Recently, tests have proved that Beethoven died from lead（铅）poisoning. Bill Walsh directed the Beethoven Research Project. Mr Walsh and his team examined pieces of bone belonging to Beethoven. They found a large amount of lead in the bone pieces. They said the lead levels were equal to those found in pieces of his hair in earlier studies of other scientists.
Genetic tests proved the bone pieces and hair came from Beethoven. The researchers also examined bone fragments（碎片 from someone else who lived during the same period. Both were from the top of the skull. The fragments from Beethoven had more lead than those from the other person. Their study didn’t find measurable levels of cadmium (镉) or mercury (汞), which scientists used to consider were the causes of his health problems.
Beethoven was sick for much of his life. He experienced strong stomach pains, a sign of lead poisoning, and a change of personality when he was around 20. He also got angry easily, and suffered from depression and hearing loss. His health problems became worse as Beethoven grew older.
Walsh said the lead levels found in Beethoven’s skull（颅骨） suggested the metal might have been present in his body for many years. He said although there had been recognized cases of deafness caused by lead poisoning, there was no strong evidence to suggest that lead poisoning was the cause of Beethoven’s deafness.
Ludwig van Beethoven visited many doctors to find a cure for his health problems. In a letter he wrote to a friend, he asked researchers to examine his body after he died so that other people would not have to suffer as he did.During the research, Walsh and his team didn’t ______.
| A．examine the bone pieces of Beethoven |
| B．examine the bone pieces of another person |
| C．examine the lead levels of Beethoven’s hair |
| D．measure the cadmium or mercury in Beethoven’s bones |
From the passage, we can learn that ___________.
| A．this is the first research into the cause of Beethoven’s death |
| B．any amount of lead will do great harm to people’s health |
| C．more lead was found in Beethoven’s bones than in his hair |
| D．scientists used to think that Beethoven’s death was caused by other metals instead of lead |
In which section（版）of the newspaper might you read this report?
| A．Health. | B．Technology | C．Entertainment. | D．Culture. |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．A surprising discovery about Beethoven. |
| B．Beethoven died from lead poisoning. |
| C．Lead — a killer metal for human beings. |
| D．New examination of Beethoven’s body. |
The story goes that some time ago, a man punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated(愤怒的) when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree. Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, "This is for you, Daddy."
The man was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger flared again when he found out the box was empty. He yelled at her, stating, "Don't you know, when you give someone a present, there is supposed to be something inside? The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and cried, "Oh, Daddy, it's not empty at all. I blew kisses into the box. They're all for you, Daddy."
The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness.
Only a short time later, an accident took the life of the child. It is also told that her father kept that gold box by his bed for many years and, whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.
In a very real sense, each one of us, as humans beings, have been given a gold container filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, family members, friends, and God. There is simply no other possession, anyone could hold, more precious than this. The 3-year-old girl was punished by her father for ________.
| A．wasting gold |
| B．wasting wrapping paper |
| C．putting the box under the Christmas tree |
| D．bringing the gift to her father |
What’s inside the box according to the little girl?
| A．nothing | B．air | C．kisses | D．gold wrapping paper |
Choose the best title for the passage.
| A．The kisses in the box. | B．A girl and his father |
| C．A love story | D．The box under the Christmas tree. |
Do you sometimes argue about what seems to you to be simple fact? Do you argue whether it’s cold outdoors or whether the car in front of you is going faster than the speed limit?
If you get into such arguments, try to think about the story about the six blind men and the elephant. The first blind man who felt the elephant’s trunk said it was like a snake. The second who felt the elephant’s side said it was like a wall, while the third said it was like a spear as he touched the animal’s tusk. The fourth, who got hold of the elephant’s tail insisted that it was like a rope. The fifth man said it looked like a tree as he put his arms around one of the elephant’s legs. The sixth, who was tall and got hold of the elephant’s ears, said it was like a huge fan.
Each man’s idea of the animal came from his own experience. So if someone disagrees with you about a “simple fact”, it’s often because his experience in the matter is different from yours.
To see how hard it is for even one person to make up his mind about a“simple fact”, try this simple experiment. Get three large bowls. Put ice water in one. Put hot water in the second. Put lukewarm water in the third. Now put your left hand in the ice water. Put your right hand in the hot water. After thirty seconds, put both hands in the lukewarm water. Your right hand will tell you the water is cold. Your left hand will tell you it’s hot! What makes people think about simple facts differently?
| A．The fact that simple facts differ from one another. |
| B．The fact that people have different experience in the same simple fact. |
| C．The fact that people often disagree with one another. |
| D．The fact that it’s hard to make up one’s mind about simple facts. |
Which of the following temperatures can the word “lukewarm” be applied to?
| A．Around 1℃ | B．Above 60℃ | C．Around 25℃ | D．Below 0℃ |
After reading the last paragraph, we may think of .
| A．Newton’s law | B．Gallileo’s theory of falling objects |
| C．Einstein’s theory of relativity | D．Marx’s On Capital |
The main idea of this passage is .
| A．people often judge something according to his own experience |
| B．people often agree about simple facts |
| C．it’s hard for a person to make up his mind about a simple fact |
| D．don’t care too much about simple facts |
Five years ago, David Smith wore an expensive suit to work every day. “I was a clothes addict,” he jokes. “I used to carry a fresh suit to work with me so I could change if my clothes got wrinkled.” Today David wears casual clothes—khaki pants and sports shirt—to the office. He hardly ever wears necktie. “I’m working harder than ever,” David says, “and I need to feel comfortable.”
More and more companies are allowing their office workers to wear casual clothes to work in the United States. The change from formal to casual office wear has been gradual. In the early 1990s, many companies allowed their employees to wear casual clothes on Friday(but only on Friday). This became known as “dress-down Friday” or “casual Friday.” “What started out as an extra one-day-a-week benefit for employees has really become an everyday thing,” said business consultant Maisly Jones.
Why have so many companies started allowing their employees to wear casual clothes? One reason is that it’s easier for a company to attract new employees if it has a casual dress code. “A lot of young people don’t want to dress up for work,” says the owner of a software company, “so it’s hard to hire people if you have a conservative dress code.” Another reason is that people seem happier and more productive when they are wearing comfortable clothes. In a study conducted by Levi Strauss and Company, 85 percent of employers said that they believe that casual dress improves employee morale(士气). Only 4 percent of employers said that casual dress has a negative impact on productive. Supporters of casual office wear also argue that a casual dress code helps them save money. “Suits are expensive, if you have to wear one every day,” one person said. “For the same amount of money, you can buy a lot more casual clothes.” David Smith refers to himself as having been “a clothes addict” because .
| A．he often wore khaki pants and a sports shirt |
| B．he couldn’t stand a clean appearance |
| C．he wanted his clothes to look neat all the time |
| D．he didn’t want to spend much money on clothes |
David Smith wears casual clothes now, because .
| A．they make him feel at ease when working |
| B．he cannot afford to buy expensive clothes |
| C．he looks handsome in casual clothes |
| D．he no longer works for any company |
According to this passage, which of the following statements is FALSE?
| A．Many employees don’t like a conservative dress code. |
| B．Comfortable clothes make employees more productive. |
| C．A casual clothes code is welcomed by young employees. |
| D．All the employers in the US are for casual office wear. |
In this passage, the following advantages of casual office wear are mentioned EXCEPT .
| A．saving employees’ money |
| B．making employees more attractive |
| C．improving employees’ motivation |
| D．making employees happier |
You wake up in the morning，the day is beautiful and the plans for the day are what you have been looking forward to for a long time．Then the telephone rings，you say hello, and the drama starts．The person on the other end has a depressing(令人沮丧的) tone in his voice as he starts to tell you how terrible his morning is and that there is nothing to look forward to．Yon are still in a wonderful mood? Impossible!
Communicating with negative people can wash out your happiness．It may not change what you think，but communicating long enough with them will make you feel depressed for a moment or a long time．
Life brings ups and downs，but some people are stuck in the wrong idea that life has no happiness to offer．They only feel glad when they make others feel bad．No wonder they can hardly win others’pity or respect．
When you communicate with positive people，your spirit stays happy and therefore more positive things are attracted．When the dagger(匕首)of a negative person is put in you, you feel the heavy feeling that all in all，brings you down．
Sometimes we have no choice but to communicate with negative people．This could be a co-worker，or relative．In this case，say what needs to be said as little as possible． Sometimes it feels good to let out-your anger back to a negative person，but all this does is to lower you to that same negative level and they won’t feel ashamed of themselves about that．
Negativity often affects happiness without even being realized．The negative words of another at the start of the day can cling to(附着)you throughout the rest of your day，which makes you feel bad and steals your happiness．Life is too short to feel negative．Stay positive and avoid negativity as much as possible．The purpose of the first paragraph is to ．
| A．make a comparison | B．offer an evidence |
| C．introduce a topic | D．describe a daily scene |
How can negative people have effect on us?
| A．By influencing our emotion． | B．By telling US the nature of life． |
| C．By changing our way of thinking． | D．By comparing their attitude to life with ours． |
Some negative people base their happiness on ．
| A．other people’s pity for them |
| B．making other people unhappy |
| C．building up a positive attitude |
| D．other people’s respect for t hem |
According to the passage， to reduce negative people’s influence on us，we are advised ．
| A．to change negative people’s attitude to life |
| B．to show our dissatisfaction to negative people |
| C．to make negative people feel ashamed of themselves |
| D．to communicate with negative people as little as possible |
What can we learn about negativity?
| A．Its effect can last． |
| B．Its effect can be completely avoided． |
| C．It hardly happens among family members． |
| D．Its effect is smaller than the effect created by a positive person． |
Why doesn’t the unemployment rate ever reach zero? Economists, who generally believe that supply tends to meet demand, have long thought about this question. Even in good times, i.e. not now, there are people who can’t find work. And even in bad times, i.e. now, there are job openings. With over 14 million people out of work and looking for a job, you would think every available job would be filled. But that’s not the case. Not now and not ever.
On Monday, the Nobel Prize committee awarded the prize for economics to the three scholars who have done the most to explain this phenomenon. Two of the winners are Americans, Peter Diamond of MIT and Dale Mortensen of Northwestern. The third winner is Christopher Pissarides, who teaches at the London School of Economics and was born on Cyprus.
Like most of economics, what they have found about why the jobless and ready-employers don’t find each other seems obvious. You have to find out there is job opening you are interested in. Employers need to get resumes （简历）. It takes a while for both employers and employees to make the decision that this is what they want. And these guys came up with a frame-work to study the problem of why people stay unemployed longer than they should and what can be done about it.
So what would today’s Nobel Prize winners do to solve the current problem of the unemployed? And does the awarding of the prize contribute to the politicians’ lowering joblessness?
Speaking from his north London home, Pissarides told The Associated Press the announcement came as “a complete surprise” though his work had already helped shape thinking on both sides of the Atlantic.
For example, the New Deal for Young People, a British government policy aimed at getting 18-24-year-olds back on the job market after long periods of unemployment, “is very much based on our work,” he said.
“One of the key things we found is that it is important to make sure that people do not stay unemployed too long so they don’t lose their feel for the labor force,” Pissarides told reporters in London. “The ways of dealing with this need not be expensive training – it could be as simple as providing work experience.”According to the writer, which is true about finding jobs?
| A．It is always difficult to find a job. |
| B．Everyone can find a job in good times. |
| C．Contrary to popular belief, it is easier to find a job in bad times. |
| D．It is possible to find a job even in times as bad as now. |
What is it that leads to their winning the prize?
| A．They have found the reason for unemployment. |
| B．They have put forward a set of ideas to deal with unemployment. |
| C．They have found out why people don’t want to be employed. |
| D．They have long studied the problem of unemployment. |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Pissarides thinks his work surprising. |
| B．The work of Pissarides has influenced many economists. |
| C．Some of the winners’ ideas have been put into practice. |
| D．It is probable that unemployed young people in Britain benefit from Pissarides’ work. |
According to Pissarides, _________ is effective in dealing with unemployment.
| A．spending large sums of money on training |
| B．teaching some knowledge of economics |
| C．providing work experience |
| D．keeping people unemployed for some time |
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