The Healthy Habits Survey (調(diào)查) shows that only about one third of American seniors have correct habits. Here are some findings and expert advice.
1. How many times did you brush your teeth yesterday?
Finding: A full 33% of seniors brush their teeth only once a day.
Step: Remove the 300 types of bacteria in your mouth each morning with a battery-operated toothbrush. Brush gently for 2 minutes, at least twice a day.
2. How many times did you wash your hands or bathe yesterday?
Finding: Seniors, on average, bathe fewer than 3 days a week. And nearly 30%wash their hands only 4 times a day-half of the number doctors recommend.
Step: We touch our faces around 3,000 times a day-often inviting germs (病菌) to enter our mouth, nose, and eyes. Use toilet paper to avoid touching the door handle. And, most important, wash your hands often with hot running water and soap for 20 seconds.
3. How often do you think about fighting germs?
Finding: Seniors are not fighting germs as well as they should.
Step: Be aware of germs. Do you know it is not your toilet but your kitchen sponge (海綿) that can carry more germs than anything else? To kill these germs, keep your sponge in the microwave for 10 seconds.
【小題1】What is found out about American seniors?

A．Most of them have good habits.

B．Nearly 30%of them bathe three days a week.

C．All of them are fighting germs better than expected.

D．About one third of them brush their teeth only once a day

【小題2】Doctors suggest that people should wash their hands          .

A．twice a day	B．three times a day
C．four times a day	D．eight times a day

【小題3】Which of the following is true according to the text?

A．We should keep from touching our faces.

B．There are less than 300 types of bacteria in the mouth.

C．A kitchen sponge can carry more germs than a toilet.

D．We should wash our hands before touching a door handle.

【小題4】The text probably comes from             .

A．a(chǎn) guide book	B．a(chǎn) popular magazine
C．a(chǎn) book review	D．a(chǎn)n official document

If a diver surfaces too quickly, he may suffer the bends. Nitrogen (氮) dissolved (溶解) in his blood is suddenly liberated by the reduction of pressure. The consequence, if the bubbles (氣泡) accumulate in a joint, is sharp pain and a bent body—thus the name. If the bubbles form in his lungs or
his brain, the consequence can be death.
Other air-breathing animals also suffer this decompression (減壓) sickness if they surface too fast: whales, for example. And so, long ago, did ichthyosaurs (魚龍). That these ancient sea animals got the bends can be seen from their bones. If bubbles of nitrogen form inside the bone they can cut off its blood supply. This kills the cells in the bone, and consequently weakens it, sometimes to the point of collapse. Fossil (化石) bones that have caved in on themselves are thus a sign that the animal once had the bends.
Bruce Rothschild of the University of Kansas knew all this when he began a study of ichthyosaur bones to find out how widespread the problem was in the past. What he particularly wanted to investigate was how ichthyosaurs adapted to the problem of decompression over the 150 million years. To this end, he and his colleagues traveled the world’s natural-history museums, looking at hundreds of ichthyosaurs from the Triassic period and from the later Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
When he started, he assumed that signs of the bends would be rarer in younger fossils, reflecting their gradual evolution of measures to deal with decompression. Instead, he was astonished to discover the opposite. More than 15% of Jurassic and Cretaceous ichthyosaurs had suffered the bends before they died, but not a single Triassic specimen (標(biāo)本) showed evidence of that sort of injury.
If ichthyosaurs did evolve an anti-decompression means, they clearly did so quickly—and, most strangely, they lost it afterwards. But that is not what Dr Rothschild thinks happened. He suspects it was evolution in other animals that caused the change.
Whales that suffer the bends often do so because they have surfaced to escape a predator (捕食動(dòng)物) such as a large shark. One of the features of Jurassic oceans was an abundance of large sharks and crocodiles, both of which were fond of ichthyosaur lunches. Triassic oceans, by contrast, were mercifully shark- and crocodile-free. In the Triassic, then, ichthyosaurs were top of the food chain. In the Jurassic and Cretaceous, they were prey (獵物) as well as predator—and often had to make a speedy exit as a result.
【小題1】Which of the following is a typical symptom of the bends?

A．A twisted body.	B．A gradual decrease in blood supply.
C．A sudden release of nitrogen in blood.	D．A drop in blood pressure.

【小題2】The purpose of Rothschild’s study is to see _______.

A．how often ichthyosaurs caught the bends

B．how ichthyosaurs adapted to decompression

C．why ichthyosaurs bent their bodies

D．when ichthyosaurs broke their bones

【小題3】Rothschild’s finding stated in Paragraph 4 _______. 

A．confirmed his assumption	B．speeded up his research process
C．disagreed with his assumption	D．changed his research objectives

【小題4】Rothschild might have concluded that ichthyosaurs _______.

A．failed to evolve an anti-decompression means

B．gradually developed measures against the bends

C．died out because of large sharks and crocodiles

D．evolved an anti-decompression means but soon lost it

When Geoff Marcy was 14, his parents bought him a telescope. Every night, he would go onto the roof outside his window to see the wonders of the sky.
“What excited me most was whether there were planets in other solar systems where life might exist,” he says. “I decided to try to find planets orbiting other stars like our Sun.”
And he did. “My fellow researcher, Paul Butler, and I found our first planet in 1995,” Dr. Marcy says. “We worked for ten years without finding anything! But we stuck with it and our patience paid off.”
Since then, the two scientists have discovered 65 of the more than 100 planets found orbiting other stars. Dr. Marcy and Dr. Butler also spotted the first “family” of three planets. In June 2002 they announced another discovery: a Jupiter-like planet orbiting star 55Cancri.
At first, the two researchers found only planets that orbit close to stars. Recently, the scientists found planets farther out. The planet orbiting 55Cancri is a major breakthrough: it is the first sighting of a large gas planet about same distance from the star as Jupiter is from the Sun.
Why is this important ? Scientists think that life on Earth may exist because of two special features in our solar system. The first is Jupiter.
“Because it’s so big, Jupiter pulls comets and asteroids(小行星), or they all come and hit the Earth.” Dr. Marcy explains. “Without Jupiter , life on Earth would likely have been destroyed.”
A second feature is that Earth is a rocky planet where liquid water, which is necessary for life , can exist. Unlike gas planets, rocky planets like Earth have surfaces where water can gather in pools and seas, which may support life. A huge space exists between the Jupiter-like planet and two other planets that lie close to 55Cancri. Is there an Earth-like planet in the space, too small for us to notice? If so, says Dr. Marcy, “We would have two striking similarities to our solar system: a Jupiter-like planet and an Earth-like planet. And there may be life!”
【小題1】What can we learn about Dr. Marcy from the passage?

A．He is fond of watching Jupiter.

B．He is from a scientist family.

C．He dislikes working with Paul Butler.

D．He is interested in finding life in outer space.

【小題2】Which of the following is true of the recent discovery?

A．The planet is not as protective as Jupiter.

B．The planet is close to star 55Cancri.

C．The planet proves to be a gas planet.

D．The planet is as large as Jupiter.

【小題3】Dr. Marcy and Dr. Butler began to find new planets in ____.

A．1995

B．1985

C．2002

D．1981

【小題4】Dr. Marcy thinks that life may exist in the 55Cancri system because ____.

A．he has found the system similar to the solar system.

B．he has discovered an Earth-like planet there.

C．he has discovered a rocky planet there.

D．he has found signs of life in the system

【小題5】“But we stuck with it”( in Paragraph 3) means ____.

A．they felt discouraged	B．they carried on with it
C．they failed in their attempt	D．they made some progress

The octopus’s（章魚）reputation as a human-killer isn’t simply an exaggeration（夸張）—it is a total myth. The octopus can indeed be a deadly hunter, but only of its natural victims. Some shellfish（殼類動(dòng)物）and an occasional sick or incautious fish have reason to be frightened of this multi-armed hunter, but a person is much too large to interest even the biggest octopus. Even the largest among octopi is much smaller than most people imagine. Far from being large enough to swallow a ship, as monster octopi in movies have been known to do, the largest octopus, found on the Pacific coast, weighs around 110 pounds and grows to no more than ten feet in width.
The hard, parrot-like beak（喙）of an octopus is not used for attacking deep-sea divers, but for cutting open shellfish. Indeed, the octopus possesses such a tiny throat that it cannot swallow large pieces of meat. Instead, it feeds by pouring digestive juices into its victims, and then sucking up the soupy remains. A shellfish that finds itself in the grasp of an octopus has only a short time to live. But human beings are perfectly safe. Still, people rarely care to go close enough to these careful creatures to get a good look at them.
【小題1】This passage is mainly about          .

A．the horrors of the octopus

B．the largest octopus in the world

C．octopi and their behavior

D．the octopus’s deadly hunting method

【小題2】It is implied but not stated in the passage that          .

A．people have unreasonable fears about the octopus

B．the octopus is not interested in human beings

C．the octopus is afraid of human beings

D．the octopus is a very cruel sea animal

【小題3】What does the underlined part “careful creatures” refer to in the last paragraph?

A．Octopi.

B．Shellfish.

C．Fish.

D．The victims.

【小題4】The hard beak of the octopus is used for          .

A．a(chǎn)ttacking deep-sea divers	B．cutting up large pieces of meat
C．cutting open its victims	D．defending itself

【小題5】From the passage, we can conclude that          .

A．the octopus is not dangerous to man

B．people often fear creatures that are not dangerous to them

C．the octopus only hunts its natural victims

D．things described in movies are not to be believed

If your idea of a good time is to sleep in a hut, carry your own rubbish, and eat insects and wild animals, then ecotourism may be just for you. But is it also for people who want to fly over a rainforest sky before checking into a comfortable and expensive hotel in the middle of a national park? Whatever ecotourism is, it is hot--perhaps too hot for its own good.
The World Tourism Organization claims that the industry looked after 592 million travelers last year who spent $423 billion, and of all the types of tourism, ecotourism seems to be the fastest growing. By the broadest measure -- a trip with some sort of nature or wilderness element -- ecotourism already accounts for perhaps a third of these travelers. On a stricter definition favored by the Ecotourism Society, it is “responsible travel that preserves natural environments and keeps up the well-being of local people,” which accounts for no more than 5% of tourism.
Ideally, ecotourism helps both people and nature. Before the disastrous civil war, Rwanda’s Mountain Gorilla Project was one such model. Visits to the gorillas were limited, local guides ensured good behavior or on the part of the humans, and the high admission charge - $170 a day -- paid for salaries and presentation of the gorillas’ living areas. As this made the gorillas worth more alive than dead, poaching (偷獵) decreased. As another example, preservation Cooperation, Africa’s largest ecotour operator, uses only local labor, buys products 5om local farmers, and supports building projects: such as clinics and schools. This contribution to social advance is also good business sense. Projects from which local people benefit directly are less likely to be affected by poaching and theft.
Ecotourism’s biggest problem is labeling. Going on an eco-tour is no guarantee of good ecology. So far, only Australia has an official system to grade tour operators and tourist attractions on the basis of their “greenness”. Another issue is how eco-tourists damage the environment. Dolphin-feeding, for instance, is innocent and enjoyable, but after too many free meals, the dolphins forget how to catch their own dinners.
Keeping prices high is one way to limit enthusiasm. But measuring the effect of ecotourism on human environments is trickier. It is common, for villagers to see ecotourism as a source of new income. Hence, the very tourists who venture in search of traditional cultures end up breaking them up. As ecotourism becomes more popular, it will finally threaten the very things that are good for business.
【小題1】According to the passage, ecotourism may _________.

A．harm its own purpose by becoming too popular

B．save the environment by becoming more popular

C．harm its own purpose by becoming less popular

D．save the environment by becoming less popular

【小題2】Within the tourism industry as a whole, ecotourism _____________.

A．has no single, clear definition that would satisfy everybody

B．has expanded less rapidly than other types of tourism

C．claims that no comfortable hotels should be used by tourists

D．most often has a negative effect on local culture

【小題3】Rwanda’s Mountain Gorilla Project is a good example because ___________.

A．tourists were free to visit the gorillas whenever they wanted to

B．local people’s attitudes toward animals were not affected

C．the gorillas were protected from both tourists and local people

D．the gorillas’ living area was modernized because of the high admission

【小題4】 _________ most directly benefits the local community.

A．Rwanda’s Mountain Gorilla Project	B．Preservation Corporation
C．Australia’s grading system	D．Dolphin-feeding

Almost every machine with moving parts has wheels, yet no one knows exactly when the first wheel was invented or what it was used for. We do know, however, that they existed over 5,500 years ago in ancient Asia.
The oldest known transport wheel was discovered in Slovenia. It is over 5,100 years old. Evidence suggests that wheels for transport didn’t become popular for a while, though. This could be because animals did a perfectly good job of carrying farming tools and humans around. But it could also be because of a difficult situation. While wheels need to roll on smooth surfaces, roads with smooth surfaces weren’t going to be constructed until there was plenty of demand for them. Eventually, road surfaces did become smoother, but this difficult situation appeared again a few centuries later. There had been no important changes in wheel and vehicle design before the arrival of modern road design.
In the mid-1700s, a Frenchman came up with a new design of road — a base layer (層) of large stones covered with a thin layer of smaller stones. A Scotsman improved on this design in the 1820s and a strong, lasting road surface became a reality. At around the same time, metal hubs (the central part of a wheel) came into being, followed by the pneumatic type (充氣輪胎） in 1846.Alloy wheels were invented in 1967, sixty years after the appearance of tarmacked roads (柏油路). As wheel design took off, vehicles got faster and faster.
【小題1】What might explain why transport wheels didn’t become popular for some time?

A．Few knew how to use transport wheels.

B．Humans carried farming tools just as well.

C．Animals were a good means of transport.

D．The existence of transport wheels was not known.

【小題2】What do we know about road design from the passage?

A．It was easier than wheel design.

B．It improved after big changes in vehicle design.

C．It was promoted by fast-moving vehicles.

D．It provided conditions for wheel design to develop.

【小題3】How is the last paragraph mainly developed?

A．By giving examples.	B．By making comparisons.
C．By following time order.	D．By making classifications.

【小題4】What is the passage mainly about?

A．The beginning of road design.

B．The development of transport wheels.

C．The history of public transport

D．The invention of fast-moving vehicles.

Welcome to your future life!
You get up in the morning and look into the mirror. Your face is firm and young-looking. In 2035, medical technology is better than ever. Many people of your age could live to be 150, so at 40, you’re not old at all. And your parents just had an anti-aging (抗衰老的) treatment. Now, all three of you look the same age!
You say to your shirt, “Turn red.” It changes from blue to red. In 2035, “smart clothes” contain particles (粒子) much smaller than the cells in your body. The particles can be programmed to change clothes’ color or pattern.
You walk into the kitchen. You pick up the milk, but a voice says, “You shouldn’t drink that!” Your fridge has read the chip (芯片) that contains information about the milk, and it knows the milk is old. In 2035, every article of food in the grocery store has such a chip.
It’s time to go to work. In 2035, cars drive themselves. Just tell your “smart car” where to go. On the way, you can call a friend using your jacket sleeve. Such “smart technology” is all around you.
So will all these things come true? “For new technology to succeed,” says scientist Andrew Zolli, “it has to be so much better that it replaces what we have already.” The Internet is one example. What will be the next?
【小題1】We can learn from the text that in the future ________.

A．people will never get old

B．everyone will look the same

C．red will be the most popular color

D．clothes will be able to change their pattern

【小題2】What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?

A．Milk will be harmful to health.

B．More drinks will be available for sale.

C．Food in the grocery store will carry electronic information.

D．Milk in the grocery store will stay fresh much longer.

【小題3】Which of the following is mentioned in the text?

A．Nothing can replace the Internet.

B．Fridges will know what people need.

C．Jacked sleeves can be used as a guide.

D．Cars will be able to drive automatically.

【小題4】What is the text mainly about?

A．Food and clothing in 2035.

B．Future technology in everyday life.

C．Medical treatments of the future.

D．The reason for the success of new technology.

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 at 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 does the underlined sentence “This is a business philosophy, not a social philosophy.” mean in the fourth paragraph?

A．Wal-Mart predicts huge profits in its green activity.

B．Wal-Mart’s green activity is just window dressing.

C．Wal-Mart aims to solve its health-insurance practices.

D．Wal-Mart doesn’t have any social responsibility at all.

【小題3】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4】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.

Why do men die earlier than women? The latest research makes it known that the reason could be that men’s hearts go into rapid decline when they reach middle age.
The largest study of the effects of ageing on the heart has found that women’s longevity may be linked to the fact that their hearts do not lose their pumping power with age.
“We have found that the power of the male heart falls by 20-25 percent between 18 and 70 years of age,” said the head of the study, David Goldspink of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK.
“Within the heart there are millions of cells that enable it to beat. Between the age of 20 and 70, one-third of those cells die and are not replaced in men,” said Goldspink. “This is part of the ageing process.”
What surprises scientists is that the female heart sees very little loss of these cells. A healthy 70-year-old woman’s heart could perform almost as well as a 20-year-old one’s.
“This gender difference might just explain why women live longer than men”, said Goldspink.
They studied more than 250 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 80, focusing on healthy persons to remove the confusing influence of disease.
“The team has yet to find why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart,” said Goldspink.
The good news is that men can improve the health of their heart with regular exercise. Goldspink stressed that women also need regular exercise to prevent their leg muscles becoming smaller and weaker as they age.
【小題1】The underlined word “l(fā)ongevity” in the second paragraph probably refers to ________.

A．health

B．long life

C．a(chǎn)geing

D．effect

【小題2】The text mainly talks about ________.

A．men’s heart cells	B．women’s ageing process
C．the gender difference	D．hearts and long life

【小題3】According to the text, the UK scientists have known that ________.

A．women have more cells than men when they are born

B．women can replace the cells that enable the heart to beat

C．the female heart loses few of the cells with age

D．women never lose their pumping power with age

【小題4】 If you want to live longer, you should ________.

A．enable your heart to beat much faster	B．find out the reason for ageing
C．exercise regularly to keep your heart healthy	D．prevent your cells from being lost

【小題5】 We can know from the passage that ________.

A．the reason why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart has been found out

B．scientists are on the way to finding out why the male heart loses more of the cells

C．the team has done something to prevent the male from suffering the greater loss

D．women over 70 could lose more heart cells than those at the age of 20

Plastic is everywhere because plastic is an extremely useful material. It is cheap, strong and lightweight. What’s more, it can take on nearly any form or shape, from soft and stretchy (有彈性的) to hard and glasslike.
Plastic, however, is far from perfect. It may even be bad for us. Studies now suggest that poisonous chemicals can get out of some types of plastic, get into our bodies, and cause a variety of health problems, including cancer, birth defects and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (注意缺陷障礙).
Two types of chemicals in particular have raised special concern lately. They are called phthalates (鄰苯二甲酸鹽) and Bisphenol-A (二酚基丙烷), BPA for short. Not all plastic products contain them. But the ones that do are surrounded by controversy (爭議). That’s because experts disagree on how dangerous these chemicals are.
Plastic is a single word, but plastic isn’t just one thing. What all plastics share in common are plasticizers -- special chemicals that allow the material to be changed into nearly any shape or texture. Plasticizers (塑化劑) are added to plastic during the manufacturing process.
Phthalates and BPA are two types of plasticizers that work in different ways. Phthalates add softness to things like shampoo bottles, raincoats and rubber. They are also used in perfumes and makeup. BPA, on the other hand, gives a hard, clear, almost glasslike feel to products such as infant bottles. BPA also appears in food and soda cans, DVDs and other unexpected places.
How do these chemicals get into us? When plastic is heated in the microwave or dishwasher, chewed on or scratched, the chemicals can seep (滲透) out of the plastic. Even though we can’t see them, we eat them, drink them and breathe them in.
Scientists and parents are especially worried about young children, who tend to chew on everything, including plastic. Dozens of countries, including the European Union, Japan, Canada and Mexico have already banned phthalates from products made for children younger than three. California and Washington have done the same. And a number of other states are considering similar rules. As for BPA, Canada became the first country to ban the chemical from baby bottles. A dozen states are considering it.
【小題1】What can we know about the plastic from the first paragraph?

A．Its characters and effects.	B．Its wide use and bad points.
C．Its importance and chemicals.	D．Its popularity and advantages.

【小題2】Which of the following products contains BPA?

A．A soft plastic cup.	B．A pencil eraser.
C．A baby milk bottle.	D．A new perfume.

【小題3】Phthalates and BPA can get into us __________.

A．through mouth or nose	B．through blood transfusion
C．by feeling plastic products	D．by heating in the microwave

【小題4】 What is the passage mainly about?

A．A new ban on plastic products.	B．Problems caused by the plastic.
C．Good points of the plastic.	D．The use of plasticizers.