It was graduation day at Etihad Training Academy,where the national airline of the United Arab Emirates holds a seven-week training course for new flight attendants.

Despite her obvious pride,Ms.Fathi,a 22-year-old from Egypt,was amazed to find herself here.“I never in my life thought I’d work abroad,” said Ms.Fathi,who was a university student in Cairo when she began noticing newspaper advertisements employing young Egyptians to work at airlines based in the Persian Gulf.

Twenty years ago,unmarried Arab women like Ms.Fathi,working outside their home countries,were rare.But just as young men from poor Arab nations poured into the oil-rich Persian Gulf states for jobs,more young women are doing so.

Flight attendants have become the public face of the new mobility for some young Arab women,just as they were the face of new freedoms for women in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s.They have become a subject of social anxiety and fascination in much the same way.

For many families,allowing a daughter to work may call her virtue into question.Yet this culture is changing,said Musa Shteiwi,a sociologist at Jordan University in Amman.“We’re noticing more and more single women going to the gulf these days,” he saiD. “It’s still not exactly common,but over the last four or five years it’s become quite an observable phenomenon.”

Many of the young Arab women working in the Persian Gulf take delight in their status as pioneers,role models for their friends and younger female relatives.Young women brought up in a culture that highly values community,have learned to see themselves as individuals.The experience of living independently and working hard for high salaries has forever changed their beliefs about themselves,though it can also lead to a painful sense of separation from their home countries and their families.

—From New York Times (December 22,2014)

1.It can be inferred from the passage that young Arab women _________.

A. go to work abroad after American women’s example

B. didn’t start to work abroad until the late 20th century

C. are commonly used to living and working separately

D. expect to take the same family responsibilities as men

2.According to the passage,the Arab women flight attendants can be described as _________.

A. proud,homesick or independent

B. honest,outstanding or optimistic

C. mature,enthusiastic or energetic

D. painful,desperate or conservative

3.How do the public respond to young Arab women’s new mobility?

A. The public think highly of it.

B. The public care very little about it.

C. The public show both interest and anxiety.

D. The public are strongly against it.

4.The author intends to tell the readers that __________.

A. Arab women can hardly find any work

B. flight attendants are badly needed in the gulf

C. flight attendants lead quite a different life

D. young Arab women’s values are changing

Could your cellphone give you cancer? Whether it could or not,some people are worrying about the possibility that phones,powerlines and wi-fi could be responsible for a range of illnesses,from rashes to brain tumors.

For example,Camilla Rees,48,a former investment banker in the US,moved out of her apartment in San Francisco because of the radiation coming from next door.Rees told the Los Angeles Times that when her neighbors moved in and installed a wi-fi router she lost her ability to think clearly.“I would wake up dizzy in the morning.I’d fall to the floor.I had to leave to escape that nightmare,” she saiD. Since then,she’s been on a campaign against low-level electromagnetic fields,or EMFs(低频电磁场).

And she’s not alone.Millions of people say they suffer from headaches,depression,nausea and rashes when they’re too close to cellphones or other sources of EMFs.

Although the World Health Organization has officially declared that EMFs seem to pose little threat,governments are still concerneD. In fact,last April,the European Parliament called for countries to take steps to reduce exposure to EMFs.The city of San Francisco and the state of Maine are currently considering requiring cancer-warning labels on cellphones.

If these fears are reasonable,then perhaps we should all be worried about the amount of time we spend talking on our phones or plugging into wi-fi hotpots.

Some say there is evidence to support the growing anxieties.David Carpenter,a professor of environmental health sciences at the University at Albany,in New York,thinks there’s a greater than 95% chance that power lines can cause childhood leukemiA. Also there’s a greater than 90% chance that cellphones can cause brain tumors.

But others believe these concerns are unreasonable paranoia (猜疑).Dr.Martha Linet,the head of radiation epidemiology at the US National Cancer Institute,has looked at the same research as Carpenter but has reached a different conclusion.“I don’t support warning labels for cellphones,” said Linet.“We don’t have the evidence that there’s much danger.”

Studies so far suggest a weak connection between EMFs and illness — so weak that it might not exist at all.A multinational investigation of cellphones and brain cancer,in 13 countries outside the US,has been underway for several years.It’s funded in part by the European Union,in part by a cellphone industry group.

According to Robert Park,a professor of physics at the University of Maryland in the US,the magnetic waves aren’t nearly powerful enough to break apart DNA,which is now known threats,such as UV rays and X-rays,cause cancer.

Perhaps it’s just psychological.Some experts find that the electro-sensitivity syndrome seems to be similar to chemical sensitivity syndrome,which is a condition that’s considered to be psychological.

Whether EMFs are harmful or not,a break in the countryside,without the cellphone,would probably be good for all of us.

阅读下列列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中, 选出最佳选项。并在答题卡上将该选项涂黑.

I was twenty-two, and in Bolivia. I’d been to every other country in South America, and now I was set on getting into Chile, the last on the list.

After several days, I reached the hills. It was cold, and even the distant mountains were clear. The days were lonely, but one evening I met Filomeno and his fellow teachers. They tried to persuade me not to go to Chile, saying it was a bad place, and that I would be killed. I didn’t believe them. I knew nothing of the current politics; I just wanted to go there.

So I walked into the mountains, feeling excited, and came to a sign with the word "Chile" on it. A frightening soldier appeared, stuck a gun in my back, and pushed me down a slope to the police station. The police chief then told me, "There’s nothing for you here." I explained that I had come to see this beautiful country. But he was annoyed.

In the evening they filled me with food. There was laughter, and I was less tense. Then the police chief took me to a tiny cell. I lay down on the mattress (垫子). Even though I had no light and none of my possessions, I felt euphoric. At least I had arrived! And what a story I’d have to tell! The next morning I was released, and I was told that Chile didn’t want me. Throwing my belongings into my backpack, I shouted and screamed at the soldiers. After all this effort I was being sent home! I stomped (以重踏步方式走) towards Bolivia expecting to feel a bullet. But I’d be back! I told myself.

1.The author went to Chile to ______.

A. visit his friend Filomeno B. settle there forever

C. complete his trip plan D. risk his life

2.The underlined word "euphoric" in Paragraph 4 most probably means "______".

A. terrible B. shamed C. bored D. excited

3.According to the last paragraph, the author lost his temper because ______.

A. he was prevented from entering Chile

B. he was badly treated by the soldiers in Chile

C. it was his last chance to travel

D. his friends had stopped him from going to Chile

4.What is the passage mainly about?

A. An exciting fight with soldiers in Chile.

B. How the author escaped from Chile.

C. An adventure in Chile.

D. Why the author went to Chile.

It was Molly’s job to hand her father his brown paper lunch bag each morning before he headed off to work.

One morning, in addition to his usual lunch bag, Molly handed him a second paper bag.This one was worn and held together with staples(订书钉) 。

“Why two bags?” her father asked.“The other is something else,” Molly answered.“What’s in it?” “Just some stuff.Take it with you.”

Not wanting to discuss the matter, he put both bags into his briefcase, kissed Molly and rushed off.At midday he opened Molly’s bag and took out the contents: two hair ribbons(丝带), three small stones, a plastic dinosaur, a tiny sea shell, a small doll, and 13 pennies… The busy father smiled, finished eating, and swept the desk clean into the wastebasket, Molly’s stuff included.

That evening, Molly ran up behind him as he read the paper.

“Where’s my bag?” “What bag?” “The one I gave you this morning.” “I left it at the office.Why?” “I forgot to put this note in it,” she said.

“And, besides, Daddy, the things in the sack are the things I really like — I thought you might like to play with them.You didn’t lose the bag, did you, Daddy?”

“Oh, no,” he said, lying.“I just forgot to bring it home.I’ll bring it tomorrow.” While Molly hugged her father’s neck, he unfolded the note that read: “I love you, Daddy.” Molly had given him her treasures — all that a 7-year-old held dear.

Love in a paper bag, and he missed it — not only missed it, but had thrown it in the wastebasket.So back he went to the office.Just ahead of the night janitor(看门人), he picked up the wastebasket.He put the treasures inside and carried it home carefully.The bag didn’t look so good, but the stuff was all there and that’s what counted.

After dinner, he asked Molly to tell him about the stuff in the sack.It took a long time to tell.Everything had a story or a memory.

“Sometimes I think of all the great times in this sweet life,” he thought.

We should all remember that it’s not the destination that counts in life, but the journey.That journey with the people we love is all that really matters.It is such a simple truth but it is so easily forgotten.

1.Why did Molly give her father a second bag?

A.She didn’t want to keep the things in the bag.

B.She hoped those things would bring happiness to her father.

C.She wanted to remind her father of the stories behind the things.

D.She enjoyed playing with her father.

2.How did father deal with the bag after he opened it?

A.He kept it in the drawer.

B.He took it back home.

C.He threw it into the wastebasket.

D.He put it on his table.

3.Which of the following is the most suitable title of the passage?

A.An important journey B.Two bags

C.Father and daughter D.Love in a paper bag

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