2. What does the phrase “litters of pups” mean in the second paragraph?

A. Baby rats.　　　　 B. Animals.　　 C. Old rats.　　　　　　 D. Grown-up rats.

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.

3. D。推断题。文章讨论地中海中的两座城市下沉的原因，显然与地质科学有关，故选D。注意不宜选A，一个显然的因素是第1段中出现的yesterday。

(4)

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. reseachers 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 be protected 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.”

2. B。推断题。根据文章中所提到的与之相关的名称，如：French underwater explorer Franck Goddio, a Paris-based underwater research organization, Napoleon’s fleet可推知此题答案为B。

1. D。推断题。文章只对城市下沉的原因作了一些推测但未作出结论。由此可推知此题答案为D。

3. This article is probably from _______.

A. a scientific magazine

B. a report to the government

C. a school text book

D. a scientific report in a newspaper

[答案解析]

本文报道了人们对法国地中海中的两座城市沉如海底的各种推测。

2. From the story we can draw a conclusion that _______.

A. the two port cities were famous for their wealth and the mystery

B. the two cities belonged to France

C. some mysterious creatures from other planets destroyed the two cities

D. the American Geophysical Union conference was once held in one of the two cities

1. The reason why the two port cities disappeared under the waters of Mediterranean Sea is that ______.

A. the two port cities were destroyed by huge earthquakes

B. the disappearance of the two port cities was caused by underwater landslide

C. rising seas and a shift in the Nile River outlet doomed the cities

D. the story didn’t tell us at all

4. A。推断题。根据第4段第2句话 Bandwidth(宽带) is the limiting factor for sending complex(复杂) medical pictures around the world - CT photos being one of the biggest bandwidth users可知答案为A。

(3)

Scientists are uncovering the secrets of two port cities lost under the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, a researcher said yesterday.

Herakleion and Menouthis were rich and proud cities until something reduced them to rubble (碎石) and buried them in the mud beneath 30 feet of sea water, French underwater explorer Franck Goddio said at the American Geophysical Union conference.

“This is a mystery that is ongoing,” said Goddio, a founder of the European Institute of Marine Archeology, a Paris-based underwater research organization backed by the wealthy Hilti Foundation of Liechtenstein(列支敦士登基金会).

The destruction of the twin port cities has haunted Goddio ever since he happened upon the site about 15 miles from Alexandria while exploring sunken ships from Napoleon’s fleet.

Goddio and his group of expert divers, marine archeologists(海洋考古学家) and others, are using high powered vacuums, satellite navigation systems and sophisticated sonar(声纳) to excavate(挖掘) the sunken cities from underneath a carpet of silt about one meter (three feet) high.

Walls of shops, remains of streets and gold artifacts have been found and recovered.

Some experts believe that the port cities were destroyed by a series of massive earthquakes, much like the quakes scientists believe felled Troy(特洛伊城), Jericho and other ancient cities. The uniform direction of the collapsed columns and walls suggest an earthquake, Goddio said, but no fault lines have been found nearby.

Other researchers believe a massive wave, caused by either an offshore earthquake or a distant underwater landslide, could explain the catastrophe. Still others think rising seas and a shift in the Nile River outlet doomed the cities.

“The argument, as you can see, continues,” Goddio said.

3. D。判断题。网上可以看病并不就是说病人去医院不需要医生，排除A项；通过电话发送病人的信息是可行的，排除B项；现在至少有一个医疗队想用远程医疗来治疗疾病，C项也不对；根据文章最后一句话With the falling price of broadband communications, the new technologies should start a new time when telemedicine and the sharing of medical information, experts’ opinions and diagnosis are common 可以肯定答案是D。