单选题 Questions11-13 are based on the passage you have just heard.

单选题 It is not often realized that women held a high place in southern European societies in the 10th and 11th centuries. As a wife, the woman was protected by the setting up of a dowry (彩礼) or decimum. Admittedly, the purpose of this was to protect her against the risk of desertion, but in reality its function in the social and family life of the time was much more important. The decimum was the wife's right to receive a tenth of all her husband's property. The wife had the right to withhold consent, in all transactions the husband would make, and more than just a right: the documents show that she enjoyed a real power of decision equal to that of her husband. In no case did the documents indicate any degree of difference in the legal status of husband and wife. The wife shared in the management of her husband's personal property, but the opposite was not always true. Women seemed perfectly prepared to defend their own inheritance against husbands who tried to exceed their rights, and on occasion they showed a fine fighting spirit. A case in point is that of Maria Vivas, a Catalan woman of Barcelona. Having agreed with her husband Miro to sell a field she had inherited for the needs of the household, she insisted on compensation. None being offered, she succeeded in dragging her husband to the scribe (法学家) to have a contract duly drawn up assigning her a piece of land from Miro's personal inheritance. The unfortunate husband was obliged to agree, as the contract says, 'for the sake of peace.' Either through the dowry or through being hot-tempered, the Catalan wife knew how to win herself, with the context of the family, a powerful economic position.

单选题 As a volunteer, John Apollos is losing weight—the old-fashioned way—by eating less. Apollos has lowered his daily caloric intake 25% over the past eight months. The fat, not surprisingly, has melted away. But that's not the real reason Apollos and the other participants in the program are eating only three-quarters of what they used to. The researchers are trying to determine whether restricting food intake can slow the ageing process and extend our life span. 'I feel better and lighter and healthier,' says Apollos. 'But if it could help you live longer, that would be pretty amazing.' The idea is counterintuitive: If we eat to live, how can starving ourselves add years to our lives? Yet decades of calorie-restriction studies involving organisms ranging from microscopic yeast to rats have shown just that. Last July a long-term study led by researchers at the University of Wisconsin, found that calorie restriction seemed to extend the lives of humanlike rhesus monkeys (恒河猴) as well. The hungry primates fell victim to diabetes, heart and brain disease and cancer much less frequently than their well-fed counterparts did. Scientists have suspected that calorie restriction could extend the life span of animals since at least 1935, when researchers at Cornell University noticed that severely food-restricted lab rats lived twice as long as normal ones and were healthier. Other investigators began exploring the idea and learned that the secret is not merely a matter of body weight. One theory is that a state of slight hunger acts as a mild but constant stressor that makes an organism stronger and more resistant to the ills of ageing. Taking in fewer calories also slows metabolism (新陈代谢), and some data indicate that humans with a slower metabolism live longer. But even if these theories are correct, simply defining the mechanism is not the same as identifying the molecular pathways behind it. If researchers could determine those pathways, they might be able to pharmacologically mimic (模仿) the effect of calorie restriction. That could be the ultimate benefit of the CALORIE study. 'Calorie restriction is pretty much the only thing out there that we know will not just prevent disease but also extend maximal life span,' says Dr. Marc Hellerstein, a nutritionist at the University of California.

单选题 Sex prejudices are based on and justified by the ideology (意识形态) that biology is destiny (命运). According to the ideology, basic biological and psychological differences exist between the sexes. These differences require each sex to play a separate role in social life. Women are the weaker sex—both physically and emotionally. Thus, they are naturally suited much more so than men, to the performance of domestic duties. A woman's place, under normal circumstances, is within the protective environment of the home. Nature has determined that women play care-taker roles, such as wife and mother and homemaker. On the other hand men are best suited to go out into the competitive world of work and politics, where serious responsibilities must be taken on. Men are to be the providers; women and children are 'dependents'. The idea also holds that women who wish to work outside the household should naturally fill these jobs that are in line with the special capabilities of their sex. It is thus appropriate for women, not men, to be employed as nurses, social workers, elementary school teachers, household helpers, and clerks and secretaries. These positions are simply an extension of women's domestic role. Informal distinctions between 'women's work' and 'men's work' in the labor force, according to the ideology, are simply a functional reflection of the basic differences between the sexes. Finally, the ideology suggests that nature has worked her will in another significant way. For the human species to survive over time, its members must regularly reproduce. Thus, women must, whether at home or in the labor force, make the most of their physical appearance. So goes the ideology. It is, of course, not true that basic biological and psychological differences between the sexes require each to play sex-defined roles in social life. There is much evidence that sex roles vary from society to society, and those role differences that do exist are largely learned. But to the degree people actually believe that biology is destiny and that nature intended for men and women to make different contributions to society, sex-defined roles will be seen as totally acceptable.

单选题 Halloween A. On October 31st, dozens of children dressed in costumes knock on their neighbors' doors and yell 'Trick or Treat' when the door opens. Pirates and princesses, ghosts and popular heroes of the day all hold bags open to catch the candy or other goodies that the neighbors drop in. As they give each child a treat, the neighbors exclaim over the costumes and try to guess who is under the masks. Since the 800's November 1st is a religions holiday known as All Saints' Day. The Mass that was said on this day was called Allhallowmas. The evening before became known as All Hakki-we'en, or Halloween. Like some other American celebrations, its origins lie in both pre-Christian and Christian customs. B. October 31st was the eve of the Celtic new year. The Celts were the ancestors of the present-day Irish, Welsh and Scottish people. On this day ghosts walked and mingled with the living, or so the Celts thought. The townspeople baked food all that day and when night fell they dressed up and tried to resemble the souls of the dead. Hoping that the ghosts would leave peacefully before midnight of the new year. Much later, when Christianity spread throughout Ireland and October 31st was no longer the last day of the year, Halloween became a celebration mostly for children. 'Ghosts' went from door to door asking for treats, or else a trick would be played on the owners of the house. When millions of Irish people immigrated to the United States in the 1840s the tradition came with them. C. Today school dances and neighborhood parties called 'block parties' are popular among young and old alike. More and more adults celebrate Halloween. They dress up like historical or political figures and go to masquerade parties (化装舞会). In larger cities, costumed children and their parents gather at shopping malls early in the evening. Stores and businesses give parties with games and treats for the children. Teenagers enjoy costume dances at their schools and the more outrageous the costume the better! Certain pranks (恶作剧) such as soaping car windows and tipping over garbage cans are expected. But partying and pranks are not the only things that Halloweeners enjoy doing. Some collect money to buy food and medicine for needy children around the world. D. Halloween originated as a celebration connected with evil spirits. Witches flying on broomsticks with black cats, ghosts, goblins (小精灵) and skeletons have all evolved as symbols of Halloween. They are popular trick-or-treat costumes and decorations for greeting cards and windows. Black is one of the traditional Halloween colors, probably because Halloween festivals and traditions took place at night. In the weeks before October 31st, Americans decorate windows of houses and schools with silhouettes (轮廓) of witches and black cats. E. Pumpkins are also a symbol of Halloween. The pumpkin is an orange-colored squash, and orange has become the other traditional Halloween color. Carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns is a Halloween custom also dating back to Ireland. A legend grew up about a man named Jack who was so mean that he was not allowed into heaven when he died, because he was a miser (吝啬鬼). He couldn't enter hell either because he had played jokes on the devil. As a result, Jack had to walk the earth with his lantern until Judgement Day. The Irish people carved scary faces out of turnips (芜菁根), beets (甜菜根) or potatoes representing 'Jack of the Lantern,' or Jack-o'-lantern. When the Irish brought their customs to the United States, they carved faces, on pumpkins because in the autumn they were more plentiful than turnips. Today jack-o'-lanterns in the windows of a house on Halloween night let costumed children know that there are goodie (糖果) waiting if they knock and say 'Trick or Treat!' Dried Pumpkin Seeds F. After carving your pumpkin, separate the pulp from the seeds. Rinse the seeds and spread them out to dry. The next day, add enough melted butter or margarine (人造黄油) to coat each seed. Spread the seeds onto a cookie sheet (甜酥饼干) and bake for 20 minutes in a 300 degree oven or until they are slightly brown. Caramel (饴糖) Apples G. Take the paper wrapping off about 100 caramels and put them in a saucepan (炖锅). Put the saucepan over a pan of boiling water. Boil the water until the caramels melt. Put a wooden stick into the top of each apple, dip the apple into the caramel. Let them cool on wax paper and enjoy! Scary stories H. No Halloween party is complete without at least one scary story. Usually one person talks in a low voice while everyone else crowds together on the floor or around a fire. The following is a retelling of a tale told in Britain and in North Carolina and Virginia. I. There was an old woman who lived all by herself, and she was very lonely. Sitting in the kitchen one night, she said, 'Oh, I wish I had some company.' No sooner had she spoken than down the chimney tumbled two feet from which the flesh had rotted. The old woman's eyes bulged with terror. Then two legs dropped to the hearth (壁炉地面) and attached themselves to the feet. Then a body tumbled down, then two arms, and a man's head. As the old woman watched, the parts came together into a great, tall man. The man danced around and around the room. Faster and faster he went. Then he stopped, and he looked into her eyes. 'What do you come for?' She asked in a small voice that shivered and shook. 'What do I come for?' he said. 'I come for YOU!' The narrator shouts and jumps at the person near him!

单选题 Studies have hinted that breast cancer survivors tend to gain weight after their diagnosis and treatment, but it's not yet clear why. Because breast cancer rates tend to rise around menopause (更年期), doctors weren't sure whether the weight gain was part of normal aging and changes in women's reproductive status, or whether something about cancer made patients more vulnerable to gaining weight. In a new study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers Prevention, researchers compared a group of women who survived breast cancer with a similar group of women who did not have the disease. All women were at higher risk of developing breast cancer because of family history. The scientists found that even after they adjusted for the influence of age, menopause and other factors, those who survived breast cancer did indeed gain more weight— almost four pounds more, on average, within five years of their diagnosis compared to those who didn't have cancer. Among these women, those who were treated with chemotherapy (化疗) were twice as likely to gain weight—about 11 pounds more, on average—compared to women who were treated with hormone-based therapies (who did not get any heavier with their treatments) and women who didn't have cancer. While weight has been implicated in possibly playing some role in certain cancers, this study is among the first to tease apart what effect cancer itself, and treatments for cancer, might have on changing metabolism, inflammation, the immune system and other body functions to make weight gain more likely. By following the women for four years, the researchers, led by Dr. Kala Visvanathan, director of clinical cancer genetics and prevention service at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, compared their weight changes from diagnosis onward. The team is planning to continue to follow the women for a longer period of time to track other patterns in weight. 'Obviously treatment for the cancer is a priority,' says Visvanathan. 'But these findings show that it's also important to take note of weight changes, especially for women getting chemotherapy. Chemotherapy treatment usually goes for six months or a year, so monitoring weight in that time and taking steps to intervene if weight is clearly increasing is important.'

单选题 近年来，中国航天工业取得了巨大的进步。去年是中国航天的关键一年。这一年里中国航天发生了两件大事。其一就是中国发射了嫦娥四号月球探测器(probe)，使中国成为世界上首个在月球背面实现着陆的国家。另一件就是长征五号火箭发射成功，因为长征五号是中国新一代运载火箭，也是中国运载能力最大的火箭。长征五号火箭的成功发射将会为中国更多太空探险任务铺平道路。

单选题 Scattered through the seas of the world are billions of tons of small plants and animals called plankton (浮游生物). Most of these plants and animals are too small for the human eye to see. They drift about lazily with the currents, providing a basic food for many larger animals. Plankton has been described as the equivalent of grasses that grow on the dry land continents, and the comparison is an appropriate one. In the potential food value, however, plankton far outweighs that of the land grasses. One scientist has estimated that while grasses of the world produce about 49 billion tons of valuable carbohydrates (碳水化合物) each year, the sea's plankton generates more than twice as much. Despite its enormous food potential, little effort was made until recently to farm plankton as we farm grasses on land. Now, marine scientists have at least begun to study this possibility, especially as the sea's resources appear even more important as a means of feeding an expanding world population. No one yet has seriously suggested the 'planktonburger' may soon become as popular as hamburger around the world. As a possible farmed supplementary food source, however, plankton is gaining considerable interest among marine scientists. One type of plankton that seems to have great harvest possibility is a tiny shrimp-like creature called krill (磷虾). Growing to two or three inches long, krill provide the major food for the giant blue whale, the largest animal on Earth. Realizing that this whale may grow to 100 feet and weigh 150 tons at maturity, it is not surprising that each one consumes more than one ton of krill daily. Krill swim about just below the surface in huge schools sometimes miles wide, mainly in the cold Antarctic. Because of their pink color, they often appear as a solid reddish mass when viewed from a ship or from air. Krill are very high in food value. A pound of them contains about 460 calories-about the same as shrimp or lobster, to which they are related. If the krill can feed such huge creatures as whales, many scientists reason, they must certainly be candidates as a new food source for humans.