There are three branches of medicine. One is called "doctor medicine," or "scientific medicine." Scientific doctors try to observe sicknesses, look for logical patterns, and then find out how the human body works. From there they figure out what treatments may work. This kind of medicine is believed to date from the 4th century BC. Although nowadays it is successful, in the ancient world this approach probably did not cure many patients.
A second kind of medicine is called "natural cures," or "folk medicine," in which less educated people try to cure sicknesses with various herbs. These folk healers also use observation and logic, but they are not so aware of it. They try things until they find something that seems to work, and then they keep doing that. Folk medicine flourished（繁荣） long before the development of scientific medicine and was more successful in ancient times than doctor medicine.
The third kind is called "health spas," or "faith healing." Sometimes this may be as simple as touching the holy man and being immediately healed. Other times, a magician may make you a magic charm, or say a spell, to cure you. Some religious groups organize special healing shrines（圣坛） for the sick. In these places people rest, get plenty of sleep, eat healthy food, drink water instead of wine, and exercise in various ways. They also talk to the priests and pray to the gods. If you are feeling depressed or you have been working too hard, going to these places may be just the right thing to make you feel better.
【小题1】Doctor medicine __________.

A．has a longer history than folk medicine

B．has been practiced for around 1,600 years

C．bases its treatments on observation and logic

D．was very successful in curing sicknesses in ancient times

【小题2】According to the passage, which of the following is NOT used in health spas?

A．Magic power.

B．Various herbs.

C．Religious faith.

D．A healthy life style.

【小题3】According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?

A．Folk healers choose different herbs to cure diseases without any sound basis.

B．People who practice folk medicine need lots of formal education on herbs.

C．The success of folk medicine led to the development of doctor medicine.

D．Natural cures worked better than scientific medicine in ancient times.

【小题4】The author's primary purpose in this passage is to __________.

A．describe different types of medicine

B．argue for the importance of medicine in health care

C．show the crucial role religion plays in medical treatments

D．compare the educational background of three different types of patients

Prolonging human life has increased the size of the human population. Many people alive today would have died of childhood diseases if they had been born 100 years ago. Because more people live longer, there are more people around at any given time. In fact, it is a decrease in death rates, not an increase in birthrates, that has led to the population explosion.

Prolonging human life has also increased the dependency load. In all societies, people who are disabled or too young or too old to work are dependent on the rest of society to provide for them. In hunting and gathering cultures, old people who could not keep up might be left behind to die. In times of famine, infants might be allowed to die because they could not survive if their parents starved, where as if the parents survived they could have another child. In most contemporary(当代的) societies, people feel a moral obligation to keep people alive whether they can work or not. We have a great many people today who live past the age at which they want to work or are able to work; we also have rules which require people to retire at a certain age. Unless these people were able to save money for their retirement, somebody else must support them. In the United States many retired people live on social security checks which are so little that they must live in near poverty. Older people have more illnesses than young or middle-aged people; unless they have wealth or private or government insurance, they must often “go on welfare” if they have a serious illness.

When older people become senile (衰老的) or too weak and ill to care for themselves, they create grave problems for their families. In the past and in some traditional cultures, they would be cared for at home until they died. Today, with most members of a household working or in school, there is often no one at home who can care for a sick or weak person. To meet this need, a great many nursing homes and convalescent (疗养的) hospitals have been built. These are often profit making organizations, although some are sponsored by religious and other nonprofit groups. While a few of these institutions are good, most of them are simply “dumping (倒垃圾的) grounds” for the dying in which “care” is given by poorly paid, overworked, and under skilled personnel.

The author believes that the population explosion results from _______.

A. an increase in birthrates                        B. the industrial development

C. a decrease in death rates                         D. human beings’ cultural advances

It can be inferred from the passage that in hunting and gathering cultures _______.

A. it was a moral responsibility for the families to keep alive the aged people who could    not work

B. the survival of infants was less important than that of their parents in times of starvation

C. old people were given the task of imparting the cultural wisdom of the tribe to new generations

D. death was celebrated as a time of rejoicing for an individual freed of the hardships of life

According to the passage, which of the following statements about the old people in the  United States is true?

A. Many of them live on social security money which is hardly enough.

B. Minority of them remain in a state of near poverty after their retirement.

C. When they reach a certain age, compulsory retirement is necessary and beneficial.

D. With the growing inflation, they must suffer more from unbearable burdens than ever.

The phrase “this need” in paragraph 3 refers to ________.

A. prolonging the dying old people’s lives

B. reducing the problems caused by the retired people

C. making profits through caring for the sick or weak people

D. taking care of the sick or weak people

Which of the following best describes the author’s attitude toward most of the nursing homes and convalescent hospitals?

A. Sympathetic.        B. Approving.         C. Optimistic.        D. Critical.

As late as 1800, women’s only place was in the home. The idea of woman in the business world was unthinkable. Men were certain that no woman could do a good job outside her home. This was such a widely accepted idea that when the well-known Bronte sisters began writing books in 1864, they had to sign their books with men’s names instead.

Teaching was the first profession open to women soon after 1800. But even that was not an easy profession for women to enter because most schools and colleges were open only to men. Oberlin College in Ohio was the first college in America to accept women.

Hospital nursing became respectable work for women only after Nightingale became famous. Seeing that she was not only a nurse but also a rich and well-educated woman, people began to believe it was possible for women to nurse the sick and still be “ladies”. Miss Nightingale opened England’s first training school for nurse in 1860.

The invention of the typewriter in 1867 helped to bring women out of the home and into the business world. By 1900, thousands of women were working at real jobs in schools, hospitals and offices in both England and America. Some women even managed to become doctors or lawyers. The idea that women could work in the business world had been accepted.

Why couldn’t women become teachers easily? Because___________

the first profession open to them was writing.

most schools and colleges were open only to men.

they wanted to be nurses instead.

they had to work in the business world.

The article is mainly about __________.

women are in the business world

the famous Bronte sisters

schools and colleges in America

rights for American women

Which fact does the article lead you to believe?

The Bronte sisters thought that they were men.

England’s first training school for nurses was in Ohio.

There are more men than women in professional jobs.

Women find it necessary to work harder than before.

 

Comera is the only place in the world which has a whistle language. We do not know how and why it began because we do not know the complete history of the island. But we can certainly imagine the reasons for the beginning of the whistle language. There are many deep valleys on the island. A person on one side of valley can not easily shout to a person on the other side. But he can whistle and be heard from four miles away, and the record is seven miles. The people who live on the island usually have good teeth, and this helps them to whistle well. They must also have good ears so that they can hear other whistlers.

We can understand why the whistle language continues. It is very useful on the island, and quite easy to learn. When somebody is hurt or ill, the whistle language takes the place of telephone. If the sick person is a long way from the town, boys and men pass the news from one to another. A boy guarding cattle on a hillside whistles to a man fishing from his boat. The last one is able to describe the trouble fully and exactly to the doctor in town. People help each other in the same way when a car breaks or a cow is lost.

The whistle language is hundreds of years old, and probably it will continue to live for hundreds of years more. Radio and TV often kill the special ways of speaking in the different parts of a country. But on Comera you are nobody if you cannot whistle. Perhaps soon after TV arrives on the island, the people there will be whistling the news and other facts and opinions.

49. If a person on Comera island is ill,      .

  A. others will phone the doctor in town

  B. whistle language will pass the news to the doctor

  C. his family will take him to the doctor

  D. people will take him to the hospital

50. From the passage we know radio and TV       at that time.

  A. killed the special way of speaking

  B. whistled all the news and opinions

  C. helped Comera people to communicate

  D. did not appear on Comera island yet

51. Comera island is special in that      .

  A. it attracts visitors every year

  B. no visitors have ever been there

  C. people there have special ears to hear whistles

  D. people there use the whistle language to communicate with each other

52. Which of the following is not true according to the passage?

  A. It is not easy for a person to live on Comera island if he cannot whistle.

  B. The whistle language can only be found in Comera.

  C. The whistle language has been used for hundreds of years on the island, but will not be used any longer.

D. The record shows that one best whistler can be heard by others seven miles away.

 

It is reported that conservation groups in North America have been arguing about the benefits and dangers of wolves. Some groups believe wolves should be killed. Other people believe wolves must be protected so that they will not disappear from the wilderness (荒野)
For Killing Wolves
In Alaska, the wolf almost disappeared a few years ago, because hunters were killing hundreds of them for sport. However, 1aws were established to protect the wolves from sportsmen and people who catch the animals for their fur. So the wolf population has greatly increased. Now there are so many wolves that they are destroying their own food supply.
A wolf naturally eats animals in the deer family. People in the wilderness also hunt deer for food. Many of the animals have been destroyed by the very cold winters recently and by changes in the wilderness plant life. When the deer can’t find enough food, they die.
If the wolves continue to kill large numbers of deer, their prey (猎物) will disappear some day. And the wolves will, too. So we must change the cycle of life in the wilderness to balance the ecology(生态平衡）. If we killed more wolves, we would save them and their prey from dying out. We’d also save some farm animals.
In another northern state, wolves attack cows and chickens for food. Farmers want the government to send biologists to study the problem. They believe it necessary to kill wolves in some areas and to protect them in places where there is a small wolf population.
Against Killing Wolves
If you had lived long ago, you would have heard many different stories about the dangerous wolf. According to most stories, hungry wolves often kill people for food. Even today, the stories of the “big bad wolf'” will not disappear.
But the fact is wolves are afraid of people, and they seldom travel in areas where there is a human smell. When wolves eat other animals, they usually kill the very young, or the sick and injured .The strongest survive .No kind of animal would have survived through the centuries if the weak members had lived. And has always been a law of nature.
Although some people say it is good sense to kill wolves, we say it is nonsense! Researchers have found wolves and their prey living in balance. The wolves keep the deer population from becoming too large, and that keeps a balance in the wilderness plant life.
The real problem is that the areas where wolves can live are being used by people. Even if wilderness land is not used directly for human needs, the wolves can’t always find enough food. So they travel to the nearest source, which is often a farm. Then there is danger. The“big bad wolf”has arrived! And everyone knows what happens next.
【小题1】Some people are against killing wolves because ________.

A．there are too many deer in the wilderness

B．wolves are afraid of people and never attack people

C．wolves help to keep the ecological balance in the wilderness

D．there is too small a wolf population in the wilderness

【小题2】According to those against killing wolves, when wolves eat other animals, ________.

A．they might help this kind of animals survive in nature

B．they disturb the ecological balance in the wilderness

C．they never eat strong and healthy ones

D．they always go against the law of nature

【小题3】The last sentence “And everyone knows what happens next” implies that in such cases _______.

A．wolves will find enough food sources on farms

B．people will leave the areas where wolves can live

C．farm animals will be in danger and have to be shipped away

D．wolves will kill people and people will in turn kill them