Ban Fur? Then Why Not Leather?

    Much to the displeasure of some local businesses, the City Council in West Hollywood, California, voted without opposition last week to ban the sale of fur products. Should laws be involved in this issue? Is it unfair to ban sales of fur, but not sales of leather and hides (兽皮)?

    Animals Do Not Have Rights

    By Tibor R. Machan

    My view is that animals do not have basic rights. It is a matter of ethics (伦理学) and not of the laws of human societies. If animals had such rights as human beings do, they would have to be held responsible for killing fellow animals in the wild. That way of thinking about animals makes a category mistake. Using animals, including their fur or organs, to improve people's lives is acceptable.

    A Small Step Against Cruelty

    By Kate Carter

    Both fur and leather are the skins of dead animals. Why should we think that the lovable furry ones deserve more of a life than the less pleasing ones? Some say leather is  less cruel because it's a byproduct (副产品) of the meat industry. But this isn't really true. Some cheap leather may be a byproduct of the meat industry, but often it's the other way round. In South Africa, where there is a developing market for ostrich(鸵鸟)farms, the skins account for roughly 80 percent of the slaughtered (宰杀)birds' value, a mere 20 percent of which comes from the meat.

    "Who" Are You Wearing?

    By Marc Bekoff

    West Hollywood's ban is a move in the right direction. However, we must work to ban the sales of leather and hides, too. Furs come from animals who are attacked to become clothing, while some leather and hides come from slaughterhouse(屠宰场) animals. We must remember that when people choose to wear fur, leather and hides, they are wearing formering conscious beings. So it's a matter of who they are wearing, not what they are wearing because these animals must be referred to as who and not what or that.

1.What is the passage mainly about?

    A. West Hollywood's ban on fur products.

    B. Differences between fur and leather sales.

    C. The government's role in protecting animals.

    D. The ecological imbalance in West Hollywood.

2.Tibor R. Machan seems to believe that          .

A. laws should be passed to protect animals

B. humans are respornsible for killing animals

C. it is not reasonable to use animals to improve life

D. animals and humans aren't supposed to share equal rights

3.What is Kate Carter's opinion about wearing fur and wearing leather?

A. Both are decided by the meat industry.

B. There is little distinction (区别) between them.

C. Wearing fur is generally more acceptable.

D. Wearing leather is cheaper than wearing fur.

4.What is Marc Bekoff’s attitude towards sales of fur?

A. Sympathetic.       B. Careless.         C. Tolerant.         D. Opposed.

A German study suggests that people who were too optimistic about their future actually faced greater risk of disability or death within 10 years than those pessimists who expected their future to be worse.

The paper, published this March in Psychology and Aging, examined health and welfare surveys from roughly 40,000 Germans between ages 18 and 96. The surveys were conducted every year from 1993 to 2003.

Survey respondents (受访者) were asked to estimate their present and future life satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10, among other questions.

The researchers found that young adults (age 18 to 39) routinely overestimated their future life satisfaction, while middle-aged adults (age 40 to 64) more accurately predicted how they would feel in the future. Adults of 65 and older, however, were far more likely to underestimate their future life satisfaction. Not only did they feel more satisfied than they thought they would, the older pessimists seemed to suffer a lower ratio (比率) of disability and death for the study period.

“We observed that being too optimistic in predicting a better future than actually observed was associated with a greater risk of disability and a greater risk of death within the following decade,” wrote Frieder R. Lang, a professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.

Lang and his colleagues believed that people who were pessimistic about their future may be more careful about their actions than people who expected a rosy future.

“Seeing a dark future may encourage positive evaluations of the actual self and may contribute to taking improved precautions (预防措施),” the authors wrote.

Surprisingly, compared with those in poor health or who had low incomes, respondents who enjoyed good health or income were associated with expecting a greater decline. Also, the researchers said that higher income was related to a greater risk of disability.

The authors of the study noted that there were limitations to their conclusions. Illness, medical treatment and personal loss could also have driven health outcomes.

However, the researchers said a pattern was clear. “We found that from early to late adulthood, individuals adapt their expectations of future life satisfaction from optimistic, to accurate, to pessimistic,” the authors concluded.

1.According to the study, who made the most accurate prediction of their future life satisfaction?

A．Optimistic adults.                       B．Middle-aged adults.

C．Adults in poor health.                    D．Adults of lower income.

2.Pessimism may be positive in some way because it causes people ______.

A．to fully enjoy their present life

B．to estimate their contribution accurately

C．to take measures against potential risks

D．to value health more highly than wealth

3.How do people of higher income see their future?

A．They will earn less money.

B．They will become pessimistic.

C．They will suffer mental illness.

D．They will have less time to enjoy life.

4. What is the clear conclusion of the study?

A．Pessimism guarantees chances of survival.

B．Good financial condition leads to good health.

C．Medical treatment determines health outcomes.

D．Expectations of future life satisfaction decline with age.

词汇。用正确的词性填空（共15题，每小题1分，满分15分）

1. She tried to p_______ him to give up smoking, but he wouldn’t listen.

2. We can c________ with people from any country with a good command of English.

3. As he feared that the police would r_______ him, he never went out in daylight.

4. An unfriendly a_______ of the shopkeeper often make customers angry.

5. It’s not right to j_______ a man only by his looks.

6. Little education was a d_________ when he looked for a job.

7. They completely i_______ these facts as if they never existed

8. He has $100,000 life i_________, which his wife will receive if he dies first.

9. He bravely went into the burning house to r______ the boy

10. It is not a word in common ________. (use)

11. We must use candles because the _____________ is off. (electric)

12. I can’t forget the _________ experience. (frighten)

13. She is busy with the __________ of her daughter’s party. (organize)

14. The ______ cost may run out at rather more than we originally expected. (actually)

15. We climbed to the top of the mountain with strong ________. (determine)

根据下列句子及所给单词的首字母，在答题纸上按题号写出各单词正确的完全形式（每空限写一词）。

Generally speaking, when taken according to the d______, the drug has no side effect.

The smile on his face put us at e______ immediately.

There is c______ evidence of a link between exposure to sun(日光暴晒) and skin cancer.

I r______ to tell you that I am unable to accept your kind invitation.

The couple are always a______ with each other about money.

The game attracted over 500 competitors r______ 8 different countries.

The explorers were told to e______ themselves with everything they would need for the voyage.

When we visited my old family home, memory came c______ in.

It was w______ that he was caught stealing in a department store.

At the meeting they discussed three different a______ to the study of mathematics.

1. Those people, who had w______________ the 7.23 Train Crash in Wenzhou, said they would never forget the horrible scenes.
2. Canadian teen pop star Justin Bieber, who has a t________ for music, is said to be the richest teenager in Hollywood.
3. It’s reported that the famous HK star couple, Nicholas Tse and Cecilia Cheung, have got d___________ to end their unhappy marriage.
4. A___________ the plan means we have to give up what we have done and start things all over again.
5. When you cut down a tree, you can see its a____________ ring.
6. Where there is an escalator, there is a sign saying, “The elder and children should be a______________ by adults when taking the escalator(自动扶梯).”
7. When her husband died in the accident, she received many letters and calls of s_______.
8. “One World, one Dream” fully r____________ the universal values of the Olympic Spirit----Unity, Strength, Harmony and Participation.