P300 is the brainwave ______.

Passage One

Just over three years old and about four-feet tall. Methuselah is growing well. "It’s lovely." Dr. Sarah Sallon said of the date palm，whose parents may have provided food for the besieged Jews at Masada some 2 000 years ago. The little tree was sprouted in 2005 from a seed recovered from Masada, where rebelling Jews committed suicide rather than surrender to Roman attackers.
Radiocarbon dating of seed fragments clinging to its root, as well as other seeds found with it that didn’t sprout, indicate they were about 2 000 years old—the oldest seed known to have been sprouted and grown.
Sallon, director of the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center at Hadassah Medical Organization in Israel, updates the saga of Methuselah in Friday’s edition of the journal Science.
One thing they don’t know yet is whether it’s a boy or girl. Date palms differ by sex, but experts can’t tell the difference until the tree is six or seven years old, Sallon said.
She hopes there’s a chance to use it to restore the extinct Judean date palm, once prized not only for its fruit but also for medicinal uses.
The researchers have had a look at the plant’s DNA, however, and found it shares just over half its genes with modern date cultivars(栽培品种)．
"Part of our project is to preserve ancient knowledge of how plants were used," Sallon said in a telephone interview. "To domesticate them so we have a ready source of raw material. "
Her Middle Eastern Medicinal Plant Project is working to conserve and reintroduce plants to the region where they once lived.
"Many species are endangered and becoming extinct. Raising the dead is very difficult, so it’s better to preserve them before they become extinct," she said.
The oldest documented seed to be grown previously was a 1 300-year-old lotus, Sallon said.
It can be learned that Methuselah ______．

A．is an ancient tree about 2 000 years old
B．is grown from a seed about 2 000 years old
C．had already become extinct 2 000 years ago
D．has been the food source since 2 000 years ago

单项选择题

Passage Two

Why is Valentine’s Day, a holiday dedicated to the sweet bloom of love, celebrated in a cold month more suited to hats and gloves than to thoughts of love
"It’s very mysterious," says Henry Kelly, director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of California. Kelly theorizes lovers everywhere can thank two guys from the 14th century: renowned poet Geoffrey Chaucer—famous for penning "The Canterbury Tales"—and a not-so-famous saint who went by the name of Valentine.
In 1381, Chaucer was busy composing a poem in honor of the arranged marriage between England’s Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. Chaucer was looking for just the right saint to honor on May 3, the day Richard II signed the papers of engagement to his Bohemia beauty.
His search ended, Kelly guesses, when Chaucer learned that a Saint Valentine of Genoa had an honorary feast day on May 3. So he wrote the poem "The Parliament of Fowls" in the couple’s honor.
"The Parliament of Fowls" literally means "the meeting of birds" , says Kelly. "Chaucer dreamed up the idea that all birds chose their mates on May 3rd. When the spring brought its sunny smile back to the earth, it was easy to imagine the winged animals fluttering about and flirting with their lovers. "
After Chaucer’s death in ld00, Valentine’s Day celebrations got pushed back to February. The date may have changed because the first song birds that traditionally warble(鸟鸣) after a winter tend to debut in mid-February.
But the holiday that honors lovebirds everywhere with rhymed verse and colored candy hearts has not always been so popular.
The very celebration of Valentine’s Day has gone in and out of vogue. In the 16th century in Genoa you have it, but there is not much notice of it in other countries.
The sweet-toothed holiday experienced renewed vigor in England just prior to 1800, and publishing companies came to the aid of tongue-tied lovers by distributing booklets of passages lovers could use to stir hearts. If they couldn’t find the words in their hearts, companies figured, at least these Romeos could find some coins in their pocket to make their sweethearts happy.
The celebration suffered a popularity plunge in the 19th century, but by the next century, Americans had rescued Valentine’s Day from the trash heap, turning it into a commercial bonanza.
For Chaucer, May 3 was a special date because it was the day when ______

A．Richard II became engaged to Anne of Bohemia
B．Richard II married Anne of Bohemia
C．Saint Valentine of Genoa was honored
D．all birds chose their mates

单项选择题

Passage One

Just over three years old and about four-feet tall. Methuselah is growing well. "It’s lovely." Dr. Sarah Sallon said of the date palm，whose parents may have provided food for the besieged Jews at Masada some 2 000 years ago. The little tree was sprouted in 2005 from a seed recovered from Masada, where rebelling Jews committed suicide rather than surrender to Roman attackers.
Radiocarbon dating of seed fragments clinging to its root, as well as other seeds found with it that didn’t sprout, indicate they were about 2 000 years old—the oldest seed known to have been sprouted and grown.
Sallon, director of the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center at Hadassah Medical Organization in Israel, updates the saga of Methuselah in Friday’s edition of the journal Science.
One thing they don’t know yet is whether it’s a boy or girl. Date palms differ by sex, but experts can’t tell the difference until the tree is six or seven years old, Sallon said.
She hopes there’s a chance to use it to restore the extinct Judean date palm, once prized not only for its fruit but also for medicinal uses.
The researchers have had a look at the plant’s DNA, however, and found it shares just over half its genes with modern date cultivars(栽培品种)．
"Part of our project is to preserve ancient knowledge of how plants were used," Sallon said in a telephone interview. "To domesticate them so we have a ready source of raw material. "
Her Middle Eastern Medicinal Plant Project is working to conserve and reintroduce plants to the region where they once lived.
"Many species are endangered and becoming extinct. Raising the dead is very difficult, so it’s better to preserve them before they become extinct," she said.
The oldest documented seed to be grown previously was a 1 300-year-old lotus, Sallon said.
The word "saga" in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to "______".

A．extraordinary story
B．special function
C．detailed information
D．latest development

单项选择题

Passage Two

Why is Valentine’s Day, a holiday dedicated to the sweet bloom of love, celebrated in a cold month more suited to hats and gloves than to thoughts of love
"It’s very mysterious," says Henry Kelly, director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of California. Kelly theorizes lovers everywhere can thank two guys from the 14th century: renowned poet Geoffrey Chaucer—famous for penning "The Canterbury Tales"—and a not-so-famous saint who went by the name of Valentine.
In 1381, Chaucer was busy composing a poem in honor of the arranged marriage between England’s Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. Chaucer was looking for just the right saint to honor on May 3, the day Richard II signed the papers of engagement to his Bohemia beauty.
His search ended, Kelly guesses, when Chaucer learned that a Saint Valentine of Genoa had an honorary feast day on May 3. So he wrote the poem "The Parliament of Fowls" in the couple’s honor.
"The Parliament of Fowls" literally means "the meeting of birds" , says Kelly. "Chaucer dreamed up the idea that all birds chose their mates on May 3rd. When the spring brought its sunny smile back to the earth, it was easy to imagine the winged animals fluttering about and flirting with their lovers. "
After Chaucer’s death in ld00, Valentine’s Day celebrations got pushed back to February. The date may have changed because the first song birds that traditionally warble(鸟鸣) after a winter tend to debut in mid-February.
But the holiday that honors lovebirds everywhere with rhymed verse and colored candy hearts has not always been so popular.
The very celebration of Valentine’s Day has gone in and out of vogue. In the 16th century in Genoa you have it, but there is not much notice of it in other countries.
The sweet-toothed holiday experienced renewed vigor in England just prior to 1800, and publishing companies came to the aid of tongue-tied lovers by distributing booklets of passages lovers could use to stir hearts. If they couldn’t find the words in their hearts, companies figured, at least these Romeos could find some coins in their pocket to make their sweethearts happy.
The celebration suffered a popularity plunge in the 19th century, but by the next century, Americans had rescued Valentine’s Day from the trash heap, turning it into a commercial bonanza.
Henry Kelly’s research on Valentine’s Day ______.

A．is a widely accepted explanation
B．is well-based on conclusive evidence
C．is a reasonable speculation
D．is just a wild and unreliable guess

单项选择题

Passage Two

Why is Valentine’s Day, a holiday dedicated to the sweet bloom of love, celebrated in a cold month more suited to hats and gloves than to thoughts of love
"It’s very mysterious," says Henry Kelly, director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of California. Kelly theorizes lovers everywhere can thank two guys from the 14th century: renowned poet Geoffrey Chaucer—famous for penning "The Canterbury Tales"—and a not-so-famous saint who went by the name of Valentine.
In 1381, Chaucer was busy composing a poem in honor of the arranged marriage between England’s Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. Chaucer was looking for just the right saint to honor on May 3, the day Richard II signed the papers of engagement to his Bohemia beauty.
His search ended, Kelly guesses, when Chaucer learned that a Saint Valentine of Genoa had an honorary feast day on May 3. So he wrote the poem "The Parliament of Fowls" in the couple’s honor.
"The Parliament of Fowls" literally means "the meeting of birds" , says Kelly. "Chaucer dreamed up the idea that all birds chose their mates on May 3rd. When the spring brought its sunny smile back to the earth, it was easy to imagine the winged animals fluttering about and flirting with their lovers. "
After Chaucer’s death in ld00, Valentine’s Day celebrations got pushed back to February. The date may have changed because the first song birds that traditionally warble(鸟鸣) after a winter tend to debut in mid-February.
But the holiday that honors lovebirds everywhere with rhymed verse and colored candy hearts has not always been so popular.
The very celebration of Valentine’s Day has gone in and out of vogue. In the 16th century in Genoa you have it, but there is not much notice of it in other countries.
The sweet-toothed holiday experienced renewed vigor in England just prior to 1800, and publishing companies came to the aid of tongue-tied lovers by distributing booklets of passages lovers could use to stir hearts. If they couldn’t find the words in their hearts, companies figured, at least these Romeos could find some coins in their pocket to make their sweethearts happy.
The celebration suffered a popularity plunge in the 19th century, but by the next century, Americans had rescued Valentine’s Day from the trash heap, turning it into a commercial bonanza.
The celebration of Valentine’s Day on February. 14 ______.

A．coincides with the coming of spring
B．remains unexplained in terms of its origin
C．was a choice made by Chaucer and Saint Valentine
D．started in the 14th century and has continued till today

单项选择题

Passage One

Just over three years old and about four-feet tall. Methuselah is growing well. "It’s lovely." Dr. Sarah Sallon said of the date palm，whose parents may have provided food for the besieged Jews at Masada some 2 000 years ago. The little tree was sprouted in 2005 from a seed recovered from Masada, where rebelling Jews committed suicide rather than surrender to Roman attackers.
Radiocarbon dating of seed fragments clinging to its root, as well as other seeds found with it that didn’t sprout, indicate they were about 2 000 years old—the oldest seed known to have been sprouted and grown.
Sallon, director of the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center at Hadassah Medical Organization in Israel, updates the saga of Methuselah in Friday’s edition of the journal Science.
One thing they don’t know yet is whether it’s a boy or girl. Date palms differ by sex, but experts can’t tell the difference until the tree is six or seven years old, Sallon said.
She hopes there’s a chance to use it to restore the extinct Judean date palm, once prized not only for its fruit but also for medicinal uses.
The researchers have had a look at the plant’s DNA, however, and found it shares just over half its genes with modern date cultivars(栽培品种)．
"Part of our project is to preserve ancient knowledge of how plants were used," Sallon said in a telephone interview. "To domesticate them so we have a ready source of raw material. "
Her Middle Eastern Medicinal Plant Project is working to conserve and reintroduce plants to the region where they once lived.
"Many species are endangered and becoming extinct. Raising the dead is very difficult, so it’s better to preserve them before they become extinct," she said.
The oldest documented seed to be grown previously was a 1 300-year-old lotus, Sallon said.
What do we know about Methuselah’s sex

A．It will be made clear within a year or two.
B．It will remain a myth for at least a decade.
C．It won’t be known until several years later.
D．It won’t be decided without ancient knowledge.

单项选择题

Passage One

Just over three years old and about four-feet tall. Methuselah is growing well. "It’s lovely." Dr. Sarah Sallon said of the date palm，whose parents may have provided food for the besieged Jews at Masada some 2 000 years ago. The little tree was sprouted in 2005 from a seed recovered from Masada, where rebelling Jews committed suicide rather than surrender to Roman attackers.
Radiocarbon dating of seed fragments clinging to its root, as well as other seeds found with it that didn’t sprout, indicate they were about 2 000 years old—the oldest seed known to have been sprouted and grown.
Sallon, director of the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center at Hadassah Medical Organization in Israel, updates the saga of Methuselah in Friday’s edition of the journal Science.
One thing they don’t know yet is whether it’s a boy or girl. Date palms differ by sex, but experts can’t tell the difference until the tree is six or seven years old, Sallon said.
She hopes there’s a chance to use it to restore the extinct Judean date palm, once prized not only for its fruit but also for medicinal uses.
The researchers have had a look at the plant’s DNA, however, and found it shares just over half its genes with modern date cultivars(栽培品种)．
"Part of our project is to preserve ancient knowledge of how plants were used," Sallon said in a telephone interview. "To domesticate them so we have a ready source of raw material. "
Her Middle Eastern Medicinal Plant Project is working to conserve and reintroduce plants to the region where they once lived.
"Many species are endangered and becoming extinct. Raising the dead is very difficult, so it’s better to preserve them before they become extinct," she said.
The oldest documented seed to be grown previously was a 1 300-year-old lotus, Sallon said.
The author seems to suggest that ______.

A．the attempt to grow the Judean palm date will end in failure
B．the effort to reintroduce the Judean palm date is sure to pay off
C．the researchers are likely to create a new species of the Judean palm date
D．the researchers stand a chance of success to renew the Judean palm date

单项选择题

Passage Two

Why is Valentine’s Day, a holiday dedicated to the sweet bloom of love, celebrated in a cold month more suited to hats and gloves than to thoughts of love
"It’s very mysterious," says Henry Kelly, director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of California. Kelly theorizes lovers everywhere can thank two guys from the 14th century: renowned poet Geoffrey Chaucer—famous for penning "The Canterbury Tales"—and a not-so-famous saint who went by the name of Valentine.
In 1381, Chaucer was busy composing a poem in honor of the arranged marriage between England’s Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. Chaucer was looking for just the right saint to honor on May 3, the day Richard II signed the papers of engagement to his Bohemia beauty.
His search ended, Kelly guesses, when Chaucer learned that a Saint Valentine of Genoa had an honorary feast day on May 3. So he wrote the poem "The Parliament of Fowls" in the couple’s honor.
"The Parliament of Fowls" literally means "the meeting of birds" , says Kelly. "Chaucer dreamed up the idea that all birds chose their mates on May 3rd. When the spring brought its sunny smile back to the earth, it was easy to imagine the winged animals fluttering about and flirting with their lovers. "
After Chaucer’s death in ld00, Valentine’s Day celebrations got pushed back to February. The date may have changed because the first song birds that traditionally warble(鸟鸣) after a winter tend to debut in mid-February.
But the holiday that honors lovebirds everywhere with rhymed verse and colored candy hearts has not always been so popular.
The very celebration of Valentine’s Day has gone in and out of vogue. In the 16th century in Genoa you have it, but there is not much notice of it in other countries.
The sweet-toothed holiday experienced renewed vigor in England just prior to 1800, and publishing companies came to the aid of tongue-tied lovers by distributing booklets of passages lovers could use to stir hearts. If they couldn’t find the words in their hearts, companies figured, at least these Romeos could find some coins in their pocket to make their sweethearts happy.
The celebration suffered a popularity plunge in the 19th century, but by the next century, Americans had rescued Valentine’s Day from the trash heap, turning it into a commercial bonanza.
The celebration of Valentine’s Day became unfashionable in the ______ century.

A．14th
B．15th
C．17th
D．19th

单项选择题

Passage One

Just over three years old and about four-feet tall. Methuselah is growing well. "It’s lovely." Dr. Sarah Sallon said of the date palm，whose parents may have provided food for the besieged Jews at Masada some 2 000 years ago. The little tree was sprouted in 2005 from a seed recovered from Masada, where rebelling Jews committed suicide rather than surrender to Roman attackers.
Radiocarbon dating of seed fragments clinging to its root, as well as other seeds found with it that didn’t sprout, indicate they were about 2 000 years old—the oldest seed known to have been sprouted and grown.
Sallon, director of the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center at Hadassah Medical Organization in Israel, updates the saga of Methuselah in Friday’s edition of the journal Science.
One thing they don’t know yet is whether it’s a boy or girl. Date palms differ by sex, but experts can’t tell the difference until the tree is six or seven years old, Sallon said.
She hopes there’s a chance to use it to restore the extinct Judean date palm, once prized not only for its fruit but also for medicinal uses.
The researchers have had a look at the plant’s DNA, however, and found it shares just over half its genes with modern date cultivars(栽培品种)．
"Part of our project is to preserve ancient knowledge of how plants were used," Sallon said in a telephone interview. "To domesticate them so we have a ready source of raw material. "
Her Middle Eastern Medicinal Plant Project is working to conserve and reintroduce plants to the region where they once lived.
"Many species are endangered and becoming extinct. Raising the dead is very difficult, so it’s better to preserve them before they become extinct," she said.
The oldest documented seed to be grown previously was a 1 300-year-old lotus, Sallon said.
Which of the following can best summarize Sallon’s Plant Project

A．Discovering new species.
B．Protecting rare species.
C．Restoring extinct species.
D．Reforming existing species.

单项选择题

Passage Two

Why is Valentine’s Day, a holiday dedicated to the sweet bloom of love, celebrated in a cold month more suited to hats and gloves than to thoughts of love
"It’s very mysterious," says Henry Kelly, director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of California. Kelly theorizes lovers everywhere can thank two guys from the 14th century: renowned poet Geoffrey Chaucer—famous for penning "The Canterbury Tales"—and a not-so-famous saint who went by the name of Valentine.
In 1381, Chaucer was busy composing a poem in honor of the arranged marriage between England’s Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. Chaucer was looking for just the right saint to honor on May 3, the day Richard II signed the papers of engagement to his Bohemia beauty.
His search ended, Kelly guesses, when Chaucer learned that a Saint Valentine of Genoa had an honorary feast day on May 3. So he wrote the poem "The Parliament of Fowls" in the couple’s honor.
"The Parliament of Fowls" literally means "the meeting of birds" , says Kelly. "Chaucer dreamed up the idea that all birds chose their mates on May 3rd. When the spring brought its sunny smile back to the earth, it was easy to imagine the winged animals fluttering about and flirting with their lovers. "
After Chaucer’s death in ld00, Valentine’s Day celebrations got pushed back to February. The date may have changed because the first song birds that traditionally warble(鸟鸣) after a winter tend to debut in mid-February.
But the holiday that honors lovebirds everywhere with rhymed verse and colored candy hearts has not always been so popular.
The very celebration of Valentine’s Day has gone in and out of vogue. In the 16th century in Genoa you have it, but there is not much notice of it in other countries.
The sweet-toothed holiday experienced renewed vigor in England just prior to 1800, and publishing companies came to the aid of tongue-tied lovers by distributing booklets of passages lovers could use to stir hearts. If they couldn’t find the words in their hearts, companies figured, at least these Romeos could find some coins in their pocket to make their sweethearts happy.
The celebration suffered a popularity plunge in the 19th century, but by the next century, Americans had rescued Valentine’s Day from the trash heap, turning it into a commercial bonanza.
The word "bonanza" in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to ______.

A．myth
B．challenge
C．celebration
D．success

单项选择题

Passage One

Just over three years old and about four-feet tall. Methuselah is growing well. "It’s lovely." Dr. Sarah Sallon said of the date palm，whose parents may have provided food for the besieged Jews at Masada some 2 000 years ago. The little tree was sprouted in 2005 from a seed recovered from Masada, where rebelling Jews committed suicide rather than surrender to Roman attackers.
Radiocarbon dating of seed fragments clinging to its root, as well as other seeds found with it that didn’t sprout, indicate they were about 2 000 years old—the oldest seed known to have been sprouted and grown.
Sallon, director of the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center at Hadassah Medical Organization in Israel, updates the saga of Methuselah in Friday’s edition of the journal Science.
One thing they don’t know yet is whether it’s a boy or girl. Date palms differ by sex, but experts can’t tell the difference until the tree is six or seven years old, Sallon said.
She hopes there’s a chance to use it to restore the extinct Judean date palm, once prized not only for its fruit but also for medicinal uses.
The researchers have had a look at the plant’s DNA, however, and found it shares just over half its genes with modern date cultivars(栽培品种)．
"Part of our project is to preserve ancient knowledge of how plants were used," Sallon said in a telephone interview. "To domesticate them so we have a ready source of raw material. "
Her Middle Eastern Medicinal Plant Project is working to conserve and reintroduce plants to the region where they once lived.
"Many species are endangered and becoming extinct. Raising the dead is very difficult, so it’s better to preserve them before they become extinct," she said.
The oldest documented seed to be grown previously was a 1 300-year-old lotus, Sallon said.
The purpose of the passage is to ______

A．enlarge our knowledge of the plants
B．provide latest information on plant usage
C．introduce a successful project concerning a plant
D．emphasize the importance of rare plant preservation

单项选择题

Passage Two

Why is Valentine’s Day, a holiday dedicated to the sweet bloom of love, celebrated in a cold month more suited to hats and gloves than to thoughts of love
"It’s very mysterious," says Henry Kelly, director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of California. Kelly theorizes lovers everywhere can thank two guys from the 14th century: renowned poet Geoffrey Chaucer—famous for penning "The Canterbury Tales"—and a not-so-famous saint who went by the name of Valentine.
In 1381, Chaucer was busy composing a poem in honor of the arranged marriage between England’s Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. Chaucer was looking for just the right saint to honor on May 3, the day Richard II signed the papers of engagement to his Bohemia beauty.
His search ended, Kelly guesses, when Chaucer learned that a Saint Valentine of Genoa had an honorary feast day on May 3. So he wrote the poem "The Parliament of Fowls" in the couple’s honor.
"The Parliament of Fowls" literally means "the meeting of birds" , says Kelly. "Chaucer dreamed up the idea that all birds chose their mates on May 3rd. When the spring brought its sunny smile back to the earth, it was easy to imagine the winged animals fluttering about and flirting with their lovers. "
After Chaucer’s death in ld00, Valentine’s Day celebrations got pushed back to February. The date may have changed because the first song birds that traditionally warble(鸟鸣) after a winter tend to debut in mid-February.
But the holiday that honors lovebirds everywhere with rhymed verse and colored candy hearts has not always been so popular.
The very celebration of Valentine’s Day has gone in and out of vogue. In the 16th century in Genoa you have it, but there is not much notice of it in other countries.
The sweet-toothed holiday experienced renewed vigor in England just prior to 1800, and publishing companies came to the aid of tongue-tied lovers by distributing booklets of passages lovers could use to stir hearts. If they couldn’t find the words in their hearts, companies figured, at least these Romeos could find some coins in their pocket to make their sweethearts happy.
The celebration suffered a popularity plunge in the 19th century, but by the next century, Americans had rescued Valentine’s Day from the trash heap, turning it into a commercial bonanza.
The passage is mainly about ______.

A．how people celebrate Valentine’s Day
B．how Valentine’s Day originated and evolved
C．what is the best way to promote Valentine’s Day
D．why people have different attitudes toward Valentine’s Day

单项选择题

Passage Four

Faith in medicine runs deep in America. We spend more per person on health care than any other nation. Whether we eat too much or exercise too little, whether we’re turning gray or feeling blue, we look to some pill or procedure to make us better.
We assume that devoting ever more dollars to medicine will bring us longer, healthier lives. But there is mounting evidence that each new dollar we devote to the current health care system brings small and diminishing returns to public health. Today the United States spends more than $4 500 per person per year on health care. Costa Rica spends less than $ 300. Yet life expectancy at birth is nearly identical in both countries.
Despite the highly publicized" longevity revolution," life expectancy among the elderly in the United States is hardly improving. Yes, we are an aging society, but primarily because of falling birthrates. Younger Americans, meanwhile, are far more likely to be disabled than they were 20 years ago. Most affected are people in their thirties, whose disability rates increased by nearly 130 percent, due primarily to overweight.
Why has our huge investment in health care left us so unhealthy Partly it is because so many promised" miracle cures," from Interferon to gene therapies, have proven to be ineffective or even dangerous. Partly it’s because health care dollars are so concentrated on the terminally ill and the very old that even when medical interventions "work,’" the gains to average life expectancy are small. And partly it is because of medical errors and adverse reaction to prescription drugs, which cause more deaths than motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer or AIDS. Each year roughly 200 000 seniors suffer fatal or life-threatening "adverse drug events" due to improper drug use or drug interaction.
Why don’t Americans live any longer than Costa Ricans Overwhelmingly, it’s because of differences in behavior. Americans exercise less, eat more, drive more, smoke more, and lead more socially isolated lives. Even at its best, modern medicine can do little to promote productive aging, because by the time most people come in contact with it their bodies are already compromised by stress, indulgent habits, environmental dangers and injuries.
Americans in general believe that ______.

A．more money spent on health care may not result in better health
B．medicine may provide an effective cure for various health problems
C．health problems caused by bad habits can hardly be solved by medicine
D．higher birthrate can better solve the problem of aging society than medicine

单项选择题

Passage Three

What’s a label worth A lot, it seems, when it comes to towels in a New York shop. Two Harvard University researchers, Michael Hiscox and Nicholas Smyth conducted an experiment on two sets of towels. One lot carried a label with the logo "Fair and Square" and the following message:
These towels have been made under fair labor conditions, in a safe and healthy working environment which is free of discrimination, and where management has committed to respecting the rights and dignity of workers.
The other set had no such label. Over five months, the researchers observed the impact of making various changes such as switching the label to the other set of towels and raising prices. The results were striking: not only did sales of towels increase when they carried the Fair and Square label, they carried on increasing each time the price was raised.
No wonder companies are keen to appeal to ethically minded consumers, whether on labor standards or green credentials. On greenery, British consumers are divided into four broad groups. About one in ten is passionately green and will go out of their way to shop accordingly. At the other end of the spectrum one-quarter are not interested. In-between are those who care but want green consumption to be easy, and those who are vaguely concerned but don’t see how they can make a difference. That represents an opportunity: three-quarters of British consumers are interested in the green theme in some way.
But even the keenest ethical consumer faces complicated trade-offs, and sometimes the apparently obvious ethical choice turns out to be the wrong one. Surely it must be greener for Britons to buy roses from the Netherlands than ones air-freighted from Kenya In fact, a study at Cranfield University showed the carbon footprint of the Dutch roses to be six times as large because they had to be grown in heated greenhouses.
Consumers are right to be suspicious of the ethical claims made for many products. A recent study of the labels of 1 018 products in big stores in North America by TerraChoice, an environmental marketing agency, found that almost all of them were guilty of some form of "green washing". They did not tell outright lies, but nor did they tell the whole truth.
According to the experiment, the towels with the " Fair and Square" label ______.

A．sold better at a higher price
B．became more popular at a lower price
C．were more competitive even with an increased price
D．were thought to be of higher quality even with a lower price

单项选择题

Passage Five

For decades, researchers have grappled with the problem of creating a machine that can tell, definitively, whether a person is lying. Until recently, their work has been far from successful. The past generation of lie-detection technologies has been put under scientific scrutiny and found wanting. But science, ever resourceful, is coming up with new ideas.
The problem with past lie detectors is that it relies on second-hand signs of lying, such as a person’s breathing rate, pulse, blood pressure which a good actor can suppress. Furthermore, someone who is telling the truth might exhibit just these signals, because the very act of being questioned by the authorities is stressful. Instead, current research is looking directly at the source of lies, the brain itself.
Daniel Langleben uses a brain-scanning technique called functional magnetic-resonance imaging to probe his subjects’ honesty. The lie which those subjects are asked to tell is a small one: they have to persuade Dr. Langleben that they are holding a particular playing card when often they are actually holding a different one. Each successful deception earns a subject $20. The researchers have not had to hand out much cash, though. The brains of lying subjects light up in particular places in ways that they do not in the honest.
Another brain-probing lie-detection technique, based on electroencephalography (EEG), has actually made it out of the laboratory and into the courtroom. Lawrence Farwell calls it MERMER (memory and encoding related multifaceted electroencephalographic response). MERMER works by hooking someone up to an EEG machine and asking him about specific details of, for example, a crime scene. Lack of a brainwave called P300 denotes lack of familiarity with the details in question, suggesting any denial should he taken at face value. The technique has already stood up to legal scrutiny twice. It will soon be used again, in the appeal by Jimmy Slaughter against his conviction for murdering his ex-girlfriend, Melody Wuertz. MERMER suggests that Mr. Slaughter had no recollection of important facts about the murder, such as which rooms the victim’ body was located in.
Although not yet foolproof, these methods do offer possible alternatives to the antiquated techniques of the polygraph. The truth is out there. It is just a question of finding it.
"Wanting" in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______.

A．necessary
B．misleading
C．unsatisfactory
D．practical

单项选择题

Passage Four

Faith in medicine runs deep in America. We spend more per person on health care than any other nation. Whether we eat too much or exercise too little, whether we’re turning gray or feeling blue, we look to some pill or procedure to make us better.
We assume that devoting ever more dollars to medicine will bring us longer, healthier lives. But there is mounting evidence that each new dollar we devote to the current health care system brings small and diminishing returns to public health. Today the United States spends more than $4 500 per person per year on health care. Costa Rica spends less than $ 300. Yet life expectancy at birth is nearly identical in both countries.
Despite the highly publicized" longevity revolution," life expectancy among the elderly in the United States is hardly improving. Yes, we are an aging society, but primarily because of falling birthrates. Younger Americans, meanwhile, are far more likely to be disabled than they were 20 years ago. Most affected are people in their thirties, whose disability rates increased by nearly 130 percent, due primarily to overweight.
Why has our huge investment in health care left us so unhealthy Partly it is because so many promised" miracle cures," from Interferon to gene therapies, have proven to be ineffective or even dangerous. Partly it’s because health care dollars are so concentrated on the terminally ill and the very old that even when medical interventions "work,’" the gains to average life expectancy are small. And partly it is because of medical errors and adverse reaction to prescription drugs, which cause more deaths than motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer or AIDS. Each year roughly 200 000 seniors suffer fatal or life-threatening "adverse drug events" due to improper drug use or drug interaction.
Why don’t Americans live any longer than Costa Ricans Overwhelmingly, it’s because of differences in behavior. Americans exercise less, eat more, drive more, smoke more, and lead more socially isolated lives. Even at its best, modern medicine can do little to promote productive aging, because by the time most people come in contact with it their bodies are already compromised by stress, indulgent habits, environmental dangers and injuries.
Compared with the Americans, Costa Ricans ______.

A．have a healthier way of life
B．enjoy a longer life expectancy
C．are more dependent on medicine
D．are less concerned about their health

单项选择题

Passage Three

What’s a label worth A lot, it seems, when it comes to towels in a New York shop. Two Harvard University researchers, Michael Hiscox and Nicholas Smyth conducted an experiment on two sets of towels. One lot carried a label with the logo "Fair and Square" and the following message:
These towels have been made under fair labor conditions, in a safe and healthy working environment which is free of discrimination, and where management has committed to respecting the rights and dignity of workers.
The other set had no such label. Over five months, the researchers observed the impact of making various changes such as switching the label to the other set of towels and raising prices. The results were striking: not only did sales of towels increase when they carried the Fair and Square label, they carried on increasing each time the price was raised.
No wonder companies are keen to appeal to ethically minded consumers, whether on labor standards or green credentials. On greenery, British consumers are divided into four broad groups. About one in ten is passionately green and will go out of their way to shop accordingly. At the other end of the spectrum one-quarter are not interested. In-between are those who care but want green consumption to be easy, and those who are vaguely concerned but don’t see how they can make a difference. That represents an opportunity: three-quarters of British consumers are interested in the green theme in some way.
But even the keenest ethical consumer faces complicated trade-offs, and sometimes the apparently obvious ethical choice turns out to be the wrong one. Surely it must be greener for Britons to buy roses from the Netherlands than ones air-freighted from Kenya In fact, a study at Cranfield University showed the carbon footprint of the Dutch roses to be six times as large because they had to be grown in heated greenhouses.
Consumers are right to be suspicious of the ethical claims made for many products. A recent study of the labels of 1 018 products in big stores in North America by TerraChoice, an environmental marketing agency, found that almost all of them were guilty of some form of "green washing". They did not tell outright lies, but nor did they tell the whole truth.
The towel experiment shows that ______.

A．we should appeal to more people to be ethical consumers
B．the influence of ethical consumers is increasingly on the rise
C．fair working conditions has become the core value in society
D．fair working conditions should be encouraged even at some cost

单项选择题

Passage Five

For decades, researchers have grappled with the problem of creating a machine that can tell, definitively, whether a person is lying. Until recently, their work has been far from successful. The past generation of lie-detection technologies has been put under scientific scrutiny and found wanting. But science, ever resourceful, is coming up with new ideas.
The problem with past lie detectors is that it relies on second-hand signs of lying, such as a person’s breathing rate, pulse, blood pressure which a good actor can suppress. Furthermore, someone who is telling the truth might exhibit just these signals, because the very act of being questioned by the authorities is stressful. Instead, current research is looking directly at the source of lies, the brain itself.
Daniel Langleben uses a brain-scanning technique called functional magnetic-resonance imaging to probe his subjects’ honesty. The lie which those subjects are asked to tell is a small one: they have to persuade Dr. Langleben that they are holding a particular playing card when often they are actually holding a different one. Each successful deception earns a subject $20. The researchers have not had to hand out much cash, though. The brains of lying subjects light up in particular places in ways that they do not in the honest.
Another brain-probing lie-detection technique, based on electroencephalography (EEG), has actually made it out of the laboratory and into the courtroom. Lawrence Farwell calls it MERMER (memory and encoding related multifaceted electroencephalographic response). MERMER works by hooking someone up to an EEG machine and asking him about specific details of, for example, a crime scene. Lack of a brainwave called P300 denotes lack of familiarity with the details in question, suggesting any denial should he taken at face value. The technique has already stood up to legal scrutiny twice. It will soon be used again, in the appeal by Jimmy Slaughter against his conviction for murdering his ex-girlfriend, Melody Wuertz. MERMER suggests that Mr. Slaughter had no recollection of important facts about the murder, such as which rooms the victim’ body was located in.
Although not yet foolproof, these methods do offer possible alternatives to the antiquated techniques of the polygraph. The truth is out there. It is just a question of finding it.
The second paragraph is focused on ______.

A．the principles of past lie-detection machines
B．why past lie-detection machines did not work
C．why it is necessary to develop new lie-detection machines
D．the difference between past and present lie-detection machines

单项选择题

Passage Four

Faith in medicine runs deep in America. We spend more per person on health care than any other nation. Whether we eat too much or exercise too little, whether we’re turning gray or feeling blue, we look to some pill or procedure to make us better.
We assume that devoting ever more dollars to medicine will bring us longer, healthier lives. But there is mounting evidence that each new dollar we devote to the current health care system brings small and diminishing returns to public health. Today the United States spends more than $4 500 per person per year on health care. Costa Rica spends less than $ 300. Yet life expectancy at birth is nearly identical in both countries.
Despite the highly publicized" longevity revolution," life expectancy among the elderly in the United States is hardly improving. Yes, we are an aging society, but primarily because of falling birthrates. Younger Americans, meanwhile, are far more likely to be disabled than they were 20 years ago. Most affected are people in their thirties, whose disability rates increased by nearly 130 percent, due primarily to overweight.
Why has our huge investment in health care left us so unhealthy Partly it is because so many promised" miracle cures," from Interferon to gene therapies, have proven to be ineffective or even dangerous. Partly it’s because health care dollars are so concentrated on the terminally ill and the very old that even when medical interventions "work,’" the gains to average life expectancy are small. And partly it is because of medical errors and adverse reaction to prescription drugs, which cause more deaths than motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer or AIDS. Each year roughly 200 000 seniors suffer fatal or life-threatening "adverse drug events" due to improper drug use or drug interaction.
Why don’t Americans live any longer than Costa Ricans Overwhelmingly, it’s because of differences in behavior. Americans exercise less, eat more, drive more, smoke more, and lead more socially isolated lives. Even at its best, modern medicine can do little to promote productive aging, because by the time most people come in contact with it their bodies are already compromised by stress, indulgent habits, environmental dangers and injuries.
The biggest problem affecting the health of younger Americans may be summarized as the problem of ______.

A．overwork
B．depression
C．stress
D．lifestyle

单项选择题

Passage Five

For decades, researchers have grappled with the problem of creating a machine that can tell, definitively, whether a person is lying. Until recently, their work has been far from successful. The past generation of lie-detection technologies has been put under scientific scrutiny and found wanting. But science, ever resourceful, is coming up with new ideas.
The problem with past lie detectors is that it relies on second-hand signs of lying, such as a person’s breathing rate, pulse, blood pressure which a good actor can suppress. Furthermore, someone who is telling the truth might exhibit just these signals, because the very act of being questioned by the authorities is stressful. Instead, current research is looking directly at the source of lies, the brain itself.
Daniel Langleben uses a brain-scanning technique called functional magnetic-resonance imaging to probe his subjects’ honesty. The lie which those subjects are asked to tell is a small one: they have to persuade Dr. Langleben that they are holding a particular playing card when often they are actually holding a different one. Each successful deception earns a subject $20. The researchers have not had to hand out much cash, though. The brains of lying subjects light up in particular places in ways that they do not in the honest.
Another brain-probing lie-detection technique, based on electroencephalography (EEG), has actually made it out of the laboratory and into the courtroom. Lawrence Farwell calls it MERMER (memory and encoding related multifaceted electroencephalographic response). MERMER works by hooking someone up to an EEG machine and asking him about specific details of, for example, a crime scene. Lack of a brainwave called P300 denotes lack of familiarity with the details in question, suggesting any denial should he taken at face value. The technique has already stood up to legal scrutiny twice. It will soon be used again, in the appeal by Jimmy Slaughter against his conviction for murdering his ex-girlfriend, Melody Wuertz. MERMER suggests that Mr. Slaughter had no recollection of important facts about the murder, such as which rooms the victim’ body was located in.
Although not yet foolproof, these methods do offer possible alternatives to the antiquated techniques of the polygraph. The truth is out there. It is just a question of finding it.
In the research conducted by Daniel Langleben, ______.

A．many liars were not detected by the researchers
B．many subjects were caught lying by the researchers
C．no subject successfully deceived the researchers
D．the mixed results failed to lead to credible conclusions

单项选择题

Passage Three

What’s a label worth A lot, it seems, when it comes to towels in a New York shop. Two Harvard University researchers, Michael Hiscox and Nicholas Smyth conducted an experiment on two sets of towels. One lot carried a label with the logo "Fair and Square" and the following message:
These towels have been made under fair labor conditions, in a safe and healthy working environment which is free of discrimination, and where management has committed to respecting the rights and dignity of workers.
The other set had no such label. Over five months, the researchers observed the impact of making various changes such as switching the label to the other set of towels and raising prices. The results were striking: not only did sales of towels increase when they carried the Fair and Square label, they carried on increasing each time the price was raised.
No wonder companies are keen to appeal to ethically minded consumers, whether on labor standards or green credentials. On greenery, British consumers are divided into four broad groups. About one in ten is passionately green and will go out of their way to shop accordingly. At the other end of the spectrum one-quarter are not interested. In-between are those who care but want green consumption to be easy, and those who are vaguely concerned but don’t see how they can make a difference. That represents an opportunity: three-quarters of British consumers are interested in the green theme in some way.
But even the keenest ethical consumer faces complicated trade-offs, and sometimes the apparently obvious ethical choice turns out to be the wrong one. Surely it must be greener for Britons to buy roses from the Netherlands than ones air-freighted from Kenya In fact, a study at Cranfield University showed the carbon footprint of the Dutch roses to be six times as large because they had to be grown in heated greenhouses.
Consumers are right to be suspicious of the ethical claims made for many products. A recent study of the labels of 1 018 products in big stores in North America by TerraChoice, an environmental marketing agency, found that almost all of them were guilty of some form of "green washing". They did not tell outright lies, but nor did they tell the whole truth.
The phrase "go out of their way to shop accordingly" in paragraph 4 means "to ______" .

A．enjoy green shopping far away from home
B．make a special effort to buy green products
C．do unusual things to support green consumption
D．go shopping only in places with green products

单项选择题

Passage Four

Faith in medicine runs deep in America. We spend more per person on health care than any other nation. Whether we eat too much or exercise too little, whether we’re turning gray or feeling blue, we look to some pill or procedure to make us better.
We assume that devoting ever more dollars to medicine will bring us longer, healthier lives. But there is mounting evidence that each new dollar we devote to the current health care system brings small and diminishing returns to public health. Today the United States spends more than $4 500 per person per year on health care. Costa Rica spends less than $ 300. Yet life expectancy at birth is nearly identical in both countries.
Despite the highly publicized" longevity revolution," life expectancy among the elderly in the United States is hardly improving. Yes, we are an aging society, but primarily because of falling birthrates. Younger Americans, meanwhile, are far more likely to be disabled than they were 20 years ago. Most affected are people in their thirties, whose disability rates increased by nearly 130 percent, due primarily to overweight.
Why has our huge investment in health care left us so unhealthy Partly it is because so many promised" miracle cures," from Interferon to gene therapies, have proven to be ineffective or even dangerous. Partly it’s because health care dollars are so concentrated on the terminally ill and the very old that even when medical interventions "work,’" the gains to average life expectancy are small. And partly it is because of medical errors and adverse reaction to prescription drugs, which cause more deaths than motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer or AIDS. Each year roughly 200 000 seniors suffer fatal or life-threatening "adverse drug events" due to improper drug use or drug interaction.
Why don’t Americans live any longer than Costa Ricans Overwhelmingly, it’s because of differences in behavior. Americans exercise less, eat more, drive more, smoke more, and lead more socially isolated lives. Even at its best, modern medicine can do little to promote productive aging, because by the time most people come in contact with it their bodies are already compromised by stress, indulgent habits, environmental dangers and injuries.
Which of the following is NOT a reason why health care investment fails to bring a longer life

A．Drug reaction due to improper use of drugs.
B．Imbalanced distribution of health care money.
C．Soaring prices of both drugs and new therapies.
D．Failure of many highly-evaluated medical treatments.

单项选择题

Passage Five

For decades, researchers have grappled with the problem of creating a machine that can tell, definitively, whether a person is lying. Until recently, their work has been far from successful. The past generation of lie-detection technologies has been put under scientific scrutiny and found wanting. But science, ever resourceful, is coming up with new ideas.
The problem with past lie detectors is that it relies on second-hand signs of lying, such as a person’s breathing rate, pulse, blood pressure which a good actor can suppress. Furthermore, someone who is telling the truth might exhibit just these signals, because the very act of being questioned by the authorities is stressful. Instead, current research is looking directly at the source of lies, the brain itself.
Daniel Langleben uses a brain-scanning technique called functional magnetic-resonance imaging to probe his subjects’ honesty. The lie which those subjects are asked to tell is a small one: they have to persuade Dr. Langleben that they are holding a particular playing card when often they are actually holding a different one. Each successful deception earns a subject $20. The researchers have not had to hand out much cash, though. The brains of lying subjects light up in particular places in ways that they do not in the honest.
Another brain-probing lie-detection technique, based on electroencephalography (EEG), has actually made it out of the laboratory and into the courtroom. Lawrence Farwell calls it MERMER (memory and encoding related multifaceted electroencephalographic response). MERMER works by hooking someone up to an EEG machine and asking him about specific details of, for example, a crime scene. Lack of a brainwave called P300 denotes lack of familiarity with the details in question, suggesting any denial should he taken at face value. The technique has already stood up to legal scrutiny twice. It will soon be used again, in the appeal by Jimmy Slaughter against his conviction for murdering his ex-girlfriend, Melody Wuertz. MERMER suggests that Mr. Slaughter had no recollection of important facts about the murder, such as which rooms the victim’ body was located in.
Although not yet foolproof, these methods do offer possible alternatives to the antiquated techniques of the polygraph. The truth is out there. It is just a question of finding it.
P300 is the brainwave ______.

A．which may confirm that the person knows no details about the question
B．lack of which may confirm that the person knows details about the question
C．which may help prove that the suspect hasn’t committed a crime
D．lack of which may mean that the suspect hasn’t committed a crime

单项选择题

Passage Three

What’s a label worth A lot, it seems, when it comes to towels in a New York shop. Two Harvard University researchers, Michael Hiscox and Nicholas Smyth conducted an experiment on two sets of towels. One lot carried a label with the logo "Fair and Square" and the following message:
These towels have been made under fair labor conditions, in a safe and healthy working environment which is free of discrimination, and where management has committed to respecting the rights and dignity of workers.
The other set had no such label. Over five months, the researchers observed the impact of making various changes such as switching the label to the other set of towels and raising prices. The results were striking: not only did sales of towels increase when they carried the Fair and Square label, they carried on increasing each time the price was raised.
No wonder companies are keen to appeal to ethically minded consumers, whether on labor standards or green credentials. On greenery, British consumers are divided into four broad groups. About one in ten is passionately green and will go out of their way to shop accordingly. At the other end of the spectrum one-quarter are not interested. In-between are those who care but want green consumption to be easy, and those who are vaguely concerned but don’t see how they can make a difference. That represents an opportunity: three-quarters of British consumers are interested in the green theme in some way.
But even the keenest ethical consumer faces complicated trade-offs, and sometimes the apparently obvious ethical choice turns out to be the wrong one. Surely it must be greener for Britons to buy roses from the Netherlands than ones air-freighted from Kenya In fact, a study at Cranfield University showed the carbon footprint of the Dutch roses to be six times as large because they had to be grown in heated greenhouses.
Consumers are right to be suspicious of the ethical claims made for many products. A recent study of the labels of 1 018 products in big stores in North America by TerraChoice, an environmental marketing agency, found that almost all of them were guilty of some form of "green washing". They did not tell outright lies, but nor did they tell the whole truth.
The example of the roses emphasizes the ______.

A．the difficulty for ethical consumers to identify green products
B．the necessity of giving more information to ethical consumers
C．the importance of making the right choice in green consumption
D．the controversy of whether or not to continue green consumption

单项选择题

Passage Three

What’s a label worth A lot, it seems, when it comes to towels in a New York shop. Two Harvard University researchers, Michael Hiscox and Nicholas Smyth conducted an experiment on two sets of towels. One lot carried a label with the logo "Fair and Square" and the following message:
These towels have been made under fair labor conditions, in a safe and healthy working environment which is free of discrimination, and where management has committed to respecting the rights and dignity of workers.
The other set had no such label. Over five months, the researchers observed the impact of making various changes such as switching the label to the other set of towels and raising prices. The results were striking: not only did sales of towels increase when they carried the Fair and Square label, they carried on increasing each time the price was raised.
No wonder companies are keen to appeal to ethically minded consumers, whether on labor standards or green credentials. On greenery, British consumers are divided into four broad groups. About one in ten is passionately green and will go out of their way to shop accordingly. At the other end of the spectrum one-quarter are not interested. In-between are those who care but want green consumption to be easy, and those who are vaguely concerned but don’t see how they can make a difference. That represents an opportunity: three-quarters of British consumers are interested in the green theme in some way.
But even the keenest ethical consumer faces complicated trade-offs, and sometimes the apparently obvious ethical choice turns out to be the wrong one. Surely it must be greener for Britons to buy roses from the Netherlands than ones air-freighted from Kenya In fact, a study at Cranfield University showed the carbon footprint of the Dutch roses to be six times as large because they had to be grown in heated greenhouses.
Consumers are right to be suspicious of the ethical claims made for many products. A recent study of the labels of 1 018 products in big stores in North America by TerraChoice, an environmental marketing agency, found that almost all of them were guilty of some form of "green washing". They did not tell outright lies, but nor did they tell the whole truth.
What point does the author want to make in the last paragraph

A．There is no such thing as green shopping.
B．Consumers have the right to know the truth.
C．The green labels on products are mostly misleading.
D．Producers should feel guilty for deceiving consumers.

单项选择题

Passage Four

Faith in medicine runs deep in America. We spend more per person on health care than any other nation. Whether we eat too much or exercise too little, whether we’re turning gray or feeling blue, we look to some pill or procedure to make us better.
We assume that devoting ever more dollars to medicine will bring us longer, healthier lives. But there is mounting evidence that each new dollar we devote to the current health care system brings small and diminishing returns to public health. Today the United States spends more than $4 500 per person per year on health care. Costa Rica spends less than $ 300. Yet life expectancy at birth is nearly identical in both countries.
Despite the highly publicized" longevity revolution," life expectancy among the elderly in the United States is hardly improving. Yes, we are an aging society, but primarily because of falling birthrates. Younger Americans, meanwhile, are far more likely to be disabled than they were 20 years ago. Most affected are people in their thirties, whose disability rates increased by nearly 130 percent, due primarily to overweight.
Why has our huge investment in health care left us so unhealthy Partly it is because so many promised" miracle cures," from Interferon to gene therapies, have proven to be ineffective or even dangerous. Partly it’s because health care dollars are so concentrated on the terminally ill and the very old that even when medical interventions "work,’" the gains to average life expectancy are small. And partly it is because of medical errors and adverse reaction to prescription drugs, which cause more deaths than motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer or AIDS. Each year roughly 200 000 seniors suffer fatal or life-threatening "adverse drug events" due to improper drug use or drug interaction.
Why don’t Americans live any longer than Costa Ricans Overwhelmingly, it’s because of differences in behavior. Americans exercise less, eat more, drive more, smoke more, and lead more socially isolated lives. Even at its best, modern medicine can do little to promote productive aging, because by the time most people come in contact with it their bodies are already compromised by stress, indulgent habits, environmental dangers and injuries.
It is implied in the last paragraph that ______.

A．medicine should be taken timely before it is too late
B．it is reasonable to question the effectiveness of medicine
C．poor health conditions leave little room for medicine to work
D．great efforts should be made to develop new types of medicine

单项选择题

Passage Five

For decades, researchers have grappled with the problem of creating a machine that can tell, definitively, whether a person is lying. Until recently, their work has been far from successful. The past generation of lie-detection technologies has been put under scientific scrutiny and found wanting. But science, ever resourceful, is coming up with new ideas.
The problem with past lie detectors is that it relies on second-hand signs of lying, such as a person’s breathing rate, pulse, blood pressure which a good actor can suppress. Furthermore, someone who is telling the truth might exhibit just these signals, because the very act of being questioned by the authorities is stressful. Instead, current research is looking directly at the source of lies, the brain itself.
Daniel Langleben uses a brain-scanning technique called functional magnetic-resonance imaging to probe his subjects’ honesty. The lie which those subjects are asked to tell is a small one: they have to persuade Dr. Langleben that they are holding a particular playing card when often they are actually holding a different one. Each successful deception earns a subject $20. The researchers have not had to hand out much cash, though. The brains of lying subjects light up in particular places in ways that they do not in the honest.
Another brain-probing lie-detection technique, based on electroencephalography (EEG), has actually made it out of the laboratory and into the courtroom. Lawrence Farwell calls it MERMER (memory and encoding related multifaceted electroencephalographic response). MERMER works by hooking someone up to an EEG machine and asking him about specific details of, for example, a crime scene. Lack of a brainwave called P300 denotes lack of familiarity with the details in question, suggesting any denial should he taken at face value. The technique has already stood up to legal scrutiny twice. It will soon be used again, in the appeal by Jimmy Slaughter against his conviction for murdering his ex-girlfriend, Melody Wuertz. MERMER suggests that Mr. Slaughter had no recollection of important facts about the murder, such as which rooms the victim’ body was located in.
Although not yet foolproof, these methods do offer possible alternatives to the antiquated techniques of the polygraph. The truth is out there. It is just a question of finding it.
What is true of MERMER and the Jimmy Slaughter case

A．MERMER may help Jimmy Slaughter win his appeal.
B．MERMER suggests that Jimmy Slaughter is the murderer.
C．MERMER will be used in the Slaughter case for the first time.
D．MERMER results may not be accepted in the Slaughter case.

单项选择题

Passage Five

For decades, researchers have grappled with the problem of creating a machine that can tell, definitively, whether a person is lying. Until recently, their work has been far from successful. The past generation of lie-detection technologies has been put under scientific scrutiny and found wanting. But science, ever resourceful, is coming up with new ideas.
The problem with past lie detectors is that it relies on second-hand signs of lying, such as a person’s breathing rate, pulse, blood pressure which a good actor can suppress. Furthermore, someone who is telling the truth might exhibit just these signals, because the very act of being questioned by the authorities is stressful. Instead, current research is looking directly at the source of lies, the brain itself.
Daniel Langleben uses a brain-scanning technique called functional magnetic-resonance imaging to probe his subjects’ honesty. The lie which those subjects are asked to tell is a small one: they have to persuade Dr. Langleben that they are holding a particular playing card when often they are actually holding a different one. Each successful deception earns a subject $20. The researchers have not had to hand out much cash, though. The brains of lying subjects light up in particular places in ways that they do not in the honest.
Another brain-probing lie-detection technique, based on electroencephalography (EEG), has actually made it out of the laboratory and into the courtroom. Lawrence Farwell calls it MERMER (memory and encoding related multifaceted electroencephalographic response). MERMER works by hooking someone up to an EEG machine and asking him about specific details of, for example, a crime scene. Lack of a brainwave called P300 denotes lack of familiarity with the details in question, suggesting any denial should he taken at face value. The technique has already stood up to legal scrutiny twice. It will soon be used again, in the appeal by Jimmy Slaughter against his conviction for murdering his ex-girlfriend, Melody Wuertz. MERMER suggests that Mr. Slaughter had no recollection of important facts about the murder, such as which rooms the victim’ body was located in.
Although not yet foolproof, these methods do offer possible alternatives to the antiquated techniques of the polygraph. The truth is out there. It is just a question of finding it.
What does the author think of the new lie-detection machines

A．They are perfect examples of scientific breakthroughs.
B．They are not good enough to replace the old machines.
C．They have the potential to change the way the court works.
D．They need further improvement so as to be more reliable.

单项选择题

Passage Four

Faith in medicine runs deep in America. We spend more per person on health care than any other nation. Whether we eat too much or exercise too little, whether we’re turning gray or feeling blue, we look to some pill or procedure to make us better.
We assume that devoting ever more dollars to medicine will bring us longer, healthier lives. But there is mounting evidence that each new dollar we devote to the current health care system brings small and diminishing returns to public health. Today the United States spends more than $4 500 per person per year on health care. Costa Rica spends less than $ 300. Yet life expectancy at birth is nearly identical in both countries.
Despite the highly publicized" longevity revolution," life expectancy among the elderly in the United States is hardly improving. Yes, we are an aging society, but primarily because of falling birthrates. Younger Americans, meanwhile, are far more likely to be disabled than they were 20 years ago. Most affected are people in their thirties, whose disability rates increased by nearly 130 percent, due primarily to overweight.
Why has our huge investment in health care left us so unhealthy Partly it is because so many promised" miracle cures," from Interferon to gene therapies, have proven to be ineffective or even dangerous. Partly it’s because health care dollars are so concentrated on the terminally ill and the very old that even when medical interventions "work,’" the gains to average life expectancy are small. And partly it is because of medical errors and adverse reaction to prescription drugs, which cause more deaths than motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer or AIDS. Each year roughly 200 000 seniors suffer fatal or life-threatening "adverse drug events" due to improper drug use or drug interaction.
Why don’t Americans live any longer than Costa Ricans Overwhelmingly, it’s because of differences in behavior. Americans exercise less, eat more, drive more, smoke more, and lead more socially isolated lives. Even at its best, modern medicine can do little to promote productive aging, because by the time most people come in contact with it their bodies are already compromised by stress, indulgent habits, environmental dangers and injuries.
The passage is mainly focused on ______.

A．the limits of medicine
B．the life hazards in the U.S.
C．the harriers to a longer life
D．the problems in health investment

单项选择题

Passage Three

What’s a label worth A lot, it seems, when it comes to towels in a New York shop. Two Harvard University researchers, Michael Hiscox and Nicholas Smyth conducted an experiment on two sets of towels. One lot carried a label with the logo "Fair and Square" and the following message:
These towels have been made under fair labor conditions, in a safe and healthy working environment which is free of discrimination, and where management has committed to respecting the rights and dignity of workers.
The other set had no such label. Over five months, the researchers observed the impact of making various changes such as switching the label to the other set of towels and raising prices. The results were striking: not only did sales of towels increase when they carried the Fair and Square label, they carried on increasing each time the price was raised.
No wonder companies are keen to appeal to ethically minded consumers, whether on labor standards or green credentials. On greenery, British consumers are divided into four broad groups. About one in ten is passionately green and will go out of their way to shop accordingly. At the other end of the spectrum one-quarter are not interested. In-between are those who care but want green consumption to be easy, and those who are vaguely concerned but don’t see how they can make a difference. That represents an opportunity: three-quarters of British consumers are interested in the green theme in some way.
But even the keenest ethical consumer faces complicated trade-offs, and sometimes the apparently obvious ethical choice turns out to be the wrong one. Surely it must be greener for Britons to buy roses from the Netherlands than ones air-freighted from Kenya In fact, a study at Cranfield University showed the carbon footprint of the Dutch roses to be six times as large because they had to be grown in heated greenhouses.
Consumers are right to be suspicious of the ethical claims made for many products. A recent study of the labels of 1 018 products in big stores in North America by TerraChoice, an environmental marketing agency, found that almost all of them were guilty of some form of "green washing". They did not tell outright lies, but nor did they tell the whole truth.
In the passage the author tries to convey the message that ______.

A．buying ethical may not be as good as it seems
B．buying ethical is the right choice for consumers
C．the concept of buying ethical has caught on in the UK
D．the question of buying ethical is heatedly debated in the UK

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