Nothing could stop Dad. After he was put on disability for a bad back, he bought a small farm in the country, just enough to grow food for the family. He planted vegetables, fruit trees and even kept bees for honey.

And every week he cleaned Old Man McColgin’s chicken house in exchange for manure. The smell really burned the inside of your nose. When we complained about the terrible smell, Dad said the stronger the manure, the healthier the crops, and he was right. For example, just one of his cantaloupes filled the entire house with its sweet smell, and the taste was even sweeter.

As the vegetables started coming in, Dad threw himself into cooking. One day, armed with a basket of vegetables, he announced he was going to make stew. Dad pulled out a pressure cooker and filled it up with cabbages, eggplants, potatoes, corns, onions and carrots. For about half an hour, the pressure built and the vegetables cooked. Finally, Dad turned off the stove, the pot began to cool and the pressure relief valve sprayed out a cloud of steam. If we thought Dad's pile of chicken manure was bad, this was 10 times worse. When Dad took off the lid, the smell nearly knocked us out.

Dad carried the pot out and we opened doors and windows to air out the house. Just how bad was it? The neighbors came out of their houses to see if we had a gas leak!

Determined, Dad filled our plates with steaming stew and passed them around it didn't look that bad, and after the first wave had shut down my ability to smell, it didn't offend the nose so much, edible, and we drank up every last drop of soup!

1.What can we infer about Dad’s stew?

A.It is popular among the neighbors.

B.It contains honey and vegetables.

C.It looks very wonderful.

D.It tastes quite delicious.

2.What does the underlined word “offend” in the last paragraph mean?

A.To attract. B.To upset.

C.To air. D.To shut.

3.What can we learn about Dad from the text?

A.He is an experienced cook.

B.He is a troublesome father.

C.He has a positive attitude to life.

D.He suffers a lot from his disability.

Drinking more than two alcoholic drinks daily in middle-age may raise your stroke(中风) risk more than traditional factors such as high blood pressure and diabetes(糖尿病), according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Stroke.

In a study of 11,644 middle-aged Swedish twins who were followed for 43 years, researchers compared the effects of an average of more than two drinks daily ("heavy drinking") to less than half a drink daily ("light drinking").

The study showed that:

·Heavy drinkers had about a 34 percent higher risk of stroke compared to light drinkers.

·Mid-life heavy drinkers (in their 50s and 60s) were likely to have a stroke five years earlier in life irrespective of genetic and early-life factors.

·Heavy drinkers had increased stroke risk in their mid-life compared to well-known risk factors like high blood pressure and diabetes.

·At around age 75, blood pressure and diabetes appeared to take over as one of the main influences on having a stroke.

Past studies have shown that alcohol affects stroke risk, but this is the first study to pinpoint differences with age. "We now have a clearer picture about these risk factors----how they change with age and how the influence of drinking alcohol shifts as we get older," said Pavla Kadlecová, M.Sc., a statistician at St. Anne's University Hospital's International Clinical Research Center in the Czech Republic.

Researchers analyzed results from the Swedish Twin Registry of same-sex twins who answered questionnaires in 1967-1970. All twins were under age 60 at the start. By 2010, the Registry had provided 43 years of follow-up, including hospital discharge(出院) and cause of death data.

Researchers then sorted(整理) the data based on strokes, high blood pressure, diabetes and other cardiovascular (心血管)incidents. Almost 30 percent of participants had a stroke. They were categorized(将……分类) as light, moderate, heavy or non-drinkers based on the questionnaires. Researchers compared the risk from drinking and health risks like high blood pressure, diabetes and smoking. Among identical twin pairs, siblings(兄弟姐妹) who had a stroke drank more than their siblings who hadn't had a stroke, suggesting that mid-life drinking raises stroke risks regardless of genetics and early lifestyle.

The study is consistent (一致)with the American Heart Association's recommended limit of two drinks a day for men and one for women. That's about 8 ounces of wine for a man and 4 ounces for a woman.

Regular heavy drinking of any kind of alcohol can raise blood pressure and cause heart failure or irregular heartbeats over time, in addition to stroke and other risks. "For mid-aged adults, avoiding more than two drinks a day could be a way to prevent stroke in later productive age ," Kadlecová said.

1.Who might be the target readers of the passage?

A. People who have suffered a stroke

B. People who like drinking

C. People who have high blood pressure

D. People who have twin siblings

2.What do we know about the study in the passage?

A. It revealed five related results

B. It lasted for a period of over 50 years

C. It involved the age factor in the causes of strokes

D. It included 11,644 Australian twins as participants

3. The underlined part “irrespective of” in the passage can best be replaced by “_________”.

A. in favor of B. in terms of

C. instead of D. regardless of

4. What does the passage mainly tell us?

A. People without a stroke can drink more alcohol than those having a stroke in middle age

B. There is a higher possibility that heavy drinkers will have a stroke in middle age

C. Drinking alcohol has been regarded as the most dangerous factor in strokes

D. The amount of alcohol taken by men should be twice than that taken by women.

阅读下列短文,从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

I regularly train at a local boxing gym and I’m lucky enough to meet an amazing man, Adrian Charter. Adrian comes to the gym to train, just like me. The difference is, I’m 31 years old, and Adrian is 72!

I watched Adrian as he was training, early on a Sunday morning, and he was hitting the punching bag harder and quicker than most men in their twenties would. Adrian was a former boxer whose last professional fight was in 1972. Even though he has stopped competing as a boxer, his discipline(纪律) still makes him stick to a training rule.

It simply amazed me as to how a 72-year-old man could train so hard. Believe me, boxing is one of the most difficult sports on the earth, needing much patience,skill, and effort.

What surprised me even more was that a few days earlier he did some running. He ran 9 kilometers. He does this on a regular basis. For me, I can run 5 kilometers at most.

When I questioned him about how he kept such discipline, he calmly replied, “It is all in my mind.”

I thought about it for a moment. If discipline can push a 72-year-old man to train so hard and enjoy it, could I imagine how discipline could serve every single human being on the earth? Right at this point, as you read this story, please pause and ask yourself, “What is my level of discipline?”

Adrian’s example told me that the power of discipline will get us to the finishing line! The bigger the challenge is, the more our discipline can serve us and the sweeter the taste of success will be!

1.The author noticed Adrian Charter mostly because Adrian Charter _______ .

A. was a famous former boxer

B. was the oldest in the boxing gym

C. acted faster even than young people

D. didn’t want to compete any longer

2.What does the author think of boxing?

A. It has high requirements.

B. It has strict training rules.

C. It has a limit to people’s age.

D. It makes people become quick and strong.

3.The underlined sentence in the last paragraph probably means “______ ”.

A. Rome was not built in a day

B. no pains, no gains

C. failure is the mother of success

D. early birds can catch worms

4.What can be the best title for the text?

A. Grasp every chance to keep fit

B. An unforgotten experience

C. The power of discipline

D. An amazing boxer

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