A study of more than five million books, both fiction and non-fiction, has found a marked decline in the use of emotional words over time. The researchers from the University of Bristol used Google Ngram Viewer, a facility for finding the frequency of terms in scanned books, to search for more than 600 particular words identified as representing anger, dislike, fear, joy, sadness and surprise.

They found that almost all of the categories(类别) showed a drop in these “mood words” over time. Only in the category of fear was there an increase in usage.

“It is a steady and continuous decrease,” said Dr. Alberto Acerbi. He assumed that the result might be explained by a change in the position occupied by literature, in a crowded media landscape. “One thing could be that in parallel to books the 20th century saw the start of other media. Maybe these media- movies, radio, drama- has more emotional content than books.”

Although both joy and sadness followed the general downwards trend, the research, published in the journal PLOS One, found that they also exhibited another interesting behaviour: the ratio(比赛) between the two varied greatly, apparently mirroring historical events.

During the Roaring Twenties the joy-to-sadness ratio reached a peak that would not occur again until before the recent financial crash. But the ratio plunged at the height of the Second World War. Nevertheless, the researchers held a reserved opinion about their claim that their result reflected wider social trade. In the paper, they even prove that the reverse could be true.

“It has been suggested, for example that it was suppression(压抑) of desire in ordinary Elizabethan English life that increased demand for writing ‘filled with romance and sex’…perhaps,” they conclude, “songs and books may not reflect the real population any more than catwalk models reflect the average body.”

(Note: Answer the questions or complete the statement in NO MORE THAN TEN WORDS.)

81. A study of more than five million books indicated a decline in “mood words” over time except ____________.

82. According to Dr. Alberto Acerbi, one reason for the drop of “mood words” in books may be that __________.

83. What were the two periods when the joy-to-sadness ratio was at its highest?

84. While the researchers found some changes in the use of “mood words” in books, they were not sure that __________.

 Read the following text and choose the most suitable heading from A-F for each paragraph. There is one extra heading which you do not need.

A. Healthy way of life giving way to overuse of medicine

B. Different findings as to taking additional vitamin

C. EU’s response to overuse of health products

D. Worrying increase in multivitamin advertising

E. EU directive for the benefit of individuals

F. EU directive against prediction in novels

 
 


76.

The use of health supplements such as multivitamin tablets has increased greatly in the western world. People take these supplements because advertising suggests that they prevent a range of medical conditions from developing. However, there is concern that people are consuming worryingly high doses of these supplements and the European Union (EU) has issued a directive that will ban the sale of a wide range of them. This EU directive should be supported.

77.

Research suggests that people who take Vitamin C supplements of over 5000 milligrams a day are more likely to develop cancer. This shows how much damage these health supplements do to people’s health. A spokesman for the health supplement industry has argued that other research shows that Vitamin C supplements help prevent heart disease, but we can dismiss this evidence as it is from a biased source.

78.

Science fiction of the 1960s and 1970s predicted that pills would replace meals as the way in which people would get the fuel they needed. This, it was argued, would mean a more efficient use of time as people wouldn’t have to waste it preparing or eating meals. The EU directive would help prevent this nightmare of pills replacing food becoming a reality.

79.

People already take too many pills instead of adopting a healthier lifestyle. For example, the consumption of painkillers in Britain in 1998 was 21 tablets per year for every man, woman and child in the country. People do not need all these pills.

80.

Some might argue that the EU directive denies people’s right to freedom of choice. However, there are many legal examples for such intervention when it is in the individual’s best interests. We now make people wear seatbelts rather than allowing them to choose to do so. Opposing the EU directive would mean beneficial measures like this would be threatened.

A team of engineers at Harvard University has been inspired by Nature to create the first robotic fly. The mechanical fly has become a platform for a series of new high-tech systems. Designed to do what a fly does naturally, the tiny machine is the size of a fat housefly. Its mini wings allow it to stay in the air and perform controlled flight tasks.

“It’s extremely important for us to think about this as a whole system and not just the sum of a bunch of individual components(元件), ”said Robert Wood, the Harvard engineering professor who has been working on the robotic fly project for over a decade. A few years ago, his team got the go-ahead to start piecing together the components. “The added difficulty with a project like this is that actually none of those components are off the shelf and so we have to develop them all on our own,” he said.

They engineered a series of systems to start and drive the robotic fly. “The seemingly simple system which just moves the wings has a number of interdependencies on the individual components, each of which individually has to perform well, but then has to be matched well to everything it’s connected to,” said Wood. The flight device was built into a set of power, computation, sensing and control systems. Wood says the success of the project proves that the flying robot with these tiny components can be built and manufactured.

While this first robotic flyer is linked to a small, off-board power source, the goal is eventually to equip it with a built-in power source, so that it might someday perform data-gathering work at rescue sites, in farmers’ fields or on the battlefield. “Basically it should be able to take off, land and fly around,” he said.

Wood says the design offers a new way to study flight mechanics and control at insect-scale. Yet, the power, sensing and computation technologies on board could have much broader applications. “You can start thinking about using them to answer open scientific questions, you know, to study biology in ways that would be difficult with the animals, but using these robots instead,” he said. “So there are a lot of technologies and open interesting scientific questions that are really what drives us on a day-to-day basis.”

72. The difficulty the team of engineers met with while making the robotic fly was that ________.

A. they had no model in their mind

B. they did not have sufficient time

C. they had no ready-made components

D. they could no assemble the components

73. It can be inferred from paragraphs 3 and 4 that the robotic fly_________.

A. consists of a flight device and a control system

B. can just fly in limited areas at the present time

C. can collect information from many sources

D. has been put into wide application

74. Which of the following can be learned from the passage?

A. The robotic flyer is designed to learn about insects.

B. Animals are not allowed in biological experiments.

C. There used to be few ways to study how insects fly.

D. Wood’s design can replace animals in some experiments.

75. Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?

A. Father of Robotic Fly

B. Inspiration from Engineering Science

C. Robotic Fly Imitates Real Life Insect

D. Harvard Breaks Through in Insect Study

Home Laundry Automatic Dryer Product

Full Two Year Warranty(保修)

Limited Five Year Warranty on Cabinet(机箱)

Warranty Provides for:

FIRST TWO YEARS Amana will repair or replace any faulty part free of charge.

THIRD THRU FIFTH YEARS Amana will provide a free replacement part for any cabinet which proves faulty due to rust(生锈)

Warranty Limitations:

• Warranty begins at date of original purchase.

• Applies only to product used within the United States or in Canada if product is approved by Canadian Standards Association when shipped from factory.

• Products used on a commercial or rental basis are not covered by this warranty.

• Service must be performed by an Amana servicer.

• Adjustments covered during first year only.

Owner’s Responsibilities:

• Provide sales receipt.

• Normal care and maintenance.

• Having the product reasonably accessible for service.

• Pay for service calls related to product installation or usage instructions.

• Pay for extra service costs, over normal service charges, if servicer is requested to perform service outside servicer’s normal business hours.

Warranty Docs Not Cover It If:

• Product has damage due to product alteration, connection to an improper electrical supply, shipping and handling, accident, fire, floods, lightning or other conditions beyond the control of Amana.

• Product is improperly installed or applied.

In no event shall Amana be responsible for consequential damages.

This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may have others which vary from state to state. For example, some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so this exclusion may not apply to you.

69. According to Warranty Limitations, a product can be under warranty if ______ .

A. shipped from a Canadian factor                 B. rented for home use

C. repaired by the user himself                      D. used in the U.S.A.

70. According to Owner’s Responsibilities, an owner has to pay for ______ .

A. the loss of the sales receipt                       B. a servicer’s overtime work

C. the product installation                              D. a mechanic's transportation

71. Which of the following is true according to the warranty?

A. Consequential damages are excluded across America.

B. A product damaged in a natural disaster is covered by the warranty.

C. A faulty cabinet due to rust can be replaced free in the second year.

D. Free repair is available for a product used improperly in the first year.

For some people, music is no fun at all. About four percent of the population is what scientists call “amusic.” People who are amusic are born without the ability to recognize or reproduce musical notes (音调). Amusic people often cannot tell the difference between two-songs. Amusics can only hear the difference between two notes if they are far apart on the musical scale.

As a result, songs sound like noise to an amusic. Many amusics compare the sound of music to pieces of metal hitting each other. Life can be hard for amusics. Their ability to enjoy music sets them apart from others. It can be difficult for other people to identify with their condition. In fact, most people cannot begin to grasp what it feels like to be amusic. Just going to a restaurant or a shopping mall can be uncomfortable or even painfull. That is why many amusics intentionally stay away from places where there is music. However, this can result in withdrawal and social isolation. “I used to hate parties,” says Margaret, a seventy-year-old woman who only recently discovered that she was amusic. By studying people like Margaret, scientists arc finally learning bow to identify this unusual condition.

Scientists say that the brains of amusics are different from the brains of people who can appreciate music. The difference is complex, and it doesn’t involve defective hearing. Amusics can understand other nonmusical sounds well. They also have no problems understanding ordinary speech. Scientists compare amusics to people who just can't sec certain colors.

Many amusics are happy when their condition is finally diagnosed (诊断). For years. Margaret felt embarrassed about her problem with music. Now she knows that she is not alone. There is a name for her condition. That makes it easier for her to explain. “When people invite me to a concert I just say. “No thanks. I'm amusic,”* says Margaret. “I just wish I had learned to say that when I was seventeen and not seventy.”

65. Which of (he following is true of amusics?

A. Listening to music is far from enjoyable for them.

B. They love places where they are likely to hear music.

C. They can easily tell two different songs apart.

D. Their situation is well understood by musicians.

66. According to paragraph 3, a person with “defective hearing” is probably one who ______ .

A. dislikes listening to speeches                     B. can hear anything nonmusical

C. has a bearing problem                               D. lacks a complex hearing system

67. In the last paragraph, Margaret express that ______ .

A. her problem with music had been diagnosed earlier

B. she were seventeen years old rather than seventy

C. her problem could be easily explained

D. she were able to meet other amusics

68. What is the passage mainly concerned with?

A. Amusics’ strange behaviours.                   B. Some people’s inability to enjoy music.

C. Musical talent and brain structure.             D. Identification and treatment of amusics.

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