It was a simple letter asking for a place to study at Scotland’s oldest university which helped start a revolution in higher education. A 140-year-old letter written by a lady calling for her to be allowed to study medicine at St Andrews University has been discovered by researchers. Written by Sophia Jex-Blake in 1873, the seven-page document, which urged the university to allow women to study medicine at the institution, was released yesterday on International Women’s Day.

The document was discovered buried in the university archives (档案) by part-time history student Lis Smith, who is completing her PhD at St Andrews Institute of Scottish Historical Research. She said: “We knew that Sophia Jex-Blake and her supporters, in their effort to open up university medical education for women, had written to the Senatus Academicus (校评议委员会) at St Andrews in an attempt to gain permission to attend classes there, but we didn’t know documentary evidence existed. While searching the archives for information about the university’s higher certificate for women, I was astonished to come across what must be the very letter Jex-Blake wrote.”

In the letter, Sophia and her supporters offered to hire teachers or build suitable buildings for a medical school and to arrange for lectures to be delivered in the subjects not already covered at St Andrews. Although her letter was not successful, it eventually led to the establishment of the Ladies Literate in Arts at St Andrews, a distance-learning degree for women. The qualification, which ran from 1877 until the 1930s, gave women access to university education in the days before they were admitted as students. It was so popular that it survived long after women were admitted as full students to St Andrews in 1892.

Ms Jex-Blake went on to help establish the London School of Medicine for Women in 1874. She was accepted by the University of Berne, where she was awarded a medical degree in January 1877. Eventually, she moved back to Edinburgh and opened her own practice.

1.Sophia wrote a letter to St Andrews University because she wanted _______.

A．to carry out a research project there

B．to set up a medical institute there

C．to study medicine there

D．to deliver lectures there

2.Lis Smith found Sophia’s letter to St Andrews University _______.

A．by pure chance

B．in the school office

C．with her supporters’ help

D．while reading history books

3.Sophia’s letter resulted in the establishment of _______.

A．the London School of Medicine for Women

B．a degree programme for women

C．a system of medical education

D．the University of Berne

4.When did St Andrews University begin to take full-time women students?

A．In 1873.

B．In 1874.

C．In 1877.

D．In 1892.

 

Once again, science supports what your grandmother told you: A good night's sleep helps your body fight a cold.

People who averaged fewer than seven hours of sleep per   1   in the weeks before being exposed to the cold virus were nearly three times   2   likely to get sick as those who   3   eight hours or more, a new study found.

Researchers used frequent telephone   4   to track the sleep   5   of more than 150 men and women aged 21 to 55 over the course of a few weeks. Then they   6   the subjects to the virus, quarantined them for five days and kept   7   of who got sick.

  8   sleeping more, sleeping better also seemed to   9   the body fight illness: Patients who fared better on a measure   10   as 'sleep efficiency' - the percentage of time in bed that you're actually sleeping - were also   11   likely to get sick.

The results held   12   even after researchers   13   for variables such as body-mass index, age, sex, smoking and pre-existing antibodies to the   14   .

  15   your grandmother, the researchers aren't exactly sure   16   sleeping better makes you less likely to   17   a cold. But they   18    take a stab at the answer: 'Sleep disturbance influences the regulation of proinflammatory cytokines（促炎细胞因子）, histamines, and other symptom mediators that are released in response to infection.' In plain English, maybe tossing and turning when you're   19   with the cold virus   20   to the symptoms that define a cold.

The researchers were based at Carnegie Mellon, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Virginia, and the study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

(   ) 1. A. day             B. night               C. week                      D. month

(   ) 2. A. more          B. as                    C. less                         D. same

(   ) 3. A. occurred     B. worked             C. averaged                  D. longed

(   ) 4. A. interviews   B. reports             C. announcements        D. demands

(   ) 5. A. hobbies       B. quality             C. progress                  D. habits

(   ) 6. A. exposed      B. placed              C. protected                 D. prayed

(   ) 7. A. touch          B. check                      C. track                      D. reward

(   ) 8. A. Except               B. Besides             C. Within                     D. Through

(   ) 9. A. benefit               B. guard                C. help                             D. assist

(   ) 10. A. known      B. acted               C. appointed               D. classified

(   ) 11. A. more        B. less                  C. far                          D. totally

(   ) 12. A. ideal        B. false               C. actual                          D. true

(   ) 13. A. adopted     B. adjusted            C. enlarged                  D. employed

(   ) 14. A. bodies       B. cells                 C. virus                      D. medicines

(   ) 15. A. Like          B. As                    C. Against                    D. By

(   ) 16. A. What               B. When                   C. Where                     D. Why

(   ) 17. A. develop     B. form               C. fight                      D. prevent

(   ) 18. A. did           B. often               C. do                           D. never

(   ) 19. A. infected     B. surrounded       C. limited                    D. attached

(   ) 20. A. pulls        B. promotes          C. speeds                     D. contributes

 

         Over the past century, all kinds of unfairness and discrimination(歧视) have been made illegal. But one popular form continues to exist, that is alphabetism (字母排序法). This, for those as yet unaware of such a disadvantage, refers to discrimination against those whose surnames (姓氏) begin with a letter in the lower half of the alphabet.

         It has long been known that the cars of a taxi firm called AAAA have a big advantage over Zodiac cars when customers look through their phone directories. Less well known is the advantage that Adam Abbot has in life over Zoe Zysman. English names are fairly spread between the halves of the alphabet. Yet a quite large number of top people have surnames beginning with letters between A and K.

         Thus the American presidents and vice-presidents have surnames starting with B and C separately and 26 of those before George Bush took office (including his father) had surnames in the first half of the alphabet against just 16 in the second half. Even more striking, six of the seven heads of government of the G7 rich countries are alphabetically advantaged (Berlusconi, Blair, Bush, Chirac, Chretien and Koizumi ). The world’s three top central bankers (Greenspan, Duisenberg and Hayami) are all close to the top of the alphabet, even if one of them really uses Japanese characters. The same case are the world’s five richest men (Gates, Buffet and so on).

         Can this merely happen by chance? At the start of the first year in primary school, teachers seat pupils alphabetically from the front, to make it easier to remember their names. So shortsighted Zysman gets stuck in the back row, and is seldom asked the improving questions by those teachers. At that time the alphabetically disadvantaged may think they have had a lucky escape. Yet the result may be worse qualifications, because they get less attention, as well as less confidence in speaking publicly.

         The unfairness continues. At university graduation parties, the ABCs proudly get their awards first. However, by the time they reach the Zysmans most people are a little tired. Lists of job interviews and conference speakers and attendees all tend to be drawn up alphabetically, and their readers lose interest as they plough through them.

1. What does the author intend to show with AAAA cars and Zodiac cars?

         A. An example of competition of two kinds of cars.         B. Some advantages of AAAA cars in the taxi firm.

         C. An example of unfairness caused by alphabetism.     D. Some disadvantages of Zodiac cars in the taxi firm.

2. What can we infer from the first three paragraphs?

         A. The alphabet is to blame for the failure of Zoe Zysman.

         B. In both East and West, names are important to success.

         C. Customers often pay a lot of attention to companies’ names.

         D. The discrimination in alphabetism can be found in many areas.

3. The fourth paragraph suggests that         .

         A. alphabetically disadvantaged students often escape from class

         B. teachers should pay equal attention to all their students

         C. questions are often put to the more intelligent students

         D. students should be seated according to their eyesight

4. Which of the following is true according to the passage?

         A. VIPs in the western world gain a great deal from alphabetism.

         B. People with surnames beginning with N to Z are often ill – treated.

         C. Putting things alphabetically may lead to unintentional unfairness.

         D. The movement to get rid of alphabetism still has a long way to go.

 

Most of the flowers in nature are red, orange and yellow. If we have seen a black flower, it’s a chance in million. People have made a census ( 普查 ) to colors of more than four thousand kinds of flowers and discovered that only eight of them are black. As we know, sunlight is formed by seven different colored lights. The wave length of each light is different, so the quantity of heat in each light is also different. Flowers, especially their petals ( 花瓣 ) , are easy to be harmed by high temperature. Black flowers can take in all the light waves which cause the flowers to dry up in a high temperature. So black flowers can rarely survive sunlight. But red flowers, orange flowers and yellow flowers can protect themselves from sunlight by reflecting the red light, orange light and yellow light, each of which has a large quantity of heat.

1.It is _________ to see a black flower.

A．impossible

B．seldom

C．common

D．no chance

2.The passage tells us that ________________.

A．black flowers are so weak that it is difficult for them to grow up.

B．there is only eight black flowers in nature.

C．sunlight is formed by seven different colored lights, so the wave length of each light is different.

D．black flowers can take in the light of all the wave lengths which make them dry up because of high temperature.

3.Which of the following ideas is NOT true?

A．People have found that only a few kinds of flowers are black.

B．Flowers are easy to be harmed by very high temperature.

C．Red, orange and yellow flowers can also absorb the light of all wave lengths.

D．The black flowers cannot protect themselves from sunlight.

 

American society is not nap (午睡) friendly. In fact, says David Dinges, a sleep specialist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. “There's even a prohibition (禁止) against admitting we need sleep”. Nobody wants to be caught napping or found asleep at work. To quote a proverb: Some sleep five hours, nature requires seven, laziness nine and wickedness eleven? Wrong. The way not to fall asleep at work is to take naps when you need them.

   “We have to totally change our attitude toward napping”, says Dr. William Dement of Stanford University, the godfather of sleep research.

    Last year a national commission led by Dement identified an “American sleep debt” which one member said was as important as the national debt; the commission was concerned about the dangers of sleepiness: people causing industrial accidents or falling asleep while driving. This may be why we have a new sleep policy in the White House. According to recent reports, President Clinton is trying to take a half hour snooze (打瞌睡) every afternoon. 

    About 60 percent of American adults nap when given the opportunity. We seem to have “a mid-afternoon quiet phase” also called “a secondary sleep gate.” Sleeping 15 minutes to two hours in the early afternoon can reduce stress and make us refreshed. Clearly, we were born to nap. We Superstars of Snooze don't nap to replace lost shut eye or to prepare for a night shift. Rather, we “snack” on sleep, whenever, wherever and at whatever time we feel like it. I myself have napped in buses, cars, planes and on boats; on floors and beds; and in libraries, offices and museums.

It is commonly accepted in American society that too much sleep is _______.

   A. unreasonable             B. criminal           C. harmful            D. costly

The research done by the Dement commission shows that Americans _______.

   A. don't like to take naps                                    B. are terribly worried about their national debt

   C. sleep less than is good for them                      D. have caused many industrial and traffic accidents

The purpose of this article is to _______.

   A. warn us of the wickedness of napping      B. explain the danger of sleepiness

   C. discuss the side effects of napping            D. convince the reader of the necessity of napping

The “American sleep debt” (Line 1, Para. 3) is the result of _______.

   A. the traditional misunderstanding the Americans have about sleep

   B. the new sleep policy of the Clinton Administration

   C. the rapid development of American industry

   D. the Americans’ worry about the danger of sleepiness