9. Progeria cannot be cured up to now because 　　　　.

A. scientists pay no much attention to it due to the small number of patients

B. they lack of advanced medical facilities in treating genetic disease

C. scientists have not discovered the type of genes which arouse progeria

D. no family trees are available due to the short life of progeria sufferers

8. The passage mainly discusses　　　　　 .

A. the decline of the Japanese economy

B. the great change of the ethnical and value concept of youth in Japan

C. the existence of generation gap between youth and their parents

D. the increase of birth rate

C

For the first nine months of Sam Berns' life, everything seemed normal.　 He learned to walk, but then his parents noticed something different. After a year, doctors in the end diagnosed (诊断) him with a genetic disease so rare that it affects just one in 8 million children. Only 40 children in the world are known to have the disease.

The disease, progeria, ages children at up to 10 times the normal rate. They stop growing prematurely, then lose their hair and get arthritis. Some children suffer strokes by the time they are 4 or 5. There is no known treatment or cure, and most patients die of heart disease by the age of 13.

Progeria is a gene mutation (突变). But scientists had not identified which gene or genes were responsible for the disease, so they had no idea even how to start hunting for a cure.　 With most genetic disease, re-searchers are able to examine family trees to see how diseases recur (happen again), cross referencing the information to narrow the hunt. But with progeria sufferers seldom living into their teens, there were no family trees to study.

But not long ago, NIH (National Institutes of Health) called Sam's parents with good news., by comparing the genetic samples of progeria sufferers with a normal human gene structure, they had found a common chromosome (染色体) fault that almost all of the progeria-suffered Children shared. The discovery could potentially be the first step toward finding a cure for the rare disease and possibly even a way to fight the disease of aging in the general population.

Now 7, Sam acts just like any child of his age. However, Sam has the body of a 70-year-old, and is starting to feel some of the effects of premature aging, including poor eyesight and stiffness in his joints.

7. Today, entrepreneurial models are rarely found in Japan because　　　　　 .

A. the discouragement of Japanese culture　 B. the worshipping of western models

C. the lack of experience of starting a company　 D. the "new breed" don't want to work hard

6. The author takes the two examples of the youth crime and students' dropping-out before graduating to show 　　　　　　.

A. the youth are overburdened　 B. the educational system in Japan is not satisfying

C. public security and order in Japan are bad

D. the ethnical level of youth in Japan is dropping

5. The underlined word “it”(Para. 2) most probably refers to　 　　　　　.

A.. economic decline　 B. job insecurity　 C. birth rate　 D. financial un-safety

4. According to the passage, former young people were expected to 　　　　　　.

A. enter the society before adulthood　　 B. hold together

C. work hard and support their family　　 D. study hard and find a good job

3.　　　 What does the passage mainly discuss?

A. The use of the psychology of spending money in business.

B. A special psychology of bargaining.

C. A method to help compulsive spenders to solve the problem of money.

D. The psychology of money spending habits.

B

In the past, young people in Japan were expected to take on responsibilities to support their parents and grandparents. Now they expect to be supported well into young adulthood. The "new breed", born since the 1960s, have never known anything but richness. Youth are seen as resistant to entering society as mature adults, to becoming social citizens. Once the great objective of reconstruction after the Second World War was accomplished, a new generation lost the motivating power that had united the nation together.

Japan's birth rate has been failing rapidly, partly because of economic decline, and the job and financial insecurity that it has caused. In 1999, the figure was1.38 children per woman, the lowest ever recorded. At the same time, youth crime, although still especially low by western standards, rose to its highest level since record-keeping began 32 years ago. Likewise, the proportion of students dropping out before graduating, at 2.5% also Very low by western standards, has never-the-less been rising.

Entrepreneurial (企业家的) role models are few and far between. Bill Gates is often mentioned, but a foreign model can only have so much influence. The problem is that Japanese culture discourages people from revealing details of personal life, including such difficult or painful experience as starting a company. In the past, successful companies such as Honda or Hitachi provided role models of a sort. But today they have been faded by the downturn, and few others have risen to take their place.

By the same reason,　 young people often feel isolated from their fathers, who worked too hard at their jobs to establish much of a relationship with their children. "The one thing they're sure of is that they don't want to be like their fathers. And the girls don't want to be with boys who are like their fathers, so the boys are sure not to be," says Professor Morishima.

2.　　　 According to the passage, compulsive bargain hunters constantly search for the lowest possible prices　　　　　 .

A. because they feel satisfied if they spend less money than others

B. because they have money problem

C. because they like to show off their success in getting things for less money

D. because they want to save money to help heir budget

1.　　　 According to the passage, the greatest pleasure of crazy shopping for a compulsive spender is　　　　　 .

A. to get things they want　 B. to meet their strong psychological need

C. to spend a lot of money　 D. to meet their basic needs