An Australian researcher is urging parents to load up their teenager’s backpack and make them walk to school.

Professor Leon Straker says students who walk or cycle to school are less likely to have back and neck pain. But the study of 1,202 Western Australian 14­year­old found that 72% of students travelled to school by car or bus. Straker says the study suggests walking or cycling while carrying a schoolbag helps improve trunk (躯干) and spinal (脊柱的) muscle strength.

This helps reduce back pain because greater muscle strength improves support for the back during load carrying .Despite advocating that parents get their children moving，Straker warns bag load should not exceed (超过) 15% of body weight.

Straker says the study also stresses that neck pain is as common as back pain among young teenagers. This is an area that has been largely ignored，he says，but can be an important indicator of neck pain into adulthood.

For the study，students were asked a series of questions such as how long they carried their bags for，how they carried their schoolbags，the method of travel，and their perceptions(感觉) about the bag’s weight.

Straker says about half of all participants experienced back and neck pain，with slightly more females reporting neck pain. However，the gender (性别) difference may also be due to the fact that females have lower pain tolerance.

Studies from the 1980s found carrying a bag over one shoulder was most common among teenagers. However in this study 85% of participants carried their bag over both shoulders.

Straker believes the change has been driven partly through education campaigns，but also by increasing fashion status of backpacks and improved design.

1.In the opinion of Leon Straker，parents should________.

A．reduce the load of their children’s schoolbags

B．put more books in their children’s schoolbags

C．get their children’s schoolbags ready for school

D．ask their children to walk to school carrying schoolbags

2.If a child weighs 40 kilograms，the weight of his schoolbag should be________.

A．no more than 15 kg

B．less than 6 kg

C．as heavy as 9 kg

D．more than 6 kg

3.We can learn from the passage that________.

A．most of the students in Australia walk to school

B．neck pain is uncommon among young teenagers

C．walking while carrying a backpack helps reduce back pain

D．males are more likely to experience back pain than females

4.According to the passage，what change has taken place since the 1980s?

A．How students carry their schoolbags.

B．How heavy students’ schoolbags are.

C．How students go to school every day.

D．How long students carry their schoolbags for.

Communications technologies are far from equal when it comes to conveying the truth．The first study to compare honesty across a range of communication media has found that people are twice as likely to tell lies in phone conversations as they are in emails．The fact that emails are automatically recorded—and can come back to puzzle you---appears to be the key to the finding．
Jeff Hancock of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, asked 30 students to keep a communications diary for a week．In it they noted the number of conversations or email exchanges they had lasting more than 10 minutes, and confessed to how many lies they told．Hancock then worked out the number of lies per conversation for each medium．He found that lies made up 14 per cent of emails, 21 percent of instant messages, 27 per cent of face-to-face interactions and an astonishing 37 percent of phone calls．
His results to be presented at the conference on human-computer interaction in Vienna, Austria, in April, have surprised psychologists．Some expected emailers to be the biggest liars, reasoning that because deception makes people uncomfortable, the indirect contact of emailing would make it easier to lie．Others expected people to lie more in face-to-face exchanges because we are most practiced at that form of communication．
But Hancock says it is also crucial whether a conversation is being recorded and could be reread, and whether it occurs in real time．People appear to be afraid to lie when they know the communication could later be used to hold them to account, he says．This is why fewer lies appear in email than on the phone．
People are also more likely to lie in real time---in an instant message or phone call, say---than if they have time to think of a response, says Hancock．He found many lies are spontaneous（脱口而出） responses to an unexpected demand, such as: “Do you like my dress?”
Hancock hopes his research will help companies work out the best ways for their employees to communicate．For instance, the phone might be the best medium for sales where employees are encouraged to stretch the truth．But, given his result, work assessment where honesty is a priority, might be best done using email．
【小题1】Hancock’s study focuses on _______．

One day, Raul was miles away from the small ranch（牧场） house in a large valley.   36

seemed to be all right, yet he felt strange and somewhat uneasy. The wind had picked up, and angry, dark clouds   37  across the sky. He could smell the rain coming. And it did.  38  ,the lightning flashed through the clouds, nearly   39    Raul. The thunder（雷声） was so loud that he buried his  40   in his hands and rubbed his eyes. Then he heard it. Hoof beats（蹄声）.He   41  .There before him stood a tall, white   42  . An old man stared down at him from its back.

      “Wh-wh-who are y-y-you?” asked Raul. “My name is Gray Cloud,” the old man answered   43  .“Come with me.”

      Raul followed on his horse. A   44   feeling came over him. All    45    them the rain was pouring down,  46    not a drop fell on them. They seemed to be  47   back toward Raul’s home. Raul lost track of time. Then all at once he found  48  at the ranch gate. The old man turned his horse,  49  his hand, and smiled. Lightning flashed again. The old man and his horse were  50 .

Raul’s father ran out across the yard  to   51  him. “we have been  52  sick about you. Are you okay? Hurry. Let’s get in out of the  53  .”

   “Wait,” said Raul. “Have you ever heard of an old man called Gray Cloud?”

   “Can’t say I … wait. I  54  my great-grandfather used to tell storied about a man called Gray Cloud. He died a long time ago. They say he was  55  by lightning during a terrible thunderstorm. Why do you ask?”

Events Calendar

TUESDAY

Landscape Pests (害虫)

Learn to identify, control and prevent seasonal landscape-disease and landscape-pest problems at the workshop, 3:30 pm. – 5 pm. Tuesday at the US National Arboretum, 3501 New York Ave NE, Washington. $15; registration required.

202-245-4521 or www.usna.usda.gov.

THROUGH AUGUST 3

Horticultural(园艺的) Art

Watercolors, pen-and-ink drawings and colored-pencil pieces by the Brookside Gardens School of Botanical (植物学的) Art and Illustration will be on display at the exhibit Botanic 2007: The Art and Science of Plants at Brookside Gardens Visitors Center, 1800 Glenallan Ave, Wheaton, through Aug. 3. Free. 301-962-1400 or www.brooksidegardens.org.

THROUGH SEPTEMBER 9

Botanical Art

Visit Patterns in Nature, an exhibit by Amy Lamb featuring photographs of flowers, leaves and other botanical life, at the US Botanic Garden Conservatory （温室），West Orangerie, 100 Maryland Ave SW, Washington, through Sept. 9. The conservatory is open 10 am. – 5 pm. Daily. Free. 202-225-8333.

THROUGH OCTOBER 8

Botanic Garden Exhibit

Celebrating America’s Public Gardens is on view through Oct. 8 at the US Botanic Garden, 100 Maryland Ave SW, Washington. The exhibit, on the Conservatory Terrace and in the National Garden, features displays of 20 public botanic gardens across the country. Hours are 10 am. – 5 pm. Daily. Free. 202-200-8956.

If you want to record your name for an event in advance, you may call _____.

       A. 202-225-8333    B. 202-245-4521    C. 301-962-1400    D. 202-200-8956

If you go to Botanic Garden Exhibit, you _____.

       A. can enjoy drawings and coloured-pencil pieces

       B. can learn how to kill pests living on the plants

       C. can find displays of 20 botanic gardens across the country

       D. will enjoy the photographs of flowers and leaves

From the advertisement, we learn _____.

       A. the first event is about growing healthy plants

       B. all of the events are free of charge

       C. there is no time limit to all the events

       D. you can find the information of all the events either by phone or by e-mail

Events Calendar

TUESDAY

Landscape Pests (害虫)

Learn to identify, control and prevent seasonal landscape-disease and landscape-pest problems at the workshop, 3:30 pm. – 5 pm. Tuesday at the US National Arboretum, 3501 New York Ave NE, Washington. $15; registration required.

202-245-4521 or www.usna.usda.gov.

THROUGH AUGUST 3

Horticultural(园艺的) Art

Watercolors, pen-and-ink drawings and colored-pencil pieces by the Brookside Gardens School of Botanical (植物学的) Art and Illustration will be on display at the exhibit Botanic 2007: The Art and Science of Plants at Brookside Gardens Visitors Center, 1800 Glenallan Ave, Wheaton, through Aug. 3. Free. 301-962-1400 or www.brooksidegardens.org.

THROUGH SEPTEMBER 9

Botanical Art

Visit Patterns in Nature, an exhibit by Amy Lamb featuring photographs of flowers, leaves and other botanical life, at the US Botanic Garden Conservatory （温室），West Orangerie, 100 Maryland Ave SW, Washington, through Sept. 9. The conservatory is open 10 am. – 5 pm. Daily. Free. 202-225-8333.

THROUGH OCTOBER 8

Botanic Garden Exhibit

Celebrating America’s Public Gardens is on view through Oct. 8 at the US Botanic Garden, 100 Maryland Ave SW, Washington. The exhibit, on the Conservatory Terrace and in the National Garden, features displays of 20 public botanic gardens across the country. Hours are 10 am. – 5 pm. Daily. Free. 202-200-8956.

1.If you want to record your name for an event in advance, you may call _____.

2. If you go to Botanic Garden Exhibit, you _____.

3. From the advertisement, we learn _____.