D
At the railway stations all across Britain next week, groups of students will gather with their backpacks to wait for the trains that will carry them home for Christmas. This is a large movement of human beings as before, but with more contradictory traffic flows, so that trains filled with the young pass each other travelling in every direction.
At first, I went home every weekend with my washing, but then those visits became less regular. How did I let my parents know I was coming? They had no phone. Perhaps I wrote to them (“Expect me with dirty shirts this Friday afternoon”), but more likely I didn’t let them know, and just turned up or didn’t turn up, not understanding that my parents’ hopes of seeing me were a greater disappointment of my carelessness than a spoiled tea.
And in all this I suspect I was typical (有代表性的), at least of young men. As for our fathers and mothers, none of them talked of “empty-nest syndrome (综合症)”, even though its possible effect that the main human duty is to protect and feed the young would have suited their generation better than ours. Then, the feeling of loss went without a name. Today, it’s a condition with remedies, which will make parents feel more enjoyable in their life, The Mayo Clinic, for example, suggests you try to maintain regular contact with your children through “visits, phone calls, emails, texts or video chats”. If you feel unhappy, lean on (depend on … for support) loved ones or your mental health providers. Above all, stay positive: “Thinking about the extra time and energy that you might have to devote to your marriage or personal interests after your last child leaves home, it might help you adapt to this major life change.”
What can’t be denied, however, is that children often leave home. In modern societies, this is what they do. Christmas is the very time they can be depended on to return. For the non-religious, that may be this season’s true comfort and significance.
【小题1】The main reason for the busy traffic across Britain next week is that _______.

(D)
At a certain time in our lives we consider every place as the possible site for a house. I have thus searched the country within a dozen miles of where I live. In imagination I have bought all the farms, one after another, and I knew their prices.
The nearest thing that I came to actual ownership was when I bought the Hollowell place. But before the owner completed the sale with me, his wife changed her mind and wished to keep it, and he offered me additional dollars to return the farm to him. However, I let him keep the dollars and sold him the farm for just what I gave for it.
The real attractions of the Hollowell farm to me were its position, being about two miles from the village, half a mile from the nearest neighbor, bounded(相邻) on one side by the river, and separated from the highway by a wide field. The poor condition of the house and fences showed that it hadn’t been used for some time. I remembered from my earliest trip up the river that the house used to be hidden behind a forest area, and I was in a hurry to buy it before the owner finished getting out some rocks, cutting down the apple trees, and clearing away some young trees which had grown up in the fields. I wanted to buy it before he made any more of his improvements. But it turned out as I have said.
I was not really troubled by the loss. I had always had a garden, but I don’t think I was ready for a large farm. I believe that as long as possible it is better to live free and uncommitted(无牵无挂). It makes but little difference whether you own a farm or not.
57.What do we know about the author?
A. He wanted to buy the oldest farm near where he lived.
B. He made a study of many farms before buying.
C. He made money by buying and selling farms.
D. He had the money to buy the best farm in the country.
58.Why did the author want to buy the farm in a hurry?
A. He was afraid the owner might change his mind.
B. He hoped to enlarge the forest on the farm.
C. He wanted to keep the farm as it was.
D. He was eager to become a farm owner.
59.The underlined words “the loss” in the last paragraph refer to _____?
A. the money the author lost in buying the farm
B. the sale of the garden in the Hollowell place
C. the removal of the trees around the house
D. the failure to possess the Hollowell place
60.What does the author believe as important in life?
A. To own a farm               B. To satisfy his needs
C. To be free from worries.       D. To live in the countryside.

D
At age 61, identical twins Jeanne and Susan no longer look exactly alike. Susan smoked for many years and is an admitted sun worshipper, whose habits Jeanne does not share. A new study of twins suggests you can blame those coarse(粗糙的)wrinkles, brown or pink spots on too much time in the sun, smoking, and being overweight.
Because twins share genes, but may have different exposures to environmental factors studying twins allows an “opportunity to control for genetic susceptibility(易受影响性),” Dr. Elma D. Baron, at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, and his colleagues explain in the latest issue of Archives of Dermatology.
Their analysis of environmental skin-damaging factors in 65 pairs of twins hints that skin aging is related more to environment and lifestyle than genetic factors.
But when it comes to skin cancer, the researchers say their findings support previous reports that both environment and genes affect skin cancer risk.
Baron’s team examined facial skin of 130 twins, 18 to 77 years old, who lived mostly in the northem Midwest and Eastern regions of the US, who were attending the Twins Days Festival in Ohio in August 2002. At this time, each of the twins also separately reported how their skin burned or tanned(晒黑)without sunscreen, their weight, and their history of skin cancer, smoking, and alcohol drinking. The study group consisted of 52 fraternal(异卵双生)and 10 identical twin pairs, plus 3 pairs who were unsure of their twin status.
From these data, the researchers noted strong ties, outside of twin status, between smoking, older age, and being overweight, and having facial skin with evidence of environmental damage. By contrast, sunscreen use and drinking alcohol appeared related to less skin damage.
Baron and his colleagues say the current findings, which highlight ties between facial aging and potentially avoidable environmental factors—such as smoking, being overweight, and unprotected overexposure to the sun’s damaging rays—may help motivate people to minimize these risky behaviors.
67．Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A．Jeanne and Susan share all the habits including smoking.
B．Skin aging is related more to environment and lifestyle than genetic factors.
C．Only identical twins can take part in the research.
D．Sunscreen use cannot help people have less skin damage.
68．Why did Baron’s team do the research on twins?
A．Twins are more likely to suffer from skin cancer.
B．It may guarantee the research is not influenced by genetic factors.
C．It gives others an opportunity to control twins’ genes.
D．It helps find twins are exposed to different environments.
69．What can you infer from the last paragraph?
A．This research makes people aware of dangerous lifestyles.
B．The environmental factors are unavoidable.
C．Being exposed to the sun is absolutely damaging.
D．There is little relationship between skin aging and environment.
70．The passage is mainly concerned with___________
A．skin cancer and environment
B．identical twins research
C．aging skin and environmental factors
D．genes and lifestyles

D

At the railway stations all across Britain next week, groups of students will gather with their backpacks to wait for the trains that will carry them home for Christmas. This is a large movement of human beings as before, but with more contradictory traffic flows, so that trains filled with the young pass each other travelling in every direction.

At first, I went home every weekend with my washing, but then those visits became less regular. How did I let my parents know I was coming? They had no phone. Perhaps I wrote to them (“Expect me with dirty shirts this Friday afternoon”), but more likely I didn’t let them know, and just turned up or didn’t turn up, not understanding that my parents’ hopes of seeing me were a greater disappointment of my carelessness than a spoiled tea.

And in all this I suspect I was typical (有代表性的), at least of young men. As for our fathers and mothers, none of them talked of “empty-nest syndrome (综合症)”, even though its possible effect that the main human duty is to protect and feed the young would have suited their generation better than ours. Then, the feeling of loss went without a name. Today, it’s a condition with remedies, which will make parents feel more enjoyable in their life, The Mayo Clinic, for example, suggests you try to maintain regular contact with your children through “visits, phone calls, emails, texts or video chats”. If you feel unhappy, lean on (depend on … for support) loved ones or your mental health providers. Above all, stay positive: “Thinking about the extra time and energy that you might have to devote to your marriage or personal interests after your last child leaves home, it might help you adapt to this major life change.”

What can’t be denied, however, is that children often leave home. In modern societies, this is what they do. Christmas is the very time they can be depended on to return. For the non-religious, that may be this season’s true comfort and significance.

1.The main reason for the busy traffic across Britain next week is that _______.

A．young students will travel home for Christmas.

B．young people will travel in every direction.

C．it is a large movement of human beings

D．the traffic flows will be more contradictory

2.From the second paragraph we can learn that the writer _______.

A．went home every week to wash dirty clothes

B．understood his parents’ desire of seeing him

C．didn’t understand his parents’ feelings

D．went home to see his parents regularly

3.The underlined word “remedies” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to _______.

A．reasons           B．excuses           C．habits            D．solutions

4.From the last paragraph we know that _______.

A．in modern society, children should leave home

B．Christmas is likely a time for family reunion

C．the significance of Christmas is celebration

D．Christmas is not a comfort for the non-religious

5.From the passage we can infer that by writing the article the writer is to _______.

A．persuade the young to show concern for their parents

B．ask the young to go home regularly

C．make the young understand their parents’ interest

D．enable the young to be more independent

B

By now there were several people standing around me, my mom, and the little broken bush(灌木丛).

“Son, would you like me to call an ambulance?” some men said.

“No,” my mom yelled. “I’m fine. Please go away!”

“She’s learning to ride,” I tried to explain to all those who were not going to go away.

“Oh, all right!” My mom sat up and brushed the grass and leaves off her sweater. Finally she stood up. Everyone began to clap(鼓掌), and my mom’s face turned bright pink.

“Thank you very much, but as you can see, I’m just fine.” Mom took a few steps around to show them that she wasn’t hiding a broken leg. Everyone clapped again and then went on their way.

“Enough for today?” I asked hopefully.

“No,” she said in a way that surprised me. “I almost had it, and then I let myself get scared. I know I can do it this time!” Now this sounded more like my mom, for I’d never known my mom to be afraid of anything before. I helped her pull the bike out of the bush and push it up the hill.

She didn’t look quite so pale this time. She got on the bike again and went down the hill. I ran down the hill after her. She had ridden quite a way ahead of me when she looked back over her shoulder, smiling. Then she gave me a thumbs-up(翘拇指) sign.

“No, no!” I yelled. “Use both hands!”

But it was too late. Again.

“Mom! Are you hurt?” I ran up to her in the grass.

This time she was laughing. “Did you see me? I did it! I really did it!” Then she stopped and looked at me. “I mean,” she said, “we did it.”

60. From the passage we can learn that the author ____.

A. was helping his mother learn to ride a bike   

B. went on a picnic with his mother by bike

C. was learning to ride a bike by himself           

D. could ride a bike as well as his mother could

61. Those people were not going to go away because they ____.

A. would wait until the police came                  

B. wanted to see if the author’s mother was OK

C. thought it was a terrible traffic accident

D. worried about the little broken bush

62. The underlined word “it” (in paragraph 8) most probably refers to ____.

A. the ambulance   B. the sweater    

C. the skill of riding a bike   D. the courage to stand up

63. What happened after the author’s mother gave him a thumbs-up sign?

A. She forgot how to ride a bike.               B. She broke one of her legs.

C. She was hit by something.                     D. She fell off the bike.