A new study says one part of the human brain may become smaller as the result of a condition known as jet lag. Jet lag results from flying long distances in an airplane. People with jet lag may feel extremely tired for several days. They may also have problems thinking clearly and remembering.

　　Recently a researcher at the University of Bristol in Britain reported the findings of his jet lag study, which involved twenty young women who worked for international airlines. They had served passengers on airplanes for five years. These flight attendants flew across many countries and at least seven time zones. In the study, the flight attendants had different amounts of time to recover from jet lag. Half the women spent five days or fewer in their home areas between long flights The other half spent more than fourteen days in their home areas.

　　The researcher took some saliva from the women’s mouths to measure levels of a hormone(荷尔蒙) that increases during stress (紧张). He tested them to see if they could remember where black spots appeared on a computer screen. And he took pictures of their brains to measure the size of the brain’s temporal lobes (脑叶).

　　It was found that the women who had less time between flights had smaller right temporal lobes. This area of the brain deals with recognizing and remembering what is seen. The same group performed worse and had slower reaction times on the visual memory test. And their saliva samples showed higher levels of stress hormones.

　　The researcher believes the brain needs at least ten days to recover after a long trip. He says airline workers told him their ability to remember got worse after working on planes for about four years. Other studies have shown that increased feelings of stress can cause a loss of cells in the part of the brain that controls memory.

　　Scientists say more tests are needed to study the effects of jet lag on the brain. They want to find out if too much jet lag could permanently (永久性的) affect memory.

　　1. According to the text, jet lag _________.

　　A. can cause difficulties in speaking

　　B. can make people feel tired for a few weeks

　　C. can be only found in flight attendants

　　D. can be caused by flying over several time zones

　　2. It can be inferred from the text that _________.

　　A. the conclusion is refused by many scientists

　　B. scientists fear that this research is not done properly

　　C. every scientific conclusion needs the support from many tests

　　D. the women who were examined in the research were not healthy

　　3. From the result of the research we can see that _________.

　　A. the women who have longer rest at home show better memory

　　B. the women who fly in short time have smaller right temporal lobes

　　C. the women who have longer flights fail the memory test

　　D. the women who rest more than 14 days produce less hormones

　　4. What is the subject discussed in the text?

　　A. The cause of jet lag.

　　B. A story of a group of flight attendants.

　　C. The importance of having enough rest after flights.

　　D. A research about the effects of jet lag on the brain.

　　答案与分析

　　通读全文，本文是科普文章阅读。全文讲述了jet lag对人的大脑的影响。

　　1. D 细节理解题。从These flight attendants flew across many countries and at least seven time zones我们可以得知，jet lag是因为在几个时区长期飞行而得的一种病。

　　2. C 推理判断题。从文中我们可以看到，这些结论并非科学家的推测，而是通过实验得来的。例如为了测量能增加压力的荷尔蒙的量，他们从空姐的口中提取了saliva(唾液)进行科学检测。

　　3. A 细节理解题。从The researcher believes the brain needs at least ten days to recover after a long trip我们可以得此答案。

　　4. D 主旨大意题。全文讲述了长期多时区飞行所得的jet lag对大脑的影响。

　　Passage 2

　　Take care about those who use the truth to deceive. When someone tells you something that is true, but leaves out important information that should be included, he can make a false impression. For example, someone might say, “I just won a hundred dollars on the lottery. It was great. I took that dollar ticket back to the store and turned it in for one hundred dollars!”

　　This guy is a winner, right? Maybe, maybe not. We then discovered that he bought two hundred tickets, and only one was a winner. He is really a big loser! He didn’t say anything that was false, but he intentionally left out important information. That’s called a half-truth. Half truths are not technically lies, but they are just as dishonest.

　　Untrustworthy candidates (候选人) in political campaigns often use this trick. Let’s say that during Governor Smith’s last term, her state lost one million jobs and gained three million jobs. Then she seeks another term. One of her opponents (对手) runs an ad. saying, “During Governor Smith’s term, the state lost one million jobs!” That’s true. However an honest statement would have been, “During Governor Smith’s term, the state had a net gain of two million jobs.”

　　Advertisers will sometimes use half-truths. It’s against the law to make false statements so they try to mislead you with the truth. An ad might boast (吹嘘), “Nine out of ten doctors recommend Yucky Pills to cure nose pimples. It fails to mention that they only asked ten doctors and nine of them work for the Yucky Corporation.”

　　This kind of trick happens too often. It’s a sad fact of life: Lies are lies, and sometimes the truth can lie as well.

　　1. Which of the statements is true according to the article?

　　A. All advertisements are lies.

　　B.You can’t trust anyone who tells the truth.

　　C.The truth can be used in dishonest ways.

　　D.Whenever people tell the truth, they are really lying.

　　2. What does the underlined word “deceive” probably mean?

　　A. tell B. explain C. fool D. win

　　3. The writer suggests in this article that people should ________.

　　A. believe in nobody

　　B. vote for female candidates

　　C. stay away from political campaigns

　　D. think carefully about what they read and hear

　　4. What is the best title for this article?

　　A. Everyone Lies at Present

　　B. Lying with the Truth

　　C. Try to Be Honest to the People

　　D. Don’t Believe People Who Tell the Truth

　　答案与分析

　　全文利用事例讲述了half-truth的含义。

　　1. C 推理判断题。全文讲述的是为了某种利益有的人掩盖事情的真相的一部分，只讲另一部分。虽然是事实，但没有讲事实的全部，因此说“以不诚实的方式利用事实”。

　　2. C 词义理解题。接下来的一句是对这个单词的解释，我们看到he can make a false impression，于是我们得出答案C。

　　3. D 作者意图推断题。作者写这篇文章的目的是告诫人们谨防骗子的伎俩。

　　4. B 主旨大意题。全文讲述的是在语言的使用上的以不诚实的方式讲述事实。

　　Passage 3

　　Let us say there is something you don’t know how to do.

　　In the past if you were determined to learn, you might have called a friend or relative, taken a night class or walked down to the local library for a research term. But now a host of websites are springing up to provide free practical advice on these subjects and actually anything else you can think of .

　　In one sense, these “how-to” sites represent (表明) a part of the growing world of online learning. This tradition found one of its earliest forms in the FAQs — or Frequently Asked Questions files — that began on Usenet, the Internet’ s global discussion group. These FAQs, many of which still circulate (go round continuously), took a specific subject — and explained it to complete novices.

　　But “how-to” sites take the FAQs idea in a somewhat different direction by addressing subjects that aren’t necessarily related to discussion forums (论坛). These sites take the style of a written tutorial (teaching period) and a tone of friendly advice. Possibly the biggest and best known of these sites is learn2. com (www. learn2. com). It offers nearly 1000 free tutorials and adds new ones frequently for a job interview.

　　At ehow. com (www. ehow. com) you can learn how to train for your first marathon, how to buy a vacation home, or how to make a movie in eight steps.

　　1. The purpose of writing the passage is to _____.

　　A. introduce new websites to people

　　B. teach how to take new courses by Internet

　　C. present new means to learn something you want to know

　　D. help you to solve any difficulty you meet with

　　2. “How-to” sites are set up to _______.

　　A. explain FAQs to the public

　　B. help people to learn what they want to

　　C. tell the difference from discussion forums

　　D. complete the growing world of online learning

　　3. The underlined word “novices” in the passage probably means ____.

　　A. experts who know a lot

　　B. hosts of “how-to” sites

　　C. people without knowledge

　　D. beginners of “how-to” sites

　　4. It can be inferred from the passage that ______.

　　A. “how-to” sites are specially designed for the disabled

　　B. people can teach themselves at home by visiting “how-to” sites

　　C. it is pleasant to listen to the advice on “how-to” sites

　　D. you can just click your mouse at home to question anything

　　5. According to the text, if you want to buy a tent for camping you may _____.

　　A. visit www. ehow. com

　　B. visit www. learn2. com

　　C. visit the discussion forums

　　D. visit the FAQs

　　答案与分析

　　本文向我们介绍了几个能帮助我们解决难题的 “how-to”网站。

　　1. C 作者意图推断题。A有较大干扰性，作者不是介绍新的网站，而是向我们介绍与过去求助于别人或书本的不同的方式，即求助于网站。

　　2. B 细节理解题。从But now a host of websites are springing up to provide free practical advice on these subjects and actually anything else you can think of我们可以得此答案提示。

　　3. D 细节理解题。从其前面的and explained it to我们知道，网站还对某些人解释如何使用，因此complete novices指上网新手。

　　4. B 推理判断题。因为是网上学习，因此完全可以在家里进行。C有一定干扰性，从But “how-to” sites take the FAQs idea in a somewhat different direction by addressing subjects that aren’t necessarily related to discussion forums看C不合题意。

　　5. A 细节题。从At ehow. com (www. ehow. com) you can learn how to train for your first marathon, how to buy a vacation home, or how to make a movie in eight steps得此答案。

　　Passage 4

　　I’m beginning to think whether my grandmother was right when she complains, as she frequently does, that children nowadays aren’t as well-behavioured as they used to be. She recounts in detail how she used to be told to respect her elders and betters. She was taught to speak when she was spoken to and when she went out on her own, she was reminded to say please and thank you. Children in her days, she continues, were expected to be seen and not heard, but these days you are lucky if you ever hear parents telling their children to mind her manners.

　　If you give her the chance she then takes out of her writing desk the old photograph album which she keeps there, and which she never tires of displaying. Of course when you look at pictures of her parents you feel sure that, with a father as strict looking as that, you too would have been “ seen and not heard”. Beside him sits his wife, with their children around her; Granny and her elder brothers. It always occurs to me that perhaps those long, stiff, black clothes were so burdensome (heavy) to a little girl that she hadn’t enough breath left to be talkative, let alone mischievous (淘气的). It must have been a dull and lonely life too, for she stayed mainly at home during her childhood, while he brothers were sent to school from an early age.

　　However, my childhood was much freer than Granny’s. I went to school with my brother. I played football with him and his friends. We all spoke a common language, and we got up to the same mischief. I would have died if I had had to stay indoors, wearing tight, stiff clothes.

　　1. The writer thinks that her grandmother _________.

　　A. makes mistakes about the youth

　　B. complains too much about her childhood

　　C. received good education at school

　　D. led an unhappy life when she was a child

　　2. When Granny was young, children were expected ________.

　　A. to speak to the elders loudly

　　B. to hear and not to see

　　C. to be present quietly

　　D. to stay still and study

　　3. This passage is mainly about ________.

　　A. Granny’s life story in the past

　　B. Granny’s complaints about the children

　　C. women’s life in different times

　　D. children in the past and at present

　　答案与分析

　　全文讲述了“我”对Granny的说教以及她的过去生活的看法。

　　1. D 细节理解题。从It must have been a dull and lonely life too, for she stayed mainly at home during her childhood, while he brothers were sent to school from an early age得此答案。

　　2 . C 细节题。从Children in her days, she continues, were expected to be seen and not heard得此答案。

　　3. D 主旨大意题。全文主要对Granny与“我”的童年进行比较。

　　Passage 5

　　Manners nowadays in big cities like London are practically non-existent. It is nothing for a big, strong schoolboy to push an elderly woman aside in the rush for the last remaining seat in the train or bus , much less stand to offer his seat to her.

　　This question of giving up seats in public transport is much argued about by young men. who say that, since women have claimed (宣称) equality, they no longer should be treated with courtesy (礼貌) and that those who go out to work should take their turn in the rush hour like anyone else .Women have never claimed to be physically as strong as men. Even if it is not agreed, however, that young men should stand up for younger women, the fact remains that courtesy should be shown to the old, the sick and the disabled. Are we really so lost to all ideas of unselfishness that we can sit there calmly reading the paper or a bock, saying to ourselves “First come, first served,” while a grey-haired woman, a mother with a young child stands? Yet this is all too often seen.

　　Older people, tired from a day’s work, are not as noble as before , either--far from it. Many an argument or a quarrel breaks out as they push and pull each other to get on buses and trains. One cannot speak favorably of this, of course, but one does feel there is just a little more excuse.

　　If cities are to remain pleasant places to live in at all, however, it seems important, not only that communications in transport should be improved, but also that communication between human beings should be kept smooth and polite .All over cities, it seems that people are too tired and too rushed to be polite. Shop assistants won’t bother to help, taxi-drivers shout at each other as they drive dangerously round corners, bus conductors pull the bell before their passengers have had time to get on or off the bus ,and so on and so on. It seems to us that it is up to the young and strong to do their small part to stop such deterioration.

　　1.What is the writer’s opinion concerning courteous manners towards women ?

　　A. Now that women have claimed equality, they no longer need to be treated differently from men.

　　B. It is generally considered out of date for young men to give up their seats to young women.

　　C. “Lady First” should be strictly practiced.

　　D. Special consideration ought to be shown to them.

　　2.On the train or bus, according to the author, older people ____.

　　A. often offer their seats to others

　　B. are treated better than younger people are

　　C. are no more thoughtful than younger people towards each other

　　D. are more selfish to each other

　　3. According to the author, communication between human beings would be smoother if____.

　　A. people were more thoughtful towards each other

　　B. people were not so tired

　　C. women were treated with more courtesy

　　D. public transport could be improved

　　4. What is the possible meaning of the underlined word “deterioration ” in the last paragraph?

　　A. Worsening of general situation.

　　B. Lowering of moral(道德)standards.

　　C. Society getting worse.

　　D .Spreading of bad manners.

　　答案与分析：

　　本文是议论文。全文讲述了像伦敦这样的大城市，人们过去所讲究的礼节不再存在。这里面的原因是多方面的。

　　1. D 作者意图推断题。从第二段Are we really so lost to all ideals . . .with a young child stands?及最后一段lf cities are to remain pleasant places to live in...should be kept smooth and polite,我们可以推知，作者还是赞成人们之间要礼貌，要互助。

　　2. C细节判断题。从第三段可总结出此答案。

　　3. A推理判断题。从上文我们可以看出，作者在叙述青年人的过错以及老年人的过错时，都间接地指出所有的争执与不礼貌皆是由自私引起，因此他希望人们多为别人想想。

　　4. B词意理解题。选好此题的答案必须充分理解最后一段的内容， 并作好总结与推理。商店服务员不愿意为顾客服务，出租车司机开车危险转弯时朝对方大嚷，汽车司机未等乘客下车或坐稳就开车等都是职业道德水准的下降，而不仅仅是礼貌问题。