It's no secret that many children would be healthier and happier with adoptive parents than with the parents that nature dealt them. That's especially true of children who remain in abusive homes because the law blindly favors biological parents. It's also true of children who suffer for years in foster homes (收养孩子的家庭) because of parents who can't or won't care for them but refuse to give up custody (监护) rights.
Fourteen-year-old Kimberly Mays fits neither description, but her recent court victory could eventually help children who do. Kimberly has been the object of an angry custody baffle between the man who raised her and her biological parents, with whom she has never lived. A Florida judge ruled that the teenager can remain with the only father she's ever known and that her biological parents have "no legal claim" on her.
The ruling, though it may yet be reversed, sets aside the principle that biology is the primary determinant of parentage. That's an important development, one that's long overdue.
Shortly after birth in December 1978, Kimberly Mays and another infant were mistakenly switched and sent home with the wrong parents. Kimberly's biological parents, Ernest and Regina Twigg, received a child who died of a heart disease in 1988. Medical tests showed that the child wasn't the Twiggs' own daughter, but Kimt only was, thus sparking a custody battle with Robert Mays. In 1989, the two families agreed that Mr. Mays would maintain custody with the Twiggs getting visiting fights. Those rights were ended when Mr. Mays decided that Kimberly was being harmed.
The decision to leave Kimberly with Mr. Mays rendered her suit debated. But the judge made clear that Kimberly did have standing to sue ( 起诉) on her own behalf. Thus he made clear that she was more than just property to be handled as adults saw fit.
Certainly, the biological link between parent and child is fundamental. But biological parents aren't always preferable to adoptive ones, and biological parentage does not convey an absolute ownership that cancels all the rights of children.
36. What was the primary consideration in the Florida judge's ruling?
A. The biological link.              　　  B. The child's benefits.  
C. The traditional practice.         　　 D. The parents' feelings.
37. We can learn from the Kimberly case that
A. children are more than just personal possessions of their parents
B. the biological link between parent and child should be emphasized
C. foster homes bring children more pain and suffering than care
D. biological parents shouldn't claim custody rights after their child is adopted
38. The Twiggs claimed custody rights to Kimberly because
A. they found her unhappy in Mr. Mays' custody     B. they regarded her as their property
C. they were her biological parents               D. they felt guilty about their past mistake
39. Kimberly had been given to Mr. Mays
A. by sheer accident          B. at his request       C. out of charity          D. for better care
40. The author's attitude towards the judge's ruling could be described as
A. doubtful             B. cautious         C. critical          D. supportive

There are many colors in nature. But do you know if a color has weight? I think you’ll say “no”. But I am afraid you are wrong. If you don’t believe, you may do a small experiment.

　　First, put two objects with the same weight into two boxes. Then cover the box. Third, wrap one box with a red piece of paper, the other with a white piece of paper. OK. Now hold the boxes with your hand one by one. It is certain that you will think the red one is a little heavier.

　　Why do you think so? A scientist found that different colors have different weight in a man’s mind. So he did man tests and at last he got the result. That is to say, every color has its own weight in our mind and their order is the same. The heaviest color is red, then blue, green, orange, yellow and white.

　　The scientist told us that colors also have smell. Can you smell the color? Of course not. Then why did the scientist say so? That is because every color stands for a kind of light with a certain wavelength. It reaches our brain through sense organs (感觉器官).

According to this discovery, scientists say that people accept the colors they like, and refuse the colors they hate. So your body and mind will be healthy by using the colors you like. Or you’ll be nervous or even get ill. For example, if you stay in a room with red windows, wallpapers and furniture for two hours, you’ll feel you have been there for four hours. But if the room is blue, you’ll feel you have been there for only an hour. Another example, if a person walks out of a red room and into a blue room, his temperature will fall. That means our body temperature will change with different colors.

The purpose of the second paragraph is to tell us ___________.

      A. a red box is heavier than a white one

      B. a color has weight in one’s mind

      C. white paper is lighter than red paper

      D. you can know the weight of a color by holding it

Why did the scientist say colors have smell?

      A. Because people can sense the light from colors.

      B. Because we can smell colors with our nose.

      C. Because every color has its own sweet smell.

      D. Because every color can give off light of the same length.

If a person walks from a blue room to a red room, his body temperature will ___________.

A. rise            B. fall            C. stay the same            D. change now and then

It can be implied from the text that ___________.

A. colors have orders in weight

B. colors can change the weight of an object

C. people would stay longer in a room with red windows

D. colors can affect our mood and health

This passage is probably a ___________.

      A. book review             B. fiction novel             C. fairy tale           D. science report

Doreen Sykora is now a junior at McGill University. She had a difficult time when she first began college. She said, “I was always well prepared for my examinations. But when I go into class to take the exam, I would fall apart. I could just blank out because of nervousness and fear.” Hitoshi Sakamoto, an anthropology(人类学) student at Temple University in Tokyo reports similar experiences.

These two young students were experiencing something called test anxiety. Because a student worries and is stressed(加压力于) about a test, his or her mind does not work as well as it usually does. The student cannot write or think clearly because of the severe tension and nervousness.

Now there are special university courses to help students. In these courses, advisors and psychologists try to help students by teaching them to manage test anxiety. Such a course helps students learn to live with stress and not fail because of it. First students take a practice test to measure their worry level. If the tests show that their stress level is high, the students can take a short course to manage the fear. These courses teach students how to relax their bodies. They get training to become calm in very tense situations. By controlling their nervousness, they can let their minds work more easily. Learned information then comes out without difficulty on a test.

Doreen Sykora saw immediate results after taking such a course. She now has enthusiasm about the relaxation methods. “Mostly, what I do is imagine myself in a very calm place. Then I imagine myself picking up a pencil. I move slowly and carefully. I breathe easily and let all the tension out. With each breath, more worry leaves me. It really works too. My grades have improved greatly! I’m really doing well at McGill now. This relaxation method works not only on examinations, but it has improved the rest of my life as well.”

For Hitoshi in Tokyo, the results were much the same. He is enjoying school a lot more and learning more.

1. What is the similarity between Doreen Sykora and Hitoshi Sakamoto?

A. They are students from the same university.

B. They failed in all the examinations.

C. They both had experiences of test anxiety.

D. They both had the same poor studying habits.

2. The phrase “blank out” in Paragraph 1 refers to “_______.”

A. lose interest in the exam           B. refuse to take the exam

C. get an extra paper                  D. be unable to think clearly

3. What’s the purpose of some special university student-help courses?

　　A. To help students to reduce test anxiety.   

　　B. To show a stress level experienced by students.

　　C. To learn more knowledge about test anxiety.

　　D. To have a better understanding of test anxiety.

　　阅读理解

    A poor traveller stopped under the tree to eat the boiled rice and vegetables which he had brought with him. A few metres away , there was a small shop by the side of the road where a woman was frying （油炸） fish and selling it to travellers. The woman watched the poor traveller carefully, and when he finished his food and began to go, she shouted rudely, “You haven't paid me for the fried fish!”

　　“But I have not had any fried fish!” he said.

　　“But everyone can see that you enjoyed the smell of my fried fish with your rice and vegetables ,” said the woman , “If you had not smelled the fish , your meal would not have been so pleasant!”

　　Soon a crowd collected, and although they supported the poor traveller, they had to admit that wind was blowing from the shop to the place where he had eaten, and that it had carried the smell of the fried fish to him.

　　Finally, the woman took the poor traveller to a judge , who said , “The woman says that the traveller ate his meal with the smell of her fried fish. The traveller agrees that the wind was blowing from the woman's shop to the place where he ate his rice and vegetables and that it carried the smell of her fried fish to his nose while he was eating, so he must pay for it. What does your fried fish cost” he asked the woman.

　　“Twenty-five cents a plate ,” she answered , delighted.

　　“Then go outside together,” said the judge. “There the traveller must hold up a twenty-five cent piece so that its shadow （影子） falls on the woman's hand. The price of the smell of a plate of fried fish is the shadow of twenty-five cents.”

1．Why did the traveller refuse to pay the woman for the fried fish? Because ________.

[　　]

A．he was poor

B．he was rude

C．he was supported by a crowd

D．he hadn't eaten her fried fish at all

2．When the judge asked the woman a question, she felt ________.

[　　]

3．Which of the followng statements is true?

[　　]

A．The traveller bought the boiled rice and vegetables and ate them by the side of the road.

B．The judge had no idea what the woman meant.

C．In the fifth paragraph , the first “it” has the same meaning as the second “it” .

D．The woman got nothing but the shadow of twenty-five cents in the end.

4．What do you think of the judge after reading the passage?

[　　]

A．He was foolish.

B．He was clever.

C．He was neither foolish nor clever.

D．He was kind enough to give the woman twenty-five cents.

5．What is the best title for the passage?

[　　]

A．The Smell and the Shadow

B．A Poor Traveller

C．A Rude Woman

D．A Woman and a Traveller

TOKYO — Our kids, the Japanese government announced, have forgotten how to behave. They can’t be bothered with housework. If they see someone being wronged, they probably look the other way.

Few countries have placed more importance on being well-behaved in public than Japan. The simplest requests for directions often result in guided tours. Smiling shopkeepers are still the rule. Lost wallets usually make their way to their owners.

But according to recent surveys(调查), all that may be going the way of the ancient hair-do(发式). And Japan’s government has gone into something of a crisis mode(危机时刻).

A Japanese Education Ministry Survey formed late in 1999 and made public last month found that Japan moves behind other nations in teaching youngsters right from wrong.

It also reported that Japanese children are less helpful and do far less housework than their foreign peers(同龄人) in all classes. But they are better about taking dirty dishes to the kitchens after dinner.

In addition, Japanese kids are more likely to dry their hair and carry cell phones than American and Chinese kids, according to another survey, by a Tokyo-based tank(专家小组).

Children in about 8 per cent of public school classrooms are so disorderly that teachers cannot hold lessons, further recent reports show. children refuse to sit, to listen or to stop talking.

Older and middle-aged Japanese continue to have a solid sense of good manners and social justice(正义, 公正), says Professor Yoshina Hirano from Shinshu University, who was appointed to direct the ministry’s survey.

Despite the knowledge of good manners among adults, the breakdown in manners may be spreading, he said.

1. From the first paragraph, we can infer that _______.

A. the Japanese government had gone bad

B. kids in Japan have a bad memory

C. kids in Japan seldom help their parents with housework

D. kids in Japan are too busy to help others

2. The second paragraph seems to show us that _______.

A. the education system of Japan is better than that of any other country

B. shopkeepers in Japan are too kind to their customers

C. Japanese kids often find wallets on their way to their schools

D. Japanese adults in public places act politely to each other

3. It is implied(暗含) in this passage that Japanese kids _______.

A. spending much time doing their homework　　　　

B. lead an advanced modern life

C. have their hair cut too often　　　　　　　　　　

D. often wash dishes after dinner