One day last September, as Britney Spears was about to board a flight to Los Ang

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One day last September, as Britney Spears was about to board a flight to Los Angeles from London, a blue bottle fell out of her purse. She quickly put it back in, but not before the camera recorded the event. Neither Spears nor her spokesman was willing to comment on the contents of the bottle, but the next morning London’s Daily Express published a page of pictures under the headline “EXCLUSIVE: POP PRINCESS SPOTTED AT AIRPORT WITH POT OF SLIMMING TABLETS.” Spears was apparently carrying Zantrex-3, one of the most popular weight-loss pills now sold in the United States. The pill, which is sold at about fifty dollars for a month’s supply, contains a huge amount of caffeine, some green tea, and three common South American herbs that also act as stimulants (兴奋剂). It hit the U.S. market last March and has had a success that would be hard to overstate. Millions of bottles have been sold, and during the Christmas season it was displayed in the windows of the nation’s largest chain of vitamin shops, G.N.C. (It is so highly sought after that many of the stores keep it in locked counters.) Zantrex-3 is also sold at CVS, RiteAid, Wal-Mart, and other chains, and over the telephone and on the Internet. If you type “Zantrex” into Google, more than a hundred thousand pieces of information about it will appear. At any moment, there are scores of people sell it on eBay.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the success story of Zantrex-3, however, is that it is far from unique. There are hundreds of similar products on the market today, and they are bought by millions of Americans. And though Zantrex’s producer makes some exciting statements (“the most advanced weight control compound (化合物)period”), so do the people who sell Stacker 2 and Anorex along with those who sell Carb Eliminator and Fat Eliminator. Almost all of these compounds suggest that they can help people lose weight and regain lost energy, and often without diet, exercise, or any other effort.
51. Britney Spears is a / an______.
A. dancer B. singer C. athlete D. chemist
52. Which of the following is also a kind of weight-loss pill?
A. CVS B. Rite Aid C. Wal-Mart D. Anorex
53. The underlined part of the sentence in the first paragraph is most likely similar in meaning to ______.
A. it is difficult to say how successful Zantrex-3 is
B. you can’t overstate the success of Zantrex-3
C. you can’t think too highly of the success of Zantrex-3
D. Zantrex-3 is not very successful
54. From the second paragraph we know that ______ .
A. Zantrex-3 is one of the successful weight-loss pills on the US market
B. Zantrex-3 is the most successful weight-loss pills on the US market
C. Zantrex-3 is the only weight-loss pill on the US market
D. there are five kinds of weight-loss pills on the US market
55. The text mainly tells us ______.
A. when Britney Spears was found taking weight-loss pills with her
B. how Zantrex-3 became successful in the USA
C. weight-loss pills are very popular in the USA
D. Zantrex-3 is forbidden to be sold on the US market

答案

51-55 BDCAC

解析

51. 答案B。细节信息题。从第1段的大写部分“…POP PRINCESS SPOTTED AT AIRPORT WITH POT OF SLIMMING TABLETS.”可以知道B选项是正确答案。
52. 答案D。细节信息题。根据第1段的“Zantrex-3 is also sold at CVS, RiteAid, Wal-Mart, and other chains,”以及第2段的“…so do the people who sell Stacker 2 and Anorex along with those who sell Carb Eliminator and Fat Eliminator.”可以知道D选项是正确答案。
53. 答案C。理解句子结构及推测词义题。从It hit the U.S. market last March and has had a success that would be hard to overstate. 的前半部分可以知道Zantrex-3是美国市场很畅销的减肥类商品；根据构词法可以知道后半部分的overstate有“夸张、夸大事实”的意思，而would be hard to overstate可以理解为“难以夸张、夸大”的意思，因此划线部分的意思可以直译为“难以夸大/夸张的成功”或理解为“怎么夸张都不过份的成功”，C选项所含有的句型can not…too亦是此意。
54. 答案A。从第2段的1、2、3句可以知道A选项是正确答案，其他选项均与文章的信息不一致。
55. 答案C。A选项只包含了文章的部分信息；B选项侧重Zantrex-3获得成功的方式，而文章并没有这方面的信息；D选项与文章中的信息相反；从整体来看，文章是以Zantrex-3为引子，引出减肥或瘦身类商品当今在美国很流行的话题，即第1段是引入，第2段开始切入主题，第2段的第2句可以看做是主题句。C选项与主题句的意思一致，因此应该是该题的答案。

举一反三

The Diet Zone: A Dangerous Place
Diet Coke, diet Pepsi, diet pills, no-fat diet, vegetable diet… We are surrounded by the word “diet” everywhere we look and listen. We have so easily been attracted by the promise and potential of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us. We are paying for products that harm us psychologically and physically（身体上）.
Diet products significantly weaken us psychologically. On one level, we are not allowing our brain to admit that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption of fatty, high-calorie, unhealthy foods. Diet products allow us to jump over the thinking stage and go straight for the scale（秤）instead. All we have to do is to swallow or recognize the word “diet” in food labels.
On another level, diet products have greater psychological effects. Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves without our awareness that we don’t have to work to get results. Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance and struggle.
The danger of diet products lies not only in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm that they cause. Diet foods can indirectly harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are preventing our bodies from having basic nutrients(营养成分). Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calorie only because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products. Diet products may not be nutritional, and the chemical that go into diet products are potentially dangerous.
Now that we are aware of the effects that diet products have on us, it is time to seriously think about buying them. Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals. Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, and therefore prevent the psychological harm that comes from using them.
51. From Paragraph 1, we learn that ________.
A. diet products fail to bring out people’s potential
B. people have difficulty in choosing diet products
C. diet products are misleading people
D. people are fed up with diet products
52. One psychological effect of diet products is that people tend to _____.
A. try out a variety of diet foods
B. hesitate before they enjoy diet foods
C. pay attention to their own eating habits
D. watch their weight rather than their diet
53. In Paragraph 3, “gain comes without pain” probably means ______.
A. losing weight is effortless
B. it costs a lot to lose weight
C. diet products bring no pain
D. diet products are free from calories
54. Diet products indirectly harm people physically because such products ______.
A. are over-consumed
B. lack basic nutrients
C. are short of chemicals
D. provide too much energy
55. Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?

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We have met the enemy, and he is ours. We bought him at a pet shop. When monkey-pox, a disease usually found in the African rain forest, suddenly turns up in children in the American Midwest, it’s hard not to wonder if the disease that comes from foreign animals is homing in on human beings. “Most of the infections (感染) we think of as human infections started in other animals,” says Stephen Morse, director of the Center for Public Health Preparedness at Columbia University.
It’s not just that we’re going to where the animals are; we’re also bringing them closer to us. Popular foreign pets have brought a whole new disease to this country. A strange illness killed Isaksen’s pets, and she now thinks that keeping foreign pets is a bad idea. “I don’t think it’s fair to have them as pets when we have such a limited knowledge of them,” says Isaksen.
“Laws allowing these animals to be brought in from deep forest areas without stricter control need changing,” says Peter Schantz. Monkey-pox may be the wake-up call. Researchers believe infected animals may infect their owners. We know very little about these new diseases. A new bug (病毒) may be kind at first. But it may develop into something harmful. Monkey-pox doesn’t look a major infectious disease. But it is not impossible to pass the disease from person to person.
56. We learn from Paragraph 1 that the pet sold at the shop may _________.
A. come from Columbia B. prevent us from being infected
C. enjoy being with children D. suffer from monkey-pox
57. Why did Isaksen advise people not to have foreign pets?

A. They attack human beings.         B. We need to study native animals.
C. They can’t live out of the rain forest. D. We do not know much about them yet.
58. What does the phrase “the wake-up call” in Paragraph 3 most probably mean?
A. a new disease           B. a clear warning   C. a dangerous animal     D. a morning call
59. The text suggests that in the future we _______.
A. may have to fight against more new diseases   B. may easily get infected by diseases from dogs
C. should not be allowed to have pets           D. should stop buying pets from Africa
60. The last paragraph means _________.
A. we should have laws to stop having pets at home
B. wild animals shouldn’t adopted as pets
C. laws should be passed to avoid pets’ diseases spreading
D. people with pets should be stayed at home

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　　Exchange a glance with someone, and then look away. Do you realize that you have made a statement? Hold the glance for a second longer and you have made a different statement. Hold it for 3 seconds, and the meaning has changed again. For every social situation, there is a permissible time that you can hold a person’s stare without being friendly, rude, or aggressive. If you are on a lift, what stare-time are you permitted? To answer this question, consider what you typically do. You very likely give other passengers a quick glance to size them up and to assure them that you mean no harm. Since being close to another person signals the possibility of interaction, you need to send out a signal telling others you want to be left alone. So you cut off eye contacts. That is what sociologist Erving Goffiman calls “a dimming of the lights”. You look down at the floor, at the indicator lights, anywhere but into another passenger’s eyes. Should you break the rule against staring at a stranger on a lift, you will make the other person extremely uncomfortable, and you are likely to feel a bit strange yourself.
　　If you hold eye contacts for more than 3 seconds, what are you telling another person? Much depends on the person and the situation. For instance, a man and a woman communicate interest in this manner. They stare at each other for about 3 seconds at a time, and then drop their eyes down for 3 seconds, before letting their eyes meet again. But if one man gives another man a 3-second-plus stare, he signals, “I know you”, “I am interested in you” or “You look peculiar and I am curious about you.” This type of stare often produces hostile feelings.
　　60. It can be inferred from the first paragraph that ______.
　　A. every glance has its significance
　　B. a glance carries more meaning than words
　　C. a stare longer than 3 seconds is unacceptable
　　D. staring at a person is an expression of interest
　　61. If you want to be left alone on a lift the best thing to do is ______.
　　A. to look into another passenger’s eyes
　　B. to keep a distance from other passengers
　　C. to avoid eye contacts with other passengers
　　D. to signal you don’t mean to do harm to anyone
　　62. By “a dimming of the lights”, Erving Goffiman means ______.
　　A. closing one’s eyes 　　　　　　　　B. turning off the lights
　　C. stopping glancing at others 　　　　D. reducing stare-time to the minimum
　　63. The passage mainly discusses ______.
　　A. the limitations of eye contacts
　　B. the exchange of ideas through eye contacts
　　C. proper behavior in different situations in people’s daily life
　　D. the role of eye contacts in communication between people

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　　Fear can be fun. Many young people queue up to ride very fast and scary roller coasters, screaming but enjoying themselves. Other people like to read “goose bumps (鸡皮疙瘩)” books or watch horror movies at night, scared to death but feeling excited. Why do people like being scared?
　　Fear is an ancient way of surviving. Being scared makes animals, including humans escape from danger and save themselves. It is because of fear that we have lived through millions of years of evolution. Those who lacked a strong fear response were more likely to be killed, leaving the more fearful and careful to pass their genes onto the next generation.
　　How do scientists explain why shaking over such scary things is fun? “Some kids will go to a scary movie and love it and laugh over it, others will feel anxious and hide their faces and some won’t even set foot in the cinema,” said Ned Kalin, a US scientist. “Which kind of person you are depends partly on experiences you’ve had and partly on your genes.”
　　What happens in the brain when something frightens you? Nerves that begin at the eyes and ears lead to a part of the brain called the amygdale. When you suddenly see a snake, for example, the amygdale makes you freeze, sweat, have a quickened heartbeat, or run very fast. However, seeing the snake also uses another part of the brain, the cortex. It analyzes the situation, and if it finds that the snake is only made of rubber it tells your heart and the rest of your body to calm down. Think of the amygdale as the engine and the cortex as the brake.
　　Back to the first question: Why do some people like to make themselves scared? “One reason is that we can play games with fear, find ways to reduce the scariness by looking away or thinking of something else,” Kalin said. “To believe we have control over a situation gives us a feeling of power.” “Scary movies or novels are good practice to prepare young people for the real thing. Thrills such as roller coaster rides also go to the brain’s pleasure centre.”
　　And there might be some evolutionary advantage to being able to adjust this system that is there to protect people.
　　72. How many questions are answered in the passage?
　　A. 2. 　　　B. 3. 　　　C. 4.　　　 D. 5.
　　73. Some people like to be scared because______.
　　A. they are afraid that the fear genes will be passed onto their children
　　B. it’s a good practice to get prepared for the real frightening situation
　　C. it can help them show their own personalities
　　D. they will feel powerful after getting rid of fear
　　74. Which of the following is true about the people who are not easily scared?
　　A. Their cortex is better at analyzing the situations.
　　B. They are more likely to suffer from potential danger.
　　C. They are born unaffected by anything horrible.
　　D. They lack a strong response towards threat.
　　75. What is the best title of the passage?
　　A. Ready to scream? 　　　　B. How to be scared?
　　C. Willing to shake?　　　　D. Why to be scared?

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Remember how great exercise was when you were a little kid? Back then, racing around the playground or skipping rope for hours, you weren’t thinking fitness, you were thinking entertainment. But in this age of high-tech home equipment and underused gym memberships, the simple joy of jumping rope has been forgotten, Rediscovering it will give you a total-body exercise you can find.
Although considered an excellent form of exercise, jumping rope has never gained widespread acceptance because of two fundamental reasons. First, most people recognize jumping rope as an excellent form of cardiovascular(心血管的)exercise, but they also believe that it is simply too difficult. In other words, they don’t think they’ll be able to continue jumping for the near 20 minutes that it takes to achieve a beneficial physical outcome. Second, many view it as somewhat boring and overly repetitive not as something fun or enjoyable.
As a matter of fact, jumping rope can be great fun if you find a proper way to practice it. Instead of doing the usual two-foot bounce over and over again, people good at rope-jumping often change their pattern every 10 or 20 jumps. A single bounce, a double-bounce, a skip, a knee-up, side swings, as well as a variety of other easy-to-learn free-style rope-jumping.
Now researchers are learning that jumping rope also prepares the brain for learning. It is an exercise allowing both brain hemispheres to perform in parallel to each other. In short, jumping rope can be a life-long activity requiring little equipment, time and space, yet leading to a much healthier life.
61. From the first paragraph we learn that_________.

A. jumping rope has faded from people’s memories
B. people now have more advanced equipment
C. racing around the playground was preferred
D. people now like to have exercise in a gym
62.Rope jumping has not spread widely because_________.
A. it benefits the cardiovascular system
B. it is neither easy nor enjoyable
C. it is considered boring and repetitive
D. it requires little equipment, time and space
63.The first sentence in the 3^rd paragraph implies_________.
A. there is only one proper way to follow
B. the usual way should not be used
C. the easiest way is always the best
D. there are many ways to follow
64.According to the researchers, jumping rope_________.
A. only prepares the brain for learning
B. is suitable for students only
C. helps both brain hemispheres work together
D. can be dangerous for old people
65.What is the author’s attitude towards rope jumping?

A. He is arguing against it
B. He is in favor of it
C. He is sitting on the fence of it
D. He is not clear about it

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