【题目】 You and your friends are leaving a concert on a Friday night. When you get outside, your ears are ringing. You have to shout to be heard. 【1】 So no harm done…right?

Not quite. Temporary buzzing may be easy to ignore, but repeated exposure to loud noise will eventually cause serious--- and irreversible(无法治愈的)--- hearing loss. A new study conducted by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston shows that one in five people between the ages of 12 and 19 are experiencing slight hearing loss, and one in 20 have mild hearing loss. 2

But the good news is that there plenty of ways you can protect your ears from further damage and still listen to the music you love:

Ask around. Put your earbuds in or your headphones on, and then ask a friend next to you whether or not he or she can hear what you’re listening to. 3 Turn it down.

Buy noise-canceling headphones. A pair of earbuds or headphones that fits comfortably will limit outside noise so that you can hear your music better at lower volumes.

Take breaks. 4 So when listening to music, take your headphones off for 15 or 20 minutes and let your ears enjoy the quiet.

5 You can buy a cheap pair at any drugstore as an easy way to lower volume at concerts or while playing or practicing your own music without changing the quality of the sound.

A. Use earplugs.

B. Keep the volume below 70 percent.

C. If th answer is yes, your music is too loud.

D. Like every other part of your body, your ears need rest.

E. But by morning, your hearing is totally back to normal.

F. Unfortunately, there’s no way to get back hearing you’ve already lost.

G.. The exposure to noise is louder and longer than in any previous generation.

【题目】Nowadays it is common that people are buying more products and services than ever before through the Internet, so do Americans. And experts say the popularity of online sales is likely to spread to other countries. Online sales now represent as much as 10% of all retail sales in the United States. This has led traditional stores to seek new ways to keep their customers loyal.

Taking Lynne for example, she made good use of the Internet. she used the Internet to buy everything she needed for her Wedding and holiday gifts for her husband and stepdaughter. Other than food, 90% of her purchases were made on her home computer. “I find that, by being able to go online, choose the things that I need, and have them delivered to me right at my doorstep, I eliminate all the driving, all the crowds, all the noise of that, and I usually get a better selection.”

There are a lot of people like her. Experts say American online shopping hit records in both November and December. 57% of Americans have bought something electronically. Store owners worry that this growing amount of online sales will hurt their business. Cornell University marketing professor Ed Melaughlin says they can keep their customers by selling goods like clothing, which buyers may want to see and try on before purchasing. The stores could also offer things that are difficult to ship. Besides, some stores can please customers by offering to repair electronic products.

Bill Martin is the founder of Shopper Trak. His business helps stores learn about their customers. He said, “There is still a lot of emotion in the buying decision, you know, that takes place. Often you need that last sense of “Boy, this is exactly what I want before you are ready to part with money, and you can't always get that online. It's a rather cold process.”

While e-commerce worries some business owners, the only worry for delivery services is keeping up with the number of packages. UPS manager Dana Kline says her company is very busy at this time of the year.

UPS is so busy that it has filled 55,000 temporary work positions during the holiday season.

【1】 The purpose of this passage is to tell us ________.

A. the challenge online owners are faced with

B. the difference between online sales and traditional sales

C. the challenge e-commerce causes to traditional sales

D. the trouble that customers often meet when purchasing online

【2】 The example of Lynne is mentioned in the passage to show________.

A. online sales will replace traditional sales sooner or later

B. online business has changed many Americans' life

C. traditional stores can't offer enough food to their customers

D. traditional stores find new ways to keep their customers loyal

【3】The underlined word “eliminate” in Paragraph 2 can be replaced by “________”.

A. include B. decrease C. avoid D. discourage

【4】It is implied in Bill Martin's words that ________.

A. store owners should learn more about their customers

B. traditional stores can provide goods to buyers more quickly

C. some owners are using websites to persuade people to visit their stores

D. traditional stores offer a social experience that some people enjoy

【题目】When the swim season began, my 11-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, and I cut a deal. She would go to practice three times a week, and I wouldn’t make her compete in swim meets.

Elizabeth does not like swim meets, she gets horribly nervous because she is afraid that she will do something wrong and let everyone down. she started to talk about quitting swimming, which broke my heart because she loves swimming. So I came up with the deal.

Recently, Elizabeth’s team announced a T-shirt relay, which works like this: One person from each relay team puts on a T-shirt and a pair of socks and swims 50 meters. She takes off the clothes and put them on the next person, who then swims 50 meters. This continues until everyone on the team has completed a lap.

It wasn’t exactly a meet, because it would involve only team members. But Elizabeth thought it was. I told Elizabeth I really wanted her to go. She fought back angrily but finally agreed.

When the day for the T-shirt relay arrived, Elizabeth was nervous. She was chosen to swim the anchor leg (最后一棒).By the last leg, Elizabeth’s team had built up a narrow lead. Then it was Elizabeth’s turn to swim.

Approaching the halfway mark, she was still in the lead. Then somebody noticed that one of Elizabeth’s socks had fallen off and was floating in the pool. “She has to get that sock on before the end of the race,” a swimming official told Elizabeth’s team,“ or you will be disqualified.”

Everybody on her team started shouting, “Elizabeth! Get the sock!” But she couldn’t hear them. Meanwhile, a girl in lane two was gaining on Elizabeth. Just then, a girl on my daughter’s team jumped in the pool, grabbed the sock, swam after Elizabeth and put the sock on Elizabeth.

With the sock finally on, Elizabeth swam her heart out for the last 15 meters and won! There was much celebration. And, for a few minutes, Elizabeth was the hero.

On the ride home, she relived her moment of glory again and again. She told me that if the T-shirt relay was an Olympic event, her team would win the gold medal, I told her that in my professional opinion, she Was absolutely right.

【1】 What do we know about the T-shirt relay?

A. Elizabeth was eager to attend it.

B. Elizabeth made full preparations for it.

C. Elizabeth thought she was sure to fail the relay.

D. Elizabeth agreed to attend it after a lot of persuasion.

【2】 What happened to Elizabeth when she was swimming the anchor leg?

A. The girl on the other team swam faster than her.

B. She was disqualified for breaking the rule.

C. She was too nervous to swim.

D. One of her socks fell off.

【3】We can infer from the last paragraph that Elizabeth_____.

A. believed she was the best of her team.

B. Hoped to take part in the Olympics.

C. Overcame her fear of swim meets.

D. Was grateful for the girl’s help.

【4】 What would be the best title for the text?

A. Born to be a swimmer B. Swimming in socks

C. The swim season D. Never give up!

【题目】 Apparently everyone knows that global warming only makes climate more extreme. A hot, dry summer has caused another flood of such claims. And one of the players that benefit the most from this story is the media: the idea of “extreme” climate simply makes for more exciting news.

Consider Paul Krugman writing breathlessly in The New York Times about the “rising incidence of extreme events.” He claims that global warming caused the current drought in America’s Midwest, and that supposedly record-high corn prices could cause a global food crisis(危机)。

But the United Nations’s latest assessment tells us precisely the opposite—there has an overall slight tendency toward less dryness in North America. Moreover, there is no way that Krugman could have identified this drought as being caused by global warming without a time machine since climate models estimate that such detection will be possible by 2048, at the earliest.

And, fortunately, this year’s drought appears unlikely to cause a food crisis, as global rice and wheat supplies are plentiful. Moreover, Krugman overlooks inflation(通货膨胀):Prices have increased six-fold since 1969.So, the inflation-adjusted price of corn was higher throughout most of the 1970s.

Finally, Krugman forgets that concerns about global warming are the main reason that corn prices have skyrocketed since 2005.Nowadays 40 percent of corn grown in the United States is used to produce ethanol(乙醇),which raises the price of corn –at the expense of many of the world’s poorest people.

Bill Mickbben similarly worries in The Guardian About the Midwest drought and corn prices.He confidently tells us that fierce wildfires from New Mexico and Colorado to Siberia are “exactly” what the early stages of global warming look like.

In fact, the latest study on global wildfire suggests that fire incidence has declined over the past 70 years and is now close to its preindustrial level.

When well—meaning campaigners want us to pay attention to global warming, they often end up making overstatements. And exaggerated(夸张的) claims merely fuel public distrust and unconcern. That is unfortunate, because global warming is a real problem, and we do need to address it.

【1】In what way do the media benefit from extreme weather?

A. They can give voice to different views.

B. They can make themselves better known.

C. They can choose from a greater variety of topics.

D. They can attract people’s attention to their reports.

【2】 What is the author’s comment on Krugman’s claim about the current drought in America’s Midwest?

A. It will eventually get proof in 2048.

B. It is based on an erroneous climate model.

C. So far there is no way to prove its validity.

D. A time machine is needed to tell if it is true.

【3】What is the chief reason for the rise in corn prices according to the author?

A. Inflation rates have been skyrocketing since the 1970s.

B. A considerable part of corn is used to produce green fuel.

C. Climate change has caused corn supply to drop markedly.

D. Demand for food has been rising in the developing countries.

【4】 What does the author think of the exaggerated claims in the media about global warming?

A. They lead to public distrust about science.

B. They create confusion about climate change,

C. They are strategies to raise public awareness.

D. They do a disservice to addressing the problem.

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