Conventional wisdom says that hardship can make us old before our time. In fact, a new study suggests that violence not only leaves long-term scars on children’s bodies, but also changes their DNA, causing changes that are equal to seven to ten years of premature aging (过早老化).
Scientists measured this by studying the ends of children’s chromosomes (染色体), called telomeres, says Idan Shalev, lead author of a study published in Molecular Psychiatry.
Telomeres are special DNA sequences (序列) which prevent the DNA in chromosomes from separating. They get shorter each time a cell divides, until a cell cannot divide any more and dies.
Several factors have been found to shorten telomeres, including smoking, radiation and psychological stresses such as being treated badly when young and taking care of a chronically ill person.
In this study, researchers examined whether exposure to violence could make children’s telomeres shorten faster than normal. They interviewed the mothers of 236 children at ages 5, 7 and 10, asking whether the youngsters had been exposed to domestic violence between the mother and her partner, physical maltreatment by an adult or bullying. Researchers measured the children’s telomeres—in cells obtained from the insides of their cheeks—at ages 5 and 10.
Telomeres shortened faster in kids exposed to two or more types of violence, says Shalev. Unless that pattern changes, the study suggests, these kids could be expected to develop diseases of aging, such as heart attacks or memory loss, seven to 10 years earlier than their peers.
Shalev says there is hope for these kids. His study found that, in rare cases, telomeres can lengthen. Better nutrition, exercise and stress reduction are three things that may be able to lengthen telomeres, he says.
The study confirms a smallbutgrowing number of studies suggesting that early childhood hardship imprints itself in our chromosomes, says Charles Nelson, a professor of pediatrics and neuroscience at Harvard Medical School.The new study has found that ________.
| A．violence leaves scars on a child’s mind |
| B．violence can speed up a child’s aging |
| C．hardship can change a child’s aging |
| D．hardship has a long-term effect on children |
According to the text, telomeres ________.
| A．probably cause a cell to divide quickly |
| B．can help prevent DNA from separating |
| C．can make a cell die quickly |
| D．become shorter before they die |
All of the following things can shorten telomeres EXCEPT ________.
| A．maltreatment | B．radiation |
| C．smoking | D．exercising |
Which of the following is TRUE, according to the text?
| A．Researchers measured the children’s telomeres from their legs in the study. |
| B．Kids interviewed in the study are exposed to two or more types of violence. |
| C．Children who have shorter telomeres may suffer from a heart attack earlier. |
| D．Victims of domestic violence have no hopes of lengthening their telomeres. |
What is the best title for the text?
| A．Violence aging children’s DNA |
| B．Children’s changing DNA patterns |
| C．Violence and children |
| D．The function of telomeres |
We have all experienced days when everything goes wrong. A day may begin well enough, but suddenly everything seems to get out of control. It seems as if a single unimportant event set up a chain of reactions. Let us suppose that you are preparing a meal and keeping an eye on the baby at the same time. The telephone rings and this means your troubles are beginning. While you are on the phone, the baby pulls the tablecloth off the table, destroying your half prepared meal. You hang up hurriedly and attend to your baby. Meanwhile, the meal gets burnt. As if this were not enough to bring you to tears, your husband arrives, unexpectedly bringing three guests to dinner.
Things can go wrong on a big scale, as a number of people recently discovered in Parramatta, a suburb of Sydney. During the rush hour one evening two cars hit each other and both drivers began to argue. The woman immediately behind the two cars happened to be a learner. She suddenly got into a panic and stopped her car. This made the driver following her brake hard. His wife was sitting beside him holding a large cake. As she was thrown forward, the cake went right through the windscreen and landed on the road. Seeing a cake flying through the air, a lorry driver who was drawing up alongside the car, pulled up all of a sudden. The lorry was loaded with empty beer bottles and hundreds of them slid off the back of the vehicle and on to the road. This led to yet another angry argument. Meanwhile, the traffic piled up behind. It took the police nearly an hour to get the traffic on the move again. In the meantime, the lorry driver had to sweep up hundreds of broken bottles. Only two dogs benefited from all this confusion, for they were happily having what was left of the cake. It was just one of those days!According to the author’s opinion, ______.
| A．a small matter may cause great trouble | B．accidents may happen anytime |
| C．anyone may have trouble any day | D．troubles always come in groups |
When the telephone rings, ______.
| A．your trouble is approaching if you are taking care of your baby |
| B．you should never go to answer it in a hurry unless you know it’s an important one |
| C．you’d better have your baby a little distant from your table before going to answer it |
| D．you’d better just let it ring all the way unless you can find someone to take care of |
your baby What did the police do after the accident?
| A．They helped the drivers to go on with their journey. |
| B．They helped the truck-driver to clean up the road. |
| C．They would find out who should be fined. |
| D．They tried to stop the people from arguing. |
From the story we can see ______.
| A．such accidents are usually funny |
| B．such accidents are rather common |
| C．no one can explain why such accidents happen |
| D．some drivers should take responsibility for their carelessness |
When Paul was a boy growing up in Utah, he happened to live near a copper smelter（炼铜厂），and the chemicals that poured out had made a wasteland out of what used to be a beautiful forest. One day a young visitor looked at this wasteland and called it an awful area. Paul knocked him down. From then on, something happened inside him.
Years later Paul was back in the area, and he went to the smelter office. He asked if they had any plans or if they would let him try to bring the trees back. The answer from that big industry was “No”.
Paul then went to college to study the science of plants. Unfortunately, his teachers said there weren't any birds or squirrels to spread the seeds. It would be a waste of his life to try to do it. Everyone knew that, he was told. Even if he was knowledgeable as he had expected, he wouldn’t get his idea accepted.
Paul later got married and had some kids. But his dream would not die. And then one night he did what he could with what he had. As Samuel Johnson wrote, “It is common to overlook what is near by keeping the eye fixed on something remote. Attainable good is often ignored by minds busied in wide ranges.” Under the cover of darkness, he went secretly into the wasteland and started planting.
And every week, he made his secret journey into the wasteland and planted trees and grass. For fifteen years he did this against the plain common sense. Slowly rabbits appeared. Later, as there was legal pressure to clean up the environment, the company actually hired Paul to do what he was already doing.
Now the place is fourteen thousand acres of trees and grass and bushes, and Paul has received almost every environmental award Utah has. It took him until his hair turned white, but he managed to keep that impossible vow he made to himself as a child.When Paul was a boy，______________.
| A．he had decided never to leave his hometown |
| B．the economy of Utah depended wholly on the copper smelter |
| C．no laws were made to protect the environment against pollution |
| D．he had determined to stop the copper smelter polluting the area |
Why did Paul go to college to study the science of plants？
| A．Because he wanted to find out the best way to save the area himself. |
| B．Because he was interested in planting trees since he was young. |
| C．Because he wanted to get more knowledgeable people to help him. |
| D．Because he thought his knowledge would make his advice more persuasive. |
What does the underlined phrase “the plain common sense” probably refer to?
| A．That it was impossible for trees to grow on the wasteland. |
| B．That his normal work and life would be greatly affected. |
| C．That no one would like to join him in the efforts. |
| D．That he had to keep everything he did secret. |
The company hired Paul to plant trees and grass because___________.
| A．they realized the importance of environmental protection |
| B．What Paul was doing moved them |
| C．Paul persuaded them to help him |
| D．they had legal pressure |
The message of the passage is that _____________.
| A．action speaks louder than words |
| B．perseverance（持之以恒）will work wonders |
| C．God helps those who help themselves |
| D．many hands make light work |
As the pace of life continues to increase, we are fast losing the art of relaxation. Once you are in the habit of rushing through life, being on the go from morning till night, it is hard to slow down. But relaxation is essential for a healthy mind and body.
Stress is a natural part of everyday life and there is no way to avoid it. In fact, it is not the bad thing it is often supposed to be. A certain amount of stress is vital to provide motivation and give purpose to life. It is only when the stress gets out of control that it can lead to poor performance and ill health.
The amount of stress a person can withstand depends very much on the individual. Some people are not afraid of stress, and such characters are obviously prime material for managerial responsibilities, others lose heart at the first sign of unusual difficulties. When exposed to stress, in whatever form, we react both chemically and physically. In fact we make choice between "flight or fight" and in more primitive days the choices made the difference between life or death. The crises we meet today are unlikely to be so extreme, but however little the stress, it involves the same response. It is when such a reaction lasts long, through continued exposure to stress, that health becomes endangered. Since we can't remove stress from our lives (it would be unwise to do so even if we could), we need to find ways to deal with it.People are finding less and less time for relaxing themselves because _____.
| A．they regard working as their greatest enjoyment |
| B．they believe that work is superior to relaxation |
| C．they are traveling fast all the time |
| D．they are becoming busier with their work than ever before |
According to the author, the most important character for a good manager is his _____.
| A．strong will to hold out stress |
| B．knowing the art of relaxation |
| C．high sense of responsibility |
| D．having control over performance |
Which of the following statements is TRUE, according to the passage?
| A．We can find quite a few ways to avoid stress. |
| B．Stress is always harmful to people's health |
| C．It's easy to change the habit of keeping oneself busy with work. |
| D．Different people can bear different amount of stress. |
In the last sentence of the passage, “do so” refers to _____.
| A．"expose ourselves to stress" |
| B．"find ways to deal with stress" |
| C．"remove stress from our lives" |
| D．"establish links between diseases and stress" |
According to the author, the right attitude toward stress is _____.
| A．to avoid it |
| B．to try to cope with it |
| C．to regard it as a vital motivation |
| D．to find some relaxation |
A week ago, I had the great pleasure of reading an e-book, When Money Talks, Listen! By Rich Ezzo. It took only about an hour to read.
When I first received a copy, I thought it was a Get Rich Quick type of publication. Nothing is wrong with Get Rich Quick, but my mind just doesn’t chase after dreams of wealth. I think that if God ever wants me to be rich, he knows where to find my purse.
When I began reading When Money Talks, Listen!, I was overjoyed to find that Rich Ezzo isn’t money hungry either. He, too, is hungry far more important than money.
Since I love this e-book so much, why wait a week to write the review? Simple. I wanted to see if the effect it had on me was a keeper. After reading the last word of the e-book, I totally agreed with the subtitle which promised to forever change the way we thought about money. I had so many thoughts running around my mind that I had to install(安装) a stoplight to stop some while others made their way into the picture, then I yielded(让路) them as a few ones arrived in town. I had a mental traffic jam, which only goes to show how slow the traffic usually is.
It has been a week and the effect is the same. I truly do look at money differently and have even done a few things differently this week. This is an e-book you’ll want to read, I promise. I often recommend books to my daughter, and this is one that I didn’t just “suggest”---I left it open at the bottom of the computer and told each one, “Read it, you’ll love it.”
I would never point someone in a direction I wouldn’t go myself. I urge you to visit the author’s website, Myster Money, and to download the e-book. You won’t regret it.The author wrote this passage to _________
| A．strongly recommend an e-book. |
| B．show the author's attitude to money. |
| C．introduce the general idea of an e-book. |
| D．point out Rich Ezzo isn't money hungry. |
According to the passage, a Get Rich Quick type of publication ______.
| A．is what the author really cares for |
| B．deals with how to make money |
| C．is also an e-book written by Rich Ezzo |
| D．is more popular than e-books |
The author didn't write the review as soon as he finished reading the book because________.
| A．he was too excited to write anything |
| B．he was not sure whether he did well |
| C．he had to wait for Rich Ezzo's permission |
| D．he wondered if the book would have long influence on him |
By saying the underlined sentence in Paragraph 4, the author probably __________.
| A．shows that the book brought him many new thoughts |
| B．shows how bad the traffic is in town |
| C．describes the difficulty in understanding the book |
| D．explains it's hard to change one's attitude to money |
Which of the following is supported by the passage?
| A．The author had known Rich Ezzo before. |
| B．The author hasn't dreamed of getting rich immediately. |
| C．The author always prefers e-books to paper books. |
| D．The author likes Get Rich Quick-type of publications. |
A woman renewing her driver’s license at the County Clerk’s office was asked to state her occupation. She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.
“What I mean is,” explained the recorder, “do you have a job, or are you just a …”
“Of course I have a job,” said Emily. “I’m a mother.”
“We don’t list ‘mother’ as an occupation… ‘housewife’ covers it,” said the recorder.
One day I found myself in the same situation. The clerk was obviously a career woman, confident and possessed of a high sounding title．“What is your occupation?” she asked.
The words simply popped out. “I’m a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations.”
The clerk paused, ballpoint pen frozen in midair.
I repeated the title slowly, and then I stared with wonder as my statement was written in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.
“Might I ask,” said the clerk with new interest, “Just what you do in this field?”
Coolly, without any trace of panic in my voice, I heard myself reply, “I have a continuing program of research (what mother doesn’t）, in the lab and in the field (normally I would have said indoors and out). Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities (any mother care to disagree?), and I often work 14 hours a day (24 is more like it). But the job is more challenging than most careers and rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money.”
There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk’s voice as she completed the form, stood up, and showed me out.
As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up (依托) by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants---ages 13, 7, and 3.
Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model (a 6 month old baby), in the child-development program, testing out a new vocal pattern．
I felt proud! I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable (不可缺少的) to mankind than “just another mother.”
Motherhood…What a glorious career! Especially when there’s a title on the door.What can we infer from the conversation between the woman and the recorder at the beginning of the passage?
| A．The woman felt ashamed to admit what her job was. |
| B．The recorder was impatient and rude. |
| C．The author was upset about the situation that mothers faced. |
| D．Motherhood was not recognized and respected as a job by society. |
How did the female clerk feel at first when the author told her occupation?
| A．curious | B．indifferent | C．puzzled | D．interested |
How did the author feel when describing her job to the clerk?
| A．calm | B．panic-stricken | C．confident | D．cool |
Why did the woman clerk show more respect for the author?
| A．Because the author cared little about rewards. |
| B．Because she admired the author’s research work in the lab. |
| C．Because she thought the author did admirable work. |
| D．Because the writer did something she had little knowledge of. |
What is the author’s purpose of writing the passage?
| A．To show how you describe your job affects your feelings toward it. |
| B．To argue that motherhood is a worthy career and deserves respect. |
| C．To show that the author had a grander job than Emily. |
| D．To show that being a mother is hard and boring work. |
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