Jeanne Calment, a French woman, become a record breaker on 17 October 1995, when at the age of 120 years and 238 days, she became the longest-lived human being on record. A Japanese man died in 1986 at the age of 120 years and 237 days.
Jeanne Calment lives in a small old people’s home in the south of France, her husband, her only child and her grandson have all died. She is nearly blind and deaf and is always in a wheelchair, but her doctor describes here as being “more like a 90-year-old in good health” than someone of 120. She still has a lively sense of humor. When asked on the 120th birthday what she expected of the future, she replied, “A very short one.” She also remarked that she thought the good Lord had forgotten all about her.
So what is the key to a long life? According to some doctors, diet, exercise and no smoking are the three important factors. Jeanne Calment has followed two of the tips. She has always eaten a healthy diet, and she used to do exercises every day until she broke her leg at the age of 115. However, until recently she drank two glasses of strong red wine a say, and she does smoke (now only a little). Besides, Jeanne Calment might have got very good genes from her parents. Her father lived to the age of 94 and her mother to 86.
A local lawyer bought her house when she was 80 under an agreement that he would pay her some money every year until her death. It must have seemed a good move at her age, but so far the lawyer has paid her at least three times the value of the house. Every year on her birthday Jeanne Calment sends him a card saying: “Sorry, I’m still alive!”
How does Jeanne Calment feel about her old age?
A.She feels upset and unhappy. |
B.She is cheerful and humorous. |
C.She likes to live much longer. |
D.She feels she is going to die very soon. |
The text seems to suggest that Jeanne Calment owes her good health and long life to______.
A.smoking only little every day |
B.neither smoking nor drinking |
C.always drinking two glasses of strong red wine a day and never smoking |
D.the good genes from her parents, a healthy diet and some exercises |
Which of the following could best explain the underlined word “genes” in the third paragraph?
A.good habits of body-building. |
B.Some materials that control the development of a living thing. |
C.Comfortable living conditions. |
D.Something necessary for a person to keep his life. |
Why did Jeanne Calment say “Sorry, I’m still alive!” to the local lawyer?
A.She had an agreement with the lawyer when she was 80. |
B.The lawyer has not paid her enough rent yet. |
C.The lawyer has paid her more money than the value of the house. |
D.The house she sold to the lawyer was worth the money already paid. |
Harvard University named historian Drew Gilpin Faust as its first female president on Sunday, ending a lengthy and secretive search to find a successor to Lawrence Summers.
The seven-member Harvard Corporation elected Faust, a noted scholar on History of the American South and dean of Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, as the university’s 28th president.
“This is a great day, and a historic day, for Harvard,” James R. Houghton, chairman of the presidential search committee, said in a statement. “Drew Faust is an inspiring and accomplished leader, a superb scholar, a dedicated teacher, and a wonderful human being.”
Her selection is noteworthy given the heated debates over Summers’ comments that genetic differences between the sexes might help explain the lack of women in top science jobs.
Faust has been dean of Radcliffe since 2001, two years after the former women’s college was combined into the university as a research center with a mission to study gender issues.
Some professors have quietly groused that the 371-year-old university is appointing a fifth president who is not a scientist. No scientist has had the top job since James Bryant Conant retired in 1953; its last four have come from the fields of classics, law, literature and economics.
Faust is the first Harvard president who did not receive a degree from the university since Charles Chauncy, a graduate of Cambridge University, who died in office in 1762. She attended the University of Pennsylvania.
“Teaching staff turned to her constantly,” said Sheldon Hackney, a former president of the University of Pennsylvania and historian who worked closely with Faust. “She’s very clear. She has a sense of humor, but she’s very strong-minded. You come to trust in her because she’s so solid.”
Which might be the best title for the passage?
A.Harvard named its first female president. |
B.History of Harvard University changed. |
C.Debates on female equality ended. |
D.Drew Gilpin Faust, a famous woman historian. |
Which is NOT true about Drew Gilpin Faust?
A.She is the 28th president of Harvard University. |
B.She is a famous scholar from the American South. |
C.She isn’t a graduate from Harvard University. |
D.She was head of Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. |
The underlined word “groused” in the 6th paragraph means____ .
A.approved | B.commented | C.complained | D.indicated |
This passage probably appears in a____ .
A.biography | B.personal letter | C.research paper | D.newspaper report |
South Asia heatwave kills nearly 100
DHAKA - A heat wave sweeping India, Bangladesh and Nepal has killed nearly 100 people over the past two weeks, officials said on June 3, 2005.
A third of the people died in northern Bangladesh, mostly women and children from dehydration(脱水), heat stroke and diarrhoea(腹泻).
"We are getting reports of several deaths due to heat wave and related diseases almost every day," an official said, as temperatures touched 43℃.
The weather office in Dhaka said the hot weather will last for another week until the monsoon(季风) rains which are normally due by the middle of June.
Severe heat conditions in the southern Indian have killed at least 55 people, officials in the two states said.
While temperatures have fallen from a high of 45℃ in Andhra Pradesh to around 40℃, giving a respite(休息) to people, they are still on the rise in Orissa with Talcher town registering 48.5℃, a weather official said.
At least five people have died in Nepal from extreme heat, the government said.
We can infer that the heatwave can cause ______.
A.heat stoke | B.dehydration | C.diarrhoea | D.all above |
When the monsoon rains come, the temperature will _______.
A.remain the same | B.go on to rise sharply |
C.begin to drop obviously | D.rise a little |
Which place is the hottest in the early June, 2005?
A.Dhaka | B.Talcher | C.Andhra Pradesh | D.Nepal |
At 10 years old, Flynn Mc Garry became sick of the meals his mother cooked for him. So the Los Angeles native took matters into his own hands and started making his own dinners. One of his specialties? Trout with braised leeks(韭葱炖鲑鱼).
Now 13, the young chef is being praised as a “food prodigy(神童)”. He will spend his summer apprenticing with some of the best chefs at LA’s famous restaurants, MSNBC Nightly New reports.
Mc Garry began making a name for himself in the culinary(烹饪) world when John Sedlar, owner of the trendy Playa Restaurant, let Mc Garry take over the kitchen for a special nine-course meal. The meal sold out almost instantly.
“Flynn is a very unusual young man, and he’s very, very passionate,” owner John Sedlar told MSNBC.
By usual teenage boy standards, it’s true. So strong is his passion for cooking that the young man has turned his bedroom into an experimental kitchen laboratory.
Instead of video game consoles, baseball trophies and movie posters, Mc Garry’s room is lined with mixers, pots and pans, cutting boards and a stainless steel worktable. It’s where Mc Garry cooks his monthly pop-up dinners, which are served from his family’s dining room, a monthly supper club he calls Eureka.
Mc Garry is deft(灵巧的) and confident in the kitchen, with skills he’s been practicing since he was a child. What started out as a means of self-preservation from his mom’s unsatisfactory cooking has turned into a passion that the teen hopes to develop into a career.
“My goal? Michelin three stars, a restaurant in the top 50 list,” he told MSNBC. “Hopefully the top five.” Meanwhile, Mc Garry’s 13-year-old resume is already richer and more impressive than most cooks many times his age.
Mc Garry isn’t the only talented young prodigy to surprise experts in his field in recent years. At just 17 years old, physicist Taylor Wilson is already teaching graduate-level courses in physics and has built a functioning nuclear reactor.
Mc Garry first started cooking ___________.
A.for himself | B.as an experiment |
C.in his own bedroom | D.with a teacher’s guidance |
Compared with many adult chefs, Mc Garry ________.
A.has the best cooking equipment in his kitchen |
B.is inventive and has many new specialties to his name |
C.has much and impressive cooking experience for his young age |
D.wants to open his own Michelin three-star restaurant |
The author mentions Taylor Wilson in the last paragraph to ______.
A.prove that Flynn’s success is not a rare case |
B.compare his talent to that of Flynn Mc Garry |
C.introduce a young talent in a different field |
D.suggest experts should be trained at a young age |
Where does this text probably come from?
A.A recipe book | B.A restaurant introduction |
C.A career guide | D.A news report |
Which is sillier: denying we ever went to the moon or trying to convince the true nonbelievers?
Once upon a time – July 20, 1969, to be specific – two men got out of their little spaceship and wandered around on the moon for a while. Ten more men walked on the moon over the next three and a half years. The end.
Unfortunately, not quite. A fair number of Americans think that this whole business of moon landings really is a fairy tale. They believe that the landings were a big hoax (骗局) staged in the Mojave Desert, to convince everyone that U.S. technology was the “bestest” in the whole wide world.
Which is the harder thing to do: Send men to the moon or make believe we did? The fact is the physics behind sending people to the moon is simple. You can do it with computers whose entire memory capacities can now fit on chips the size of postage stamps and that cost about as much as, well, a postage stamp. I know you can because we did.
However, last fall NASA considered spending $15,000 on a public-relations campaign to convince the unimpressed that Americans had in fact gone to the moon. That idea was mostly a reaction to a Fox television program, first aired in February 2001, that claimed to expose the hoax. The show’s creator is a publicity hound (猎狗) who has lived up to the name in more ways than one by hounding Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon. Mr. X (as I will call him, thereby denying him the joyous sight of his name in print) recently followed Buzz Aldrin around and called him “a thief, liar and coward” until the 72-year-old astronaut finally lost it and hit the 37-year-old Mr. X in the face.
Anyway, NASA’s publicity campaign began to slow down. The nonbelievers took the campaign as NASA’s effort to hide something while the believers said that $15,000 to convince people that the world was round — I mean, that we had gone to the moon — was simply a waste of money. (Actually, the $15,000 was supposed to pay for an article by James E. Oberg, an astronomy writer who, with Aldrin, has contributed to Scientific American.)
If NASA’s not paying Oberg, perhaps it could put the money to good use by hiring two big guys to drag Neil Armstrong out of the house. Armstrong is an extremely private man, but he is also the first man on the moon, so maybe he has a duty to be a bit more outspoken about the experience. Or NASA could just buy Aldrin a commemorate plaque (纪念匾) for his recent touch on the face of Mr. X.
We can learn from Paragraphs 2 and 3 that some Americans believe _______.
A.moon landings were invented |
B.U.S. technology was the best |
C.moon landing ended successfully |
D.the Mojave Desert was the launching base |
According to the writer, which of the following is to blame for the story about the hoax?
A.NASA’s publicity campaign. | B.The Fox television program. |
C.Buzz Aldrin. | D.James E. Oberg. |
According to the writer, Mr. X _______.
A.told a faithful story | B.was not treated properly |
C.was a talented creator | D.had a bad reputation |
The believers think that NASA’s publicity campaign is ________.
A.proof to hide the truth |
B.stupid and unnecessary |
C.needed to convince the non-believers |
D.important to develop space technology |
The tone of the article is _______.
A.angry | B.conversational | C.humorous | D.matter-of-fact |
They leap from helicopters or speeding boats, bringing aid to swimmers who get into trouble off Italy’s popular beaches.
Hundreds of specially trained dogs from Italy’s corps of canine(犬类的) lifeguards set out each summer to help swimmers in need of rescue.
These "life dogs" wear a harness that victims can grab to be dragged back to shore, and unlike human lifeguards, they can easily jump from helicopters and speeding boats to reach swimmers in trouble.
With millions flocking to Italy’s crowded beaches each summer, the Italian Coast Guard says it rescues about 3,000 people every year —and their canine helpers have saved several lives.
It takes three years for the canines to reach expert rescue status, and currently 300 dogs are fully trained for duty, said Roberto Gasbarri, who directs the Italian School of Canine Lifeguards program.
"Dogs are of good physical strength. They can increase the speed at which victims are rescued," Gasbarri said.
"The dog becomes a sort of intelligent lifebuoy(救生圈). It is a buoy that goes by itself to a person in need of help, and comes back to the shore also by himself, choosing the best landing point and swimming through the safest currents," he said.
The school will train any breed, as long as they weigh at least 30 kilograms, but New found lands and golden retrievers are most commonly used because they are good at swimming. Each dog works together with a human lifeguard, who also acts as the animal’s trainer.
"Being retrievers, they set out to pick up anything we tell them, be it a human being, an object, or a fish, and they bring it back to the shore," said lifeguard Monia Luciani. "They do not associate it with a physical activity, but it is rather a game for them."
The dogs wear a harness so that __________.
The dogs are helpful to _________.
Why does the school usually choose to train the New found lands and golden retrievers?
___________________________________.
How do the dogs regard the pickup training?
____________________________________.
Food safety will become the food industry’s key target as the nation tries to adopt international food standards. The National Development and Reform Commission, the Standardization Administration of China, the Ministry of Agriculture and six other departments announced their 2004-05 development programme for national food standards over the weekend.
China is conducting a rectification (整顿) within two years. Inspectors will search for all known banned materials in food production. To reduce trading barriers, China will raise the ratio of adopting international standards in the food industry to 55 percent from today’s 23 percent. “Safety is the first consideration for anything entering people’s mouth followed by its nutritious value,” said Hao Yu, secretary-general of the National Food Industry Standardization Technique Committee. He added the usage of food addictives (添加剂) will be a major field for consideration in setting the new standards. On-the-spot checks during the past two years have shown the abuse (滥用) or misuse of addictives in food production and processing has become the biggest threat to food safety. In one case, talcum (滑石粉) powder was found in flour products, which is outlawed according to national food standards.
“At present there are no methods or standards to test the content of talcum powder in flour,” said Shang Yan’e, an official with the national watchdog on grain and oil inspections. Under the guidelines, all banned addictives will be recorded as inspections increase, Relevant departments have allocated (分配) funds to conduct risk evaluations on current food addictives to fix the limits of their usage. China will adopt international advanced techniques and standards so as to find out the harmful materials in food within a shortest period.
China will raise the ratio of adopting international standards in the food industry by _____.
A.55% | B.32% | C.23% | D.78% |
_________ is the second consideration for anything people eat according to the passage.
A.Safety | B.Value | C.Nutrition | D.Addictives |
What does the passage mainly talk about?
A.Addictives are dangerous to people’s health. |
B.Chinese food will be as safe as foreign food. |
C.New food safety standards are to be fixed. |
D.Food safety is a major concern in present China. |
Which is sillier: denying we ever went to the moon or trying to convince the true non-believers?
Once upon a time—July 20, 1969, to be specific – two men got out of their little spaceship and wandered around on the moon for a while. Ten more men walked on the moon over the next three and a half years. The end.
Unfortunately, not quite. A fair number of Americans think that this whole business of moon landings really is a fairy tale. They believe that the landings were a big hoax (骗局) staged in the Mojave Desert, to convince everyone that U.S. technology was the “best” in the whole wide world.
Which is the harder thing to do: Send men to the moon or make believe we did? The fact is that the physics behind sending people to the moon is simple. You can do it with computers whose entire memory capacities can now fit on chips the size of postage stamps and that cost about as much as, well, a postage stamp. I know you can because we did.
However, last fall NASA considered spending $15,000 on a public-relations campaign to convince the unimpressed that Americans had in fact gone to the moon. That idea was mostly a reaction to a Fox television program, first aired in February 2001, that claimed to expose the hoax. The show’s creator is a publicity hound (猎狗) who has lived up to the name in more ways than one by hounding Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon. Mr. X (as I will call him, thereby denying him the joyous sight of his name in print) recently followed Buzz Aldrin around and called him “a thief, liar and coward” until the 72-year-old astronaut finally lost it and hit the 37-year-old Mr. X in the face.
Anyway, NASA’s publicity campaign began to slow down. The nonbelievers took the campaign as NASA’s effort to hide something while the believers said that $15,000 to convince people that the world was round — I mean, that we had gone to the moon — was simply a waste of money. (Actually, the $15,000 was supposed to pay for an article by James E. Oberg, an astronomy writer who, with Aldrin, has contributed to Scientific American.)
If NASA’s not paying Oberg, perhaps it could put the money to good use by hiring two big guys to drag Neil Armstrong out of the house. Armstrong is an extremely private man, but he is also the first man on the moon, so maybe he has a duty to be a bit more outspoken about the experience. Or NASA could just buy Aldrin a commemorate plaque (纪念匾) for his recent touch on the face of Mr. X.
We can learn from Paragraphs 2 and 3 that some Americans believe _______.
A.moon landings were invented |
B.U.S. technology was the best |
C.moon landing ended successfully |
D.the Mojave Desert was the launching base |
According to the writer, which of the following is to blame for the story about the hoax?
A.NASA’s publicity campaign. | B.The Fox television program. |
C.Buzz Aldrin. | D.James E. Oberg. |
The believers think that NASA’s publicity campaign is ________.
A.proof to hide the truth |
B.stupid and unnecessary |
C.needed to convince the non-believers |
D.important to develop space technology |
What is implied in the last paragraph?
A.NASA should not bother with the non-believers. |
B.Armstrong was a very private and determined person. |
C.Armstrong should be as outspoken as Buzz Aldrin. |
D.NASA should send more astronauts to outer space. |
A group of eight public high school students in Massachusetts, aged l5 to l7,designed and ran their own school within a school. They named their practice the Independent Project. They represented the usual range: two were close to dropping out before they started the project,while others were honors students.
Their guidance teacher was their adviser, consulting with them when the group encountered difficulties. Though they sought advice from English,math and science teachers, they were responsible for monitoring one another’s work and giving one another feedback. There were no grades, but at the end of the term,the students wrote evaluations of their classmates.
The students also designed their own course. In addition to some regular courses,they each took on an ‘individual project’,learning to play the piano or to cook,writing a novel or making a video about domestic(国内的) violence. At the end of the term,they performed their new skills in front of the entire school. The last part of their self - designed course was to do a ‘collective project’ that had social significance. Because they felt the whole experience had been so life – changing,they ended up making a film showing how other students could start and run their own schools.
The project was a success. After returning to their traditional study,the students have high motivation and are doing well. One student who had failed all of his previous math courses spent three weeks teaching the others about probability. The lesson learned here is that if students are given the opportunity to take control or contribute significantly to their own learning they will become more accomplished,more engaged and more knowledgeable.
The students in the project are remarkable because they demonstrate the kinds of learning and personal growth that are possible when teenagers feel ownership of their high school experience,learn things that matter to them and learn together.
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A.Some students might drop out of high school. |
B.The teachers monitored the students’ homework. |
C.The students themselves solved all their problems. |
D.The teachers evaluate the students’ performances. |
The students involved in the Independent Project .
A.didn’t need to learn common lessons |
B.tended to escape from the whole society |
C.were unwilling to share their experiences |
D.focused on self-study and working together |
According Paragraph 4,we know that .
A.the traditional study is better than the project |
B.all the students had failed their math courses |
C.the students have freedom to design their lessons |
D.the project was mainly concerned with math courses |
The project made the students outstanding because .
A.they are unusually talented |
B.they have better backgrounds |
C.they have supportive teachers |
D.they are owners of their education |
What would be the best title of the text?
A.Structure the kids’ days to the minute |
B.Let kids rule their own school within a school |
C.Offer students few opportunities to do anything |
D.Provide traditional education to the students |
Everyone has got two personalities(性格)—the one that is shown to the world and the other that is secret and real. You don't show your secret personality when you're awake because you can control your behavior(行为), but when you're asleep, your sleeping position shows the real you. In a normal night, of course, people frequently change their position. The important position is the one that you sleep in.
If you go to sleep on your back , you’re a very open person . You normally trust people and you are easily influenced by fashion or new ideas . You don’t like to upset people , so you never express your real feelings . You are quite shy and you aren’t very confident .
If you sleep on your stomach, you are a rather secretive (不坦率的) person. You worry a lot and you're always easily upset. You're very stubborn(顽固), but you aren't very ambitious(抱负的). You usually live for today not for tomorrow. This means that you enjoy having a good time.
If you sleep curled up (卷曲), you are probably a very nervous person. You have a low opinion of yourself and so you're often defensive (防御性的). You're shy and you don't normally like meeting people. You prefer to be on your own. You're easily hurt.
If you sleep on your side, you have usually got a well-balanced personality. You know your strengths and weaknesses. You're usually careful. You have a confident personality. You sometimes feel anxious, but you don't often get depressed. You always say what you think even if it annoys people.
Point out which sentence is used to show the personality of a person who is used to sleeping on his or her stomach?
A.He or she is careful not to make others angry. |
B.He or she doesn't want to stick to his or her opinion. |
C.He or she can't be successful in any business. |
D.He or she likes to bring others happiness. |
Maybe you don't want to make friends with a person who sleeps curled up. Why?
A.He or she would rather be alone than communicate with you. |
B.He or she is rarely ready to help you. |
C.He or she prefers going out to staying at home. |
D.He or she wouldn't like to get help from you. |
It appears that the writer is possible to think highly of the person who sleeps on one side because _______.
A.he or she always shows sympathy (同情) for people |
B.he or she is confident, but not stubborn |
C.he or she has more strengths than weaknesses |
D.he or she often considers annoying (使烦恼) people |
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Smoking not only can wrinkle(起皱纹) the face and turn it yellow -- it can do the same to the whole body, researchers reported on Monday.
The study, published in the Archives of Dermatology, shows that smoking affects the skin all over the body -- even skin protected from the sun.
"We examined non-facial skin that was protected from the sun, and found that the total number of packs of cigarettes smoked per day and the total years a person has smoked were linked with the amount of skin damage a person experienced," Dr. Yolanda Helfrich of the University of Michigan, who led the study, said in a statement.
"In participants older than 65 years, smokers had significantly more fine wrinkling than nonsmokers. Similar findings were seen in participants aged 45 to 65 years," Helfrich's team added in their report.
The researchers tested 82 people, smokers and nonsmokers, taking pictures of the inner right arms. They ranged in age from 22 to 91 and half were smokers. Independent judges decided how wrinkled each person's skin was.
When skin is exposed to sunlight, notably(尤其)the face, it becomes coarse, wrinkled and discolored with a pale yellow tint, Helfrich's team wrote.
Several previous studies have found that cigarette smoking contributes to premature(过早的)skin aging as measured by facial wrinkles, the study said, but little has been done to measure the aging of skin not exposed to light.
The report did not discuss the mechanism involved but previous research has found that cigarette smoke, among other things, causes blood vessels(血管)beneath the skin to constrict(紧缩), reducing blood supply to the skin.
Smoking can also damage the connective tissue (组织)that supports both the skin and the internal organs.
The best title for this passage would be_______.
A.The danger of smoking | B.Smoking causes skin aging |
C.Quit smoking for health | D.A survey of smokers |
It can be inferred from the study _______ .
A.smoking won’t make skin protected from the sun |
B.smoking will do damage to skin rather than other organs |
C.smokers over 65 usually won’t worry about their skin |
D.the age of smokers is not connected with the result of the test |
From the passage smoking results in skin aging mainly because_____.
A.it will lower blood supply to skin | B.it can make you feel tired |
C.it can make skin come off | D.it can make blood run faster |
The main purpose of the passage is to ______.
A.inform people about the result of the study |
B.advise people how to protect skin |
C.warn people not to smoke again |
D.introduce a new way of avoiding skin aging |
Only three local students won Chinese Blog Competition. And 15 of the 18 awards went to students from China.
170 students’ task: to get a fully-designed blog up and running, complete with many postings based on a theme of choice—all written in Chinese.
Themes ranged from local opinions-such as the usage of Singlish, education and whether Singapore can be a cultural centre-to food blogs.
The entries were judged on Language proficiency(熟练程度)and the quality of writing, as well as the design and level of exchanging ideas with readers.
Academics(学者) from the National University of Singapore and the SIM University IT experts, and a journalist from Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao in Singapore made up the judges.
In the end, only three Singaporean students made it to the award list—the rest of the awards were swept up by students from China.
“No surprise, ” said Mr. Chow Yaw Long, 37, teachers in charge from Innova Junior College, which organized the event. “Although the topics were local subjects, the foreign students were generally better in terms of the content of the posts and their grasp of the Chinese language. ”
One of the three local students winning the first prize in the Best Language Award was blogger Christina Gao 19, from the Saint Andrew’s Junior College, who spared no effort in researching for and writing her blog. Each entry took her between five and seven days to produce, complete with pictures and even podcasts
Her advice for bloggers is: Be responsible
“Some bloggers out there only seek to blame the authorities and other bloggers.” Said Miss Gao. “I think they lack responsibilities and there is no value to their posts.”
The competition was organized by ___________.
A.the National University of Singapore | B.Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao |
C.the Saint Andrew’s Junior College | D.Innova Junior College |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A.Not all the themes were about local subjects. |
B.Chinese students won most of the awards. |
C.The blogs could be written in Chinese or Singlish. |
D.The judges were from universities in Singapore and China. |
What Miss Gao said suggests that ___________.
A.she likes to blame the authorities | B.she thinks highly of the others’ blogs |
C.she has a sense of responsibility | D.she loves to read valuable posts |
The passage is mainly about ___________.
A.how Chinese students won the awards in the competition |
B.why bloggers should take responsibility for their blogs |
C.what the result of the competition was |
D.how Miss Gao won the first prize in the competition |
Making an advertisement for television often costs more than a movie. For example, a two – hour movie costs $6 million to make. A TV commercial can cost more than $6 000 a second. And that does not include cost of paying for air time. Which is more valuable, the program or the ad? In terms of money – and making money is what television is all about – the commercial is by far the more important.
Research, market testing, talent, time and money —— all come together to make us want to buy a product.
No matter how bad we think a commercial is, it works. The sales of Charm went up once the ads began. TV commercials actually buy their way into our head. We, in turn, buy the product.
And the ads work because so much time and attention are given to them. Here are some rules of commercial ad making. If you want to get the low middle – class buyer, make sure the announcer has a though, manly voice. Put some people in the ad who work with their hands. If you want to sell to upper – class audience, make sure that the house, the furniture, and the hair style are the types that the group identifies with. If you want the buyer feel superior to the character selling the product, then make that person so stupid or silly that everyone will feel great about himself or herself.
We laugh at commercials. We don’t think we pay that much attention to them. But evidence shows we are kidding ourselves. The making of a commercial that costs so much money is not kid stuff. It’s big, big business. And it’s telling us what to think , what we need, and what to buy. To put simply, the TV commercial is a form of brainwashing.
TV commercials are more important than other programs to television because .
A.they bring in great profits | B.they require a lot of money to make |
C.they are not difficult to produce | D.they attract more viewers than other programs |
The purpose of all the efforts made in turning out TV commercials is .`
A.to persuade people to buy the product |
B.to show how valuable the product is |
C.to test the market value of the product |
D.to make them as interesting as TV movies |
From the rules set for making commercial ads, we can see that .
A.the lower – middle – class buyer likes to work with his hand |
B.the more stupid the characters, the more buyers of the product |
C.ad designers attract different people with different skills |
D.an upper – class buyer is only interested in houses and furniture |
It is believed by the writer that .
A.few people like to watch TV commercials |
B.TV commercials are a good guide to buyers |
C.TV commercials often make people laugh |
D.people do not think highly of TV commercials |
What does the author actually mean in the last paragraph?
A.He asks TV viewers never to laugh at the TV commercial ads. |
B.Commercials are used to show the true value of a product to be sold. |
C.TV commercials cost much and they do influence us in one way or another. |
D.Brainwashing must be introduced to sell something on TV. |
Harvard University named historian Drew Gilpin Faust as its first female president on Sunday, ending a lengthy and secretive search to find a successor(接任者)to Lawrence Summers .
The seven-member Harvard Corporation elected Faust, a noted scholar on History of the American South and dean of Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, as the university’s 28th president.
“This is a great day, and a historic day for Harvard,” James R. Houghton, chairman of the presidential search committee, said in a statement. “Drew Faust is an inspiring and accomplished leader, a superb scholar, a dedicated teacher, and a wonderful human being.”
Her selection is noteworthy given the heated debates over Summers’ comments that genetic differences between the sexes might help explain the lack of women in top science jobs.
Faust has been dean of Radcliffe since 2001, two years after the former women’s college was combined into the university as a research center with a mission to study gender issues.
Some professors have quietly groused that the 371-year-old university is appointing a fifth president who is not a scientist. No scientist has had the top job since James Bryant Conant retired in 1953; its last four have come from the fields of classics, law, literature and economics.
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Faust is the first Harvard president who did not receive a degree from the university since Charles Chauncy, a graduate of Cambridge University, who died in office in 1762. She attended the University of Pennsylvania.
“Teaching staff turned to her constantly,” said Sheldon Hackney, a former president of the University of Pennsylvania and historian who worked closely with Faust. “She’s very clear. She has a sense of humor, but she’s very strong-minded. You come to trust in her because she’s so solid.”A.Harvard named its 1st female president. |
B.History of Harvard University changed. |
C.Debates on female equality ended |
D.Drew Gilpin Faust, a famous woman historian. |
Which is NOT true about Drew Gilpin Faust?
A.She is the 28th president of Harvard University. |
B.She is a famous scholar from the American South. |
C.She isn’t a graduate from Harvard University |
D.She was head of Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. |
Lawrence Summers held the view that .
A.women cannot achieve as much as men in management |
B.women cannot hold important positions in society |
C.women can match men in science jobs |
D.few women make top scientists owing to genes |
The underlined word “groused” in the 6th paragraph means .
A.approved | B.commented | C.complained | D.indicated |
This passage probably appears in a .
A.biography | B.personal letter | C.research paper | D.newspaper report |
Since the 1970s, scientists have been searching for ways to link the brain with computers. Brain-computer interface(BCI) technology could help people with disabilities send commands to machines.
Recently, two researchers, Jose Millan and Michele Tavella from the Federal Polytechnic school in Lausanne, Switzerland, demonstrated(展示)a small robotic wheelchair directed by a person’s thoughts.
In the laboratory, Tavella operated the wheelchair just by thinking about moving his left or right hand. He could even talk as he watched the vehicle and guided it with his thoughts.
“our brain has billions of nerve ceils. These send signals through the spinal cord(脊髓)to the muscles to give us the ability to move. But spinal cord injuries or other conditions can prevent these weak electrical signals from reaching the muscles,” Tavella says. “Our system allows disabled people to communicate with external world and also to control devices.”
The researchers designed a special cap for the user. This head cover picks up the signals from the scalp(头皮) and sends them to a computer. The computer interprets the signals and commands the motorized wheelchair. The wheelchair also has two cameras that identify objects in its path. They help the computer react to commands from the brain.
Prof. Millan, the team leader, says scientists keep improving the computer software that interprets brain signals and turns them into simple commands. “The practical possibilities that BCI technology offers to disabled people can be grouped in two categories: communication, and controlling devices. One example is this wheelchair.”
He says his team has set two goals. One is testing with real patients, so as to prove that this is a technology they can benefit from. And the other is to make sure that they can use the technology over long periods of time.
BCI is a technology that can______.
A.help to update computer systems | B.link the human brain with computers |
C.help the disabled to recover | D.control a person's thoughts |
How did Tavella operate the wheelchair in the laboratory?
A.By controlling his muscles. | B.By talking to the machine |
C.By moving his hand. | D.By using his mind. |
Which of the following shows the path of the signals described in Paragraph 5?
A.scalp→computer→cap→wheelchair | B.computer→cap→scalp→wheelchair |
C.scalp→cap→computer→wheelchair | D.cap→computer→scalp→wheelchair |
The team will test with real patients to _____ .
A.make profits from them | B.prove the technology useful to them |
C.make them live longer | D.learn about their physical condition |
Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
A.Switzerland, the BCI Research Center |
B.New Findings About How the Human Brain Works |
C.BCI Could Mean More Freedom for the Disabled |
D.Robotic Vehicles Could Help to Cure Brain Injuries |
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