Women who own cats are more likely to have mental health problems and kill themselves because they can be infected by a common parasite that can be caught from cat litter, a study has found.

Researchers found women infected with the Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) parasite(刚地弓形虫), which is spread through contact with cat waste or eating undercooked meat or unwashed vegetables, are at increased risk of attempting suicide.

The study involved more than 45,000 women in Denmark. About a third of the world’s population is infected with the parasite, which hides in cells in the brain and muscles, often without producing symptoms.

The infection, which is called toxoplasmosis(弓形虫病), has been linked to mental illness, such as schizophrenia(精神分裂症), and changes in behavior.

The study’s senior author Doctor Teodor Postolache, an associate professor of psychiatry(精神病学) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in the United States, said, “We can’t say with certainty that T. gondii caused the women to try to kill themselves, but we did find a predictive association between the infection and suicide attempts later in life that deserves additional studies.”

Doctor Albert Reece, vice president of medical affairs at the University of Maryland, said, “T. gondii infection is a major public health problem around the world, and many people don’t realize they’re infected.

“Dr Postolache is a leading expert on suicide neuroimmunology(神经免疫学). Suicide is a critically important mental health issue. About one million people commit suicide and another 10 million attempt suicide worldwide each year. We hope that this type of research will one day help us find ways to save many lives that now end too early in suicide.”

Dr. Postolache’s research team at the University of Maryland was the first to report a connection between T. gondii and suicidal behavior in 2009. He is cooperating with researchers in Denmark, Germany and Sweden to confirm and investigate the way leading to this association.

The T. gondii parasite thrives in the intestines of cats, and it is spread through their waste. All warm-blooded animals can become infected through contact with it. Humans can become infected by changing their infected cats’ litter boxes, eating unwashed vegetables, drinking water from a polluted source, or by eating undercooked or raw meat.

Not washing kitchen knives after preparing raw meat before handling another food item also can lead to infection. Pregnant women can pass the parasite directly to their unborn babies and are advised not to change cat litter boxes to avoid possible infection.

Babies don’t produce antibodies to T. gondii for three months after they are born, so the antibodies present in their blood represented infection in the mothers. The scientists studied Danish health patients to determine if any of these women later attempted suicide, including cases of violent suicide attempts which may have involved guns, sharp instruments and jumping from high places.

The study found that women infected with T. gondii were one and a half times more likely to attempt suicide compared to those who were not infected, and the risk seemed to rise with increasing levels of the T. gondii antibodies.

Dr Postolache noted limitations to the study, such as the inability to determine the cause of the suicidal behavior.

The findings were published online in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

1.The objects of the research are women from _____.

A. Demark                                      B. the USA                            C. Germany                          D. Sweden

2.The common way which is more likely to be infected with the disease is _____.

A. to eat unwashed vegetables or undercooked meat

B. to clean a place where a cat once lived for a time

C. to pass the infection to her unborn baby during a woman’s pregnancy

D. to reuse kitchen tools which have been used to cut raw meat

3.What is the consequence if a woman is infected with the parasite in the passage?

A. Having a high fever.                                                      B. Doing deliberate self-harm.

C. Keeping a depressed mood.                                       D. Becoming bad tempered.

53.

4. What can be inferred from the passage?

A. Women have a higher risk to be infected by the parasite than men.

B. The result of the research may help the scientists to find ways to stop suicide in advance.

C. The scientists will continue their research into the possible connection.

D. The risk of being infected seems to rise with the decreasing levels of the antibodies.

5.Which of the following statements would probably be the best title of the passage?

A. Why are women more likely to commit suicide?

B. Women should keep away from cats.

C. Ways found to deal with women’s mental problems.

D. Are women who own cats at a suicide risk?

New York Time—A gunman killed eight people at a mall in Omaha this afternoon and then killed himself, setting off panic among holiday shoppers, the police said．

“The person who we believe to be the shooter has died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds,” Sgt． Teresa Negron of the Omaha Police Department said at televised news． “We have been able to clear the mall,” she said． “We don’t believe we have any other shooters．” The police said that at least five other people had been injured in the shootings．

She did not give the shooter’s identity． “We are still conducting the investigation,” Sergeant Negron said, adding that the city’s mayor, who was out of town, was on his way back to Omaha．

    She said the police received a 911 call from someone inside the Westroads Mall on the west side of Omaha, and shots could be heard in the background． The first police officers arrived at the mall six minutes after the first call, she said, but by then the shootings were over．

    It is reported that the gunman left a suicide note that was found at his home by relatives． A law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity （匿名） said the note indicated that the gunman wanted to “go out in style．”

The shootings broke the usually banal routine of holiday shopping． The gunman was said by some witnesses to have fired about 20 shots into a crowd． Some customers and workers ran screaming from the mall, while others dived into dressing rooms to hide from the shooter．

   Shoppers and store workers were trapped inside the mall, which has roughly 135 stores． Others streamed out of mall exits with their hands raised． President Bush was in Omaha this morning to deliver a speech, but he had left the city by the time the shootings took place．

Where did the shooting first come out?

A． In a newspaper                     B． On the Internet    

C． In TV news                          D． In a police poster

What do the underlined words “go out in style” probably mean?

A． go out of the mall in particular clothes

B． walk in the mall with everybody focused on

C． go to a socially event by fashionable means

D． stop his life in a impressive way

Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A． Nobody knows why the shooter did so and nothing was found at his home．

B． The city’s mayor happened not to be in the city when the shooting took place．

C． Police arrived at the mall before the shootings were over and rescued customers．

D． The official who showed what the note mean have no request of his own identity．

We can infer from the passage that ______．

A． There is only one shooter in this event．

B． The shooting created fears among the customers．

C． An important holiday is coming soon．

D． President Bush came here for the shooting．

After their 20-year-old son hanged himself during his winter break from the University of Arizona five years ago, Donna and Phil Satow wondered what signs they have overlooked, and started asking other students for answers.

What grew from this soul searching was Ulifeline (www. Ulifeline. org), a Web site where students can get answers to questions about depression by logging on through their universities. The site has been adopted as a resource by over 120 colleges, which can customize it with local information, and over 1.3 million students have logged on with their college ID’s.

“It is a very solid Web site that raises awareness of suicide, de-stigmatizes mental illness and encourages people to seek the help they need,”said Paul Grayson, the director of counseling services at New York University, which started using the service nearly a year ago.

The main component of the Web site is the Self-screening program developed by Duke University Medical Center that tests students to determine whether they are at risk for depression, suicide and disorders like anorexia and drug dependences. Besides helping students, the services compiles anonymous student date, offering administrators an important window onto the mental health of its campus.

The site provides university users with links to local mental health services, a catalog of information on prescription drugs and side effects, and access to Go Ask Alice, a vast archive developed by Columbia University with hundreds of responses to anonymously posted inquires from college students worldwide. For students concerned about their friends, there is a section that describes warning signs for suicidal behavior and depression.

Yet it is hard to determine how effective the service is. The anonymity of the online service can even play out as a negative. “There is no substitute for personal interaction(个人互动才能解决)，” said Dr. Lanny Berman, executive director of the American Association of Suicidology, based in Washington.

Ulifeline would be the first to say that its service is no replacement for an actual therapist. “The purpose is to find out if there are signs of depression and then direct people to the right places,” said Ron Gibori, executive director of Ulifeline.

Mrs. Satow, who is still involved with Ulifeline, called it “a knowledge base” that might have prevented the death of her son, Jed. “If Jed’s friends had known the signs of depression, they might have seen something,” she said.

1. The first paragraph is written to_________.

2.One reason that many colleges adopt the website is to _________

3. Go Ask Alice as mentioned in the passage is________

4.The underlined sentence of the seventh paragraph implies that ______

5. Mrs. Satow would probably agree that _________

　　ARIEL, West Bank: A suicide bomber blew up near Israeli soldiers outside a Jewish settlement in the West Bank yesterday, killing at least three people and wounding about 30 others, the settlement's mayor and rescue workers said.

　　"A suicide bomber came and there were many soldiers...and he blew himself up." said Ron Nachman, mayor of the settlement of Ariel. "Soldiers were among the casualties. "People on the spot said the bomber blew up after soldiers eating at a food stand in a petrol station at the entrance of the settlement found him. According to some people on the spot accounts reported by Israeli media, a soldier shot and wounded the bomber, who then exploded.

　　The Magen David Adorn ambulance service said at least three people were killed and at least 30 wounded in the blast, which set the bomber burning at Ariel, about 25 kilometers east of Tel Avi v.

　　A fire brigade official said: "The bomber was still burning when we got there and we put out the fire immediatelly."

　　Meanwhile, a blast shook homes in Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp early yesterday, damaging buildings but causing no injuries, Palestinian sources said. They said the bomb was planted outside the home of a member of Palestimian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction in Ain el-Hilwch camp, and exploded while the family was sleeping.

　　Some of people including ________were killed or wounded in the blast accident.

　　A. soldiers　　　　　　　　　　　 B. mayor

　　C. rescue workers　　　　　　　　 D. a fire brigade official

　　　The suicide bomber blew himself up because________.

　　A. there was something wrong with his brains

　　B. a soldier shot and wounded him

　　C. he couldn't see the settlement's mayor

　　D. he wanted to make himself known

　　What does the underlined word "casuahies" probably mean in the second paragraph?________

　　A. sufferers　　　B. killers　　　　 C. passersby　　　D. losers

　　It can be concluded that the passage is most probably part of a （n）________.

　　A. announcement　　　　　　　　　B. advertisement

　　C. news report　　　　　　　　　　D. science research

After their 20-year-old son hanged himself during his winter break from the University of Arizona five years ago, Donna and Phil Satow wondered what signs they have overlooked, and started asking other students for answers.
What grew from this soul searching was Ulifeline (www. Ulifeline. org), a Web site where students can get answers to questions about depression by logging on through their universities. The site has been adopted as a resource by over 120 colleges, which can customize it with local information, and over 1.3 million students have logged on with their college ID’s.
“It is a very solid Web site that raises awareness of suicide, de-stigmatizes mental illness and encourages people to seek the help they need,”said Paul Grayson, the director of counseling services at New York University, which started using the service nearly a year ago.
The main component of the Web site is the Self-screening program developed by Duke University Medical Center that tests students to determine whether they are at risk for depression, suicide and disorders like anorexia and drug dependences. Besides helping students, the services compiles anonymous student date, offering administrators an important window onto the mental health of its campus.
The site provides university users with links to local mental health services, a catalog of information on prescription drugs and side effects, and access to Go Ask Alice, a vast archive developed by Columbia University with hundreds of responses to anonymously posted inquires from college students worldwide. For students concerned about their friends, there is a section that describes warning signs for suicidal behavior and depression.
Yet it is hard to determine how effective the service is. The anonymity of the online service can even play out as a negative. “There is no substitute for personal interaction(个人互动才能解决)，” said Dr. Lanny Berman, executive director of the American Association of Suicidology, based in Washington.
Ulifeline would be the first to say that its service is no replacement for an actual therapist. “The purpose is to find out if there are signs of depression and then direct people to the right places,” said Ron Gibori, executive director of Ulifeline.
Mrs. Satow, who is still involved with Ulifeline, called it “a knowledge base” that might have prevented the death of her son, Jed. “If Jed’s friends had known the signs of depression, they might have seen something,” she said.
【小题1】 The first paragraph is written to_________.