Plants are chemical factories. Many of the chemicals that they produce are useful to humans. Besides food, plants provide material for paper, buildings, medicines and many others. Scientists study the chemicals to treat certain types of cancer.

On the other hand, the fast growth of the human population is changing the earth quickly. Only by understanding how human activities affect our environment can we predict global climate changes. Scientific studies of these changes and their effect on natural ecosystems and crop production are of great importance to the future of our society.

Other environmental issues, such as pollution, also interest scientists. Many plant species are especially sensitive to certain pollutants. Scientists study the effects of different types of pollution on plants. They use their results to advise lawmakers to make laws for environmental protection and to save priceless natural areas.

By using plant tissue culture（植物细胞培养），scientists can grow plants from single cells. This has exciting possibilities in biotechnology, forestry and so on. For example, the American chestnut was once a widespread tree in the Eastern forests. Today it has nearly disappeared because of a disease-producing fungus that causes chestnut to die. The American chestnut recently has been grown in plant tissue culture.

The earth’s biological diversity or the kinds of living things are decreasing. As humans change the environment for their own purposes, plants and animals living in these areas become increasingly endangered．Scientists work to identify and understand new plant species, especially in such biologically rich areas as rain forests. Perhaps a plant undiscovered now will become an important food crop. There are probably many undiscovered plants that produce useful drugs to cure or treat human disease. Biological diversity also provides an important source of new genes to improve the plants we now use. As techniques of genetic engineering improve, so will our ability to improve our plants.

1．Which of the following is not true according to this passage?

A．All the chemicals we need are produced by plants.

B．If we can understand how human activities affect our environment, we can predict global climate changes.

C．Science plays an important role in improving the plants.

D．Scientists use their scientific study results to make laws for environmental protection and to save priceless natural areas.

2．We can know from the Paragraph2 and Paragraph3 that_______.

A．it is global climate changes that endanger plant

B．human activities influence plants greatly

C．pollution does little harm to many plants

D．scientific studies on plant species are important to stop pollution

3．The underlined sentence means___________.

A．plants can produce many chemicals needed in chemical factory

B．plants can be made into many products in factories

C．scientists can use plants to study many chemicals

D．scientists can offer people many necessary materials

4．The importance of biological diversity lies in that_____________________.

A．we can have new species to take the place of the endangered

B．it can populate the earth with as many plants as possible

C．it has many possible values to human being

D．people may use it to cure or treat human disease

5．The best title for the passage might be ____________.

A．Finding New Plant Species

B．Botany and Society

C．The Chemical Factories

D．New Genes to Improve the Plants

 

There is one difference between the sexes on which every expert and study agrees: men are more aggressive than women. It shows up in 2-year-olds. It continues through school days and persists into adulthood. It is even constant across cultures. And there is little doubt that it is rooted in biology.

      If there's a woman’s trait(特点) which is the same as men’s aggressiveness, it's what social scientists refer to as the result of "education". Feminists have argued that the caring nature of women is not biological in origin, but rather has been forced into women by a society that wanted to keep them in the home. But the signs that it is at least partly inborn are too numerous to ignore. Just as tiny infant girls respond more readily to human faces, female toddlers(学步者) learn much faster than males how to pick up nonverbal cues（非言语暗示） from others. And grown women are far more skilful than men at interpreting facial expressions: A recent study by University of Pennsylvania brain researcher Ruben Gur showed that they easily read emotions such as anger, sadness and fear. The only such emotion men could pick up was disgust.

　 What difference do such differences make in the real world? Among other things, women appear to be somewhat less competitive--or at least competitive in different ways--than men. At the Harvard Law School, for instance, female students enter with qualities just as outstanding as those of their male peers. But they don' t qualify for the well-known Law Review in proper numbers, a fact some school officials owe to women' s discomfort in the incredibly competitive atmosphere.

　　Students of management styles have found fewer differences than they expected between men and women who reach leadership positions, perhaps because many successful women deliberately imitate men. But an analysis by Purdue social psychologist Alice Eagly of 166 studies of leadership style did find one difference: Men tend to be more “autocratic”-making decisions on their own--while women tend to consult colleagues more often.  Studies of behavior in small groups turn up even more differences. Men will typically dominate the discussion, says University of Toronto psychologist Kenneth Dion, spending more time talking and less time listening.

The passage mainly discusses__________.

　           A. how sex differences are demonstrated in social relations

　　      B. how hormone determines sex differences

　　      C. why there are differences between males and females

　　      D. why men and women have different social roles

Which of the following is true of women's nurturing nature according to the passage?

A. It is not inborn in any sense.

B. It is inspired by women’s families.

C. It is caused by social prejudice.

D. It is partly biological in origin.

The Harvard Law School example in paragraph 3 suggests that_________.

A. women are not as competitive as men

B. law is not the fight profession for women

C. women are as excellent as men when they are young

D. academic qualities are not equal to performance

Which of the following statement is true according to paragraph 4?

A. Men leaders should consult colleagues and subordinates more often.

B. Female leaders' success is due to their imitating male leaders.

C. Men and women are different in their leadership style.

D. Decisiveness is an important quality for a successful politician.

It can be inferred from the passage that the writer_________.

A. denies the difference sexes make in real life

B. is prejudiced against men

C. discourages women to be competitive

D. treats sex difference objectively

There is one difference between the sexes on which every expert and study agrees: men are more aggressive than women. It shows up in 2-year-olds. It continues through school days and persists into adulthood. It is even constant across cultures. And there is little doubt that it is rooted in biology.
If there's a woman’s trait(特点) which is the same as men’s aggressiveness, it's what social scientists refer to as the result of "education". Feminists have argued that the caring nature of women is not biological in origin, but rather has been forced into women by a society that wanted to keep them in the home. But the signs that it is at least partly inborn are too numerous to ignore. Just as tiny infant girls respond more readily to human faces, female toddlers(学步者) learn much faster than males how to pick up nonverbal cues（非言语暗示） from others. And grown women are far more skilful than men at interpreting facial expressions: A recent study by University of Pennsylvania brain researcher Ruben Gur showed that they easily read emotions such as anger, sadness and fear. The only such emotion men could pick up was disgust.
　 What difference do such differences make in the real world? Among other things, women appear to be somewhat less competitive--or at least competitive in different ways--than men. At the Harvard Law School, for instance, female students enter with qualities just as outstanding as those of their male peers. But they don' t qualify for the well-known Law Review in proper numbers, a fact some school officials owe to women' s discomfort in the incredibly competitive atmosphere.
　　Students of management styles have found fewer differences than they expected between men and women who reach leadership positions, perhaps because many successful women deliberately imitate men. But an analysis by Purdue social psychologist Alice Eagly of 166 studies of leadership style did find one difference: Men tend to be more “autocratic”-making decisions on their own--while women tend to consult colleagues more often.  Studies of behavior in small groups turn up even more differences. Men will typically dominate the discussion, says University of Toronto psychologist Kenneth Dion, spending more time talking and less time listening.
【小题1】The passage mainly discusses__________.
　          

A．how sex differences are demonstrated in social relations

B．how hormone determines sex differences

C．why there are differences between males and females

D．why men and women have different social roles

【小题2】Which of the following is true of women's nurturing nature according to the passage?

A．It is not inborn in any sense.

B．It is inspired by women’s families.

C．It is caused by social prejudice.

D．It is partly biological in origin.

【小题3】The Harvard Law School example in paragraph 3 suggests that_________.

A．women are not as competitive as men

B．law is not the fight profession for women

C．women are as excellent as men when they are young

D．academic qualities are not equal to performance

【小题4】Which of the following statement is true according to paragraph 4?

A．Men leaders should consult colleagues and subordinates more often.

B．Female leaders' success is due to their imitating male leaders.

C．Men and women are different in their leadership style.

D．Decisiveness is an important quality for a successful politician.

【小题5】It can be inferred from the passage that the writer_________.

A．denies the difference sexes make in real life

B．is prejudiced against men

C．discourages women to be competitive

D．treats sex difference objectively

From childhood to old age, we all use language as a means of broadening our knowledge of ourselves and the world about us.When humans first 1 , they were like newborn children, unable to use this 2 tool.Yet once language developed, the possibilities for human kind?s future 3 and cultural growth increased.

　　Many linguists believe that evolution is 4 for our ability to produce and use language.They 5 that our highly evolved brain provides us 6 an innate language ability not found in lower 7 . Proponents of this innateness theory say that our 8 for language is inborn, but that language itself develops gradually, 9 a function of the growth of the brain during childhood.Therefore there are critical 10 times for language development.

Current 11 of innateness theory are mixed, however, evidence supporting the existence of some innate abilities is undeniable. 12 , more and more schools are discovering that foreign languages are best taught in 13 grades.Young children often can learn several languages by being 14 to them, while adults have a much harder time learning another language once the 15 of their first language have become firmly fixed.

16 some aspects of language are undeniably innate, language does not develop automatically in a vacuum.Children who have been 17 from other human beings do not possess language.This demonstrates that 18 with other human beings isnecessary for proper language development.Some linguists believe that this is even more basic to human language 19 than any innate capacities.These theorists view language as imitative, learned behavior. 20 , children learn language from their parents by imitating them.Parents gradually shape their child's language skills by positively reinforcing precise imitations and negatively reinforcing imprecise ones.

1.A.generated B.evolved C.born D.originated

2.A.valuable B.appropriate C.convenient D.favorite

3.A.attainments B.feasibilityC.entertainments D.evolution

4.A.essential B.available C.reliable D.responsible

5.A.confirm B.inform C.claim D.convince

6.A.for B.from C.of D.with

7.A.organizations B.organisms C.humans D.children

8.A.potential B.performance C.preference D.passion

9.A.as B.just as C.like D.unlike

10.A.ideological B.biological C.social D.psychological

11.A.reviews B.reference C.reaction D.recommendation

12.A.In a word B.In a sense C.Indeed D.In other words

13.A.various B.different C.the higher D.the lower

14.A.revealed B.exposed C.engaged D.involved

15.A.regulations B.formations C.rules D.constitutions

16.A.Although B.Whether C.Since D.When

17.A.distinguished B.different C.protected D.isolated

18.A.exposition B.comparison C.contrast  D.interaction

19.A.acquisition B.appreciation C.requirement D.alternative

20.A.As a result B.After all C.In other words D.Above all

About six years ago I was eating lunch in a restaurant in New York City when a woman and a young boy sat down at the next table. I couldn’t help overhearing parts of their conversation. At one point the woman asked, “So, how have you been?” And the boy who could not have been more than seven or eight years old replied. “Frankly, I’ve been feeling a little depressed lately.”

This incident stuck in my mind because it confirmed my growing belief that children are changing. As far as I can remember, my friends and I didn’t find out we were “depressed”, that is, in low spirits, until we were in high school.

Undoubtedly a change in children has increased steadily in recent years. Children don’t seem childlike any more. Children speak more like adults, dress more like adults and behave more like adults than they used to.

Whether this is good or bad is difficult to say, but it certainly is different. Childhood as it once was no longer exists. Why?

Human development depends not only on born biological states, but also on patterns of gaining social knowledge. Movement from one social role to another usually involves learning the secrets of the new social positions. Children have always been taught adult secrets, but slowly and in stages; traditionally, we tell sixth graders things we keep hidden from fifth graders.

In the last 30 years, however, a secret-revelation（揭示）machine has been equipped in 98 percent of American homes. It is called television. Television passes information to all viewers alike, whether they are children or adults. Unable to resist the temptation, many children turn their attention from printed texts to the less challenging, more attractive moving pictures.

Communication through print, as a matter of fact, allows for a great deal of control over the social information which children will gain. Children must read simple books before they can read complex materials.

46．According to the author, feeling depressed is ________ .

A．a sure sign of a mental problem in a child

B．a mental state present in all humans, including children

C．something that cannot be avoided in children’s mental development

D．something hardly to be expected in a young child

47．Traditionally, a child is supposed to learn about the adult world ________ .

A．through connection with society     　B．gradually and under guidance

C．naturally without being taught 　　　D．through watching television

48．According to the author, that today’s children seem adultlike results from ________ .

A．the widespread influence of television

B．the poor arrangement of teaching content

C．the fast pace of human scientific development

D．the rising standard of living

49．What does the author think of communication through print for children?

A．It enables children to gain more social information.

B．It develops children’s interest in reading and writing.

C．It helps children to read and write well.

D．It can control what children are to learn.

50．What does the author think of the change in today’s children?

A．He feels their adultlike behavior is so funny.

B．He thinks the change worthy of note.

C．He considers it a rapid development.

D．He is upset about it.