With a £4 million ITV contract（合同） in her pocket and an engagement （婚约） to her England footballer boyfriend, it's been a good year for Christine Bleakley．Perhaps it's no wonder, as the TV presenter is 31, the age at which women are the most attractive, according to a survey．

While the average British woman of 31 may be married with a child, the survey noted they are at a wonderful age because they have not only youthful beauty but also more confidence and a better sense of style than flesh-faced teenagers．

Some 70 percent of more than 2,000 men and women surveyed considered confidence as a key factor in making a woman attractive, ahead of the 67 percent who included physical beauty and 47 percent who looked for a sense of style．Almost two thirds of the women agreed with the opinion "With age, comes beauty", and over half said that as they age they do away with their insecurities and feel more beautiful, while 55 percent felt they knew the best make-up to wear．

Self-confidence varied widely across the country in the survey: London women emerged as the most confident about their looks, with 37 percent describing themselves as beautiful, compared with just 28 percent of Welsh women．Meanwhile, East Midlands women spend the most on beauty programs —£129．69 monthly—compared with a national average of £105．50．

The research was carried on for TV shopping channel QVC to mark the launch of its "Beauty Month"．QVC marketing director Sue Leeson said: "This research shows what many have always suspected — real beauty is about more than just good looks but a combination of confidence, style and personality, too．”

1.Which of the following doesn't have much to do with a woman's beauty?

2.In the survey_______________ think attractive women should possess a sense of style．

3.Which fact shows that a woman is confident?

If you hear the sound of running water the next time you call a co-worker on his or her mobile phone, don’t be surprised. Three-fourths of Americans with mobile phones say they use them in the bathroom, a new study shows.

Approximately the same number of men and women have used the phone in the bathroom, according to a survey of 1,000 Americans by 11mark, an integrated marketing agency, although men seem more attached to IT in the toilet: 30 percent of men versus 20 percent of women agreed with the statement, "I don't go to the bathroom without my mobile phone."

More than half the surveyed users (63 percent) said they have answered a phone call in the bathroom, and almost half (41 percent) reported initiating a phone call. That's not all, however. What goes on behind the walls of the stalls is anything a mobile phone is capable of. Sixty-seven percent said they have read a text, and 39 percent have surfed the Web. Men work more from the bathroom — 20 percent said they have participated in work-related calls, versus 13 percent of their female colleagues.

As expected, Gen Y respondents are the pacesetters in the "mobile everywhere" movement, with 91 percent using their phone in the bathroom. Still, older generations are not far behind. Eighty percent of Gen X(1961-1981) reported using the phone in the bathroom, as did 65 percent of Baby Boomers and 47 percent of the Silent Generation.

While online, they are doing more than just surfing; 16 percent of Gen Y report they have made an online purchase while in the bathroom. Users of iPhones are particularly likely to browse and buy in the bathroom – 22 percent have made a purchase, versus 10 percent of Americans with mobile phones overall.

"The writing is on the stall," said 11mark principal Nicole Burdette. "This study confirms what we all know: that the last private place is no longer private."

In the process, high-tech hygiene(卫生) is taking a hit, the survey found. While 92 percent of mobile phone users said they wash their hands after using the bathroom, only 14 percent said they wash their phones.

1.59.Which is the best word to replace the underlined word "initiating"?

A. receiving          B. experiencing      C. ending       D. beginning

2.60.According to his words, Nicole Buedette mainly wants to tell us that       .

A. no wonder mobile phones are used in the bathroom

B. the bathroom is a private place for people

C. it makes people have no privacy at all

D. more men have used the phone in the bathroom

3.61.What does the last paragraph of the passage imply?

A. Using phones in the bathroom has a bad effect on hygiene

B. Mobile phones should not be allowed to use in the bathroom

C. Most people care about the hygiene after using the bathroom

D. Few people wash their phones after using the bathroom

4.62.The attitude of the author to the use of phones in the bathroom is ______

A. supportive     B. disapproval

C. subjective(主观的)              D. objective(客观的)

President Obama，s plan last week to overhaul(改善)former president George W．Bush’s No Child left Behind program is an improvement on a good thin9．But it doesn’t go far enough.

    Obama outlined a goal that by 2020，all grade school and high school students ale on a path toward college and career readiness．

    However, what we need is a practical plan that not only requires all high school graduates to take at least two years of college but also makes it financially possible for them to do so. We’ve provided a free public education through the l2th grade．If we’re going to keep up—or catch up—with some other countries(1ike China)in preparing young people for careers，a 12-year education program no longer is enough．

    About 3 million students across the USA will graduate from high school this spring. But only 2 million will go on to college, according to a survey by the National Center for Education Statistics(NCFES)．For the more than l million who won’t go on，money is a major factor．If tuition(学费)were free，about half of them could make up other COSTS from family or part—time jobs．

    Critics(批评家)of free college tuition will say we can’t afford it because of the federal deficit(联邦赤字)and other rising costs．Let’s see some government spending in detail：

  In the last nearly 10 years．the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost us $1 trillion(that’s $1，000 billion，or an average of$100 billion a year)．Federal money spent on public elementary and secondary education in the last year for which figures are available was$47 billion．If we end costly and unnecessary wars and nation—building efforts abroad，the federal government could provide more money on public education，for which state and local governments now carry most of the burden(负担)．

1.According to President Obama’s plan，in 10 years，    ．

   A．there will be no expensive and unnecessary Wars

   B．all grade and high school students can go to college

   C．the U．S．will catch up with China in career preparation

   D．students Call enjoy a l2-year public free education

2.If tuition were not charged．

A．about 2．5 million students could afford college education

B．about 2 million students could be provided chances of college education[来源:Zxxk.Com]

C．over l million students still could not afford college education

D．about 3 million students could graduate from high school

3.The author may agree that President Obama’s plan

    A．has little to do with Gorge W．Bush’s program

    B. does not agree with the survey by NCFES

C．does not contain practical measures to achieve its goal

D．will lighten the burden of state and local governments

4.It can be inferred from the passage that

A．the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are expensive but necessary

B．the federal Can not provide more money on education

C，critics of free college tuition think little of the plan

D．President Obama’s plan might be hard to carry out

A scientist turns out to be able to see the future by offering each of some four-year-olds a piece of candy and watching how he or she deals with it. Some children reach eagerly for the treat they see. Some last a few minutes before they give in. But others are determined to wait until the last moment.

By the time the children reach high school, something remarkable has happened. A survey found that those who as four-year-olds had enough self-control to hold out generally grew up to be more popular, adventurous, confident and dependable. The children who gave in to temptation early on were more likely to be lonely, easily frustrated and inflexible .

Actually, the ability to delay reward is a sign of emotional intelligence which doesn’t show up on an IQ test.

The hardware of the brain and the software of the mind have long been scientists’ concerns. But brain theory can’t explain what we wonder about most, like the question why some people remain upbeat in the face of troubles that would sink a less resistant soul.   

Here comes the theory of Daniel Goleman, writer of Emotional Intelligence: when it comes to predicting people’s success, brain ability as measured by IQ may actually matter less than the qualities of mind once thought of as “character”.

EQ is not the opposite of IQ. What researchers have been trying to understand is how they work together; how one’s ability to handle stress, for instance, affects the ability to concentrate and put intelligence to use. Among the elements for success, researchers now generally agree that IQ counts for about 20%; the rest depends on everything from social class to luck.

While many researchers in this relatively new field are glad to see emotional issues finally taken seriously, some few fear EQ invites misuse.

1.Which of the following is true of EQ and IQ according to the text?

2. The underlined word “upbeat” in Paragraph 4 probably means         .

3.What is most likely to be written in the paragraph that follows?

We all know that everyone becomes a little more forgetful as they get older, but men’s minds decline more than women’s, according to the results of a worldwide survey.

General differences seem to be natural in male and female brains: Men are better at maintaining and dealing with mental images (useful in mathematical reasoning and spatial skills), while women tend to excel be good at recalling information from their brain’s files. Many studies have looked for a connection between sex and the amount of mental decline people experience as they age, but the results have been mixed.

Some studies found more age-related decline in men than in women, while others saw the opposite or even no relationship at all between sex and mental decline.

Those results could be improper because the studies involved older people, and women live longer than men: The men tested are the survivors, “so they’re the ones that may not have shown such cognitive(认知的) decline,” said study team leader Elizabeth of the University of Warwick in England.

Scientists surveyed completed four tasks that tested sex-related cognitive skills: matching an object to its rotated form, matching lines shown from the same angle, typing as many words in a particular category as possible in the given time, e.g. “object usually colored gray”, and recalling the location of objects in a line drawing. The first two were tasks at which men are usually good; the latter are typically dominated by women. Within each age group studied, men and women performed better in their separate categories on average. And though performance declined with age for both genders, women showed obviously less decline than men overall.

1.According to the passage, which of the following can NOT be typed into the same category?

A．cloud            B．sheep            C．trees             D．goose

2.Which of the following statements is true according the article? _______

A．Men do better than women when it comes to learning English.

B．Women stand out at remembering people’s names.

C．Women do well in dealing mathematic problems.

D．Men excel at typing as many words as possible in the given time.

3.One important factor that affects the correctness of the results is that ________.

A．women live longer than men

B．people surveyed are all old

C．the old men tested may not have shown such cognitive decline

D．people taking part in this test came from all over the world

4.The author aims to tell us that _________.

A．women’s minds perform better than men’s

B．men’s minds decline more with age

C．everyone becomes a little more forgetful as they get older

D．a survey on human’s mind decline was done recently