Why do men die earlier than women? The latest research makes it known that the reason could be that men’s hearts go into rapid decline when they reach middle age.

The largest study of the effects of ageing on the heart has found that women’s longevity may be linked to the fact that their hearts do not lose their pumping power with age.

“We have found that the power of the male heart falls by 20-25 percent between 18 and 70 years of age,” said the head of the study, David Goldspink of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK.

“Within the heart there are millions of cells that enable it to beat. Between the age of 20 and 70, one-third of those cells die and are not replaced in men,” said Goldspink. “This is part of the ageing process.”

What surprises scientists is that the female heart sees very little loss of these cells. A healthy 70-year-old woman’s heart could perform almost as well as a 20-year-old one’s.

“This gender difference might just explain why women live longer than men,” said Goldspink. They studied more than 250 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 80, focusing on healthy persons to remove the confusing influence of disease. “The team has yet to find why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart,” said Goldspink.

The good news is that men can improve the health of their heart with regular exercise. Goldspink stressed that women also need regular exercise to prevent their leg muscles becoming smaller and weaker as they age.

The underlined word “longevity” in the second paragraph probably refers to “________”.

A. health     B. long life   C. ageing    D. effect

The text mainly talks about ________.

A. men’s heart cells

B. women’s ageing process、

C. the gender difference

D. hearts and long life

According to the text, the UK scientists have known that ________.

A. women have more cells than men when they are born

B. women can replace the cells that enable the heart to beat

C. the female heart loses few of the cells with age

D. women never lose their pumping power with age

If you want to live longer, you should ________.

A. enable your heart to beat much faster

B. find out the reason for ageing

C. exercise regularly to keep your heart healthy

D. prevent your cells from being lost

We can know from the passage that ________.

A. the reason why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart has been found out

B. scientists are on the way to finding out why the male heart loses more of the cells

C. the team has done something to prevent the male from suffering the greater loss

D. women over 70 could lose more heart cells than those at the age of 20

“Get your hands off me, I have been stolen,” the laptop, a portable computer, shouted. That is a new solution to laptop computer theft: a program that lets owners give their property a voice when it has been taken.

 The program allows users to display alerts on the missing computer’s screen and even to set a spoken message. Tracking software for stolen laptops has been on the market for some time, but this is thought to be the first that allows owners to give the thief a piece of their mind.

 Owners must report their laptop missing by visiting a website, which sends a message to the model: a red and yellow “lost or stolen” sign appears on its screen when it is started. Under the latest version（版本）of the software, users can also send a spoken message.

 The message can be set to reappear every 30 seconds, no matter how many times the thief closes it.” One customer sent a message saying,’ You are being tracked. I am right at your door’,” said Carrie Hafeman, chief executive of the company which produces the program, Retriever.

 In the latest version, people can add a spoken message. For example, the laptop’s speakers will say: “Help, this laptop is reported lost or stolen. If you are not my owner, report me now.”

The Retriever software package, which costs $29.95 but has a free trial period, has the functions of many security software programs .Owners can remotely switch to an alternative password if they fear that the thief has also got hold of the access details.

If a thief accesses the internet with the stolen laptop, Retriever will collect information on the internet service provider in use, so that the police can be alerted to its location.

Thousands of laptops are stolen every year form homes and offices, but with the use of laptops increasing, the number stolen while their owners are out and about has been rising sharply.

Other security software allows users to erase data remotely or lock down the computer.

The expression “to give the thief a piece of their mind “can be understood as “_______”

A. to give the thief an alert mind        

B. to express the owners’ anger to the thief

C. to remind the thief of this conscience   

D. to make the thief give up his mind

Different from other security software, Retriever can_______.

A. record the stealing process          B. help recognize the lost laptop

C. lock down the computer remotely     D. send a spoken message

One function of the program is that it allows the owner to _______ at a distance.

A. change some access details for switching on the laptop

B. turn on the laptop by using the original password

C. operate the laptop by means of and alternative password

D. erase the information kept in the stolen laptop

Which of the following can best summarize the main idea of the passage?

A. With no Retriever, thousands of laptops are stolen every year.

B. A new soft ware provides a means to reduce laptop theft.

C. Retriever has helped to find thieves and lost computers.

D. A new program offers a communication platform with the thief.

Imagine living locked inside a closet. You can’t choose when and what to eat or how you will spend your time. You can’t even decide when the lights go on and off. Think about spending your whole life like this.

This is the life of lab animals.

Now consider the needs of these animals. Chimpanzees(黑猩猩),in their natural homes, are never separated from their families. They spend hours together every day. But in a lab, chimpanzees are put in cages alone. There are no families, only cold, hard cages, and loneliness that goes on for so many years that most of them lose their minds at last.

Worse yet are the experiments. Animals are given diseases they would never normally get. Experimenters force-feed(给……强行喂食) chemicals to them, conduct repeated surgeries(手术),and much more, Think of what it would be like to put up with these and then be thrown back into a cage, usually without any painkillers. Often animals see other animals being killed right in front of them.

Hundreds of thousands of animals are poisoned, blinded, and killed every year in product tests for shampoos, skin creams and new cancer drugs. Although more than 500 companies have stopped testing on animals, some of them still force chemicals into monkeys’ stomachs and rabbits’ eyes.

Although some facilities are better than others at caring for animals—not every lab worker kills a mouse by cutting off its head with scissors—there are no happy animals inside laboratories. Will the lab life end? When will it end?

The passage mainly tells us about        .

  A. animals’ lives in laboratories

  B. cruel experiments on animals

  C. the needs of animals in labs

  D. facilities used to care for animals

Animals in a lab          .

①are very cold, and in separate cages

②feel lonely locked inside a cage

③aren’t fed anything but chemicals

④are forced to undergo cruel tests

⑤are forced to eat chemicals

A.①③④          B.②③⑤        C.②④⑤         D.①④⑤

We can infer from the passage that _________.

  A. some companies have found ways to replace animal tests

  B. animals normally get no strange diseases

  C. animals are happy in labs with better facilities

  D. painkillers can change the results of experiments

The author’s attitude towards the future of animals for experiment can be described as _______.

  A. positive         B. worried         C. satisfied      D. disappointed

In the atmosphere, carbon dioxide acts rather like a one-way mirror or the glass in the roof of a greenhouse which allows the sun's rays to enter but prevents the heat from escaping.

　　 According to a weather expert' s prediction, the atmosphere will be 3℃ warmer in the year 2050 than it is today, if man continues to burn fuels at the present rate. If this warming up took place, the ice caps in the poles would begin to melt, thus raising sea level several metres and severely flooding coastal cities. Also, the increase in atmospheric temperature would lead to great changes in the climate of the northern hemisphere (北半球), possibly resulting in an alteration of the earth's chief food growing zones.

　　  In the past, concern about a man-made warming of the earth has concentrated on the Arctic because the Antarctic is much colder and has a much thicker ice sheet. But the weather experts are now paying more attention to West Antarctic, which may be affected by only a few degrees of warming, in other words, by a warming on the scale that will possibly take place in the next fifty years from the burning of fuels.

　　  Satellite pictures show that large areas of Antarctic ice are already disappearing. The evidence available suggests that a warming has taken place. This fits the theory that carbon dioxide warms the earth.

　　  However, most of the fuel is burnt in the northern hemisphere, where temperatures seem to be falling. Scientists conclude , therefore, that up to now natural influences on the weather have gone beyond those caused by man. The question is: Which natural cause has most effect on the weather?

　　  One possibility is the variable behavior of the sun. Astronomers at one research station have studied the hot spots and "cold" spots (that is, the relatively less hot spots) on the sun. As the sun rotates (使旋转), every 27. 5 days, it presents hotter or "colder" faces to the earth, and different aspects to different parts of the earth. This seems to have a considerable effect on the distribution of the earth's atmospheric pressure, and consequently on wind circulation. The sun is also changeable over a long term: its heat output goes up and down in cycles, the latest trend being downward.

　　  Scientists are now finding shared relations between models of solar weather interactions and the actual climate over many thousands of years, including the last Ice Age. The problem is that the models are predicting that the world should be entering a new Ice Age and it is not. One way of solving this theoretical difficulty is to assume a delay of thousands of years while the solar effects overcome the inertia (惯性) of the earth's climate. If this is right, the warming effect of carbon dioxide might thus be serving as a useful opposed balance to the sun's fading heat .

66. It can be concluded that a concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would_________.

   A. mean a warming-up in the Antarctic

   B. raise the temperature of the earth' s surface

C. prevent the sun's rays from reaching the earth's surface

D. explain the cause of  great changes in the climate in the northern hemisphere

67.The article was written to explain ___________. 

A. the greenhouse effect

B. the solar effects on the earth

C. the causes affecting weather

D. the models of solar-weather interactions

68. Although the fuel consumption is greater in the northern hemisphere, temperatures there　seem to be falling. This is__________.

 A. mainly because the levels of carbon dioxide are rising

 B. partly due to changes in the output of solar energy

C. possibly because the ice caps in the poles are melting

D. only due to the effect of the inertia of the earth' s climate

69. On the basis of their models, scientists believe the opinion that__________.

A. the climate of the world should be becoming cooler

B. the new Ice Age will be delayed by the greenhouse effect

C. the man-made warming effect helps to increase the solar effects

D. it will take thousands of years for the inertia of the earth's climate to take effect

70. If the assumption about the delay of a new Ice age is correct, ____________.

A. ice would soon cover the northern hemisphere

B. the greenhouse effect could work in favor of the earth

C. the best way to overcome the cooling effect would be to burn more fuels

D. the increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could warm up the earth even more quickly

Stepping into a pool of water is common enough, but who could ever imagine stepping into a pool of fish? In February of 1974, Bill Tapp, an Australian farmer, saw a rain of fish that covered his farm. How surprised he must have been when he heard many fish hitting against his roof!

　　 What caused this strange occurrence? This is a question that had long puzzled people who study fish. The answer turned out to be a combination of wind and storm.

　　When it is spring in the northern part of the world, it is fall in Australia. Throughout the autumn season, terrible storms arise and rains flood the land. The strong winds sweep over Australia like huge vacuum cleaners, collecting seaweed, pieces of wood, and even schools of fish. Strong winds may carry these bits of nature for many miles before dropping them on fields, houses, and astonished people.

　　Although they seem unusual, fish-falls occur quite frequently in Australia. When Bill Tapp was asked to describe the scene of fish, he remarked, “They look like millions of dead birds falling down.” His statement is not surprising. The wonders of the natural world are as common as rain. Nature, with its infinite wonders, can create waterfalls that flow upward and fish that fall out of the sky.

　　56. What is this passage about?

　　A. A sad story. 　　　　　　　　　　　　B. A rain of fish.

　　C. Australia’s northern part.　　　　　D. The damage done by floods.

　　57. Fish-falls occur in Australia_________ .

　　A. quite often 　　　　　　B. on large farms

　　C. only in winter　　　　　D. when the air is calm

　　58. It is a known fact that ________.

　　A. one should watch where one steps

　　B. Bill Tapp is a scientist who studies farming

　　C. the natural world can never create waterfalls that fall upward

　　D. the seasons in the southern part are different from those in the northern part

　　59. The word “infinite” is closest in meaning to _________.

　　A. easy 　　　B. difficult 　　　C. countless 　　　D. dangerous