Mary Allen was my best friend-like the sister I ever had. We did everything together: piano lessons, movies, swimming, and horseback riding.
When I was 13, my family moved away. Mary and I kept in touch through letters and we saw each other on special occasions(场合)- like my wedding and Mary’s. Soon we were busy with children and moving to new homes, and we wrote less often. One day a card that I sent came back stamped "Address Unknown ".
Over the years, I thought of Mary often. I wanted to share stories of my children and then grandchildren. And I needed to share my sadness when my brother and then mother died. There was an empty place in my heart that only a friend like Mary could fill.
One day I was reading the newspaper when I noticed a photo of a young woman who looked a lot like Mary and whose last name was Wagman--Mary’s married name. "There must be thousands of Wagman. "I thought, but I wrote to her anyway.
She called as soon as she got my letter. "Mrs Tobin!" she said excitedly. "Mary Allen Wagman” is my mother. Minutes later I heard a voice recognized immediately,even after 40 years. We laughed and cried and caught up on each other’s lives.
Now the empty place in my heart is filled. And there’s one thing that Mary and I know for sure: We don’t lose each other again.
I want to find Mary ______________ .
| A．to share my stories | B．to share my sorrow |
| C．to fill the empty in my heart | D．all of the above |
Which of the following is TRUE?
| A．We never see each other again when I moved away when I was 13. |
| B．I find my friend in the newspaper |
| C．It is 40 years since we last saw each other |
| D．My friend’s husband is Mr Tobin |
The best title of the passage is ________
| A．My Good Friend | B．Friend Like the brother |
| C．An Important Friend | D．Friends Again- Forever |
LONDON (AP) — England joins on Sunday the growing list of places that ban smoking in public buildings, taxis and other places including even Buckingham Palace with a tough law.
Pubs, clubs and restaurants will all be smoke-free. Taxi and delivery drivers have been warned that they too could be fined 50 pounds, or about $100, if caught lighting up inside work vehicles.
Experts say the bans have become an irreversible (不可逆转的) tread because of greatly rising health costs and public uneasiness over second-hand smoke. Some of the strictest smoking bans are in the United States, even though there is no federal anti-smoking policy. New York and Florida have strict bans, while California has certain outdoor smoking bans.
Spain, Italy, Iran, Norway, Sweden, Singapore, South Africa, Uruguay and new Zealand have passed legislation(立法) to restrict smoking. France banned smoking in many public places in February and plans to extend the ban to cafes and restaurants next year. Finland is introducing a ban in 2009.
Despite the spread of bans, the World Health Organization predicts a steady rise in tobacco sales. In its Tobacco Atlas, the WHO said that by 2030 there will be “at least another two billion smokers in the world” and an expected decrease in male smokers “will be offset by an increase in female smoking rates, especially in developing countries.”
In advance of the English ban, anti-smoking ads have coated bus stops and the British government has subsidized(资助) programs to help people quit. The rest of Britain—Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland —already have smoking bans in place.The first two paragraphs mainly tell us_______
| A．Buckingham Palace bans smoking |
| B．smoking ban comes into force in England |
| C．there’s no smoking in Buckingham Palace |
| D．smoking is against the law in England |
Which of the following places may still be smoking areas in England?
| A．Private houses | B．Taxis. |
| C．Restaurants. | D．London clubs |
The underlined word “offset” in paragraph 5 probably means “________”.
| A．decreased | B．raised | C．encouraged | D．balanced |
What do we know from the passage?
| A．Smoking has strictly been forbidden in cafes in France. |
| B．There is an extremely strict smoking ban everywhere in America. |
| C．Smoking situation is still serious across the world. |
| D．Related ads didn’t appear in England until the English ban was lifted.（解除） |
Do your children always sit still and watch TV? If so, you should be very alert!
Nowadays, children watch television for long hours. They often spend evenings watching their favorite programs on TV. Sometimes they might stay up late to watch TV. Their addiction to television results in their not having time to play or do exercise. They should go outside with friends or spend time reading books. Moreover, watching television too much is harmful to their eyesight.
Researchers claim that attention deficit disorders in children are a result of watching too much television. They say that watching television leads to a developmental disorder in the part of the brain which is responsible for language skills. Children who watch television more and read less have greater difficulty paying attention and concentrating. Children that spend long hours watching television are more likely to be affected by attention deficit disorders.
Television is one form of media which is used to show all kinds of products. Watching too much television can lead to early exposure to a wide variety of things. Television advertisements may cause children to behave incorrectly or damage themselves. Advertisements about fast food, cold drinks or other such products that are not good for children’s health can have a bad effect on them. Some TV shows and films also affect how children think and behave.
Studies in psychology have shown that certain programs can have a long-lasting effect on children’s minds. Horror scenes and other frightening shows can have a negative effect on the minds of children watching them.
Television is a means of recreation but watching it too often is harmful to children’s physical and mental health. You need to help you children deep a balance of everything in life.The underlined word “deficit ” in the third paragraph most probably means _____.
| A．need | B．habit | C．fear | D．lack |
It’s implied in the last paragraph that you should ______.
| A．decide on when children can watch television |
| B．give children more time to play |
| C．help you children balance everyday life |
| D．stop you children from watching TV |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．The bad effects watching TV has on children. |
| B．How many hours children should spend watching TV. |
| C．How advertisements affect children’s behavior. |
| D．What scenes children should not watch on TV. |
Which of the following are the effects of watching too much TV according to the passage?
a. causing children to have less time to read good books.
b. making children behave improperly
c. harming children’s eyesight
d. affecting the parent-child relationship
| A．a, b, d | B．b, c, d | C．a, b, c | D．a, c, d |
It's not just adults who have a thing or two to discuss with other people, babies too have their own social lives and enjoy group interaction, according to a world-first study.
The breakthrough study conducted by psychologist Professor Ben Bradley, at Charles Sturt University, could completely transform the way child-care centers are set up. In their study, the researchers examined groups of nine-month-old babies in new South Wales and Britain.
And they came across astonishing results—it was found that infants had “social brains” and focused not just on their mothers but on social 1ife in groups as well,
“They communicate with more than one baby at once，and show jealousy and generousness，”said Professor Bradley．
He added，“They develop their own meanings through group interaction，they notice if a group member is behaving differently and they take on roles，such as leaders and followers．”
“A baby who has a depressed mother tends to be withdrawn(内向的)，but put that same baby in a group of its peers(同龄人)and they behave and interact like any other baby．”
It was the first all-baby group study ever to be conducted．“Most studies of babies concentrate on the infant-mother relationship，assuming that is the single foundation for mental health．but babies are constantly involved with groups of people other than their mothers：fathers，siblings，grandparents and those taking care．Therefore。the ‘mother-baby approach’ needs to be combined with a‘ group approach’．”said Bradley．
Phoebe Christison ，a child-care worker at Camperdown Sunshine Bubs in Sydney’s inner west．said she often noticed what appeared．to be emotional attachments developed between toddlers．
She said，“Joel(10 months)and Isabella (11months)always like to hold hands when they sit in their high chairs and eat．And babies definitely show jealousy．They push and touch each other，and copy what the other is doing．”A baby who has a depressed mother ____．
| A．tends to be a follower |
| B．also enjoys group interaction |
| C．has poor social ability |
| D．pays more attention to its mother |
What can be inferred from the result of this study?
| A．Babies are affected by groups more than by their mothers． |
| B．There’s no need of child-care centers at a11． |
| C． Adults should include babies when having social activities． |
| D．The normal infant-mother bond alone isn’t enough for the good mental health for babies． |
The underlined word “toddlers” in Para．8 can be replaced by_________
| A．adults | B．infants | C．peers | D．groups |
The example given in the last paragraph proves that a baby________ .
| A．is born to be friendly to other babies |
| B．has interest in peers as well as in its mother |
| C．may have emotional attachments to another baby |
| D．shows jealousy and generousness as an adult |
You never see them, but they're with you every time you fly. They record where you are going, how fast you're traveling and whether everything on your airplane is functioning normally. Their ability to withstand almost any disaster makes them seem like something out of a comic book. They're known as the black box.
When planes fall from the sky, as a Yemeni airliner did on its way to Comoros Islands in the India ocean June 30, 2009, the black box is the best bet for identifying what went wrong. So when a French submarine (潜水艇) detected the device's homing signal five days later, the discovery marked a huge step toward determining the cause of a tragedy in which 152 passengers were killed.
In 1958, Australian scientist David Warren developed a flight-memory recorder that would track basic information like altitude and direction. That was the first mode for a black box, which became a requirement on all U.S. commercial flights by 1960. Early models often failed to withstand crashes, however, so in 1965 the device was completely redesigned and moved to the rear of the plane – the area least subject to（易遭受）impact – from its original position in the landing wells (起落架舱). The same year, the Federal Aviation Authority required that the boxes, which were never actually black, be painted orange or yellow to aid visibility.
Modern airplanes have two black boxes: a voice recorder, which tracks pilots' conversations, and a flight-data recorder, which monitors fuel levels, engine noises and other operating functions that help investigators reconstruct the aircraft's final moments. Placed in an insulated (隔绝的) case and surrounded by a quarter-inch-thick panels of stainless steel, the boxes can withstand massive force and temperatures up to 2,000℉. When submerged, they're also able to emit signals from depths of 20,000 ft.
Experts believe the boxes from Air France Flight 447, which crashed near Brazil on June 1, 2009, are in water nearly that deep, but statistics say they're still likely to turn up. In the approximately 20 deep-sea crashes over the past 30 years, only one plane's black boxes were never recovered.What information could be found from the black box on the Yemeni airliner?
| A．Data for analyzing the cause of the crash. |
| B．The total number of passengers on board. |
| C．The scene of the crash and extent of the damage. |
| D．Homing signals sent by the pilot before the crash. |
Why was the black box redesigned in 1965?
| A．New materials became available by that time. |
| B．Too much space was needed for its installation. |
| C．The early models often got damaged in the crash. |
| D．The early models didn't provide the needed data. |
Why did the Federal Aviation Authority require the black boxes be painted orange or yellow?
| A．To distinguish them from the colour of the plane. |
| B．To caution people to handle them with care. |
| C．To make them easily identifiable. |
| D．To obey international standards |
What do we know about the black boxes from Air France Flight 447?
| A．There is still a good chance of their being recovered. |
| B．There is an urgent need for them to be reconstructed. |
| C．They have stopped sending homing signals. |
| D．They were destroyed somewhere near Brazil. |
How the Iron of Tomorrow Can Change Your Lifestyle Today.
(the first Self Cleaning Iron)
General Electric introduces the iron of tomorrow. The iron can clean itself inside where an iron gets dirty. Because it cleans itself each time you empty it. How? With a push of a magic blue button.
◆The magic blue button
The first thing you’ll notice that’s different about this iron is the blue button on the side. It’s marked "Self Clean". Push this blue button, and you can wash out loose mineral deposits(沉淀物) that remain and block up inside. Push this button, and you’ve made life a lot easier.
◆Less chance of brown spots
Sure, Self Cleaning Iron is going to cut down on brown spots. (Those ugly spots that happen on nice, cleanly pressed clothes.) Because a Self Cleaning Iron becomes clean each time you press that magic blue button.
◆Steams better longer
Common sense tells you that if you’ve an iron that blocks less often it has to stay younger for a long period of time. In other words, it steams better longer. That’s another joy of owning General Electric’s Self Cleaning Iron.
◆What does it mean to you
Today you are doing so much more than just running a house and running after the kids. You’re working. You’re going to school. It’s all part of your lifestyle. The iron can change that lifestyle by giving you less trouble before you iron. If we can make it easier for you to be a better wife, a better mother, a better housekeeper, we want to. The new Self Cleaning Iron is another one of Home-Makers from General Electric.
Lifestyle .We are with yours. General Electric.This passage is ________.
| A．an introduction to General Electric |
| B．an operating instruction of Self Cleaning Iron |
| C．an advertisement of Self Cleaning Iron |
| D．a description of the change of lifestyle |
This iron can clean itself by ________.
| A．emptying itself | B．washing out mineral deposits |
| C．blocking up mineral deposits | D．giving off more steam |
According to the passage, what is most likely to attract the customers?
| A．It is made by General Electric. |
| B．The iron will not produce mineral deposits. |
| C．There will be fewer brown spots on pressed clothes. |
| D．Their clothes will be cleaned at the same time. |
Self Cleaning Iron can help change your lifestyle because________.
| A．you can run your house better |
| B．you don’t have to run after the kids |
| C．you can use it while you are working |
| D．we want you to be a better housekeeper |