Several Eye-Opening Facts about Tears
Humans make three different versions of tears.Basal tears help our eyes move smoothly,reflex tears form in response to irritants(刺激物）such as smoke and dirt,and emotional tears flow when we're sad or over-joyed.Onion tears are obviously of the reflex variety-but what's the irritant?It turns out onions produce a chemical to defend themselves.To cut down on its release,freeze the onion before slicing,then use a sharp knife to reduce the damage to the onion and the release of the chemical.
Crying can be good for you.Some studies have shown a good cry can cause the release of certain chemicals that make us feel better.Crying can also improve people's sense of well being by bringing about social support.On the other hand,crying can sometimes make you feel worse than if you haven't cried at all.One study found that people who tend to cry in general more often feel worse after crying during a movie than people who seldom cry.
According to Entertainment Weekly,the biggest Hollywood tearjerker of all time is Terms of Endearment,about how a family deals with a cancer diagnosis.Number 2:Bambi.According to Merriam-Webster,the term tearjerker first appeared in 1912,which happens to be the same year the Titanic sank.(The movie Titanic is 16th on EW' s tearjerker list.)
In medieval(中世纪）times,crying was perfectly acceptable,even manly.In the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf,when Beowulf was killed by a dragon,his soldiers were extremely sad and cried aloud for his death.King Arthur was also known to turn on the waterworks.
Speaking of war,tear gas was banned on the battlefield via the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993,which was made to happen by Iraq's use of chemical weapons in Iran in the 1980s.That said,American police can still legally use tear gas for crowd control.
1.Why do people have tears while cutting onions?
A.Because they are sad. B.Because their eyes are affected by a chemical.
C.Because they are over-joyed. D.Because their eyes can't move smoothly.
2.The underlined word"tearjerker"in Paragraph 3 probably refers to
A.a popular newspaper B.a touching movie
C.a deadly disease D.an interesting book
3.What can we learn from the passage?
A.Crying is always beneficial to people.
B.Tear gas is strictly forbidden in any case after 1993.
C.Emotional tears only form in response to negative feelings.
D.It is socially acceptable for men to cry in medieval times.
4.Where does the text probably come from?
A.A guidebook. B.A chemistry paper.
C.A medical report. D.A popular science magazine.
阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。
Growing up, my parents and older brothers all smoked. Being a child of the 80s, it was normal for the adults to be smoking inside and during trips in the car. There just wasn’t the same awareness of the dangers of second-hand smoke exposure that there is today.
I remember the day when I started smoking. I was 11. I was trying to impress one of the “bad boys” at school. I stole tobacco from my father and rather clumsily rolled a cigarette that I took to school with me. Smoking gave me a sense of autonomy and choice over my own life, and at 11 it was the ultimate act of rebellion. Soon I got addicted to it and was taking cigarettes from dad’s packets on a regular basis. I knew he never started counting them until he had less than half a pack left.
After a while I got caught smoking at school. My parents struck a deal with me: if I stopped smoking at school, they would purchase more tobaccos for me to smoke at home. This was perhaps a misguided attempt to keep me out of trouble. I jumped at the idea, and simply got smarter about smoking at school.
I smoked right through my teens and early 20s, spending thousands of dollars on cigarettes, sacrificing food and other necessities to ensure I had cigarettes.
I tried many methods to quit, but each time I would go back to smoking. I have always had a love-hate relationship with cigarettes. On the one hand, they were a friend to me when I had no other, one constant in my life I could rely on. On the other hand, I despised (鄙视) being dependent on something that was going to kill me.
I grew concerned about the effect my smoking would have on my children and I felt guilty putting cigarettes over other things that could have benefited my family. It is with great shame that I admit that I continued smoking even after having a daughter born with cystic fibrosis (囊性纤维). My daughter fights every day to breathe — and here I was intentionally causing damage to my lungs.
注意：
1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2.至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3.续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4.续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1:
The turning point for me was an incredibly painful experience.
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Paragraph 2:
I set myself further little goals, such as only taking my e-cigarettes whenever I went.
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假设你是李华。你的美国朋友George下学期将作为交换生来你校学习。最近，他在来信中表达了对中国画的浓厚兴趣，想请你就“学习国画”这一主题给出建议。请你用英语回信，要点如下：
1.介绍国画；
2.提出建议（至少两条）；
3.表达祝愿。
注意：
1.词数80左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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It takes a special person to see a life in danger and go out of his way to make a difference. But that’s exactly what Kole Devisscher did when he _________ the thin ice of a river to save 10-year-old Chartrand from _________ .
The young man was _________ for his bravery by MP Joy Smith. Smith _________ him with a certificate and said Devisscher would be nominated (提名) for the Governor General’s Medal of Bravery.
Describing the _________ , Devisscher said he thought it was something _________ when he saw a blue jacket in the river. _________ for Chartrand, the teenager decided to back up his truck and take another look.
When Devisscher realized somebody was _________ in the cold water, he leapt into _________ . “I got out of the truck and grabbed the tow strap from the backseat.” explained Devisscher.
“He couldn’t quite grab onto the rope because his hands were already turning blue. Then I made a loop on the hook and got him to put it around his shoulders.”
Devisscher’s dad, Gerry, says his son remembered some of the __________ he learned while snowmobiling over the years. “He was listening. He just couldn’t refuse to __________ it. He wanted to help, __________ at that time I was nervous he went out there.”
To honour Kole’s __________ and to thank him for saving her son, the mother of the boy gave Devisscher Nathaniel’s eagle feather.
“When he called, saying he __________ someone, it didn’t sink in at first. Today’s the first time I’ve heard the whole __________ .”
“It’s just __________ that a young man like Kole stopped... He got him out of the river and he calmed him,” MP Smith said at the presentation ceremony.
“I think he is an outstanding young man, and all of Canada should be __________ of what he’s done.”
Devisscher said he just __________ others would do the same. “It feels good, not everybody gets this __________ . It’s pretty awesome,” said Devisscher. “I hope someone else would do that for me if I was under the same __________ .”
1.A.braved B.melted C.assessed D.transformed
2.A.swelling B.drowning C.panicking D.trembling
3.A.appreciated B.exchanged C.rewarded D.honored
4.A.guaranteed B.congratulated C.presented D.appointed
5.A.consequence B.dilemma C.risk D.incident
6.A.floating by B.coming about C.going up D.trying out
7.A.Steadily B.Fortunately C.Accurately D.Eventually
8.A.waving B.screaming C.struggling D.appealing
9.A.action B.judgment C.process D.commitment
10.A.professions B.symptoms C.emotions D.lessons
11.A.take notice of B.put up with C.subscribe to D.concentrate on
12.A.since B.unless C.though D.until
13.A.achievements B.efforts C.reputation D.encouragement
14.A.informed B.ignored C.treated D.rescued
15.A.story B.assistance C.experience D.state
16.A.appropriate B.flexible C.amazing D.annoying
17.A.guilty B.worthy C.conscious D.proud
18.A.advocated B.expected C.approved D.demanded
19.A.comment B.access C.award D.profit
20.A.circumstance B.case C.trend D.phenomenon
Overflowing rivers can cause enormous damage. 1. And it continues to rise. So far it has not been evident how climate change influences the magnitude (规模) of river floods.
Austrian flood expert Prof. Günter Blöschl from TU Wien (Vienna) has led a large international study involving a total of 35 research groups. The study provides clear evidence that it is climate change that causes the change of magnitude of flood events observed in recent decades. 2. In northwestern Europe, floods are becoming increasingly severe; in southern and eastern Europe, flood magnitudes mostly tend to decrease, although in small catchments (集水区) they may actually increase.
“We already knew that climate change is shifting the timing of floods within a year,” says Günter Blöschl. “But the key question is: Does climate change also control the magnitude of flood events? The previous available data had not been adequate to figure out whether this is the case or not. We have now examined this question in great detail and can say with confidence: 3. ”
For the study, data from 3,738 flood measurement stations in Europe from 1960 to 2010 were analyzed. For a longtime it has been assumed that climate change is having an impact on the magnitude of flood waters because a warmer atmosphere can store more water. 4. In central and north-western Europe, between Iceland and Austria, flood magnitudes are increasing because rainfall is increasing and the soils are becoming wetter. In southern Europe, on the other hand, flood levels are decreasing, as climate change results in declining rainfall and the higher temperatures cause increased evaporation of water in the soil. In the more continental climate of Eastern Europe, the magnitudes of floods tend to decrease due to shallower snow packs in winter associated with higher temperatures.
5. “But the regional patterns all match well with predicted climate change impacts,” says Blöschl, “This shows us that we are already in the midst of climate change.”
A.Processes differ across Europe.
B.Yes, climate change is a vital factor.
C.The magnitude of the changes is remarkable.
D.Flood management must adapt to these new realities.
E.However, climate change does not have the same effect on floods everywhere.
F.The latest findings show that this is not the only effect, things are more complicated.
G.Worldwide, the annual damage caused by river floods is estimated at over 100 billion dollars.
April is National Poetry Month and naturally a great time to explore the powers of poetry. Reading and writing poetry engage our senses along with our emotions. Both have highly therapeutic (治疗的) effects on the mind.
The structure of a poem favors brief language yet the best poems also capture brief detail, making them powerful in getting a message across to the reader. Writing poetry requires extremely disciplined choice of words and the number of words, to create a sharp and accurate snapshot of the poet’s feeling. This combination of conciseness and detail gives the reader open access to the poet’s mind and enables the reader to truly connect with him.
Writing poetry requires us to be open and honest about our feelings so that we can voice them through pen and paper. This acknowledgement of our innermost thoughts allows us to be true to ourselves and boosts our self-respect.
The best poetry is written when we are truly in the midst of our emotions. This is when the release of emotions to pen and then paper as an outlet calms us and enables us to move forward.
Poetry’s powerful healing qualities have been documented during both world wars and the American civil war: poems were read to soldiers to help them cope with sufferings and the cruelty of war. Doctors would write poems for patients, emotionally connecting with them. A good example of this is John Keats who also trained as a doctor.
Poetry has also been used by modern-day doctors and physicians at Yale University School of Medicine and University College London School of Medicine. Yale actually has a committee that maintains a required literary reading list which includes poetry. Poetry allows both the doctor and the patient to understand the emotions that the patient might be going through.
The use of poetry continues to grow as a recognized form of therapy. More psychotherapists across the US, UK and Europe continue to use poetry therapy as part of their practice. Globally the International Federation for Poetry Therapy sets standards of excellence in the training of practitioners in the field of poetry therapy, qualifying them to practice.
1.What contributes to the highly therapeutic power of reading and writing poetry?
A.The close link in emotions between readers and poets.
B.The accurate snapshot of poets’ feeling.
C.The deliberate choice of words.
D.The brief structure of poetry.
2.According to the author, which of the following is most likely to be a best poem?
A.A poem applying effective writing techniques.
B.A poem describing the beauty of nature by imagination.
C.A poem borrowing ideas from other poets’ masterpieces.
D.A poem conveying one’s real thoughts and true feelings.
3.The author explains the use of poetry as a form of therapy in history by ______ .
A.analyzing causes B.giving examples
C.making a comparison D.presenting research findings
4.What message does the passage mainly convey?
A.Poetry is an opening to let out your emotions.
B.Poetry is a good medicine to cure a variety of diseases.
C.Poetry’s healing qualities can make a difference to a reader’s mind.
D.Poetry’s unique art form makes poems gain wide popularity in history.
