The world is filled with many interesting sounds. Some are very pleasant to hear; others are unpleasant to our ears. In a day, you probably hear hundre
ds of different sounds.
All sounds are different. Some may be soft; others may be loud. Some sounds are high; others are low.
Some sounds are useful. Without sound we c
annot talk or listen to one another. The ringing alarm clock (闹钟)makes people wake up. The hooting of a horn (喇叭声) on the road warns careless people of danger.
We make sounds by making things move to and fro(来回地). This to-and-fro movement is called vibration (振动). It means moving up and down or forwards(向前地) and backwards(向后的) very fast. This makes sound waves(波).
We can make sounds in many ways, for example, by shouting, clapping our hands and striking the table. We can make sounds only by making things vibrate. We can talk because we can make our vocal cords (声带) vibrate. Our vocal cords are in a sound box or voice box. Two vocal cords vibrate when our lungs(肺) force the air through them. We can make sounds ______.
| A．by making things still |
| B．by making things vibrate |
| C．by making things jump up and down |
| D．by changing the positions of things |
Some sounds are useful because ______.
| A．they can wake people up |
| B．they can warn people to be careful when they are crossing the road |
| C．they make it possible for people to talk or listen to each other |
| D．all of the above |
When the air is through our vocal cords, it can make them ______.
| A．vibrate | B．breathe the air |
| C．talk to each other | D．move forward and backward |
Sounds are different because ______.
| A．different sounds have different vibrations |
| B．different sounds have different sound waves |
| C．different sounds have different vocal cords |
| D．both A and B |
Art museums are places where people can learn about various cultures. The increasingly popular "design museums" that are opening today, however, perform quite a different role. Unlike most art museums, the design museum shows objects that are easily found by the general public These museums sometimes even place things like fridges and washing machines in the center of the hall
Pele have argued that design museums are often made use of as advertisements for new industrial technology. But their role is not simply a matter of sales-it is the honoring of excellently invented products. The difference between the window of a department store and the showcase in a design museum is that the first tries to sell you something, while the second tells you the success of a sale.
One advantage of design museums is that they are places where people feel familiar with the exhihits. Unlike the average art museum visitors, design museum visitors seldom feel frightened or puzzled. This is partly because design museums clearly show how and why mass-produced products work and look as they do, and how design has improved the quality of our lives. Art museum exhibits, on the other hand, would most probably fill visitors with a feeling that there is something between their understanding.
In recent years, several new design museums have opened their door. Each of these museums has tried to satisfy the public’s growing interest in the field with new ideas. London's Design Museum, for example, shows a collection of mass-produced objects from Zippo lighters to electric typewriters to a group of Italian fish-tins. The choices open to design museums seem far less strict than those to art museums, and visitors may also sense the humorous part of our society while walking around such exhibits as interesting and unusually attractive toys collected in our everyday life.Showcases in design museums are different from store windows because they＿．
| A．show more technologically advanced products |
| B．help increase the sales of products |
| C．show why the products have sold well |
| D．attract more people than store windows do |
The author believes that most design museum visitors＿．
| A．do not admire mass-produced products |
| B．are puzzled with technological exhibits |
| C．dislike exhibits in art museums |
| D．know the exhibits very well |
The choices open to design museums＿
A. are not as strict as those to art museums
B, are not aimed to interest the public
C. may fail to bring some pleasure to visitors
D. often contain precious exhibitsThe best title for this passage is“＿”
| A．The Forms of Design Museums |
| B．The Exhibits of Design Museums |
| C．The Nature of Design Museums |
| D．The Choices Open to Design Museums |
Even while in a deep sleep, people can still learn brand new information. Sleepers soak in new associations between smells and sounds, knowledge that lingers(逗留）into the next waking day, researchers report online August 26 in Nature Neuroscience.
The new study is the first to show that entirely new information can get into the sleeping mind, says Anat Arzi of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. "The brain is not passive while you sleep. It's quite active. You can do quite a lot of things while you are asleep."
But the results don't mean that Spanish vocabulary tapes now have a place on the nightstand. L, Researchers have tried but largely failed to find evidence that complicated information, such as new pairs of words, can make its way into the brain during sleep.
Instead of trying to teach people something complicated like a new language, Arzi and her colleagues relied on the sense of smell and hearing. As anyone who has walked by a dumpster（垃圾车）in July knows, smells can cause a nose-jerk reaction. Catching a bad smell automatically makes people inhale(吸气)less, reducing the size of the inhale. But scent of fresh bread causes a long, deep inhale.、rzi and her team took advantage of this reaction for their experiment.
As people slept in the laboratory, the researchers delivered pleasant scent, such as shampoo. As this nice smell got into the sleepers' noses, the researchers played a particular music. Later, a disgusting smell, such as rotten fish or meat, was paired with a different music. Neither the smell nor the sound woke people up. After just four exposures to the smell-music pair during a single night, the sleepers started to automatically respond to the tones without the accompanying smells, taking in bigger breaths when the shampoo-associated tone played and smaller breaths when played the sound linked to the rotten fish smell.
This new learned association lingered into the next waking day, too. Even though the sleepers had no idea they had been exposed to smells or sounds, their behavior proved that their brain had actually learned something during sleep. As before, the shampoo sound stimulated a long, deep inhale, while the rotten fish tone caused more shallow breaths.We can infer from the passage that
| A．while sleeping, we can learn whatever we want to learn |
| B．we will increase the size of inhale if we catch a pleasant smell |
| C．the knowledge we learned while sleeping will be forgotten in the next waken day |
| D．when walking by a bakery, the fresh bread will cause a nose-jerk reaction |
What is Paragraph 3 mainly about?
| A．One can’t acquire complicated knowledge during the sleeping hours. |
| B．Spanish vocabulary tapes now have a place on the nightstand |
| C．Researchers have tried to find evidence that the new words can be learned during sleep. |
| D．Complicated information can make its way into the brain during sleep |
How do Arzi and her team do their research? By
| A．giving instructions | B．analyzing human brains |
| C．following the guides of others | D．doing experiments |
In which part of a website may this passage most likely appear?
| A．Culture. | B．Science. | C．History. | D．Economy. |
Rockwatch一The Best Club on Earth
If you are a young person and interested in geology(地质学），then Rockwatch is the club for you. When you join new memberships receive a Rockwatch Rox file each. This has the information and top tips you will need to start enjoying geology. It’s designed to serve as your own field notebook as well. In it you will find your membership card, full colour nuni-map, thumbs up guide and fact cards.
Rockwatch Magazine: Our lively magazine is mailed to members three times a year. They can read reports and news from around the world, and articles on everything from diamonds to dinosaurs, earthquakes to erosion.
Rockwatch Events: With each magazine you will receive a Rockwatch events calendar. Rocky activities suitable for families are listed and include road shows and guided walks
The Rockwatch Rock Artist:are you an artist, or a photographer? This is your chance to become Rockwatch Rock Artist of the year and win amazing prizes in our annual competition.
Special Offer: Rockwatch members can have specially discounted Wildlife Watch membership. Watch is the big gest environmental action club for young people, with 100 groups across the country. You can join both clubs together by filling in the boxes in the membership form.Rockwatch is a magazine telling about things related to
| A．geology | B．agriculture | C．politics | D．economics |
What activities are specially arranged for Rockwatch member interested in photography?
| A．Guided walks. | B．Rocky activities. |
| C．Yearly competitions. | D．Academic workshops. |
When applying for Wildlife Watch membership, a Rockwatch member can enjoy
| A．free memhership | B．a special discount | C．a Rock Artist prize | D．guided road shows |
You may join both Rockwatch and Wildlife Watch clubs by
| A．calling the two clubs | B．applying separately |
| C．providing references | D．filling in one form |
Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are a major cause of climate change, and now a new study has confirmed that atmospheric CO2 is also affecting the ocean chemistry and potentially harming sea life.
Montana State University scientist Robert Dore has been researching the water in the Pacific Ocean for almost two decades. "We've been going to the same spot in the Pacific Ocean, and we try and characterize long-term change in the open ocean environment. And one of the key things that we measure is COx levels. And We've been able to record this increasing quantity of atmospheric CO, into the ocean. "Scientists expected that as atmospheric CO2 increased, more and一 more of the carbon dioxide would be absorbed into the ocean, affecting the chemical balance of the sea water, with a potentially harmful impact on shellfish and coral in particular.
"As carbon dioxide dissolves in the water, or seawater in this case, it forms a weak acid, carbonic acid," Dore explains. "And therefore, as the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere goes up and that exchanges with the surface seawater, it drives the pH down, and makes it more acidic."
The seawater samples Dow and his colleagues have analyzed confirm what the theory predicts. The effect was particular striking at about 250 meters down, and again at 500 meters. Dore and his colleagues came up with two possible explanations. It could be that surface water picked up CO2 and then moved to those depths. Or there could be a biological explanation.
"It's important to realize that the oceans are really becoming acidic. And it can have negative impacts on a whole variety of sea life from fish to coral. It’s potentially catastrophic."What can be the best title of the passage?
| A．Sea Life Facing Danger | B．Scientist Researching Seawater |
| C．Oceans Becoming More Acidic | D．Climate Change Affecting Seawater |
With the increase of atmospheric C02，＿．
| A．more corals will appear in the sea |
| B．the surface water is becoming warmer |
| C．the chemical balance of the seawater is affected |
| D．the pH of the ocean out here has been increasing |
Which of the following shows the process of the impact of atmospheric C02 on sea life?
a. Sea life is endangered. b. C02 goes into the surface water.
c. The ocean chemistry is affected. d. C02 levels in the atmosphere go up
e. C02 decreases the pH and makes the seawater more acidic.
| A．abcde | B．dbcea | C．aebed | D．edcba |
Scientist Robert Dore came to the conclusion based on＿．
| A．his research and analysis | B．the expectation of other scientists |
| C．some former theory | D．a major cause of climate change |
Many of us dream of having thousands and thousands of dollar to spend on what we desire We can buy lottery tickets, enter contests or spend hours building a business or invest in the stock market. We are sure that when we have plenty of money, we will be happy.
While having some money does have an impact on our level of happiness, having a lot of money does not. It is reported that Americans whose income goes from $20,000 a year to $50,000 a year are more likely to be happy. But beyond $50,000, happiness does not increase as salaries go up. It is because we are never satisfied. Catherine Sanderson, a psychology professor at Amherst College says, "We always think if we just had a little more money, we’d be happier. But when we get there, we are not."
Daniel Gilbert, a psychology professor at Harvard notes,"The more you make, the more you want. The more you have, the less it brings you joy. We incorrectly assume we’Il get more pleasure from more, and we don’t."
The things money can buy don't make you happy either. A lot of research suggests that you won't find the "good life" buying expensive "toys". You finally buy that BMW you've always wanted and it soon loses its appeal. Then, instead of wondering if a new car is what really makes you happy, you decide you just need a different new car. It is an endless cycle.
To really be happy, you need to understand what makes you happy in the first place. One secret of happiness is people. Surveys have found that people need people. Those who have five or more close friends are 50% more likely to describe themselves as "very happy". Good relationships have a far greater effect on happiness than larger salary. Andrew Oswald, an economist at England's University of Warwick says, "B you are looking for happiness in life, find the right husband or wife rather than trying to double your salary."
So invest your time and energy in people. The reward is much bigger in terms of happiness!In Paragraph 1 the author intends to tell us the "belief" that
| A．we are unhappy because we often lack money |
| B．people can buy what they want if they have enough money |
| C．more money will make one's dreams come true |
| D．happiness will result from more money |
Which of the following statements would the author agree to?
| A．Having some money brings happiness to some degree. |
| B．The more money one earns, the sadder one becomes |
| C．Buying expensive things will surely bring pleasure |
| D．We get nothing from buying expensive things we want. |
Why does happiness not increase with pay rises?
| A．Most of us have a psychological problem. |
| B．People are not content with what they get. |
| C．It is human nature to be unhappy. |
| D．Happiness has nothing to do with money. |
In order to find happiness we should
| A．always make new friends | B．take no notice of our salaries |
| C．focus on good relationships | D．invest our money in our friend |
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