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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.”
【小題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.

【小題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.

【小題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.

【小題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.

【小題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.

【小題6】Which of the following best describes the tone of this passage?

A．Matter-of –fact

B．Pessimistic

C．Humorous

D．Friendly.

People have smoked cigarettes for a long time now. The tobacco which is used to make cigarettes was first grown in what is now part of the United States. Christopher Columbus, who discovered America, saw the Indians smoking. Soon the dried leaves were transported to Europe . In the late 1800s, the Turks made cigarettes popular.
Cigarette smoke contains at least two harmful substances, tar and nicotine. Tar, which forms as the tobacco burns, damages the lungs and therefore affects breathing. Nicotine, which is found in the leaves, causes the heart to beat faster and increases the breathing rate. Nicotine in large can kill a person by stopping a person’s breathing muscles. Smokers usually take in small amounts that the body can quickly break down.
Nicotine can make new smokers feel dizzy(頭暈) or sick to their stomachs. The heart rate for young smokers increases 2 to 3 beats per minute. Nicotine also lowers skin temperature and reduces blood flow in the legs and feet. It plays an important role in increasing smokers’ risk of heart disease and stroke.
Smoking cigarettes is dangerous. Cigarette smoking was the cause of lung cancer and several other deadly diseases.
【小題1】.
Tobacco first appeared in_________.

A．Asia	B．Africa
C．Europe	D．America

【小題2】.
What is the main purpose of the first paragraph?

A．To tell us the bad effects caused by smoking cigarettes

B．To introduce the history of smoking

C．To let us know what the cigarettes are made from

D．To tell the readers that Columbus found the Indians smoking

【小題3】.
._________doesn’t make one’s heart beat as usual.

A．Tar	B．Nicotine
C．Lung disease	D．Leave

【小題4】.
The following effects are caused by Nicotine EXCEPT that________.

A．It can make new smokers feel dizzy or sick to their stomachs

B．It lowers skin temperature

C．It causes the heart to beat less fast

D．Nicotine will probably kill a person if a smoker takes in too much of it.

【小題5】.
What’s the main idea of this passage?

A．Where did cigarettes come from?

B．The effect of smoking on your body.

C．How to smoke is healthy?

D．Who is the first smoker?

As the world watched the twin towers of the World Trade Center come under attack, a common phrase was repeated:” It looks like a movie.”
But this time there was no superman to save the people or the famous building. The attack destroyed one of the world's highest skyscrapers and left 5,000 people dead or missing.
　　Movie fans have become used to such events after years of Hollywood films showing disasters, terrorism and danger. The Empire State Building, the White House, New York City and even the American president himself have all been threatened(威脅) by terrorist attacks in these exciting films. The film” True Lies”, released in 1994, is considered to be a good example of this kind of movie. The special effects, including explosions and missiles, make the action look like a real thing.
　“Independence Day” in 1996 took this type of movie one step further by blowing up the White House. This science fiction(科幻) movie is about a war between human beings and aliens from another planet. In the movie, the World Trade Center towers are destroyed.
　　Violence has become a major part of Hollywood movies. And this is what people enjoy. Soon after the attacks, many famous film companies stopped the planned releases of some of their new movies, especially if their films showed terrorist attacks or plane crashes. “Swordfish” was top of the American box office in June. But the movie's story was frighteningly similar to the Sept. 11 disaster. The film would have been stopped in American and British cinemas after the attack. But it's unlikely that Hollywood will stay quiet for long. It is already waiting for the feeling in America to calm down.
【小題1】What is the main subject of the newspaper article?

A．The relationship between the Sept. 11 attack and Hollywood films.

B．The effect of the Sept. 11 attack and Hollywood films.

C．The response Hollywood made to the Sept. 11 attack.

D．The result of Hollywood films showing violence and disasters.

【小題2】Which of the following is TRUE?

A．Hollywood made a lot of money out of the film “Swordfish” in June.

B．Hollywood stopped making films showing terrorism and disasters after the Sept. 11 attack.

C．“Swordfish” was not allowed to be shown after the Sept. 11 attack.

D．The World Trade Center was destroyed because no superman came to save I t.

【小題3】From this article we know that _____.

A．Hollywood is a film making center making films of violence and disasters.

B．too many Hollywood films showing terrorism and disasters resulted in the Sept. 11 attack.

C．people who were used to the Hollywood films were not shocked at the Sept. 11 attack.

D．in fact, the Sept. 11 attack had nothing to do with Hollywood films.

Family Vs Technology
Modern technology certainly changes family behavior, but does it really damage family life as many people fear? Not necessarily, says Dr. Silva, a professor in Sociology(社會(huì)學(xué)) at the Open University, she also argues it is wrong to assume technology erodes(腐蝕，侵蝕) the quality of family life.
“There is the idea that technology has an influence on the family and the family suffers. My take is quite different,” she explains. “Technological change happens because people’s lives change. And it is people’s choices of how to live that creates processes of innovation(革新) as well. The family has a role like the economy or like technology itself in changing the world. The imagination is important in driving the things technologists want to find for our daily lives. People desire to see nature as it is, so color television comes about,” she says.
In another case, the increase in working mothers helped create a market for labor-saving kitchen equipment. “The time that women have to shop every day for food is no longer available so there is a need to have a refrigerator for food storage,” says Dr. Silva. “The need to cook that food more easily and quickly, means you have developments in cooking technology like the microwave oven(微波爐). The microwave oven already existed because it was developed for the navy during World War Two but it wasn’t used in ordinary families until the early 1980s.
“Technologies for housework were as important as those for work itself,” she says, “So washing machines, refrigerators and microwave ovens are terribly important. We couldn’t imagine what life would be like if we didn’t have them.” Technological changes in the kitchen have played an important role in the changes of family behavior, creating a new social focus in the home.
“With advanced technology, you can feed the family in an easier manner. People can do housework with less difficulty. But that doesn’t mean that family practices are not important — it’s just a different way of doing things.”
【小題1】What is Dr. Silva’s attitude towards the effect that technology has on family life?

A．Worried.	B．Optimistic(樂觀的).
C．Puzzled.	D．Uncertain.

【小題2】What causes advances in technology according to Dr. Silva?

A．People’s love for nature.

B．Great changes in people’s way of life.

C．People’s desire to change the world.

D．The wonderful imagination in inventing things.

【小題3】What can we learn from the passage?

A．The microwave oven was first used by working mothers.

B．People cook less because of modern kitchen equipment.

C．Technology has little effect on the changes of family behavior.

D．People need less skill to do housework due to advanced technology.

“If you talk to the plants, they will grow faster and the effect is even better if you’re a woman.” Researchers at Royal Horticultural Society carried out an experient to find that the voice of a woman gardener makes plants grow faster.
The experiment lasted a month and by the end of the study scientists managed to discover that tomato plants grew up two inches taller when women gardeners talked to them instead of male.
Sarah Darwin was the one making the plants registered the best growth. Her voice was the most “inspiring” for plants than those of nine other gardeners when reading a passage from The Origin of Species. The great-great-granddaughter of the famous botanist(植物學(xué)家) Charles Darwin found that her plant grew about two inches taller than the plant of the best male gardener.
Colin Crosbie, Garden Superintendent at RHS, said that the finding cannot yet be explained. He assumes that women have a greater range of pitch（音高） and tone（音調(diào)） which might have a certain effect on the sound waves that reach the plant. “Sound waves are an environmental effect just like rain or light ,”said Mr Grosbie.
The study began in April at RHS Garden Wisley in Survey. Scientists started with open auditions(聽力) for the people who were asked to record passages from John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer's Night Dream and Darwin's The Origin of Species.
Afterwards researchers selected a number of different voices and played them to 10 tomato plants during a period of a month. Each plant had headphones（耳機(jī)） connected to it. Through the headphones the sound waves could hit the plants. It was discovered that plants that “l(fā)istened” to female voices on average grew taller by an inch in comparison to plants that heard male voices.
Miss Darwin said, “I think it is an honor to have a voice that can make tomatoes grow, and especially fitting because for a number of years I have been studying wild tomatoes from the Galapagos Island at the Natural History Museum in London.”
【小題1】What does the passage talk about?

A．Plants enjoy men’s voices than women’s.

B．A botanical experiment in a museum.

C．Voice’s influence on plant growing.

D．Strange phenomenon（現(xiàn)象） at Royal Horticultural Society.

【小題2】What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 4 mean?

A．Plants need sound as well as rain and light.

B．Sound is basic for the plant to grow.

C．Sound has a good effect as rain or light does.

D．Plants can’t live without sound, rain or light.

【小題3】Sarah Darwin is most likely a (an)_____.

A．botanist

B．gardener

C．a(chǎn)stronomer

D．environmentalist

【小題4】What can we learn from the passage?

A．The experiment ended in May.

B．Scientist can explain the findings clearly.

C．Plants enjoy listening to the passages from masterpieces.

D．The findings are of great importance to human beings.