Being sociable looks like a good way to add years to your life. Relationships with family, friends, neighbours, even pets, will all do the trick, but the biggest longevity(长寿)boost seems to come from marriage or an equivalent relationship. The effect was first noted in 1858 by William Farr, who wrote that widows and widowers（鳏夫）were at a much higher risk of dying than their married peers. Studies since then suggest that marriage could add as much as seven years to a man’s life and two to a woman’s. The effect holds for all causes of death, whether illness, accident or self-harm.
Even if the odds are stacked against you(the conditions are not favourable),marriage can more than compensate. Linda Waite of the University of Chicago has found that a married older man with heart disease can expect to live nearly four years longer than an unmarried man with a healthy heart. Likewise, a married man who smokes more than a pack a day is likely to live as long as a divorced man who doesn’t smoke. There’s a flip side, however, as partners are more likely to become ill or die in the couple of years following their spouses; death, and caring for a spouse with mental disorder can leave you with some of the same severe problems. Even so, the odds favour marriage. In a 30-year study of more than 10,000 people, Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School describes how all kinds of social networks have similar effects.
So how does it work? The effects are complex, affected by socio-economic factors, health-service provision, emotional support and other more physiological mechanisms(机制).For example, social contact can boost development of the brain and immune system, leading to better health and less chance of depression later in life. People in supportive relationships may handle stress better. Then there are the psychological benefits of a supportive partner.
A life partner, children and good friends are all recommended if you aim to live to 100.The best social network is still being mapped out, but Christakis says:” People are interconnected, so their health is interconnected.”
1.William Farr’s study and other studies show that________.
A.social life provides an effective cure for illness
B.Being sociable helps improve one’s quality of life
C.Women benefit more than men from marriage
D.Marriage contributes a great deal to longevity
2.Linda Waite’s studies support the idea that________.
A.older men should quit smoking to stay healthy
B.Marriage can help make up for ill health
C.The married are happier than the unmarried
D.Unmarried people are likely to suffer in later life
3.It can be inferred from the context that the “flip side”(Line5,Para2)refers to________.
A.the disadvantages of being married
B.The emotional problems arising from marriage
C.The responsibility of taking care of one’s family
D.The consequence of a broken marriage
4.What does the author say about social networks?
A.They have effects similar to those of a marriage.
B.They help develop people’s community spirit.
C.They provide timely support for those in need.
D.They help relieve people of their life’s burden
5.What can be inferred from the last paragraph?
A.It’s important that we develop a social network when young.
B.To stay healthy, one should have a proper social network.
C.Getting a divorce means risking a reduced life span.
D.We should share our social networks with each other.
The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.
She said, “Hi, girl! My name is Rose. I’m 87 years old. Can give you a hug?”
I laughed and enthusiastically responded, “Of course you may! “and she gave me a giant squeeze.
“Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age ?”I asked. She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then retire and travel!”
“No seriously “I said. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.
“I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!” “she told me.
Over the course of the year, Rose because a campus icon（偶像）and she easily made friends wherever she went .She loved to dress up and she reveled（陶醉）in the attention bestowed（赠给）upon her from the other students. She was living it up.
At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never forget what she taught us.
“We do not stop playing because we are old“; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only two secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success/You have to laugh and find humor everyday. Your’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die!” she said.
“The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change.” Have no regrets. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.”
She concluded her speech by courageously singing “The Song of Rose”. She challenged each of us study the lyrics(歌词)and live them out in our daily lives.
At the year’s end, Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.
1.Rose made herself known to the author in a _______ manner.
A. serious B. cold C. crazy D. humorous
2.From the information provided in the passage, we know________.
A.Rose finished the college degree within a year
B.Rose did realize her dream of meeting a rich husband and getting married through college education
C.Rose enjoyed her campus life very much
D.Rose grew so old that she stopped playing
3.Rose delivered the speech________.
A.at the graduation
B. which she prepared carefully
C. ended with ”The Song of Rose”
D. to challenge all the other speakers
4.According to her speech,________.
A.whenever you have a dream, you succeed
B.All people don’t grow up while growing older
C.Rose usually regretted having done something
D.a nine-year-old is as old as a 87-year-old if he doesn’t do anything
5.The best title for the passage can be________.
A.Growing Older or Growing Up B. It’s Never too Old to learn
C. Humour Does Count D. Challenge Yourself
In Western countries people have been using the installment （按揭）plan since the first half of the twentieth century. Today, a large number of families in Great Britain buy furniture, household goods and cars by installments .In the U.S., the figure is much higher than in Great Britain, and people there spend over 10 percent of their income on the installment plan.
The price of an article bought on installments is always higher than the price that would be paid by cash. There is a charge for interest. The buyers pays one quarter or one third of the price as a down payment when the goods are delivered to him. He then makes regular payments, weekly or monthly, until the full price is paid up. The legal ownership of the goods remains with the seller until the final payment has been made.
Installment buying has advantages and disadvantages. It can help couples with small incomes to furnish their homes and start housekeeping, It increases the demand for goods, and in this way helps business and employment. There is ,however, the danger that when business is bad, installment buying may end suddenly, making business much worse. This may result in a great increase in unemployment. If the people on the installment plan lose their jobs, they will probably not be able to make their payments. If great numbers of people are not able to pay their installment debts there is a possibility that businessmen cannot collect their debts and will therefore lose money. If businessmen lose money or fail to make a satisfactory profit, it becomes more likely to have a depression. This is why, in some countries, the government controls the installment plan by fixing the amount of the down payment to discourage people from buying more than they can pay for on the installment plan.
1.Which of the following is true about the installment plan?
A.British families just use the installment plan to buy furniture.
B.More than 10 precent American families buy things on installment.
C.Americans spend more on installment buying than British people do.
D.The payment of installment buying is easier than buying by cash.
2.Goods bought on installments are more expensive than goods bought by cash because_________.
A.the buyer has to pay extra money as interest
B.the delivery of the goods charges extra money
C.the buyer has to pay a down payment
D.The service offered by installment plan charged extra money
3.What will happen to a buyer if he fails to make the full payment for an item bought on installments?
A.He might lose his job
B. He will stop owning the item he has bought
C. He will have to sell what he has bought
D. He will go into debt
4.The advantages of installment buying might include all the followings EXCEPT that _________.
A.purchasing power is strengthened
B.Employment might be increased
C.People develop a good habit of saving money
D.Young couples are able to furnish their homes
5.In some countries, the government controls the installment plan to_________.
A.increase employment
B. avoid depressions
C.ensure that businesses make good profits
D. ensure that people can pay for what they buy
Green invaders are taking over America. Not invaders from space, but plants! You might not think of plants as dangerous, but in this case they are threatening nature’s delicate food chain.
The invaders are plants brought here from other countries to make gardens and yards look pretty. Ever since people started to arrive on America’s shores, they have carried along trees, flowers, and vegetables from other places. Now there are so many of those plants, they are crowding out the native plants that have lived here since before human settlers arrived.
And that’s a problem, says Dr. Doug Tallamy. He’s insect expert at the University of Delaware. He explains that almost all the plant-eating insects in the United States are specialized, which means they eat only certain plants. Monarch butterfly caterpillars(幼虫),for example, dine on milkweed. If people cut down milkweed and replace it with another plant, the butterflies will not have the food source that they need to survive.
But the trouble doesn’t stop there. When insects can’t get the right plants to eat and they die off, then the birds don’t have enough bugs for their meals. Tallamy points out that almost all migrating birds depend on insets to feed their young.
“We cannot let the plants and animals around us disappear.” says Tallamy, “The way to preserve them is to give them food to eat. But when we plant non-native plants, we are clobbering the food chain, because then we don’t have the insects the birds need to live.”
Fewer of the right plants mean fewer bugs, and fewer bugs mean fewer birds. And that’s bad for the Earth, because we need a variety of living things to keep the planet healthy and beautiful.
The good news is, garden centers sell native plants. “Just Google ‘native plants’ and your location, and you can find out which plants really belong where you live,” says Tallamy
1.How did green invades arrive at America?
A.They fell down from space.
B.They floated to the America’s shores.
C.They were brought in from foreign countries
D.They has lived here since human settlers arrived
2.According to Dr.Tallamy, which of the followings about the insects in the US is NOT true?
A.Almost all the plant-eating insects in a place eat certain plants.
B.Monarch butterfly caterpillars can’t survive without milkweed.
C.If insects can’t eat the right plants, they will find another one.
D.The insects’ death will greatly affect the migrating birds’ survival
3.The underlined word “clobber” in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to _________.
A.protect B. damage C. create D. collect
4.We can know whether a plant is native by _________.
A.Googling on the Internet B. asking Dr. Doug Tallamy
C. looking up in books D. searching in garden
5.What is the best title of the pass age?
A.Green invaders——local living things
B. Green invaders——dangerous food chain
C.Green invaders——environmental protectors
D. Green invades——threat to local nature
Six days of spring rain had created a wild river _1.___(run) by Nancy Brown’s farm．As she tried to drive her cows to higher ground, she __2.____(slip) and hit her head on a fallen tree trunk．Nancy was badly hurt and could only walk with great _3.___(difficult）．The water __4.___(rise)．Nancy’s pace got slower and slower．Finally, all she could do was to throw her arm around Lizzie’s neck and try to hang on．About 20 minutes later, Lizzie managed to _5.___ (succeed) pull herself and Nancy out of the water and onto a bit of high land．
It took rescuers another two hours to discover Nancy．_6.___ helicopter lowered a doctor, __7.____attached Nancy to a life-support lift．They raised her into the helicopter and took her to the school gym, _8.____the Red Cross had set up an emergency shelter．
When the flood subsided two days later, Nancy immediately went back to the highland．Lizzie was gone. __9.____was one of the 19 cows that Nancy lost．“I owe my life 10.____her,” said Nancy sobbingly．
Last summer I was a volunteer at a shelter for the homeless, a place for homeless people to sleep at night. I wasn’t working that summer and was ____ only two classes in summer school, so I had some free time.
Three nights a week, I ____ in the kitchen of the shelter along with four other volunteers. We planned and ____ for 45 people hot meals with vegetables, chicken, fish and fruit. The homeless people____ this good food because many of them usually didn’t eat well.
I ____ this volunteer work, making ____ with the four volunteers in the kitchen. One was a very nice elderly housewife, one a movie actor, another a young teacher, and the other a college student, like me.
I talked to a lot of the homeless people at the shelter. Their life stories ____ me with sympathy. Some of them had ____ with alcohol or drugs while others only had bad ____. One woman worked for almost 30 years for a small company, and then she lost her job. She wanted to look for a ____ job, but couldn't find one, for she was too ____. She could do nothing but sell her furniture—sofas, chairs, and tables so that she could pay for her food. The woman ____ on job hunting, but she ____ couldn't find one. She had no money for her ____ and had to sleep in her car. Then she had to sell her car. Alone, ____， and homeless, she finally came to the shelter.
1.A.studying B．planning C．holding D．taking
2.A.helped B．raised C．appeared D．washed
3.A.ordered B．bought C．cooked D．accomplished
4.A.appealed B．required C．collected D．requested
5.A.wanted B．had C．owned D．enjoyed
6.A.decisions B．wishes C．friends D．amateurs（业余爱好者）
7.A.struck B．filled C．deposited(存放) D．provided
8.A.habits B．hardships C．difficulties D．problems
9.A.luck B．pain C．experience D．loss
10.A.challenging B．delicate（精致的） C．skilled D．new
11.A.old B．poor C．sick D．dishonest
12.A.went B．moved C．came D．worked
13.A.partly B．still C．almost D．extremely
14.A.block B．cottage C．building D．flat
15.A.afraid B．unbearable C．dull D．awkward
