Science can't explain the power of pets, but many studies have shown that the company of pets can help lower blood pressure (血压) and raise chances of recovering from a heart attack, reduce loneliness and spread all-round good cheer.

     Any owner will tall you how much joy a pet brings. For some, an animal provides more comfort than a husband/wife. A 2002 study by Karen Allen of the State University of New York measured stress (紧张) levels and blood pressure in people - half of them pet owners –while they performed 5 minutes of mental arithmetic (算术) or held a hand in ice water. Subjects completed the tasks alone, with a husband/wife, a close friend or with a pet. People with pets did it best. Those tested with their animal friends had smaller change in blood pressure and returned most quickly to baseline heart rates. With pets in the room, people also made fewer math mistakes than when doing in front of other companions. It seems people feel more relaxed (放松)around pets, says Allen, who thinks it may be because pets don't judge.

     A study reported last fall suggests that having a pet dog not only raises your spirits but may also have an effect on your eating habits. Researchers at Northwestern Memorial Hospital spent a year studying 36 fat people and their equally fat dogs on diet-and-exercise programs; a separate group of 56 people without pets were put on a diet program. On average, people lost about I1 pounds, or 5% of their body weight. Their dogs did even better, losing an average of 12 pounds, more than 15% of their body weight. Dog owners didn't lose any more weight than those without dogs but, say researchers, got more exercise overall-mostly with their dogs - and found it worth doing.

1．What does the text mainly discuss?

    A．What pets bring to their owners.

    B．How pets help people calm down.

    C．People's opinions of keeping pets.

    D．Pet's value in medical research.

2．We learn from the text that a person with heart disease has a better chance of getting well if

    A．he has a pet companion

    B．he has less stress of work

    C．he often does mental arithmetic

    D．he is taken care of by his family

3．According to Allen, why did the people do better with pets around when facing stressful tasks?

    A．They have lower blood pressure.

    B．They become more patient.

    C．They are less nervous.

    D．They are in higher spirits.

4．The research mentioned in the last paragraph reports that

    A．people with dogs did more exercise

    B．dogs lost the same weight as people did

    C．dogs liked exercise much more than people did

    D．people without dogs found the program unhelpful

Increasingly, Americans are becoming their own doctors, by going online to diagnose their symptoms, order home health tests or medical devices, or even self-treat their illnesses with drugs from Internet pharmacies(药店). Some avoid doctors because of the high cost of medical care, especially if they lack health insurance. Or they may stay because they find it embarrassing to discuss their weight, alcohol consumption or couch potato habits. Patients may also fear what they might learn about their health, or they distrust physicians because of negative experiences in the past. But playing doctor can also be a deadly game.

Every day, more than six million Americans turn to the Internet for medical answers – most of them aren’t nearly skeptical enough of what they find. A 2002 survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 72 percent of those surveyed believe all or most of what they read on health websites. They shouldn’t. Look up “headache”, and the chances of finding reliable and complete information, free from a motivation for commercial gain, are only one in ten, reports an April 2005 Brown Medical School study. Of the 169 websites the researchers rated, only 16 scored as “high quality”. Recent studies found faulty facts about all sorts of other disorders, causing one research team to warn that a large amount of incomplete, inaccurate and even dangerous information exists on the Internet.

The problem is most people don’t know the safe way to surf the Web. “They use a search engine like Google, get 18 trillion choices and start clicking. But that’s risky, because almost anybody can put up a site that looks authoritative(权威的), so it’d hard to know if what you’re reading is reasonable or not,” says Dr. Sarah Bass from the National Cancer Institute.

1.According to the text, an increasing number of American _____.

A. are suffering from mental disorders

B. turn to Internet pharmacies for help

C. like to play deadly games with doctors

D. are skeptical about surfing medical websites

2.Some Americans stay away from doctors because they _____.

A. find medical devices easy to operate

B. prefer to be diagnosed online by doctors

C. are afraid to face the truth of their health

D. are afraid to misuse their health insurance

3.According to the study of Brown Medical School, ______.

A. more than 6 million Americans distrust doctors

B. only 1/10 of medical websites aim to make a profit

C. about 1/10 of the websites surveyed are of high quality

D. 72% of health websites offer incomplete and faulty facts

4.Which of the following is the author’s main argument?

A. It’s cheap to self-treat your own illness.

B. It’s embarrassing to discuss your bad habits.

C. It’s reasonable to put up a medical website.

D. It’s dangerous to be your own doctor.

A new research shows that in Britain more and more people are returning to the old tradition that the whole family have a meal at table. Worrying about the obesity and breakdown of a family, people change their eating habits so greatly, according to analysis. They find the number of the family having a meal together increases by 5% from 2002 to 2004, and most people who have meals with their family come from the rich social class.

The new discovery makes doctors and the people struggling against obesity extremely excited. Giving up the tradition that the whole family have a meal together is exactly one of the reasons for a series of problems including children’s overweight. If a child has a meal in front of the television or the computer alone, he will often eat some fast food.

Jason Collins is one of the persons returning to the old tradition. Collins is a manager of a bake(烘面包) house. He finds after he gets used to having a meal at home with his child, the child becomes much more obedient(听话的). Dr. Jin is a child psychologist, and she expresses welcome to this result of the study.  She says it can make parents have a very good chance to chat with the child when the whole family have a meal together.

1. What makes people change their eating habit back to the old tradition in Britain?

2. We can infer from the passage that _______.

3. How do the people who hope to lose weight feel about the new discovery?

4. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

     Science can't explain the power of pets, but many studies have shown that the company of pets can help lower blood pressure (血压) and raise chances of recovering from a heart attack, reduce loneliness and spread all-round good cheer.

     Any owner will tall you how much joy a pet brings. For some, an animal provides more comfort than a husband/wife. A 2002 study by Karen Allen of the State University of New York measured stress (紧张) levels and blood pressure in people - half of them pet owners –while they performed 5 minutes of mental arithmetic (算术) or held a hand in ice water. Subjects completed the tasks alone, with a husband/wife, a close friend or with a pet. People with pets did

It best .Those tested with their animal friends had smaller change in blood pressure and returned

Most quickly to baseline heart rates .With pets in the room ,people also made fewer math mistakes

Than when doing in front of other companions. It seems people feel more released (放松)around

Pets, says Allen, who thinks it may be because pets don’t judge.

A study reported last fall suggests that having a pet dog not only raises your spirits but may also have an effect on your eating habits. Researchers at Northwesterm Memorial Hospital spent a

Year studying 36 fat people and were put on a diet-and-exercise programs; a separate group of

56 fat people without pets were put on a diet program. On average，people lost about 11 pounds，

Or 5% of their body weight .Their dogs did even better，losing an average of 12 pounds，more then

15%of their body weight .Dog owners didn’t lose any more weight than those without dogs but ,say

Researchers，got more exercise overall –mostly with their dogs –and found it worth doing.

1.What does the text mainly discuss?

A．What pets bring to their owners

B．How pets help people calm down

C．people’s opinions of keeping pets

D．Pet’s value in medical research

2.We learn from the text that a person with heart disease has a better chance of getting well if

____________

A．he has a pet companion

B．he has  less stress of  work

C．he often dose mental arithmetic

D．he is taken care of by his family

3.According to Allen, why did the people do better with pets around when facing stressful tasks?

    A．They have lower blood pressure.

    B．They become more patient.

    C．They are less nervous.

    D．They are in higher spirits.

4.The research mentioned in the last paragraph reports that

    A．people with dogs did more exercise

    B．dogs lost the same weight as people did

    C．dogs liked exercise much more than people did

    D．people without dogs found the program unhelpful

To son, Cecil,
Just a quick note before I start in earnest. When I wrote this, you were 8, still a little boy. In 2002, I was called to active duty in the Marine Corps in the war on Terrorism (恐怖主义). On the 11th of September 2001 when America was attacked, I knew that I would eventually have to go and I was filled with a deep sense of sadness. That night as you and Keiko were asleep, I looked at your little faces and couldn’t help but fight the tears. I knew it would be hard for you because I had a similar experience. When I was a little boy aged 6, my dad, your Grandpa Cawley, was sent to Vietnam during the war there. I remember how much I missed him, too. But now unfortunately I have come to realize just how rough it must have been for Grandpa to be away from his children for a year. Thinking about this, I wanted to put my thoughts and feelings down for you and your sister. I am so sorry that I had to leave for such a long time. There is no place I would rather be than with you and Keiko. You two are the lights of my life. I have known no greater joy than in the few years since you two were born. I hope to have many more years with you. If this doesn’t happen, then know that I love you more than words can express. If for some reason I don’t make it home, I will need you to take care of your little sister and your Mom. You will be the man of the Cawley family. Be good my son and God will watch over you as he has me. I will be waiting impatiently for the time when we can all be together again.
【小题1】The writer of the letter may be ______.