Watching television more than two hours a day early in life can lead to attention problems later in adolescence, according to a study released on Tuesday.
The roughly 40 percent increase in attention problems among heavy TV viewers was observed in both boys and girls. The link was established by a long-term study of the habits and behaviors of more than 1,000 children born in Dunedin, New Zealand, between April 1972 and March 1973.
The children aged 5 to 11 watched an average of 2.05 hours of weekday television. From age 13 to 15, time spent in front of the tube rose to an average of 3.1 hours a day.
"Those who watched more than two hours, and particularly those who watched more than three hours, of television per day during childhood had above-average symptoms of attention problems in adolescence," Carl Landhuis of the University of Otago in Dunedin wrote in his report, published in the journal Pediatrics.
Young children who watched a lot of television were more likely to continue the habit as they got older, but even if they did not the damage was done, the report said.
"This suggests that the effects of childhood viewing on attention may be long lasting," Landhuis wrote.
Landhuis offered several possible explanations for the association.
One was that the rapid scene changes common to many TV programs may over stimulate（刺激）the developing brain of a young child, and could make reality seem boring by comparison. "Hence, children who watch a lot of television may become less tolerant of slower-paced and more mundane tasks, such as school work," he wrote.
It was also possible that TV viewing may supplant other activities that promote concentration, such as reading, games, sports and play, he said.
Previous studies have linked the sedentary固定不动的）habit of TV watching among children to obesity and diabetes, and another study in the same journal cited the poor nutritional content of the overwhelming majority of food products advertised on the top-rated US. children's television shows.
Up to 98 percent of the TV ads promoting food products that were directed at children aged 2 through 11 "were high in either fat, sugar, or sodium," wrote Lisa Powell of the University of Illinois in Chicago.
56. The recent survey shows that _________.
A. watching TV can cause all kinds of diseases for children
B. TV sets have played an important part in our daily lives
C. Watching TV over 2 hours a day early in life can cause attention problems later in adolescence
D. watching TV has side effects on children’s future
57. People used to think that _________.
A. watching TV more than 2 hours every day did good to children’s health
B. the sedentary habit of TV watching among children could easily lead to obesity and diabetes
C. the children wasn’t patient with their homework because of watching TV too much
D. it was very important for children to watching TV early in life
58. The underlined word “Hence” means _________.
A. In that case    B. And yet    C. On the contrary    D. For this reason
59. In Landhuis’ opinion, _________.
A. attention problems caused by watching TV during childhood may be hard to get rid of
B. how to develop children’s attention problems is a lasting problem
C. the key of settling attention problems is not watching TV too much
D. there shouldn’t have many food products ads on children's television shows

Directions: Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete the statements in the fewest possible words.

There’s worrying news for any parent who’s struggled with a headstrong young child. Some scientists recently claim that children who have low levels of self-control, which is the earliest demands that society places on children, at the age of three are more likely to have health and money problems and a criminal record by the age of 32, regardless of background and IQ. That is to say, willpower as a child really does influence your chances of a healthy and wealthy adulthood.

They found that children with low self-control were more likely to have health problems in later life including high blood pressure, being overweight, breathing problems and sexually transmitted infections. They were also more addicted to substances such as tobacco, alcohol and drugs, more likely to be single parents, have difficulty managing money and have criminal records.

Researchers from Britain, the US and New Zealand analyzed data from two large studies in which children completed a range of physical tests and interviews to assess genetic and environmental factors that can shape their lives.

The participants’ self-control was assessed by teachers, parents, observers and the children themselves and included things like having low frustration tolerance, lacking persistence in reaching goals, being over-active and acting before thinking.

Researchers then found that when the participants reached their early 30s, this impulsivity and relative inability to think about the long-term gave them more problems with finances, including savings, owning a home and credit card debt.

The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

(Note: Answer the questions or complete the statements in NO MORE THAN TWELVE WORDS.)

1. What are the findings of a recent research according to the passage?

____________________________________________________

2. The phrase “more addicted to” (Line 3, Para. 2) probably means “_____________________”.

3. Besides poor anti-frustration ability, over-activeness and fore-acting, children with low self-control may also suffer __________________________.

4. What may primarily cause the financial problems of the children with low self-control in their later years?

____________________________________________________

To what degree can a computer achieve intelligence(智力)? The answer to this question may lie in a newly-developed US computer program called Smarter Child and the Internet.
If you ran into Smarter Child online, you would be surprised at this kid’s huge memory. It can recite many facts. For example, Smarter Child knows every baseball player in every team this season.
He knows every word in the dictionary and the weather in every major city areas across the US. However, if you ask Smarter Child other questions, you get stranger answers. A question about Smarter Child’s age returns, “One year, 11 days, 16 hours, 7 minutes, and 47 seconds!” Asking where he lives gets, “In a clean room in a high-tech building in California.”
Smarter Child uses the vast information on the World Wide Web as his memory bank. To answer questions about spelling, for instance, Smarter Child goes to American Heritage Dictionary online. For the weather, he visits www. intellicast. com.
Some scientists believe that by joining the many systems of the Internet, an artificial being with the combined knowledge of, say, Albert Einstein, Richard Nixon and Britney Spears could be born. However if Smarter Child wants to think and learn on his own like the boy-computer David in the movie A. I., Artificial Intelligence, he must overcome two problems.
The first is that computers find it difficult to read web pages because the files are labeled in different ways. That’s why programmers need to tell Smarter Child where to look for the weather. It would be a much more difficult task to let him find it himself.
Another problem is that while Smarter Child can process(处理) information more exactly and faster than any human, he lacks common sense—a basic grounding of knowledge that is obvious to any young child.
【小题1】From the text we can infer that www. Intellicast. com is a website               .

SANTO DOMINGO, Domincan Republic ---An infant girl born with a second head bled to death Saturday after complex surgery (外科手术) to remove her partially formed twin , her parents and doctors said.

A medical team completed the 11- hour operation Friday night and said 8-week-old Rebecca Martinez died seven hours later. Doctors had warned after the surgery that the girl would be at great risk of death.

“ We knew this was a very risky surgery , and now we accept what God has decided , “ Rebecca’s father , 29-year-old Frankin Martinez, said at a news conference with his wife. “ Rebecca is no longer with us physically , but no one will forget her.”

Martinez said the family would bury Rebecca in a private funeral later in the day.

The girl lost a lot of blood in the operation, which apparently ( 明显地) caused her to suffer a heart attack , said Dr. Jorge Lazareff , the lead surgeon . Friends and family donated (捐赠) almost 4 gallons of blood for surgeons to use Rebeca’s operation

“This was not a failure or an error ,” Lazareff said . “ When we left here last night the girl was in stable condition. At some point in the middle of the night , she started to bleed.”

Rebecca was born Dec. 10 with the undeveloped head of her twin, an exteremely rare condition known as craniopagus parasticus . Rebecca was the eighth documented case in the world of craniopagus parasiticus, doctors said.

All the other infants documented to have had the condition died before birth , making Rebecca\s surgery the first known operation of its kind.

Without an operation , Rebecca would have barely been able to lift her head at 3 months old. Her doctors said the pressure from the second head would have prevented her brain from developing.

“ We always saw Rebecca without the extra part of her body, ”er father said after her death.

Rebecca was their third child-----along with a 4-year-old boy and a 1-year-old girl.

The underlined word “infant “ most probably means____________________.

A. a disabled child                        

B. a newly-born child

C. a 2-headed child                       

D. a very young child

Rebecca Martinez died ________________________after she went to the operation table.

   A. 8 weeks              B. 11 hours          C. 7 hours          D. 18 hours

Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the text?

   A. Rebecca died because mistakes happened during the operation

   B. Rebecca most probably died of bleeding

   C. Rebecca was her parents’ third child

   D. Without an operation , Rebecca would have little hope of living

Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?

   A. Infant Girl Dies After 2nd Head Removed

   B. Rebecca , Hiciano’s Third Child

   C. The Death of a Gril With two Heads

   D. Rebecca’s Surgery, the First Known Operation

Parents whose children show a special interest in a sport feel very difficult to make a decision about their children’s careers．Should they allow their children to train to become top sports men or women? For many children it means starting schoolwork very young, and going out with friends and other interests have to take a second place．It’s very difficult to explain to a young child why he or she has to train five hours a day, even at the weekend, when most of his or her friends are playing．
Another problem is of course money．In many countries money for training is available from government for the best young sportsmen and sportswomen．If this help can not be given, it means that it is the parents who have to find the time and the money to support their child’s development and sports clothes, transport to competitions, special equipment, etc．All can be expensive.
Many parents are worried that it is dangerous to start serious training in a sport at an early age．Some doctors agree that young muscles may be damaged by training before they are properly developed．Professional trainers, however, believe that it is only by training young when young that you can reach the top as a successful sports person．It is clear that very few people do reach the top, and both parents and children should be prepared for failure even after many years of training．
【小题1】Where can we most probably find this passage?

A．It’s easy to make a decision when your children want to take up sports.

B．Most of the students may become top sports men after a long period of training.

C．Early training may damage young muscles

D．It’s not very expensive for parents to support their children’s development in sports.