When we say older people shrink, we don’t mean they become tiny enough to fit in your pocket! We just mean that it’s common for older people to become a little shorter over time. This kind of shrinking can’t be reversed, although people can slow or stop this process. But why does shrinking happen at all?

Because of gravity (that force that keeps your feet on the ground) , cushions between the bones in the spine (脊骨), get compressed (压缩), which makes a person lose a little height and become shorter.

Another reason why some older people shrink is because of osteoporosis (骨质疏松). Osteoporosis occurs when bone is broken down and not enough new bone material is made. Over time, bone is said to be lost because it’s not being replaced. Bones become smaller and weaker and can easily break if someone with osteoporosis is injured.

Older people — especially women, who generally have smaller and lighter bones to begin with — are more likely to develop osteoporosis. As years go by, a person with osteoporosis can get small breaks in bones that are called compression fractures. These breaks cause collapse of the spine and over time the person with osteoporosis can become hunched over (驼背).

Did you know that every day you shrink a little, too? You aren’t as tall at the end of the day as you are at the beginning. That’s because as the day goes on, water in the disks of the spine gets compressed due to gravity, making you just a tiny bit shorter. Don’t worry, though. Once you get a good night’s rest, your body recovers, and the next morning, you’re standing tall again!

Smoking and drinking alcohol can make this problem worse. Want to do something right now to build strong bones? I believe what I say will help you.

1.Which of the following statements is true?

A．For shrinking, people can do nothing about it.

B．If someone is injured, he will become shorter.

C．Women have smaller and lighter bones than men.

D．We aren’t as tall at the end of the day as we are at the beginning.

2.What should we do if we don’t want to shrink faster?

A．We should try to reduce gravity.

B．We should be careful not to be hurt by others.

C．We should sleep as long as possible.

D．We should keep away from smoking and drinking alcohol.

3.What is the topic of the passage?

A．How can we stop shrinking?

B．Why do we shrink?

C．Some tips on how to keep tall.

D．How to live a healthy life.

4.About osteoporosis we know that _______.

A．gravity is one of the causes of osteoporosis

B．once our bone is broken down, osteoporosis will occur

C．women are more likely to develop osteoporosis

D．if we develop osteoporosis, we are more likely to be shorter

5.What will the author talk about in the paragraph to be followed?

A．Tell us how to grow taller.

B．Tell us how to become healthier.

C．Tell us how to avoid being shrinking.

D．Tell us what to do to have strong bones.

 

Mr. Knight was the manager of a hotel. One weekend all of the hotels in the city were full because there was a large meeting. On Friday, three men came into the hotel and asked for rooms. Mr. Knight said there were no rooms ready because of the meeting. The men were unhappy.

Mr. Knight wanted to help them. He remembered that Room 418, a small room, was empty. He asked them if they could share a room. The three men said they would. Mr. Knight said the room would be thirty dollars; ten dollars for each person. Each man gave him the money and then went up to the room.

Mr. Knight soon began to feel sorry. “Thirty dollars is a lot to ask as a price for that small room.” he thought. He called his assistant over and said, “Here is five dollars. Take it to the men in Room 418. I asked too much for their room.”

The assistant took the money. While he was on the way there, he started to think, “How can three men divide five dollars? I’ll give them each only one dollar and keep the two dollars for myself. The men will be happy to get something back. And Mr. Knight will never know.” So the assistant returned one dollar to each man.

Each man had at first paid ten dollars. After the assistant returned them one dollar each, each had actually(in fact) paid nine. There were three men. $9´3="$27." The assistant kept$2. $27+$2="$29." Where is the missing dollar?

1.With the help of the manager, the three men___________.

A．went to another hotel

B．each got a small room for the night

C．stayed together in a small room

D．got a small room Mr. Knight kept for himself

2.At first___________.

A．$27 was paid by the three men

B．$30 was paid by each of the three men

C．$25 was paid by the three men

D．$10 was paid by each of the three men

3.The assistant___________.

A．helped the men to divide the money

B．kept two dollars for himself

C．kept three dollars for himself

D．returned three dollars to the men and two to the manger

4.Where is the missing dollar?

A．It was taken by the assistant, too.

B．It was taken by Mr. Knight.

C．It was taken by the three men.

D．In fact, there wasn’t any missing dollar.

 

He’s out there somewhere, an instant icon in the records of American conflict, the final big-game hunter. But a puzzle, too, his identity would be kept a secret for now, and maybe forever.

He is the unknown shooter. The nameless, faceless triggerman who put a bullet in the head of the world’s most notorious（臭名昭著的）terrorist, Bin Laden.

He’s likely between the ages of 26 and 33, says Marcinko, founder of the “SEALs Team 6” that many believe led the attack on Bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. He’ll be old enough to have had time to hurdle the extra training tests required to join the counter-terrorism unit, yet young enough to stand the body-punishing harshness of the job. The shooter’s a man, it’s safe to say, because there are no women in the SEALs. And there’s a good chance he’s white, though the SEALs have stepped up efforts to increase the number of minorities in their ranks, Marcinko and Smith say.

He was probably a high school or college athlete, Smith says, a physical specimen who combines strength, speed and wisdom. “They call themselves ‘tactical athletes,’” says Smith, who works with many future SEALs in his Heroes of Tomorrow training program in Severna Park. “It’s getting very scientific.”

Marcinko puts it in more conventional terms: “He’ll be ripped,” says the author of the best-selling autobiography “Rogue Warrior.” “He’s got a lot of upper-body strength. Long arms. Thin waist. Flat stomach.”

On this point, Greitens departs a bit. “You can’t make a lot of physical assumptions,” says the author of “The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL.” There are SEALs who are 5 feet 4 and SEALs who are 6 feet 5, Greitens says. In his training group, he adds, there were college football boys who couldn’t hack it; those who survived were most often men in good shape, but they also had a willingness to show their concerns in favor of the mission.

The shooter’s probably not the crew-cut（平头）, neatly shaven ideal we’ve come to expect from American fighting forces. “He’s bearded, rough-looking, like a street naughty boy,” Marcinko supposes. “You don’t want to stick out.” Marcinko calls it “modified grooming standards.”

His hands will be calloused（长老茧）, Smith says, or just rough enough,” as Marcinko puts it. And “he’s got frag in him somewhere,” Marcinko says, using the battlefield shorthand for “fragments” of bullets or explosive devices. This will not have been the shooter’s first adventure. Marcinko estimates that he might have made a dozen or more deployments（部署）, tours when he was likely to have dealt with quite a number of dangerous situations, getting ready any time for explosive devices or bullets.

1.Which of the following is most likely to be the title of the passage?

    A. Who shot Bin Laden?                B. What do the SEALS do?

    C. How can boys be SEALS?             D. What SEALS are like?

2. From the passage we can know that the writer ___________.

   A. knows clearly what the shooter is like                B. doubts whether Bin Laden is dead

   C. is certain that the shooter is a man                  D. is not sure of the shooter’s gender

3.We can say for sure according to the passage that ___________.

    A. the shooter will eventually be revealed in the Press

    B. the writer is a person who is curious about the shooter

    C. the writer is a detective who tries to arrest the shooter

    D. the shooter is a strong man with a pair of rough hands

4.Which of the following are the names of writers mentioned in the passage?

   ①. Marcinko ②. Greitens ③. Smith ④. Abbottabad

   A. ①④ B. ③④    C. ②③    D. ①②

 

When I walk through the streets of San Francisco’s business districts, white people stare at me as if I were a circus clown.

Their staring eyes don’t see that I get ____1____ A’s in school, or that I am a captain of the football team, or that I belong to ___2____youth organizations. All they see is that I am 6-foot-4, young ,black, and male-----a potential ____3____to them.

White men look at me as if I am up to no good, or as if they are ____4____to me. White women just look at me with____5____, say, sometimes they cross the street when they see my friends and me coming, or walk in the street and only get back on the sidewalk after we ____6____.

Many people come to San Francisco to get away from the stereotypes(成见) of the cities they were born and ____7_____ in. The majority of the blacks and Latinos who live in this city don’t have that luxury.

How can you feel at home when people are_____8_____telling you to get back to Africa or Mexico ----or just back to “where you belong”?

My way of dealing with this kind of thing has _____9_____over the years. In the past, when my friends and I would walk the streets and a hundred pairs of white eyes would look at me as if we were the lowest form of dirt, it would make us angry enough to hurt or ____10____them.

Now I’m more likely to use ____11____ to defend myself against those eyes. To women who clutch their purse in terror, I’ll say, “Man, I ain’t gonna do anything to you, I got money in my pocket!” My cousin has even started wearing a T-shirt ____12_____ in big letters, “NO, WHITE LADY, I DON'T’ WANT YOUR PURSE.” 

The most painful thing is when we get those___13____ stares from black people, especially elderly ones. I want o say to them, “We’re black too. Why would we do something to you?”

Usually I react more ____14____to all of this than a lot of my friends do. Some of them, so brainwashed, just think it’s part of life and that there is nothing you can do.

But for me, that’s not good enough. I just can’t stand it when every day a hundred pair of eyes tell you you’re not_____15_____.

1.A. almost     B. mostly     C. merely     D. particularly

2.A. social      B. local      C. positive    D. new

3.A. danger     B. treasure    C. gift        D. neighbor

4.A. better      B. close      C. perfect     D. superior

5.A. fear       B. interest     C. honor      D. despair

6.A. run        B. walk       C. pass       D. move

7.A. known     B. developed    C. raised     D. located

8.A. honestly   B. constantly    C. hopefully   D. freely

9.A. changed    B. formed      C. strengthened  D. increased

10.A. kill       B. rob         C. damage     D. steal

11.A. actions    B. deeds       C. signs       D. words

12.A. writing    B. printing     C. telling      D. saying

13.A. fearful     B. doubtful     C. pitiful      D. impressive

14.A. strongly     B. actively    C. disappointedly   D. casually

15.A. sincere      B. mature     C. welcome       D. gentle

 

Mr. Knight was the manager of a hotel. One weekend all of the hotels in the city were full because there was a large meeting. On Friday, three men came into the hotel and asked for rooms. Mr. Knight said there were no rooms ready because of the meeting. The men were unhappy.

Mr. Knight wanted to help them. He remembered that Room 418, a small room, was empty. He asked them if they could share a room. The three men said they would. Mr. Knight said the room would be thirty dollars; ten dollars for each person. Each man gave him the money and then went up to the room.

Mr. Knight soon began to feel sorry. “Thirty dollars is a lot to ask as a price for that small room.” he thought. He called his assistant over and said, “Here is five dollars. Take it to the men in Room 418. I asked too much for their room.”

The assistant took the money. While he was on the way there, he started to think, “How can three men divide five dollars? I’ll give them each only one dollar and keep the two dollars for myself. The men will be happy to get something back. And Mr. Knight will never know.” So the assistant returned one dollar to each man.

Each man had at first paid ten dollars. After the assistant returned them one dollar each, each had actually(in fact) paid nine. There were three men. $9´3="$27." The assistant kept$2. $27+$2="$29." Where is the missing dollar?

1.With the help of the manager, the three men___________.

A．went to another hotel

B．each got a small room for the night

C．stayed together in a small room

D．got a small room Mr. Knight kept for himself

2.At first___________.

A．$27 was paid by the three men

B．$30 was paid by each of the three men

C．$25 was paid by the three men

D．$10 was paid by each of the three men

3.The assistant___________.

A．helped the men to divide the money

B．kept two dollars for himself

C．kept three dollars for himself

D．returned three dollars to the men and two to the manger

4.Where is the missing dollar?

A．It was taken by the assistant, too.

B．It was taken by Mr. Knight.

C．It was taken by the three men.

D．In fact, there wasn’t any missing dollar.