【题目】

Coloring is an activity that children worldwide have long enjoyed. With a picture already made for them, kids simply chose a crayon,pencil or marker of their favorite color and fill it in. Today, it also becomes more and more popular among teenagers and even adults, who are enjoying relaxing hours of coloring. In December, five of the top ten best-selling books in the United States were coloring books.

They are fun,but are coloring books good for you?

The good feedback(反馈)from customers is encouraging. Trina Lucida, a popular artist creating coloring books, says that many of her customers are buying the coloring books for others who are sick or going through a hard time. She adds that the "big idea" behind her latest book is to encourage people to do something creative.

Lucida is right,according to Allan Rohan,a psychology(心理学)professor. "Many customers think of coloring books as a new creative stage," he said in an interview,"but what's more important is that people spend time coloring in order to reduce stress after a long day." Research shows that coloring can reduce stress by guiding people to focus on(专注)one simple task. When a person is filling in a flower with a light purple color,he focuses on the flower and forgets about all his troubles in life.

Experts add that coloring may relieve a certain kind of pain. Doing the coloring helps people relax their mind and calm down. Also,coloring helps people's brain in a healthy way. The shape of the drawing makes one side of the brain active, while the color of the drawing improves the other. Coloring can bring out your imagination and take you back to your childhood. Interesting,isn't it?

"It's very relaxing," said Susan Jackson,a big fan of Lucida's coloring books. "Coloring frees my mind. And it's not just to try to fill blank(空白的)pages. The pictures make me happy and there is just something about them. So I'm saving the pictures I like best to the very end."

1Trina Lucida wants her coloring books to .

A. encourage people to be creative B. be one of the best-sellers

C. let people enjoy relaxing hours D. help develop their friendship

2Why can coloring reduce stress?

A. Because it brings out imagination.

B. Because it shows the beauty of nature.

C. Because it helps people to be more focused

D. Because it can take people back to childhood.

3What does the underlined word "relieve"mean?

A. reduce B. seuarate C. drive D. balance

【题目】There are two ways of driving in the world: if the driver's seat is on the left and cars travel on the right side of the road, it is called "left-hand driving", as it is in China, while the other way of driving is called "right-hand driving", as it is in Britain. Nowadays, around 65% of the world's population drives on the right of the road, while the rest is used to driving on the left.

Though no one knows the exact reasons, it seems likely that people in ancient times travelled on the left of the road. Roman coins show pictures of horsemen passing on each other's right. And right-hand people generally got on a horse from the animal's left. Obviously, it's safer to do this at the left side of the road, and it makes sense(行得通)for the horse to be ridden on the left.

A change happened in the late 1700s. When Napoleon(拿破仑)conquered(攻占)nations, he forced them to travel on the right side of the road, which spread left-hand driving throughout Europe. However, Britain still stuck with the right-hand driving rule and countries which were part of the British Empire were made to follow. This is why India, Australia and the former British colonies(前英国殖民地)in Africa continue to drive on the left. One exception(例外)is Egypt, as that country was defeated(打败)by Napoleon before becoming part of the British Empire.

Some countries changed sides until modern times. Sweden only moved to driving on the right in 1967 and Iceland changed the following year. Ghana changed sides in 1974. On September 7, 2009, Samoa became the third country ever to change from left-to-right-hand driving for the reason that it made it easier to import(进口) cheap cars from right-hand driving Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

So if you want to travel to another country or go on business, make sure you know whether it is left-or right-hand driving to avoid unnecessary troubles.

1Which picture shows the correct driving in Britain?

A. B. C. D.

2Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Sweden changed to drive on the right in 1974.

B. People drive on the left side of the road in Egypt.

C. People have known the exact reasons for driving on the left.

D. Napoleon helped with the spread of left-hand driving.

3What is the writer's purpose for writing this passage?

A. To explain the advantages of the two ways of driving.

B. To introduce the development of the two ways of driving.

C. To complain about the change of the two ways of driving.

D. To compare the differences of the two ways of driving.

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