2014年职称英语综合A完形填空小抄完整版

第1部分：词汇选项(第1～15题，每题1分，共15分) 下⾯每个句⼦中均有1个词或者短语划有底横线，请为每处划线部分确定1个意义最为接近的选项。

1. There was an inclination to treat geography as a less important subject.A. pointB. tendencyC. result d. finding 2. New secretaries came and went with monotonous regularity.a. amazingb. depressingc. predictabled. dull 3. The committee was asked to render a report on the housing situation.a. furnishb. copyc. publishd. summarize 4. The group does not advocate the use of violence.a. limitb. regulatec. opposed. support 5. The original experiment cannot be exactly duplicate.a. reproducedb. inventedc. designedd. reported 6. The department deferred the decision for six months.a. put offb. arrived atc. abided byd. protested against 7. The symptoms of the disease manifested themselves ten days later.a. easedb. appearedc. improvedd. relieved 8. The uniform makes the guards look absurd.a. seriousb. ridiculousc. beautifuld. impressive 9. Some of the larger birds can remain stationary in the air for several minutes.a. silentb. motionlessc. seatedd. true 10. The country was torn apart by strife.a. povertyb. warc. conflictd. economy 11. She felt that she had done her good deed for the day.a. actb. homeworkc. justiced. model 12. A person’s wealth is often in inverse proportion to their happiness.a. equalb. certainc. larged. opposite 13. His professional career spanned 16 days.a. startedb. changedc. movedd. lasted 14. His stomach felt hollow with fear.a. sincereb. respectfulc. terribled. empty 15. This was disaster on a cosmic scale.a. modestb. hugec. commerciald. national 第2 部分：阅读判断（第16～22题，每题1分，共7分） 下⾯的短⽂后列出了7个句⼦，请根据短⽂的内容对每个句⼦做出判断；如果该句提供的是正确信息，请选择A；如果该句提供的是错误信息，请选择B；如果该句的信息⽂中没有提及，请选择C。

•第1部分：词汇选项(第1～15题，每题1分，共15分)下面每个句子中均有1个词或者短语划有底横线，请为每处划线部分确定1个意义最为接近的选项。

1. There was an inclination to treat geography as a less important subject.A. pointB. tendencyC. result d. finding2. New secretaries came and went with monotonous regularity.a. amazingb. depressingc. predictabled. dull3. The committee was asked to render a report on the housing situation.a. furnishb. copyc. publishd. summarize4. The group does not advocate the use of violence.a. limitb. regulatec. opposed. support5. The original experiment cannot be exactly duplicate.a. reproducedb. inventedc. designedd. reported6. The department deferred the decision for six months.a. put offb. arrived atc. abided byd. protested against7. The symptoms of the disease manifested themselves ten days later.a. easedb. appearedc. improvedd. relieved8. The uniform makes the guards look absurd.a. seriousb. ridiculousc. beautifuld. impressive9. Some of the larger birds can remain stationary in the air for several minutes.a. silentb. motionlessc. seatedd. true10. The country was torn apart by strife.a. povertyb. warc. conflictd. economy11. She felt that she had done her good deed for the day.a. actb. homeworkc. justiced. model12. A person’s wealth is often in inverse proportion to their happiness.a. equalb. certainc. larged. opposite13. His professional career spanned 16 days.a. startedb. changedc. movedd. lasted14. His stomach felt hollow with fear.a. sincereb. respectfulc. terribled. empty15. This was disaster on a cosmic scale.a. modestb. hugec. commerciald. national••第2部分：阅读判断(第16～22题，每题1分，共7分)下面的短文后列出了7个句子，请根据短文的内容对每个句子做出判断;如果该句提供的是正确信息，请选择A;如果该句提供的是错误信息，请选择B;如果该句的信息文中没有提及，请选择C。

Wrongly convinced man and his accuser tell their storiesNEWYORK,NY,January5,2010.St.Martin’s Press has announced the release of thepaperback edition of Picking Cotton, a remarkable true story of what novelistJohn Grisham calls an “account of violence,rage,redemption(救赎)，and, ultimatelyforgiveness.”The story began in1987,in Burlington,North Carolina,with the rape of a young while college student named JenniferThompson.During her ordeal,Thompson swore to herself that she would neverforget the face of her rapist,a man who climbed through the window of herapartment and assaulted her brutally.________(46)When the police asked her ifshe could identify the assilant(袭击者)from a book of mug shots,she pickedone that she was sure was correct,and later she identified the same man in alineup.Based on her convincing eyewithness testimony,a 22-year-old black man named Ronald Cotton was sentenced to prison for twolife terms.Cotton’s lawyer appealed the decision,and by the time of theappeals hearing,evidence hadcome to light suggesting that the real rapistmight have been a man who looked very like Cotton,an imprisoned criminal namedBobby Poole._____(47)Jennifer Thompson looked at both men face to face,andonce again said that Ronald Cotton was the one who raped her.Eleven years later,DNA evidencecompletely exonerated(证明……清白)Cotton and justas unequivocally(明确地)convicted Poole,who confessed to the crime._______(48)“The man I was sosure I had never seen in my life was the man who was inches from my throat,whoraped me,who hurt me,who took my spirit away,who robbed me of my soul,”shewrote.“And the man I had identified so surely on so many occasions wasabsolutely innocent.”_______(49)Remarkably both were ableto put this tragedy behind them,overcome the racial barrier that divided them,and write a book,which they have subtitled“Our memoir of injustice andredemption.”Nevertheless,Thompson says,she stilllives“with constant pain that my profound mistake cost him sodearly______(50)”A.Jennifer Thompson decided to meetCotton and apologize to him personally.B.Many criminals are sent to prison onthe basis of accurate testimony by eyewithnesses.C.I cannot begin to imagine what wouldhave happened had my mistaken identification occurred in a capital caseD.Another trial was held.E.Thompson was shocked and devastated.F.During the attack,she made an effortto memorize eveery detail of his face,looking for scars,tattoos(纹身)，or otheridentifying marks.答案：FDEAC。

职称英语综合类A级考试试题答案及解析(二)一、词汇选择（本大题15小题．每题1.0分，共15.0分。

下面共有15个句子，每个句子中均有1个词或短语画有底横线，请从每个句子后面所给的4个选项中选择1个与画线部分意义最相近的词或短语。

请将答案涂在答题卡相应的位置上。

）第1题Their research merely duplicates work already done elsewhere.A borrowedB purchasedC copiedD rewritten【正确答案】：C【本题分数】：1.0分【答案解析】[解析] 本句意思：他们的研究工作只是重复别人做过的事情。

duplicate：复制。

copy和它是近义词。

如：The secretary was asked to copy the contract．秘书被要求复印合同书。

purchase和buy意思相同，表示购买，只是它比buy用法要正式。

rewritten是rewrite的过去分词，表示改写，如：He was asked to rewrite the article．他被要求重写这篇文章。

第2题After supper we usually take a stroll around the park for about an hour.A walkB restC bathD breath【正确答案】：A【本题分数】：1.0分【答案解析】[解析] 本句意思：我们饭后经常在公园散步大约一个小时。

句子意思应该是很悠闲地散步，所以A与其意思较接近。

walk：走路，行走。

bath：洗澡，用法为“to take a bath”。

breath：呼吸，如：I was out of breath/short of breath after running for the bus．我因为追赶公共汽车，弄得上气不接下气。

第3题The film originated from a short story.A resultedB heardC derivedD made【正确答案】：C【本题分数】：1.0分【答案解析】[解析] 本句意思：这部电影取材于一篇短篇小说。

12014年职称英语综合A考试范围综合类完形填空（今年没有增加新内容）11. School Lunch（学校午餐）Research has shown that over half the children in Britain who take their own lunches to school do not eat (1) ______ in the middle of the day. In Britain schools have to (2) ______ meals at lunchtime. Children can (3) ______ to bring their own food or have lunch at the school canteen. One shocking (4) ______ of this research is that school meals are much healthier than lunches prepared by parents. There are strict (5) ______ for the preparation of school meals, which have to include one (6) ______ of fruit and one of vegetables, as well as meat, a dairy item and starchy food like bread or pasta. Lunchboxes (7) ______ by researchers contained sweet drinks, crisps and chocolate bars. Children (8) ______ twice as much sugar as they should at lunchtime.The research will provide a better (9) ______ of why the percentage of overweight students in Britain has (10) ______ in the last decade. Unfortunately, the government cannot (11) ______ parents, but it can remind them of the (12) ______ value of milk, fruit and vegetables. Small changes in their children's diet can (13) ______ their future health. Children can easily develop bad eating (14) ______ at this age, and parents are the only ones who can (15) ______ it.词汇：canteen / kaen'ti:n / n.食堂，小卖部starchy / 'stɑ:tʃi / adj. (食物)含有大量淀粉的注释：1. ... twice as much sugar as ... ：……2倍的糖分……2. it can remind them of the ... ：提醒他们关于……练习：1. A) appropriately B) properly C) probably D) possibly2. A) give B) provide C) make D) do3. A) prefer B) manage C) want D) choose4. A) finding B) number C) figure D) factor5. A) standards B) procedures C) conditions D) ways6. A) piece B) portion C) bowl D) kilo7. A) examined B) found C) taken D) investigated8. A) take B) contain C) consume D) consist9. A) view B) knowledge C) understanding D) opinion10. A) increased B) expanded C) extended D) added11. A) criticise B) instruct C) order D) tell12. A) nutritional B) healthy C) positive D) good13. A) damage B) predict C) destroy D) affect14. A) behaviours B) styles C) attitudes D) habits15. A) prevent B) define C) decide D) delay答案与题解：1. B 本句意为“在英国超过一半以上的儿童将午餐带到学校去吃而不是在中午饭点正常吃”此处需要有“正当地，得体地”意思的副词。

2014年职称英语考试综合类A级试题及参考答案第1部分：词汇选项(第1～15题，每题1分，共15分)下面每个句子中均有1个词或者短语划有底横线，请为每处划线部分确定1个意义最为接近的选项。

1. There was an inclination to treat geography as a less important subject.A. pointB. tendencyC. result d. finding2. New secretaries came and went with monotonous regularity.a. amazingb. depressingc. predictabled. dull3. The committee was asked to render a report on the housing situation.a. furnishb. copyc. publishd. summarize4. The group does not advocate the use of violence.a. limitb. regulatec. opposed. support5. The original experiment cannot be exactly duplicate.a. reproducedb. inventedc. designedd. reported6. The department deferred the decision for six months.a. put offb. arrived atc. abided byd. protested against7. The symptoms of the disease manifested themselves ten days later.a. easedb. appearedc. improvedd. relieved8. The uniform makes the guards look absurd.a. seriousb. ridiculousc. beautifuld. impressive9. Some of the larger birds can remain stationary in the air for several minutes.a. silentb. motionlessc. seatedd. true10. The country was torn apart by strife.a. povertyb. warc. conflictd. economy11. She felt that she had done her good deed for the day.a. actb. homeworkc. justiced. model12. A person’s wealth is often in inverse proportion to their happiness.a. equalb. certainc. larged. opposite13. His professional career spanned 16 days.a. startedb. changedc. movedd. lasted14. His stomach felt hollow with fear.a. sincereb. respectfulc. terribled. empty15. This was disaster on a cosmic scale.a. modestb. hugec. commerciald. national参考答案：bdadaabbbcadddb第2部分：阅读判断(第16～22题，每题1分，共7分)下面的短文后列出了7个句子，请根据短文的内容对每个句子做出判断;如果该句提供的是正确信息，请选择A;如果该句提供的是错误信息，请选择B;如果该句的信息文中没有提及，请选择C。

More about Alzheimer's DiseaseScientists have developed skin tests that may be used in the future to identify people with Alzheimer's disease1 and may ultimately allow physicians to predict who is at risk of getting this neurological disorder.' The only current means of diagnosing the disease in a living patient is a long and expensive series of tests that eliminate every other cause of dementia." Since Alois Alzheimer described the disease nearly a century ago，people have been trying to find a way to accurately diagnose it in its early stages2，" said Patricia Grady，acting director3 of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland. "This discovery, if confirmed, could prove a big step forward in our efforts to deal with and understand the disease. "Alzheimer's is the single greatest cause4 of mental deterioration in older people, affecting between 2. 5 million and 4 million people in the United States alone5. The devastating disorder gradually destroys memory and the ability to function，and eventually causes death.6 There is currently no known treatment for the disease.Researches discovered that the skin cells of Alzheimer' s patients have defects that interfere with their ability to regulate the flow of potassium in and out of the cells. The fact that the cell defects are present in the skin suggests that7 Alzheimer's results from physiological changes throughout the body，and that dementia may be the first noticeable effect of these changes as the defects affect the cells in the brain, scientists said.The flow of potassium is especially critical in cells responsible for memory formation8. The scientists also found two other defects that affect the cells' supply of calcium, another critical element.One test developed by researches calls for9 growing skin cells in a laboratory culture and then testing them with an electrical detector to determine if the microscopic tunnels that govern the flow of potassium are open. Open potassium channels create a unique electrical signature.A spokesman for the Alzheimer's Association said that if the validity of the diagnostic test can be proven it would be an important development, but cautioned that other promising tests for Alzheimer's have been disappointing.10。

The Storyteller1.Steven Spielberg has always had one goal:totell as many great stories to as many people as will listen.And that’s what hehas always been about.The son of a computer scientist and a pianist,Spielbergspent his early childhood in New Jersey and, later,Arizona.From the verybeginning,his fertile imagination filled his young mind with images that wouldlater inspire his filmmaking.2.Even decades later,Spielberg says he has clearmemories of his earliest years,which are the origins of some of his biggesthits.He believes that E.T.is the result of the difficult years leading up tohis parent’s1966divorce,“It is really about a young boy who was in search ofsome stability in his life.”“He was scared of just about everything,”recalls his mother,LeahAdler.“When trees brushed against the house,he would head into my bed.Andthat’s just the kind of scary stuff he would put in films like Poltergeist.”3.Spielberg was11when he first got his hands onhis dad’s movie camera and began shooting short flicks about flyingsaucers and World WarΙΙbattles.Spielberg’s talent for scary storytelling enabled him tomake friends.On Boy Scout camping trips,when night fell,Spielberg became thecenter of attention.“Steven would start telling his ghost stories,”says Richard Y.Hoffman Jr.,leader of Troop294,“and everyone would suddenly getquiet so that they could all hear it.”4.Spielberg moved to California with his fatherand went to high school there,but his grades were so bad that he barely graduated.Both UCLA and USC film schools rejected him,so he entered California State University at Long Beach because it was close to Hollywood.Spielberg was determined to make movies, and he managed to get an unpaid,non-creditinternship（实习）in Hollywood.Soon he was given a contract,and he dropped out of college.He never looked back.5.Now,many years later,Spielberg is stilltelling stories with as much passion as the kid in the tent.Ask him where hegets his ideas,Spielberg shrugs.“The process for me is mostly intuitive(凭直觉的),”he says.“There are films that I feel I need to make,for a variety ofreasons,for personal reasons, for reasons that I want to have fun,that the subject matteris cool,that I think my kids will like it.And sometimes I just think that it will make a lot of money,like the sequel(续集) to Jurassic Park.”23.Paragraph1___F___24.Paragraph2____A_____25.Paragraph3____E_____26.Paragraph4____D_____A.Inspirations for his moviesB.The trouble of making moviesC.A funny manD.Getting into the movie businessE.Telling stories to make friendsF.An aim of life27.Some of Spielberg’s most successful movies came from ____E___28.When Spielberg was a boy,he used to be scared of ____A_____29.Spielberg is very good at_____B____30.Spielberg says he makes movies for____C____A.almost everythingB.telling scary storiesC.a number of reasonsD.making children laughE.his childhood memoriesF.a lot of money。

+第十一篇Sc hool Lun ch 学校午餐Researc h ha s shown t hat over half t he c hil dren i n Bri tain who ta ke t heir ow n lunche s t o sc hool do not eat properly in the middle of t he da y. In Britai n schools have to pr ovide meal s at l unchtime. Chi ldre n ca n choose t o bring their ow n food or have lunc h at the sc hool canteen.One shocking fi ndi ng of t hi s research is t hat school meals are m uch healt hier tha n l unc hes pre pared by parent s. T here are stric t sta ndards for t he preparati on of school meal s, w hich have t o incl ude one portion of fruit and one of ve geta bles, as well a s meat, a dair y item and starchy food li ke bread or pasta. Lunc hboxes e xami ned by researc hers c onta ine d sweet drinks, crisps and c hocolate bar s. Chil dren c onsume twice as m uc h sugar as t he y shoul d at lunchtime.The researc h wil l provide a better understandi ng of why t he percentage of overwe ight stude nts in Britai n has increa sed in the last deca de. U nfort unat el y, the gover nment ca critici se parent s, but it c an remi nd t hem of t he nutri tional val ue of milk, fruit a nd vegetables. Smal l c ha nge s i n t heir chil dren's diet ca n affect t heir future healt h. Chil dren ca n easi ly deve lop ba d eating habits a t t his age, a nd pare nt s are t he only ones w ho can pre ve nt it.+第十二篇A P ow erful Influe nce 强大的影响There ca n be no doubt at all tha t t he Int ernet has made a huge difference t o our li ves. P arent s are w orried that c hil dre n spe nd t oo m uc h t ime pla ying on the I nternet, hardl y e ver doing a nyt hing el se i n their spare time. Nat urall y, parent s are c urious to fi nd out why t he Internet is so at tractive, a nd the y wa nt to know if it can be harmful t o their c hil dren. S houl d pare nts w orry if t heir chil dren are spendi ng t hat m uch time staring a t t heir c omputers? Obviously;if c hil dren are bent over the ir com puters f or hours, a bsorbe d i n some game, i nstea d of doi ng t heir homewor k, t hen somet hing is wrong. Parents and c hil dren coul d deci de how muc h use t he c hil d shoul d make of t he Internet, and t he c hil d shoul d gi ve hi s or her w ord that it w on’t interfere wit h homew ork. If the chi ld is not hol di ng to t hi s arrangement, t he parent ca n ta ke more drastic steps dea ling wit h a chi ld's use of the I nternet i s not muc h different fr om negotiat soft of bar gai n a bout be ha viour.Any parent d about a c hil d's be ha vi our shoul d make an a ppoi h a teache r. S pe nding time in fr ont of n doe s not nece ssaril y affect a c hil d's performance at sc hool. Eve n if a chil d i s a bsol utel y crazy about usi ng t he Inter net，he or she is proba bly j ust goi ng thr ough a phase, a nd i n few mont hs t here will be somet hi ng el se t o worry a+第十三篇The Old G ate 古老之门In the Mi ddle A ges t he vast majori ty of E uropea n citie s had walls around them. T his was partl y f or defensive reasons but anot her fact or was the nee d t o keep out anyone regar ded as unde sirable, l ike pe ople wi th conta gi ous disea ses. The Ol d Cit y of L ondon ga tes were all dem olishe d by t he e nd of t he 18t h cent ury. The last of London's gate s was rem ov e d a ce nt ury a go, but by a stroke of l uck, it was ne ver destr oyed.This gate is, i n act ual fact, not calle d a gate a t all; its name i s Temple Bar, and it marked t he boundary betwee n t he Ol d Cit y of London and We stmi nster. In 1878 t he Counc il of L ondon t ook t he Bar dow n, numbere d the st ones a nd put the gat e i n st ora ge beca use it s de sign wa s unfashiona ble it was e xpensive t o maintai n a nd it was bl ocking t he traffic.The Tem ple Bar Trust was set up in the 1970's wit h the intent ion of retur ning the gate home. T he aim of the trust i s t he preser vati on of the nat ion's architect ural heritage.Transporti ng t he gat e wil l mea n physicall y pulli ng it dow n, st one by st one, removi ng and re bui ldi ng it near S t Pa ul's Cat hedral. M ost of t he facade of t he gate will probabl y be re place d, though t here i s a good c ha nce tha t t he basic struct ure wil l be sound. The har dest job of all, however, wil l be t o recreate t he statue s of t he m onarc hs tha t once st ood on t op of t he gate. +第十四篇F amily Hi story家族史In an age w hen technol ogy i s deve lopi ng faster t ha n e ver before, ma ny people are bei ng attracte d t o t he i dea of l ooki ng ba ck int o t he pa st. O ne way the y ca n do t hi s is by ìi nvest igat ing t heir ow n family hi stor y. The y can tr y t o find out more about where t heir families came from a nd what the y di d, T his i s now a fast—gr owi ng hobby, especiall y i n c ountrie s wit h a fairly short histor y, li ke Austral ia a nd the U nite d S tates.It is one thing t o spe nd some t ime goi ng t hrough a book on famil y hist ory and to ta ke t he deci si on to inve sti gate your ow n famil y's past. It i s qui te a nother t o carry out t he researc h wor k succe ssf ull y. It i s ea sy t o set a bout it i n a disorga nize d wa y and ca use yourself many problems w hic h coul d ha ve bee n avoide d w ith a li ttle f orward pla nning.If your ow n famil y st ories tell you t hat you are c onnec ted wit h a famous character , w het her her o or crimi nal , do not let t his idea t ake over your research. Just treat it a s an i nteresti ng possi bilit y. A sim ple system for collecti ng and stori ng your inf ormation wi ll be ade quate t o start wit h; a more comple x one may only get i n your wa y. T he most im porta nt t hi ng, t hough, is to get starte d. Who knows what you mi ght fi nd?+第十五篇Helen and M artin海伦和马丁Wit h a t houghtful si gh, Hele n t urne d awa y from t he wi ndow a nd wa1ke d back t o her fa vourite armchair. W oul d her brot her ne ver arrive?F or a brief moment, she w ondere d if she reall y care d t hat m uc h.Over t he years Helen had given up wait ing for Martin t o take a n i nterest i n her.Her feel ings f or him ha d graduall y weake ne d unt il now, a s she sat wai ting for him, she e xperie nce d no more t ha n a sister's curi osity to see what ha d become of her brot her.Almost w ithout warning, Marti n had l ost, hi s j ob wi th a busy publ ishing compa ny after spe nding t he last eight years i n New Y or k as a key figure i n t he US office. S omehow the tw o of them hadn't bot hered o kee p i n touc h a nd, left al one, H elen had slow ly found c onfide nce her ow n j udgme nt growi ng. Ignoring the wi shes of her parent s, she ha d left uni versit y halfwa y through her c ourse a nd now, t o t he astonishme nt of the w hole famil y, she was gai ning a fast-gr owi ng re putati on in t he pa ges of respecte d art magaz ine s and was act uall y ear ni ng enough t o live on fr om her pai nti ngs.Of course, she t ook no pl easure i n Marti n's sudde n mi sfort une, but she couldn't help looki ng f orward to her brot her's arri val wit h quiet satisfacti on at what she had achie ve d.1。

C within
D above
【正确答案】：B
【本题分数】：1.0分
【答案解析】
表示“不同文化间”的介词应该用across。
第3题
A lone
B alone
C loneLeabharlann omeD lonely【正确答案】：B
【本题分数】：1.0分
【答案解析】
本句意为：在泰国也是这样，子女有责任照料年老的父母，泰国很少有老年人独居。四个选项中，只有alone为副词，做状语，修饰动词live。其他三项都是形容词。
第4题
A over
B across
Another theory associated intergenerational living arrangements with inheritance patterns. In some cultures, the stem family pattern of inheritance predominates.(9)this system, parents live with a married child, usually the oldest son, who then(10)their property when they die. The stem family system was once common inJapan, but changes in inheritance laws, as well as broader social changes brought(11)by industrialization and urbanization, have(12)the tradition. In 1960 about 80 percent of Japanese over 65 lived with their children; by 1990 only 60 percent did—a figure that is still high(13)U.S.standards, but which has been(14)steadily. InKorea, too, traditional living arrangements are(15): the percentage of aged Koreans who live with a son declined from 77 percent in 1984 to 50 percent just 10 years later. Although most elderly Koreans still expect to live with a son, their adult children do not expect to live with their children when they grow old.

第六篇Car Thieves Could Be Stopped RemotelySpeeding off1 in a stolen car, the thief thinks he has got a great catch2. But he is in a nasty surprise3. The car is fitted with a remote immobilizer, and a radio signal from a control center miles away will ensure that once the thief switches the engine of , he will not be able to start it again.For now, such devices are only available for fleets of trucks4 and specialist vehicles used on construction sites. But remote immobilization technology could soon start to trickle down to ordinary cars5, and should be available to ordinary cars in the UK in two months.The idea goes like this. A control box fitted to the car incorporates6 a miniature cellphone, a microprocessor and memory, and a GPS7 satellite positioning receiver. If the car is stolen, a coded cellphone signal will tell the unit to block the vehicle’s engine management system and prevent the engine being restarted.There are even plans for immobilizers that shut down vehicles on the moves8, though there are fears over the safety implications of such a system.In the UK, an array of9 technical fixes10 is already making life harder for car thieves. “The pattern of vehicles crime has changed.” says Martyn Randall of Thatcham, a security research organization based in Berkshire11 that is funded in part by the motor insurance industry.He says it would only take him a few minutes to teach a novice how to steal a car, using a bare minimum of tools12. But only if the car is more than 10 years old.Modern cars are a far tougher proposition13, as their engine management computer will not allow them to start unless they receive a unique ID code beamed out14 by the ignition key. In the UK, technologies like this have helped achieve a 31 per cent drop in vehicle-related crime15 since 1997.But determined criminals are still managing to find other ways to steal cars. Often by getting hold of the owner’s keys in a burglary. In 2000, 12 per cent of vehicles stolen in the UK were taken by using the owner’s keys, which doubles the previous year’s figure. Remote-controlled immobilization system would put a major new obstacle in the criminal’s way by making such thefts pointless. A group that includes Thatcham, the police, insurance companies and security technology firms have developed standards for a system that could go on the market sooner than the customer expects.第九篇Wonder WebsSpider webs are more than homes, and they are ingenious traps. And the world’s best web spinner may be the Golden Orb Weaver spider. The female Orb Weaver spins a web of fibers thin enough to be invisible to insect prey, yet tough enough to snare a flying bird without breaking.The secret of the web’s strength? A type of super-resilient silk called dragline. When the female spid er is ready to weave the web’s spokes and frame, she uses her legs to draw the airy thread out through a hollow nozzle in her belly. Dragline is not sticky, so the spider can race back and forth along it to spin the web’s trademark spiral.Unlike some spiders that weave a new web every day, a Golden Orb Weaver reuses her handiwork until it falls apart, sometimes not for two years1. The silky thread is five times stronger than steel by weight and absorbs the force of an impact three times better than Kevlar, a high-strength human-made material used in bullet-proof vests. And thanks to its high tensile strength, or the ability to resist breaking under the pulling force called tension, a single strand can stretch up to 40 percent longer than its original length and snap back as well as new. No human-made fiber even comes close.It is no wonder manufacturers are clamoring for spider silk. In the consumer pipeline: high-performance fabrics for athletes and stockings that never run2. Think parachute cords and suspension bridge cables. A steady supply of spider silk would be worth billions of dollars — but how to produce it？Harvesting silk on spider farms does not work because the territorial arthropods have a tendency to devour their neighhors. Now, scientists at the biotechnology company Nexia are spinning artificial silk modeled after Golden Orb dragline.The first step: extract silk-making genes from the spiders. Next, implant the genes into goat egg cells. The nanny goats that grow from the eggs secrete dragline silk proteins in their milk.“The young goats pass on the silk-making gene without any help from us,” says Nexia president Jeffry Turner. Nexia is still perfecting the spinning process, but they hope artificial spider silk will soon be snagging customers as fast as the real thing snags bugs.第十一篇 Climate Change Poses Major Risks for Unprepared CitiesA new examination of urban policies has been carried out recently by Patricia Romero Lankao．She is a sociologist specializing in climate changeand urban development．She warns that many of the world’s fast-growing urban areas，especially in developing countries．will likely suffer from the impacts of changing climate．Her work also concludes that most cities are failing to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases．These gases are known to affect the atmosphere．”Climate change is a deeply local issue and poses profound threats to the growing cities of the world,” says Romero Lankao. ”But too few cities are developing effective strategies to protect their residents."Cities are major sources of greenhouse gases．And urban populations are likely to be among those most severely affected by future climate change. Lankao’sfindings highlight ways in which city-residents are particularly vulnerable, and suggest policy interventions that could offer immediate and longer-term benefits ．The locations and dense construction patterns of cities often place their populations at greater risk for natural disasters. Potential threats associated with climate include storm surges and prolonged hot weather. Storm surges can flood coastal areas and prolonged hot weather can heat heavily paved cities more than surrounding areas．The impacts of such natural events can be more serious in an urban environment．For example，a prolonged heat wave can increase existing levels of air pollution，causing widespread health problems．Poorer neighborhoods that may lack basic facilities such as drinking water or a dependable network of roads，are especially vulnerable to natural disasters．Many residents in poorer countries live in substandard housing without access to reliable drinking water，roads and basic services.Local governments, therefore should take measures to protect theirresidents.”Unfortunately，they tend to move towards rhetoric rather than meaningful responses, Romero Lankao writes, ” They don’t impose construction standards that could reduce heating and air conditioning needs. They don't emphasize mass transit and reduce automobile use. In fact, many local governments are taking a handsoff approach.” Thus, she urges them to change their idle policies and to take strong steps to prevent the harmful effects of climate change on cities.*第十二篇 Free Statins With Fast Food Could Neutralize Heart RiskFast food outlets could provide statin drugs free of charge so that customers can reduce the heart disease dangers of fatty food, researchers at Imperial CollegeLondon suggest in a newstudy．Statins reduce the amount of unhealthy ”LDL” cholesterol in the blood. A wealth of trial data has proven them to be highly effective at lowering a person’s heart attack risk. In a paper published in the American Journal of Cardiology，Dr Darrel Francis and colleagues calculate that the reduction in heart attack risk offered by a statinis enough to offset the increase in heart attack risk from eating a cheeseburger and drinking a milkshake．Dr Francis，from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London，who is the senior author of the study, said:”Statins don’t cut out a11 ofthe unhealthy effects of cheeseburgers and French fries．It’s better to avoid fatty food altogether．But we’ve worked out that in terms of your possibility of having a heart attack. Taking a statin can reduce your risk to more or less the same degree as a fast food meal increases it.”“It’s ironic that people are free to take as many unhealthv condiments in fast food outlets as they like , but statins, which are beneficial to heart health, have to be prescribed. It makes sense to make risk-reducing statins available just as easily as the unhealthy condiments that are provided free of charge．It would cost less than 5 pence per customer一not much different to a sachet of sugar.” Dr Francis said．When people engage in risky behaviours like driving or smoking, they’re encouraged to take measures that lower their risk, 1ike wearing a seatbelt or choosing cigarettes with filters. Taking a statin is a rational way of lowering some of the risks of eating a fatty meal．第十四篇Sharks Perform a Service for Earth’s WatersIt is hard to get people to think of sharks as anything but a deadly enemy. They are thought to attack people frequently. But these fish perform a valuable service for earth's waters and for human beings. Yet business and sport fishing3 are threatening their existence Some sharks are at risk of disappearing from EarthWarm weather may influence both fish and shark activity. Many fish swim near coastal areas since their warm waters. Experts say sharks may follow the fish into the same areas, where people also swim. In fact, most sharks do not purposely charge at or bite humans. They are thought to mistake a person for a sea animal, such as a seal or sea lion. That is why people should not swim in the ocean when the sun goes down or comes up. Those are the times when sharks are looking for food. Experts also say that bright colors and shiny jewelry may cause sharks to attack.A shark has an extremely good sense of smell4. It can find small amounts of substancesin water, such as blood, body liquids and chemicals produced by animals. These powerful senses help sharks find their food. Sharks eat fish, any other sharks, and plants that live in the ocean.Medical researchers want to learn more about the shark’s body defense, and immune systems against disease. Researchers know that sharks recover quickly from injuries. They study the shark in hopes of finding a way to fight human disease.Sharks are important for the world’s oceans. They eat injured and diseased fish. Their hunting activities mean that the numbers of other fish in ocean waters do not become too great. This protects the plants and other forms of life that exist in the oceans.第十五篇“Liquefaction” Key to Much of Japanese Earthquake DamageThe massive subduction zone1 earthquake in Japan caused a significant level of soil "liquefaction"2 that has surprised researchers with its widespread severity, a new analysis shows."We've seen localized3 examples of soil liquefaction as extreme as this before, but the distance and extent of damage in Japan were unusually severe," said Scott Ashford, a professor of geotechnical engineering4 at Oregon State University5. "Entire structures were tilted and sinking into the sediments," Ashford said. "The shifts in soil destroyed water, drain and gas pipelines6, crippling the utilities and infrastructure these communities need to function . We saw some places that sank as much as four feet." Some degree of soil liquefaction7 is common in almost any major earthquake. It's a phenomenon in which soils soaked with water, particularly recent sediments or sand, can lose much of their strength and flow during an earthquake. This can allow structures to shift or sink or collapse.But most earthquakes are much shorter than the recent event in Japan, Ashford said. The length of the Japanese earthquake, as much as five minutes, may force researchers to reconsider the extent of liquefaction damage possibly occurring in situations such asthis8."With such a long-lasting earthquake, we saw how structures that might have been okay after 30 seconds just continued to sink and tilt as the shaking continued for several more minutes," he said. "And it was clear that younger sediments, and especially areas built on recently filled ground, are much more vulnerable."The data provided by analyzing the Japanese earthquake, researchers said, should make it possible to improve the understanding of this soil phenomenon and better prepare for it in the future. Ashford said it was critical for the team to collect the information quickly, before damage was removed in the recovery efforts9."There's no doubt that we'll learn things from what happened in Japan10 that11 will help us to reduce risks in other similar events," Ashford said. "Future construction in some places may make more use of techniques known to reduce liquefaction, such as better compaction to make soils dense, or use of reinforcing stone columns."Ashford pointed out that northern California have younger soils vulnerable to liquefaction ---on the coast, near river deposits or in areas with filled ground. The "young" sediments, in geologic terms, may be those deposited within the past 10,000 years or more. In Oregon, for instance, that describes much of downtown Portland, the Portland International Airport and other cities.Anything near a river and old flood plains is a suspect12, and the Oregon Department of Transportation has already concluded that 1,100 bridges in the state are at risk from an earthquake. Fewer than 15 percent of them have been reinforced to prevent collapse. Japan has suffered tremendous losses in the March 11 earthquake, but Japanese construction standards helped prevent many buildings from collapse ---even as they tilted and sank into the ground.。

第十一篇（B转A，2012年B级真题）Climate Change Poses Major Risks for Unprepared Cities（气候变化给不备城市带来重大风险）A new examination of urban policies has been carried out recently by Patricia Romero Lankao．She is a sociologist specializing in climate change and urban development．She warns that many of the world’s fast-growing urban areas，especially in developing countries．will likely suffer from the impacts of changing climate．Her work also concludes that most cities are failing to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases．Thesegases are known to affect the atmosphere．”Climate change is a deeply local issue and poses profound threats to the growing cities of the world,” says Romero Lankao. ”But too few cities are developing effective strategies to protect their residents."Cities are major sources of greenhouse gases．And urban populations are likely to be among those most severely affected by future climate change. Lankao’s findings highlight ways in which city-residents are particularly vulnerable, and suggest policy interventions that could offer immediate and longer-term benefits．The locations and dense construction patterns of cities often place their populations at greater risk for natural disasters. Potential threats associated with climate include storm surges and prolonged hot weather. Storm surges can flood coastal areas and prolonged hot weather can heat heavily paved cities more than surrounding areas．The impacts of such natural events can be more serious in an urban environment．For example，a prolonged heat wave can increase existing levels of air pollution，causingwidespread health problems．Poorer neighborhoods thatmay lack basic facilities such as drinking water or a dependable network of roads，are especially vulnerable to natural disasters．Many residents in poorer countries live in substandard housing without access to reliable drinking water，roads and basic services.Local governments,therefore,should take measures to protect their residents.”Unfortunately，they tend to move towards rhetoric rather than meaningful responses,Romero Lankao writes, ” They don’t impose construction standards that could reduce heating and air conditioning needs. They don't emphasize mass transit and reduce automobile use. In fact, many localgovernmentsare takinga hands—offapproach.” Thus, she urges them to change their idle policies and to take strong steps to prevent the harmful effects of climate change on cities..第十二篇（B转A）Free Statins With Fast Food Could Neutralize Heart Risk （快餐加免费降胆固醇药物可以降低罹患心脏病的风险）Fast food outlets could provide statin drugs free of charge so that customers can reduce the heart disease dangers of fatty food, researchers at Imperial College London suggest in a new study．Statins reduce the amount of unhealthy ”LDL” cholesterol in the blood. A wealth of trial data has proven them to be highly effective at lowering a person’s heart attack risk .In a paper published in the American Journal of Cardiology，Dr Darrel Francis and colleagues calculate that the reduction in heart attack risk offered by a statin isenough to offset the increase in heart attack risk from eating a cheeseburger and drinking a milkshake．Dr Francis，from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London，who is the senior author of the study, said:”Statins don’t cut out a11 of the unhealthy effects of cheeseburgers and French fries．It’s better to avoid fatty food altogether．But we’ve worked out that in terms of your possibility of having a heart attack. Taking a statin can reduce your risk to more or less the same degree as a fast food meal increases it.”“It’s ironic that people are free to take as many unhealthv condiments in fast food outlets as they like, but statins, which are beneficial to heart health, have to be prescribed. It makes sense to make risk-reducing statins available just as easily as the unhealthy condiments that are provided free of charge．It would cost less than 5 pence per customer——not much different to a sachet of sugar.” Dr Francis said．When people engage in risky behaviours like driving or smoking, they’re encouraged to take measures that lower their risk, 1ike wearing a seatbelt or choosing cigarettes with filters. Taking a statin is a rational way of lowering some of the risks of eating a fatty meal．第十三篇（2013年A级真题）Better Solar Energy Systems: More Heat, More Light （更有效的太阳能系统：更多热量，更强灯光）Solar photovoltaic thermal energy systems, or PVTs, generate both heat and electricity, but until now they haven’t been very good at the heat-generating part compared to a stand-alone solar thermal collector. That’s because they operate at low temperatures to cool crystalline silicon solar cells, which lets the silicon generate more electricity but is n’t a very efficient way to gather heat.That’s a problem of economics. Good solar hot-water systems can harvest much more energy than a solar-electric system at a substantially lower cost. And it’s also a space problem: photovoltaic cells can take up all the space on the roof, leaving little room for thermal applications.In a pair of studies, Joshua Pearce, an associate professor of materials science and engineering, has devised a solution in the form of a better PVT made with a different kind of silicon. His research collaborators are KunalGirotra from Thin Silicon in California and Michael Pathak and Stephen Harrison from Queen’s University, Canada.Most solar panels are made with crystalline silicon, but you can also make solar cells out of amorphous silicon, commonly known as thin-film silicon. They don’t create as much electricity, but they are lighter, flexible, and cheaper. And, because they require much less silicon, they have a greener footprint. Unfortunately, thin-film silicon solar cells are vulnerable to some bad-news physics in the form of the Staebler-Wronski effect.“That means that their efficiency drops when you expose them to light—prettymuch the worst possible effect for a solar cell,” Pearce explains, which is one of the reasons thin-film solar panels make up only a small fraction of themarket.However, Pearce and his team found a way to engineer around the Staebler-Wronski effect by incorporating thin-film silicon in a new type of PVT. You don’t have to cool down thin-film silicon to ma ke it work. In fact, Pearce’s group discovered that by heating it to solar-thermal operating temperatures, near the boiling point of water, they could make thicker cells that largely overcame the Staebler-Wronski effect. When they applied the thin-film silicon directly to a solar thermal energy collector, they also found that by baking the cell once a day, they boosted the solar cell’s electrical efficiency by over 10 percent.第十四篇（2009考过）Sharks Perform a Service for Earth's Waters（鲨鱼有益于地球水系）It is hard to get people to think of sharks as anything but a deadly enemy. They are thought to attack people frequently. But these fish perform a valuable service for earth's waters and for human beings. Yet business and sport fishing are threatening their existence. Some sharks are at risk of disappearing from Earth.Warm weather may influence both fish and shark activity. Many fish swim near coastal areas.because of their warm waters. Experts say sharks may follow the fish into the same areas,where people also swim. In fact, most sharks do not purposely charge at or bite humans. They are thought to mistake a person for a sea animal, such as a seal or sea lion. That is why people should not swim in the ocean when the sun goes down or comes up. Those are the times when sharks are looking for food. Experts also say that bright colors and shiny jewelry may cause sharks to attack.A shark has an extremely good sense of smell. It can find small amounts of substances in water, such as blood, body liquids and chemicals produced by animals.These powerful senses help sharks fred their food. Sharks eat fish, any other sharks, and plants that live in the ocean.Medical researchers want to learn more about the shark's body defense, and immune systems against disease. Researchers know that sharks recover quickly from injuries. They study the shark in hopes of finding a way to fight human disease.Sharks are important for the world's oceans.They eat injured and diseased fish. Their hunting activities mean that the numbers of other fish in ocean waters do not become too great. This protects the plants and other forms of life that exist in the oceans.第十五篇“Liquefaction” Key to Much of Japanese Earthquake Damage （“液化”是日本地震破坏的关键）The massive subduction zone1 earthquake in Japan caused a significant level of soil "liquefaction" that has surprised researchers with its widespread severity, a new analysis shows."We've seen localized3 examples of soil liquefaction as extreme as this before, but the distance and extent of damage in Japan were unusually severe," said ScottAshford, a professor of geotechnical engineering4 at Oregon State University5. "Entire structures were tilted and sinking into the sediments," Ashford said. "The shifts in soil destroyed water, drain and gas pipelines6, crippling the utilities and infrastructure these communities need to function. We saw some places that sank as much as four feet."Some degree of soil liquefaction7 is common in almost any major earthquake. It's a phenomenon in which soils soaked with water, particularly recent sediments or sand, can lose much of their strength and flow during an earthquake. This can allow structures to shift or sink or collapse .But most earthquakes are much shorter than the recent event in Japan, Ashford said. The length of the Japanese earthquake, as much as five minutes, may force researchers to reconsider the extent of liquefaction damage possibly occurring in situations such as this."With such a long-lasting earthquake, we saw how structures that might have been okay after 30 seconds just continued to sink and tilt as the shaking continued for several more minutes," he said. "And it was clear that younger sediments, and especially areas built on recently filled ground, are much more vulnerable."The data provided by analyzing the Japanese earthquake, researchers said, should make it possible to improve the understanding of this soil phenomenon and better prepare for it in the future. Ashford said it was critical for the team to collect the information quickly, before damage was removed in the recovery efforts."There's no doubt that we'll learn things from what happened in Japan10 that11 will help us to reduce risks in other similar events," Ashford said. "Future construction in some places may make more use of techniques known to reduce liquefaction, such as better compaction to make soils dense, or use of reinforcing stone columns."Ashford pointed out that northern California have younger soils vulnerable to liquefaction ---on the coast, near river deposits or in areas with filled ground. The "young" sediments, in geologic terms, may be those deposited within the past 10,000 years or more. In Oregon, for instance, that describes much of downtown Portland, the Portland International Airport and other cities.Anything near a river and old flood plains is a suspect12, and the Oregon Department of Transportation has already concluded that 1,100 bridges in the state are at risk from an earthquake. Fewer than 15 percent of them have been reinforced to prevent collapse. Japan has suffered tremendous losses in the March 11 earthquake, but Japanese construction standards helped prevent many buildings from collapse ——even as they tilted and sank into the ground.。

1Better Control of TB Seen If a Faster Cure Is Found The World Health Organization1estimates that about one-third of all people are infected with bacteria that cause tuberculosis . Most times, the infection remains inactive. But each year about eight million people develop active cases of TB, usually in their lungs.Two million people die of of it. The disease has increased with the spread of AIDS and drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis.Current treatments take at least six months. People have to take a combination of several antibiotic drugs daily. But many people stop as soon as they feel better. Doing that can lead to an infection that resists treatment. Public health experts agree that a faster-acting cure for tuberculosis would be more effective. Now a study estimates just how effective it might be. A professor of international health at Harvard University2led the study. Joshua Salomon says a shorter treatment program would likely mean not just more patients cured. It would also mean fewer infectious patients who can pass on their infection to others.The researchers developed a mathematical model to examine the effects of a two-month treatment plan. They tested the model with current TB conditions in Southeast Asia. The scientists found that a two-month treatment could prevent about twenty percent of new cases. And it might prevent about twenty-five percent of TB deaths. The model shows that these reductions would take place between two thousand twelve and two thousand thirty. That is, if a faster cure is developed and in wide use by two thousand twelve.The World Health Organization reductions the DOTS3 program in nineteen ninety. DOTS is Directly Observed Treatment, Short-course. Health workers watch tuberculosis patients take their daily pills to make sure they continue treatment.Earlier this year, an international partnership of organizations announced a plan to expand the DOTS program. The ten-year plan also aims to finance research into new TB drugs. The four most common drugs used now are more than forty years old. The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development4says its long-term goal is a treatment that could work in as few as ten doses.2 A Biological ClockEvery living thing has what sicentists call a biological clock that controls behavior. The biological clock tells plants when to form flowers and when the folwers should open, It tells insects when to leave the protective cocoons and fly away, and it tells animals and human beings when to eat, skeep and wake.Events outside the plant and animal affect the actions of some biological clocks. Scientists recently found, for example,that a tiny animal changes the color of its fur because of the number of hours of daylight, In the short days of winter, its fur becomes white,The fur becomes gray brown in color in the longer hours of daylight in summer.Inner signals control other biological clocks. German scientists found that some kind of internal clock seems to order birds to begin their long migration flight twice each year. Birds prevented from flyin become restless when it is time for the trip, but they become calm again when the time of the flight has ended.Scientists say they are beginning to learn which parts of the brain contain biological clocks.An American researcher,Martin Moorhead,said a small group of cells near the front of the brain seems to control the timing of some of our actions, These cells tell a oerson when to awaken,when to sleep and when to seek food, Scientists say there probably are other biological clock cells that control other body activities.Dr.Moorhead is studying how our biological clocks affect the way we do our work. For example, most of us have great difficulty if we must often change to different work hours.It Can take many days for a human body to accept the major change in work hours Dr.Moorhead said industrial officials should have a better understanding of biological clocks and how they affect workers ,He said such understanding could cut sickness and accidents at work and would help increase a factory`s production.3 One Good Reason to Let Smallpox LiveIt’s now a fair bet that we will never see the total extinction of the smallpox virus. The idea was to cap the glorious achievement of 1980, when smallpox was eradicated in the wild, by destroying the killer virus in the last two labs that are supposed to have it—one in the US and one in Russia. If smallpox had truly gone from the planet, what point was there in keeping these reserves?in reality, of course, it was naive to imagine that everyone would let go of such a potential weapon. Undoubtedly several nations still have a few much vials. And the last “official”stocks of lice virus bred mistrust of the US and Russia, for no obvious gain.Now American researchers have found an animal model of the human disease, opening the way for tests on new treatments and vaccines. So one again there’s a good reason to keep the virus—just in case the disease puts in a reappearance.How do we_deal with the mistrust of the US and Russia? Simple Keep the virus under international auspices in a well-guarded UN laboratory that’s open to all countries. The US will object, of course, just as it rejects a multilateral approach to just about everything. But it doesn’t mean the idea is wrong. If the virus is useful, then let’s make it the servant of all humanity—not just a part of it.4 Diet, Alcohol Linked to Nearly One Third of CancersDiet is second only to tobacco as a leading cause of cancer and, along with alcohol, is responsible for nearly one third of cases of the disease in developed countries, a leading researcher said on Tuesday.Dr. Tim Key, of the University of Oxford, told a cancer conference that scientists are still discovering how certain foods contribute to cancer,but they know that diet, alcohol and obesity . play a major role.“Five percent of cancers could be avoided ifnobody was obese,” he said.While tobacco is blinked to about 30 percent of cancer cases, diet is involved in an estimated 25 percent and alcohol in about six percent.Obesity raises the risk of breast, womb, bowel and kidney cancer, while alcohol is known to cause cancers of the mouth, throat and liver, Its dangerous impact is increased when combined with smoking.Key told the meeting of the charity Cancer Research UK that other elements of diet linked to cancer are still unknown but scientists are hoping that the EPIC study, which is comparing the diets of 500,000 people in 10 countries and their risk of cancer, will provide some answers .Early results of the study have revealed that Norway, Sweden and Denmark have the lowest consumption of fruit and vegetables among European countries while Italy and Spain have the highest. Eating at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day is recommended to reduce the risk of cancer.Key, principal scientist on the EPIC study, said it is looking at dietary links to some of the most common cancers including colorectal, breast and prostate.5 Men Too May Suffer from Domestic ViolenceNearly three in 10 men have experienced violence at the hands of an intimate partner during their lifetimes, according to one of the few studies to look at domestic violence and health among men."Many men actually do experience domestic violence, although we don't hear about it often," Dr. Robert J. Reid of the University of Washington in Seattle, one of the study's authors, told Reuters Health. "They often don't tell __ and__ we don't ask. We want to get the message out to men who do experience domestic violence that they are not alone and there are resources available to them "The researchers asked study participants about physical abuse and non-physical abuse , such as threats that made them fear for their safety, controlling behavior (for example, being told who they could associate with and where they could go), and constant name-calling.Among men 18 to 54 years old, 14.2 percent said they had experienced intimate partner __violence in thepast five years, while 6. 1 percent reported domestic violence in the previous year.Rates were lower for men 55 and older,with 5.3 percent reporting violence in the past five years and 2.4 percent having experienced it in the past 12 months.Overall, 30.5 percent of men younger than 55 and 26.5 percent of older men said they had been victims of domestic violence at some point in their lives. About half of the violence the men experienced was physical.However, the physical violence men reported wasn't as harsh as that suffered by women in a previous study; 20 percent to 40 percent of the men rated it as severe, compared to 61 percent of womenMen who reported experiencing domestic violence had more emotional and mental health problems than those who had not, especially older men, the researchers found.*6 Once-daily Pill Could Simplify HIV TreatmentBristol-Myers Myers Squibb and Gilead Sciences have combined many HIV drugs into a single pill Sometimes the best medicine is more than one kind of medicine. Malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS,2for example, are all treated with combinations of drugs. But that can mean a lot of pills to take. It would be simpler if drug companies combined all the medicines into a single pill, taken just once a day.Now, two companies say they have done that for people just starting treatment for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The companies are Bristol-Myers Squibb and Gilead Sciences. They have developed a single pill that combines three drugs currently on the market.3Bristol-Myers Squibb sells one of them under the name of Sustiva.4Gilead combined the others, Emtriva and Viread, into a single pill in two thousand four.Combining drugs involves more than technical issues. It also involves issues of competition if the drugs are made by different companies. The new once-daily pill is the result of what is described as the first joint venture agreement of its kind in the treatment of HIVIn January the New England Journal of Medicine5 published a study of the new pill. Researchers compared its effectiveness to6that of the widely used combination of Sustiva and Combivir. Combivir contains two drugs, AZT7 and 3TC.8The researchers say that after one year of treatment, the new pill suppressed HIV levels in more patients and with fewer side effects.9Gilead paid for the study. Professor Joel Gallant at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, led the research. He is a paid adviser to Gilead and Bristol-Meyers Squibb as well as the maker of Combivir, GlaxoSmithKline.Glaxo Smith Kline reacted to the findings by saying that a single study is of limited value. It says theeffectiveness of Combivir has been shown in each of more than fifty studies.The price of the new once-daily pill has not been announced. But Gilead and Bristol-Myers Squibb say they will provide it at reduced cost to developing countries. They plan in the next few months to ask the United States Food and Drug Administration10 to approve the new pill.There are limits to who could take it because of the different drugs it contains. For example, pregnant women are told not to take Sustiva because of the risk of birth disorders.11 Experts say more than forty million people around the world are living with HIV*7 ExerciseWhether or not exercise adds to the length of life, it is common experience that a certain amount of regular exercise improves the health and contributes a feeling of well-being. Furthermore, exerise which involves play and recreation, and relieves nervous tension and mental fatigue in so doing, is not only pleasant but beneficial.How much and what kind of exercise one should take merits careful consideration.The growing child and the normal young man and young woman thrill with the exhilaration of strenuous sports. They fatigue to the point of exhaustion but recover promptly with a period of rest. But not so with those _of middle age and beyond. For them moderation is of vital importance. Just how much exercise a person of a given age can safely take is question hard _to answer. Individual variability is too great to permit of generalization. A game of tennis may be perfectly safe for one person of forty but folly for another. The sage limit for exercise depends on the condition of the heart, the condition of the muscles, the type of exercise, and the regularity with which it is taken. Two general suggestions, however, will serve as sound advice for anyone. The first is that the condition of the heart and general health should be determined periodically by careful, thorough physical examinations. The other is that exercise should be kept below the point of physical exhaustion.What type of exercise one should choose _depens upon one’s physical condition. Young people can safely enjoy vigorous competitive sports, but most older persons do better to limit themselves to less strenuous activities. Walking, swimming, skating are among the sports that one can enjoy and safely participate in throughout life. Regularity is important if one is to get the most enjoyment and benefit out of exercise.*8 Old And ActiveIt is well—known that life expectancy is longer in Japan than in most other countries. A recent report also shows that Japan has the longest health expectancy in the world．A healthy long life is the result of improvement in social environment.Scientists are trying to work out exactly what keeps elderly Japanese people so healthy, and whether there is a lesson to be learnt from their lifestyles for the rest of us. Should we make any changes to our eating habits, for instance, or go jogging each day before breakfast? Is there some secret ingredient in the Japanese diet that is particularly beneficial to the human body?Another factor contributing to the rapid population aging in Japan is a decline in birthrate．Although longer life should be celebrated, it is actually considered a social problem．The number of older people had doubled in the last half century and that has increased pension and medical costs．The country could soon be facing an economic problem, if there are so many old people to be looked after and relatively few younger people working and paying taxes to support them．Raising the retirement age from 65 to 70 could be one solution to the problem. Work can give the elderly a sense of responsibility and mission in life. It’s important that the elderly play active roles in the society and live in harmony with all generations.*9 The Case of Disappesr Fingerprinttics(新增) One usefui anti-cancer durg can effectively erase the whorls and other characteristic marks thatGive people their distinctive fingerprints.Losing them could become troublesome.A case released online in a letter by Annals of Oncology indicates how big a problem of losing fingerprints is.Eng-Huat Tan,a Singapore-based medical doctor describes a 62-year old man who has used capecitabine’ to treat his nasophaeyngeal cancer.After three yeas on the drug,the patient decided to visit U.S.relatives last Decmber. But he was stopped by U.S.customs officials for4 hours after entering the country when those officials coulden’t get fingerprints from the man. There were no distinctive swirly marks appearing from his index finger.U.S. customs has been fingerprinting incoming foreign visitors for years,Tan says.Their index fingers are printed and screened against digital files of the fingerprints of bad guys—terrorists and potential criminals that our federal guardians have been tasked with keeping out of the country, Unfortunately, for the Singaporean traveler,one potential side effect of his drug treatment is a smoothing of the tissue on the finger pads,Hence ,no fingerprints.“It is uncertain when fingerprint loss will begin to take place in patients who are taking capecitabine,”Tan points out. So he cautions any physicians who prescribe the durg to provide their patients with a doctor`s note pointing out that their medicine may cause fingerprints to disappear.Eventually,the Singaoute traveler made it into the United States I guess the name on his passport didn`t taise any res flags. But he`s also now got the explanatory doctory dostor`s note—and won`t leaue home without it.By the way, maybe the Food and Drug Administration,which approved use of the drug 11 years ago, should consider updating its list of side effects associated with this medicine, The current list does note that patients may experience vomiting, stomach pain and some other side effects, But no where does it mention the potential for loss of fingerprints.*10 Hospital MistreatmentAccording to a study, most medical interns report experiencing mistreatment, including humiliation by senior doctors, being threatened, or physical abuse in their first year out of medical school.The findings come from analysis of the responses to a 13-page survey mailed in January 1991 to 1, 733 second-year residents. The survey and analysis appear in the April 15th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.Overall, out of the 1,277 residents who completed surveys, 1,185 said that they had experienced at least one incident of mistreatment in their intern year. In addition to reporting incidents where they were abused, more than 45% of the residents said they had witnessed at least one incident where other persons had made false medical records. Moreover, nearly three quarters of the residents said they had witnessed mistreatment of patients by other residents, attending physicians, or nurses. Almost 40% said patient mistreatment was a frequent event.More than 10% of the residents said they were not allowed to have enough sleep, and the average number of hours without_ sleep was 37.6. The average on-call hours during a _typical week was 56.9 hours, but about 25% of the residents said their on-call assignments were more than 80 hours some weeks. Although30% of the residents said they experienced some type of sexual harassment or discrimination, verbal abuse was the most common probleing Fingerprintsm cited. When abusive incidents were limited to events occurring three or more times, 53% of the respondents reported that they were belittled or humiliated by more senior residents, while just over 21% reported someone taking credit for their work. Being “given tasks for punishment,”“being pushed, kicked or hit,”and having someone “threatening your reputation or career,”were reported as a more frequent occurrence by over 10% of the responding residents.+11 Migrant WorkersIn the past twenty years, there has been an increasing tendency for workers to move from one country to another. While some newly independent countries have understandably restricted most jobs to local people, others have attracted and welcomed migrant workers. This is particularly the case in the Middle East,1where increased oil incomes have enabled many countries to call in outsiders to improve local facilities. Thus the Middle East has attractedoil-workers from the USA and Europe. It has brought in construction workers and technicians from many countries, including South Korea and Japan.In view of the difficult living and working conditions in the Middle East, 2 it is not surprising that the pay is high to attract suitable workers. Many engineers and technicians can earn at least twice as much money in the Middle East as they can in their own country, and this is a major attraction. An allied benefit is the low taxation or complete lack of it. 3 This increases the net amount of pay received by visiting workers and is very popular with them.Sometimes a disadvantage has a compensating advantage. For example, the difficult living conditions often lead to increased friendship when workers have to depend on each other for safety and comfort. In a similar way, many migrant workers can save large sums of money partly because of the lack of entertainment facilities. The work is often complex and full of problems but this merely presents greater challenge to engineers who prefer to find solutions to problems rather than do routine work in their home country.One major problem which affects migrant workers in the Middle East is that their jobs are temporary ones. They are nearly always on contract, so it is not easy for them to plan ahead with great confidence. This is to be expected since no country welcomes a large number of foreign workers as permanent residents. In any case, migrant workers accept this disadvantage, along with others, because of the considerable financial benefits which they receive.+12 DreamsEveryone can dream．Indeed, everyone does dream．Those who claim that they never dream at all actually dream just as frequently as the rest of us, though they may not remember anything about it．Even those of us who are perfectly aware of dreaming night after night very seldom remember those dreams in great detail but merely retain an untidy mixture of seemingly unrelated impressions. Dreams are not simply visual-we dream with all our sense , so that we appear to experience sound, touch, smell, and taste．One of the world's oldest known written documents is the Egyptian Book of Dreams．This volume is about five thousand years old, so you can see that dreams were believed to have a special significance even then．Many ancient civilizations believed that you should never ask a sleeping person as, during sleep, the soul had left the body and might not be able to return in time if the sleeper were suddenly awoken .From ancient times to the present day,people have been making attempts to interpret dreams and to explain their significance．There are many books availableon the subject of dream interpretation．although unfortunately there are almost as many meanings for a particular dream as there are books．+13 Scientists Develop Ways of Detecting Heart AttackGerman researchers have come up with a new generation of defibrillators and early-warning software aimed at offering heart patients greater protection from sudden death from cardiac arrest.In Germany alone around 100,000 people die annually as a result of cardiac arrest and many of these cases are caused by disruption to the heart’s rhythm. Those most at risk are patients who have already suffered a heart attack, and for years the use of defibrillators has proved useful in diagnosing life-threatening disruption to heart rnythms and correcting them automatically by intervening within seconds. These devices take on a range of functions, such as that of pacemaker.Heart specialists at Freiburg’s University Clinic have now achieved a breakthrough with an implanted defibrillator capable of generating a six-channel electrocardiogram (ECG) within the body. This integrated system allows early diagnosis of acute blood-flow problems and a pending heart attack. It will be implanted in patients for the first time this year. Meanwhile, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Mathematics in Kaiserslautern have developed new computer software that renders of ECG data more precise.The overwhelming majority of patients at risk will not have an implanted defibrillator and must for this reason undergo regular ECGs. “Many of the current programs only get into account a linear correlation of the data. We are, however, making use in a non-linear process that reveals the chaotic patterns of heart beats as an open and complex system,” Hagen Knaf says, “In this way changes in the heart beats over time can be monitored and individual variations in patients taken into account.” An old study of ECG data, based upon600 patients who had suffered a subsequent heart attack, enabled the researchers to compare risks and to show that the new software evaluates the data considerably better.+14 Young Adults Who Exercise Get Higher IQ Scores(新增)Young adults who are fit have a higher IQ`and are more likely to go on to university, reveals a major new study carried out at the Sahlgrenska Academy and Sahlgrenska University Hopital.The results were recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences(PNAS).The study involved 1.2 million Swedish men doing military service who were born between 1950 and 1976. The research groupanalysed the results of both physical and IQ tests the youngsters took right after they started serving the army.The study shows a clear link between good physical fitness and better results for the IQ test.The strongest links are for logical thinking and verbal comprehension,But it is only fitness that plays a role in the results for the IQ test,and not strength,”Being fit means that you also have good heart and lung capacity and that your brain gets plenty of oxygen,”says Michael Nilsson, professor at the Sahlgrenska Academy and chief physician at the Sahogrenska University Hospital.”This may be one of the reasons why we can see a clear link with fitness, but not with muscular strength .We are also seeing that there are growth factors that are important.”By analysing data for twins,the researchers have been able to determine that it is primarily environmental facors and not genes that explain the link between fitness and a higher IQ.“We have also shown that those youngsters who improve their physical fitness between the ages of 15 and 18 increase their cognitive performance,”says Maria Aberg, researcher at the Sahlgrenska Academy and physician at Aby health centre.”This being the case, physical education is a subject that has an important place in schools,and is an absolute must if we want to do well in maths and other theoretical subjects.”The researchers have also compared the results from fitness tests during national service with the socio-economic status of the men latter in life,Those who were fit at 18 were more likely to go into higher education,and many secured more qualified jobs.+15Life Expectancy in the Last Hundred YearsA hundred years ago，life expectancy in developed countries was about 47: in the early 21st century, men in the United States and the United Kingdom can expect to live to about 74. Women to about 80, and these ages are rising all the time. What has brought about these changes? When we look at the life span of people l00 years ago, we need to look at the greatest killers of the time. In the early 20th century, these were the acute and often high infectious diseases such as smallpox. Many children died very young from these diseases and others, and the weak and elderly were always at risk.In the developed world these diseases are far lessdeadly today,90 and in some cases have almost disappeared. A number of factor shave led to this: improvements in sanitation and hygiene, the discovery and use of antibiotics, which make bacterial diseases much less dangerous, and vaccinations against common diseases. In addition, people's general health has improved with improvements in our general environment: cleaner air, better means of preserving food，better and warmer housing，and better understanding of nutrition.Genetically，we should all be able to live to about 85 but while people do live longer today, there are still some big killers around that are preventing US from consistently reaching that age. The problems that affect people today are the more chronic illnesses, such as heart disease and strokes, and those spread by viruses, such as influenza and AIDS l. Of course, cancer is a huge killer as well. In most cases these diseases affect older people, but there are worrying trends in the developed world with problems such as obesity leadingto more heart disease and illnesses such as diabetes at younger ages.The killers today can be classed as "lifestyle diseases"，which means that it may be possible to halt their progress.。

第一篇 A Life with Birds有鸟陪伴的生活For nearly 17 years David Cope has worked as one of the Tower of London's yeoman warders,better known to tourists as beefeaters. David, 64, lives in a three-bedroomed flat right at the top of the Byward Tower, one of the gatehouses. " From our bedroom we have a marvelous view of Tower Bridge and the Thames, " says David.The Tower of London is famous for its ravens, the large black birds which have lived there for over three centuries. David was immediately fascinated by the birds and when he was offered the post of Raven Master eight years ago he had no hesitation in accepting it. "The birds have now become my life and I'm always _aware of the fact that I am maintaining a tradition. The legend(传奇，传说) says that if the ravens leave the Tower, England will fall to enemies, and it's my job to make sure this doesn't happen!"David devotes about four hours a day to the care of the ravens. He has grown to love them and the fact that he lives right next to them is ideal. "I can keep a close eye on them all the time, and not just when I'm working." At first, David's wife Mo was not keen on the idea of life in the Tower, but she too will be sad to leave when he retires next year. "When we look out of our windows, we see history all around us, and we are taking it in and storing it up for our future memories."第二篇 A Lucky Break幸运的骨折Actor Antonio Banderas is used to breaking bones, and it always seems to happen when he's doing sport. In the film Play It to the Bone he plays the part of a middleweight boxer alongside Woody Harrelson. During the making of the film Harrelson kept complaining that the fight scenes weren't very convincing, so one day he suggested that he and Banderas should have a fight for real. The Spanish actor wasn't keen on the idea at first, but he was eventually persuaded by his co-star to put on his gloves and climb into the boxing ring. However, when he realized how seriously his opponent was taking it all, he began to regret his decision to fight. And then in the third round, Harrelson hit Banderas so hard in the face that he actually broke his nose. His wife, actress Melanie Griffith, was furious that he had been playing "silly macho games". "She was right," confesses Banderas, "and I was a fool to take a risk like that in the middle of a movie."He was reminded of the time he broke his leg during a football match in his native Malaga. He had always dreamed of becoming a soccer star, of performing in front of a big crowd, but doctors told him his playing days were probably over. "That's when I decided to take up acting; I saw it as another way of performing, and achieving recognition. What happened to me on that football pitch was, you might say, my first lucky break."第三篇Global Warming 全球变暖Few people now question the reality of global warming and its effects on the world's climate(n.气候，风气). Many scientists put the blame for recent natural disasters on the increase in the world's temperatures and are convinced that, more than ever before, the Earth is at risk from the forces of the wind, rain and sun. According to them, global warming is making extreme(极端的) weather events, such as hurricanes and droughts, even more severe and causing sea levels all around the world to rise .Environmental groups are putting pressure on governments to take action to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide which is given off by factories and power plants, thus attacking the problem at its source. They are in favour of more money being spent on research into solar, wind and wave energy devices, which could then replace existing power stations.Some scientists, however believe that even if we stopped releasing carbon dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere(n.大气) tomorrow, we would have to wait several hundred years to notice the results. Global warming, it seems, is here to stay.第四篇 A Success Story 成功的故事At 19, Ben Way is already a millionaire, and one of a growing number of teenagers who have made their fortune through the Internet. What makes Ben's story all the more remarkable is that he is dyslexic, and was told by teachers at his junior school that he would never be able to read or write properly. "I wanted to prove them wrong", says Ben, creator and director of Waysearch, a net search engine which can be used to find goods in online shopping malls.When he was eight, his local authorities provided him with a PC to help with school work. Although he was unable to read the manuals, he had a natural ability with the computer, and encouraged by his father, he soon began charging people $l0 an hour for his knowledge and skills. At the age of 15 he set up his own computer consultancy, Quad Computer, which he ran from his bedroom, and two years later he left school to devote all his time to business."By this time the company had grown and I needed to take on a couple of employees to help me", says Ben. "That enabled me to start doing business with bigger companies.” It was his ability to consistently overcome difficult challenges that led him to win the Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in the same year that he formed Waysearch, and he has recently signed a deal worth $25 million with a private investment company, which will finance his search engine.第五篇Traffic in Our Cities我们的城市交通The volume of traffic in many cities in the world today continues to expand. This causes many problems, including serious air pollution, lengthy delays, and the greater risk of accidents. Clearly, something must be done, but it is often difficult to persuade people to change their habits and leave their cars at home.One possible approach is to make it more expensive for people to use their cars by increasing charges for parking and bringing in tougher fines for anyone who breaks the law. In addition, drivers could be required to pay for using particular routes at different times of the day. This system, known as "road pricing", is already being introduced in a number of cities, using a special electronic card fixed to the windscreen of the car.Another way of dealing with the problem is to provide cheap parking on the outskirts of the city, and strictly control the number of vehicles allowed into the centre. Drivers and their passengers then use a special bus service for the final stage of their journey.Of course, the most important thing is to provide good public transport. However, to get people to give up the comfort of their cars, public transport must be felt to be reliable, convenient and comfortable, with fares kept at an acceptable level.第六篇Teaching and learning教与学Many teachers believe that the responsibilities for learning lie with the student. If a long reading assignment is given, instructors expect students to be familiar with the information in the reading even if they do not discuss it in class or take an examination. The idea student is considered to be one who is motivated to learn for the sake of learning, not the one interested only in getting high grades. Sometimes homework is returned with brief written comments but without a grade. Even if a grade is not given, the student is responsible for learning the material assigned. When research is assigned, the professor expects the student to take it actively and to complete it with minimum guidance. It is the student's responsibility to find books, magazines, and articles in the library. Professors do not have the time to explain how a university library works; they expect students particularly graduate students to exhaust the reference sources in the library. Professors will help students who need it, but prefer that their students should not be too dependent on them. In the United Stats professors have many other duties besides teaching, such as administrative or research work. Therefore, the time that a professor can spend with a student outside of class is limited. If a student has problems with classroom work , the student should either approach a professor during office hours or make an appointment.第七篇The Difference between Man and Computer What makes people different from computer programs? What is the missing element that our theories don’t yet account for? The answer is simple: People read newspaper stories for a reason: to learn more about what they are interested in. Computers, on the other hand, don't. In fact, computers don't even have interests; there is nothing in particular that they are trying to find out when they read. If a computer program is to be a model of story understanding, it should also read for a "purpose". Of course, people have several goals that do not make sense to attribute to computers. One might read a restaurant guide in order to satisfy hunger or entertainment goals, or to find a good place to go for a business lunch. Computers do not get hungry, and computers do not have business lunches.H owever, these physiological and social goals give rise to several intellectual or cognitive goals. A goal to satisfy hunger gives rise to goals to find information about the name of a restaurant which serves the desired type of food, how expensive the restaurant is,the location of the restaurant, etc. These are goals to acquire information or knowledge, what we are calling learning goals. These goals can be held by computers too; a computer might "want" to find out the location of a restaurant, and read a guide in order to do so in the same way as a person might. While such a goal would not arise out of hunger in the case of the computer, it might well arise out of the "goal" to learn more about restaurants.第八篇Look on The Bright Side 看光明的一面Do you ever wish you were more optimistic, someone who always expected to be successful? Having someone around who always fears the worst isn’t really a lot of fun. We all know someone who sees a single cloud on a sunny day and says, "It looks like rain. " But if you catch yourself thinking such things,it's important to do something about it. You can change your view of life, according to psychologists. It only takes a little effort, and you'll find life more rewarding as a result. Optimism，they say，is partly about self-respect and confidence but it's also a more positive way of looking at life and all it has to offer. Optimists are more likely to start new projects and are generally more prepared to take risks.U pbringing is obviously very important in forming your attitude to the world. Some people are brought up to depend too much on others and grow up forever blaming other people when anything goes wrong. Most optimists,on the other hand, have been brought up not to regard failure as the end of the world—they just get on with their lives.第九篇The First Bicycle 第一辆自行车The history of the bicycle goes back more than 200 years. In 1791, Count de Sivrac delighted onlookers in a park in Paris as he showed off his two-wheeled invention, a machine called the celeriferé. It was basically an enlarged version of a children’s toy which had been in use for many years. Sivrac's "celeriferé" had a wooden frame, made in the shape of a horse, which was mounted on a wheel at either end．To ride it, you sat on a small seat, just like a modem bicycle,and pushed hard against the ground with your legs—there were no pedals. It was impossible to steer a celeriferéand it had no brakes, but despite these problems the invention very much appealed to the fashionable young men of Paris. Soon they were holding races up and down the streets. M inor injuries were common as riders attempted a final burst of speed . Controlling the machine was difficult, as the only way to change direction was to pull up the front of the "celeriferé" and turn it round while the front wheel was spinning in the air. "Celeriferés" were not popular for long,however,as the combination of no springs, no steering and rough roads made riding them very uncomfortable. Even so,the wooden celeriferé was the origin of the modem bicycle.第十篇Working Mothers职业母亲Carefully conducted researches that have followed the children of working mothers have not been able to show any long-term problems, compared with children whose mothers stayed at home. My personal view is that mothers should be allowed to work if they wish. Whether we like it or not, there are a number of mothers who just have to work. There are those who have invested such a big part of their lives in establishing a career that they cannot afford to see it lost. Then there are many who must work out of pure economic necessity. Many mothers are not cut out to be full-time parents. After a few months at home with a much loved infant, they feel trapped and isolated. Th ere are a number of options when it comes to choosing childcare. These range from child minders and nannies through to Granny or the kind lady across the street. In reality, however, many parents don't have any choice; they have to accept anything they can get. Be prepared! No matter how good the childcare may be,some children are going to protest wildly if they are left. This is a perfectly normal stage of child development. Babies separate well in the first six months,but soon after that they start to get a crush on Mum and close family members. Make sure that in the first week you allow plenty of time to help your child settle in. All children are different. Some are independent, while others are more attached to their mothers. Remember that if you want to do the best for your children, it's not the quantity of time you spend with them，it's the quality that matters.第十一篇School Lunch学校午餐Research has shown that over half the children in Britain who take their own lunches to school do not eat properly in the middle of the day. In Britain schools have to provide meals at lunchtime. Children can choose to bring their own food or have lunch at the school canteen. One shocking finding of this research is that school meals are much healthier than lunches prepared by parents. There are strict standards for the preparation of school meals, which have to include one portion of fruit and one of vegetables, as well as meat, a dairy item and starchy food like bread or pasta. Lunchboxes examined by researchers contained sweet drinks, crisps and chocolate bars. Children consume twice as much sugar as they should at lunchtime. The research will provide a better understanding of why the percentage of overweight students in Britain has increased in the last decade. Unfortunately, the government cannot criticise parents, but it can remind them of the nutritional value of milk, fruit and vegetables. Small changes in their children's diet can affect their future health. Children can easily develop bad eating habits at this age, and parents are the only ones who can prevent it.第十二篇A Powerful Influence 强大的影响There can be no doubt at all that the Internet has made a huge difference to our lives. Parents are worried that children spend too much time playing on the Internet, hardly ever doing anything else in their spare time. Naturally, parents are curious to find out why the Internet is so attractive, and they want to know if it can be harmful to their children. Should parents worry if their children are spending that much time staring at their computers?Obviously, if children are bent over their computers for hours, absorbed in some game, instead of doing their homework, then something is wrong. Parents and children could decide how much use the child should make of the Internet, and the child should give his or her word that it w on’t interfere with homework. If the child is not holding to this arrangement, the parent can take more drastic steps dealing with a child's use of the Internet is not much different from negotiating any other sort of bargain about behaviour.Any parent who is seriously alarmed about a child's behaviour should make an appointment to discuss the matter with a teacher. Spending time in front of the screen does not necessarily affect a child's performance at school. Even if a child is absolutely crazy about using the Internet，he or she is probably just going through a phase, and in a few months there will be something else to worry about!第十三篇The Old Gate古老之门In the Middle Ages the vast majority of European cities had walls around them. This was partly for defensive reasons but another factor was the need to keep out anyone regarded as undesirable, like people with contagious diseases. The Old City of London gates were all demolished by the end of the 18th century. The last of London's gates was removed a century ago, but by a stroke of luck, it was never destroyed.This gate is, in actual fact, not called a gate at all; its name is Temple Bar, and it marked the boundary between the Old City of London and Westminster. In 1878 the Council of London took the Bar down, numbered the stones and put the gate in storage because its design was unfashionable it was expensive to maintain and it was blocking the traffic.The Temple Bar Trust was set out in the 1970's with the intention of returning the gate home. The aim of the Trust is the preservation of the nation's architectural heritage. Transporting the gate will mean physically pulling it down, stone by stone, removing and rebuilding it near St Paul's Cathedral. Most of the facade of the gate will probably be replaced, though there is a good chance that the basic structure will be sound. The hardest job of all, however, will be to recreate the statues of the monarchs that once stood on top of the gate.第十四篇Family History家族史In an age when technology is developing faster than ever before, many people are being attracted to the idea of looking back into the past. One way they can do this is by investigating their own family history. They can try to find out more about where their families came from and what they did, This is now a fast-growing hobby, especially in countries with a fairly short history, like Australia and the United States. It is one thing to spend some time going through a book on family history and to take the decision to investigate your own family's past. It is quite another to carry out the research work successfully. It is easy to set about it in a disorganized way and cause yourself many problems which could have been avoided with a little forward planning. If your own family stories tell you that you are connected with a famous character, whether hero or criminal, do not let this idea take over your research. Just treat it as an interesting possibility. A simple system for collecting and storing your information will be adequate to start with; a more complex one may only get in your way. The most important thing, though, is to get started. Who knows what you might find ?第十五篇 Helen and Martin海伦和马丁With a thoughtful sigh, Helen turned away from the window and walked back to her favourite armchair. Would her brother never arrive? For a brief moment, she wondered if she really cared that much.Over the years Helen had given up waiting for Martin to take an interest in her. Her feelings for him had gradually weakened until now, as she sat waiting for him, she experienced no more than a sister's. curiosity to see what had become of her brother.Almost without warning, Martin had lost his job with a busy publishing company after spending the last eight years in New York as a key figure in the US office. Somehow the two of them hadn't bothered to keep in touch and, left alone, Helen had slowly found her confidence in her own judgment growing. Ignoring the wishes of her parents, she had left university halfway through her course and now, to the astonishment of the whole family, she was gaining a fast-growing reputation in the pages of respected art magazines and was actually earning enough to live on from her paintings.Of course, she took no pleasure in Martin's sudden misfortune, but she couldn't help looking forward to her brother's arrival with quiet satisfaction at what she had achieved.。

★“Liquefaction”Key to Much ofJapanese Earthquake Damage The massive subduction zone1 earthquake in Japan caused a significant level of soil "liquefaction"2that has surprised researchers with its widespread severity,a new analysis shows."We've seen localized3 examples of soil liquefaction as extreme as this before,but the distance and extent of damage in Japan were unusually severe,"said Scott Ashford,a professor of geotechnical engineering4at Oregon State University5."Entire structures were tilted and sinking into the sediments,"Ashford said."The shifts in soil destroyed water,drain and gas pipelines6,crippling the utilities and infrastructure these communities need to function.We saw some places that sank as much as four feet."Some degree of soil liquefaction7is common in almost any major earthquake.It's a phenomenon in which soils soaked with water,particularly recent sediments or sand,can lose much of their strength and flow during an earthquake.This can allow structures to shift or sink or collapse.But most earthquakes are much shorter than the recent event in Japan,Ashford said.The length of the Japanese earthquake,as much as five minutes,may force researchers to reconsider the extent of liquefaction damage possibly occurring in situations such as this8."With such a long-lasting earthquake,we saw how structures that might have been okay after30seconds just continued to sink and tilt as the shaking continued for several more minutes,"he said. "And it was clear that younger sediments,and especially areas built on recently filled ground,are much more vulnerable."The data provided by analyzing the Japanese earthquake,researchers said,should make it possible to improve the understanding of this soil phenomenon and better prepare for it in the future.Ashford said it was critical for the team to collect the information quickly, unless damage was removed in the recovery efforts9."There's no doubt that we'll learn things from what happened insank into the ground. Japan10that11will help us to reducerisks in other similar events,"Ashford said."Future construction insome places may make more use oftechniques known to reduceliquefaction,such as bettercompaction to make soils dense,oruse of reinforcing stone columns."Ashford pointed out thatnorthern California have youngersoils vulnerable to liquefaction---onthe coast,near river deposits or inareas with filled ground.The "young"sediments,in geologicterms,may be those depositedwithin the past10,000years or more.In Oregon,for instance,thatdescribes much of downtownPortland,the Portland InternationalAirport and other cities.Anything near a river and oldflood plains is a suspect12,and theOregon Department ofTransportation has alreadyconcluded that1,100bridges in thestate are at risk from an earthquake.Fewer than15percent of them havebeen reinforced to preventcollapse.Japan has sufferedtremendous losses in the March11earthquake,but Japaneseconstruction standards helpedprevent many buildings fromcollapse---even as they tilted and。

Captain
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criticize parents, but it can remind them of the Children can easily develop bad eating ones who can prevent it. 第十篇 Working Mol sigh, Helen turned away from the window and wa1ked back to her favourite armchair. Would her brother never arrive? For a brief moment, she wondered if she really cared that much. Over the years Helen had given up waiting for Martin to take an interest in her. Her feelings for him had gradually weakened until now, as she sat waiting for him, she experienced no more than a sister's. curiosity to see what had become of her brother.Almost without warning, Martin had lost, his job bothered to keep in touch through her course with a busy publishing company after spending the last eight years in New York as a key figure in the US office. Somehow the two of them hadn't and, left alone, Helen had slowly found her confidence in her own judgment growing. Ignoring the wishes of her parents, she had left university halfway and now, to the astonishment of the whole family, she was gaining a fast-growing reputation in the pages of respected art magazines and was actually earning enough to live on from her paintings.Of course, she took no pleasure in Martin's sudden misfortune, but she couldn't 第十四篇 Family History help looking forward to her brother's arrival with quiet satisfaction at what she had achieved. In an age when technology is developing faster than ever before, many people are being attracted to the idea of looking back into the past. One way they can do this is by investigating their own family history. They can try to find out more about where their families came from and what they did. This is now a fast—growing hobby, especially in countries with a fairly short history, like Australia and the United States.It is one thing to spend some time going through a book on family history and to take the decision to investigate your own family's past. It is quite another to carry out the research work successfully. It is easy to set about it in a disorganized way and cause yourself many problems which could have been avoided with a little forward planning. If your own family stories tell you that you are connected with a famous character, whether hero or criminal, do not let this idea take over your research. Just treat it as an interesting possibility. A simple system for collecting and storing your information will be adequate to start with; a more complex one may only get in your way. The most important thing, though, is to get started. Who knows what you might find? +第十三篇 The Old Gate 古老之门 reasons but another factor was the need to keep out diseases. The Old City of luck, it was never by the end of the 18th century. The last of In the Middle Ages the vast majority of European cities had walls around them. This was partly for defensive of London gates were all destroyed. This gate is, in Bar, and it marked the in anyone regarded as undesirable, like people with contagious demolished London's gates was removed a century ago, but by a stroke

+11 Migrant Workers 移民工人In the past twenty years, there has been an increasing tendency for worke rs to move from one country to another. While some newly independent countries have understandably restricted most jobs to local people, others have attracted and welcomed migrant workers. This is particularly the case in the Middle East ,1 where increased oil incomes have enabled many countries to call in outsiders to improve local facilities. Thus the Middle East has attracted oil-workers fr om the USA and Europe. It has brought in construction workers and technicians f rom many countries, including South Korea and Japan.In view of the difficult living and working conditions in the Middle East , 2 it is not surprising that the pay is high to attract suitable workers. Many engineers and technicians can earn at least twice as much money in the Middle East as they can in their own country, and this is a major attraction. An allie d benefit is the low taxation or complete lack of it. 3 This increases the net amount of pay received by visiting workers and is very popular with them.Sometimes a disadvantage has a compensating advantage. For example, the di fficult living conditions often lead to increased friendship when workers have to depend on each other for safety and comfort. In a similar way, many migrant workers can save large sums of money partly because of the lack of entertainmen t facilities. The work is often complex and full of problems but this merely pr esents greater challenge to engineers who prefer to find solutions to problems ratherhan do routine work in their home country.One major problem which affects migrant workers in the Middle East is that their jobs are temporary ones. They are nearly always on contract, so it is not easy for them to plan ahead with great confidence. This is to be expected sinc e no country welcomes a large number of foreign workers as permanent residents. In any case , migrant workers accept this disadvantage, along with others, bec ause of the considerable financial benefits which they receive.在过去的20年，工人从一个国家到另一个国家的趋势越来越大。