Brazil has become one of the developing world’s great successes at reducing popu
题型：不详难度：来源：
Brazil has become one of the developing world’s great successes at reducing population growth but more by accident than design. While countries such as India have made joint efforts to reduce birth rates, Brazil has had better result without really trying, says George Martine at Harvard.
Brazil’s population growth rate has dropped from 2.99% a year between 1951 and 1960 to 1.93% a year between 1981 to 1990, and Brazilian women now have only 2.7 children on average. Martine says this figure may have fallen still further since 1990, an achievement that makes it the envy of many other Third World countries.
Martine puts it down to, among other things, soap operas and installment plans introduced in the 1970s. Both played an important, although in direct, role in lowering the birth rate. Brazil is one of the world’s biggest producers of soap operas. Globo, Brazil’s most popular television network, shows three hours of soaps six nights a week, while three others show at least one hour a night. Most soaps are based on wealthy characters living the high life in big cities.
“ Although they have never really tried to work in a message towards the problems of reproduction, they describe middle and upper class values ---- not many children, different attitudes towards sex, women working,” says Martine. “ They sent this image to all parts of brazil and made people conscious of behavior and other values, which were put into a very attractive package.”
Meanwhile, the installment plans tried to encourage the poor to become consumers. “ This led to an enormous change in consumption patterns and consumption was incompatible with unlimited reproduction.” says Martine.
小题1:According to the passage, the two factors that lead to the success of population control in Brazil are _______________________________________.
小题2:The underlined phrase “ put down to ” in paragraph 3 has the closest meaning to _________________________________.
小题3:What made Brazil the envy of many other Third World countries?
_________________________________________________________________
小题4:Why did the author say that soap operas helped in lowering the birth rate?
_________________________________________________________________ |
答案
小题1:Soap operas and installment plans.
小题2: attribute to
小题3:The achievement of population growth rate dropping constinuously.
小题4:Because soap operas have gradually changed people’s way of life. |
解析
试题分析：文章介绍了巴西人口出生率一直在下降，并分析了原因，原来是巴西的电视剧里传播的价值观让巴西女性不愿意多生孩子。
小题1:细节题：从第三段的句子：Martine puts it down to among other things, soap operas and installment (分期付款) plans introduced in the 1970s.可知巴西的人口出生率的下降是由于电视剧和分期付款。Soap operas and installment plans.
小题2:猜词题：从后面的句子：Both played an important, although in direct, role in lowering the birth rate.可知这里put down to是“归因于”=" attribute" to
小题3:Martine says this figure may have fallen still further since 1990, an achievement that makes it the envy of many other Third World countries. 说明文章讲的是巴西出生率的下降使第三世界的国家很羡慕。The achievement of population growth rate dropping constinuously.
小题4:细节题：从第四段的句子：“They sent this image to all parts of Brazil and made people conscious of other patterns of behavior and other values, which were put into a very attractive package.”可知这些电视剧改变了人们的价值观和行为：Because soap operas have gradually changed people’s way of life. |
举一反三
When older honeybees take on tasks usually handled by younger bees, aging of their brains is effectively changed, a new study finds. The discovery suggests that in humans, social involvement ought to be considered
in addition to drugs as a way to treat age-related dementia(痴呆).
“We knew from previous research that when bees stay in the nest and take care of larvae—the bee babies---they remain mentally able as long as we observe them,” explained Gro Amdam, who led the research at Arizona State University. “However, after a period of nursing, bees fly out gathering food and begin aging very quickly.”
“After just two weeks, foraging(觅食的)bees have worn wings, hairless bodies, and more importantly, lose the brain function—-basically measured as the ability to learn new things,” Amdam said in a statement.
Amdam and his colleagues wanted to find out what would happen if they “asked” the foraging bees to take care of larval babies again. To find out, they removed younger nurse bees from a nest, leaving the older foraging bees to face a choice: forage or care for the larvae. Some of the older returned to searching for food, and others switched to caring for the nest and larvae. After ten days, about fifty percent of the older bees that had chosen to care for the nest and larvae had “greatly improved their ability to learn new things.”
The researchers also discovered changes in the proteins in the brains of the bees whose learning ability had improved. One of the proteins that changed, called Prx6, is also found in humans and is known to help protect against dementia.
“Maybe social involvement is something we can do today to help our brains stay younger,” Amdam says. “Since the proteins being researched in people are the same proteins bees have, these proteins may be able to respond to specific social experiences.”
Other studies have shown several non-drug methods can help improve brainpower in older people, including going for walks and taking music lessons.
The findings, announced this week, are detailed in the journal Experimental Gerontology.
小题1:What does the underlined word “they” in Paragraph 4 refer to? （No more than 5 words）
小题2:When do the brains of older bees age very fast? （No more than 9 words）
小题3:What is Amdam’s suggestion for old people to prevent dementia? （No more than 6 words）
小题4:What is the best title for the text? （No more than 6 words） |
阅读下面短文并用英语回答问题，然后将答案写到答案卡相应的位置上（请注意每个小题后面的词数要求）。
[1] Sometimes you are just having a really bad day, and it is easy for you to feel unhappy the whole day. If this is not dealt with properly, it really does harm to your health. Here are a few methods to help you out of trouble.
[2] Smile. Scientists say there is a direct connection between smiling and being happy. They found that smiling can produce a kind of substance (物质) in the body which helps to reduce the chance of getting ill. And they have discovered that most people who live long ______________.
[3] Exercise. Doing sports and games can help you forget your daily problems and make you happy. At the same time, it will help you stay in shape. You can choose from swimming, hiking or running. They are indeed helpful.
[4] Do something you love. Spend your time doing something that you like, such as cooking, reading, or shopping. If you don’t want to go outside, just watch some amusing programs on TV.
[5] Listen to positive music. Listening to happy music while singing along or dancing will take the anger or sadness right out of you! With the help of pleasant music, you will forget your daily problems and keep yourself in a good mood. You will feel that life is not so hard as you thought before.
[6] Think of others. It is better to forget yourself and look for ways to help others when you are feeling down. Look around and you will find there is surely someone in the world who is feeling worse than you. Try to help him and make his day better. In this way, you make yourself happy!
小题1:What does the word “it” (Line2, Paragraph1) probably refer to? (no more than 3 words)
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小题2:Fill in the blank in Paragraph 2 with proper words. (no more than 3 words)
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小题3:Point out the advantage of taking part in sports. (no more than 15 words)
____________________________________________________________________________
小题4:What will happen if you help those who are feeling even worse? (no more than 6 words)
____________________________________________________________________________
小题5:What is the passage mainly about? (no more than 8 words)
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Life on the Earth is wiped out every 27million years---and we have about 16 million years left until the next extinction, according to scientists.
Research into so-called ‘extinction events’ for our planet over the past 500 million years---twice as long as any previous studies ----has proved that they crop up with metronomic(有节奏的) regularity .
Scientists from the university of Kansas and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC are 99 percent confident that there are extinction every 27 million years.
In the 1980s scientists believed that Earth’s regular extinctions could be the result of a distant dark twin of the Sun, called Nemesis.
The theory was that Nemesis crashed through the Oort cloud every 27 million years and sent a shower of comets in our direction.
The Ocrt cloud is a vast belt of dust and ice that is believed to lie around one light year from the Sun and is the origin of many of the comets that pass through our solar system.
But now scientists claim that the regularity of the mass extinctions actually disproves the Nemesis theory because its orbit would have change over time as it interacted with other stars.
“Fossil data, which motivated the idea of Nemesis, now militate against(妨碍) it,” said the researchers.
The last extinctions event, 11 millions years ago, saw 10 percent of the Earth’s inhabitants (居民) wiped out.
This means there is around 16 million years until the next event takes place, although the graph shows that it occasionally the event takes place up to 10 million years early.
Asteroids(小行星) crashing into the Earth are commonly believed to be one of the main reasons behind mass extinctions like that suffered by the dinosaurs ---the Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) extinction (白垩-第三纪灭绝事件).
The extinction wiped out more than half of all species on the planet clearing the way for mammals to become the dominant species(优势物种) on Earth.
The extinction was caused by a massive asteroid slamming into Earth at Chicxulub in Mexico.
The asteroid, which was around 15 kilometers wide, is believed to have hit Earth with a force one billion times more powerful than the atomic bomb at Hiroshima.
小题1: How many years are left until the next extinctions comes? (No more 6 words) (2′)
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小题2:What resulted in the Earth’s regular extinctions according to scientists in the 1980s? (No more than 10words) (2′)
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小题3: What did the last extinction event cause to the Earth? (No more than 10 words)(3′)
____________________________________________________________________
小题4:What’s believed to be one of the main reasons behind mass extinctions like that suffered by the dinosaurs? (No more than 7 words) (3′)
____________________________________________________________________ |
At some point I noticed that people were staring at me. The box boys at the supermarket spoke to me with respect. People were mistaking me for somebody else. It had to be somebody who weighed close to 300 pounds and wore a full beard. I enjoyed the way people would suddenly turn to look at me as if I wore wings. Nobody mentioned my name， but naturally they assumed I knew who I was. I could hardly ask， “By the way， who am I？”
As a result of being in the public eye， I began to change myself. I kept my shoes shined. Also， I changed shirts every day. The more I changed， the more second looks I received. From enjoying the attention， I began to long for it. I’d always felt I was somebody special. Now others were finally realizing it.
But who did people think I was？ I must have been a movie star， or at least a television personality. Then one evening I was sitting at a bus stop in Westwood Village when two young men in an old car looked up at me with that expression I had come to recognize as a respect to my talent and success. One of them said， “Hello， Dom！” So that was who I was！ Once I imagined that well-known comedian， I realized I couldn’t have been anybody else. I gave my young fans a big celebrity grin and said， “Hello， boys！” I waved one hand with a welcome-to-Hollywood gesture they would be talking about for years.
I also realized that it was time to go on a diet. I ate more salads and vegetables. I laid off the carbohydrates. I walked a couple of miles every day. When I had lost about 40 pounds， I shaved off my beard. I didn’t realize that my barber had actually been trying to make me look like the fat Dom DeLuise. I waited for my clients to ask， “What did you do to yourself？” But nobody even noticed a change. I melted back into the general population.
小题1:Why was the author mistaken by people for somebody else？ (No more than 11 words) (2 marks)
小题2:What did the author do to change himself as a result of being in the public eye？ (No more than 12words) (2 marks)
小题3:Why did the young man greet the author？(No more than 10 words) (3 marks)
小题4:What did the author expect his clients to do ？(No more than 11 words)(3 marks) |
Your vocabulary refers to the words in a language you are familiar with. Your active vocabulary contains the words you understand and use in speech and in print, and your passive vocabulary includes the words you do not use but understand. Although children learn more new words than adults, the vocabulary of an adult is not fixed and can be increased. Improve your language repertoire (全部技能) with daily exposure to new words, their pronunciations and meanings.
________. The more often you read, the faster your vocabulary can grow. Choose reading material that is slightly above your level and keep a dictionary with you to look up words you do not know.
Find a new word every day. If you do not encounter an unfamiliar word in your daily reading, use your dictionary to search for one.
Learn the correct definition and pronunciation for each new word you encounter. Pronunciation is as important as definition because in order to add a word to your active vocabulary, you must be able to use it in speech.
Explain the meaning of the word so that you can connect it to something memorable. Use imagery and personal relevance(关联). If you have just learned that the word “obstinate” means stubborn and unyielding, think about the neighbor who will not lend you his car. Imagine him shaking his head, and think of him as obstinate in his refusal.
Use your new word in speech and in writing. Tell a friend about your boss obstinately refusing to reschedule your vacation time. E-mail your sister about how your cat is obstinate about sleeping on your pillow. The first time you use a new word in speech it may seem clumsy and forced, but the more you use it, the more fluent you will become in its use. Soon it will be a regular part of your active vocabulary.
Tell everyone you are trying to increase your vocabulary. Encourage them to ask you what your latest word is, or to ask for the definition of a new word you have used. The more you explain the meaning of a word to someone, the more likely you are to remember it.
小题1:What is the passage mainly about? (no more than 6 words)
_______________________________________________________________
小题2:What should we do if there is no unfamiliar word in our daily reading? (no more than 7 words)
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小题3:What’s the purpose of the example of the word “obstinate”( no more than 15 words)
___________________________________________________________________
小题4:Fill in the blank in paragraph 2 with proper words. (no more than 4 words)
________________________________________________________________
小题5:What does the underlined word “it” in paragraph 4 probably refer to ? (no more than 3 words )
__________________________________________________________________ |
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