Beauty has always been regarded as something praiseworthy. Almost everyone think

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Beauty has always been regarded as something praiseworthy. Almost everyone thinks attractive people are happier and healthier，have better marriages and have more respectable occupations. Personal consultants give them better advice for finding jobs. Even judges are softer on attractive defendants(被告)．But in the executive circle，beauty can become a liability.
While attractiveness is a positive factor for a man on his way up the executive ladder，it is harmful to a woman.
Handsome male executives were thought as having more integrity than plainer men；effort and ability were thought to account for their success.
Attractive female executives were considered to have less integrity than unattractive ones；their success was attributed not to ability but to factors such as luck.
All unattractive women executives were thought to have more integrity and to be more capable than the attractive female executives. Interestingly，though，the rise of the unattractive overnight successes was attributed more to personal relationships and less to ability than that of attractive overnight successes.
Why are attractive women not thought to be able？An attractive woman is thought to be more feminine and an attractive man more masculine(有男子气概的)than the less attractive ones. Thus，an attractive woman has an advantage in traditionally female jobs，but an attractive woman in a traditionally masculine position appears to lack the “masculine” qualities required.
This is true even in politics. “When the only clue is how he or she looks，people treat men and women differently，”says Anne Bowman，who recently published a study on the effects of attractiveness on political candidates. She asked 125 undergraduate students to rank two groups of photographs，one of men and one of women，in order of attractiveness. The students were told the photographs were of candidates for political offices. They were asked to rank them again，in the order they would vote for them.
The results showed that attractive males utterly defeated unattractive men，but the women who had been ranked most attractive invariably received the fewest votes.
小题1:The underlined word “liability”(in Para.1)most probably means “________”．

A．misfortune

B．instability

C．disadvantage

D．burden

小题2:In traditionally female jobs，attractiveness________.

A．reinforces(加强)the feminine qualities required

B．makes women look more honest and capable

C．is of primary importance to women

D．often enables women to succeed quickly

小题3:Bowman"s experiment reveals that when it comes to politics，attractiveness________.

A．turns out to be an obstacle to men

B．affects men and women alike

C．has as little effect on men as on women

D．is more of an obstacle than a benefit to women

小题4:It can be inferred from the passage that people"s views on beauty are often________.

A．practical

B．prejudiced

C．oldfashioned

D．pessimistic

小题5:The author writes this passage to________.

A．demand equal rights for women

B．emphasize the importance of appearance

C．discuss the negative aspects of being attractive

D．give advice to jobseekers who are attractive

答案

小题1:C
小题2:A
小题3:D
小题4:B
小题5:C

解析

文章讨论的是美丽，漂亮的消极一面。
小题1:C 猜测词义题。根据. Even judges are softer on attractive defendants(被告)．But in the executive circle，beauty can become a liability.中的But，表示转折说明美丽有时候会成为缺点，尤其对女性。
小题2:A 细节题。根据第六段第2句话An attractive woman is thought to be more feminine可知A正确。
小题3:D 根据文章倒数第三段最后两行Thus，an attractive woman has an advantage in traditionally female jobs，but an attractive woman in a traditionally masculine position appears to lack the “masculine” qualities required.以及倒数第二段第一行This is true even in politics.可知在政治方面，漂亮有时候会成为障碍，而不是优势。故D正确。
小题4:B 推理题。根据文章可知很多人对于漂亮的女性成功者持怀疑态度，认为她们可能能力不足，对于很帅的男性，则认为他们阳刚不足，所以都存在着偏见，故B正确。
小题5:C 主旨大意题。文章讨论的是美丽，漂亮的消极一面。

举一反三

If I see one more article about how wonderful alternative energy is compared to oil, I will flip(翻页). Alternative energy sources can be good---- very good in fact. And it’s pretty obvious that we’re going to need them, and that our dependence on oil is a Bad Thing. But accepting that does not mean accepting that any kind of alternative energy is a good thing.
To be a good thing, it has to have three properties: 1) It has to help reduce our dependence on oil, 2) It has to be no worse for the environment, and 3) It has to be economically practical.
Many of the things praised meet one or even two of those properties. Solar panels, for example. They can reduce our need for oil, at least in certain regions, and they’re certainly not bad for the environment. But they’re expensive. If you spend the money to make your home solar-powered, you probably won’t get back your costs for at least 15 years, which approaches the lifespan of the panels.
Certainly we need to clean up our act big time and find workable sources of alternative energy. But we also have to keep in mind that every one of these alternative-energy sources comes at a cost, which is something people seem to forget. They hear the phrase “alternative energy” and automatically assume it’s got to be good. But green isn’t always good, and oil isn’t always bad.
One seemingly “green” technology that pops up again and again is electric cars. It is praised by well-meaning people as good for the environment and a way to reduce our oil dependence, especially as oil prices continue to rise.
Electric cars are dirty. In fact, not only are they dirty, they might even be more dirty than their gasoline-powered cousins.
People in California love to talk about “ zero-emissions vehicles”, but people in California seem to be clueless about where electricity comes from. Power plants mostly use fire to make it. Aside from the new folks who have their roofs covered with solar cells, we get our electricity from generators. Generators are fueled by something---- usually coal, oil, but also by heat generated in nuclear power plants. There are a few wind farms and geothermal（地热的） plants as well, but by far we get electricity mainly by burning something.
In other words, those “zero-emissions” cars are likely coal-burning cars. It’s just because the coal is burned somewhere else that it looks clean. It is not. It’s as if the California Greens are covering their eyes ---- “ If I can’t see it, it’s not happening. “ Gasoline is an incredibly efficient way to power a vehicle; a gallon of gas has a lot of energy in it. But when you take that gas ( or another fue) and first use it to make electricity, you waste a nice part of that energy, mostly in the form of wasted heat ---- at the generator, through the transmission（传送） lines, etc.
A gallon of gas may propel your car 25 miles. But the electricity you get from that gallon of gas won’t get you nearly as far ---- so electric cars burn more fuel than gas- powered ones. If our electricity came mostly from nukes; or geothermal, or hydro, or solar, or wind, then an electric car truly would be clean. But for political, technical, and economic reasons, we don’t use much of those energy sources.
In addition, electric cars’ batteries which are poisonous for a long time will eventually end up in a landfill. And finally, when cars are the polluters, the pollution is spread across all the roads. When it’s a power plant, though, all the junk is in one lace. Nature is very good at cleaning up when things are too concentrated, but it takes a lot longer when all the garbage is in one spot.
小题1:Which of the following statements will the writer support?

A．Any kind of alternative energy is a good thing.

B．Alternative energy is bound to take the place of oil.

C．People should have an objective view towards alternative energy.

D．Solar panel is a good example of alternative energy that meets three properties.

小题2:What does “ clueless” mean in Paragraph 7?

A．People see the California Greens everywhere.

B．People in California love to talk about zero-emissions vehicles.

C．People in California love to have their roofs covered with solar cells.

D．People there have no idea that so far electrically mainly comes from burning coal, oil, etc.

小题3:What is the main idea for the text?

A．Green technology is not always green.

B．Alternative energy is economically practical.

C．Electric cars are not clean at all.

D．Gasoline is an efficient way to power a vehicle.

小题4:According to the text, electric cars ___________.

A．are more environmentally friendly

B．burn more fuel than gas-powered ones

C．are very good at cleaning up when things are not too concentrated

D．are poisonous for a long time and will eventually end up in a landfill

小题5:It can be inferred from the text that _________.

A．being green is good and should be encouraged in communication

B．electric cars are not clean in that we get electricity mainly by burning something

C．zero-emissions vehicles should be chosen to protect our environment

D．electric cars are now the dominant vehicle compared with gasoline-powered cousins

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A villa (别墅) designed to resist earthquakes with “self-healing” cracks in its walls, thanks to nanotechnology (纳米技术) applications with self-healing polymers (聚合物), is to be built on a Greek mountainside. The villa’s walls will include special particles that turn into a liquid when squeezed (压榨) under pressure, flow into cracks, and then harden to form a solid material.
The NanoManufacturing Institute (NMI), based in Leeds University, will play a key role in an EU project to construct the home by December 2010. The project, called “Intelligent Safe and Secure Buildings” (ISSB) is funded under the EU’s Sixth Framework program. This potentially life-saving scheme is led by German building manufacturer Knauf. The villa will be built in Amphilochia, in western Greece, where Knauf currently runs a manufacturing plant. If the experiment is successful, more tremor-resistant（防震）homes could be built in earthquake zones across the globe. NMI chief executive Professor Terry Wilkins said, “What we’re trying to achieve here is very exciting. We’re looking to use polymers in much tougher situations than ever before on a larger scale.” Monitors contained in the villa’s walls will be able to collect vast amounts of data about the building over time. Wireless sensors(传感器) will record any stresses and vibrations, as well as temperature, humidity and gas levels.
The walls are to be built from new load-bearing steel frames and high-strength gypsum（石膏）board. Prof Wilkins said, “If there are any problems, the intelligent sensor network will be able to alert residents immediately so they have time to escape. If whole groups of houses are so constructed, we could use a larger network of sensors to get even more information. If the house falls down, we have got hand-held devices that can be used over the ruins to pick out where the embedded（嵌入的）sensors are hidden to get some information about how the villa collapsed. Also, we can get information about anyone who may be around, so it potentially becomes a tool for rescue.”
小题1:The aim of the passage is to ________.

A．report a piece of interesting news

B．promote tremor-resistant homes

C．inform us of the nanotechnology development

D．tell us something about a tremor-resistant home

小题2:The villa can resist earthquakes because _______.

A．it will be built on a special place

B．the cracks in its walls can be healed by the polymers

C．the special particles can make its walls stronger

D．the intelligent sensor network can tell people where there is a crack

小题3:If the tremor-resistant home falls down, _______.

A．rescue work can be done more quickly and accurately

B．the intelligent sensor network will stop working

C．no one can be hurt in the earthquake

D．a warning signal will be given to other residents

小题4:What Prof Wilkins said suggests that _______.

A．he is doubtful about the project

B．he thinks the tremor-resistant home is perfectly designed

C．he is confident in the tremor-resistant home

D．the tremor-resistant home still needs to be tested in a real situation

小题5:It can be inferred from the passage that tremor-resistant home _______.

A．is still being tried out

B．is already under construction

C．has been in wide use

D．will be put into wide use soon

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Environmentalists said our planet was doomed to die. Now one man says they are wrong.
"Everyone knows the planet is in bad shape," thundered a magazine article last year. Species are being driven to die out at record rates, and the rivers are so poisonous that fish are floating on the surface, dead.
But there"s a growing belief that what everyone takes for granted is wrong: things are actually getting better. A new book is about to overturn our most basic assumptions about the world"s environment. Rivers, seas, rain and the atmosphere are all getting cleaner. The total amount of forests in the world is not declining. The Skeptical Environmentalist by Bjorn Lomborg, professor of statistics at the University of Aarhus in Denmark, is an attack on the misleading claims of environmental groups, and the "bad news" culture that makes people believe everything is getting worse.
Now the attacks are increasingly coming from left-wing environmentalists such as Lomborg, a former member of Greenpeace. The accusation is that, although the environment is improving, green groups — with profits of hundreds of mil-lions of pounds a year — are using scare tactics(谋略)to gain donations. Lomborg"s book doesn"t deny global warming — probably the biggest environmental threat — but destroys almost every other environmental claim with many official statistics.
The Worldwatch Institute claims that "deforestation(沙漠化) has been accelerating over the last 30 years". But Lomborg says that is simply rubbish. Since the dawn of agriculture the world has lost about 20 per cent of its forest cover, but in recent decades the forest area"s depleting has come to a stop. According to UN figures, the area of forests has remained almost steady, at about 30 per cent of total land area, since the 1940s. Forests in countries such as the US, the UK and Canada have actually been expanding over the past 40 years. Despite all the warnings the Amazon rainforest has only shrunk by about 15 per cent.
Nor are all our species dying out. Some campaigners claim that 50 per cent of all species will have died out within 50 years. But other studies show only 0.08 per cent of species are dying out each year. Conservation efforts have been successful. Whales are no longer threatened and the bald eagle is off the endangered list.
Environmental groups claim that many of the improvements are the results of the success of their campaigns. Stephen Tindale, director of Greenpeace UK, said, "There are important examples, such as acid rain and ozone, where things aren"t as bad as predicted, and that"s because behavior has changed."
小题1:In his book, The Skeptical Environmentalist, what is Lomborg"s main argument?

A．Our planet is in bad shape.

B．The world"s environment is improving.

C．The total amount of forests in the world is not declining.

D．Conservation efforts have been successful.

小题2:What is Lomborg"s main accusation of environmentalists?

A．They scared people into making donations.

B．They overturned our basic assumptions about the world"s environment.

C．They changed their behavior toward the environment.

D．They only told people bad news about the environment.

小题3:The underlined word "depleting" in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to "____".

A．reducing

B．limiting

C．expanding

D．accelerating

小题4:According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?

A．The total area of forests in the world has increased significantly.

B．The effects of global warming are not as bad as first expected.

C．It appears that the bald eagle will now survive.

D．In the last 50 years the number of whales has increased.

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Roughly speaking, teachers in traditional education may feel that students are too young to know much about the world, and have to be told what to do most of the time. By contrast, open education offers teachers quite different feelings. Students are expected to be responsible for their own education—to discover subjects by themselves instead of being made to study them. This way of teaching allows the students to grow independently and to develop their own interests in many subjects. Some students who do badly in a traditional classroom will be happier in an open classroom and enjoy learning. They will not have to worry about grades or rules at all.
However, many students won’t do well in an open classroom. For these students, they will do little in school if there are too few rules. They will not make good use of open education, which is so different from traditional class, because they may have a problem getting used to making so many choices on their own. For them it is important to have some rules to direct them. They may worry about the rules even when there are no rules. In addition to that, some traditional teachers do not believe in open education and do not like it either.
Since both of some good points and bad points of the open education have been explained clearly, you may have your own opinion on the issue. Personally, I think that the concept of open education is good only in theory. In actual fact, it may not work very well in a real class or school. I believe, most students, but of course not all students, need some structure in their classes. They may want and need to have rules.
In some cases, they must be made to study some subjects. Many students are pleased to find subjects they have to study interesting. They would not study those subjects if they did not have to.
小题1:Open education allows the students to_________________.

A．grow as the educated

B．be responsible for their life

C．discover subjects outside class

D．develop their own interests

小题2:Open education may be a good idea for the students who __________.

A．worry about grades and rules

B．aren’t used to making choices

C．do well in a traditional classroom

D．enjoy having some rules in class

小题3:Some students will do little in an open classroom because___________.

A．there are too many rules

B．they don’t like activities

C．there are too few rules

D．they worry about the rules

小题4:Which of the following best summarizes the passage?

A．Open education is a really complex idea.

B．Open education is better than traditional education.

C．Traditional teachers don’t believe in open education.

D．The writer thinks open education is practical.

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The effects of air pollution on natural conditions have been a disturbing problem for many years. Some scientists hold the view that the air inside houses may be more dangerous than the air outside. It may even be one hundred times worse.
Most scientists agree that every modern house has some kind of indoor pollution, which can cause a person to feel tired, to suffer eye pain, headache and other problems. Believe it or not, some pollutants can cause breathing diseases of blood and even cancer.
What made us feel relieved is that there’s growing concern about the problem now. It is true that when builders began constructing houses and offices they did not want to waste energy. To do this they built buildings that prevented or limited the flow of air between inside and outside. For the same purpose, man-made building materials were employed to build houses, which are now known to let out some harmful gases.
Facing the serious challenge, scientists have been searching for a way to handle the problem. To everyone’s delight, they discovered a natural pollution control system for building—green plants, though they do not really know how plants control air pollution. Scientists suppose that a plant’s leaves absorb or take in the pollutants and in exchange gives out oxygen through its leaves and tiny organizations on its roots. Therefore they recommend that all buildings should have one large plant or several small plants inside for every nine square meters of space. Because studies indicate that different plants absorb different chemicals, the most effective way to clean the air is to use different kinds of plants. In conclusion, having green plants inside your house can make it a prettier and healthier place. Why not try?
小题1:Which of the following statements is TRUR?

A．Outside air pollution is more harmful than the air inside.

B．Scientists have discovered how plants control air pollution

C．Indoor air pollution may cause diseases including cancer.

D．Only large plants can absorb harmful gases indoors.

小题2:According to scientists, some kind of indoor pollution can be found in ________.

A．every old building

B．every modern house

C．all kinds of houses

D．all kinds of offices

小题3:What does the underlined part “To do this” refer to in Para3?

A．To build houses and offices

B．To limit the air flow inside

C．To use man-made materials

D．In order not to waste energy

小题4:The reason why we should use different kinds of plants to clean the air is that ___.

A．plants can drive out all kinds of pollutants indoors

B．plants can absorb different harmful indoor chemical

C．plants can take in all pollutants inside and outside

D．plants may give out more oxygen than people need

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