Women with an hour-glass figure have brains to go with their curves（曲線）, scientists claim. Going in at the waist is said to be a sign of intelligence which leads to brighter children, too. Women such as Nigella Lawson with a big difference between their waist and hip measurements scored significantly better in tests than those with thinner, straighter frames. Researchers concluded that it was not necessary for a woman to be skinny-what mattered was that her waist should be smaller than her hips. A ratio of 3:5 was found to be ideal.

The study, by the Universities of Pittsburgh and California, involved 16,000 women and girls.

According to the scientists, the results are no mere quirk of nature. They claim that the fat around curvy hips and thighs（大腿）holds higher levels of -3 fatty acids which are essential for the growth of the brain during pregnancy. The fat which collects around the waist, however, is more likely to contain -6 fatty acids, which are less suited to brain growth.

Rrporting in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour, the researchers found that the children of curvy mothers are more likely to do well in cognitive tests than others. They claim that this could help explain why the children of teenage mothers-who might not yet be physically mature enough to have developed real curves-tend to do less well in school.

As well as boosting（提升）brainpower, -3 fatty acids found in oily fish are considered to be of huge health benefit.

Although the study analysed women’s bodies only, -3 fatty acids are also stored in men’s hips. However, it is not known whether men with wide hips benefit from the same brainpower boost.

1．Which shows the possible shape of an hour-glass?

      

2．Suppose the following measurements are taken of four women. Which of them is more likely to have bright children?

       A．Waist: 60cm; Hip: 100cm                      B．Waist: 60cm ; Hip 80cm

       C．Waist: 55cm; Hip: 60cm                       D．Waist: 120cm; Hip 110cm

3．The underlined sentence “the results are no mere quirk of nature ” possibly tells us the results          .

      A．can be explained scientifically                B．a(chǎn)re strange and hard to explain

       C．have just come about by chance            D．a(chǎn)re very interesting

4．We can infer from the article that          .

       A．-3 fatty acids take up more space than -6

       B．there’re more -3 fatty acids in brighter children’s brain

       C．a(chǎn) fetus（胎兒）needs no -6 fatty acids if there’re -3

       D．a(chǎn) brighter brain needs more -3 fatty acids to develop 

5．According the researchers, teenage mothers tend to have less bright children because

          .

       A．they aren’t so good at childcare

       B．they usually have less fat than mature women

       C．they aren’t physically strong enough

       D．their waist and hip measurements differ less

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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：

Nowadays in India, women with independent incomes are refusing to______to the traditional practice of arranged marriage．

       A．give in     B．pick up    C．hand in    D．make up

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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

  Contrary to the impression that grandmothers are delighted to help their grown daughters and care for their grandchildren, a study of multigenerational families shows that many older women hate the frequent demands that the younger generations make on their time and energy.

  “Young women with children are under a lot of pressure these days, and they expect their mothers to help them pick up the pieces,” noted Dr. Bertram J. Cohler, a behavioral scientist at the University of Chicago. “This is often the strongest source of complaint on the part of Grandmother, who has finished with child caring and now has her own life to live. Grandmothers like to see their children and grandchildren, but on their own time.”

  Dr. Cohler is director of a study, sponsored by the National Institute of Aging, of 150 workingclass families that live in a Midwestern suburb. He and Dr. Henry U. Gruebaum of Harvard Medical School, have already completed their study of four such families in New England.

  Dr. Cohler tells of a middle-aged Boston woman who works as a cook all week and for her parish (教區(qū)) on Sundays. Every Saturday, her one day off, her daughter and family visit, expecting mother to make lunch, shop, and visit. “That's not how she wants to grow old,” said Dr. Cohler, who was told by the older woman, “My daughter would never speak to me if she knew how angry and unhappy I get.”

  In all the four New England families studied, the older women disliked the numerous phone calls and visits from their grown daughters, who often turned to the mothers for advice, physical resources, love, and companionship as well as baby-sitting services. “American society keeps increasing the burdens for older people, particularly those in their 50s and 60s,” Dr. Cohler said in an interview here. “They're still working and they're taking care of their grown children and maybe also their aged parents. Sometimes life gets to be too much.”

Which of the following is closest in meaning to the expression “pick up the pieces” in the second paragraph?

   A. Save a bad situation.              B. Put children's toys in their proper places.

   C. Gather up pieces of clothing.       D. Keep the room in good order.

The middle-aged Boston woman ______.

   A. expects her mother to cook lunch for her

   B. enjoys the room in good order  

   C. visits an older woman every Saturday

   D. works six days a week

The passage is mainly about ______.

   A. young women's inability to look after their children

   B. Grandmothers' attitudes toward helping their grown daughters

   C. average American women's family life

   D. grandmother should give more help to their daughters

From Dr. Cohler's study we may reach the conclusion that ______.

   A. daughters should be independent of their old grandmothers

   B. grandmother should give more help to their daughters

   C. mothers and daughters should support each other

   D. daughters should be more considerate toward their mothers

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科目：高中英語 來源：湖南省長沙市2010屆高三下學(xué)期第一次模擬考試（英語） 題型：其他題

PART FOUR WRITING

SECTION A

Directions: Read the following passage. Complete the diagram / Fill in the numbered blanks by using the information for the passage.

Write NO MORE THAN 3 WORDS for each answer

Dieters are often advised to stop drinking alcohol to avoid the extra calories hidden in a glass of wine or a favorite cocktail. But new research suggests that women who regularly consume fair amounts of alcohol are less likely to gain weight than nondrinkers and are at lower risk for fat.

The findings are based on a study of 19,220 United States women aged 39 or older who, at the start of the study, fell into the “normal weight” category based on their body mass index (身體質(zhì)量指數(shù)). Researchers tracked the women’s drinking habits over 13 years. About 60 percent of the women were light or regular drinkers, while about 40 percent reported drinking no alcohol.

Over the course of the study, 41 percent of the women became overweight or fat. Although alcohol is packed with calories (about 150 in a six-ounce glass of wine), the nondrinkers in the study actually gained more weight over time: nine pounds, on average, compared with an average gain of about three pounds among regular mild drinkers. The risk of becoming overweight was almost 30 percent lower for women who consumed one or two alcohol drinks a day, compared with nondrinkers.

The findings are certain to be confusing for women who continue to receive conflicting messages about the health benefits and risks of alcohol. Although mild drinking is associated with better heart health, regular drinking also increases breast cancer risk.

The trend toward less weight gain among drinkers doesn’t appear to hold true for men. A 2003 study of British men showed that regular drinkers gained more weight than nondrinkers. There may be differences in how men and women metabolize(代謝) alcohol. Metabolic studies show that after men drink alcohol, they experience little if any metabolic change. But alcohol appears to slightly speed up a woman’s metabolism.

The findings don’t mean women should rush to drink alcohol to lose weight. Other research shows that once a person is already overweight, her alcohol metabolism is more efficient, and so an overweight woman may gain more weight from alcohol than a lean woman. The data do, however, suggest that for many women facing weight problems, the extra calories are probably not coming from alcoholic drinks.

Title: Women Who Drink Gain     71    

Ⅰ. Widely known advice

Stop drinking alcohol to avoid the extra calories.

Ⅱ. 72    subjects: 19,220 United States women aged 39 or older of    73  

●about 60 percent－light or regular drinkers;

●about 40 percent－  74  

Ⅲ. Findings

● 41 percent becoming overweight or fat;

●nondrinkers gaining more weight over time, 9 pounds on average;

●   75   gaining about three pounds on average;

●compared with nondrinkers, women who consumed one or two alcohol drinks a day almost 30 percent    76   to become fat;

●women being    77   men in metabolism

Ⅳ. 78   fact

Mild drinking may    79   to better heart health, but it also increases breast cancer risk.

Ⅴ. Suggestion and conclusion

●Women should not rush to drink alcohol to lose weight.

●For women with weight problems, alcoholic drinks are probably not the 80 of extra calories.

 

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科目：高中英語 來源：山東省2010屆高三全真模擬英語試題 題型：閱讀理解

 

       Women might have a higher position at work, but at home their careers tend to give way to their husband’s job, with women most likely to quit when both are working long hours, according to a U．S．study．

       Researcher Youngjoo Cha, from Cornell University, found that working women with a husband who worked 50 hours or more a week found themselves still doing most of the housework and the care giving and were more likely to end up quitting their jobs．

       An analysis of 8,484 professional workers and 17,648 nonprofessionals from dual-earner （雙職工） families showed that if women had a husband who worked 60 hours or more per week it increased the woman’s possibility of quitting her paid job by 42 percent．Cha said the possibility of quitting increased to 51 percent for professional women whose husbands work 60 hours or more per week, and for professional mothers the possibility they would quit their jobs jumped 112 percent．

       However, it did not significantly affect a man’s possibility of quitting his job if his wife worked 60 hours or more per week, according to the study published in the American Sociological Review in April．For professional men, both parents and non-parents, the effects of a wife working long hours were negligible, according to the study．

       “As long work-hours introduce conflict between work and family into many dual-earner families, couples often solve conflict in ways that prioritize husbands’ careers,” Cha, who used data from the U．S．Census Bureau, said in a statement．“This effect is magnified （突出） among workers in professional and managing occupations, where the criterion of overwork and the culture of looking after children tend to be strongest．The findings suggest that the popularity of overwork may lead many dual-earner couples to return to a traditional family pattern — breadwinning men and homemaking women．”

1．According to the text, we know that ______．

       A．men prefer work long hours   B．women prefer to work outside

       C．men’s careers are unimportant    D．women are more likely to quit jobs

2．The underlined word “negligible” in Paragraph 4 most probably means ______．

       A．unimportant  B．limited             C．different       D．obvious

3．Which statement is true according to the text?

       A．When there’s conflict between work and family, a husband will give up his work．

       B．Women may still do most of the housework and care for babies or children．

       C．Professional women are more likely to quit the job than professional mothers．

       D．A man’s chance of quitting jobs was influenced if his wife works long hours．

4．We can infer from the last sentence that ______．

       A．a(chǎn)ll the workers pay more attention to looking after children

       B．overwork may have no influence on dual-earner couples

       C．traditionally, men usually worked to support the family

       D．most dual-earner couples will return to a traditional family pattern

5．In which column of China Daily can you find this passage?

       A．Health      B．Life        C．Sport    D．Entertainment

 

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科目：高中英語 來源：0910學(xué)年黑龍江省高一上學(xué)期第二模塊測試英語試卷 題型：閱讀理解

 

Everyone knows you must exercise regularly to keep good health. Indeed, staying physically fit is a big part of our culture. we consider（or rightly so）that healthy people are attractive people. Since most of us want to be attractive, there is no shortage of exercise clubs, training videos, magazines and books offering to help us stay physically fit.

    Unfortunately, however, our culture doesn’t place the same emphasis on mental fitness. Although we tend to like men and women with strong, healthy-looking bodies, we don’t have the same degree of respect or attraction for smart, educated, mentally healthy people. This is a pity, because there are great rewards for people who have developed the ability to think well.

    If your mind is well trained and flexible, you will be able to understand a great deal of what happens around you. And if you are also well educated --- that is, if you understand basic science, mathematics, music, art, literature, history and so on --- you will find it much easier to make good decisions throughout your life. Over the long run, this leads to a sense of control over your destiny and a much better life than otherwise.

    People who are poorly educated or who don’t think well --- that is, people who are not mentally fit --- see things differently. Their world is controlled by mysterious, often malevolent（惡意的）forces. Such people live within a system they will never master, forced to follow rules they will never understand. Although it may not be obvious, most spend their lives being manipulated（控制）by others. They are told what to do, what to think, how to spend their money, and what they should and should not aspire（渴望）to in life.

    In my opinion, if you want to live well, you must be able to use your mind well. For this reason, I want you to be able to concentrate, to solve problems, to understand complex ideas, and to think clearly and quickly. Such skills will make it easier for you to make informed decisions, understand current events, choose good friends, manage your money well, make wise lone-term decisions and appreciate music, art and literature.

    The key to developing such skills is to enjoy learning, and to have the ability and motivation to teach yourself.

68. The writer of the passage feel disappointed that ____.

  A. too little has been done to help people to keep physically fit

  B. too much has been done to help people to keep physically fit

  C. mentally healthy people are not as popular as physically healthy people

  D. physically healthy people are not as popular as mentally healthy people

69. The underlined word “this” in the 3rd paragraph means ____.

  A. the understanding of a great deal of what goes on around you

  B. the understanding of basic science and mathematics

  C. good training in body and mind

  D. being able to make good decisions in life

70. The writer of this passage thinks those who are not mentally fit ____.

  A. live a poor and mysterious life   B. can’t control over their life

  C. often do what others do            D. enjoy being fooled and ruled

71. The best title of the passage will most probably be ____.

  A. Train Your Body                   B. Train Your Mind  

  C. Make Informed Decisions           D. Think Hard and Work Hard

 

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