Angels

My friend Heather mentioned that she had never seen an Angel. Then I remembered the  36   I had with my sister Sandra earlier this week.

This will be Sandra’s first Christmas without her husband. This summer he died in her arms. On Thursday, she was in the store 　37　 for an ideal card for her two sons and daughter. Time passed by quickly as she 　38   the many choices. She wanted a card that sent something special to each of them, 　39  she knew they would have a(n) 　40  place in their heart this holiday season.

Finally! She found the one that expressed the 　41  feeling. The words expressed the feelings that she wished to share. However, a sharp pain pierced(穿透) her heart when she realized that the card was 　42  “mom and dad.” She stood there, 　43  it close for a long time, unable to move from the 　44  . Tears began to run down her cheeks.

“Is there something I can do for you?” a 　45  voice asked. She 　46  to face a stranger, a woman, who was looking at her with 　47  and concern. “Uh…oh...OH!” Sandra responded, “I can’t give this card to my children because…because my husband died and this is the 　48  card.”

Hearing this, the stranger’s face softened with sympathy(同情) and love. She reached out and 　49  my sister into her arms, giving her unspoken permission to cry in the protection of her embrace(拥抱). She 　50  held my sister until her calmness 　51  . “Thank you for listening to me cry on,” was what my sister said when all was better. “You are welcome, and I am so sorry for your 　52  ,” the stranger answered and said goodbye to her.

During her telling of this event I was feeling 　53  that I hadn’t been there. My sister needed me and a stranger had to do my 　54  .  “You know,” she went on, “a friend suggested that it was like meeting with an Angel.” My 　55  disappeared in an instant. My sister required an Angel, and I think that is exactly what she got.

When we talk about a bad man, we like to call him a “wolf”.But is it really true that the wolf stands for devil and ugliness.?

Have you read the book “The Wolf Totem” by a famous writer Jiang Rong, which tells the story of the relationship between wolves and human beings? Have you ever ?　36　? the wolves' world? If you had, you would ?　37　? the wolves.?

In the book, wolves are heroes on the large grassland. They know more about ?　38　? than humans. They can attack lambs without disturbing their mothers. They also know how to ?　39　? full use of the shape of land to ?　40　? sheep. I believe that if wolves were humans, they would be ?　41　? experts good at fighting.?

The wolf is a kind of special creature that can deeply understand ?　42　?.Each wolf serves its group with its heart and soul. A ?　43　? wolf has little power, but a pack of wolves ?　44　? nothing. All the wolves obey the rules.?　45　? they are defeated, they run away together. It is their teamwork ?　46　? makes wolves powerful.?

The wolves also have great self?respect and won't ?　47　? to anyone. The writer, who wrote the book “The Wolf Totem”,?　48　? stole a one-month-old baby wolf and raised it very carefully. To his ?　49　?,he found the little wolf still wanted to go back with ?　50　? wolves. He bit through the iron chain that limited him. The wolf was ?　51　? and he never gave in, fighting ?　52　? his death. The little wolf died as a glorious fighter.?

I was shocked by this kind of ?　53　?:wolves are one of the most respected creatures on earth. I want everyone to look at wolves in a ?　54　? way. They are our teachers. They show us how to survive and ?　55　? in this not simple and dangerous world. Please honor the wolves, please honor all these heroes of nature!

36. A. thought about      B. walked into       C. talked about       D. cared for?

37. A. hunt     B. admire       C. draw   D. watch

38. A. space    B. spot    C. food   D. survival?

39. A. get       B. take    C. Have   D. make?

40. A. fight    B. avoid  C. Trap   D. discover?

41. A. special  B. imaginative       C. Outstanding       D. creative?

42. A. operation     B. teamwork   C. lifestyle      D. control

43. A. single   B. brave  C. lonely D. fair?

44. A. fight    B. struggle      C. fear    D. fail

45. A. As for  B. As though  C. Even so      D. Even if?

46. A. what    B. he       C. That    D. one?

47. A. turn in  B. give in       C. take in       D. break in?

48. A. once     B. just     C. Soon   D. only?

49. A. satisfaction  B. disappointment  C. pleasure     D. sorrow

50. A. rest      B. others C. Another     D. the other

51. A. proud   B. satisfied     C. Willing      D. eager

52. A. until     B. although     C. before D. unless

53. A. selflessness  B. self-confidence  C. self-respect D. self-protection

54. A. curious B. different     C. strange       D. humorous?

55. A. walk    B. hand   C. get      D. succeed

LONDON----Here’s a new warning from health experts: Sitting is deadly.

     Scientists are increasingly warning that sitting for prolonged periods — even if you also exercise regularly — could be bad for your health. And it doesn’t matter where the sitting takes place — at the office, at school, in the car or before a computer or TV — just the overall number of hours it occurs. Several studies suggest people who spend most of their days sitting are more likely to be fat, have a heart attack or even die.

　　In an editorial published this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Elin EkblomBak of the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences suggested that authorities rethink how they define physical activity to highlight the dangers of sitting.

　　While health officials have issued guidelines recommending minimum amounts of physical activity, they haven’t suggested people try to limit how much time they spend in a seated position.

　　"After four hours of sitting, the body starts to send harmful signals," Ekblom-Bak said. She explained that genes regulating(调节) the amount of glucose（葡萄糖） and fat in the body start to shut down.

　　Even for people who exercise, spending long periods of time sitting at a desk is still harmful. Tim Armstrong, a physical activity expert at the World Health Organization, said people who exercise every day — but still spend a lot of time sitting — might get more benefit if that exercise were spread across the day, rather than in a single bout.（一回）

　　Still, in a study published last year that tracked more than 17,000 Canadians for about a dozen years, researchers found people who sat more had a higher death risk, independently of whether or not they exercised.

　　"We don’t have enough evidence yet to say how much sitting is bad," said Peter Katzmarzyk of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, who led the Canadian study. "But it seems the more you can get up and interrupt this sedentary behavior, the better."

　　Figures from a U.S. survey in 2003-2004 found Americans spend more than half their time sitting, from working at their desks to sitting in cars.

　　Experts said more research is needed to figure out just how much sitting is dangerous, and what might be possible to offset those effects.

　　"People should keep exercising because that has a lot of benefits," Ekblom-Bak said. "But when they’re in the office, they should try to interrupt sitting as often as possible," she said.

1.What is the best title for the text?

A. Not Sitting Too Much While Working      B. How To Avoid Sitting Too Much

C. Sitting Too Much Could Be Deadly          D. More And More People Sit Too Much

2.According to the research,______________.

A. the more time you spend in exercising in a single bout, the healthier you will be.

B. those who often sit too much are sure to grow fat or suffer from a heart attack.

C. regular exercise is effective to get rid of the side effect of sitting too much.

D. you had better not sit for more than four hours in a single bout.

3.How does the danger of sitting too much affect the human body?

A. It results in a higher death risk.

B. It increases glucose and fat in the body.

C. It makes a person unable to exercise long enough in a day.

D. It causes the gene to fail to balance the glucose and fat in the body.

4.In the opinion of Ekblom-Bak, you’d better have a rest in the office by________.

A. sending your friends e-mails           

B. having a walk around your office

C. chatting online or playing computer games 

D. listening to music with your head on the desk.

Every pet owner loves his pet. There is no argument here.

　　But when we asked our readers whether they would clone their beloved animals, the responses were split almost down the middle. Of the 228 readers who answered it, 108 would clone, 111 would not and nine weighed each side without offering an opinion.

　　Clearly, from readers’ response, this is an issue that reaches deeply into both the joy and eventual sadness of owning a pet. It speaks, as well, to people’s widely differing expectations over the developing scientific procedure.

　　Most of the respondents who favored the idea strongly believed it would produce at least a close copy of the original; many felt the process would actually return an exact copy. Those on the other side, however, held little hope a clone could never truly recreate a pet, many simply didn’t wish to go against the natural law of life and death.

　　Both sides expressed equal love for their animals. More than a few respondents owned “the best dog/cat in the world”. They thought of their pets as their “best friend”, “a member of the family,” “the light of my life.” They told moving stories of pets’ heroism, intelligence and selfless devotion.

　　Little wonders the loss is so disturbing—and the cloning so attractive. “People become very close to their animals, and the loss can be just as hard to bear as when a friend or family member dies,” says Gary Kowalski, author of Goodbye, Friend: Healing Wisdom for Anyone Who Has Ever Lost a Pet. “For me, cloning feels like an attempt to turn death away…It’s understandable. Death is always painful. It’s difficult to deal with. It’s hard to accept.”

 　But would cloning reduce the blow? This question seemed to be at the heart of this problem.

So far as the cloning of pets is concerned, a recent survey shows that, of all pet owners, __________.

A. a lot more of them are for it

B. a lot more of them are against it

C. very few of them are willing to tell their opinions

D. about half of them are for it and the other half against it

While talking about the respondents from the readers, the expression “eventual sadness of owning a pet” refers to _________.

A. the death of one’s pet

B. the high cost of owning a pet

C. the troubles one has to deal with in keeping a pet

D. the dangers involved in the cloning of a pet

In spite of their differences on the problem of cloning, it seems that ________.

A. all pet owners try to go against the natural law of life and death

B. all pet owners love their pets very much

C. people who support cloning love their pets more

D. people who dislike cloning love their pets more

From what Gary Kowalski says, we can know that he _________.

A. has never thought about the problem of cloning

B. is going to write another book on pets

C. is in favor of the idea of cloning pets

D. is all against the cloning of pets

What is the key question at the heart of the problem of cloning pets?

A. Can pet owners afford the cost of cloning?

B. Can cloning make the pain one suffers less when a pet dies?

C. Does cloning go against the law of nature?

D. How reliably does cloning produce an exact copy of one’s pet?

Angels

My friend Heather mentioned that she had never seen an Angel. Then I remembered the 36  I had with my sister Sandra earlier this week.

This will be Sandra’s first Christmas without her husband. This summer he died in her arms. On Thursday, she was in the store 　37　 for an ideal card for her two sons and daughter. Time passed by quickly as she 　38  the many choices. She wanted a card that sent something special to each of them, 　39  she knew they would have a(n) 　40  place in their heart this holiday season.

Finally! She found the one that expressed the 　41 feeling. The words expressed the feelings that she wished to share. However, a sharp pain pierced(穿透) her heart when she realized that the card was 　42 “mom and dad.” She stood there, 　43  it close for a long time, unable to move from the 　44  . Tears began to run down her cheeks.

“Is there something I can do for you?” a 　45  voice asked. She 　46  to face a stranger, a woman, who was looking at her with 　47  and concern. “Uh…oh...OH!” Sandra responded, “I can’t give this card to my children because…because my husband died and this is the 　48  card.”

Hearing this, the stranger’s face softened with sympathy(同情) and love. She reached out and　49  my sister into her arms, giving her unspoken permission to cry in the protection of her embrace(拥抱). She 　50  held my sister until her calmness　51  . “Thank you for listening to me cry on,” was what my sister said when all was better. “You are welcome, and I am so sorry for your 　52 ,” the stranger answered and said goodbye to her.

During her telling of this event I was feeling 　53  that I hadn’t been there. My sister needed me and a stranger had to do my 　54  .  “You know,” she went on, “a friend suggested that it was like meeting with an Angel.” My 　55  disappeared in an instant. My sister required an Angel, and I think that is exactly what she got.