A recent study, while showing a generally positive attitude toward science, also suggests a widespread worry that it may be “running out of control”．This idea is dangerous．

       Science can be a force for evil as well as for good．Its applications can be channeled either way, depending on our decisions．The decisions we make, personally or collectively, will determine the outcomes of science．But here is a real danger．Science is advancing so fast is so strongly influenced by businesses that we are likely to believe whatever decisions we come to will make little difference．And, rather than fighting for the best possible policies, we may step back and do nothing．

       Some people go even further．They say that despite the moral and legal objections （反对）, whatever is scientifically possible will be done ——somewhere, sometime．They believe that science will get out of control in the end．This belief is dangerous too, because it a fuels sense of hopelessness and discourages them from making efforts to build a safer world．

       In our interconnected world, the lack of agreement in and of the world of science can lead to the failure to control the use of science．Without a common understanding, the challenges of “controlling” science in this century will be really tough．Take human cloning for example．Despite the general agreement among scientists on its possible huge impact （影响） on traditional moral values, some countries still go ahead with the research and development of its related techniques．The outcomes are hard to predict．

       Therefore, discussions on how science is applied should be extended far beyond scientific societies．Only through the united efforts of people with hope, can we be fully safe against the misuse of science and can science best serve mankind in the future．

What can we conclude from the recent study?

       A．People think highly of science．

       B．People hold mixed opinions about science．

       C．Science is getting dangerously out of control．

       D．Science is used for both good and bad purposes．

According to the passage, what will happen if we hold that science is getting beyond control?

       A．The development of science will hopelessly slow down．

       B．Businesses will have even greater influence on science．

       C．The public will lose faith in bringing about a bright future．

       D．People will work more actively to put science under control．

The discussion should reach beyond scientific societies because __________．

       A．scientists have failed to predict the outcomes

       B．the ties between different areas need strengthening

       C．united efforts are necessary for the development of science

       D．people need to work together to prevent the bad use of science

What is the main idea of the passage?

       A．Science and its applications bring us many dangers．

       B．The development of science mostly lies in people’s attitudes．

       C．Mankind can largely take control of science with their efforts．

       D．The future of science will be influenced by the dangerous ideas．

A Brown University sleep researcher has some advice for people who run high schools: Don’t start classes so early in the morning. It may not be that the students who nod off at their desks are lazy. And it may not be that their parents have failed to enforce (确保) bedtime. Instead, it may be that biologically these sleepyhead students aren’t used to the early hour.

“Maybe these kids are being asked to rise at the wrong time for their bodies,” says Mary Carskadon, a professor looking at problem of adolescent  (青春期的) sleep at Brown’s School of Medicine.

Carskadon is trying to understand more about the effects of early school time in adolescents. And, at a more basic level. she and her team are trying to learn more about how the biological changes of adolescence affect sleep needs and patterns.

Carskadon says her work suggests that adolescents may need more sleep than they did at childhood, no less, as commonly thought.

Sleep patterns change during adolescence, as any parent of an adolescent can prove. Most adolescents prefer to stay up later at nigh and sleep later in the morning. But it’s not just a matter of choice –their bodies are going through a change of sleep patterns.

All of this makes the transfer from middle school to high school—which may start one hour earlier in the morning  ---- all the more difficult , Carskadon says. With their increased need for sleep and their biological clocks set on the “sleep late, rise late” pattern, adolescent are up against difficulties when it comes to trying to be up by 5 or 6 a.m. for a 7:30 a.m. first bell. A short sleep on a desktop may be their body’s way of saying. “I need a timeout.”

Carskadon suggests that high schools should not start classes so early in the morning because ________.

A. it is really tough for parents to enforce bedtime

B. it is biologically difficult for students to rise early

C. students work so late at night that they can’t get up early

D. students are so lazy that they don’t like to go to school early

The underlined phrase “nod off” most probably means “ _______”.

A. turn around    B. agree with others  C. fall asleep  D. refuse to work

What might be a reason for the hard transfer from middle school to high school?

A. Adolescents depend more on their parents.

B. Adolescents have to choose their sleep patterns.

C. Adolescents sleep better than they did at childhood.

D. Adolescents need more sleep than they used to.

What is the test mainly about?

A. Adolescent heath care.      B. Problems in adolescent learning.

C. Adolescent sleep difficulties.   D. Changes in adolescent sleep needs and patterns.

A newly-published study has shown that loneliness can spread from one person to another, like a disease.

Researchers used information from the Framingham Study, which began in 1948. The Framingham Study gathers information about physical and mental health, personal behavior and diet. At first, the study involved about 5,000 people in the American state of Massachusetts. Now, more than 12,000 individuals are taking part.

Information from the Framingham Study showed earlier that happiness can spread from person to person. So can behaviors like littering and the ability to stop smoking.

University of Chicago psychologist John Cacioppo led the recent study. He and other researchers attempted to show how often people felt lonely. They found that the feeling of loneliness spread through social groups.

Having a social connection with a lonely person increased the chances that another individual would feel lonely. In fact, a friend of a lonely person was 52% more likely to develop feelings of loneliness. A friend of that person was 25% more likely. The researchers say this shows that a person could indirectly be affected by someone’s loneliness.

The effect was strongest among friends. Neighbors were the second most affected group. The effect was weaker on husbands and wives, and brothers and sisters. The researchers also found that loneliness spread more easily among women than men.

The New York Times newspaper reports that, on average, people experience feelings of loneliness about 48 days a year. It also found that every additional friend can decrease loneliness by about five percent, or two and a half fewer lonely days.

Loneliness has been linked to health problems like depression and sleeping difficulties. The researchers believe that knowing the causes of loneliness could help in reducing it.

The study suggests that people can take steps to stop the spread of loneliness. They can do this by helping individuals they know who may be experiencing loneliness. The result can be helpful to the whole social group.

What is true about the Framingham Study?

A. It was only conducted in 1948.        B. It involves more than 12,000 participants.

C. It was led by John Cacioppo          D. It showed that any behavior could spread.

From the passage, we can learn that            .

A. the habit of littering doesn’t spread

B. a lonely person won’t have friends

C. everyone may be affected by others’ loneliness

D. lonely people don’t know the cause of their loneliness

Which statement about the spread of loneliness is true?

A. The spreading effect was the second strongest among friends.

B. No spreading effect was found on husbands and wives.

C. Women are more likely to be affected than men.

D. Brothers are more easily affected than neighbors.

If you make 10 more friends in a year, the days of your feeling loneliness will be reduced by            .

A. 48 days          B. 25 days      C. 20 days      D. 15 days

What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Actions should be taken to help lonely people.  B. People feel lonely for many reasons.

C. Ways to fight against loneliness.             D. Lonely people can affect others.

On the 36th day after they had voted, Americans finally learned Wednesday who would be their next president: Governor George W. Bush of Texas.

Vice President Al Gore, his last realistic avenue for legal challenge closed by a U. S. Supreme Court decision late Tuesday, planned to end the contest formally in a televised evening speech of perhaps 10 minutes, advisers said.

They said that Senator Joseph Lieberman, his vice presidential running mate, would first make brief comments. The men would speak from a ceremonial chamber of the Old Executive office Building, to the west of the White House.

The dozens of political workers and lawyers who had helped lead Mr. Gore’s unprecedented fight to claw a come-from-behind electoral victory in the pivotal state of Florida were thanked Wednesday and asked to stand down.

“The vice president has directed the recount committee to suspend activities,” William Daley, the Gore campaign chairman, said in a written statement.

Mr. Gore authorized that statement after meeting with his wife, Tipper, and with top advisers including Mr. Daley.

He was expected to telephone Mr. Bush during the day. The Bush campaign kept a low profile and moved gingerly, as if to leave space for Mr. Gore to contemplate his next steps.

Yet, at the end of a trying and tumultuous process that had focused world attention on sleepless vote counters across Florida, and on courtrooms form Miami to Tallahassee to Atlanta to Washington the Texas governor was set to become the 43d U. S. president.

The news of Mr. Gore’s plans followed the longest and most rancorous dispute over a U. S. presidential election in more than a century, one certain to leave scars in a badly divided country.

It was a bitter ending for Mr. Gore, who had outpolled Mr. Bush nationwide by some 300000 votes, but, without Florida, fell short in the Electoral College by 271votes to 267—the narrowest Electoral College victory since the turbulent election of 1876.

Mr. Gore was said to be distressed by what he and many Democratic activists felt was a partisan decision from the nation’s highest court.

The 5-to –4 decision of the Supreme Court held, in essence, that while a vote recount in Florida could be conducted in legal and constitutional fashion, as Mr. Gore had sought, this could not be done by the Dec. 12 deadline for states to select their presidential electors.

James Baker 3rd, the former secretary of state who represented Mr. Bush in the Florida dispute, issued a short statement after the U. S. high court ruling, saying that the governor was “very pleased and gratified.”

Mr. Bush was planning a nationwide speech aimed at trying to begin to heal the country’s deep, aching and varied divisions. He then was expected to meet with congressional leaders, including Democrats. Dick Cheney, Mr. Bush’s ruing mate, was meeting with congressmen Wednesday in Washington.

When Mr. Bush, who is 54, is sworn into office on Jan.20, he will be only the second son of  a president to follow his father to the White House, after John Adams and John Quincy Adams in the early 19th century.

Mr. Gore, in his speech, was expected to thank his supporters, defend his hive-week battle as an effort to ensure, as a matter of principle, that every vote be counted, and call for the nation to join behind the new president. He was described by an aide as “resolved and resigned.”

While some constitutional experts had said they believed states could present electors as late as Dec. 18, the U. S. high court made clear that it saw no such leeway.

The U.S. high court sent back “for revision” to the Florida court its order allowing recounts but made clear that for all practical purposes the election was over.

In its unsigned main opinion, the court declared, “The recount process, in its features here described, is inconsistent with the minimum procedures necessary to protect the fundamental right of each voter.”

That decision, by a court fractured along philosophical lines, left one liberal justice charging that the high court’s proceedings bore a political taint.

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in an angry dissent:” Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year’s presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the nation’s confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the law.”

But at the end of five seemingly endless weeks, during which the physical, legal and constitutional machines of the U. S. election were pressed and sorely tested in ways unseen in more than a century, the system finally produced a result, and one most Americans appeared to be willing at lease provisionally to support.

The Bush team welcomed the news with an outward show of restraint and aplomb. The governor’s hopes had risen and fallen so many times since Election night, and the legal warriors of each side suffered through so many dramatic reversals, that there was little energy left for celebration.

The main idea of this passage is

[A]. Bush’s victory in presidential election bore a political taint.

[B]. The process of the American presidential election.

[C]. The Supreme Court plays a very important part in the presidential election.

[D]. Gore is distressed.

     What does the sentence “as if to leave space for Mr. Gore to contemplate his next step” mean

[A]. Bush hopes Gore to join his administration.

[B]. Bush hopes Gore to concede defeat and to support him.

[C]. Bush hopes Gore to congraduate him.

[D]. Bush hopes Gore go on fighting with him.

     Why couldn’t Mr. Gore win the presidential election after he outpolled Mr. Bush in the popular vote? Because

[A]. the American president is decided by the supreme court’s decision.

[B]. people can’t directly elect their president.

[C]. the American president is elected by a slate of presidential electors.

[D]. the people of each state support Mr. Bush.

     What was the result of the 5—4 decision of the supreme court?

[A]. It was in fact for the vote recount.

[B]. It had nothing to do with the presidential election.

[C]. It decided the fate of the winner.

[D]. It was in essence against the vote recount.

     What did the “turbulent election of 1876” imply?

[A]. The process of presidential election of 2000 was the same as that.

[B]. There were great similarities between the two presidential elections (2000 and 1876).

[C]. It was compared to presidential election of 2000.

[D]. It was given an example.

A computer virus is a program or piece of code that is loaded onto your computer without your knowledge and runs against your wishes. All computer viruses are manmade. Here are some virus prevention tips.

Do not open any files attached to an e-mail from an unknown, suspicious or untrustworthy source.

Do not open any files attached to an e-mail unless you know what it is, even if it appears to come from a dear friend or someone you know. Some viruses can replicate（复制） themselves and spread through e-mail. Better be safe that sorry and confirm that they really sent it .

Do not open any files attached to an e-mail if the subject line is questionable or unexpected. If the need to do so is there always save the file to your hard drive before doing so.

Delete chain e-mails and junk e-mail. Do not forward（转寄） or reply to any of them. These types of e-mail are considered spam（垃圾邮件）, which contains lots of annoying advertisements and useless information.

Do not download any files from strangers.

Be careful when downloading files from the Internet. Ensure that the source is a legitimate（合法的）and reputable one. Verify（证实）that an anti-virus program checks the files on the download site. If you are uncertain, don’t download the file at all or download the file to a floppy（软盘）and test it with your own anti-virus software.

Update your anti-virus software regularly. Over 500 viruses are discovered each month, so you’ll want to be protected. These updates should be at least the products virus signature files. You may also need to update the product’s scanning engine as well.

   Back up（备份） your files on a regular basis. If a virus destroys your files, at least you can replace them with your backup copy. You should store your backup copy in a separate location from your work files, one that is preferably not on your computer.

This passage mainly tells us              .

A. What a computer virus is

B. how to use e-mail safely

C. how to use computers safely

D. how to prevent computer viruses

Which of the following statements about computer virus is TRUE?

A. A computer virus is a kind of worm

B. Not all computer viruses are manmade

C. Computer viruses run according to our wishes

D. A computer virus is a program or piece of code.

When we use e-mail, we should                .

A. open all the files we receive

B. open any file even if we don’t know what it is

C. not open any files if the subject line is questionable

D. forward or reply to junk e-mail.

Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A. We’d better not down load any files from strangers.

B. We’d better download files from a legitimate and reputable source.

C. We should update our anti-virus software regularly.

D. We should store our backup copy in the same location as our work files.