Many of us believe that a person’s mind becomes less active as he grows older．But this is not true，according to Dr．Lissy F．Jarvik，professor of psychiatry(精神病学)at the University of California，Los Angeles，and a board member of the New Center for Aging at the Veterans Hospital．She has studied the mental functioning of aging persons for several years.For example，one of her studies concerns 136 pairs of twins, who were first examined when they were already 60 years old．As Dr．Jarvik continued the study of the twins into their 70s and 80s，their minds did not generally decline(下降)as was expected．

However，there was some decline in their psycho-motor(精神运动的)speed． This means that it took them longer to accomplish mental tasks than it used to．But when speed was not a factor，they lost very little intellectual (智力的) ability over the years.In general，Dr．Jarvik’s studies have shown that there is no decline in knowledge or reasoning ability．This is true not only into the 30s and 40s，but into the 60s and 70s as well．

As for learning new things，and ability to remember，studies by Dr．Jarvik and others show that the old are equal to the young．It is true that older people themselves often complain that their memory is not as good as it once was．However，much of  what we call“loss of memory”is not that at a11．

In the cases where the older person’s mind really seems to decline，it is not necessarilv a sign of a decay due to becoming old or“senility”．Often it is simply a sign of a depressed emotional state．This depression usually can be got rid of by counseling(咨询)with a psychologist，or medicine which fights depression.

In American society，when an older person loses something，we tend to call him or her“senile”．But notice that when a younger person loses something，he does not blame it on senility or loss of memory．He finds some other excuse!

1.A long-term study of 136 pairs of twins showed that the only factor that declined over the years was  .

A．mental health	B．intellectual ability
C．the amount of knowledge	D．psycho-motor speed

2.According to Dr．Jarvik’s studies，middle-aged and older persons should expect to     .

A．reason better	B．learn fewer new things
C．remember less	D．1ose little ability to remember

3.The word“senility”most likely means       .

A．excellent health	B．weakness in body and mind because of old age
C．occasional forgetfulness	D．giving up one’s life

4.Both younger and older persons should realize that          .

A．a sign of a decay due to old age or“senility’’is a common thing

B．older persons are wiser than younger ones because of different knowledge amount

C．senility or mental decay due to aging is much less common than most of us believe

D．a sign of a depressed emotional state is not a reason of decay

 

A 26-year-old Montreal man appears to have succeeded in his quest to barter a single， red paper clip(夹子) all the way up to a house. It took almost a year and 14 trades， but Kyle MacDonald has been offered a two-storey farmhouse in Kipling， Sask.， for a paid role in a movie.

MacDonald began his quest last summer when he decided he wanted to live in a house. He didn’t have a job， so instead of posting a resumé， he looked at a red paper clip on his desk and decided to trade it on an Internet website. The response was immediate —a fish pen was offered for exchange. MacDonald then bartered the fish pen for a handmade doorknob from a potter in Seattle.

In Massachusetts， MacDonald traded the doorknob for a camp stove. He traded the stove to a U.S. soldier in California for a generator. Then he exchanged the generator for an “instant party kit” — an empty keg(小桶) and an illuminated Budweiser beer sign. MacDonald then traded the keg and sign for a snowmobile. He bartered all the way up to an afternoon with rock star Alice Cooper， a KISS snow globe and finally a paid role in a Corbin Bernsen movie.

“Now， I’m sure the first question on your mind is， ‘Why would Corbin Bernsen trade a role in a film for a snow globe？ A KISS snow globe，’ MacDonald said on his website.”Well， Corbin happens to be arguably one of the biggest snow globe collectors on the planet.

Now， the town of Kipling， Sask.， Canada， with a population of 1,100， has offered MacDonald a farmhouse in exchange for the role in the movie. The town is going to hold a competition for the movie role.

MacDonald said： “There’re people all over the world that are saying that they have paper clips clipped to the top of their computer， or on their desk or on their shirt， and it proves that anything is possible and I think to a certain degree it’s true.”

MacDonald， who has attracted international media attention in his quest， said the journey has turned out to be more exciting than the goal. “This is not the end. This may be the end of this part of the story， but this story will go on.”

1.The best title for this passage is “　　　　”.

A.A lucky paper clip    B. From poor to rich

C.A lucky young man   D. From paper clip to house

2.The underlined word in line 1 means 　　　　.

A. to get something for free    B. to sell something at a price

C. to sell goods on the Internet  D. to exchange goods for other goods

3.Which shows the correct order of the trades？

A. Paper clip?snow globe?snowmobile?house

B. Paper clip?keg of beer?doorknob?snowmobile

C. Paper clip?camp stove?snowmobile?movie role

D. Paper clip?keg of beer?camp stove?snowmobile

4.Which statement about MacDonald’s trades is TRUE？

A. All of his trades were done in his country.

B.A film role was offered due to Bernsen’s hobby.

C. They took over a year and some of them were really unbelievable.

D. The house in Kipling has been offered to MacDonald to attract media.

5.What can we learn about MacDonald？

A. He wanted to gain fame through his quest.

B .His success largely depended on the Internet.

C. He never expected his aim could be achieved.

D. He intends to begin another quest on the Web.

 

四、写作（共两节，满分35分）

第一节 短文改错（共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分）

　　以下标有题号的每一行均有一个错误，请找出，并按下列情况改正：

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

　　此行缺一个词：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。

　　此行错一个词：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：请在答题卡上作答。

John stayed up late last night, so while he woke up in the                     76．__________

morning, it was already 9 o’clock. He thought, “I was late for                        77．__________

school.” Then he got dressed quickly and washed him                                           78．__________

in no more than ten seconds and hurried into living-room                               79．__________

where his mother was preparing for breakfast. Before his mother                           80．__________

could say anything, he told her, “Mum, it is too late that I                              81．__________

have no time enjoy my breakfast. Good-bye!” With these words                            82．__________

he got his schoolbag but ran out. On the way to school, he                              83．__________

rode fast. It took him ten minutes, four minutes less than usually, to                84．__________

come to the school gate. To his great surprises, it was closed. “Ha!                  85．__________

It is Saturday! How forgetful I am today!”

 

Once upon a time in a land far away, there was a wonderful old man who loved everything：animals, spiders, insects．．．

One day while walking through the woods, the nice old man found a cocoon（茧）of a butterfly．He took it home．A few days later, a small opening appeared; he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole．Then it seemed to stop making any progress．It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther．Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and cut off the remaining bit of the cocoon．

The butterfly then appeared easily．

But it had a swollen body and small, fragile wings．The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would be smaller in time．Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling （慢慢爬行）around with a swollen body and fragile wings．

It never was able to fly．

What the man in his kindness and hurry did not understand was that the limited cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were Nature's way of forcing fluid （液体）from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon．

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life．If we were allowed to go through our life without any obstacles and difficulties, it would disable us．We would not be as strong as what we could have been．And we could never fly．

【小题】The butterfly could never fly because ________．

A．it was too fat and strong．

B．it loved crawling around．

C．it got out of the cocoon easily．

D．it didn’t get through the cocoon ．

【小题】The text is most likely to be found in a book about__________．

A．popular science                  B．humorous stories．

C．successful people                D．philosophy events ．

【小题】What is the implied meaning of the passage?

A．Life without any obstacles and difficulties is perfect．

B．Obstacles and difficulties contribute to success．

C．Never help a butterfly to get out of the cocoon．

D．A butterfly can never fly without going through the cocoon．

 

I would like to tell you a story about my uncle Theo. He is my oldest uncle, a tall, thin, grey-haired man whose thoughts are always on learning and nothing else. He is quiet, gentle and absent-minded and with about as much sense as a child where money is concerned. Well, he applied a post in Camford University. It was a very good post and there were hundreds of candidates who applied for it, and about fifteen, including Theo, were asked to be interviewed.

    Camford is a very small town; there is only one hotel in it, and it was so full that they had to put many of the candidates two in a room. Theo was one of these, and the man who shared the room with him was a self-confident fellow called Adams, about twenty years younger than Theo, with a loud voice, and a laugh that you could hear all over the hotel. But he was a clever fellow all the same and had a good post in Iscaiot College, Narkover. Well, the Dean, who was the head of the department of the University, and the committee interviewed all the candidates; and as a result of this interview, the number of the candidates was reduced to two, Uncle Theo and Adams. The committee couldn’t decide which of the two to take, so they decided to make their final choice after each of the candidates had given a public lecture in the college lecture-hall. The subject they had to speak on was “The Civilization of the Ancient Summerians”; and the lecture had to be given in three days’ time.

    Well, for these three days Uncle Theo never left his room. He worked day and night at that lecture, writing it out and memorizing it, almost without eating or sleeping. Adams didn’t seem to do any preparation at all. You could hear his voice and his laughter where he had a crowd of people around him. He came to his room late at night, asked Uncle Theo how he was getting on with his lecture, and then told him how he had spent the evening playing bridge, or at the music hall. He ate like a horse and slept like a log; and Uncle Theo sat up working at his lecture.

    The day of the lecture arrived. They all went into the lecture hall and Theo and Adams took their seats on the platform. And then, Theo discovered, to his horror,  that typewritten copy of his speech had disappeared! The Dean said they would call on the candidates on the alphabetical order, Adams first; and the despair in his heart, Theo watched Adams calmly take the stolen speech out of pocket and read it to the professors who were gathered to hear it. And how well he read it! Even Uncle Theo had to admit he couldn’t have read it nearly so eloquently himself, and when Adams finished there was a great burst of applause. Adams bowed and smiled, and sat down.

    Now, it was Theo’s turn. But what could he do? He had put everything he knew into the lecture. His mind was too much upset to put the same thoughts in another way. With a burning face he could only repeat, word for word, in a low, dull voice, the lecture that Adams had spoken so eloquently. There was hardly any applause when he sat down.

    The Dean and the committee went out to decide who the successful candidate was, but everyone was sure what their decision would be. Adams leaned across to Theo and patted him on the back and said, smilingly, “Hard luck, old fellow, but after all, only one of us could win”

    Then the Dean and the committee came back, “Gentlemen”, the Dean said, “the candidate we have chosen is Mr. Hobdell.” Uncle Theo had won! The audience were completely taken by surprise, and the Dean continued, “ I think I ought to tell you how we arrived at the decision. We were all filled with admiration at the learning and eloquence of Mr. Adams. I was greatly impressed. But, you will remember, Mr. Adams read his lecture to us. When Mr. Hobdell’s turn came, he repeated that speech, word by word from memory, though, of course, he couldn’t have seen a line of it before. Now a fine memory is absolutely necessary for this post; and what a memory Mr. Hobdell must have! This is why we decided that Mr. Hobdell was exactly the man we wanted! ”

    As they walked out of the room, the Dean came up to Uncle Theo, who was so confused but so happy that he hardly knew whether he was standing on his head or heels; and as he shook Theo’s hand he said, “Congratulations, Mr. Hobdell! But, my fellow, when you are on our staff, you must be more careful and not leave valuable papers lying about!”

 

1.. Which of the followings best describes Uncle Theo?

A. Good-mannered    B. Modest     C. Childish      D. Bookish

2. What do we know about the post at Camford University?

   A. The applicants had to sit for an examination.

   B. There was much competition for the post.

   C. The post requires a lot of teaching experience.

   D. The post offered quite high salary.

3.. Adams did not bother to do any preparation because______.

   A. he was quite familiar with the subject.

   B. he knew the committee members well.

   C. he had a well-thought-out plan.

   D. he had full confidence in himself.

4. When Uncle Theo’s turn came, _______.

   A. he felt so angry that he couldn’t see a word.

   B. he felt so upset that he could not remember anything.

   C. he had to put the same thoughts in another way.

   D. he had to repeat the speech, word by word from memory.

5. When the committee went out to make a decision, Adams _______.

   A. could not help feeling worried.

   B. could hardly wait to show his joy.

   C. felt sorry for Theo and tried to cheer him up.

   D. felt ashamed and tried to chat with Theo.

6.Theo became successful because _______.

   A. he had a better memory than Adams.

   B. he was more experienced than Adams.

   C. the committee knew he was exactly the man they wanted.

   D. the committee knew Adams had copied Theo’s speech.