Most children, even the youngest of children, are delighted to be around cats and dogs．But these pets carry plenty of germs and allergens(过敏原), prompting researchers to ask：Are cats and dogs really safe for children?
A study finds that, contrary to many parents' fears, owning cats or dogs does not increase a child's risk of developing allergies, and in fact, may actually protect them．The study's lead author, Dr．Dennic Ownby of the Medical College of Georgia, says that even he was "very surprised" by the results．Ownby and colleagues followed more than 470 children from birth to age 6 or 7, comparing those exposed to cats and dogs during their first year of life to those who were not．
By using skin-prick tests for detecting common allergies, the researchers found that, contrary to what many doctors had been taught for years, children who had lived with a pet were not at greater risk．
Even more remarkable, children who had two or more dogs or cats had an even greater reduction, up to 77 percent, in risk of allergies．Researchers suggest this protective effect may be the result of early exposure to lots of bacteria that are carried by dogs and cats．Exposing young children to these bacteria helps" exercise" their immune systems early in life so that they're better able to resist allergic diseases later．
There's something very important in that first year of life when the immune system is developing that we can retrain it away from an allergic response, said Dr．William Davis．
And while researchers are not encouraging parents to buy dogs or cats just to reduce a child's allergy risk, they say if a family already has one or more animals, there's no need to get rid of them．
(1)
Why do the researchers feel “very surprised” by the results of the study?
[ ]
A．
Because the results are contrary to their expectation．
B．
Because so many children are playing with cats and dogs．
C．
Because parents are so much worried about their children．
D．
Because children with animals may develop allergies easily．
(2)
Compared with children who have pets，those who haven’t ________．
[ ]
A．
will lose the chance to develop immune system
B．
may suffer allergic diseases more often
C．
will reduce the harm from bacteria
D．
can keep doctors away
(3)
It can be inferred from the passage that ________．
[ ]
A．
pets are ill-treated by their owners
B．
less families would like to own cats and dogs
C．
keeping pets is a good way to keep children healthy
D．
the results of the study can make families with pets feel at ease
(4)
The underlined word “it” in the fifth paragraph refers to ________．
Odland remembers like it was yesterday working in an expensive French restaurant in Denver．The ice cream he was serving fell onto the white dress of a rich and important woman．
Thirty years have passed, but Odland can't get the memory out of his mind, nor the woman's kind reaction．She was shocked, regained calmness and, in a kind voice, told the young Odland,“It's OK．It wasn't your fault．”When she left the restaurant, she also left the future Fortune 500 CEO with a life lesson：You can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she treats the waiter．
Odland isn't the only CEO to have made this discovery．Rather, it seems to be one of those few laws of the land that every CEO learns on the way up．It's hard to get a dozen CEO's to agree about anything, but most agree with the Waiter Rule．They say how others treat the CEO says nothing．But how others treat the waiter is like a window into the soul．
Watch out for anyone who pulls out the power card to say something like,“I could but this place and fire you,”or“I know the owner and I could have you fired．”Those who say such things have shown more about their character than about their wealth and power．
The CEO who came up with it, or at least first wrote it down, is Raytheon CEO Bill Swanson．He wrote a best-selling book called Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management．
“A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, or to others, is not a nice person,”Swanson says．“I will never offer a job to the person who is sweet to the boss but turns rude to someone cleaning the tables．”
(1)
What happened after Odland dropped the ice cream onto the woman's dress?
[ ]
A．
He was fired．
B．
He was blamed．
C．
The woman comforted him．
D．
The woman left the restaurant at once．
(2)
Odland learned one of his life lessons from ________．
[ ]
A．
his experience as a waiter
B．
the advice given by the CEOs
C．
an article in Fortune
D．
an interesting best-selling book
(3)
According to the text, most CEOs have the same opinion about ________．
Our boat floated on, between walls of forest too thick to allow us a view of the land we were passing through, though we knew from the map that our river must from time to time be passing through chains of hills which crossed the jungle plains．Nowhere did we find a place where we could have landed：where the jungle did not actually spread right down into the river, banks of soft mud prevented us going ashore．In any case, what would we have sailed by landing?The country was full of snakes and other dangerous creatures, and the jungle was so thick that one would be able to advance only slowly, cutting one’s way with knives the whole way．So we stayed in the boat, hoping we reached the sea, a friendly fisherman would pick us up and take us to civilization．
We lived on fish, caught with home-made net of string(we had no hooks), and fruits and nuts we could pick up out of the water．As we had no fire, we had to eat everything, including the fish, raw I had never tasted raw fish before, and I must say I did not much enjoy the experience; perhaps sea fish which do not live in the mud are less tasteless．After eating my raw fish, I lay back and dreamed of such things as fried chicken and rice, and ice-cream．In the never-ending damp heat of the jungle, ice-cream was a particularly frequent dream．
As for water, there was a choice：we could drink the muddy river water, or die of thirst．We drank the water．Men who had just escaped what had appeared to be certain death lose all worries about such small things as diseases caused by dirty water．In fact, none of us suffered from any illness as a result．
One day we passed another village, but fortunately nobody saw us．We did not wish to risk being taken prisoners a second time：we might not be so lucky to escape in a stolen boat again．
(1)
What they could see in the boat was only ________．
[ ]
A．
high wall
B．
villagers from time to time
C．
vast land
D．
heavy woods
(2)
They couldn’t land because ________．
[ ]
A．
the mud on the shore was too soft
B．
the forest was too thick to let them go through
C．
they could not find the mark on the map
D．
they could not find anyone to lead them out of the forest
(3)
The passage infers that the forest was ________．
[ ]
A．
rich of fruits and animals to be served as food
B．
not very thick as they could advance slowly by cutting the branches
C．
full of various dangerous beings
D．
full of ancient trees
(4)
The most proper title for this passage might be ________．
[ ]
A．
Escape
B．
Scenes of a River
C．
How to Survive on a boat
D．
A New Experience
阅读理解：
Our boat floated on, between walls of forest too thick to allow us a view of the land we were passing through, though we knew from the map that our river must from time to time be passing through chains of hills which crossed the jungle plains．Nowhere did we find a place where we could have landed：where the jungle did not actually spread right down into the river, banks of soft mud prevented us going ashore．In any case, what would we have sailed by landing?The country was full of snakes and other dangerous creatures, and the jungle was so thick that one would be able to advance only slowly, cutting one’s way with knives the whole way．So we stayed in the boat, hoping we reached the sea, a friendly fisherman would pick us up and take us to civilization．
We lived on fish, caught with home-made net of string(we had no hooks), and fruits and nuts we could pick up out of the water．As we had no fire, we had to eat everything, including the fish, raw I had never tasted raw fish before, and I must say I did not much enjoy the experience; perhaps sea fish which do not live in the mud are less tasteless．After eating my raw fish, I lay back and dreamed of such things as fried chicken and rice, and ice-cream．In the never-ending damp heat of the jungle, ice-cream was a particularly frequent dream．
As for water, there was a choice：we could drink the muddy river water, or die of thirst．We drank the water．Men who had just escaped what had appeared to be certain death lose all worries about such small things as diseases caused by dirty water．In fact, none of us suffered from any illness as a result．
One day we passed another village, but fortunately nobody saw us．We did not wish to risk being taken prisoners a second time：we might not be so lucky to escape in a stolen boat again．
(1)
What they could see in the boat was only ________．
[ ]
A．
high wall
B．
villagers from time to time
C．
vast land
D．
heavy woods
(2)
They couldn’t land because ________．
[ ]
A．
the mud on the shore was too soft
B．
the forest was too thick to let them go through
C．
they could not find the mark on the map
D．
they could not find anyone to lead them out of the forest．
(3)
The passage infers that the forest was ________．
[ ]
A．
rich of fruits and animals to be served as food
B．
not very thick as they could advance slowly by cutting the branches
C．
full of various dangerous beings
D．
full of ancient trees
(4)
The most proper title for this passage might be ________．
