Searching the Internet may help middle-aged and older adults keep their memories sharp, US researchers
said. 
     Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, studied people doing web searches by recording
their brain activity.
     "What we saw was people who had Internet experience used more of their brain during the search," Dr.
Gary Small, a UCLA expert on aging, said, "This suggests that just searching on the Internet may train the
brain and that it may keep it active and healthy."
     "This is the first time anyone has simulated (模擬) an Internet search task while scanning the brain," Small
said. His team studied 24 normal volunteers between the ages of 55 and 76. Half were experienced at searching
the Internet and the other half had no web experience. However, the two groups were similar in age, gender
and education.
     Both groups were asked to do Internet searches and book reading tasks while their brain activity was
monitored.
     "We found that in the book reading task, the visual cortex-the part of the brain that controls reading and
language-was activated," Small said, "In doing the Internet search task, there was much greater activity, but
only in the Internet-savvy (了解) group."
     He said it appears that people who are familiar with the Internet can engage in a much deeper level of brain
activity. Activities that keep the brain engaged can preserve brain health and thinking ability. Small thinks
learning to do Internet searches may be one of those activities.

1. Researchers _____ when volunteers were doing web searches. 

A. studied the Internet
B. activated the brain
C. monitored the brain activity
D. recorded their memories

2. The two volunteer groups were _____.

A. of the same age
B. similar in education
C. good at the computer
D. book lovers

3. According to the passage, we can learn that _____.

A. searching the web keeps the brain more engaged
B. reading books keeps the brain more engaged
C. watching TV keeps the brain more engaged
D. chatting online keeps the brain more engaged

4. Which of the following is TRUE?

A. When you read, the whole brain will be activated.
B. Dr. Gary Small is a UCLA expert on brain health.
C. People who read books may have a better memory.
D. Internet searches can preserve brain health and thinking ability

5. What can we conclude from the last paragraph?

A. Web searching is good for the brain.
B. Web searching damages the brain.
C. Activities are good for the brain.
D. Activities damage the brain.

     Alaskan black bears hibernate for up to seven months a year, during which time they do not eat or drink,
before waking up in virtually the same physical state they fell asleep in.
     Now experts hope to develop methods of putting humans into a similar state which could help astronauts
survive long missions and lead to new ways of treating severely ill patients.
     While many studies have examined hibernation in mice and hedgehogs, little research has been done into
the same condition in larger mammals such as bears.
     But new research conducted at the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska monitored the
animals' body temperature, heart rate and muscle movements while they slept.
     The research results showed that during a five-month hibernation the bears' body temperatures varied
between 30~C and 36℃ in cycles that lasted between two and seven days-a pattern that was previously
unknown in hibernating animals.
     The research project leader said, "If our research could help by showing how to reduce metabolic (新陳
代謝的) rates and oxygen demands in human tissues, one could possibly save severely ill patients. We simply
need to know how to turn things on and off to take advantage of the different levels of hibernations."
     Craig Heller, of Stanford University, who contributed to the study, added, "There has always been a thought
that, if there is ever long-distance space travel, it would be good to be able to put people into a state of lower
metabolism or a state of hibernation. That's almost science fiction but you can see the logical basis."

1. We know from the text that _____.

A. during winter Alaskan black bears sleep for more than half a year
B. researchers have examined hibernation in humans
C. experts have got no results from their research
D. Craig Heller is a leader from the Institute of Arctic Biology

2. The best topic of the text should be _____.

A. The Latest Research Results
B. New Methods of Putting Humans into Hibernation
C. Alaskan Black Bears Hibernate
D. Astronauts Could Hibernate Like Bears

3. According to the text, we can infer that _____.

A. many studies have examined hibernation in mice and bears as well
B. humans' body temperatures vary between 30℃ and 36℃ while they sleep
C. research into hibernation in animals may help deadly patients stay longer
D. scientists have already take advantage of the different levels of hibernation in space missions

     It's not that hard to be a better writer. Seriously, it's especially true if you're starting as a non-writer
who's just trying to be competent for day-to-day tasks.
     1. Have a structure. 1_____ Your body should consist of paragraphs that are grouped according to
topic, each one dealing with a single element of your subject.
     2. 2_____ When you say a car runs "fast", don't leave it at that. Show me how fast it is by detailing
the vehicle's top speed and acceleration, along with listing other cars it leaves in the dust. Do the same
with every other significant modifier (修飾語) you use.
     3. Don't pad words. 3_____ Most of the time, this ends up turning what's essentially nice writing into
unreadable nonsense. You'll see this with heavy use of unnecessary adjectives and adverbs, along with
useless phrases that can easily be cut off without losing meaning.
     4. Choose good words. Sometimes, the way your text reads comes down to word choice. Don't say
"converse" when you can say "speak"; don't write "adjudicate" when you say "decide". 4_____ 
     5. Use a writing software. Notice that we didn't give any advice on grammar. That's because using
a quality proofreading software can help you on that end. 5_____

A. Try not to use adjectives and adverbs without providing an explanation.
B. Don't let anything keep you from it!
C. Many inexperienced writers tend to pad words to meet word count goals.
D. Regardless of what you do, your writing should have an introduction and a conclusion.
E. Basically, put your words to good use and find words that will make the experience easier for your readers.
F. Some ideas can be quite correct.
G. Sure, a few mistakes might slip in now and then, but a good tool will take care of most of them.

     "Choo, Choo!" Here comes the Chunnel train. Get aboard if you want to learn more about this underground
transportation system. This is an unusual form of transportation, because it is a tunnel that trains travel through
and not an actual form of transportation.
     The Chunnel is actually the English nickname for the Channel Tunnel. In French, it is called le tunnel sous
la Manche. It is a rail tunnel beneath the English Channel at the Straits of Dover. It connects Cheriton in Kent,
England with Sangatte in northern France. It is the second longest rail tunnel in the world.
     Did you know that the British and the French had a race while they were building the Chunnel? The race
was to see who could get to the middle of the tunnel first. The British won by a little bit. It took 15 000 workers
over seven years to dig the tunnel. The tunnel was finished in 1994.
     The completed Chunnel cost about $ 21 billion. But it all paid off, because it became very popular, very
quick. Millions of people use it. Now it is getting even more popular.
     There are three complete tunnels in the Chunnel. The two outside ones are the passenger trains. The small
inner one is a guidance train. The guidance train is not used for transportation. Each track is exactly parallel to
each other.
     There are four different train systems in the Chunnel. The Eurostar is a high speed passenger service that
connects London, Paris, Brussels, and Lille. The Eurotunnel shuttle is a rail ferry service. These shuttles carry
cars and vans. These are railcars that allow drivers to drive their vehicles on and off. There are also two
Eurotunnel goods service trains.
     Now you know more about the Chunnel. Everybody off, this is the last stop.

1. The Channel Tunnel links ______ with ______.

A. London; Paris
B. Cheriton; Sangatte
C. Lille; Brussels
D. Dover; Kent

2. Which of the following shows the structure of the tunnels in the Chunnel?

A.  B.  C.  D.

3. The Eurotunnel shuttle is intended to carry _____.

A. passengers
B. drivers and their vehicles
C. goods
D. staff members of the Chunnel

4. The text can most probably be _____.

A. found in a guidebook
B. read in a magazine
C. broadcast on a train
D. heard in a railway station

     In 1890 William James, the American philosopher and physician and one of the founders of modern
psychology, defined psychology as"the science of mental life" and this definition provides a good starting
point for our understanding even today. We all have a mental life and therefore have some idea about what
this means, even though it can be studied in rats or monkeys as well as in people and the concept remains
difficult to understand.
     Like most psychologists, William James was particularly interested in human psychology, which he
thought consisted of certain basic elements: thoughts and feelings, a physical world which exists in time
and space, and a way of knowing about these things. For each of us, this knowledge is primarily personal
and private" It comes from our own thoughts, feelings and experience of the world, and may or may not
be influenced by scientific facts about things. For this reason, it is easy for us to make judgments about
psychological matters using our own experience as a standard. We behave as amateur psychologists when
we offer opinions on complex psychological phenomena. However, problems arise when two people
understand these things differently. Formal psychology attempts to provide methods for deciding which
explanations are most likely to be correct, or for determining the circumstances under which each applies.
The work of psychologists helps us distinguish between inside information, which is subjective, and may
be prejudiced and unreliable, and the facts: between our predictions and what is"true" in scientific terms.
     Psychology, as defined by William James, is about the mind or brain, but although psychologists do study
the brain, we do not understand nearly enough about its workings to be able to comprehend the part that it
plays in the experience and expression of our hopes, fears, and wishes, or in our behaviour during experiences
as varied as giving birth or watching a football match. Indeed, it is rarely possible to study the brain directly.
So, psychologists have discovered more by studying our behaviour, and by using their observations to obtain
hypotheses (假設) about what is going on inside us.

1. The first paragraph is mainly about _____.

A. the founder of modern psychology
B. the definition of psychology
C. the complexity of psychology
D. the influence of psychology

2. From Paragraph 2, we can know that problems arise because _____.

A. of the difference between inside information and the facts
B. of different thoughts and feelings about psychology
C. people usually make judgments based on their own ideas
D. amateur psychologists cannot use scientific terms

3. According to the passage, psychologists study the brain mainly _____.

A. in a direct way
B. with their own experience
C. by observing how it works
D. by watching people's behaviour

4. Which of the following can be the first sentence in the fourth paragraph?

A. Psychology is also about the ways people use their mental abilities to operate in the world around them.
B. William James is considered to be the greatest psychologist in the 1890s.
C. Psychology suggests that living beings adapt to a changing environment so that they can survive.
D. It is important for psychologists, as well as ordinary people, to be aware of the reasons.

     A study now lends support to the idea that meal-time distractions (分散注意) can mask the clues that
we really have eaten quite enough. Moreover, it finds, the caloric fallout of not paying attention to what
we're eating doesn't necessarily end when a meal is over.
     Rose Cooper from England and her colleagues gathered 22 men and an equal number of women for an
experiment. Each person dined alone, continuously receiving nine small shares of food items. These ranged
from cheese twists and potato chips to carrots, cherry tomatoes and sandwiches or sausage rolls.
     Because the goal was to test the potential impacts of distraction on fuUness, the researchers randomly
assigned half of the participants to eat in front of a computer-and to gain as many wins as possible at the
"card" game. Everyone else was told to focus on the sensory qualities of their meal.
     According to their instructions, the participants ate all of the food given to them. Yet people who played
a computer game during lunch found their meal less filling than the mindful eaters had. Game players also
swallow clown twice as many cookies, almost an hour later, when they were allowed all the dessert they
wanted (in the name of a taste test). The British scientists present their findings in the February American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
     The real question is why distracted eating should impact snacking. It appears, the scientists say, that
memory plays some tricky role in how we register what we eat and the degree to which it satisfies.
     Interestingly, eight years ago, Britta Barkeling of Huddinge University in Stockholm and her colleagues
reported somewhat related findings. Their 18 overweight subjects had no choice other than to get rid of
everything but lunch, on one day-because they were blindfolded. Compared to a day when they could view
what they were dining on, these people consumed only three quarters as many calories. Yet even hours
afterward, they reported being no less full than on the day they had been able to see their plates.
     Of course dining in the dark isn't practical. And sometimes what we eat doesn't really invite our absolute
attention. But there is certainly a growing mountain of data indicating that mindless eating is a waste of
resources, a risk to our waistlines-and a costly threat to health.

1. Rose Cooper and her colleagues did the experiment in order to _____.

A. show that all the people enjoy snacks
B. prove that playing computer games is harmful while dining
C. find the possible effects of distraction on fullness
D. test the impacts of eating snacks on different people

2. Which is the most effective way to concentrate on your food when dining?

A. Viewing your food.
B. Blindfolding your eyes.
C. Playing computer games.
D. Eating by oneself.

3. The reason why mindless eating influences snacking may be that _____.

A. you eat less in that case
B. you are cheated by your memory
C. you have consumed more calories
D. you digest what you've eaten faster

4. We can conclude from the passage that _____.

A. distracted eating may damage your health
B. eating snacks will make you feel full
C. Britta became famous because of the experiment
D. playing is more important than what people eat

     What makes one person more intelligent than another? What makes one person a genius, like the brilliant
Albert Einstein, and another person a fool? Are people born intelligent or stupid, or is intelligence the result
of where and how you live? 1_____
     We know, however, that just being born with a good mind is not enough. In some ways, the mind is like
a leg or an arm muscle. 2_____ Mental exercise is particularly important for young children. Many child
psychologists think that parents should play with their children more often and give them problems to think
about. 3_____ If, on the other hand, children are left alone a great deal with nothing to do, they are more likely
to become dull and unintelligent. 
     4_____ According to some psychologists, if parents are always telling a child that he or she is a fool or an
idiot, then the child is more likely to keep doing silly and foolish things. So it is probably better for parents to
say very positive things to their children, such as "That was a very clever thing you did." or "75 "

A. A healthy body contributes to one's intelligence.
B. Parents should also be careful about what they say to young children.
C. What people want to express is like this.
D. The children are then more likely to grow up bright and intelligent.
E. It needs exercise.
F. You are such a smart child.
G. These are very old questions and the answers to them are still not clear.

     Looking back on China's road to outer space, people can easily find it has not been very smooth. In the
past years, Chinese people have made hard and determined efforts to realize the dream their ancestors had
for thousands of years.
     After China's first satellite into the Earth's orbit in 1970 came four flights of unmanned Shenzhou missions
(飛行) from 1999 to 2002. The country carried out its first one-piloted space flight in October, 2003, making
China the third country in the world to have independent human spaceflight ability after the Soviet Union and
the United States. Then came another breakthrough on October 12, 2005, when Shenzhou 6, China's second
human spaceflight, was launched, with a crew of two astronauts. What's more, the landmark (具有里程碑意
義的) spacewalk done by Zhai Zhigang, one of the three boarding Shenzhou 7, launched on Sept. 25, 2008,
leads the country further in its space exploration.
     Meanwhile, China's moon exploration project, started in 2004, has also been progressing satisfactorily.
Fifty years after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world's first man-made satellite, China's first
circumlunar (繞月的) satellite Chang'e l took off on Oct. 24, 2007, which became another milestone in China's
space achievements after the above-mentioned manned flights. Chang'e l was expected to fulfill four scientific
goals, one of which was to probe (勘探) mineral elements on the moon, especially those not existent on Earth.
It's said that the lunar regolith (月壤) is abundant in helium-3, a clean fuel that may support the Earth's energy
demands for more than a century. Nearly 3 years later, Oct. 1, 2010 witnessed the blasting off of Chang'e 2,
China's 2nd unmanned lunar probe, marking another step forward in moon exploration. This time the aim is to
test the key techniques of Chang'e 3 and Chang'e 4, as a preparation for a soft lunar landing in the future.
     With great expectations, people all over the world are looking forward to China's greater space
achievements.

1. According to the text, which of the following is TRUE?

A. China sent its first satellite into the Moon's orbit in 1970.
B. China is the third country in Asia to make human spaceflight.
C. By now, altogether 5 astronauts have made successful spaceflight by Shenzhou spaceship.
D. The launching of Chang'e l became the third milestone in China's space achievements.

2. Paragraph 2 mainly deals with information about China's _____.

A. landmark spacewalk
B. manned Shenzhou missions
C. first circumlunar satellite
D. unmanned Shenzhou missions

3. We can infer from the text that _____.

A. China's road to outer space has not been very smooth for a long time
B. the lunar regolith is believed to be rich in a clean fuel called helium-3
C. China's lunar exploration project was started in 2004 and completed in 2007
D. China's scientists are researching into techniques for soft lunar landing

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A. Ancient Chinese's Dream
B. China's Major Space Achievements
C. China's Moon Exploration
D. The World's Great Expectations

     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 (沮喪) and inflexible (固守己見的).
     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 Coleman, 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 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 counts for 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.

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

2. Which of the following is true of EQ and IQ according to the text?

A. The higher a person's EQ is, the higher his or her IQ is.
B. The higher a person's IQ is, the higher his or her EQ is.
C. Some people can be blessed with lots of both, but some with little of either.
D. Scientists have already discovered the way in which EQ and IQ work together.

3. The underlined word "upbeat" in Paragraph 4 probably means _____.

A. kind
B. floating
C. excited
D. optimistic

4. 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.

5. 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.