My mum was young when she fell pregnant with me. After I was born it was decided that my father’s relatives would ________ me in Manchester. No one spoke about Mum. Eventually, I was shown letters from Mum, ________ that she was a drug addict.
All this was running through my head as I arrived in Glasgow on 27 December last year. My sister Leanne, from my mother’s side, had ________ me down on Facebook, and we had been ________ for some time, but had met only once or twice. Leanne had been brought up by our mother’s parents, and had some ________ with Mum throughout her life. She was now living in Canada, but returning for Christmas and ________ to see all the family together. A big party had been arranged to welcome her back, and everyone would be there, including our ________.
In a very short time my sister and I hatched a ________. I’d meet my sister as she arrived at Manchester airport, then we’d drive up to Glasgow ________. Keeping it a surprise gave us a rush. After about a four-hour drive, we were there. I’d ________ called someone “Mum” before. But there she was.
We embraced (拥抱) and although we could hardly get the words out fast enough, we were soon ________. Seeing someone so alike looking back at me was the strangest but most ________ experience. Though a lifetime may have ________ us, this woman at a party in Glasgow was my mum. She ________ at me for a second, before giving me a tight hug. All she could say was that she never thought we’d ________ again.
She’d been ________ of drugs for five years. She told me how she now works for a charity that helps young people ________ the same problems she had. We now talk regularly, and I feel ________ she’s my mother. That’s something I couldn’t have even ________ when the door opened to her at that Christmas party. Life may be short, but it’s always ________ enough to reconcile (和好).
1.A. teachB. controlC. serveD. raise
2.A. foreseeingB. sayingC. arguingD. promising
3.A. knockedB. trackedC. rolledD. turned
4.A. negotiatingB. complainingC. messagingD. searching
5.A. contactB. bargainC. funD. trouble
6.A. unwillingB. afraidC. confidentD. desperate
7.A. sisterB. fatherC. mumD. grandparents
8.A. dealB. planC. trickD. change
9.A. in advanceB. in turnC. in secretD. in time
10.A. everB. evenC. alwaysD. never
11.A. looking awayB. chatting awayC. turning upD. picking up
12.A. disturbingB. annoyingC. comfortingD. frightening
13.A. separatedB. desertedC. ruinedD. cheated
14.A. laughedB. yelledC. staredD. pointed
15.A. partB. sufferC. recoverD. meet
16.A. cleanB. awareC. shortD. fond
17.A. discussB. overcomeC. exploreD. stress
18.A. guiltyB. embarrassedC. proudD. shocked
19.A. imaginedB. ignoredC. questionedD. recalled
20.A. toughB. happyC. simpleD. long
Most drinks stating that they are fruit flavored contain no fruit at all, while most of the rest contain only a small quantity of fruit, according to a study carried by the British Food Commission.
"Shoppers need to check the labels before buying drinks, though sometimes the actual content can be nonexistent," said Food Commission spokesperson Ian Tokelove. "Food production is highly competitive. 1. It will increase profits, and consumers won't always realize they are being tricked."
Flavorings are focused on the flavors of natural food products such as fruits, meats and vegetables, or creating flavor for food products that do not have the desired flavors. Researchers analyzed the contents of 28 strawberryflavored products sold in stores. 2. Of the 11 products that did contain strawberries, five of them contained less than one percent real fruit. In addition, each juice box contained nearly eight teaspoons of sugar.
_3. Let's take jam as an example. Some strawberryflavored jam was labeled as containing no artificial color1 s, flavors, or sweeteners, but it contained ly no strawberries at all.
_4._ Consumers have the rights to know clearly about what they have bought. Under current UK law, food packages do not have to distinguish between natural and artificial flavoring. "Describing a product as strawberry flavor and covering the surface of the packet with pictures of strawberries is misleading. _ 5. Unfortunately, it is also legal and widespread," Tokelove said. "It's time to take measures to protect the consumers' rights."
A. They found that about 60 percent of them didn't contain any fruit at all.
B. Even products advertised as more natural often contained no fruit.
C. The products which contain real fruit are popular with people.
D. Actually the product contains just a tiny percentage of strawberry or even no fruit at all.
E. It is important and necessary to demand a small amount of flavoring in the products.
F. If companies can cut their costs by using flavoring, they are likely to do so.
G. The Food Commission suggested all flavors used in a product should be listed on the packaging.
While residents of wealthy nations tend to have greater life satisfaction, new research shows that those living in poorer nations report having greater meaning in life.
These findings, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological science, suggest that meaning in life may be higher in poorer nations as a result of greater religiosity (笃信宗教). As countries become richer, religion becomes less central to people’s lives and they lose a sense of meaning in life.
“Thus far, the wealth of nations has been almost always associated with longevity, health, happiness or life satisfaction,” explains psychological scientist Shigehiro Oishi of the University of Virginia. “Given that meaning in life is an important aspect of overall well-being, we wanted to look more carefully at differential patterns, correlates (相关物), and predictors for meaning in life.”
Oishi and colleague Ed Diener of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign investigated life satisfaction, meaning, and well-being by examining data from the 2007 Gallup World Poll, a large-scale survey of over 140,000 participants from 132 countries. In addition to answering a basic life satisfaction question, participants were asked: “Do you feel your life has an important purpose or meaning?” and “Is religion an important part of your daily life?”
The data revealed some unexpected trends: “Among Americans, those who are high in life satisfaction are also high in meaning in life,” says Oishi. “But when we looked at the societal level of analysis, we found a completely different pattern of the association between meaning in life and life satisfaction.”
When looking across many countries, Oishi and Diener found that people in wealthier nations were more educated, had fewer children, and expressed more individualistic attitudes compared to those in poorer countries — all factors that were associated with higher life satisfaction but a significantly lower sense of meaning in life.”
The data suggest that religiosity may play an important role: Residents of wealthier nations, where religiosity is lower, reported less meaning in life and had higher suicide rates than poorer countries.
According to the researchers, religion may provide meaning to life to the extent that it helps people to overcome personal difficulty and cope with the struggles of working to survive in poor economic conditions:
“Religion gives a system that connects daily experiences with the coherent whole (连贯的整体) and a general structure to one’s life … and plays a critical role in constructing meaning out of extreme hardship,” the researchers write.
Oishi and Diener hope to reproduce these findings using more comprehensive measures of meaning and religiosity, and are interested in following countries over time to track whether economic prosperity gives rise to less religiosity and less meaning in life.
1.Which of the following questions couldn’t the participants have answered?
A. Does your life have a purpose or meaning?
B. Do you have relatives living abroad?
C. Are you satisfied with your everyday life?
D. Is religion involved in your daily life?
2.Which of the following statements is true?
A. Those who have higher life satisfaction usually have lower sense of meaning in life.
B. People in wealthier nations were more educated, have fewer children and express less individualistic attitudes compared to those in poorer countries.
C. Religion may provide meaning to life in that people can get strong support from it in face of hardship.
D. Wealthy people are more likely to commit suicide than poor people.
3.What can be inferred from the passage?
A. The poorer a country is, the more religious its people are.
B. Economic prosperity gives rise to less religiosity and less meaning in life.
C. If you want to find meaning in life, you must practice a religion.
D. Meaning in life doesn’t have much to do with the amount of wealth one possesses.
4.The main purpose of the passage is to explain the possible reason why __________.
A. greater life satisfaction leads to lower sense of meaning
B. residents of poorer nations enjoy greater meaning in life
C. residents of poorer nations are so religious
D. residents of wealthy nations have greater life satisfaction
It is reported that conservation groups in North America have been arguing about the benefits and dangers of wolves. Some groups believe wolves should be killed. Other people believe wolves must be protected so that they will not disappear from the wilderness(荒野).
For Killing Wolves
In Alaska，the wolf almost disappeared a few years ago，because hunters were killing hundreds of them for sport. However, 1aws were established to protect the wolves from sportsmen and people who catch the animals for their fur．So the wolf population has greatly increased. Now there are so many wolves that they are destroying their own food supply.
A wolf naturally eats animals in the deer family. People in the wilderness also hunt deer for food. Many of the animals have been destroyed by the very cold winters recently and by changes in the wilderness plant life．When the deer can’t find enough food，they die.
If the wolves continue to kill large numbers of deer, their prey(猎物) will disappear some day. And the wolves will, too. So we must change the cycle of life in the wilderness to balance the ecology. If we killed more wolves, we would save them and their prey from dying out. We’d also save some farm animals.
In another northern state, wolves attack cows and chickens for food. Farmers want the government to send biologists to study the problem. They believe it necessary to kill wolves in some areas and to protect them in places where there is a small wolf population．
Against Killing Wolves
If you had lived long ago，you would have heard many different stories about the dangerous wolf．According to most stories，hungry wolves often kill people for food．Even today，the stories of the “big bad wolf” will not disappear．
But the fact is wolves are afraid of people, and they seldom travel in areas where there is a human smell．When wolves eat other animals，they usually kill the very young, or the sick and injured. The strongest survive. No kind of animal would have survived through the centuries if the weak members had lived. And has always been a law of nature.
Although some people say it is good sense to kill wolves，we say it is nonsense! Researchers have found wolves and their prey living in balance．The wolves keep the deer population from becoming too large, and that keeps a balance in the wilderness plant life.
The real problem is that the areas where wolves can live are being used by people. Even if wilderness land is not used directly for human needs, the wolves can’t always find enough food. So they travel to the nearest source, which is often a farm. Then there is danger. The “big bad wolf” has arrived! And everyone knows what happens next.
1.According to the passage, some people in North America favor killing wolves for all the following reasons EXCET that ________.
A．there are too many wolves
B．they kill large numbers deer
C．they attack cows and chickens for food
D．they destroy the wilderness plant life
2.According to those against killing wolves, when wolves eat other animals, ________.
A．they never eat strong and healthy ones
B．they always go against the law of nature
C．they might help this kind of animals survive in nature
D．they disturb the ecological balance in the wilderness
3.The last sentence “And everyone knows what happens next” implies that in such cases ________.
A．farm animals will be in danger and have to be shipped away
B．wolves will kill people and people will in turn kill them
C．wolves wilI find enough food sources on famls
D．people will leave the areas where wolves can live
More than four decades ago British scientist Robert Edwards first witnessed the miracle of human life growing inside a test tube at his Cambridge lab. Since that ground-breaking moment, more than four million babies have been born through IVF and in 2010 his great contribution to science was finally recognized as he was awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine.
The prize for Dr. Edwards, who was given a Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Award in 2008, includes a £900,000 check. The Nobel Assembly described IVF as a “milestone in modern medicine”.
With the help of fellow scientist Patrick Steptoe, the Manchester-born physiologist developed IVF — leading to the birth of the world’s first test tube baby. Dr. Steptoe died 10 years later but their work has transformed fertility treatment and given hope to millions of couples.
It was a scientific breakthrough that transformed the lives of millions of couples. They said: “His achievements have made it possible to treat infertility, a disease which makes human unable to have a baby. This condition has been afflicting a large percentage of mankind including more than 10% of all couples worldwide.”
Louise Brown, the world’s first test tube baby, made international headlines when she was born in Oldham, Gtr Manchester, in 1978 to parents Lesley and John who had been fruitlessly trying for a baby since 1969.
Ivf-in-vitro fertilization is the process whereby egg cells are fertilized outside the body before being implanted in the womb. After a cycle of IVF, the probability of a couple with infertility problems having a baby is one in five—the same as healthy couples who conceive naturally.
Professor Edwards, who has five daughters and 11 grandchildren, began his research at Cambridge University in 1963, after receiving his PhD in 1955. He once said: “The most important thing in life is having a child. Nothing is more special than a child.” With the help of fellow scientist Patrick Steptoe, Prof. Edwards founded the Bourn Hall clinic in Cambridge shire, which now treats more than 900 women a year. Each year, more than 30,000 women in Britain now undergo IVF and 11,000 babies are born as a result of the treatment.
But his work attracted widespread criticism from some scientists and the Catholic Church who said it was “unethical and immoral”.
Martin Johnson, professor of reproductive sciences at the University of Cambridge, said the award was “long overdue”. He said: “We couldn’t understand why the Nobel has come so late but he is delighted — this is the cherry on the cake for him.”
Professor Edwards was too ill to give interviews but a statement released by his family said he was “thrilled and delighted”.
1.What is Robert Edwards’ contribution to science?
A. Enabling millions of couples to live a better life.
B. Helping couples with infertility to have tube babies.
C. Seeing the wonder of the first tube baby growing
D. Challenging a disease which stops human having a baby.
2.Why did Professor Edwards begin his research on tube baby?
A. Because a special child did make a difference to an ordinary family.
B. Because the birthrate around the world was unexpectedly low then.
C. Because he thought it of great significance to have a child in life.
D. Because his fellow scientist wanted to give hope to the unlucky couples.
3.It can be inferred from Paragraph 8 and Paragraph 9 that ________.
A. Professor Edwards deserved the prize for his breakthrough
B. different opinions were voiced on Professor Edwards’ finding
C. some people envied Professor Edwards for his being awarded
D. the prize was late because the finding was first considered immoral
4.What might be the best title for the passage?
A. Life Stories of Robert Edwards
B. Preparations for Having a Baby
C. Nobel Prize for IVF Expert Edwards
D. Treatment of Infertility in a Lab
Why do human beings still risk their lives under ground and doing one of the dirtiest and most dangerous jobs in the world? It is an increasingly urgent question, given the recent mining accidents in Sago, W. Va and Huntington, Utah. A small group of engineers and robotics experts look forward to a day in the not-too-distant future when robots and other technology do most of the dangerous mining work.
Robotic technology, in particular, holds much promise, McAteer says, especially when it comes to mapping mines and rescuing trapped miners — the special operations of the mining industry.
One of the first mining robots was developed five years ago at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute. It was called Groundhog. It used lasers(激光器) to “see” in dark tunnels and map abandoned mines—some of the most dangerous work in the business.
The latest design is called Cave Crawler. It’s a bit smaller than Groundhog, and even more advanced. It can take photos and videos and has more sensors that can detect the presence of dangerous gases. Incredibly, the robot has a real sense of logic. If it comes across an obstacle it gets momentarily confused. It has to think about what to do and where to go next. Sometimes it throws a fit just like a real person.
The greatest problem, though, is cost. The money of the earliest research project was provided by the government, but that money had dried up, and it’s not clear where future money will come from. Partly for that reason, and partly because of advances in safety, mining is not nearly as dangerous as it was in the past. Since 1990, fatalities(致命性) have declined by 67% and injuries by 51% , according to the National Mining Association.
Some experts predict that robots in mines will serve much of the same function that they do in the automotive industry. The robots do the most boring and dangerous jobs，but won’t get rid of the need for human workers.
1.The latest robot is more advanced than Groundhog, mainly because ________.
A. it can map abandoned mines
B. it has a real sense of logic
C. it can see in the dark tunnels
D. it’s smaller than Groundhog
2.The underlined phrase “throws a fit” in paragraph 4 probably means“________”.
A. gets sickB. gets angry
C. becomes hungryD. becomes cheerful
3.We can infer from the last paragraph that ________.
A. the mine robots will have a very bright future
B. robots in mines will serve much in the automotive industry
C. there will be no need for human workers in mines
D. robots in mines only do some simple jobs now
4.We can infer from the text that ________.
A. robots cannot do dangerous work in dark areas
B. the mining robots do most of the mining work at present
C. groundhog can discover the presence of dangerous gases
D. experts are trying to make robots help miners with dangerous work
