Sorry to say, our brains naturally start slowing down at the Cruelty young age of 30. It used to be thought that this couldn't be helped, but new studies show that people of any age can train their brains to work faster. "Your brain is a learning machine," says University of California scientist Dr. Michael Merzenich. Given the right tools, we can train our brains to act like they did when we were younger. All that's required is the practice designed just for the purpose: a few exercises for the mind.

Merzenich has developed a computer-based training method to speed up the process(過(guò)程)                         in which the brain deals with information (positscience.com). Since much of the data we receive comes through speech, the Brain Fitness Program works with language and hearing to better speed and accuracy (準(zhǔn)確性).

Over the course of training, the program starts asking you to distinguish (辨別) sounds (between "dog" and "bog", for example) at an increasingly faster speed. It's a bit like tennis instructor, says Merzenich, hitting balls at you ~faster and faster to keep you challenged(受到挑戰(zhàn)). You may start out slow, but before long you're pretty quick.

The biggest finding in brain research in the last ten years is that the brain at any age is highly plastic. If you ask your brain to learn, it will learn. And it may even speed up while in the process.

To keep your brain young and plastic you can do one of a million new activities that challenge and excite you: playing table tennis or bridge, doing crossword puzzles, learning a language.... "When it comes to preventing ageing, you really do 'use it or lose it' ," says Barbara Sahakian, professor at Cambridge University.

1. Dr. Merzenich’s training method mainly depends on ________.

A. speech training                            B. computer languages

C. the activities one joins in              D. the information being dealt with

2. By saying "the brain at any age is highly plastic ", the writer probably means the brain can be______.

A. used              B. mastered        C. developed             D. researched

3. What can we learn from the text?

A. Practice makes a quick mind.

B. Brain research started ten yeas ago.

C. Dr. Merzenich is a scientist in computer,

D. People believed nothing could stop the brain slowing down.

4. Which of the following agrees with the writer's idea?

A. The training methods work better for the old.

B. People should use the brain to stop it from ageing.

C. The training of the brain should start at an early age.

D.  It's necessary to take part in as many activities as possible.

I entered high school having read hundreds of books. But I was not a good reader. Merely bookish, I lacked a point of view when I read. Rather, I read in order to get a point of view. I searched books for good expressions and sayings, pieces of information, ideas, themes—anything to enrich my thought and make me feel educated. When one of my teachers suggested to his sleepy tenth-grade English class that a person could not have a "complicated (復(fù)雜的) idea" until he had read at least two thousand books, I heard the words without recognizing either its irony (嘲諷) or its very complicated truth. I merely determined to make a list of all the books I had ever read. Strict with myself, I included only once a title I might have read several times. ( How, after all, could one read a book more than once?) And I included only those books over a hundred pages in length. ( Could anything shorter be a book?)

There was yet another high school list I made. One day I came across a newspaper article about an English professor at a nearby state college. The article had a list of the "hundred most important books of Western Civilization. " "More than anything else in my life," the professor told the reporter with finality , " these books have made me all that I am . " That was the kind of words I couldn’t ignore (忽視). I kept the list for the several months it took me to read all of the titles. Most books, of course, I hardly understood. While reading Plato's The Republic, for example, I needed to keep looking at the introduction of the book to remind myself what the text was about. However, with the special patience and superstition (迷信) of a schoolboy, I looked at every word of the text. And by me time I reached the last word, pleased, I persuaded myself that I had read The Republic, and seriously crossed Plato off my list.

1. On heating the teacher's suggestion of reading, the writer thought________.

A. one must read as many books as possible

B. a student should not have a complicated idea

C. it was impossible for one to read two thousand books

D. students ought to make a list of the books they had read

2. While at high school, the writer________.

A. had plans for reading                         B. learned to educate himself

C. only read books over 100 pages     D. read only one book several times

3. The underlined phrase "with finality" probably means

A. firmly            B. clearly               C. proudly         D. pleasantly

4. The writer's purpose in mentioning The Republic is to________.

A. explain why it was included in the list

B. describe why he seriously crossed it off the list

C. show that he read the books blindly though they were hard to understand

D. prove that he understood most of it because he had looked at every word

5. The writer provides two book lists to ________.

A. show how he developed his point of view

B. tell his reading experience at high school

C. introduce the two persons' reading methods

D. explain that he read many books at high school

An Australian farmer found the kangaroo caught              1.       

in the fence around his farms. He thought the poor             2.        

animal was injured ,but the kind farmer took off his           3.       

jacket and put on the animal. Then he stated trying            4.       

to cut the fence to free the animal.  But as soon as            5.       

the kangaroo were free, it jumped up and ran away            6.       

with the jacket. The farmer was worried because of his         7.       

wallet was in the pocket. But to my surprise, when            8.       

he gets home, he saw the animal waiting at the door,           9.       

still wore his jacket with the wallet in the pocket.             10.       

假設(shè)你是李華，你的英國(guó)筆友Henry最近來(lái)信，詢問(wèn)你高考后的暑期安排。請(qǐng)你根據(jù)以下要點(diǎn)，用英語(yǔ)回一封信，說(shuō)明你的計(jì)劃，并簡(jiǎn)述理由。

1．休息；    2.讀書(shū)；    3.陪伴父母；   4.參加社會(huì)活動(dòng)。

注意：1.詞數(shù)100左右，信的開(kāi)頭和結(jié)尾已為你寫(xiě)好（不計(jì)入總詞數(shù)）；

      2．可根據(jù)內(nèi)容要點(diǎn)適當(dāng)增加細(xì)節(jié)，使行文連貫；

      3．參考詞匯：

         高考——college entrance examination

         社會(huì)活動(dòng)——social activities

Dear Henry.

    I’m glad to receive you letter.                                       

     Best wishes!

         Li Hua

He didn’t make____ clear when and where the meeting would be held. 

A. this      B. that     C. it      D. these

---Could you turn the TV down a little bit? 

---______.Is it disturbing you?

A. Take it easy.    B. I’m sorry.    C .Not a bit      D. It depends

I wanted to catch _____early train, but couldn’t get _____ride to the station.

A. an; the         B./;the        C. an;/          D. the ;a

_____fire, all exits must be kept clear. 

A. In place of     B. Instead of          C. In case of        D. In spite of

Hardly could he_____ this amount of work in such a short time.

A. get through          B. get off          C. get into         D. get down

The glass doors have taken the place of the wooden ones at the entrance,____ in the natural light during the day.

A. to let         B. letting            C. let           D. having let