A subject which seems to have been insufficiently studied by doctors and psychologists is the influence of geography and climate on the psychological and physical health of mankind. There seems no doubt that the general character of the landscape, the relative length of day and night, and the climate must all play a big part in determining what kind of people we are.
It is true that a few studies have been made. Where all the inhabitants of a particular area enjoy exceptionally good or bad health, scientists have identified contributory factors such as the presence or absence of substances like iodine, fluoride, calcium, or iron in the water supply, or perhaps types of land that provide breeding places for pests like mosquitoes or rats.
Moreover, we can all generalize about types of people we have met. Those living in countries with long dark winters are apt to be less talkative and less vivacious than inhabitants of countries where the climate is more equable. And where the olive and the orange grow, there the inhabitants are cheerful, talkative, and spontaneous.
But these commonplace generalizations are inadequate: the influence of climate and geography should be studied in depth. Do all mountain dwellers live to a ripe old age? Does the drinking of wine, rather than beer, result in a sunny and open temperament? Is the strength and height of one of the Kenyan tribes due to their habitual drinking of the blood of cows?
We are not yet sure of the answers to such questions, but let us hope that something of benefit to mankind may eventually result from such studies.
【小題1】_____ might serve as a suitable title for this selection.

A．The Importance of Geographical Environment

B．The Influence of Geographical Environment on Man

C．Generalization of Types of People

D．Geographical Environment, a Mysterious Subject

【小題2】 Using context clues we may infer that " iodine, fluoride and calcium" are _____.

A．substances which act positively or negatively on man's health

B．harmful substances in the water supply

C．substances which help provide breeding places for pests

D．substances contributory to good health

【小題3】We may infer from the third paragraph that geography and climate play an important role in determining the inhabitants' _____.

A．health condition

B．personality

C．life-span

D．a(chǎn)ll of the above

【小題4】According to the author, research into the influence of geography and climate should_____.

A．focus on some unknown aspects	B．be pursued on a larger scale
C．be carried out within a larger scope	D．go much deeper

【小題5】The author hopes that studies on the influence of geographical environment will enable us to     

A．generalize better about types of people	B．find better water supplies
C．gain an insight into its influence on mankind	D．live to a ripe old age

Electric cars are dirty. In fact, not only are they dirty, they might even be more dirty than their gasoline-powered cousins.
People in California love to talk about “zero-emissions（排放）vehicles”, but people in California seem to be clueless about where electricity comes from. Power plants most all use fire to make it. Apart from the few people who have their roofs covered with solar cells, we get our electricity from generators（發(fā)電機(jī)）. Generators are fueled by something--usually coal, oil, but also by heat generated in nuclear power plants. There are a few wind farms and geothermal（地?zé)幔?plants as well, but by far we get electricity mainly by burning something.
In other words, those "zero-emissions" cars are likely coal-burning cars. Because the coal is burned somewhere else, it looks clean. It is not true. It's as if the California Greens are covering their eyes—“If I can't see it, it's not happening.”  Gasoline is an incredibly efficient way to power a vehicle; a gallon of gas has a lot of energy in it. But when you take that gas（or another fuel）and first use it to make electricity, you waste a nice part of that energy, mostly in the form of wasted heat--at the generator, through the transmission lines, etc.
A gallon of gas may drive your car 25 miles. But the electricity you get from that gallon of gas won't get you nearly as far -- so electric cars burn more fuel than gasoline-powered ones. If our electricity came mostly from wind or geothermal, or solar, then an electric car truly would be clean. But for political, technical, and economic reasons, we don't use much of those energy sources.
　　In addition, electric cars' batteries which are poisonous for a long time will eventually end up in a landfill. And finally, when cars are the polluters, the pollution is spread across all the roads. When it's a power plant, though，all the junk is in one place. Nature is very good at cleaning up when things are not too concentrated, but it takes a lot longer when all the garbage is in one spot.
【小題1】What’s the main idea of the passages?

A．Electric cars aren’t actually clean.

B．Electric cars are zero-emissions vehicles.

C．Zero-emissions vehicles are popular.

D．Gasoline-powered cars are more efficient.

【小題2】Which of the following words can replace “be clueless about” in Paragraph 2?

A．Be familiar with．

B．Be curious about．

C．Fail to understand．

D．Show their interest in．

【小題3】The electricity we get from a gallon of gas may make our car run _________.

A．a(chǎn)t least 25 miles

B．more than 25 miles

C．a(chǎn)s far as 25 miles

D．less than 25 miles

【小題4】In the author’s opinion, compared with cars using gas, electric cars are more __________.

A．environmentally-friendly	B．expensive
C．efficient	D．harmful

【小題5】It can be inferred from the passage that __________.

A．electric cars' batteries are poisonous for a long time

B．now electric cars are used more than their gasoline-powered cousins

C．zero-emissions vehicles should be chosen to protect our environment

D．electric cars are not clean in that we get electricity mainly by burning something

No satisfactory way exists to explain how to form a good idea. You think about a problem until you're tired, forget it, maybe sleep on it, and then flash! When you aren't thinking about it, suddenly the answer arrives as a gift from the gods.
Of course, all ideas don't occur like that but so many do, particularly the most important ones. They burst into the mind, glowing with the heat of creation. How they do it is a mystery but they must come from somewhere. Let's assume they come from the "unconscious." This is reasonable, for psychologists use this term to describe mental processes which are unknown to the individual. Creative thought depends on what was unknown becoming known.
All of us have experienced this sudden arrival of a new idea, but it is easiest to examine it in the great creative personalities, many of whom experienced it in an intensified form and have written it down in their life stories and letters. One can draw examples from genius in any field, from religion, philosophy, and literature to art and music, even in mathematics, science, and technical invention, although these are often thought to depend only on logic and experiment. All truly creative activities depend in some degree on these signals from the unconscious, and the more highly insightful the person is, the sharper and more dramatic the signals become.
A type of creative experience is illustrated by the dreams which came to Descartes at the age of twenty-three and determined his life path. Descartes had unsuccessfully searched for certainty, first in the world of books, and then in the world of men. Then in a dream on November 10, 1619, he made the significant discovery that he could only find certainty in his own thoughts, cogito ergo sum ("I think; therefore, I exist"). This dream filled him with intense religious enthusiasm.
Descartes' experience is representative of countless others in every field of culture. The unconscious is certainly the source of instinctive activity. But in creative thought the unconscious is responsible for the production of new organized forms from relatively disorganized elements.
【小題1】Good ideas come from ________according to the writer.

A．the unconscious

B．creative activities

C．dreams

D．logic and experiments

【小題2】The underlined word “these” (paragraph 3) probably refers to __________.

A．philosophy, music, mathematics and science

B．religion, philosophy, literature, art and music

C．mathematics, science, and technical invention

D．both B and C

【小題3】What point can we see in the example of Descartes ?

A．Dreams are the sources of instinctive activities.

B．Dreams sometimes contribute to important discoveries.

C．Geniuses have creative thoughts in their dreams.

D．Important discoveries are always made in dreams.

【小題4】 The best title for this passage may be __________.

A．The Unknown Becoming Known	B．The Role of Dreams
C．The Unconscious and Creative Activities	D．Birth of Bright Ideas

NOT all memories are sweet. Some people spend all their lives trying to forget bad experiences. Violence and traffic accidents can leave people with terrible physical and emotional scars. Often they relive experiences in nightmares.
Now American researchers think they are close to developing a pill, which will help people forget bad memories. The pill is designed to be taken immediately after a frightening experience. They hope it might reduce, or possibly wipe out, the effect of painful memories.
In November, experts tested a drug on people in the US and France. The drug stops the body releasing chemicals that fix memories in the brain. So far the research has suggested that only the emotional effects of memories may be reduced, not that the memories are wiped out. They are not sure to what degree people's memories are affected.
The research has caused a great deal of argument. Some think it is a bad idea, while others support it.
Supporters say it could lead to pills that prevent or treat soldiers' troubling memories after war. They say that there are many people who suffer from terrible memories. “Some memories can ruin people's lives. They come back to you when you don't want to have them in a daydream or nightmare. They usually come with very painful emotions,” said Roger Pitman, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “This could relieve a lot of that suffering.”
But those who are against the research say that maybe the pills can change people's memories and changing memories is very dangerous because memories give us our identity. They also help us all avoid the mistakes of the past.
“All of us can think of bad events in our lives that were terrible at the time but make us who we are. I'm not sure we want to wipe those memories out,” said Rebecca Dresser, a medical ethicist.
【小題1】The passage is mainly about       .

A．a(chǎn) new medical invention

B．a(chǎn) new research on the pill

C．a(chǎn) way of wiping out painful memories

D．a(chǎn)n argument about the research on the pill

【小題2】The drug tested on people can       .

A．cause the brain to fix memories

B．stop people remembering bad experiences

C．prevent body producing certain chemicals

D．wipe out the emotional effects of memories

【小題3】We can infer from the passage that       .

A．experts are not sure about the effects of the pills

B．the pill will certainly stop people's emotional memories

C．taking the pill will do harm to people's physical health

D．the pill has already been produced and used by the American public

【小題4】Which of the following does Rebecca Dresser agree with in the last paragraph?

A．Some memories can ruin people's lives.

B．People want to get rid of bad memories.

C．Experiencing bad events makes us different from others.

D．The pill will reduce people's sufferings from bad memories.

When an ant dies, other ants take it out of the nest, often within an hour after its death. This behavior interests scientists and they wonder how ants know for sure—and so soon—that another ant is dead.
One scientist recently came up with a way to explain this ant behaviour. Dong-Hwan Choe is a biologist, a scientist who studies animals and plants. He found that ants have a chemical on the outside of their bodies that signals to other ants, “I'm dead—take me away” when it is dead.
But there's a question to answer: As we know, if an ant is dead, it stops moving. But when an ant is sleeping or knocked unconscious, it is also not moving. However, other ants don't move the living ant out of the nest. How do they know this ant is not dead? Choe found that ants have another chemical on their bodies, which tells nearby ants something like, “Wait—I'm not dead yet” when it is not dead. Choe suspects that when an ant dies, the chemical that says, “Wait I'm not dead yet” quickly goes away. When other ants detect the “dead” chemical without the “not dead yet” chemical, they move away the body.
To test his theory , Choe and his team put different chemicals on ants. When the scientists used the “I'm dead” chemical, other ants quickly moved the treated ant away. When the scientists used the “Wait—I'm not dead yet” chemical, other ants left the treated ant alone. Choe believes this behavior shows that the “not dead yet” chemical overrides the “dead” chemical when picked up by other ants. And that when an ant dies, the “not dead yet” chemical fades away. Other nearby ants then detect the remaining “dead” chemical and remove the body from the nest.
Understanding this behavior can help scientists figure out how to stop ants from invading new places and causing problems.
【小題1】What is the function of the first paragraph?

A．Leading the following paragraphs.

B．Showing the main idea of the passage.

C．Introducing the background of the passage.

D．Giving a summary of the passage.

【小題2】Which of the following has the closest meaning to the underlined word “overrides” in the fourth paragraph?

A．is weaker than

B．is stronger than

C．is better than

D．is worse than

【小題3】 What can we learn from the passage?

A．Living ants can also be taken away when they are not moving.

B．When an ant dies, it can tell others using a certain chemical.

C．A living ant can pretend to be dead using a special chemical.

D．Ants often use chemicals to communicate with each other.

【小題4】Which of the following descriptions about Dong-Hwan Choe is right?

A．Choe did this study in order to stop ants from invading new places.

B．Choe is a biologist who is only interested in animals, especially in ants.

C．Choe first came up with an idea to explain this ant behavior，and then did some tests to prove his theory.

D．Choe did the research on this ant behavior on his own

It has been argued that an infant under three who is cared for outside the home may suffer because of the separation from his parents．The British psychoanalyst John Bowlby believes that separation from the parents during the sensitive "attachment" period from birth to three may scar （留下疤痕） a child's personality and incline to emotional problems in later life．Some people have drawn the conclusion from Bowlby's work that children should not be sent to day care before the age of three, and many people do believe this．But there are also arguments against such a strong conclusion．
Firstly, anthropologists （人類學(xué)家） point out that the hidden love between children and parents found in modem societies does not usually exist in traditional societies．For example, we saw earlier that among the Ngonis the father and mother of a child did not raise their infant alone．But traditional societies are so different from modern societies that comparisons based on just one factor are hard to understand．
Secondly, common sense tells us that day care would not be so widespread today if parents and caretakers found that children had problems with it．But Bowlby's analysis raises the possibility that early day care has delayed effects．The possibility that such care might lead to more mental illness or crime 15 or 20 years later can only be noticed by the use of statistics．Statistical studies of this kind have not yet been carried out, and even if they were, the results would be certain to be complicated and controversial．
Thirdly, in the last decade, there have been a number of careful American studies of children in day care, and they have reported that day care had a neutral of slightly positive effect on children's development．But tests that have had to be used to measure this development are not widely enough accepted to settle the issue．
【小題1】This passage is mainly talking about________．

A．children's personality

B．a(chǎn)dvantages of infants' early care

C．infants' education

D．negative effect of infant school

【小題2】The phrase "day care   in the first paragraph probably means_____.

A．nursing school	B．baby-sitter
C．boarding school	D．primary school

【小題3】According to Bowlby, children under the age of three______．

A．should not be sent to school

B．should be cared for outside the home

C．will not suffer fro m parental separation

D．don't mind who will look after them

【小題4】The argument against Bowlby's conclusion shows that___．

A．children have problems with day care

B．there is no negative effect on infants who go to school before three

C．there is a long-term effect on infants who go to school before three

D．children who are sent to school before three are sent to mental illness

Botany （植物學(xué)） , the study of plants, occupies a particular position in the history of human knowledge．For many thousands of years it was the one field of awareness about which humans had anything more than the vaguest （模糊的）） of insights．It is impossible to know today just what our Stone Age ancestors knew about plants, but from what we can observe of pre-industrial societies that still exist, a detailed learning of plants and their properties must be extremely ancient．This is logical．Plants are the basis of the food pyramid for all living things even for other plants．They have always been enormously important to the welfare of people not only for food but also for clothing, tools, medicines, shelter, and a great many other purposes．Tribes living today in the jungle of the Amazon recognize hundreds of plants and know many properties of each．To them, botany has no name and is probably not even recognized as a special branch of "knowledge" at all．
Unfortunately, the more industrialized we become, the farther away we move from direct contact with plants, and the less distinct our knowledge grows．Yet everyone comes unconsciously on an amazing amount of botanical knowledge, and few people will fail to recognize a rose or an apple．When nor Neolithic ancestors, living in the Middle East about 10,000 years ago, discovered that certain grasses could be harvested and their seeds planted for richer fields the next season—the first, great step in a new association of plants and humans was taken．Grains were discovered and from them flowed the wonder of agriculture: cultivated crops．From then on, humans would increasingly take their living from the controlled production of a few plants, rather than getting a little here and a little there from many varieties that grew wild, and the accumulated knowledge of tens of thousands of years of experience with plants in the wild would begin to fade away．
【小題1】What does the writer mean when he says "This is logical" in the first paragraph?

A．Human knowledge of plants is well organized and very detailed．

B．It is not surprising that early humans had a detailed knowledge of plants．

C．There is no clear way to determine the extent of our ancestor's knowledge of plant．

D．It is reasonable to assume our ancestors behave much like people in pre-industrial societies．

【小題2】According to the passage, general knowledge of botany begun to fade away because ____．

A．people no longer value plants as a useful resource

B．direct contact with a variety of plants has decreased

C．botany is not recognized as a special branch of science

D．research is unable to keep up with the increasing number of plants

【小題3】We learn that the first great step toward the practice of agriculture is____．

A．the changing diets of early humans

B．the development of a system of names for plants

C．the invention of agricultural implements （工具） and machinery

D．the discovery of certain grasses that could be harvested and replanted

【小題4】Human would depend on the controlled production of a few plants for living with

A．the knowledge of plants

B．the discovery of certain grasses

C．the development of machinery

D．the appearance of agriculture

Every time you go shopping, the vegetables and fruit look so tempting that you wish you could buy all of them. Some people are lucky and can grow the fruit and vegetables in the gardens that they have. While getting fresh vegetables, they can also achieve great cost cutting.
Mushrooms are expensive and can also go bad very quickly. Mushrooms can also be grown easily in a dark environment. In fact it’s better than growing other vegetables since you really don’t need an outdoor space. A special type of soil that is good for growing mushrooms is easily available.
Actually mushrooms aren’t even vegetables; they are fungi(菌類) and for this reason, you don’t even require sunlight to grow them. Well how does one go about growing mushrooms? You could always Google “growing mushrooms” and you will find a number of mushroom growing kits(工具) available online that area effective and not very expensive either.
Mushrooms can be added to any dish that you cook. Simply use them in pizzas, salads and anything that you pretty much fancy. Grow mushrooms in your own house and use them whenever you want. Fresh mushrooms are tastier than the ones that are stored in your refrigerator.
If you have had a really good crop of mushrooms, then you can even store them. Ideally you should use the white variety of the mushrooms. Simply pick them, slice them and put them on a cookie sheet in a freezer. When they area frozen, just put them in a zip lock and you can use them when you want to. They give a really great taste to the dish that you are making. Thaw them before you use them.
You should try growing mushrooms, since it’s cost-effective. Furthermore, you can eat the fresh mushrooms any time that you want.
【小題1】 What is an advantage of growing vegetables according to the passage?

A．You can eat all kinds of vegetables

B．You are lucky to eat what you like

C．You can save lots of money

D．You can satisfy your desire

【小題2】 Mushrooms are different from other vegetables in that      .

A．they can be grown where there is no light

B．they can grow well in an outdoor space

C．it is easy for them to go bad in a few days

D．they can grow without soil

【小題3】 The third paragraph is mainly to tell us that          .

A．mushrooms are not vegetables

B．Internet helps us a lot

C．mushrooms are available online

D．it is easy to grow mushrooms

【小題4】Which of the following is the right order of storing mushrooms?
a. put them on a cookie sheet in the refrigerator
b. place frozen mushrooms in a zip lock
c. cut them into slices
d. choose the white mushrooms

A．a(chǎn)-b-c-d

B．d-c-a-b

C．a(chǎn)-d-c-b

D．d-a-c-b

【小題5】 What would be the best title for this passage?

A．It is easy and fun to grow mushrooms

B．We should eat more fruit and vegetables

C．Mushrooms online are very expensive

D．Mushrooms—tasty and healthy vegetables

There are many international organizations which work to save and protect endangered species(物種) and natural environment. If you would like more information about any of the organizations listed below, you can write to the addresses given.
Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth (FOE) campaigns on a range of problems including rainforests, the countryside, water and air pollution and energy.
Friends of the Earth International Secretariat P.O. Box 19199
1000 G. D.
Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Greenpeace
Greenpeace uses peaceful but direct action to defend the environment. It campaigns to protect rainforests and sea animals, stop global warming and end pollution of air, land and seas. It also opposes nuclear(核) power.
Greenpeace International
Keizergracht 176
1016 DW Amsterdam
The Netherlands
BirdLife
INTERNATIONAL
BirdLife International is an organization which works to save endangered birds all over the world.
BirdLife International
Wellbrook Court
Girton Road
Cambridge CB3 ONA
England
WWF
WWF-World Wide Fund For Nature is the world’s largest private international organization for the protection of nature and endangered species.
Information Officer
WWF International
Avenue du Mont-Blanc
1196 Gland
Switzerland
【小題1】If you want to learn more about the organizations, you can           .

A．call them

B．write them a letter

C．visit them

D．send them an e-mail

【小題2】Which problem will be paid close attention to by FOE?

A．Overhunting ocean animals	B．Killing endangered birds
C．Heavy air pollution	D．Global warming

【小題3】If you are against nuclear power, you can join         .

A．Friends of the Earth	B．World Wide Fund For Nature
C．Greenpeace	D．BirdLife International

【小題4】What can we learn about WWF?

A．It helps to protect nature and save endangered animals

B．It is the world’s largest international organization

C．It works for private companies and rich people

D．It is a private organization in the United States

【小題5】 Which is the best title for the passage?

A．Environmental protection organizations	B．Global traffic problems
C．Endangered animals	D．Natural beauty

Moving to a new town or even a new neighborhood is stressful at any age, but a new study shows that frequent moves in childhood are related to poorer well-being(幸福) in adulthood, especially among people who are more introverted(內(nèi)向的) or neurotic(神經(jīng)癥的).
The researchers tested the relationship between the number of childhood moves and well-being in a sample of 7108 American adults who were followed for 10 years.
“We know that children who move frequently are more likely to perform poorly in school and have more behavioral problems,” said the study’s lead author Shigehiro Oishi. “However, the long-term effects of moving on well-being in adulthood have been overlooked by researchers.”
The study’s participants, who were between the ages of 20 and 75, were contacted in 1994 and 1995 and were surveyed again 10 years later. They were asked how many times they had moved as children, as well as about their psychological well-being, personality type and social relationships.
The researchers found that the more times people moved as children, the more likely they were to report lower life satisfaction and psychological well-being at the time they were surveyed. The research also showed that those who moved frequently as children had fewer quality social relationships as adults.
The researchers also looked to see if different personality types affected frequent movers’ well-being. Among introverts, the more moves participants reported as children, the worse off they were as adults. “Moving a lot makes it difficult for people to keep long-term close relationships.” Said Oishi. “This might not be a serious problem for outgoing people who can make friends quickly and easily.”
The findings showed neurotic people who moved frequently reported less life satisfaction and poorer psychological well-being than people who did not move as much and people who were not neurotic. However, the number and quality of neurotic people’s relationships had no effect on their well-being, no matter how often they had moved as children. In the article, Oishi thinks this may be because neurotic people have more negative reactions to stressful life events in general.
“We can guess that moving often creates more stress,” Oishi said. “But we need more research on this link before we can conclude that moving often in childhood can, in fact, be dangerous to your health in the long-term.”
【小題1】What can be learnt about the new study from the passage?

A．The participants were from all over the world.

B．It was carried out in two periods of time.

C．The participants were mostly old people.

D．The participants had poor health.

【小題2】What is the purpose of the study?

A．To show the relationship between moving and performance in school

B．To show the relationship between moving and well-being

C．To investigate Americans’ well-being in general

D．To research the personality types of Americans

【小題3】According to Oishi,            .

A．moving a lot is a serious problem for outgoing people

B．moving probably makes some people feel worried and tense

C．moving frequently is likely to help people make more friends

D．moving often is dangerous to people’s health in the long-term

【小題4】The fifth and sixth paragraphs mainly talk about             .

A．the process of the study

B．the results of the study

C．the importance of the study

D．the theory of the study

【小題5】It can be inferred from the passage that           .

A．a(chǎn)dults should take more care over their kids

B．neurotic people are likely to move frequently

C．children who move frequently behave well in school

D．personality types are related to frequent movers’ happiness