There are classes for the mothers of babies， but there's no helping with your mum and dad growing old．
Old people's wards are hell for old people． Geriatric wards are bedlam and bonkers． A toothless woman screaming when left alone， a cry that reaches the high hospital ceiling． A woman effing and blinding ﹣ the polite curtain will not protect her from the indignity of a happy change． A woman who lives the same moment in repeat， dressed up for going home in a bright red， over the dressing grown， asking for the key to her house， saying over and over： "Am I going home today？"
And though my mum， by the time she was released， knew that her life was charmed compared with the lives of the world's refugees． It seems to me as if the plight （困境） of old people， while not as horrible as the plight of refugees， shares some of the horror． Just as we live in a society that hasn't caught up with technology， the kind of moral choices it gives people， we also live in a world that hasn't kept up with its ageing population． We have the advances in medical science and technology that have kept people alive longer， but not the advances in how to treat our ageing population． Society is lagging behind the old， failing and falling．
There are certain small but piercing similarities between the treatment of the old and the treatment of refugees． The old are often displaced from their homes， moved out against their will； decisions are often made for them that they have no say over． Often， they are treated as fools or halfwits， crowded together in one place， given clothes that don't belong to them， treated as a fallen tribe， incapable of any individuality． Nobody imagined my mother was a secretary of the Scottish peace movement， a primary teacher， a lifelong socialist， a witty woman． Out of hospital， my 85﹣year﹣old mum said： "going into hospital at my age puts years on you． God save from old people's wards． You never think of yourself as old． You look across the ward and think， am I like that？"
（1）The treatment of the old is compared of that of the refugees in order to ．
| A． | prove they have a lot in common |
| B． | show the terrible status of the old |
| C． | display their similarities and differences |
| D． | indicate that old people have to leave their home |
（2）What can be inferred from the passage？
| A． | Refugees lead a better life than old male patients． |
| B． | Old people are ill﹣treated due to their loss of individuality． |
| C． | The author's mom is capable of teaching and being a socialist in the meanwhile． |
| D． | The treatment of the ageing population doesn't develop as science advances． |
（3）The author's mom felt that life in the hospital ．
| A． | made her much older． |
| B． | created her a mature woman． |
| C． | enable her to look back at life． |
| D． | let her full of gratitude to children． |
（4）The passage mainly discussed ．
| A． | the life of refugees and old people． |
| B． | social responsibility to old women． |
| C． | improper treatment of old people． |
| D． | preparing for ageing parents． |
One’s style of the dress reveals the human obsession with both novelty and tradition. People use clothing to declare their membership in a particular social group; however, the rules for what is acceptable dress for that group may change. In affluent societies, this changing of the rules is the driving force behind fashions. By keeping up with fashions, that is, by changing their clothing style frequently but meanwhile, members of a group both satisfy their desire for novelty and obey the rules, thus demonstrating their membership in the group.
There are some interesting variations (变种) regarding individual status. Some people, particularly in the West, consider themselves of such high status that they do not need to display it with their clothing. For example, many wealthy people in the entertainment industry appear in very casual clothes, such as the worn jeans and work boots of a manual laborer. However, it is likely that a subtle but important signal, such as an expensive wristwatch, will prevail over the message of the casual dress. Such an inverted (颠倒的)status display is most likely to occur where the person’s high status is conveyed in ways other than with clothing, such as having a famous face.According to the author, fashions serve all the following purposes EXCEPT
| A．satisfying an interest in novelty |
| B．signaling a change in personal beliefs |
| C．displaying membership in a social group |
| D．following traditional rules |
Why does the author discuss individual status in paragraph 2?
| A．To state that individual’s status is not important in the West |
| B．To argue that individuals need not obey every fashion rule |
| C．To contrast the status of entertainers with that of manual laborers |
| D．To explain how high status may involve an inverted status display |
What’s the meaning of the underlined word?
| A．newness | B．convention | C．nobleness | D．benzene |
Butterflies are some of the most fascinating and beautiful insects in the world. Adult butterflies will live about 2 to 4 weeks. They use their senses of sight, touch, hearing, smell, and taste to survive in the world, find food and mates, lay eggs in an appropriate place, migrate, and avoid hungry enemies.
Butterflies have large compound eyes, which allow them to see in all directions without turning their heads. Like most insects, butterflies are very nearsighted, so they are more attracted to a sea of flowers than individual plants. Butterflies do not “see” colors such as red, green, and yellow, but they can sense sunlight, which indicates the direction the sun is shining, as well as ultraviolet light, which is present on many flowers and guides butterflies to honey sources.
Butterflies have a very well-developed sense of smell, but it is not in their nose, since they don't have one. Sense receptors are located in their antennae, feet, and many other parts of the body. They can help butterflies find their favorite flower honey food, and mates.
Butterflies' feet have sense organs that can taste the sugar in flower honey, letting the butterflies know if something is good to eat or not. Some females also carefully choose host plants by tasting to find appropriate places to lay their eggs. Adult butterflies feed their babies using a long tube. Butterflies force blood into the tube to straighten it out, allowing them to feed. Butterflies get all their food from this tube.
Butterflies don't have ears. Instead they “hear” sounds through their wings by sensing changes in sound vibrations.
Butterflies may possess senses we don't even know about yet, because their body structure is very different from ours, and therefore difficult to understand, when observed through our own human senses.The text mainly focuses on ________.
| A．butterflies' living habits | B．butterflies' beauty |
| C．butterflies' senses | D．butterflies' daily activities |
What can we learn from the 2nd paragraph?
| A．Butterflies can see in all directions and don't need to turn heads. |
| B．Butterflies have good eyesight. |
| C．Butterflies are sensitive to bright colors including red and yellow. |
| D．Butterflies cannot sense the ultraviolet light. |
Why do female adult butterflies carefully choose the host plants?
| A．To find highqualified honey. |
| B．To have a good place for living. |
| C．To make it easier for them to hide from the enemies. |
| D．To find a proper place for their eggs. |
Former Irish President Mary Robinson was just making a polite conversation with an Ethiopian (埃塞俄比亚的) teenager about her wedding day. The 16yearold had already been married for a year. “She looked at me with the saddest eyes and said, ‘I had to drop out of school’，” Robinson said in a telephone interview. “That conveyed to me the reality，” said Robinson, the first woman to serve as Ireland's president and former U．N. high commissioner for human fights. “Her life, as far as she is concerned, had more or less ended.”
Robinson said keeping girls in school was one of the most important things policymakers could do to address the coming challenges of an ever-increasing population, predicted by the United Nations to reach 7 billion soon. “European countries are concerned about aging populations as is Japan, but this is much less of an issue than the huge number of people which we are going to see over the next 40 years when the population goes from 7 billion to 9 billion，” she said. “Almost all of that increase will be in poor developing countries, so that we have a very big challenge.”
Family planning experts worry in particular about the future population explosion in subSaharan Africa. In May, the United Nations projected the world population would reach 9.3billion in 2050 and 10.1 billion by 2100. Much of that growth will come from Africa, where the population is growing at 2.3 percent a year—more than double Asia's 1 percent growth rate. If that rate stays consistent, which is not certain, Africa's population will reach 3.6 billion by 2100 from the present 1 billion.
Joel Cohen, a professor of population studies at Rockefeller University and Columbia University in New York, said universal secondary education offered a way to reduce population in high birthrate regions. In addition to providing information about birth control, a secondary education teaches women to reduce their own fertility (生育力), improve the health of their children and allows them to move from a mindset of having many children, in the hopes that some will survive to improving the quality of each child's life, Cohen wrote in the journal Nature.In the first paragraph, the author introduces his topic by ________.
| A．explaining the author's opinions |
| B．giving an example |
| C．describing the poor education system |
| D．coming straight to the topic |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．Robinson is happy after talking to the Ethiopian girl. |
| B．Robinson is a successful expert in population studies. |
| C．Robinson is worried about population growth. |
| D．Robinson encourages female education. |
What is Joel Cohen's view about secondary education?
| A．It provides basic knowledge of health. |
| B．It improves the health of children. |
| C．It makes people pay more attention to education. |
| D．It can change people's parenting ideas. |
According to Robinson, what is one of the most important things policymakers can do to prevent the population from increasing rapidly?
| A．Keeping girls in school. |
| B．Letting girls go away from Africa. |
| C．Letting young girls remain single. |
| D．Keeping girls in families. |
For generations here in the deepest South, there had been a great taboo（禁忌）: publicly crossing the color line for love. Less than 45 years ago, marriage between blacks and whites was illegal, and it has been forbidden for much of the time since.
So when a great job about an hour’s drive north of the Gulf Coast attracted him, Jeffrey Norwood, a black college basketball coach, had reservations. He was in a serious relationship with a woman who was white and Asian.
“You’re thinking about a life in South Mississippi?” his father said in a skeptical voice, recalling days when a black man could face mortal（致命的） danger just being seen with a woman of another race, regardless of intentions. "Are you sure?"
But on visits to Hattiesburg, the younger Mr. Norwood said he liked what he saw: growing diversity. So he moved, married, and, with his wife, had a baby girl, who was counted on the last census（人口普查） as black, white and Asian. Taylor Rae Norwood, three, is one of thousands of mixed-race children who have made this state home to one of the nation's most rapidly expanding multiracial populations, up 70 percent between 2000 and 2010, according to new data from the Census Bureau.
In the first comprehensive accounting of multiracial Americans since statistics were first collected about them in 2000, reporting from the 2010 census, made public in recent days, shows that the nation’s mixed-race population is growing far more quickly than many researchers had estimated, particularly in the South and parts of the Midwest. That conclusion is based on the bureau’s analysis of 42 states; the data from the remaining eight states will be released soon.
In North Carolina, the mixed-race population doubled. In Georgia, it grew by more than 80 percent, and by nearly as much in Kentucky and Tennessee. In Indiana, Iowa and South Dakota, the multiracial population increased by about 70percent.
Census officials estimated the national multiracial growth rate was about 35 percent since2000 according to the known result, when seven million people ----- 2.4 percent of the population chose more than one race.If a black man married a white woman 50years ago, the worst result was that _____.
| A．he was sentenced to death | B．he was considered to be immoral |
| C．he was criticized by the public | D．he was treated as a lawbreaker |
The underlined word “serious” in Paragraph 2 can be replaced by “____”.
| A．stable | B．bad | C．mixed | D．dangerous |
What can we infer from Paragraph 4?
| A．Jeffrey Norwood was born in Hattiesburg and grew up there. |
| B．Taylor Rae Norwood’s mother is a white-Asian. |
| C．70 percent of the people in Mississippi are multiracial. |
| D．Mississippi has the largest multiracial population in the US. |
Which of the following states had the fastest growth rate of mixed-race population?
| A．Georgia. | B．Tennessee. | C．North Carolina. | D．South Dakota. |
People in several American states may be surprised to see cars on city streets without a driver. Experimental driverless vehicles now are legal in Florida, Nevada and California. They are pointing the way to a future that is not far down the road. The high-tech company Google has a number of self-driving cars, which had covered 480,000 kilometers by August. Volvo is among the companies doing road tests and says it plans to sell driverless cars by 2020.
In September, California Governor Jerry Brown signed an act to allow autonomous vehicles on the roads of his state. " Today we're looking at science fiction becoming tomorrow's reality-the driverless car. " The technology for these cars includes cameras, radar and motion sensors. The systems have been improved through competitions sponsored by the U. S. government agency DARPA. Engineer Richard Mason of the Rand Corporation helped design driverless vehicles for DARPA challenge races.
Cars have become much more fuel-efficient, and new electronic features are' making Hondas safer, said Angie Nucci of Honda America. " A camera on the passenger-side mirror actually engaged on your guiding screen so you can safely change lanes. " Other safety features include warning systems on the front and the sides of the cars. These systems help drivers , but don't replace them. Curator Leslie Kendall of the Petersen Automotive Museum said autonomous cars will make the high ways safer．
"By taking out drivers, you also remove most risks of an accident," Kendall said. He said consumers, however, may be unwilling to lose control. "It may take them time to come to realize that the technology is indeed reliable, but it will have to prove itself first. "
Mason said the technology already works and the biggest challenge now is getting down the cost for driverless vehicles from hundreds of thousands of dollars to something more affordable. He said this will happen as the technology is improved.What can we learn from Paragraph l?
A. Driverless vehicles are now legal in the whole USA.
B. Volvo will be the first to sell driverless cars.
C. Driverless cars are pointing us' a faraway future.
D. Google's self-driving cars have covered a long distance.We learn that Governor of California Jerry Brown_________.
| A． helped design self-driving cars. |
| B．supports self-driving cars on roads. |
| C．considers self-driving cars science fiction. |
| D．improved the self-driving car systems. |
What is the role of the systems mentioned in Paragraph 3?
| A．They can help people drive more safely. |
| B．They can take the place of drivers now. |
| C．They can make cars run without fuel. |
| D．They can help cars run much faster. |
According to Richard Mason, what is the biggest challenge for driverless cars?
| A．They are not allowed to run on the road. |
| B．Their technical problems remain to be solved. |
| C．They are now too expensive for consumers. |
| D．They are more dangerous for people on the street. |