第二篇
Memory Class
Stan Field knows what age can do to a person's memory, and he's not taking any chances with his. He chooses his food carefully and gets plenty of exercise. He also avoids stress, coca cola and cigarette smoke. What's more, at breakfast each morning, the 69-year-old chemical engineer swallows a plateful of pills in the hope of boosting his brain power.
Michelle Arnove is less than half Field's age, but no less concerned about her memory. While working round the clock to finish a degree in film studies, the 33-year-old New Yorker had the alarming sensation that she had stopped retaining anything. "I couldn't even remember names," she says. "1 thought, 'Oh no, I'm over 30. It's all downhill from here'." Besides loading up on supplements, Arnove signed up for a memory-enhancing course at New York's Mount Siani Medical Center. And when she got there, she found herself surrounded by people who were just as worried as she was.
For millions of Americans, and especially for baby boomers (生育高峰期出生的人), the demands of the Information Age conflict with a sense of declining physical power. "When boomers were in their 30s and 40s, they launched the fitness boom," says Cynthia Green, the psychologist who teaches Mount Sinai's memory class. "Now we have the mental-fitness boom. Memory is the boomers' new life-crisis issue." And of course a major marketing opportunity. The demand for books and seminars has never been greater, says Jack Lannom, a Iongtime memory trainer whose weekly TV show,
"Mind Unlimited," goes out to 33 million homes on the Christian Network. Anxious consumers are rushing to buy do-it-yourself programs and supplement makers are trying to sell everything but sawdust (木屑) as a brain booster.
But before you get out your checkbook, a few questions are in order. Does everyday forgetfulness signal declining brain function? Is "megamemory" (超强记忆) a realistic goal for normal people? And if you could have a perfect memory, would you really want it? Until recently, no one could address those issues with much authority, but our knowledge of memory is exploding. New techniques are revealing how different parts of the brain interact to preserve meaningful experiences. Biologists are trying to understand the underlying (潜在的) chemical processes and neuroscientists (神经系统科学家) are discovering how age, stress ,and other factors can disrupt them. No one is close to finding the secret to perfect recall, but as you'll see, that may be just as well.
6 What does Stan Field take at breakfast?
A Food only.
B Food and pills.
C Nothing.
D A plateful of pills only.
7 What is the meaning of "working round the clock"?
A Repairing clocks.
B Making clocks.
C Working with a clock nearby.
D Working day and night.
8 Many baby-boomers living in the Information Age feel that__________.
A their financial status is declining.
B their political influence is declining.
C their physical power is declining.
D their will power is declining.
9 Which of the following does NOT indicate people's enhanced awareness of the importance of memory?
A More demand for books on memory.
B More demand for seminars on memory.
C More demand for memory-enhancing supplements.
D More demand for coca cola and cigarettes.
10 According to the writer， the secret to perfect memory__________.
A has been found.
B will never be found.
C was found a long time ago.
D is not in sight yet.
第三篇
Knitting
My mother knew how to knit (编织), but she never taught me. She assumed, as did many women of her generation, that knitting was no longer a skill worth passing down from mother to daughter. A combination of feminism (女权主义) and consumerism (消费主义) made many women feel that such homely accomplishments were now out of date. My Grandmother still knitted, though, and every Christmas she made a pair of socks for my brother and me, of red wool. They were the ones we wore under our ice skates (冰鞋), when it was really important to have warm feet.
Knitting is a nervous habit that happens to be productive. It helped me quit smoking by giving my hands something else to do. It is wonderful for depression because no matter what else happens, you are creating something beautiful. Time spent in front of the television or just sitting is no longer time wasted.
I love breathing life into the patterns. It's true magic, finding a neglected, dog-eared old book with the perfect snowflake design, buying the same Germantown wool my grandmother used, in the exact blue to match my daughter's eyes; taking it on the train with me every day for two months, working enthusiastically to get it done by Christmas, staying up late after the stockings are filled to sew in the sleeves and weave in the ends.
Knitting has taught me patience. I know that if I just keep going, even if it takes months, there will be a reward. When I make a mistake, I know that anger will not fix it, that I just have to go back and take out the stitches (针脚) between and start over again.
People often ask if I would do it for money, and the answer is always a definite no. In the first place, you could not pay me enough for the hours I put into a sweater. But more important, this is an activity I keep separate from such considerations. I knit to cover my children and other people I love in warmth and color. I knit to give them something earthly that money could never buy.
Knitting gives my life an alternative rhythm to the daily deadline. By day I can write about Northern Ireland or the New York City Police Department and get paid for it, but on the train home, surrounded by people with laptops, I stage my little rebellion: I take out my old knitting bag and join the centuries of women who have knitted for love.
11 Why did many women feel that knitting was out of date?
A Because their mothers didn't teach them.
B Because they were influenced by feminism and consumerism
C Because they were feminists.
D Because they were consumerists.
12 The author wore the red socks her grandmother had knitted for her_________.
A when she went to school.
B when she went sightseeing.
C when she celebrated Christmas.
D when she went skating.
13 The word "quit" in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to_________.
A "give up".
B "speed up".
C "slow down".
D "build up".
14 According to the passage， which of the following statements about knitting is NOT true?
A Knitting helps one get rid of bad habits.
B Knitting helps one get free from a bad mood.
C Knitting requires patience.
D Knitting is a profit-making business.
15 Which of the following is NOT the writer's purpose of knitting?
A To save money.
B To make full use of her leisure time.
C To enrich her life.
D To show her love for the family.
