This is time of year when we think about giving and receiving presents. Can you find a little extra to give? On this page we suggest a few organizations you might like to help.

       Littleton Children’s Home

       We don’t want your money, but children’s toys, books and clothes in good condition would be very welcome.

       Also—we are looking for friendly families who would take our children into their homes for a few hours or days as guests. You have so much—will you share it?

       Phone Sister Thomas on 55671.

       Children’s Hospice

       We look after a small number of very sick children. This important work needs skill and love. We cannot continue without gifts of money to pay for more nursing staff. We also need story books and toys suitable for quiet games.

       Please contact The Secretary, Little Children’s Hospice, Newby Road.w.^w.k.s.5*u.c.#o@m

       Street Food

       In the winter weather, it’s no fun being homeless. It’s even worse if you’re hungry. We give hot food to at least fifty people every night. It’s hard work, but necessary. Can you come and help? If not, can you find a little money? We use a very old kitchen, and we urgently need some new saucepans. Money for new ones would be most welcome indeed.

       Contact Street Food, c/o Mary’s House, Elming Way, Littleton. Phone 27713.

       Littleton Youth Club

       Have you got an unwanted chair?—a record player?—a pot of paint?

       Because we can use them!

       We want to get to work on our meeting room!

       Please phone 66231 and we’ll be happy to collect anything you can give us.

       Thank you!

       The Night Shelter

       We offer a warm bed for the night to anyone who has nowhere to go. We rent the former Commercial Hotel on Green Street. Although it is not expensive, we never seem to have quite enough money. Can you let us have a few pounds? Any amount, however small, will be such a help.

       Send it to us at 15, Green St, Littleton. Please make check payable to Night Shelter.

Reading the passage, you might like to help these organizations which work for     

       A．homeless and sick children    

       B．less fortunate members of our society   

       C．hungry people who have no beds to sleep in 

       D．friendly members of our society to help others

If you like children and can offer a happy family to a homeless child, you may go to      .

A．Street Food  B．Night Shelter     C．Children’s Home   D．Children’s Hospice

We can infer that       .

       A．there are too many social problems in this country      

       B．people are very poor during the time for giving presents     

       C．warm-hearted people like to give away money     

       D．this passage is taken from a local newspaper

If your child has grown up, you may take the child’s things to        .         

       A．Children’s Home and Children’s Hospice  B．Youth Club and Children’s Home     

       C．Children’s Hospice and Night Shelter     D．Youth Club and Night Shelter

A research by the National Center for Health Statistics is seen as an important confirmation of the“Hispanic mortality paradox（西班牙裔死亡率悖论）.”

On average，Hispanics outlive whites by 2.5 years and blacks by 7.7 years. Their life expectancy at birth in 2006 was 80.6 years，compared with 78.1 for whites，72.9 for blacks and 77.7 years for the total population.

The report shows that the Hispanic population has higher life expectancy at birth and at almost every age despite a socioeconomic status lower than that of whites.“Mortality is very correlated with income，education and health care access，”says Elizabeth Arias，author of the report.“You would expect the Hispanic population would have higher mortality，”in line with the black population.

The Hispanic paradox has been documented for more than two decades，but this is the first time the government has had enough data to issue national numbers. Researchers are struggling to explain why Hispanics live longer.

“We don’t know，”says David Hayes-Bautista，director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine.“We thought it was a problem in the data，but we can pretty much say this is real.”

Potential factors:

·Culture and lifestyle.  Support from extended family and lower rates of smoking and drinking.Latino groups in particular have very strong family and social ties.

·Migration.  The“healthy migrant effect”argues that healthy people are more likely to emigrate. And when immigrants become ill，they might return home and die there.

    Solving the puzzle may help the nation deal with health care issues because Hispanics use health services less—they make fewer doctors visits and spend less time in hospitals，Hayes-Bautista says.“It’s clearly something in the Latino culture，”he says.

In 2006，Hispanics’life expectancy is           years longer than the average of the total population.

    A. 2.5                 B. 7.7               C. 2.9              D. 80.6

What does the underlined word“outlive”in the second paragraph probably mean？

A. To live longer than…                      B. To live shorter than…

C. To die out.                              D. To expect to live.

What is the main idea of paragraph three？

A. Hispanics were born better than whites.

B. Morality is closely related with health care access.

C. Whites should have longer life expectancy.

D. Even experts can’t explain the phenomenon.

What is Mr.Hayes-Bautista’s opinion about the paradox？

A. He supports there is a problem with the data.

B. He intends to trust the cultural factor.

C. He believes in the“healthy migrant effect”.

D. He thinks health care the most important factor.

Which of the following inferences is true according to the passage？

A. Black people suffer the lowest social status in America.

B. Hispanics might have healthier ways of life.

C. Only healthy people can immigrate into America.

D. White people don’t have strong family ties.

C

By far the most common difficulty in studying is simple failure to get down to regular concentrated work. This difficulty is much greater for those who do not work to a plan and have no regular routine of study. Many students muddle (胡乱对付) along, doing a bit of this subject or that, as the mood takes them, or letting their set work pile up until the last possible moment.

    Few students work to a set timetable. They say that if they did work out a timetable for themselves they would not keep to it, or would have to change it frequently, since they can never predict from one day to the next what their activities will be.

No doubt some students are more willing to accept a regular routine than others. There are many who shy away from a self-controlled weekly timetable, and dislike being tied down to a fixed program of work. Many able students state that they work in cycles. When they become interested in a topic, they work on it attentively for three or four days at a time. On other days they avoid work completely. It has to be admitted that we do not fully understand the motivation (动机)to work.. Most people over 25 years of age have become used to routine, and the majority of real productive workers set aside regular hours for the more important areas of their work. The “tough-minded” school doesn’t fully accept the idea that good work can only be done naturally, under the influence of inspiration.

Those who believe that they need only work and study as the fit takes them have a mistaken belief either in their own talent or in the value of “freedom”. In fact, freedom from control and discipline（纪律）leads to unhappiness rather than to “self-expression” or “personality development”. Our society insists on regular habits, timekeeping and punctuality (准时), and whether we like it or not, if we mean to make our way in society, we have to meet its demands.

The most widespread problem in applying oneself to study is ______.

    A．changing from one subject to another

    B．the failure to keep to a set timetable of work

    C．the unwillingness to follow a systematic plan

    D．working on a subject only when one feels like it

Which of the following is true?

    A．Many students are not interested in using self-controlled timetable.

    B．Many students don’t like being told to study to a fixed timetable.

    C．Most people of over 25 years of age don’t work to a set timetable.

    D．Tough-minded people agree that good job is done naturally

The underlined part “as the fit takes them” in paragraph 4 probably means ______.

    A．when they have the energy   

    B．when they are in the mood

    C．when they feel fit      

    D．when they find conditions are suitable

A suitable title for the passage might be ______.

    A．Attitudes to Study   B．A study Plan

    C．The Difficulties in Studying D．Study and Self-discipline

A "lost tribe" that reached America from Australia may have been the first Native Americans, according to a new theory.

If proved by DNA evidence, the theory will break long established beliefs about the southerly migration of people who entered America across the Bering Strait, found it empty and occupied it.

On this theory rests the belief of Native Americans to have been the first true Americans. They would be classified to the ranks of escapee, beaten to the New World by Aboriginals (土著人) in boats.

To a European, this may seem like an academic argument, but to Americans it is a philosophical question about identity (身份), Silvia Gonzales, of Liverpool University said .

Her claims are based on skeletons found in the California Peninsula of Mexico that have skulls (头骨) quite unlike the broad Mongolian features of Native Americans. These narrow-skulled people have more in common with southern Asians, Aboriginal Australians and people of the South Pacific Region.

The bones, stored at the National Museum of Anthropology (人类学) in Mexico City, have been carbon-dated and one is 12,700 years old, which places it several thousand years before the arrival of people from the North. "We think there were several migration waves into the Americas at different times by different human groups," Dr. Gonzales said． "The timing, route and point of origin of the first colonization of the Americas remains a most contentious topic in human evolution."

But comparisons based on skull shape are not considered conclusive by anthropologists, so a team of Mexican and British scientists, backed by the Natural Environment Research Council, has also attempted to take out DNA from the bones. Dr. Gonzales declined yesterday to say exactly what the results were, as they need to be checked, but indicated that they were consistent（一致） with an Australian origin.

It is generally considered that the first Native Americans came from _____.

       A．North Asia      B．Australia   C．South Pacific   D．South Asia

The skeletons found in the California Peninsula of Mexico have _____.

       A．the broad skull shape     

       B．the narrow skull shape

       C．different features of Aboriginal Australians   

       D．the same features of Native Americans

The underlined “contentious” is similar in meaning to “_____”.

       A．likely to cause great interest    B．difficult to solve

       C．well-known to all           D． likely to cause argument

Which of the following statements is true according to the text?

       A．Research on skulls can draw an exact conclusion.

       B．DNA tests have proved the fact that the first Native Americans came from Australian.

       C．Scientists are still not sure about the origin of the Native Americans.

       D．People began to enter America across the Bering Strait about 12,700 years ago.

It is what you do rather than what you say______matters.

 A. that     B. what　  C. which    D. this