Outdoor air pollution leads to more than 3 million premature deaths each year, and more than two thirds of them occur in China and India, according to new research. The authors estimate that without government intervention, the total number of deaths could double by 2050.
The study, published in the journal Nature, identifies particulate matter(悬浮微粒) as the prime pollutant leading to premature mortality. Particulate matter, a substance formed as a combination of different materials released into the air, is thought to be harmful to human health once it exceeds 2.5 micrometers in diameter. Researchers also identified ozone as a contributor to dangerous air quality.
The causes of air pollution vary dramatically from place to place. In India and China, the study says, emissions from residential heating and cooking drive air pollution by creating unhealthy quantities of smoke. Overall, residential heating emissions cause one third of air pollution-related deaths worldwide.
In highly regulated areas, like the United States, Europe and Japan, emissions from agriculture tend to be primary contributors to air pollution. Fertilizer used in agriculture releases ammonia into the atmosphere, a process that creates harmful particulate matter. Globally, air pollution from agriculture kills more than 600,000 people annually, the study finds.
The findings are consistent with a 2014 report from the World Health Organization that suggested that 7 million deaths occur annually due to both indoor and outdoor air pollution.
The study’s conclusions give a sense of urgency to efforts to reduce air pollution but present challenges because of difficulty regulating heating activity in people’s homes, according to study author Jos Lelieveld. People who live in the most affected areas should be provided with information about less toxic heating methods, he said.
“It’s important to reduce emissions from residential energy use,” Lelieveld said on a conference call for journalists. “You can’t ask people to stop eating and cooking, but you can provide better technologies.”
Air pollution contributes to a variety of ailments that eventually lead to premature mortality like lung cancer, stroke and heart failure, according to the study. Another study published this week in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives reached similar conclusions showing the devastating (毁灭性的) effects of pollution on individual health. Researchers found that chronic exposure to particulate matter increases the chance of early death by 3%. That risk is especially high for heart disease; the chance a person will die of heart disease increases by around 10% with chronic exposure to particulate matter.
Researchers found that the number of deaths is expected to double by 2050 without new government policies. Nearly all of the increase will occur in Asia, according to the report.
Which of the following contributes to the air pollution?
A. Particulate matter. B. Ozone.
C. Smoke D. Both A and B.
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．Residential heating emissions cause two thirds of air pollution-related deaths worldwide. |
| B．7 million deaths occur annually due to air pollution. |
| C．Air pollution from agriculture kills more than 600,000 people annually. |
| D．The causes of air pollution vary dramatically from place to place. |
What might air pollution lead to?
| A．Lung cancer. | B．Stroke. |
| C．Heart failure. | D．All above. |
What can be inferred from the article?
| A．Residential energy use should be stopped. |
| B．Chronic exposure to particulate matter increases the chance of early death by 3%. |
| C．The number of deaths is expected to double by 2050 due to air pollution. |
| D．It is urgent for the government to take action. |
Do American children still learn handwriting in school? In the age of the keyboard, some people seem to think handwriting lessons are on the way out. 90% of teachers say they are required to teach handwriting.But studies have yet to answer the question of how well they are teaching it. One study published this year found that about three out of every four teachers say they are not prepared to teach handwriting. Some teachers are teaching handwriting by providing instruction for 10 15 minutes a day, and then other teachers who basically teach it for 60 to 70 minutes a day — which really for handwriting is pretty much.
Many adults remember learning that way — by copying letters over and over again. Today’ s thinking is that short periods of practice are better. Many experts also think handwriting should not be taught by itself.Instead, they say it should be used as a way to get students to express ideas. After all, that is why we write.
Handwriting involves two skills. One is legibility,_which means forming the letters so they can be read. The other is fluency — writing without having to think about it. Fluency continues to develop up until high school.
But not everyone masters these skills. Teachers commonly report that about onefourth of their kids have poor handwriting. Some people might think handwriting is not important any more because of computers and voice recognition programs.
But Steve Graham at Vanderbilt says word processing is rarely done in elementary school, especially in the early years. American children traditionally first learn to print, and then to write in cursive, which connects the letters. But guess what we learned from a spokeswoman for the College Board, which administers the SAT college admission test. More than 75 percent of students choose to print their essay on the test rather than write in cursive.We can learn ________ from Paragraph 1.
| A．teaching handwriting is a basic requirement in teaching job |
| B．most teachers prefer to teach handwriting |
| C．teachers spend little time in teaching handwriting |
| D．a keyboard has taken the place of the handwriting entirely |
Which of the following is WRONG for traditional handwriting in the USA?
| A．The students are taught by practicing a long period. |
| B．The letters are repeated many times. |
| C．Handwriting includes two skills. |
| D．To write in cursive is taught first. |
The underlined word “legibility” in Paragraph 3 means ________.
| A．easy to read | B．complex | C．unexpected | D．unreadable |
The best title for the passage is ________.
| A．How to improve handwriting in school |
| B．Right or wrong: the death of handwriting |
| C．Handwriting involves two skills |
| D．Handwriting lessons are on the way out |
The author’ s attitude towards whether still to learn handwriting in school is________.
| A．negative | B．objective | C．critical | D．optimistic |
Can you believe your eyes? A recent experiment suggests that the answer to that question may depend on your age.
Martin Doherty, a psychologist at the University of Stirling in Scotland, led the team of scientists. In this experiment, Doherty and his team tested the perception(观察力) of some people, using pictures of some orange circles. The researchers showed the same pictures to two groups of people. The first group included 151 children aged 4 to 10, and the second group included 24 adults aged 18 to 25.
The first group of pictures showed two circles alone on a white background. One of the circles was larger than the other, and these people were asked to identify the larger one. Four-year-olds identified the correct circle 79 percent of the time. Adults identified the correct circle 95 percent of the time.
Next, both groups were shown a picture where the orange circles, again of different sizes, were surrounded by gray circles. Here’s where the trick lies in. In some of the pictures, the smaller orange circle was surrounded by even smaller gray circles — making the orange circle appear larger than the other orange circle, which was the real larger one. And the larger orange circle was surrounded by even bigger gray circles — so it appeared to be smaller than the real smaller orange circle.
When young children aged 4 to 6 looked at these tricky pictures, they weren’t fooled—they were still able to find the bigger circle with roughly the same accuracy as before. Older children and adults, on the other hand, did not do as well. Older children often identified the smaller circle as the larger one, and adults got it wrong most of the time.
As children get older, Doherty said, their brains may develop the ability to identify visual context. In other words, they will begin to process the whole picture at once: the tricky gray circles, as well as the orange circle in the middle. As a result, they’re more likely to fall for this kind of visual trick.Doherty and his team of scientists did an experiment to evaluate .
| A．children’s and adults’ eye-sight |
| B．people’s ability to see accurately |
| C．children’s and adults’ brains |
| D．the influence of people’s age |
When asked to find the larger circle，________.
| A．children at 6 got it wrong 79 % of the time with no gray ones around |
| B．only adults over 18 got it right 95% of the time with gray ones around |
| C．children at 4 got it right about 79 % of the time with gray ones around |
| D．adults got it right most of the time with gray ones around |
According to the passage, we can know that________.
| A．a smaller orange circle appears bigger on a white background |
| B．an orange circle appears bigger than a gray one of the same size |
| C．a circle surrounded by other circles looks bigger than its real size |
| D．a circle surrounded by bigger ones looks smaller than its real size |
Visual context may work when children get older than________.
| A．4 | B．6 | C．10 | D．18 |
Why are younger children not fooled?
| A．Because they are smarter than older children and adults. |
| B．Because older people are influenced by their experience. |
| C．Because people’s eyes become weaker as they grow older. |
| D．Because their brain can hardly notice related things together. |
Can you imagine traveling to work in a one – man submarine? Some scientists believe that some day one – man submarines will be as many as automobiles are today．A famous French driver says, “One day soon, men will walk on the ocean floor as they do on the street!” Perhaps during your lifetime people will travel, and live in the sea．
If human beings want to live in the ocean, many human problems will need to be studied first.
Some of these problems, similar to those of living in outer space, are pressure, lack of oxygen and weightlessness. Many questions are still unanswered．For example, can our blood make itself fit for underwater surroundings? What will happen to our muscle if we live in the water very long? Scientists are looking for answers．
Perhaps in the future man will live in the sea, away from the crowded and noisy cities on land．Then sea has plenty of space, not only for floating living buildings and parks, but also for storing supplies and for underwater travel．
Some scientists believe that ocean living will benefit man in more than physical ways. In the freedom and beauty of the deep sea, man may find new sources of joy．What can we do if we live in the ocean? ()
| A．We can have plenty of oxygen． |
| B．We can be fit to live in the water very well． |
| C．We needn’t worry about things like weightlessness． |
| D．We can travel and work in the sea． |
Why do some people hope to leave cities to live in the sea? Because_____． ()
| A．people think they can live crowdedly in the sea |
| B．people wish to go the quiet seafloor to travel for several days |
| C．people want to break away from the crowded and noisy cities where they live now |
| D．only in this way can people get rid of noise pollution |
In what ways could ocean living be helpful for man? ( )
| A．People can swim freely as much as possible． |
| B．People can be interested in the new pleasure there isn’t anywhere else． |
| C．The sea can supply people with enough foods and other things, so people needn’t work． |
| D．People can go boating and go to the park as often as possible． |
Which of the following is the similar problem as that of living in outer space? ( )
| A．We are short of oxygen． |
| B．We are not familiar with the underwater surrounding． |
| C．We may die of weightlessness． |
| D．We can finds new joys． |
Which of the following statements is true according to the passage? ( )
| A．The scientists have not solved the problem of weightlessness underwater． |
| B．The scientists have solved the problem of weightlessness when man live in space． |
| C．Some scientists believe that ocean living will benefit man in no more than physical ways． |
| D．Sea has plenty of space only for floating living buildings and parks． |
English is the most widely used language in the history of our planet. One in every seven human beings can speak it. More than half of the world’s books and three quarters of international mail are in English. Of all languages, English has the largest vocabulary—perhaps as many as two million words.
However, let’s face it: English is a crazy language. There is no eggs in an eggplant, neither pine nor apple in a pineapple and no ham in a hamburger. Sweet-meats are candy, while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.
We take English for granted. But when we explore its paradoxes ( 探讨它的矛盾)， we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, public bathrooms have no baths in them.
And why is it that a writer writes, but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce, and hammers don’t ham? If the plural(复数形式) of tooth is teeth, shouldn’t the plural of booth be teeth? One goose, two geese—so one moose, two meese?
How can a slim chance and a flat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell the next?
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects( 反映) the creativity of human beings. That’ why, when stars are invisible. And why , when I wind up my watch, I start it; but when I wind up this essay, I end it.According to the passage ______.
| A．sweet-meats and sweetbreads are different things |
| B．there should be an egg in an eggplant |
| C．pineapples are the apples on the pine tree |
| D．boxing rings should be round |
Which of the following is the correct plural?
| A．Beeth | B．Greese | C．Meese | D．Tooth |
Which of the following includes two items which have the similar meaning?
| A．A wise man and a wise guy | B．Overlook and oversee |
| C．Quite a lot and quite a few. | D．Hot as hell and cold as hell. |
The underlined words “wind up” in the last paragraph probably mean “___”.
| A．blow | B．roll up | C．get hurt | D．finish |
Through the many paradoxes in the English language, the writer wants to show that human beings are _______.
| A．clever | B．crazy | C．lazy | D．dull |
There is no doubt that music plays a powerful role in our lives. It can calm our tired nerves after a busy day of work. Music even has the power to move us to tears when it stirs(激起) an emotional reaction. How then, does music play a role in special education?
If music has the ability to touch those hidden places we all carry inside, it proves an important tool for the special education teacher. For students with emotional problems, music can help soothe(抚慰) sadness. Consider the child that arrives in class depressed and upset. If music can indeed relax and calm him, he is more likely to focus and participate in class.
Dr. R. Joseph, author of Behavioral Neurology, writes, “It is well recorded that patients with left hemisphere(大脑半球) damage, who may be unable to speak or recognize words, can sing a melody(曲调).”
For this reason, some special education teachers have found it helpful to set their lessons to music. When students cannot understand or remember certain things, singing them helps make it easier.
Nature magazine reported “Music training helps underachievers. In Rhode Island, researchers studied eight public school first grade classes. Half of the classes became ‘text-arts’groups, receiving ongoing music training. After seven months, the students were given a test. The tested group had caught up with their fellow students in reading and surpassed(超过) their classmates in math by 22 percent. In the second year of the project, the tested students widened this even further. Students were also tested on attitude and behavior. Classroom teachers also noted improvement in these areas.”
It seems music does, indeed, play an important role in education. For the special education teacher, this is especially encouraging.The first paragraph is mainly about _______.
| A．the role of music in education |
| B．the importance of music in life |
| C．the relationship between music and work results |
| D．the relationship between music and behavior |
For students with emotional problems, music might be _______.
| A．a toy | B．a punishment | C．a medicine | D．a puzzle |
According to Dr. R. Joseph, people with left hemisphere damage _______.
| A．are unable to recognize people |
| B．can produce some musical sounds |
| C．can become special education teachers |
| D．might suffer right hemisphere damage too |
The tested students mentioned in the fifth paragraph _______.
| A．behaved badly after the study |
| B．Didn’t show any difference after the study |
| C．had done well in their reading and math before |
| D．received certain music education during the study |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．The meaning of special education. |
| B．The history of music education. |
| C．The problem in music education. |
| D．The role of music in special education |