| A. What is funny? B. What is laughter? C. Reasons for laughter. D. Kids love laughing most. E. When do people laugh? F. Who laughs most? |
Everyone loves laughing!
Laughter is social. It connects us with other people. We laugh more when we are with other people. Studies find that we are 30 times more likely to laugh with others than when we are alone. When one person laughs, other people begin to laugh, too.
It is difficult to pretend. Laughter is honest. Try to laugh right now. It’s difficult, isn’t it? When people pretend to laugh, most people know it’s not real. Studies show that people don’t like the sound of fake (虚假的) laughter.
We often laugh when we feel nervous. At the beginning of the meeting, someone often tells a joke. It’s usually a small joke, but we laugh a lot. Our laughter helps us relax.
Silly things are sometimes funny. We laugh at jokes about people and their mistakes because we know something they don’t know. We think we are better than they are.
Reviews of TV science documentary series
Paul Hansen looks at the latest science programmes.
| A Science for All Fortunately for me and non-scientists everywhere, the makers of Science for All are there to plug the gaps in our knowledge. The series is rather like a knowledgeable parent who doesn’t mind being pestered by wide-eyed and curious children: It takes the time to explain all those fascinating mysteries of nature in an entertaining and understandable way. The last series opened my eyes to all manner of interesting facts and demystified some of the problems faced by modern physics. And the new series show no lack of inspiration for subjects to tackle: everything from the existence of life on other planets to the odd properties of human memory are rightly considered suitable subjects. So, while it’s a shame that factual programs are getting increasingly scarce these days, it’s a comfort that Science for All shows no signs of dipping in quality or disappearing from public view. | B Out in Space Although I wasn’t expecting much from this series, I’m pleased that the producers of Out in Space persisted with their unpromising subject. In the course of the first program we learn about hurricanes, deserts, and even how the Moon was made; a bewildering mix of phenomena that, we were assured, were all caused by events beyond our planets’ atmosphere. That’s not to say the program explored them in any great detail, preferring to skip breathlessly from one to the next. The essential logic of the series seemed to be that if you take any natural phenomenon and ask “why?” enough times, the answer will eventually be that it’s something to do with space. The two presenters attempted to get it all to fit together, by taking part in exciting activities. Sadly, these only occasionally succeeded. |
| C Stars and Planets The second series of Stars and Planets is an attempt to take advantage of the success of the first, which unexpected gained a substantial general audience. Like its predecessor, this is big on amazing photography and fabulous graphics, most of which are much less successful at communicating the immensity of the ideas involved than one human being talking to you directly. This time the scope is given wider, astronomically speaking. What we are being introduced to here are ambitious ideas about time and space, and the presenter succeeds rather better than you might expect. It helps that he doesn’t go too deep, as once you start thinking about it this is tricky stuff to get your head around. The point of such programs is less to explain every detail than to arouse a generalized sense of amazement that might lead to further thinking, and Stars and Planets is certainly good at that. | D Robot Technology This ground-breaking science documentary series follows a group of experts as they attempt to build a complete artificial human from robotic body parts. The project sees scientists use the latest technology from the world’s most renowned research centers and manufacturers. It is the realization of a long-held dream to create a human from manufactured parts, using everything from bionic arms and mechanical hearts, eye implants and microchip brains. The series explores to what extent modern technology is capable of replacing body parts—or even improving their abilities. The presenter, very appropriately, has an artificial hand himself. This ambitious series gives us a guided tour of the wonders of modern technology. Though it can be a slightly upsetting journey at times, it engages the audience in a revolution that is changing the face of medicine. |
In which review does it say that:
1. an effort was made to connect a number of unrelated issues?
2. the topics covered are well chosen?
3. viewers are shown how science can occasionally do better than nature?
4. the series deals with something people have hoped to achieve for a while?
5. the series unfortunately didn’t spend a lot of time explaining the topics covered?
6. viewers are clearly informed?
7. it’s good that viewers are not required to consider all aspects of the subject carefully?
8. the series was worth making despite the topic not appearing very interesting at first?
9. viewers may not always find the series comfortable to watch?
10. the series achieves its aims by astonishing its viewers?
New York—the Statue of Liberty（自由女神像），the skyscrapers（摩天大楼），the beautiful shops on Fifth Avenue and the many theaters on Broadway. This is America’s cultural（文化的）capital. It is also her biggest city, with a population of nearly 8 million. In the summer it is hot, hot, hot and in the winter it can be very cold. Still there are hundreds of things to do and see all the year round.
Manhattan is the real center of the city. When people say“New York City,”they usually mean Manhattan. Most of the interesting shops, buildings and museums are here. In addition, Manhattan is the scene of New York’s busy night life. In 1605 the first Europeans came to Manhattan from Holland. They bought the island from the Native Americans for a few glass necklaces worth about $26 today.
Wall street in Manhattan is the financial heart of the USA. It is also the most important banking center in the world. It is a street of“skyscrapers.”These are high buildings, which Americans invented, and built faster and higher than anyone else.
Like every big city, New York has its own traffic system. Traffic jams can be terrible. It’s usually quickest to go by subway. The New York subway is easy to use and quite cheap. The subway goes to almost every corner of Manhattan. But it is not safe to take the subway late at night because in some places you could get robbed. New York buses are also easy to use. You see more if you go by bus. There are more than 30,000 taxis in New York. They are easy to see, because they are bright yellow and carry large TAXI signs. Taxis do not go outside the city. However, they will go to the airports. In addition to the taxi fare, people give the taxi driver a tip of 15 percent of the fare’s value.
Central Park is a beautiful green oasis（绿洲）in the middle of New York’s concrete（混凝土）desert. It is surprisingly big, with lakes and woods, as well as organized recreation areas. New Yorkers love Central Park, and they use it all the time. In the winter, they go ice-skating, and in the summer roller-skating. They play ball, ride horses and have picnics. They go bicycling and boating. There is even a children’s zoo, with wild birds and animals.
A. The Financial Center of USA
B. American biggest cities and culture center
C. The Traffic Facilities of New York
D. Manhattan, real center of New York City
E. New York—An International City
F. Central Park—A Place of Recreation for the New Yorkers
Statements (He/She wants to persuade people that...)
Robert H. Kamm:
We all want to live longer and healthier lives, but taking pills to rescue us from our self-abusive lifestyle only masks real problems and ends up costing us billions of dollars a year. We ought to be investing at least as much in trying to discover why millions of us behave in ways that are not in our best interest — smoking, drinking, overworking, under-exercising and generally doing things that are bad for our health.
John J. Bagshaw:
The cost of poor health is shocking and goes well beyond dollars. But the approach that offers the best solution, reduces risk, cuts demand and gets people healthy and fit is prevention. The U.S. is a nation of chronic diseases. It will get much worse, because we never deal with the causes. Individual Americans need to bring this issue to a boil and keep it there until we get a health-care system based on prevention.
Laurel Woods:
While I applaud the research being done in the field of medicine, I am also aware that good things can go bad in an instant. I have heart disease, and I had a negative reaction to a new treatment: the result was a long hospital stay. We should remember that caution has to be applied when being treated with a new medicine. Nothing will replace the human element that must be present in a caring medical community.
Robert H. Kamm:
John J. Bagshaw:
Laurel Woods:
A. Prevention should always come before treatment.
B. A change of behavior counts more than reliance on drugs.
C. New drugs should not be put onto the market until proven effective.
D. A new medical treatment needs to be administrated with caution (great care).
5 . Travel the World by Bike
Rachel Hugens met her husband, Patrick, while bicycle touring. The Hugenses, who live in Boise, when not on their bikes, recently went on their latest round-the-world adventure. They visited 36 countries on a tour, touching Europe, Africa, Asia and South America.
“Traveling by bike is the ultimate freedom,” Rachel said via email. “On a bike, you become part of the scenery. The landscape is not framed by a window.
A growing community
Dennis Swift, secretary of the Southwest Idaho Mountain Biking Association, rode across the U.S last year–from Seattle to Salem, Massachusetts. Six people started the tour and three finished, riding 52 out of 56 days. They averaged about 60 miles per riding day.
“We took quite a few pictures; we didn’t keep our head down the whole way,” Swift said. “We got to meet different people. It’s the people that are probably most important.” Swift also rode through the Basque Country with a group of Boise cyclists last year. He’s planning to participate in a Virginia bike tour this year.
“When you get older, your health is the number one priority.” he said, “
Seeing the places in between
“Traveling by bicycle forces you to visit the places in between that many backpackers traveling by bus would pass by,” Patrick said. “
Financial flexibility to travel
This is the third time that the couple has quit their jobs to tour. Rachel is a registered nurse; Patrick is an architect. Both regained their former jobs when they returned home in 2000 and 2007. They’re uncertain what will happen this time.
They’ve given themselves financial flexibility by paying off their home, commuting to work by bike and avoiding some of the bills that are important parts for most (cell phones, cable TV). They travel with a $50 daily budget.
“
A. Bike tourism is on the rise in the United States and around the world, according to the Adventure Cycling Association.
B. Slowly, you can see snapshots of people’s daily lives and interact with them.
C. Travelling alters your attitude towards the whole world.
D. What’s good for the heart is good for the brain, so riding and staying fit is sort of a priority in my life.
E. Traveling changes your view of money and what it can do for you.
F. Every time you make a roadside stop, you have the opportunity to meet people or see something new.
A, B, C, D, E(AB), F(AC)
| A. Control of Respiration B. Basic tips for preserving cut flowers C. Role of Respiration D. Most Important Aspect of Flower Care E. Need for Clean Water F. Ways of Stopping Respiration |
1. While everybody enjoys fresh cut flowers around his house, few people know how to keep them for as long as possible. This may be done by keeping in mind a few simple facts. The key to keeping fresh cut flowers for a week or more without floral preservatives(which contain biocides that kill bacteria and fungus) is to keep the water fresh and the stems free of air pockets so they can continue to draw up water.
2. An important thing to remember about cut flowers is that they are sensitive to temperature. For example, studies have shown that cut carnations(康乃馨) retain their freshness eight times longer when kept at 12℃ than when kept at 26℃. Keeping freshly harvested flowers at the right temperatures is probably the most important aspect of flower care.
3. Flowers are not intended by nature to live very long. Their biological purpose is simply to attract birds or insects, such as bees, for pollination (授粉). After that, they quickly dry up and die. The process by which flowers consume oxygen and produce carbon dioxide, called respiration (呼吸), generates the energy the flower needs to give the flower its shape and colour. The making of seeds also depends on this energy. While all living things respire, flowers have a high level of respiration. A result of all this respiration is heat, and for flowers the level of heat relative to the mass of the flower is very high. Respiration also brings about the eventual death of the flower. Thus the greater the level of respiration, the sooner the flower dies.
4. How, then, to control the rate at which flowers die? By controlling respiration. How is respiration controlled? By controlling temperature. We know that respiration produces heat, but the reverse is also true. Thus by maintaining low temperatures, respiration is reduced and the cut flower will age more slowly.
5. Another vital factor in keeping cut flowers is the quality of the water in which they are placed. Flowers find it difficult to “drink” water that is dirty or otherwise polluted. Even when water looks and smells clean, it almost certainly contains harmful substances that can endanger the flowers. To rid the water of these unwanted substances, household chlorine bleach (含氯漂白剂) can be used in small quantities. It is recommended that 15 drops of chlorine bleach(at 4% solution) be added to each litre of water. The water and solution should also be replaced each day.
| A. Manufacturing industry in information economy B. News in the age of information C. Argument about individual accounts and their reliability D. Be your own investigative journalist E. Don’t believe everything you read in the newspapers. F. Information is presented in an entertaining way. |
1. ______
With the arrival of the age of “information economy”, intellectual work is becoming a more important source of wealth than manufacturing. Organizations in all walks of life are doing more to spread their information. So people of the Public Relations are hired to speak for them. A lot of our news is actually collected from press releases and reports of events intentionally staged for journalists. In the information age, journalists spend their time, not investigating, but passing on the words of a spokesperson.
2. ______
There is a joke in the novel Scoop about the newspaper’s owner, Lord Copper. The editors can never disagree with him. When he’s right about something they answer “definitely”, and when he’s wrong they say “to some extent, Lord Copper.” It seems reasonable to suppose that, in the real world, the opinions of such powerful people still influence the journalists and editors who work for them.
3. ______
In countries where the news is not officially controlled, it is likely to be provided by commercial organizations who depend on advertising. The news has to attract viewers and maintain its audience ratings. I suspect that some stories get air-time just because there happen to be exciting pictures to show. In Britain, we have the tabloid newspapers which millions of people read simply for entertainment. There is progressively less room for historical background, or statistics, which are harder to present as a sensational story.
4. ______
There is an argument that with spreading access to the internet and cheap technology for recording sound and images we will all be able to find exactly the information we want. People around the world will be able to publish their own eye-witness accounts and compete with the widely-accepted news-gatherers on equal terms. But what it will mean also is that we’ll be subjected to a still greater amount of nonsense and lies. Any web log may contain the latest information of the year, or equally, a made-up story that you will never be able to check.
5. ______
Maybe the time has come to do something about it, and I don’t just mean changing your choice of TV channel or newspaper. In a world where everyone wants you to listen to their version, you only have two choices: switch off altogether or start looking for sources you can trust. The investigative journalist of the future is everyone who wants to know the truth.
Directions: Read the following text and choose the most suitable heading from A-F for each paragraph. There is one extra heading which you do not need.
A. Drug overuse and its consequence
B. The problem of drug overuse in America
C. Benefits of medicine and its wise use
D. Female drug overuse with reference to that of males
E. Misuse of medicine among the young generation
F. Improper use of medicine among senior citizens
1.
Nowadays. millions of people misuse and even overuse pain medications and other drugs. Research by the American National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA, 1999) shows that around 2% of the population over age 12 were using drugs non-medically.
2.NIDA views medications as a powerful force for good in the contemporary world. They reduce and remove pain for millions of people suffering from illness and disease. They make it possible for doctors to perform complicated surgery to save lives. Many people afflicted by serious medical conditions are able to control their symptoms and become active, contributing citizens. NIDA points out that most individuals who take these drags use them in a responsible.
3.Nevertheless, overuse of drugs such as opioids, central nervous system (CNS) depressants and stimulants does lead to harmful reliance in some people and is therefore becoming a serious public health concern. Although this abuse affects many people worldwide, particular trends of concern to the medical profession in the US appear among older adults, teenagers arid women.
4.Though it may be a surprise to many, the misuse of medications may be the most common form of drug abuse among the elderly. Dr Kenneth Schrader of Duke University, North Carolina states that although the elderly represent about 13% of the US population, those aged 65 and over account for the consumption of one third of all drugs. People in this age group use medications roughly three times more than the general population and have poorer compliance with instruction for use. In another study of elderly patients admitted to treatment programs, 70% were women who had overused medicines.
5.Unfortunately, this trend among women does not only affect those aged over. In general, among women and men who are using either an anti-anxiety drug or a sedative, women are twice as likely to become addicted. In addition, statistics compiled for 12-17 year olds show that teenage girls are more likely than teenage boys to begin overusing psychotherapeutic medication such as painkillers, tranquillizers, stimulants and sedatives.
| A. When a child should learn to read B. Why it is fun to teach a child reading C. What if a child has reading problems D. How you prepare a young child for reading E. What is the best way to teach a child reading F. Whether reading early promises later achievements |
Learning to read early has become one of those indicators — in parents' minds at least – that their child is smart. In fact, reading early has very little to do with whether a child is successful academically. Research has shown that difficulty with reading is often due not to inferior intelligence but to differences in the developmental wiring of each individual child. In some cases, there are neurological problems and developmental lags that can be overcome with proper training.
2. ______________
Traditionally, American schools teach children at age six, but many schools begin teaching informally in kindergarten and pre-kindergarten. If parents start too early to encourage reading, and a child does not immediately succeed, the parent has a hard time relaxing and letting the child go at his or her own pace.
3. ___________
Over the years, research has proved that the use of both the “whole language" method and the "phonic" method works best for a child to master reading. While the whole language approach, which includes reading to children and getting them interested in both the activity of reading and the story they are reading, is helpful, phonics must be taught. Children must be taught that one of the squiggles they see is a "p" and another a "b". Getting the print off the page requires a different ability than being able to understand the meaning of what is written.
4. _______________
You can start developing the skills needed in reading at a very young age without putting any pressure on children. Besides reading to them, parents can start "ear training" their child by playing thyme games. This develops the child's ability to recognize different sounds. In reading to children, parents also can point to words as they go, teaching the child that the funny lines on the page are the words you are saying. All this should be a fun activity.
5. _____________
Once a child is in school, the learning of reading is inevitably more serious. For children who have some kind of reading difficulty, you must get a professional diagnosis. While the teacher might say the child is merely disinterested but will get over it, disinterest or poor performance in reading can stem from a number of things, some being very specific learning disabilities that can be identified and worked on. But it is very tricky for parents to deal with their own child's learning disabilities.
| A．The great impact and progress in genetic engineering B．Worries about privacy protection C．Worries about medical use of genetic engineering D．Genetic knowledge helps to predict diseases E．Genetic knowledge may not be properly used F．The application of genetic engineering in the medical fields |
Current research into the human gene system is helping us understand why people have predispositions（易患某病倾向）to certain diseases．Knowing our genetic makeup can help us to judge whether or not we may be stricken by particular illness, such as cancer．Even before birth, we are able to do genetic screenings to determine what a child's genetic disorder will be．Scientists have already isolated and identified the genes responsible for the more than 4,000 genetic diseases that affect human beings．
2.
The implications of this knowledge are astonishing. In addition to predicting genetic predisposition towards diseases, gene therapies may provide new treatments or cures for serious diseases．Millions of people already use genetically engineered drugs to treat heart disease, cancer, AIDS, and strokes （中风）. But with the research that is now being conducted, we may find cures to many more diseases．In the near future, genetic experimentation will also allow parents to select the traits of their children. Genetic traits that determine height, weight, eye and hair color will be able to be controlled, and many parents are excited about this potential.
3.
Many people, however, are unwilling to accept the possibilities genetic research allowsFor example, one reason some women do not use the largest genetic testing for breast cancer is because they are afraid they will be discriminated against．Another problem is that many people do not want to discover their weakness．What if they learn that they have a disease for which there are no medical cures? How will such knowledge affect their lives? Do people really want to know what they will die of?
4.
Many people believe that history has not always shown human decision-making to be bright when it comes to ethical（道德的）choices. Jeremy Rifkin is probably the most well known opponent of genetic engineering. He believes that humans are not responsible enough to experiment with genes and should not “play God” He asks, “Just because it can be done, does that mean it should be done?” He points out that our society will eventually look and act the same if parents select the traits of their children, and he questions the desirability of such a society．
5.
One of the fears expressed about genetic experimentation involves privacy. Already blood sample taken from patients in hospitals have been used for genetic research without the patients’ permission. Most people would agree that one’s health and genetic makeup are private concerns. But if insurance companies gain access to this information, it could have a large impact on insurance coverage or costs; if employers gain access to the information, it could have a large impact on hiring or promotion decisions. The possibilities for discrimination are obvious．
