She took up skating at age 85, made her first movie appearance at age 114, and held a concert in the neighborhood on her 121st birthday.

　　    When it comes to long life, Jeanne Calment is the world’s recordholder. She lived to the ripe old age of 122. So is 122 the upper limit to the human life span（寿命）? If scientists come up with some sort of pill or diet that would slow aging, could we possibly make it to 150－or beyond?

　　    Researchers don’t entirely agree on the answers. “Calment lived to 122, so it wouldn’t surprise me if someone alive today reaches 130 or 135, ”says Jerry Shay at the University of Texas.

　　    Steve Austad at the University of Texas agrees. “People can live much longer than we think, ”he says. “Experts used to say that humans couldn’t live past 110. When Calment blew past that age, they raised the number to 120. So why can’t we go higher? ”

　　    The trouble with guessing how old people can live to be is that it’s all just guessing. “Anyone can make up a number, ”says Rich Miller at the University of Michigan. “Usually the scientist who picks the highest number gets his name in Time magazine. ”

　　    Won’t new anti-aging techniques keep us alive for centuries? Any cure, says Miller, for aging would probably keep most of us kicking until about 120. Researchers are working on treatments that lengthen the life span of mice by 50 percent at most. So, if the average human life span is about 80 years, says Miller, “adding another 50 percent would get you to 120. ”

　　    So what can we conclude from this little disagreement among the researchers? That life span is flexible（有弹性的）, but there is a limit, says George Martin of the University of Washington. “We can get flies to live 50 percent longer, ”he says. “But a fly’s never going to live 150 years. ”Of course, if you became a new species （物种）, one that ages at a slower speed, that would be a different story, he adds.

　　    Does Martin really believe that humans could evolve （进化）their way to longer life? “It’s pretty cool to think about, ”he says with a smile.

1. What does the story of Jeanne Calment prove to us?

A．People can live to 122.

B．Old people are creative.

C．Women are sporty at 85.

D．Women live longer than men.

2. According to Steve Austad at the University of Texas, ______.

A．the average human life span could be 110

B．scientists cannot find ways to slow aging

C．few people can expect to live to over 150

D．researchers are not sure how long people can live

3. Who would agree that a scientist will become famous if he makes the wildest guess at longevity?

A．Jerry Shay.　                           B．Steve Austad

C．Rich Miller　                           D．George Martin

4. What can we infer from the last three paragraphs?

A．Most of us could be good at sports even at 120.

B．The average human life span cannot be doubled

C．Scientists believe mice are aging at a slower speed than before.

D．New techniques could be used to change flies into a new species

 

When other nine-year-old kids were playing games, she was working at a petrol station. When other teens were studying or going out, she struggled to find a place to sleep on the street. But she overcame these terrible setbacks to win a highly competitive scholarship and gain entry to Harvard University. And her amazing story has inspired a movie, “Homeless to Harvard：The Liz Murray Story” , shown in late April.

Liz Murray , a 22-- year-- old American girl, has been writing a real--life story of willpower and determination. Liz grew up in the shadow of two drug--addicted parents. There was never enough food or warm clothes in the house. Liz was the only member of the family who had a job. Her mother had AIDS and died when Liz was just 15 years old. The effect of that loss became a turning point in her life. Connecting the environment in which she had grown up with how her mother had died, she decided to do something about it.

Liz went back to school. She threw herself into her studies, never telling her teachers that she was homeless. At night, she lived on the streets. “What drove me to live on had something to do with understanding, My understanding was that there was a whole other way of being. I had only experienced a small part of society,” she wrote in her book Breaking Night.

She admitted that she used envy to drive herself on. She used the benefits that come easily to others, such as a safe living environment, to encourage herself that "next to nothing could hold me down". She finished high school in just two years and won a full scholarship to study at Harvard University. But Liz decided to leave her top university a couple of months earlier this year in order to take care of her father, who has also developed AIDS. "I love my parents so much. They are drug addicts. But I never forget that they love me all the time."

　　Liz wants moviegoers to come away with the idea that changing your life is "as simple as making a decision".

1. The word “setback” in the first paragraph most probably means___________?

A．danger

B．difficulty

C．unhappiness

D．disaster

2.What’s the best title of the passage?

A．Liz’s Harvard Dream	B．Bitter Childhood of Liz
C．Liz’s Love for Her Parents	D．Liz’s Struggle for Her Life

3.What actually made Liz throw herself into her studies ?

A．Her parents’ addiction to drugs	B．Her mother’ s disease
C．Lack of food and clothes	D．Her mother’ s death

4. According to the passage, which is NOT true about Liz?

A．strong-- willed

B．envious

C．determined

D．respectful

 

Japanese students work very hard but many are unhappy．They feel heavy pressures from their parents to do well in school．Most students are always being told by their parents to study harder so that they can have a wonderful life．Though this may be good ideas for those very bright students，it can have very bad results for many students who are not quick enough at learning．
Unfortunately，a number of students killed themselves．Others are after comfort in using drugs．Some do bad things with trouble-makers and turn to crime．Many of them have tried very hard at school but have failed in the exams and have disappointed their parents．Such students feel that they are less important and leave school before they have finished their study．
It is surprising that though most Japanese parents are worried about their children, they do not help them in any way．Many parents feel that they are not able to help their children and that it is the teachers' work to help their children．To make matters worse, a lot of parents send their children to special school called juku-cram schools．These schools are open during the evening and on weekends, and their only purpose is to prepare students to pass exams, they do not try to educate students in any real sense of the real world. It thus comes as a shock to realize that almost three quarters of the junior or high school population attend these cram schools．　 　　　
Ordinary Japanese schools usually have rules about everything from the students' hair to their clothes and things in their school bag．Child psychologists now think that such strict rules often lead to a feeling of being unsafe and being unable to fit into society．They regard the rules as being harmful to the development of each student．They believe that no sense of moral values is developed and that students are given neither guidance nor training in becoming good citizens．
【小题1】A lot of Japanese students are unhappy at school because              　　

A．they work very hard	B．they find they can't do well at school
C．they feel unimportant	D．they are under too much pressure

【小题2】Because of their failure at school, some students take drugs to          

A．kill themselves	B．seek comfort
C．disappoint their parents	D．make trouble

【小题3】What should be the best title of the passage?

A．Students' Pressure

B．Students' Problems

C．The Negative Impact(影响) of Japanese Education

D．The Trouble in Japanese Schools

【小题4】In juku-cram schools students              ．

A．are taken good care of by the teachers	B．feel no pressure
C．are trained to pass exams	D．can learn a lot of useful things

【小题5】In ordinary Japanese schools，       ．

A．there are strict rules	B．students feel safe
C．students can do anything	D．learning is not important

Young people and older people do not always agree. They sometimes have different ideas about living, working and playing. But in one special program in New York State, adults and teenagers live together in a friendly way.

　　Each summer 200 teenagers and 50 adults live together for eight weeks as members of a special work group. Everyone works several hours each day. They do so not just to keep busy but to find meaning and fun in work. Some teenagers work in the forests or on the farms near the village. Some learn to make things like tables and chairs and to build houses. The adults teach them these skills.

　　There are several free hours each day. Weekends are free, too. During the free hours some of the teenagers learn photo-taking or drawing. Others sit around and talk or sing. Each teenager chooses his own way to pass his free time.

　　When people live together, they should have rules. In this program the teenagers and the adults make the rules together. If someone breaks a rule, the problem goes before the whole group. They talk about it and ask, “Why did it happen? What should we do about it?”

　　One of the teenagers has said something about it, “You have to stop thinking only about yourself. You learn how to think about the group.”

1.In one special program in New York State, young and older people_______.

A．don’t work well together

B．are friendly to each other

C．teach each other new ways of building houses

D．spend eight weeks together, working as farmers

2.All the members work some time every day mainly to________.

A．lead a busy life

B．learn new skills of farming

C．get used to the life on the farms

D．find useful things and pleasure in work

3.Living together, ________.

A．the teenagers don’t have to obey the rules

B．the members have to obey the rules the adults make

C．the members have no free time but on weekends

D．the members should not break the rules they make together

4.The best title for the passage is________.

A．The Rules of Living Together

B．Life in New York State

C．Teenagers and Adults Together

D．Free Hours in the Special Work Group

 

.

第四部分短文改错：（共10小题，每小题1分）

　　此题要求改正所给短文中的错误。对标有题号的每一行做出判断：如无错误，在该行右边横线上画一个勾（√）；如有错误（每一行只有一个错误），则按下列情况改正。

　　该行多一个词；把多余的词用线（＼）划掉，在该行右边横线上写出该词，并也用斜线划掉。

　　该行缺一个词；在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），在该行右边横线上写出该加的词。

　　该行错一个词；在错的词下划一横线，在该行右边横线上写出改正后的词。

注意：原行没有错的不要改。

When my father bought me a computer as gift                 76. _________

in last year, I felt very excited. As we all know, computers    77. _________

are getting more and more usefully now. Much information    78. _________

can be stored in them. We can also learn that has lately                79. _________

happened in the world in the Internet. In the past, people had   80. _________

to do lots of work which were very dangerous. Now, computers 81. _________

can do it instead. When an exam is coming, I often did some    82. _________

exercises on my computer. Then it will correct it and tell           83. _________

me the right answers. In this way it is easy for me to            84. _________

prepare an exam than before. The computer has become       85. _________

my real friend.