Being sociable looks like a good way to add years to your life. Relationships with family, friends, neighbours, even pets, will all do the trick, but the biggest longevity (长寿) boost seems to come from marriage or an equivalent relationship. The effect was first noted in 1858 by William Farr, who wrote that widows (寡妇)and widowers  were at a much higher risk of dying than their married peers. Studies since then suggest that marriage could add as much as seven years to a man’s life and two to a woman’s. The effect holds for all causes of death, whether illness, accident or self-harm.
　　Even if the odds are stacked against you, marriage can more than compensate. Linda Waite of the University of Chicago has found that a married older man with heart disease can expect to live nearly four years longer than an unmarried man with a healthy heart. Likewise, a married man who smokes more than a pack a day is likely to live as long as a divorced man who doesn’t smoke. There’s a flip side, however, as partners are more likely to become ill or die in the couple of years following their spouse’s death, and caring for a spouse with mental disorder can leave you with some of the same severe problems. Even so, the odds favour marriage. In a 30-year study of more than 10,000 people, Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School describes how all kinds of social networks have similar effects.
　　So how does it work? The effects are complex, affected by socio-economic factors, health-service provision, emotional support and other more physiological (生理的) mechanisms. For example, social contact can boost development of the brain and immune system, leading to better health and less chance of depression later in life. People in supportive relationships may handle stress better. Then there are the psychological benefits of a supportive partner.
　　A life partner, children and good friends are all recommended if you aim to live to 100. The ultimate social network is still being mapped out, but Christakis says: “People are interconnected, so their health is interconnected.”
【小题1】William Farr’s study and other studies show that _________.

In the past ten years, America’s National Basketball Association (NBA) has grown increasingly dependent on the rest of the world to supply players.

    When Michael Jordan and Larry Bird won gold in Barcelona in 1992, the Americans were praised for teaching the world how to play basketball. This season, however, 20 percent of NBA rosters^① will be filled by non-Americans. NBA commissioner David Stem happily embraces the trend. On a visit to Paris in October, Stern outlined his vision for the future, which is likely to see Europe hosting NBA games by 2010.

    The NBA is now planning to take China by storm.

    “Our experience in China has been that it is going to be explosive in its growth,” said Stern. The strategy^② in China is television. “We’ve made 14 deals in China with local and national networks on cable and satellite.” The success of Chinese centre Yao Ming has paved the way for the NBA marketing blitz in China. The NBA, which is broadcasted in more than 200 countries in 42 languages, will put that to the test in October 2004 when the Houston Rockets play two pre-season games against the Sacramento Kings in Beijing and Shanghai. The NBA knows that it needs a global market to compensate for tough times on home soil.

“It doesn’t matter where the players come from, all the NBA teams now know that they have to scout^③ internationally,” said Terry Lyons, the NBA’s vice-president of international public relations. “It has increased the level of competition here.” As Frenchman Tony Parker and Argentine Emanuel Ginobili showed in winning championship rings with the San Antonio Spurs last season, many people can earn the respect of their American peers. Others, such as the Houston Rockets’ Chinese centre Yao Ming — number one draft pick in 2002 — and the Detroit Pistons’ 18-year-old Serb Darko Milicic — number two overall in this year’s draft — are icons^④in-waiting. It is the ultimate^⑤ revolution — the rest of the world teaching the US how to play basketball.

Notes:

roster  n. 花名册

strategy  n. 战略，策略

scout  vt. 寻找，觅得

icon  n. 偶像

ultimate  adj. 最后的，根本的

Choose the best answers according to the above:

According to the report,       ___.

A. Michael Jordan is still playing a very important role in NBA

B. the part played by the foreign players in NBA will be great

C. Yao Ming is to play two pre-season games in NBA

D. European countries will host the 2004 NBA games

The underlined phrase “take China by storm” has the meaning of       ___.

A. NBA intends to make China its “marketing center”

B. NBA is planning to set up some training centers in China

C. there’ll be a big storm when NBA comes to China to play against the Sacramento Kings

D. the NBA’s live basket games will be broadcasted on all the TVs in China

. What seems to be the biggest change that is happening to NBA?

A. NBA is expecting more foreign players to join the league.

B. China’s rapid development in sports affects NBA.

C. Yao Ming has taken the place of Michael Jordan.

D. The NBA will stop teaching the world how to play basketball.

When the writer talked of “home soil”, he was referring to        __.

A. farms in the States             B. native Americans 

C. the NBA training center         D. the USA

Which of the following can be used as the best title for the passage?

A. The Non-American Basketball Players    B. NBA Is Coming to China

C. The Foreign Ties That Bind the NBA      D. NBA Is Making Big Progress

China is going green．In order to reduce air pollution and oil shortages, carmakers have announced their plans to develop hybrid vehicles (混合燃料汽车) for the Chinese market．Toyota’s hybrid car Prius will be ready to drive in China this week．Let’s have a look at the new car．
Any vehicle is a hybrid run on a rechargeable battery and gas．Hybrid cars have special engines, which are smaller than traditional gas engines．The gasoline engine provides 99 percent of the power when the car is going at a steady speed. A specially designed battery motor provides extra power for running up hills or when it needs to speed up．
Step into a Prius, and turn on the engine．The first thing you notice is that it is quieter than a traditional car．At this point, the car’s gas engine is at rest．The electric motor will provide power until the car reaches about 24km/h．If you stay at a low speed, you are effectively driving an electric car, with no gas being used, and no waste gas given off．
The computer decides when to use the gas engine, when to go electric, and when to use a combination of the two．If you go over 24km/h, when you step on the gas pedal (油门), you are telling the computer how fast you want to go．
The electric motor recharges automatically using a set of batteries．And when driving at a high speed, the gas engine not only powers the car but also recharges the batteries．When you use the brake, the electric motor in the wheels will work like a generator (发电机) to produce electricity to recharge the batteries．As a result, the car’s batteries will last for around 200,000 miles．
66．The underlined sentence probably means ________.
A．there will be more and more green land in China  
B．China’s new cars are combinations of different green models
C．China is still young and lacking in experience
D．the environment is getting better in China
67. What is the most important feature of hybrid cars?
A. They are powered by both a rechargeable battery and gas.
B. They have smaller engines than traditional gas ones.
C. They only use 99 percent of their power to run up hill.
D. They are much quieter than traditional cars.
68. We can know from the story that ________.
A. the gas engine recharges the batteries as well as powering the car
B. using the brake suggests that the gas engine should work
C. the car’s batteries will last for around 200,000 miles without being recharged
D. the batteries can be recharged at any time you want
69. The author writes the passage mainly to________.
A. announce plans to develop hybrid vehicles for the Chinese market
B. let people know how to save their gas when driving a car
C. teach people how to drive a hybrid car
D. introduce a new kind of “green” car
70．Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the text?
A．The hybrid car is environmentally friendly．
B．The hybrid car is unable to get itself recharged．
C．The hybrid car has been made in mass．
D．The hybrid car can decide what power to use

There are numerous similarities between Muhammad Ali and his 23-year-old daughter Laila. She is the only one of his nine sons and daughters to have those genes that led to the ring(拳击场). Her father’s great status had nothing to do with Laila’s decision to pursue a boxing career. She has always been proud of his achievements, but he was never a great man to her—just dad. [来源:学科网ZXXK]
What attracted her to take up boxing was the unusual sight of two women in the ring on the television screen when she was about to watch a Mike Tyson fight five years ago. She was very excited and said to herself, “I can do that. ”
Laila’s father would prefer her not to take up the dangerous sport. Johnny McClain, her husband and manager (former boxer himself) feels the same way. Even though both the men in her life worry about her, they’re 100 percent supportive. “They don’t want me to get hurt, ” she says.
Long before entering the ring, Laila was a fighter. Being the daughter of an outstanding boxer made her an easy target for high school kids to see how tough she was. They, not she, failed in the test. For the public, her biggest test took place last summer in the New York State when she took on Jacqui Frazier Lyde, the daughter of Joe Frazier, her father’s most famous opponent (对手) during the 1970s.
That fight provided the biggest shot in the arm that women’s boxing has received. News reporters poured in. Some called it “Ali/Frazier－GenerationⅡ”. No match involving women had ever attracted so much attention. Laila had a narrow victory in the fight.
Like it or not, she accepts the fact that she is the face of female boxing. And she hopes that her name and fame will help get the public to take it more seriously.
The name Ali has and always will bring her attention. But she is determined to make her own mark on opponents’ faces as well as in boxing history books. She says, “I want women’s boxing to get its due respect. ” Zxxk
【小题1】Laila took up boxing because of ________.