The symbol of Paris, the Eiffel Tower opened to the public on March 31, 1889, and its beauty has continued to spellbind the world for 130 years. But some little-known facts about the Eiffel Tower may surprise you. We've put together a list.
It's the world's most visited paid tourist attraction
Almost seven million visitors each year pay the admission fee to visit the Eiffel Tower, Since it opened in 1889, nearly 300 million people have experienced the tower.
There’s an apartment at the top
A personal apartment that Gustave Eiffel used as an office was created at the top of the tower. Eiffel entertained many important persons there, and today visitors to the apartment will see it as it looked in Eiffel's day, with life-like wax models （蜡像）of Eiffel and Thomas Edison.
You could send a postcard by balloon from the Eiffel Tower
During the 1889 World's Fair, visitors could buy a commemorative （纪念）postcard that was attached to a balloon and a small parachute （降落伞）.Visitors would write an address on the postcard and release it into the air from the tower. The postcard would fall back to earth gently due to the parachute, but it's not known how many of these postcards ever made it to their intended addresses.
19th-century elevators are still in operation
Two of the original elevator cars are still functioning in the Eiffel Tower elevators that go to the third floor in the east and west pillars （铁柱）.The equipment has been updated, but it is basically the same technology that was used more than a century ago.
1.What do you know about the apartment at the top?
A.It was used as Eiffel's office.
B.It used to be a public apartment.
C.It sells wax models of Eiffel and Edison.
D.It only provides service for important persons.
2.What is special about sending the postcard?
A.The symbol. B.The fee. C.The way. D.The time.
3.What is the text intended to do?
A.To update the equipment. B.To show some interesting stories.
C.To explain the amazing history. D.To share some little-known facts.
请认真阅读下面短文，并按照要求用英语写一篇150词左右的文章。
假如你是下面图画中的乘车人李华, 请根据图画内容给当地一家报社的编辑写一封信, 感谢出租车司机。可以适当增加细节。
词数: 150左右。
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请认真阅读下面短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。
注意：每个空格只填一个单词。
Sons who have fond childhood memories of their fathers are more likely to be emotionally stable in the face of day-to-day stresses, according to psychologists who studied hundreds of adults of all ages.
“As our study shows, fathers do play a unique and important role in the mental health of their children much later in life,” Psychology professor Melanie Mallers of California State University said.
For this study, 912 adult men and women, who were between 25 and 74 years old, completed short daily telephone interviews about that day’s experiences over an eight-day period. The interviews focused on the participants’ psychological and emotional distress (i.e., whether they were depressed, nervous, sad, etc.) and if they’d experienced any stressful events that day. In addition, the participants also reported on the quality of their childhood relationships with their mother and father.
People who reported they had a good mother-child relationship reported three percent less psychological distress compared to those who reported a poor relationship, according to Mallers.
Men who reported having a good relationship with their father during childhood were more likely to be less emotional when reacting to stressful events in their current daily lives than those who had a poor relationship, according to her findings.
Also, the quality of mother and father relationships was significantly associated with how many stressful events the participants confronted on a daily basis. In other words, if they had a poor childhood relationship with both parents, they reported more stressful incidents over the eight-day study when compared to those who had a good relationship with their parents.
Mallers theorized why healthy or unhealthy relationships may have an effect on how people handle stress as adults. “Perhaps having caring parents equips children with the experiences and skills necessary to more successfully navigate their relationships with other people throughout childhood and into adulthood.” she said.
Title: A study on parent-child relationships | |
1. | Melanie Mallers, a psychologist from California State University. |
2. | 912 adult men and women between the3. of 25 and 74. |
Processes | •Interview the participants every day by4. over eight days and ask about. •Their psychological and emotional distress, and stressful events that day. •Their childhood relationships with their parents. |
5. | •People with a good mother-child relationship reported 3% less psychological distress than those with a poor relationship. •Men with a good father-child relationship were more likely to be emotionally6. when reacting to stressful events. •Those with a good relationship with both parents reported7. stressful incidents. |
Conclusion | The8. of parent-child relationships affects how people handle stress as adults. |
Possible 9. | Caring parents equip their children with the skills of handling their inter-personal relationships throughout childhood and into 10.. |
A research by the National Center for Health Statistics is seen as an important confirmation of the “Hispanic mortality paradox(西班牙裔死亡率悖论).”
On average, Hispanics outlive whites by 2.5 years and blacks by 7.7 years. Their life expectancy at birth in 2006 was 80.6 years, compared with 78.1 for whites, 72.9 for blacks and 77.7 years for the total population.
The report shows that the Hispanic population has higher life expectancy at birth and at almost every age despite a socioeconomic status lower than that of whites. “Mortality is very correlated with income, education and health care access,” says Elizabeth Arias, author of the report. “You would expect the Hispanic population would have higher mortality, in line with the black population.”
The Hispanic paradox has been documented for more than two decades, but this is the first time the government has had enough data to issue national numbers. Researchers are struggling to explain why Hispanics live longer.
“We don’t know,” says David Hayes-Bautista, director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. “We thought it was a problem in the data, but we can pretty much say this is real.”
Potential factors:
·Culture and lifestyle. Support from extended family and lower rates of smoking and drinking. Latino groups in particular have very strong family and social ties.
·Migration. The “healthy migrant effect” argues that healthy people are more likely to emigrate. And when immigrants become ill, they might return home and die there.
“Solving the puzzle may help the nation deal with health care issues because Hispanics use health services less—they make fewer doctors visits and spend less time in hospitals,” Hayes Bautista says. “It’s clearly something in the Latino culture,” he says.
1.In 2006, Hispanics’ life expectancy is years longer than the average of the total population.
A.2. 5 B.7. 7 C.2. 9 D.80. 6
2.What does the underlined word “outlive” in the second paragraph probably mean?
A.To live longer than. . .
B.To live shorter than. . .
C.To die out.
D.To expect to live.
3.What is the main idea of paragraph three?
A.Hispanics were born better than whites.
B.Morality is closely related with health care access.
C.Whites should have longer life expectancy.
D.Even experts can’t explain the phenomenon.
4.What is Mr. Hayes-Bautista’s opinion about the paradox?
A.He supports there is a problem with the data.
B.He intends to trust the cultural factor.
C.He believes in the “healthy migrant effect”.
D.He thinks health care the most important factor.
Father Maurice Chase used a special way to celebrate his 90th birthday. The Catholic priest took $ 15,000 in cash to Los Angeles’ gutter(贫民区) and gave it away. Twenty wheelchair–bound people received $100 bills, while the rest received $1to $ 3 each．
“I come out here to tell them that God loves them and I love them and that someone is concerned about them,” Chase said．
Chase has given away cash and blessings every Sunday at the same corner for 24 years. Several hundred people wait for him every week．
He makes a point of coming on Thanksgiving and Christmas, too, but this is the first year he spent his birthday in the downtown neighborhood where people live mainly in shelters and on dirty sidewalks．
“It’s the place that makes me the happiest．I just love it,” said Chase. “I look forward to coming here.”
The money comes from donations he receives from rich and famous people he met during his work as assistant to the president of Loyola Marymount University．
The crowd broke into choruses of “Happy Birthday” several times. Some people presented him birthday cards, to his delight．
Travis Kemp, a 51–year–old disabled man with long black hair, was one of the lucky 20 to receive $ 100. He said he had no special plans for spending the money. “He has a lot of respect from me,” Kemp said. “I know I couldn’t do it.”
1.Which of the following makes Chase feel the happiest?
A.Celebrating his birthday with his neighbours.
B.Working in Loyola Marymount University.
C.Celebrating Christmas with the people he has helped.
D.Going to Los Angeles’ gutter to help people there.
2.What’s the source of the money Chase used to help people?
A.All his savings.
B.His earnings as a Catholic priest.
C.Donations from the wealthy and celebrities.
D.Donations from Loyola Marymount University.
3.Travis Kemp is mentioned in the text to show _______.
A.he was the luckiest person on that day.
B.the disabled need to be taken care of.
C.Chase is greatly appreciated by the needy.
D.even old people came to celebrate Chase’s birthday.
4.Which statement is CORRECT according to the passage?
A.Every recipient could get $100 in cash from Father Maurice Chase.
B.Father Maurice Chase gave the cash away not only on his birthday but also on other occasions.
C.Although Father Maurice Chase gave the cash away on his birthday, he didn’t receive anything in return.
D.Father Maurice Chase earned a lot of money as assistant to the president of Loyola Marymount University.
If the world were a village of 1,000 people，it would include:
• 584 Asians
• 124 Africans
• 95 Eastern and Western Europeans
• 84 Latin Americans
• 55 former Soviets (including Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, and other national groups)
• 52 North Americans
• 6 Australians and New Zealanders
The people of the village would speak:
• 165 Mandarin
• 86 English
• 83 Hindu/Urdu
• 64 Spanish
• 58 Russian
• 37 Arabic
The above list covers the mother tongues of only half the village.
One-third of the people in the village are children, and only 60 are over the age of 65. Just under half of the married women in the village have access to modem equipments.
This year 28 babies will be born. Ten people will die, 3 of them for lack of food, 1 from cancer. Two of the deaths will be of babies born within the year. With the 28 births and 10 deaths, the population of the village next year will be 1,018.
In this village of 1,000 persons, 200 people receive 75 percent of the income; another 200 receive only 2 percent of the income.
About one-third have access to clean, safe drinking water.
Of the 670 adults in the village, half can not read nor write.
The village has a total yearly budget , public and private, of over $3 million—$ 3 ,000 per person if it is distributed evenly. Of the total $3 million:
$ 181,000 goes to weapons and warfare
$ 159,000 to education
$ 132,000 to health care
These weapons are under the control of just 100 of the people. The other 900 are watching them with deep anxiety, wondering whether they can learn to get along together.
1.Which of the following is true about Mandarin according to the text?
A.Nearly one-third of Asian people speak Mandarin in the village.
B.About 8.25 per cent of the people speak Mandarin in the village.
C.About 16. 5 per cent of the people speak Mandarin in the village.
D.Nearly all the Mandarin-speaking people are from Asia in the village.
2.Which of the following problems is NOT mentioned in the text?
A.Poverty. B.Education. C.Environment. D.Marriage.
3.The underlined part “have access to” (in Para. 4) means_____.
A.use B.buy C.produce D.try
4.The last sentence in the text implies that most of the people long for _____.
A.a peaceful world B.good education
C.better health care D.a life without anxiety
