A Concussion（腦震蕩） happens when the brain is shaken, often in a car crash or a fall or a strike on; the head in sports．Concussions can be mild, but doctors may order a CT scan to look for a more serious injury．But a recent study warned that more children than necessary are being exposed（使遭受） to radiation this way．

A national team led by two doctors at the University of California, Davis, studied hospital records from thousands of children with head injuries. They found that in many cases, the risk of developing cancer from the radiation outweighed the risk of a serious brain injury.

The study found that one in five children over age two had a low risk of serious injury but received CT scans anyway. The same was true of almost one in four children under two years of age.

The researchers have developed rules to predict if a head injury is serious enough for a scan. For children under two, doctors are advised against it if there is:

·Normal mental activity.

·No swelling in the back of the head.

·No feeling of a broken bone in the skull. (頭骨)

·And no loss of consciousness for more than five seconds.

Doctors should also consider how the child was injured and whether the parents say the child is acting normally.

For patients from two to eighteen, the guidelines are similar —— except there should be no l vomiting（嘔吐）and no severe headache.

Earlier this year, the British Journal of Sports Medicine published new guidelines for concussions in children and teens. International experts said they should not return to sports or school until fully recovered. The brain also needs a "cognitive rest," they say, by restricting activities like video games, texting and watching TV.

It often take longer than adults to recover from a concussion than adults. The experts say individual progress and not a set time period should always guide a decision to return to play.

1.The researchers at the -University of California found that children who received CT scans

         A．were likely to suffer brain injuries    

         B．wouldn't have normal mental activity

         C．would lose consciousness now and then 

         D．were likely to develop canter

2.How many aspects should doctors consider when deciding whether a child under two needs a CT scan?       

         A．Four．        B．Six．  C．Seven．     D．Nine．

3.What can we learn from the last two paragraphs?

         A．Texting is harmful to patients’ recovery from concussions．

         B．Patients with brain injuries can play many sports．

         C．Adults need a longer time than teens to recover from concussions．

         D．It takes at least a year for individuals with brain injuries to fully recover．

4.The author of the passage mainly___．

         A．describes the risks of brain injuries

         B．suggests CT scans are of practical use

         C．tells us about the risks of brain injury tests

         D．a(chǎn)rgues against new guidelines for concussions

 

Scientists in Canada say big fish have almost disappeared from the world since the start of industrial（產(chǎn)業(yè)的） fishing in the 1950s. The scientists found the numbers of some kinds of large fish have dropped by ninety percent in the past fifty years.

The study took ten years. The researchers gathered records from fishing businesses and governments around the world. The magazine Nature published the findings.

The scientists say the common method called long line fishing ravages the populations of large fish. This method involves many fishing lines connected to one boat. These wires can be nearly one hundred kilometers long. They hold thousands of sharp metal hooks to catch fish.

Long line fishing is especially common in the Japanese fishing industry. Records showed that Japanese boats used to catch about ten fish for every one hundred hooks. But long line fishing boats now might only catch one fish per hundred hooks.

The scientists say industrial fishing can destroy groups of fish much faster than in the past. The study suggests that whole populations can disappear almost completely from new fishing areas within ten to fifteen years.

Ransom Myers and Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia led the study with the University of Kiel in Germany. Worm says the destruction could lead to a complete reorganization of ocean life systems. Meyers says the decreased numbers of large fish are not the only worry. He says even populations that are able to reproduce do not get the chance to live long enough to grow as big as their ancestors. He says not only are there fewer big fish, but also they are smaller than those of the past.

  It’s the end of this program ,Thank you for your listening.

What’s the best title for the passage?

       A. Big fish are disappearing            B. Long—line fishing in Japan     

C. The harm of industrial fishing           D. Stop killing big fish

Which of the following DOESN’T show that the populations of big fish are smaller than before?

A. Fish can disappear almost completely from new fishing areas.

B. Now long—line fishing boats might catch one fish per hundred hooks.

C. Fish now don’t have the chance to grow big enough.

D. Scientists spent ten years studying the populations of large fish.

What can we learn from the passage?

A. The number of big fish started to drop greatly about fifty years ago.

B. The study was started by Boris Worm of Dalhousie alone.

C. There will be no big fish left in fifty years .

D. Japaneses people have stopped catching big fish.

Rock and roll music developed in the United States in the early nineteen-fifties. It was based on the music called rhythm and blues that was performed by African American musicians.

Early rock and roll singers developed their own kinds of music. Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, the Beach Boys, and Bob Dylan were the most popular rock and roll musicians in the early 1960’s. All were American. Then, in 1964, a new rock and roll group from England invaded America: the Beatles.

Some people say the Beatles’ music shook America like an earthquake. The Beatles changed rock and roll forever. Their early songs were influenced by American rock and roll musicians, including Chuck Berry. But the Beatles looked different and sounded different from any musical group before them.

The Beatles released their first album in the United States in 1964, when all of the top five records in America were by the Beatles. In 1967, they released an album called “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” It was one of the first “concept” albums. That is, all the songs were linked by a common story or idea.

The popularity of the Beatles led the way for more rock and roll bands from England to become popular in America. The Rolling Stones was the most important of these bands. The Rolling Stones is one of the few groups from the 1960’s that is still performing and recording today. In 1965, the group recorded one of its most famous songs, “Satisfaction”.

The musical instrument most linked to rock and roll is the guitar. Experts say Jimi Hendrix was one of the most influential guitar players in rock and roll during the late 1960’s. His “Purple Haze” was liked by many people.

By the 1970’s, rock and roll music became known as rock music. It expanded into many new forms. For example, there was country rock, hard rock, acid rock, and heavy metal rock. Punk rock, jazz rock, and glitter rock.

In the middle 1970’s, experts say rock music regained some of the energy of early rock and roll. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band became popular with their album “Born to Run”. Springsteen’s music was like the lively rock and roll music of the early nineteen-sixties. Many of his songs were about social issues. He sang about the effects of unemployment and the war in Vietnam.

1.The main topic of this passage is _______.

A. the history of American music

B. the famous rock and roll groups 

C. the new forms of rock and roll music

D. the development of rock and roll music

2.Which of the following matches is NOT true?

A. the Beatles — Chuck Berry     

B. the Rolling Stones — Satisfaction

C. Jimi Hendrix — Purple Haze 

D. Bruce Springsteen — Born to Run

3.Whose songs were mainly about social problems like unemployment and war?

A. Elvis Presley’s.                                  B. Bob Dylan’s.

C. Jimi Hendrix’s.                          D. Springsteen’s.

4.From the passage, we can know that _______.

A. one of the Rolling Stones’ albums was called “concept”

B. rock and roll music had many different forms at the beginning

C. rock and roll music probably came from African American music

D. the Beatles and the Rolling Stones became popular at the same time

 

Half of the world’s population is affected by Asian monsoons (季風(fēng)), but monsoons are difficult to predict. American researchers have put together a 700-year record of the rainy seasons, which is expected to provide guidance for experts making weather predictions.

Every year, moist (潮濕的) air masses，known as monsoon，produce large amounts of rainfall in India, East Asia, Northern Australia and East Africa. All this wet air is pulled in by a high pressure area over the Indian Ocean and a low pressure area to the south.

According to Edward Cook, a weather expert at Columbia University in New York, the complex nature of the climate systems across Asia makes monsoons hard to predict. In addition, climate records for the area are too recent and not detailed enough to be of much use. Therefore, he and a team of researchers spent more than fifteen years traveling across Asia, looking for trees old enough to provide long-term records. They measured the rings（年輪）, or circles, inside thousands of ancient trees in more than 300 places.

Rainfall has a direct link to the growth and width of rings on some kinds of trees. The researchers developed a document they are calling a Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas. It shows the effect of monsoons over seven centuries, beginning in the 1300s.

Professor Cook says the tree-ring records show periods of wet and dry weather. “If the monsoon basically fails or is a very weak one, the trees affected by monsoons at that location might put on a very narrow ring. But if the monsoon is very strong, the trees affected by that monsoon might put on a wide ring for that year. So, the wide and narrow ring widths of the chronology（大事年表） that we developed in Asia provide us with a measure of monsoon variability.” With all this information, researchers say they can begin to improve computer climate models for predicting the behavior of monsoons.

“There has been widespread famine and starvation and human dying in the past in large droughts. And on the other hand, if the monsoon is particularly heavy, it can cause extensive flooding.” said Eugene Wahl, a scientist with America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “So, to get a sense of what the regional moisture patterns have been, dryness and wetness over such a long period of time in great detail, I would call it a kind of victory for climate science.”

1.What’s the passage mainly about？

A．The effects of Asian monsoons.             B．The necessity of weather forecast.

C．The achievements of Edward cook.          D．A breakthrough in monsoon prediction.

2.It is difficult for experts to predict Asian monsoons because _______.

A．it is hard to keep long-term climate records.

B．they are formed under complex climate systems.

C．they influence many nations.

D．there is heavy rainfall in Asia.

3.What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Long and detailed climate records can offer useful information for monsoon research.

B．The Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas has a monsoon record for about 1,300 years.

C．The trees affected by monsoon grow fast if the monsoon is weak.

D．The rainfall might be low although the monsoon is strong in monsoon-affected areas.

4.According to Professor Cook, the rings of the trees _______.

A．determine the regional climate.

B．have a great influence on the regional climate.

C．offer people information about the regional climate.

D．reflect all kinds of regional climate information.

5.What do we know about the research according to Eugene Wahl?

A．It is a great achievement in climate science.

B．It should include information about human life in the past.

C．It has analysed moisture models world wide,

D．It will help people prevent droughts and floods.

6.Which of the following best describes the tone of this passage?

A．Matter-of –fact    B．Pessimistic         C．Humorous         D．Friendly.

 

Your House Will Take Care of You In Old Age

Have you ever thought what your life would be like in old age? Everyone talks about the “aging” society with large numbers of elderly people needing home care. Now German researchers have set up a “smart” house, programmed to help the elderly live at home with dignity. Scientists at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute say the house combines existing technology with future-oriented technology.

For example, the “smart” bathroom has a touch screen mirror that can remind people to take their medicine, wash their hands or brush their teeth. The hardware behind Fraunhofer’s electronic bathroom is not new, and the software runs on a regular personal computer.

When the medicine cabinet is opened, a display in the middle of the mirror tells the person how many pills to take. The mirror is linked to a care provider, who can remotely check whether a patient at home is actually taking medicine and brushing his or her teeth. As many elderly people have arthritic(關(guān)節(jié)炎的) conditions that make it difficult to operate water taps, the mirror also has displays that turn the water tap on or off or control the water temperature.

The bathroom is only the start. Kitchens, bedrooms and all other parts of the “intelligent” home will become “user-friendly” to meet all kinds of individual needs. Sensors in doors, toilets, taps, light switches and carpets detect every activity and record them electronically. Doctors or care staff can see from the computer records what personal hygiene tasks have been completed, how often the elderly person visits the bathroom or uses the toilet. In case of an emergency, the computer automatically alerts the chosen contact person or calls the care center.

1. The ‘smart” bathroom has a touch screen mirror ________.

A．that can help the elderly brush their teeth	B．which is linked to a nursing house
C．behind which is a medicine cabinet	D．that can remind people to do many things

2. The underlined word “them” in the last paragraph refers to ________.

A．every activity

B．doors, toilets, taps, light switches and carpets

C．individual needs

D．sensors

3.The house mentioned in the passage can be described as _________.

A．smart but expensive	B．intelligent and convenient
C．smart and environmentally-friendly	D．fashionable and energy-saving

4. How is the passage mainly developed?

A．By inferring

B．By listing examples.

C．By comparing.

D．By introducing a practical method.

5.The author of the text mainly _________.

A．calls on people to care for the old	B．encourages the old to live with dignity
C．introduces a new house	D．promotes a new house