D
At the railway stations all across Britain next week, groups of students will gather with their backpacks to wait for the trains that will carry them home for Christmas. This is a large movement of human beings as before, but with more contradictory traffic flows, so that trains filled with the young pass each other travelling in every direction.
At first, I went home every weekend with my washing, but then those visits became less regular. How did I let my parents know I was coming? They had no phone. Perhaps I wrote to them (“Expect me with dirty shirts this Friday afternoon”), but more likely I didn’t let them know, and just turned up or didn’t turn up, not understanding that my parents’ hopes of seeing me were a greater disappointment of my carelessness than a spoiled tea.
And in all this I suspect I was typical (有代表性的), at least of young men. As for our fathers and mothers, none of them talked of “empty-nest syndrome (综合症)”, even though its possible effect that the main human duty is to protect and feed the young would have suited their generation better than ours. Then, the feeling of loss went without a name. Today, it’s a condition with remedies, which will make parents feel more enjoyable in their life, The Mayo Clinic, for example, suggests you try to maintain regular contact with your children through “visits, phone calls, emails, texts or video chats”. If you feel unhappy, lean on (depend on … for support) loved ones or your mental health providers. Above all, stay positive: “Thinking about the extra time and energy that you might have to devote to your marriage or personal interests after your last child leaves home, it might help you adapt to this major life change.”
What can’t be denied, however, is that children often leave home. In modern societies, this is what they do. Christmas is the very time they can be depended on to return. For the non-religious, that may be this season’s true comfort and significance.
【小题1】The main reason for the busy traffic across Britain next week is that _______.

D
At age 61, identical twins Jeanne and Susan no longer look exactly alike. Susan smoked for many years and is an admitted sun worshipper, whose habits Jeanne does not share. A new study of twins suggests you can blame those coarse(粗糙的)wrinkles, brown or pink spots on too much time in the sun, smoking, and being overweight.
Because twins share genes, but may have different exposures to environmental factors studying twins allows an “opportunity to control for genetic susceptibility(易受影响性),” Dr. Elma D. Baron, at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, and his colleagues explain in the latest issue of Archives of Dermatology.
Their analysis of environmental skin-damaging factors in 65 pairs of twins hints that skin aging is related more to environment and lifestyle than genetic factors.
But when it comes to skin cancer, the researchers say their findings support previous reports that both environment and genes affect skin cancer risk.
Baron’s team examined facial skin of 130 twins, 18 to 77 years old, who lived mostly in the northem Midwest and Eastern regions of the US, who were attending the Twins Days Festival in Ohio in August 2002. At this time, each of the twins also separately reported how their skin burned or tanned(晒黑)without sunscreen, their weight, and their history of skin cancer, smoking, and alcohol drinking. The study group consisted of 52 fraternal(异卵双生)and 10 identical twin pairs, plus 3 pairs who were unsure of their twin status.
From these data, the researchers noted strong ties, outside of twin status, between smoking, older age, and being overweight, and having facial skin with evidence of environmental damage. By contrast, sunscreen use and drinking alcohol appeared related to less skin damage.
Baron and his colleagues say the current findings, which highlight ties between facial aging and potentially avoidable environmental factors—such as smoking, being overweight, and unprotected overexposure to the sun’s damaging rays—may help motivate people to minimize these risky behaviors.
67．Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A．Jeanne and Susan share all the habits including smoking.
B．Skin aging is related more to environment and lifestyle than genetic factors.
C．Only identical twins can take part in the research.
D．Sunscreen use cannot help people have less skin damage.
68．Why did Baron’s team do the research on twins?
A．Twins are more likely to suffer from skin cancer.
B．It may guarantee the research is not influenced by genetic factors.
C．It gives others an opportunity to control twins’ genes.
D．It helps find twins are exposed to different environments.
69．What can you infer from the last paragraph?
A．This research makes people aware of dangerous lifestyles.
B．The environmental factors are unavoidable.
C．Being exposed to the sun is absolutely damaging.
D．There is little relationship between skin aging and environment.
70．The passage is mainly concerned with___________
A．skin cancer and environment
B．identical twins research
C．aging skin and environmental factors
D．genes and lifestyles

C
With alarming regularity, we read about oil tankers having accidents near land and the terrible consequences of the oil spills （泄露） on people, nature, and the environment．
Millions of dollars have been used in developing special chemicals to help dismiss the spills and to clean up the animals, beaches, and land spoiled by the oil．Unfortunately, when many of these chemicals are used, more damage is caused to the environment, especially to lives in the sea．
Of all of today's environmental disasters, an oil spill may actually be one of the least serious．Although oil is poisonous, it is a natural material．In the end, it breaks down naturally．There are, of course, long-term effects, but it is usually more serious in the short term．
Nature by itself works better than chemical materials, but when there is a spill we demand that governments act immediately with as much hi-tech knowledge as possible．In 1967 the tanker Torrey Canyon sank off the Scilly Isles near the coast of England and spilled 120,000 tones of oil into the ocean．If you go there today, you will find it hard to see any sign that it ever happened．
Governments seem to accept the risk of transporting millions of tons of oil by ship every day so that we can fill up our cars and drive around and cause even more environmental damage．Interestingly, the biggest companies in the world produce cars, and the next biggest supply the gasoline to make them run I
We should be thinking more about reducing our dependency on oil．Governments should be encouraging research into new technologies, such as cars run by solar power （太阳能） , electricity, hydrogen, and so on．Much of this research has, in the past, been held back by the oil, gas, and coal．
If the world's millions of cars were 10% more efficient （高效的）—and the industry could easily produce cars at least twice as efficient ?we would need many fewer tankers crossing the oceans each year．If this happened, the risks of oil spills would be reduced, and the air we breathe would be cleaner and fresher, too．
63．What is the passage mainly talking about?
A．Oil spills pollution．    B．What oil pollution is．
C．Oil tanker accidents.             D．How to reduce oil pollution.
64．How does the author support the idea that oil spills are not as serious as people believe?
A．By giving a description．   B．By making an argument．
C．By giving an example．          D．By drawing a diagram．
65．What does the underlined word "risk" in Paragraph 5 refer to?
A．Transportation depending more on oil．
B．Poisonous oil breaking down naturally．
C．Millions of tons of oil spilling into the sea．
D．More environmental damage being caused．
66．Which suggestion, is made for reducing oil tank accidents according to the passage?
A．We should build safer tankers in the near future．
B．We should develop new technologies to cut oil use．
C．Tankers should not be allowed to sail near the coastlines．
D．Countries should build more oil pipelines under the sea．

A: For years some people have been saying that railways are dead. They say, “Trains are slow, and they lose money. Motorcars and planes have made them unnecessary.”

B:    1.   . I think in these days of expensive oil, railways have become highly competitive with motorcars and planes.

A: Right. If you want to carry people or goods from place to place, they are much cheaper than planes.

B:    2.   . A plane goes in a straight line, and so does a railway.

A: What is more, it takes you from the heart of a city into the heart of another.    3.   . Nor does it hold you up as a car does in heavy traffic.

B:    4.   . Modern railway lines give you a smooth, untroubled journey. We’ve just entered the age of super-fast trains, traveling at 160 miles an hour and more.

A：5.

A. So railways will have very bright future, I dare say. 

B. It doesn’t leave you as a plane does, miles and miles from the city center.

C. Far from being dead, railways are developing very quickly.

D. Trains are really slower than planes. 

E. And they have much in common with planes.

F. But it is far from the truth. 

G. Trains are really more comfortable than planes.

D

At the railway stations all across Britain next week, groups of students will gather with their backpacks to wait for the trains that will carry them home for Christmas. This is a large movement of human beings as before, but with more contradictory traffic flows, so that trains filled with the young pass each other travelling in every direction.

At first, I went home every weekend with my washing, but then those visits became less regular. How did I let my parents know I was coming? They had no phone. Perhaps I wrote to them (“Expect me with dirty shirts this Friday afternoon”), but more likely I didn’t let them know, and just turned up or didn’t turn up, not understanding that my parents’ hopes of seeing me were a greater disappointment of my carelessness than a spoiled tea.

And in all this I suspect I was typical (有代表性的), at least of young men. As for our fathers and mothers, none of them talked of “empty-nest syndrome (综合症)”, even though its possible effect that the main human duty is to protect and feed the young would have suited their generation better than ours. Then, the feeling of loss went without a name. Today, it’s a condition with remedies, which will make parents feel more enjoyable in their life, The Mayo Clinic, for example, suggests you try to maintain regular contact with your children through “visits, phone calls, emails, texts or video chats”. If you feel unhappy, lean on (depend on … for support) loved ones or your mental health providers. Above all, stay positive: “Thinking about the extra time and energy that you might have to devote to your marriage or personal interests after your last child leaves home, it might help you adapt to this major life change.”

What can’t be denied, however, is that children often leave home. In modern societies, this is what they do. Christmas is the very time they can be depended on to return. For the non-religious, that may be this season’s true comfort and significance.

1.The main reason for the busy traffic across Britain next week is that _______.

A．young students will travel home for Christmas.

B．young people will travel in every direction.

C．it is a large movement of human beings

D．the traffic flows will be more contradictory

2.From the second paragraph we can learn that the writer _______.

A．went home every week to wash dirty clothes

B．understood his parents’ desire of seeing him

C．didn’t understand his parents’ feelings

D．went home to see his parents regularly

3.The underlined word “remedies” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to _______.

A．reasons           B．excuses           C．habits            D．solutions

4.From the last paragraph we know that _______.

A．in modern society, children should leave home

B．Christmas is likely a time for family reunion

C．the significance of Christmas is celebration

D．Christmas is not a comfort for the non-religious

5.From the passage we can infer that by writing the article the writer is to _______.

A．persuade the young to show concern for their parents

B．ask the young to go home regularly

C．make the young understand their parents’ interest

D．enable the young to be more independent