The smell of fresh air is becoming something of a distant memory, thanks to our increasing use of fragrance (香气). From air fresheners to scented (有香味的) candles, we live in a world of scent.
Recent figures show seven in ten people use air fresheners or scented candles to keep our homes smelling sweet. Yet recent records suggest that perfumed products could affect our health, causing problems including allergies (过敏), headaches and asthma (哮喘) .
One leading expert believes nearly a third of people suffer health effects from being exposed to scents. A major problem is so-called “contact” allergy—where perfumes and scented products cause eczema (湿疹) when they come into contact with the skin. About one in 20 is thought to be affected by fragrance allergy.
“Often it may not be immediately obvious that you have developed a fragrance allergy,” says Dr. Baron. “You don’t react immediately. Gradually, as you are exposed more and more, the body increases its reaction, until it becomes noticeable to you.”
People with pre-existing eczema are particularly vulnerable (易受影响). “The eczema worsens in areas in contact with perfumes,” says Dr. Baron. “But even those without allergies can be at risk of fragrance allergy.” You can become suddenly allergic to perfumes and personal care products that you have been using for years. “Even if you know which fragrance causes a problem, it can be difficult to avoid, as most personal care products –soap, shampoo, sun cream and washing powder—contain fragrances,” says Dr. Baron.
And strong scents can also cause headaches. Fragrances activate the nose’s nerve cells, stimulating the nerve system associated with head pain. To minimize risk, sufferers are advised to minimize the contact.
“Fragrance suggest cleanliness – yet people are smelling a potentially dangerous chemical mixture,” says Anne Steinemann, professor of the University of Washington. “We often use them to mask one problem – as with air fresheners – but create a greater one – adding poisonous chemicals to the air.”
【小题1】What is the text mainly about?

A．The world trend of using fragrance.

B．The benefits of using non-fragranced products.

C．The health problems caused by fragrance

D．The ways of removing allergy.

【小题2】According to Dr. Baron,            .

A．our bodies have an immediate reaction to fragrance.

B．seven in ten have suffered fragrance allergy.

C．fragrance can affect people who don’t have allergy

D．people can avoid contacting with fragrance easily

【小题3】Which of the following questions does the text NOT answer?

A．Which products contain fragrance?

B．What’s the influence of fragrance in the air?

C．What are the air fresheners made up of?

D．How are headaches caused by fragrance?

【小题4】The following paragraph might discuss            .

A．the asthma caused by strong scents.

B．people’s efforts to protect fresh air.

C．the methods of curing eczema

D．the bad effects of air fresheners.

第三部分阅读理解（共两节，满分40分）

第一节（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）

　　阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

A

　　Soon it may be harder to stop and smell the roses.

　　Growing levels of air pollution from power plants and automobiles have reduced flower fragrances (芬芳) by up to 90 percent in the US.That is compared with pre-industrial levels,a new study has found.

　　The trend is unpleasant for human noses,but may be life - threatening for bees and butterflies.

　　"Many insects find flowers by folowing the scent(香味) produced by those flowers," said the studies lead author Jose D.Fuentes,an environmental scientist at the University of Virginia.

　　"The increasing pollution makes it difficult for them to locate the flowers and feed on their nectar(花蜜)."

　　Scientists have alrady known that flowers produce scent molecules(分子) that bond with pollutants.The process breaks down the plants' sweet smell.

　　With more pollution in the air,the scent molecules don't remain effective as long and travel shorter distances on the wind.

　　The new study suggests that in the mid - 19th century,when pollution levels were first recorded,scent molecules would have been able to travel some 1,000 to 1,200 meters.

　　Today,in the polluted air found downwind of large cities,scentst may only make it some 200 to 300 meters.

　　The report was recently published in the journal,Atmospheric Environment.

　　Bee farmers have reported that bee populations are dropping dramatically in many parts of the world in recent years. Could these missing scents be a factor?

　　Scientists trying to hind the cause of bee population declines have blamed bacteria,pesticides,and even cellphone radiation.

　　Jay Evans,an entomologist(昆虫学者) at the US Department of Agriculture's bee research laboratory,was interested in the new study.But he says he hasn't seen bee behavior that suggests trouble with scents.

　　"Over the last couple of summers I don't think the bees in this area were bringing in much less food,"he said.

　　"It might be that they had to work harder,but it seems like as long as there were bees to collect food they were finding flowers somewhere."

　　But Fuentes fears that the fading smell of flowers may stress insects that are already faced with other threats.

　　"The effects shown in these studies will simply exacerbate whatever the bees are going through right now,"he said.

　　"It's something that is really worthwhile paying attention to."

　　56.What's the passage mainly about?

　　　A.How greatly air plooution affects our lives.

　　　B.Effects of air pollution on bee populations.

　　　C.Measures to fight air pollution.

　　　D.The rapid decline of bee populations in the world.

　　57.According to the passage,Jay Evans probably agrees that ______ .

　　　A.bees are the insect that suffers most from air pollution

　　　B.bees are at risk of dying out owing to air pollution

　　　C.the fading smell of flowers doesn't affect bees so greatly as was thought

　　　D.as is often the case,bees fail to locate the flowers because of the missing scents

　　58.The word"exacerbate" in the last paragraph but one probably means ______.

　　　A.worsen B.improve C.get rid of D.decrease

　　59.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

　　　A.The more air pollution there is in a region,the greater the destruction of the flower scents.

　　　B.Bacteria,pesticides,and cellphone radiation are blamed for causing the decline of bees.

　　　C.The scent molecules produced by flowers in a less polluted environment oculd travel longer and farther.

　　　D.Air pollution does more harm to insects such as bees and butterflies than human beings.

 

The smell of fresh air is becoming something of a distant memory, thanks to our increasing use of fragrance (香气). From air fresheners to scented (有香味的) candles, we live in a world of scent.

Recent figures show seven in ten people use air fresheners or scented candles to keep our homes smelling sweet. Yet recent records suggest that perfumed products could affect our health, causing problems including allergies (过敏), headaches and asthma (哮喘) .

One leading expert believes nearly a third of people suffer health effects from being exposed to scents. A major problem is so-called “contact” allergy—where perfumes and scented products cause eczema (湿疹) when they come into contact with the skin. About one in 20 is thought to be affected by fragrance allergy.

“Often it may not be immediately obvious that you have developed a fragrance allergy,” says Dr. Baron. “You don’t react immediately. Gradually, as you are exposed more and more, the body increases its reaction, until it becomes noticeable to you.”

People with pre-existing eczema are particularly vulnerable (易受影响). “The eczema worsens in areas in contact with perfumes,” says Dr. Baron. “But even those without allergies can be at risk of fragrance allergy.” You can become suddenly allergic to perfumes and personal care products that you have been using for years. “Even if you know which fragrance causes a problem, it can be difficult to avoid, as most personal care products –soap, shampoo, sun cream and washing powder—contain fragrances,” says Dr. Baron.

And strong scents can also cause headaches. Fragrances activate the nose’s nerve cells, stimulating the nerve system associated with head pain. To minimize risk, sufferers are advised to minimize the contact.

“Fragrance suggest cleanliness – yet people are smelling a potentially dangerous chemical mixture,” says Anne Steinemann, professor of the University of Washington. “We often use them to mask one problem – as with air fresheners – but create a greater one – adding poisonous chemicals to the air.”

1.What is the text mainly about?

A．The world trend of using fragrance.

B．The benefits of using non-fragranced products.

C．The health problems caused by fragrance

D．The ways of removing allergy.

2.According to Dr. Baron,            .

A．our bodies have an immediate reaction to fragrance.

B．seven in ten have suffered fragrance allergy.

C．fragrance can affect people who don’t have allergy

D．people can avoid contacting with fragrance easily

3.Which of the following questions does the text NOT answer?

A．Which products contain fragrance?

B．What’s the influence of fragrance in the air?

C．What are the air fresheners made up of?

D．How are headaches caused by fragrance?

4.The following paragraph might discuss            .

A．the asthma caused by strong scents.

B．people’s efforts to protect fresh air.

C．the methods of curing eczema

D．the bad effects of air fresheners.

 

 

Tre’S mom，Christina Thompson, cannot believe how much her son already learned this year in his full-day, free pre-school class in Oklahoma City. “Since he’s been in school his vocabulary has increased surprisingly,” Thompson says. “The other day he came home and said, ‘You know what ，mom? You are being ridiculous，” Thompson laughs quietly. “And then he asked, ‘Do you know what ‘ridiculous’ means, mom?’” Tre knows the entire alphabet, his numbers to 100，and he’s starting to read. And letters and numbers aside, Thompson is most struck by how fast Tre is absorbing vocabulary and language.

Of course, not all pre-school is created equal. High quality pre-schools have well-trained, well-educated teachers in the classroom (much like Tre Thompson’s teacher Mrs. Wallace, who uses play-based learning to teach both academics and social skills and can rattle off (飞快说出） a battery of data on how well her students are progressing towards their year-end goals). Texas can also offer a model for educator development: its Texas School Ready! Campaign has proven to increase the quality of participating pre-schools by providing early childhood teachers with coaching, professional development, research-based curriculum (课程)，and progress monitoring. States and districts should also combine pre-school with the K-12 system, as Oklahoma does ，so that children enter kindergarten smoothly.

Oklahoma is one of the leading states in providing students like Tre with free ，full-day pre-school. And the results are already paying off: According to a 2012 study, Oklahoma kids that went through pre-school showed vocabulary gains 28% higher than those of children without pre-school, and math gains 44% higher than non-pre-school kids. And we know that high-quality pre-school doesn’t just mean higher scores in elementary school. They were more likely to have graduated from high school and less likely to have committed a violent crime. They also earned more money and were more likely to be employed.

We know pre-school works, so let’s stop talking and start building a system where all children have access to excellent early childhood education. As any well-educated four year old could tell us, not doing so would be ridiculous.

1.The case of Tre in the first paragraph serves as the evidence of______.

A.children’s disrespect towards parents

B.the bad performance of students at school

C.the positive effect of pre-school on children

D.Thompson’s doubt about her son’s education

2.At high quality pre-schools, children may learn by______

A. playing B. modelling      C. researching  D. monitoring

3.It can be inferred that______.

A.children can not enter kindergarten without pre-school

B.Oklahoma is the best state offering full-day pre-school

C.all pre-schools have well-trained, well-educated teachers

D.kids with pre-school may be better equipped for their future

4.What would be the best title for the passage?

A.Not all pre-school works

B.All pre-school is created equal

C.We owe our kids universal pre-school

D.Pre-school goes well with K-12 system

 

Rice is an important part of many people’s diets. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health in Massachusetts have released a report about rice. It shows that eating white rice increases the risk of type two diabetes. However, eating brown rice reduces the risk of the disease.

The World Health Organization says more than two hundred twenty million people worldwide have diabetes. Type two diabetes results when the body cannot effectively use the sugar it produces.

More than thirty-nine thousand men and one hundred fifty-seven thousand women took part in the study. They were asked about their diet and day-to-day activities, as well as any pre-existing diseases. The study found that the people who ate five or more servings of white rice per week had a seventeen percent increased risk of developing type two diabetes. But those who ate two or more servings of brown rice a week had an eleven percent reduced risk of getting the disease.

Brown rice is the grain in its natural form. White rice results after it has been refined. This involves removing the outer cover, including the husk, bran and germ. Only the inner white kernel is left. White rice is often enriched to replace some nutrients lost during the refining process.

Sun Qi is the lead writer of the report. He says the outer parts of brown rice slow down the work of the body’s digestive enzymes into starch. This means that the release of sugar into the bloodstream is slower after eating brown rice compared to white rice.

A diet of foods that quickly release sugar into the bloodstream has been linked with a greater risk of type two diabetes. The exact reason for this is not known.

Doctor Sun says less refined grains have more nutritional value than refined grains. He says replacing white rice with whole grains like whole wheat or barley could result in a thirty-six percent lower chance of developing type two diabetes. However, brown rice does not last as long as white rice because of the oil-rich layer of bran. This makes it less usable in poor communities.

61. This text is organized in the pattern of_______.

A. time and events

B. comparison and contrast 

C. cause and effect

D. definition and classification

62. The author uses figures in Paragraph 3 to show_______ .

A. the amount of white rice people ate       

B. the amount of brown rice people ate

C. the rapid growth of the risk of diabetes   

D. brown rice can reduce the risk of disease

63. Paragraph 4 is mainly to tell us_______ .

A. what brown rice is like                

B. what is lost during the refining process

C. it’s complex to refine white rice        

D. the difference between brown rice and white rice

64. According to the text, what does the author suggest we should do?

A. Eat two or more servings of brown rice a week. 

B. Eat white rice in poor areas for diabetes.

C. Do research to find the exact reason.

D. Replace white rice with brown rice.

65. What is the main idea of the text?

A. Eating white rice increases the risk of diabetes.

B. Eating brown rice doesn’t develop diabetes.

C. Refining white rice is not good for people’s health.

D. How diabetes results when people eat white rice.