BicycleTour(旅行)andRace(比赛)Abik-优题课

ARE you creative, shy, outgoing? Our personalities reveal a lot about who we are. But what’s surprising is that our personality can also say something about our health. That’s according to researchers at Duke University, US.
During an experiment on 1,000 people, scientists assessed (评定) their personalities in two ways: by asking someone they knew, such as a family member or friend; then by asking someone they had just met, such as a nurse. The study found that those who were careful at age 26 were in better health after 12 years.
Being careful means that people tend to have a lot of self-control, and are less likely to smoke, the scientists said. Careful people are also more likely to have an active lifestyle and healthy diet.
From those who were least careful, 45 percent developed health problems by the age of 38. Such health issues included gum disease and high blood pressure (高血压). To compare, only 18 percent of careful people went on to develop health problems.
Another positive personality was called “openness to experience”, meaning curious and imaginative. People who have more of this personality have higher IQ scores. So they’d be more likely to know how to find medical help to prevent disease.
According to the report, if doctors assessed our personalities, it could help doctors to find which young adults need advice on how to live a healthy lifestyle. What’s surprising is that stress didn’t play a big part on a person’s health. Even though stress and anxiety (焦虑) are usually linked to bad health.
But can a doctor who knows our personality really improve our health? Or should doctors be kept away from knowing something so personal?
Which personality type may be better for our health, according to the research?

A．self-controlled.	B．Stressed.
C．Shy.	D．Careless.

From the passage, we learn that careful people ____.

A．are too shy to talk to strangers

B．love to ask the doctor for advice

C．are likely to have a healthy lifestyle

D．may have high blood pressure when they’re older

Where can you probably read the article?

A．Newspaper.	B．Science fiction book.
C．Research paper.	D．Travel guide.

What is the main idea of the article?

A．People can change their personality type.

B．Scientists have found two different personality types.

C．Personalities have something to do with our lifestyle.

D．Personalities say something about our health.

“AN Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue (队伍) of one,” wrote famous British author George Mikes. While this sounds funny, it’s a popular English stereotype (刻板印象). From the supermarket to the subway, queues are a common sight on the streets of Britain.
Here in China, queues are normal, too. It is a part of everyday life. People queue most of the time, from buying tickets in the cinema to waiting for seats at a restaurant.
But in certain situations, you’ll find yourself in the middle of a rushing crowd, such as getting onto the subway. Even away from the busy subway platform (站台), queues are different. One day I was standing in line at the supermarket.
I left a small space in front of me. Within seconds, a girl walked by and took her place in that small space.
I was surprised at first, but later I found these experiences very interesting. It is with these small, everyday differences that I get to live and learn within a new culture.
Back in Britain, the average person spends six months of their life waiting in a queue, according to the auction site MadBid. To pass the time, maybe they tell themselves the famous proverb: good things come to those who wait.
The English are well known for _____.

A．forming an orderly queue

B．being rude and loud

C．traveling on subways

D．spending more time waiting in a queue

The purpose of the article is to _____.

A．call on people in China to queue more

B．compare queuing in two cultures

C．praise the English for following good manners

D．explain why people rush in some situations

In which part of a newspaper would you most probably read this article?

A．Sports.

B．News.

C．Culture.

D．Business.

MANY 15-year-olds don’t know what they want to be when they grow up. Abby Harris knows she wants to become an astronaut and isn’t letting anything stop her.
According to Harris’ Internet blog, Astronaut Abby, she has wanted to be the first astronaut to walk on Mars since she was 5 years old.
Harris wrote that at the beginning, most people didn’t take her dream seriously. But she stuck with (坚持) it.
“I made plans, I worked hard and I focused on (集中于) my goal. As I got older and continued to stay focused on science, people in my life began to notice and encouraged me to dream big,” she wrote.
In the 7th grade, Harris was doing a project on the International Space Station. She set up a Twitter account to get in touch with NASA. But soon she found that it was a great place for her to write about her dreams and talk with others who are interested in space. Her friends on Twitter then helped her create her website and blog, Astronaut Abby.
What’s more, Harris has a real astronaut as her mentor. Several years ago, Harris ran into Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano at an airport. They talked for an hour and Parmitano agreed to become her mentor. Now Parmitano is in the International Space Station. Harris e-mails him every day to learn about his experiences.
It’s not easy to become an astronaut, but Harris is confident about herself.
“If you work really hard at something, it can happen. And it will happen,” she said.
What’s the meaning of the word “mentor” (in paragraph 6) ?

A．朋友

B．导师

C．徒弟

D．助手

Abby Harris set up a Twitter account in order to _______.

A．learn more about space	B．make more friends online
C．tell others about her dream	D．introduce her website and blog

Where did Harris meet Luca Parmitano?

A．In Italy.	B．On the street.
C．At an airport.	D．In the International Space Station.

Millions of British people have ditched the traditional “thank you” and took the place of it with the less formal “cheers”, according to a survey.
Although the common person will say “thank you” nearly 5,000 times a year, one in three are more likely to add a “cheers” or “ta” where it’s needed to show they are fashionable.
One in twenty now say “nice one” instead, while the younger are more likely to offer a “cool” than a “thank you”.
“Merci”, “fab” and even “gracias” were also listed as common phrases to use, as “much appreciated(感激)”.
One in twenty who took part in the survey of 2,000 people by the Food Network UK for Thank You Day, which is marked on November 24, 2011, said a formal “thank you” was now not often needed in everyday conversation. More than one in ten adults said they regularly won’t say thank you if they are in a bad mood. Most people stated that saying thank you was something that their parents trained them. A huge 70 percent of those questioned will say thank you to a person’s face without even meaning it, while one fifth avoid(避免)saying it when they know they should.
It seems our friends and family get the stress of our bad manners. Half of them admit (承认) they’re not good at thanking those closest to them. Many of them explain that they don’t say thank you because their family “already know I’m grateful”.
When spoken words won’t do, it falls to a nice text to do the job for most people.
One third will still send a handwritten thank-you note---but 45 percent admit it’s been more than six months since they tried to send one.
A quarter of British people say “thank you” with food, with 23 percent cooking a meal to show their appreciation to someone. Another 15 percent bake a cake.
It follows that 85 percent of people will be angry because of not getting the gratitude (感激)
they feel they should receive.
Most of the people who took part in the survey say that they say “thank you” _______.

A．when they are in good mood	B．completely out of habit
C．when they feel truly grateful	D．purely out of politeness

The underlined word “ditched” in Paragraph 1 means “________”.

A．gave up

B．used

C．shared

D．knew

It can be learned from the passage that _______.

A．different ways of expressing gratitude are all fashionable

B．people should avoid saying “thank you” nowadays

C．a thank-you note is still appreciated by most people

D．people in a bad mood never say “thank you”

Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Most people express their gratitude to others by buying food for them.

B．About fifty percent of people try not to say thank you when they should.

C．Most people may feel natural when they fail to receive others’ gratitude.

D．Many people think it unnecessary to say thanks to their family members.

It seems that there’s a good reason why dogs are always seen as man’s best friend. Scientists have found that dogs are the only animals that can read emotion(情感)in faces much like humans. The finding suggests that like an understanding friend, dogs can see if we are happy, sad, pleased or angry.
When humans look at a new face, their eyes usually look across the left, falling on the right hand side of the person’s face first. A possible reason for this is that the right side of the human face is better at expressing emotions.
Scientists have now shown that pet dogs also have “left gaze bias(左视偏好)”, but only when looking at human faces. No other animal has been known to do like this before. Dr. Kun Guo showed 17 dogs pictures of human, dog and monkey faces as well as something else with his team. The dogs’ eyes and heads show a strong left gaze bias when the animals see human faces. But this did not happen when they were shown other pictures, including those of dogs.
Guo suggests that over thousands of years living with humans, dogs may have developed the left gaze bias as a way to guess our emotions.
“Recent studies show that the right side of our faces can express emotions better than the left. If true, then it makes sense for dogs and humans to see the right hand side of a face first.”
Why are dogs seen as man’s best friend according to the passage?

A．Because dogs are the closest animals to humans.

B．Because dogs can read the emotions in humans’ faces easily.

C．Because dogs can understand us better when we feel sad.

D．Because dogs are good at expressing emotions.

The dogs’ left gaze bias helps them _______.

A．get along well with humans	B．express emotions quickly
C．have more understanding friends	D．remember more new faces

The passage mainly wants to tell us that _______.

A．dogs have been man’s best friends for thousands of years

B．humans have a “left gaze bias”

C．the “left gaze bias” works on all animals

D．dogs can read emotions the same as humans

A．35 kilometers	B．55 kilometers
C．90 kilometers	D．110 kilometers