Motherhood may make women smarter and may help prevent dementia(痴呆) in old age by bathing the brain in protective hormones(荷尔蒙) , U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.
Tests on rats show that those who raise two or more litters of pups do considerably better in tests of  memory and skills than rats who have no babies, and their brains show changes that suggest they may beprotected against diseases such as Alzheimer’s(早老痴呆症). University of Richmond psychology professor Craig Kinsley believes his findings will translate into humans.
“Our research shows that the hormones of pregnancy(怀孕) are protecting the brain, including estrogen(雌激素),which we know has many neuroprotective (保护神经的) effects,” Kinsley said. “It’s rat data but humans are mammals just like these animals are mammals,” he added in a telephone interview. “They go through pregnancy and hormonal changes.”Kinsley said he hoped public health officials and researchers will look to see if having had children protects a woman from Alzheimer’s and other forms of age-related brain decline.
“When people think about pregnancy, they think about what happens to babies and the mother from the neck down,”said Kinsley, who presented his findings to the annual meeting of the Society of Neuroscience in Orlando, Florida.“They do not realize that hormones are washing on the brain. If you look at female animals who have never gone through pregnancy, they act differently toward young. But if she goes through pregnancy, she will sacrifice her life for her infant—that is a great change in her behavior that showed in genetic alterations(改变) to the brain.”
【小题1】How do scientists know “Motherhood may make women smarter”?

A．Some researchers have told them.

B．Many women say so.

C．They know it by experimenting on rats.

D．They know it through their own experience.

【小题2】What can protect the brain of a woman according to the passage?

A．Estrogen.

B．The hormones of pregnancy.

C．More exercise.

D．Taking care of children.

【小题3】Which title is the best for this passage?

A．Do You Want to Be Smarter?

B．Motherhood Makes Women Smarter

C．Mysterious Hormones

D．An Important Study

In the rush to get to school, you drop a piece of toast on the floor. Do you throw it away or dec ide it’ s still OK to eat? If you’re like most people, you eat it. Maybe you follow the “5-second rule”, which claims foods are safe to eat if you pick them up within 5 seconds after dropping them. But you might want to think again. Scientists now say that 5 seconds is all it takes for foods to become polluted with enough bacteria（细菌） to make you sick.
Bacteria can cause many kinds of illnesses. Some kinds of bacteria can grow on food. If you eat foods on which these bacteria are growing, you can become sick.
One of these food-borne bacteria is Salmonella. It makes 1.4 million people sick every year. Salmonella is often found in raw eggs and chicken. Cooking kills these bacteria, which is why it is so important to cook eggs, chicken, and other foods thoroughly.
But how long does it take these bacteria to pollute food? A team of scientists in South Carolina did an experiment. First, they placed an amount of Salmonella on three surfaces; wood, tile (瓦片), and carpet. They placed a piece of bread and a piece of bologna（大腊肠） on each surface for 5,30, or 60 seconds. After just 5 seconds, both the bread and the bologna picked up enough bacteria to make you sick.
So forget the 5-second rule. If your toast drops on the floor, throw it away and get another piece of clean toast. This time, be careful not to drop it!
【小题1】 In which part of a newspaper can you most probably find this passage?

A．Culture

B．Health

C．Advertisement

D．Technology

【小题2】After dropping a piece of toast , a person who follows the “5-second rule”will

A．throw away dirty toast immediately and go away

B．pick up the toast as quickly as possible and eat it

C．eat the toast within 5 seconds and feel pleased

D．get another piece of clean toast quickly and eat it

【小题3】 The scientists in South Carolina did the experiment to

A．see how quickly bacteria can pollute food

B．show that the 5-second rule a correct

C．see how harmful bacteria are to people’ health

D．show that bacteria grow at different speeds on different foods

【小题4】 What’s the writer’s attitude to the “5-second rule”?

A．Positive

B．Negative

C．Neutral (中立)

D．Cautious (谨慎)

The ozone layer(臭氧层) is a thin layer of gas around the earth. It forms a special “blanket” around the planet. This “blanket” protects the earth from dangerous rays produced by the sun. Without the ozone layer, the earth’s climate could warm to dangerous levels. This increase in temperature would threaten our survival. Scientists recently have discovered a hole in the ozone layer above the Antarctica. Now there is great concern that this warning has started, endangering all life on the earth.
What has destroyed part of the ozone layer? Scientists do not know for sure. They suspect that our popular spray cans (喷漆罐) have played a part in the damage. Many spray cans contain dangerous gases. These gases might have destroyed the ozone layer fifteen miles above the earth’s surface, The chemicals used in refrigerators (冰箱) and air conditioners may contribute to the problem, too.
Many scientists believe that the destruction of the ozone layer is a serious problem for people everywhere. Global warming could change weather patterns around the world. Farmers and ranchers(牧场主) could find it more and more difficult to produce enough food for the earth’s people. If more of the sun’s dangerous rays reached the earth, there also could be an increase in skin cancers. Some skin cancers might cause people to die. Although some scientists do not believe there is a serious danger, obviously no one wants to take any chance on such a possibility.
Can scientists repair the hole in the ozone layer? They really don’t know the answer to that question. Can people do anything to save the ozone layer that the earth still has? Scientists stress the need to limit the use of spray cans and other items that contain the dangerous gases. This will not be an easy task. People all over the world use these items. Solving the problem certainly will require commitment and cooperation from everyone.
【小题1】The ozone layer exists to _____.

A．warm the earth to a proper level for life

B．protect the earth from dangerous sun rays

C．make all life on the earth in a dangerous situation

D．prevent human beings from being harmed from the earth

【小题2】Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Scientists aren’t sure what has destroyed part of the ozone layer.

B．Scientists recently have discovered a hole in the Antarctica.

C．Scientists prove that spray cans have destroyed part of the ozone layer.

D．Global warming doesn’t affect weather patterns around the world.

【小题3】 The following may do harm to the ozone layer EXCEPT ______.

A．spray cans

B．refrigerators

C．ranchers

D．air conditioners

【小题4】 Saving the ozone layer needs everyone’s effort because _____.

A．scientists are badly in need of others’ help

B．items containing dangerous gases should be forbidden

C．scientists can’t afford so much money to take measures

D．people all over the world use items containing dangerous gases

A funny thing happened on the way to the communication revolution: we stopped talking to one another.
I was walking in the park with a friend recently, and his cell phone rang, interrupting our conversation. There we were, walking and talking on a beautiful sunny day and suddenly, I became invisible, absent from the conversation.
The telephone used to connect you to the absent. Now it makes people sitting next to you feel absent. Why is it that the more connected we get, the more disconnected I feel? Every advance in communication technology is a tragedy to the closeness of human interaction. With email and instant messaging over the Internet, we can now communicate without seeing or talking to one another. With voice-mail, you can conduct entire conversations without ever reaching anyone. If my mom has a question, I just leave the answer on her machine.
As almost every contact we can imagine between human beings gets automated, the emotional distance index goes up. You can’t even call a person to get the phone number of another person any more. Directory assistance is almost always fully automated.
I am not against modern technology. I own a cell phone, an ATM card, a voice-mail system, and an email account. Giving them up isn’t wise. They’re a great help to us. It's some of their possible consequences that make me feel uneasy.
More and more, I find myself hiding behind e­mail to do a job meant for conversations or being relieved with voice-mail picking up because I don't really have time to talk. The industry devoted to helping me keep in touch is making me lonelier.
【小题1】Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?

A．The Advance of Modern Technology

B．The Consequences of Communication Technology

C．The Story of Communication Revolution

D．The Automation of Modern Communication

【小题2】Which is NOT TURE according to the passage?

A．The author has decided not to use his phone when he is with his friend.

B．Modern technology makes it hard for people to have a face-to-face talk.

C．The limited use of communication device brings much inconvenience to the author.

D．The industry intended to keep people in touch is taking them away from each other.

【小题3】The writer feels that the use of modern communication is ______.

A．satisfying	B．encouraging
C．disappointing	D．embarrassing

【小题4】The passage implies that ______.

A．modern technology is bridging the people

B．modern technology is separating the people

C．modern technology is developing too fast

D．modern technology is interrupting people

Unknown to most Facebook users, the social network actually offers a lot of privacy controls and security features which can help you lock your account, so you can speak freely. If it’s used properly, you’ll never have to worry about whether you will have to “friend” your boss or your mom. You can friend anyone you want while staying comfortable in the knowledge that not everyone gets to see everything you post.
The problem with carrying out these privacy options is that they’re just too confusing for most non-tech clever people to handle. And often, most people don’t want to bother to take the time to learn. To simplify the process, we’re offering one easy step you can take today to help make your Facebook experience safer, more secure, and more private.
Just make “Friend Lists”. Yes, it will take some time, especially if you’re connected to a couple of hundred friends already. But this step, while not the quickest, is fairly simple. And it will be one of the most useful things you can do on Facebook.
Friend lists, as the name suggests, are lists for classifying your friends into various groups. The nice thing about this feature is that once you set these lists up, you won’t have to do it again. We suggest that you put your work colleagues and professional acquaintances into a friend list named “Work”, personal friends you’re not very close with into a list called “Acquaintances”, and people you’re related to into a list called “Family”. Those three main categories will separate out the groups of “friends” who you may want to hide some information from.
To create a friend list, click on “Friends” at the top of the Facebook homepage. In the left-hand column, click “Friends” again under the “Lists” section. Now you’ll see a button at the top that says “Create New List”. Click it. In the pop-up that appears, you can name your list and pick members. If you’ve ever shared an application with your friends, the process of doing this will be very familiar.
When you’ve finished making lists, you’ll be able to use them when selecting who can see what (or who can’t!) when configuring (配置) the security settings described below.
【小题1】What function isn’t understood by most people on Facebook?

A．Surfing the Internet.

B．Setting safety protection.

C．Sharing personal information.

D．Making foreign friends.

【小题2】What can we learn about Facebook according to the text?

A．Its process of privacy-setting is too complex.

B．It displays everything people post.

C．It lacks privacy controls and security features.

D．Its post is designed for technical people.

【小题3】What advantage can we get from making friend lists?

A．We can avoid our bosses adding us as friends.

B．We can share applications with friends.

C．We can separate acquaintances from family.

D．We can hide different information from different friends.

Going green seems to be fad(时尚)for a lot of people these days. Whether that is good or bad, we can’t really say, but for the tow of us, going green is not a fad but a lifestyle.
On April22, 2011, we decided to go green every single day for an entire year. This meant doing 365 different green things, and it also meant challenging ourselves to go green beyond easy things. Rather than recycle and reduce our energy, we had to think of 365 different green things to do and this was no easy task.
With the idea of going green every single day for a year, Our Green Year started. My life and I decided to educate people about how they could go green in their lives and hoped we could show people all the green things that could be done to help the environment. We wanted to push the message that every little bit helps.
Over the course of Our Green Year, we completely changed our lifestyle. We now shop at organic(有机的)stores. We consume less meat, choosing green food. We have greatly reduced our buying we don’t need. We have given away half of what we owned through websites. Our home is kept clean by vinegar and lemon juice, with no chemical cleaners. We make our own butter, enjoying the smell of home-made fresh bread. In our home office anyone caught doing something ungreen might be punished.
Our minds have been changed by Our Green Year. We are grateful for the chance to have been able to go green and educate others. We believe that we do have the power to change things and help our planet.
【小题1】What might be the best title for the passage?

A．Going Green.	B．Protecting the Planet.
C．Keeping Open-Minded	D．Celebrating Our Green Year.

【小题2】 It was difficult for the couple to live a green life for the whole year because_________.

A．they were expected to follow the green fad

B．they didn’t know how to educate other people

C．they were unwilling to reduce their energy

D．they needed to perform unusual green tasks

【小题3】What did the couple do over the course of Our Green Year?

A．They tried to get out of their ungreen habits.

B．They ignore others’ ungreen behavior.

C．They chose better chemical cleaners.

D．They sold their home-made food.

【小题4】What can we infer form the last paragraph?

A．The government will give support to the green people.

B．The couple may continue their project in the future.

C．Some people disagree with the couple’s green ideas.

D．Our Green Year is becoming a national campaign.

Using too much water or throwing rubbish into our rivers are clear ways that humans can put our water supply in danger ,but we also affect our water supply in less obvious ways .You may wonder how paving(铺砌) a road can lead to less useable fresh water. A major part of the water we use every day is groundwater . Groundwater does not come from lakes or rivers .It come from underground . The more roads and parking lots we pave ,the less water can flow into the ground to become groundwater .
Human activity is not responsible for all water shortages(短缺). Driver climates are of course more likely to have droughts(干旱) than areas with more  rainfall  ,but in any case, good management can help to make sure there is enough water to meet our basic needs .
Thinking about the way we use water every day can make a big difference ,too In the United States ,a family of four can use 1.5tons of water a day ! This shows how much we depend on water to live ,but there’s a lot we can do to lower the number .
You can take steps to save water in your home .To start with ,use the same glass for your drinking water all day .Wash it only once a day .Run your dishwasher (洗碗机)only when it is full .Help your parents fix any leaks in your home . You can even help to keep our water supply clean by recycling batteries instead of throwing them away .
【小题1】Which of the following is most likely to lead to less groundwater ?

A．Using river water .

B．Throwing batteries away .

C．paving parking lots .

D．Throwing rubbish into lakes .

【小题2】What can be inferred from the text ?

A．All water shortages are due to human behavior .

B．It takes a lot of effort to meet our water needs .

C．There is much we can do to reduce family size .

D．The average family in America makes proper use of water .

【小题3】The last paragraph is intended to              .

A．show us how to fix leaks at home

B．tell us how to run a dishwasher

C．prove what drinking glass is best for us

D．suggest what we do to save water at home

【小题4】The text is mainly about            .

A．Why paving roads reduces our water

B．how much we depend on water to live

C．why droughts occur more in dry climates

D．how human activity affects our water supply

In the past ten years, many scientists have studied the differences between men and women. And they all got the same answer: The sexes(性别) are different, because their brains are different. And this, the scientists say, makes men and women see the world in different ways.
Boys, for example, generally are better than girls at mathematical ideas. Boys also generally are better than girls at the kind of hand and eye movements necessary for ball sports. Girls, on the other hand generally start speaking earlier than boys. And they generally see better in the dark than boys and are better at learning foreign languages.
What makes men and women better at one thing or another? The answer is the brain. The brain has two sides connected by nerve(神经) tracks. The left side generally is used for mathematics, speech and writing. The right side is used for artistic creation(创造) and the expression for emotions(情感). In men and women, different areas in each side of the brain develop differently. In boys, for example, it’s the area used for mathematics. In girls, it is the area used for language skills. Another interesting difference is that the two sides of a man’s brain are connected by a smaller number of nerves than the two sides of a woman’s brain are.
【小题1】Which of the following is the best title of the article?

A．Research on the Brain

B．Men and Women are Different in Brain

C．People’s Different Brains

D．Who Are Better, Boys or Girls

【小题2】__________ men and women think differently.

A．The different brains make

B．Sex makes

C．The different experiences make

D．The influences(影响) of society make

【小题3】According to the article, girls are generally better than boys at __________ in your school.

A．mathematics

B．physics

C．English

D．chemistry

【小题4】Which of the following is true?

A．The left side of brain in boys generally develops better than that in girls.

B．The left side of brain in girls generally develops better than that in boys.

C．Men are better than women in all things.

D．The area in girls used for language skills develops better.

【小题5】60. The number of nerves connecting the two sides of the brain in men __________.

A．is the same as women’s

B．is different from women’s

C．is larger than women’s

D．is twice as large as women’s

Australian scientists are trying to give kangaroo-style stomachs to cattle and sheep in order to cut the greenhouse gases they send out，which is thought to be responsible for global warming．
Thanks to special bacteria in the stomachs，kangaroo flatulence（肠胃气胀）contains no methane（甲烷）and scientists want to transfer that bacteria to cattle and sheep which produce large quantities of the harmful gas．
While the usual image of greenhouse gas pollution is a huge factory chimney pushing out carbon dioxide，farm animals’ passing wind contributes to a surprisingly high percentage of total emission（排放物）in some countries．
“Fourteen percent of emissions from all sources in Australia is from methane from cattle and sheep，’’said Athol Klieve，a senior research scientist with the Queensland state government．
“And if you look at another country such as New Zealand，which has got a much higher agricultural base，they are actually up around 50 percent，”he said．
Researchers say the bacteria also make the digestive process much more efficient and could potentially save millions of dollars in feed costs for farmers．
But it will take researchers at least three years to isolate the bacteria before they can even start to develop a way of transferring it to cattle and sheep．
Another group of scientists，meanwhile，has suggested Australians should farm fewer cattle and sheep and just eat more kangaroos．And about twenty percent of health-conscious Australians are believed to eat the national symbol already．
“It’s low in fat，it’s got high protein levels and it’s very clean in the sense that basically it’s the free-range（放养的）animal，”said Peter Ampt of the University of New South Wales’s institute of environmental studies．
【小题1】The passage mainly talks about ________.

A．a better way to prevent air pollution

B．the danger of methane from farm animals

C．possible solutions to protecting environment

D．a recent research on global warming

【小题2】 Scientists intend to put the bacteria into cattle and sheep in order to ________.

A．prevent them from sending out harmful gases

B．promote Australian farming

C．protect Australian ecosystem

D．make the most of the special bacteria

【小题3】Another possible solution to the problem is ________.

A．to reduce the number of animals raised on farms

B．to eat more kangaroos rather than keep more sheep and cattle

C．to eat more plants rather than beef and mutton

D．to grow more trees to absorb carbon dioxide

【小题4】From the passage we learn that ________.

A．it is easy to transfer the bacteria to cattle and sheep

B．farm animals are to blame for global warming in some countries

C．cattle and sheep produce more methane than kangaroos

D．less cattle and sheep are raised in New Zealand

Scientists are developing a new kind of machine to take the place of humans. These machines can do jobs in places that are too dangerous for humans. For example, they are being developed to work in nuclear power center, deep under the oceans and in outer space.
John Marrit, a psychologist(心理学家) in Williamsburg Massachusetts, helped develop the new machine. This is how they work. A machine is placed in an area far away from the person who operates it. The person wears special hard hat with television screens and sound equipment. The screens and sound equipment let the person see and hear exactly what the machine is seeing and hearing. Mr. Marrit says this gives the person the feeling of being in the same place as the machine. The idea, he says, is being there without going there. The person uses an electronic control to make the machine move. The machine copies the person’s movements exactly. If the person raises his right arm, the machine raises the right arm, too. This means an expert can do a dangerous job while staying in the safe place. For example, a person can direct the machine to destroy a bomb without going near the bomb himself.
【小题1】The new kind of machine being introduced in the passage is _______.

A．in existence	B．only an idea
C．being tried out	D．being researched and developed

【小题2】The machine _______.

A．follows the person’s order

B．is controlled by a computer

C．does exactly what the person does

D．is controlled by a television on the person’s head

【小题3】The difference between such a new machine and a robot is that _______.

A．the new machine is more difficult to make than a robot

B．the new machine is more difficult to be controlled

C．a robot is controlled by man indirectly

D．a robot can’t be used in places too dangerous or faraway