In the Caucasus region of Russia, nearly 50 out of every 100,000 people live to celebrate their 100th birthday, and many don’t stop at 100! By comparison, in America only 3 people in 100,000 reach 100. But these Russian old people aren’t alone. The Pakistanis, who live high in the Himalaya Mountains, and the Ecuadorans of the Andes Mountains seem to share the secret of long life, too.
These people remain healthy in body and spirit despite the passage of time. While many older persons in industrial societies become weak and ill in their 60s and 70s, some Caucasians aged 100 to 140, work in the fields beside their great-great-grandchildren. Even the idea of aging is foreign to them. When asked “at what age does youth end?”most of these old people had no answer. Several replied, “Well, perhaps at age 80.”
What accounts for this ability to survive to such old age, and to survive so well？First of all, hard physical work is a way of life for all of these long-lived people. They begin their long days of physical labor as children and never seem to stop. For example, Mr . Rustam Mamedov is 142 years of age. His wife is 116 years old. They have been married for 90 years. Mr. Mamedov has no intention of retiring from his life as a farmer. “Why？What else would I do？”he asks. All these people get healthful rewards from the environment in which they work. They all come from mountainous regions. They live and work at elevations of 1,660 to 1,000 meters above sea level. The air has less oxygen and is pollution-free. This reduced-oxygen environment makes the heart and blood vessel(血管) system stronger.
Another factor that may contribute to the good health of these people is their isolation. To a great extent, they are separated from the pressures and worries of industrial society. Inherited factors also play some role. Most of the longest-lived people had parents and grandparents who also reached very old ages. Good family genes may, therefore, be one factor in living longer.
【小題1】The example of Mr. and Mrs. Mamedov implies that some Caucasians aged 100 to 140 ____.

A．become weak and hopeless

B．a(chǎn)re too old to work in the fields

C．benefit from physical work

D．a(chǎn)re still working in the fields

【小題2】What is the main way of life for all of these long-lived people?

A．Retiring from their lives as farmers.

B．Having been married for 90 years.

C．Hard physical work.

D．Having no intentions.

【小題3】Which of the following factors isn’t helpful to people’s health and long life?

A．Clean mountain air.	B．Daily hard work.
C．Good genes	D．Stress and pressure.

Most people know precious gemstones (寶石) by their appearances. An emerald flashes deep green, a ruby seems to hold a red fire inside, and a diamond shines like a star. It’s more difficult to tell where the gem was mined, since a diamond from Australia or Arkansas may appear the same to one from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, recently, a team of scientists has found a way to identify a gemstone’s origin.
Beneath the surface of a gemstone, on the tiny level of atoms and molecules, lie clues to its origin. At this year’s meeting of the Geological Society of America in Minneapolis, Catherine McManus reported on a technique that uses lasers to clarify these clues and identify a stone’s homeland. McManus directs scientific research at Materialytics, in Killeen, Texas. The company is developing the technique. “With enough data, we could identify which country, which mining place, even the individual mine a gemstone comes from,” McManus told Science News.
Some gemstones, including many diamonds, come from war-torn countries. Sales of those “blood minerals” may encourage violent civil wars where innocent people are injured or killed. In an effort to reduce the trade in blood minerals, the U.S. government passed law in July 2010 that requires companies that sell gemstones to determine the origins of their stones.
To figure out where gemstones come from, McManus and her team focus a powerful laser on a small sample of the gemstone. The technique is called laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. Just as heat can turn ice into water or water into steam, energy from the laser changes the state of matter of the stone. The laser changes a miniscule part of the gemstone into plasma, a gas state of matter in which tiny particles called electrons separate from atoms.
The plasma, which is superhot, produces a light pattern. (The science of analyzing this kind of light pattern is called spectroscopy.) Different elements produce different patterns, but McManus and her team say that gemstones from the same area produce similar patterns. Materialytics has already collected patterns from thousands of gemstones, including more than 200 from diamonds. They can compare the light pattern from an unknown gemstone to patterns they do know and look for a match. The light pattern acts like a signature, telling the researchers the origin of the gemstone.
In a small test, the laser technique correctly identified the origins of 95 out of every 100 diamonds. For gemstones like emeralds and rubies, the technique proved successful for 98 out of every 100 stones. The scientists need to collect and analyze more samples, including those from war-torn countries, before the tool is ready for commercial use.
Scientists like Barbara Dutrow, a mineralogist from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, find the technique exciting. “This is a basic new tool that could provide a better fingerprint of a material from a particular locality,” she told Science News.
【小題1】We learn from Paragraph 1 that __________________.

A．a(chǎn)n emerald and a ruby are names of diamonds.

B．it’s not difficult to tell where the gem was mined.

C．a(chǎn)ppearances help to identify the origin of gemstones.

D．diamonds from different places may appear the same.

【小題2】Why did the U.S. government pass law that requires companies selling gemstones to determine the origins of their stones?

A．To look for more gemstones.

B．To encourage violent civil wars.

C．To reduce the trade in blood minerals.

D．To develop the economy.

【小題3】Which of the following facts most probably helps McManus and her team in identifying the origin of stones?

A．Heat can turn ice into water or water into steam.

B．Gemstones from the same area produce similar light patterns.

C．Laser can changes a miniscule part of the gemstone into plasma.

D．Materialytics has already collected patterns from thousands of gemstones.

【小題4】From the last two paragraphs, what can be inferred about the laser technique?

A．It is ready for commercial use.

B．People can use the new tool to find more gemstones.

C．It can significantly reduce the gemstones trade in blood minerals.

D．It will bring about a revolutionary change in identifying the origin of minerals.

【小題5】The author wrote this passage mainly to ________.

A．tell us how to identify the origin of diamonds.

B．introduce a laser technique in identifying a stone’s origin

C．prove identifying the origin of gemstones are difficult

D．a(chǎn)ttract our attention to reducing trade in blood minerals

Being honest are fundamental requirements if you want to grow spiritually and follow your true destination of personal development. It's not simply about being honest with people. While that will make you a better person and a more accepted one it's more importantly about being honest with yourself.
Living your life honestly means that you've decided to live openly and to show your true self to others and that you can be relied upon to be trustworthy. On the other hand, dishonesty is all about shade and concealment and living your life in 'dark corners'. When you're dishonest, it means that you remain living in the dark and cannot grow spiritually.
Honesty produces trust-trust in ourselves and in all those around us. Trust in turn produces confidence which we all need to overcome life's problems and which also encourages us to take risks in order to achieve our goals.
You'll have no doubt you have heard expressions such as "what goes around, comes around" and "you get back, what you give out in life" and that's very true. If you don't live your lives honestly, you can be assured that the people you'll attract will turn out to be very similar to you and it's therefore unavoidable that one day you'11 be on the receiving end of someone's dishonest actions or words.
There may be situations where telling the whole truth causes you to bring a lot of pain on somebody else. For example, John may have told Paul that he can't go on a weekend fishing trip with him because he has a family commitment arranged that weekend. You know differently and that the real reason John isn't going is because he hates Paul. When Paul asks you if you know whether the reason is true, what do you say? Well, in situations like this, it's often better to be economical with the truth. You might say that you don't know why John can't go or that you think he has something on that weekend." Of course, this isn't telling the complete truth but you are sparing Paul's feelings on something that won't, after all, have strong influence on Paul's future.
【小題1】If you want to grow spiritually, it is best for you to______.

A．follow your destination

B．be true to yourself

C．plan your personal development

D．a(chǎn)ccept honest people as ends

【小題2】The passage tells us that if you choose to live a dishonest life, you will_____.

A．suffer from dishonesty

B．become very attractive

C．influence honest people

D．have attractive friends

【小題3】The example in the last paragraph is used to prove that______.

A．we should always tell the truth

B．John is not a trustworthy person

C．telling lies causes pain on someone else

D．sometimes we can't be completely honest

【小題4】What is the main idea of the passage?

A．We should be economical with the truth.

B．People can gain from dishonesty.

C．Honesty helps you develop.

D．Trust produces confidence.

A smart phone is a mobile phone built on a mobile operating system, with more advanced computing abilities than a common phone. The first smart phones enabled the users to send and receive emails. Later models added the function of portable media players, pocket video cameras, and GPS navigation units to form one multi-use device. Many modem smart phones also include touchscreens and web browsers that display web pages.
A recent report says we spend an average of two hours and 40 minutes each day looking at a smart phone. That doesn’t mean making calls, but playing phone games and browsing the Web.
Nowadays we always find people checking emails in a restaurant, taking a picture of the food when it arrives, or checking a message during a conversation instead of traditional communication. It’s no secret that our lives are being affected by our smart phones obsession.
However, this phenomenon has never been presented so vividly as in the short YouTube film I Forgot My Phone. Despite only being online for a few days, it's already been viewed more than 10.5 million times. Whether it will be screened in the cinema remains to be seen.
Ironically, YouTube’s data show that the site gets a billion views per day from mobile devices, so a lot of those people watched it on their phones.
The short film, written by and starring actress Charlene Deguzman, shows groups of people in various social situations, the majority of whom are absorbed in their phones instead of the world around them. To a certain extent, we all do it.
【小題1】People prefer a smart phone to a common one, because the latter only can help us ______.

A．check emails

B．send messages

C．find the destination

D．watch a video

【小題2】The underlined word “obsession” in the third paragraph most probably means “______”.

A．devotion

B．contribution

C．a(chǎn)ddiction

D．emotion

【小題3】Which of the following is right?

A．People spend as average of two hours and 40 minutes each day using smart phones.

B．The film hasn’t been put on in the cinema.

C．The film is written by an actor named Charlene Deguzman.

D．The film has already been viewed more than 105 million times in the first few days.

【小題4】When the writer mentions the number of people watching the film from mobile devices in the fifth paragraph, he mainly feels ______.

A．encouraged

B．depressed

C．proud

D．satisfied

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, 1,100 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.
Three minutes went by, and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace, and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to meet his schedule.
A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the money box without stopping, and continued to walk.
A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.
The one who paid the most attention was a 3-year-old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried, but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.
In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most beautiful pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. 
Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.
This is a real story. Joshua Bell’s playing in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment.
The outlines were: in a common environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we enjoy beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected situation?
One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?”
【小題1】Few people stopped to listen to Joshua Bell playing because______.

A．people were in a hurry

B．they were not interested in music

C．it was too cold in the subway

D．the performance was not good enough

【小題2】When children stopped to look at the violinist, their parents ______.

A．would give him some money

B．would stop to enjoy the music

C．would applaud for the performance

D．would urge them to continue walking

【小題3】Joshua Bell played in the metro station in order to ______.

A．make more money

B．practice his skills in playing music

C．made an advertisement for his concert

D．find out people’s reaction under such a circumstance

【小題4】The purpose of the passage is to _____.

A．set us to think about our life

B．show us how to play music

C．tell us the importance of music

D．report a subway performance

People have wondered for a long time how their personalities and behavior are formed. It is not easy to explain why one person is intelligent and another is not, or why one is cooperative and another is competitive. 
Social scientists are of course extremely interested in these types of questions. They want to explain why we possess certain characteristics and exhibit certain behavior. There are no clear answers yet, but two distinct schools of thought on the matter have developed. As one might expect, the two approaches are very different from each other, and there is a great deal of debate between proponents of each theory. The controversy is often conveniently referred to as “nature and nurture”．
Those who support the “nature” side of the conflict believe that our personalities and behavior patterns are largely determined by biological factors. That our environment has little, if anything, to do with our abilities, characteristics and behavior is central to this theory. Taken to an extreme，this theory states that our behavior is predetermined to such a great degree that we are almost completely governed by our instincts(本能)．
Proponents of the “nurture” theory, or, as they are often called, behaviorists, claim that our environment is more important than our biologically based instincts in determining how we will act. A behaviorist, B. F. Skinner, sees humans as beings whose behavior is almost completely shaped by their surroundings. The behaviorists' view of the human being is quite mechanistic. They state that, like machines, humans respond to environmental stimuli (刺激) as the basis of their behavior. 
Socially and politically, the consequences of these two theories are far-reaching. In the US，for example, blacks often score below whites on standardized intelligence tests. This leads some “nature” proponents to conclude that blacks are genetically lower in status than whites. Behaviorists, on the contrary, say that the differences in scores are due to the fact that blacks are often robbed of many of the educational and other environmental advantages that whites enjoy, and that, as a result, they do not develop the same responses that whites do.
Neither of these theories can yet fully explain human behavior. In fact, it is quite likely that the key to our behavior lies somewhere between these two extremes and that the controversy will continue for a long time is certain. 
【小題1】This passage is mainly concerned with ________.

A．relation between personality and behavior

B．relation between behavior and environment

C．different accounts of patterns of human behavior

D．different theories of the formation of human behavior

【小題2】The underlined word “proponents” in Paragraph 2 means ________.

A．creators

B．a(chǎn)dvisors

C．a(chǎn)dvocates

D．judges

【小題3】In Paragraph 5, the author mainly writes about ________.

A．the considerable influence of the two theories

B．differences between the blacks and whites

C．racial discrimination in the United States

D．different responds to intelligence tests

【小題4】What's the author's purpose in writing the passage?

A．To call our attention to the changes of human behavior.

B．To urge scientists to do more research in social science.

C．To give us a detailed explanation of human behavior.

D．To present an argument in the field of social science.

“You are going abroad and will live there? Oh, wonderful! You are so lucky.”
Perhaps your family and friends said similar things to you when you left home. But is it true all the time? Is your life in the new country always wonderful and exciting?
Specialists say that it isn’t that easy to get used to life in a new culture. “Culture shock” (沖擊) is the term specialists use when talking about the feelings that people have in a new environment. “There are three stages of culture shock,” say the specialists. In the first stage, the newcomers like their new environment. Then, when the fresh experience dies, they begin to hate the city, the country, the people, and everything else. In the last stage, the newcomers adapt to their surroundings and finally enjoy their life there.
Culture shock arises from many obvious factors. The weather may be unpleasant. The customs may be different. The public service systems such as the telephone, post office, or transportation may be difficult to work out. Even the simplest things become headaches. Still worse, the language may be difficult.
Who feels culture shock? Everyone does in this way or that. But culture shock surprises most people. Very often the people having the worst culture shock are those who never had any difficulties in their home countries and were successful in their community. Coming to a new country, these people find they do not have the same established positions. They find themselves without a role, almost without an identity. They have to build a new self­image.
Culture shock leads to a feeling of disorientation (迷惘). This feeling may be homesickness. When homesick, people feel like staying inside all the time. They want to protect themselves from the strange environment, and create and escape inside their room for a sense of security. This escape does solve the problem of culture shock for the short term, but it does nothing to make the person familiar with the culture. Getting to know the new environment and gaining experience are the long term solutions to the problem of culture shock.
【小題1】When people move to a new country, they ________.

A．find their new life always wonderful and exciting.

B．dislike the new surroundings from the beginning.

C．quickly get accustomed to the new culture there.

D．will get used to the new life with certain difficulty.

【小題2】Based on the passage, which of the following results from culture shock?

A．weather conditions and customs

B．public service and transportation

C．feeling homesick and disoriented

D．language communication issues

【小題3】According to the passage, the more successful you are at home, ________.

A．the fewer difficulties you will meet with abroad

B．the more problems you may have to face abroad

C．the greater success you are likely to make abroad

D．the less homesick you will eventually feel abroad

【小題4】Which of the following statements is correct according to the passage?

A．Cultural shock affects and surprises those who live in a new culture.

B．A new culture makes everything difficult except the simplest things.

C．Since culture shock is painful, we can never get over it completely.

D．Escaping by staying inside does solve the problem of culture shock.

A scientist turns out to be able to see the future by offering each of some four-year-olds a piece of candy and watching how he or she deals with it. Some children reach eagerly for the treat they see. Some last a few minutes before they give in. But others are determined to wait until the last moment.
By the time the children reach high school, something remarkable has happened. A survey found that those who as four-year-olds had enough self-control to hold out generally grew up to be more popular, adventurous, confident and dependable. The children who gave in to temptation（誘惑）early on were more likely to be lonely, easily frustrated and inflexible.
Actually, the ability to delay reward is a sign of emotional intelligence which doesn’t show up on an IQ test.
The hardware of the brain and the software of the mind have long been scientists’ concerns. But brain theory can’t explain what we wonder about most, like the question why some people remain upbeat in the face of troubles that would sink a less resistant soul.   
Here comes the theory of Daniel Goleman, writer of Emotional Intelligence: when it comes to predicting people’s success, brain ability as measured by IQ may actually matter less than the qualities of mind once thought of as “character”.
EQ is not the opposite(相反) of IQ. What researchers have been trying to understand is how they work together; how one’s ability to handle stress, for instance, affects the ability to concentrate and put intelligence to use. Among the ingredients(要素) for success, researchers now generally agree that IQ makes up about 20%; the rest depends on everything from social class to luck.
While many researchers in this relatively new field are glad to see emotional issues finally taken seriously, some few fear EQ invites misuse.
【小題1】The experiment with the four-year-olds makes it clear that         .

A．the age of 4 is a proper time for scientific experiment

B．emotional intelligence won’t show up until adolescence

C．the ability of self-control plays a role in personal success

D．candy can be used to measure a person’s emotional intelligence

【小題2】The underlined word “upbeat” in Paragraph 4 probably means         .

A．kind

B．floating

C．excited

D．cheerful

【小題3】Why does the author mention the experiment at the beginning of the text?

A．To amuse both the children and readers.

B．To prove the scientist’s wisdom.

C．To introduce the topic of the text.

D．To show us how to do an IQ test.

【小題4】What is most likely to be written in the paragraph that follows?

A．Information about famous people with high EQ.

B．Examples showing the opposite voice about EQ.

C．Some reasons why EQ is a relatively new field.

D．Strong demand for basic emotional education.

Although the U.S. is so big and its people have so many different ethnic (racial) backgrounds, it is in some ways less varied than Europe. The English language is used almost everywhere in its American form. The American way of speaking has developed independently of England and is on the whole closer to what can be heard in Ireland.
American instance of uniformity（一致性） is in habits and ways of living. From Boston to Los Angeles it is as far as from France to Central Asia, and from east to west there are five time zones; but everywhere people get up and go to bed at about the same time, eat the same kind of food, buy in the same kind of shops, work and rest at the same times of the day and have the same pattern of holidays. In most of the things that matter there is less difference between rich people and ordinary people, or between town and country, than in any single European nation.
Although the United States covers so much land and the land produces far more food than the present population needs, its people are by now almost entirely an urban society. Less than a tenth of the people are engaged in agriculture, and most of the rest live in or around towns, large and small. Here the traditional picture is changing; most Americans do not live in small towns any more. Half the population now live in some thirty metropolitan（大城市的） areas.
The fact that the United states has always been a single economic unit has contributed to uniformity. Modern industry favors large organizations, and it is no accident that the world’s biggest commercial firms are American. The people can choose between the products of competing manufacturers, but the products are all much alike.
【小題1】In describing the uniformity in the U.S. the author does not mention that

A．the American people get up and go to work at the same time.

B．the American people spend their holidays in the same pattern.

C．the American people buy and eat the same kind of food.

D．the American people have more or less the same income.

【小題2】What can we learn from the passage about the U.S. agriculture?

A．The American farmers need more land than before.

B．More and more Americans are interested in farming.

C．It is quite modernized.

D．It is now going backward.

【小題3】What is the feature of the U.S. modern industry according to the last paragraph?

A．The production scale and the organizational scale are very big.

B．It is a single economic unit that manufactures the same kind of products.

C．There are more and more competing manufacturers.

D．There are always a variety of products to choose from.

【小題4】What does “most of the things” in the second paragraph refer to?

A．food, clothing and houses.

B．Cars, computers and TV sets.

C．Their wealth and income.

D．Land, housing and bank savings.

You're rushing to work and a man ahead of you falls down on the sidewalk. Do you stop to help? In a study of by-standers, it was found that some people keep on walking.
"There is a tendency to decide that no action is needed," says a psychologist, "In order to take action, you have to work against them." Here are some common thoughts that stop you from helping.
●Why should I be the one? I'm probably not the most able person in this crowd. You might think someone older or with more medical knowledge should offer assistance.
●What if he doesn't really need my help? The fear of embarrassment is powerful; no one wants to risk looking foolish in front of others.
●No one else looks concerned. We can follow the people around us, but most people tend to hold back their emotions in public.
"If you spot trouble and find yourself explaining inaction, force yourself to stop and figure out the situation instead of walking on," says the psychologist. "Then retry to involve other people; you don't have to take on the entire responsibility of being helpful. Sometimes it's just a matter of turning to the person next to you and saying, 'It looks like we should do something.' Or asking someone if an ambulance has been called and, if not, to call for one. Once you take action, most people will follow you."
【小題1】Which is NOT the common thought that stops you from helping others?

A．I'm not the very capable person.

B．It looks like we should do something.

C．No one else is concerned.

D．He doesn't really need my help.

【小題2】In order to offer your timely help, you need to               .

A．go directly to the police station

B．get along well with the passers-by who spot the trouble

C．a(chǎn)sk others for help and call the police

D．work against the first thoughts that stop you from offering help

【小題3】The main purpose of the passage is to tell readers                               .

A．to give others a hand	B．to be more able
C．to explain their inaction	D．to evaluate the situation