You hear the same complaint all the time: “My memory is terrible.” Is it all in the mind, or do real changes take place in the brain with the passing of time? The answer is that the brain’s cells decline and die with age. However, according to Professor Arthur Shimamura of the University of California, people vary greatly in how they change mentally with age, as well as how much their mental ability declines.

　　There are three main ways in which mental function changes. The first concerns speed, such as how quickly you can react to fast-moving incidents on the road. Drivers in their late teens react quickly but often drive too fast, while the over -60’s are more careful but react more slowly. This type of mental slowing results from a reduction in the efficiency with which the brains’ neurons (神经细胞) work.

　　The fact that adults find it harder to learn musical instrument than children points to a second type of mental decline, the loss of learning ability with age. The part of the brain which is known to control new learning is particularly sensitive to the effects of ageing. This means we have to depend more on diaries and other mental aids as we get older, take longer to learn a new language and are slower to master new things at work.

　　“Working memory” is the third brain function that is sensitive to the effects of ageing. Absentmindedness occurs at all ages because of imperfections in the working memory system. For example, you may continually lose your glasses, or find yourself walking into a room of your house only to find that you cannot remember what you came for. Such absent-mindedness also occurs more often as we get older.

　　However, evidence also shows that the principle “use it or lose it” applies to the ageing brain. Professor Shimamura studied a group of university professors who were still mentally active, and compared their performance on neuropsychological tests with that of others of their age group, as well as with younger people. He found that on several tests of memory, the mentally active professors in their 60’s and early 70’s performed better than those of the same age, and as well as the younger group.

73. Why does memory get worse as people grow older? (回答词数不超过9个单词)

74. In which ways does mental function change? (回答词数不超过6个单词)

75. What can we conclude from Shimamura’s test on the professors? (回答词数不超过6个单词)

阅读理解

(A)

Every object tells a story. Even the most ordinary objects can present to us powerful images. Sometimes it is the ordinary nature of these objects that actually makes them so extraordinary. Such is the case with an old leather shoe in a museum in Alaska. At first glance it does not look like much. It is a woman’s shoe of a style popular in the 1890s. But what is unique(独特的) about this shoe is where it was found. It was discovered on the Checkout Pass, the famous trail used by the people seeking gold in Alaska. Who it belonged to or why it was left there is not known. Was it perhaps dropped by accident as the woman climbed up the 1500 stairs carved outface? Or did she throw away goods that she didn’t need in order to travel lighter?

Over 100, 000 people with “gold fever” made this trip hoping to become millionaires. Few of them understood that on their way they would have to cross a harsh wildness. Unprepared for such a dangerous journey, many died of starvation and exposure to the cold weather.

The Canadian government finally started requiring the gold seekers to bring one ton of supplies with them. This was thought to be enough for a person to survive for one year. They would carry their supplies in backpacks(背包) each weighing up to fifty pounds; it usually took at least 40 trips to get everything to the top and over the pass. Whoever dropped the shoe must have been a brave and determined woman. Perhaps she was successful and made it to Alaska. Perhaps she had to turn back in defeat. No one will ever know for sure, but what we do know is that she took part in one of the greatest adventures in the 19th century.

1. The ordinary woman’s leather shoe is considered unusual because _______. 

A. it was an important clue to life in the past B. it was found on a famous trail

C. it at one time belonged to a VIP             D. it was a fashionable shoe at that time

2. According to this passage, many people who went to Alaska _______. 

A. eventually became millionaires              B. brought with them many shoes

C. had conflicts with the Eskimos               D. were not properly equipped

3. The Canadian government made gold seekers bring one year’s supplies with them so that _______.

A. they would not die of hunger and cold

B. the army would have enough food for fighting a war

C. they would change these goods with the Eskimos

D. the supplies would make Alaska rich

4. No matter what happened to the woman who owned the shoe, _______. 

A. she must have lived a happy life

B. she certainly dropped the shoe on purpose

C. her adventurous spirit is definitely admired

D. her other shoes were equally fashionable

(B)

Listen carefully, working people, we would like to tell you something that could save your precious time and money! Best of all, it is free!

It’s “no”.

What do you ask? We’ll say it again: “No”.

Sweet and simple “no”.

Say “no” at your office and see how quickly that pile of work on your desk disappears.

“Saying ‘no’ to others means you are saying ‘yes’ to yourself, ” said Leslie Charles, a professional speaker from East Lansing, Michigan.

“Time is precious. People are spending money buying time. And yet we are willing to give up our time because we can’t say ‘no’.”

Susie Watson, a famous writer, said people who always say “yes” need to say “no” without guilt(内疚)or fear of punishment. “I would rather have someone give me a loving ‘no’ than an obligated(强制的) ‘yes’, ” she said.

Susie Watson says she feels “no” obligation to give an explanation when she says “no” either socially or professionally. Does she feel guilty about it? “Not at all, ” said Watson, who is director of advertising and public relations at Timex Corp in Middlebury, Conneticut. “Most people are afraid of saying ‘no’… My advice is to say ‘yes’ only if you don’t mean ‘no’.”

Watson said “no” is the most effective weapon against wasting time. “Every year there are more demands on your time… Other people are happy to use up your time, ” Watson said. Time saving appears to be “no’s” greatest friend.

“No” can be your new friend, a powerful tool to take back your life. “No” may even take you further in the business world than “yes”.

“No” is power and strength. “No” now seems completely correct. “Saying ‘no’ isn’t easy. But finally it’s greatly liberating,” Charles said. But, he added, a “no” project needs to be worked on every day because it is hard to change long-term habit.

But, he also warns: “Don’t go to extremes. Don’t find yourself saying ‘no’ to everything. In return you should learn to hear ‘no’.”

5. The sentence “Saying ‘yes’ to yourself” means _______.

A. you can have more time to play with others

B. you needn’t care about other’s feeling if you are happy

C. you are selfish and treat others rudely

D. you can deal with your business as you have planned

6. When you say “no” to others you should say it in a _______.

A. secret way　　　B. polite way

C. proud way　　　　　D. guilty way

7. In Watson’s opinion, people can save much time on condition that _______.

A. they say “no” at a suitable time

B. they say “no” as much as possible

C. they are afraid of saying “no”    

D. they make others angry at them

8. If a person says “no” to everything, the result he or she receive may be that he or she _______.

A. enjoys a wonderful life     B. makes a lot of money

C. faces difficulty in life　　D. forgets to say “yes” in the end

(C)

A characteristic of American culture that has become almost a tradition is to respect the self-made man — the man who has risen to the top through his own efforts, usually beginning by working with his hands. While the leader in business or industry or the college professor occupies a higher social position and commands greater respect in the community than the common laborer or even the skilled factory worker, he may take pains to point out that his father started life in America as a farmer or laborer of some sort.

    This attitude toward manual(体力的) labor is now still seen in many aspects of American life. One is invited to dinner at a home that is not only comfortably but even luxuriously (豪华地) furnished and in which there is every evidence of the fact that the family has been able to afford foreign travel, expensive hobbies, and college education for the children; yet the hostess probably will cook the dinner herself, will serve it herself and will wash dishes afterward, furthermore the dinner will not consist merely of something quickly and easily assembled from contents of various cans and a cake or a pie bought at the nearby bakery. On the contrary, the hostess usually takes pride in careful preparation of special dishes. A professional man may talk about washing the car, digging in his flowerbeds, painting the house. His wife may even help with these things, just as he often helps her with the dishwashing. The son who is away at college may wait on table and wash dishes for his living, or during the summer he may work with a construction gang on a highway in order to pay for his education.   

9. From paragraph 1, we can know that in America _________.

A. people tend to have a high opinion of the self-made man

B. people can always rise to the top through their won efforts

C. college professors win great respect from common workers

D. people feel painful to mention their fathers as labors.

10. According to the passage, the hostess cooks dinner herself mainly because _________.

A. servants in American are hard to get

B. she takes pride in what she can do herself

C. she can hardly afford servants

D. It is easy to prepare a meal with canned food

11. The expression “ wait on table” in the second paragraph means “_________”.

A. work in a furniture shop         B. keep accounts for a bar

C. wait to lay the table                D. serve customers in a restaurant

12. Which of the following may serve as the best title of the passage?

A. A Respectable Self-made Family       B. American Attitude toward Manual Labor

C. Characteristics of American Culture      D. The Development of Manual Labor

(D)

TODAY, Friday, November 12

JAZZ with the Mike Thomas Jazz Band at The Derby Arms. Upper Richmond Road West, Sheen.

DISCO Satin Sounds Disco. Free at The Lord Napier, Mort lake High St., from 8a. m. to 8p. m. Tel: 682—1158.

SATURDAY, November 13

JAZZ Lysis at The Bull’s Head, Barnes. Admission 60p.

MUSICAL HALL at The Star and Garter, Lower Richmond Road, Putney, provided by the Aba Daba Music Hall company. Good food and entertainment fair price. Tel: 789—6749.

FAMILY night out? Join the sing-along at The Black Horse. Sheen Road, Richmond.

JAZZ The John Bennett Big Band at The Bull’s Head, Barnes. Admission 80p.

THE DERBY ARMS, Upper Richmond Road West, give you Joe on the electric accordion(手风琴). Tel: 789—4536

SUNDAY, November 14

DISCO Satin Sounds Disco, free at The Lord Napier, Mort Lake High Street, from 8 a. m. to 8 p. m.

FOLK MUSIC at The Derby Arms. The Short Stuff and residents the Norman Chop Trio. Non-remembers 70p. Tel: 688—4626.

HEAVY MUSIC with Tony Simon at The Bull, Upper Richmond Road West, East Sheen.

THE DERBY ARMS, Upper Richmond Road West, give you Joe on the electric accordion.

13. Where and when can you hear the Mike Thomas Jazz Band?

A. At the Derby Arms on Friday.

B. At the Black Horse on Friday.

C. At the Star and Garter on Saturday.

D. At the Derby Arms on Sunday.

14. You want to enjoy the electric accordion on Saturday. Which telephone number do you have to ring to find out what time it starts?

A. 789—6749.             B. 789—4536.            C. 682—1158.  D. 688—4626.

15. You want to spend the Saturday by joining the entertainment with your family. Where should you go?

A. Disco at The Lord Napier.

B. The sing-along at The Black Horse.

C. The electric accordion at The Derby Arms.

D. Jazz at The Bull’s Head.

16. You want to spend the same day at two different places and don’t want to cross any street. Which of the following is your best choice?

A. The sing-along at the Black Horse and Jazz at The Bull’s Head.

B. The sing-along at The Black Horse and Folk Music at The Derby Arms.

C. Folk Music at The Derby Arms and Heavy Music with Tony Simon at The Bull.

D. Musical Hal lat The Star ＆Garter and Disco at The Lord Napier.

(E)

With only about 1, 000 pandas left in the world, China is desperately trying to clone(克隆) the animal and save the endangered species(物种). That’s a move similar to what a Texas A & M University researchers have been undertaking for the past five years in a project called “Noah’s Ark”.

Noah’s Ark is aimed at collecting eggs, embryos(胚胎), semen and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in liquid nitrogen. If certain species should become extinct, Dr. Duane Kraemer, a professor in Texas A & M’s College of Veterinary Medicine, says there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future.

It is estimated that as many as 2, 000 species of mammals, birds reptiles will become extinct in over 100 years. The panda, native only to China, is in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.

This week, Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit. They are now trying to implant the embryo into a host animal.

The entire procedure could take from three to five years to complete.

“The nuclear transfer(核子移植) of one species to another is not easy, and the lack of available(capable of being used) panda eggs could be a major problem,” Kraemer believes. “They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy (having a baby). It takes a long time and it’s difficult, but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort,” adds Kraemer, who is one of the leaders of the Project at Texas A& M, the first-ever attempt at cloning a dog.

“They are trying to do something that’s never been done, and this is very similar to our work in Noah’s Ark. We’re both trying to save animals that face extinction. I certainly appreciate their effort and there’s a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do. It’s a research that is very much needed.”

17. The aim of “Noah’s Ark” project is to _______.

A. make efforts to clone the endangered pandas

B. save endangered animals from dying out

C. collect DNA of endangered animals to study

D. transfer the nuclear of one animal to another

18. According to Professor Kraemer, the major problem in cloning pandas would be the lack of _______.

A. available panda eggs         B. host animals

C. qualified researchers            D. enough money

19. The best title for the passage may be _______.

A. China’s Success in Pandas Cloning                                 

B. The First Cloned Panda in the World

C. Exploring the Possibility to Clone Pandas

D. China —the Native Place of Pandas Forever

20. From the passage we know that _______.

A. Kraemer and his team have succeeded in cloning a dog

B. scientists try to implant a panda’s egg into a rabbit

C. Kraemer will work with Chinese scientists in clone researches

D. about two thousand of species will probably die out in a century

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有一项为多余选项。

A.　Goods for auction (拍卖) sales

　　B.　Definition of bidding

　　C.　Way to sell more goods by auction

　　D.　Auction sales in history

　　E.　Brief introduction to auctions

　　F.　Making a larger profit as an auctioneer

1.______

Auctions are public sales of goods, conducted by an officially approved auctioneer. He asks the crowd assembled in the auction-room to make offers, or “bids”, for the various items on sale. He encourages buyers to bid higher figures, and finally names the highest bidder as the buyer of the goods. This is called “knocking down” the goods, for the bidding ends when the auctioneer strikes a small hammer on a table at which he stands.

2. ______

The ancient Roman probably invented sales by auction, and the English word comes from the Latin auction, meaning “increasing”. The Romans usually sold in this way the goods taken in war. In England in the eighteenth centuries, goods were often sold “by the candle”: a short candle was lit by the auctioneer, and bids could be made while it stayed alight.

3. ______

Practically all goods whose qualities vary are sold by auction. Among these are coffee, skins, wool, tea, furs, silk and wines. Auction sales are also usual for land and property, furniture, pictures, rare books, old china and similar works of art.

4. ______

An auction is usually advertised beforehand with full particulars of the articles to be sold and where and when they can be viewed by potential buyers. If the advertisement cannot give full details, catalogues are printed, and each group of goods to be sold together, called a “lot”, is usually given a number. The auctioneer need not begin with Lot 1 and continue in the order of numbers: he may wait until he notices the fact that certain buyers are in the room and then produce the lots they are likely to be interested in.

5. ______

The auctioneer’s services are paid for in the form of a percentage of the price the goods are sold for. The auctioneer therefore has a direct interest in pushing up the bidding as high as possible. He will not waste time by starting the bidding too low. He will also play on the opponents among his buyers and succeed in getting a high price by encouraging two business competitors to bid against each other.

If women are mercilessly exploited year after year, they have only themselves to blame.  Because they tremble at the thought of being seen in public in clothes that are out of fashion, they are always taken advantage of by the designers and the big stores. Clothes which have been worn only a few times have to be put aside because of the change of fashion. When you come to think of it, only a woman is capable of standing in front of a wardrobe packed full of clothes and announcing sadly that she has nothing to wear.
　 Changing fashions are nothing more than the intentional creation of waste. Many women spend vast sums of money each year to replace clothes that have hardly been worn. Women who cannot afford to throw away clothing in this way, waste hours of their time altering the dresses they have. Skirts are lengthened or shortened; neck－lines are lowered or raised, and soon.
No one can claim that the fashion industry contributes anything really important to society. Fashion designers are rarely concerned with vital things like warmth, comfort and durability. They are only interested in outward appearance and they take advantage of the fact that women will put up with any amount of discomfort, as long as they look right. There can hardly be a man who hasn’t at some time in his life smiled at the sight of a woman shaking in a thin dress on a winter day, or delicately picking her way through deep snow in high－heeled shoes.
　 When comparing men and women in the matter of fashion, the conclusions to be drawn are obvious. Does the constantly changing fashion of women's clothes, one wonders, reflect basic qualities of instability? Men are too clever to let themselves be cheated by fashion designers. Do their unchanged styles of dress reflect basic qualities of stability and reliability? That is for you to decide.
【小题1】The writer would be less critical if fashion designers placed more stress on the of clothing
___ .

Abby Subark is a mother of two from Boston. “For my kids, I’m nervous. I don’t know if they’ll be able to achieve their American dream.” She may be right. More than hard work or education, the best way to get rich in America is to be born rich.
It is the case that somebody who is in the upper third of income, poor scores, in the bottom on tests when they are in eighth grade, is more likely to go to college and finish college than a poor kid with the top scores. That’s what the working persons’  children are up against.
The Economic Policy Institute finds it would take a poor couple with 2 children 9 or 10 generations to achieve middle class status. That’s about 200 years. The hallmark (特征) of American opportunity has always been the ability to do better than your parents. But compared with similar developed countries, the United States ranks fifth out of six for so-called intergenerational mobility (变动).
If you look at the mechanisms (机制) for upward mobility that were so readily available 50 years ago, they are becoming out of reach, like plentiful factory jobs with good wages and affordable education and health care.
White families are twice as likely as blacks to be upwardly mobile. For most people in America today, where you end up depends on where you start.
If you started in the middle-income class, about 40 to 45 percent of what you are making right now is due to the fact that your parents were in the middle-income class. The rest is up to you.
But for the millions of people who find themselves below the poverty line and the millions more who are the working poor, their starting point for the American dream leaves them painfully far away from the middle class.
【小题1】The main idea of the passage is _______.