Writing about poetry is very similar to writing about a story or research you have conducted .The first thing you have to do to write an essay about a poem is to read the poem Very carefully and read it more than once．
Each poem says something，so try to figure out what the poem is saying to You .What ’s the theme of the poem ?What’s the attitude of the speaker of the poem ?How does the poem use words and sounds to communicate its message ?When you answer these questions，it can help you come up with a thesis(论题)for your essay·
It，s necessary to have a thesis statement written before you start writing your essay，especially when you’re writing about a poem． Your thesis should make an argument about the poem you're dealing with． You might want to argue that the poem is presenting a specific message，or that the words in the poem work together to create a certain tone. You may even want to argue that the poet wrote this particular poem because of a specific moment in history or a specific event in his or her life．The possibilities are infinite . As long as you can use evidence from the poem and from your research about the poem or poet ,your thesis is correct．
Before you even start writing， read the poem again once you have your thesis· At this point，you’U be able to read the poem with new eyes since you know what you’ll be writing about．Go through the poem with a fine-toothed comb and pick out everything that supports your thesis．When you find quotes you want to use，write them down In an outline of the main points of your essay．This will help keep you organized．When you write a quote down, be sure to cite(引用)it correctly．Depending on the text of your essay, you may or may not want to include the poet’s name in your quote． Once you have everything ready to go，You are all set to write your essay．
The passage mainly talks about________
| A．the function of poems | B．how to look for quotes |
| C．how to write about poetry | D．the benefit of writing about poetry |
By asking a series of questions in Paragraph 2，the writer wants to tell us the way of________
| A．writing an essay | B．understanding a poem |
| C．understanding key words | D．collecting enough evidence |
The underlined word “infinite” in Paragraph 3， is closest in meaning to“_______”
| A．unnecessary | B．unclear | C．meaningless | D．endless |
According to the writer，what should you do once you have your thesis?
| A．Read the poem again and try to find important quotes• |
| B．Write about the poem immediately without referring to it again． |
| C．Put aside the poem and search the Internet for supporting evidence• |
| D．Cite quotes from the poem including the poet’s name and page numbers• |
Everybody knows that colors are connected with certain feelings. For example, why do some people paint the walls of their rooms yellow and others pink? The same is true in stores. They want us to feel something when we look at their products.
Green, for example, tries to show the quality of a product: how good it is for us or for our environment. It also suggests that the product is healthier, has less fat and maybe fewer calories. Red, on the other hand is an aggressive color that is often used for packaging food. Red wants us to become hungry or thirsty. Purple is a kind of color that is often seen as royal. It indicates that it is something special. Producers use purple to show that something is of good quality. Blue is not very often found in food packaging because there are not very many foods that have a blue color.
Colors can also have different meaning in different cultures and countries. For example, while the color white is used in many Western countries to represent purity and innocence, it is seen as a symbol of mourning in many Eastern countries. The Egyptian pharaohs(法老) wore white crowns. A white sale is a sale of sheets, towels, and other bed and bath items. A white flag is the universal symbol for truce(休战). A white elephant is a rare, pale elephant sacred(神圣的) to the people of India, Thailand, Burma, and Sri Lanka. In these countries, something that is a white elephant is either a possession that costs more than it is worth to keep or an item that the owner doesn’t want but can’t get rid of.
Consumers are aware that certain foods must have certain colors. When Pepsi brought out a crystal clear cola in 1992, it thought that consumers would buy it because clear meant pure and healthy. After a few months Pepsi found out that a cola had to be dark-colored. Crystal Pepsi failed and the company pulled it off the market.
Advertising professionals often need to look at a product through the consumers’ eyes when choosing a color. The right packaging colors can truly improve the sales of a product but choosing a wrong color could end in failure.According to the passage, blue is rarely used in food packaging because ____.
| A．most consumers dislike it |
| B．it matches very few foods |
| C．it brings people low spirits |
| D．it doesn’t catch people’s eyes |
According to the passage, in India if something is expensive but useless, it can be called ____.
| A．a white flag | B．a white elephant |
| C．a white sale | D．a white crown |
Pepsi’s example is used to show ____.
| A．Pepsi’s success comes from failures |
| B．health is the main concern in drink making |
| C．crystal clear drinks can’t attract consumers |
| D．people have fixed ideas about products and colors |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Colors in advertising |
| B．Colors in food packaging |
| C．Our everyday life and colors |
| D．Foods in different colors |
How did your friendships begin? Most start with a short conversation on a random day. Asking about a homework assignment in class or complaining about your painful legs after playing in a soccer game, you found your best pal by accident.
“Small talk is where all your relationships begin,” Forbes magazine summed up.
The following is a five-step guide to making small talk from Bernardo J. Carducci, the director of the Shyness Research Institute at Indiana University Southeast, US. Let’s have a look.
Getting started
Begin by talking about the setting, such as the weather outside or the room you are in (“It’s cold in here, isn’t it?”). The purpose of talking about the setting is to show the other person that you are willing to make a conversation.
②The personal introduction
You should mention something about yourself, such as your name. A good personal introduction helps move the conversation forward.
③Looking for topics
At this point, you and your conversation partner need to find common ground. This is a good time to ask questions or to refer back to things you’ve said or heard earlier. Don’t worry if it gets quiet. The other person is probably just thinking of something to say.
④Expanding the topic
The goal is to keep the conversation going. At every stage, you should be careful not to talk too much. But don’t let the other person dominate the conversation either. If that starts to happen, mention something about yourself when he or she takes a breath.
⑤A polite ending
When ending a conversation, let the person know you’ll be leaving soon, express gratitude for the conversation and set the stage for a future conversation. For example, you could say, “I really must be going soon, but I had a great time chatting with you. I really liked hearing your opinion about that new movie. Here’s my phone number. Call or text me if you know of any other movies you think I might enjoy.” According to the article, starting by talking about the setting is meant to ________.
| A．find common ground | B．impress the other person |
| C．make a conversation | D．make the room warmer |
What does the underlined word “dominate” mean in Tip④?
| A．interrupt | B．control | C．adapt | D．simplify |
When ending a conversation, you’d better ________.
| A．talk about how much you want to keep talking |
| B．show that you’ve not enjoyed the talk |
| C．mention a specific movie that you love |
| D．give your opinion about the other person’s earlier comments |
The main purpose of the article is to ________.
| A．encourage students to make more friends |
| B．give students tips on making small talk |
| C．introduce popular topics for students |
| D．teach students how to create friendships |
The flag, the most common symbol of a nation in the modern world, is also one of the most ancient. With a clear symbolic meaning, the flag in the traditional form is still used today to mark building, ships and other vehicles related to a country.
The national flag as we know it today is in no way a primitive artifact. It is , rather, the product of thousands of years’ development. Historians believe that it had two major ancestors, of which the earlier served to show wind direction.
Early human beings used very fragile houses and boats. Often strong winds would tear roofs from houses or cause high waves that endangered travelers. People’s food supplies were similarly vulnerable (易受损害的). Even after they had learned how to plant grains, they still needed help from nature to ensure good harvests. Therefore they feared and depended on the power of the wind, which could bring warmth from one direction and cold from another.
Using a simple piece of cloth tied to the top of a post to tell the direction of the wind was more dependable than earlier methods, such as watching the rising of smoke from a fire. The connection of the flag with heavenly power was therefore reasonable. Early human societies began to fix long pieces of cloth to the tops of totems (图腾)before carrying them into battle. They believed that the power of the wind would be added to the good wishes of the gods and ancestors represented by the totems themselves.
These flags developed very slowly into modern flags. The first known flag of a nation or a ruler was unmarked: The king of China around 1008 B.C. was known to have a white flag carried ahead of him. This practice might have been learned from Egyptians even further in the past, but it was from China that it spread over trade routes through India, then across Arab lands, and finally to Europe, where it met up with the other ancestor of the national flag.The best title for the passage would be_________________
| A．Uses of Flags | B．Power of the National Flag |
| C．Type of Flags | D．Development of the National Flag |
The earliest flags were connected with heavenly power because_____________
| A．they could tell wind direction |
| B．they could bring good luck to fighters |
| C．they were believed to stand for natural forces. |
| D．they were handed down by the ancestors |
What does the author know of the first national flag?
| A．He knows when it was sent to Europe. |
| B．He believes it was made in Egypt. |
| C．He doubts where it started |
| D．He thinks it came from China. |
What will the author most probably talk about next?
| A．The second ancestor of the national flag. |
| B．The role of China in the spread of the national flag. |
| C．The use of modern flags in Europe. |
| D．The importance of modern flags. |
A new study suggests that sad music might actually arouse positive emotions. The finding helps to explain why people enjoy listening to sad music, say Ai Kawakami and her colleagues from Tokyo University of the Arts and the RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Japan. Ai Kawakami and her colleagues asked 44 volunteers, including both musicians and nonspecialists, to listen to two pieces of sad music and one piece of happy music. Each participant was required to use a set of keywords to rate both their perception(观念) of the music and their own emotional state.
The sad pieces of music included Glinka’s La Separation in F minor and Blumenfeld’s Etude Sur Mer in G minor. The happy music piece was Granados’s Allegro de Concierto in G major. To control the “happy” effect of major key, they also played the minor key(小调) pieces in major key, and vise versa.
The researchers explained that sad music aroused contradictory emotions because the participants of the study tended to feel sad to be more tragic and less romantic than they felt themselves while listening to it.
“ In general, sad music causes sadness in listeners, and sadness is regarded as an unpleasant emotion. If sad music actually arouses only unpleasant emotion, we would not listen to it,” the researchers wrote in the study.
“Music that is believed as sad actually causes romantic emotion as well as sad emotion.And people, regardless of their musical training, experience this ambivalent(矛盾的) emotion to listen to the sad music,” added the researchers.
Also, unlike sadness in daily life, sadness experienced through art actually feels pleasant, possibly because the latter does not cause an actual threat to our safety. This could help people to deal with their negative emotions in daily life, concluded the authors.
“Emotion experienced by music has no direct danger or harm unlike the emotion experienced in everyday life. Therefore, we can even enjoy unpleasant emotion such as sadness. If we suffer from unpleasant emotion aroused through daily life, sad music might be helpful to alleviate negative emotion,” they added. People enjoy listening to sad music because _______.
| A．sad music may help arouse positive emotions |
| B．sad music can make people relax |
| C．Sad music has a positive effect on people’s health |
| D．many experts recommend people to listen to sad music |
We can learn from the passage that _______.
| A．sad music only causes sadness in listeners |
| B．Only musicians were invited to take part in the survey |
| C．The volunteers were asked to listen to three pieces of music in all |
| D．Granados’s Allegro de Concierto in G major can cause positive emotions |
The underlined word “alleviate” in the last paragraph means “ ”.
| A．add | B．strengthen | C．cause | D．reduce |
What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．People should listen to sad music. |
| B．Happy music can make people sad. |
| C．Sad music may actually cause positive emotions. |
| D．Sad music is really bad to people. |
Thousands of years ago, birthdays were considered special days. On birthdays, the bad spirits were able to harm you and change your life. It was believed that the only way to solve the problem was to have your friends and family around you, so that good wishes and presents would keep the bad spirits away. Also, noisemakers were thought to be used at parties as a way of scaring away the evil spirits.
The custom of lighting candles was created by people believing that the gods lived in the sky. By lighting candles and torches, they were sending a signal or prayer to the gods, so they could be answered. Blowing out the candles and making a wish were thought to be another way of sending a signal or a message.
This is how the way we celebrate our birthdays came about. But different cultures celebrate in different ways.
The birthday story in the Bible（圣经） that we know best is about the birth of the Christ in Bethlehem（地名：伯利恒）. For nearly 2000 years since that day, the Christian world has been honoring this birth. The day many Englishmen celebrate is, of course, Christmas. There are other references to birthday parties. King Pharaoh celebrated his birthday by making a feast for his court followers. That was over 4000 years ago. The story of King Herod tells that on his birthday he made a supper for his lords, high captains and other special friends in Galilee (地名：加利利).According to the passage, good wishes and presents given by one’s friends and family on his birthday can _____________________.
| A．cheer him up |
| B．push bad spirits away |
| C．bring him a big fortune |
| D．prove that he’s a popular person |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．People send messages to the gods by lighting or blowing out the candles. |
| B．The gods celebrate their birthdays by lighting candles. |
| C．The custom of lighting candles originated with the gods. |
| D．The gods will help people realize their dreams on their birthdays. |
The two ancient kings’ ways of celebrating their birthdays show__________________.
| A．how great the two kings were |
| B．that their court followers were awarded the special honors |
| C．the two kings’ excellent cooking skills |
| D．how different cultures celebrate in different ways |
The passage is mainly about __________________.
| A．the functions of the noises made on birthdays. |
| B．how to scare away the bad spirits on birthdays |
| C．how birthdays came about |
| D．the origin of a famous day Christmas |
The issue of privacy versus openness is a paradox, particularly when it comes to the American home. “Lots” or “yards” (gardens) can be large and many are not enclosed by the walls, fences or hedges so popular in other cultures. Similarly, “window treatments” frame the window. but the use of European-style net curtains to screen out nosy neighbors is rare. In the same style, first-time visitors to an American home may be proudly given the full tour; even walk-in closets and en suite bathrooms are not considered off-limits. They may also be encouraged to help themselves to a soda from the fridge. All this gives an impression of openness.
Yet Americans do value their personal space and privacy. A Brazilian expatriate (侨民) who dropped in on her usually friendly Connecticut neighbors unannounced got the clear impression she should have called first. Similarly while a typical suburban home features large, shared areas, such as an open-plan kitchen and family room or “den”, ample private space is also allowed in the floor plan. A visit to a family home in the evening would likely find the family members dispersed, each independently watching TV, on the phone, surfing the Internet, or otherwise recharging batteries in the privacy of their own bedroom.
American individualism, expansiveness, and abundance are expressed in lifestyle. Despite the fact that the average household size has declined over the past thirty years from3.1 people to 2.6 people per household, the average size of a new family home increased during the same period from 1,500 to 2,200 square feet.
A common observation is just how outsized everything is. The beds are king-sized, the TVs have giant screens, the burgers are “whoppers (庞然大物),” appliances are “industrial” size. The largest popcorn or soda at the movies can be “supersized.” Closets are “walk in,” and some cars are the size of a military vehicle.The passage suggests that Americans__________.
| A．are rich enough to afford large size houses and luxurious electricity appliances |
| B．are very shy when talking about keeping their privacy and their personal space |
| C．would like to express their lifestyles in public to show them off |
| D．enjoy openness as well as individualism although they seem to contradict each other |
Why can we say that American individualism, expansiveness, and abundance are expressed in their lifestyle?
| A．Because the average size of a new house has increased during the past thirty years. |
| B．Because Americans often use European-style net curtains to screen out nosy neighbors. |
| C．Because many houses are equipped with walk-in closets. |
| D．Because the house size, outsized household furniture and independent living habits have proved it. |
The underlined phrase in the passage means________.
| A．filling a battery with electrical power |
| B．recovering your strength and energy by resting for a while |
| C．changing your batteries again |
| D．obtaining new batteries because old ones are running out |
According to the passage, if you drop in on an American family which is usually friendly to you in the evening, you________.
| A．will be deeply impressed by their family get-together scene |
| B．will be invited to a party which is well-prepared |
| C．will find family members scattered, and enjoying themselves individually |
| D．will be warmly welcomed even if they don’t get informed of your visit earlier |
Many skilled young people are being forced into part-time and unskilled work, the report says. It warns of a "crisis" with more than six million people so disillusioned they have given up looking for work. The ILO(International Labor Organization)wants governments to make job creation a priority. It wants more training schemes, and also tax breaks for employers.
"The youth unemployment crisis can be beaten but only if job creation for young people becomes a key priority in policymaking and private sector investment picks up significantly," said Jose Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, executive director of the ILO's employment sector.
Since 2007, the number of young people without jobs has risen by four million - up from less than 12%, the Global Employment Trends for Youth Report says. Almost 13% of people aged between 15 and 24 - or almost 75 million - have no work, although this is slightly down on its peak in 2009.
In the European Union, one in five young people are looking for work, the report claims. Some 27.9% of youths were unemployed in North Africa last year —a rise of five percentage points on 2010. In the Middle East, the figure stood at 26.5% in the report's regional breakdown. Even in East Asia, perhaps the most economically active region, the unemployment rate was 2.8 times higher for young people than for adults, the report said.
But, the ILO report reveals, the true picture of youth unemployment is even more pessimistic. Many young people are extending their time in higher education because they cannot find jobs. Others are taking part-time unskilled work because they cannot find work in the fields they trained for.
The ILO says that more than six million young people worldwide have given up looking for work and are becomingly increasingly detached from society. By not using their skills they are losing them, the report says, and if there is no improvement in the jobs market soon, they may be not only unemployed, but unemployable.
The ILO suggests offering tax breaks to businesses hiring young people and offering more programmes to help kick-start careers.Which of the following is true according to Jose Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs?
| A．Since 2007, the number of young people out of job has risen to 4 million. |
| B．Nearly 13% of the young people have no work. |
| C．Job creation should be made a key priority in policymaking. |
| D．The youth unemployment rate can never go down. |
The various figures in paragraph 3 and 4 were used to show_______.
| A．The employment situation is serious only in the European Union |
| B．The global youth employment situation is depressing |
| C．East Asia enjoys a high youth employment rate |
| D．Compared with the situation in 2009, the youth employment in 2007 is slightly better |
According to ILO, the following are caused by high youth unemployment rate except_______.
| A．The government calls on young people to take up whatever job is available |
| B．Many young people are making their time in higher education longer |
| C．Some young people are taking part-time unskilled work |
| D．Many young people have given up looking for work |
The ILO offered many solutions to the crisis of youth unemployment, including_______.
a. making job creations a priority b. more training schemes
c. encouraging public investment d. tax breaks for employers
e. offering more entrepreneurship programmes to help start careers
| A．a b c e | B．b c d e | C．a c d e | D．a b d e |
The United States economy has dipped into economic recession (经济衰退). This caused discomfort and hardship in every level of society; but for many of the nation’s poor, discomfort and hardship turned into misery (苦难).
An increase in homelessness is probably the worst result of a nation’s financial disaster. About 3 million Americans were homeless because of a lack of affordable housing. Experts suggest that a family should spend no more than 30 percent of its income on housing. In fact, in some families housing costs make up 50 percent or more. An unexpected event, such as losing work or illness, can quickly push a family into homelessness.
An article in Time magazine tells a story of one such family. A young couple and their three children rented a two-bedroom apartment for about $350 a month. They could hardly go on with the husband’s $920-a-month take-home pay; so when their rent was raised to $500 a month, they could no longer make ends meet.
Another woman was found dead on a street in Washington D.C., the capital, and she died at a bus-stop across the street from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
People become homeless for different reasons. Some may not be able to pay for housing, because they have lost their job and cannot find another place they can afford. Others have mental diseases, or are addicted to drugs or alcohol, many of whom do not live with their family. And what’s more, there are not enough centers for shelter as the government doesn’t pay enough attention to this social problem.
People are making efforts to solve the problem. However, it will not be easy, because it is a personal and economical problem as well as a social problem.The passage is mainly about __________ in the US.
| A．ways of solving economic problems |
| B．homeless people being taken good care of |
| C．different reasons for economic recession |
| D．economic recession leading to social problems |
In the passage the author supported his view by __________.
| A．presenting specific figures | B．giving examples |
| C．explaining in details | D．discussing different opinions |
One main result that economic recession has led to is __________
| A．an increase of living costs | B．more and more deaths |
| C．an increase of homeless people | D．less centers for poor people |
How many reasons why people become homeless are listed in the passage?
| A．2. | B．3. | C．4. | D．5. |
What Is a Boy?
Between the innocence of babyhood and the seriousness of manhood we find a delightful creature called a “boy”. Boys come in different sizes, weights, and colors, but all boys have the same belief: to enjoy every second of every minute of every hour of every day and to fill the air with noise until the adult males send them off to bed at night.
Boys are found everywhere – on top of, under, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around, or jumping to. Mothers spoil them, little girls hate them, older sisters and brothers love them, and God protects them. A boy is TRUTH with dirt on its face, BEAUTY with a cut on its finger, WISDOM with chocolate in its hair, and the HOPE of the future with a snake in its pocket.
When you are busy, a boy is a trouble – maker and a noise. When you want him to make a good impression, his brain turns to jelly or else he becomes a wild creature destroying the world and himself with it.
A boy is a mixture – he has the stomach of a horse, the digestion (消化) of stones and sand, the energy of an atomic bomb, the curiosity of a cat, the imagination of a superman, the shyness of a sweet girl, the brave nature of a bull, the violence of a firecracker(鞭炮), but when you ask him to make something, he has five thumbs on each hand.
He likes ice cream, knives, saws, Christmas, comic books, woods, water (in its natural habitat), large animals, Dad, trains, Saturday mornings, and fire engines. He is not much for Sunday schools, company, schools, books without pictures, music lessons, neckties, barbers, girls, overcoats, adults, or bedtime.
Nobody else is so early to rise, or so late to supper. Nobody else gets so much fun out of trees, dogs, and breezes. Nobody else can put into one pocket a rusty knife, a half eaten apple, a three-feet rope, six cents and some unknown things.
A boy is a magical creature – he is your headache but when you come home at night with only destroyed pieces of your hopes and dreams, he can mend them like new with two magic words, “Hi, Dad!”The whole passage is in a tone (语气) of _________.
| A．humor and love | B．anger and disappointment |
| C．hope and expectation | D．confidence and imagination |
What’s the meaning of the underlined sentence?
| A．He has altogether five fingers. |
| B．He is slow, foolish and clumsy. |
| C．He becomes clever and smart. |
| D．He cuts his hand with a knife. |
According to the writer, boys appreciate everything in the following except _________.
| A．ice cream | B．comic books |
| C．Saturday mornings | D．Sunday schools |
What does the writer feel about boys?
| A．He feels curious about their noise. |
| B．He is tired of these creatures. |
| C．He is amazed by their naughtiness. |
| D．He feels unsafe staying with them. |
When you practice reading with passages shorter than book length, do not try to take in each word separately, one after the other. It is much more difficult to grasp the broad theme of the passage this way, and you will also get the stuck on individual words which may not be absolutely essential to a general understanding of the passage. It is a good idea to skim through the passage very quickly first to get the general idea of each paragraph. Titles, paragraph headings and emphasized words can be a great help in getting this skeleton outline of the passage. It is surprising how many people do not read titles, introductions or paragraph headings. Can you, without looking back, remember the title of this passage and the heading of this paragraph?
Most paragraphs of a passage or chapter have a 'topic sentence' which expresses the central idea. The remaining sentences expand or support that idea. It has been estimated that between 50% and 90% of all expositive（说明的）paragraphs in English have the topic sentence first. Always pay special attention to the first sentence of a paragraph, it is most likely to give you the main idea.
Sometimes, though, the first sentence in the paragraph does not have the feel of 'main idea' sentence. It does not seem to give us enough new information to justify a paragraph. The next most likely place to look for the topic sentence is the last sentence of the paragraph.
Remember that the opening and closing paragraphs of a passage or chapter are particularly important. The opening paragraph suggests the general direction and content of the piece, while the closing paragraph often summarizes the very essence（精髓）. It is a good idea to skim through a passage quickly first ____________.
| A．at about 315 w.p.m.（words per minute） |
| B．to get the general idea of each paragraph |
| C．so that you can take in each work separately |
| D．to make sure you get to the end at least once |
The topic sentence of an expository paragraph in English _____________.
| A．usually comes in the middle |
| B．is most likely to be found at the end |
| C．is most often at the beginning |
| D．is usually left out in expository writing |
Most expository paragraphs in English have a clearly defined topic sentence. In such paragraphs the topic sentence comes first _____________.
A. in about 5% of cases B in about 80% of cases
C. in about 20% cases D. very rarelySometimes we know the first sentence is not the topic sentence because ____________.
| A．it does not seem to give us enough new information |
| B．it is not long enough |
| C．it does not come at the beginning |
| D．it does not make a complete sentence |
The closing paragraph of a piece of writing ____________.
| A．is not really very important |
| B．is often unnecessary repetition |
| C．often comes at the end |
| D．often summarizes the essence of the passage |
Below is a selection from a popular science book.
| If blood is red, why are veins (静脉) blue? Actually, veins are not blue at all. They are more of a clear, yellowish color. Although blood looks red when it’s outside the body, when it’s sitting in a vein near the surface of the skin, it’s more of a dark reddish purple color. At the right depth, these blood-filled veins reflect less red light than the surrounding skin, making them look blue by comparison. Which works harder, your heart or your brain? That kind of depends on whether you’re busy thinking or busy exercising. Your heart works up to three times harder during exercise, and shifts enough blood over a lifetime to fill a supertanker（超级油轮）. But, in the long run, your brain probably tips it, because even when you’re sitting still your brain is using twice as much energy as your heart, and it takes four to five times as much blood to feed it. Why do teeth fall out, and why don’t they grow back in grown-ups? Baby (or “milk”) teeth do not last long; they fall out to make bigger room for bigger, stronger adult teeth later on. Adult teeth fall out when they become damaged, decayed（腐烂）and infected by bacteria. Once this second set of teeth has grown in, you’re done. When they’re gone, they are gone. This is because nature figures you’re set for life, and what controls regrowth of your teeth switches off. Do old people shrink（收缩）as they age? Yes and no. Many people do get shorter as they age. But, when they do, it isn’t because they’re shrinking all over. They simply lose height as their spine (脊柱) becomes shorter and more curved due to disuse and the effect of gravity (重力). Many (but not all) men and women do lose height as they get older. Men lose an average of 3-4 cm in height as they age, while women may lose 5 cm or more. If you live to be 200 years old, would you keep shrinking till you were, like 60 cm tall, like a little boy again? No, because old people don’t really shrink! It is not that they are growing backwards—their legs, arms and backbones getting shorter. When they do get shorter, it’s because the spine has shortened a little. Or, more often, become more bent and curved. Why does spinning make you dizzy)? Because your brain gets confused between what you’re seeing and what you’re feeling. The brain senses that you’re spinning using special gravity-and-motion-sensing organs in your inner ear, which work together with your eyes to keep your vision balance stable. But when you suddenly stop spinning the system goes out of control, and your brain thinks you’re moving while you’re not. Where do feelings and emotions come from? Mostly from an ancient part of the brain called the limbic system（边缘系统）. All mammals have this brain area — from mice to dogs, cats, and humans. So all mammals feel basic emotions like fear, pain and pleasure. But since human feelings also involve other, newer bits of the brain, we feel more complex emotions than any other animal on this planet. If exercise wears you out, how can it be good for you? Because our bodies adapt to everything we do to them. And as far as your body is concerned, it’s “use it, or lose it”! It’s not that exercise makes you healthy, it’s more that a lack of exercise leaves your body weak and easily affected by disease. |
What is the color of blood in a vein near the surface of the skin?
| A．Blue | B．Light yellow |
| C．Red | D．Dark reddish purple |
Why do some old people look a little shrunken as they age?
| A．Because their spine is in active use. |
| B．Because they are more easily affected by gravity. |
| C．Because they keep growing backwards. |
| D．Because their spine becomes more bent. |
Which of the following statements about our brain is true?
| A．In the long run, our brain probably works harder than our heart. |
| B．When our brain senses the spinning, we will feel dizzy. |
| C．The brains of the other mammals are as complex as those of humans. |
| D．Our feelings and emotions come from the most developed area in our brain. |
What is the main purpose of the selection?
| A．To give advice on how to stay healthy. |
| B．To provide information about our body. |
| C．To challenge new findings in medical research. |
| D．To report the latest discoveries in medical science. |
Decision-making under Stress
A new review based on a research shows that acute stress affects the way the brain considers the advantages and disadvantages, causing it to focus on pleasure and ignore the possible negative (负面的) consequences of a decision.
The research suggests that stress may change the way people make choices in predictable ways. “Stress affects how people learn,” says Professor Mara Mather. “People learn better about positive than negative outcomes under stress.”
For example, two recent studies looked at how people learned to connect images(影像) with either rewards or punishments. In one experiment, some of the participants were first stressed by having to give a speech and do difficult math problems in front of an audience; in the other, some were stressed by having to keep their hands in ice water. In both cases, the stressed participants remembered the rewarded material more accurately and the punished material less accurately than those who hadn’t gone through the stress. This phenomenon is likely not surprising to anyone who has tried to resist eating cookies or smoking a cigarette while under stress –at those moments, only the pleasure associated with such activities comes to mind. But the findings further suggest that stress may bring about a double effect. Not only are rewarding experiences remembered better, but negative consequences are also easily recalled.
The research also found that stress appears to affect decision-making differently in men and women. While both men and women tend to focus on rewards and less on consequences under stress, their responses to risk turn out to be different. Men who had been stressed by the cold-water task tended to take more risks in the experiment while women responded in the opposite way. In stressful situations in which risk-taking can pay off big, men may tend to do better, when caution weighs more, however, women will win.
This tendency to slow down and become more cautious when decisions are risky might also help explain why women are less likely to become addicted than men: they may more often avoid making the risky choices that eventually harden into addiction.We can learn from the passage that people under pressure tend to ______.
| A．keep rewards better in their memory |
| B．recall consequences more effortlessly |
| C．make risky decisions more frequently |
| D．learn a subject more effectively |
According to the research, stress affects people most probably in their ______.
| A．ways of making choices | B．preference for pleasure |
| C．tolerance of punishments | D．responses to suggestions |
The research has proved that in a stressful situation, ______.
| A．women find it easier to fall into certain habits |
| B．men have a greater tendency to slow down |
| C．women focus more on outcomes |
| D．men are more likely to take risks |
I was brought up in the British, stiff upper lip style. Strong feelings aren’t something you display in public. So, you can imagine that I was unprepared for the outpouring of public grief(悲伤) at a Chinese funeral.
My editorial team leader died recently after a short illness. He was 31. The news was so unexpected that it left us all shocked and upset. A female colleague burst into tears and cried piteously at her desk. Somehow we got through the day's work. The next day was the funeral.
Our big boss stepped forward to deliver a eulogy and was soon in tears. She carried on, in Chinese of course, but at the end said in English: "There will be no more deadlines for you in heaven." Next came a long-term colleague who also dissolved in tears but carried on with her speech despite being almost overcome by emotion. Then a close friend of the dead man paid tribute(哀悼), weeping openly as he spoke. Sorrow is spreading. Me and women were now sobbing uncontrollably. Finally, the man's mother, supported between two women, addressed her son in his coffin. At one point, the mother almost collapsed and had to be held up. We were invited to step forward to each lay a white rose on the casket. Our dead colleague looked as if he was taking a nap. At the end of the service I walked away from the funeral parlor stunned at the outpouring of emotion.
In the UK, families grieve privately and then try to hold it together and not break down at a funeral. Here in China it would seem that grieving is a public affair. It strikes me that it is more cathartic to cry your eyes out than try to keep it bottled up for fear of embarrassment, which is what many of us do in the West.
Afterwards, a Chinese colleague told me that the lamenting at the funeral had been restrained(克制) by Chinese standards. In some rural areas, she said, people used to be paid to mourn noisily. This struck me like something out of novel by Charles Dickens. But we have all seen on TV scenes of grief-stricken people in Gaza and the West Bank, in Afghanistan, Iraq and the relatives of victims of terrorist bombings around the world. Chinese grief is no different. I realized that it's the reserved British way of mourning that is out of step with the rest of the world.
It was our newspaper's production day. We were bussed back to the office to resume work. No more deadlines for our former colleague, but we had to pull together to put the newspaper to print. The boss invited the team to go out for dinner after work. We relaxed, smiled, joked. There was no mention of the funeral or our poor colleague. Enough sorrow had been shed already. We needed a break.The underlined words “stiff upper lip style” mean “ ”.
| A．cold-blooded | B．warm-hearted |
| C．self-controlled | D．light-hearted |
At the funeral, .
| A．five individuals made speeches |
| B．the boss’s speech was best thought of |
| C．everyone was crying out loudly |
| D．the writer was astonished by the scene |
According to the writer, people in the West .
| A．are not willing to be sad for the dead |
| B．prefer to control their sadness in public |
| C．cry their eyes out at the public funeral |
| D．have better way to express sadness |
It is implied that .
| A．the English might cry noisily for the dead in Dickens’ time |
| B．Chinese express their sadness quite unlike other peoples |
| C．victims of terrorist bombings should be greatly honored |
| D．English funeral culture is more civilized than the others |
This passage talks mainly about .
| A．an editor’s death | B．bad funeral customs |
| C．western ways of grief | D．cultural differences |
On Jan 23, 2012, I was aboard a ship on the Yangtze River, listening to the sound of fireworks and eating plate after plate of dumplings.
On Sunday Feb 10, 2013, I was preparing to celebrate Chinese New Year again – in London’s Chinatown.
It was raining. It was cold. But ever since I left Beijing in August, I had promised myself I would celebrate Chinese New Year – if only to help with my Beijing “homesickness”.
Central London was dressed up for the occasion. There was a stage for a big fireworks display for the evening. Even so, it wasn’t like my real Beijing chunjie.
Even buying a baozi didn’t cheer me up. It cost about 10 times as much as the real thing does in Beijing and got stuck to its rain-ruined paper bag.
Cold, wet and depressed, I ran into a shop for shelter. Suddenly, there it was. Between the packets of dried meat and fish, the bags of rice and the smell of dried noodles in this little Chinese supermarket, I had found home.
An hour later, I hurried into my house with bags of frozen jiaozi, packets of sauce and a large bottle of vinegar. I boiled water, tore open the packets, grabbed my chopsticks and settled down to a feast. This, I thought, is a Happy Chinese New Year.
I even watched the fireworks on TV. After all, why face the British weather when I can bring China home in one bite? We can conclude from the first three paragraphs that the author ______.
| A．likes watching fireworks on the boat |
| B．misses Chinese food more than anything else |
| C．finds it great fun to celebrate Chinese New Year |
| D．misses her life in Beijing very much |
How did the author feel when she found some Chinese foods in a supermarket?
| A．a little curious | B．rather tired |
| C．a bit comfortable | D．very depressed |
Why did the author watch the fireworks on TV?
| A．She didn’t want to get wet and cold again. |
| B．The square is far away from where she lives. |
| C．She doesn’t like fireworks very much. |
| D．She was too hungry to go out. |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．Unforgettable Chunjie in Beijing | B．Wonderful Experience in Britain |
| C．Finding Home in London | D．Festival in London |
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