It’s a Friday night. Your girl friends are out at a bar and your boyfriend is playing soccer with his mates. Two text messages later, you’re eating pizza and watching action movies with three guy friends. Perfect.
“Guy friends” have the potential to enrich your life in ways that female friends and boyfriends just can’t. For starters, they provide an insider’s perspective on how men think, feel and behave. When dealing with male relatives, coworkers and even boyfriends, another man’s point of view can be incredibly useful. Three hours spent analyzing a situation in a café with your girlfriends can’t compete with a quick chat to a guy friend.
Many women find that time spent with male friends can be a liberating and somewhat refreshing break from spending time with the girls. Without the judgmental gaze of other females, there is less pressure to dress up and compete for attention.
Traditionally, girl-guy friendships are seen as hard to maintain. Most relationships between males and females that we come across in our day-to-day lives, whether in movies or books, are romantic by nature. These cultural images make girl-guy friendships seem impossible.
Yet in reality, as gender roles loosen and equality becomes a norm in the workplace, it has become much more common for platonic friendships to blossom.
“The belief that men and women can’t be friends comes from another era in which women were at home and men were in the workplace, and the only way they could get together was for romance,” explains psychologist Linda Sapadin to Psychology Today magazine. “Now they work together and share sports interests and socialize together.”
“My boyfriend has met all of my guy friends so he’s quite accepting of me hanging out with them,” says Nellie. “Because we’ve been dating so long, there’s a level of trust where he knows I will make the right decision when choosing who to be friends with.
“He understands that the kind of time that I spend differs between guys and girls. When I’m out with the girls, we’re gossiping or talking about clothes but when I’m spending time with the guys, it’s different. I think their carefree and ‘whatever goes’ attitude can sometimes be exactly what I need.”
【小题1】  What is the best title of the passage?

It seems hard to watch someone yawn and not to yawn ourselves. Even reading about yawning can make you do it. Now, a new study has found why yawning has such a powerful force.
Yawning when others yawn, the study suggests, is a sign of pity and a form of social connection. Kids don’t develop this deeply rooted behavior until around age four, the study found. Kids with autism (自闭症) are less likely to catch yawns. In the most serious cases, they never do. Yawning might help doctors to see whether the children are developing rightly. The work could also lead to a better understanding of the ways that people communicate and connect.
"Emotional infection seems to be a born thing that connects us together," said Molly Helt, a graduate student in psychology at the University of Connecticut. "Yawning may be part of that." Inspiration for her study came when she tried to get her own autistic son to clear his ears on an airplane. She repeatedly yawned at him, hoping he would yawn back. He never did.
"The fact that autistic kids don’t do it might mean they’re really missing out on that emotional connection with people around them," she said. "The biggest thing people try to figure out after birth is how we become humans and understand that humans have minds that are different from others’," she added. "Autistic people never seem to understand that."
Like infectious laughter and crying, scientists have found that yawning is a shared experience that promotes social connection. Helt said it could fight stress after a period of being nervous and spread a feeling of calm through a group.
【小题1】What does the new study suggest, according to the first two paragraphs?

It was a warm April day when a big fat envelope came in the mail from the only college I had ever imagined attending. I tore open the packet. My eyes were fixed on the word “congratulations. ”I don’t remember ever smiling so wide.
Then I looked at my financial（财政的）package.
The cost of Dream School’s tuition（学费）, room and board was around $ 40,000- an impossible sum! How could I afford to attend? What good reasons did I have to go there when three other fine colleges were offering me free tuition? My other choices were good, solid schools even if they weren’t as famous as my first choice.
In my mind, attending my dream university would be the only way to realize my dream of becoming a world-class writer. My parents understood how I felt. They told me that even though it would be a financial problem, I could go wherever I would be happiest. But as I was always careful with money, I wasn’t sure what to do.
One of the schools that offered me a full ride had an informational dinner one night in the spring. Considering my parents’ financial difficulties, I decided to drive the 45 minutes and attend. At first, all I had planned to do was smile politely, eat free food, listen quietly. But I surprised myself.
At dinner the president of the university talked about the wonderful activities on campus （校园）including guest lectures and social gatherings. He also made it perfectly clear that free food would be offered at all future events. He continued with explanations of professors, class sizes, activities, and sporting events on campus. As he spoke, I began to realize that this school, though not as good as my first choice, might be the best one for me. It seemed small yet with many great programs. It seemed challenging yet caring.
As the president ended his speech, we clapped politely and pushed back our chairs. As I walked out that door, a feeling of comfort washed over me. Looking at the campus that night, I realized that I would be spending the next four years right there.
In all honesty, my university is not as well-known as my “dream”university. However, it turned out to be the right choice of schools for me.
【小题1】How did the author feel when he started to read the letter?

(B)
An increase in students applying to study economics at university is being attributed to (归因于) the global economic crisis awakening a public thirst for knowledge about how the financial system works.
Applications for degree courses beginning this autumn were up by 15% this January, according to UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. A spokesman for the Royal Economic Society said applications to do economics at A-level were also up.
Professor John Beath, the president of the society and a leading lecturer at St Andrews University, said his first –year lectures—which are open to students from all departments—were drawing crowds of 400, rather than the usual 250.
“There are a large number of students who are not economics majors, who would like to learn something about it. One of the things I have done this year is to relate my teaching to contemporary events in a way that one hasn’t traditionally done,” he added.
University applications rose 7% last year. But there were rises above average in several subjects. Nursing saw a 15% jump, with people’s renewed interest in careers in the public sector(部门)，which are seen as more secure in economic crisis.
A recent study showed almost two thirds of parents believed schools should do more to teach pupils about financial matters, and almost half said their children had asked them what was going on, although a minority of parents felt they did not understand it themselves well enough to explain.
Zack Hocking, the head of Child Trust Funds, said: “It’s possible that one good thing to arise from the downturn will be a generation that’s financially wiser and better equipped to manage their money through times of economic uncertainty.”
50.Professor John Beath’s lectures are_____.
A.given in a traditional way    B. connected with the present situation
C.open to both students and their parents D.warmly received by economists
51.Careers in the public sector are more attractive because of their_____.
A. greater stability B.higher pay C.fewer applications D.better reputation
52.According to Hocking, the global economic crisis might make the youngsters_____
A. wiser in money management   B.have access to better equipment
C.confident about their future careers   D.get jobs in Child Trust Funds
53.What’s the main idea of the text?
A.Universities have received more applications.
B. Economics is attracting an increasing number of students.
College students benefit a lot from economic uncertainty.
Parents are concerned with children’s subject selection.

D
A wallet that looks like a piece of newspaper, an atlas, or an express parcel receipt? Or a business card that looks like a notepad? No kidding．
Bai Minghui, a Beijing-based designer, creates his artwork using Tyvek, a synthetic paper material which is difficult to tear, waterproof and, more importantly, totally recyclable．
Born to a worker family in 1983 in Tangshan, Hebei Province, Bai worked as a graphic designer at a financial magazine in Beijing after graduating from Minzu University of China．
In the spring of 2008, Bai visited an exhibition about Tyvek in Beijing's 798 art zone, and then worked with the material, trying to bring his designs to life．The first thing that came into his mind was the paper wallet, a must-try handicraft assignment（手工作业）that most Chinese students do in elementary school．
"A paper wallet is definitely more useful than a paper crane or frog," Bai told Beijing Review, smiling．"At first, many people have no idea what it is, because it looks like a piece of newspaper or an express parcel receipt, and feels like real paper．But it's hard to tear．
"The completed, folded wallet is seamless, which creates so much fun for a designer．To be honest, I didn't think about profits at all," he said．
After months of research and development on printing and designing, the first generation of his paper wallet made a stunning debut（上市） in May 2008．The second generation, which offers a greater range of pattern options, was put on the market at the beginning of 2009．
"You can have graffiti（涂鸦） or write down phone numbers on it, or paint whatever you like．I would like people to be able to use it easily," he said．"I don't want to do things without creative ideas．Now my focus is on how to create better design rather than the wallet itself．"
51．In which order did Bai do the following things?
a．create the paper wallet
b．study in Minzu University
c．work as a graphic designer
d．visit an exhibition about Tyvek in Beijing
A．cbad        B．bcda  C．cbda               D．bcad
52．Which of the following words can best describe the designer?
A．diligent    B．creative    C．friendly           D．honest
53．Tyvek, a synthetic paper material, has the following characters EXCEPT ____．
A．recyclable B．waterproof       C．foldable           D．profitable
54．What can people do with this kind of wallet?
A．They can use it as a handkerchief．
B．They can make it into a dictionary．
C．They can write their friend’s phone number on it．
D．They can buy a paper frog or paper crane with it．
55．What can be inferred from the passage?
A．Most of the Chinese students have tried to make some kind of paper work．
B．Many Chinese are fond of painting different things on their wallets．
C．Most of the wallets that people use nowadays can be recycled．
D．Most of the designers based in Beijing have tried Tyvek to create their own work of art．