From babies to body builders, we all have muscles. They grow, they bulge(鼓起), they stretch they stretch and sometimes they even painfully pull. But for all the work they do for us, we are still unable to crown one as "the strongest muscle."
Instead, a few muscles could claim the title, depending on how strength is measured.
If the title goes to the muscle that can exert(产生) the most force, the victor would be the soleus（小腿肚肌）, according to Gray's Anatomy（解剖学）. Without this muscle, we wouldn't be able to stand, walk, run or shake our bodies on the dance floor. If the soleus was not continuously pulling, we would always be falling over ourselves (although some of us tend to do that from time to time anyway).
But perhaps the title should go to the muscle that exerts the most pressure. Pressure is different from force — pressure takes into account the area over which a force is exerted. The muscle that takes the prize for delivering the greatest amount of pressure is the masseter, or the jaw muscle, according to the book "Clinical Oral Science" (Reed Educational and Professional Publishing, 1998).
In 1986, Richard Hofmann of Lake City, Fla., achieved a bite strength of 975 pounds (442 kilograms) for two seconds, setting a Guinness Record. Talk about jaw dropping! The jaw is able to clench（咬紧） and chew because of the masseter muscle.
Others may argue the muscles used in childbirth are the most powerful.
When it comes to versatility, perhaps the tongue is the strongest muscle. Its combination of elasticity（伸缩性） and forcefulness gives us the ability to speak, eat and kiss – all things very desirable on a first date. However dexterous（灵巧的） it may be though, its power does not match that of muscles such as the soleus.
If slow and steady wins the race, the heart is certainly a contender for the title. When it contracts, the muscle pumps about 2 ounces (59 milliliters) of blood, and is constantly working over a lifetime. Beating about 40 million times a year, a person's heart will beat approximately 2.5 billion times by the time of their 70th birthday.
1.According the passage, the underlined word “contender” in the last paragraph is closet in meaning to “ ”.
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A．failure |
B．partner |
C．muscle |
D．competitor |
2.Which would be t he best title for the passage?
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A．What’s the strongest muscle in the human body? |
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B．who is the strongest person in the world? |
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C．What are the functions of different muscles? |
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D．What are the standards of the strongest muscle? |
3.According to the passage, .
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A．Without the soleus, we could still stand, walk, run or shake our bodies on the dance floor |
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B．a few muscles could be the winners, according to different measures |
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C．the muscles used in childbirth are the most powerful |
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D．tongue is the strongest muscle for delivering the greatest amount of pressure |
4.What would be discussed in the following paragraph?
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A．Another possible strongest muscle. |
B．the conclusion of the strongest muscle. |
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C．The functions of different muscles. |
D．the Guinness record of strongest muscle. |
Cittaslow has discovered China, and it is awarding a little village in Jiangsu the title of "slow city"
The bored teenagers of Gaochun are impatient with the leisurely pace of hometown life．For them there is no nightlife to speak of, no bright lights, no excitement and they cannot wait to grow up and leave for the urban attractions of the big cities．But it is this laid-back lifestyle that has attracted international attention．At least, a quiet village within Gaochun county has come under the spotlight．Yaxi village, population 20,000, is about to be designated China's first "slow city" by Cittaslow, the sustainable lifestyle movement that first surfaced in Italy 11 years ago．
At home, the residents at Yaxi are unfazed and pretty much unimpressed by the honor．To them, life has been like this for as long as they can remember．Here, growing old gracefully is natural．
Nobody living in this little county had heard of Cittaslow or the words "slow city" before this．
"The first time I heard the term was last July, when the vice-president of Cittaslow, Angelo Vassallo, visited Yaxi village," says Zuo Niansheng, the chief editor of local newspaper Gaochun Today．
"Vassallo was deeply impressed by this village's natural and cultural resources and said it perfectly fitted the requirements for a slow city," says Zuo．"That was how Yaxi became connected with Cittaslow．
The Slow City must also be committed to protect and maintain the natural environment as well as promote a sustainable way of development ?all of which are the current strategies adopted in Gaochun．"We've been doing this for years," adds Zuo．
Cittaslow was founded in Tuscany, Italy in 1999．It was a spin-off from the Slow Food movement which started, also in Italy, in 1986 as a protest against the first McDonald ' s opening near the Spanish Steps in Rome．The movement championed a return to healthy, nutritious home-grown, home -cooked food．
Slow Food has since expanded globally to more than 130 countries．Its mission has also broadened to include the promotion of sustainable foods and local small businesses, and the localization as opposed to globalization of food production．
Cittaslow is an expansion of the Slow Food movement, and it actively advocates a lifestyle that is sustainable, that will improve quality of life, and will preserve cultural and culinary （烹饪的）heritage．
1.According the passage, Cittaslow is a（n） ____．
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A．organization |
B．person |
C．lifestyle |
D．honor |
2.What' s the reaction of the residents at Yaxi to the award according the passage? They feel
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A．very excited． |
B．very shocked |
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C．indifferent |
D．very happy |
3.Why is the village Yaxi awarded the title of “slow city”? Because .
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A．it is full of excitement and activities of nightlife |
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B．the residents at Yaxi enjoy a leisure life |
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C．it is very rich and has a lot of attractions |
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D．foreign people like small towns than big cities. |
4.It can be inferred from the passage that .
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A．young people at Yaxi enjoy their life very much |
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B．China is more and more popular with foreign people |
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C．the first McDonald’s in Europe was opened in Spain |
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D．the lifestyle of “slow city” will be good to environment and people |
Contrary to common belief, social media websites such as Facebook do not weaken personal ties, they strengthen them in unique ways for different age groups, according to a new study．
The rapid spread of Facebook, which has more than 500 million users worldwide, has prompted concerns about its negative effects, but researchers at the University of Texas have reached a different conclusion．
"Our findings suggest that Facebook is not replacing face-to-face interactions between friends, family and colleagues," said S．Craig Watkins, an associate professor of radio, TV and film who headed the research team．
"In fact, we believe there is sufficient evidence that social media afford opportunities for new expressions of friendship, intimacy and community．"
The researchers questioned 900 college students and recent graduates about how and with whom they interact on Facebook．
More than 60 percent of Facebook users said posting status updates was among the most popular activities, followed by 60 percent who wrote comments on their profile and 49 percent who posted messages and comments to friends．
The researchers also found that although about the same number of men and women use Facebook, they do so in different ways．
"There is a noteworthy difference in aims in how to use a tool like Facebook．We found that for women the content tends to be more affectionate, and （they） are especially interested in using it for connection," said Watkins．
"For men, it's more functional," he added．
Watkins pointed out that, for example, women are more likely to post pictures of social gatherings with friends, while men are more likely to post pictures of hobbies, or post a political or pop-culture related link．
1.What's the popular viewpoint of ordinary people about the function of social media websites? They think ____．
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A．It is positive to personal ties |
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B．It has negative effects on personal ties |
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C．It makes no difference to personal ties |
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D．It has both good and bad effects to personal ties |
2.What's the meaning of the underlined word in the second paragraph?
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A．resulted from |
B．had |
C．showed |
D．produced |
3.What do Facebook users like to do mostly on Facebook? They like to ____．
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A．create new expressions of friendship ' |
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B．wrote comments on their profile |
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C．update their personal statuses |
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D．post messages and comments to friends |
4.According to the study, ____．
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A．Men concentrate more on the functions of Facebook |
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B．Much more men use Facebook than women |
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C．Men and women use a tool like Facebook for the same aim |
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D．Facebook is taking the place of face-to-face interactions between friends |
阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Once again, I was in a new school. So was a girl in my class named Paris. That’s where the 31 ended.
I was tall and she was small. I was one of the oldest in the class while she was the youngest. I was 32 and shy. She wasn’t. I couldn’t 33 her, considering her my enemy. But she wanted to be friends.
One day, she invited me over and I said yes — I was too 34 to say no. Actually no one has invited me over to play before. But this girl, who wore the latest 35 , wanted to see me.
She lived on the fourth floor in a two-room place with her mother, her stepfather, her two brothers and her sister. When we got to the room she 36 with her sister, she took out a big case of Barbies（芭比娃娃）- which was my next 37 . I would have thought she’d outgrown them. I has never played with them. But we sat on the floor of a walk-in cupboard laughing as we 38 crazy stories about the Barbies. That’s 39 we found out that we both wanted to be writers when we were older. We both had wile 40 .
We had a great day that afternoon. Our jaws ached from 41 so much. She showed me her outfits, which had 42 come from a designer clothing store down the block. The woman who owned it used her 43 a model sometimes for her newspaper ads and gave her clothes 44 .
Paris had the whole neighborhood 45 . The bookstore owners lent her fashion magazines, the movie theater gave her free 46 and the pizza place let her have free slices. Soon I was 47 in her magic world. We slept over at each other's houses, spent every free moment together. My dark hair grew out and I learned to love being 48 .
Paris, my first real friend since childhood, helped me 49 the through teenage years and taught me an amazing and very surprising thing about making friends: your “worst enemy” can 50 to be your best friend.
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I only intended to be there for a few days, but I ended up staying for a whole month.
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A．fortunately |
B．actually |
C．naturally |
D．obviously |
By offering free access to a wide range of public facilities, out school now is a quite satisfying place for study, is poor accommodation.
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A．apart from |
B．as well as |
C．in addition to |
D．because of |
