Model Test 1
Passage 1
Sign has become a scientific hot button.Only in the past 20 years have specialists in language study realized that signed languages are unique—a speech of the hand.They offer a new way to probe how the brain generates and understands language，and throw new light on an old scientific controversy：Whether language，complete with grammar，is something that we are born with，or whether it is a learned behavior.The current interest in sign language has roots in the pioneering work of one rebel teacher at Gallaudet University in Washington，D.C.，the world’s only liberal arts university for deaf people.
When Bill Stokoe went to Gallaudet to teach English，the school enrolled him in a course in signing.But Stokoe noticed something odd：Among themselves，students signed differently from his classroom teacher.
Stokoe had been taught a sort of gestural code，each movement of the hands representing a word in English.At the time，American Sign Language（ASL）was thought to be no more than a form of pidgin English（混杂英语）.But Stokoe believed the“hand talk”his students used looked richer.He wondered：Might deaf people actually have a genuine language？And could that language be unlike any other on Earth？It was 1955，when even deaf people dismissed their signing as“substandard”.Stokoe’s idea was academic heresy（异端邪说）.
It is 37 years later.Stokoe—now devoting his time to writing and editing books and journals and to producing video materials on ASL and deaf culture—is having lunch at a cafénear the Callaudet campus and explaining how he started a revolution.For decades educators fought his idea that signed languages are natural languages like English，French and Japanese.They assumed language must be based on speech，the modulation（调节）of sound.But sign language is based on the movement of hands，the modulation of space.“What I said，”Stokoe explains，“is that language is not mouth stuff—it’s brain stuff.”
1.The study of sign language is thought to be____.
A.a new way to look at the learning of language
B.a challenge to traditional views on the nature of language
C.an approach to simplifying the grammatical structure of a language
D.an attempt to clarify misunderstanding about the origin of language
2.The present growing interest in sign language was stimulated by____.
A.a famous scholar in the study of the human brain
B.a leading specialist in the study of liberal arts
C.an English teacher in a university for the deaf
D.some senior experts in American Sign Language
3.According to Stokoe，sign language is____.
A.a substandard language
B.a genuine language
C.an artificial language
D.an international language
4.Most educators objected to Stokoe’s idea because they thought____.
A.sign language was not extensively used even by deaf people
B.sign language was too artificial to be widely accepted
C.a language should be easy to use and understand
D.a language could only exist in the form of speech sounds
5.Stokoe’s argument is based on his belief that____.
A.sign language is as efficient as any other language
B.sign language is derived from natural language
C.language is a system of meaningful codes
D.language is a product of the brain
Passage 2
It was the worst tragedy in maritime history，six times more deadly than the Titanic.When the German cruise ship Wilhelm Gustloff was hit by torpedoes fired from a Russian submarine in the final winter of World War II，more than 10，000 people—mostly women，children and old people fleeing the final Red Army push into Nazi Germany—were packed aboard.An ice storm had turned the decks into frozen sheets that sent hundreds of families sliding into the sea as the ship tilted and began to go down.Others desperately tried to put lifeboats down.Some who succeeded fought off those in the water who had the strength to try to claw their way aboard.Most people froze immediately.“I’ll never forget the screams，”says Christa Ntitzmann，87，one of the 1，200 survivors.She recalls watching the ship，brightly lit，slipping into its dark grave—and into seeming nothingness，rarely mentioned for more than half a century.
Now Germany’s Noble Prize—winning author Gtiner Grass has revived the memory of the 9，000 dead，including more than 4，000 children—with his latest novel Crab Walk，published last month.The book，which will be out in English next year，doesn’t dwell on the sinking；its heroine is a pregnant young woman who survives the catastrophe only to say later，“Nobody wanted to hear about it，not here in the West of Germany and not at all in the East.”The reason was obvious.As Grass put it in a recent interview with the weekly Die Woche，“Because the crimes we Germans are responsible for were and are so dominant，we didn’t have the energy left to tell of our own sufferings.”
The long silence about the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff was probably unavoidable—and necessary.By unreservedly owing up to their country’s monstrous crimes in the Second World War，Germans have managed to win acceptance abroad，marginalize the neo-Nazis at home and make peace with their neighbors.Today’s unified Germany is more prosperous and stable than at any time in its long，troubled history.For that，a half century of willful forgetting about painful memories like the German Titanic was perhaps a reasonable price to pay.But even the most politically correct Germans believe that they’ve now earned the right to discuss the full historical record.Not to equate German suffering with that of its victims，but simply to acknowledge a terrible tragedy.
6.Why does the author say the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff was the worst tragedy in maritime history？
A.It was attacked by Russian torpedoes.
B.It caused the largest number of casualties.
C.Most of its passengers were frozen to death.
D.Its victims were mostly women and children.
7.Hundreds of families dropped into the sea when____.
A.the badly damaged ship leaned toward one side
B.a strong ice storm tilted the ship
C.the cruise ship sank all of a sudden
D.the frightened passengers fought desperately for lifeboats
8.The Wilhelm Gustloff tragedy was little talked about for more than half a century because Germans____.
A.were eager to win international acceptance
B.had been pressured to keep silent about it
C.were afraid of offending their neighbors
D.felt guilty for their crimes in World War II
9.How does Gunter Grass revive the memory of the Wilhelm Gustloff tragedy？
A.By describing the ship’s sinking in great detail.
B.By giving an interview to the weekly Die Woche.
C.By presenting the horrible scene of the torpedo attack.
D.By depicting the survival of a young pregnant woman.
10.It can be learned from the passage that Germans no longer think that____.
A.the Wilhelm Gustloff tragedy is a reasonable price to pay for the nation’s past misdeeds
B.Germany is responsible for the horrible crimes it committed in World War II
C.they will be misunderstood if they talk about the Wilhelm Gustloff tragedy
D.it is wrong to equate their sufferings with those of other countries
Passage 3
There are people in Italy who can’t stand soccer.Not all Canadians love hockey.A similar situation exists in America，where there are those individuals you may be one of them who yawn or even frown when somebody mentions baseball.Baseball to them means boring hours watching grown men in funny tight outfits standing around in a field staring away while very little of anything happens.They tell you it’s a game better suited to the 19th century，slow，quiet，and gentlemanly.These are the same people you may be one of them who love football because there’s the sport that glorifies“the hit”.
By contrast，baseball seems abstract，cool，silent，still.
On TV the game is fractured into a dozen perspectives，replays，close ups.The geometry of the game from one point as a painter does his subject；you may，of course，project yourself into the game.It is in this projection that the game affords so much space and time for involvement.The TV won’t do it for you.
Take，for example，the third baseman.You sit behind the third base dugout and you watch him watching home plate.His legs are apart，knees flexed.His arms hang loose.He does a lot of this.The skeptic still cannot think of any other sports so still，so passive.But watch what happens every time the pitcher throws；the third baseman goes up on his toes，flexes his arms or bring the glove to a point in front of him，takes a step right or left，backward or forward，perhaps he glances across the field to check his first baseman’s position.Suppose the pitch is a ball.“Nothing happened，”you say.“I could have had my eyes closed.”
The skeptic and the innocent must play the game.And this involvement in the stands is no more intellectual than listening to music is.Watch the third baseman.Smooth the dirt in front of you with one foot；smooth the pocket in your glove；watch the eyes of the batter，the speed of the bat，the sound of horsehide on wood.If football is a symphony of movement and theatre，baseball is chamber music，a spacious interlocking of notes，choruses and responses.
11.The passage is mainly concerned with____.
A.the different tastes of people for sports
B.the different characteristics of sports
C.the attraction of football
D.the attraction of baseball
12.Those who don’t like baseball may complain that____.
A.it is only to the taste of the old
B.it involves fewer players than football
C.it is not exciting enough
D.it is pretentious and looks funny
13.The author admits that____.
A.baseball is too peaceful for the young
B.baseball may seem boring when watched on TV
C.baseball is more interesting than football
D.football is more attracting than baseball
14.By stating“I could have had my eyes closed”，the author means____.
A.the third baseman would rather sleep than play the game
B.even if the third baseman closed his eyes a moment ago，it could make no difference to the result
C.the third baseman is so good at baseball that he could finish the game with eyes closed all the time and do his work well
D.the consequence was too bad he could not bear to see it
15.We can safely conclude that the author____.
A.likes football B.hates football
C.hates baseball D.likes baseball
Passage 4(https://www.daowen.com)
Kids heading back to enlightened schools this fall may find nutrition and exercise on the agenda even in math class.In an effort to reverse the alarming increase of obesity in children，some schools have found ways to encourage healthful lifestyle changes without emphasizing the negative—too much body weight.Planet Health，developed by Harvard University researchers and now used in hundreds of schools throughout the country，integrates obesity prevention lessons into the science，math，and social studies curricula，for example.Students come to appreciate the importance of reducing TV time by calculating during math class the amount of their lifetime they’ve spent in front of the set.In gym，they decide on goals for subbing in physical activity instead.
The program costs only about$15 per student annually，a bargain，considering the payoffs：A 2005 study published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine found that middle-school girls who had Planet Health in their schools were half as likely to purge or use diet pills as those in schools without it.“It really focuses on the positive，and that’s why we think it’s protective against these dangerous behaviors，”says study author Bryn Austin，an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.
A second program adopted by 7，000 elementary schools nationwide，the Coordinated Approach to Child Health（CATCH），similarly puts the focus on good health habits instead of weight.In class，students use a traffic-light system to identify“go”，“slow”，and“whoa”foods and take breaks to do jumping jacks.In the cafeteria，fruits，vegetables，low-fat milk，and whole-grain starches are labeled with green-light tags，and pizza gets a yellow light.Gym activities are designed to keep students constantly moving.“Every kid gets a ball to dribble or a hula hoop；there’s no lining up and waiting to take a turn，”says Phil Nader，professor of pediatrics emeritus at the University of California—San Diego，who helped develop CATCH.
A three-year study comparing CATCH schools with others without the program found that CATCH increased the proportion of gym class spent in motion，from 40 percent to 50 percent，and reduced the consumption of fat in schools from 39 percent of total calories to 32 percent.A second study found that the program prevented the growth in the number of overweight students that normally occurs from Grade 3 to Grade 5.CATCH students in El Paso，Texas（with one of the highest obesity rates in the nation），held the line between those grades，but in schools without the program，the share of overweight girls increased from 26 percent to 40 percent and of overweight boys from 29 percent to 39 percent.
Glen Cove Elementary School，near El Paso in Ysleta，was one of the first schools to adopt CATCH，and parents there have learned to eat better and exercise more along with their kids.“We have a day when everyone comes to fly kites and Wellness Wednesdays when family members run around for 20 minutes with their kids，”says physical education teacher Ben Avalos，who brought the program to Glen Cove in 1998.“Parents also tell me their kids have gotten them to throw out the‘whoa’foods in the house.”Avalos uses walking sticks，pogo sticks，and Chinese yo-yos in gym class—and nobody relaxes on the sidelines.
16.The study published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine shows____.
A.that girls who had Planet Health were less obese than those who didn’t have
B.that girls who had Planet Health led a healthier lifestyle than those who didn’t have
C.that girls who had Planet Health were more confident than those who didn’t have
D.that girls who had Planet Health were more used to controlling weight in
positive means than those who didn’t have
17.The word“whoa”（Paragraph 3）most probably means____.
A.fast B.stop C.pause D.no
18.In the CATCH，pizza is a kind of____food.
A.dangerous B.yellow-light C.highly-nutritious D.less healthy
19.According to the second study of comparing CATCH schools with others without the program，CATCH students in EL Pasco____.
A.were not growing weight from Grade 3 to Grade 5
B.were prevented from normal weight growth from Grade 3 to Grade 5
C.were not growing overweight from Grade 3 to Grade 5
D.were growing overweight from Grade 3 to Grade 5
20.Which one of the following statements is TRUE of Glen Cove Elementary School？
A.The school adopts CATCH in order to change the lifestyle of the school children’s family.
B.The school applied CATCH to the school children’s parents.
C.The school wanted to help children to form good health habits with the help of their parents.
D.The CATCH school children also teach their family how to live healthily.
Passage 5
Two real-world studies from Europe demonstrate the health damage done by automotive air pollution，especially the kind emitted by diesel engines.An 11-year period of improving air quality in Switzerland，which started with some of the cleanest air in Europe，produced measurable benefits in lung function for adults as they aged，according to a report in the Dec.6 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.“Even with small improvements in air quality，you get measurable health benefits，”said Dr.Ursula Ackermann-Liebrich，a professor of public health at the University of Basel.“That is true at levels even which are quite low.”
And an unusual collaborative study by American and British researchers，reported in the same issue of the journal，showed that people with asthma who walked along a street used by diesel-powered traffic experienced loss of breathing much greater than those who strolled through a traffic-free park.“The unique feature of this study in real-world conditions was that we have demonstrated that typical urban levels of air pollution with diesel-rich powered vehicles have measurable effects，”said Dr.Junfeng Zhang，chairman of environmental and occupational health at the New Jersey School of Public Health and an American member of the research team.“There have been theories or hypotheses of diesel exhaust or particle matter and also laboratory studies with animals，but this was a study in the real world with real people.”
The study had 60 adults with mild or moderate asthma walk for two hours along two London locales—busy，exhaust-filled Oxford Street or the more bucolic Hyde Park.The Oxford Street walk produced a 5 percent to 6 percent reduction in lung function，“and asthmatics already have compromised lung function，”Zhang said.The reduction in lung function was“significantly larger”than what was measured after the Hyde Park walk and was accompanied by an increase in biomarkers of lung inflammation.The negative effect on the lung was greater than has been seen in animal studies using breathing chambers，Zhang said.
The Swiss study found a decrease in the amount of airborne fine particulate pollutants，a major feature of diesel emissions.That improvement in Swiss air quality was accompanied by a slowing in the rate of the loss of breathing function that occurs as people age，Ackerman-Liebrich said.The journal report attributed the healthful effect to“decreasing exposure to airborne particulates.”“There seems to be something more potent than other forms of air pollution in diesel exhausts，”said Dr.Morton Lippman，a professor of environmental medicine at New York University.“It is something many other studies have pointed to.”
The issue of diesel pollution is of growing interest because“new diesel technologies are increasingly coming on the market，”Lippmann said.Diesel automobiles are much more common in Europe than in the United States but are gaining attention because of their greater fuel efficiency，he noted.
The two studies are welcome because they assess the effect of diesel emissions at relatively low levels，Lippmann said.“That remains a complex issue，”he said.“Getting statistically significant information on a small average effect on a large population is not easy.There are a lot of unknowns.Most effects are associated with particles rather than gases in the mixture，but there is no data on which part of the components is particularly nasty.”
21.By saying“That is true at levels even which are quite low.”，Dr.Ursula Ackermann-Liebrich meant.
A.people could really get health benefits even though the benefits were at low levels
B.people could get measurable health benefits with air quality improved slightly even at the region in low latitude
C.people could get measurable health benefits even in the region with low levels of air pollution
D.people could get health benefits with air quality improved slightly even in the region with low levels of air pollution
22.The collaborative study by American and British researchers was unusual in that____.
A.it was a study in the real world with real people living in urban levels of air pollution
B.it proved that air pollution by diesel-rich powered vehicles have measurable effects
C.it verified that people in the city are generally affected by air pollution with diesel-engined automobiles
D.it demonstrated the real negative effect was greater than that of laboratory studies
23.According to the collaborative study by American and British researchers，people strolling in Hyde Park____.
A.had an increase in biomarkers of lung inflammation
B.had a greater reduction in lung function than animals under the same condition
C.had a larger reduction in lung function than walking in a busy street
D.were，as a matter of fact，affected by the air pollution
24.According to Dr.Morton Lippman，the more potent form of air pollution many other studies have pointed to was____.
A.airborne particulates in diesel exhausts
B.airborne fine particulate pollutants
C.particular mixture from diesel emissions
D.some other forms of air pollution
25.Which one of the following statements is TRUE of the Swiss study？
A.The study is aimed to produce a pleasant air quality for people as they age.
B.The study proves that people could enjoy healthful effect as they seldom expose themselves to the airborne particulates.
C.The study is conducted in the least polluted region in Europe.
D.The study is aimed to make people own the clearest air in Europe.
Passage 6
Scientists have developed a slimming drug that successfully suppresses appetite and results in a dramatic loss of weight without any apparent ill effects.The drug interferes with appetite control and prevents the build-up of fatty tissue.More importantly，the drug appears to prevent a serious decline metabolic rate—causing tiredness and lethargy—which is typically associated with living on a starvation diet.As a result，mice taking the drug lost 45 percent more weight than mice fed the same amount of food，which compensate for the lack of food by becoming more sluggish.
The scientists，from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore，said that C75 is likely to produce a similar effect on humans because appetite control in the brain is thought to be based largely on the same chemical pathways as those in mice.“We are not claiming to have found the fabled weight-loss drug.What we have found，using C75，is a major path-way in the brain that the body uses naturally in regulating appetite at least in mice，”said Francis Kuhajda，a pathologist and senior team member.“We badly need effective drugs for weight loss.Obesity is a huge problem.We’re hoping to explore the possibilities of this new pathway，”he said.
Discovering a biochemical pathway in the brain that controls appetite raises new prospects for eloping slimming aids.Research on leptin，a hormone produced in fatty tissue for controlling fat deposits，has so far failed to produce the expected slimming drug break-through.The latest study，published in the journal Science，showed that even moderate doses of C75 produced a significant loss of appetite，which returned to normal after a few months.
The scientists believe that C75，which they produced synthetically in the laboratory，binds to an enzyme called fatty acid synthase，which is involved in storing excess food intake as fat.Inhibiting enzyme causes a build-up of a chemical in the liver which acts as a precursor to fat deposition.This precursor is thought to have an indirect effect on the brain，causing appetite suppression.
Normally，when animals fast，a hormone called neuropeptide Y increases sharply in the appetite control centers of the brain，stimulating the desire for food.However，when animals are given C75，levels of this hormone fall，leading to a loss of interest in food.Dr.Kuhajda said discovering that C75 has no effect on metabolic rate is one of the most significant findings of the study.“If you try to lose weight by starving，your metabolism slows down after a few days，”he said.“It’s a survival mechanism that sabotages many diets.We see this in fasting mice.Yet metabolic rate in the C75-treated mice doesn’t slow down at all.”Further animals studies will be needed before C75 could be tested on humans.
26.Living on a starvation diet may result in____.
A.a dramatic loss of weight without any ill effects
B.a long-term loss of interest in eating
C.a slowdown of fat deposition
D.fatigue and inactivity
27.The scientists from the Johns Hopkins University said that C75，the slimming drug proved effective in mice，is likely to work on humans because____.
A.the chemical pathway responsible for appetite control in humans is believed to be the same as that in mice
B.it is a major pathway in the brain which is activated to regulate appetite
C.it is especially effective in the battle against obesity
D.its effect has also been proved by human studies
28.Leptin____.
A.refers to a new biochemical pathway in the brain that controls appetite
B.raises new prospects for developing slimming drugs
C.is a hormone produced in fatty tissue for controlling fat build-up
D.has turned to a breakthrough in the search for effective slimming drugs
29.The newly-found slimming drug can successfully suppress appetite because____.
A.C75 made synthetically in the laboratory works effectively on human body
B.fatty acid sythase is involved in storing excess food intake as fat
C.C75 inhibits the activity of an enzyme called fatty acid synthase
D.it increases a hormone called neuropeptide Y in the appetite-control centers of the brain
30.What is the most remarkable about the new slimming drug C75？
A.It successfully suppresses appetite.
B.It encourages the scientists to study slimming drugs from new perspectives.
C.It generates a new hormone that may prove to be the key to overweight.
D.It doesn’t affect the metabolic rate，a survival mechanism in living beings.