1 . “Your mother’s breast cancer has returned, and it’s metastasized (扩散),” said my mother’s doctor. I held the phone, tears in my eyes.

Even as a health-care professional, I had never really been able to do anything for my mother. She’d always been the caretaker, especially when I was in my teens battling my own incurable illness. She’d arranged and accompanied me on trips to the Cleveland Clinic. During those long train rides, she’d always reach into her bag and produce a gift-a Seventeen magazine-to lift my spirits.

Shortly after her diagnosis, I stopped by Mother’s house. She’d wanted to live at home to look after herself while she could, so my sister and I took turns to check in on her.

As her health worsened, Mother eventually decided to stay with me in my house on the weekends and let me care for her. After I helped her into the house, she would stretch out on the sola, my dog Spanky sleeping at her feet. I’d make us cups of Red Zinger tea. She’d look at me and say, "My purse, honey. Inside would be one of her surprises, like a bag of treats for Spanky or a new pen for me.

At the end of her life, Mother was no longer conscious. Her wish was to be in my house. The night before, I moved all the furniture to prepare for the delivery of her medical equipment. The next morning, two guys lifted the sofa to move it, making room for the hospital bed. “What do we do with these, ma’am?” one asked. I looked over. He held up two beautifully-wrapped (包裹) gifts. How had they gotten there? I’d moved that sofa the night before and seen nothing! My hands shook as I unwrapped a toy for Spanky and a box of Red Zinger tea.

At that moment, it was as if my mother spoke directly to my heart, “Our little traditions will get you through this, Roberta, even if I can’t take part anymore.”

1. What can be known about the author as a teenager?

A．She volunteered in hospitals.	B．She loved traveling so much.
C．She was in really poor health	D．She often wrote to magazines.

2. What kind of woman is the author’s mother according to the text?

A．Cautious and organized.	B．Hardworking and honest.
C．Humorous and generous.	D．Caring and independent.

3. What took the author by surprise?

A．The stay with Mother in her final life.	B．Unexpected gifts prepared by Mother.
C．Mother’s wish to move into her house.	D．Mother’s ability to take care of herself.

4. What about Mother does the text focus on?

A．Her family traditions.	B．Her love for her daughter.
C．Her unbearable disease.	D．Her attitude toward life.

2 . Many studies have shown how playing video games can lead to structural changes in the brain, including increasing the size of some regions, or to functional changes, such as activating the areas responsible for attention. New research from the University at Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) has gone further to show how cognitive changes can take place even years after people stop playing.

The study involved 27 people between the ages of 18 and 40 with and without any kind of experience with video gaming.

“People who were video gamers before adolescence, despite no longer playing, performed better with the working memory tasks, which require mentally holding and processing information to get a result,” said Marc Palaus, the author of the study.

The results show that people without experience of playing video games as a child did not benefit from improvements in processing and avoiding irrelevant stimuli. Indeed, they were slower than those who had played games as children, which matched what had been seen in earlier studies.

“People who played regularly as children performed better from the outset in processing 3D objects, although these differences were narrowed after the period of training in video gaming, when both groups showed similar levels,” said Palaus.

The study lasted a month and the researchers analyzed participants’ cognitive skills, including working memory, at three points: before starting the training in video gaming, at the end of the training, and fifteen days later. The video game used was Nintendo’s Super Mario 64.

According to Palaus, what most video games have in common is that they involve elements that make people want to continue playing, and that they gradually get harder and present a constant challenge. “These two things are enough to make it an attractive and motivating activity, which, in turn, requires constant and intense use of our brain’s resources.”

“Video games are a perfect recipe for strengthening our cognitive skills, almost without our noticing. However, it’s not the reason for playing too much,” he said.

1. What can be learned about the study?

A．It looks at different games.	B．It is aimed at adult gamers.
C．Its participants are adults.	D．Its author likes playing games.

2. How did people playing no video games as children behave in the study?

A．They tended to ignore irrelevant stimuli.	B．They failed to physically hold 3D objects.
C．They performed very slowly after training.	D．They did worse in working memory tasks.

3. What may Mare Palaus suggest doing?

A．Finding recipes for better cognitive skills.	B．Avoiding getting addicted to video games.
C．Trying less challenging video games.	D．For bidding video games for the young.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Playing Video Games as Kids Can Cause Changes in Brain

B．Video Gamers Memorize Information Much More Quickly

C．Video Games Help to Improve Children’s Working Memory

D．Playing Video Games Benefits Cognitive Skills Even Years Later

3 . Did you know roughly one third of food for human consumption goes to waste? Most of it is fresh fruit and vegetables that go bad. The produce dries out or goes bad, which has led scientists to develop ways of coating or sealing the food to keep it fresher for longer. Now research at Rice University reveals there might be a better way.

Scientists discovered that dipping produce like strawberries and bananas into an egg-based wash is remarkably good for preserving it. The coating is extremely thick, and made from a mixture of powdered egg whites and yolks(70%), and some wood-sourced cellulose to act as a barrier preventing water loss.

What the scientists found was that the egg wash made a significant difference in helping produce stay fresh over a two-week observation period. The appearance of the coated fruits and vegetables didn’t change much, while the uncoated produce ripened and. even rotted within the same time frame. The egg-based coating, as it turned out, reduced each fruit’s chance to get exposed to oxygen.

The non-poisonous coating was found to be flexible and tests showed that it was just as tough as other products, including synthetic films, used in produce packaging. For anyone with an egg allergy, the coating can be removed by thorough washing in water and is tasteless.

The scientists hope this could be a breakthrough in the fight against food waste. "Reducing food shortages in ways that are not related to genetic modification, uneatable coatings or chemical additives is important for better sustainable living ,”said materials scientist and study author Pulickel Ajayan.

What’s great about this discovery is that it fights food waste in more than one way: even the coating was made from eggs that would otherwise have been discarded because they weren’t fit for consumption. The researchers said roughly 200 million of US produced eggs go to waste annually. So if this were scaled up, it could be a win-win situation all around.

1. How does the egg-based wash help keep food fresh?

A．By limiting its oxygen exposure	B．By making its coating less thick.
C．By removing its cellulose slowly.	D．By improving its absorbent ability

2. Why is Pulickel Ajayan mentioned in the text?

A．To stress the seriousness of food shortage.	B．To offer the method of cutting food waste.
C．To show the significance of the discovery.	D．To give brief description of the research.

3. What does the underlined word “discarded” in the last paragraph probably mean?

A．Eaten up.

B．Taken in.

C．Picked out.

D．Thrown away.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．How to use eggs creatively.	B．A new way to preserve food.
C．How to recycle food waste.	D．A breakthrough in technology.

4 . The First Americans

There was a time long ago when a land bridge connected Asia and North America. The first settlers in North America crossed this land bridge from what is now Siberia to Alaska. The people who made this initial crossing were probably following the animals they used for food.

Eventually, the oceans rose and the land bridge between the continents disappeared. The settlers, who I shall call the “First Americans”, could not return to their homeland.     1    

For the next few thousand years, the First Americans migrated south and east throughout North and South America. They made the journey all the way from Alaska to the southern tip of South America, a distance of more than 10,000 miles.     2    

In the far north, above the Arctic Circle, the First Americans became hunters of the ocean.     3     In the brief summer, they gathered berries and other plants. In the winter, they stayed in lodges much of the time preparing for the next summer. It was a hard life, but they learned to survive in these harsh conditions.

Farther south, in what is now Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, the First Americans became cliff dwellers (悬崖居民). They began by living in caves that already existed in the cliffs.     4     The dwellings they constructed in many ways resembled today’s apartment buildings.

    5     They built a system of dams and canals so they could store and use water almost any time of the year. They were so successful that they could raise fruits and vegetables that were not found naturally in the desert.

In Mexico and South America, the First Americans founded civilizations that were among the greatest in the world. They built huge pyramids, lived in fabulous cities» and made great advances in science and mathematics long before the Europeans arrived.

A．They also discovered foods like corn and potatoes.

B．Along the way, they established many different civilizations.

C．The First Americans of the Southwest learned to irrigate the desert.

D．They would have to survive in the New World, they had discovered.

E．They built boats of animal skins and hunted or fished for their food.

F．People living near each other tended to share similar environments and customs.

G．They discovered how to add to the caves by building structures of wood and stone.

5 . You may know the Eiffel Tower as one of the most famous man-made monuments in the world, and you’d be absolutely right! Read on to learn about the history of the spectacular Eiffel Tower.
Travelers from around the world flock(蜂拥) to Paris, France, to visit the Eiffel Tower, making it the most visited paid monument in the entire world! In fact, in 2010, the Eiffel Tower welcomed its 250 millionth visitor!
The history of the Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower was named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the famous monument. Construction began in January of 1887 and was completed in only two years. Their plan was to finish the tower in time to be the entrance arch for the World’s Fair in 1889. This fair celebrated the 100^th anniversary of the French Revolution, which took place from 1789 to 1799.
The height competition
Located on the Champs de Mars, the tower is the tallest structure in Paris. It was the tallest man-made structure in the world for 41 years until the Chrysler Building in New York surpassed(超过) it. Then the spire(塔尖) atop the tower was added, raising its height to 17 feet taller than the Chrysler Building. It is now 1,063 feet tall! There are two replicas(复制品) of the Eiffel Tower in the world: a half scale model at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas and a full-sized monument of a similar (but not exact) design in Tokyo, Japan.
Three shades of awesome
Some pictures make the Eiffel Tower look like a dark iron color. But it is, in fact, bronze. Not only that, but the tower is actually painted three different shades to make it appear even taller: darkest on the bottom and lightest on the top.
1. The Eiffel Tower was constructed to ________.

A．show great respect for Gustave Eiffel

B．make Paris the most visited city in the world

C．show the French people’s construction skill

D．celebrate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution

2. Which of the following does the author mention in the passage?

A．The political meaning of the Eiffel Tower.

B．The disadvantages of the Eiffel Tower.

C．The location of the Eiffel Tower.

D．The cost of the Eiffel Tower.

3. Where can you find a structure similar to the Eiffel Tower according to the passage?

A．In New York.	B．In Las Vegas.
C．In Los Angeles.	D．In Florida.

4. The main purpose of the passage is to ________.

A．tell visitors where to find the replicas of the Eiffel Tower

B．raise people’s awareness of protecting the Eiffel Tower

C．offer people some information about the Eiffel Tower

D．call on people to visit the Eiffel Tower