Skywriting is a form of advertising in which a pilot is bound to spell out a brief slogan or catchphrase in letters formed by smoke. In general, a customer would choose a specific place and time for the skywriting to appear. The message would only last as long as winds are relatively calm and the sky is clear. Single plane skywriting has largely been replaced by multi-plane "skytyping" , a computer-controlled method involving puffs of smoke from a row of aircraft.

The first official skywriting show took place over New York City in November of 1922. A skywriting pioneer and Royal Air Force（RAF）pilot named John Savage sat with the president of the American Tobacco Company, George Hill, as a fellow RAF ace pilot named Captain Cyril Turner flew into position over New York City. Captain Turner spelled out "HELLO USA CALL VANDERBILT 7200" in white smoke. Over47,000 people called the number, which happened to be the Vanderbilt Hotel where George Hill was staying. Hill became convinced that the skywriting advertisements would work well to promote his Lucky Strike cigarettes.

Skywriting continued to grow in popularity as both an advertising medium and a personal message service. Customers could request anything from "Eat at Joe's" to "Will You Marry Me？"Messages and slogans would naturally have to remain short, but even a simple phone number could produce a lot of curious potential（潜在的）customers for a small investment.

The development of the national highway system after WW Ⅱ spelled the beginning of the end for the skywriting industry. Instead of posting a few words in the sky, advertisers could now fill entire billboards with all sorts of pictures. Thousands of captive audience would pass by these new advertising signs every day, unlike the precious few who would come across a typical skywriting message. Many aerial（空中的）advertising companies turned to permanent banners（横幅）pulled behind low-flying aircraft instead.

Some skywriting is still performed today, although only a select number of pilots have the skills necessary for the job.

【小题1】What do we know about skywriting？

A．It is made up of smoke and clouds.

B．It is performed by computers at present.

C．It appears where the pilot wants.

D．It is a kind of ad made in the sky.

【小题2】The third paragraph suggests that skywriting ________.

A．satisfied all of the needs of customers

B．was an effective advertising style

C．appealed to few customers

D．ended up with a message service

【小题3】Why did advertisers give up skywriting？

A．Because skywriting was too expensive to advertise.

B．Because planes were greatly reduced after WWⅡ.

C．Because billboards could attract more audience.

D．Because it wasn't easy to do such a thing.

【小题4】What might be the most suitable title for the passage？

A．Why people need skywriting

B．How to do skywriting

C．When it is good to do skywriting

D．What skywriting is

   "Creativity is the key to a brighter future, "say education and business experts. Here is how schools and parents can encourage this important skill in children.

If Dick Drew had listened to his boss in 1925, we might not have the product that we now think of as great importance: a new type of tape. Drew worked for the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. At work he developed a kind of material strong enough to hold things together. But his boss told him not to think more about the idea. Finally, using his own time, Drew improved the tape, which now is used everywhere by many people. And his former company learned from its mistake. Now it encourages people to spend 15 percent of their working time just thinking about and developing new ideas.

Creativity is not something one is just born with, nor is it necessarily a character of high intelligence. The fact that a person is highly intelligent does not mean that he uses it creatively. Creativity is the matter of using the resources one has to produce new ideas that are good for something.

Unfortunately, schools have not tried to encourage creativity. With strong attention to test results and the development of reading, writing and mathematical skills, many educators give up creativity for correct answers. The result is that children can gain information but can't recognize ways to use it in new situations. They may know the rules correctly but they are unable to use them to work out practical problems.

It is important to give children choices. From the earliest age, children should be allowed to make decisions and understand their results. Even if it' choosing between two food items for lunch, decision-making helps thinking skills. As children grow older, parents should try to let them decide how to use their time or spend their money. This is because the most important character of creative people is a very strong desire to find a way out of trouble.

【小题1】What did the company where Drew once worked learn from its mistake?

A．It should encourage people to work a longer time.

B．People should be discouraged to think freely.

C．People will do better if they spend most of their working time developing new ideas.

D．It is necessary for people to spend some of their working time considering and developing new ideas.

【小题2】We can know from the passage that creativity _________.

A．something that most people are born with

B．something that has nothing to do with intelligence at all

C．a way of using what one has learned to work out new problems

D．something that is not important to the life in the future at all

【小题3】Why don't schools try to encourage creativity？

A．They don't attach importance to creativity education.

B．They don't want their students to make mistakes.

C．They pay no attention to examination marks.

D．They think it impossible to develop creativity in class.

【小题4】What should the parents do when their children decide how to spend their money？

A．Allow them to have a try.

B．Try to help them as much as possible.

C．Take no notice of whatever they do.

D．Order them to spend the least money.

   Do you like eating processed meat? If you do, think twice now if you want to eat such meat for the sake of your health.  Why? "It's because eating processed meat can cause cancer, " World Health Organization （WHO） experts said last Monday.

Processed meat is the meat that has been preserved by salting, smoking, drying or canning. Experts from the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer （IARC） in Lyon, France studied 800 patients.  The experts connected processed meat, such as hot dogs and bacon, with at least three kinds of cancer.  A person who eats 50 grams of processed meat per day— about two pieces of bacon— increases his or her risk of bowel （肠） cancer by 18 percent.

The IARC has included processed meat in its Group 1 list, for which there is " enough evidence" of its connection with cancer. Tobacco is also on the Group 1 list.

The experts also said red meat, including beef, lamb and pork, is "probably" carcinogenic （致癌的）to humans. Dr. Kurt Strait is with the IARC. He said in a statement that the risk of cancer increases with the amount of meat a person eats. Health experts in some countries advised people against eating large amounts of red and processed meat. But those suggestions had been centered on the increased risk of heart disease and obesity.

However, meat industry groups protest the result of the WHO's study.  They say that meat is part of a balanced diet.  They also say the causes of cancer are broad, and include environment and lifestyle factors.

The WHO's report cites （引证） the Global Burden of Disease Study's project, which shows that diets high in processed meat lead to 34, 000 cancer deaths per year worldwide.

【小题1】It can be inferred that the items on the Group 1 list of the IARC    .

A．are all processed foods

B．aren't often eaten by people

C．can be the most dangerous to humans

D．can greatly increase the risk of cancer

【小题2】Which can take the place of the underlined word "protest"?

A．Learn from.	B．Disagree with.
C．Take interest in.	D．Pay attention to.

【小题3】Which is the best title of the passage?

A．WHO: Processed Meat Can Cause Cancer

B．The Importance of Having a Balanced Diet

C．Eating Too Much Red Meat Is Bad for Humans

D．The Causes of Some Kinds of Cancer

Internet use appears to cause a decline in psychological well-being（安康）, according to research at Carnegie Mellon University.
Even people who spent just a few hours a week on the Internet experienced more depression and loneliness than those who logged on less frequently, the two-year study showed. And it wasn’t that people who were already feeling bad spent more time on the Internet, but that using the Net actually appeared to cause the bad feeling.
Researchers are puzzling over the results, which were completely contrary to their expectations. They expected that the net would prove socially healthier than television, since the Net allows users to choose their information and to communicate with others.
The fact that Internet use reduces time available for family and friends may account for the drop in well-being, researchers suggested. Faceless, bodiless “virtual”（虚拟的）communication may be less psychologically satisfying than actual conversation, and the relationship formed through it may be shallower. Another possibility is that exposure to the wider world via the Net makes users less satisfied with their lives.
“But it’s important to remember this is not about the technology  per se; it’s about how it is used,” says psychologist Christine Riley of Intel, one of the study’s sponsors. “It really points to the need for considering social effects in terms of how you design applications and services for technology.”
【小题1】The best title for this passage would be ________.

A．Internet may Cause Depression

B．The Dark Side of Internet

C．How to Use Technology Properly

D．The Importance of Psychological Well-being

【小题2】Internet use may cause a decline in psychological well-being because ________.

A．people who were already feeling bad spend more time on the Internet

B．Internet users thought the world was wider than it really was

C．people were too eager to turn the “virtual” communication into reality

D．people have less time for actual communication with their family and friends

【小题3】What does the underlined Latin word “per se” (in Para. 5) mean?

A．probably	B．absolutely
C．oneself	D．itself

【小题4】What’s the tone of the passage?

A．Optimistic.	B．Critical.
C．Objective.	D．Pessimistic.

   Darek Fidyka, a 38-year-old Bulgarian, had been paralysed（瘫痪的）from the chest down for four years after a knife attack. Scientists from Britain and Poland took cells from his nose, transplanted them into his back and regrew his spinal cord （脊髓）. Now he can walk and even drive a car. The doctors were delighted but said it was the first step in a long journey.

The breakthrough came after 40 years of research by Professor Geoff Raisman, who found that cells had the possibility to repair damage to nasal （鼻子的） nerves, the only part of the nervous system that constantly regrows. “The idea was to take something from an area where the nervous system can repair itself, and put it into an area that doesn't repair itself,” Professor Raisman said.

Polish doctors injected the nasal cells into Mr Fidyka's spinal cord above and below the injury and used some nerves from his ankle to form a bridge across the damaged tissue. The nasal cells appear to have caused the spinal nerves to repair themselves.

Professor Raisman achieved this with rats in the late 1990s, but this is his greatest success. “I think the moment of discovery for me was Christmas in 1997 when I first saw a rat that couldn't control its hand put its hand out to me. That was an exciting moment, because I realized then that my belief that the nervous system could be repaired was true. ”

Doctors chose the easiest case for their first attempt — it might not work for others. But there is a real sense of hope that an idea once thought impossible has been realized.

David Nicholls, who helped provide money for the breakthrough, said information about the breakthrough would be made available to researchers across the globe.

“What you’ve got to understand is that for three million paralysed people in the world today, the world looks like a totally brighter place than it did yesterday,” he said.

【小题1】Why did Professor Geoff Raisman choose cells from the nose?

A．The nervous system in the nose can repair itself.

B．Cells in the nose can be easily transplanted.

C．Cells in the nose reproduce rapidly.

D．He just wanted to give it a try.

【小题2】Why did the operation work for Darek Fidyka?

A．The nasal cells reproduced and spread quickly.

B．The nerves from his ankle cured the injury.

C．The nervous system in the spinal cord can repair itself.

D．The nasal cells helped the spinal nerves to repair themselves.

【小题3】What made Professor Geoff Raisman believe the nervous system can be repaired?

A．His study on animals.

B．His operation on a paralysed patient.

C．His sudden thoughts about Christmas.

D．His unusual experience with a sick rat.

【小题4】David Nicholls' words suggest that ________.

A．the world is becoming better and brighter

B．paralysed people have the hope of recovery

C．the report of the breakthrough will be published soon

D．researchers across the globe will carry out the operation immediately