As many as one in five US teenagers have some degree of hearing loss, according to researchers.
They say the problem is growing.
Teenagers really don’t pay attention to how much noise they are exposed (暴露) to, Josef Shargorodsky of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston told Reuters. “Often people won’t notice it, but even slight hearing loss may affect language development,” said Shargorodsky, one of the researchers.
The study compared surveys from the early 1990s and the mid-2000s. Each included a few thousand teenagers. In the first survey, about 15 percent of teenagers had some degree of hearing loss. Some 15 years later, that number had risen by a third, to nearly 20 percent.
“This certainly is big news,” said Alison Grimes, an ear doctor. Hearing loss is very common in old people, Grimes said, but she added that it was worrying to see it happen in the younger age group.
In babies and young children, hearing problems are known to slow language development. The science is less clear for teenagers, but it is easy to imagine how being hard of hearing could affect learning, said Grimes,.
The reasons for the rise are still unclear. When researchers asked teenagers about noise exposure – on the job, at school or from activities, for example – the teenagers didn’t report any change. But Shargorodsky said that might not be true. “We knew from before that it is difficult to ask this age group about noise exposure – they underestimate (低估) it.” Few people would call it noise when they listen to music on their MP3 player, for example. “There is a difference between what we think is loud and what is harmful to the ear,” said Grimes.
Although it’s not clear that the MP3 players cause teenagers’ hearing loss, Grimes said it was still a good idea to turn down the sound and take short breaks from listening.
【小题1】According to the researchers, in a US class of 40 students, about ____ students have some degree of hearing loss.

A．the reasons for the rise have been found	B．MP3 players are to blame
C．listening to loud music may be a cause	D．noise is the main reason

Google Inc. introduced plans in June to offer 3-D maps of major cities and other new features for its popular Google Maps and Google Earth services.
New features include the ability to _____50_____ portions of Google Maps onto phones and other _____51_____ devices, with detailed data, so users can find their way around _____52_____ areas even if they don’t have an active Internet connection.
Perhaps the most _____53_____ new feature was the detailed three-dimensional images that Google plans to offer for major cities in coming months.
Google product manager Peter Birch explained that the company is using _____54_____ to obtain detailed images of every street and building in an area, from different _____55_____, which are then compiled into images that appear to show height, depth and even architectural details of buildings and streets, _____56_____ landscape features such as trees.
“We are trying to create the effect that you are flying _____57_____ the city, almost as if you were in your own personal helicopter,” said Birch.
Compiling those images _____58_____ extensive photographing and processing of images, however. _____59_____ Birch promised to have images _____60_____ for several major cities in coming months, he and other Google officials did not offer a detailed timetable.
Industry blogs have reported that Apple is preparing to _____61_____ its own maps and navigation service, including 3-D images. Analysts say the _____62_____ is part of a larger race between the two tech giants to offer services that keep users _____63_____ and allow each company to deliver advertising or other products targeted to specific locations and other data on ____64______ interests.

Diet Coke, diet Pepsi, diet pills, no-fat diet, vegetable diet… We are surrounded by the word “diet” everywhere we look and listen. We have so easily been attracted by the promise and potential of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us. We are paying for products that harm us psychologically and physically.

Diet products weaken us psychologically. On one level, we are not allowing our brain to admit that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption of fatty, high-calorie（卡）, unhealthy foods. Diet products allow us to jump over the thinking stage and go straight for the counter instead. All we have to do is to swallow or recognize the word “diet” in food brands.

 On another level, diet products have greater psychological effects. Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves without our awareness that we don’t have to work to get results. Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance and struggle.

 The danger of diet products lies not only in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm that they cause. Diet foods can indirectly harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are preventing our bodies from having basic nutrients(营养成分). Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calorie only because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products. Diet products may not be nutritional, and the chemical that go into diet products are potentially dangerous.

 Now that we are aware of the effects that diet products have on us, it is time to seriously think about buying them. Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals. Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, and therefore prevent the psychological harm that comes from using them.

1.The first paragraph mainly tells us _____.

A. diet products can bring out people’s potential

B. people have difficulty in choosing diet products

C. diet products are misleading people

D. people are fed up with diet products

2.One psychological effect of diet products is that people tend to ____.

A. resist a variety of diet foods

B. hesitate before they enjoy diet foods

C. pay attention to their own eating habits

D. watch their weight rather than their diet

3.The purpose of writing this passage is _________.

A. to warn people of the side effect of diet products

B. to tell people how to lose weight

C. to advise people to eat diet products

D. to introduce some diet products

4. Which of the following shows the structure（结构） of the passage?

CP: Central Point      P: Point       Sp: Sub-point(次要点)   C: Conclusion

The Wife-carrying World Championship has been celebrated in a small town in central Finland since 1992. in 1992, the people of the town decided that it was time to restart some long-forgotten traditions. Back in the late 1800s, there was a robber called Rosvo-Ronkainen in that area. He was said to only accept men as members of his gang who proved their worth in challenges. At that time, it was also a common practice to steal women from neighboring villages.
The Wife-carrying World Championship is becoming increasingly popular. A large number of competitors, people, and journalists from Finland to Canada attend the Wife-carrying World championship every year.
The event is well-known for its warm and humorous atmosphere. The Wife-carrying World Championship is held on a 253.5 meters long official track. The track has two dry obstacles and a water obstacle, about a meter deep.
There are a few basic rules and the winning team is the couple who complete the course in the shortest time. The wife to be carried may be your own, or your neighbor’s. the minimum weight of the wife to be carried is 49kg. if she is less than 49kg, the wife will be given a heavy bag to carry. Each time a competitor drops his wife, that couple will be fined 15 seconds.
Along with the Wife-carrying World Championship, there is also a team competition. The distance is the same but three men in the team carry the wife in turns. At the exchange point the carrier has to drink the official “wife-carrying drink” before continuing the race. A special prize is awarded to the team with the best costumes.
Alongside with the Wife-carrying World Championship, there are bands playing music, a wife-carrying dance and other forms of entertainment.
【小题1】According to the passage, the Wife-carrying World championship ___________.

Doing community service work, I spent three or four hours handing out warm dinner to the homeless out in the streets. After that I went to a   16  shelter not far from the Bay Bridge.
I was in high school and at the time my sister was too young to   17  . She wanted to help,    18  she made four or five dozen chocolate chip cookies for me to    19   and hand out to people. When getting to the homeless shelter I passed out the remaining meals. I had the containers with my   20  cookies in them and began to   21  , offering them to anyone near me.
I    22   an old gentleman and said, “Sir, would you like a cookie?” He stopped and turned around, looked at me    23  in the eye and said, “What did you say? Did you call me sir?” I told him I had, and his eyes    24   a little bit and he said, “No one has    25   called me sir.” He was completely taken aback.
It struck me. 
I explained I had been raised that    26   color and social status, everyone deserved     27   . It made me    28   to think that just because he was homeless, no one    29  him the honor. It broke my   30  , and I couldn’t help   31  cry. I just didn’t understand    32  no one ever called him sir? I had never thought that anyone was below me because I wasn’t raised that way. Every    33  person deserves to be treated with dignity. Years later, I still carry that memory and the    34  it taught me. Sometimes, what we take for granted can    35  make a difference in someone’s life.
How have you made a difference to others? How have others made a difference to you?