阅读理解

　　Dubai boasts(夸口)that it has just built a “new global landmark”－the Dubai Tower, which stands 512.1 meters high now and has just become the tallest building in the world．

　　The Dubai Tower now surpasses Taiwan’s Taipei 101, which is 508 meters tall, and has 141 storeys, more than any other building in the world．

　　The Dubai Tower, being built by South Korea’s Samsung Corporation and scheduled for completion next year, is one of a series of great projects taking shape in Dubai．The final projected height of the tower has remained a secret since the project was launched in January 2004; however, it is rumored that the tower will be more than 700 meters tall and have more than 160 storeys．

　　The Dubai Tower has become the tallest building in the world in just 1,276 days, leaving behind other tall buildings．

　　The Dubai Tower will house 30,000 apartments in addition to the world’s largest shopping mall．It is the centerpiece(重要工程)of the 20-billion-dollar venture．Another venture gradually emerging across the desert sands is Dubailand, a series of multi-billion-dollar projects claimed to be the Middle East’s very own Orlando．Dubai also paid 100 million dollars to buy the Queen Elizabeth Ⅱ, one of the world’s superb cruise liners(游轮), which it plans to turn into a luxury floating hotel．

　　Faced with decreasing oil wealth, the Western-oriented emirate(酋长国)has raced to turn itself into a business and leisure hub and it aims to more than double the number of tourists to 15 million by 2015．

阅读理解

　　Are you one of those who always fear whenever a dog is approaching?If you are, you have got phobia(a very strong feeling of being afraid of something)．Of all human fears, phobias may be the most uncontrollable．They are most often caused by a particular situation or object．In general, phobias can mainly be divided into three varieties．To begin with, agoraphobia is a fear of staying in strange surroundings, for example, an unfamiliar place, or an open area．Social phobia refers to the anxiety people show when they have to stay or perform on social events, for instance, speaking in front of the class．Lastly, there are a wide range of specific phobias．People suffering from this kind of phobia are terrified of specific objects or creatures．such as spiders, perhaps to your surprise, clowns．Besides, there are about six hundred and fifty phobias having been listed by psychologists(心理学家)as yet．

　　Faced with their phobias, many people choose to do nothing but just escape the situations or objects they fear．Psychologists, however, warn that if not treated properly, this kind of anxiety will get worse, so that it may disturb the sleep pattern, cause physical symptoms, and finally affect their daily activities．As for treatment, clinical research has discovered that medicine for anxiety is not successful in curing phobias．However．the anxiety disorders can be efficiently treated through cognitive behavioral therapy(认知行为疗法), through which patients are led to inspect the connections between their own fear und the situation or object, and then actively choose the acceptable treatments．Also, other treatments proved effective in reducing phobias are Meditation(quiet thought that can help people relax), listening to calming music, and so on．