T-shirts out; uniforms in
School uniforms（制服） are becoming more and more popular across the U.S.A. That’s no surprise, because they offer many benefits. They immediately end the powerful social sorting and labeling (标记) that come from clothing. If all students are dressed in the same way, they will not pay too much attention to their clothing, and some of them will not be laughed at for wearing the “wrong” clothes.
Some people are against the strict rule of school uniforms, but they do not realize that students already accept a kind of rule — wanting to look just like their friends. The difference is that the clothing students choose for themselves creates social barriers(障碍); school uniforms tear those barriers down.
As in other places, uniforms remind the wearers of their purposes and duties. For example, when a man or woman puts on a police uniform, he or she becomes, for a time, the symbol (象征) of law and order. The uniform means to the wearer his or her special duties and sends the same message to everyone the wearer meets. People with different jobs wear uniforms of one kind or another. For students, the school uniform reminds them that their task for the six or seven hours they are in school is to get an education.
Some parents are unhappy about uniforms, saying that school uniforms will affect their children’s “creativity.” First, the clothes students choose to wear do not necessarily express their individuality (个性). They just copy their classmates. Second, students have the rest of the day to be as creative as they like. While they’re in school, their job is to master reading, writing, and maths; this should take up all the creativity they have. Mastery of those skills will be good for the students to build up their creativity in every way.
【小题1】From the passage we learn that uniforms in general       .

A．prevent the wearers from being laughed at

B．help the wearers keep their duties in mind

C．are seen as a symbol of power

D．help to create social barriers

【小题2】Some people are against school uniforms because       .

A．they fail to realize that students have accepted the uniforms

B．they believe that uniforms will make students less creative

C．they don’t agree that uniforms can remove social barriers

D．they think that school uniforms are too popular

【小题3】The author would probably agree that       .

A．it makes no difference whether to wear school uniforms or not

B．students’ individuality may not come from school education

C．students’ creativity is related to the clothes they choose

D．school uniforms help to create equality among students

【小题4】School uniforms are becoming more and more popular and important because _____

A．they can stop the powerful social sorting and labeling.

B．if all students are dressed in the same way, they will not pay too much attention to their clothing.

C．uniforms can remind the wearers of their purposes and duties

D．school uniforms will affect their children’s creativity.

A major earthquake rocked Haiti at 4:53 pm local time on Jan.12, 2010, killing possibly thousands of people but no official figure has been released so far.
The quake, which struck about 15km (10 miles) south-west of the capital, Port-au-Prince, was quickly followed by two strong aftershocks. In the space of a minute, numerous buildings fell down. A five-story U.N. building was also brought down by the 7.3 magnitude quake, the most powerful to hit Haiti in more than 200 years according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
As night fell, the whole city is in total darkness. You can see thousands of people sitting in the streets with nowhere to go. There are people running, crying, screaming. Describing the earthquake as a "catastrophe", Haiti’s president said the cost of the damage could run into billions.
Haiti became the first independent Caribbean state in the early 19th century. Haiti's location, history and attracting climate once made it a tourist hot place. However, decades of poverty, environmental pollution and violence have left it as the poorest nation in the Americas. It has suffered a lot, including four hurricanes and storms in 2008 that killed hundreds.
【小题1】The great earthquake happened to the _______ of the capital city.

A．south-west

B．north-west

C．south-east

D．north-east

【小题2】 What can we infer from the underlined sentence?

A．People in Port-au-Prince don’t like to light on.

B．The earthquake happened in the evening.

C．Electricity in the city was cut off that night.

D．There are no lights at all in Port-au-Prince.

【小题3】 What’s the meaning of the word in bald “catastrophe”?

A．chance.

B．joke.

C．illness.

D．disaster.

【小题4】Which statement about Haiti is NOT true?

A．Haiti became an independent state in the early 19th century.

B．Haiti belongs to Americas, just like Canada, America and so on.

C．At one time, tourism was important to the economy of Haiti.

D．Haiti is a country where such strong quacks often take place.

Motherhood may make women smarter and may help prevent dementia（痴呆） in old age by bathing the brain in protective hormones（荷尔蒙） , U．S．researchers reported on Thursday．

Tests on rats show that those who raise two or more litters of pups do considerably better in tests of memory and skills than rats who have no babies, and their brains show changes that suggest they may be protected against diseases such as Alzheimer’s（早老痴呆症）．University of Richmond psychology professor Craig Kinsley believes his findings will translate into humans．“Our research shows that the hormones of pregnancy（怀孕） are protecting the brain, including estrogen（雌激素）, which we know has many neuroprotective （保护神经的） effects,” Kinsley said．

“It’s rat data but humans are mammals just like these animals are mammals,” he added in a telephone interview．“They go through pregnancy and hormonal changes．” Kinsley said he hoped public health officials and researchers will look to see if having had children protects a woman from Alzheimer’s and other forms of age-related brain decline．

“When people think about pregnancy, they think about what happens to babies and the mother from the neck down,” said Kinsley, who presented his findings to the annual meeting of the Society of Neuroscience in Orlando, Florida．

“They do not realize that hormones are washing on the brain．If you look at female animals that have never gone through pregnancy, they act differently toward young．But if she goes through pregnancy, she will sacrifice her life for her infant—that is a great change in her behavior that showed in genetic alterations（改变） to the brain．”

1.How do scientists know “Motherhood may make women smarter”?

A．Some researchers have told them．

B．Many women say so．

C．They know it by experimenting on rats．

D．They know it through their own experience．

2.What does the phrase “litters of pups” mean in the second paragraph?

A．Baby rats．

B．Animals．

C．Old rats．

D．Grown-up rats．

3.What can protect the brain of a woman according to the passage?

A．Estrogen．

B．The hormones of pregnancy．

C．More exercise．

D．Taking care of children．

4.“It’s rat data but humans are mammals just like these animals are mammals．” What does the sentence suggest?

A．The experiments on the rats have nothing to do with humans．

B．The experiments on the rats are very important for animals．

C．The experiments on the rats are much the same on humans．

D．The experiments on the rats are much the same on other animals．

5.Which title is the best for this passage?

A．Do You Want to Be Smarter?

B．Motherhood Makes Women Smarter

C．Mysterious Hormones

D．An Important Study

 

School uniforms（制服）are becoming more and more popular across the U.S.A. That’s no surprise，because they offer many benefits. They immediately end the powerful social sorting and labeling （标记）that come from clothing. If all students are dressed in the same way，they will not pay too much attention to their clothing，and some of them will not be laughed at for wearing the “wrong” clothes.
Some people are against the strict rule of school uniforms，but they do not realize that students already accept a kind of rule — wanting to look just like their friends. The difference is that the clothing students choose for themselves creates social barriers（障碍）; school uniforms tear those barriers down.
As in other places，uniforms remind the wearers of their purposes and duties. For example，when a man or woman puts on a police uniform，he or she becomes，for a time，the symbol（象征）of law and order. The uniform means to the wearer his or her special duties and sends the same message to everyone the wearer meets. People with different jobs wear uniforms of one kind or another. For students，the school uniform reminds them that their task for the six or seven hours they are in school is to get an education.
Some parents are unhappy about uniforms，saying that school uniforms will affect their children’s “creativity”. First，as noted above，the clothes students choose to wear do not necessarily express their individuality （个性）. They just copy their classmates. Second，students have the rest of the day to be as creative as they like. While they’re in school，their job is to master reading，writing，and maths; this should take up all the creativity they have. Mastery of those skills will be good for the students to build up their creativity in every way.
【小题1】In Paragraph 1，the word “benefits” probably means       .

A．tasks

B．messages

C．differences

D．advantages

【小题2】From the passage we learn that uniforms in general       .

A．prevent the wearers from being laughed at

B．help the wearers keep their duties in mind

C．are seen as a symbol of power

D．help to create social barriers

【小题3】Some people are against school uniforms because       .

A．they fail to realize that students have accepted the uniforms

B．they believe that uniforms will make students less creative

C．they don’t agree that uniforms can remove social barriers

D．they think that school uniforms are too popular

【小题4】The author would probably agree that       .

A．it makes no difference whether to wear school uniforms or not

B．students’ individuality may not come from school education

C．students’ creativity is related to the clothes they choose

D．school uniforms help to create equality among students

【小题5】School uniforms are becoming more and more popular and important because _____

A．they can stop the powerful social sorting and labeling.

B．if all students are dressed in the same way，they will not pay too much attention to their clothing.

C．uniforms can remind the wearers of their purposes and duties

D．school uniforms will affect their children’s creativity.

 

E

Research on the human brain has been attracting more and more scientists in recent years, just like the booming hi-tech industry. One of the latest research topics is how to change the human brain or combine the computer and the human brain, i.e. to transplant a chip into a human brain. This idea may make everyone’s dream come true. If we compare a human brain to a hard disc（硬盘）, what the scientists are doing is to enlarge the capacity of the hard disc. For the time being, there are some difficulties in such transplant experiments, but scientists never give up.

Experiments have started on animals. In 1996, a transplant experiment performed at the Defense and Military Physiology Research Institute in the U.S. turned a bear into a dolphin.

The dolphin was named Ted, and the bear was named Tallin. Using the most advanced technology available, deep and detailed images were made of the memory area in Ted’s brain containing information about swimming by the scientists. They obtained a series of useful information, the signals transferred by the nervous system. Such information was saved into a button-sized chip, which was then transplanted into the action memory area in Tallin’s brain. The information saved on the chip was released by means of electric power.

Recently, another comprehensive memory transplant was performed at the Motor Nerve Research Institute of the University of California. The comprehensive memory transplanted in the experiment included actions, moods, logic, words, images, etc. The experiment involved an entire transplant of the memory area. This was the largest such experiment done so far.

The transplant was performed making a transfer from a dog named “Genius” to a dog named “Idiot”. “Genius” could understand and follow up to 100 gestures and orders made by its master. It was a real genius in memorizing. “Idiot” was the younger brother of “Genius”. It had no contact with people at all since its birth. It became an animal with nothing in its brain, without any memory.

The operation was a complete success. When the two dogs woke up, “Idiot” had grasped all the abilities “Genius” possessed; it was good at memorizing and sensible. It could follow every gesture and any command given by its master. But “Genius” gave no response to its master, and in fact did not recognize him at all.

57. The purpose of the experiment is _____.

A. to combine the computer and the human brain    

B. to enlarge the capacity of human brain

C. to make some stupid dog turn clever          D. to make bear swim

58. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. The scientists transferred a button-sized chip with useful information in Tallin’s brain.

B. The first comprehensive memory transplant was performed at the Motor Nerve Research University.

C. The second experiment wasn’t an entire transplant of the memory area.

D. The Idiot was an animal with memory before brain experiment

59. What does the underlined word “success” refer to?

A. The two dogs woke up.

B. They were both good at memorizing.

C. The Idiot grasped all the abilities of Genius.

D. The Genius grasped all the abilities of Idiot.

60. According to the text, we can infer _____.

A. a person can know more after the experiment

B. a bear can swim after being transferred a chip with related useful information

C. a dog can become clever after entire transplant of the memory area

D. it is really good for animals to have been involved in the transplant experiment