A chemical important of brain development may play a role in explaining why some people are genetically (由基因决定地) likely to suffer from anxiety and could lead to new treatments, U．S. researchers said.

They said highly anxious rats which were kept had very low levels of a brain chemical called fibroblast growth factor 2 or FGF2, compared with rats that were more relaxed. But when they improved the anxious rats' living conditions—giving them new toys to explore and a bigger cage to live in—levels of this brain chemical increased and they became less anxious.

“The levels of this brain chemical increased in response to the experiences that the rats were exposed to. It also decreased their anxiety.”Javier Perez of the University o f Michigan said in a telephone interview. “It made them behave the same way as the rats that were relaxed，”he said.

In a former study of people who were severely depressed before they died, the team found the gene that makes FGF2 was producing very low levels of the growth factor, which is known primarily for organizing the brain during development and repairing it after injury.

Perez thinks the brain chemical may be a marker for genetic vulnerability (脆弱性) to anxiety and depression. But it can also respond to changes in the environment in a positive way, possibly by preserving new brain cells.

While both the calm and anxious rats produced the same number of new brain cells, these cells were less likely to survive in the high－anxiety rats, the team found. Giving the rats better living conditions or injecting them with FGF2 helped improve cell survival.

“This discovery may pave the way for new, more specific treatments for anxiety that will not be based on sedation(药物镇静), but will instead fight the real cause of the disease，” Dr. Pier Vincenzo Piazza from France said in a statement.

6. We know from the passage that with the levels of FGF2 decreasing, the rats will ________.

A. die of anxiety soon          B. suffer from a headache

C. become more relaxed        D. become more anxious

7. What's the better way to increase the levels of FGF2?

A. Introducing more companions to the anxious rats.

B. Improving the living conditions of the anxious rats.

C. Injecting the anxious rats with some special medicine.

D. Giving the anxious rats more time to relax.

8. The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 4 refers to ________.

A. the team                 B. the gene

C. the growth factor          D. the brain

9. What's the main influence of the new discovery?

A. Doctors won't use any medicine to cure anxiety.

B. Doctors may treat anxiety more efficiently.

C. Doctors will find the real cause of anxiety.

D. Doctors may find new medicine for anxiety.

10. Which of the following would be the most suitable title for the passage?

A. Anxious rats and relaxed rats

B. Anxiety—a serious mental disease

C. Scientific research into the brain is important

D. Brain chemical may play key role in anxiety

根据句意选择正确的词组填空，注意使用正确形式：(每个小题1分，共10分)

come into being    pay attention to      in addition      long to   be based on   above all          play jokes on       dream of       turn up     break up

1. Mr. Ma is always serious and doesn’t like to _______________ others.

2. Before agriculture __________, people made their living by hunting wild animals. 

3.All of the guests had arrived by 9 o’clock, but the host didn’t ___ until 15 minutes later.

4. The boy _____________________ becoming a pilot.   

5.I should like to buy a house, modern, comfortable, and ________, in a quiet place. 

6. The little boy _______________ the radio to see what was wrong with it.   

7.My teacher has always ______help endangered species and now she has the chance.

8.The film ________________ on a real story happening in a mountain village.  

9.I like picture books very much. __________________, I am also interested in novels. 

10. He often __________________ what the teacher says and take notes in class. 

 

US college students are burdened, with credit card (信用卡)debt, according to a study published Tuesday, and the problem can be serious－ranging from more drop-outs, to future employment problems and even self-murder. The study, by Georgetown University sociologist (社会学家) Robert Manning, blamed credit card issuers for actively targeting students and colleges for allowing them to do so. "The unrestricted selling of credit cards in universities or colleges is so aggressive that it now forms a greater threat than alcohol or sexual diseases," Manning told a news conference in Washington. "If we do not quickly deal with this serious problem, the matter will continue to get worse, with social consequences far more tragic (悲剧的) than mere dollars and cents. "

Based on hundreds of face-to-face interviews and surveys with students, Manning concluded both the number with credit card debt and their indebtedness had been "underreported" in previous studies－which failed to reflect the "survival strategies" many used to deal with their debts. These included the use of federal student loans to pay off credit cards, effectively shifting the debt, appealing to parents for loans, reducing course work hours to increase time at paid jobs, or even dropping out altogether to work full time.

"Official drop-out rates include growing numbers of students who are unable to cope with the stress of their debts and / or part time jobs for servicing their credit cards, " the study said. "Students credit card debts are examined during the employment process and may be an important factor in evaluating future employees," it noted. O’Donnell and Manning agreed students should bear some responsibility for reckless use of credit, but said credit card companies also had to be held responsible for making it so easy for them to get into debt. Manning said one of the most troublesome aspects of the student credit card issue was "the seduction (诱惑) of college and university officials by the credit card industry".

Sociologist Robert Manning's study shows that     .

   A. the number of American college students using credit cards on campus is increasing

   B. more and more American college students meet with credit card debt problems

   C. more and more American colleges encourage students to use credit cards to make profits

   D. credit card issuers will run into debt for encouraging college students to use credit cards

The author's feeling towards college students with credit card debts is __.

   A. discouraged and negative                 B. pitiful and critical

   C. indifferent and disapproving              D. negative and doubtful

The author implies all of following should be responsible for this problem EXCEPT      .

   A. credit card issuers                                  B. college authorities

   C. parents of the students                      D. students themselves

The word "reckless" in Paragraph 3 can be replaced by        .

A. inconsiderate       B. frequent               C. careful                     D. regular

A new reading tool was put on the market this week for the two-to five-year-old set. It is sold for at least $389, an expensive purchase for a kid – and that doesn’t even include a $99 annual subscription (订阅) fee for games, e-books, and age-appropriate software.

That might be fine for parents willing and able to pay thousands for private nursery schools, but will the tool actually help kids learn language and reading skills more effectively than traditional books?

Probably not, said Dr. Michael Rich, director of the Center for Media and Child Health at Children’s Hospital Boston. “There is a sensory components (感官因素) to books that isn’t there with e-books,” he explained. “You can smell it, turn the pages, and taste it, as young kids are likely to do.”

That might help little ones become more familiar with the books, helping them learn from them, but far more important is whether a person is actually sitting with them while they’re looking at the pages.

Researchers have shown time and again that kids learn better when they’re having interaction (互动) with real people, rather than electronic voices reading to them from a computer or speaking to them from the TV.

A Georgetown University study found that kids who learned to put on gloves from watching a video took six times as long to learn the process as those who watched it shown by an adult standing in front of them.

“I’m a big believer in teaching kids to live in the digital society and use what the rest of the family uses, but they do need to be supervised,” said Dr. Gwenn O’Keeffe, a Boston-based children’s doctor and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. “We don’t recommend that young kids use any type of technology for very long since they have the attention span (注意力持续时间) of a butterfly.”

1.According to the text, the new tool        .

A．is mainly used to entertain kids

B．can be accepted by most families

C．is designed for preschool kids

D．can download games for free

2.Why is Dr. Michael Rich against the new tool?

A．Because it doesn’t really involve many of the senses.

B．Because it does great harm to kids’ eyesight.

C．Because kids can’t communicate with it.

D．Because traditional books are cheaper.

3.The study mentioned in Paragraph 6 aims to        .

A．show the disadvantage of kids’ watching videos

B．prove the importance of interaction with people

C．ask parents to teach their kids to learn

D．prove using e-books saves much time

4.The underlined word “supervised” in the last paragraph can be replaced by “     ”.

A．punished

B．watched

C．encouraged

D．understood

5.What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A．To introduce a new electronic device.

B．To teach kids how to live in a digital world.

C．To show parents how to help kids gain knowledge.

D．To throw new light on kids’ use of electronic tools.

 

Pushing children too hard is a really big social problem that seems to be getting worse．Now we have 6-month-olds in music classes and swimming classes．Parents fear that if other children are attending these classes，they will be holding their own children back if they do not enroll，too．

    The other extreme，simply taking a laissez-faire approach and letting children do—or refuse to do—whatever they want，is not the answer either，of course．

    Dr Taylor emphasizes that parents need to push their children based on what is best for the children，not what is best for themselves．If children understand that an activity is in their best interests，then they will accept it, he finds．

    Dr Taylor and other family experts remain pessimistic about the possibilities for widespread social change．“The force of our popular culture，driven by money and superficial（表面上的） values，cannot be resisted，” he says．But change can take place at a“micro-level,” in families and schools．

    When changes do occur，the rewards can benefit everyone in the family．One mother supporting this new approach toward parenting mentions the advantages her family experienced after her children cut back on activities．“The biggest thing is that since we have done this，we are rested,” she says．“Not only are our kids rested，because they're not in a ton of stuff, but my husband and I are rested，because we're not driving them everywhere．We weren’t living in the moment when we were always busy．We were living by the schedule．The return on our investment of spending time together has been enormous．”

One of the reasons why parents push children so hard is that they__________.

   A. believe in early development in children

   B. are too busy to take care of their children

   C. don't want their children to lag behindw(w w.ks&5 u.c*o m

   D. want to repeat what their parents did to them

The phrase“a laissez-faire approach”(in Line 1，Paragraph 2)most probably refers to      .

   A. denying them what they need

   B. controlling children in a flexible way

   C. developing a keen interest in children

   D. letting children do whatever they want

The best way to encourage children to work hard is           .

   A. to make them believe it’s in their best interests

   B. to consider the matter from parents' standpointw(w w.ks&5 u.c*o m

   C. to emphasize the importance of hard work from time to time

   D. to make it interesting and enjoyable to them

What the author doesn’t approve of in the essay is _______.

   A. achieving a balance between pushing the children too hard and leaving them alone

   B. going from one extreme of pushing children too hard to the other of leaving them alone

   C. involving children in activity that will probably contribute to their development

   D. enrolling them in music and swimming classes at the very early age

The new approach toward parenting mentioned in the passage most likely refers to _______.

   A. relieving children’s hard work and unnecessary activity

   B. resisting the superficial values of pop culture

   C. reducing more activity off their school schedule

   D. spending more time with their children