{{B}}PassageTwo{{/B}}Ifthose"{{U}}madmom
{{B}}Passage Two{{/B}}In this passage, the author mainly tells us that ______.A．everyone can be forgetful sometimes regardless of one’s age
Just as bodies require more maintenance with the passing years, so do brains, which scientists now know show signs of aging as early as the 20s and 30s. "Brain aging starts at a very young age, younger than any of us have imagined and these processes continue gradually over the years," saidDr. Gary Small, the director of theCenter onAging at the University ofCalifornia, LosAngeles. "I’m convinced that it is never too early to get started on a mental or brain-fitness program," he addeD、
In his book, "The MemoryBible," the 51-year-old neuroscientist lists what he refers to as the 10 commandments for keeping the brain young. They include training memory, building skills, minimizing stress, mental exercises, brain food and a healthy lifestyle. It’s a game plan for keeping brain cells sparking and neural networks in tip-top shape.
"Misplacing your keys a couple of times doesn’t mean you should start labeling your cabinets. Memory loss is not an inevitable consequence of aging. Our brains can fight back," he saiD、
Small provides the weapons for a full-scale attack.According to him, simple memory tests give an indication of what you are up against and tools such as look, snap and connect are designed to make sure that important things such as names and dates are never forgotten. "So if you want to learn names and faces, for example, you meet Mrs.Beatty and you notice a distinguishing facial feature, maybe a prominent eyebrow," said Small. "You associate the first thing that comes to minD、 I think of the actor WarrenBeatty so I create a mental snapshot of WarrenBeatty kissing her brow. "
Small admits it may sound a bit strange but he says it works. " Mental exercises could be anything from doing crossword puzzles and writing with your left hand if you are right handed or learning a language. It could be anything that is fun that people enjoy doing", he addeD、
He also recommends physical exercise, a low-fat diet and eating foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as fish, walnuts andBrazil nuts, and fruits and vegetables high in antioxidants (抗氧化剂) including blueberries and onions in addition to reducing stress.
B．we can prevent our sound mind from aging with certain methods
C．brain aging starts from the time when we are in our 20s and 30s
D．memory loss is a sign that shows we are getting oldBrazilhasbecomeoneofthedevelopingworld’s
Brazil has become one of the developing world’s great successes at reducing population growth—but more by accident than design. While countries such as India have made joint efforts to reduce birth rates,Brazil has had better result without really trying, says George Martine at HarvarD、
Brazil’s population growth rate has dropped from 2.99% a year between 1951 and 1960 to 1.93% a year between 1981 and 1990, andBrazilian women now have only 2.7 children on average. Martine says this figure may have fallen still further since 1990, an achievement that makes it the envy of many other Third World countries.
Martine puts it down to, among other things, soap operas (通俗电视连续剧) and instalment (分期付款) plans introduced in the 1970s.Both played an important, although indirect, role in lowering the birth rate.Brazil is one of the world’s biggest producers of soap operas. Globo,Brazil’s most popular television network, shows three hours of soaps six nights a week, while three others show at least one hour a night. Most soaps are based on wealthy characters living the high life in big cities.
"Although they have never really tried to work in a message towards the problems of reproduction, they describe middle and upper class values not many children, different attitudes towards sex, women working," says Martine. "They sent this image to all parts ofBrazil and made people conscious of other patterns of behavior and other values, which were put into a very attractive package. "
Meanwhile, the installment plans tried to encourage the poor to become consumers. "This led to an enormous change in consumption patterns and consumption was incompatible (不相容的) with unlimited reproduction. " says Martine.
According to the passage,Brazil has cut back its population growth______.A．by educating its citizens
B．by careful family planning
C．by developing TV programmes
D．by chanceArecentreportonpopulationtrendconductedb
A．designed
This trend is called "population fatigue", and it’s beginning in many of the developing countries that have experienced {{U}} (3) {{/U}} birthrates and sharp population growth for several decades. Governments in these countries are now having trouble dealing with feeding, housing and educating an increasing number of children, {{U}} (4) {{/U}} at the same time confronting the falling water {{U}} (5) {{/U}}, deforestation and soil erosion that rapid population growth brings. In these countries any new threat—infectious disease, drought or famine—can become a {{U}} (6) {{/U}} crisis.
AIDS is a case {{U}} (7) {{/U}}. WHO estimates calculate that one-quarter of the adult population of Zimbabwe andBotswana are infected with theAIDS virus, {{U}} (8) {{/U}}, these countries stands to lose at least one-quarter of their labor force in the next decade fromAIDS alone, a situation {{U}} (9) {{/U}} since the yellow fever swept throughEurope in the 14’h century.
Social unrest is also increasing in these countries. One example is the {{U}} (10) {{/U}} conflict between the Tutsis and the Hutus in Rwanda, where population pressures reduced cropland {{U}} (11) {{/U}} where it could no longer feed those who lived on it.Demands on the world fisheries and shared water resources are likely to spark similar conflicts.Already the waters of the Nile are so heavily used that little reaches the Mediterranean, so any increase in demand or {{U}} (12) {{/U}} in allocation will also increase tensions.
The bottom line is that human population growth is {{U}} (13) {{/U}} to slow one way or the other.Developing societies will either recognize problems {{U}} (14) {{/U}} the horizon and act to encourage smaller families — or unchecked births will have their {{U}} (15) {{/U}} in rising death rates.
B．designated
C．destined
D．defined
Manystudentsfindtheexperienceofattending
Many students find the experience of attending university lectures to be a confusing and frustrating experience. The lecturer speaks for one or two hours, perhaps (61) the talk with slides, writing up important information on the blackboard, (62) reading material and giving out (63) The new student sees the other students continuously writing on notebooks and (64) what to write. Very often the student leaves the lecture (65) notes which do not catch the main points and (66) become hard even for the students to understanD、
Most institutions provide courses which (67) new students to develop the skills they need to be (68) listeners and note-takers. (69) these are unavailable, there are many useful study-skills guides which (70) learners to practice these skills independently. In all cases it is important to (71) the problem before actually starting your studies.
It is important to (72) that most students have difficulty in acquiring the language skills (73) in college study. One way of (74) these difficulties is to attend the language and study-skills classes which most institutions provide throughout the (75) year.Another basic strategy is to find a study partner with whom it is possible to identify difficulties, exchange ideas and provide support.
A．prevent
B．require
C．assist
D．forbidComparisonsweredrawnbetweenthedevelopmen
Comparisons were drawn between the development of television in the 20th century and the diffusion of printing in the 15th and 16th centuries. Yet much had happened (61) As was discussed before, it was not (62) the 19th century that the newspaper became the dominant pre-electronic (63) , following in the wake of the pamphlet and the book and in the (64) of the periodical. It was during the same time that the communications revolution (65) up, beginning with transport, the railway, and leading (66) through the telegraph, the telephone, radio, and motion pictures (67) the 20th-century world of the motor car and the air plane. Not everyone sees that process in (68) . It is important to do so.
It is generally recognized, (69) , that the introduction of the computer in the early 20th century, (70) by the invention of the integrated circuit during the 1960s, radically changed the process, (71) its impact on the media was not immediately (72) .As time went by, computers became smaller and more powerful, and they became "personal" too, as well as (73) , with display becoming sharper and storage (74) increasing. They were thought of, like people, (75) generations, with the distance between generations much smaller.
It was within the computer age that the term "information society" began to be widely used to describe the context within which we now live.
A．apparent
B．desirable
C．negative
D．plausibleA:Hello,manyhappyreturns]B:______A．Thesa
A: Hello, many happy returns] B: ______ A．The same to you, too.
B．Thank you.
C．I am sure I will be happy to come back.
D．Oh, I'm so glad to see you again.
Itisnotunusualforchiefexecutivestocollec
It is not unusual for chief executives to collect millions of dollars a year in pay, stock options, and bonuses. In the last fifteen years, while executive remuneration rose, taxes in the highest income bracket went down. Millionaires are now commonplace.
Amiability is not a prerequisite for rising to the top, and there are a number of chief executive officers with legendary bad tempers. It is not the boss’s job to worry about the well-being of his subordinates although the man with many enemies will be swept out more quickly in hard times; it is the company he worries about. His business savvy is supposed to be based on intimate knowledge of his company and the industry so he goes home nightly with a full briefcase.At the very top—and on the way up—executives are exceedingly dedicateD、
TheAmerican executive must be capable of enough small talk to get him through the social part of his schedule, but he is probably not a highly cultured individual or an intellectual.Although his wife may be on the board of the symphony or opera, he himself has little time for such pursuits. His reading may largely concern business and management, despite interests in other fields. Golf provides him with a sportive outlet that combines with some useful socializing.
These days, he probably attempts some form of aerobic exercise to "keep the old heart in shape" and for the same reason goes easy on butter and alcohol, and substances thought to contribute to taking highly stressed executives out of the running.But his doctor’s admonition to "take it easy" fails on deaf ears. He likes to work. He knows there are younger men nipping at his heels.
Corporate head-hunting, carried on by "executive search firms", is a growing industry.America has great faith in individual talent, and dynamic and aggressive executives are so in demand that companies regularly raid each other’s managerial ranks.
We can infer from the second paragraph that______.A．promotion depends on amiability
B．chief executives do not work hard enough at the top level
C．it is the duty of the chief executive to look after the well-being of his subordinates
D．a chief executive is expected to know more about his company and the industryA:Why,youwenttothecocktailpartywearingsu
A: Why, you went to the cocktail party wearing such a shabby tie and so worn a suit You are really a gentleman! B: ______.A．But don't you know it's not the good clothes that make a gentleman
B．Wearing such a shabby tie isn't so important for me to be a capable businessman.
C．I'm not really a gentleman.
D．I think I am a real gentleman even in such a shabby tie.{{B}}PassageTwo{{/B}}Ourbrainscouldbehar
{{B}}Passage Two{{/B}}According to the orthodoxy among developmental biologists, if SRY is active,______.A．the baby can either be a boy or a girl
Till now, the orthodoxy among developmental biologists has been that embryos develop ovaries and become female unless a gene called SRY on the Y chromosome is switched on. If this gene is active, it makes testes develop insteaD、This switch is seen as the key event in determining whether a baby is a girl or a boy. Only after the gonads(性腺) form and flood the body with the appropriate hormones, the theory goes, is the sex of our minds and bodies determineD、
But in a study of mice, a team at the University ofCalifornia, LosAngeles, has now found that males and females show differences in the expression of no fewer than 50 genes well before SRY switches on. "It’s the first discovery of genes differentially expressed in the brain, "saysEric Vilain, who led the UCLA、team. "They may have an impact on the hard-wired development of the brain in terms of sexual differentiation independent of gonadal induction."
Vilain is presenting details of seven of the 50 genes to the annual meeting of theAmerican Society of Human Genetics inBaltimore this week. Three of these genes are dominant in females and four are dominant in males. The next step for Vilain and his team will be to show that the genes in question really do influence brain sexuality—and not just in mice. This is likely to be a much tougher proposition than merely showing there are differences in expression.
But if the findings are confirmed, they could one day yield blood tests that allow doctors to establish the brain sex of babies born with genitalia that share features of both sexes.At present doctors and parents have to guess which gender to assign for surgical "correction".
B．the baby will surely be a girl
C．the baby will definitely come to be a boy
D．the baby will certainly develop ambiguous genitaliaostepisodesofabsent-mindedness—forgettin
ost episodes of absent-mindedness—forgetting where you left something or wondering why you just entered a room--are caused by a simple lack of attention, says Schacter. "You’re supposed to remember something, but you haven’t encoded it deeply. "
Encoding, Schacter explains, is a special way of paying attention to an event that has a major impact on recalling it later. Failure to encode properly can create annoying situations. If you put your mobile phone in a pocket, for example, and don’t pay attention to what you did because you’re involved in a conversation, you’ll probably forget that the phone is in the jacket now hanging in your wardrobe (衣柜). "Your memory itself isn’t failing you," says Schacter. "Rather, you didn’t give your memory system the information it needeD、"
Lack of interest can also lead to absent-mindedness. "A、man who can recite sports statistics from 30 years ago," says Zelinski, "may not remember to drop a letter in the mailbox. " Women have slightly better memories than men, possibly because they pay more attention to their environment, and memory relies on just that.
Visual cues can help prevent absent-mindedness, says Schacter. "But be sure the cue is clear and available," he cautions. If you want to remember to take a medication (药物) with lunch, put the pill bottle on the kitchen table—don’t leave it in the medicine chest and write yourself a note that you keep in a pocket.
Another common episode of absent-mindedness, walking into a room and wondering why you’re there. Most likely, you were thinking about something else. "Everyone does this from time to time," says Zelinski. The best thing to do is to return to where you were before entering the room, and you’ll likely remember.
One possible reason why women have better memories than men is that______.A．they have a wider range of interests
B．they are more reliant on the environment
C．they have an unusual power of focusing their attention
D．they are more interested in what’s happening around themOneofthemostwidelydiscussedsubjectsthese
A．except
The crisis has {{U}} (57) {{/U}} questions about the large oil companies and windfall {{U}} (58) {{/U}} .Critics of the oil industry charge that the major companies are getting richer because of the oil shortage. Shortage, of course, drives prices up.As oil prices rise, the critics say, the oil companies will make more money (windfall profits) without doing a thing to {{U}} (59) {{/U}} the extra cash. "Windfall" profits are sudden unearned profits-profits made {{U}} (60) {{/U}} luck, or some special turn of events.
The word itself tells what "windfall" means-- something blown down by the wind, such as trees, or fruit {{U}} (61) {{/U}} from trees.But the word has taken on a special meaning. This meaning (getting something unearned) was first used in medievalEnglanD、
This is {{U}} (62) {{/U}} it started: at that time much of the land was in the hands of {{U}} (63) {{/U}} barons. The rest of the people, commoners, lived and worked on their vast estates. They planted the seed, cared for the farm animals and harvested the crops. Not all the land, however, was used for farming.Every baron kept a large private forest for {{U}} (64) {{/U}} deer and wild bear.
When hungry, the people sometimes would kill the animals in the lord’s forest for fooD、And there were times {{U}} (65) {{/U}} they might cut down trees for fuel. So, strong laws were passed to protect the forests, and the animals. Violations were severely {{U}} (66) {{/U}}.
But there was one way people could get wood from the forest. If they found trees blown down by the wind ("windfall") they were free to take them for use as fuel in their homes.And that is the meaning that has come down to us-something good gotten by luck or {{U}} (67) {{/U}}.
The common people of oldEngland, often hungry and cold, must often have prayed for a good strong winD、Critics today {{U}} (68) {{/U}} that the oil industry has also been praying for something just like it -some political or military {{U}} (69) {{/U}} that might produce a windfall-- a rise in oil prices and profits.
The oil companies deny that this is so. InCongress, critics of the oil companies have proposed a {{U}} (70) {{/U}} on such profits. The debate on rising oil price will go on for some time, and most likely we will hear more and more about windfall profits.
B．because of
C．beyond
D．forThegovernmentwilltryto______forthosewhow
The government will try to ______ for those who were exposed to radiation.A．compete
B．compensate
C．complain
D．compose
Allthestaffmembersofthedepartmentmadezea
All the staff members of the department made zealous efforts to clean up the hall for the Christmas party.A．enthusiastic
B．concerted
C．gigantic
D．dedicatedD.H.LawrencewasthefourthchildofArthurLaw
D、H. Lawrence was the fourth child ofArthur Lawrence and LydiaBeardsall, and their first to have been born inEastwooD、Ever since their marriage in 1875, the couple had been on the move:Arthur’s job as a miner had taken them where the best-paid work had been during the boom years of the 1870s, and they had lived in a succession of small and recently built grimy colliery villages all over Nottinghamshire.But when they moved toEastwood in 1883, it was to a place where they would remain for the rest of their lives; the move seems to have marked a watershed in their early history.
For one thing, they were settling down.Arthur Lawrence would work atBrinsley colliery until he retired in 1909. For another, they now had three small children and Lydia may have wanted to give them the kind of continuity in schooling they had never previously haD、It was also the case that, when they came toEastwood, they took a house with a shop window, and Lydia ran a small clothes shop: presumably to supplement their income, but also perhaps because she felt she could do it in addition to raising their children. It seems possible that, getting on badly with her husband as she did, she imagined that further children were out of the question. Taking on the shop may have marked her own bid for independence.
Arthur’s parents lived less than a mile away, down inBrinsley, while his youngest brother Walter lived only 100 yards away from them in another company house, in Prince Street. When the family moved toEastwood,Arthur Lawrence was coming back to his own family’s center, one of the reasons, for sure, why they stayed there.
Lydia Lawrence probably felt, on the other hand, more as if she were digging in for a siege.Eastwood may have been home toArthur Lawrence, but to Lydia it was just another grimy colliery village which she never liked very much and where she never felt either much at home or properly accepteD、Her Kent accent doubtless made Midlands people feel that she put on airs.
This passage is mainly about the introduction of______.
A、D、H.Lawrence
B、D、H.Lawrence’s parents
C．D、H.Lawrence’s residence
D、H.Lawrence’s family background and educationEachyear,millionsofpeopleinBangladeshdri
Each year, millions of people inBangladesh drink ground water that has been polluted by naturally high levels of arsenic poison. Finding safe drinking water in that country can be a problem. However, InternationalDevelopmentEnterprises has a low-cost answer. This non-governmental organization has developed technology to harvest rainwater.
People around the world have been harvesting rainwater for centuries. It is a safe, dependable source of drinking water. Unlike ground water, rainwater contains no minerals or salts and is free of chemical treatments.Best of all, it is free.
The rainwater harvesting system created by InternationalDevelopmentEnterprises uses pipes to collect water from the tops of buildings. The pipes stretch from the tops of buildings to a two-meter tall storage tank made of metal.At the top of the tank is a so called "first-flush" device made of wire screen. This barrier prevents dirt and leaves in the water from falling inside the tank.
A、fitted cover sits over the "first-flush" device. It protects the water inside the tank from evaporating. The cover also prevents mosquito insects from laying eggs in the water.
Inside the tank is a low coat plastic bag that collects the water. The bag sits inside another plastic bag similar to those used to hold grains. The two bags are supported inside the metal tank.All total, the water storage system can hold up to 3,500 liters of water. InternationalDevelopmentEnterprises says the inner bags may need to be replaced every two to three years. However, if the bags are not damaged by sunlight, they could last even longer.
InternationalDevelopmentEnterprises says the water harvesting system should be built on a raised structure to prevent insects from eating into it at the bottom. The total cost to build this rainwater harvesting system is about forty dollars. However, InternationalDevelopmentEnterprises expects the price to drop over time. The group says one tank can provide a family of five with enough rainwater to survive a five-month dry season.
What should be done to prevent insects from eating into the water harvesting system at the bottomA．The two bags holding the water should be put inside the metal tank.
B．The inner bags need to be replaced every two years.
C．The water harvesting system should be built on a platform.
D．A、cover should be used to prevent insects from eating it.Afewyearsago,whenenvironmentalistsinWash
A、few years ago, when environmentalists in Washington State began agitating to rid local dumps of toxic old computers and televisions, they found an unexpected ally: Hewlett-PackardCo. Teaming up with greens and retailers, hp took on IBM,AppleComputer, and several major TV manufacturers, which were resisting recycling programs because of the costs.
Aided by hp’s energetic lobbying, the greens persuaded state lawmakers to adopt a landmark program that forces electronics companies to foot the bill for recycling their old equipment. "This bill puts our market-based economy to work for the environment," said Washington GovernorChristine O. Gregoire as she signed the plan into law on Mar 24. The movement to recycle electronic refuse, or "e-waste," is spreading across the nation, and so is hp’s clout. The company helped the greens win a big battle in Maine,
In 2004 when the state passed the nation’s first e-waste "take-back" law. Washington followed suit. Now, Minnesota and New Jersey are preparing to act, and 19 other states are weighing legislation.Activists hope to banish high-tech junk from landfills and scrub the nation’s air and water of lead, chromium, mercury, and other toxins prevalent in digital debris, hp’s efforts have made it the darling of environmentalists. They say take-back laws are more effective at getting digital junk recycled than point-of-sale fees, which tax consumer electronics products to fund state-run recycling programs. They’re also pleased because effective programs in the U. S. reduce the likelihood that the products will be shipped to less developed countries and disassembled under unsafe conditions.
But hp’s agenda isn’t entirely altruistiC、Take-back laws play to the company’s strategic strengths. For decades the computer maker has invested in recycling infrastructure, a move that has lowered its production costs, given it a leg up in the secondary market for equipment, and allowed it to build a customer service out of "asset management," which includes protection of dam that might remain on discarded gear.
In 2005, hp recycled more than 70 000 tons of product, the equivalent of about 10% of company sales and a 15% increase from the year before.And it collected more than 2.5 million units (in excess of 25 000 tons) of hardware to be refurbished for resale or donation.
No other electronics maker has a resale business on this scale.But the others may soon wish to emulate hp. "We see legislation coming," saysDavid Lear, hp’s vice-president for corporate, social, and environmental responsibility. "
A、lot of companies haven’t stepped up to the plate.... If we do this right, it becomes an advantage to us.\
Which state first passed the take-back law
A、Maine.
B、Washington.
C．Minnesot
A、
D．New Jersey.The"standardofliving"ofanycountrymeansth
The "standard of living" of any country means the average person’s share of the goods and services which the country produces.
A、country’s standard of living, therefore, depends first and foremost on its capacity to produce wealth. "Wealth" in this sense is not money, for we do not live on money but on things that money can buy: "goods" such as food and clothing, and "services" such as transport and entertainment.
A、country’s capacity to produce wealth depends upon many factors, most of which have an effect on one another. Wealth depends to a great extent upon a country’s natural resources, such as coal, gold, and other minerals, water supply and so on. Some regions of the world are well supplied with coal and minerals, and have a fertile soil and a favourable climate; other regions possess none of them.
Next to natural resources comes the ability to turn them to use. Some countries are perhaps well off in natural resources, but suffered for many years from civil and external wars, and for this and other reasons have been unable to develop their resources. Sound and stable political conditions, and freedom from foreign invasion, enable a country to develop its natural resources peacefully and steadily, and to produce more wealth than another country equally well served by nature but less well ordereD、Another important factor is the technical efficiency of a country’s people. Industrialized countries that have trained numerous skilled workers and technicians are better placed to produce wealth than countries whose workers are largely unskilleD、
A、country’s standard of living does not only depend upon the wealth that is produced and consumed within its own borders, but also upon what is indirectly produced through international trade. For example,Britain’s wealth in foodstuffs and other agricultural products would be much less if she had to depend only on those grown at home. Trade makes it possible for her surplus manufactured goods to be traded abroad for the agricultural products that would otherwise be lacking.
A、country’s wealth is, therefore, much influenced by its manufacturing capacity, provided that other countries can be found ready to accept its manufactures.
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage
A、Countries with numerous skilled craftsman and technicians are more likely to produce wealth.
B．People of a wealthy country are likely to have a higher living standarD、
C．
A、country with rich natural resources is certainly wealthy.
D．
A、country capacity to produce wealth is subject to many factors.