About ten men in every hundred suffer from color blindness in some way. Women are luckier，only about one in two hundred is affected in this matter. Perhaps, after all, it is safer to be driven by a woman.
There are different forms of color blindness. In some cases a man may not be able to see deep red. He may think that red, orange and yellow are all shades of green. Sometimes a person cannot tell the difference between blue and green. In rare cases an unlucky man see everything in shades of green—a strange world indeed.
Color blindness in human beings is a strange thing to explain. In a single eye there are millions of very small things called "cones". These help us to see in a bright and tell difference between colors. There are also millions of "rods ", but these are used for seeing when it is nearly dark. They show us shape but no color. Some insects have favorite colors. Mosquitoes(蚊子) like blue but do not like yellow. A red light will not attract insects, but a blue lamp will. In a similar way human being also have favorite colors. Yet we are lucky. With the aid of the cones in our eyes we can see many beautiful colors by day, and with the aid of the rods we can see shapes at night, One day we may even learn more about the invisible colors around us.According to the passage, with the help of the "cones", we can
| A．tell different colours | B．see in a weak light |
| C．tell different shapes | D．tell orange from yellow |
Why do some people say it is safer to be driven by women?
| A．Women are more careful. |
| B．There are fewer color-blind women. |
| C．Women are fonder of driving than men. |
| D．Women are weaker but quicker in thinking. |
Which of the statements about the color-blind is true?
| A．Not all of them have the same problem in recognizing colors. |
| B．None of them can see deep red. |
| C．None of them can tell the difference between blue and green. |
| D．All of them see everything in shades of green. |
We can attract and kill mosquitoes by using a
| A．red light | B．yellow light |
| C．blue light | D．green light |
I have this old clock that belonged to my mom. My dad gave it to me years ago after mom passed away.
I have mixed feelings about having the clock. I love it because it was my mom’s, but it also holds some bad memories.
You see, it chimes. It counts out the hour and rings once on the half hour. Or at least it used to. Now you never know what number it will ring.
When my mother was at home dying from cancer, she asked for the clock to be unplugged. Hearing the hours count down really angered and frightened her.
Mom passed away. I decided I wanted to get the clock fixed so I could remember the good hours we had with her.
I took it to a local clock shop the other day.
“I know this has no particular value as a clock, but it was my mom’s and I need to get it fixed,” I said to the shop owner.
I went on to describe the problem.
“We get a lot of these in,” he told me. “Here’s what I do. We remove the clock works (机件) and replace it with a battery-operated movement (机芯) that chimes electronically,” he told me.
“You can’t fix this?”
“No, we don’t have the time nor the parts.”
I thanked him and went home. I called a few other places and was told the same thing.
“How incredibly sad,” I told the last one disappointedly.
How incredibly sad that we have become a society that replaces craftsmanship with convenience and easy fixes. We copy the original instead of creating something new. We duplicate (复制); we don’t originate (发明).
Sadly, the same goes for our attitude to life itself.
Each of us is an original, one of a kind. But we find it so much easier to copy another style than to develop our own.
We are wannabes (崇拜别人的人) rather than hey-world-look-at-mes.
We fail to see the real value in who we are, so we spend our lives trying to be someone else. Why did the author decide to get the clock fixed?
| A．Because it was a really old and valuable clock. |
| B．Because it was the only thing that her mother had left her. |
| C．Because it brought her memories of being with her mother. |
| D．Because it left the author with mixed feelings. |
What did the clock shop owners tell the author?
| A．The parts that the clock needed were electronic. |
| B．It would cost a lot to repair the clock. |
| C．They had never repaired a clock like this before. |
| D．They could only make the clock electronic. |
The author intends to ________.
| A．criticize the irresponsible clock shop owners |
| B．criticize people who do not value things with a history |
| C．criticize people who do not have a creative attitude toward life |
| D．criticize people’s ignorance of traditional craftsmanship |
Brownie and Spotty were neighbor dogs who met every day to play together. Like pairs of dogs you can find in any neighborhood, these two loved each other and played together so often that they had worn a path through the grass of the field between their houses.
One evening, Brownie’s family noticed that Brownie hadn’t returned home. They went looking for him with no success. Brownie didn’t show up the next day, and, although they made their efforts to find him, by the next week he was still missing, Curiously, Spotty showed up at Brownie’s house alone, barking and jumping. Busy with their own lives, they paid no attention to the nervous little neighbor dog.
Finally, one morning Spotty refused to take “no” for an answer. Ted, Brownie’s owner, was continuously disturbed by the angry, determined little dog. Spotty followed Ted about, barking all the time, then rushing toward a nearby empty lot and back, as if to say, “Follow me! It’s urgent!”
Eventually, Ted followed Spotty across the empty lot as Spotty stopped to race back and barked encouragingly. The little dog led the man to a deserted spot a half mile from the house. There Ted found his beloved Brownie alive, one of his legs crushed in a steel trap (圈套). Frightened, Ted now wished he had taken Spotty’s earlier appeals seriously.
Then Ted noticed something. Spotty had done something else besides leading Brownie’s human owner to his trapped friend. In a circle around the injured dog, Ted found some food remains of every meal. Brownie had been fed that week! Spotty had been visiting Brownie regularly, in the hope of keeping his friend alive. Spotty had actually stayed with Brownie to protect him from hunger and other dangers, and keep his spirits up.
Brownie’s leg was carefully treated and he soon got well again. For many years thereafter the two families watched the faithful friends chasing each other down that well-worn path between their houses.At the very beginning, Ted paid little attention to Spotty because __________.
| A．he was not free at the moment |
| B．he was sure Brownie would be OK |
| C．he didn’t like Spotty at all |
| D．his missing dog made him sad |
After Ted was brought where Brownie was trapped, he ___________.
| A．managed to free his dog at once |
| B．was very thankful to Spotty |
| C．regretted not following Spotty earlier |
| D．was angry with the trap-maker |
The BEST title for this passage might be____________?
| A．Dogs in Love | B．A Friend in Need |
| C．Human and dogs | D．Dogs Are Communicative |
We can infer from the passage that ___________.
| A．humans and animals depend on each other for comfort |
| B．It’s not right to hunt for animals in any neighborhood |
| C．Ted has to take better care of his beloved dog later on |
| D．Brownie would have died without Spotty’s timely help |
About this time every year, I get very nostalgic(怀旧的). Walking through my neighborhood on a fall afternoon reminds me of a time not too long ago when sounds of children filled the air, children playing games on a hill, and throwing leaves around in the street below. I was one of those children, carefree and happy. I live on a street that is only one block long. I have lived on the same street for sixteen years. I love my street. One side has six houses on it, and the other has only two houses, with a small hill in the middle and a huge cottonwood tree on one end. When I think of home, I think of my street. Only I see it as it was before. Unfortunately things change. One day, not long ago, I looked around and saw how different everything has become. Life on my street will never be the same because neighbors are quickly grown old, friends are growing up and leaving, and the city is planning to destroy my precious hill and sell the property to contractors.
It is hard for me to accept that many of my wonderful neighbors are growing old and won’t be around much longer. I have fond memories of the couple across the street, who sat together on their porch swing almost every evening, the widow next door who yelled at my brother and me for being too loud, and the crazy old man in a black suit who drove an old car. In contrast to those people, the people I see today are very old neighbors who have seen better days. The man in the black suit says he wants to die, and another neighbor just sold his house and moved into a nursing home. The lady who used to yell at us is too tired to bother any more, and the couple across the street rarely go out to their front porch these days. It is difficult to watch these precious people as they near the end of their lives because at once I thought they would live forever.
The “comings and goings” of the younger generation of my street are now mostly “goings” as friends and peers move on. Once upon a time, my life and the lives of my peers revolved around home. The boundary of our world was the gutter at the end of the street. We got pleasure from playing night games or from a breathtaking ride on a tricycle. Things are different now, as my friends become adults and move on. Children who rode tricycles now drive cars. The kids who once played with me now have new interests and values as they go their separate ways. Some have gone away to college like me, a few got married, two went into the army, and one went to prison. Watching all these people grow up and go away makes me long for the good old days.
Perhaps the biggest change on my street is the fact that the city is going to turn my precious hill into several lots for new homes. For sixteen years, the view out of my kitchen window has been a view of that hill. The hill was a fundamental part of my childhood life; it was the hub of social activity for the children of my street. We spent hours there building forts, sledding, and playing tag. The view out of my kitchen window now is very different; it is one of tractors and dump trucks tearing up the hill. When the hill goes, the neighborhood will not be the same. It is a piece of my childhood. It is a visual reminder of being a kid. Without the hill, my street will be just another pea in the pod.
There was a time when my street was my world, and I thought my world would never change. But something happened. People grow up, and people grow old. Places changes, and with the change comes the heartache of knowing I can never go back to the times I loved. In a year or so, I will be gone just like many of my neighbors. I will always look back to my years as a child, but the place I remember will not be the silent street whose peace is interrupted by the sounds of construction. It will be the happy, noisy, somewhat strange, but wonderful street I knew as a child.The writer calls up the memory of the street _____________.
| A．every year when autumn comes |
| B．in the afternoon every day |
| C．every time he walks along his street |
| D．now that he is an old man |
The writer finds it hard to accept the fact that _____________.
| A．many of his good neighbors are growing old |
| B．the lady next door who used to yell at him and his brother is now a widow |
| C．the life of his neighbors has become very boring |
| D．the man in his black suit even wanted to end his own life |
The writer thinks of the past all the more when he sees those who had grown up with him _____________.
| A．continue to consider home to be the center of their lives |
| B．leave the neighborhood they grew up in |
| C．still enjoy playing card games in the evenings |
| D．develop new interests and have new dreams |
The biggest change on the writer's street is _____________.
| A．removing the hill to make way for residential development |
| B．the building of new homes behind his kitchen window |
| C．the fact that there are much fewer people around than in the past |
| D．the change in his childhood friends' attitude towards their neighborhood |
What does the writer mean by saying “my street will be another pea in the pod”?
| A．his street will be very noisy and dirty |
| B．his street will soon be crowded with people |
| C．his street will have some new attractions |
| D．his street will be no different from any other street |
Which could be a good title for the passage?
| A．The Past of My Street will Live Forever |
| B．Unforgettable People and Things of My Street |
| C．Memory Street Isn’t What It Used to Be |
| D．The Big Changes of My Street |
If you look for a book as a present for a child，you will be spoiled for choice even in a year there is no new Harry Potter． J．K Rowling’s wizard is not alone．The past decade has been a harvest for good children’s books, which has set off a large quantity of films and an increased sales of classics such as The Lord of the Rings．
Yet despite that, reading is increasingly unpopular among children．According to statistics in 1997, 23% said they didn’t like reading at all．In 2003, 35% didn’t．And around 6% of the children leave primary school each year unable to read properly．
Maybe the decline is caused by the increasing availability of computes games．Maybe the books boom has affected only the top of the educational pile．Either way, Chancellor Cordon Brown plans to change things for the bottom of the class．In his pre-budget report, he announced the national project of Reading Recovery to help the children struggling most．
Reading Recovery is aimed at six year olds, who receive four months of individual daily half-hour classes with a specially trained teacher．An evaluation this year reported that children on the school made 20 months’ progress in just one year, whereas similarly weak readers without special help made just five months’ progress ,and so ended the year even further below the level expected for their age．
International research tends to find that when British children leave primary school, they read well, but read text often for fun than those elsewhere．Reading for fun matters because children who are keen on reading can report lifelong pleasure and loving books is an excellent indicator of future educational success．According to the OECD, being a regular and enthusiastic reader is of great advantage．Which of the following is true of Paragraph 1?
| A．Many children’s books have been adapted from films． |
| B．Many high-quality children’s books have been published． |
| C．The sales of classics have led to the popularity of films． |
| D．The sales of presents for children have increased． |
Statistics suggested that____________．
| A．the number of top students increased with the use of computers |
| B．a decreasing number of children showed interest in reading |
| C．a minority of primary school children read properly |
| D．a huge percentage of children read regularly |
What do we know about Reading Recovery?
| A．An evaluation of it will be made sometime this year． |
| B．Weak readers on the project were the most hardworking． |
| C．It aims to train special teachers to help children with reading． |
| D．Children on the project showed noticeable progress in reading． |
Reading for fun is important because book-loving children _________．
| A．take greater advantage of the project |
| B．show the potential to enjoy a long life |
| C．are likely to succeed in their education． |
| D．would make excellent future researchers |
The aim of this text would probably be _________．
| A．to overcome primary school pupils reading difficulty． |
| B．to encourage the publication of more children’s books |
| C．to remind children of the importance of reading for fun |
| D．to introduce a way to improve early children reading |
Below is some advice on how to prevent cancer:
8 Ways to Avoid Cancer in Your Life
1. Eat Blueberries
Aside from being a healthy and delicious snack, blueberries contain pterostilbene, which has important colon（结肠） cancer-fighting prosperities. But wait, it gets better. Blueberries also offer a large dose of vitamins C (14 milligrams per cup). So at breakfast, try to take in a cup and a half of blueberries in your cereal or yogurt, or mixed with other berries.
2. Drink Pomegranate（石榴）Juice
The deep red juice of the pomegranate contains polyphenols, isoflavones and ellagic acid, which together create a powerful anticancer mixture. Most recently, researchers from the University of Wisconsin at Madison has discovered that 16 ounces of pomegranate juice per day also may inhibit the growth of lung cancer.
3. Relax
Feeling stressed or worried? Find ways to relax and you may reduce your chances of developing cancer. Purdue University researchers tracked 1,600 men over 12 years and found that half of those with high levels of worry died during the study period. Only 20 percent of the optimists died before the study were completed, while 34 percent of the extremely anxious men died of some type of cancer. Instead of stressing about the past or future, focus on the present and relax!
4. Take Selenium（硒）
Selenium is well known for its cancer-fighting properties. In a study of almost 1,000 men, researchers from the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that when men with the lowest initial levels of selenium in their bodies received a daily supplement over a 4 year period, they cut their prostate（前列腺） cancer risk by a remarkable 92 percent. However, it is possible to get too much of a good thing, so monitor your intake of selenium-containing supplements, Brazil nuts, tuna, meats and grains carefully.
5. Eat Sushi（寿司）
Seaweed may not be your idea of a great snack, but it is high in fiber, calcium and iron, and dry, roasted seaweed sheets used in sushi provide the additional benefits of vitamins A and C. Sushi rolls are also high in protein— a typical spicy tuna roll has only 290 calories but packs 24 grams of protein. So don’t skimp（节省）on the Sushi!
6. Enjoy the Outdoors
Vitamin D causes early death of cancer cells. A study published in the American Journey of Clinical Nutrition reported that women who supplemented their diets with 1,000 international. Units of vitamin D every day had a 60 percent to 77 percent lower incidence of cancer ever a four-year period that did women taking a placebo(无效对照剂). Experts recommend supplementing your fun in the sun with 1,100 to 2,000IU of vitamin D each day.
7. Breathe Clean Air
There’s no question that secondhand smoke kills. A recent American Journal of Public Health study showed that nonsmokers working in smoky places had three times the amount of carcinogen（致癌物质） in their urine（尿） than nonsmokers working in smoke-free locations. What’s worse, their levels of the carcinogen rose 6 percent for every hour worked. Nine states have banned smoking in all workplaces, bars and restaurants. The message is clear: Do whatever you can to avoid the cloud of smoke.
8. Break a Sweat
Even a small amount of exercise can offer major cancer-fighting benefits. In a study of 29,110 men published in the International Journal of Cancer, men who exercised just once a week had a percent lower risk of metastasis(转移性) prostate cancer than men who didn’t work out at all. The better the frequency, duration and intensity of the exercise, the bigger the reduction in risk, according to the study. To prevent yourself from catching colon cancer, you should eat ____ as often as possible.
| A．sushi | B．blueberries | C．pomegranates | D．Vitamin D |
A person is very likely to catch some type of cancer if ______.
| A．he is very fond of exercise every day. |
| B．he is addicted to smoking |
| C．he is always feeling extremely stressed or worried |
| D．he likes to have meals in restaurants |
_____ will remarkably reduce the risk of men’s prostate cancer.
| A．Having a daily supplement of selenium |
| B．Drinking a cup of pomegranate juice every day |
| C．Breathing fresh air now and then |
| D．Taking exercise at least once a week |
If you want to keep cancer away, it is particularly important to ______.
| A．have a daily supplement of vitamins B and C |
| B．try to ignore the secondhand smoking |
| C．take in as many selenium-containing supplements as possible |
| D．having exercise as often as possible |
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