1、Happy birthday! Do birthday really make people happy? Of course they do. Birthdays celebrate the day when we were born. Besides, that extra candle on the cake suggests another year of growth and maturity（成熟）or so we hopeWe all like to imagine that we are getting wiser and not just olderMost of us en
2、joy seeing the wonder of growth in others, as wellFor instance, seeing our children develop and learn new things makes us feel proudFor Americans, like people in most cultures, growing up is a wonderful processBut growing old? That is a different story.Growing old is not exactly for people in youth-
3、oriented （以年轻人为中心）American cultureMost Americans like to look young, act young and feel young. As the old saying goes, “Youre young as you feel”Older people joke about how many years young they are, rather than how many years oldPeople in some countries value the aged as a source of experience and w
4、isdomBut Americans seem to favor those who are young, or at least “young at heart”Many older Americans find the “golden years” to be anything but goldenEconomically, “senior citizens” often try just to get byRetirement at the age of 65 brings a sharp decrease in personal incomeSocial security benefi
5、ts usually cannot make up the differenceOlder people may suffer from poor nutrition （营养）, medical care, and housing. Some even have the experience of age discrimination（歧视）. American sociologist（社会学家） Pat Moore once dressed up like an older person and wandered city streetsShe was often treated rudel
6、y-even cheated and robbedHowever, dressed as a young person, she received much more respectUnfortunately, the elderly population in America is increasing fastWhy? People are living longerFewer babies are being bornAnd middle-aged “baby boomers”（婴儿潮） are rapidly entering the group of the elderlyAmeri
7、ca may soon be a place where wrinkles（皱纹）are “in”Marketing experts are already noticing this growing group of consumers1.Growing up is a wonderful thing because _.A. people can celebrate their birthdays.B. people can become more and mature and wiser.C. people can receive many presents.D. people will
8、 feel younger at heart.2.We can infer from the second paragraph that _.A. young people lack experience and wisdom.B. American older people often joke about their old age.C. American culture is very young.D. different countries have different opinions on the old age.3.The underlined sentence （in Para
9、graph 3） means “_.”A. the golden years can make the old earn lots of money and receive good medical careB. the old people inAmericaare probably leading a hard life without good nutrition, medical care or housing.C. the old inhave to retire at the age of 65.D. American social security benefits are no
10、t good.4.From the last paragraph we know that the underlined word “in” can be replaced by _.A. serious B. badC. disappearing slowly D. growing fast BLast August，Joe and Mary Mahoney began looking at colleges for their 17yearold daughter，Maureen.With a checklist of criteria in hand，the Dallas family
11、looked around the country visiting half a dozen schools.They sought a university that offered the teenagers intended major，one located near a large city，and a campus where their daughter would be safe.“The safety issue is a big one.”says Joe Mahoney，who quickly discovered he wasnt alone in his worri
12、es.On campus tours other parents voiced similar concerns，and the same question was always asked：What about crime？But when college officials always gave the same answer“Thats not a problem here.”Mahoney began to feel uneasy.“No crime whatsoever？” comments Mahoney today.“I just dont buy it.” Nor shoul
13、d he：In 1999 the US.Department of Education had reports of nearly 400,000 serious crimes on or around our campuses.“Parents need to understand that times have changed since they went to college，”says David Nichols，author of Creating a Safe Campus.“Campus crime mirrors the rest of the nation.”But get
14、ting accurate information isnt easy.Colleges must report crime statistics（统计数字） by law，but some hold back for fear of bad publicity，leaving the honest ones looking dangerous.“The truth may not always be obvious，”warns SDaniel Carter of Security on Campus，Inc.，the nations leading campus safety watchd
15、og group.To help concerned parents，Carter promised to visit campuses and talk to experts around the country to find out major crime issues and effective solutions.5The underlined word “buy” in the third paragraph means _.AmindBadmit CbelieveDexpect6We learn from the text that “the honest ones” in th
16、e fourth paragraph most probably refers to colleges _.Athat are protected by campus securityBthat report campus crimes by lawCthat are free from campus crimeDthat enjoy very good publicity7What is the text mainly about?AExact campus crime statistics.BCrimes on or around campuses.CEffective solutions
17、 to campus crime.DConcerns about kids campus safety. C Liquid Paper （修正液） was invented by Bette Nesmith Graham. She was 17 when she got a job at a Texas bank as a secretary, even though she didnt know how to type. The company she worked for sent her to a secretary school, and she was typing in no ti
18、me atall.The 1950s had seen the widespread use of the electric typewriter, which typed faster but also meant more mistakes. Also, mistakes made by early electric typewriters were very hard to erase, which caused problems for Bette.In order to make extra money she used her talent to paint holiday win
19、dows at the bank.Then one day, it suddenly occurred to her that she could create a paint to cover up type-writing mistakes.It worked! In 1956, Bette sold her first bottles of the new product, which she called “Mistake Out”. She made it in her kitchen, and her son Michael and his friends bottled it i
20、n the family garage.By 1957, she was selling 100 bottles a month and had gotten a patent （专利） for her product, which she now called “Liquid Paper.” Sales continued togrow, as more and more people heard about Liquid Paper, through word-of-mouth and by reading about it in magazines.In the 1960s, Bette
21、 bought a machine to help her produce Liquid Paper in large quantities. In 1971, she sold 2 million bottles. In 1979, she sold the company for 47.5 million dollars. She didnt live to see the end of the contract （合同）, dying in 1980, at the age of 56, in Texas.Bettes invention continues to be used eve
22、ry day by secretaries and other people in the office and wherever typewriters are used.8. When Bette began to work in a bank, she _.A.was too young to typeB. had graduated from secretary schoolC.had no experience in typingD. taught herself about typing9. It can be inferred that the first Liquid Pape
23、r _.A. was produced by handB. was made by machineC. was bottled in the kitchenD. was tested in the factory10. What is the passage mainly about?A. A rock group.B. A secretary.C. Liquid Paper.D. Mistake Out.11. The passage is organized mainly in order of _.A. importanceB. timeC. space D. popularity DA
24、 new study has discovered that meditation（冥想）and oxygen sport together reduce depressionThe Rutgers University study found that this mind and body combination, done twice a week for only two months，reduced thesymptoms for a group of students by 40 percent.“We are excited by the findings because we s
25、aw such a meaningful improvement in both clinically depressed and nondepressed students，”said lead author DrBrandon Alderman“It is the first time that both of these two behavioral ways have been looked at together for dealing with depression”Researchers believe the two activities have an interactive
26、 effect incombatingdepressionAlderman and DrTracey Shors discovered that a combination of mental and physical training （MAP）enabled students with major depressive disorder not to let problems or negative thoughts defeat themRutgers researchers say those who participated in the study began with 30 mi
27、nutes of focused attention meditation followed by 30 minutes of oxygen sportThey were told that if their thoughts drifted to the past or the future they should refocus on their breathing，enabling those with depression to accept moment-to-moment changes in attentionShors，who studies the production of
28、 new brain cells in the hippocampuspart of the brain involved in memory and learningsays scientists have shown in animal models that oxygen sport exercise keeps a large number of certain cells aliveThe idea for the human intervention（干预）came from her laboratory studies，she says，with the main goal of
29、 helping individuals acquire new skills so that they can learn to recover from stressful life eventsBy learning to focus their attention and exercise，people who are fighting depression can acquire new learning skills that can help them process information and reduce the overwhelming recollection of
30、memories from the past，Shors says“We know these treatments can be practiced over a lifetime and that they will be effective in improving mental health”said Alderman“The good news is that this intervention can be practiced by anyone at any time and at no cost”12What made the research so different?AAd
31、opting a way of meaningful talkBCombining the two ways to treat depressionCTreating depression with special medicineDComparing the depressed with the non-depressed13The underlined word “combating” in Paragraph 3 can be replaced by_AdistinguishingBidentifyingCfightingDexamining14What did the participants do in the research?ATheydid oxygen sport half an hour before thinkingBThey thought quietly and t
