Until late in the 20th century, most Americans spent time with people of generations. Now mid-aged Americans may not keep in touch with old people until they are old themselves.That's because we group people by age. We put our three-year-olds together in day-care center, our 13-year-olds in school and sports activities, and our 80-year-olds in senior-citizen homes. Why? We live away from the old for many reasons: young people sometimes avoid the old to get rid of fears for aging and dying. It is much harder to watch .someone we love disappear before our eyes. Sometimes it's so hard that we stay away from the people who need us most. Fortunately, .some of us have found our way to the old. And we have discovered that they often save the young. A reporter moved her family onto a block filled with old people. At first her children were disappointed. But the reporter baked banana bread for the neighbours and had her children deliver it and visit. Soon the children had many new friends, with whom they shared food, stories and projects. "My children have never been less lonely," the reporter said. The young, in turn, save the old. Once I was in a rest home when a visitor showed up with a baby. She was immediately surrounded. People who hadn't gotten out of bed in a week suddenly were ringing for a wheelchair. Even those who had seemed asleep wake up to watch the child. Babies have an astonishing power to comfort and cure. Grandparents are a special case. They give grandchildren a feeling of security and continuity. As my husband put it, "my grandparents gave me a deep sense that things would turn out right in the end." Grandchildren speak of attention they don't get from worried parents. "My parents were always telling me to hurry up, and my grandparents told me to slow down," one friend said. A teacher told me she can tell which pupils have relationships with grandparents: they are quieter, calmer, more trusting. Seeing a baby, the old people get excited because _ . A) they had never seen a baby before B) the baby was clever and beautiful C) the baby brought them the image of life D) the baby's mother would take care of them
C
A study of more than five million books, both fiction and non-fiction, has found a marked _ in the use of emotional words over time.The researchers form the University of Bristol used Google Ngram Viewer, a facility for finding the frequency of terms in scanned books, to search for more than 600 particular words identified as representing anger, dislike, fear, joy, sadness and surprise. They found that almost all of the categories showed a drop in these "mood words" over time.Only in the category of fear was there an increase in usage. "It is a steady and continuous decrease," said Dr Alberto Acerbi.He assumed that the result might be explained by a change in the position occupied by literature, in a crowded media landscape."One thing could be that in parallel to books the 20th century saw the start of other media.Maybe these media -- movies, radio, drama, had more emotional content than books." Although both joy and sadness followed the general downwards trend, the research, published in the journal PLOS One, found that they also exhibited another interesting behaviour:the ratio between the two varied greatly, apparently mirroring historical events. During the Roaring Twenties the joy-to-sadness ratio reached a peak that would not occur again until before the recent financial crash.But the ratio plunged at the height of the Second World War.Nevertheless, the researchers held a reserved opinion about their claim that their result reflected wider social trends.In the paper, they even argue that the reverse could be true. "It has been suggested, for example, that it was the suppression of desire in ordinary Elizabethan English life that increased demand for writing 'filled with romance and sex'... perhaps," they conclude, "songs and books may not reflect the real population any more than catwalk models reflect the average body." What's the main idea of this passage? A) A study of emotional words. B) A study about vocabulary in literature. C) Reasons for the use of emotional words decreases in literature. D) A study on increase in the category of fear.
C
Q: It looks like a scene from the thriller movieJaws,but these photos of a huge shark swimming with swimmers were in fact taken in Britain. The amazing pictures,which showed that the basking shark was swimming friendly with swimmers,were taken at Porthcurno beach,Cornwall,where the basking shark was swimming just yards off shore. The single 14foot giant was feeding in the shallow waters off the scenic area,and quickly became curious about the swimmers and surfers sharing the water. Though it came within touching distance,the swimmers and surfers were in no danger. The large sharks are plankton feeders-unlike the man-eating Great White fromJaws. Beach-goer Rachel Hosken,who took the pictures,said that several basking sharks had been seen in the area."It is one of the few I have ever seen around this year and it was great to see," she said excitedly."There are usually more of them by now,but for some reason there are fewer around than normal at this time of year. I think more have been spotted in deeper waters,but the particular one in the pictures seems to have taken a liking to this spot. I have seen it a few times." Known as the gentle giant of the sea,the basking shark is the second largest fish in the sea,only weighing lighter than the whale shark. They can grow to over 36 feet (11 meters) and weigh up to seven tons (7,000 kilograms) and feed on a diet of plankton and small fish. Basking sharks normally begin to appear in May and June. From what Rachel Hosken said we know that _ . A) most basking sharks swim deep in the sea B) this basking shark has often appeared in that area C) many basking sharks have been killed in that area D) the basking shark doesn't like being with other basking sharks
A: B
(Question)
According to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global temperatures have risen by approximately 0.6degC in the past century, caused mainly by emissions of greenhouse gases produced by human activities,such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.Temperatures are to increase between 1.6degC and 5.8degC in the next century, accompanied by sea level rise and an increase in the frequency of extreme weather events. The best available evidence suggests that climate changes since the 1970s may already be causing over 150,000 deaths annually, and that greenhouse gas emissions would increase disease burdens in the coming decades.The risks are concentrated in the poorest population, who have contributed least to the problem. The Kyoto Protocol is signed by 128 nations,and commits the participating industrialized countries to cutting emissions of greenhouse gases by over 5% below 1990 level by the period of 20082012. "Over 600 thousand people died in weatherrelated disasters in the 1990s.Temperature and rainfall influence the rates of diseases and infections including malaria,and malnutrition,which together cause over 3.5 million deaths a year.The Kyoto Protocol is the first step towards protecting the climate system,which exerts such a strong influence on our health",said Dr Kerstin Leitner,Assistant DirectorGeneral for Sustainable Development and Healthy Environments. While acting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it is also essential to protect vulnerable communities from the effects of climate changes.WHO works to promote measures such as protection from malaria and other climate sensitive diseases, and reliable access to clean water and sanitation, for people in the most vulnerable developing countries.Increasing disease control efforts will also help to protect current and future generations from the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions. What does the passage mainly talk about? A) Climate changes and the effects on human health. B) Climate changes cause over 15,000 deaths annually. C) Who promotes measures such as protection from malaria. D) The Kyoto Protocol helps to protect human health.
(Answer)
A