A recent study, published in last week’s Journal of the American Medical Associa
题型：不详难度：来源：
A recent study, published in last week’s Journal of the American Medical Association, offers a picture of how risky(冒险的) it is to get a lift from a teenage driver. Indeed, a 16-year-old driver with three or more passengers is three times as likely to have a deadly accident as a teenager driving alone, while the risk of death for drivers between 30 and 59 decreases with each additional passenger.
The authors also found that the death rates for teenage drivers increased sharply after 10 p.m., and especially after midnight. With passengers in the car, the driver was even more likely to die in a late-night accident.
Robert Foss, a scientist at the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, says the higher death rates for teenage drivers have less to do with “really stupid behavior” than with just a lack of driving experience. “The basic issue,” he says, “is that adults who are responsible for issuing licenses fail to recognize how complex and skilled a task driving is.”
Both he and the author of the study believe that the way to mitigate (使……缓解)the problem is to have states set up so-called graduated licensing systems, in which getting a license is a multistage process. A graduated license requires that a teenager first prove himself capable of driving in the presence of an adult, followed by a period of driving with night or passenger limits, before graduating to full driving licenses.
Graduated licensing systems have reduced teenage driver crashes, according to recent studies. About half of the states now have some sort of graduated licensing system in place, but only 10 of those states have limits on passengers. California is the strictest, with a new driver under 20 forbidden to carry any passenger (without the presence of an adult over 25) for the first six months.
小题1:Which of the following situations can we infer is most dangerous according to the passage?| A．A teenager driving after midnight with passengers in the car. | | B．Adults giving a lift to teenagers on the highway after 10 p.m. | | C．Adults driving with three or more teenage passengers late at night. | | D．A teenager getting a lift from a stranger on the highway at midnight. |
小题2:According to Robert Foss, the high death rate of teenage drivers is mainly because of _______. | A．their frequent driving at night | | B．their improper ways of driving | | C．their driving with passengers | | D．their lack of driving experience |
小题3:According to Paragraph 3, which of the following statements is TRUE?| A．The licensing departments are partly responsible for teenagers" driving accidents. | | B．Driving is too complex a skill for teenagers to learn. | | C．Teenagers should be forbidden to apply to take driving lessons. | | D．Teenagers should spend more time learning to drive. |
小题4:A suggested measure to be taken to reduce teenagers" driving accidents is that_______.| A．driving in the presence of an adult should be made a rule | | B．the licensing system should be improved | | C．they should not be allowed to drive after 10 p.m. | | D．they should be forbidden to take on passengers |
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答案
小题1:A
小题2:D
小题3:A
小题4:B |
解析
试题分析：文章大意：调查研究表明青少年驾车死亡率高于成年人。本文还提出了解决此问题的相应措施。
小题1:A 推理判断题。根据第二段句子… increased sharply after 10 p.m., and especially after midnight. With passengers in the car, the driver was even more likely to die in a late-night accident.可以推断出，青少年午夜之后驾车载人是最危险的时候。所以答案选A。
小题2:D细节理解题。 根据第三段句子…the higher death rates for teenage drivers have less to do with “really stupid behavior” than with just a lack of driving experience可知，青少年司机的高死亡率与“驾驶经验缺失”的关系比“做傻事”更大。关键要理解less表否定。所以答案选D。
小题3:A 正误判断题。根据第三段最后的句子“The basic issue,” he says, “is that adults who are responsible for issuing licenses fail to recognize how complex and skilled a task driving is.”可以判断，Robert Foss强调指出，根本问题是，负责发放驾照的成年人没能认识到驾驶汽车非常复杂且技术性很强。所以他们对青少年司机的车祸问题负有责任。因此答案选A。
小题4:B 细节理解题。文章的第四五两段讲的都是驾照发放系统的改进问题，对于A、C、D所说的几条建议，在最后两段介绍的建议中都只字未提。所以答案选B。 |
举一反三
Back in the early 1900s, American physician Byron Robinson wrote a book proposing an interesting theory: humans actually have two brains --- one in our heads and the other in our stomachs, and the two “communicate” all the time. Interestingly, in Chinese culture, thoughts are also related to the belly in phrases and idioms like fugao (腹稿, a draft), manfu jinglun (满腹经纶, a bellyful of ideas), and yiduzi weiqu (一肚子委屈, a bellyful of complaints).
This may sound a little ridiculous at first. But try to think of a time when you were extremely nervous. Chances are that you also felt uncomfortable in your stomach, didn’t you? This is probably why people use the idiom “butterflies in one’s stomach” to refer to being nervous.
Now scientists from Canada and the US have found that our guts (肠道), if not as bright as our actual brains, are much more than just where we digest the food we eat. They also affect our emotions and even behavior, all thanks to the bacteria in them, reported Scientific American.
In the study, scientists fed timid mice stomach bacteria from mice that were more active and daring. After eating the bacteria, the timid mice grew more energetic and fearless. Sure enough, when bold mice got the bacteria from timid ones, they became more anxious. The mice’s behavior also changed when scientists disturbed the bacteria in their guts by changing their diets and feeding them antibiotics (抗生素).
“If something goes wrong in the gut, that change is reflected in the brain,” Emeran Mayer, a professor at University of California, Los Angeles, told The Huffington Post.
The brain-and-gut connection also works in the opposite way. Scientists studied children with autism (自闭症) --- a mental illness that makes people unable to socialize with others --- and found that they also have a lot of stomach problems. They have fewer types of stomach bacteria and lower totals of a few key bacteria than healthy children.
This research raises the possibility that scientists could treat patients with brain problems simply by feeding them the right food, which would be much more efficient than providing psychological therapy (疗法).
According to CBC News, you can get “good” bacteria that lift your spirits from food like yogurt while “bad” bacteria are usually in high fat and high sugar foods.
小题1:What is the author’s attitude toward Byron Robinson’s theory of two human brains?| A．Unsatisfied. | B．Doubtful. | C．Positive. | D．Negative. |
小题2:The author mentioned the idiom “butterflies in one’s stomach” in the second paragraph to _____.| A．describe the symptoms of nervousness | | B．suggest a connection between our stomach and our emotions | | C．hint at the danger of nervous feelings | | D．encourage people to calm down and relax |
小题3:What’s the closest meaning of the underlined word “bold” in Paragraph 4?| A．anxious | B．fearless | C．energetic | D．sharp |
小题4:According to the article, ______.| A．people with mental illnesses are more likely to have stomach problems | | B．the use of antibiotics can turn timid mice into daring ones | | C．timid mice have fewer types of stomach bacteria than daring mice | | D．people must consider changing their diets when they feel anxious |
小题5:We can infer from the article that______.| A．psychological therapy has never worked before for autistic children | | B．yogurt is the best solution for anxiety problems | | C．high fat and high sugar foods are responsible for many mental diseases | | D．diet changes can lead to mood changes |
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There is no denying that over the years college education has been accepted without the slightest doubt. All high school graduates should go, says conventional wisdom and statistical evidence, because college will help them earn more, become “better” citizens and be more responsible than those who don’t go.
But college can never work its magic for everyone. Now with half our high school graduates attending college, those unfit for the pattern are getting more. College graduates are selling shoes and driving taxis; college students interfere with each other’s experiments and write false letters of recommendation in the fierce competition for admission into graduate schools. Others find no stimulation (激励) in their studies, and consequently have to drop out, which is often encouraged by college administrators.
Some observers say the fault lies with young people themselves --- they are spoiled and expecting too much. But that’s a condemnation (谴责）of the students as a whole, and doesn’t explain all campus unhappiness. Others blame our society. Both are partly right. We have been told that young people have to go to college because our economy can’t absorb an army of untrained eighteen-year-olds. But disappointed graduates are learning that it can no longer absorb an army of trained twenty-two-year-olds, either.
Some campus watchers suggest that college may not be the best, the proper or the only place for every young person after finishing high school. It seems that through the rosy (玫瑰的) glow of our own college experiences, we may have been looking at those surveys and statistics upside down. Perhaps college does not make people intelligent, ambitious, happy, or quick to learn things—maybe it is just the other way around. Intelligent, ambitious, happy, quick-learning people are merely those who are attracted to college in the first place. And perhaps all those successful college graduates would have been successful even without college education. This is heresy (异端邪说) to those who have been brought up to believe that if a little schooling is good, more has to be much better. But contrary evidence is beginning to pile up.
小题1:According to the first paragraph, ______.| A．people now no longer challenge college education | | B．people have great expectations for college education | | C．the author thinks youngsters should all go to college | | D．people still have a low opinion of college education |
小题2:More young people drop out of college because ______.| A．they are no longer motivated in their studies | | B．they can start selling shoes and driving taxis | | C．they compete for admission to graduate schools | | D．college administrators encourage them to do so |
小题3:Who does the author think is responsible for campus unhappiness?| A．young students who are all spoiled and expecting too much. | | B．our society that can’t offer enough jobs to college graduates. | | C．our society that has not enough jobs for high school graduates. | | D．young people as well as our society are to blame for all this. |
小题4:Which of the following statements is TRUE about those surveys and statistics?| A．They prove high school graduates are smarter than college graduates. | | B．They are so convincing that we think of our rosy college experiences. | | C．They may have been misread because of our rosy college experiences. | | D．They prove wrong because they contradict our rosy college experiences. |
小题5:What is the meaning of the underlined sentence in Paragraph 4? | A．It is just the opposite | B．There is no right way | | C．It is the wrong way | D．There’s no other way |
小题6:What is the main purpose of this passage?| A．To inform young people college education is no longer important now. | | B．To prove college education doesn’t make young people more intelligent. | | C．Toargueagainsttheideathatcollegeisthefirst choiceforallyoungsters. | | D．To tell young people that there’s something wrong with college education. |
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In Egyptian myth, Apophis was the ancient spirit of evil and destruction, a demon (恶魔) that was determined to throw the world into darkness forever. A fitting name, astronomers reasoned, for a threat now rushing towards Earth from outer space. Scientists are monitoring the progress of a 390-metere wide asteroid (小行星) discovered last year, which is potentially on a collision (碰撞)course with the planet.
NASA has estimated that Apophis has an outside chance of hitting the Earth in 2036. If it did hit us, thousands of square kilometers would be directly affected by the explosion but the whole of the Earth would see the effects of the dust sent into the atmosphere. At a recent meeting of experts in Near-Earth objects (NEOs) in London, scientists said it could take decades to design, test and build the required technology to deflect the asteroid.
The Apophis asteroid is placed at four out of ten on the Torino scale—a measure of the threat caused by an NEO where 10 is a certain collision which could cause a global disaster. This is the most possible danger of any asteroid in recorded history and it has a 1 in 37 chance of hitting the Earth.
Alan Fitzsimmons, an astronomer from Queen’s University Belfast, said, “When it does pass close to us on April 13, 2029, the Earth will deflect it and change its orbit. There is a small possibility that if it passes through a particular point in space, the so-called keyhole, the Earth’s gravity will change things so that when it comes back around again in 2036, it will collide with us.” The chance of Apophis passing through the keyhole, a 600-meter patch of space, is 1 in 5,500, based on current information.
There is no shortage of ideas on how to deflect asteroids. The Advanced Concepts Team at the European Space Agency has led the effort in designing a range of satellites and rockets to nudge asteroids that are on a collision course for Earth into a different orbit.
小题1:The best title for this passage would be ___________.| A．Apophis Asteroid, a Possible Destroyer of Earth | | B．Apophis, a Good Name for Dangerous Asteroid | | C．Our Planet Will Be Ruined in 2036 | | D．Scientists Study Apophis Asteroid |
小题2:The name Apophis mentioned in the passage indicates that the asteroid is _________.| A．powerful | B．mysterious | C．boring | D．destructive |
小题3:The underlined word “deflect” in Paragraph 2 probably means _________.| A．destroy the quality of | | B．change the direction of | | C．measure the size of | | D．look into the truth of |
小题4:Which of the following is NOT true?| A．If Apophis hit the earth, its impact would be enormous. | | B．No way to deal with Apophis is available at present. | | C．Apophis is the first dangerous asteroid in recorded history. | | D．It is uncertain whether Apophis will hit the earth in 2036. |
小题5:What would the passage talk about if it continued?| A．An Egyptian myth about Apophis. | | B．NASA’s study on NEOs. | | C．How the keyhole influences Apophis. | | D．What methods can be used to deflect the asteroid. |
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Schooling Matters
March 25, 2014 Chengdu Michelle Obama
You see, the truth is that I grew up like many of you. My mom, my dad, my brother and I, we lived in a tiny apartment in Chicago, which is one of the largest cities in America. My father worked at the local water plant…
While we certainly weren’t rich, my parents had big dreams for me and my brother. They had only a high school education themselves, but they were determined to send us both to universities.
So they poured all of their love and all of their hope into us, and they worked hard. They saved every penny. And I know that wasn’t easy for them, especially for my father. You see, my father had serious illness called multiple sclerosis(多发性硬化症). And as he got sicker, it got harder for him to walk, and it took him longer to get dressed in the morning.
But no matter how tired he felt, no matter how much pain he was in, my father hardly ever missed a day of work, because he was determined to give me and my brother a better life. And every day, like so many of you, I felt the weight of my parents’ sacrifices on my shoulders. Every day, I wanted to make them proud.
So, while most American kids attend public schools near their homes, when it was time for me to attend high school, I took an exam and got into a special public high school where I could get a better education. But the school was very far from my home, so I had to get up early every morning and ride a bus for an hour, sometimes an hour and a half if the weather was bad. And every afternoon, I’d ride that same bus back home and then immediately start my homework, often studying late into the night – and sometimes I would wake up at 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning to study even more.
And it wasn’t easy. But whenever I got tired or discouraged, I would just think about how hard my parents were working for me. And I would remember something my mother always told me – she said, “A good education is something that no one can take away from you.”
小题1:The passage can be sorted as a ．| A．self-introduction | B．short story | C．news report | D．speech draft (草稿) |
小题2:Which of the following is TRUE about Michelle Obama and her family?| A．Her parents were poor but had good educational backgrounds. | | B．She attended a public high school near her home. | | C．Her father suffered a serious disease and became disabled. | | D．She was aware of her parents’ sacrifices and expectations. |
小题3:Which of the following words best describes Michelle’s father?| A．Optimistic. | B．Humorous. | C．Strong-minded | D．Generous |
小题4:What does Michelle mainly want to tell readers in this excerpt?| A．We should work hard and get good educations. | | B．Our parents always have high expectations for us. | | C．She is an ordinary person from an ordinary family. | | D．The road to the US First Lady is not easy. |
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Can noncombustion (非燃烧) technology create a no-pollution way to drive？Imagine pulling into a service station to fuel up your car. But not at the gas pump or electric battery charger —at the air pump! That’s not hot air, either! The next generation of cars may run on thin air. Wouldn’t that be an incredible way to cut both pollution and dependence on foreign oil?
If you’ve ever inflated a balloon and then let it go, you’ve got the basics to test-drive the amazing MiniCAT, currently being developed by Noteur Development International (MDI), headquartered in Luxembourg. Invented by Formula One racing car designer Guy Negre, this experimental vehicle is unlike any car you’ve ever seen. While your family’s traditional car or SUV draws its horsepower using combustion, the only fuel that MiniCAT needs (CAT stands for Compressed Air Technology) is the air we breathe.
Start with about 25,000 gallons of air. Now, press it all into a space smaller than your school locker—because that’s the size of two super-strong, high-pressure air tanks, made from fiber and fixed beneath the air car.
Confining that much air inside those small tanks generates an internal pressure of over 4,000 pounds per square inch. That’s over 300 times normal air pressure.
When this cold, high-pressure air enters MiniCAT’s unique engine, it interacts(交互作用) with warmer air to create pressure waves that pump the engine’s engineered pistons (活塞) to move the car. MiniCAT’s projected top speed is 60 miles per hour, with a range of 120 miles on a full air supply.
小题1:What is the passage mainly about?| A．Ways to cut down air pollution. | | B．Cars that run on thin air. | | C．Formula One racing car designer. | | D．Dependence on foreign oil. |
小题2:What is MiniCAT according to the passage?| A．The name of a car. | | B．The name of a balloon. | | C．The name of a car company. | | D．The name of a car designer. |
小题3:The underlined world “Confining” in Paragraph 4 can be replaced by ___________.| A．Keeping | B．Preventing | C．Pushing | D．Running |
小题4:What does the last paragraph tell us?| A．How much pressure the air creates. | | B．How the car works. | | C．What the normal air pressure is. | | D．How the air gets into the engine. |
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