In general, people talk about two groups of colours warm colours and cool colours. Researchers in psychology think that there are also two groups of people people who prefer warm colours and people who prefer cool colours.
The warm colours are red, orange and yellow. Where there are warm colours and a lot of light, people usually want to be active. People think that red, for example, is exciting. Sociable people, those who like to be with others, like red. The cool colours are green, blue and violet. These colours, unlike warm colours , are relaxing. Where there are cool colours, people are usually quiet. People who like to spend time alone often prefer blue.
Red may be exciting, but one researcher says that time seems to pass more slowly in a room with warm colours than in a room with cool colours. He suggests that a warm colour, such as red or orange is a good colour for a living room or restaurant. People who are relaxing or eating do not want time to pass quickly. Cool colours are better for offices or factories if the people who are working there want time to pass quickly.
Researchers do not know why people think some colours are warm and other colours are cool. However, almost everyone agrees that red, orange, and yellow are warm and that green, blue and violet are cool. Perhaps warm colours remind people of warm days and the cool colours remind them of cool days. Because in the north the sun is higher during summer, the hot summer sunlight appears yellow.
【小題1】Which of the following colours belong to cool colours?

A．Yellow, green.	B．Blue, violet.
C．Black, blue.	D．Brown, white.

【小題2】Which of the following statements is not true?

A．Sociable people like warm colours.

B．Warm colours can make people excited.

C．People who like to be with others don’t like red.

D．Where there are warm colours, people want to be active.

【小題3】Which is the right colour for different rooms?

A．Red or orange for offices.

B．Orange for dining-rooms.

C．Blue for bedrooms.

D．Red for studies.

【小題4】What is the main idea of the last paragraph?

A．It shows the reason why people think some colours are warm and others are cool.

B．Warm colours remind people of warm days.

C．Cool colours remind people of cool days.

D．People have an agreeable opinion of warm colours and cool colours.

All around the world, shoppers flock to Wal-Mart to buy everything. In Texas, they come for another reason: to see the wind turbine（渦輪機(jī)）, which supplies 5% of the store’s electricity. It along with other facilities, such as exterior walls coated with heat-reflective paint, makes this Wal-Mart a green giant.
The laws of economics suggest that Wal-Mart, with 5, 200 stores worldwide, influences everything including the price of all kinds of goods. It throws its weight behind environmental responsibility, and the impact could be amazing. “One little change in product packaging could save 1, 500 trees,” says Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott．“If everybody saves 1, 500 trees or 50 barrels of oil, at the end of the day you have made a huge difference.”
Scott wants Wal-Mart to do its part too. He has promised to cut the existing greenhouse-gas emissions（排放）over the next few years and promised to construct new stores that are more efficient. He wants Wal-Mart’s fleet of more than 7, 000 trucks to get twice as many miles per gallon by 2015. Factories that show Wal-Mart they’re cutting air pollution will get preferential treatment in the supply chain. Wal-Mart says it’s working with consumer-product manufacturers to reduce their packaging and will reward them if they do so.
Some people may doubt it is a bid to attract attention from Wal-Mart’s controversial labor and health-insurance practices. But it’s not just window dressing, because Wal-Mart sees profits in                                                                                         going green. Scott says, “This is a business philosophy, not a social philosophy. We don’t go where we don’t think there’s a great interest in change.”
Like Bill Gates, who started his charitable foundation, Scott happens to be promoting Wal-Mart’s image at a time when his company’s reputation is declining. He acknowledges that he launched the plan partly to shield （保護(hù)）Wal-Mart from bad press about its contribution to global warming. “By doing what we’re doing today, we avoid the headline risks that are going to come for people who did not do anything,” he says. “At some point businesses will be held responsible for the action they take.” Meanwhile, should Wal-Mart succeed in shrinking its environmental footprint and lowering prices for green products, both the planet and the company will profit.
【小題1】 We can infer from the passage that ______.

A．Lee Scott is Wal-Mart’s CEO

B．there are 5, 200 stores in the world

C．Wal-Mart has a great influence on the world market

D．Wal-Mart has more than 7, 000 trucks all over the world

【小題2】 What will Wal-Mart probably do in the future?

A．Reduce air pollution in its present stores.

B．Give favorable treatment to its consumers.

C．Ask the factories to reduce their packaging.

D．Demand the fleet of trucks to use more fuel than before.

【小題3】 What is the main idea of the last paragraph?

A．Provide the background of the green plan.

B．Stress the purpose of Wal-Mart’s green plan.

C．Present the risk that Wal-Mart is facing nowadays.

D．Analyze the similarity between Bill Gates and Scott.

Do you know that women’s brains are smaller than men’s? The average women’s brain weighs 10% less than men’s. Since researches have shown that the bigger the brain, the cleverer the animal, men must be more intelligent than women. Right? Wrong. Men and women always score similarly on intelligence tests, despite the difference in brain size. Why? After years of study, researchers have concluded that it’s what’s inside that matters, not just the size of the brain. The brain consists of “grey matter” and “white matter”. While men have more of the latter, the amount of “thinking” brain is almost exactly the same in both sexes.
It has been suggested that smaller brain appears to work faster, perhaps because the two sides of the brain are better connected in women. This means that little girls tend to learn to speak earlier, and that women can understand sorts of information from different sources at the same time. When it comes to talking to the boss on the phone, cooking dinner and keeping an eye on the baby all at the same time, it’s women who come out on top every time.
There are other important differences between two sexes. As white matter is the key to spatial(空間的) tasks, men know better where things are in relation to other things. “A great footballer always knows where he is in relation to the other players, and he knows where to go,” says one researcher. That may explain one of life’s great mysteries—why men refuse to ask for directions … and women often need to!
The differences begin when fetuses(胎兒) are about nine weeks old, which can be seen in the action of children as young as one. A boy would try to climb a barrier (障礙物) before him or push it down while a girl would attract help from others. These brain differences also explain the fact that more men take up jobs that require good spatial skills, while more women speech skills. It may all go back to our ancestors, among whom women needed speech skills to take care of their babies and men needed spatial skills to hunt, according to one research. www. .com
If all this disappoints you, it shouldn’t. “The brain changes throughout our lives according to what we do with it.” says a biologist.
【小題1】Which of the following is true according to the first paragraph?

A．Women’s brain is 10% less than men’s

B．Grey matter plays the same role as white matter.

C．Grey matter controls thinking in the brain.

D．Both sexes have the same amount of white matter.

【小題2】What can we infer from the second and third paragraphs?

A．Women prefer doing many things at a time.

B．Men do better dealing with one job at a time.

C．Women do not need to tell directions.

D．Men have weaker spatial abilities.

【小題3】Which of the following do you agree with according to the fourth paragraph?

A．Young boys may be stronger than young girls.

B．More women take up jobs requiring speech skills.

C．Women may have stronger feelings than men.

D．Our ancestors needed more spatial skills.

【小題4】What is the writer’s attitude in writing this passage?

A．Defensive.

B．Persuasive.

C．Supportive.

D．Objective.

Mark and his brother Jason both were looking at the shining new computer enviously. Jason was determined not to go against their father’s wishes but Mark was more adventurous than his brother. He loved experimenting and his aim was to become a scientist like his father.
“Dad will be really mad if he finds out you’ve been playing with his new computer.” Jason said, “He told us not to touch it.”
“He won’t find out.” Mark said, “I’ll just have a quick look and shut it down.”
Mark had been scolded before for touching his father’s equipment. But his curiosity was difficult to control and this new computer really puzzled him.
“It was a strange-looking machine –one his dad had brought home from the laboratory where he worked. “It’s an experimental model,” his father had explained, “so don’t touch it under any circumstances.” But his warning only served to make Mark more curious. Without any further thought, Mark turned on the power switch. The computer burst into life and seconds later, the screen turned into colors, shifting and changing and then two big white words appeared in the center of the screen: “SPACE TRANSPORTER.”
“Yes!” Mark cried excitedly, “It’s a computer game. I knew it! Dad’s only been pretending to work. He’s really been playing games instead.” A new message appeared on the screen:
“ENTER NAMES         VOYAGER 1: …        VOYAGER 2: …”
Mark’s fingers flew across the keyboard as he typed in both of their names.
“INPUT ACCEPTED. START TRANSPORT PROGRAM. AUTO-RETRIEVE INITIATED（自動(dòng)回收程序已啟動(dòng)）.”
The screen turned even brighter and a noise suddenly rose in volume.
“I think we’d better shut it off, Mark,” Jason yelled, reaching for the power switch. He was really frightened.
But his hand never reached the switch. A single beam of dazzling white light burst out of the computer screen, wrapping the boys in its glow (光芒), until they themselves seemed to be glowing. Then it died down just as suddenly as it had burst into life. And the boys were no longer there. On the screen, the letters changed.
“TRANSPORT SUCCESSFUL. DESTINATION: MARS. RETRIEVE DATE: 2025.”
【小題1】Where did the boy’s father most likely work?

A．In an electronic factory.

B．In a computer company.

C．In a scientific research center.

D．In an information processing center.

【小題2】 Mark thought“SPACE TRANSPORTER”on the screen was the name of _________．       .

A．a(chǎn) computer game	B．a(chǎn) company website
C．a(chǎn) software producer	D．a(chǎn)n astronomy program

【小題3】What happened to the boys at the end of the story?

A．They were blown into the air.

B．They were sent to another planet.

C．They were hidden in the strong light.

D．They were carried away to another country

【小題4】Why did Jason want to shut off the computer?

A．He was afraid of being scolded.

B．He didn’t like the loud noise and light.

C．He didn’t want to play games any more.

D．He was afraid something dangerous might happen.

Fear may be felt in the heart as well as in the head, according to a study that has found a link between the cycles of a beating heart and the chance of someone feeling fear.
Tests on healthy volunteers found that they were more likely to feel a sense of fear at the moment when their hearts are contracting (收縮) and pumping blood around their bodies, compared with the point when the heartbeat is relaxed. Scientists say the results suggest that the heart is able to influence how the brain responds to a fearful event, depending on which point it is at in its regular cycle of contraction and relaxation.
Sarah Garfinkel at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School said: "Our study shows for the first time that the way in which we deal with fear is different depending on when we see fearful pictures in relation to our heart."
The study tested 20 healthy volunteers on their reactions（反應(yīng)）to fear as they were shown pictures of fearful faces. Dr Garfinkel said, "The study showed that fearful faces are better noticed when the heart is pumping than when it is relaxed. Thus our hearts can also affect what we see and what we don't see - and guide whether we see fear."
To further understand this relationship, the scientists also used a brain scanner (掃描儀) to show how the brain influences the way the heart changes a person's feeling of fear.
"We have found an important mechanism by which the heart and brain ‘speak’ to each other to change our feelings and reduce fear," Dr Garfinkel said.
"We hope that by increasing our understanding about how fear is dealt with and ways that it could be reduced, we may be able to develop more successful treatments for anxiety disorders, and also for those who may be suffering from serious stress disorder."
【小題1】What is the finding of the study?

A．One's heart affects how he feels fear.

B．Fear is a result of one's relaxed heartbeat.

C．Fear has something to do with one's health.

D．One’s fast heartbeats are likely to cause fear.

【小題2】The study was carried out by analyzing _______.

A．volunteers' heartbeats when they saw terrible pictures

B．the time volunteers saw fearful pictures and their health conditions

C．volunteers' reactions to horrible pictures and data from their brain scans

D．different pictures shown to volunteers and their heart-brain communication

【小題3】Which of the following is closest in meaning to "mechanism" in Paragraph 6?

A．Order.

B．System.

C．Machine.

D．Treatment.

【小題4】This study may lead to _______.

A．treating anxiety and stress better

B．explaining the cycle of fear and anxiety

C．finding the key to the heart-brain communication

D．understanding different fears in our hearts and heads

In South America, the rich soil of the Amazon River basin（流域）in Brazil is known as “black gold”. Scientists found that the secret of this rich soil was charcoal（木炭）. Local people made it from animal bones and tree branches. They mixed the charcoal with the soil about 1.500 years ago.
Now, scientists in the United States have done a modern demonstration. They say charcoal fertilization offers a revolutionary way to improve soil quality for hundreds or even thousands of years.
Mingxin Guo and his team at Delavare State University heated tree leaves, corn stalks（莖）, small pieces of wood and poultry waste into “biochar”（生物碳）. They reported their findings at a recent meeting of the American Chemical Society in New Orleans.
Biochar could be good news for farmers with poor soil and hungry populations to feed. Professor Guo says it could even help against global warming. Intensive（集約的） farming and overuse of chemical fertilizer give out carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Biochar does the opposite, he says. It traps carbon in the ground.
The researchers planted winter wheat in containers of soil in a greenhouse — some with biochar, some without. Professor Guo says the wheat grows much better in the pots with biochar. The soil was added two percent charcoal to. But he says even a one percent treatment will increase productivity.
The results demonstrated that biochar can increase organic matter in soil. Loss of nutrients in soil is an increasing problem worldwide as farmers try to grow more food for growing populations.
Next, the team will carry out a five-year study of biochar with spinach（菠菜）, green peppers and tomatoes.
Mingxin Guo says he learns about the “black gold” in Brazil from a magazine story. He explains that it was discovered in the jungle, in the area where waters flow to the Amazon, in the 1960’s. But it was not until recent years that scientists began to bring public attention to it.
【小題1】According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．The researchers will go on proving their theory.

B．The leading researcher learns the theory from the magazine.

C．Charcoal was discovered 1,500 years ago.

D．Common farming can produce more carbon dioxide.

【小題2】Biochar has the following advantages EXCEPT that ________.

A．it can improve the condition of the soil

B．it can be used as a kind of energy

C．it can help against global warming

D．it can increase productivity of the corn

【小題3】According to the research, the biochar can help against global warming because it can ________.

A．reduce the carbon dioxide

B．keep the carbon in the soil

C．reduce the loss of nutrients in the soil

D．a(chǎn)bsorb the carbon dioxide

【小題4】Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

A．Using Charcoal to Make soil into “Black Gold”

B．Using Charcoal to Reduce the Carbon Dioxide

C．How Amazon River Basin Produces “Golden Black”

D．Guo’s Research on Producing Biochar

Electrical devices(儀器)could soon use power made by human energy. Scientists say they have developed an experimental device that produces electricity from the physical movement of a person walking. British scientist Max Donelan and other scientists in Canada and the United States developed the device.
The device connects to a person’s knee. As the person walks, the device captures energy each time the person slows down. To do this, the device helps with the slowing down movement of the leg. The movements of the walking person push parts of a small machine
that produces electricity. Using the device, an adult walking quickly could produce thirteen watts of electricity in just a minute. Donelan says walking at that speed could produce enough power to operate a laptop computer for six minutes.
There are several possible uses for the device. Developers say it could help people who work in areas without electricity to operate small computers. The device could also be used in hospitals to operate heart pacemakers(起搏器). It could even be used to assist in the movement of robotic arms and legs.
The experimental version of the device weighs about one and a half kilograms, but it is too costly for most people to buy. But the researchers hope to make a lighter, less costly version. An improved version shou1d be ready in one year.
The developers hope the device will one day help developing countries. Near1y twenty five
percent of people around the world live without electric power.
A similar product was invented in 2005 by Larry Rome of the University of Pennsylvania. He created a bag carried on a person’s back that also produces power from wa1king.The knee device does not produce as much electricity as the bag. But the bag requires the walker to carry a load of twenty to thirty kilograms.
【小題1】 The second paragraph mainly talks about     .

A．who developed the device

B．how the device works

C．several possible uses for the devices

D．how much electricity the device can produce

【小題2】 Compared with the device designed by Larry Rome, this new device     .

A．produces power without adding more loads to the walker

B．can produce more power in a much shorter time

C．needs to be equipped with a battery

D．can help the walker wa1k faster

【小題3】From the passage, we can learn that the electrical device can     .

A．help housewives operate the washing machine

B．make it much easier for us to go online

C．produce more electricity than that invented by Larry Rome

D．be applied in medicine to operate heart pacemakers

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of natural disasters over the past few years，and it is assumed that global warming and climate change could cause even more disasters in the future.Some of the world’s leading cities are facing disasters like floods and heat waves.
London
London’s flood defences are getting older. Since 1982, the Thames Barrier(水閘) has protected the city from the threat of flooding，but it was only designed to last until 2030 and close once every two or three years. About 21 years later the barrier now closes five or six times a year and according to Environment Agency predictions, by 2050 the barrier will be closed on almost every tide if the problem is not addressed.
There are 26 underground stations, 400 schools, 16 hospitals, an airport and 80 billion worth of property in London's flood risk area, so large scale flooding would be disastrous.
Paris
Over a six­week period in July and August 2008，more than 11400 — mainly elderly people — died in France from dehydration (脫水) and extremely high body temperature in a deadly heat wave. Heat waves of similar intensity (強(qiáng)度) are expected every seven years by 2050, so what can be done to make sure such a disaster does not happen again?
One solution is to have air­conditioners installed in elderly care homes. But this is considered a short­term solution, as the increase in demand for electricity also increases carbon emissions.
In Paris the local authorities are encouraging architects to design new types of buildings such as the building “Flower Tower”, which uses a covering of bamboo to act as a natural air­conditioner.
Shanghai
Shanghai is the fastest growing city on Earth. It has a population of 18 million and is only 4 meters above sea level. Sea levels are predicted to rise by 20 cm within the next century.
An estimated 250,000 people move to Shanghai every year in search of work, placing extra demands on energy consumption. China relies heavily on coal­fired power stations, but these emissions increase temperatures and, in turn, warmer seas increase the risk of typhoons.
【小題1】Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A．Big Cities Facing Big Disasters	B．Big Disasters in the Future
C．The Increase of Natural Disasters	D．Solutions to Natural Disasters

【小題2】What problem should be settled now in London?

A．How to protect the city’s property.

B．Where to build its flood defences.

C．How to use the Thames Barrier to protect the city.

D．How to improve the function of the old flood defences.

【小題3】 Which of the following measures can’t solve the heat wave disaster in Paris?

A．Putting up new types of buildings with a covering of bamboo.

B．Having air­conditioners installed in elderly care homes.

C．Forbidding the city to build “Flower Tower”.

D．Encouraging architects to design new types of buildings.

【小題4】The major threats to Shanghai are ________.

A．increasing population and coal­fired power stations

B．rising sea levels and typhoons

C．extremely high temperature and rising sea levels

D．extra demands on energy consumption and typhoons

【小題5】The purpose of the passage is ________.

A．to tell us how to protect the big cities

B．to give advice on how to defend natural disasters

C．to explain what causes flood and heat waves

D．to warn us of the increasing natural disasters in big cities

I give two examples as to why intelligent life may not actually exist, though I admit that for me, or even for a physicist who devoted his or her entire life to researching and studying the universe, it's shocking to claim that completely no life exists elsewhere.
Keeping that in mind, I'd just like to consider conditions elsewhere in the known universe. You really only need to look at our own solar system or the Earth at certain periods in its own history to appreciate that most places are much worse and much less suitable for life than our mild, watery globe.
So far, space scientists have discovered about seventy planets outside the solar. But it appears that if you wish to have a planet suitable for life, you just have to be very lucky, and the more advanced the life is, the luckier you'll have to be. I'm by no means a space observer, but I can recognize some particularly fortunate breaks we've had on the Earth. For example:
We are, to a degree, at the right distance from the perfect type of star, the one that is big enough to radiate a huge amount of energy, but not so big as to bum itself out quickly. Had our sun been ten times as huge, it would have burnt out completely after only ten million years, instead of ten billion and surely we would not exist. Too near, everything on the Earth would have boiled and withered away; any further, everything would have frozen over.
The universe is a surprising place, and our existence within it is a wonder. If a long and unimaginably complex sequence of events dating back 4.6 billion years or so hadn't happened in a particular manner at a particular time --if, to take just one example, the dinosaurs hadn't been wiped out by a meteor(流星)--we might still be a few centimeters long, with whisker(胡須) and a tail, and you'll be reading this in a cave somewhere.
【小題1】What's the best title for this passage?

A．No Life Exists out of the Earth

B．Seventy Planets Discovered

C．A Place Full of Wonders

D．Perfect Conditions for Life

【小題2】What makes the Earth more suitable for life than other planets in the solar system?

A．The Earth is the only planet that can receive energy from the sun.

B．The sun is at the right distance from us and in proper size.

C．The distance between the planets was neither too long nor too near.

D．The dinosaurs were no longer a threat to the Earth.

【小題3】What does the underlined phrase "withered away" in the 4th paragraph mean?

A．Exploded.

B．Expanded.

C．Floated away.

D．Dried and died.

【小題4】Where does the text probably come from?

A．A history book.

B．A magazine.

C．A science fiction.

D．A famous novel.

WELLINGTON, September 19 (Xinhua) -- If your teenage son won't get out of bed in the morning, then take comfort from the fact that he might be sleeping his way to a healthier future, according to a new research from New Zealand.
Researchers in human nutrition at the University of Otago have found that teenage boys who sleep less have more body fat when compared to girls, for whom lack of sleep has no noticeable effect on their body fat ratios.
The study of 386 boys and 299 girls aged 15 to 18 found that average-sized 16-year-old boy weighing 69.5 kg and 176 cm tall, who slept for eight hours a day, had a waist size l.8 cm bigger and l.6 kg, or 9 percent, more body fat than the average-sized boy who slept 10 hours a day.
"The boys who slept eight hours a day would also have l.8 kg more lean (bone and muscle) mass compared to the boys who slept 10 hours, but that's only a 1.4-percent increase, compared to the 9- percent increase seen in body fat," said lead researcher from the Department of Human Nutrition, Dr. Paula Skidmore.
"Our results suggest that for older teenage boys, making sure that they get enough sleep may help to maintain a healthier body. It seems to be that, within reason, the more sleep the better for boys," Skidmore said in a statement Thursday.
"It was unexpected that we did not find the same result in girls, who may actually be more aware of their diet and more in tune with a healthier lifestyle."
The researchers ruled out the effects of food choice and number of screens, such as televisions, games and consoles, which the teenagers had in their bedrooms.
【小題1】What's the research really about?

A．Boys and girls.

B．Food and weight.

C．Sleep and health.

D．Screens and fat.

【小題2】What's the result of less sleep for teenage boys?

A．Bigger waist and more fat in the body.

B．An increase in weight and height.

C．More concerned with their diet.

D．A decrease in bone and muscle.

【小題3】From the sixth paragraph we can infer that ______.

A．girls usually sleep less and have healthier lifestyles than boys

B．the researchers expected to see the same result in girls

C．peoples' diet has a great effect on their health

D．boys are usually lazier than girls

【小題4】Who would be the most pleased to hear the news?

A．Teachers.

B．Girls.

C．Parents. .

D．Boys.