Ques: Parties, iPods, concerts, movies, TV shows, video games, traffic. All of these things of the modern world make life entertaining and enjoyable. But our 21st-century lifestyle is also loud and, if we don't take notice, it can have an effect on our hearing. Most teenagers don't think about hearing loss. But if you experience any of the followingsymptoms , you may already be hearing damaged: you make efforts to hear normal talk, you have to turn up the TV or radio so high that others complain, you watch other people's expressions to understand what they are saying, you ask people to repeat themselves, you misunderstand what people are saying or you hear ringing in your ears. iPods and other MP3 players are as common as the clothes you wear, and just as fashionable. But if you turn up an iPod to more than 60 percent of itsmaximum volume , and listen to music for more than an hour, you are asking for trouble. And, it does not matter if the music you play is classical, rock or heavy metal. Some researchers find that young people who break the so-called 60-percent/60-minute rule in listening to iPods are at the risk of suffering hearing loss. Why is an iPod dangerous? With ear buds placed directly in the ear canal and high-volume music played over a long period of time, it's like working in a loud factory all day, being amaintenance person under a jet airplane or using ajackhammer on a building site. Similarly, iPod music can cause a short time orpermanent hearing damage. A loud iPod can cause aruptured eardrum and, over time, may cause permanent damage to the tiny hairs in the inner ear. If these tiny hairs are damaged, they cannot effectively send sounds to theauditory nerves that connect to the brain. If this happens, hearing loss becomes permanent. Which of the following is TRUE when you listen to music? A) Listen at least an hour every time. B) Turn up the volume to the highest level. C) keep the sound lower than 60% of its highest volume. D) Choose classical, rock or heavy metal music.
Ans: C

Ques: As dangerous as sharks may have seed to people after watching Jaws, which was released on June 20,1975, the recent disastrous decrease in their numbers show that people have proven far more dangerous to sharks. This disastrous decline is due in large part to commercial fishing of sharks. "The market for shark fins in East Asia opened up thanks to changes in their economy, increasing their ability to spend money on things such as shark fin soup," Burgess said. However, the biggest worry for sharks and their relatives, the skates and rays, which are suffering a similar fate, "is how they are killed incidentally when fishermen try and take other fish--the problem of bycatch ," Burgess explained. "They may be thrown back afterward, but they're still dead." The key of the problems behind bringing sharks back is that "they're not the same as other fish," Burgess said, "Sharks are slow growing and slow to reach maturity. Sharks are live bearers, which means females keep their young in their body just like us, but instead of nine months, it takes 12 to 18 months or more in sharks. Also, sharks generally can't give birth again until a year after they've given birth--sometimes they're on a three-year cycle. So once you get a shark population knocked down, this 'life in the slow lane' means that recovery is measured in decades rather than years."\ Burgess said, "I'm on the recovery team for it, but the recovery plan for that is over the course of 100 years. So I won't see them recover, nor will you, nor will your children. That's what it means when these animals go down--they're down a long time." Any measures aimed at saving sharks must not only consider byeatch, "which is the real killer right now," but also encourage interactional cooperation, Burgess said. "Sharks are very migratory, and many species cross borders," he said. "We can protect them only by getting many govemment to come aboard. That's the hardest part about this." The number of sharks is decreasing mostly because of  _  . A) the film Jaws B) commercial interests C) changes in economy D) shark fin soup
Ans: B

Ques: For every woman who feels like she's had to scale back her personal ambitions since becoming a mother, gold medal cyclist Kristin Armstrong has a message: Don't give up on your dreams. She retired after winning gold in Beijing to start a family; son Lucas arrived in 2010, but then she decided to compete again in the London Olympics. She won a gold medal at last. The decision to start training again wasn't easy. "I struggled with that a lot," she told a newspaper. "At the beginning I felt selfish, I felt like, 'Well, I'm not supposed to be thinking of myself anymore. It's all supposed to be for my kid.'" She faced physical challenges of getting back into competition shape after giving birth, as well. When she started racing in the spring of 2011, she was still breast-feeding; she would nurse her son, then race, then breast-feed again after the race. Her days revolved around Lucas and training. "I feel like I'm able to do what I love to do and still manage a family and have that balance," Armstrong said. "That you have a family or a child doesn't mean that you have to stop going after what you dream of individually." Armstrong makes balance look easy, whether it's on her bike or as an athlete-mom. But she points out that you can't have it all without making some sacrifices. For example, don't expect a neat home--her husband, Joe Savola, who she describes as her support system and her "protector", says he's had to give up on trying to keep everything orderly at home and just accept that their living room has become Lucas's playroom. For Armstrong, she's sacrificed time with friends who had kids around the same age--there just wasn't time. Now, she says, "That sounds like fun to me." As she heads home to Boise, Idaho, she's ready to do regular mom stuff. It was difficult for Armstrong to make the decision to participate in the London Olympics because she  _   . A) was too old to train racing B) had to give her family much consideration C) faced big physical challenges D) could not get support from her family
Ans: B

Ques: Tears came into this mother's eyes when she talked about waking up her son. Every morning, her ten-year-old boy puts up one finger with his eyes still closed, begging for one more minute to sleep. Why is he so sleepy? Because, like thousands of student "early birds" in China, he has to get up before 6 a.m. every morning. School students usually need eight to ten hours' sleep a night. But in Shanghai, it's reported that 90% of the students do not get enough sleep. And studies show that without a good night's sleep, students seem to be weaker than they should be. Many become near-sighted as a result. Li Ming, a student at Qinghua High School, said that he usually goes to bed after 11 p.m. But when he has exams coming up, he can stay up as late as midnight. This "night bird" lifestyle has made many students nod off in class. Li Ming said that it is during afternoon classes that he feel most sleepy. "My parents are usually happy to see me studying so late," he said. "They think I work very hard and they make me cups of coffee." However, not all parents are happy about this. "My daughter gets up so early. She looks tired and it really hurts me." said one of the parents. Why don't so many students get enough sleep? Now many members of society began to think about it. How does Li Ming's mother feel to see him studying late? A) Sorry. B) Worried. C) Not unhappy. D) Angry.
Ans:
C