficient and convenient enough, most people will not use private cars. And the total number of cars in big cities will reduce greatly.
On the whole, the elimination （根除）of air pollution needs the co-efforts from the government, the public and the environments. This problem will be solved only with the help of science and technology.What is the main reason for air pollution in big cities?
| A．congestion | B．accidents |
| C．fast fuel consumption | D．cars |
What is the best title of this passage?
| A．Air Pollution and Cars |
| B．Air Pollution |
| C．the Cause of the Pollution |
| D．Ways to Solve the car Problem |
How many ways are mentioned to solve the pollution caused by cars?
| A．One | B．Two | C．Three | D．Four |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．New models of clean cars will soon replace the traditional cars |
| B．Public transportation should replace all the private cars |
| C．In some university, electricity is used in school buses |
| D．It is only the government’s efforts that can help solve air pollution caused by cars |
In a growing number of English classes, teachers are leaving the classic novels on the shelf and letting students select the books they read. Supporters say that the new approach, called reader’s workshop, helps develop a love for reading in students who are bored by classic literature. They argue that the best way to motivate students to read more is to offer them more choices.
Not all educators are on the same page, however. They worry that students who choose trendy, less challenging titles over the classics won’t be exposed to the great writing and key themes of important works of literature.Student reporters Donald and Sarah express their ideas about this new approach.
Donald thinks that we should turn the page. Students should be allowed to select the books they read in English class. He says he and his classmates are allowed to pick their own books in class. That makes them more focused, and they look forward to class time. Tristin, a classmate of his at Clinton Middle School agrees. “I’m reading books that I want to read, which makes class more fun and interesting,” he says. Offering students a choice may also improve test scores. Studies by Professor John Guthrie of the University of Maryland found that students in grades 4 through 6 who had some choices in the books they read showed improved reading comprehension skills during testing. Giving students the chance to decide what they read helps build a lifelong love for reading. Isn’t that what we want for our students?
Sarah holds a different view. She thinks teachers know more about books than students do. When an English teacher assigns a book, he or she keeps in mind the reading level of most students in the class. Students who choose their own books might be cheating themselves by picking books that are not up to their reading level or that are too difficult. Furthermore, a whole class can discuss a book it reads together. That makes it easier for some kids to understand what they are reading. “The students wouldn’t be able to hold a meaningful conversation if they were all reading different books,” says Kristin, an English teacher at Fleetwood Area Middle School. “If they read the same book, their conversations would be more in-depth.”What’s the meaning of the underlined sentence “Not all educators are on the same page”?
| A．Educators have different opinions. |
| B．Educators didn’t appear at the same time. |
| C．Educators wrote in different pages. |
| D．Educators didn’t agree with the author. |
Donald thinks that the new approach could __________.
| A．helped students be more focused in class |
| B．draw students to reading classic novels |
| C．make students less worried in English class |
| D．encourage students to red more challenging books |
Sarah thinks that the new approach might __________.
| A．help students improve reading comprehension skills |
| B．help students hold meaningful conversations in class |
| C．make some students read books not suitable for them |
| D．make some students ignore the important works of literature |
Who has the same attitude towards the new approach with Kristin?
| A．Donald. | B．Sarah. | C．Tristin. | D．John Guthrie. |
The author develops the text mainly by __________.
| A．listing cases |
| B．making comparisons |
| C．following time order |
| D．explaining causes and effects |
Young children whose mothers talk with them more frequently and in more detail about people’s thoughts and feelings tend to be better at taking another person’s perspective（观点）than other children of the same age.
That’s what researchers from the University of Western Australia found in a new study published in the journal Child Development.
“Parents who frequently put themselves in someone else’s shoes in conversations with their children make it more likely their children will be able to do the same,” said lead author Brad Farrant.
Researchers of the UWA’s Telethon Institute for Child Health Research looked at the influence of how parents interact with their children to learn more about how people develop the ability to take another’s perspective.
The two-year study involved more than 120 Australian children aged between four and six, including children with typically developing language and others delayed in language acquisition（习得）.
The children completed tasks which were designed to assess their language skills, ability to infer others’ beliefs and use these to predict others’ behavior, and their ability to shift flexibly between different perspectives.
Among children with typically developing language, the researchers found that mothers who talked more often and in greater detail about people’s thoughts and feelings — commenting on how another person might react to a particular situation as well as their own feelings about the topic — had children with better language skills and better perspective-taking skills.
Children with delayed language acquisition were also delayed in their development of perspective-taking skills. This displays the role played by language as children develop the ability to take another’s perspective.
“Solving the many challenges that the world faces today requires us all to get better at taking the perspective of other people,” said Brad Farrant.According to the text, to help children gain better perspective-taking skills, parents should __________.
| A．give their children more chances to express themselves |
| B．talk more with their children about people’s feelings |
| C．encourage their children to guess other people’s thoughts |
| D．spend more time playing with their children |
Which of the following is TRUE about the study?
| A．Over one hundred American children took part in it. |
| B．All the children had delayed in language acquisition. |
| C．The children in the study were around five years old. |
| D．Mothers helped their children to complete the tasks. |
Which have an effect on the development of children’s perspective-taking skills?
| A．The surrounding environments. |
| B．Mother’s perspectives. |
| C．Personal characters. |
| D．Language skills. |
In the last paragraph, Brad Farrant __________.
| A．stressed the importance of perspective-taking skills |
| B．expressed his concern about the world’s challenges |
| C．showed how to take the perspective of other people |
| D．explained why other people’s opinions are important |
According to the text, we can learn __________.
| A．parents should talk to their children frequently no matter how old their children are |
| B．it was Brad Farrant who wrote the study in Child Development herself |
| C．the only way to improve language skill is talking to children more often |
| D．parents who are always thinking about others will help their children do the same way |
Famous as “the king of chefs and the chef of kings,” Auguste Escoffier helped raise the position of cooking from a laborer’s task to an artist’s job. Escoffier was born on October 28, 1846, in the small village of Villeneuve-Loubet, near Nice, France. Among the key figures in the boy’s life was his father, who worked primarily as a blacksmith（铁匠）. His grandmother, an enthusiastic cook, was perhaps more responsible than anyone for introducing the boy to an appreciation of the delights of cooking.
Young Escoffier attended the local school until age 12, upon which time his father thought it necessary that the boy learn a trade. In school he had shown a talent for drawing, yet he was told to regard this art only as a hobby, and to find his career in a more practical profession. Thus his father took him to Nice in 1859, where he would work as an apprentice（学徒）in his uncle’s restaurant, the respectable Le Restaurant Francais.
At Le Restaurant Francais, Escoffier was not treated as the close relative of the boss. Rather, he experienced a classically demanding apprenticeship. For this strictness of training he would later, in his memoirs（回忆录）, express gratefulness. During this time Escoffier also attended night school, and had to deal with his studies as well as the demands of a promising career.
When Escoffier was 19 and had taken on yet more responsibilities in his uncle’s restaurant, a customer recognized his skills and offered him work in Paris. This was the owner of Le Petit Moulin Rouge, one of the finest restaurants in Paris, where Escoffier was to become a sous-chef, ranking below the head chef. After three years in this position, he rose to the level of head chef, wearing the respected chef’s hat. It was his __________ who first influenced Escoffier to be interested in cooking.
| A．father | B．mother | C．uncle | D．grandmother |
We can infer that as a schoolboy, Escoffier might hope to be __________.
| A．a chef | B．a businessman | C．an artist | D．a blacksmith |
According to Paragraph 3, Escoffier __________.
| A．was badly treated by his uncle |
| B．showed great interest in writing |
| C．disliked working as an apprentice |
| D．was thankful for the strict training |
Which of the following can best describe Escoffier?
| A．Hard-working. | B．Honest. | C．Warm-hearted. | D．Modest. |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．How to become a chef in France. |
| B．The influence of Auguste Escoffier. |
| C．What an apprentice is required to do. |
| D．The early life of a famous French chef. |
I still clearly remember that day. I was on the side of the road for close to four hours with my big Jeep. I put signs in the windows that said, “NEED A JACK（千斤顶）”.
Right as I was about to give up, a truck stopped and a man got off. He sized up the situation and went back to take a jack. After about two hours, we finished the job with sweats. We were both dirty. His wife produced a large water jug for us to wash our hands in.
I tried to put $20 in the man’s hand, but he wouldn’t take it, so instead I went up and gave it to his wife as quietly as I could. I thanked them up one side and down the other. I asked the little girl, their daughter, where they lived, thinking maybe I’d send them a gift. She said they lived in Mexico. They were in Oregon now so Mommy and Daddy could pick cherries for the next few weeks. After that, they were going to pick peaches, and then go back home.
After I said my goodbyes and started walking back to the Jeep, the girl called out and asked if I’d had lunch. When I told her no, she ran up and handed me a tamale（玉米粽子）. I thanked them again and walked back to my car. When I opened the tamale, what did I find inside? My $20 bill! I ran to the van and the guy rolled down his window. He saw the $20 in my hand, started shaking his head smiling, and with what looked like great concentration said in English: “Today you, tomorrow me.” Then he rolled up his window and drove away, with his daughter waving to me from the back.
This family, working on a seasonal basis where time is money, took a couple of hours to help a stranger while others passed by quietly.
Since then I’ve helped many people like the Mexican family. I didn’t accept money. But every time I was able to help, I felt as if I was putting something in the bank.From the passage we know that __________.
| A．the Mexican man couldn’t speak English |
| B．the author’s car broke down on the road |
| C．the Mexican family came to Oregon for a visit |
| D．$20 was a small amount for the Mexican family |
Why did the author give the money quietly to the man’s wife?
| A．Because the man had refused to accept it. |
| B．Because the man’s wife needn’t wash her hands. |
| C．Because the author thought the Mexican family was poor. |
| D．Because the author thought the man’s wife would take it. |
The Mexican man helped the author because he tended to think that ___________.
| A．it was completely wrong for others to pass by quietly |
| B．it was quite easy to help the author mend the jeep |
| C．it was possible that everyone might get into trouble |
| D．the author was a polite stranger and deserved the help |
Which of the following is TRUE about the author?
| A．He hated those who didn’t offer help. |
| B．He would send a present to the family soon. |
| C．He wondered why they didn’t take the money. |
| D．He considered helping others as saving money in the bank. |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．The Mexican family lived a richer life than the author. |
| B．The Mexican family did seasonal work in Oregon each year. |
| C．The author was inspired to help others by the Mexican family. |
| D．What made the writer moved was the tamale given by the girl. |