A
When Gustave Eiffel designed the tower to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution, he had never imagined it to last more than 20 years. However, the tower has been beyond all expectations.
While its structure is greatly admired today, such wasn’t the case when the design was presented. Many artists thought the design was ugly, but Eiffel didn’t change a thing. He believed that once it was ready, people would love the tower.
He was true. The tower was an instant hit when it opened on March 31st, 1889, two years after construction began. Over 30,000 people came to admire the new wonder and even tried to climb to the top.
Though it was famous, French officials still considered taking it down. Fortunately, Eiffel stopped them by convincing(说服) them to use it for scientific experiments, and then a few years later, signals for television broadcasting. Over the years, the tower was also home to a newspaper office, post office, theater and even a lab for Gustave Eiffel.
Today, the tower houses many restaurants on its first and second level. The third level has been a platform where visitors can see the entire city of Paris. While visitors can take the stairs to the first two levels, they must take the elevators to the platform, which are closely monitored. That hasn’t stopped attempts by brave people to try to do various performances off the tower—from bungee jumping to climbing it with their bare hands.
To make sure the “Iron Lady” looks good, the tower is cleaned and repainted every eight years. Moreover, thanks to the fact that it was made of iron that expands in hot weather, the tower “grows” up to 6.75 inches taller every summer!
21. What does the author explain about the success of the tower when it opened?
A.It was highly thought of by many French artists.
B.It remains the world’s tallest man-made structure.
C.The government was planning to take the tower down.
D.It attracted many people to visit it.
22. Gustave Eiffel convinced the officials not to tear the tower down by saying .
A.it was a great symbol of France
B.many other uses could be made of it
C.it could help scientists do experiments successfully
D.the government could allow more people to visit it
23. Why does the tower grow every summer?
A.Because the tower is repainted every eight years.
B.Because the iron expands when it’s heated in summer.
C.Because the tower is being viewed from different directions.
D.Because people try to do many performances off the tower.
B
Searching the Internet may help middle-aged and older adults keep their memories sharp, US researchers said.
Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles,studied people doing Web searches by recording their brain activity.
“What we saw was that people who had Internet experience used more of their brain during the search,” Dr.Gary Small, a UCLA expert on aging,said. “This suggests that just searching on the Internet may train the brain and that it may keep it active and healthy.”
“This is the first time that someone has simulated(模拟) an Internet search task while scanning the brain,” Small said.His team studied 24 normal volunteers between the ages of 55 and 76. Half were experienced in searching the Internet and the other half had no Web experience. However, the two groups were similar in age,gender and education.
Both groups were asked to do Internet searches and book reading tasks while their brain activity was monitored(监视).
“We found that in the book reading task, the visual cortex—the part of the brain that controls reading and language—was activated,” Small said. “In doing the Internet search task, there was much greater activity, but only in the Internet-savvy group.”
He said it appears that people who are familiar with the Internet can engage in a much deeper level of brain activity. Activities that keep the brain engaged can preserve brain health and thinking ability. Small thought learning to do Internet searches may be one of those activities.
24. Researchers when volunteers were doing Web searches.
A.studied the Internet
B.activated the brain
C.monitored the brain activity
D.recorded their memories
25.The two volunteer groups were .
A.of the same age
B.similar in education
C.good at the computer
D.book lovers
26. According to the passage,we can learn that .
A.searching the Web keeps the brain more engaged
B.reading books keeps the brain more engaged
C.watching TV keeps the brain more engaged
D.chatting online keeps the brain more engaged
27. What can we conclude from the last paragraph?
A.Web searching is good for the brain.
B.Web searching damages the brain.
C.Activities are good for the brain.
D.Activities damage the brain.
C
Space travel is definitely bad for astronauts’ bones, reducing their bone density(密度)after only a month of weightlessness,according to French research published on Friday.
Laurence Vico and his fellow workers at St Etienne University called for more research into the effects of microgravity, after their study of 15 astronauts from the Russian MIR station showed bone loss continued throughout space flights.
“Bone loss was especially striking in four astronauts,” the scientists reported in the Lancet Medical Journal.
They measured the bone mineral density(BMD)of bones in the forearm(前臂)and lower leg of the astronauts who had spent one to six months in space.
The BMD loss was significant in the tibia(胫骨)of the lower leg, a weight-bearing bone, but barely changed in the radius(桡骨)of the forearm. “Our results indicate the need to investigate not only different bones, but also different areas of the same bone since not all sites of the skeleton(骨架)are similarly affected by space conditions,” they added.
Without gravity the body isn’t bearing any weight so there is no need for calcium(钙)which makes bones strong,and it becomes empty into the bloodstream.
The research team suggested in future scientists should try to determine if the loss of bone density was only on weight-bearing bones on longer flights, also the possible recovery after returning to Earth.
28.French scientists did their research on Russian astronauts,because .
A.they only cared for the Russian astronauts
B.they were not interested in their own astronauts
C.the Russian government invited them to do their research
D.the Russian astronauts worked in space for a long time
29. Scientists have found that .
A.the BMD loss may cause serious illness to astronauts
B.the BMD loss may cause some change in astronauts’ bodies
C.astronauts shouldn’t care about the BMD loss
D.astronauts should take some calcium before space travel
30. In the third paragraph,the word “striking” means .
A.unusual B.simple
C.weak D.slow
参考答案：A篇 DBB B篇 CBAA C篇 DBA
