Millions of youngsters across Europe could suffer permanent hearing loss after five years if they listen to MP3 players at too high a volume for more than five hours a week, EU scientists warned.

The scientists’ study, requested by the European Commission, attacked the concept of “leisure noise,” saying children and teenagers should be protected from increasingly high sound levels---with loud mobile phones also coming in for criticism（批评）.

“There has been increasing concern about exposure from the new generation of personal music players which can reproduce sounds at very high volumes without loss of quality,” the Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said in a statement.

“Risk for hearing damage depends on sound level and exposure time,” it said. More and more young people were exposed to the great threat(威胁)that leisure noise posed to hearing, it said.

Commission experts said that between 50 and 100 million people listen to portable music players on a daily basis.

If they listened for only five hours a week at more than 89 decibels(分贝), they would already be beyond   EU limits for noise allowed in the workplace, they said. But if they listened for longer periods, they risked permanent hearing loss after five years.

The scientists calculated the number of people in that risk category at between five and 10 percent of listeners, meaning up to 10 million people in the European Union.

Sales of personal music players have soared in EU countries in recent years, particularly of MP3 players.

"I am worried that so many young people ... who are frequent users of personal music players and mobile phones at high acoustic levels, may be unknowingly damaging their hearing ," she said in the statement.

1.Which of the following can be the best title of the article?

A. Youngsters across Europe: suffer permanent hearing loss.

B. MP3 players: sell best but do harm to youngsters

C. The scientists’ study: requested by the EU

D. EU warns youth: turn your MP3 players down!

2. This passage is most likely to be taken from a _________.

A. textbook                                  B. medical report

C. teen magazine                            D. governmental newspaper

3.The underlined part in the forth paragraph most probably means________.

A. were uncovered                     B. felt                   C. realized           D. were faced with

4.From the passage we know that________.

A. besides the high sound levels, scientists also criticized loud mobile phones.

B. if one listened for 5 hours more a week at 100 decibels, he would risk permanent hearing loss.

C. it is only the level of the sound that can do damage to hearing.

D. the scientists said there were 5-10 percent of MP3 listeners risking hearing loss around the world.

Down on the beach of Dover, 56-year-old Channel swimmer Jackie Cobell bravely set off for Calais. The time was 6:40 am. 28 hours and 44 minutes later the exhausted, successful mother from Kent crawled (爬行) to the shore and walked proudly into the record books. After five years in training, Mrs Cobell became the slowest person to cross the Channel under her own steam. The previous record for the slowest crossing, set by Henry Sullivan at 26 hours and 50 minutes, has stood for 87 years before Mrs Cobell started at Dover Saturday morning.
She had struggled through changing tides that swept her first one way, then the other. It turned the 21-mile crossing into a 65-mile one. She declared, “Time and tide wait for no man—and they certainly didn’t wait for me. I was fully expecting it to get dark before I got to Calais but I never imagined I’d also see the dawn again. But I wasn’t going to give up.”
Her feat(壮举) raised more than $2,000 in charity sponsorship for research into Huntingdon’s disease, a sum that was continuing to grow as news of her achievement spread. That was why she did it. “I don’t really know myself,” she said. “ I just kept thinking of all the people I’d be letting down if I stopped.”
Mrs Cobell took to the water so well at school. But after bringing up two daughters, she started to gain weight. Five years ago she took up swimming again and decided to prepare for the Channel challenge to lose weight. She became much fitter. Then came the big swim. “I practiced on Windermere lake,” she said. “it’s about half the distance of the Channel so I just doubled it, added some extra time, and worked out I could probably get to Calais in about 16 hours.”
Her husband David, trainer, official observer and friend sailed alongside her on a boat. She said, “I sang to keep myself going. When they told me I was a record breaker I thought they were just having a joke—until I realized it was the record for the slowest crossing. But maybe next time I might be a bit quicker.”
【小题1】According to Paragraph 1, Mrs Cobell_____________.

After five years of preparation，Shanghai presented the world ______ many said was the greatest Special Olympics.

A．when  B．what  C．where  D．which

After five hours’ drive, they reached ______ they thought was the place they’d been dreaming of.

A. that               B. where               C. which                 D. what

.

After five years of preparation，Shanghai presented the world________many said was the

greatest Special Olympics．