Many people believe the glare from snow causes snow-blindness. Yet, dark glasses or not , they find themselves suffering from headaches and watering eyes, and even snow-blindness, when exposed to several hours of “snow light”. The United States Army has now determined that glare from snow does not cause snow-blindness in troops in a snow-covered country. Rather, a man's eyes frequently find nothing to focus on in a broad expanse of barren (少植被的) snow-covered terrain (地形). So his gaze continually shifts and jumps back and forth over the entire landscape in search of something to look at. Finding nothing, hour after hour, the eyes never stop searching and the eyeballs become sore and the eye muscles ache. Nature eases this irritation by producing more fluid which covers the eyeball. The fluid covers the eyeball in increasing quantity until vision blurs (模糊), then is obscured (遮蔽), and the result is total, even though temporary, snow-blindness.

Experiments led the Army to a simple method of overcoming this problem. Scouts ahead of a main body of troops are trained to shake snow from evergreen bushes, creating a dotted line as they cross completely snow-covered landscape. Even the scouts themselves throw lightweight, dark colored objects ahead on which they too can focus. The men following can then see something. Their gaze is arrested. Their eyes focus on a bush and having found something to see, stop scouring the snow-blanketed landscape. By focusing their attention on one object at a time, the men can cross the snow without becoming hopelessly snow-blind or lost. In this way the problem of crossing a solid white terrain is overcome.

1. To prevent headaches, watering eyes and blindness caused by the glare from snow, dark

glasses are _________.

A. indispensable and essential   B. useful                       C. ineffective      D. available

2. When the eyes are sore tears are produced to _________.

A. balance the pain                                                       B. treat snow-blindness 

C. clear the vision                                                            D. loosen the muscles 

3. Snow-blindness may be avoided by _________.

A. concentrating on the solid white terrain

B. searching for something to look at in snow-covered terrain

C. providing the eyes with something to focus on

D. covering the eyeballs with more fluid 

4. The scouts shake snow from evergreen bushes in order to _________.

A. prevent the men behind losing their way 

B. beautify the landscape of the terrain

C. warm themselves in the severe cold

D. give the men behind something to see

5. A suitable title for this passage would be _________.

A. nature's cure for snow-blindness       B. snow-blindness and how to overcome it

C. soldiers marching in the snow          D. snow vision and its effect on eyesight

 

As the population of the planet increases, so does the number of homes, businesses, parking lots, schools, airports and roadways. All these structures use electricity and need to be lighted. Humans demand these lights. They want their homes more comfortable and they want their streets sage. The problem is that researchers are finding that all the light is having a negative effect on humans and wildlife as well.

Less than 10 years ago I drove to a thinly populated section of my town, lay down in the middle of the road and watched an attracted meteor shower(流星雨). The area was short of homes, street lights and traffic. If I did that today, I wouldn’t be able to see the meteor shower as well, and I would surely be run over by a car.

Nowadays scientists are finding light pollution can be almost as bad as carbon dioxide pollution. If you’ve ever taken a flight at night, the view is beautiful, but you must remember that all the light you see is wasted electricity. The crew of the space shuttles see an even bigger picture of how extensive the wasted electricity is worldwide.

Additionally, electricity needs to be generated, and the generation of electricity creates pollution by giving off greenhouse gases. This affects the air we breathe and our quality of life.

Scientists are also studying the effects of light pollution on wildlife. Thousands of birds die each year when they crash into highly lighted buildings, as they become puzzled by the light. It has been long known that tiny sea turtle hatchlings become lost and follow lights on the shore instead of heading towards the sea.

    Fortunately, light pollution is one of the easiest sources of pollution that can be corrected without a negative effect. Following some guidelines and a little searching on Google can give you many ideas on how to reduce your contribution to light pollution. 

1.The author tells the story in the second paragraph mainly to _________.

     A. remember the past beauty of the town.

     B. stress the advantages of less pollution

     C. show the great changes of the town

     D. prove the bad effects of light pollution

2.In the passage the author advises people _________.

     A. to try to reduce unnecessary light.

     B. not to ignore the beauty around.

     C. to set proper light for animals

     D. not to destroy the animal’s living conditions.

3.What can be inferred from the passage?

     A. Light pollution is difficult to deal with.

     B. Light pollution is a threat to some animals.

     C. Light pollution has nothing to do with global warming

     D. Astronauts can’t see clearly in space due to light pollution.

4.What is most likely to be discussed in the paragraph which follows the last paragraph?

     A. The author’s contribution to light pollution

     B. Other sources of light pollution

     C. Ways of reducing light pollution

     D. More bad effects of light pollution

 

You wake up in the morning, the day is beautiful and the plans for the day are what you have been looking forward to for a long time. Then the telephone rings, you say hello, and the drama starts. The person on the other end has a depressing tone in his voice as he starts to tell you how terrible his morning is and that there is nothing to look forward to. You are still in a wonderful mood? Impossible!

Communicating with negative people can wash out your happiness. It may not change what you think, but communicating long enough with them will make you feel depressed for a moment or a long time.

Life brings ups and downs, but some people are stuck in the wrong idea that life has no happiness to offer. They only feel glad when they make others feel bad. No wonder they can hardly win others’ pity or respect.

When you communicate with positive people, your spirit stays happy and therefore more positive things are attracted. When the dagger (匕首) of a negative person is put in you, you feel the heavy feeling that all in all, brings you down.

Sometimes we have no choice but to communicate with negative people. This could be a co-worker,or a relative. In this case, say what needs to be said as little as possible. Sometimes it feels good to let out your anger back to the negative person, but all this does is to lower you to that same negative level and they won’t feel ashamed of themselves about that.

Negativity often affects happiness without even being realized. The negative words of another at the start of the day can cling to (附着) you throughout the rest of your day, which makes you feel bad and steals your happiness. Life is too short to feel negative. Stay positive and avoid negativity as much as possible.

1.The purpose of the first paragraph is to ______.

A.make a comparison

B.offer an evidence

C.introduce a topic

D.describe a daily scene

2.How can negative people have effect on us?

A.By influencing our emotion.

B.By telling us the nature of life.

C.By changing our ways of thinking.

D.By comparing their attitudes to life with ours.

3.Some negative people base their happiness on _______.

A.other people’s pity for them

B.making other people unhappy

C.building up a positive attitude

D.other people’s respect for them

4.According to the passage, to reduce negative people’s influence on us, we are advised to ______.

A.change negative people’s attitudes to life

B.show our dissatisfaction to negative people

C.make negative people feel ashamed of themselves

D.communicate with negative people as little as possible

5. What is the author’s attitude towards negative people?

A.Favorable.

B.Critical.

C.Indifferent.

D.Supportive.

 

The common cold is the world's most widespread illness, which is plagues(疫病) that flesh receives.

     The most widespread fallacy(谬误) of all is that colds are caused by cold. They are not. They are caused by viruses 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 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 have reported being free from colds until coming into contact again with infected people from the outside world by way of packages and mail dropped from airplanes.

During the First World War soldiers who spent long periods in the trenches(战壕), cold and wet, showed no increased tendency to catch colds.

In the Second World War prisoners at the notorious Auschwitz Concentration Camp(奥斯维辛集中营), naked and starving, were astonished to find that they seldom had colds. At the Common Cold Research Unit in England, volunteers took part in 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 room. 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 in the winter? Despite the most pains-taking 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 the cold. There are drugs and pain suppressors(止痛片) such as aspirin, but all they do is relieve the symptoms.

1. Which of the following does not agree with the chosen passage?

   A. The Eskimos do not suffer from colds all the time.            

   B. Colds are not caused by cold.

   C. People suffer from colds just because they like to stay indoors.                      .  .

   D. A person may catch a cold by touching someone who already has one.

2. Arctic explorers may catch colds when       .

   A. they are working in the isolated arctic regions

   B. they are writing reports in terribly cold weather

   C. they are free from work in the isolated arctic regions

   D. they are coming into touch again with the outside world

3. Volunteers taking part in the experiments in the Common Cold Research Unit       .

   A. suffered a lot   B. never caught colds   C. often caught colds  D. became very strong

4.The passage mainly discusses       .

   A. the experiments on the common cold            B. the fallacy about the common cold

   C. the reason and the way people catch colds        D. the continued spread of common colds

 

 

Motherhood may make women smarter and may help prevent dementia(痴呆) in old age by bathing the brain in protective hormones(荷尔蒙) , U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.

Tests on rats show that those who raise two or more litters of pups do considerably better in tests of memory and skills than rats who have no babies, and their brains show changes that suggest they may be protected against diseases such as Alzheimer’s(早老痴呆症). University of Richmond psychology professor Craig Kinsley believes his findings will translate into humans.

“Our research shows that the hormones of pregnancy(怀孕) are protecting the brain, including estrogen(雌激素), which we know has many neuroprotective (保护神经的) effects,” Kinsley said.  

“It’s rat data but humans are mammals just like these animals are mammals,” he added in a telephone interview. “They go through pregnancy and hormonal changes.”

Kinsley said he hoped public health officials and researchers will look to see if having had children protects a woman from Alzheimer’s and other forms of age-related brain decline.

“When people think about pregnancy, they think about what happens to babies and the mother from the neck down,” said Kinsley, who presented his findings to the annual meeting of the Society of Neuroscience in Orlando, Florida.

“They do not realize that hormones are washing on the brain. If you look at female animals who have never gone through pregnancy, they act differently toward young. But if she goes through pregnancy, she will sacrifice her life for her infant—that is a great change in her behavior that showed in genetic alterations(改变) to the brain.”

1.What does the phrase “litters of pups” mean in the second paragraph?

A. Baby rats.                 B. Animals.                C. Old rats.                 D. Grown-up rats.

2.What can protect the brain of a woman according to the passage?

A. Estrogen.                                        B. The hormones of pregnancy.    

C. More exercise.                                    D. Taking care of children.

3.“It’s rat data but humans are mammals just like these animals are mammals.” What does the sentence suggest?

A. The experiments on the rats have nothing to do with humans.

B. The experiments on the rats are very important for animals.

C. The experiments on the rats are much the same on humans.

D. The experiments on the rats are much the same on other animals.

4.Which title is the best for this passage?

A. Do You Want to Be Smarter?           B. Motherhood Makes Women Smarter

C. Mysterious Hormones                 D. An Important Study   

 

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