When I enrolled at Pepperdine University in 1974, my mother exercised her parental right to
express her worry at my departure. I responded with typical teenage indifference and ignorance.
"Mom , I'm only an hour away. What's the bit deal?" "You just wait until you have one of your own,"
she cried ."Then you'll know what I'm feeling." It has been a little more than a month since my daughter
Devin moved into her dorm at Occidental college, and life as I know it has come to an end. Or that's
what it feels like. Mom, you were right.
     The nest's empty loneliness is almost unbearable. Why does it hurt so bad? Science has an answer:
We are social mammals who experience deep attachment to our fellow friends and family, an evolutionary
throwback to our Paleolithic(舊石器時(shí)代的)hunter-gatherer days of living in small bands. Bonding
unified the group, aiding survival in harsh climates and against unforgiving enemies. Attachment between
parents and offspring assured that there is no one better equipped to look after the future survival of
your genes than yourself.
     The empty-nest syndrome is real, but there is good news for this and all forms of loss and grief.
According to Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert, we are not very good at forecasting our unhappiness. Most of us think that we would be miserable for a very long time. Gilbert calls this the durability bias,
an emotional misunderstanding.
     The durability bias and the failure to recognize the power of our emotional immune systems lead us
to overestimate how depressed we will feel and for how long, and to underestimate how quickly we
will get rid of it and feel better.
     For me, taking the long view helps. How long? Deep time. Evolutionary time, in which 6,895 days
represent a mere 0.000000005% of the 3.5 billion year history of life on Earth.
     Each of us parents makes one small contribution to the evolutionary importance of life's continuity
from one generation to the next without a single gap, an unbroken link over the eons(永久).

1. What message does the author want to express by telling us her experience in the first paragraph?

A. The empty-nest syndrome is really hard for old parents to bear.
B. All people should learn to love their parents no matter how old they are.
C. A person will not understand his parents ? love until he has his own child.
D. The love parents give to children is selfless and should be respected.

2. According to Daniel Gilbert, the empty-nest syndrome is         .

A. caused by our emotional misunderstanding
B. not a real problem but in our imagination
C. the result of overestimating our happiness
D. from our emotional immune systems

3. The author gets herself out of the empty-nest syndrome by holding a positive idea that        .

A. she can go to see her daughter regularly when she misses her
B. her daughter will one day come back to her after graduation
C. her daughter will understand her when she has her own children
D. the departure from her daughter is much shorter than the history of life on Earth

4. What kind of role do parents play in the human history, according to the last paragraph?

A. They cultivate talents for the development of history.
B. They help keep the life's continuity without a broken link.
C. They accelerate the evolutionary pace of the human beings.
D. They point a right way for the next generation to develop themselves

     I grew up in a house where the TV was seldom turned on and with one wall in my bedroom entirely
lined with bookshelves,  most of my childhood was spent on books I could get hold of.In fact,  I grew
up thinking of reading as natural as breathing and books unbelievably powerful in shaping perspectives
(觀點(diǎn))by creating worlds we could step into,  take part in and live in.
     With this unshakable belief,  I,  at fourteen,  decided to become a writer.Here too,  reading became
useful.Every writer starts off knowing that he has something to say,  but being unable to find the right ways to say it.He has to find his own voice by reading widely and discovering which parts  of the writers he
agrees or disagrees with,  or agrees with so strongly that it reshapes his own world.He cannot write
without loving to read,  because only through reading other people's writing can one discover what works,  what doesn't and,  in the end,  together with lots of practice,  what voice he has.
     Now I am in college,  and have come to realize how important it is to read fiction (文學(xué)作品).As a
law student,  my reading is in fact limited to subject matter-the volume (量) of what I have to read for
classes every week means there is little time to read anything else.Such reading made it all the clearer to
me that I live in a very small part in this great place called life.Reading fiction reminds me that there is life
beyond my own.It allows me to travel across the high seas and along the Silk Road,  all from the comfort
of my own armchair,  to experience,  though secondhand,  exciting experiences that I wouldn't necessarily be able to have in my lifetime.

1. What can be inferred about the author as a child?
A. He never watched TV.
B. He read what he had to.
C. He found reading unbelievable.
D. He considered reading part of his life.

2. The underlined word "voice" in the second paragraph most probably means "________".
A. an idea  
B. a sound quality
C. a way of writing  
D. a world to write about

3. What effect does reading have on the author?
A. It helps him to realize his dream.
B. It opens up a wider world for him.
C. It makes his college life more interesting.
D. It increases his interest in worldwide travel.

4. Which of the following can be the best title of this text?
A. Why do I read?  
B. How do I read?
C. What do I read?  
D. When do I read?

     We know the famous ones-the Thomas Edisons and the Alexander Graham Bells-but what about the
less famous inventors? What about the people who invented the traffic light and the windshield wiper(雨
刮器)?Shouldn't we know who they are?
     Joan McLean thinks so. In fact,  McLean,  a professor of physics at Mountain University in Range, 
 feels so strongly about this matter that she's developed a course on the topic. In addition to learning
"who" invented "what",  however,  McLean also likes her students to learn the answers to the "why"and
"how"questions. According to McLean, "When students learn the answers to these questions,  they are
better prepared to recognize opportunities for inventing and more motivated to give inventing a try."
      Her students agree. One young man with a patent for an unbreakable umbrella is walking proof of
McLean's statement."If I had not heard the story of the windshield wiper's invention, "said Tommy Lee,
  a senior physics major, "I never would have dreamed of turning my bad experience during a rainstorm
into something so constructive." Lee is currently negotiating to sell his patent to an umbrella producer.
     So,  just what is the story behind the windshield wiper? Well,  Mary Anderson came up with the idea
in 1902 after a visit to New York City. The day was cold and stormy, but Anderson still wanted to see
the sights,  so she jumped aboard a streetcar. Noticing that the driver was struggling to see through the
snow covering the windshield,  she found herself wondering why there couldn't be a builtin device for
cleaning the window. Still wondering about this when she returned home to Birmingham, Alabama.
Anderson started drafting out solutions. One of her ideas,  a lever(操作桿) on the inside of a vehicle
that would control an arm on the outside,  became the first windshield wiper.
      Today we benefit from countless inventions and innovations. It's hard to imagine driving without
Garrett A. Morgan's traffic light. It's equally impossible to picture a world without Katherine J. Blodgett's
innovation that makes glass invisible. Can you picture life without clear windows and eyeglasses?

1. By mentioning "traffic light" and "windshield wiper",  the author indicates that countless
     inventions are________.
A. beneficial,  because their inventors are famous
B. beneficial,  though their inventors are less famous
C. not useful,  because their inventors are less famous
D. not useful,  though their inventors are famous

2. Professor Joan McLean's course aims to________.
A. add colour and variety to students' campus life
B. inform students of the windshield wiper's invention
C. carry out the requirements by Mountain University
D. prepare students to try their own inventions

3. Tommy Lee's invention of the unbreakable umbrella was________.
A. not eventually accepted by the umbrella producer
B. inspired by the story behind the windshield wiper
C. due to his dream of being caught in a rainstorm
D. not related to Professor Joan McLean's lectures

4. Which of the following can best serve as the title of this passage?
A. How to Help Students to Sell Their Inventions to Producers?
B. How to Design a Builtin Device for Cleaning the Window?
C. Shouldn't We Know Who Invented the Windshield Wiper?
D. Shouldn't We Develop Invention Courses in Universities?

     A bad Working Memory-the brain's temporary storage box-may explain,   new research suggests,  
why one child cannot read his or her history book and another gets lost in math. As many as 10 percent
of schoolage children may suffer from poor working memory. British researchers said in a report last
week,   yet the problem is rarely identified.
     "You can think of working memory as a pure measure of your child's potential. Many psychologists
consider working memory to be the new IQ (智商),   because we find that working memory is one of
the most important predictors of learning ability,   " said Dr. Tracey Alloway of Britain's Durham
University.
     Many children with poor working memory are considered lazy or dull. Working memory allows people
to hold in their minds and deal with a few items,   such as telephone numbers,   over a short period of
time. Alloway compares working memory to a box. For adults,   the basic box size is thought to be three
to five items. It's important,   therefore,   to put in the right things. Irrelevant (不相關(guān)的) information will
clutter (混亂) working memory.
     The question many researchers are struggling with is how to help children with this problem,   which
appears to be closely related to a lack of attention.
     "In children with learning difficulties,   it becomes a huge issue,   especially around middle school,  
when the demands on working memory really grow,   " said Dr. Mel Levine,   cofounder of All Kinds
of Minds,   a nonprofit organization in North Carolina that studies learning difficulties.
     Memory training may help improve working memory. Alloway has a tool that allows teachers to
assess (評(píng)定) the workingmemory capacity of children as young as 4； it has been used in 35 schools
across Britain.
     Levine's organization trains teachers through a program called Schools Attuned,   which is working
with several thousand schools across the United States,   Canada and Europe. While he is not sure
working memory can be expanded,   Levine said children can be taught ways to do better in school.

1. Which of the following is a characteristic of working memory?
A. It has a limited capacity.
B. It is usually better in children than adults.
C. It improves with use.
D. It can cause a lack of attention.

2. According to the new research,   ________.
A. the importance of working memory has been long recognized
B. working memory is becoming recognized as a factor in intelligence
C. laziness can weaken working memory
D. working memory helps people remember things forever

3. Which of the following may help improve a child's working memory?
A. Expanding the brain's storage box.
B. Remembering more things.
C. Training the memory.
D. Being reminded frequently.

4. According to the passage,   Dr. Mel Levine has ________.
A. invented tools to help improve a child's working memory
B. founded an organization to train teachers to help students with this problem
C. identified the problem clearly
D. compared working memory to a box

     Some students get so nervous before a test, they do poorly even if they know the material. Sian
Beilock has studied these highly anxious test-takers.
     Sian Beilock;"They start worrying about the consequences. They might even statrt worring about
whether this exam is going to prevent them from getting into the college they want. And when we worry ,
it actually uses up attention and memory resources. I talk about it as your cognitive horsepower that you
could otherwise be using to focus on the exam.
     Professor Beilock and another researcher, Gerardo Ramirez, have developed a possible solution.
Just before an exam, highly anxious test-takers spend ten minutes writing about their worries about the
test.
     Sian Beilock:" what we think happens is when students put it down on paper , they think about the
worst that could happen and they reappraise the situation. They might realize it's not as had as they
might think it was before and, in essence, it prevents these thoughts from popping up when they're
actually taking a test."
     The researchers tested the idea on a group of twenty anxious college students. They gave them two
short math tests. After the first one, they asked the students to either sit quietly or write about their feelings about the upcoming second test.
    The researchers added to the pressure. They told the students that those who did well on the second
test would get money. They also told them that their performance would affect other students as part
of a team effort.
    Professor Beilock says those who sat quietly scored an average of twelve percent worse on the
second test. But the students who had written about their fears improved their performance by an
average of five percent.
     Next, the researchers used younger students in a biology class. They told them before final exams
either to write about their feelings or to think about things unrelated to the test.
     Prefessor Beilock says highly anxious students who did the writing got an average grade of B+,
compared to a B- for those who did not.
     Sian Beilock :" What we showed is that for students who are highly test-anxious, who'd done our
writing intervention, all of a sudden there was no relationship between test anxiety and performance.
Those students most prone to worry were peroming just as well as their classmates who don't normally
get nervous in these testing situations."
     But what if students do not have a chance to write about their fears immediately before and exam
or presentation ?Professor Beilock says students can try it themselves at home or in the library and
still improve their performance.

1. What may happen if students have the problem of test anxiety?

A. Test anxiety can improve students' performance to some degree.
B. Students' attention and memory resources run out when worred.
C. Students may not be admitted into their favorite college if worried
D. Test anxiety is sure to cause students to fail the test.

2. Which of the following if TRUE?

A. In the first math test, students who sat quietly performed better.
B. In the second math test, students who wrote about their feelings did worse.
C. Some college students are highly anxious test-takers while others are not in the tests.
D. The result in the math test agrees with that in the biology test.

3. What does the underlined phrase "popping up" mean?

A. Appearing suddenly
B. Fading away
C. Becoming clearly
D. Giving out

4. what is most probably sian Beilocj ?

A. A psychology professor.
B. A philosophy researcher.
C. A politics professor
D. A tutor

5. What is the main idea of the passage?

A . It is a common practice for students being worried before a test.
B. Being worried before tests does harm to students' performance.
C. Anxious students overcome test anxiety by writing down fears.
D. It is important for students to overcome test anxiety.

     Despite the fact that it has never been seen almost everyone is familiar with the legendary unicorn(獨(dú)
角獸). Descriptions of unicorns have been found dating from ancient times. The great philosopher
Aristotle theorized(推理) that there were two types of unicorns-the socalled Indian Ass and the Oryx, 
  a kind of antelope. Unicorns are often used in the logo of a noble family,   town council or university as
their special sign.  Even Scotland is represented by a unicorn.
     According to the legend,   anyone attempting to catch a unicorn had to be extremely cautious as it has
a reputation for being very fierce. A clever trick suggested by unicorntrappers,   in order to catch this
magnificent beast without being hurt by its horn,   was for the hunter to stand in front of a tree and then
to move quickly behind it as the unicorn charged. Hopefully,   the creature could then be captured when
its horn was stuck in the tree.
     When hollowed out and used as a drinkingcup,   the unicorn's horn was said to have the power to
offer protection against person. It was believed that nobody could be harmed by drinking the contents
of a unicorn's horn. Right up until the French Revolution in 1789,   the French court was said to have
used cups made of "unicorn" horn in order to protect the king. In addition,   the horn was said to have
medicinal value,   so much so that it could be sold for more than ten times the price of the same weight
of gold. What,   then,   was "unicorn" horn? We know at times the rhino(犀牛) was confused with this
legendary creature. A drinkingcup supposedly made of "unicorn" horn was discovered to be made of the
horn of a rhino.

1. Which of the following is TRUE of the unicorn?
A. It was not historically recorded.
B. Its horn was first used in France.
C. It was similar to the Indian Ass and the Oryx.
D. It could be the symbol of a university.

2. To catch a unicorn,   the unicorntrappers had to try all of the following EXCEPT________.
A. tempting the unicorn to attack
B. making use of the tree as a protection
C. hiding quickly behind the unicorn
D. having the unicorn horn stuck in the tree

3. The last paragraph is mainly about________.
A. the value of the unicorn horn
B. the users of the unicorn horn
C. the price of the unicorn horn
D. the comparison between the unicorn horn and the rhino horn

4. In the last paragraph,   the word "unicorn" is in quotation marks(引號(hào)) because________.
A. the cup is designed only for a royal family
B. the unicorn does not exist in reality
C. the unicorn is the rarest animal in the world
D. the medicinal value of the horn is appreciated

     For all the dinner table, a glass of milk seems to be a constant, at least it was when I was growing up.
It was widely believed that milk was integral in building strong bones and teeth. There's no doubt that
dairy products (乳制品), and milk in particular, are high in protein and calcium, and most milk products
are supplemented with Vitamin D and A.
     While it's well known that our bones need calcium, some studies suggest that high calcium intake
doesn't necessarily lower a person's risk for fractures (骨折). A Harvard study found that people who
drank two or more glasses of milk had no greater protection from breaking a bone than those who drank
a glass or less a week.
     There's no doubt that we need calcium. Some anti-dairy supporters claim that dairy can lead to heart
disease. Much of this claim is based on high fat and high dairy products, like cheeses and creams, which
may indeed contribute to cardiovascular problems. Some studies have linked high milk intakes with a risk
of prostate cancer; this seems to be caused by high-fat dairy products, not dairy in general.
     Although milk was always regarded as one of the most important thing we need for our bones, yet
least promoted, factors involved in strengthening bones. Perhaps we should think of dairy as less like a
nutrient and more like a food. If you like it, eat it. If not, find some others. Because some claims may not
be completely true, when I eat a cream, I'm not thinking about calcium, protein, or any such thing I'm
thinking delicious.

1. Which of the following is TRUE on the milk?

A. The more milk you drink, the more risk for fractures you might be.
B. The more milk you drink, the less risk for fractures you might be.
C. The less milk you drink, the less risk for fractures you might be.
D. There is no link between them.

2. Some anti-dairy supporters claim that dairy can lead to except _________.

A. cardiovascular problems
B. heart disease
C. prostate cancer
D. stomach cancer

3. The underlined words "some others" in the last paragraph refer to _________.

A. dairy products      
B. milk
C. food
D. cream

4. What's the author's attitude towards milk?

A. He doesn't like milk any more.  
B. He used to drink milk as a child.
C. He regards milk as a nutrient.      
D. He always cares about calcium, protein when he eats something.

5. We can learn from the text that _________.

A. All the claims are not completely true.      
B. High milk intakes can lead to cancer.
C. It's necessary for you to reduce milk intakes.    
D. Give up milk for your health.