B
Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disability. People with autism have trouble communicating and with social skills. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the person also might repeat some behaviors and not want change in their daily activities. Some people with the condition need a lot of help. Others need less.
CDC officials say autism affects one in every 68 children in the United States. More boys than girls are believed to have the condition. But the number of cases appears to be growing. It is unclear whether the growing number shows a real increase or comes from more knowledge about this disorder.
Symptoms of autism
Common signs of autism include trouble making eye contact and a delay in learning how to speak. Some people with severe autism never learn how to talk. Many people with autism also have difficulty understanding facial expressions and the feelings of others. They also have trouble making friends of the same age.
Doctors have learned how to recognize autism, but much is still unknown about its causes.
Researchers at Harvard University have come closer to finding answers. They found that women exposed to the highest levels of fine particulate air pollution late in their pregnancies are two times more likely to give birth to a child with autism. The findings appeared in Environmental Health Perspectives -- a publication of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
The study found that the women who were around high levels of fine particulate matter air pollution were at highest risk of having an autistic child. The increased risk of these women was two times that of women who lived in areas with low levels of fine particulate pollution.
The researchers found that the timing of exposure to pollution was important. They found no increased risk of autism in children whose mothers were around high levels of pollution before becoming pregnant. And the study found air pollution does not seem to increase the risk of children developing autism after they are born.
What can pregnant women do?
Mr. Weisskopf says pregnant women should avoid air pollution as much as possible. But he warns that other things may increase the risk of autism spectrum disorder.
"You can avoid being in extremely polluted cities during pregnancy if possible. You can also choose to go running in a park rather than next to a street. But that said, I think also it's very important to recognize that autism spectrum disorders is a very multi-factorial disorder. And there are lots of reasons why risk could be increased."
Autism is believed to result from a combination of environmental and genetic factors.
For now, Marc Weisskopf says researchers are trying to identify the exact substances in air pollution that increase the risk of autism.What can we learn from Paragraph 1________?
| A．people with autism don’t need help |
| B．people with autism have no trouble communicating |
| C．autism is a developmental disability |
| D．people with autism want change in their daily activities |
Which is NOT the Common signs of autism_______?
| A．low level of intelligence |
| B．a delay in learning how to speak |
| C．understanding facial expressions |
| D．making eye contact |
Which is TRUE according to the passage________?
| A．the growing number of cases shows a real increase |
| B．women exposed to high levels of fine particulate air pollution during their pregnancies are more likely to have a child with autism |
| C．high levels of fine particulate air pollution have no effect on autism |
| D．doctors have learned the causes of autism |
What can pregnant women do_______?
| A．they should go running in a street |
| B．they should stop smoking |
| C．they should be in extremely polluted cities during pregnancy |
| D．they should avoid air pollution as much as possible |
What’s the main idea of the passage__________?
| A．what is autism spectrum disorder |
| B．the reasons of autism |
| C．autism and air pollution |
| D．how to treat autism |
| HIGHFIELD COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL SCHOOL REPORT Form Teacher: G. Baker Pupil’s Name: Simon Watkins Term: Summer 2014 Form: Ⅳ B
FORM TEACHER’S REMARKS HEADMASTER |
Based on the school report, which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．Simon didn’t bother his teacher to revise French. |
| B．Simon is able to pay attention to history for long |
| C．Simon is a determined learner in English. |
| D．Basically, Simon did a good job in science |
According to the comments of the Physical Education teacher, Simon_______.
| A．likes to work with his classmates |
| B．is too talkative in the class |
| C．doesn’t exercise his body at the right time |
| D．becomes weak because he doesn’t exercise at all |
Which of the following statements best describes Simon?
| A．He needs to improve his attitude to certain subjects |
| B．His potential has been fully reflected in science classes. |
| C．His grade in maths makes him a born scientist. |
| D．He has made great progress in language classes |
The first day our professor challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t know. I looked around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady smiling at me.
She said, “Hi, handsome. My name is Rose. I’m 87. Can I give you a hug?” I laughed, “Of course you may!” and she gave me a giant squeeze. “Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?” I asked. She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of children.” “No seriously,” I said. “I want to realize my dream!” she told me. Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and everyone liked to listen to this “time machine”.
At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet and I’ll never forget what she taught us. “There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are 19 and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn 20. If I am 87 and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn 88. We have less time to live on. Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do.”
At the year’s end, Rose finished the college degree she had dreamed about all those years. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over 2,000 students attended her funeral honoring the wonderful woman who taught us such an important message.Rose was considered a “time machine” because she _____.
| A．always followed a strict time schedule |
| B．was never late for any of her classes |
| C．always appeared in time whenever she was needed |
| D．had lived a long and rich life |
According to Rose, growing up is different from growing older because _______.
| A．growing up means young people have enough time to waste |
| B．growing up means one has more chances or time to choose what one likes |
| C．there is no need for one to worry about death |
| D．growing up doesn’t need as much effort or talent as growing older |
From the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2, we can learn that ______.
| A．it is not polite to talk about a person’s real age in public |
| B．going to college at a very old age is looked down upon |
| C．Rose looked younger than her real age in the writer’s eyes |
| D．the writer didn’t believe Rose was as old as she said |
Rose came to study in college at such an old age for the purpose of __________.
| A．challenging her old age |
| B．meeting someone rich and attractive |
| C．realizing her long dream about college education |
| D．not having any regrets in her life |
Last year I ruined my summer vacation－a two-week vacation at my wife’s family cabin on a lake in northern Ontario, located at the boundary of the US and Canada－by bringing along a modern convenience that was too convenient for my own good: the iPad.
Instead of admiring the beauty of nature, I checked e-mail. Instead of paddling an old canoe, I followed my Twitter feed. Instead of devouring great (or merely amusing) novels, I stuck to my workday diet of four newspapers each morning.
And that was the problem: I was behaving as if I were still in the office, sticking to the unending news cycle. My body was on vacation but my head wasn’t.
So this year I made up my mind to try something different, a social media experiment in reverse: withdrawal from the Internet. Could I manage to unplug?
I knew it wouldn’t be easy, since I’m not good at self-denial. But I was determined. I started with a physical restraint: handing the iPad to my wife, who helpfully announced that she was going to use it to read a 630-page novel for her book club and would not be inclined to relinquish the tablet for even a moment.
Then, a stroke of luck: The cell phone signal at the Canadian cabin was spottier than in the past, making my attempts at cheating an experience in frustration.
I was trapped, forced to comply with my own good intentions. Largely cut off from e-mail, Twitter and my favorite newspaper websites, I had little way to connect to the world except for radio－and how much radio can one listen to, really?
I had no choice but to do what I had planned to do all along: read books. I experienced criminal plots on the streets of Los Angeles, cutthroat battles between cancer labs and the psyche of a London social butterfly in 1922. And there were old magazines to read.
I’m not claiming that I cut myself off from the Internet completely. Every few days, we biked into the nearest town and, as a reward, sat on a park bench in front of the public library to use its Wi-Fi. And back at the cabin, we suffered through a slow dial-up connection once a day to check e-mail.
This tale of self-denial has a happy ending－for now, at least. With determination and deep breathing, plus the strong support of my wife, I succeeded in my vacation struggle against the Internet, realizing finally that it was me, of course, not the iPad, that was the problem.
I knew I had won when we passed a Starbucks and my wife asked if I wanted to stop to use the Wi-Fi. “Don’t need it,” I said, trying not to sound too pleased.
However, as we return to post-vacation situation, a test begins: Can I stay on the wagon now that I’m back at work? There are times when the compulsion to know what’s being said right now is overwhelming (and for me, sometimes it’s crucial to my livelihood). And I have no intention of giving up my membership in the cult of immediacy. But I hope to resist the temptation to reflexively check my e-mail every five minutes, which often leads, as long as I’m looking, to checking my Twitter feed and a website or two.
A vacation is supposed to help you reset your brain to become more productive. Here’s hoping this one worked.What ruined the writer’s trip last year?
| A．That he was worn out because of the schedule. |
| B．That he forgot to bring amusing novels with him. |
| C．That he read too much newspaper last year. |
| D．That he was distracted by too many things unrelated to the trip. |
What does the underlined word ‘restraint’ mean?
| A．A calm and controlled behavior. |
| B．A relaxing move. |
| C．A strong determination. |
| D．An unshakable faith. |
What did the writer do to get in touch with the outside world during the trip?
| A．Reading online newspapers. |
| B．Following his friends’ Twitter. |
| C．Checking email every now and then. |
| D．Listening to the radio. |
Why did the writer claim that his self-denial process have a happy ending?
| A．He has completely turned down the Internet. |
| B．He gave up his habit of checking the latest news online. |
| C．He realized that his body was on vacation but his head wasn’t. |
| D．It dawned on him that it was people that are in control of their behavior. |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Say no to electronic devices. |
| B．Relationships harmed by distractions. |
| C．Abandoned distractions ease break. |
| D．Things that can take your mind off. |
In a certain store where they sell puddings, a number of these delicious things are laid out in a row during the Christmas season. Here you may select the one which is most to your taste, and you are even allowed to sample them before coming to a decision.
I have often wondered whether some people, who had no intention of making a purchase, would take advantage of this privilege. One day I asked this question of the shop girl, and I learned it was indeed the case. “Now there’s one old gentleman, for instance,” she told me, “he comes here almost every week and samples each one of the puddings, though he never buys anything, and I suspect he never will. I remember him from last year and the year before that, too. Well, let him come if he wants it, and welcome to it. And what’s more, I hope there are a lot more stores where he can go and get his share. He looks as if he needed it all right, and I suppose they can afford it.”
She was still speaking when an elderly gentleman limped up to the counter and began looking closely at the row of puddings with great interest. “Why, that’s the very gentleman I’ve been telling you about,” whispered the shop girl. “Just watch him now.” And then turning to him: “Would you like to sample them, sir? Here’s a spoon for you to use. “The elderly gentleman, who was poorly but neatly dressed, accepted the spoon and began eagerly to sample one after another of the puddings, only breaking off occasionally to wipe his red eyes with a large torn handkerchief. “This is quite good”. “This is not bad either, but a little too heavy”. All the time it was quite evident that he sincerely believed that he might eventually buy one of these puddings, and I am positive that he did not for a moment feel that he was in any way cheating the store. Poor old chap! Probably he had come down in the world and this sampling was all that was left him from the time when he could afford to come and select his favorite pudding.
Amidst the crowd of happy, prosperous looking Christmas shoppers, the little black figure of the old man seemed pitiful and out of place, and in a burst of benevolence, I went up to him and said:
“Pardon me, sir, will you do me a favor? Let me purchase you one of these puddings. It would give me such pleasure.”
He jumped back as if he had been stung, and the blood rushed into his wrinkled face.
“Excuse me,” he said, with more dignity than I would have thought possible considering his appearance, “I do not believe I have the pleasure of knowing you. Undoubtedly you have mistaken me for someone else.” And with a quick decision he turned to the shop girl and said in a loud voice, “Kindly pack me up this one here. I will take it with me.” He pointed at one of the largest and most expensive of the puddings.
The girl took down the pudding from its stand and started to make a parcel of it, While he pulled out a worn little black pocketbook and began counting out shillings and pennies on to the counter. To save his “honor”, he had been forced into a purchase which he could not possibly afford. How I longed for the power to unsay my tactless words! It was too late though, and I felt that the kindest thing I could do now would be walk away.
“You pay at the desk,” the shop girl was telling him, but he did not seem to understand and kept trying to put the coins into her hand. And that was the last I saw or heard of the old man. Now he can never go there to sample puddings and more.By saying it was indeed the case. , the author meant that ______.
| A．many shoppers would sample pudding before buying them |
| B．some people just sampled pudding but didn’t buy them |
| C．the Christmas season was the time to promote pudding sales. |
| D．there were various kinds of puddings on sale during the Christmas sale. |
From the girl’s words, we know that she ______
| A．felt pity for the old man |
| B．looked down upon the old man |
| C．thought poorly of sampling pudding |
| D．worked in the shop for a few months |
The old man finally bought a pudding because ______
| A．he had intended to buy the pudding |
| B．the author gave him some money |
| C．he was annoyed by the author’s offer |
| D．the shop girl asked him to purchase one |
Why did the author feel that he should walk away according to the passage ?
| A．He had something urgent to do |
| B．He was quite angry with the old man |
| C．He decided to pay the money for the pudding |
| D．He found himself in a rather awkward way |
What does the passage imply?
| A．Helping others involves respect.. |
| B．Never judge a book by its cover. |
| C．A man can do no more than he can. |
| D．A word spoken cannot be recalled. |
Work is a very important part of life in the United States. When the early Protestant immigrants came to this country, they brought the idea that work was the way to God and heaven. This attitude, the Protestant Work Ethic(道德规范), still influences America today. Work is not only important for economic benefits, the salary, but also for social and psychological needs, the feeling of doing something for the good of the society. Americans spend most of their lives working, being productive. For most Americans, their work defines them: they are what they do. What happens then, when a person can no longer work? Almost all Americans stop working at age sixty-five or seventy and retire. Because work is such an important part of life in this culture, retirement can be very difficult. Retirees often feel that they are useless and unproductive. Of course, some people are happy to retire; but leaving one’s job, whatever it is, is a difficult change, even for those who look forward to retiring. Many retirees do not know how to use their time or they feel lost without their jobs. Retirements can also bring financial problems. Many people rely on Social Security checks every month. During their working years, employees contribute a certain percentage of their salaries to the government. Each employer also gives a certain percentage to the government. When people retire, they receive this money as income. These checks do not provide enough money to live on, however, because prices are increasing very rapidly. Senior citizens, those over sixty-five, have to have savings in the bank or other retirement plans to make ends meet. The rate of inflation is forcing prices higher each year; Social Security checks alone cannot cover these growing expenses. The government offers some assistance, Medicare(health care)and welfare(general assistance), but many senior citizens have to change their life styles after retirement. They have to spend carefully to be sure that they can afford to buy food, fuel and other necessities.
Of course, many senior citizens are happy with retirement. They have time to spend with their families or enjoy their hobbies. Some continue to work part time, others do volunteer work. Some, like those in the Retired Business Executives Association, even help young people to get started in new business. Many retired citizens also belong to “Golden Age” groups. These organizations plan trips and social events. There are many chances for retirees.
American society is only beginning to be concerned about the special physical and emotional needs of its senior citizens. The government is taking steps to ease the problem of limited income. They are building new housing, offering discounts in stores and museums and on buses, and providing other services such as free courses, food service, and help with housework. Retired citizens are a rapidly growing percentage of the population. This part of the population is very important and we must meet their needs. After all, every citizen will be a senior citizen some day.The author believes that work first became important to Americans because of _______.
| A．religion | B．economy | C．psychology | D．family |
The passage is mainly about _______.
| A．money and check |
| B．senior and junior |
| C．work and retirement |
| D．Protestants and Americans |
When Americans stop work, it’s difficult for them to _______.
| A．get Social Security checks |
| B．feel productive |
| C．enjoy themselves |
| D．be religious |
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