Retail therapy（购物疗法）has long been considered as a good way to let off stress. Now, US scientists have discovered not only does retail therapy exist，but that it could be caused by an individual's fear of sudden death.

    Researchers found materialistic people thought terrorism and war more stressful than others.

    Psychologists believe the rise of materialism around the world and its treatment effect on extreme stress might be a response to fear of death caused by acts of terrorism, disease and natural disasters.

    The scientists from Michigan State University said people with possession obsessions（妄想）often have lower self-esteem than others so are more likely to shop as the result of severe psychological suffering.

    Ayalla Ruvio，a business professor studying people's shopping habits while rockets fell in Israel, said, "When the going gets tough, the materialistic people go shopping. This stress spending is likely to produce even greater stress and lower well-being. Essentially, materialism appears to make bad events even worse.

    Dr Ruvio led a two-part study of Israeli citizens living in a town that came under extreme rocket attacks for about six months in 2007. She compared 139 residents of the southern town with 170 from another town that was not under attack to see how their symptoms of post-traumatic stress and shopping habits varied. Dr Ruvio found that, when faced with a deadly threat, those who are highly materialistic suffered much higher levels of stress，while their tendency to shop was increased.

    Dr Ruvio said, "The relationship between materialism and stress may be more harmful than commonly thought.”

    The second stage of their research surveyed 855 Americans about their materialistic nature and fear of death. They found shopping was used to relieve feelings of stress and anxiety about death but this was in response to fear of a variety of life-threatening events like car accidents, criminal attacks and natural disasters.

1.Which of the following opinion is NOT right according to the text?

A. Terrorism is believed to easily cause the rise of materialism.

B. The materialistic find terrorism and war more stressful than others.

C. The scientists think possession obsessions help people get self-respect.

D. The scientists think people with possession obsessions suffer a lot mentally.

2.Why did Dr Ruvio choose to study the two groups of Israeli citizens mentioned in the passage?

A. They enjoy the special shopping culture.

B. The stresses they face are usually deadly.

C. They are in different situation in terms of war.

D. They are usually active participants for researchers.

3.What's the result about Dr Ruvio's research?

A. Impulsive spending does good to people's health.

B. Shopping can't lower one's stress as it is expected.

C. Faced with great stress, people feel hopeless for life.

D. Faced with threat，people's wish to shop will decrease.

4.Which of the following events threaten people's life?

①Greater stress; ②Car accidents; ③Criminal attacks；. ④Natural disasters;

A.①②③ B.②③④ C.①②④ D.①③④

5.What's the main idea of the passage?

A. Greater stress can lead to shopping.

B. Greater stress can cause a lot of diseases

C. Shopping is very important in people's life.

D. Can shopping reduce the stress and relieve the fear of death?

Does your pet have a slim figure? According to the Association of Pet Obesity Prevention (APOP), about half of all dogs and nearly 60% of all indoor cats are overweight. Larry Kornegay, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association, says he sees an overweight pet nearly every day, and unusually the owner is overweight. So talking about the topic can be touchy. “I talk about their pet’s health. Still, some clients take it personally.”
Here are some tips for pet weight loss:
See the vet(兽医). Have your vet put together a plan and treat any existing medical problems. Pain relief and diet changes may be required for arthritic(患关节炎的) pets, which will allow for exercise to at least begin.
Skip the crash diet (an attempt to lose weight quickly by strictly limiting the diet). A special weight-loss diet may be suggested. For example, look for the supplement which burns fat and builds muscle mass in foods. Never place any pet on a crash diet, especially cats, which can suffer a potentially fatal liver disease as a result. There’s a safe weight-loss drug for dogs you can ask your vet about.
Dine alone. “Cut out treats and resist temptation by keeping pets out of the room you’re dining in,” says Chicago vet Sheldon Rubin. You can buy low-calorie treats for dogs and cats. Rubin also recommends mini carrots, small apple slices or blueberries for dogs. What’s important is finding other ways, aside from food, to show your love. Play with your cat using an interactive toy, and take your dog for walks. Walks are great for bonding, and good for you. Studies show people are actually more willing to lose weight themselves if it also will help their pet.
Feed pets at special times. Pre-measure food carefully—don’t give them a larger meal than ever—and leave it in various places, so pets sniff it out and use the stairs. It’s fun, and it’s good exercise.
【小题1】The underlined word “touchy” in Paragraph 1 probably means__________

Can people change their skin colour without suffering like pop king Michael Jackson? Perhaps yes. Scientists have found the gene that determines skin colour.

The gene comes in two versions, one of which is found in 99 per cent of Europeans. The other is found in 93 to 100 per cent of Africans, researchers at Pennsylvania State University report in the latest issue of Science.

Scientists have changed the colour of a dark-striped zebrafish to uniform gold by inserting a version of the pigment(色素) gene into a young fish. As with humans, zebrafish skin colour is determined by pigment cells, which contain melanosomes(黑色素). The number, size and darkness of melanosomes per pigment cell determines skin colour.

It appears that, like the golden zebrafish, light-skinned Europeans also have a mutation(变异) in the gene for melanosome production. This results in less pigmented skin.

However, Keith Cheng, leader of the research team, points out that the mutation is different in human and zebrafish genes.

Humans acquired dark skin in Africa about 1.5 million years ago to protect bodies from ultra-violet rays of the sun(太阳光紫外线), which can cause skin cancer.

But when modern humans leave Africa to live in northern latitudes, they need more sunlight on their skin to produce vitamin D. So the related gene changes, according to Cheng.

Asians have the same version of the gene as Africans, so they probably acquired their light skin through the action of some other gene that affects skin colour, said Cheng.

The new discovery could lead to medical treatments for skin cancer. It also could lead to research into ways to change skin colour without damaging it like chemical treatment did on Michael Jackson.

The passage mainly tells us that ________.

    A. scientists have found out that people’s skin colour is determined by the gene

    B. the new discovery could lead to search into ways to change skin colour safely

    C. pop king Michael Jackson often changed his skin colour as he liked

    D. people can not change their skin colour without any pain

The reason why Europeans are light-skinned is probably that ________.

    A. they are born light-skinned people

    B. light-skinned Europeans have mutation in the gen for melanosome production

    C. they have fewer activities outside

    D. they pay much attention to protecting their skin

It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

    A. nowadays people who want to change their skin colour have to suffer a lot from the damage caused by the chemical treatment

    B. Europeans and Africans have the same gene

    C. the new discovery has helped to find medical treatments for skin cancer

    D. there are two kinds of genes

The writer’s attitude towards the discovery is ________.

A. neutral                          B. negative                   C. positive                    D. indifferent

Can people change their skin color without suffering like pop king Michael Jackson? Perhaps yes. Scientists have found the gene that determines skin color.
The gene comes in two versions, one of which is found in 99 per cent of Europeans. The other is found in 93 to 100 per cent of Africans, researchers at Pennsylvania State University report in the latest issue of Science.
Scientists have changed the color of a dark-striped zebrafish（斑马鱼） to uniform gold by inserting a version of the pigment (色素) gene into a young fish. As with humans, zebrafish skin color is determined by pigment cells, which contain melanin (黑色素). The number, size and darkness of melanin per pigment cell determine skin color.
It appears that, like the golden zebrafish, light-skinned Europeans also have a mutation (变异) in the gene for melanin production. This results in less pigmented skin.
However, Keith Cheng, leader of the research team, points out that the mutation is different in human and zebrafish genes.
Humans acquired dark skin in Africa about 1.5 million years ago to protect bodies from ultra-violet rays of the sun (太阳光紫外线), which can cause skin cancer.
But when modern humans leave Africa to live in northern latitudes, they need more sunlight on their skin to produce vitamin D. So the related gene changes, according to Cheng.
Asians have the same version of the gene as Africans, so they probably acquired their light skin through the action of some other gene that affects skin color, said Cheng.
The new discovery could lead to medical treatments for skin cancer. It also could lead to research into ways to change skin color without damaging it like chemical treatment did on Michael Jackson.
【小题1】 The passage mainly tells us that ________.

A German study suggests that people who were too optimistic about their future actually faced greater risk of disability or death within 10 years than those pessimists who expected their future to be worse.

The paper, published this March in Psychology and Aging, examined health and welfare surveys from roughly 40,000 Germans between ages 18 and 96. The surveys were conducted every year from 1993 to 2003.

Survey respondents (受访者) were asked to estimate their present and future life satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10, among other questions.

The researchers found that young adults (age 18 to 39) routinely overestimated their future life satisfaction, while middle-aged adults (age 40 to 64) more accurately predicted how they would feel in the future. Adults of 65 and older, however, were far more likely to underestimate their future life satisfaction. Not only did they feel more satisfied than they thought they would, the older pessimists seemed to suffer a lower ratio (比率) of disability and death for the study period.

“We observed that being too optimistic in predicting a better future than actually observed was associated with a greater risk of disability and a greater risk of death within the following decade,” wrote Frieder R. Lang, a professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.

Lang and his colleagues believed that people who were pessimistic about their future may be more careful about their actions than people who expected a rosy future.

“Seeing a dark future may encourage positive evaluations of the actual self and may contribute to taking improved precautions (预防措施),” the authors wrote.

Surprisingly, compared with those in poor health or who had low incomes, respondents who enjoyed good health or income were associated with expecting a greater decline. Also, the researchers said that higher income was related to a greater risk of disability.

The authors of the study noted that there were limitations to their conclusions. Illness, medical treatment and personal loss could also have driven health outcomes.

However, the researchers said a pattern was clear. “We found that from early to late adulthood, individuals adapt their expectations of future life satisfaction from optimistic, to accurate, to pessimistic,” the authors concluded.

1.According to the study, who made the most accurate prediction of their future life satisfaction?

A．Optimistic adults.                       B．Middle-aged adults.

C．Adults in poor health.                    D．Adults of lower income.

2.Pessimism may be positive in some way because it causes people ______.

A．to fully enjoy their present life

B．to estimate their contribution accurately

C．to take measures against potential risks

D．to value health more highly than wealth

3.How do people of higher income see their future?

A．They will earn less money.

B．They will become pessimistic.

C．They will suffer mental illness.

D．They will have less time to enjoy life.

4. What is the clear conclusion of the study?

A．Pessimism guarantees chances of survival.

B．Good financial condition leads to good health.

C．Medical treatment determines health outcomes.

D．Expectations of future life satisfaction decline with age.