Very old people do raise moral problems for almost everyone who comes in contact with them. Their values—this can’t be repeated too often—are not necessarily our values. Physical comfort, cleanness and order are not necessarily the most important things. The social services from time to time find themselves faced with a flat with decaying food covered by small worms, and an old person lying alone in bed, taking no notice of the worms. But is it interfering(干涉) with personal freedom to insist that they go to live with some of their relatives so that they might be taken better care of? Some social workers, the ones who clear up the worms, think we are in danger of carrying this concept of personal freedom to the point where serious risks are being taken with the health and safety of the old.
Indeed, the old can be easily hurt or harmed. The body is like a car, it needs more mechanical maintenance(机械维修，保养) as it gets older. You can carry this comparison right through to the provision of spare parts. But never forget that such operations are painful experiences, however good the results will be. And at what point should you stop to treat the old body? Is it morally right to try to push off death by seeking the development of drugs to excite the forgetful old mind and to activate the old body, knowing that it is designed to die? You can’t ask doctors or scientists to decide, because so long as they can see the technical opportunities, they will feel bound to give them a try, on the principle that while there’s life, there’s hope.
When you talk to the old people, however, you are forced to the conclusion that whether age is happy or unpleasant depends less on money or on health than it does on your ability to have fun.
5. What does the passage mainly tell us?
A. The values are different between the old and the young.
B. The moral problems raised by old people.
C. The personal freedom for the old.
D. Old people’s viewpoint on life.
6. We can know from the first paragraph that________.
A. Very old people would like to live alone to have more personal freedom.
B. Very old people are able to keep their room clean.
C. Very old people like to live with their children.
D. Social services have nothing to do with very old people.
7. According to the author, which of the following is right?
A. The older a person, the more care he needs.
B. Too much emphasis has been put on old people’s values.
C. The human body can’t be compared to a car.
D. It is easy to provide spare parts for old people.
8.The underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refers to “________”.
A. their money or their health
B. the conclusion you come to
C. your talk to the old people
D. whether age is happy or unpleasant
A new study warns that about thirty percent of the world's people may not have enough water by the year 2025.
A private American organization called Population Action International did the new study. It says more than three-hundred-thirty-five-million people lack enough water now. The people live in twenty-eight countries. Most of the countries are in Africa or the Middle East.
P-A-I researcher Robert Engelman says by the year 2025, about three-thousand-million people may lack water. At least 18 more countries are expected to have severe water problems. The demand for water keeps increasing. Yet the amount of water on Earth stays the same.
Mr. Engelman says the population in countries that lack water is growing faster than in other parts of the world. He says population growth in these countries will continue to increase.
The report says lack of water in the future may result in several problems. It may increase health problems. Lack of water often means drinking waters not safe. Mr. Engelman says there are problems all over the world because of diseases, such as cholera, which are carried in water. Lack of water may also result in more international conflict. Countries may have to compete for water in the future. Some countries now get sixty percent of their fresh water from other countries. This is true of Egypt, the Netherlands, Cambodia, Syria, Sudan, and Iraq. And the report says lack of water would affect the ability of developing to improve their economies. This is because new industries often need a large amount of water when they are beginning.
The Population Action International study gives several solutions to the water problem. One way, it says, is to find ways to use water for more than one purpose. Another way is to teach people to be careful not to waste water. A third way is to use less water of agriculture.
The report also says long-term solutions to the water problem must include controls on population growth. It says countries cannot provide clean water unless they slow population growth by limiting the number of children people have.
are expected to have severe water problems by the year 2025.
| A．46 countries | B．18 countries |
| C．28 countries | D．No countries |
All the following are true except .
| A．Lack of water may cause conflict between countries |
| B．New industries need a lot of water |
| C．There are solutions to the water problem |
| D．Egypt now has enough fresh water |
.What can be inferred from the passage? .
| A．There is connection between providing clean water and slowing population growth |
| B．Lack of water may also result from international conflict |
| C．The ability of developing has nothing to do with lack of water |
| D．It is not known whether diseases have something to do with lack of water |
The best title of the passage would be .
| A．World Conflict | B．World Water Shortage |
| C．Diseases and Water | D．Population and Water |
Dolphins call out the specific names of loved ones when they become separated, a study finds．Other than humans, they are the only animals known to do this, according to the study．The big difference with dolphins is that these communications consist of whistles（鸣叫）, not words．
Earlier research found that dolphins have a “signature whistle” that would be somewhat like human shouting, “Hey everybody! I’m an adult healthy male named George, and I mean you no harm．”
The new finding is that dolphins also say the names of certain other dolphins．“Animals produced copies of the same sound when they were separated from a close partner．This supports our belief that dolphins copy another animal’s signature whistle when they want to reunite with that animal,” Stephanie King, who led the study, says．
King and her colleagues collected acoustic（声音的）data from wild dolphins around Sarasota Bay, Florida, from 1984 to 2009．The researchers also studied four adult male dolphins housed at the Seas Aquarium, also in Florida．
Those males are adults that keepers named Calvin, Khyber, Malabar and Ranier, all of whom, as well as all of the wild ones, developed their own signature whistles that served as names in communication with other dolphins．
“A dolphin uses its signature whistle to broadcast its identity and announce its presence．The signature whistles allow animals to identify one another over long distances and allow animals to recognize one another and to join up with each other,” King explains．“Dolphin whistles can be heard up to 20km away, depending on water depth and whistle frequency（频率）．”
The researchers said dolphins copy the signature whistles of loved ones, such as a mother, when the two are separated．These “names” are always used in positive situations, and are only directed toward loved ones．
While researchers are often unwilling to apply the word language to non-human communications, dolphins clearly have a very complex communication system．The underlined word “housed” in Paragraph 4 probably means “_________”．
| A．raised | B．saved | C．discovered | D．hunted |
Which one plays a part in whether dolphin whistles can be heard over a distance?
| A．The dolphin’s identity． |
| B．The water temperature |
| C．The whistle frequency． |
| D．The dolphin’s age． |
When do dolphins copy the signature whistles of loved ones?
| A．When there is a fight． |
| B．When their keeper comes． |
| C．When they are apart． |
| D．When they are hungry． |
The passage probably is taken from______
| A．A magazine about scientific advances． |
| B．A website about various animals． |
| C．A report on animal acoustics． |
| D．An essay about the relationship between humans and animals． |
Many songs, poems, and books have been written on love’s strong effect on people. The state of being in love has even been compared to being sick or mad. A study by Professor Semir Zeki of University College London has found that love does affect people’s brains by making them feel great.
Zeki studied young men and women who had recently fallen in love. He found that, when they were looking at photos of their loved ones, there was heightened activity in four areas of their brains. These areas deal with emotions, and one of them, in particular, is known to respond to drugs that cause feelings of great joy and excitement.
Interestingly, the study also found a lack of activity in two other areas of the brain when the volunteers looked at their lovers’ photographs. One of these areas is linked to feelings of sadness, while the other is often active in people suffering from depression. It seems love really can be uplifting.
The state of being in love, according to some scientists, may actually be good for your health. Although scientists know that being in love can make a person feel great, the exact influence of love on a person’s health is harder to determine. However, scientists say that people do need love in order to live healthy lives.
According to Dr. Thomas Lewis, people need to be in relationships because that is how we are designed. He says the brain can only maintain(保持) the overall stability of a person’s immune(免疫) system, bodily rhythms, and heart if it receives input(输入) from outside the body in the form of emotional connections with others.
Professor Antonio Damasio has a similar view. He says that love enriches a person’s imagination and creativity, and makes a person’s body work better. He also believes that love can even improve the body’s ability to fight against disease. Damasio’s wise words of advice are “ Choose love and you will live longer.”What is the main idea of this passage ? __________.
| A．love can really cause people active |
| B．love has an effect on songs and books |
| C．love is linked with emotion |
| D．love is what we need |
What does the underlined word “uplifting” mean? It means __________.
| A．inspiring | B．available | C．cold | D．mad |
From the passage we can conclude that__________.
| A．People write songs, poems and books to say love is the sweetest thing |
| B．nobody but Professor Semir Zeki has understood love does affect people’s brains |
| C．being in love sometimes may make someone act as if he/ she were mad |
| D．love causes heightened activity in all areas of a person’s brains |
Which of the following statements is not true?
| A．Some scientists have the idea that love does good to people. |
| B．It is possible for scientists to decide how much influence love can give people. |
| C．People are born to be in need of getting on touch with each other. |
| D．A person’s health depends on partly on emotional connections with others. |
My 18-month-old son, Adam, called from the front door．“Look, Mama! Doggie!” I dropped what I was doing and stuck my head out the door．Brandy, our next-door neighbor’s 11-year-old dog, was over again．“Go away!” I shouted．
Brandy’s owner had died about a month earlier．The woman’s family had emptied the house and stuck a “For Sale” sign in the front yard, but the family had left old Brandy behind．For weeks, she’d been wandering around the neighborhood．
It wasn’t that I disliked dogs or anything like that．I just didn’t think about them very much．I never had a dog growing up and had never thought to get one．
Brandy went away and I stayed outside with Adam．Then the phone rang．I went inside to take the call．When I came back, Adam was gone．I searched the yard, front and back, then the basketball court and public pool．No trace of him．I was so nervous that I ran home and called the police, then my husband．
Police searched the neighborhood．Suddenly I heard another sound: a dog barking．“It’s coming from the woods,” one of my neighbors said．We followed the barking to a wooded cliff（悬崖）．There we found my son, and he was just inches away from the edges of the cliff, fast asleep．Brandy was beside him, leaning（倚靠）against him to keep him away from the edge．When I picked Adam up, Brandy sank down on her side, breathing quickly．She must have been holding Adam there for hours!
I thanked the police and brought Adam and Brandy back to our house．She hesitated a moment on our doorstep, no doubt remembering the time I’d driven her away．
“Come on, girl,” I said．“This is your home now．” Brandy stepped in, and once she saw she was really welcome, she relaxed and lay down on the floor just inside the door．She’d done a great thing, and I wondered if she knew it ．She’d certainly touched me in a way that no animal ever had．What a pity a dog like Brandy had been left behind!What is the correct order for the events in the story about Brandy?
a．She was left behind by her owner’s family．
b．She stepped into the woman’s house．
c．She appeared at the woman’s front door．
d．She stayed beside the woman’s son for hours．
| A．d, a, b, c | B．a, c, b, d |
| C．c, d, b, a | D．a, c, d, b |
What did the woman do when she first saw Brandy?
| A．She gave her some food． |
| B．She drove her away． |
| C．She took her home． |
| D．She said thank you to her． |
How were they able to be aware that the woman’s son was near the cliff?
| A．By searching the neighborhood． |
| B．By hearing a dog barking． |
| C．By following a dog’s footsteps． |
| D．By hearing her son’s crying． |
If you need glasses to read this, you are among the majority of Chinese students. That’s because most students in China are short-sighted which means they can only see things close up and distant things will be blurry. Four-fifths of high school students wear glasses and now more and more children in primary school need glasses, too.
This epidemic of poor eyesight has two very simple causes: too much time spent indoors studying and too little time spent outdoors playing. Reading and writing for hours and hours, sometimes in poorly lighted rooms, causes eyesight to weaken. But students have to do this because there is so much pressure on them to succeed in school. And because they spend so much time indoors at school and at home, they have less time to spend outdoors enjoying the sun.
The sun, as a consequence, is important in developing good eyesight. Exposure to daylight releases a chemical in the eyes that prevents, or at least delays, short-sightedness. According to a study by Ian Morgan of Australian National University, Australian children and Chinese children have the same level of eyesight before they start school, but once they enter primary school, Chinese children only spend about an hour a day outside, while Australian children spend three to four hours each day in the sunshine. The result is that while about 40 percent of Chinese primary school students need glasses, only three percent of Australian children do.
Wearing glasses may not seem like a big deal. For some, wearing glasses can even be an opportunity to make a fashion statement. But poor eyesight at a young age can have serious long term consequences. As you get older, your eyesight can worsen and lead to things like macular degeneration(黄斑变性), a condition of the eyes for which there is no cure and which can eventually lead to blindness.
With all that in mind, don’t you think it’s time to give your eyes a break? Try spending a little less time inside and go for a walk in the park, instead. It’s the healthy thing to do and your eyes will thank you for it.What does the underlined word “blurry” mean?
| A．unpopular. | B．unpleasant. |
| C．unclear. | D．unconscious. |
How should the students protect their eyesight according to the passage?
| A．They should study less and less. |
| B．They should stay longer outdoors. |
| C．They should wear sun-glasses. |
| D．They should have a longer rest in bed. |
It can be inferred from the passage that _____ is to blame for the poor eyesight of Chinese children.
| A．the ever-worsening bad weather |
| B．the ever-increasing burden of study |
| C．the ever-decreasing sunny days |
| D．the ever-decreasing period of study time |
What is the purpose of this article?
| A．To explain why Chinese students are poor-sighted. |
| B．To admire Australian children’s good eyesight. |
| C．To criticize the present education system. |
| D．To call on people to protect Chinese children’s eyesight |
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