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　　I cry easily．I cried when a boy in the film suffered from an incurable disease．I cried when an athlete broke a world record．

　　One night my wife and I were going to dinner at a friend ' s．As we went towards the house, I noticed a car pulling out from the sidewalk．Just ahead, another car was waiting to back into the parking space．But before he could do so a yellow car came up from behind and sneaked into the space．

　　While my wife went ahead into our friend' s house, I stepped into the street．

　　"Hey," I said, "this parking space belongs to that guy．" I gestured towards the man ahead, who was looking back angrily．At that moment I was feeling pretty manly．

　　" Mind your own business!" the driver told me．

　　"No," I said．"You don' t understand．That fellow was waiting to back into this space．"

　　Things quickly heated up, until finally he jumped out of the car．My God, he was extremely large．He grabbed me and shook his rock of a fist at me．I tasted blood．I was terrified．

　　Almost in a panic, I ran to my friend ' s front door．As a former Marine(海军), as a man, I felt absolutely embarrassed as my wife and friends asked me what had happened．All I could say was that I had had an argument about a parking space．They were sensitive and let it go at that．

　　Perhaps half an hour later, the doorbell rang．For some reason I was sure that the huge man had returned for me．My blood ran cold．My hostess got up to answer it, but I stopped her．I knew I had to face up to my fear．

　　I opened the door．There he stood．" I came back to apologize," he said in a low voice．"I am ashamed of myself．The Brooklyn Navy Yard where I've worked for ten years is closing．Today I got laid off．I' m not myself．I hope you" ll accept my apology．

　　I remembered that after I closed the door, I stood there for a few minutes alone with tears in my eyes．

阅读理解

　　Earthquakes are something that people fear．There are some places that have few or no earthquakes．Most places in the world，however，have them regularly(有规律的)．Countries that have a lot of earthquakes are usually quite mountainous(多山的)．

　　The most talked about earthquake in the United States was in San Francisco in 1906．Over 700 people died in it．The strongest one in North America was in 1964．It happened in Alaska．

　　Strong earthquakes are not always the ones that kill the most people．In 1755，one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded was felt in Portugal．Around 2,000 people died．

　　In 1923，a very strong earthquake hit the Tokyo，Yokohama area of Japan．A hundred and forty thousand people died．Most of them died in fires which followed the earthquake．

　　One of the worst earthquakes ever was in China in 2008．It killed a large number of people．The worst earthquake ever reported was also in China，in which 400,000 people were killed or injured．This earthquake happened in 1556．

　　Earthquakes worry people a lot．The reason is that we often do not know when they are coming．People can not prepare for it．

阅读理解

　　Everyone who has eaten instant noodles(方便面)before knows how it looks like．It is very easy to cook it instantly by putting the noodles into the boiling water and add in those MSG(味精)packets(小包), together with your other food like eggs or vegetables．However, have you ever wondered whether this is the correct way of cooking it? When you first took out the noodles from the packaging, you will notice that the noodles are joined together nicely as a piece．In order to make the noodles joined together nicely side by side it needs some form of wax coating(石蜡涂层)in order to show an attractive instant noodles in front of us．Many people who enjoy eating instant noodles frequently do not really think too much of it as it seems very normal to everyone to have it nicely shown in front of us．However, researches have shown that the layer(层)of wax coating on the noodles is quite harmful to our body and we should not eat it too frequently．It is advisable to have a break of 2-3 days before we start to eat another packet of instant noodles as our body need about 3 days to clear that layer of wax coating away from our body system．Do you know the danger of having too much wax coating stored in our stomach? It will lead to CANCER if it is stored in our body system for a long period of time．

　　There are 2 key points to take note while preparing instant noodles：

　　1)Wash the instant noodles with warm water first, stir(搅和)it and pour away the water containing the wax coating．

　　2)Repeat Step 1 and try to stir the noodles again to wash away the wax coating on the noodles before cooking it in a new pot of water．

　　Hope this article will let more people have self-awareness of the hidden danger of instant noodles and thus eat safely and stay healthy．

阅读理解

　　Sometimes we make friends with unexpected people．For example, who would have thought that a spider would make friends with a pig? But in E．B．White’s classic novel “Charlotte Web”, this is exactly what happens．

　　The pair will appear in a movie at the end of this year．

　　In the story, Wilbur is an ill-fated(倒霉的)pig．When he is born, he is so small that the farmer decides to end the pig’s life．Fortunately, the farmer’s daughter stops him from killing Wilbur and volunteers to raise the pig in a barnyard．

　　Wilbur grows day by day and makes many friends in the barnyard, including the spider, Charlotte．However, one day a sheep tells Wilbur that he will be served up as dinner．But Charlotte is determined to save her friend from this danger．By making words such as “famous pig” in her web, she persuades the farmer that Wilbur is some sort of supernatural animal, too important to kill．After Wilbur is saved, Charlotte is so tired that she finally dies．

　　Unusually, the author makes a spider the heroine of the book．Spiders are normally creatures many people regard with fear．Charlotte does everything in her power to keep Wilbur alive．It shows how a strong friendship can last through the worst possible times．

　　Who would you like to make friends with if you could?

阅读理解

Have you ever been to London? Here is some hotel information for you．

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　　Do American children still learn handwriting in school? In the age of the keyboard, some people seem to think handwriting lessons are on the way out．90％of teachers say they are required to teach handwriting．But studies have yet to answer the question of how well they are teaching it．One study published this year found that about three out of every four teachers say they are not prepared to teach handwriting．Some teachers are teaching handwriting by providing instruction for 10 to 15 minutes a day, and then other teachers who basically teach it for 60 to 70 minutes a day－which really for handwriting is pretty much．

　　Many adults remember learning that way－by copying letters over and over again．Today' s thinking is that short periods of practice are better．Many experts also think handwriting should not be taught by itself．Instead, they say it should be used as a way to get students to express ideas．After all, that is why we write．

　　Handwriting involves two skills．One is legibility, which means forming the letters so they can be read．The other is fluency－writing without having to think about it．Fluency continues to develop up until high school．

　　But not everyone masters these skills．Teachers commonly report that about one fourth of their kids have poor handwriting．Some people might think handwriting is not important any more because of computers and voice recognition programs．

　　But Steve Graham at Vanderbilt says word processing is rarely done in elementary school, especially in the early years．American children traditionally first learn to print, and then to write in cursive, which connects the letters．But guess what we learned from a spokeswoman for the College Board, which administers the SAT college admission test．More than 75 percent of students choose to print their essay on the test rather than write in cursive．

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　　Dirty language, curse words, swearing．These are all ways of describing words people consider socially unacceptable．But such words are commonly said after a painful injury．So, do they serve a purpose in reducing physical pain? That is what researchers in Britain set out to discover．

　　Psychologist Richard Stephens wondered if using curse words truly helped people reduce physical pain．To test the theory, he asked more than 60 college students to take part in an experiment．

　　The students were asked to write down five words they might say after injuring their finger．One of the words was chosen as their swear word．The students were also asked to choose five words they might use to describe another object：a table．These words were their control words．

　　The students were then asked to hold their hand in freezing water for as long as they could．While holding their hand underwater, they were asked to repeat a swear word．Then they repeated the experiment using their control word instead．

　　The researchers found a link between swearing and an increased ability to deal with pain．When students repeated a swear word, they were able to hold their hand longer in the cold water．They said they experienced less pain when using swear words．

　　The experiment showed that swearing caused people's heart rate to increase, which permits the body to experience or ignore pain better．It also found interesting differences between men and women．The heart rate of both men and women increased．Yet swearing had a greater effect on women．

　　It is unclear to scientists exactly how swearing affects physical reactions to pain．Professor Stephens believes that swearing activates a different part of the brain than normal language．He says more experiments on different kinds of pain are needed to better understand the effect of swearing．

　　The researchers note that swear words have existed for hundreds of years．Their findings offer one reason why the custom of cursing may have continued for so long．Swear words are said with emotion．For that reason, the more someone swears, the less of an effect the words have．

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　　An online post listing office people's four most-hated modern inventions is gaining popularity．Read on to discover what modern professionals dislike．

　　Number one：The punch(打卡)machine．

　　32-year-old Mr．Zhang works for an IT company．He lists the punch machine as his number one workday enemy after a number of unavoidable incidents made him late to punch in for work．Zhang says most of his colleagues are hard-working people, but they feel like the boss doesn't trustthem when he uses a machine to evaluate their performance．Zhang plans tofind another job at a company that does not use a punch machine．

　　Number two：Instant noodles．

　　More and more people today realize that instant noodles do not make a healthy meal, but lack of time forces many white-collar workers to eat them instead of a regular dinner．27-year-old Mr．Zhu is a salesperson who is so busy at work that he doesn't even have time to wash his socks．He regularly eats fast food takeaways or instant noodles for dinner．

　　Number three：Mattresses．

　　Some elder employees tell newcomers that having a mattress at workis just like having a home at the company．To encourage their employees towork overtime, a number of companies have issued their employees with mattresses so that they can take a rest under their desks at any time of a day．People have started refusing the mattress and taking better care of their health after the media reported on a number of people who died due to overwork last year．

　　And last, but not least, the mobile phone．

　　A surgeon from a Beijing hospital says more and more white-collar workers are turning up with a strange disease which they call "mobile phone elbow ”．The patients' elbows are painful, and sometimes they can't even raise their hands．The doctor says the disease occurs when patients spend more than 4 hours on their mobiles．

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　　WENZHOU(Xinhua)－The train collision in east China's Zhejiang Province has killed 39 people and left 192 others injured as of Sunday night, said a spokesman with the Ministry of Railways．

　　A total of 132 people are still being treated in hospitals, said Wang Yongping, spokesman with the ministry at a press conference．Eleven people remain in critical condition, said Cheng Jinguo, head of the health bureau in the city of Wenzhou, where the collision happened Saturday night．Cheng said at the press conference that 52 people who suffered slight injuries had been discharged from hospital．Wang expressed condolences(哀悼)to the concerning families and sincere apology to all the passengers．

　　The train's "black box" has been discovered and the ministry is investigating the cause of the crash, Wang said．Wang said the ministry will make public the cause of the accident as soon as the investigation is done and publish the names of the killed and injured．

　　He said the crash has caused large number of casualties and great property losses．The ministry will find out the cause through thorough investigation and take effective measures to prevent similar accidents．

　　Despite the accident, the spokesman said the ministry is still confident in the high-speed train．"China's high-speed train is advanced and qualified．We have confidence in it," he said．

　　The damaged rails have been repaired and were ready to restart operation but the reopening was delayed by the stormy weather, according to Wang．Wang did not provide the exact time when the line would start operating again．

　　The accident occurred at about 8∶30 p.m．Saturday on a bridge near Wenzhou when bullet train D301 rear-ended D3115, which reportedly lost power after lightning strike．

阅读短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

　　Exercise may hold the key to youth, according to a study published recently which showed people who keep fit are up to nine years biologically younger than those who do not．

　　The findings are the first to show in humans how keeping fit affects the ageing process．

　　The study of 2, 401 twins found that a sedentary(惯于久坐的)lifestyle raises the risk of a range of problems from heart disease to cancer and appears to play a key role in the ageing process．

　　It all appears to boil down to the length of structures called telomeres－which protect the DNA on the chromosomes(染色体), the researchers from King's College London wrote in the Archives of Internal Medicine．

　　Many studies have shown telomeres get shorter over time, suggesting the cells are ageing or dying．The study, which extracted a DNA sample from their volunteers, found people who exercised more each week had longer telomeres．

　　Exercise lowers the risk of a range of problems such as heart disease, diabetes(糖尿病)and cancer, the researchers said．

　　“It is not just walking around the block．It is really working up a sweat,” said Tim Spector, a genetic epidemiologist(流行病学家)who led the study, in a telephone interview．

　　The study found people who exercised vigorously 3 hours each week had longer telomeres and they were 9 years biologically younger than people who did under 15 minutes．

　　Spector's team, who also adjusted for body weight, smoking, economic status and physical activity at work, also said moderate exercise for 1－1/2 hours each week provided a four－year advantage．

　　The reason why exercise has this effect is not clear but we believe physical activity somehow defends against the natural process．