An Israeli law banning too skinny models went into effect with the start of 2013. The law, approved last March in Israel, requires models to prove they have maintained a Body Mass Index (BMI) of at least 18.5 for three months before a fashion show. That means a woman who is 5'8''tall can weigh no less than 119 pounds.
“This law is another step in the war against eating disorders,” said physician Adatto. “Underweight models,” he explained, “can no longer serve as role models for innocent young people who copy their false image of being skinny.”
But some critics in this country say it is misguided, focusing on weight instead of health. They also say the Israeli ban is bound to fail because of the strong power of the fashion industry. “I think it’s an approach that isn’t going to work.” Said eating disorder expert Susan Ice, who worked with an organization which creates a healthy working environment for models.
But Adatto told the reporter that he began to concern the issue after meeting an ambitious model who looked like she needed to be hospitalized. He said. “I realized that only legislation can change the situation. There was no time to waste, so many girls were dieting to death.”
However, the efforts to regulate models’ weight in Spain and Italy have not resulted in significant changes in part because of difficulties in determining reliable methods of measuring weight and health.
Still, folks including Ice say there’s no denying that images from Hollywood and the fashion industry can be difficult for young women to deal with. “Certainly I don't believe the modeling industry has caused the rise in eating disorders, but it makes it harder,” she says. “It’s a difficult recovery environment, worshiping thinness as the beauty ideal.”What does BMI in the first paragraph refer to?
| A．A measure of body health based on height and weight. |
| B．A worldwide prize for the healthiest model. |
| C．A new show held by those skinny models. |
| D．A kind of medicine to cure eating disorders. |
One benefit the new Israeli law may bring is ________.
| A．to change the working conditions of models |
| B．to lower the chance of skinny models’ death |
| C．to prevent models from suffering from eating disorders |
| D．to provide guidance for women worshiping thinness |
In the opinion of the critics, the law won’t succeed because .
| A．it misleads young women to form a bad eating habit |
| B．the fashion industry is much too influential |
| C．it doesn’t provide a proper approach that can work well |
| D．it doesn’t create a healthy working environment for models |
What caused Adatto to think that a law was needed to change the situation?
| A．Establishing his fashion model agent. |
| B．Meeting an ambitious but too skinny model. |
| C．Being interviewed by a reporter. |
| D．Seeing a model die from eating disorders. |
According to the passage, the new Israeli law banning skinny models is .
| A．practical | B．acceptable |
| C．reasonable | D．Controversial |
A gadget (器具) which makes water out of air could become the greatest household invention since the microwave.
Using the same technology as a dehumidifier (除湿器), the Water Mill is able to create a ready supply of drinking water because it can always get it from an unlimited source—the air.
The company behind the machine says not only does it offer an alternative to bottled water in developed countries, but it is a solution for the millions who face a daily water shortage.
The machine works by drawing in wet air through a filter (过滤器) and over a cooling instrument which changes it into water drops. It can produce up to 12 liters a day. The Water Mill will also produce more water when storms pass over, as the amount of water which is contained in the air increases. In keeping with its eco-development, the machine uses the same amount of electricity as three lights.
Inventor Jonathan Ritchey said: “The demand for water is off the chart. So people are looking for freedom from water distribution systems that are shaky and unreliable.”
The machine, which is about 3 feet wide, is likely to cost ￡800 when it goes on sale here in the spring. Its maker, Canadian Firm Element Four, roughly (粗略地) calculates that a litre of water cost around 20p to produce.
Environmentalists state that half the world’s population will face water shortage because of climate change by 2080. One in five is said to lack access to safe drinking.
The Water Mill is not effective in areas where the amount of water contained in the air is below about 30 percent, but in Britain that won’t be much of a problem.
49. What does the underlined word “it” refer to?
A. Drinking water. B. Invention. C. Microwave. D. Water Mill.
50. What do we learn about the machine?
A. It works in the same way as microwaves.
B. It is very expensive for families to afford.
C. It absorbs steam and turns it into water.
D. It helps to make the water clean to drink.
51. What does the passage lead us to believe?
A. The cost of water will go up. B. Bottled water will disappear sooner.
C. The machine is energy saving. D. The machine will be popular worldwide.
52. What’s the best title for the passage?
A. A New Way to Solve Water Problem. B. A Machine to Make Water out of Air.
C. A Dehumidifier to Produce Water. D. An Absolutely New Invention
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Why People Get Tattoos
Jack lay, quiet and unmoving, for thirty minutes while a strangerrepeatedly stabbed (刺) him with sharp needles, causing blood to pour
steadily out of his leg. Jack was getting a tattoo. His friend Tony had
recently gotten a tattoo, and Jack was so impressed by it that he decided
to get one too. Peer pressure, media influence, and personal expression
are some of the common reasons for wearing tattoos today
The desire to be accepted by one’s friends or peers can have a great influence on what a person does. Sometimes, wearing a tattoo can be a sign that you belong to a certain group. Gangs often use special clothes and tattoos to identify their particular group. Some of these groups wear only brand–name clothes. Others wear tattoos. When a person’s friends are all doing something, that person is more likely to do the same thing.
The media is another big influence behind the popularity of tattoos in North America. A wide variety of media images (人物，图像) show tattoos－people appearing in commercials selling expensive cars, famous sports heroes with tattoos in magazines, fashion models wearing designer clothes that show their bodies tattooed with detailed and colorful patterns. These media images link tattoos to ideas of wealth, success, and status. As a result, many people decide to get a tattoo for its fashion and status value.
Many people decide to wear tattoos in order to express their artistic nature, their beliefs, or their feelings－in other words, to show their individuality (个性). A musician in a rock band may get a tattoo of a guitar on the arm. Some environmentalists may tattoo pictures of endangered animals on their shoulders. A tattoo can be a public sign to show what is important in a person's life.
As you can see, there are many reasons why young North Americans get tattoos. A tattoo can be part of a group's uniform, a sign of fashion or an expression of individuality. The decision to get a tattoo is most often a result of the influence of friends or media or the desire to express oneself. For Jack, it was a mixture of all three
45. Jack has got tattoos in order to ______.
A. show his great bravery B. gain a special experience
C. make himself more healthy D. be different from others
46. According to the passage, media images are linked to ______.
A. traditional lifestyle B. social position C. cultural background D. public interest
47. We can infer from the passage that ______.
A. some people get tattoos out of pressure
B. tattoo is related to religious belief
C. getting tattoos costs a lot of money
D. most people with tattoos are artists
48. Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?
 |
CP: Central Point P: Point Sp: Sub – point (次要点) C: Conclusion
第二部分 阅读理解（共25小题，第一节每小题2分，第二节每小题1分；满分45分）
第一节 阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（Ａ、Ｂ、Ｃ、Ｄ）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Joanne was stuck in a traffic jam in central Birmingham at 5: 30．and at 6: 30 she was expected to be chairing a meeting of the tennis club. At last, the traffic was moving. She swung quickly racing to her house. As she opened the door, she nearly fell over Sheba.
“Hey, Sheba,” she said, “I've got no time for you now, but I'll take you out as soon as I get back from tennis club.” Then she noticed Sheba seemed to be coughing or choking obviously, she could hardly breathe. Immediately, Joanne realized she would have to take her to the vet (兽医). When she got there, the vet was just about to close for the day. Seeing the state of Sheba, Dr. Sterne brought her quickly into his office.
“Listen, doctor, I'm really in a rush to get to a meeting, can I leave her with you, and go to get changed? I'll be back in ten minutes to pick her up, and then I'll take her on to the meeting with me. Is that OK?”
“Sure.” said the doctor.
Joanne made the quick trip back to her house in a couple of minutes. As she was once more entering the hallway, the phone by the door began to ring.
“This is Dr. Sterne,” said an anxious voice. “I want you to get out of that house immediately,” said the doctor’s voice. “I'm coming round right away, and the police will be there any time now. Wait outside!”
At that moment, a police car screeched to a stop outside the house. Two policemen got out and ran into the house. Joanne was by now completely confused and very frightened. Then the doctor arrived.
“Where’s Sheba? Is she OK?” shouted Joanne.
“She’s fine, Joanne. I took out the thing which was choking her, and she’s OK now.”
Just then, the two policemen reappeared from the house, half-carrying a white-faced man, who could hardly walk. There was blood all over him.
“My God, ”said Joanne, “how did he get in there? And how did you know he was there?”
“I think he must be a burglar.” said the doctor. “I knew he was there because when I finally removed what was stuck in Sheba’s throat, it turned out to be three human fingers.”
41. What was Joanne supposed to do at 6: 30？
A. To walk her dog.
B. To see her doctor.
C. To attend a club meeting.
D. To play tennis with her friends.
42. Joanne wanted to get back to her home again______.
A. to dress up for the meeting
B. to phone the police station
C. to catch the badly hurt burglar
D. to wait for her dog to be cured
43. From the passage, we can infer that______.
A. Sheba fought against the burglar
B. the police found the burglar had broken in
C. Joanne had planned to take her dog to the meeting
D. the doctor performed a difficult operation on the dog
44. In this passage, the writer intends to tell us that the dog is______.
A. clever B. friendly C. frightening D. devoted
Habits are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine.“Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting creatures,”William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st century, even the word“habit”carries a negative meaning.
So it seems contradictory to talk about habits in the same context as innovation (创新). But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.
Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try, the more creative we become.
But don’t bother trying to kill off old habits; once those ruts of procedure are worn into the brain, they’re there to stay. Instead, the new habits we deliberately press into ourselves create parallel pathways that can bypass those old roads.
“The first thing needed for innovation is attraction to wonder,”says Dawna Markova, author of The Open Mind.“But we are taught instead to‘decide’, just as our president calls himself‘the Decider’．”She adds, however, that“to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one. A good innovational thinker is always exploring the many other possibilities.”
“All of us work through problems in ways of which we’re unaware,”she says. Researchers in the late 1960s discovered that humans are born with the ability to approach challenges in four primary ways: analytically, procedurally, collaboratively (合作地) and innovatively. At the end of adolescence, however, the brain shuts down half of that ability, preserving only those ways of thought that have seemed most valuable during the first decade or so of life.
The current emphasis on standardized testing highlights analysis and procedure, meaning that few of us use our innovative and collaborative ways of thought.“This breaks the major rule in the American belief system—that anyone can do anything,”explains M. J. Ryan, author of the 2006 book This Year I Will…and Ms. Markova’s business partner.“That’s a lie that we have preserved, and it fosters commonness. Knowing what you’re good at and doing even more of it creates excellence.”This is where developing new habits comes in.
67．Brain researchers have discovered that .
A．the forming of new habits can be guided
B．the development of habits can be predicted
C．the regulation of old habits can be transformed
D．the track of new habits can be created unconsciously
68．The underlined word“ruts”in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to .
A．zones B．connections C．situations D．tracks
69．Which of the following statements most probably agrees with Dawna Markova’s view?
A．Decision makes no sense in choices.
B．Curiosity makes creative minds active.
C．Creative ideas are born of a relaxing mind.
D．Formation of innovation comes from fantastic ideas.
70．The purpose of the author writing this article is to persuade us .
A．to give up our traditional habits deliberately
B．to create and develop new habits consciously
C．to resist the application of standardized testing
D．to believe that old habits conflict with new habits
Apparently，we are safe neither at home nor in the business office．We use water in both places，but the research shows that chemicals added to our local water supply to kill harmful bacteria can have unwanted side effects．These chemicals can cause potential harm through drinking and in seemingly harmless activities as cleaning one’s house．They are released(set free)from water by daily actions like water running out of tap，spraying from garden pipes，or splashing in dishwashers and washing machines．As the water is moving．these chemicals are released into the air and then breathed in. Once inside our bodies, they start to affect our health.
Does this mean we should stop bathing? No, say the scientists, but we should put all pollution into perspective. Activities at home such as the burning of coal, cooking oil, or even candles release carbon monoxide and particulates such as cigarette ashes which have been proven as harmful to health as working or living near heavy traffic. New tugs, bedding, and even clothing give off that“new smell, ”which is a sure sign of chemicals. In the office, newly applied paint, newly purchased telephones and other telecommunications equipment, and computers release polluting chemicals, too. As offices and homes often have inadequate ventilation (通风), these chemicals can build up to become health problems. Their poisonous effects are only now being slowly recognized.
These facts suggest that, at a minimum, proper airing of newly purchased goods with an obvious chemical smell is a wise warning. Home and office windows should be opened during good weather. Even one’s car needs to be ventilated as well while in the garage.
We need further research to understand better other potential health dangers, too. For example, the effects of overcrowding of schools (carbon dioxide build-up ), the factory work environment ( an endless list of potentially dangerous substances ), and even home heating and cooling (the air conditioner may be our enemies, not our friends) have only recently started to come to light. Until we understand the effects of our new technological environment better, we can only hope that“there is no place like home.”
64．What is the main idea of the first paragraph?
A．The air we breathe in is harmful.
B．The water in everyday use is unsafe.
C．Chemicals are added to the drinking water.
D．Chemicals are released in the running water.
65．In Paragraph 2, the underlined sentence means that .
A．bathing should be done with caution
B．homes and offices should be aired often
C．any pollution should be taken into consideration
D．we should prevent any pollution from doing harm to us
66．What is the purpose of the passage?
A．To call on us to guard our water.
B．To show us that no place is like home.
C．To make us aware of the pollution around us.
D．To argue that neither homes nor offices are safe.
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