Jeanne Calment, a French woman, became a record breaker on 17 October of 1995, when at the age of 120 years and 238 days, she became the longest-lived human being on record. A Japanese man died in 1986 at the age of 120 years and 237 days.
Jeanne Calment lives in a small old people’s home in the south of France; her husband, her only child and her grandson have all died. She is nearly blind and deaf and is always in a wheelchair, but her doctor describes her as being more like a 90-year-old in good health than someone of 120. She still has a lively sense of humor. When asked on her 120th birthday what she expected of the future, she replied: A very short one. She also remarked that she thought the good Lord had forgotten all about her.
So what is the key to a long life? According to some doctors, diet, exercise and no smoking are the three important factors. Jeanne Calment has followed two of the tips. She has always eaten a healthy diet, and she used to do exercise every day until she broke her leg at the age of 115. However, until recently she drank two glasses of strong red wine a day, and she does smoke (now only a little). Besides, Jeanne Calment might have got very good genes from her parents. Her father lived to the age of 94 and her mother to 86.
A local lawyer bought her house when she was 80 under an agreement that he would pay her some money every year until her death. It must have seemed a good move at the time, but so far the lawyer has paid her at least three times the value of the house. Every year on her birthday Jeanne Calment sends him a card saying:
Sorry, I’m still alive!
1.How does Jeanne Calment feel about her old age?
A. She is miserable and unhappy.
B. She is cheerful and humorous.
C. She would like to live much longer.
D. She feels she is going to die very soon.
2.Jeanne Calment owes her good health and long life to _______.
A. smoking only a little every day
B. her giving up smoking and drinking
C. drinking two glasses of strong red wine every day
D. the good genes from her parents, a healthy diet and some exercise
3.Which of the following could best replace the word “move” in the fourth paragraph?
A. deal B. trick C. march D. sport
4.Why does Jeanne Calment say “Sorry, I’m still alive” to the local lawyer every year on her birthday?
A. Because she had an agreement at 80 with the lawyer which was to her advantage.
B. Because she has asked the lawyer to pay her more rent than they first agreed.
C. Because the lawyer has paid her much more money than the value of the house.
D. Because the house she sold to the lawyer isn’t worth the money he has already paid.
Dolphins(海豚) live in a dark underwater world. It’s often impossible to see each other or anything else around them, so sound plays an important role in their survival. To communicate with each other, dolphins produce all kinds of sounds.
Only other dolphins understand what the sounds mean. Scientists haven’t uncovered their secret communication, except for one kind of whistle. It might last less than a second, but this whistle is a big deal. Why? Because these whistles are actually names of dolphins - and every dolphin has one. Scientists call these sounds a “signature whistle.” When other dolphins hear the whistle, they know which dolphin is calling.
Dolphins often hunt by themselves but still need to stay connected to the group. Since they can’t always see each other, dolphins use their signature whistles to check in with other dolphins hundreds of yards away. “In coastal areas, dolphins exchange whistles even when they’re a third of a mile apart,” says Greg Campbell, who studies animals. That means dolphins shout out to group members that might be nearly five football fields away.
What’s amazing is who names the baby dolphin. Not the mother. Not an auntie dolphin or another group member. Scientists believe the baby dolphin itself comes up with the signature whistle. Like human babies, a baby dolphin plays with sounds throughout its first year. While testing its sound skills, a baby dolphin is doing something amazing. It’s creating or figuring out its signature whistle. How or why it chooses its signature whistle is not clear. Studies show that most of the time the signature whistle is nothing like its mother’s or group members’ whistles.
When the baby dolphin is about a year old, its signature whistle is set. It repeats it often so the other dolphins learn to recognize it.
Deciphering(破译) dolphin names is just the beginning of figuring out what dolphins communicate about. Do they chat about sharks? Discuss the tides? Maybe they even have a name for people. Someday scientists are to decipher the rest of dolphins’ communication.
1.Sound is important for dolphins because of ______.
A．their poor sense of direction
B．their living environment
C．their strong enemies
D．their big groups
2.The dolphin’s signature whistle ______.
A．lasts along time
B．can travel long distances
C．is especially helpful in hunting
D．can be recognized by other animals
3.The author writes the text mainly to _____.
A．encourage readers to study dolphins
B．tell readers how dolphins communicate
C．show how lovely and clever dolphins are
D．introduce a special sound made by dolphins
4.A baby dolphin gets its name ______.
A．soon after it was born B．according to its size
C．all by itself D．with the help of its group
Christian Eijkman, a Dutch doctor, left the Netherlands for the island of Java. Many people on the island had a disease called beri-beri. He was going there to try and find a cure.
At first, Eijkman thought some kind of germ (细菌) caused beri-beri. He raised some chickens. He didn’t eat them, but made experiments on them. The local people were quite surprised at that. One day he noticed that his chickens became sick when they were fed the food most Javanese ate — refined white rice (精炼米). When he fed them with unrefined rice, also known as brown rice, they recovered. Eijkman realized that he had made an important discovery — that some things in food could prevent disease. These things were named vitamins. The Javanese were not getting enough vitamins because they had actually removed the part that contains vitamins. Later, other diseases were also found to be caused by the lack of vitamins in a person’s food.
Today many people know the importance of vitamins and they make sure they have enough vitamins from the food they eat. If they don’t, they can also take vitamin pills.
1.Christian Eijkman went to the island of Java to ______.
A. help the Javanese with their illness
. find ways to grow better crops
C. do some research about the island
D. spend his holiday
2.Why did Christian Eijkman raise some chickens?
A. To eat them.
B. To make money by selling them.
C. To give the Javanese a surprise.
D. To carry out his experiments.
3.If a person doesn’t get enough vitamins in his diet, he’d better ______.
A. eat more rice B. eat vitamin pills
C. eat some chicken D. eat more meat
Decision-thinking is not unlike poker—it often matters not only what you think, but also what others think you think and what you think they think you think. The mental process is similar. Naturally, this card game has often been of considerable interest to people who are, by any standards, good thinkers.
The great mathematician John von Neumann was one of the founders of game theory. In particular , he showed that all games fall into two classes : there are what he called games of “ perfect information ” , games like chess where the players can’t hide anything or play tricks : they don’t win by chance , but by means of logic and skills . Then there are games of “imperfect information”, like poker, in which it is impossible to know in advance that one course of action is better than another.
One mistaken idea about business is that it can be treated as a game of “perfect information”. Quite the reverse, business, polities, life itself are games which we must normally play with very imperfect information. Business decisions are often made with many unknown and unknowable factors, which would even puzzle the best poker players. But few business people find it comfortable to admit that they are taking a chance, and many still prefer to believe that they are playing chess, not poker.
1.The subject discussed in this text is __________.
A. the process of reaching decisions
B. the difference between poker and chess.
C. the secret of making good business plans
D. the value of information in winning games
2.An important factor in a game of imperfect information is __________.
A. rules B. luck C. time D. ideas
3.Which of the following can be used in place of “Quite the reverse ” in Paragraph 3 ?
A. Quite right. B. True enough.
C. Most unlikely. D. Just the opposite.
4.In the writer’s opinion, when making business decisions one should _________.
A. put perfect information before imperfect information
B. accept the existence of unknown factors
C. regard business as a game of chess
D. mix known and unknown factors
假定你叫李华,是我校高三（2）班的学生。你在校报英语专栏看到了学校“英语文化节”的一则招募启事，请阅读启事，并根据写作要点和写作要求写一封应征邮件。
Volunteers Wanted
Our annual English Festival, which will be held on November 12,2015, , is now looking for 20 student volunteers to provide service for Talent Show, Speech Contest, and English Debate. If you are interested, please send an application email at your earliest convenience to Ms Chen at chenlaoshi@aef.com.
写作要点： 1.表明意图；2.陈述应征目的；3.说明应征条件（性格、能力等）。
写作要求： 1.词数:100词左右； 2.开头和结尾部分已写好，不计入总词数；
3.可适当增加细节，使行文连贯。
Dear MS Chen,
I’m a student from Class 2,Grade 3.
Looking forward to your reply.
Yours,
Li Hua
语法填空,阅读下面短文，按照句子结构的语法性和上下文连贯的要求，在空格处填入一个适当的词或使用括号中词语的正确形式填空，并将答案填写在答题卡标号为1～10的相应位置上。
A CCTV journalist succeeded in arousing a heated discussion among netizens by asking people whether they were happy. The responses to the question were various, even some quite funny ones 1. ___ (include). Although people played jokes 2. the answers, it did not take long 3. __ they began to figure out the true meanings of happiness.
It is certain that people’s views on happiness 4. ___(affect) greatly by their own life experience. Unfortunately, too many people refer to being rich as happiness and there is no sign of 5. decrease in the number of those who are voluntarily at the mercy of wealth. Some people whose 6. ____(intend) is to make big money appreciate being given any chance to multiply their income, believing that is _7._____ their happiness lies. Some are eager to inherit their parents’ property, especially those who 8. __(be) known as silver-spoon kids. Even worse, some would rather break the law to satisfy their financial desire or seek their fortune __9.____(legal).
In my opinion, happiness is not about pursuing wealth merely but about admiring the beautiful things in life. Therefore, live your life ___10.____the fullest and be happy.
