YOUR mom might cook a bowl of noodle for you on birthday. But in the US, a mom makes a cupcake for her children on their birthday.
Cupcakes are small, round cakes topped with frosting. It has been an American tradition that moms bring cupcakes to celebrate their child’s birthday.
But recently some doctors have called for this to be banned. They believe cupcakes contribute to child obesity.
Despite their good intentions, however, some people believe that experts are interfering with American culture. The cupcakes is seen as American as apple pie only prettier.
According to Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition at New York university, the cupcakes is the most democratic of desserts. As they are small enough for one person, you don’t have go share your cupcake with anyone –it’s all yours. They are also all the same size, so there can’t be any cries of “she got the bigger piece!”
Each bite can taste different depending on how much icing you have. It is a lesson in self determination. Some people eat only a little of the frosting every time, other have it all in just one bite.
In recent years, eating a cupcake has become as trendy as having a cup of Starbucks coffee.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton jokingly promised on a talk show that if she was elected president, a he would give everyone a cupcake on her birthday.
Ruth Reichl, editor---in----chief of gourmet magazine, explains that the rise of the cupcake is very much about going buck to American national identity in food, which is all about comfort. “People want to about when they and their country were innocent,” she said.According to the passage, it has been an American tradition that_______.
| A．a party for children is held on their birthday |
| B．A mom cooks a bowl of noodles for her children on their birthday |
| C．A mom makes a cupcake for her children on their birthday and brings it to the classroom |
| D．parents go traveling with their children on their birthday |
Why do doctors ask people to ban cupcake on children’s birthday?
| A．Because they themselves don’t like cupcake |
| B．Because they think cupcakes are not so delicious |
| C．Because they believe cupcakes will cause cries of “she got the bigger piece”. |
| D．Because they believe cupcakes are one of the causes to make children become fat. |
The following are true according to Marion Nestle expect that ______
| A．the cupcake is more democratic than any other deserts in the US |
| B．the cupcake is too small to share with others |
| C．the sizes of cupcakes are the same so it is equal to everyone |
| D．cupcakes will lead to child obesity so they should be banned |
Why did the writer mention Hillary Clinton and Ruth Reichl?
| A．To arouse the readers’ attention |
| B．To show that cupcakes are becoming a popular to show kindness and comfort. |
| C．To make a comparison between them |
| D．To give readers a general idea of cupcakes |
In recent years, there has been a steady attack on salt from the doctors: salt is bad for you—regardless of your health. Politicians also got aboard. “There is a direct relationship,” US Congressman Neal Smith said, “between the amount of sodium(钠) a person consumes and heart disease, circulatory(循环的) disorders, stroke and even early death.”
Frightening, if true! But many doctors and medical researchers are now beginning to feel the salt scare has gone too far. “All these remarks and cry about salt is unnecessary,” Dr. Dustan insists. “For most of us it probably does not make much difference how much salt we eat.” Dustan’s most recent short-term study of 150 people showed that those with normal blood pressure experienced no change at all when placed on an extremely low-salt diet, or later when salt was reintroduced. Of the hypertensive(高血压的) patients, however, half of those on the low-salt diet did experience a drop in blood pressure, which returned to previous level when salt was reintroduced.
“An adequate to somewhat excessive(过度的) salt intake has probably saved many more lives than it has cost in the general population,” said Dr. John H Laragh. “So an opinion that the whole population should avoid salt makes no sense.”
Medical experts agree that everyone should practice reasonable “moderation”(节制) in salt consumption. For the average person, a moderate amount might run from four to ten grams a day, or roughly 1/2 to 1/3 teaspoons. One to two grams of salt would come from the natural sodium in food. The rest would be added in processing, preparation or at the table.
“Na is not your enemy,” says Comek’s Dr. Laragh. “Salt is the No.1 natural component of all human tissue, and the idea that you do not need it is wrong. Unless your doctor has proven that you have a salt-related health problem, there is no reason to give it up.”Why is salt attacked by doctors and politicians?
| A．It’s unnecessary. |
| B．It does no good to human health. |
| C．It is hated by most people. |
| D．It will always lead to heart disease and circulatory disorders. |
From Dr. Dustan’s study in Paragraph 2 we can infer that _____.
| A．a low-salt diet may be good to some patients |
| B．the amount of salt intake has nothing to do with one’s blood pressure |
| C．the reduction of salt intake can completely cure a hypertensive patient |
| D．an extremely low-salt diet makes no difference to anyone |
In the 3rd paragraph, Dr. Laragh implied that _____.
| A．people should not be afraid of taking much excessive salt |
| B．doctors should not advise people to avoid salt |
| C．an adequate to somewhat excessive salt intake is suggested to ill people |
| D．excessive salt intake has killed some patients in the general population |
What is the experts’ advice for average people on salt consumption?
| A．They should increase salt intake through sodium pills. |
| B．They should avoid salt as often as possible. |
| C．They should consume 1/2 to 1/3 teaspoons of salt a day. |
| D．They needn’t care about how much salt they consume. |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．The salt scare is not reasonable. |
| B．The cause of hypertension is disclosed. |
| C．The moderate use of salt is recommended. |
| D．Salt consumption is to be avoided. |
I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent.
I no longer consider myself the center of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows（誓约）mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends, and they to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today.
So here’s what I wanted to tell you today: Get a life. A real life, not a desire of the next promotion（提升）, the bigger paycheck, the larger house.
Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure（空闲）, it is work. Pick up the phone. Send an e-mail. Write a letter. And realize that life is the best thing and that you have no business taking it for granted.
It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours, our minutes. It is so easy to exist instead of to live. I learned to live many years ago. Something really, really bad happened to me, something that changed my life in ways that, if I had my choice, it would never have been changed at all. And what I learned from it is what, today, seems to be the hardest lesson of all.
I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it, completely and totally. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned.
By telling them this: Read in the backyard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a deadly illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived.The best title of this passage probably is _______.
| A．Love your friends | B．Live a real life |
| C．Don’t waste time | D．Be a good mother and wife |
How did the author form her view of life?
| A．By working and social experience. |
| B．Learning from her friends. |
| C．Through an unfortunate experience. |
| D．Because of her children and husband. |
The underlined sentence “It is so easy to exist instead of to live” in the fifth paragraph probably has the same meaning as ______.
| A．it is so easy to keep alive but not to live a real life. |
| B．it is very hard to live a real life |
| C．it is so easy to make a living. |
| D．it is more difficult to exist than to live a happy life. |
What’s the author’s attitude towards work?
| A．Try our best to serve others. |
| B．To earn enough money to make life better. |
| C．Try our best to get higher position and pay. |
| D．Don’t let it affect your real life. |
It can be inferred from the passage that _______.
| A．the author is a success in personal life. |
| B．the author didn’t try her best to work well. |
| C．the author spent all her time caring for her children. |
| D．the author doesn’t travel much |
Florence Nightingale（南丁格尔） was born in a rich family. When she was young she took lessons in music and drawing, and read great books. She also traveled a great deal with her mother and father.
As a child she felt that visiting sick people was both a duty and a pleasure. She enjoyed helping them.
At last mind was made up. “I’m going to be a nurse,” she decided.
“Nursing isn’t the right work for a lady,” her father told her.
“Then I will make it so ”, she smiled. And she went to learn nursing in Germany and France.
When she returned to England, Florence started a nursing home . During the Crimean War in 1854 she went with a group of thirty eight nurses to the front hospitals. What they saw there was terrible. Dirt and death were everywhere to be seen — and smelled. The officer there did not want any woman to tell him how to run a hospital, either. But the brave nurse went to work.
Florence used her own money and some from friends to buy clothes, beds, medicine and food for the men. Her only pay was in smiles from the lips of dying soldiers. But they were more than enough for this kind woman.
After she returned to England, she was honored for her services by Queen Victoria. But Florence said that her work had just begun. She raised money to build the Nightingale Home for Nurses in London. She also wrote a book on public health, which was printed in several countries.
Florence Nightingale died at the age of ninety, still trying to serve others through her work as a nurse. Indeed, it is because of her that we honor nurses today.When she was a child, Florence ________.
| A．loved to travel very much |
| B．knew what her duty in life was |
| C．loved to help the sick people |
| D．want to learn music and drawing in the future |
What made Florence make up her mind to become a nurse？
| A．Her father’s support. |
| B．Her desire to help the sick. |
| C．Her education in Germany and France. |
| D．Her knowledge from reading great books. |
During the Crimean War in 1854, Florence served in the front hospital where ____.
| A．she earned a little money |
| B．work was very difficult |
| C．few soldiers died because of her work |
| D．she didn’t have enough food or clothes |
Why was Florence honored by Queen Victoria？
| A．She built the Nightingale Home for Nurses. |
| B．She wrote a book on public health. |
| C．She worked as a nurse all her life. |
| D．She did a great deal of work during the Crimean War. |
The passage can best be described as ____.
| A．the life story of a famous woman |
| B．a description of the nursing work |
| C．an example of successful education |
| D．the history of nursing in England |
阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
In most languages, a greeting is usually followed by “small talk”. Small talk means the little things we talk about at the start of a conversation. In English-speaking countries people often make small talk about the weather. “Nice day, isn’t it?” “Terrible weather, isn’t it?” But there is something special about small talk. It must be about something which both people have the same opinion about. The purpose of small talk is to let both people agree on something. This makes meeting people easier and more comfortable. People usually agree about the weather, so it is a safe topic for small talk. But people often disagree about religion(宗教) or politics(政治) so these are not suitable topics for small talk. The topics for small talk also depend on where the conversation is taking place. At football matches, people make small talk about the game they are watching. “Great game, isn’t it?” At bus-stops, people may comment on the transport system. “The bus service is terrible, isn’t it?”Small talk is ________.
| A．a kind of conversation with short words |
| B．a greeting used when people meet each other |
| C．to let people disagree about something |
| D．something we talk about to start a conversation |
The favorite topic of small talk for English people is _________.
| A．the weather | B．politics |
| C．games | D．languages |
The passage suggests that when we learn a language _________.
| A．we should learn about the transport system of the country |
| B．we should only master the grammar and the vocabulary |
| C．we should learn the culture of the country |
| D．we should understand the importance of the language |
When we say “Great game, isn’t it?”, we are in fact __________.
| A．asking a question | B．having a conversation |
| C．make a comment | D．making small talk |
What we learn from the passage is that _________.
| A．different languages have different grammar |
| B．small talk is an important part of a language |
| C．small talk depends on the purpose of the conversation |
| D．in English-speaking countries we should talk about the weather |
I have a neighbor we call “Happy”. I have never seen her angry at anything and never heard her say a harsh (苛刻) word to anyone or about anyone.
Happy and her husband Ben, 70, have a huge garden. They spent many happy hours together working on it. Most of the neighbors watched interestingly as Ben doubled the size of their garden. As the cost of food climbed faster than Ben’s beans, we all wished we also had such a large garden. As the rest of us spent our dollars at the market, Happy could be seen picking beans in her back yard.
Last month, Happy and Ben invited most of the neighborhood over for an “all-day food feast”. We were told to bring gloves and arrive very early in the morning. We didn’t know what was about to take place.
By 9:00 am, there were nine of us in the garden picking tomatoes, beans, okra, and squash. By 10:00 am, there was lots of laughter. We shared a lot of stories. By five o’clock, everyone was a little drunk from the wine and beer. After dinner, we played games. As we were leaving, Happy and Ben handed each of us a shopping bag filled with the bounty（收成）of the day, already packaged and frozen. What a delightful gift!
Well, the point wasn’t so much about the food. The true gift was a day of friends enjoying one another’s company（陪伴）. None of it would have happened if it had been for Happy and Ben’s garden. Now they have a blog about gardening in case we decided to plant a garden. And I am so proud of my tomato plants!We can infer that Happy and her husband Ben_______.
| A．don’t like spending time with others |
| B．sometimes quarrel with each other |
| C．live on the food they grow in their garden |
| D．are a generous and warm-hearted couple |
According to paragraph 2, people wish they also had a garden so that_______.
| A．they didn’t have to spend so much money on food |
| B．they could grow vegetables and sell at the market |
| C．they could invite their neighbors and hold parties in it |
| D．they could spend happy times together with their family in it |
What did the writer most probably think of the time he spent in the garden?
| A．It was too long |
| B．It was wonderful. |
| C．It was not as good as he thought. |
| D．It was too terrible. |
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