If you want to stay young, sit down and have agood think. This is the research finding of a team of Japanese doctors who say that most of our brains are not getting enough exercise and as a result, we are aging unnecessarily soon.

    Professor Taiju Matsuzawa wanted to find out why otherwise healthy farmers in northern Japan appeared to be losing their ability to think and reason at a relatively early age, and how the

process of aging could be slowed down.With a team of colleagues at Tokyo National University,

he set about measuring brain volumes of a thousand people of different ages and jobs.

Computer technology enabled the researchers to get right measurements of the volume of the front and side sections of the brain, which relate to intellect and emotion, and determine the human character. Contraction (收缩) of the front and side parts as cells died was observed in some subjects in their thirties, but it was still not clear in some sixty and seventy-year-olds.Matsuzawa concluded from his tests that there is a simple remedy (补救) to the contraction normally associated with age using the head.

    The findings show in general terms that contraction of the brain begins sooner in people in the country than in towns. Those least at risk, says Matsuzawa, are lawyers, followed by university professors and doctors. White collar workers doing routine work in government offices are, however, as likely to have shrinking (萎缩) brains as farm workers, bus drivers and shop assistants.

    Matsuzawa's findings show that thinking can prevent the brain from shrinking. Blood must circulate properly in the head to supply the fresh oxygen the brain cells need. "The best way to keep good blood circulation is through using the brain," he says, "Think hard and engage in conversation. Don't rely on pocket calculators."w

The team of doctors wanted to find out ______.

A. why certain people age sooner than others   B. how to make people live much longer

C. the size of certain people's brains          D. the people with more intelligence

On what are their research findings based?

A. A survey of farmers in northern Japan.

B. Tests performed on a thousand old people.

C. The study of brain volumes of different people.

D. The latest development of computer technology.

Matsuzawa thinks that _______.

A. our brains grow as we grow older

B. the front section of the brain does not shrink

C. sixty-year-old people have better brains than thirty-year-olds

D. the contraction of brains is connected with brain exercise

According to the passage, which people seem to age slower than others?

A. Farmers.     B. Lawyers.     C. Government workers.     D. Shop assistants.w

Barack Obama

In the past hundred years, the U.S. presidency has turned more and more to the left – not in policy, but in handedness. Barrack Obama is the latest to join a long list of left – handed presidents from the 20th century: James Garfield, Herbert Hoover, Henry Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton were all southpaws.

What makes lefties so electable? Some experts think left-handed people have a greater aptitude for language skills, which may help them craft the rhetoric necessary for political office. And as for the bout of recent left-handed presidents, some think it’s because teachers only recently stopped working to convert lefties to rightist at an early age.

Bill Gates

Claiming the nation’s richest man among their number is a source of considerable pride for America’s society of southpaws. In fact, the Microsoft titan and philanthropist(巨头兼慈善家) is one of a surprising number of U.S. business moguls to be left-handed, including Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller and former IBM head Lou Gerstner. But the club seems to be a guys-only fraternity — research suggests that while left-handed men tend to earn more than their right-handed colleagues, there is no similar advantage for women. A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research floated the idea that left-handed men favor "divergent" thinking, a form of creativity in which the brain moves "from conventional knowledge into unexplored association." Maybe that’s what it takes to develop a net worth estimated at $ 57 billion.

Oprah Winfrey

The talk-show queen doesn’t need much more to set her apart from the rest — what with her estimated $ 2.7 billion fortune and a magic ability to sell books just by glancing at them — but she also has the distinction of being a member of the left-handed club. Since men are more likely to be left-handed than women, that makes Oprah doubly impressive. She’s in good company: Other show-business ladies of the left – handed  persuasion include Whoopi Goldberg, Julia Roberts and Angelina Jolie

Marie Curie

Not only was atomic scientist Marie Curie left-handed, but she was the matriarch of a whole family of accomplished, southpaw scientists. Curie, who discovered the principles of radioactivity and won two Nobel Prizes, was married to fellow lefty Pierre Curie, who was instrumental in helping Marie’s atomic research and shared one of her Nobel awards. Historians believe their daughter, Irene, was also left-handed. Irene went on to win a Nobel Prize of her own with her husband — who, you guessed it, was also left-handed.

59．The underlined word “southpaws” in the last sentence of Paragraph 1 means_______.

A．people coming from the south B．powerful presidents

C．people who use their left hand D．forceful speakers

60．What makes it so easy for lefties to be elected as presidents according to the passage?

A．Their great gift for foreign language.

B．Their great language skills to make speeches.

C．The need of left – hinders in the political office.

D．Teachers stopping to force them to use their right hand.

61．It can be implied that Bill Gates, Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller and Lou Gerstne_______.

A．have creative thinking              B．have formed a special club.

C．earn more money than their wives   D．are wealthy philanthropists

62．The underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 “She is in good company” means “_______”.

A．she works in a very good company   B．she has many good friends

C．she has got on well with others        D．she is among many female lefties

第二卷（共35分） 非选择题 .

第四部分：写作（共两节，满分35分）

第一节：对话填空（共20小题：每小题1分，满分10分）

请认真阅读下面对话，并根据各题所给首字母的提示，在答题卡上标有题号的横线上，写出一个英语单词的完整、正确形式，使对话通顺。

J =" Jackie  " L = Lisa

J: Warm day，isn’t it?

L: Yes, it's the (76) w      winter we have ever had.

J: In my childhood, we often had snow in winter, but these years, I (77) s                   ­see it

L: What do you think caused the (78) c      to change so much?

J: I think it is what we call green-house effect. Countries build factories to develop their economy, but they (79) p      a lot of waste gas into the air without being (80) t      .

L: And the cars also have (81) c      to the changes in the temperature all around the world

J: I couldn't agree more. If the temperature (82) c       to go up , the sea level would rise and some (83) c      cities would disappear.

L: Sounds terrible. We must do something about it.

J: (84)  L_____ , governments of many countries have realized that and are taking

(85) a      to prevent the pollution.

L: I am happy to hear that

If you exhibit positive characteristics such as honesty and helpfulness, the chances are that you will be thought as a good-looking person, for a new study has found that the perception （认知） of physical attractiveness is influenced by a person's personality．

The study, which was led by Gary W．Lewandowski, has found that people who exhibit negative characteristics, such as unfairness and rudeness, appear to be less physically attractive to observers．In the study, the participants viewed photographs of opposite-sex individuals and rated them for attractiveness before and after being provided with information about their personalities．

After personality information was received, participants also rated the probability of each individual' s becoming a friend and a dating partner．Information on personality was found to significantly change the probability, showing that cognitive （认知的） processes modify （修改） judgments of attractiveness．

"Thinking a person as having a desirable personality makes the person more suitable in general as a close relationship partner of any kind," said Lewandowski．

The findings show that a positive personality leads to greater expectation of becoming friends, which leads to greater expectation of becoming romantic partners and, finally, to being viewed as more physically attractive．The findings remained consistent regardless of how "attractive" the individual was formerly thought to be or of the participants' current relationship status．

"This research provides a positive outcome by reminding people that personality goes a long way toward determining your attractiveness; it can even change people's impressions of how good-looking you are," said Lewandowski．

1.In the study the participants were required to _____．

A．try to make friends with each other

B．try to prove positive characters make people more attractive

C．exhibit negative characters such as unfairness and rudeness

D．rate one's attractiveness by photos before and after knowing her or his personality

2.Which of the following is WRONG according to the passage?

A．The research reminds people to pay more attention to the personality．

B．Personality can change people's impressions of one's appearance．

C．The judgment of one's attractiveness always stays unchanged．

D．Positive personality may lead to more friends．

3.The passage is written in a（n） _____ tone．

A．subjective         B．objective          C．skeptical          D．negative

4.Who are the intended readers of this passage?

A．People with positive characteristics．

B．Good-looking people．

C．People with negative characteristics．

D．General people．

对话填空（共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分）

请认真阅读下面对话，并根据各题所给首字母的提示，在答题卡上标有题号的横线上，写出一个英语单词的完整、正确的形式，使对话通顺。

L =" Lucy  " J = Jim

L : Oh, I’ve just had a (76) t        day today.                                 76．     

J : What (77) h         ?                                                                                       77．     

L : Well, I overslept in the morning. I didn’t hear the                         

(78) a        clock.                                                                 78．     

J : Oh, everyone does that once in a (79) w                                  79．     

L : I was late for class, so I drove a little (80) f       . Guess who saw me?

80．     

J : A policeman? You got a ticket?

L : Yeah. He didn’t care that I was late. Anyway, I got to class,

(81) b        I had brought the wrong book. The teacher wasn’t 81．     

(82) h         .                                                                      82．     

J : That’s really had.

L : What’s (83) w        , I have a paper due tomorrow. It’s on a      83．     

Hard drive (硬盘). I went to the computer lab and I couldn’t

(84) f          my file. I forgot to save the information.           84．     

J : Oh, not!

L : And now I need to go home. And you know (85) w       ?          85．     

My car keys are missing.