1．Find in the passage a word closest in meaning to the underlined word “comprehend”．

3. What is the main idea of the passage? (回答词数不超过8个)

7

When parents use sarcasm(讽刺)to make jokes with their young children，do the kids comprehend the humor? Not likely，according to a Canadian researcher who has completed a study showing that children need：to be 10 or older before fully getting the idea that Sarcasm can be funny or even rude．“The results offer good advice for everything from the content of children’s television programming to understanding rude behaviors,” University of Calgary psychologist Penny Pexman said．“Our study suggests that the 5-year--olds are beginning to understand the simplest form of sarcasm and are getting better at it，but still by the age of eight they really don’t find it funny．So there is disconnection there,” said Pexman，who has been studying sarcasm for the past six years.“They can see that the person means the opposite of what they are saying，but

they don’t find it humorous.”

　　 In addition，children under the age of 10 almost always took a sarcastic remark as a serious one，even when it was intended to be humorous．It is still not completely clear what determines how children understand sarcasm，but Pexman said factors could include the amount used at home，their social environment and the types of television shows they watch．

　　 In fact，adults write kids’ television programs but much of the humor may be lost on the intended audience，she said．

2. What conclusion can be drawn from the 3rd paragraph? (回答词数不超过8个)

1. Find in the passage a word closest in meaning to the underlined word "deprivation".

3.　　 hat can we infer when we want to take back our relics from foreign countries according to Para7?(词数不多于10个)

6

Not only does sleep deprivation lead to poor health, it also affects concentration, problem-solving skills, memory and mood. "Anything that disturbs the quality and quantity of sleep can have long-term consequences for both body and mind," says Gerard T. Lombardo, director of the Sleep Disorders Center at New York Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn.

Lack of sleep can have cognitive(认知) and physical effects similar to those brought on by overindulging in alcohol. The performance of someone who's been awake for 17 hours straight is about the same as if she had a blood alcohol level of 0.05 percent (about two drinks in an hour). They may suffer worse cognitive failure, such as forgetfulness and trouble concentrating.

Some 1,500 deaths a year result from car accidents caused by people driving while tired. And a disturbing new study conducted by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Maryland shows that lack of sleep can affect people's moral judgment. This finding has obvious implications for people like doctors and soldiers, whose decisions have life-and-death consequences. But think what could happen if sleep-deprived teachers, businesspeople, lawyers, homebuilders and others were more subject to moral lapses(失误). Better sleep may equal better decision making.

2.　　 What are the main threats to Chinese cultural relics?(词数不超过7个)

1.　　 Find a word in the passage with the closest meaning with the underlined phrase “illegally taken” in the third paragraph?

3.　　 What will be the best title of this passage?(词数不超过8个)

5

Some 156 Chinese cultural relics smuggled to Denmark two years ago are expected to return to Beijing tomorrow following a local court ruling in February to that effect.

The relics include pottery figurines of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) as well as some rare items dating back to the Xia (2100-1600 BC), Shang (1600-1100 BC), Yuan (1271-1368) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties, said Song Xinchao, director of the museum department of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) at a reception Tueday hosted by the Chinese embassy to Denmark.

"The recovery of these items demonstrates the Chinese government's resolve to seek the return of relics illegally taken overseas," he said.

Song led a group of SACH experts to help pack the relics and bring them back home. The relics will be on display after their return.

Danish police seized a batch of smuggled Chinese cultural relics along with items from other countries in Copenhagen in February 2006, and immediately notified the Chinese embassy. From the pictures provided by Danish police, Chinese experts recognized them as cultural relics.

In accordance with a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) convention in 1970 that bans illegal trade in cultural relics, the Chinese government, through its legal representatives, filed an appeal in a local court in Denmark last August asking the local police to hand over the relics to the Chinese government.

An expert group from SACH was also dispatched to Denmark to help in the proceedings.

Back in China, the Ministry of Public Security and cultural relics protection departments located the sites of the stolen relics, providing the necessary legal evidence to the Danish court.

The court ruled in late February that the relics should be returned to China. The two countries completed the formalities for the handover earlier this month.

China has intensified efforts to recover its lost relics in recent years. One case involving Sino-US cooperation in the field began in March 2000, when a statue looted from a Chinese tomb in the Five Dynasties period (AD907-960) appeared in an advertisement for an auction in the US. The statue was seized by US Customs officials prior to the auction and after year-long legal and diplomatic talks, it finally returned home.

Shan Jixiang, director of the SACH, told China Daily in February that he would like to invite directors of major museums to the sites from which cultural artifacts have been looted.

"They should come and see how invaluable murals were cut into pieces and taken away and how ancient tombs were raided," he said, adding that China wants to sign with the US an MOU on cooperation in preventing theft of relics, illegal excavation and illicit trade of cultural property.

2.　　 What are the main causes of the fall?(词数不多于12个)

1.　　 Find a word in the passage with the opposite meaning with the underlined word “tumbled” in the second paragraph?