Increasingly, over the past ten years, people—especially young people—have become aware of

第1题

In the early 1960s Wilt Chamberlain was one of only three players in the National Basketba

ll Association (NBA)listed at over seven feet. If he had played last season, however, he would have been one of 42. The bodies playing major professional sports have changed dramatically over the years, and managers have been more than willing to adjust team uniforms to fit the growing numbers of bigger, longer frames.

The trend in sports, though, may be obscuring an unrecognized reality: Americans have generally stopped growing. Though typically about two inches taller now than 140 years ago, today's people-especially those born to families who have lived in the U. S. for many generations-apparently reached their limit in the early 1960s. And they aren't likely to get any taller. "In the general population today, at this genetic, environmental level, we've pretty much gone as far as we can go," says anthropologist William Cameron Chum-lea of Wright State University. In the case of NBA players, their increase in height appears to result from the increasingly common practice of recruiting players from all over the world.

Growth, which rarely continues beyond the age of 20, demands calories and nutrients-notably, protein--to feed expanding tissues. At the start of the 20th century, under-nutrition and childhood infections got in the way. But as diet and health improved, children and adolescents have, on average, increased in height by about an inch and a half every 20 years, a pattern known as the secular trend in height. Yet according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, average height--5 '9" for men, 5'4" for women--hasn't really changed since 1960.

Genetically speaking, there are advantages to avoiding substantial height. During childbirth, larger babies have more difficulty passing through the birth canal. Moreover, even though humans have been upright for millions of years, our feet and back continue to struggle with bipedal posture and cannot easily withstand repeated strain imposed by oversize limbs. "There are some real constraints that are set by the genetic architecture of the individual organism," says anthropologist William Leonard of Northwestern University.

Genetic maximums can change, but don't expect this to happen soon. Claire C. Gordon, senior anthropologist at the Army Research Center in Natick, Mass ensures that 90 percent of the uniforms and workstations fit recruits without alteration. She says that, unlike those for basketball, the length of military uniforms has not changed for some time. And if you need to predict human height in the near future to design a piece of equipment, Gordon says that by and large, "you could use today's data and feel fairly confident."

Wilt Chamberlain is cited as an example to ______ .

A．illustrate the change of height of NBA players.

B．show the popularity of NBA players in the U. S.

C．compare different generations of NBA players.

D．assess the achievements of famous NBA players.

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第2题

根据下列文章，回答31～35题。 In the early 1960s Wilt Chamberlain was one of only three pla

根据下列文章，回答31～35题。

In the early 1960s Wilt Chamberlain was one of only three players in the National Basketball Association （NBA） listed at over seven feet. If he had played last season, however, he would have been one of 42. The bodies playing major professional sports have changed dramatically over the years, and managers have been more than willing to adjust team uniforms to fit the growing numbers of bigger, longer frames.

The trend in sports, though, may be obscuring an unrecognized reality: Americans have generally stopped growing. Though typically about two inches taller now than 140 years ago, today''s people- especially those born to families who have lived in the U.S. for many generations- apparently reached their limit in the early 1960s. And they aren’t likely to get any taller. In the general population today, at this genetic, environmental level, we''ve pretty much gone as far as we can go, says anthropologist William Cameron Chumlea of Wright State University. In the case of NBA players, their increase in height appears to result from the increasingly common practice of recruiting players from all over the world.

Growth, which rarely continues beyond the age of 20, demands calories and nutrients–notably, protein–to feed expanding tissues. At the start of the 20th century, under-nutrition and childhood infections got in the way. But as diet and health improved, children and adolescents have, on average, increased in height by about an inch and a half every 20 years, a pattern known as the secular trend in height. Yet according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, average height- 5′9〞for men, 5′4〞for women- hasn''t really changed since 1960.

Genetically speaking, there are advantages to avoiding substantial height. During childbirth, larger babies have more difficulty passing through the birth canal. Moreover, even though humans have been upright for millions of years, our feet and back continue to struggle with bipedal posture and cannot easily withstand repeated strain imposed by oversize limbs. There are some real constraints that are set by the genetic architecture of the individual organism, says anthropologist William Leonard of Northwestern University.

Genetic maximums can change, but don''t expect this to happen soon. Claire C． Gordon, senior anthropologist at the Army Research Center in Natick, Mass, ensures that 90 percent of the uniforms and workstations fit recruits without alteration. She says that, unlike those for basketball, the length of military uniforms has not changed for some time. And if you need to predict human height in the near future to design a piece of equipment, Gordon says that by and large, you could use today’s data and feel fairly confident.

第 31 题 Wilt Chamberlain is cited as an example to

A．illustrate the change of height of NBA players.

B．show the popularity of NBA players in the U.S……

C．compare different generations of NBA players.

D．assess the achievements of famous NBA players.

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第3题

The ability to sing and dance has become increasingly important in the entertainment

industry nowadays, and there are few actors who don't ________some musical and dance skills.

A.own

B.pursue

C.occupy

D.possess

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第4题

The brain drain （人才流失) is a universal phenomenon, and countries that don't face up to

The brain drain (人才流失) is a universal phenomenon, and countries that don't face up to the new reality will be losing some of their most precious resources. The northeast of England is its poorest region, and has experienced a severe loss of highly qualified professionals-to-be. Some of the most able 18-year-olds are going to other parts of Britain, even to other countries. What is happening here is happening to Britain as a whole. Most noticeably, there is a growing trend of British students' taking degrees in American universities. This year the number will break the psychological barrier of 1 000 students for the first time.

And what is happening at the secondary-school level is happening to higher education. Wherever they come from, today's students have a very different perspective on education from their parents. Because of television, the Internet and their own travels, these students see the world as a much smaller place than their parents once did. They are more confident in accepting the challenge of moving from one country to another, from one culture to another; in many eases they can even apply to schools over the Internet. Students are also more aware of the overall cost of education and are looking for value for money. Plus, for many, education linked to travel is a better option than education at home.

In the context of student globe-trotters (周游世界者), as world-class British universities like Oxford suddenly find themselves fighting over British students with the Harvards of the world, they face major challenges. It is not simply that Harvard is a wealthier institution: Harvard University's endowment— $14.5 billion—is estimated to be ten times that of Oxford. Harvard also offers a radically different educational experience, stressing breadth of study and real-world applications of knowledge.

Today, bound in by nearly a millennium of tradition and lacking sufficient financial help from the national government, Oxford cannot easily respond to the quickened global pace of educational change. Rightly or wrongly, Oxford in particular has been slow—or unwilling—to put the kind of emphasis other universities have on more business-friendly curricula (课程). Thus it has slipped behind universities like Cambridge and Harvard in the battle for resources that tend to go to more business-minded institutions.

Education is an expensive business, but the consequences of a failure to educate—especially in an increasingly globalized world—are even more expensive.

From the first paragraph, we know that ______ .

A．many countries are experiencing the brain drain, Britain is one of them

B．most British students prefer to take degrees in American universities than in British ones

C．Britain is suffering a more serious loss of professionals-to-be than other countries

D．the brain drain is only happening in the northeast poor regions of England

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第5题

（非英语专业做）Increasingly over the past 10 years, People especially young people have bec

（非英语专业做）

Increasingly over the past 10 years, People especially young people have become aware of the need to change their eating habits, because much of the food they eat, particularly processed foods, is not good for health. Consequently, there has been a growing interest in natural foods: foods which do not contain chemical additives and which have not been affected by chemical fertilizers widely used in farming today.

Natural foods, for example, include vegetables, fruit and grain which have been grown in soil that is rich in organic matter. In simple terms, this means that the soil has been nourished by unused vegetable matter, which provides it with essential vitamins and minerals. This in itself is a natural process compared with the use of chemicals and fertilizers, the main purpose of which is to increase the amount but not the quality of foods grown in commercial farming areas.

Natural foods also include animals which have been allowed to feed and move freely in healthy pastures. Compare this with what happens in the mass production of poultry: There are battery farms, for example, where thousands of chickens live crowded together in one building and are fed on food which is little better than rubbish. Chickens kept in this way are not only tasteless as food; they also produce eggs which lack important vitamins.

It is significant that nowadays fiber is considered to be an important part of a healthy diet. In white bread, for example, the fiber has been removed. But it is present in unrefined flour and of course in vegetables. It is interesting to note that in countries where the national diet contains large quantities of unrefined flour and vegetables, certain diseases are comparatively rare. Hence the emphasis placed on the eating of whole meal bread and more vegetables by modern experts on "healthy eating".

People have become more interested in natural foods because______.

A．they like changing their diet from time to time

B．they want to eat food that is more delicious

C．much of the food they eat is no longer considered to be healthy

D．they want to be fashionable

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第6题

Americans don't like to lose wars. Of course, a lot depends on how you define just what a

war is. There are shooting wars—the kind that test patriotism and courage—and those are the kind at which the U.S. excels. But other struggles test those qualities too. What else was the Great Depression or the space race or the construction of the railroads？ If Americans indulge in a bit of flag-waving when the job is done, they earned it.

Now there is a similar challenge: global warming. The steady deterioration (恶化) of the very climate of this very planet is becoming a war of the first order, and by any measure, the U.S. is losing. Indeed, if America is fighting at all, it's fighting on the wrong side. The U.S. produces nearly a quarter of the world's greenhouse gases each year and has stubbornly made it clear that it doesn't intend to do a whole lot about it. Although 174 nations approved the admittedly flawed Kyoto accords to reduce carbon levels, the U.S. walked away from them. There are vague promises of manufacturing fuel from herbs or powering cars with hydrogen. But for a country that tightly cites patriotism as one of its core values, the U.S. is taking a pass on what might be the most patriotic struggle of all. It's hard to imagine a bigger fight than one for the survival of a country's coasts and farms, the health of its people and the stability of its economy.

The rub is, if the vast majority of people increasingly agree that climate change is a global emergency, there's far less agreement on how to fix it. Industry offers its plans, which too often would fix little. Environmentalists offer theirs, which too often amount to na; ve wish lists that could weaken America's growth. But let's assume that those interested parties and others will always be at the table and will always demand that their voices be heard and that their needs be addressed. What would an aggressive, ambitious, effective plan look like—one that would leave the U.S. both environmentally safe and economically sound？

Halting climate change will be far harder. One of the more conservative plans for addressing the problem calls for a reduction of 25 billion tons of carbon emissions over the next 52 years. And yet by devising a consistent strategy that mixes short-term solutions with far-sighted goals, combines government activism with private-sector enterprise and blends pragmatism (实用主义) with ambition, the U.S. can, without major damage to the economy, help halt the worst effects of climate change and ensure the survival of its way of life for future generations. Money will do some of the work, but what's needed most is will. "I'm not saying the challenge isn't almost overwhelming," says Fred Krupp. "But this is America, and America has risen to these challenges before."

What does the passage mainly discuss？

A．Human wars.

B．Economic crisis.

C．America's environmental policies.

D．Global environment in general.

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第7题

仔细阅读：The wallet is heading for extinction. As a day-to-day essential

Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.

The wallet is heading for extinction. As a day-to-day essential, it will die off with the generation who read print newspapers. The kind of shopping－where you hand over notes and count out change in return—　now happens only in the most minor of our retail encounters，like buying a bar of chocolate or a pint of milk from a comer shop. At the shops where you spend any real money, that money is increasingly abstracted. 　　And this is more and more true, the higher up the scale you go. At the most cutting-edge retail stores—Victoria Beckham on Dover Street, for instance—you don’t go and stand at any kind of cash register when you decide to pay. The staff are equipped with iPads to take your payment while you relax on a sofa.

Which is nothing more or less than excellent service, if you have the money. But across society, the abstraction of the idea of cash makes me uneasy. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned. But earning money isn’t quick or easy for most of us. Isn’t it a bit weird that spending it should happen in half a blink (眨眼) of an eye？ Doesn’t a wallet—that time-honoured Friday-night feeling of pleasing, promising fatness—represent something that matters？

But I’ll leave the economics to the experts. What bothers me about the death of the wallet is the change it represents in our physical environment. Everything about the look and feel of a wallet—the way the fastenings and materials wear and tear and loosen with age, the plastic and paper and gold and silver, and handwritten phone numbers and printed cinema tickets—is the very opposite of what our world is becoming. The opposite of a wallet is a smartphone of an iPad. The rounded edges, cool glass, smooth and unknowable as pebble (鹅卵石). Instead of digging through pieces of paper and peering into corners, we move our fingers left and right. No more counting out coins. Show your wallet, if you still have one. It may not be here much longer.

56. What is happening to the wallet？

A) It is disappearing. C) it is becoming costly.

B) It is being fattened. D) It is changing in style.

57. How are business transactions done in big modern stores？

A) Individually. C) In the abstract.

B) Electronically. D) Via a cash register.

58. What makes the author feel uncomfortable nowadays？

A) Saving money is becoming a thing of the past.

B) The pleasing Friday-night feeling is fading.

C) Earning money is getting more difficult.

D) Spending money is so fast and easy.

59. Why does the author choose to write about what’s happening to the wallet？

A) It represents a change in the modern world.

B) It has something to do with everybody’s life.

C) It marks the end of a time-honoured tradition.

D) It is the concern of contemporary economists.

60.What can we infer from the passage about the author？

A)He is resistant to social changes.

B)He is against technological progress.

C)He feels reluctant to part with the traditional wallet.

D)He fells insecure in the ever-changing modern world.

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第8题

In the classic marriage vow(誓约),couples promise to stay together in sickness and in

In the classic marriage vow（誓约),couples promise to stay together in sickness and in

health. But a new study finds that the risk of divorce among older couples rises when the wife—not the husband— becomes seriously ill.

"Married women diagnosed with a serious health condition may find themselves struggling with the impact of their disease while also experiencing the stress of divorce," said researcher Amelia Karraker. Karraker and co-author Kenzie Latham analyzed 20 years of data on 2,717 marriages from a study conducted by Indiana University since 1992. At the time of the first interview, at least one of the partners was over the age of 50.

The researchers examined how the onset(发生)of four serious physical illnesses affected marriages. They found that, overall, 31% of marriages ended in divorce over the period studied. The incidence of new chronic(慢性的)illness onset increased over time as well, with more husbands than wives developing serious health problems. "We found that women are doubly vulnerable to marital break-up in the face of illness," Karraker said. "They're more likely to be widowed, and if they're the ones who become ill, they're more likely to get divorced."

While the study didn't assess why divorce is more likely when wives but not husbands become seriously ill, Karraker offers a few possible reasons. "Gender norms and social expectations about caregiving may make it more difficult for men to provide care to sick spouses," Karraker said. "And because of the imbalance in marriage markets, especially in older ages, divorced men have more choices among prospective partners than divorced women."

Given the increasing concern about health care costs for the aging population, Karraker believes policymakers should be aware of the relationship between disease and risk of divorce.

"Offering support services to spouses caring for their other halves may reduce marital stress and prevent divorce at older ages," she said. "But it's also important to recognize that the pressure to divorce may be health-related and that sick ex-wives may need additional care and services to prevent worsening health and increased health costs."

91.What can we learn about marriage vows from the passage_____

A.They may not guarantee a lasting marriage.

B.They are as binding as they used to be.

C.They are not taken seriously any more.

D.They may help couples tide over hard times.

92.What did Karraker and co-author Kenzie Latham find about elderly husbands_____

A.They are generally not good at taking care of themselves.

B.They can become increasingly vulnerable to serious illnesses.

C.They can develop different kinds of illnesses just like their wives.

D.They are more likely to contract serious illnesses than their wives.

93.What does Karraker say about women who fall ill_____

A.They are more likely to be widowed.

B.They are more likely to get divorced.

C.They are less likely to receive good care.

D.They are less likely to bother their spouses.

94.Why is it more difficult for men to take care of their sick spouses according to Karraker_____

A.They are more accustomed to receiving care.

B.They find it more important to make money for the family.

C.They think it more urgent to fulfill their social obligations.

D.They expect society to do more of the job.

95.What does Karraker think is also important_____

A.Reducing marital stress on wives.

B.Providing extra care for divorced women.

C.Stabilizing old couples' relations.

D.Making men pay for their wives, health costs.

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第9题

You don't have to start over from ______.

A.head

B.again

C.scratch

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第10题

Don't ______ the others, because they have to leave now.

A.pull into

B.hold up

C.take over

D.bring about

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第11题

I don't know why he is about to make a _______ over a few pounds.

A.commotion

B.fuss

C.noise

D.mess

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