I have been in England three months now. I hope you don't think I've forgotten you. There have been so many places to see and so many things to do that I've not had much time for writing letters. I shall soon be starting my studies at King's College.So far I've been learning about England and British ways of living.I won't tell you about London.There are lots of books you can read and lots of pictures you can look at about this famous city.I'm sure you'll be more interested to know what I think about life here. I find some of the customs interesting.People here do not shake hands as much as we do in the mainland of Europe. During the first few weeks I was often surprised because people did not put out their hands when I met them.Men raise their hats to women but not to each other. The writer came to London from _ . A) Asia B) the mainland of Europe C) America D) Africa
B
Japanese professor Yoji Kimura believes laughter is a weapon that in healthy doses can end the world's wars. To measure it, the expert on communications has invented a machine to chart out laughter--and a new unit of "aH" to calculate it. "We have found that children laugh more freely, releasing 10 aH per second, which is about twice as much as an adult," Kimura, a professor at Kansai University in the western city of Osaka, told reporters. "Adults tend to calculate whether it's appropriate to laugh and under those restraints they eventually forget how," he said. "Laughing is like a restart function on a computer. Laughing freely is very important in the course of human development," he said. Kimura, who believes in "a change from a century of wars to a century of humor and tolerance," has studied the science of laughter for decades in Osaka. In his theory, human laughter is produced in four emotional stages. "I believe there is a circuit in the human brain that creates laughter," Kimura said confidently. To measure laughter, he attaches sensors on the skin of a tested people's stomach, particularly the diaphragm , and detects muscle movements. "I have a theory that humor detected in the brain gets directly released through the movement of diaphragm," he said. By checking the movement of the diaphragm and other parts of the body, it will be possible to see if a person is only pretending to laugh while also telling different types of laughter, Kimura said. Kimura wants to make the measuring device as small as a mobile phone and possibly market it as a health and amusement device. Kimura said he planned to present his findings this summer to the US-based International Society for Humor Studies, adding that he looked forward to looking at differences in laughter internationally. According to the passage, Professor Yoji Kimura _ . A) thinks banning weapon can end wars in the world B) has put his machine calculating laughter into market C) has been studying laughing for many years D) is an expert in people's health problem
C
Q: One of the greatest warriors of history, Genghis Kahn, came from the Mongolian people. He controlled many countries in Asia and Europe because of his bravery and leadership in battle. This time period was known as the Yuan Dynasty in the 13th and 14th centuries. Genghis decided to go hunting one day and many of his warriors went with him. Genghis had his favorite hawk on his wrist. The hawk was trained to fly high in the air to look for game like deer, rabbits or wild birds. When his bird flew to the ground, Genghis would follow it and shoot the wild game with his arrows. It was his favorite hobby. This particular day, game was hard to find. Toward evening, Genghis sent all the men home and decided to go another way by himself. He even let his hawk go, thinking it would fly home as well. He became thirsty so he stopped by some rocks where he noticed water was dripping. He took a cup from his pack and filled it slowly. When he put it to his mouth, he was surprised for his hawk came and spilled all the water in his cup. He thought this was very unusual so he filled the cup again. The hawk rushed down and knocked the cup free from his hand. Genghis was now thirsty and angry. As he filled the cup a fourth time, he drew his sword to stop the bird interrupting him. As the bird flew down, Genghis killed it but his cup fell deep into the rocks in the scuffle . He decided to crawl up the rock of the mountain to find the source of the water. He found a pool and noticed a huge poisonous snake was dead in the water. He realized the hawk had saved his life. His anger had caused him to kill his favorite bird. In his despair , he promised to make sure of everything before he would become angry again. What conclusion can we draw from the passage? A) One should never act while thinking. B) One had better not act before thinking. C) One must act when thinking. D) One would act without thinking.
A: B
A year ago, at the annual pre-Grammy party, Whitney Houston, the great star, walked on stage and closed the evening with a brilliant performance. Last Saturday, Houston was once again the focus before the Grammy, but her presence was a regrettable one.Earlier that day, the pop music's former queen was found dead in her hotel room.She was 48.This, no doubt, is sad news to the whole music industry and her fans all over the world. At her peak , Houston was the golden girl of the music world.From the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, she was one of the world's best-selling artists.She impressed audiences with her effortless, powerful and _ performance. Besides multi-million record sales, Houston made countless hits such as The Greatest Love of All, I Have Nothing, and the mostly famous I Will Always Love You.She also influenced a generation of younger singers, from Christina Aguilera to Mariah Carey. But by the end of her career, there was a shocking fall for this superstar.Houston had been addicted to drugs.Her album sales declined and the hits stopped coming and her once beautiful voice became hoarse , unable to hit the high notes as she used to. In 2009, Houston staged a successful comeback with the albumI Look To You, which fell on top of the charts.But hoarse voice, canceled concerts, and continuous illness-Houston's comeback trail wasn't smooth at all.In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2009, Houston admitted: "It (show business) is too much for me and I wanted out." Now that Houston has finally taken a break from all the chaos , may she rest in peace. Whitney Houston died _ . A) shortly before the Grammy this year B) earlier last Sunday C) a year ago D) at the annual pre-Grammy party
A