It is not a secret that these are turbulent times that put everyone on edge all the time and it makes people angry with their families, co-workers, friends and relatives, frustrated (沮丧的)and highly annoyed just for the noise of the neighbors or the music coming from the opposite house. Anger and negative energy have a strong influence on everyone’s life, even when they don’t realize it.
Being in a calm state of mind is simply wonderful. Results of this can be seen when parents no longer shout at their children over any small thing and when one can keep him cool when bad things happen and doesn’t let the situation become worse by his negative influence.
Also results can be seen on a larger scale. In 1993 a very interesting scientific experiment called The US Transcendental Meditation experiment was conducted in Washington. A company called TM got 4,000 calm and relaxed people to simply sit and meditate (冥想) in a central Washington convention center. The results of this experiment showed that during those particular 8 weeks, violent crimes, such as murder, rape, assaults, clearly decreased by as much as 23%.
This is evident proof that meditation can change the state of mind, bring back peace of mind and collective meditation is contagious (蔓延的), just as anything done collectively is contagious. For example, a person has the urge to become aggressive (while in normal circumstances that person is very calm and normal), just because he is sitting at a stadium watching a football game and everyone around is shouting and is aggressive.
Isn’t increasing the quality of life worth spending 20 minutes of time on meditation? Yes, very few people follow through with a meditation method that should be a joy to do. Many start and leave it after only a few sessions.
So if collective meditation has proven that meditation works, that it calms people down and that it brings their levels of stress down, why not employ it in everyday life?
【小题1】The underlined word “turbulent” in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to “     ”.

The booking notes of the play “the Age of Innocence”:

Price: ＄10

BOOKING

There are four easy ways to book seats for performance:

------ in person

The Box Office is open Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. ---8 p.m.

------ by telephone

Ring 01324976 to book your tickets or to pay by credit card（Visa, MasterCard and Amex accepted）

------ by post

Simply complete the booking form and return it to Global Theatre Box Office.

------ on line

Complete the on-line booking form at www. Satanfiedtheatre. com

DISCOUNTS:

Saver:＄2 off any seat booked any time in advance for performances from Monday to Thursday. Savers are available for children up to 16 years old, over 60s and full-time students.

Supersaver: half-price seats are available for people with disabilities and one companion. It is advisable to book in advance. There is a maximum of eight wheelchair spaces available and one wheelchair space will be held until an hour before the show.

Standby: best available seats are on sale for＄6 from one hour before the performance for people suitable for Saver and Supersaver discounts and thirty minutes before for all other customers.

Group Bookings: there is a ten percent discount for parties of twelve or more.

School: school parties often or more can book＄6 standby tickets in advance and will get every tenth ticket free.

Please note: we are unable to exchange tickets or refund money unless a performance is cancelled due to unforeseen situations.

1.If you want to book a ticket, you CANNOT  _________.

A．use the Internet

B．go to the Box Office on Sundays

C．complete a booking form and post it to the Box Office

D．ring the booking number and pay for the tickets by credit card

2.According to the notes, who can get＄2 off?

A．A full-time college student.

B．The people who book the tickets on Fridays.

C．A woman who is 55 years old.

D．A teenager who is 18 years old.

3.If you make a group booking for a group of 14 adults, how much should you pay?

A．＄120            B．＄126            C．＄140            D．＄150

4.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A．There are only 8 wheelchair spaces in the theatre.

B．A group of 12 persons can get 10 per cent discount.

C．A school party of 15 students should pay 90 for the standby tickets.

D．The audience can’t refund money if the performance is on show.

5.What kind of tickets are the cheapest?

A．The standby tickets.

B．The tickets for group booking.

C．The tickets for Saver discount.

D．The standby tickets for school parties of ten or more.

As a teenager of the digital era, it is really hard to say no to fantastic electronic gadgets（电子产品）. Many of us can’t get through a day without using our mobile phones or checking our e-mails. No matter if we’re “@home”, “@school” or “@play”, living without technological toys seems more and more unthinkable.

       However, although gadgets bring convenience, many of us can start to feel stressed out by them. And, a lot of electronics are fairly expensive. Fashionable gadgets come and go in the digital age in the blink of any eye. So, think twice before you pulling out your wallet.

       Here are some of the most popular gadgets and their pros and cons:

       Pros: Laptops have made our lives much easier. You can take your books, movies, music and homework everywhere.

       Cons: They cost at least 4,000 yuan! If you only want to share photos or games with your friends, then a flash memory stick is a great cheap alternative.

       Pros: As well as carrying your favorite music, a video MP3 player can play up to 150 hours of movies and TV programmes.

       Cons: The price – sometimes more than 2,000 yuan – is the first concern. Secondly, though music is really important to young people, ask yourself if video is really necessary. A regular MP3 player is a lot cheaper. And remember, don’t let the loud volume damage your hearing.

       Pros: New mobile phones combine traditional functions with a digital camera, MP3 player and even a radio. Some can also send and receive e-mails.

       Cons: Always trying to keep up with the latest model can be a waste of money. There are always new, improved phones coming out. Don’t be a fool. Do you really need all these functions? Think twice before you buy.

1．According to the writer, which of the following statements is true?

       A．Teenagers can’t live through a day without fantastic electronic gadgets.

       B．Teenagers can hardly live happily without electronic gadgets.

       C．Teenagers’ life is full of expensive electronic gadget.

       D．It’s all but impossible for many teenagers to live without fantastic electronic gadgets.

2．What conclusion can we draw from the passage?

       A．Never buy the most updated gadgets.

       B．You should buy the gadgets with as many functions as possible.

       C．We needn’t always pay the most part to buy the most up-to-date gadgets with many functions.

       D．Never buy the latest model, it’s much too expensive.

3．Choose the statement most similar in meaning to the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2.

       A．Fashionable gadgets are updated in the digital times in a flash.

       B．Fashionable gadgets are transported everywhere in the digital age in the blink of any eye.

       C．People keep buying and throwing away expensive fashionable gadgets in the digital age in

the blink of any eye.

       D．People use all kinds of fashionable gadgets all the time in the digital age.

4．What do the words “pros and cons” mean in the selection.

       A．Agreements and disagreements.

       B．The views that are favored and not favored by people.

       C．Benefits and bads.

       D．Advantages and disadvantages.

There are three branches of medicine. One is called “doctor medicine”, or “scientific medicine.” Scientific doctors try to observe sicknesses, look for logical patterns, and then find out how the human body works. From there they figure out what treatments may work. This kind of medicine is believed to date from the 4th century BC. Although nowadays it is successful, in the ancient world this approach probably did not cure many patients.

A second kind of medicine is called “natural cures,” or “folk medicine,” in which less educated people try to cure sicknesses with various herbs（药草）. These folk healers also use observation and logic, but they are not so aware of it. They try things until they find something that seems to work, and then they keep doing that. Folk medicine flourished long before the development of scientific medicine and was more successful in ancient times than doctor medicine.

The third kind is called “health spas（矿泉疗养地）,” or  “faith healing.” Sometimes this may be as simple as touching the holy man and being immediately healed. Other times, a magician may make you a magic charm, or say a spell, to cure you. Some religious groups organize special healing shrines for the sick. In these places people rest, get plenty of sleep, eat healthy food, drink water instead of wine, and exercise in various ways. They also talk to the priests and pray to the gods. If you are feeling depressed or you have been working too hard, going to these places may be just the right thing to make you feel better.

Doctor medicine         .

       A．has a longer history than folk medicine 

B．has been practiced for around 1,600 years

       C．bases its treatments on observation and logic

       D．was very successful in curing sicknesses in ancient times

According to the passage, which of the following is NOT used in health spas?

       A．Magic power.   B．Various herbs. 

C．Religious faith. D．A healthy life style.

According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?

       A．Folk healers choose different herbs to cure diseases without any sound basis.

       B．people who practice folk medicine need lots of formal education on herbs.

       C．The success of folk medicine led to the development of doctor medicine.

       D．Natural cures worked better than scientific medicine in ancient times.

The author’s primary purpose in this passage is to         .

       A．describe different types of medicine

       B．argue for the importance of medicine in health care

       C．show the crucial role religion plays in medical treatments

       D．compare the educational background of three different types of patients

Teachers and parents usually call attention to the pictures when they read storybooks to pre-school children. But a new study suggests that calling attention to the words and letters on the page may lead to better readers.
The two-year study compared children who were read in this way in class with children who were not. Those whose teachers most often discussed the print showed clearly higher skills in reading, spelling and understanding. These results were found one year and even two years later.
Shayne Piasta, an assistant professor of teaching and learning at Ohio State University, was an author of the study. She says most pre-school teachers would find this method manageable and would need only a small change in the way they teach. They already read story-books in class. The only difference would be increased attention to the printed text. “If you get children to pay attention to letters and words, it makes sense that they will do better at word recognition and spelling.” But she says research suggests that very few parents and teachers do this in a systematic way.
More than 300 children aged four and five were observed in classrooms. They came from poor families and were below average in their language skills. For thirty weeks, the children took part in a program called Project STAR--- Sit Together and Read. The project is based at Ohio State. It tests the short-term and long-term results of reading regularly to pre-school children in their classrooms.
There are different ways that adults can talk to children about print. They can point to a letter and discuss it, and even trace the shape with a finger. They can point out a word and discuss the meaning of the print or how the words tell the story. And they can talk about the organization of the print--- for instance, showing how words are written left to right in English.
【小题1】What do we know about the ways pre-school children are usually taught?