阅读理解 Is athletic expertise attained or innate? Those who have suffered the tongue-lashing of a cruel games master at school might be forgiven for doubting the idea that anyone and everyone is capable of great sporting achievement, if only they would put enough effort into it. Practice may make perfect, but not all are built in ways that make it worth bothering in the first place. The latest evidence of this truth has been gathered by Sabrina Lee of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and Stephen Piazza at Pennsylvania State University. They have looked at the physical structure of short-distance runners and found that their feet are built differently from those of couch potatoes. Dr. Lee and Dr. Piazza already knew that short-distance runners tend to have a higher proportion of fast- contracting muscle fibres in their legs than more sedentary folk can muster. They suspected, though, that they would find differences in the bone structure as well. And they did. They looked at seven university sprinters who specialize in the 100-metre dash and five 200-metre specialists, and compared them with 12 non-athletic university students of the same height. In particular, they looked at the sizes of bones of the toes and heel. They also used ultrasonic scanning to measure the sliding motion of the Achilles tendons of their volunteers as their feet moved up and down. This allowed them to study the length of the lever created by the tendon as it pulls on the back of the heel to make the foot flex and push off the ground. Dr. Lee and Dr. Piazza found that the toes of their short-distance runners averaged 8.2cm in length, while those of common people averaged 7.3cm. The length of the lever of bone that the Achilles tendon pulls on also differed, being a quarter shorter in short-distance runners. These findings suggest short-distance runners get better contact with the ground by having longer toes. That makes sense, as it creates a firmer platform to push against. In a short-distance running race, acceleration off the block is everything. Cheetahs, the champion of short-distance runners of the animal kingdom, have non-flexible claws that give a similar advantage. It is possible—just—that the differences in physical structure are the result of long and rigorous training. But it is unlikely. Far more probable is that the old saying of coaches, that great short-distance runners are born not made, is true. Everyone else, games masters included, should just get used to the idea.

阅读理解Passage 9 Now, Alexander was in Corinth to take command of the League of Greek States which after conquering them，his father Philip had created as a disguise for the New Macedonian Order

阅读理解Section A Directions:In this section,there are four passages followed by questions or unfinished statements,each with four suggested answers A,B,C and D

阅读理解Rumor has it that more than 20 books on creationism/evolution are in the publisher's pipelines. A few have already appeared. The goal of all will be to try to explain to a confused and often unenlightened citizenry that there are not two equally valid scientific theories for the origin and evolution of universe and life. Cosmology, geology and biology have provided a consistent, unified, and constantly improving account of what happened. "Scientific" creationism, which is being pushed by some for "equal time" in the classrooms whenever the scientific accounts of evolution are given, is based on religion, not science. Virtually all scientists and the majority of nonfundamentalist religious leaders have come to regard "scientific" creationism as bad science and bad religion. 　　The first four chapters of Kitcher' s book give a very brief introduction to evolution. At appropriate places, he introduces the criticisms of the creationists and provides answers. In the last three chapters, he takes off his gloves and gives the creationists a good beating. He describes their programmes and tactics, and, for those unfamiliar with the ways of creationists, the extent of their deception and distortion may come as an unpleasant surprise. When their basic motivation is religious, one might have expected more Christian behavior. 　　Kitcher is a philosopher, and this may account, in part, for the charity and effectiveness of his arguments. The　nonspecialist will be able to obtain at least a notion of the sorts of data and argument that support evolutionary theory. The final chapters on the creationists will be extremely clear to all. On the dust jacket of this fine book, Stephen Jay Gould says:" This book stands for reason itself." And so it does―and all would be well were reason the only judge in the creationism/evolution debate.

阅读理解Text 4 Some futurologists have assumed that the vast upsurge of women in the workforce may portend a rejection of marriage

阅读理解In our company, great changes (take place) ______ since the new manager came.

阅读理解Passage One Hooked On Anger When There Was Good Reason, Now We Cant Shake The Habit Anger has become the national habit

阅读理解Text 3 American farmers have been complaining of labor shortages for several years now

阅读理解Passage One Question 61 to 65 are based on the following passage Imagine waking up and finding the value of your assets has been halved

阅读理解Orin Kerr’s comparison is quoted to indicate that

阅读理解Benjamin Franklin's parents moved to Massachusetts because they wanted_______.

阅读理解C In January 2004, a 20-year-old woman ran a red light while talking on a cell phone

阅读理解Who most probably feels happy?

阅读理解Directions: There are 4 passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A., B., C. and D. You should decide on the best choice and write down your answer on the Answer Sheet.Passage 2Many private institutions of higher education around the country are in danger. Not all will be saved, and perhaps not all deserve to be saved. There are low-quality schools just as there are low-quality businesses. We have no obligation to save them simply because they exist. But many thriving institutions that deserve to continue are threatened. They are doing a fine job educationally, but they are caught in a financial difficulty, with no way to reduce rising costs or increase revenues significantly. Raising tuition doesn’t bring in more revenue, for each time tuition goes up, the enrollment goes down, or the amount that must be given away in student aid goes up. Schools are bad businesses, whether public or private, not usually because of bad management but because of the nature of the enterprise. They lose money on every customer, and they can go bankrupt either from too few students or too many students. Even a very good college is a very bad business.It is such colleges, thriving but threatened, that I worry about. Low enrollment is not their chief problem. Even with full enrollments, they may go under. Efforts to save them, and preferably to keep them private, are a national necessity. There is no basis for arguing that private schools are bound to be better than public schools. There are abundant examples to the contrary. Anyone can name state universities and colleges that rank as the finest in the nation and the world. It is now inevitable that public institutions will be dominant, and therefore diversity is a national necessity. Diversity in the way we support schools tends to give us a healthy diversity in the forms of education. In an imperfect society such as ours, uniformity of education throughout the nation could be dangerous. In an imperfect society, diversity is a positive good. Eager supporters of public higher education know the importance of sustaining private higher education.

阅读理解 It is not quite Benidorm yet, but Antarctica has become an increasingly popular destination for the more adventurous tourist. In this year's southern-hemisphere summer season, running from November to March, as many as 39,000 visitors are expected to make the trip from Tierra del Fuego, the nearest jumping-off point to the world's emptiest continent. That amounts to a fourfold increase in a decade. Officials in both Chile and Argentina are getting increasingly worried about the risk of a fatal accident-'a new Titanic' as one Chilean naval officer puts it. Nobody has died so far, but there have been some near-collisions. In 2007 more than 150 people were evacuated when their ship, the Explorer, sank after hitting an iceberg near the South Shetland Islands. They were 'very lucky with the weather', says Chile's deputy minister for the navy, Carolina Echeverria. That was one of only two accidents last season, with a similar number the previous year and one so far this season. Help is usually not far away. Although cruise ships plan their route so as to keep out of each other's sight, there are generally 20 to 30 boats heading to or from the Antarctic Peninsula on any one day. Even so, surviving an accident is something of a lottery. It depends partly on the weather. Not all the ships have the covered lifeboats recommended for polar conditions. Small boats, like the Explorer, have a better chance of being able to transfer their passengers if they get into difficulties. But some cruise ships visiting Antarctica now carry almost 3,000 passengers-more than ten times the limit that offers a reasonable chance of timely rescue. according to Chile's navy. The navy is annoyed about the cost of patrols, rescue operations and cleaning up fuel spills. It wants legally binding rules, backed by penalties, for Antarctic cruise ships. But that is hard to achieve. Under the 1959 Antarctic Treaty no country can exercise sovereignty over any part of the continent and its waters are international. Some rules on tourism have been written under the treaty: cruise ships carrying over 500 passengers cannot make landings, for example. But these are not legally enforceable. Neither will be rules being debated by the United Nations' International Maritime Organization on safety requirements. Some tour operators say they would welcome tighter regulation and higher safety standards. Others insist that safety is already adequate. The world recession may place a temporary brake on the trade. But Chilean officials reckon that the trend to big cruise ships, with their cheaper fares, will resume once recovery comes. If so, a tragedy may be only a matter of time.

阅读理解Which is safer-staying at home, traveling to work on public transport, or working in the office? Surprisingly, each of these carries the same risk, which is very low. However, what about flying compared to working in the chemical industry? Unfortunately, the former is 65 times riskier than the latter! In fact, the accident rate of workers in the chemical industry is less than that of almost any of human activity, and almost as safe as staying at home.The trouble with the chemical industry is that when things go wrong they often cause death to those living nearby. It is this which makes chemical accidents so newsworthy. Fortunately, they are extremely rare. The most famous ones happened at Texas City (1947), Flixborough (1974), Seveso (1976), Pemex (1984) and Bhopal (1984).Some of these are always in the minds of the people even though the loss of life was small. No one died at Seveso, and only 28 workers at Flixborough. The worst accident of all was Bhopal, where up to 3,000 were killed. The Texas City explosion of fertilizer killed 552. The Pemex fire at a storage plant for natural gas in the suburbs of Mexico City took 542 lives, just a month before the unfortunate event at Bhopal.Some experts have discussed these accidents and used each accident to illustrate a particular danger. Thus the Texas City explosion was caused by tons of ammonium nitrate (硝酸铵), which is safe unless stored in great quantity. The Flixborough fireball was the fault of management, which took risks to keep production going during essential repairs. The Seveso accident shows what happens if the local authorities lack knowledge of the danger on their doorstep. When the poisonous gas drifted over the town, local leaders were incapable of taking effective action. The Pemex fire was made worse by an overloaded site in an overcrowded suburb. The fire set off a chain reaction on exploding storage tanks. Yet, by a miracle, the two largest tanks did not explode. Had these caught fire, then 3,000 strong rescue team and fire fighters would all have died.

阅读理解Passage 1 Poland, once a backward agricultural country, is quickly becoming an economic powerhouse in Central Europe

阅读理解Nowadays you can’t buy anything without then being asked to provide a rating of a company’s performance on a five-star scale. I’ve been asked to rate my "store 【C1】________" on the EFTPOS terminal before I can pay. Even the most【C2】________activities, such as calling Telstra or picking up a parcel from Australia Post, are followed by texts or emails with surveys asking, "How did we do?" Online purchases are【C3】________followed up by a customer satisfaction survey. Companies are so【C4】________for a hit of stars that if you delete the survey the company sends you another one. We’re【C5】________to rate our apps when we’ve barely had a chance to use them. One online course provider I use asks you what you think of the course after you’ve only completed【C6】________2 per cent of it. Economist Jason Murphy says that companies use customer satisfaction ratings because a【C7】________display of star feedback has become the nuclear power sources of the modern economy. However, you can’t help but【C8】________if these companies are basing their business on fabrications (捏造的东西). I 【C9】________that with online surveys 1 just click the【C10】________that’s closest to my mouse cursor (光标) to get the damn thing off my screen. Often the star rating I give has far more to do with the kind of day I’m having than the purchase 1 just made.A) announce F) fascinated K) shining B) commonplace G) option L) showeringC) confess H) prompted M) varietyD) desperate I) roughly N) voyageE) experience J) routinely O) wonder

阅读理解 Of all the components of a good night's sleep, dreams seem to be least within our control. In dreams, a window opens into a world where logic is suspended and dead people speak. A century ago, Freud formulated his revolutionary theory that dreams were the disguised shadows of our unconscious desires and fears; by the late 1970s, neurologists had switched to thinking of them as just 'mental noise'—the random byproducts of the neural-repair work that goes on during sleep. Now researchers suspect that dreams are part of the mind's emotional thermostat, regulating moods while the brain is 'off-line.' And one leading authority says that these intensely powerful mental events can be not only harnessed but actually brought under conscious control, to help us sleep and feel better, 'It's your dream,' says Rosalind Cartwright, chair of psychology at Chicago's Medical Center. 'If you don't like it, change it.' Evidence from brain imaging supports this view. The brain is as active during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep—when most vivid dreams occur—as it is when fully awake, says Dr. Eric Nofzinger at the University of Pittsburgh. But not all parts of the brain are equally involved; the limbic system (the 'emotional brain') is especially active, while the prefrontal cortex (the center of intellect and reasoning) is relatively quiet. 'We wake up from dreams happy or depressed, and those feelings can stay with us all day.' says Stanford sleep researcher Dr. William Dement. The link between dreams and emotions shows up among the patients in Cartwright's clinic. Most people seem to have more bad dreams early in the night, progressing toward happier ones before awakening, suggesting that they are working through negative feelings generated during the day. Because our conscious mind is occupied with daily life we don't always think about the emotional significance of the day's events—until, it appears, we begin to dream. And this process need not be left to the unconscious. Cartwright believes one can exercise conscious control over recurring bad dreams. As soon as you awaken, identify what is upsetting about the dream. Visualize how you would like it to end instead; the next time it occurs, try to wake up just enough to control its course. With much practice people can learn to, literally, do it in their sleep. At the end of the day, there's probably little reason to pay attention to our dreams at all unless they keep us from sleeping or 'we wake up in a panic,' Cartwright says. Terrorism, economic uncertainties and general feelings of insecurity have increased people's anxiety. Those suffering from persistent nightmares should seek help from a therapist. For the rest of us, the brain has its ways of working through bad feelings. Sleep—or rather dream—on it and you'll feel better in the morning.

阅读理解Passage 4 A good modern newspaper is an extraordinary piece of reading