Have you thanked your grandma today? You might want to consider it. A recent study found that kids live longer when a grandmother takes part in their daily lives.
Most animals die soon after their childbearing years are over. Women, however, often live for many years after they stop having kids.
　To try to understand why, researchers from Finland looked at birth and death records of two communities from the 18th and 19th centuries, one in Finland and one in Canada. In these communities, 537 Finnish women and 3,290 Canadian women were grandmothers who had lived past the age of 50.
For every decade they lived beyond 50, the researchers found that the women ended up with an average of two extra grandkids. It didn’t matter what the differences in health or living conditions were between the two communities or from family to family.
Grandchildren were also more likely to live into adulthood if their grandmothers were alive when they were born. If their grandmothers were younger than 60 at the time, that was even better. The study also found that women had children 2 to 3 years earlier if their own mothers were still alive at that time than those whose mothers had died.
The researchers suggested that grandmothers have provided important assistance in raising their grandchildren for at least the past 200,000 years. As a result, they helped extend everyone’s lifespan.
So, don’t take your grandma for granted!
【小题1】How many women in the survey in the two communities were grandmothers who had lived past the age of 50?

阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C、和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。

         Have you ever had problems in your life and don’t know how to be happy? If                16  , you will find “Being a Happy Teenager” written by an Australian writer, Andrew Matthews,  17  .In his book, Matthews  18  us how to have a happy life and answers the  19   of teenagers.

　　 Many people may    20     teenagers’ life, such as parents and friends, and the book    21   that we should stop being angry and forgive. The book tells us of useful skills,    22   how to change what you have learned into pictures of your mind to   23  your memory better.

　　 Many teenagers think    24   happiness comes from either a good exam result   25  praise (赞扬) from other people. But you can   26   be happy when there are no such “good” things.

　　 Success also comes from a   27   attitude. If you   28   from problems, you will have success in the future. Some students may often feel     29     when they are too tall or too short. But Matthews tells us that   30   comes from thinking about things in a positive   31   . If you are   32   , people notice you and you can get a   33   view(视线) of what is around you; if you are short, your clothes and shoes   34  less space in your bedroom! This is Matthews’ most important   35   : you choose to be happy!

1.A. so                B. such                 C. it               D. this

2.A. easy               B. funny           C. useful              D. simple

3.A. orders                        B. tells                       C. asks                 D. allows

4.A. questions                  B. problems             C. ideas                D. comments

5.A. impress                       B. cause                             C. effect                        D. affect

6. A. suggests                   B. writes                   C. reads               D. asks

7.A. for example              B. such as                  C. for instance          D. as before

8.A. make                          B. have                 C. take                       D. get

9.A. what                      B. which                    C. that                       D. whether

10.A. and                           B. but                   C. so                     D. or

11.A. never                        B. already            C. still                        D. forever

12.A. confident           B. positive           C. common             D. normal

13.A. learn                        B. suffer                        C. hear                     D. separate

14.A. frightened         B. shocked          C. confused              D. worried

15.A. attitude                   B. intelligence    C. failure     D. altitude

16. A. way                          B. route               C. style                      D. spirit

17.A. short                        B. small                C. tall                     D. fat

18.A. longer                      B. higher              C. bigger                   D. better

19.A. take up                      B. put up              C. set up                   D. break up

20.A. class                         B. lesson              C. education            D. advantage

Tuesday the twelfth was my birthday. I  16 a day of cake and presents  17__     it turned into a day of mystery(神秘). Someone sent a bottle with a letter and a treasure map   18 . It said there was a treasure of over 20 million dollars. I didn’t know if it was a trick(恶作剧) or if I should   19  it. If it was   20  , it would be the best present I had ever got. I decided to  21 . Two of my friends came and we rented a truck.   22 , I thought about turning back twice during this trip, but I didn’t think it was a 23 decision for me to make. I   24 to give this trip twice the effort(努力) I had been putting in. This would take all my trust in order for me to find the  25  .
“The map says you have to turn when you see a large stone with a red circle,” said one of them.
“What do we do after the turn?” I asked   26 .
“It says we should see a tree. We are   27  to turn 20 meters north of it and dig.　
We got there and dug. We had   28  at first digging but we got better and worked very   29 . My trousers were dirty but I kept digging   30  I hit something. It was a large metal box. We   31  the lock and looked inside. There was a letter. It read:
　　“The lesson you have learned will be very   32  . If you put as much   33 in anything you do as you did in finding the   34  , you will have found the key to making over 20 million dollars.”
　　This was a trick from my parents. I thought I would never forget this   35    birthday present.

　A university graduate described as a “respectable and intelligent” woman is seeking professional(专业的) help after being convicted of （证明有……罪）shoplifting for the second time in six months.
Ana Luz, recently studying for her PhD, has been told she could end up behind bars unless she can control the desire to steal from shops .
Luz ,who lives with her partner in Fitzwilliam Road ,Cambridge ,admitted stealing clothes worth ￡9.95 from John Lewis in Oxford Street ,London ,on March 9.
Phillip Lemoyne ,prosecuting（起诉）,said Luz selected some clothes from a display and took them to the ladies’ toilet in the store .When she came out again she was wearing one of the skirts she had selected ,having taken off the anti-theft security alarms（防盗警报装置）.
She was stopped and caught after leaving the store without paying, Mr Lemoyne said.
He added that she was upset on her arrest and apologized for her actions.
Luz,28, was said to have been convicted of shoplifting by Cambridge judges last October ,but Morag Duff, defending ,said she had never been in trouble with the police before that .
“She is ashamed and embarrassed（尴尬） but doesn’t really have any explanation why she did this ,” Miss Duff said . “She didn’t intend to steal when she went into the store .She is at a loss to explain it. She is otherwise a very respectable and intelligent young lady .She went to her doctor and asked for advice because she wants to know if there is anything in particular that caused her to do this.”
Judge David Azan fined Luz ￡ 50,  and warned : “You’ve got a criminal record .If you carry on like this ,you will end up in prison ,which will ruin your bright future you may have.”
Luz achieved a degree in design at university in her native Spain, went on to a famous university in Berlin , Germany for her master’s degree and is now studying for a PhD at Cambridge University ,UK.
【小题1】What does the underlined sentence “She is at a loss to explain it” mean?

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids but we made them worse. For my naughty boys, I’d know better. I’d really like for them to know about hand-me-down clothes and home-made ice cream and leftover meatloaf. I really would.

My cherished boys, I hope you learn humility (谦逊) by surviving failure and that you learn to be honest even when no one is looking. I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in. I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother. And it is all right to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl (爬) under the covers (被子) with you because he’s scared, I hope you’ll let him. And when you want to see a Disney movie and your kid brother wants to tag along, I hope you take him.

　　I hope you have to walk uphill with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely. I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books, and when you learn to use computers, you also learn how to add and subtract (减) in your head.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on the stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole (旗杆). I hope you get sick when someone blows smoke in your face. I don’t care if you try beer once, but I hope you won’t like it.

I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your grandpa or go fishing with your uncle.

I hope your father punishes you when you throw a baseball through a neighbor’s window, and that your mother hugs you and kisses you when you give her a plaster of pared mold (一个石膏模型) of your hand.

　 These things I wish for you—tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness.

1.Who wrote the letter?

2.What does the author hope for the boys?

3.It can be inferred from the text that the boys _________________.

4. Why does the author write the letter?