The common cold is the world's most widespread illness. The most widespread mistake of all is that
colds are caused by cold weather. They are not. They are caused by viruses (病毒) passing on from
person to person. You catch a cold by coming into contact, directly or indirectly, with someone who
already has one.
     If cold weather causes colds, it would be reasonable to expect the Eskimos to suffer from them
forever. But they do not. And in isolated Arctic regions explorers (探险者) have reported being free
from colds until coming into contact again with the outside world by way of packages and mails
dropped from airplanes. During the First World War soldiers who spent long periods in the trenches,
cold and wet, showed no increased tendency to catch colds. In the Second World War prisoners
at the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp, naked and starving, were extremely surprised to
find that they seldom had colds.
     At the Common Cold Research Unit in England, volunteers took part in the experiments in which
they gave themselves to the discomforts of being cold and wet for long stretches of time. After taking
hot baths, they put on bathing suits, allowed themselves to be with cold water, and then stood about
dripping wet in drafty rooms. Some wore wet socks all day while others exercised in the rain until
close to exhaustion. Not one of the volunteers came down with a cold unless a cold virus was
actually dropped in his nose.
     If, then, cold and wet have nothing to do with catching colds, why are they more frequent (often)
in the winter? Despite the most painstak- ing research, no one has yet found the answer. One
explanation offered by scientists is that people tend to stay together indoors more in cold weather
than at other times, and this makes it easier for cold viruses to be passed on.
     No one has yet found a cure for colds. There are drugs and pain sup- pressors such as aspirin,
but all they do is to relieve the symptoms (症状). 
1. Are the common colds caused by cold?
________________________________________________________________.
2. When may Arctic explorers catch colds?
________________________________________________________________.
3. How many kinds of people does the writer mention when explaining his idea?
________________________________________________________________.
4. Why arc the colds more frequent in the winter?
________________________________________________________________.
5. What is the key point of this passage?
________________________________________________________________.

     The common cold is the world's most widespread illness. The most widespread mistake of all is that
colds are caused by cold weather. They are not. They are caused by viruses (病毒) passing on from person
to person. You catch a cold by coming into contact, directly or indirectly, with someone who already has
one.
     If cold weather causes colds, it would be reasonable to expect the Eskimos to suffer from them forever.
But they do not. And in isolated Arctic regions explorers (探险者) have reported being free from colds until
coming into contact again with the outside world by way of packages and mails dropped from airplanes.
During the First World War soldiers who spent long periods in the trenches, cold and wet, showed no
increased tendency to catch colds. In the Second World War prisoners at the notorious Auschwitz
concentration camp, naked and starving, were extremely surprised to find that they seldom had colds.
     At the Common Cold Research Unit in England, volunteers took part in the experiments in which they
gave themselves to the discomforts of being cold and wet for long stretches of time. After taking hot baths,
they put on bathing suits, allowed themselves to be with cold water, and then stood about dripping wet in
drafty rooms. Some wore wet socks all day while others exercised in the rain until close to exhaustion. Not
one of the volunteers came down with a cold unless a cold virus was actually dropped in his nose.
     If, then, cold and wet have nothing to do with catching colds, why are they more frequent (often) in the
winter? Despite the most painstaking research, no one has yet found the answer. One explanation offered by
scientists is that people tend to stay together indoors more in cold weather than at other times, and this makes
it easier for cold viruses to be passed on.
     No one has yet found a cure for colds. There are drugs and pain suppressors such as aspirin, but all they
do is to relieve the symptoms (症状).

1. Are the common colds caused by cold?
    ______________________________________
2. When may Arctic explorers catch colds? 
    ______________________________________
3. How many kinds of people does the writer mention when explaining his idea? 
   ______________________________________
4. Why are the colds more frequent in the winter? 
    ______________________________________
5. What is the key point of this passage? 
    ______________________________________

     When I asked my daughter which item she would keep: the phone, the car, the cooker, the computer,
the TV or her boyfriend, she said "the phone". Personally, I could do without the phone entirely, which
makes me unusual, because the telephone is changing our lives more than any other piece of technology.
      Point l. The telephone creates the need to communicate, in the same way that more roads create more
traffic. My daughter comes home from school at 4:00 pm and then spends an hour on the phone talking to
the very people she has been at school with all day. If the phone did not exist (存在), would she have
anything to talk about?   
      Point 2. The mobile phone means that we are never alone. "The mobile saved my life," says Crystal
Johnstone. She had an accident in her Volvo on the A45 between Otley and Skipton. Trapped inside, she
managed to make the call that brought the ambulance (救护车) to her rescue.
      Point 3. The mobile removes our secrets. It allows marketing manager of Haba Deutsch, Carl Nicolaisen,
to ring his sales staff all round the world at any time of day to ask where they are, where they are going,
and how their last meeting went.
     Point 4. The telephone separates us. Antonella Bramante in Rome says, "We worked in separate offices
but I could see him through the window. It was easy to get his number. We were so near, but we didn't meet
for the first two weeks!"
     Point 5. The telephone allows us to reach out beyond our own lives. Today we can talk to several complete
strangers at the same time on chat lines (at least my daughter does. I wouldn't know what to talk about). We
can talk across the world. We can even talk to astronauts while they're space-walking. And, with the phone
line connected with the computer, we can aceess (进入) the Intemet, the biggest library on Earth.

1. How do you understand Point l- "The telephone creates the need to communicate"?

A. People don't communicate without telephone.
B. People communicate because of the creating of the telephone.
C. People communicate more since telephone has been created.
D. People communicate more because of more traffic.

2. Which of the following best shows people's attitude towards mobile phones?

A. Mobile phones can help to save people's lives.
B. Mobile phones are so important and should be encouraged.
C. Mobile phones bring convenience (便利) as well as few secrets to people.
D. Mobile phones can be used to talk to astronauts while they're space-walking.

3. Which points do you think support the idea that phones improve people's life'?

A. Point 3 and Point 4.
B. Point 4 and Point 5.
C. Point l and Point 3.
D. Point 2 and Point 5.

4. The best title for the passage would be _______.

A. Influence of Phones
B. Kinds of Phones
C. How to Use Phones
D. Advantage of Phones