Increasingly, over the past ten years, people—especially young people—have become aware of

第1题

But eighty or even ninety...normal life-span for humans（paragraph 3) is closet in meaning

But eighty or even ninety...normal life-span for humans(paragraph 3) is closet in meaning to

A．on average, people now live to be over eighty.

B．we should recognize that people now live to between eighty and ninety on average.

C．nowadays it isn't normal for people to die younger than eighty.

D．average life expectancy is increasingly being considered to be eighty or more.

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第2题

In the early 1960s Wilt Chamberlain was one of only three players in the National Basketba

ll Association (NBA)listed at over seven feet. If he had played last season, however, he would have been one of 42. The bodies playing major professional sports have changed dramatically over the years, and managers have been more than willing to adjust team uniforms to fit the growing numbers of bigger, longer frames.

The trend in sports, though, may be obscuring an unrecognized reality: Americans have generally stopped growing. Though typically about two inches taller now than 140 years ago, today's people-especially those born to families who have lived in the U. S. for many generations-apparently reached their limit in the early 1960s. And they aren't likely to get any taller. "In the general population today, at this genetic, environmental level, we've pretty much gone as far as we can go," says anthropologist William Cameron Chum-lea of Wright State University. In the case of NBA players, their increase in height appears to result from the increasingly common practice of recruiting players from all over the world.

Growth, which rarely continues beyond the age of 20, demands calories and nutrients-notably, protein--to feed expanding tissues. At the start of the 20th century, under-nutrition and childhood infections got in the way. But as diet and health improved, children and adolescents have, on average, increased in height by about an inch and a half every 20 years, a pattern known as the secular trend in height. Yet according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, average height--5 '9" for men, 5'4" for women--hasn't really changed since 1960.

Genetically speaking, there are advantages to avoiding substantial height. During childbirth, larger babies have more difficulty passing through the birth canal. Moreover, even though humans have been upright for millions of years, our feet and back continue to struggle with bipedal posture and cannot easily withstand repeated strain imposed by oversize limbs. "There are some real constraints that are set by the genetic architecture of the individual organism," says anthropologist William Leonard of Northwestern University.

Genetic maximums can change, but don't expect this to happen soon. Claire C. Gordon, senior anthropologist at the Army Research Center in Natick, Mass ensures that 90 percent of the uniforms and workstations fit recruits without alteration. She says that, unlike those for basketball, the length of military uniforms has not changed for some time. And if you need to predict human height in the near future to design a piece of equipment, Gordon says that by and large, "you could use today's data and feel fairly confident."

Wilt Chamberlain is cited as an example to ______ .

A．illustrate the change of height of NBA players.

B．show the popularity of NBA players in the U. S.

C．compare different generations of NBA players.

D．assess the achievements of famous NBA players.

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第3题

What's hot for 2007 among the very rich？ A ＄ 7.3 million diamond ring. A trip to Tanzania

to hunt wild animals. Oh, and income inequality,

Sure, some leftish billionaires like George Soros have been railing against income inequality for years. But increasingly, centrist and right-wing billionaires are starting to worry about income inequality and the fate of the middle class.

In December, Mortimer Zuckerman wrote a column in U.S. News & World Report, which he owns. "Our nation's core bargain with the middle class is disintegrating," lamented (哀叹) the 117th-riehest main in America. "Most of our economic gains have gone to people at the very top of the income ladder. Average income for a household of people of working age, by contrast, has fallen five years in a row." He noted that "Tens of millions of Americans live in fear that a major health problem can reduce them to bankruptcy."

Wilbur Ross Jr. has echoed Zuckerman's anger over the bitter struggles faced by middle-class Americans. "It's an outrage that any American's life expectancy should be shortened simply because the company they worked for went bankrupt and ended health-care coverage," said the former chairman of the International Steel Group.

What's happening？ The very rich are just as trendy as you and I, and can be so when it comes to politics and policy. Given the recent change of control in Congress, the popularity of measures like increasing the minimum wage, and efforts by California's governor to offer universal health care, these guys don't need their own personal weathermen to know which way the wind blows.

It's possible that plutocrats (有钱有势的人) are expressing solidarity with the struggling middle class as part of an effort to insulate themselves from confiscatory (没收性的) tax policies. But the prospect that income inequality will lead to higher taxes on the wealthy doesn't keep plutocrats up at night. They can live with that.

No, what they fear was that the political challenges of sustaining support for global economic integration will be more difficult in the United States because of what has happened to the distribution of income and economic insecurity.

In other words, if middle-class Americans continue to struggle financially as the ultrawealthy grow ever wealthier, it will be increasingly difficult to maintain political support for the free flow of goods, services, and capital across borders. And when the United States places obstacles in the way of foreign investors and foreign goods, it's likely to encourage reciprocal action abroad. For people who buy and sell companies, or who allocate capital to markets all around the world, that's the real nightmare.

What is the current topic of common interest among the very rich in America？

A．The fate of the ultrawealthy people.

B．The disintegration of the middle class.

C．The inequality in the distribution of wealth.

D．The conflict between the left and the right wing.

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第4题

Stratford-on-Avon, as we all know, has only one industry--William Shakespeare--but there a

re two distinctly separate and increasingly hostile branches. There is the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), which presents superb productions of the plays at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre on the Avon. And there are the townsfolk who largely live off the tourists who come, not to see the plays, but to look at Anne Hathaway's Cottage, Shakespeare's birthplace and the other sights.

The worthy residents of Stratford doubt that the theatre adds a penny to their revenue. They frankly dislike the RSC's actors ,them with their long hair and beards and sandals and noisiness. It's all deliciously ironic when you consider that Shakespeare, who earns their living, was himself an actor(with a beard)and did his share of noise-making.

The tourist streams are not entirely separate. The sightseers who come by bus-and often take in Warwick Castle and Blenheim Palace on the side--don't usually see the plays, and some of them are even surprised to find a theatre in Stratford. However, the playgoers do manage a little sightseeing along with their playgoing. It is the playgoers, the RSC contends, who bring in much of the town's revenue because they spend the night(some of them four or five nights)pouring cash into the hotels and restaurants. The sightseers can take in everything and get out of town by nightfall..

The townsfolk don't see it this way and local council does not contribute directly to the subsidy of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Stratford cries poor traditionally. Nevertheless every hotel in town seems to be adding a new wing or cocktail lounge. Hilton is building its own hotel there, which you may be sure will be decorated with Hamlet Hamburger Bars, the Lear Lounge, the Banquo Banqueting Room, and so forth, and will be very expensive.

Anyway, the townsfolk can't understand why the Royal Shakespeare Company needs a subsidy. (The theatre has broken attendance records for three years in a row. Last year its 1,431 seats were 94 per cent occupied all year long and this year they'll do better.) The reason, of course, is that costs have rocketed and ticket prices have stayed low.

It would be a shame to raise prices too much because it would drive away the young people who are Stratford's most attractive clientele. They come entirely for the plays, not the sights. They all seem to look alike (though they come from all over)--lean, pointed, dedicated faces, wearing jeans and sandals, eating their buns and bedding down for the night on the flagstones outside the theatre to buy the 20 seats and 80 standing-room tickets held for the sleepers and sold to them when the box of rice opens at 10:30am.

From the first two paragraph, we learn that ______ .

A．the townsfolk deny the RSC's contribution to the town's revenue

B．the actors of the RSC imitate Shakespeare on and off stage

C．the two branches of the RSC are not on good terms

D．the townsfolk earn little from tourism

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第5题

（非英语专业做）Increasingly over the past 10 years, People especially young people have bec

（非英语专业做）

Increasingly over the past 10 years, People especially young people have become aware of the need to change their eating habits, because much of the food they eat, particularly processed foods, is not good for health. Consequently, there has been a growing interest in natural foods: foods which do not contain chemical additives and which have not been affected by chemical fertilizers widely used in farming today.

Natural foods, for example, include vegetables, fruit and grain which have been grown in soil that is rich in organic matter. In simple terms, this means that the soil has been nourished by unused vegetable matter, which provides it with essential vitamins and minerals. This in itself is a natural process compared with the use of chemicals and fertilizers, the main purpose of which is to increase the amount but not the quality of foods grown in commercial farming areas.

Natural foods also include animals which have been allowed to feed and move freely in healthy pastures. Compare this with what happens in the mass production of poultry: There are battery farms, for example, where thousands of chickens live crowded together in one building and are fed on food which is little better than rubbish. Chickens kept in this way are not only tasteless as food; they also produce eggs which lack important vitamins.

It is significant that nowadays fiber is considered to be an important part of a healthy diet. In white bread, for example, the fiber has been removed. But it is present in unrefined flour and of course in vegetables. It is interesting to note that in countries where the national diet contains large quantities of unrefined flour and vegetables, certain diseases are comparatively rare. Hence the emphasis placed on the eating of whole meal bread and more vegetables by modern experts on "healthy eating".

People have become more interested in natural foods because______.

A．they like changing their diet from time to time

B．they want to eat food that is more delicious

C．much of the food they eat is no longer considered to be healthy

D．they want to be fashionable

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第6题

Americans don't like to lose wars. Of course, a lot depends on how you define just what a

war is. There are shooting wars—the kind that test patriotism and courage—and those are the kind at which the U.S. excels. But other struggles test those qualities too. What else was the Great Depression or the space race or the construction of the railroads？ If Americans indulge in a bit of flag-waving when the job is done, they earned it.

Now there is a similar challenge: global warming. The steady deterioration (恶化) of the very climate of this very planet is becoming a war of the first order, and by any measure, the U.S. is losing. Indeed, if America is fighting at all, it's fighting on the wrong side. The U.S. produces nearly a quarter of the world's greenhouse gases each year and has stubbornly made it clear that it doesn't intend to do a whole lot about it. Although 174 nations approved the admittedly flawed Kyoto accords to reduce carbon levels, the U.S. walked away from them. There are vague promises of manufacturing fuel from herbs or powering cars with hydrogen. But for a country that tightly cites patriotism as one of its core values, the U.S. is taking a pass on what might be the most patriotic struggle of all. It's hard to imagine a bigger fight than one for the survival of a country's coasts and farms, the health of its people and the stability of its economy.

The rub is, if the vast majority of people increasingly agree that climate change is a global emergency, there's far less agreement on how to fix it. Industry offers its plans, which too often would fix little. Environmentalists offer theirs, which too often amount to na; ve wish lists that could weaken America's growth. But let's assume that those interested parties and others will always be at the table and will always demand that their voices be heard and that their needs be addressed. What would an aggressive, ambitious, effective plan look like—one that would leave the U.S. both environmentally safe and economically sound？

Halting climate change will be far harder. One of the more conservative plans for addressing the problem calls for a reduction of 25 billion tons of carbon emissions over the next 52 years. And yet by devising a consistent strategy that mixes short-term solutions with far-sighted goals, combines government activism with private-sector enterprise and blends pragmatism (实用主义) with ambition, the U.S. can, without major damage to the economy, help halt the worst effects of climate change and ensure the survival of its way of life for future generations. Money will do some of the work, but what's needed most is will. "I'm not saying the challenge isn't almost overwhelming," says Fred Krupp. "But this is America, and America has risen to these challenges before."

What does the passage mainly discuss？

A．Human wars.

B．Economic crisis.

C．America's environmental policies.

D．Global environment in general.

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第7题

仔细阅读：The wallet is heading for extinction. As a day-to-day essential

Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.

The wallet is heading for extinction. As a day-to-day essential, it will die off with the generation who read print newspapers. The kind of shopping－where you hand over notes and count out change in return—　now happens only in the most minor of our retail encounters，like buying a bar of chocolate or a pint of milk from a comer shop. At the shops where you spend any real money, that money is increasingly abstracted. 　　And this is more and more true, the higher up the scale you go. At the most cutting-edge retail stores—Victoria Beckham on Dover Street, for instance—you don’t go and stand at any kind of cash register when you decide to pay. The staff are equipped with iPads to take your payment while you relax on a sofa.

Which is nothing more or less than excellent service, if you have the money. But across society, the abstraction of the idea of cash makes me uneasy. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned. But earning money isn’t quick or easy for most of us. Isn’t it a bit weird that spending it should happen in half a blink (眨眼) of an eye？ Doesn’t a wallet—that time-honoured Friday-night feeling of pleasing, promising fatness—represent something that matters？

But I’ll leave the economics to the experts. What bothers me about the death of the wallet is the change it represents in our physical environment. Everything about the look and feel of a wallet—the way the fastenings and materials wear and tear and loosen with age, the plastic and paper and gold and silver, and handwritten phone numbers and printed cinema tickets—is the very opposite of what our world is becoming. The opposite of a wallet is a smartphone of an iPad. The rounded edges, cool glass, smooth and unknowable as pebble (鹅卵石). Instead of digging through pieces of paper and peering into corners, we move our fingers left and right. No more counting out coins. Show your wallet, if you still have one. It may not be here much longer.

56. What is happening to the wallet？

A) It is disappearing. C) it is becoming costly.

B) It is being fattened. D) It is changing in style.

57. How are business transactions done in big modern stores？

A) Individually. C) In the abstract.

B) Electronically. D) Via a cash register.

58. What makes the author feel uncomfortable nowadays？

A) Saving money is becoming a thing of the past.

B) The pleasing Friday-night feeling is fading.

C) Earning money is getting more difficult.

D) Spending money is so fast and easy.

59. Why does the author choose to write about what’s happening to the wallet？

A) It represents a change in the modern world.

B) It has something to do with everybody’s life.

C) It marks the end of a time-honoured tradition.

D) It is the concern of contemporary economists.

60.What can we infer from the passage about the author？

A)He is resistant to social changes.

B)He is against technological progress.

C)He feels reluctant to part with the traditional wallet.

D)He fells insecure in the ever-changing modern world.

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第8题

Questions 16～20 are based on the following passage． As a wise man once said，we are all ul

timately alone． But an increasing number of Europeans are choosing to be so at an ever earlier age． This isn’t the stuff of gloomy philosophical contemplations，but a fact of Europe’s new economic landscape，embraced by sociologists，real-estate developers and ad executives alike． The shift away from family life to solo lifestyle，observes a French sociologist，is part of the “irresistible momentum of individualism”over the last century． The communications revolution，the shift from a business culture of stability to one of mobility and the mass entry of women into the workforce have greatly wreaked havoc on （扰乱）Europeans’ private lives.．Europe’s new economic climate has largely fostered the trend toward independence．The current generation of home-aloners came of age during Europe’s shift from social democracy to the sharper，more individualistic climate of American style. capitalism．Raised in an era of privatization and increased consumer choice，today’s tech-savvy （精通技术的）workers have embraced a free market in love as well as economics．Modern Europeans are rich enough to afford to live alone，and temperamentally independent enough to want to do so．Once upon a time，people who lived alone tended to be those on either side of marriage-twenty something professionals or widowed senior citizens．While pensioners，particularly elderly women，make up a large proportion of those living alone，the newest crop of singles are high earners in their 30s and 40s who increasingly view living alone as a lifestyle. choice．Living alone was conceived to be negative-dark and cold，while being together suggested warmth and light.．But then came along the idea of singles．They were young，beautiful，strong! Now，young people want to live alone．The booming economy means people are working harder than ever．And that doesn’t leave much room for relationships．Pimpi Arroyo，a 35-year-old composer who lives alone in a house in Paris，says he hasn’t got time to get lonely because he has too much work．“I have deadlines which would make life with someone else fairly difficult.．Only an Ideal Woman would make him change his lifestyle，he says.．Kaufmann，author of a recent book called “The Single Woman and Prince Charming，”thinks this fierce new individualism means that people expect more and more of mates，so relationships don’t last long-if they start at all．Eppendorf，a blond Berliner with a deep tan，teaches grade school in the mornings．In the afternoon she sunbathes or sleeps，resting up for going dancing．Just shy of 50，she says she’d never have wanted to do what her mother did-give up a career to raise a family．Instead，“I’ve always done what I wanted to do： live a self-determined life．

第16题：More and more young Europeans remain single because （）．

A．they are driven by an overwhelming sense of individualism

B．they have entered the workforce at a much earlier age

C．they have embraced a business culture of stability

D．they are pessimistic about their economic future

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第9题

In the classic marriage vow(誓约),couples promise to stay together in sickness and in

In the classic marriage vow（誓约),couples promise to stay together in sickness and in

health. But a new study finds that the risk of divorce among older couples rises when the wife—not the husband— becomes seriously ill.

"Married women diagnosed with a serious health condition may find themselves struggling with the impact of their disease while also experiencing the stress of divorce," said researcher Amelia Karraker. Karraker and co-author Kenzie Latham analyzed 20 years of data on 2,717 marriages from a study conducted by Indiana University since 1992. At the time of the first interview, at least one of the partners was over the age of 50.

The researchers examined how the onset(发生)of four serious physical illnesses affected marriages. They found that, overall, 31% of marriages ended in divorce over the period studied. The incidence of new chronic(慢性的)illness onset increased over time as well, with more husbands than wives developing serious health problems. "We found that women are doubly vulnerable to marital break-up in the face of illness," Karraker said. "They're more likely to be widowed, and if they're the ones who become ill, they're more likely to get divorced."

While the study didn't assess why divorce is more likely when wives but not husbands become seriously ill, Karraker offers a few possible reasons. "Gender norms and social expectations about caregiving may make it more difficult for men to provide care to sick spouses," Karraker said. "And because of the imbalance in marriage markets, especially in older ages, divorced men have more choices among prospective partners than divorced women."

Given the increasing concern about health care costs for the aging population, Karraker believes policymakers should be aware of the relationship between disease and risk of divorce.

"Offering support services to spouses caring for their other halves may reduce marital stress and prevent divorce at older ages," she said. "But it's also important to recognize that the pressure to divorce may be health-related and that sick ex-wives may need additional care and services to prevent worsening health and increased health costs."

91.What can we learn about marriage vows from the passage_____

A.They may not guarantee a lasting marriage.

B.They are as binding as they used to be.

C.They are not taken seriously any more.

D.They may help couples tide over hard times.

92.What did Karraker and co-author Kenzie Latham find about elderly husbands_____

A.They are generally not good at taking care of themselves.

B.They can become increasingly vulnerable to serious illnesses.

C.They can develop different kinds of illnesses just like their wives.

D.They are more likely to contract serious illnesses than their wives.

93.What does Karraker say about women who fall ill_____

A.They are more likely to be widowed.

B.They are more likely to get divorced.

C.They are less likely to receive good care.

D.They are less likely to bother their spouses.

94.Why is it more difficult for men to take care of their sick spouses according to Karraker_____

A.They are more accustomed to receiving care.

B.They find it more important to make money for the family.

C.They think it more urgent to fulfill their social obligations.

D.They expect society to do more of the job.

95.What does Karraker think is also important_____

A.Reducing marital stress on wives.

B.Providing extra care for divorced women.

C.Stabilizing old couples' relations.

D.Making men pay for their wives, health costs.

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第10题

You don’t have to start over from（)A、 scratchB、 headC、 again

You don’t have to start over from()

A、 scratch

B、 head

C、 again

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第11题

I didn’t expect you to turn _____ at the meeting yesterday.A.upB.toC.outD.over

A.up

B.to

C.out

D.over

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