How long can human beings live? Most scientists who study old age think that the human body is ______ to live no longer than 120 years. However, 110 years is probably the longest that anyone could hope to live —— if he or she is ______ healthy and lucky. Some scientists even say we can live as long as 130 years! Yet, our cells simply cannot continue to reproduce ______. They wear out, and as a result, we get old and ______ die.
Even though we can’t live forever, we are living a ______ life than ever before. In 1900, the average American life span (寿命) was only 47 years, but today it is 75 years!
When does old age begin then? Sixty-five may be out-of-date as the ______ line between middle age and old age. After all, many older people don’t begin to experience physical and mental ______ until after age 75.
People are living longer because more people ______ childhood. Before modern medicine changed the laws of nature, many children died of common childhood ______. Now that the chances of dying ______ are much lower, the chances of living long are much higher due to better diets and health care.
On the whole, our population is getting older. The ______ in our population will have lasting effects on our social development and our way of life. Some people fear such changes will be for the worse, while some see ______, not disaster, many men and women in their “golden years” are healthy, still active, and young in ______ if not in age.
As the society grows old, we need the ______ of our older citizens. With long lives ahead of them, they need to ______ active and devoted.
1.A. designed B. selected C. improved D. discovered
2.A. completelyB. generallyC. apparently D. extremely
3.A. rapidlyB. harmlessly C. endlessly D. separately
4.A. eventually B. hopelessly C. automatically D. desperately
5.A. busier B. longer C. richer D. happier
6.A. finishingB. guiding C. waiting D. dividing
7.A. stressB. damage C. decline D. failure
8.A. survive B. enjoy C. remember D. value
9.A. problems B. fears C. worries D. diseases
10.A. poorB. young C. sick D. quiet
11.A. changes B. recovery C. safety D. increases
12.A. dreams B. chances C. strengths D. choices
13.A. mind B. appearance C. voice D. movement
14.A. protection B. suggestions C. contributions D. permission
15.A. sound B. appear C. turn D. stay
某英文杂志正在举办以"Fancy yourself as an interviewer"为主题的征文活动，请你以“A Famous Chinese I Would Like to Interview" 为题，写一篇英语短文。
内容包括：
1. 采访的对象；
2. 采访的原因；
3. 想提的问题。
注意：
1. 词数120左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 短文中不能出现与本人相关的信息；
4. 短文的标题已给出，不计人总词数。
A Famous Chinese I Would Like to Interview
阅读下面短文，根据所读内容在表格中的空白处填入恰当的单词。注意：每个空格只填一个单词。
Put a group of strangers in a room together, and they'll probably start a conversation. "Hot today, isn't it?"one might say. "You said it." another replies.
Why do we talk so much about the weather? When we meet new people, we don't begin by telling them our life story. We start with small talk, a polite conversation about something like traffic or weather.
Research suggests that small talk can build new friendships. When we begin conversations with new people, we want to feel comfortable, and so do they. We use small talk to find common interests. Once we have a common interest, a friendship can begin.
Small talk even helps people get hired. In order to impress at a job interview, you need to bond with the interviewer right away. Proper small talk can make that first impression get you the job.
So, how can you make small talk lead to a new friendship or job? First off, find common ground. Select something around you that you share with the other person.
Next, keep the conversation going. Compliment (赞美) the other person to make himor her feel comfortable, and ask questions to show interest.
Third, keep eye contact (接触). When you look people in the eye, they feel you appreciate what they are saying. It makes you appear honest and builds trust.
Naturally, shy people might not have enough confidence to start up conversations with strangers. Talking to someone you don't know is not the easiest thing to do! Some experts say with more practice, small talk does get easier.
Some people avoid small talk because they dislike discussing things like traffic or weather. For them, they are just too small. However, when you think about it, small talk is anything but small. In fact, it is actually a very big deal!
Title | Small Talk: A Big 1.____ |
Introduction | We are likely to make small talk when we 2.____ meet people. |
3.___ | ❖ Small talk can help people form4.____ friendships. |
❖Small talk can also help people get a 5.___. | |
Advice | ❖Find some topics 6.____ with the other person. |
❖Keep the talk going by making compliments and 7.____ questions. ❖Keep eye contact in conversation to build 8.___. | |
❖9.____ more in order to make small talk easier. | |
Conclusion | Small talk really 10.____ a lot to us. |
E
Food serves as a form of communication in two fundamental ways. Sharing bread or other foods is a common human tradition that can promote unity and trust. Food can also have a specific meaning, and play a significant role in a family or culture's celebrations or traditions. The foods we eat—and when and how we eat them—are often unique to a particular culture or may even differ between rural (农村的) and urban areas within one country.
Sharing bread, whether during a special occasion (时刻) or at the family dinner table, is a common symbol of togetherness. Many cultures also celebrate birthdays and marriages with cakes that are cut and shared among the guests. Early forms of cake were simply a kind of bread, so this tradition hits its roots in the custom of sharing bread.
Food also plays an important role in many New Year celebrations. In the southern United States, pieces of corn bread represent blocks of gold for prosperity (兴旺) in the New Year. In Greece, people share a special cake called vasilopita. A coin is put into the cake, which signifies (预示) success in the New Year for the person who receives it.
Many cultures have ceremonies to celebrate the birth of a child, and food can play a significant role. In China, when a baby is one month old, families name and welcome their child in a celebration that includes giving red-colored eggs to guests. In many cultures, round foods such as grapes, bread, and moon cakes are eaten at welcome celebrations to represent family unity.
Nutrition is necessary for life, so it is not surprising that food is such an important part of different cultures around the world.
1.According to the passage, sharing bread______.
A. indicates a lack of food
B. can help to develop unity
C. is a custom unique to rural areas
D. has its roots in birthday celebrations
2.What does the coin in vasilopita signify for its receiver in the New Year?
A. Trust. B. Success.
C. Health. D. Togetherness.
3.The author explains the role of food in celebrations by______.
A. using examples B. making comparisons
C. analyzing causes D. describing processes
4.What is the passage mainly about?
A. The custom of sharing food.
B. The specific meaning of food.
C. The role of food in ceremonies.
D. The importance of food in culture.
D
There are an extremely large number of antsworldwide. Each individual (个体的) ant hardly weigh anything, but put together they weigh roughly the same as all of mankind. They also live nearly everywhere, except on frozen mountain tops and around the poles.Foranimals their size, ants have been astonishingly successful, largely due to their wonderfulsocial behavior.
In colonies (群体) that range in size from a few hundred to tens of millions, they organize their lives with a clear division of labor. Even more amazing is how they achievethis level of organization. Where we use sound and sight to communicate, ants dependprimarily on pheromone (外激素), chemicals sent out by individuals and smelled or tastedby fellow members of their colony. When an ant finds food, it produces a pheromone that will lead others straight to where the food is. When an individual ant comes under attack or is dying, it sends out an alarm pheromone to warn the colony to prepare for a conflict as a defense unit.
In fact, when it comes to the art of war, ants have no equal. They are completely fearless and will readily take on a creature much larger than themselves, attacking in large groups and overcoming their target. Such is their devotion to the common good of the colony that not only soldier ants but also worker ants will sacrifice their lives to help defeat an enemy.
Behaving in this selfless and devoted manner, these little creatures have survived on Earth, for more than 140 million years, far longer than dinosaurs. Because they think as one, they have a collective (集体的) intelligence greater than you would expect from itsindividual parts.
1.We can learn from the passage that ants are ____________.
A. not willing to share food
B. not found around the poles
C. more successful than all other animals
D. too many to achieve any level of organization
2.Ants can use pheromones for______.
A. escape B. communication
C. warning enemies D. arranging labor
3.What does the underlined expression "take on" in Paragraph 3 mean?
A. Accept. B. Employ.
C. Play with. D. Fight against.
4.Which of the following contributes most to the survival of ants?
A. Their behavior. B. Their size.
C. Their number. D. Their weight
C
As Internet users become more dependent on the Internet to store information, are people remember less? If you know your computer will save information, why store it in your own personal memory, your brain? Experts are wondering if the Internet is changing what we remember and how.
In a recent study, Professor Betsy Sparrow conducted some experiments. She and her research team wanted to know the Internet is changing memory. In the first experiment, they gave people 40 unimportant facts to type into a computer. The first group of people understood thatthe computer would save the information. The second group understood that the computer would not save it. Later, the second group remembered the information better. People in the first group knew they could find the information again, so they did not try to remember it.
In another experiment, the researchers gave people facts to remember, and told them where to find the information on the Internet. The information was in a specific computer folder (文件夹). Surprisingly, people later remember the folder location (位置) better than the facts. When people use the Internet, they do not remember the information. Rather, they remember how to find it. This is called "transactive memory (交互记忆)".
According to Sparrow, we are not becoming people with poor memories as a result of the Internet. Instead, computer users are developing stronger transactive memories; that is, people are learning how to organize huge quantities of information so that they are able to access it at a later date. This doesn't mean we are becoming either more or less intelligent, but there is no doubt that the way we use memory is changing.
1.The passage begins with two questions to ______.
A. introduce the main topic
B. show the author's altitude
C. describe how to use the Interne.
D. explain how to store information
2.What can we learn about the first experiment?
A. Sparrow's team typed the information into a computer.
B. The two groups remembered the information equally well.
C. The first group did not try to remember the formation.
D. The second group did not understand the information.
3.In transactive memory, people ______.
A. keep the information in mind
B. change the quantity of information
C. organize information like a computer
D. remember how to find the information
4.What is the effect of the Internet according to Sparrow's research?
A. Weare using memory differently.
B. We arebecoming more intelligent.
C. We have poorer memories than before.
D. We need a better way to access information.
