Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition of no less than 200 words under the title of “My Favorite Color”. Please write clearly on the Answer Sheet.
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Speaking two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in an increasingly globalized world. But in recent years, scientists have begun to show that the advantages of bilingualism are even more fundamental than being able to converse with a wider range of people. Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia（痴呆）in old age.This view of bilingualism is remarkably different from the understanding of bilingualism through much of the 20th century. Researchers, educators and policy makers long considered a second language to be an interference, cognitively speaking, that hindered a child’s academic and intellectual development.They were not wrong about the interference: there is ample evidence that in a bilingual’s brain both language systems are active even when he is using only one language, thus creating situations in which one system obstructs（痴呆）the other. But this interference, researchers are finding out, isn’t so much a handicap as a blessing in disguise. It forces the brain to resolve internal conflict, giving the mind a workout that strengthens its cognitive muscles.The collective evidence from a number of such studies suggests that the bilingual experience improves the brain’s so-called executive function. A command system directs the attention processes that we use for planning, solving problems and performing various other mentally demanding tasks. These processes include ignoring distractions to stay focused, switching attention willfully from one thing to another and holding information in mind—like remembering a sequence of directions while driving.Why does the tussle（搏斗）between two simultaneously active language systems improve these aspects of cognition? Until recently, researchers thought the bilingual advantage stemmed primarily from an ability for inhibition that was honed（磨炼）by the exercise of suppressing one language system: this suppression, it was thought, would help train the bilingual mind to ignore distractions in other contexts. But that explanation increasingly appears to be inadequate, since studies have shown that bilinguals perform better than monolinguals even at tasks that do not require inhibition, like threading a line through an ascending series of numbers scattered randomly on a page.The key difference between bilinguals and monolinguals may be more basic: a heightened ability to monitor the environment. “Bilinguals have to switch languages quite often—you may talk to your father in one language and to your mother in another language,” says Albert Costa, a researcher at the University of Pompea Fabra in Spain. “It requires keeping track of changes around you in the same way that we monitor our surroundings when driving.” In a study comparing German-Italian bilinguals with Italian monolinguals on monitoring tasks, Mr. Costa and his colleagues found that the bilingual subjects not only performed better, but they also did so with less activity in parts of the brain involved in monitoring, indicating that they were more efficient at it.The bilingual experience appears to influence the brain from infancy to old age, and there is reason to believe that it may also apply to those who learn a second language later in life.1.According to the passage, the more recent and old views of bilingualism differ mainly in（ ）.2.The fact that interference is now seen as a blessing in disguise means that （ ）.3.What is the role of Paragraph Four in relation to Paragraph Three?4.Which of the following can account for better performance of bilinguals in doing non-inhibition tasks?5.What is the main theme of the passage?
A.its practical advantages B.perceived language fluency C.its role in cognition D.its role in medicine
问题2：
A.its potential benefits have remained undiscovered B.it has led to unexpectedly favorable results C.its effects on cognitive development have been minimal D.only a few researchers have realized its advantages
问题3：
A.It provide
It was obvious that he had been drinking far too much from the way he came（ ）down the street.
A.hobbling B.stumbling C.staggering D.limping
Last year’s 800-odd events have mushroomed to more than 2,100, and scores of elected and would-be elected officials, including presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry, have gone before the cameras to pay homage to the week’s healthcare theme.But some analysts wonder whether the lawmakers who are rolling out new proposals and recycling old ones are more concerned about scoring political points than finding solutions to the problems generated by a fractured healthcare system.Despite the equally fervent declarations coming from every side that, as Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) said, “Now is not soon enough to get the job done,” fundamental philosophical differences—as well as the war in Iraq, terrorism fears and the federal budget deficit—will continue to determine what, if anything, comes of all the talk.Across the country, groups from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the AFL-CIO, from the Southern Baptist Convention to the Islamic Society of North America, have sponsored workshops, town hall meetings and news conferences this week to call attention to the problems caused by rising healthcare costs and shrinking coverage—and to demand government action.But in the nation’s capital, the policy proposals presented by separate groups of Republican and Democratic lawmakers have almost nothing in common and come wrapped in political invective directed at the other side.For instance, Sen. Gordon Smith said Tuesday the key difference between the Republicans’ targeted, tax-based proposals and democratic bills to expand existing government programs was “the choice between superior healthcare for most Americans and finding ways to include the rest of the Americans, or mediocre healthcare for all Americans.”They include previous proposals, such as malpractice reform and tax credits, as well as a new plan to forgive some student loans for college graduates who invest in tax-free, high-deducible tax savings plans.A study released Monday by the Urban Institute, a social policy research organization in Washington, said that providing health insurance to those who lacked coverage would increase medical spending by $48 billion a year.Some analysts think growing public concern about cost, quality and availability of healthcare could force Washington to act―eventually.26. Which of the following can be used as the title of the passage?27. According to this passage, Americans are facing ____.28. The author writes this article in order to ____.29. Which of the following is not true according to the passage?30. What do the Americans need most for their healthcare according to this passage?
A.Healthcare Issues Attract Plenty of Talk but Little Action B.The Republicans’ Targeted, Tax-Based Proposals C.Democratic Bills Expand Existing Government Programs D.Concerns about Cost, Quality and Availability of Healthcare
问题2：
A.providing health insurance to those who lacked coverage B.finding solutions to the problems brought about by a fractured healthcare system C.rising healthcare cost but shrinking coverage D.the key difference between the Republicans and the Democrats
问题3：
A.arouse public attention to health issues B.assist the government C.express the opinions of the poor D.provide health insurance
问题4：
A.Many organizations have sponsored meetings to demand government action. B.Both elected and would-be elected officials are interested in the topic of healthcare. C.Republicans and Democrats have fundamentally different policy proposals. D.Americans welcome the proposals generated by both parties.
问题5：
A.Growing public concern about cost, quality and availability of healthcare. B.Ways to help the nation’s 44 million uninsured to get health coverage. C.Government action to provide health insurance to those who lacked coverage. D.All the above.
Nuclear power’s danger to health, safety, and even life itself can be summed up in one word: radiation.Nuclear radiation has a certain mystery about it, partly because it cannot be detected by human senses. It can't be seen or heard, or touched or tasted, even though it may be all around us. There are other things like that. For example, radio waves are all around us but we can’t detect them, sense them without a radio receiver. Similarly, we can’t sense radioactivity without a radiation detector. But unlike common radio waves, nuclear radiation is not harmless to human beings and other living things.At very high levels, radiation can kill an animal or human being outright by killing masses of cells in vital organs; but even the lowest levels can do serious damage. There is no level of radiation that is completely safe. If the radiation does not hit anything important, the damage may not be significant. This is the case when only a few cells are hit. And if they are killed outright, your body will replace the dead cells with healthy ones. But if the few cells are only damaged, and if they reproduce themselves, you may be in trouble. They reproduce themselves in a deformed way. They can grow into cancer. Sometimes this does not show up for many years.This is another reason for some of the mystery about nuclear radiation. Serious damage can be done without the victim being aware at the time that damage has occurred. A person can be irradiated and feel fine. Then die of cancer in five, ten, or twenty years later as a result. Or a child can be born weak or liable to serious illness as a result of radiation absorbed by its grandparents.Radiation can hurt us. We must know the truth.1.According to the passage, the danger of nuclear power lies in（ ）.2.Radiation can cause serious consequences even at the lowest level （ ）.3.Radiation can hurt us in the way that it can （ ）.4.Which of the following can be best inferred from the passage?
A.nuclear mystery B.radiation detection C.radiation level D.nuclear radiation
问题2：
A.when it kills few cells B.if it damages the few cells C.though the damaged cells can repair themselves D.unless the damaged cells can reproduce themselves
问题3：
A.kill large numbers of cells in main organs so as to cause
Some people were just born to rebel; Charles Darwin was one of them.（16）Nicholas Copernicus, Benjamin Franklin and Bill Gates. They were（17）“laterborns”--that is, they had（18）one older sibling--brother or sister --when they were born.（19）, laterborns are up to 15 times more likely than firstborns to（20）authority and break new（21）, says Frank J. Sulloway, a researcher scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.In his book “Born To Rebel” being（22）this week, Sulloway claims that（23）someone is an older or younger sibling is the most important（24）shaping personality is more significant than gender, race, nationality （25）class.He spent 26 years（26）the lives -- and birth orders -- of 6, 566 historical（27）to reach his conclusions.A laterborn himself, Sulloway first（28）how birth order affected personality（29）a scholar of Darwin at Harvard University.“How could a somewhat（30）student at Cambridge become the most（31）thinker in the 19th century?” he said.Darwin, the first to（32）the belief that God created the world with his theory of evolution, was the fifth of six children. Most of his（33）were firstborns.Sulloway’s theory held（34）with Copernicus, the first astronomer to（35）that the Sun was the center of the universe, and computer revolutionary Gates of Microsoft.
A.Likewise B.Likely C.Alike D.Unlike
问题2：
A.both B.neither C.all D.either
问题3：
A.at best B.at least C.at most D.at worst
问题4：
A.In short B.In detail C.In all D.In fact
问题5：
A.resist B.decline C.flee D.prevent
问题6：
A.base B.land C.soil D.ground
问题7：
A.dismissed B.released C.discharged D.reminded
问题8：
A.whether B.if C.since D.when
问题9：
A.role B.part C.factor D.case
问题10：
A.besides B.or C.except D.but
问题11：
A.perceiving B.watching C.arranging D.studying
问题12：
A.numbers B.figures C.experiences D.recordings
问题13：
A.wondered B.described C.requested D.posed
问题14：
A.on B.as C.about D.by
问题15：
A.neutral B.brilliant C.commonplace D.promising
问题16：
A.questionable B.evolutionary C.traditional D.revolutionary
问题17：
A.provoke B.summon C.challenge D.reinforce
问题18：
A.followers B.counterparts C.opponents D.proponents
问题19：
A.exact B.true C.genuine D.real
问题20：
A.theorize B.originate C.invent D.propose