Passage 1

Topic

What is the secret to live a long life?

Content Review

P1 This year, the number of retired pensioners in the UK exceeded the number of under 18 for the first time in history. That's remarkable in its own right, but the real "population explosion" has been among the oldest of the old - the centenarians. In fact, this is the fastest-growing demographic in much of the developed world. In the UK, their numbers have increased by a factor of 60 since the early 20th century. And their ranks are set to swell even further, thanks to the aging baby-boomer generation: by 2030 there will be about a million worldwide.

P2 These trends raise social, ethical and economic dilemmas. Are medical advances artificially prolonging life with little regard for the quality of that life? Old age brings an increased risk of chronic disease, disability and dementia, and if growing numbers of elderly people become dependent on state or familial support, society faces skyrocketing costs and commitments. This is the dark cloud outside the silver lining of increasing longevity. Yet researchers who study the oldest old have made a surprising discovery that presents a less pessimistic vision of the future than many anticipate.

P3 It is becoming clear that people who break through the 90-plus barrier represent a physical elite, markedly different from the elderly who typically die younger than them. Far from gaining a longer burden of disability, their extra years are often healthy ones. They have a remarkable ability to live through, delay or entirely escape a host of diseases that kill off most of their peers. Supercentenarians - people aged 110 or over - are even better examples of aging gracefully. The average supercentenarian had freely gone about their daily life until the age of 105 or so, some five to 10 years longer even than centenarians, who are themselves the physical equivalent of people eight to 10 years their junior.

P4 One of the most comprehensive studies comes from Denmark. In 1998, Kaare Christensen at the University of Southern Denmark, in Odense, exploited the country's exemplary registries to contact every single one of the 3600 people born in 1905 who was still alive. Assessing their health over the subsequent decade, he found that the proportion of people who managed to remain independent throughout was constantly around one-third of the total: each individual risked becoming more infirm, but the unhealthiest ones passed away at earlier ages, leaving the strongest behind. In 2005, only 166 of the people in Christensen's sample were alive, but one-third of those were still entirely self-sufficient.

P5 Christensen's optimistic findings are echoed in studies all over the world. In the US, almost all of the 700-plus people recruited to the New England Centenarian Study (NECS) since it began in 1994 had lived independently until the age of 90, and 40 per cent of supercentenarians in the study could still look after themselves. In the UK, Carol Brayne at the University of Cambridge studied 958 people aged over 90 and found that only one-quarter of them were living in institutions or nursing homes. Likewise, research in China reveals that before their deaths, centenarians and nonagenarians spend fewer days ill and bedridden than younger elderly groups, though the end comes quickly when it finally comes. Of course, people can live independently without being entirely healthy, and it is true that most centenarians suffer from some sort of ailment. These range from osteoarthritis to simple loneliness.

P6 Not all of the oldest old survive by delaying illness or disability, though – many soldier through it. Jessica Evert of Ohio State University in Columbus examined the medical histories of over 400 centenarians. She found that those who achieve extreme longevity tend to fall into three categories. About 40 per cent were "delayers", who avoided chronic diseases until after the age of 80. Another 40 per cent were "survivors", who suffered from chronic diseases before the age of 80 but lived longer to tell the tale. The final 20 per cent were "escapers", who hit their century with no sign of the most common chronic diseases, including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, hypertension and stroke. Intriguingly, one-third of male centenarians were in this category, compared with only 15 per cent of women.

P7 Okinawa in Japan is the front runner. At 58 centenarians per 100,000 people (and rising), it has the world's highest proportion in this age group - more than five times the level of some developed countries. Like other hotspots, including Sardinia and Iceland, Okinawa is a relatively isolated island community. Of course, members of isolated communities or families usually share a particular environment too, but this alone cannot explain clusters of longevity. Gerontologists have found that the influence of social factors such as wealth fades as we age, while that of genes increases. By comparing 10,000 pairs of Scandinavian twins, Christensen found that genes only start exerting a strong influence on our lifespan after the age of 60. Before then, both identical and non-identical twins have largely independent odds of reaching a given age. Beyond 60, however, the odds of one twin reaching a given age are greatly increased if their co-twin has done so, especially if the twins are identical.

P8 This makes the "centenarian genome" a key resource for identifying "longevity genes", an invaluable step in understanding the physiological processes underlying long lives. Such genes have been found in abundance in other organisms – including over 70 in the worms. Unfortunately, it's a different story in humans. While many candidate genes have been suggested to affect lifespan, very few have been consistently verified in multiple populations.

Questions & Answers

Questions 1-7 T/F/NG

1. The largest growth of Centenarians all over the world is in the UK. NG

(原文说greatest growth in developed countries. in UK, increased 60%)

2. Fewer families are taking care of their elderly members. NG

3. People over 90 are now in good health. True

4. The Centenarians’ health conditions are better than supercentenarian. False

(原文Supercentenarian are better than Centenarians.)

5. None of the oldest old survivors in Christensen’s study could take care of themselves. False

(原文1/3 could look after themselves.)

6. The Cambridge and China studies conflicted with Christensen’s study. False

(原文The Christensen’s findings echoed all over the world.)

7. The Centenarians may suffer from stronger loneliness than the generation younger than them. NG

(原文只说they do suffer from some ailments, such as osteoarthritis and loneliness.)

Questions 8-13 Short answer questions ONE-WORD ONLY

8. What does Jessica Evert call the people who reached 100 years old without having chronic diseases? 

escapers

9. Which factor is contributing to men’s longevity?

genetics

10. Which area has the largest proportion of Centenarians?

Okinawa

11. Which factor should not be neglected if people want to have a long life?

exercise

12. Which social element decreases as the age grows? 

wealth

13. Which species, apart from human, have the longevity genes?

worms

Passage 2

Topic

Patterns of Settlement in England Countryside

Content Review

A: For many centuries, England has been consisted of a variety of administrative unites, which containing villages and several farmsteads and a group of helmets.

B: Villages are commonly in the west of England, where is drier and arable, while pastoral farms and helmet are usually in wetter and hillier places.

C: The characteristics of different patterns are various. The explanation to this is the difference of farming. The lackage of capital equipment makes cooperation a necessity in villages. Several villages cooperate in the clearance of woodland.

D: villages are rarer than west when moving east, pastoral farm are becoming popular due to the cultivation of cows and sheep.

E: Helmet is another pattern, which is harder to account for. Farmers and animals are generally housed in the same houses, called ‘long houses’, scattering on the lands.

F: The layout of village depending on some factors. Farmers looked for first of all unfailing water.

G: The earliest picture of settlement maps can be dated form late 16^th century. Yet, it is very clear that very hard to find the original shapes and size of patterns. For the reason that, they have been changing for centuries.

Questions & Answers

Questions 14-19

List of Headings

i. Why certain locations are chosen for villages

ii. Regional difference among different types of settlement

iii. The layout of village has been changed

iv. Sharing resources and laboring

v. The complexity of patterns in England countryside

vi. The design of farming building

vii. Investigation and lifestyle of settlement

viii. A form of pattern has not been fully explained

ix. The impact of animals on living arrangement

   Paragraph A: v (Sample)

14. Paragraph B: ii

15. Paragraph C: iv

16. Paragraph D: ix

17. Paragraph E: viii

18. Paragraph F: i

19. Paragraph G: iii

Questions 20-26

Different Types of Settlement

For such a small country, England has been consisted of villages and several

20. farmsteads and a group of helmets. The reason for various types of settlement patterns is the 21. different farming.  (20题在文章段，21在第三段)

Capital equipment lackage makes the cooperation a necessity. Several villages cooperate in the 22. clearance of woodland and build 23. dikes where the water is a threat. （22题和23题在第三段，）

Moving east, 24. Pastoral farm is a popular pattern, where farmers cultivate cows and sheep, Farmers and animals are generally housed in the isolated houses, called 25. long houses. （24题和25题在第四段）

Helmet is another pattern. It develops on the 26. division of land’s descendants through centuries. （26题在第五段）

Passage 3

Topic

What does video games do to our brain?

Content Review

P1 Video games is originally created for children. James Gee conducted research about the influence of video games on adult. Other researchers are investigating the potential hidden benefits in video games.

P2 Intensive use of video games results in significant generalized improvements in cognitive function: pattern recognition, system thinking and patience.

P3 Video games challenge the brain, making it process incoming visual information more efficiently.

P4 In one study, scientists used fMRI (functional MRI) technology to study the brains of subjects.

P5 Fast action games require the player constantly to switch their attention from one part of the screen to another while also staying vigilant for other events in the environment.

P6 The reject to the cliché that video games is the coordination of eye contact and visual contact. Prof Daphne Bavelier has compared the visual abilities of gamers and non-gamers.

P7 Science has failed to find a causal link between video games and real-world acts of violence.

P8 Players use adapted controllers that mimic the tools used in surgery - and those who perform well in the game also do better in tests of their surgical skills.

P9 Video game play is literally the neurological opposite of depression. It has been further discovered that dopamine, a chemical that the brain produces, is released when we play video games.

Questions & Answers

Questions 27-31 Choose the correct letter, A,B,C,D

27. What is the writer doing in the first paragraph?

B. to introduce the background of James Paul Gee’s research

28. What is the point of the second paragraph? 

C. be helpful in enhancing brain functions

29. ‘the regime of research’ refers to the way people

B. To reach the goals through the challenge of limits

30. The Gress experiment

D. was criticized for giving an advantage for the game players

31. scientists used the machine fMRI (functional MRI) aims to

D. show that subjects maybe unaware of their physical confinement

Questions 32-35 

32. The most popular video games are to some extent of violence. NOT GIVEN

33. Game players develop more social skills. NO

34. Many schools are supposed to adapt video games into their courses. NOT GOVEN

35. Game players who are addicted to video games produce more dopamine in their brains. YES

Questions 36-40

Use the information in the passage to match the organization (listed A-E) with opinions or details below.

36. Shawn Green (C)

37. Daphne Bavelier (D)

38. James Paul Gee (B)

39. Steve Johnson (E)

40. The writer’s opinion (A)