Motherhood may make women smarter and may help prevent dementia （痴呆） in old age by bathing the brain in protective hormones （荷尔蒙） , U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.

Tests on rats show that those who raise two or more litters of pups do considerably better in tests of memory and skills than rats who have no babies, and their brains show changes that suggest they may be protected against diseases such as Alzheimer’s （早老痴呆症）. University of Richmond psychology professor Craig Kinsley believes his findings will translate into humans.

 “Our research shows that the hormones of pregnancy are protecting the brain, including estrogen （雌激素）, which we know has many neuroprotective （保护神经的） effects,” Kinsley said.

 “It’s rat data but humans are mammals just like these animals are mammals,” he added in a telephone interview. “They go through pregnancy and hormonal changes.”

Kinsley said he hoped public health officials and researchers will look to see if having had children protects a woman from Alzheimer’s and other forms of age-related brain decline.

 “When people think about pregnancy, they think about what happens to babies and the mother from the neck down,” said Kinsley, who presented his findings to the annual meeting of the Society of Neuroscience in Orlando, Florida.

 “They do not realize that hormones are washing on the brain. If you look at female animals who have never gone through pregnancy, they act differently toward young. But if she goes through pregnancy, she will sacrifice her life for her infant—that is a great change in her behavior that showed in genetic alterations （改变） to the brain.”

How do scientists know “Motherhood may make women smarter”?

A. Some researchers have told them.

B. Many women say so.

C. They know it by experimenting on rats.

D. They know it through their own experience.

What does the phrase “litters of pups” mean in the second paragraph?

A. Baby rats.   B. Animals.    C. Old rats.         D. Grown-up rats.

What can protect the brain of a woman according to the passage?

A. Estrogen.                        B. The hormones of pregnancy.

C. More exercise.               D. Taking care of children.

“It’s rat data but humans are mammals just like these animals are mammals.” What does the sentence suggest?

A. The experiments on the rats have nothing to do with humans.

B. The experiments on the rats are very important for animals.

C. The experiments on the rats are much the same on humans.

D. The experiments on the rats are much the same on other animals.

根据对话内容。从对话后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。选项中有两项为多余选项。

A: ___61___?

B: I'm writing a letter.

A: But you don't often write . ___62___?

B: I'm writing to my aunt.

A: ___63___?

B: Just to thank her for giving me the birthday present.

A: But___64___.

B: No , she hasn't sent me anything this year. I'm writing to thank her for last year's present.

A : Do you think she will understand you?

B : Of course ,my letter will help her remember___65___

A : So you ' re expecting another present from her.

A . What do you want to tell her

B . that my birthday is coming soon

C . How are you

D .What are you doing

E .she hasn't sent you a present this year

F .She is not only my aunt but my friend as well

G . Who are you writing to

The majority of astronauts from America have been men. At the start of the space programme there was strong resistance from some people against having women in space. However, some women were very keen to become astronauts and in the end they were successful. In 1978, NASA began the first training programme for women astronauts.

Judy Resnick and Christa McAuliffe were both astronauts and they were both women, but in many other ways they were very different. Both of them were on Flight STS-5L-L. Judy Resnick was born in 1949 and studied engineering at university and went on to obtain a PhD in 1977. She was a member of the first group of women selected for astronaut training in 1978, and in 1984, she became the second woman in space. During that flight, she helped to launch three new satellites and she carried out a programme of research. She was, in many ways, a professional astronaut whose whole life was devoted to space travel.

Christa McAuliffe was born in 1948 and she was an astronaut almost by accident. In 1984, NASA decided to find a teacher who could accompany astronauts into space. They hoped that she would be able to communicate with students from space and encourage every one of them to be interested in space travel. Christa was a secondary teacher in history and social studies. She was a gifted teacher and she was selected from over 11,000 applicants to go on flight STS-51-L. She was also a very good communicator and she immediately established a very good relationship with the news media(radio, television and newspapers）. It was partly because of this that there was a great deal of interest and excitement about the flight. Thousands of students in schools and universities all around the country were looking forward to communicating with Christa in space. Millions of people were watching her flight with great interest. It is partly because of the excitement over McAuliffe's place in the flight that the disaster in 1986 had such an effect on people.

We can learn from the first two paragraphs that ___________.

A. Judy was against the idea of having women in space at first

B. Judy was the first woman selected for astronaut training

C. Judy helped to launch three new satellites at the age of 35

D. Judy carried out a programme during her second space travel

Christa McAuliffe was chosen for training because _______.

A. she was popular with the news media

B. she expected to give history lessons in space

C. she was an excellent teacher and communicator

D. she made the students in space very excited

The reason why there was great interest in Flight STS-51-L is that ________.

A. both Christa and Judy got PhD degrees in the same year

B. a young secondary school teacher was on the flight

C. students were going to learn more about space travel

D. it was the first time for women to travel in space

What would be the best title for the passage?

 A. Two Astronauts         B. Flight STS-51-L

C. Travelling in Space       D. The Training Programme

Habits are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine. “Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting creatures,” William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st century, even the word “habit” carries a negative meaning.

    So it seems contradictory to talk about habits in the same context as innovation (创新). But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel （平行的）paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.

    Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try, the more creative we become.

    But don’t bother trying to kill off old habits; once those ruts of procedure are worn into the brain, they’re there to stay. Instead, the new habits we deliberately press into ourselves create parallel pathways that can bypass those old roads.

    “The first thing needed for innovation is attraction to wonder,” says Dawna Markova, author of The Open Mind. “But we are taught instead to ‘decide’, just as our president calls himself ‘the Decider’.” She adds, however, that “to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one. A good innovational thinker is always exploring the many other possibilities.”

    “All of us work through problems in ways of which we’re unaware,” she says. Researchers in the late 1960s discovered that humans are born with the ability to approach challenges in four primary ways: analytically, procedurally（程序上的）, collaboratively (合作地) and innovatively. At the end of adolescence, however, the brain shuts down half of that ability, preserving only those ways of thought that have seemed most valuable during the first decade or so of life.

    The current emphasis on standardized testing highlights analysis and procedure, meaning that few of us use our innovative and collaborative ways of thought. “This breaks the major rule in the American belief system—that anyone can do anything,” explains M. J. Ryan, author of the 2006 book This Year I Will … and Ms. Markova’s business partner. “That’s a lie that we have preserved, and it fosters（培养）commonness. Knowing what you’re good at and doing even more of it creates excellence.” This is where developing new habits comes in.

Brain researchers have discovered that      .

A. the forming of new habits can be guided      B. the development of habits can be predicted

C. the regulation of old habits can be transformed

D. the track of new habits can be created unconsciously

The underlined word “ruts” in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to       .

A. zones            B. connections      C. situations           D. tracks

Which of the following statements most probably agrees with Dawna Markova’s view?

A. Decision makes no sense in choices.       B. Curiosity makes creative minds active.

C. Creative ideas are born of a relaxing mind.  D. Formation of innovation comes from fantastic ideas.

The purpose of the author writing this article is to persuade us       .

A. to give up our traditional habits deliberately    B. to create and develop new habits consciously

C. to resist the application of standardized testing  D. to believe that old habits conflict with new habits

Ice cream can’t cure cancer or bring back a lost love, but it can make one feel better for a while.

A bout 18 months ago, my father was in hospital recovering from a major lung operation. My mother had recently  36  , and my father had taken the loss of his partner of 55 years very hard and had lost interest in   37  . Trying to get him to  38  each day was quite a chore as he didn’t want anything. The one thing,  39  , that he would ask us to bring him was ice-cream.

One evening, to our   40  , he refused to eat the ice-cream,  41   I placed it in a staffroom freezer. A little while later, my son decided he wanted it, so I   42   it for him.  

As I passed another ward（病房）, a   43  asked, “Are there more where that came from?” When I explained the   44  , she apologized. She then said that she had cancer and could eat very little,  45    the occasional ??ice-cream.

The next evening, I decided to buy two ice-creams. On the way to Dad’s room, I stopped in at the   46   woman’s room, and   47   her the ice-cream I’d bought for her. She was   48  stunned that I had thought of her, and   49   the gift with tears in her eyes. I spoke with her for a few minutes,  50   what was happening in my family and listened to her   51   story of pain and suffering. It was apparent that she did not   52   many visitors, and the ice-cream and our short chat meant a great deal to her.

I   53   the gesture a few days later, and this time was  54  with a huge hug.

I never even thought to ask her name, and never saw her again, but it made me realize that an act of   55   can be more rewarding when you give it, rather than receive it.

A．passed away        B．gone out   C．come back           D．calmed down

A．work             B．life        C．studies          D．games

A．speak              B．laugh       C．drink          D．eat

A．though            B．however   C．instead              D．therefore

A．joy               B．satisfactionC．surprise        D．relief

A．if                 B．unless       C．so            D．because

A．borrowed         B．bought      C．made           D．fetched

A．woman          B．granny      C．girl             D．child

A．question           B．situation   C．process         D．decision

A．better than．       B．more than C．rather than      D．other than

A．pretty '            B．honest      C．sick           D．shy

A．offered            B．told ．     C．sold            D．charged

A．hardly            B．finally      C．gradually        D．totally

A．accepted         B．stored       C．exchanged      D．gave

A．remembering       B．denying    C．explaining       D．forgetting

A．ordinary '          B．similar      C．interesting       D．i'great

A．have              B．like       C．expect          D．J attract

A．reported           B．expressed  C．noticed         D．^repeated

A．covered           B．connected C．rewarded        D．filled

A．politeness          B．kindness   C．selflessness       D．willingness