The Diet Zone: A Dangerous Place
Diet Coke, diet Pepsi, diet pills, no-fat diet, vegetable diet… We are surrounded by the word “diet” everywhere we look and listen. We have so easily been attracted by the promise and potential of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us. We are paying for products that harm us psychologically and physically（身體上）.
Diet products significantly weaken us psychologically. On one level, we are not allowing our brain to admit that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption of fatty, high-calorie, unhealthy foods. Diet products allow us to jump over the thinking stage and go straight for the scale（秤）instead. All we have to do is to swallow or recognize the word “diet” in food labels.
On another level, diet products have greater psychological effects. Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves without our awareness that we don’t have to work to get results. Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance and struggle.
The danger of diet products lies not only in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm that they cause. Diet foods can indirectly harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are preventing our bodies from having basic nutrients(營養(yǎng)成分). Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calorie only because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products. Diet products may not be nutritional, and the chemical that go into diet products are potentially dangerous.
Now that we are aware of the effects that diet products have on us, it is time to seriously think about buying them. Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals. Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, and therefore prevent the psychological harm that comes from using them.
51. From Paragraph 1, we learn that ________.
A. diet products fail to bring out people’s potential
B. people have difficulty in choosing diet products
C. diet products are misleading people
D. people are fed up with diet products
52. One psychological effect of diet products is that people tend to _____.
A. try out a variety of diet foods
B. hesitate before they enjoy diet foods
C. pay attention to their own eating habits
D. watch their weight rather than their diet
53. In Paragraph 3, “gain comes without pain” probably means ______.
A. losing weight is effortless
B. it costs a lot to lose weight
C. diet products bring no pain
D. diet products are free from calories
54. Diet products indirectly harm people physically because such products ______.
A. are over-consumed
B. lack basic nutrients
C. are short of chemicals
D. provide too much energy
55. Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?

We have met the enemy, and he is ours. We bought him at a pet shop. When monkey-pox, a disease usually found in the African rain forest, suddenly turns up in children in the American Midwest, it’s hard not to wonder if the disease that comes from foreign animals is homing in on human beings. “Most of the infections (感染) we think of as human infections started in other animals,” says Stephen Morse, director of the Center for Public Health Preparedness at Columbia University.
It’s not just that we’re going to where the animals are; we’re also bringing them closer to us. Popular foreign pets have brought a whole new disease to this country. A strange illness killed Isaksen’s pets, and she now thinks that keeping foreign pets is a bad idea. “I don’t think it’s fair to have them as pets when we have such a limited knowledge of them,” says Isaksen.
“Laws allowing these animals to be brought in from deep forest areas without stricter control need changing,” says Peter Schantz. Monkey-pox may be the wake-up call. Researchers believe infected animals may infect their owners. We know very little about these new diseases. A new bug (病毒) may be kind at first. But it may develop into something harmful. Monkey-pox doesn’t look a major infectious disease. But it is not impossible to pass the disease from person to person.
56. We learn from Paragraph 1 that the pet sold at the shop may _________.
A. come from Columbia            B. prevent us from being infected
C. enjoy being with children         D. suffer from monkey-pox
57. Why did Isaksen advise people not to have foreign pets?
A. They attack human beings.         B. We need to study native animals.
C. They can’t live out of the rain forest.  D. We do not know much about them yet.
58. What does the phrase “the wake-up call” in Paragraph 3 most probably mean?
A. a new disease           B. a clear warning   C. a dangerous animal     D. a morning call
59. The text suggests that in the future we _______.
A. may have to fight against more new diseases   B. may easily get infected by diseases from dogs
C. should not be allowed to have pets           D. should stop buying pets from Africa
60. The last paragraph means _________.
A. we should have laws to stop having pets at home 
B. wild animals shouldn’t adopted as pets
C. laws should be passed to avoid pets’ diseases spreading 
D. people with pets should be stayed at home

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
　　Exchange a glance with someone, and then look away. Do you realize that you have made a statement? Hold the glance for a second longer and you have made a different statement. Hold it for 3 seconds, and the meaning has changed again. For every social situation, there is a permissible time that you can hold a person’s stare without being friendly, rude, or aggressive. If you are on a lift, what stare-time are you permitted? To answer this question, consider what you typically do. You very likely give other passengers a quick glance to size them up and to assure them that you mean no harm. Since being close to another person signals the possibility of interaction, you need to send out a signal telling others you want to be left alone. So you cut off eye contacts. That is what sociologist Erving Goffiman calls “a dimming of the lights”. You look down at the floor, at the indicator lights, anywhere but into another passenger’s eyes. Should you break the rule against staring at a stranger on a lift, you will make the other person extremely uncomfortable, and you are likely to feel a bit strange yourself.
　　If you hold eye contacts for more than 3 seconds, what are you telling another person? Much depends on the person and the situation. For instance, a man and a woman communicate interest in this manner. They stare at each other for about 3 seconds at a time, and then drop their eyes down for 3 seconds, before letting their eyes meet again. But if one man gives another man a 3-second-plus stare, he signals, “I know you”, “I am interested in you” or “You look peculiar and I am curious about you.” This type of stare often produces hostile feelings.
　　60. It can be inferred from the first paragraph that ______.
　　A. every glance has its significance
　　B. a glance carries more meaning than words
　　C. a stare longer than 3 seconds is unacceptable
　　D. staring at a person is an expression of interest
　　61. If you want to be left alone on a lift the best thing to do is ______.
　　A. to look into another passenger’s eyes
　　B. to keep a distance from other passengers
　　C. to avoid eye contacts with other passengers
　　D. to signal you don’t mean to do harm to anyone
　　62. By “a dimming of the lights”, Erving Goffiman means ______.
　　A. closing one’s eyes 　　　　　　　　B. turning off the lights
　　C. stopping glancing at others 　　　　D. reducing stare-time to the minimum
　　63. The passage mainly discusses ______.
　　A. the limitations of eye contacts
　　B. the exchange of ideas through eye contacts
　　C. proper behavior in different situations in people’s daily life
　　D. the role of eye contacts in communication between people

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
　　Fear can be fun. Many young people queue up to ride very fast and scary roller coasters, screaming but enjoying themselves. Other people like to read “goose bumps (雞皮疙瘩)” books or watch horror movies at night, scared to death but feeling excited. Why do people like being scared?
　　Fear is an ancient way of surviving. Being scared makes animals, including humans escape from danger and save themselves. It is because of fear that we have lived through millions of years of evolution. Those who lacked a strong fear response were more likely to be killed, leaving the more fearful and careful to pass their genes onto the next generation.
　　How do scientists explain why shaking over such scary things is fun? “Some kids will go to a scary movie and love it and laugh over it, others will feel anxious and hide their faces and some won’t even set foot in the cinema,” said Ned Kalin, a US scientist. “Which kind of person you are depends partly on experiences you’ve had and partly on your genes.”
　　What happens in the brain when something frightens you? Nerves that begin at the eyes and ears lead to a part of the brain called the amygdale. When you suddenly see a snake, for example, the amygdale makes you freeze, sweat, have a quickened heartbeat, or run very fast. However, seeing the snake also uses another part of the brain, the cortex. It analyzes the situation, and if it finds that the snake is only made of rubber it tells your heart and the rest of your body to calm down. Think of the amygdale as the engine and the cortex as the brake.
　　Back to the first question: Why do some people like to make themselves scared? “One reason is that we can play games with fear, find ways to reduce the scariness by looking away or thinking of something else,” Kalin said. “To believe we have control over a situation gives us a feeling of power.” “Scary movies or novels are good practice to prepare young people for the real thing. Thrills such as roller coaster rides also go to the brain’s pleasure centre.”
　　And there might be some evolutionary advantage to being able to adjust this system that is there to protect people.
　　72. How many questions are answered in the passage?
　　A. 2. 　　　B. 3. 　　　C. 4.　　　 D. 5.
　　73. Some people like to be scared because______.
　　A. they are afraid that the fear genes will be passed onto their children
　　B. it’s a good practice to get prepared for the real frightening situation
　　C. it can help them show their own personalities
　　D. they will feel powerful after getting rid of fear
　　74. Which of the following is true about the people who are not easily scared?
　　A. Their cortex is better at analyzing the situations.
　　B. They are more likely to suffer from potential danger.
　　C. They are born unaffected by anything horrible.
　　D. They lack a strong response towards threat.
　　75. What is the best title of the passage?
　　A. Ready to scream? 　　　　B. How to be scared?
　　C. Willing to shake?　　　　D. Why to be scared?

Remember how great exercise was when you were a little kid? Back then, racing around the playground or skipping rope for hours, you weren’t thinking fitness, you were thinking entertainment. But in this age of high-tech home equipment and underused gym memberships, the simple joy of jumping rope has been forgotten, Rediscovering it will give you a total-body exercise you can find.
Although considered an excellent form of exercise, jumping rope has never gained widespread acceptance because of two fundamental reasons. First, most people recognize jumping rope as an excellent form of cardiovascular(心血管的)exercise, but they also believe that it is simply too difficult. In other words, they don’t think they’ll be able to continue jumping for the near 20 minutes that it takes to achieve a beneficial physical outcome. Second, many view it as somewhat boring and overly repetitive not as something fun or enjoyable.
As a matter of fact, jumping rope can be great fun if you find a proper way to practice it. Instead of doing the usual two-foot bounce over and over again, people good at rope-jumping often change their pattern every 10 or 20 jumps. A single bounce, a double-bounce, a skip, a knee-up, side swings, as well as a variety of other easy-to-learn free-style rope-jumping.
Now researchers are learning that jumping rope also prepares the brain for learning. It is an exercise allowing both brain hemispheres to perform in parallel to each other. In short, jumping rope can be a life-long activity requiring little equipment, time and space, yet leading to a much healthier life.
61. From the first paragraph we learn that_________.
A. jumping rope has faded from people’s memories
B. people now have more advanced equipment
C. racing around the playground was preferred
D. people now like to have exercise in a gym
62.Rope jumping has not spread widely because_________.
A. it benefits the cardiovascular system
B. it is neither easy nor enjoyable
C. it is considered boring and repetitive
D. it requires little equipment, time and space
63.The first sentence in the 3^rd paragraph implies_________.
A. there is only one proper way to follow
B. the usual way should not be used
C. the easiest way is always the best
D. there are many ways to follow
64.According to the researchers, jumping rope_________.
A. only prepares the brain for learning
B. is suitable for students only
C. helps both brain hemispheres work together
D. can be dangerous for old people
65.What is the author’s attitude towards rope jumping?
A. He is arguing against it
B. He is in favor of it
C. He is sitting on the fence of it
D. He is not clear about it

The common cold is the world’s most widespread illness, which is plagues(疫病) that flesh receives.
The most widespread fallacy(謬誤) of all is that colds caused by cold. They are not. They are caused by viruses(病毒) passing on from person to person. You catch a cold by coming into contact, directly or indirectly, with someone who already has one. If cold causes colds, it would be reasonable to expect the Eskimos to suffer from them forever. But they do not. And in isolated arctic regions explorers have reported being free from colds until coming into contact again with infected people from the outside world by way of packages and mail dropped from airplanes.
During the First World War soldiers who spent long periods in the trenches(戰(zhàn)壕), cold and wet, showed no increased tendency to catch colds.
In the Second World War prisoners at the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp(奧斯維辛集中營), naked and starving, were astonished to find that they seldom had colds. At the Common Cold Research Unit in England, volunteers took part in Experiments in which they gave themselves to the discomforts of being cold and wet for long stretches of time. After taking hot baths, they put on bathing suits, allowed themselves to be with cold water, and then stood about dripping wet in drafty room. Some wore wet socks all day while others exercised in the rain until close to exhaustion. Not one of the volunteers came down with a cold unless a cold virus was actually dropped in his nose.
If, then, cold and wet have nothing to do with catching colds, why are they more frequent in the winter？Despite the most pains-taking research, no one has yet found the answer. One explanation offered by scientists is that people tend to stay together indoors more in cold weather than at other times, and this makes it easier for cold viruses to be passed on.
No one has yet found a cure for the cold. There are drugs and pain suppressors(止痛片) such as aspirin, but all they do is relieve the symptoms(癥狀).
51. The writer offered _______ examples to support his argument.
A. 4            B. 5              C. 6              D. 3
52. Which of the following does not agree with the chosen passage?
A. The Eskimos do not suffer from colds all the time.
B. Colds are not caused by cold.
C. People suffer from colds just because they like to stay indoors.
D. A person may catch a cold by touching someone who already has one.
53. Arctic explorers may catch colds when _______.
A. they are working in the isolated arctic regions
B. they are writing reports in terribly cold weather
C. they are free from work in the isolated arctic regions
D. they are coming into touch again with the outside world
54. Volunteers taking part in the experiments in the Common Cold Research Unit _______.
A. suffered a lot                             B. never caught colds
C. often caught colds                 D. became very strong
55. The passage mainly discusses _______.
A. the experiments on the common cold
B. the fallacy about the common cold
C. the reason and the way people catch colds
D. the continued spread of common colds

Few laws are so effective that you can see results just days after they take effect. But in the nine days since the federal cigarette tax more than doubled—to $1. 01 per pack—smokers have jammed telephone “quit lines” across the country seeking to kick the habit.   
This is not a surprise to public health advocates. They’ve studied the effect of state tax increases for years, finding that smokers, especially teens, are price sensitive. Nor is it a shock to the industry, which fiercely fights every tax increase.  
The only wonder is that so many states insist on closing their ears to the message. Tobacco taxes improve public health, health, they raise money and most particularly, they deter people from taking up the habit as teens, which is when nearly all smokers are addicted. Yet the rate of taxation varies widely.   
In Manhattan, for instance, which has the highest tax in the nation, a pack of Marlboro Light Kings cost ＄10.06 at one drugstore Wednesday. Charleston, S, C., where the 7-cent-a-pack tax is the lowest in the nation. The price was $4. 78.  
The influence is obvious.   
In New York, high school smoking hit a new low in the latest surveys—13.8%, far below the national average. By comparison, 26% of high school students smoke in Kentucky, Other low-tax states have similarly depressing teen-smoking records.   
Hal Rogers, Representative from Kentucky, like those who are against high tobacco taxes, argues that the burden of the tax falls on low-income Americans “who choose to smoke.”  
That’s true, But there is more reason in keeping future generations of low-income workers from getting hooked in the first place, As for today’s adults, if the new tax drives them to quit, they will have more to spend on their families, cut their risk of cancer and heart disease and feel better.  
66 The text is mainly about___________.   
A. the price of cigarettes                       B. tie rate of teen smoking  
C. the effect of tobacco tax increase              D. the differences in tobacco tax rate  
67 What does the author think is a surprise?  
A. Teen smokers are price sensitive.  
B. Some states still keep the tobacco tax low.   
C.  Tobacco taxes improve public health.   
D.  Tobacco industry fiercely fights the tax rise.   
68. The underlined word "deter” in Paragraph 3 most probably means ______ .   
A. discarding    B. remove    C. benefit      D. free  
69. Rogers’ attitude towards the low-income smokers might be that of _____ .  
A. tolerance   B. unconcern    C. doubt   D. sympathy  
70. What can we learn from the last paragraph?  
A. The new tax will be beneficial in the long run.   
B. Low-income Americans are more likely to fall ill.  
C. Future generations will be hooked on smoking.   
D. Adults will depend more on their families.   

Something in chocolate could be used to stop coughs and lead to more effective medicines, say UK researchers.
Their study found that theobromine, found in cocoa, was nearly a third more effective in stopping coughs than codeine, which was considered the best cough medicine at present.
The Imperial College London researchers who published their results online said the discovery could lead to more effective cough treatment. “While coughing is not necessarily harmful(有害的) it can have a major effect on the quality of life, and this discovery could be a huge step forward in treating this problem,” said Professor Peter Barnes.
Ten healthy volunteers(志愿者) were given theobromine, codeine or placebo, a pill that contains no medicine, during the experiment. Neither the volunteers nor the researchers knew who received which pill. The researchers then measured levels of capsaicin, which is used in research to cause coughing and as a sign of how well the medicine are stopping coughs.
The team found that, when the volunteers were given theobromine, the capsaicin need to produce a cough was around a third higher than in the placebo group. When they were given codeine they need only slightly higher levers of capsaicin to cause a cough compared with the placebo.
The researchers said that theobromine worked by keeping down a verve activity(神經(jīng)活動), which cause coughing. They also found that unlike some standard cough treatments, theobromine caused no side effects such as sleepiness.
小題1:According to Professor Barnes, theobromine ______.

A．cannot be as effective as codeine

B．can be harmful to people’s health

C．cannot be separated from chocolate

D．can be a more effective cure for coughs

小題2:What was used in the experiment to cause coughing?

A．Theobromine.

B．Codeine.

C．Capsaicin.

D．Placebo.

小題3:We learn from the text that volunteers in the experiment _____.

A．were patients with bad coughs

B．were divided into the three groups

C．received standard treatments

D．suffered little side effects

小題4:Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

A．Codeine: A New Medicine	B．Chocolate May Cure Coughs
C．Cough Treatment: A Hard Case	D．Theobromine Can Cause Coughs

In some urban centers, workaholism is so common that people do not consider it unusual:
They accept the lifestyle as normal. Government workers in Washington D.C, for example, frequently work sixty to seventy hours a week. They don’t do this because they have to; they do it because they want   to.
Workaholism can be a serious problem. Because true workaholics would rather work than do anything else, they probably don’t know how to relax.
Is workaholism always dangerous? Perhaps not. There are, certainly, people who work well under stress. Some studies show that many workaholies have great energy and interest in life. Their work is so pleasurable that they are actually very happy. For most workaholics, work and entertainment keep them busy and creative.
Why do workaholics enjoy their jobs so much? There are several advantages to work. Of course, it provides people with paychecks, and this is important. But it offers more than financial security. It provides people with self?confidence; they have a feeling of satisfaction when they’re produced a challenging piece of work and are able to say,“I made that.” Psychologists claim that work gives people an identity through participation in work, they get a sense of self and individualism. In addition, most jobs provide people with a socially acceptable way to meet others. Perhaps some people are compulsive about their work, but their addiction seems to be a safe-even an advantageous-one.
9.The passage indicates that workaholics          .
A.just know work but nothing else
B.are willing to work hard for long hours without pay
C.find their work provide them more satisfaction and self?confidence than how much they are   paid
D.has the work with more responsibility than others
10.One of the reasons that some people are not willing to quit their jobs even in their eighties and  nineties is that       
A.they are in the need of financial security
B.they would rather work than be disturbed by domestic affairs
C.they long for a sense of identity and being accomplished
D.they may have health problems from sheer boredom
11.This passage is mainly about .
A.workaholics are usually successful people, but their lives are in a mess       
B.workaholism can lead to serious problems but it can also create a joyful life
C.people who are absorbed in their work may enjoy movies, sports and other kinds of entertainment
D.those who work even under difficult conditions may be very happy
12.It can be inferred from the passage that .        
A.in the eyes of all the common people workaholics are peculiar
B.to workaholics, work is the sole source of happiness
C.a piece of challenging work may provide the workaholics a sense of satisfaction
D.workaholics are as addicted to their job as other people are to drugs or alcohol

Does a drink a day keep heart attacks away? Over the past 20 years, numerous studies have found that moderate alcohol consumption, s ay, one or two beers, glasses of wine or cocktails daily helps to prevent coronary heart disease. Last week a report in the New England Journal of Medicine added strong new evidence in suport of that theory. More important, the work provided the first solid indiction of how alcohol works to protect the heart.In the study, researchers from Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School compared the drinking habits of 340 men and women who had suffered recent heart attack with those of healthy people of the same age and sex. The scientists found that people who sip one to three drinks a day are about half as likely to suffer heart attacks as nondrinkers are. The apparent source of the protection: those who drank alcohol had higher blood levels of high?density lipoproteins, the so?called good cholesterol, which is known to prevent heart disease.
As evidence has mounted, some doctors have begun recommending a daily drink for patients of heart diseases. But most physicians are not ready to reommend a regular happy hour for everyone. The risks of teetotalling(絕對戒酒) are nothing compared with the dangers of too much alcohol, including high blood pressure, strokes and liver troubles—not to mention violent behaviour and traffic accidents. Moreover, some studies suggest that even  moderate drinking may increase the incidence of breast and colon cancer. Until there is evidence that the benefits of a daily dose of alcohol outweigh the risks, most people won’t be able to take a doctor’s prescription to the neighbourhood bar or liquor store.
1.The medical article quoted in the first paragraph indicates            .
the way in which alcohol can help the heart      
how a couple of cocktails daily can stop heart problems
why alcoholic drinks are dangerous to one’s health 
that reports on the advantages of alcohol were misled
2.Experiments showed that nondrinkers had .

A．larger amounts of good cholesterol

B．smaller amounts of good cholesterol

C．higher blood pressure

D．lower blood pressure

3.According to the passage, moderate drinking            .
is recommended by most doctors for heart patients    
should be allowed on prescription
is still not medically advisable                     
is not related to liver problems
4.The main theme of this passage is .
the change in recent drinking habits                
the connection between cancer and alcohol
whether moderate drinkers outlive nondrinkers       
whether alcohol may be good for one’s health