Will it matter if you don’t take your breakfast?Recently a test was given in the United States．Those tested included people of different ages, from 12 to 83．During the experiment, these people were given all kinds of breakfasts, and sometimes they got no breakfast at all．Special tests were set up to see how well their bodies worked when they had eaten a certain kind of breakfast．The results show that if a person eats a proper breakfast, he or she will work with better effect than if he or she has no breakfast．This fact appears to be especially true if a person works with his brains．If a student eats fruit, eggs, bread and milk before going to school, he will learn more quickly and listen with more attention to class．

　　Opposite to what many people believe, if you don’t eat breakfast, you will not lose weight．This is because people become so hungry at noon that they eat too much for lunch, and end up gaining weight instead of losing．You will probably lose more weight if you reduce your other meals．

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阅读理解：

　　A young woman carrying a three-year-old child got on a bus．The conductor hurried to give her a warm welcome and then kindly asked the other passengers to make more room for the woman and her child．On seeing this, people began to talk．“You know this conductor used to be very rude．Now suddenly he has changed his bad behavior,”said a middle-aged man．

　　“Yes, he should be praised and we must write a letter to the company,”said a second passenger．“That’s right,”another lady said,“I wish a newspaper reporter were here so that more people could learn from this conductor．”

　　Just then a gentleman who looked like a teacher turned to the conductor and said,“Excuse me, but can I know your name, please?Your excellent service must be praised…”

　　Before he could open his mouth, the three-year-old child sitting on the young woman’s lap interrupted,“I know his name．I call him Dad．”

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　　A new era is upon us．Call it what you will：the service economy, the information age, the knowledge society．It all translates to a basic change in the way we work．Already we’re partly there．The percentage of people who earn their living by making things has fallen seriously in the Western World．Today most of jobs in America, Europe and Japan(two thirds or more in many of these countries)are in the service industry, and the number is on the rise．More women are in the work force than ever before．There are most part-time jobs．More people are self-employed．But the breadth of the economic transformation(转变)cannot be measured by numbers alone, because it also is giving rise to a completely new way of thinking about the nature of work itself．Longheld ideas about jobs and careers, the skills needed to succeed, even the relation between employers and employees –all these are being challenged．

　　We have only to look behind us to get some sense of what may lie ahead．No one looking ahead 20 years possibly could have foreseen the ways in which a single invention, the chip(芯片), would transform our world thanks to its applications in personal computers, digital communications and factory robots．Tomorrow’s achievements in biotechnology(生物工程学), artificial intelligence(人工智能)or even some still unimagined technology could produce a similar wave of dramatic changes．But one thing is certain：information and knowledge will become even more important, and the people who possess it, whether they work in manufacturing or services, will have the advantage and produce the wealth．Computer knowledge will become as basic a requirement as the ability to read and write．The ability to solve problems by applying information instead of performing normal tasks will be valued above all else．If you cast your mind ahead 10 years, information services will be the most important．It will be the way you do your job．

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　　Olympic volunteer hopefuls from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan stand a better chance if they are bilingual．Priority will be given to applicants who have“special skills”and can speak languages other than English and Chinese．

　　“We warmly welcome those people from above-mentioned areas, who are qualified for being a volunteer, to put in an application,”Liu Jian, office director of Beijing Olympic Games Volunteer Work Coordination Group, said．

　　Liu made the remarks yesterday at a press conference to officially launch(开始)the volunteer recruitment(招募)drive from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and foreign countries for the 2008 Games．

　　Volunteer requirements can be found at the official website www.beijing2008.cn, or by calling the hotline on 8610-12308．

　　Recruitment for volunteers in Beijing began on August 28, 2006．In areas outside the capital, it began on January 19 this year．

　　To date, more than 400,000 people have sent in applications, more than 270,000 of them from Beijing．

　　“According to the latest application results, we still need a lot of volunteers with foreign language skills other than English,”Li Binghua, executive vice –president of BOCOG, said．

　　Of course, these applicants must be able to communicate with other people in Chinese Putonghua, he said．

　　Volunteers will mainly be needed in eight fields depending on their skills including VIP guest liaison and language services, driving, media services, competition organization, medical treatment, and security examination．

　　The application websites are www.hab.gov.hk(Hong Kong), www.sport.gov.mo(Macao), www.bjtx.org(Taiwan), www.bjqb.gov.cn(overseas Chinese), and www.ebeijing.gov.cn(foreigners)．

　　Applications in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and foreign countries will conclude by the end of March 2008．BOCOG will finalize the recruitment drive by the end of May 2008．

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阅读理解

　　One of the greatest killers in the Western world is heart disease．The death rate from the disease has been increasing at an alarming speed for the past thirty years．Today in Britain, for example, about four hundred people a day die of heart disease．Medical experts know that people can reduce their chances of getting heart disease by exercising regularly, by not smoking, by changing their diets, and by paying more attention to reducing stress in their work．

　　However, Western health-care systems are still not paying enough attention to the prevention of the disease．There is a need for more programs to educate the public about the causes and prevention of heart disease．Instead of supporting such programs, however, the U.S．health –care system is spending large sums of money on the surgical(外科的)treatment of the disease after it develops．This emphasis on treatment clearly has something to do with the technological advances that have taken place in the past ten to fifteen years．In this time, modern technology has enabled doctors to develop new surgical techniques．Many operations that were considered impossible or too risky(有风险的)a few years ago are now performed every day in U．S．hospitals．The result has been a huge increase in heart surgery．

　　Although there is no doubt that heart surgery can help a large number of people, some people point out that the emphasis on the surgical treatment of the disease has three clear disadvantages．First, it attracts interest and money away from the question of prevention．Second, it causes the costs of general hospital care to rise．After hospitals buy the expensive equipment that is necessary for modern heart surgery, they must try to recover the money they have spent．To do this, they raise costs for all their patients, not just those patients whose treatment requires the equipment．The third disadvantage is that doctors are encouraged to perform surgery-even on patients for whom an operation is unnecessary-because the equipment and expert skills are there．A government office recently stated that major heart surgery was often performed even though its chances of success were low．In one type of heart surgery, for example, only 15 percent of patients improved their conditions after the surgery．However, more than 100,000 of these operations are performed in the United States every year．

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　　Not very long ago, a special family system existed in certain parts of South India．In this system, the actual head of a family unit was the mother's brother, though the mother also had an important position in the family．In families of this kind, a husband was actually no more than a visitor．He didn’t live with his wife, but with his own mother, brothers and sisters in another house．He saw his sons and daughters sometimes, but the man who actually fed and cared for them and acted as their father was their uncle－their mother’s brother．

　　But this system, in which brothers and sisters take the place of the father, no longer exists in South India except in a few villages．Economic changes have had far-reaching effect on family life．Family left began to change when men went out to work in factories and offices instead of working with their mothers, brothers and sisters on the land．When a man went out to work he had money of his own and could buy his own land and build his own family, instead of depending on his mothers and his brothers．He wanted to be independent(独立).This is an example of the way in which economic relations can have an effect on family relationships．

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　　Some“doctors”use magic; others use needles and others use pills．Who are they?

　　Among the Indians of North America the medicine man was a very important person．He could cure illnesses, and he could speak to the spirits－the supernatural forces that control the world．

　　The Indians believed that bad spirits made people ill．So, when people were ill, the medicine man tried to help them by using magic; he spoke to the good spirits and asked for their help．Many people were cured because they thought the spirits were helping them．But really those people cured themselves．Sometimes your own mind is the best doctor for you．The medicine men were often successful for another reason, too．They knew about plants that really can cure illnesses．A lot of modern medicines are made from plants that were used by medicine men hundreds of years ago．

　　For more than five thousand years Chinese doctors have used needles to fight illness．This kind of medicine is called acupuncture(针灸).The doctor studies the sick person carefully．Then he puts needles　into that person’s body at the right places for his illness．Chinese doctors believe that they can control the body’s natural forces in this way．At first, doctors in the west thought that this was just another kind of magic．Recently, however, they have found out that it is possible to cure many illnesses like this because the needles help the body to produce its own medicines．In this way the body cures itself．

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阅读理解

　　There was great interest when a big hole mysteriously appeared in the middle of field．Engineers were called in to explain how it had got there．They offered various explanations but were not at all sure how the hole had been caused．It was thought that a large bomb which came suddenly exploded, but it was not possible to prove this．A“simple”,but highly improbable explanation was offered by a man who declares to know well about“flying saucers”the strange objects which are round in shape and are said to visit the earth from the outer space．The man's explanation may have been nonsense(胡说八道),but at least it was imaginative．At any rate, it was far more interesting than the one given by the army．

　　After examining the ground carefully the man declared to have seen special marks on the soil quite near the hole．These, he said, could only have been caused by a flying saucer．Moreover, the leaves on some bushes nearby had turned yellow because of a strange hot gas which had come from the saucer just before it landed．Even a small tree some way off appeared to have been burnt slightly．A small piece of metal found in the hole itself gave further proof that a strange object had been there．According to the man, it was quite clear that people from another world had been going around the earth trying to pick up information, when something had gone wrong．Because of this they had been forced to land in the field so that the damage could be repaired．The hole had been caused when the saucer struck the earth, while the strange marks nearly were made when it took off again．This, said the man, was the simplest explanation of how the hole had appeared．Judging from the interest the public took in the matter, there must be quite a few people who secretly believe or hope that this“simple”explanation is the true one．

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　　China began work on one of the world’s longest bridges in Zhejiang Province On June 8．The 36km bridge over Hangzhou Bay will cut the journey between Ningbo and Shanghai by 120km．

　　The construction work is expected to be finished in five years and the bridge will open for traffic in 2009．The project will cost 11.8 billion yuan and is thought to last 100 years．

　　The bay itself is at the center of a densely populated region that includes Shanghai on the northern edge and the major port of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, to the south．

　　Shanghai and Ningbo have close economic ties, but it is 304 kilometers long between the two cities．The bridge will shorten the distance by 120km．The flat structure could be the longest sea – crossing bridge in the world．According to the Guinness Book of Records, the record over water is now held by the lake-crossing bridge in Lousiana, US, at 38.5km．

　　Jin Jianming, an official in charge of the Chinese bridge project says that the new bridge reflects China’s growing economic power．

　　The bridge is also one part of a 5,200-km highway planned as a link between the northern province of Heilongjiang and the southernmost city of Sanya on the island province of Hainan．

　　Work on the dam began a week after engineers began filling the Three Gorges Dam reservoir on the Yangtze River．

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