“In only six days I lost seven pounds of weight.”
“Two full inches in the first three days!”
These are the kinds of statements used in magazine，newspaper, radio and television ads, promising new shapes and new looks to those who buy the medicine or the device. The promoters of products say they can shape the legs, slim the face, smooth wrinkles, or in some other way to add to beauty or desirability.
Often such products are nothing more than money-making things for their promoters. The results they produce are questionable, and some are dangerous to health.
To understand how these products can be legally promoted to the public, it is necessary to understand something of the laws covering their regulation. If the product is a drug, FDA(Food and Drug Administration)can require proof under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that is safe and effective before it is put on the market. But if the product is a device, FDA has no authority to require premarketing proof of safety or effectiveness. If a product already on the market is a danger to health, FDA can request the producer or distributor to remove it from the market voluntarily, or it can take legal action, including seizure(查封)of the product.
One notable case a few years ago involved an electrical device called the Relaxacisor, which had been sold for reducing the waistline. The Relaxacisor produced electrical shocks to the body through contact pads. FDA took legal action against the distributor to stop the sale of the device on the grounds that it was dangerous to health and life.
Obviously, most of the devices on the market have never been the subject of court proceedings(法律诉讼)，and new devices appear continually. Before buying, it is up to the consumer to judge the safety or effectiveness of such items.
【小题1】It can be inferred that the ads mentioned in the text are            .        .

People with disabilities make up a large part of the population. It is estimated（估计） that over 35 million Americans have physical, mental, or other disabilities. About half of these disabilities are “developmental", i.e., they occur before the individual's twenty-second birthday, often from genetic conditions, and are severe enough to affect three or more areas of development, such as mobility, communication, employment, etc. Most other disabilities are considered “adventitious", i.e., accidental or caused by outside forces.
Prior to the 20th century, only a small percentage of people with disabilities survived for long. Medical treatment for these disabilities was unavailable. Advancements in medicine and social services have created a climate in which people with disabilities can expect to have such basic needs as food, shelter, and medical treatment. Unfortunately, these basics are often not available. Civil liberties such as the right to vote, marry, get an education, and gain employment have historically been denied on the basis of disability.
In recent decades, the disability rights movement has been organized to fight against these infringements（违反；侵犯）of civil rights. Congress responded by passing major legislation recognizing people with disabilities as a protected class under civil rights statutes.
Still today, people with disabilities must fight to live their lives independently. It is estimated that more than half of qualified Americans with disabilities are unemployed, and a majority of those who do work are underemployed. About two-thirds live at or below the official poverty level.
Significant barriers, especially in transportation and public awareness, prevent disabled people from taking part in society. For example, while no longer prohibited by law from marrying, a person with no access to transportation is effectively excluded from community and social activities which might lead to the development of long-term relationships.
Only when public attitudes advance as far as laws have will disabled people be fully able to take their rightful place in society.
【小题1】A “developmental" disability ______.

High school dropouts（辍学者）earn an average of $ 9,000 less per year than graduates. Now a new study dispels a common belief why they quit. It’s much more basic than flunking out（不及格）.

Society tends to think of high school dropouts as kids who just can’t cut it. They are lazy，and perhaps not two bright．So researchers were surprised when they asked more than 450 kids who quit school about why they left.

“The vast majority actually had passing grades and they were confident that they could have graduated from high school.” John Bridgeland, the executive researcher said. About 1 million teens leave school each year. Only about half of African-American and Hispanic（美籍西班牙的）students will receive a diploma（证书），and actually all dropouts come to regret their decision. So, if failing grades don’t explain why these kids quit, what does? Again，John Bridgeland："The most dependable finding was that they were bored.” “They found classes uninteresting; they weren’t inspired or motivated. They didn’t see any direct connection between what they were learning in the classroom to their own lives, or to their career aspirations.”

The study found that most teens who do drop out wait until they turn sixteen, which happens to be the age at which most states allow students to quit. In the US，only one state，New Mexico，has a law requiring teenagers to stay in high school until they graduate. Only four states: California, Tennessee, Texas and Utah, plus the District of Columbia, require school attendance until age 18, no exceptions, another researcher，says raising the compulsory attendance age may be one way to keep more kids in school．

“As these dropouts look back，they realize they’ve made a mistake. And anything that sort of gives these people an extra push to stick it out and it through to the end, is probably helpful measure.”

New Hampshire may be the next state to raise its school attendance age to 18. But critics say that forcing the students unwilling to continue their studies to stay in school misses the point－the need for reform. It's been called for to reinvent high school education to make it more challenging and relevant, and to ensure that kids who do stick it out receive a diploma that actually means something. 　

68. Most high school students drop out of school because          .

A. they have failing grades     

B. they take no interest in classes

C. they are discriminated against    

D. they are lazy and not intelligent

69. The underlined words “stick it out” probably means“         ”．

A. complete schooling                 B. solve the problem

C. love having classes                         D. believe in themselves

70. In the last paragraph, the writer is trying to          .

A. analyze the reason why students quit school

B. suggest raising the compulsory attendance age

C. raise awareness of reforming high school education

D. wish to make laws to guarantee no education

71. From the passage，we can infer the following EXCEPT that          ．

A. the grades of most dropouts at school were acceptable

B. about 500, 000 high school dropouts are black and Spanish

C. classes don't appeal to dropouts

D. on average dropouts cannot get good jobs

We all think that _____ no need to make laws to prevent the young from

getting married during their college life.

  A. it is B. there has C. it has D. there is

Britain has laws to make sure that women have the same chances as men in education, jobs and training. But it’s still unusual to find women doing dirty or heavy jobs.
Nikki Henriques is a car maintenance engineer in London. She used to be a secretary. Barty Philips, a journalist with “The Observer”, a Sunday newspaper, asked her why she wanted to work with cars.
“My first reason was independence(独立),” she said. “I also wanted to use my hands, and I like learning about how things work. Many people prefer to have a woman repair their cars, too.”
Nikki didn’t find it easy to become a car maintenance engineer. She went to a Government Skill Centre—a special sort of college where people can learn a new job for twenty weeks. “For ten weeks I was the only woman among four hundred men, and some of them were rude to me. It was also very tiring—from 8 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon, with only 30 minutes for lunch.”
Now Nikki works free-lance, that is, she’s self-employed, working for herself and not for a garage or a company.
Barty Phillips also spoke to Rose, who works as a general builder in Sheffield, an industrial town in the north of England. Like Nikki, Rose used to be a secretary. “I didn’t enjoy it at all.” she said. “I wanted to do more practical work, and I wanted to be self-employed.”
Rose joined a women’s building co-operative, and she learnt her job from other people and from experience. However, many of the women in her group have been specially trained. Most of the jobs they do are improvements to buildings and general repairs.
“People often say, ‘Oh, women aren’t strong enough,’ but I don’t think strength is important.” said Rose, “The important thing is to get used to doing a different sort of work.”
Rose would like more women to come into the building industry. “Everything built at the moment is a product of man’s world. If women become builders, they will be able to understand the production of their house and their towns.”
【小题1】There are laws in Britain to help women _____.