Your peers are people your age or close to it who have experiences and interests similar to yours. You and your friends make dozens of decisions every day, and you influence each other’s choices and behavior. This is often ________ --- it’s human nature to listen to and learn from other people in your age group.
Sometimes, though, the stresses in your life can actually come from your peers. They may pressure you into doing something you’re uncomfortable with, such as shoplifting, doing drugs or drinking, or taking dangerous risks when driving a car.
The pressure to conform（随潮流） can be powerful and hard to resist. A person might feel pressure to do something just because others are doing it. Peer pressure can influence a person to do something that is relatively harmless--- or something that has more serious consequences.
People may feel pressure to conform, so they fit in or are accepted, or so they don’t feel awkward or uncomfortable. When people are unsure of what to do in a social situation, they naturally look to others for cues（暗示）about what is and isn’t acceptable.
The people who are most easily influenced will follow someone else’s lead first. Then others may go along, too --- so it can be easy to think, “It must be OK. Everyone else is doing it. They must know what they’re doing.” Before you know it, many people are going along with the crowd --- perhaps on something they might not otherwise do.
Responding to peer pressure is part of human nature --- but some people are more likely to give in, and others are better able to resist and stand their ground.
It’s not always easy to resist negative peer pressure. But when you do, it is easy to feel good about it afterwards. And you may even be a positive influence on your peers who feel the same way --- often it just takes one person to speak out or take a different action to change a situation.Which of the following is a kind of peer pressure?
| A．Your teachers give you a lot of homework. |
| B．Your parents expect high scores from you. |
| C．Your classmates persuade you to cut class. |
| D．Your relatives invite you to attend a party. |
Which is most likely to be filled in the blank in Paragraph 1?
| A．negative |
| B．impossible |
| C．positive |
| D．uncertain |
Most people tend to do what others are doing in order to _________.
| A．feel a sense of achievement |
| B．get a feeling of being accepted |
| C．set a good example for others |
| D．stand out in a crowd |
What can we know according to the author?
| A．Giving in to peer pressure is unavoidable. |
| B．Peer pressure usually leads to serious results. |
| C．Going along with the crowd usually means making a right choice. |
| D．Everyone can make a difference by resisting negative peer pressure. |
This passage is mainly about _______.
| A．thoughts on peer pressure |
| B．different types of peer pressure |
| C．ways to deal with peer pressure |
| D．the influence of peer pressure on people |
There are robots all around us. Some do very complicated jobs like flying airplanes and driving subway trains. and some do one simple job. When an automatic washing machine is switched on, water pours in. The machine waits until the water is warm enough for washing clothes. It does this by “feedback”(反馈). Information about what is happening is feedback into the robot to tell what to do next. Our eyes, ears and other senses are our feedback. They tell us what is going on around us. So robots are like human beings in two ways. They work and they have feedback.
In some ways robots are better than human beings. They work quickly and do not make mistakes. They do not get bored doing the same job over and over again. And they never get tired. So robots are very useful in factories. They can be taught to do many different jobs. First their electronic brain must be shown how the job is done. A person moves the robot’s “arms” and “hands” through each part of the job.
The most intelligent robots can move and see. Their eyes are cameras. Their fingers can feel shapes and sizes of the objects. These robots have computer brains linked to their eyes and fingers, which control their actions. The expensive robots are used in scientific research. They do such job as handling radioactive materials.In this passage the author tells us that ________.
| A．robots are very popular |
| B．there are various kinds of robots |
| C．we see robots only at certain times |
| D．robots can be easily controlled |
What does the author seem to inform you about robots?
| A．They should be greatly improved. |
| B．They will probably take over in the future. |
| C．They are very helpful and useful to humans. |
| D．They are machines that break down a lot. |
The author says that in industry ________.
| A．robots break down a lot |
| B．robots can do many jobs |
| C．robots only get in the way |
| D．robots sometimes cause troubles |
The fact that a robot never gets bored doing the same job means that _______.
| A．it is very much like human beings |
| B．it can do boring jobs for people |
| C．it will never bore people |
| D．it will work much better than human beings |
The robots used for scientific research _______.
| A．are not very clever | B．are very cheap |
| C．are very big | D．are very costly |
For the first time in Hong Kong’s history, an entertainer has been written into middle school textbooks. He is considered one of the best actors in Hong Kong. Yes, he is Chow Yun-fat.
The example of his long hard struggle for success has been used in a chapter in a Hong Kong middle school textbook. Using his experience, students can learn to make the most of their time and to grab every opportunity to succeed．
On hearing about this, Chow said happily, “I really hope that my experiences can make young people understand that one should not be afraid of difficulties and setbacks (挫折), for they are the only way to success.”
Indeed, Chow has travelled a long and difficult path to reach his success. In 1955, he was born into a poor family in Hong Kong. When he was 17, he had to leave school. He worked in a number of jobs—as a postman, camera salesman and taxi driver. These experiences paved (铺路) the way for him to play all kinds of roles later in life.
Chow broke into the film industry in the late 1970s. He was one of the hardest working actors and starred in a number of popular TV dramas and films including “Shanghai Bund”(《上海滩》) and “A Better Tomorrow”. Since 1985, he has won many awards including Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards and Hong Kong Film Awards.
In 1995, he went to Hollywood. Although he was already over 40, he had to learn English. He even put chopsticks in his mouth to practise pronouncing certain sounds. His film, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, began to gain him more fame and recognition around the world. In 1998, the mayor of Chicago set aside January 12 as “Chow Yun-fat Day”.Chow Yun-fat has been written into middle school textbooks mainly because ________.
| A．he plays best in Hong Kong |
| B．he keeps on struggling for success |
| C．his experiences are very special |
| D．he is well thought of |
Chow felt ________ when he learned that he had been written into middle school textbooks.
| A．surprised | B．shy | C．sad | D．happy |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．Chow Yun-fat is proud of his success. |
| B．Chow Yun-fat prefers to make a living by selling cameras rather than by performing. |
| C．Chow Yun-fat has won more awards than other actors. |
| D．Chow Yun-fat is popular both at home and abroad. |
The underlined sentence (in paragraph 6) suggests ________.
| A．chopsticks is of great help to practise English pronunciation |
| B．Chow Yun-fat is willing to struggle with difficulties |
| C．Chow Yun-fat has suffered a lot before he went to Hollywood |
| D．it is hard for a person who is over 40 years old to learn spoken English |
The author wrote this passage to ________.
| A．introduce Chow’s films |
| B．praise Chow for his excellent performance |
| C．call on people to learn from Chow |
| D．show why Chow is popular |
We must do what we can to protect the plants because plants are very important for living things. Life could not go on if there were no plants. This is because plants can make food from air, water and sunlight. Animals and man cannot make food from air, water and sunlight. Animals get their food by eating plants and other animals. Therefore animals and man need plants in order to live. This is why we find that there are so many plants around us.
If you look carefully at the plants around you, you will find that there are two kinds of plants: flowering plants and non-flowering plants. Flowering plants can make seeds. The seeds are protected by the fruits. Some fruits have one seed, some have two, three or four, and some have many seeds. But a few fruits have no seeds at all. An example of a fruit without seeds is the banana fruit. Most non-flowering plants do not grow from seeds. They grow from spores（胚芽）. Spores are very small. Some spores are so small and light that they can float in the air. We may say that spores are quite the same as seeds. When these spores are all on wet and shady places, they usually grow into new plants.Plants can make food from______.
| A．flower, water and air | B．water, sunlight and air |
| C．air, water and soil | D．air, sun and light |
The main idea of the first paragraph is that ______.
| A．plants are important for life |
| B．plants cannot grow without air |
| C．there are many plants in the world |
| D．we can not live without water |
What can we infer（推断） from the passage？
| A．Of all living things animals are most important |
| B．Spores are seeds |
| C．All fruits of flowering plants have seeds |
| D．Without plants, man will die out |
This passage may be taken from______.
| A．a medicine book | B．a novel |
| C．a science magazine | D．an experiment report |
The underlined word “protected” in the passage can be replaced by ______.
| A．damaged | B．polluted | C．prevented | D．guarded |
阅读下面短文, 请根据短文后的要求进行答题。（请注意问题后的字数要求）
[1]Everybody is familiar with Christmas music； its played everywhere. Whether it's the music from a grocery store or random(随机的）songs on the radio， holiday music remains to flood in the air from the day after Thanksgiving to the beginning of December. Christmas music gets extremely over- played through the Holiday season. “'I think the common seasonal Christmas music is annoying because it keeps being played over and over.”said junior Devin McFarland.
[2]The Christmas music still played today is what she heard in her childhood. Some famous Christmas songs have never been changed. The original music is played so much that in some cases people dream about or even sing Christmas music__________. She wishes that there was a wider variety of songs. She likes the newer Christmas songs that bands either re- make or write themselves. "They have a fresher sound to Christmas songs, and they add their own characteristics to them so that they are more like their own songs. ” McFarland explained.
[3]Christmas is known as a happy and homecoming festival, so the holiday season is meant to be spent happily with your family. It is recognized that the music media wants to get the point across and add to the festival atmosphere. But isn't the music being pushed to the public too much?
[4]Most grocery stores play the music non-stop ，Christmas song after Christmas song， disgusting the customers who don't like that kind of music. You can walk through stores and attempt turning off the music, but sometimes it's impossible to do so. On the other hand, almost everyone has witnessed random persons walking along happily and either singing or whistling to the tune of the song that's played throughout the store.What is the main idea of the passage? (no more than 10 words)
Why is the common seasonal Christmas music annoying? (no more than 8 words)
What does the music media hope to tell the public?
Fill in the blank in Paragraph 2 with proper words.(no more than 3 words)
What does the word “them” (Line 6 Paragraph 2) probably refer to? (no more than 4 words)
In the early 1950s, researchers found that people scored lower on intelligence tests if they spoke more than one language. Research in the sixties found the opposite. Bilingual people scored higher than monolinguals, people who speak only one language. So which is it?
Researchers presented their newest studies last month at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The latest evidence shows that being bilingual does not necessarily make people smarter. But researcher Ellen Bialystok says it probably does make you better at certain skills.
Ellen Bialystok said, “Imagine driving down the highway. There’re many things that could capture your attention and you really need to be able to monitor all of them. Why would bilingualism make you any better at that?”
And the answer, she says, is that bilingual people are often better at controlling their attention — a function called the executive control system.
Ms. Bialystok is a psychology professor at York University in Toronto, Canada. She says the best method to measure the executive control system is called the Stroop Test. A person is shown words in different colors. The person has to ignore the word but say the color. The problem is that the words are all names of colors.
Ellen Bialystok said, “So you would have the word blue written in red, but you have to say red. But blue is so salient(显著的), it’s just lighting up all these circuits(电路) in your brain, and you really want to say blue. So you need a mechanism(机制) to override that so that you can say red. That’s the executive control system.”
Her work shows that bilingual people continually practice this function. They have to, because both languages are active in their brain at the same time. They need to suppress(抑制) one to be able to speak in the other.
This mental exercise might help in other ways, too. Researchers say bilingual children are better able to separate a word from its meaning, and more likely to have friends from different cultures. Bilingual adults are often four to five years later than others in developing dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.What’s the best title of the text?
| A．Bilingual People, Smarter |
| B．Monolingual People, Smarter |
| C．Bilingual People, Longer Lives |
| D．Bilingual People, Better at Some Skills |
The underlined word “override” in Paragraph 6 probably means ____.
| A．pay attention to | B．take no notice of |
| C．take an interest in | D．take care of |
In the Stroop Test, supposing you have the word yellow written in white, you will have to say ____.
| A．white | B．yellow | C．blue | D．red |
Which group of people can most likely pass the Stroop Test?
| A．People who can speak only Chinese. |
| B．People who can speak only Japanese. |
| C．People who can speak more than one language. |
| D．People who can speak only English. |
Which of the following statements is FALSE according to the text?
| A．A bilingual child is better at separating a word from its meaning. |
| B．A bilingual child can more easily make friends with a foreign child. |
| C．Bilingual people are more able to monitor several things at the same time. |
| D．It’s not possible for bilingual people to develop Alzheimer’s disease. |
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