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)

第二部分．阅读理解（共25小题。第一节每小题2分，第二节每小题1分；满分45分）
第一节阅读下面五篇短文，从每题后所给的四个选项中选出最佳答案。
Most of us lead unhealthy lives; we spend far too much sitting down. If in addition we are careless about our diets, our bodies soon become loose and fatty and our systems slow moving. There are some aspects(方面) of our unhealthy lives that we cannot avoid. I am thinking of such features of modern city life as pollution, noise, rushed meals and stress. But keeping fit is a way to reduce the effects of these evils. The usual suggestion to a person who is looking for a way to keep fit is to take up some sport or other. While it is true that every weekend you will find people playing football and hockey in the local park, they are outnumbered a hundred to one by the people who are simply watching them.
　　For those who do not particularly enjoy competitive sports — and it is especially difficult to do so if you are not good at them — there are such separate activities as cycling, walking, jogging and swimming. What often happens though is that you do them in such a leisurely way, so slowly, that it is doubtful if you are doing yourself much good, except for the fact that you have at least managed to get up out of your armchair.
　　Even after you have found a way for keeping in shape, through sport or gymnastics, you are still only half way to good health, because, according to the experts, you must also master the art of complete mental and physical relaxation(放松). It has to do with deep breathing, emptying your mind of all thoughts, meditation, and so on. Yoga, as practiced in the West, is the most widely known and popular of the systems for achieving the necessary state of relaxation. It seems ironical (讽刺性的), though, that as our lives have improved in a material sense we have found it increasingly necessary to go back to forms of activity — physical effort on the one hand and relaxation on the other — which were the natural way of life of our forefathers.
41. Pollution, noise and stress are examples of _____.
A. the causes of unfitness                                                         B. unavoidable things in town
C. the things we can completely do away with                 D. bad features of modern living
42. We don’t get much out of separate sports because we _____.
A. don’t do them very often                                                   B. don’t do them actively enough
C. find it hard to get out of our armchairs                          D. don’t find them interesting
43. To be healthy we must _____.
A. keep fit and active                                                              B. have a sound mind
C. be active and practise Yoga                                                        D. keep fit and learn to relax
44. Our forefathers were healthy because______.
A. their way of life closely connected with both exercise and relaxation
B. they were careful to get plenty of fresh air
C. they spent most of the time out of doors
D. their environment was not polluted

第Ⅱ卷（共35分）

第四部分写作（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）

　　假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语文错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除和修改。

　　增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写该加的词。

　　删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。

　　修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

　　注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

　　　　　2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

　　I think people have always found the future excited.Just think of some science fiction books that have written on the subject.The 21st century will bring wonderful advances in the world information technology.We can see through the Internet that the amazing possibilities for communication and learning.Other exciting area is medical progress.It would be good think of a world which cancer is no longer a frightening word.I'm sure medical research will sonn find cure for this disease.Apart from these technical developments,future is exciting on a more personal level too.Most young people think of their future with hope.Who knows that the future will bring in the way of jobs? The fact that we don't know make it exciting.So yes ,the future is exciting.

To be a good teacher, you need some of the gifts of a good actor; you must be able to hold the attention and interest of your students, you must be ?　36　?—speaking, with a good, strong,?　37　? voice which is fully under your control; and you must be able to ?　38　? what you are teaching, in order to make its meaning clear.

?　39　? a good teacher, and you will see that he does not sit still before his class; he ?　40　? the whole time he is teaching; he walks about, using his ?　41　?,hands and fingers to help him in his explanations, and his face to express his ?　42　?.Listen to him, and you will ?　43　? the loudness, the quality and the musical note of his voice always ?　44　? according to what he is talking about. The fact that a good teacher has some of the gifts of a good actor doesn't ?　45　 that he will indeed be able to act well on the stage, for there are very important ?　46　? between the teacher's work and the actor's. The ?　47　? has to speak words which he has learnt by heart; he has to repeat exactly the ?　48　? words each time he plays a certain part, even his movements and the ways in which he uses his voice are usually ?　49　? beforehand. What he has to do is to make all these carefully learnt words and actions seem ?　50　? on the stage.?

A good teacher ?　51　? in quite a different way. His students take an active part in his ?　52　?:they ask and answer questions, they obey orders, and if they don't ?　53　? something, they will say no. The teacher therefore has to suit his act to the needs of his students, which is in his class. He cannot learn his part by heart, but must ?　54　? it as he goes along.

I have known many teachers who were fine ?　55　? in class but unable to take part in a stage play because their brains wouldn't keep discipline: they could not keep strictly to what another had written.

36. A. clear    B. slow C. small D. low ?

37. A. frightening B. fearing C. exciting D. pleasing ?

38. A. act out B. talk C. say D. repeat ?

39. A. Listen B. Look C. Watch D. Learn ?

40. A. stands B. sits C. lies D. talks ?

41  A. tongue B. words C. legs D. arms?

42. A. attention B. thanks C. feelings D. sentences ?

43. A. hear B. see C. think D. guess ?

44. A. making B. changing C. expressing D. giving ?

45. A. tell B. express C. show D. mean ?

46. A. things B. differences C. points D. jobs

47. A. actor B. teacher C. boy D. student ?

48. A. different B. same C. above D. following ?

49. A. read B. known C. fixed D. written ?

50. A. natural B. bad C. false D. clear ?

51. A. is B. works C. has D. teaches ?

52. A. group B. party C. class D. play ?

53. A. give B. place C. obey D. hear ?

54. A. invent B. discover C. teach D. continue ?

55. A. learners B. watchers C. actors D. listeners

Arthur Miller (1915—2005) is universally recognized as one of the greatest dramatists of the 20th century. Miller's father had moved to the USA from Austria-Hungary, drawn like so many others by the “Great American Dream”. However, he experienced severe financial hardship when his family business was ruined in the Great Depression of the early 1930s.
　　Miller's most famous play, Death of a Salesman, is a powerful attack on the American system, with its aggressive way of doing business and its insistence on money and social status as indicators of worth. In Willy Loman, the hero of the play, we see a man who has got into trouble with this system. Willy is “burnt out” and in the cruel world of business there is no room for sentiment: if he can't do the work, then he is no good to his employer, the Wagner Company, and he must go. Willy is painfully aware of this, and at a loss as to what to do with his lack of success. He refuses to face the fact that he has failed and kills himself in the end.
　　When it was first staged in 1949, the play was greeted with enthusiastic reviews, and it won the Tony Award for Best Play, the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was the first play to win all three of these major awards.
　　Miller died of heart failure at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut, on the evening of February 10, 2005, the 56th anniversary of the first performance of Death of a Salesman on Broadway.
【小题1】Why did Arthur Miller's father move to the USA?