The time of year a baby is born can shape what profession they will embark on (从事) in later life, a new study has suggested. Being born in a certain month appears to indicate the statistical likelihood of what job a person will end up with, the study by the Office for National Statistics found. Researchers have uncovered that the month in which babies are born could also affect everything from intelligence to length of life.
A child born December is more likely to become a dentist while someone whose birthday falls in January will tend to a debt collector, they found. A February birth appears to increase the chances of being an artist while March babies appear to go on to become pilots. Meanwhile, April and May are said to have a fairly even spread of professions, births in the summer months mean a much lower chance of becoming a high-earning football player, doctor or dentist.
The study was derived (推导出) by researchers who analyzed the birth months of people in 19 separate occupations using information from the last census, the Daily Mail reported. Although these trends may be difficult to explain, correlations (关联) between birth months and specific health problems have a scientific basis. Spring babies are at greater risks of illnesses including schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, asthma and autism. They may also be less clever than classmates born in other parts of the year.What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．The year when a baby is born may not be associated with the job he or she will end up with. |
| B．Researchers have found the birth month could affect both intelligence and length of life. |
| C．The birth time can give signs of future development of what professions people will start. |
| D．The study indicates there are correlations between birth months and some terrible risks. |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．A child born in December is more likely to become an artist while someone born in January will tend to be a dentist. |
| B．A February birth appears to have the possibilities of being an artist while March babies appear to become pilots. |
| C．Children born in April and May are said to have equally balanced chances in their future professions. |
| D．Births in the summer months mean they have few chances to earn a lot of money as a football player, doctor or dentist. |
What do the researchers also study besides the analyses of the trends between birth months and professions?
| A．Some serious diseases from births of many children. |
| B．A lot of mental illnesses caused by giving birth to children. |
| C．The secret of births and healthy problems. |
| D．The relationship between birth months and certain health problems. |
阅读理解（共5小题）
A month after Hurricane Katrina，I returned home in New Orleans．There lay my house，reduced to waist-high rains，smelly and dirty．Before the trip，I’d had my car fixed．When the office employee of the garage was writing up the bill．she noticed my Louisiana license plate．“You from New Orleans? ”she asked．I said l was，
“No charge．”She said，and firmly shook her head when I reached for my wallet．The next day I went for a haircut，and the same thing happened．
As my wife was studying in Florid，we decided to move there and tried to find a rental house that we could afford while also paying off a mortgage（抵押贷款）on our ruined house．We looked at many places，but none was satisfactory．We’d begun to accept that we’d have to live in extremely reduced circumstances for a while，when I got a very curious e-mail from a James Kennedy in California．He’d read some pieces I’d written about our sufferings for State，an online magazine and wanted to give us (“no conditions attached”)a new house across the lake from New Orleans．It sounded too good to be true，but I replied，thanking him for his exceptional generosity，that we had no plans to go back．Then a poet of the University of Florida offered to let his house to me while he went to England on his one-year-paid leave．The rent was rather reasonable．Imentioned the poet’s offer to James Kennedy，and the next day he sent a check covering our entire rent for eight months．
Throughout this painful experience，the kindness of strangers backs my faith in humanity．It’s almost worth losing you worldly possessions to be reminded that people really want to be kind when given a channel．Which one shows the right time order？
①James Kennedy sent us a check
②A poet offered his house to us
③Our home was reduced to ruins
④The garage employee charged us nothing
⑤We came back to New Orleans
| A．④③⑤①② | B．③④⑤②① |
| C．④③⑤②① | D．③④⑤①② |
What do you know about James Kennedy?
| A．He was a friend of the writer |
| B．He offered the writer a house in California |
| C．He worked for an online magazine |
| D．He was concerned about the writer’s sufferings |
It can be inferred from the passage that________．
| A．The mortgage on the ruined house didn’t need to be paid off |
| B．The house rents in New Orleans were reasonable after the hurricane |
| C．The writer rebuilt his faith in humanity by losing his worldly possessions |
| D．The writer made it through the painful period with people's kindness |
How is the passage developed?
| A．By showing contrasting facts |
| B．By making classification |
| C．By giving examples |
| D．By analyzing causes and effects |
The World Health Organization says there has been a sharp increase in the number of over-weight children in developing countries．In African countries, the WHO says the number of over-weight or obese children is twice as high as it was 20 years ago．Around the world, about 43 million children under the age of five were overweight in 2013．
Overweight and obese children are more likely to become overweight and obese adults．The condition can generate serious health problems like heart diseases．
Francesco Branca is the director of the WHO Department of Nutrition for Health and Development．He says urban lifestyle makes people eat processed food more often, which has a high sugar, fat and salt content．He also says people are gaining weight because of their lack of activities．They travel in cars or other vehicles more than on foot．
The WHO experts say to lower obesity rates is especially complex in countries that also deal with high rates of infectious diseases．
The WHO has some basic solutions for individuals and countries．The organization says you should lower your intake of fat, sugar, salt and processed food and eat more fruits, vegetables and increase physical activity．The WHO says these actions are especially important for children．
And WHO expert Branca says mothers should breastfeed their babies for at least the first six months of life, if possible．More importantly, governments should consider providing vitamins for children and educational campaigns about problems linked to obesity would also help．In his view, government policies should deal with how food is marketed to children and food producers must balance quality and taste with the dangers of sugar, fat and salt．"Reducing the number of overweight children will not be easy．The goal is difficult to meet even in wealthy countries．" he adds．What is the main idea of Paragraph l?
| A．Overweight children in developing countries have increased greatly． |
| B．Children in developing countries generally weigh too much． |
| C．The number of overweight children in the world has doubled． |
| D．The World Health Organization has increased greatly． |
According to Branca, people are becoming overweight because of their changes in_______
| A．school education |
| B．transportation |
| C．physical condition |
| D．lifestyles |
The underlined word “generate” in Paragraph 2 probably means ______．
| A．cure |
| B．cause |
| C．worsen |
| D．prevent |
We can learn from the last paragraph that ______．
| A．babies breastfed aren’t likely to become overweight |
| B．food producers should be stopped from marketing, food to children |
| C．governments should play a necessary role in fighting obesity |
| D．the number of overweight children decreases easily in wealthy countries |
“Old wives tales” are beliefs passed down from one generation to another, For example, most of us remember our parents’ telling us to eat more of certain foods or not to do certain things．Is there any truth in these teachings? Some of them agree with present medical thinking, but others have not passed the test of time．
Did your mother ever tell you to eat your carrots because they are good for your eyes? Scientists now report that eating carrots can help prevent a serious eye disease called macular degeneration．Eating just one carrot a day can reduce the possibility of getting this disease by 40%．Garlic is good for you, too．It can kill the type of virus that causes colds．
Unfortunately, not all of Mom’ s advice passed the test of medical studies, For example, generations of children have been told not to go swimming within an hour after eating．But research suggests that there is no danger in doing so．Do sweets cause tooth problems? Well, yes and no．Sticky sweets made with grains tend to cause more problems than sweets made with simple sugars．
Even though science can tell us that some of our traditional beliefs don’t hold water, there is still a lot of truth in the old wives’ tales．After all, much of this knowledge has been accumulated from thousands of years of experience in family health care．We should respect this body of knowledge even as we search for clear scientific support to prove it true or false．Which of the following is TRUE according to the test?
| A．Eating garlic is good for our eye |
| B．Carrots prevent people from catching colds． |
| C．Swimming after a meal is dangerous． |
| D．Sticky sweets are damaging to our teeth． |
The author develops the third paragraph mainly________．
| A．by cause and effect |
| B．by order in space |
| C．by examples |
| D．by order in time |
The phrase “hold water” in the last paragraph most probably means”_____”．
| A．to be suitable |
| B．to be valuable |
| C．to be admirable |
| D．to be believable |
What’s the author’s attitude towards “old wives’ tales” in the text?
| A．objective |
| B．subjective |
| C．dissatisfied |
| D．curious |
Editor Henry Slocum，
I read your May 10th article in the local newspaper Honesdale Times about electronic books，or e-books，with great interest．You made several good points about the disadvantages of e-books．You may have overlooked，however，some of the ways in which they are superior to traditional books．Yes，e-books are expensive，but they are also convenient．In addition，due to their environment-friendly nature, e-books have the potential to change our planet for the better．
E-books, for anyone who is unfamiliar with the term，are about the same size and shape as regular books．They have a large screen in the middle，however．This screen shows the reader a page of text that has been downloaded from a computer．Once the reader has finished reading the page on the e-book screen．he or she scrolls down to see a new page．The process continues until the entire book has been read．
As you pointed out．Mr．Slocum，it's great to lie on a warm，sandy beach with a book．You can do that just as easily with an e-book as you can with a traditional paper book．In fact，because e-books are so light, you can carry them anywhere．Say，for example，that you like to read on the bus．Which would you rather carry with you-a heavy 800-page novel，or an e-book that weighs only a few ounces?
Another important advantage is offered by e-books as well．They are more environmentfriendly than traditional books．At present，thousands of trees are cut down each year to meet the publishing industry’s demand for paper．Books that don’t sell are eventually returned to the Dublisher and destroyed．This terrible waste could be avoided if everyone used e-books，which require no paper．
Sincerely，
David Eng
What does Editor Henry Slocum think about e-books?
| A．Interesting |
| B．Environment-friendly |
| C．Convenient |
| D．Expensive． |
In David’s letter, he thinks that______
| A．E-books will come down in price |
| B．E-books do little harm to the environment |
| C．E-books come in various sizes and shapes |
| D．E-books are no better than traditional books |
The main purpose of the letter is to______
| A．provide evidence that e-books are a good idea |
| B．honor the person who invented e-books |
| C．scold publishers for wasting so much paper |
| D．explain how to read e-books |
阅读下列短文,选出最佳选项。 Three-year-old Teddy Lasry was sleeping in his cowboy outfit (套装) yesterday at his family’s Fifth Ave．apartment when he shot up in bed screaming．A 3-foot-long black-and-white snake twisted around his left arm and had just bitten his little finger．
“The babysitter (a person taking care of children while their parents are away for a short time) was frightened to death,” said Teddy’s father, David Lasry, who, along with his wife, Evelyn, was at work when the snake appeared about 4:00 pm．
The horrified babysitter called 911 and the building’s doorman．The doorman and two cable TV workers helped take the snake off the boy’s arm and put it in a garbage bag．Police rushed Teddy to Mount Sinai Medical Center, where he spent two hours attached to a heart monitor as a precaution in case the snake was poisonous．It wasn’t．Experts at the snakebite treatment center at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, where policemen took the snake, found out it was a non-poisonous California king snake．
But how did it end up in Teddy’s bed?
A little detective work determined that the snake had escaped two weeks ago from its cage in the apartment of a doctor whose family lives four floors below the Lasrys．The apologetic owner said his son’s pet snake likely traveled up the water pipes and into his neighbor’s apartment．“It’s a very gentle, very harmless snake,” he said．“It’s handled by our family all the time．”
David Lasry believed the pet was simply hungry after two weeks of wandering．Evelyn said her son seems to have overcome his fright by thinking of himself as a hero cowboy as he rode in the back of the police car to the hospital．
“I told Teddy he’s a pretty snake, a nice pet snake who got out of his cage,” Evelyn said．“But he asked, ‘Why did he bite my finger, Mamma?’ And I said, ‘Because he saw that you are a big boy, Teddy, in your cowboy outfit and he got scared．’”
What did the babysitter do after Teddy was bitten by a snake?
| A．She ran out of the apartment． |
| B．She called the TV company． |
| C．She made an emergency call． |
| D．She took the snake off Teddy’s arm． |
We can learn from the passage that the snake _______．
| A．was poisonous |
| B．was kept in a cage by its owner |
| C．was deserted by its owner |
| D．escaped to the apartment |
From the passage, we know _______．
| A．Teddy needed a heart machine to stay alive for two hours |
| B．Teddy was awake when the snake arrived |
| C．Teddy’s mother was at home when the snake turned up |
| D．the snake was used to being touched |
Teddy probably believed he was attacked because _______．
| A．his parents weren’t at home |
| B．he was asleep the snake |
| C．was scared of him |
| D．the snake was hungry |
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