There is an English saying :“laughter is best medicine .”Until recently ,few people took the saying seriously .Now however ,doctors have begun to look into laughter and the effects it has on the human body .They have found that laughter really can improve people’s health .
Tests were carried out to study the effects of laughter on the body .People watched funny films while doctors checked their hearts ,blood pressure ,breathing and muscles .It was found that laughter had similar effects to physical exercise .It increases blood pressure ,the heart beating and breathing ; it also works several groups of muscles in the face ,the stomach ,and even the feet .If laughter exercises the body ,it must be beneficial .
Other tests have shown that laughter appears to be able to reduce the effect of pain on the body .In one experiment doctors produced pain in groups of students who listened to different radio programmes .The group that tolerated(忍耐)the pain for the longest time was the groups which listened to a funny programme .The reason why laughter can reduce pain seems to be that it helps to produce a kind of chemicals in the brain which diminish both stress and pain .
As a result of these discoveries ,some doctors in the United States now hold laughter clinics ,in which they help to improve their patients’ condition by encouraging them to laugh .They have found that even if their patients do not really feel like laughing ,making them smile is enough to produce beneficial effects similar to those caused by laughter .Doctors have proved the following EXCEPT that .
| A．smiling does good to health |
| B．laughter can be tolerated |
| C．there is a way to reduce pain |
| D．laughter can work the muscles in the feet |
The main idea of the passage is .
A. laughter and physical exercise have similar effects on the human body
B smile can produce the same effects as laughter
C. pain can be reduced by laughter
D. laughter is the best medicine The students who tolerated the pain for the longest time .
| A．listened to different radio programmes |
| B．could produce a kind of chemical |
| C．don’t have stress of pain |
| D．listened to a funny programme |
The underlined word “diminish” is similar to .
| A．test | B．stop | C．reduce | D．increase |
Doctors hold laughter clinics _________.
| A．to give better condition to their patients |
| B．in order to improve patients’ health |
| C．to make patients smile |
| D．to prove smile and laughter have the same effect |
American author Mark Twain once noted that “life would be surely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18.” Twain’s words were only one of many complaints about aging. The ancient Greek poet Homer called old age “hateful”, and William Shakespeare termed it “terrible winter”.
Alexander the Great, who conquered most of the known world before he died around 323 B.C., may have been looking for a river that healed the ravages of age. During the 12th century A.D., a king called Prester John ruled a land that had a river of gold and a fountain of youth.
But the name linked most closely to the search for a fountain of youth is 16th-century Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon. He thought it would be found in Florida. In St. Augustine, the oldest city in the U.S., there’s a tourist attraction. It is said to be the fountain of youth that Ponce de Leon discovered soon after he arrived in what is now Florida in 1513. However, elderly visitors who drink the spring’s water don’t turn into teenagers.
But the tale of the search for a fountain of youth is so appealing(有吸引力的) that it survives anyway, says Ryan K. Smith, a professor of history. “People are more attracted by the story of looking and not finding than they are by the idea that the fountain might be out there somewhere.”
Still, a few grains of truth have helped to support the story. Kathleen Deagan, a professor of archaeology, says a graveyard and the remains of a Spanish mission dating back to St. Augustine’s founding in 1565 have been discovered near the so-called fountain of youth. Michelle Reyna, a spokesperson for the Fountain of Youth Arc
haeological Park in St. Augustine, says the fountain has been a tourist attraction since at least 1901 and may have been attracting visitors since 1860. According to the passage, who searched for a fountain of youth?
| A．Ponce de Leon | B．William Shakespeare. | C．Kathleen Deagan | D．Michelle Reyna |
What does the underlined word “ravages” in the second paragraph probably mean?
| A．Growth. | B．Limits. | C．Damages. | D．Benefits. |
What is the attitude of people towards the fountain of youth?
| A．People find much pleasure in looking for it. |
| B．People believe the existence of it somewhere. |
| C．People have no interest in searching for it. |
| D．People consider the idea of the fountain of youth absurd(荒谬的). |
The passage mainly tells us _____.
| A．how the fountain of youth came into being |
| B．why some famous people hate becoming old |
| C．how to remain young forever |
| D．whether the fountain of youth exists |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The underlined words “the story” refers to Alexander the Great ruling a land that had a river of gold and a fountain of youth. |
| B．Augustine, which is the oldest city in the U.S, lies in Florida. |
| C．Some elderly visitors find themselves younger after drinking the water from the fountain of youth. |
| D．Kathleen Deagan is the spokesperson for the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park. |
The rumors had been spreading for months but it still came as a shock when the hospital would be closing. It had served this poor neighborhood for nearly 100 years but it would close because of the health care crisis.
The day after the announcement co-workers found out that pretzels(椒盐饼干) had been eliminated. Soft pretzels are the lifeblood of this city. So losing access to soft pretzels is no small matter. 
I said, “I only have $6. I’m not sure how many pretzels I need. You see, I work at a hospital and it’s closing and they stopped selling pretzels.” The man’s smile disappeared. “What hospital?” “Oh, Northeastern Hospital.”
The guy looked deeply shocked. “I used to sell medical supplies and that was one of my hospitals.” Then he turned around and grabbed a box of 25 pretzels and slid them across the counter.
I was surprised by his generosity and started to reach for my wallet, “Oh I can pay. Please let me …” The guy smiled, “Just tell them Joe Sullivan said to do something nice for someone else.”
And so that day everyone in medical records was treated to a soft pretzel. Word spread fast as people came asking, “Is it really true?” It was as if I’d carried in a box of gold. It mattered to them that a stranger cared. The underlined word “eliminated” in Paragraph 2 means _____.
| A．highly priced | B．added | C．overcooked | D．removed |
Why did the author decide to buy pretzels for his co-workers?
| A．To show his generosity. | B．To make them feel less sad. |
| C．To show his thanks to them. | D．To encourage them to work hard. |
To buy 25 pretzels, the author should pay ____.
| A．$25 | B．$12.5 | C．$12 | D．$50 |
According to the passage, Joe Sullivan used to be a ____.
| A．cook | B．doctor | C．shopkeeper | D．salesman |
What can be the best title of the passage?
| A．A nice treat |
| B．The rumor that came true |
| C．Tell them Joe cared |
| D．Northeastern Hospital is closing down |
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a Dictionary Picture Book for Children Hardcover: $34.90
In spite of billions of dollars spent on “educational research,” children are not taught the most basic skills of learning, even the most basic of these: how to use a dictionary. In fact, a search of educational books for children found not one that told them how to use a dictionary －or that one should. Written for children 8 to 12-year old, this fully illustrated book will teach your child:
◎ How to find words in a dictionary
◎ The different ways that words are used
◎ What the different marks and symbols that are used in a dictionary mean
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Includes a section for parents and teachers showing you how to use this book with children. Buy this book and give it to your children to unlock their education. What’s more, you’ll just pay 50% for it before May 1, 2009.Some of the four books were illustrated in order to _________.
| A．help readers understand the book |
| B．persuade readers to buy them |
| C．reduce the cost of the books |
| D．make the books suitable to different readers |
The purpose of the passage meant to _________
_.
| A．introduce the four books to readers |
| B．help children to learn English |
| C．enrich students knowledge about nature |
| D．sell the four books to readers |
In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ is about, It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbours.
The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighbourhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he 
saw that rich people had servants. Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbours.
It was like a race, but one could never finish this race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment(公寓房间) in New York City.
Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich life--style of their neighbours. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series (系列) of short stories, He called it ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’ because ‘Jones’ is a very common name in the United States.’ Keeping up with the Joneses’ came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.
People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are ‘Jonses’ in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ______.
| A．want to be as rich as their neighbours |
| B．want others to know or to think that they are rich |
| C．don’t want others to know they are rich |
| D．want to be happy |
It can be inferred from the story that rich people like to ________.
| A．live outside New York City |
B．live in New York City |
| C．live in apartments | D．have many neighbours |
The underlined word neighbourhood in the second paragraph means ________.
| A．a person who lives near another | B．people living in an area |
| C．an area near the place referred to | D．an area in another town or city |
According to the writer, it is ________to keep up with the Joneses.
| A．correct | B．interesting | C．impossible | D．good |
The actress bought a house in the centre of the city because _______.
| A．she liked to live in the busiest place |
| B．she didn’t like to live in the country |
| C．her home was far away from where she worked |
| D．she didn’t want to go back to her hometown any longer |
In order to make the painter work better for her, the actress ________.
| A．gave him two tickets for her show |
| B．sang and danced for him for hours |
| C．paid him 3 pounds |
| D．decided to pay him 15 shillings an hour |
The actress got the painter’s bill ______.
| A．to ask for the money of his painting work |
| B．to ask to pay for his watching her show |
| C．in which he showed his thanks for the tickets |
| D．in which he expressed his dissatisfaction |
It can be learned from the text that one pound is __________ shillings.
| A．10 | B．12 | C．20 | D．15 |
What kind of man was the painter?
| A．He was a careful man. |
| B．He was a poor man. |
| C．He was not friendly to others. |
| D．He knew little about music and dances. |
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