Researchers in the psychology department at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)
have discovered a major difference in the way men and women respond to stress. This difference may
explain why men are more likely to suffer from stress-related disorders.
     Until now, psychological research has maintained that both men and women have the same
"fight-or-flight" reaction to stress. In other words, individuals either react with aggressive behavior, such
as verbal or physical conflict ("fight"), or they react by withdrawing from the stressful situation ("flight").
However, the UCLA research team found that men and women have quite different biological and
behavioral responses to stress. While men often react to stress in the fight-or-flight response, women
often have another kind of reaction which could be called "tend and befriend." That is, they often react
to stressful conditions by protecting and nurturing their young ("tend"), and by looking for social contact
and support from others - especially other females ('befriend").
     Scientists have long known that in the fight-or- flight reaction to stress, an important role is played by
certain hormones(激素) released by the body. The UCLA research team suggests that the female
tend-or-befriend response is also based on a hormone. This hormone, called oxytocin, has been studied
in the context of childbirth, but now it is being studied for its role in the response of both men and women
to stress. The principal investigator, Dr. Shelley E. Taylor, explained that "animals and people with high
levels of oxytocin are calmer, more relaxed, more  social, and less anxious." While men also secrete(分
泌)oxytocin, its effects are reduced by male hormones.
     In terms of everyday behavior, the UCLA study found that women are far more likely than men to
seek social contact when they are feeling stressed. They may phone relatives or friends, or ask directions
if they are lost.
     The study also showed how fathers and mothers responded differently when they came home to their
family after a stressful day at work. The typical father wanted to be left alone to enjoy some peace and
quiet. For a typical mother, coping with a bad day at work meant focusing her attention on her children
and their needs.
     The differences in responding to stress may explain the fact that women have lower frequency of
stress-related disorders such as high blood pressure or aggressive behavior. The tend-and-befriend
regulatory(調節(jié)的) system may protect women against stress, and this may explain why women on
average live longer than men.

1. The UCLA study shows that in response to stress, men are more likely than women to _____ .

A. turn to friends for help
B. solve a conflict calmly
C. find an escape from reality
D. seek comfort from children

2. Which of the following is true about oxytocin according to the passage?

A. Men have the same level of oxytocin as women do.
B. Oxytocin used to be studied in both men and women.
C. Both animals and people have high levels of oxytocin.
D. Oxytocin has more of an effect on women than on men.

3. What can be learned from the passage?

A. Male hormones help build up the body's resistance to stress.
B. In a family a mother cares more about children than a father does.
C. Biological differences lead to different behavioral responses to stress.
D. The UCLA study was designed to confirm previous research findings.

4. Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?

A. How men and women get over stress
B. How men and women suffer from stress
C. How researchers overcome stress problems
D. How researchers handle stress-related disorders

     While contact between adolescents (between the ages of fifteen and nineteen) and their peers (同齡人) is a universal characteristic of all cultures, the nature and the degree of such contact vary a great deal. In
American contemporary society, adolescents spend much more time with their peers than with younger
children or adults.
     This pattern of age segregation(隔離) in American society did not become usual until the beginning of the industrialized society. Changes in the workplace separated children from adults, with adults working and children attending school. The dramatic increase of mothers in the workplace has further contributed
to the reduction in the amount of time adolescents spend with adults. School reform efforts during the
nineteenth century, which resulted in age-segregated schools and grades, have reduced the amount of time adolescents spend with younger children. Finally, the changes in population are considered a factor that
may have contributed to the emergence of adolescent peer culture. From 1955 t0 1975, the adolescent
population increased dramatically, from 11 percent t0 20.9 percent. This increase in the number of
adolescents might be a contributing factor to the increase in adolescent peer culture in terms of growth in
size.
     Research supports the view that adolescents spend a great deal of time with their peers. Reed Larson
and his colleagues examined adolescents' daily activities and found that they spend more time talking to
their friends than engaging in any other activity. In a typical week, high school students will spend twice
as much time with their peers as with adults. This gradual withdrawal from adults begins in early
adolescence. In sixth grade, adults (excluding parents) account for only 25 percent of adolescent social
networks. Another important characteristic of  adolescent peer culture is its increasingly autonomous (白
治的) function. While childhood peer groups are conducted under the close supervision of parents,
adolescent peer groups typically make an effort to escape adult supervision and usually succeed in
doing so.
     (Note: Answer the questions or complete the statements in NO MORE THAN EIGHT WORDS.)

1. "This pattern of age segregation" refers to the phenomenon that adolescents segregate themselves
      from          
2. Besides changes in the workplace,                  are the other two factors contributing to adolescent
    peer culture.
3. When do adolescents start to spend less time with adults?
____________________________________________________________
4. How do adolescent peer groups differ from childhood peer groups?
_____________________________________________________________

     Two friends have an argument that bleaks up their friendship forever, even though neither one can
remember how the whole thing got started. Such sad events happen over and over in high schools
across the country. In fact, according to an official report on youth violence, "In our country today, the
greatest threat to the lives of children and adolescents is not disease or starvation or abandonment, but
the terrible reality of violence". Given that this is the case, why aren't students taught to manage conflict
the way they are taught to solve math problems, drive cars, or stay physically fit?
      First of all, students need to realize that conflict is unavoidable. A report on violence among middle
school and high school students indicates that most violent incidents between students begin with a
relatively minor insult (侮辱). For example, a fight could start over the fact that one student eats a peanut
butter sandwich each lunchtime. Laughter over the sandwich can lead to insults, which in turn can lead to
violence. The problem isn't in the sandwich, but in the way students deal with the conflict.
     Once students recognize that conflict is unavoidable, they can practice the golden rule of conflict
resolution (解決) stay calm. Once the student feels calmer, he or she should choose words that will calm
the other person down as well. Rude words, name-calling, and accusation only add fuel to the emotional
fir On the other hand, soft words spoken at a normal sound level can put out the fire before it explodes
out of control.
     After both sides have calmed down, they can use another key strategyfor conflict resolution; listening.
Listening allows the two sides to understand each other. One person should describe his or her side, and
the other person should listen without interrupting. Afterward, the listener can ask non-threatening
questions to clarify the speaker's position. Then the two people should change roles.
     Finally, students need f. consider what they are hearing. This doesn't mean trying to figure out what's
wrong with the other person. It means understanding what the real issue is and what both sides are trying
to accomplish. For example, a shouting match over a peanut butter sandwich might happen because one
person thinks the other person is unwilling to try new things. Students need to ask themselves questions
such as these: How did this start? What do I really want? What am I afraid off As the issue becomes
clearer, the conflict often simply becomes smaller. Even if it doesn't, careful thought helps both sides
figure out a mutual solution.
     There will always be conflict in schools, but that doesn't mean there needs to be violence. After
students in Atlanta started a conflict resolution program, according to Educators for Social Responsibility, "64 percent of the teachers reported less physical violence in the classroom; 75 percent of the teachers
reported an increase in student cooperation; and 92 percent of the students felt better about themselves".
Learning to resolve conflicts can help students deal with friends,. teachers. parents, bosses, and coworkers. In that way, conflict resolution is a basic life skill that should be taught in schools across the country.

1. This article is mainly about _____.

A. the lives of school children
B. the cause of arguments in schools
C. how to analyze youth violence
D. how to deal with school conflicts

2. From Paragraph 2 we can learn that________.

A. violence is more likely to occur at lunchtime
B. a small conflict can lead to violence
C. students tend to lose their temper easily
D. the eating habit of a student is often the cause of a fight

3.Why do students need to ask themselves the questions stated in Paragraph 5?

A. To find out who to blame.
B. To get ready to buy new things.
C. To make clear what the real issue is.
D. To figure out how to stop the shouting match.

4. After the conflict resolution program was started in Atlanta, it was found that______.

A. there was a decrease in classroom violence
B. there was less student cooperation in the classroom
C. more teachers fell better about themselves in schools
D. the teacher-student relationship greatly improved

5.The writer's purpose for writing this article is to_______.

A. complain about problems in school education
B. teach students different strategies for school life
C. advocate teaching conflict management in schools
D. inform teachers of the latest studies on school violence

     Going to school means learning new skills and facts in such subjects as reading, math, science, history, art or music. Teachers teach and students learn, and many scientists are interested in finding ways to
improve both the teaching and learning processes.
     Some researchers, such as Sian Beilock and Susan Levine, are trying to learn about learning. Beilock
and Levine are psychologists at the University of Chicago. Psychologists study the ways people think and behave, and these researchers want to know how a person's thoughts and behavior are related.
     In a new study about the way kids learn math in elementary school, Beilock and Levine found a
surprising relationship between what female teachers think and what female students learn: If a female
teacher is uncomfortable with her own math skills, then her female students are more likely to believe that
boys are better than girls at math.
     "If these girls keep getting math-anxious female teachers in later grades, it may create a snowball
effect on their math achievement," Levine told Science News. The study suggests that if these girls
grow up believing that boys are better at math than girls are, then these girls may not do as well as they
would have if they were more confident.
     Just as students find certain subjects to be difficult, teachers can find certain subjects to be difficult to
learn-and teach. The subject of math can be particularly difficult for everyone. Researchers use the word
"anxiety" to describe such feelings: anxiety is uneasiness or worry. (Many people, for example, have
anxiety about going to the dentist because they're worried about pain.)
     The new study found that when a teacher has anxiety about math, that feeling can influence how her
female students feel about math. The study involved 65 girls, 52 boys and 17 first- and second-grade
teachers in elementary schools in the Midwest. The students took math achievement tests at the beginning
and end of the school year, and the researchers compared the scores.
     The researchers also gave the students tests to tell whether the students believed that a math superstar
had to be a boy. Then the researchers turned to the teachers: To find out which teachers were anxious
about math, the researchers asked the teachers how they felt at times when they came across math, such
as when reading a sales receipt. A teacher who got nervous looking at the numbers on a sales receipt, for
example, was probably anxious about math.
     Boys, on average, were unaffected by a teacher's anxiety. On average, girls with math-anxious
teachers scored lower on the end-of-the-year math tests than other girls in the study did. Plus, on the test
showing whether someone thought a math superstar had to be a boy, 20 girls showed feeling that boys
would be better at math-and all of these girls had been taught by female teachers who had math anxiety.
      According to surveys done before this one, college students who want to become elementary school
teachers have the highest levels of anxiety about math. Plus, nine of every 10 elementary teachers are
women, Levine said.
     This study was small, and it's often difficult to see large patterns in small studies, David Geary told
Science News. Geary, a psychologist at the University of Missouri in Columbia, studies how children
learn math. "This is an interesting study, but the results need to be interpreted as preliminary and in need
of replication with a larger sample," Geary said. That means that the results are just showing something
that might be happening, but more studies should be done. If more studies find the same trend as this one,
then it's possible that a teacher's anxiety over math really is affecting her female students.

1. Sian Beilock and Susan Levine carried out the new research in order to ______.

A. know the effects of teaching on learning      
B. study students' ways of learning math
C. prove women teachers are unfit to teach math  
D. find better teaching methods for teachers

2. The underlined part in paragraph 4 most probably means that girls may ______. 

A. end up learning math with anxiety from their teachers
B. study the ways their female teachers behave
C. have an influence on their math-anxious female teachers
D. gain unexpected achievement in such subjects as math

3. In the study, what were the teachers required to do?  

A. Prepare two math achievement tests for the students.
B. Tell their feelings about math problems.
C. Answer whether a math superstar had to be a boy.
D. Compare the students' scores after the math tests.

4. What is the finding of the new study?  

A. No male students were affected by their teachers' anxiety.
B. Almost all the girls got lower scores in the tests than the boys.
C. About 30% of the girls thought boys are better at math than girls.
D. Girls with math-anxious teachers all failed in the math tests.

5. Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?

A. 117 students and teachers took part in the new study.
B. The researchers felt surprised at the findings of their study.
C. Beilock and Levine are interested in teaching math.
D. Men teachers are better at teaching math than women teachers.

     Speeding off in a stolen car, the thief thinks he has got a great catch. But he is in for an unwelcome
surprise. The car is fitted with a remote immobilizer, and a radio signal from a control centre miles away
will ensure that once the thief switches the engine off, he will not be able to start it again.
     The idea goes like this. A control box fitted to the car contains a mini-cellphone, a micro-processor
and memory, and a GPS (全球定位系統(tǒng)) satellite positioning receiver. If the car is stolen, a coded (編
碼的) cellphone signal will tell the control centre to block the vehicle's engine management system and
prevent the engine being restarted.
     In the UK, a set of technical fixes is already making life harder for car thieves. "The pattern of vehicle
crime has changed," says Martyn Randall, a security expert. He says it would only take him a few minutes
to teach a person how to steal a car, using a bare minimum of tools. But only if the car is more than 10
years old.
     Modern cars are far tougher to steal, as their engine management computer won't allow them to start
unless they receive a unique ID code sent out by the ignition (點火) key. In the UK, technologies like this
have helped achieve a 31% drop in vehicle-related crime since 1997.
     But determined criminals are still managing to find other ways to steal cars, often by getting hold of the owner's keys. And key theft is responsible for 40% of the thefts of vehicles fitted with a tracking system.
     If the car travels 100 metres without the driver confirming their ID, the system will send a signal to an
operations centre that it has been stolen. The hundred metres minimum avoids false alarms due to
inaccuracies in the GPS signal.
     Staff at the centre will then contact the owner to confirm that the car really is missing, and keep police
informed of the vehicle's movements via the car's GPS unit.

1. The remote immobilizer is fitted to a car to ________.

A. prevent car theft by sending a radio signal to the car owner
B. help the police make a surprise attack on the car thief
C. prevent the car thief from restarting it once it stops
D. allow the car to lock automatically when stolen

2. By saying "The pattern of vehicle crime has changed", Martyn Randall suggests that ________.

A. it takes a longer time for the car thief to do the stealing
B. self-prepared tools are no longer enough for car theft
C. the thief has to make use of computer technology
D. the thief has lost interest in stealing cars over 10 years old

3.________ is necessary in making a modern car tougher to steal.

A. A coded ignition key    
B. A unique ID card
C. A special cellphone signal        
D. A GPS satellite positioning receiver

4. The operations centre will first ________ after receiving an alarm.

A. start the tracking system
B. contact the car owner
C. block the car engine
D. locate the missing car

1. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A. E-mails.    
B. Blogs.        
C. Personal pages.    
D. Personal letters. 

2. What do most young people use first when they have news to tell their friends?

A. MSN.      
B. QQ.            
C. Phones.          
D. Text message.

3. The underlined part "get the words out" means"      ".

A. send the message              
B. send the e-mail
C. talk with their friends            
D. meet their friends

4. In which part of a newspaper can you find this passage?

A. Sport.      
B. Education.    
C. Technology.      
D. Culture.

     Scientists have found that human eyes are more likely to be damaged by UV rays
(紫外線) while skiing in the snow-covered areas than sitting on the beach, according to a report by the
UK newspaper The Telegraph.
     The researchers at Kanazawa Medical University, Japan and American company Johnson conducted
the study together. They looked at the effects of light reflection on newly fallen snow on a ski trail (a
rough path) in Ishikawa District, northern Japan. They compared the results with the levels of UV rays
on a sand beach in southern Japan's Okinawa District. They found that on the beach, eyes are exposed
to a daily 260 kilojoules (千焦耳) of UV a square meter compared to 658 kilojoules in snow-covered
areas.
     The findings are supported by the Japan Meteorological Agency. According to the agency, the
reflection rate of UV light on beaches is often between 10 and 25 percent, compared to 80 percent in
the new snow areas. The amount of light increased 4 percent with a 300-meter rise in height.
     Most of us know that UV rays can harm the skin. That's why we wear sunscreen on our skin before
we get out in the sun. But many of us may not realize that UV rays are also harmful to the eyes.
     If your eyes are exposed to large amounts of UV radiation over a short period of time, you may
experience a kind of sunburn of the eye, which is harmful. Your eyes will become red and feel a strange
feeling. They may be sensitive to light. Fortunately, this is usually temporary and seldom causes
permanent damage to the eyes.
     Long-term exposure to UV radiation, however, can be more serious. Scientific studies and
researches have shown that exposure to small amounts of UV radiation over a period of many years
increases the chance of eye damage, which could lead to total blindness.

1. You would most likely find the article in ________.

A. a medical magazine      
B. a travel journal  
C. a doctor's diary
D. a physics textbook

2. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Too much eye exposure to UV rays may cause total blindness.
B. Short-time exposure of the eyes to UV rays doesn't harm them at all.
C. Most people know that UV rays harm the eyes as well as the skin.
D. The study was conducted by researchers from Japan, the USA and the UK.

3. The underlined word "sunscreen" in Paragraph 4 most probably means ______.

A. sunglasses  
B. sun cream
C. sun hat    
D. sunburn

4. What will the passage most probably talk about next?

A. Never ski on newly fallen snow in Japan.
B. Take some measures to protect your eyes while skiing in new snow areas.
C. Wearing a hat can provide protection while skiing in new snow areas.
D. Go to hospital to have your eyes examined.

2. Nerve cells in the brain______.

A. send massages to every part of the body
B. make connections only to other cells in the brain
C. can cure Lou Gehrig's disease
D. are a person's memory

2. The last sentence of the passage suggests that people______.

A. should use their head by carefully thinking through situations
B. should be careful not to injure their brains
C. have a skull (頭蓋骨) that provides all the protection needed by the brain
D. would see a quick cure for brain disease

3. The author explains what the hippocampus is by ______.

A. telling its history
B. comparing it to other parts of the brain
C. telling how it got its name
D. explaining what it does

4. Nerve impulses are______.

A. cures
B. disorders
C. memories
D. messages