Why do men die earlier than women? The latest research makes it known that the reason could be that men’s hearts go into rapid decline when they reach middle age.
The largest study of the effects of ageing on the heart has found that women’s longevity may be linked to the fact that their hearts hardly lose their pumping power with age.
“We have found that the power of the male heart falls by 20---25 percent between 18 and 70 years of age,” said the head of the study, David Goldspink of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK. “Within the heart there are millions of cells that enable it to beat. Between the age of 20 and 70, one-third of those cells die and are not replaced in men,” said Goldspink. “This is part of the ageing process.”
What surprises scientists is that the female heart sees very little loss of these cells. A healthy 70-year-old woman’s heart could perform almost as well as a 20-year-old one’s.
“This gender (性别)difference might just explain why women live longer than men,” said Goldspink.
They studied more than 250 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 80, focusing on healthy persons to remove the confusing influence of disease.
The team has yet to find why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart, said Goldspink.
The good news is that men can improve the health of their heart with regular exercise. Goldspink stressed that women also need regular exercise to prevent their leg muscles becoming smaller and weaker as they age.The underlined word “longevity” in the second paragraph probably refers to _________.
| A．health | B．long life | C．ageing | D．effect |
The text mainly talks about ________.
| A．men’s heart cells | B．women’s ageing process |
| C．the gender difference | D．hearts and long life |
According to the text, the UK scientists have known that _________.
| A．women have more cells than men when they are born |
| B．women can replace the cells that enable the heart to beat |
| C．the female heart loses few of the cells with age |
| D．women never lose their pumping power with age |
We can know from the passage that _______.
| A．the reason why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart has been found out |
| B．scientists are on the way to finding out why the male heart loses more of the cells |
| C．the team has done something to prevent the male from suffering the greater loss |
| D．women over 70 could lose more heart cells than those at the age of 20 |
Although in 1947 we were still very new to the atomic age, we knew about mushroom clouds． A huge crack spread across the library wall upstairs, sending teachers and students screaming down the hall．
Had a new world war started? Pale-faced, our young science teacher quickly organized us for a fire drill． We huddled in little groups on the beach side of the school grounds and watched the spreading cloud darken the bright spring sky．
Rumors flew every which way, although two hours would pass before we got the full story．One rumor we heard was that the Texas City Monsanto Chemical plant had blown up; children whose parents worked there began to weep．
I froze—that was where my father was working that day．
The school bell called us back inside, and we were dismissed to find our way home the best way we could． I-d walked a quarter of the three-mile trip to my home when a car horn startled me to attention． My Uncle Barney pulled up alongside me in his old Ford． The instant I saw him, I knew my father was gone． Otherwise, Papa would have come for me himself．
As if in slow motion from a great distance, Uncle Barney motioned for me to get in． Numb with grief, I crawled into the back seat． I barely took notice of the man sitting there, and didn’t recognize him until he reached for me． When Papa put his strong arms around me, I forgot for a moment that Cherokees（柴罗基人） aren’t supposed to cry．
Many of my fellow students lost their parents in the explosion． Tragedy would one day come to our family, as it inevitably comes to all, but on the day Texas City blew up, it miraculously passed us by． Because he lost his keys on that April morning, as he explained, my father lived for another 32 years-we were to have a second lifetime forever． What happened according to the first three paragraphs?
| A．A war broke out． | B．An earthquake happened． |
| C．An atomic bomb exploded． | D．A chemical factory blew up． |
How did the science teacher react to the accident?
| A．He was sad． | B．He acted quickly． |
| C．He panicked． | D．He felt helpless． |
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．The author-s father didn-t have to work that day． |
| B．The author-s father had a narrow escape． |
| C．The school was near where the accident happened． |
| D．The author-s uncle broke the news of her father-s death． |
The author cried because ．
| A．she was grateful that her father had survived |
| B．her father was killed in the accident |
| C．she was sad over the tragedy that day |
| D．her father didn’t meet her after school |
What does the author intend to tell us?
| A．Be prepared for the worst． |
| B．Be brave in disasters． |
| C．Cherish everything that you have． |
| D．Parents are the most important people． |
Bicycles, roller skates and skateboards are dangerous. I still have scars (伤疤) on my knees from my childhood run-ins with various wheeled devices. Admittedly, I was a foolish kid, but I’m glad I didn’t spend my childhood trapped indoors to protect me from any injury.
“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” But parents can’t handle it when teenagers put this theory into practice. And now technology has become the new field for the age-old battle between adults and their freedom-seeking kids.
Locked indoors, unable to get on their bicycles and hang out with their friends, teens have turned to social media and their mobile phones to gossip and socialize with their friends. What they do online often mirrors what they might otherwise do if their mobility weren’t so heavily restricted (限制) in the age of helicopter parenting. Social media and smartphones have become so popular in recent years because teens need a place to call their own. They want the freedom to explore their identity and the world around them. Instead of climbing out of windows, they jump online.
As teens have moved online, parents have projected their fears onto the Internet, imagining all the potential dangers that youth might face.
Rather than helping teens develop strategies (策略) to deal with public life and the potential risks of interacting with others, fearful parents have focused on tracking, monitoring and blocking. These approaches don’t help teens develop the skills they need to manage complex social situations. “Protecting” kids may feel like the right thing to do, but it denies teens the chances of learning as they come of age in a technology-soaked world.
The key to helping youth in the modern digital life isn’t more restrictions. It’s freedom — plus communication. Urban theorist Jane Jacobs used to argue that the safest neighborhoods were those where communities collectively took interest in and paid attention to what happened on the streets. Safety didn’t come from surveillance (监视) cameras or keeping everyone indoors but from a collective willingness to watch out for one another and be present as people struggled. The same is true online.
What makes the digital street safe is when teens and adults collectively agree to open their eyes and pay attention, communicate and work together to deal with difficult situations. Teens need the freedom to wander the digital street, but they also need to know that caring adults are behind them and supporting them wherever they go. The first step is to turn off the tracking software. Then ask your kids what they’re doing when they’re online — and why it’s so important to them.When he was a child, the writer ______.
| A．became disabled |
| B．spent much time outdoor |
| C．always stayed at home |
| D．was ignored by his parents |
Teens go online mainly because ______.
| A．online games mirror real life |
| B．they want to fight against their parents |
| C．online experiences make them strong |
| D．they need a space of their own |
By mentioning “helicopter parenting” (Paragraph 3), the writer means parents ______.
| A．remove any hidden dangers their kids may face |
| B．use helicopters to track their kids |
| C．prevent their kids from going to school |
| D．protect their kids too much |
According to the passage, helicopter parents may make kids ______.
| A．lose the chances of learning |
| B．handle complex social situations well |
| C．adapt to the digital world quickly |
| D．develop strategies to deal with public life |
The main idea of the passage is that ______.
| A．kids should be given freedom to deal with online risks |
| B．safe neighborhoods come from joint efforts of all |
| C．the digital street is a threat to kids’ safety |
| D．kids should be warned against potential dangers in society |
When Jeff Sparkman draws his cartoon superheroes with colored pencils, he often has to ask other people to tell him what color his masked men turned out to be because he's color-blind. Now, a new smart phone application (app) can help him figure out what colors he's using and how the picture looks to most everyone else.
The DanKam app, available for iPhone and Android for $2.99, is an application that turns the vague colors that one percent of the population with color-blindness sees into the "true" colors as everyone else sees them. In America, an estimated 32 million color-blind Americans—95% are males—can soon have their life improved.
“DanKam takes the stream of data coming in through the phone's camera and changes the colors slightly so they fall within the range that people who are color-blind see,”developer Dan Kaminsky told CNET. He came up with the idea after watching the 2009 film Star Trek with a color-blind friend.
It was then that he got to know more about colorblindness like its varying types and degrees. A vast majority, for instance, have trouble seeing red or green due to a genetic defect(遗传缺陷). Blue-yellow colorblindness, however, is rarer and develops later in life because of aging, illness or head injuries, etc. He started experimenting with one of the most common representations of points in the RGB color model. What the DanKam app attempts to do is to clean up the color space of the image or video signal so that colors can be visible to those suffering from viewing problems. “You can adjust the app to fit your needs. There is a range and not everyone who is color-blind sees things the same.” Says Kaminsky.
Sparkman, a copy editor at CNET, tried out the app and was pleased with the results. "It would be useful for dressing for a job interview," he said. But using it for his art is “the most practical application." It worked well on LED and other lights on electronic gadgets, which means Sparkman can now identify the power light on his computer display as green.According to the first two paragraphs, we can know that DanKam ___________.
| A．is designed to help people with colorblindness |
| B．can turn vague colors into real ones |
| C．is a phone used to help drawing pictures |
| D．appeared in the movie Star Trek |
How does DanKam’s app work?
| A．It puts LED and other lights on electronic gadgets. |
| B．It shows common representations of points in the RGB color model |
| C．It checks color-blind people’s types of degrees of colorblindness. |
| D．It changes the colors so that color-blind people can see them. |
It can be inferred from the passage that colorblindness __________.
| A．cannot be cured by any methods |
| B．is not necessarily inborn disease |
| C．is more commonly seen in women |
| D．makes people unable to tell any colors |
The underlined word visible in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to _________.
| A．recognizable | B．enjoyable |
| C．adjustable | D．Portable |
Which of the following is NOT included in the things that DanKam helps Sparkman with?
| A．Choosing clothes. |
| B．Playing computer games |
| C．Drawing his pictures. |
| D．Handling electronic gadgets. |
Regarded as one of the English language's most gifted poets, John Keats wrote poetry that concentrated on imagery, human nature, and philosophy. Although Keats didn't receive much formal literary education, his own studies and passion brought him much success. Additionally, his own life situation influenced his poetry greatly.
Growing up as a young boy in London in a lower, middle-class family, the young John didn't attend a private school, but went to a public one. His teachers and his family's friends regarded him as an optimistic boy who favored playing and fighting much more than minding his studies. After his father's death in the early 1800s, followed by his mother's passing due to tuberculosis (肺结核), he began viewing life differently. He wanted to escape the world and did so by reading anything he could get his hands on.
At around the age of 16, the teenage John Keats began studying under a surgeon so that he too might become a doctor. However, his literary appetite had taken too much of his fancy, especially with his addiction to the poetry of Ehmund Spenser. He was able to have his first full poem published in the Examiner in 1816, entitled O Solitude! If I Must With Thee Dwell. Within two months in 1817, Keats had written an entire volume of poetry, but was sharply criticized by a magazine. However, the negative response didn't stop his pursuit of rhythm.
John Keats' next work was Endymion, which was published in May 1818. The story involves a shepherd who falls in love with the moon goddess and leads him on an adventure of one boy's hope to overcome the limitations of being human. Following Engymion, however, he tried something more narrative-based and wrote Isabella. During this time, John Keats began seeing his limitations in poetry due to his own limit in life experiences. He would have to have the "knowledge" associated with his poems. His next work was Hyperion that would attempt to combine all that he learned. However, a bout (发作) with tuberculosis while visiting Italy would keep him from his work and eventually take his life in 1821.John Keats' attitude towards life changed because of________.
| A．his early education from school |
| B．the criticism of a magazine |
| C．Edmund Spenser's poetry |
| D．the deaths of his parents |
What is the common thing between John Keats and his mother?
| A．They read many books. |
| B．They died of the same disease. |
| C．They had a bad childhood. |
| D．They showed strong interest in poetry. |
What do we know from the passage?
| A．Keats once had a chance of becoming a doctor. |
| B．Keats received little education at school. |
| C．In 1816 Keats spent two months writing a poem. |
| D．Endymion was about a real love story. |
While pursuing his dream of becoming a poet at first, John Keats was________.
| A．knowledgeable | B．experienced |
| C．determined | D．impatient |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．The poem Hyperion wasn't completed by Keats. |
| B．Edmund Spenser was the greatest poet in Keats' time. |
| C．It is likely that Keats rewrote his poem Isabella. |
| D．Keats' family must have been very poor when he was young. |
Before we start a voyage, we usually try to find out more or less definitely where we are bound and how we are supposed to get there.
I happen to have the “Concise Oxford dictionary” on my desk and that will do as well as any other. The word I am looking for appears at the bottom of Page 344. edition 1912.
“Geography: the science of the earth's surface, form, physical features, natural and political divisions, climate, productions and population.”
I could not possibly hope to do better, but I still stress some of the aspects of the case at the expenses of others, because I intend to place man in the centre of the stage. This book of mine will not merely discuss the surface of the earth and its physical features, together with its political and natural boundaries. I would rather call it a study of man in search of food and shelter and leisure for himself and for his family and an attempt to his background or has reshaped his physical surroundings in order to be comfortable and well nourished and happy with his limited strength.
Among the two million human beings in the world, there is of course the widest possible range for all sorts of experiments of an economic and social and cultural nature. It seems me that those experiments deserve our attention before anything else. For a mountain is after all merely a mountain until it has been seen by human eyes and has been walked on by human feet and until its and slopes and valleys have been occupied and fought over and planted by a dozen generation of hungry settlers.
The Atlantic Ocean was just as wide and deep and as wet and salty before the beginning of the 13th century as after, but it took the human touch to make it what it is today—a bridge between the New World and the Old, the highway for the commerce between East and West.
For thousands of years the endless Russian plains lay ready to offer their abundant harvest to whoever should take the trouble to sow the first grain. But the aspect of that country today would he a very different one if the hand of a German or a Frank, rather than that of a Slav, had guided the iron-pointed stick that plowed the first furrows (犁沟).
The island of Nippon would shake and quake just as continually, whether they happened to be settled by Japanese or by the Tasmanian race, but in the latter case they would hardly be able to feed 60,000,000 people.
Generally speaking, I have paid more attention to the purely “human” side of geography than to the commercial problems which are so important in a day and age devoted to mass production.In the first four paragraphs, the author wants to share with the readers ______.
| A．his approach to planning a voyage |
| B．his emphasis on using a dictionary |
| C．his definition of the word “geography” |
| D．his altitude to the earth's physical features |
Which of the following will the author NOT consider to be on experiment according to Paragraph 5?
| A．Exploring a mountain. |
| B．Climbing a mountain. |
| C．Planting on slopes and valleys. |
| D．Becoming hungry. |
Which of the following is implied about the Atlantic Ocean?
| A．It is wide, deep, wet and salty. |
| B．Human touch makes it important. |
| C．There is a bridge over it. |
| D．The highway is busy there. |
The author mentioned the Russian plains and the island of Nippon to show that _____.
| A．they both feed a lot of people |
| B．they enjoy very good natural conditions |
| C．different people may make the same place different |
| D．their natural conditions haven't changed for many years |
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