TOKYO —Imagine a bicycle seat connected by mechanical frames(机械支架) to a pair of shoes for an idea of how the new wearable assisted-walking machine from Honda works．
The experimental machine, showed on Friday, is designed to support bodyweight, reduce stress on the knees and help people organize steps and stay in crouching（蹲坐） positions．Honda showed a video of its employees wearing the machine.
Engineer Jun Ashihara also said the machine is useful for people standing in long lines and to people who run around to make deliveries．
"This should be as easy to use as a bicycle," Ashihara said．"It reduces stress, and you should feel less tired．"
To wear it, you put the seat between your legs, put on the shoes and push the “on” button．Then just start walking around．
In a test run for media, this reporter found it does take some time to get used to the machine. “I could sense how it supported my moves, pushing up on my bottom when I crouched and pushing at my soles(脚底) to help lift my legs when I walked,” he said.
The system has a computer, a motor, gears（齿轮）, batteries and sensors in it, so it responds to a person's movements, according to Honda Motor Co．
Pricing and commercial product plans are still undecided．Japan's No．2 automaker will begin testing a prototype（模型） later this month．
The need for such mechanical help is expected to grow in Japan, which has one of the most rapidly aging societies in the world．
Other companies are also eyeing the potentially attractive market of helping the weak and the old get around．Japan is among the world's leading nations in robotics technology, not only for industrial use but also for entertainment and companionship．
1．Honda's new wearable assisted-walking machine is mainly to .
A．show Honda's power in technology B．protect the environment
C．meet the social needs in the future D．improve social progress
2．According to the passage, the power of the new wearable assisted-walking machine is from_________.
A．manpower B．batteries
C．a computer D．the machine movement
3．It can be learned from the passage that .
A．the new machine has been produced m large numbers
B．Honda will control the future market for the new machine
C．the price of Honda's new machine will be very low
D．the future market for the new machine will be promising
4．What would be the best title for the passage?
A．Wearable machine that helps walk
B．Hondo's new bicycle for the old
C．Wearable machine helps go to work
D．New development of the bicycle
阅读下列表格内容及相关信息，并按照要求匹配信息。请在答题纸上将对应题号的相应选项字母涂黑。
请先阅读几所大学所提供的健康医疗教育项目：
| A. |
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Argosy University Our postgraduate degree level education provides the knowledge and tools to create successful and meaningful careers. |
| B. |
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Kaplan University Our university offers comprehensive training in health care to prepare you for a career in the health sciences, corrections, or private security. |
| C. |
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Everest College Through our online degree program, you can gain the necessary skills to join the health care industry. It is designed to prepare you for a career in the health sciences. |
| D. |
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Sanford-Brown College SBC is dedicated to providing innovative programs that enable students the opportunity to gain professional skills by practicing in our health care center before they work. |
| E. |
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Rasmussen College The Healthcare Management Bachelor of Science degree at our College will give students the education and practical experience they need to work as administrators.(管理人员) |
| F. |
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Brown Mackie University The Health & nursing programs are designed to provide students with the education needed to enter health and nursing careers. |
下面是几位需要医学教育的学生，请为他们选择适合他们就读的大学：My family immigrated when I was still studying my healthcare courses in a local medical college. So I had to give up my bachelor degree and moved with them. Now I hope to find a college that offers the degree education on the Internet and realize my dream of being a doctor.
When I looked after my mother in the hospital ten years ago, I was moved by what the nurses did. They devoted themselves into helping every patient get through the hard time. Since then, I have been determined to take up nursing career, and now, the time is coming.
When studying in the university, my professor often told me that it was impossible for me to get every problem solved just with the knowledge in textbooks. It makes me realize I should look for a health care center where I can learn practical skills and gain more experience.
After graduating from a medical college and get my bachelor degree five years ago, I became a doctor in a big local health care center. However, I find modern medical research developing fairly rapidly, so I hope to start my postgraduate degree study in a university and serve the people here better.
Being a retired doctor, my father always hopes that I can continue his career. I know a doctor can help lots of people, but in fact, my favorite job is managing, no matter in a company, an institution or an organization. So maybe learning how to manage a hospital can satisfy both of us.
You may not pay much attention to your daily elevator ride. Many of us use a lift several times during the day without really thinking about it. But Lee Gray, PhD, of the University of North Carolina, US, has made it his business to examine this overlooked form of public transport. He is known as the “Elevator Guy”.
“The lift becomes this interesting social space where etiquette (礼仪) is sort of odd (奇怪的),” Gray told the BBC. “They [elevators] are socially very interesting but often very awkward places.”
We walk in and usually turn around to face the door. If someone else comes in, we may have to move. And here, according to Gray, liftusers unthinkingly go through a set pattern of movements. He told the BBC what he had observed.
He explained that when you are the only one inside a lift, you can do whatever you want – it’s your own little box.
If there are two of you, you go into different corners, standing diagonally (对角线地) across from each other to create distance.
When a third person enters, you will unconsciously form a triangle. And when there is a fourth person it becomes a square, with someone in every corner. A fifth person is probably going to have to stand in the middle.
New entrants to the lift will need to size up the situation when the doors slide open and then act decisively. Once in, for most people the rule is simple – look down, or look at your phone.
Why are we so awkward ( adj. 尴尬的) in lifts?
“You don’t have enough space,” Professor Babette Renneberg, a clinical psychologist at the Free University of Berlin, told the BBC. “Usually when we meet other people we have about an arm’s length of distance between us. And that’s not possible in most elevators.”
In such a small, enclosed space it becomes very important to act in a way that cannot be construed (理解) as threatening or odd. “The easiest way to do this is to avoid eye contact,” she said.The main purpose of the article is to _____.
| A．remind us to enjoy ourselves in the elevator |
| B．tell us some unwritten rules of elevator etiquette |
| C．share an interesting but awkward elevator ride |
| D．analyze what makes people feel awkward in an elevator |
According to Gray, when people enter an elevator, they usually ______.
| A．turn around and greet one another |
| B．look around or examine their phone |
| C．make eye contact with those in the elevator |
| D．try to keep a distance from other people elevator? |
The underlined phrase “size up” in Paragraph 7 is closest in meaning to _____.
| A．judge | B．ignore | C．put up with | D．make the best of |
According to the article, people feel awkward in lifts because of _____.
| A．someone’s odd behaviors |
| B．the lack of space |
| C．their unfamiliarity with one another |
| D．their eye contact with one another |
President Barack Obama has complained about the loss of privacy that comes with being leader of the United States, regretting the loss of simple pleasures such as a long walk or a trip to the car wash or supermarket.
“I just miss---I miss being anonymous,” he said. “I miss Saturday morning, rolling out of bed, not shaving, getting into my car with my girls, driving to the supermarket, squeezing the fruit, getting my car washed, taking walk. I can't take a walk”.
His dream, he said, was to “go through Central Park and watch for passing by…spend the day watching people --- I miss that”.
Faced with angry criticism for playing more golf than most previous occupants of the White House, he explained that the sport was simply the best way of getting away from it all. “It's the only excuse I have to get outside for four hours.” he told Hearst magazines.
Though he said he enjoyed his life in the White House, he felt disappointed with some of the ways of Washington, which he has failed in his permission to change, such as the "kabuki dance" among political parties before serious policy discussions begin. His comments may be seen as vindication（证实）by critics who have accused him of appearing too detached（漠然）, and being slow to engage in vital issues such as Libya and the near shutdown of the US government last week.
Since arriving at the White House in January 2009, Mr. Obama has already racked up 60 rounds of golf in office, more than George W Bush did in his eight years. In terms of ability, Golf Digest magazine has ranked Mr. Obama eighth out of the 18 presidents who played the game since it became established in the early 20th century. What do the second paragraph and the third paragraph mainly tell us?
| A．Obama likes living a busy life. |
| B．Obama used to spend most of his time with his family. |
| C．Obama wishes to enjoy simple pleasures. |
| D．He used to wash his car himself. |
According to Obama, he plays golf to .
| A．release his pressure | B．keep fit |
| C．balance his work | D．show his ability |
We can infer from the passage that Obama is kabuki dance.
| A．curious about | B．interested in |
| C．content with | D．tired of |
Which of the following statements is from the critics?
| A．The president lost lots of privacy, but he loves the life in the White House. |
| B．There are always unnecessary procedures among political parties. |
| C．The president seems to be indifferent (漠不关心的) towards some really important issues. |
| D．The president is really a great golf player. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Obama's favorite pastime. |
| B．Obama’s complaints about lack of privacy as president. |
| C．The public's criticism of Obama. |
| D．Obama's regrets for being the US president. |
A woman renewing her driver’s license at the County Clerk’s office was asked to state her occupation. She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.
“What I mean is,” explained the recorder, “do you have a job, or are you just a …”
“Of course I have a job,” said Emily. “I’m a mother.”
“We don’t list ‘mother’ as an occupation… ‘housewife’ covers it,” said the recorder.
One day I found myself in the same situation. The clerk was obviously a career woman, confident and possessed of a high sounding title. “What is your occupation?” she asked.
The words simply popped out. “I’m a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations.”
The clerk paused, ballpoint pen frozen in midair.
I repeated the title slowly, and then I stared with wonder as my statement was written in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.
“Might I ask,” said the clerk with new interest, “Just what you do in this field?”
Coolly, without any trace of panic（恐慌，惊慌） in my voice, I heard myself reply, “I have a continuing program of research (what mother doesn’t）, in the lab and in the field (normally I would have said indoors and out). Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities (any mother care to disagree?), and I often work 14 hours a day (24 is more like it). But the job is more challenging than most careers and rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money.”
There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk’s voice as she completed the form, stood up, and showed me out.
As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up (依托) by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants---ages 13, 7 and 3.
Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model (a 6 month old baby), in the child-development program, testing out a new vocal pattern.
I felt proud! I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable (不可缺少的) to mankind than “just another mother.”
Motherhood…What a glorious career! Especially when there’s a title on the door.What can we infer from the conversation between the woman and the recorder at the beginning of the passage?
| A．The woman felt ashamed to admit what her job was. |
| B．The recorder was impatient and rude. |
| C．The author was upset about the situation that mothers faced. |
| D．Motherhood was not recognized and respected as a job by society. |
How did the female clerk feel at first when the author told her occupation?
| A．curious | B．puzzled | C．indifferent | D．interested |
How did the author feel when describing her job to the clerk?
| A．calm | B．panic-stricken | C．confident | D．cool |
Why did the woman clerk show more respect for the author?
| A．Because the author cared little about rewards. |
| B．Because she admired the author’s research work in the lab. |
| C．Because she thought the author did admirable work. |
| D．Because the writer did something she had little knowledge of. |
What is the author’s purpose of writing the passage?
| A．To show how you describe your job affects your feelings toward it. |
| B．To argue that motherhood is a worthy career and deserves respect. |
| C．To show that the author had a grander job than Emily. |
| D．To show that being a mother is hard and boring work. |
Barack Obama, Lady Gaga and Steve Jobs—what do they have in common? They are, of course, all Americans. And according to a survey by social networking site badoo. com, they all best illustrate(举例说明) the word “cool”. 
But just what does it mean to say someone is “cool”? Most would answer that it is something to do with being independent-minded and not following the crowd.
Yale University art professor Robert Farris Thompson says that the term “cool” goes back to 15th century West African philosophy(哲学). “Cool” relates to ideas of grace(优雅) under pressure.
“In Africa, ” he writes, “coolness is a positive quality which combines calmness, silence, and life.”
The modern idea of “cool” developed largely in the US in the period after World War II. “Post-war ‘cool’ was in part an expression of war-weariness (n. 厌战情绪)
. . . it went against the strict social rules of the time,” write sociologists Dick Pountain and David Robins in Cool Rules:Anatomy of an Attitude.
But it was the American actor James Dean who became the symbol for “cool” in the hugely successful 1955 movie Rebel without a Cause. Dean plays a tough guy who disobeys his parents and the authorities. He always gets the girl, smokes cigarettes, wears a leather jacket and beats up bullies(欺凌弱小者). In the movie, Dean showed what “cool” would mean to American young people for the next 60 years.
Today the focus of “cool” has changed to athletics (体育运动) stars. Often in movies about schools, students gain popularity on the athletics field more than in the classroom. This can be seen quite clearly in movies like Varsity Blues and John Tucker Must Die.
But many teenagers also think being smart is cool. Chess and other thinking games have been becoming more popular in schools.
“Call it the Harry Potterization of America—a time when being smart is the new cool,” writes journalist Joe Sunnen.Barack Obama, Lady Gaga and Steve Jobs are mentioned in the first paragraph to ________.
| A．introduce the topic | B．draw our attention |
| C．tell us what they have in common | D．tell us what is “cool” |
If you were considered “cool” in Africa in the 15th century, you ________.
| A．thought and acted differently from the majority |
| B．had a calm and quiet attitude towards life |
| C．didn’t observe rules and authorities |
| D．had all kinds of “bad” manners |
The heroes in Varsity Blues and John Tucker Must Die are likely to be those who ________.
| A．do very well in their studies |
| B．are very skilled at sports |
| C．are good at chess and other thinking games. |
| D．have supernatural powers like Harry Potter |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the article?
| A．It is generally considered “cool” to be independent-minded and not to follow the crowd. |
| B．“Cool” was used as early as the 15th century. |
| C．Disobeying one’s parents and the authorities is considered “cool” among American young people nowadays. |
| D．Getting the first place in an exam can also be considered “cool”. |
What does the article mainly talk about?
| A．The origin of the word “cool”. |
| B．The kinds of people who are “cool”. |
| C．The changing meaning of the word “cool”. |
| D．How to be a “ cool” person. |
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