Health insurance can be very expensive. Some working people do not make enough money to pay for it. In the US there is a program called Healthy Families. This program offers people health insurance at a low cost.
Families are charged about ￥7.00 a month for every child, and ￥10.00 for every adult. It costs much less than any other kind of health insurance. Having health insurance is very important. With this insurance, people can see a doctor when they are sick or hurt.
The program is not expensive at all, but many people are still not enrolling in it. People say that it still costs too much money. They need all of their money to pay for things like food and rent.
It would be great if everyone could have health insurance. People are working hard to come up with ways to make this happen. One idea is to make the Healthy Families Program free for some people.
It is important for people to see a doctor when they need to. The Healthy Families Program makes it possible for more people to do this. Many ideas are being considered. Hopefully some of them will allow even more families to get health insurance.
The Healthy Families Program is made to help those who don’t have welfare (社会保障金) and cannot earn enough to pay for private health insurance. It is an important program, but officials say that too many people are signing up for it and then dropping out because of the Healthy Families Program’s cost. The aim of the Healthy Families Program is to __________.
| A．help people earn more and pay for the program |
| B．help more families get health insurance |
| C．make it free for people to see a doctor |
| D．help families pay for private health insurance |
If a couple has two children, how much would health insurance cost every month in the family?
| A．￥24. | B．￥28. | C．￥34. | D．￥40. |
Why is it very important for people to have health insurance?
| A．They can afford to see a doctor when they need to. |
| B．They can get special medical care. |
| C．They can see a doctor free of charge. |
| D．They can go to see a doctor as soon as possible. |
In the passage we can learn all of the following EXCEPT that __________.
| A．health insurance is very important for ordinary people |
| B．the program is still too expensive for many people |
| C．people should make more money to pay for private health insurance |
| D．many people don’t make enough money to pay for health insurance |
The passage is mainly about __________.
| A．health insurance at a low cost | B．the benefits of health insurance |
| C．the cost of health insurance | D．the Healthy Families Program |
In the 1950s，a family who owned a farm near Beulah，Michigan kept a bull chained to an elm (榆树)．The bull paced around the tree，dragging the heavy iron chain，which led to a groove (槽) in the bark.The groove deepened over the years，though for whatever reason，it did not kill the tree.
After some years，the family took their bull away.They cut the chain，leaving the loop (圈) around the tree and one link hanging down.
Then one year，agricultural disaster struck Michigan in the form of Dutch Elm Disease.All of the elms lining the road leading to the farm became infected and died.Everyone thought that the old elm would be next.
The farm’s owners considered doing the safe thing：pulling it out and cutting it up into firewood before it died.But they simply could not bring themselves to do it.It was as if the old tree had become a family friend.So they decided to let_nature_take_its_course.
Amazingly，the tree did not die.Nobody could understand why it was the only elm that was still standing in the country!
Plant pathologists(病理学家) from Michigan State University came out to observe the tree.They observed the scar left by the iron chain，now almost completely covered by bark.The plant experts decided that it was the chain that saved the elm’s life.They reasoned that the tree must have absorbed so much iron from the chain that it became immune (免疫) to the fungus (真菌)．
It’s said that what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.Or，as Ernest Hemimgway put it，“Life breaks us all，but afterwards，many of us are strongest at the broken places.”What happened to the elms in Michigan during the agricultural disaster?
| A．The elms were tied by iron chains. |
| B．Some of the elms were cut up into firewood. |
| C．All the elms were infected by a disease and died. |
| D．Nearly all of the elms died of a disease. |
From the passage we can learn that the old elm was saved by________.
| A．the groove in the bark | B．the fungus in the tree |
| C．the iron remaining in it | D．its own immune system |
The underlined sentence “let_nature_take_its_course” means______.
| A．leave the elm at the mercy of nature |
| B．help the elm grow normally |
| C．let nature take the elm away |
| D．have nature give a lesson to the elm |
What is the best title for the text?
| A．Never Lose Heart in Trouble |
| B．Strike While the Iron is Hot |
| C．Brave to Face Failure |
| D．Stronger after Suffering |
Shu Pulong has helped at least l000 people bitted(咬) by snakes. "It was seeing people with snake bites(伤口) that led me to this career" he said.
In l963, after his army service, Shu entered a medical school and later became a doctor of Chinese medicine. As part of his studies he had to work in the mountains. There he often heard of people who had their arms and legs cut off after a snake bite in order to save their lives.
"I was greatly upset by the story of an old farmer I met. It was a very hot afternoon. The old man was pulling grass in his fields when he felt a pain in his left hand. He at once realized he had been bitten by a poisonous snake. In no time wrapped a cloth tightly around his arm to stop the poison spreading to his heart. Rushing home he shouted 'bring me the knife!' Minutes later the man lost his arm forever."
"The sad story touched me so much that I decided to devote myself to helping people bitten by snakes," Shu said.The best headline (标题) fot this newspaper article is ______.
| A．Astonishing Medicine | B．Farmer Loses Arm |
| C．Dangerous Bites | D．Snake Doctor |
The farmer lost his arm because______.
| A．the cloth was wrapped too tightl | B．he cut it off to save his life |
| C．Shu wasn't there to help him | D．he was alone in the fields |
Shu decided to devote himself to snake medicine because______.
| A．he wanted to save people's arms and legs |
| B．he had studied it at a medical school |
| C．he had seen snakes biting people |
| D．his army service had finished. |
Why did Shu go into the mountains?
| A．He wanted to study snake bites. |
| B．He wanted to help the farmers. |
| C．He was being trained to be a doctor. |
| D．He was expected to serve in the army. |
Which of the following words can take the place of the word career in the first paragraph (段) ?
| A．conclusion | B．story | C．incident | D．job |
A German study suggests that people who were too optimistic about their future actually faced greater risk of disability or death within 10 years than those pessimists who expected their future to be worse.
The paper, published this March in Psychology and Aging, examined health and welfare surveys from roughly 40,000 Germans between ages 18 and 96. The surveys were conducted every year from 1993 to 2003.
Survey respondents (受访者) were asked to estimate their present and future life satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10, among other questions.
The researchers found that young adults (age 18 to 39) routinely overestimated their future life satisfaction, while middle-aged adults (age 40 to 64) more accurately predicted how they would feel in the future. Adults of 65 and older, however, were far more likely to underestimate their future life satisfaction. Not only did they feel more satisfied than they thought they would, the older pessimists seemed to suffer a lower ratio (比率) of disability and death for the study period.
“We observed that being too optimistic in predicting a better future than actually observed was associated with a greater risk of disability and a greater risk of death within the following decade,” wrote Frieder R. Lang, a professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.
Lang and his colleagues believed that people who were pessimistic about their future may be more careful about their actions than people who expected a rosy future.
“Seeing a dark future may encourage positive evaluations of the actual self and may contribute to taking improved precautions (预防措施),” the authors wrote.
Surprisingly, compared with those in poor health or who had low incomes, respondents who enjoyed good health or income were associated with expecting a greater decline. Also, the researchers said that higher income was related to a greater risk of disability.
The authors of the study noted that there were limitations to their conclusions. Illness, medical treatment and personal loss could also have driven health outcomes.
However, the researchers said a pattern was clear. “We found that from early to late adulthood, individuals adapt their expectations of future life satisfaction from optimistic, to accurate, to pessimistic,” the authors concluded.According to the study, who made the most accurate prediction of their future life satisfaction?
| A．Optimistic adults. | B．Middle-aged adults. |
| C．Adults in poor health. | D．Adults of lower income. |
Pessimism may be positive in some way because it causes people ______.
| A．to fully enjoy their present life |
| B．to estimate their contribution accurately |
| C．to take measures against potential risks |
| D．to value health more highly than wealth |
How do people of higher income see their future?
| A．They will earn less money. |
| B．They will become pessimistic. |
| C．They will suffer mental illness. |
| D．They will have less time to enjoy life. |
What is the clear conclusion of the study?
| A．Pessimism guarantees chances of survival. |
| B．Good financial condition leads to good health. |
| C．Medical treatment determines health outcomes. |
| D．Expectations of future life satisfaction decline with age. |
The Pacific island nation of Nauru used to be a beautiful place. Now it is an ecological disaster area. Nauru's heartbreaking story could have one good consequence—other countries might learn from its mistakes.
For thousands of years, Polynesian people lived on the remote island of Nauru, far from western civilization. The first European to arrive was John Fearn in 1798. He was the British captain of the Hunter, a whaling ship. He called the island Pleasant Island.
However, because it was very remote, Nauru had little communication with Europeans at first. Then whaling ships and other traders began to visit, bringing guns and alcohol. These elements destroyed the social balance of the twelve family groups on the island. A tenyear civil war started, which reduced the population from 1,400 to 900.
Nauru's real troubles began in 1899 when a British mining company discovered phosphate(磷酸盐) on the island. In fact, it found that the island of Nauru was nearly all phosphate, which is a very important fertilizer for farming. The company began mining the phosphate.
A phosphate mine is not a hole in the ground; it is a stripmine. When a company stripmines, it removes the top layer of soil. Then it takes away the material it wants. Stripmining totally destroys the land. Gradually, the lovely island of Nauru started to look like the moon.
In 1968, Nauru became one of the richest countries in the world. Every year the government received millions and millions of dollars for its phosphate.
Unfortunately, the leaders invested the money unwisely and lost millions of dollars. In addition, they used millions more dollars for personal expenses. Soon people realized that they had a terrible problem—their phosphate was running out. Ninety percent of their island was destroyed and they had nothing. By 2000, Nauru was almost financially ruined. Experts say that it would take approximately $433,600,000 and more than 20 years to repair the island. This will probably never happen.What might be the author's purpose in writing the text?
| A．To seek help for Nauru's problems. |
| B．To give a warning to other countries. |
| C．To show the importance of money. |
| D．To tell a heartbreaking story of a war. |
What was Nauru like before the Europeans came?
| A．Rich and powerful. |
| B．Modern and open. |
| C．Peaceful and attractive. |
| D．Greedy and aggressive. |
The ecological disaster in Nauru resulted from ________.
| A．soil pollution |
| B．phosphate overmining |
| C．farming activity |
| D．whale hunting |
Which of the following was a cause of Nauru's financial problem?
| A．Its leaders misused the money. |
| B．It spent too much repairing the island. |
| C．Its phosphate mining cost much money. |
| D．It lost millions of dollars in the civil war. |
What can we learn about Nauru from the last paragraph?
| A．The ecological damage is difficult to repair. |
| B．The leaders will take the experts' words seriously. |
| C．The island was abandoned by the Nauruans. |
| D．The phosphate mines were destroyed. |
Something in chocolate could be used to stop coughs and lead to more effective medicines, say UK researchers.
Their study found that theobromine, found in cocoa, was nearly a third more effective in stopping coughs than codeine, which was considered the best cough medicine at present.
The Imperial College London researchers who published their results online said the discovery could lead to more effective cough treatment. “While coughing is not necessarily harmful(有害的) it can have a major effect on the quality of life, and this discovery could be a huge step forward in treating this problem,” said Professor Peter Barnes.
Ten healthy volunteers(志愿者) were given theobromine, codeine or placebo, a pill that contains no medicine, during the experiment. Neither the volunteers nor the researchers knew who received which pill. The researchers then measured levels of capsaicin, which is used in research to cause coughing and as a sign of how well the medicine are stopping coughs.
The team found that, when the volunteers were given theobromine, the capsaicin need to produce a cough was around a third higher than in the placebo group. When they were given codeine they need only slightly higher levers of capsaicin to cause a cough compared with the placebo.
The researchers said that theobromine worked by keeping down a verve activity(神经活动), which cause coughing. They also found that unlike some standard cough treatments, theobromine caused no side effects such as sleepiness.According to Professor Barnes, theobromine ______.
| A．cannot be as effective as codeine |
| B．can be harmful to people’s health |
| C．cannot be separated from chocolate |
| D．can be a more effective cure for coughs |
What was used in the experiment to cause coughing?
| A．Theobromine. | B．Codeine. | C．Capsaicin. | D．Placebo. |
We learn from the text that volunteers in the experiment _____.
| A．were patients with bad coughs |
| B．were divided into the three groups |
| C．received standard treatments |
| D．suffered little side effects |
Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
| A．Codeine: A New Medicine | B．Chocolate May Cure Coughs |
| C．Cough Treatment: A Hard Case | D．Theobromine Can Cause Coughs |
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