There have been discussions about retire age limit recently. Does it make sense to make people retire at a particular age, say, 55? 60?
Some people work well into their 70s and 80s, running families, countries or corporations while other people, despite being fit and highly talented, are forced to retire in their fifties or even earlier. Here I will examine whether people should be allowed to continue working as long as they want or whether they should be encouraged to retire at a particular stage.
Some people think there are several reasons for allowing older people to continue working. Firstly, older employees are more experienced and their knowledge can be lost to his company or business if they are made to retire. Secondly, older employees are often extremely loyal and more willing to carry out company policies than younger staff. Another point is related to our society’s attitudes to the old. To force someone to retire at 50 or 60 indicates that the society does not value the contribution of these people, which may be regarded as age discrimination.
However, others believe that allowing older people to work indefinitely(無(wú)限期) is not a good policy. Age alone is no guarantee of ability. Old people are ambitious workaholics. Many young employees are more skillful than older staff, who may have been stuck in one area or unit for most of their working lives. Having compulsory retirement encourages new ideas in an organization. In addition, without age limits, many people would continue to work purely because they did not have any other plans. Another reason is that older people should be rewarded by society for their life’s labor by being given generous pensions and the freedom to enjoy their leisure. We now have youngsters who can’t find jobs because old people refuse to retire. This new generation of “old people” may think they will never die due to modern advances in medicine.
With many young people unemployed or frustrated in low-level positions, older workers are expected to retire. However, this can affect their right to work. I feel that giving workers more flexibility and choice over their retirement age will benefit both society and the individual.
【小題1】All the following statements are reasons for allowing old people to continue working EXCEPT that _______.

There have been discussions about retire age limit recently. Does it make sense to make people retire at a particular age, say, 55? 60?

Some people work well into their 70s and 80s, running families, countries or corporations while other people, despite being fit and highly talented, are forced to retire in their fifties or even earlier. Here I will examine whether people should be allowed to continue working as long as they want or whether they should be encouraged to retire at a particular stage.

Some people think there are several reasons for allowing older people to continue working. Firstly, older employees are more experienced and their knowledge can be lost to his company or business if they are made to retire. Secondly, older employees are often extremely loyal and more willing to carry out company policies than younger staff. Another point is related to our society’s attitudes to the old. To force someone to retire at 50 or 60 indicates that the society does not value the contribution of these people, which may be regarded as age discrimination.

However, others believe that allowing older people to work indefinitely(無(wú)限期) is not a good policy. Age alone is no guarantee of ability. Old people are ambitious workaholics. Many young employees are more skillful than older staff, who may have been stuck in one area or unit for most of their working lives. Having compulsory retirement encourages new ideas in an organization. In addition, without age limits, many people would continue to work purely because they did not have any other plans. Another reason is that older people should be rewarded by society for their life’s labor by being given generous pensions and the freedom to enjoy their leisure. We now have youngsters who can’t find jobs because old people refuse to retire. This new generation of “old people” may think they will never die due to modern advances in medicine.

With many young people unemployed or frustrated in low-level positions, older workers are expected to retire. However, this can affect their right to work. I feel that giving workers more flexibility and choice over their retirement age will benefit both society and the individual.

1.All the following statements are reasons for allowing old people to continue working EXCEPT that _______.

A．their contributions should be valued

B．their experience should be appreciated

C．they can be ambitious workaholics

D．they are extremely loyal employees

2.The underlined sentence in the fourth passage suggests that _______.

A．retired people support the young to be creative

B．more fresh employees mean more fresh ideas

C．retired people are unwilling to praise new ideas

D．young employees are forced to be creative

3.The structure of the passage is arranged as __________

4.The author is likely to agree that ________’

A．it’s not wise to suggest lengthening the retirement age

B．it does make sense to set a particular retirement age

C．having different retirement age sounds unreasonable

D．when to retire should depend on the employees themselves

Back in old times, people had little knowledge about the universe and nature. Things we now consider to be common sense were mysteries to our ancestors.

Over the years, major breakthroughs have been made in science and many phenomena have been explained. But still, there are always questions we can't yet answer, and The Guardian has listed some of them.

1. What makes us human?

Just looking at your DNA won't tell you - human DNA is 99 percent identical to that of the chimpanzee and, believe it or not, 50 percent identical to a banana's! A lot of the things we once thought were unique about us - language and tool use, recognizing ourselves in the mirror and so on – have since been seen in other animals. Perhaps it's our culture that makes the difference or maybe our ability to use fire. It's also possible that our capacity (能力) for co-operation and our trading skills are what make us unique.

2. Why do we dream?

Given the fact that we spend around a third of our lives sleeping, shouldn't we know everything about it? Unfortunately, scientists are still searching for a complete explanation of what happens when we sleep and why we dream.

Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud believed dreams were the expressions of wishes that we can't fulfill in our real lives. Others have wondered whether dreams are just random "noise" coming from a sleeping brain.

3. Could we someday live forever?

Apart from accidents, most people die because of diseases that can be treated and aging. And since many diseases, such as diabetes（糖尿�。� and cancer, are diseases of aging, treating aging itself could be the key to extending our lives.

Our knowledge of what causes us to age - and what allows some animals to live longer than others - is expanding rapidly. And though we haven't quite worked out all the details, we've worked out some pieces of the puzzles such as DNA damage and metabolism (新陳代謝), which are all leading to the invention of drugs that can slow down the aging process.

If we're lucky enough to lengthen our lives, we might even get to see the day when all of these questions are answered.

1.The main point of the passage is ______.

A. to inform people of the knowledge about the universe and nature

B. to introduce major breakthroughs that have been made in science

C. to present some questions we can't yet answer

D. to explain what were once mysteries to our ancestors

2.Chimpanzees and bananas are mentioned as examples to prove that ______.

A. human beings are actually not different from other animals

B. animals have completely different DNA from that of plants

C. both animals and plants share the same amount of DNA

D. DNA alone is not good enough to make humans different

3.The underlined word "identical" is closest in meaning to ______.

A. mysterious          B. unique     C. advanced             D. same

4.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A. What were mysteries to our ancestors are considered to be common sense now.

B. Now we know much more about dreams than our ancestors did in the past.

C. With the invention of new drugs people can possibly live even longer.

D. If all the diseases can be treated people can theoretically live forever.

Back in old times, people had little knowledge about the universe and nature. Things we now consider to be common sense were mysteries to our ancestors.
Over the years, major breakthroughs have been made in science and many phenomena have been explained. But still, there are always questions we can't yet answer, and The Guardian has listed some of them.
1. What makes us human?
Just looking at your DNA won't tell you - human DNA is 99 percent identical to that of the chimpanzee and, believe it or not, 50 percent identical to a banana's! A lot of the things we once thought were unique about us - language and tool use, recognizing ourselves in the mirror and so on – have since been seen in other animals. Perhaps it's our culture that makes the difference or maybe our ability to use fire. It's also possible that our capacity (能力) for co-operation and our trading skills are what make us unique.
2. Why do we dream?
Given the fact that we spend around a third of our lives sleeping, shouldn't we know everything about it? Unfortunately, scientists are still searching for a complete explanation of what happens when we sleep and why we dream.
Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud believed dreams were the expressions of wishes that we can't fulfill in our real lives. Others have wondered whether dreams are just random "noise" coming from a sleeping brain.
3. Could we someday live forever?
Apart from accidents, most people die because of diseases that can be treated and aging. And since many diseases, such as diabetes（糖尿�。� and cancer, are diseases of aging, treating aging itself could be the key to extending our lives.
Our knowledge of what causes us to age - and what allows some animals to live longer than others - is expanding rapidly. And though we haven't quite worked out all the details, we've worked out some pieces of the puzzles such as DNA damage and metabolism (新陳代謝), which are all leading to the invention of drugs that can slow down the aging process.
If we're lucky enough to lengthen our lives, we might even get to see the day when all of these questions are answered

1. 1.

   The main point of the passage is ______

   1. A.
      to inform people of the knowledge about the universe and nature
   2. B.
      to introduce major breakthroughs that have been made in science
   3. C.
      to present some questions we can't yet answer
   4. D.
      to explain what were once mysteries to our ancestors
2. 2.

   Chimpanzees and bananas are mentioned as examples to prove that ______

   1. A.
      human beings are actually not different from other animals
   2. B.
      animals have completely different DNA from that of plants
   3. C.
      both animals and plants share the same amount of DNA
   4. D.
      DNA alone is not good enough to make humans different
3. 3.

   The underlined word "identical" is closest in meaning to ______

   1. A.
      mysterious
   2. B.
      unique
   3. C.
      advanced
   4. D.
      same
4. 4.

   Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

   1. A.
      What were mysteries to our ancestors are considered to be common sense now
   2. B.
      Now we know much more about dreams than our ancestors did in the past
   3. C.
      With the invention of new drugs people can possibly live even longer
   4. D.
      If all the diseases can be treated people can theoretically live forever

We may all have had the embarrassing moment: Getting half-way through a story only to realize that we’ve told this exact tale before, to the same person. Why do we make such memory mistakes?

According to research published in Psychological Science, it may have to do with the way our brains process different types of memory.

Researchers Nigel Gopie, of the Rotman Research Institute in Toronto, and Colin Macleod, of the University of Waterloo, divided memory into two kinds. The first was source memory, or the ability to keep track of where information is coming from. The second was destination memory, or the ability to recall who we have given information to.

They found that source memory functions better than destination memory, in part because of the direction in which that information is travelling.

To study the differences between source and destination memory, the researchers did an experiment on 60 university students, according to a New York Times report. The students were asked to associate (聯(lián)想) 50 random ( 隨意的) facts with the faces of 50 famous people. Half of the students "told" each fact to one of the faces, reading it aloud when the celebrity's (名人的) picture appeared on a computer screen. The other half read each fact silently and saw a different celebrity picture afterward.

When later asked to recall which facts went with which faces, the students who were giving information out (destination memory) scored about 16 percent lower on memory performance compared with the students receiving information (source memory).

The researchers concluded that out-going information was less associated with its environmental context （背景）---- that is, the person ---- than was incoming information.

This makes sense given what is known about attention. A person who is giving information, even little facts, will devote some mental resources to thinking about what is being said. Because our attention is limited, we give less attention to the person we are giving information to.

After a second experiment with another group of 40 students, the researchers concluded that self-focus is another factor that undermines destination memory.

They asked half the students to continue giving out random information, while the other told things about themselves. This time around, those who were talking about themselves did 15 percent worse than those giving random information.

"When you start telling these personal facts compared with non-self facts, suddenly destination memory goes down more, suggesting that it is the self-focus component ( 成分) that's reducing the memory, Gopie told Live Science.

72. The point of this article is to ____.

A. give advice on how to improve memory

B. say what causes the memory to worsen

C. explain why we repeat stories to those we've already told them to

D. discuss the differences between source and destination memory

73. What can we learn from the article?

A. Source memory helps us remember who we have told the information to.

B. One's limited attention is one of the reasons why those reading aloud to the celebrity's pictures perform worse on the memory test.

C. Silent reading is a better way to remember information than reading aloud.

D. It tends to be more difficult for people to link incoming information with its environmental context than outgoing information.

74. The underlined word "undermines" probably means ____.

A. weakens         B. benefits        C. explains        D. supports

75. What did the scientists conclude from the second experiment?

A. Destination memory is weaker than source memory.

B. Focusing attention on oneself leads to relatively poor source memory performance.

C. Associating personal experience with information helps people memorize better.

D. Self-focus is responsible for giving information twice or more to the same person.