"Mobile phones killed our man,"screamed one headline last year. Also came claims that an unpublished study had found that mobile phones cause memory loss. And a British newspaper devoted its front page to a picture supposedly showing how mobile phones heat the brain. For anyone who uses a moblie phone, these are worring times. But speak to the scientists whose work is the focus of these scared and you will hear a different story. What we do have, however, are some results suggesting that mobile phones'emission have a variety of strange effects on living tissue that can't be explained by the general radiation biology. And it's only when the questions raised by these experients are answered that we'll be able to say for sure what moblie phones might be doing to the brain. One of the odd effects comes from the now famous"merrory loss" study. Alan Preece and his colleagues at the prefix = st1 /UniversityofBristolplaced a device that imitated the microwave emission of mobile phones to the left ear of volunteers. The volunteers were all goood at recalling words and pictures they had been shown on a computer screen. Preece says he still can't comment on the effects of using a mobile phone for years on end. But he rules out the suggestion that mobile phones have an immediate effect on our cognitive abilities."I'm pretty sure there is no effect on short-term memory," he says. Another expert, Tatterasll, remarked that his latest findings have removed fears about memory loss. One result, for instance, suggests that nerve cell synapses exposed to microwaves become more----rather than less-----receptive to under-going changes linked to the memory formation. It would be an even happier outcome if microwave turned out to be good for you. It sounds crazy, but a couple of years ago a team led by William Adey at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in California, found that mice exposed to microwave for two hours a day were less likely to develop brain tumours when given a cancer-causing chemical. So should we forget about... What is the attitude of Preece on the suggestion that mobile phones have an immediate effect on our congnitive abilities? A) Positive B) Negative C) Unknown D) Wait and see
B
"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug. "It's so dreadful to be poor!" sighed Meg, looking down at her old dress. "I don't think it's fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all," added little Amy, with an injured sniff. "We've got father and mother and each other," said Beth, contentedly. The four young faces on which the firelight shone brightened at the cheerful words, but darkened again as Jo said sadly: "We haven't got father, and shall not have him for a long time." She didn't say "perhaps never", but each silently added it, thinking of father far away, where the fighting was. Nobody spoke for a minute; then Meg said in an altered tone: "You know the reason mother proposed not having any presents this Christmas was because it is going to be a hard winter for everyone; and she thinks we ought not to spend money for pleasure when our men are suffering so in the army. We can't do much, but we can make our little sacrifices, and ought to do it gladly. But I am afraid I don't"; and Meg shook her head, and she thought regretfully of all the pretty things she wanted. "But I don't think the little we should spend would do any good. We've each got a dollar, and the army wouldn't be much helped by our giving that. I agree not to expect anything from mother or you, but I do want to buy UNDINE AND SINTRAM for myself; I've wanted it so long," said Jo, who was a bookworm. "I planned to spend mine on new music," said Beth, with a little sigh. "I shall get a nice box of Faber's drawing pencils; I really need them," said Amy, decidedly. "Mother didn't say anything about our money, and she won't wish us to give up everything. Let's each buy what we want, and have a little fun; I'm sure we work hard enough to earn it," cried Jo, examining the heels of her shoes in a gentlemanly manner. "I know I do - teaching those tiresome children nearly all day when I am longing to enjoy myself at home," began Meg, in the complaining tone... What do they think of their mother's proposal of not having any Christmas gifts? A) They all agreed to the proposal of not having any Christmas gifts. B) They all agreed that giving the money to the army was of little help. C) They all agreed that giving the money to the army was of much help. D) They all agreed to save the money and buy a gift for their father.
B
Q: In Shanghai's Grand Theater, a fashionable, mainly young audience applauds enthusiastically as Guo Yong takes center stage.He holds a large bushy tree branch with leaves.Blowing on one of the leaves, he produces a sound like the singing of birds as he plays a traditional Buyi folk song.Some other musicians are also playing the traditional instruments from various ethnic groups in China. It's the first time such music has ever been performed in the Grand Theater.But all this is the efforts of Zhu Zheqin, a Cantoneseborn singer, who has made it her mission to help preserve China's traditional ethnic music. In 2009, after being appointed a United Nations Development Program ambassador, Zhu traveled through some of China's remotest regions in an attempt to document the traditional music of various minority groups.In the course of the fourmonth trip, she recorded more than a thousand songs.But she noticed that many of the best musicians were old, and some of the music was at risk of dying out. "I was shocked by the beauty of what I heard--it was so good," she says."But it needed support.I hope to let people see the beauty of these things in the contemporary times." So Zhu decided to introduce some of the musicians to a wider audience.By doing this, she hopes to rekindle the interest of the younger generation."Young people don't like this music much; they prefer pop music and love songs.They think these songs are something their grandma sings.This kind of repackaging gives young people a new door into their heritage." Zhu believes China needs to look again at its own roots."China today is basically all Western art; in our conservatories Western classical music is the top," she says."For China to really contribute to the world, we need to go on our own path.So what can represent China today?" The answer, she suggests, is to move from "made in China" to "created in China". What is Zhu Zheqin's idea about Chinese traditional music? A) It is completely out of date. B) Only old musicians play it well. C) It needs changes to attract young people. D) It is quickly dying out.
A: C