In many societies, there is often greater acceptance of light skin than dark skin. Light skin may be seen as a mark of beauty, intelligence and success. These beliefs can lead to social pressures even within the same racial or ethnic group, if some members are darker skinned than others.
The result is that skin lightening has become a common activity across Africa, Asia and other areas of the world. More and more people with dark skin are using skin-lightening products, even if it means they may face health risks.
They believe that having whiter skin will improve their lives. Many people think they will have a better chance of getting a job or marrying into a better family. Or they want to look like what their society generally considers beautiful.
Some beauty care products and soaps contain chemicals that make skin lighter. This is also called bleaching. But some of the chemicals are extremely dangerous. One of the most dangerous is hydroquinone(對(duì)苯二酚).
Hydroquinone has been banned in several countries. This chemical has been connected to kidney damage and some kinds of cancer. It also causes low birth weight in babies when mothers –to-be use it during pregnancy.
At first, bleaching products make the skin color lighter. But after long-term use they can cause problems. They could even make some skin darker.
The chemicals in the products block and break down the natural process that gives color to skin. The skin loses its natural barrier（障礙）to protect against sunlight. Then the skin can become thick and discolored. Usually the person will use more of the product in an effort to correct the problem, but this only makes it worse.
Fatimata Ly treats skin conditions in the Senegalese capital, Dakar. Doctor Ly says skin bleaching has become a problem throughout Senegal. She says the chemicals are now more dangerous because they are stronger. Some cases have resulted in blackened fingernails, infections and permanent（永久的）skin damage.
And these are not the only risks. Experts say some people who change their skin color suffer emotional damage. They feel regret and sadness. They feel that instead of risking their health, they should have learned to love and accept their skin color as it was.
小題1:What is the text mainly about?
A．The advantages of light skinB．Introducing skin lightening products
C．The harmfulness of HydroquinoneD．The health risks of bleaching
小題2:What does the underlined word “bleaching” refer to?
A．The process of removing the color
B．The process of making the skin whiter
C．The chemicals that make things white
D．The chemicals that protect skin against sunlight
小題3:Why do people want to make their skin lighter?
A．Because they all want to look more beautiful.
B．Because they all want to marry into better families.
C．Because they want to find better jobs.
D．Because they want to improve their lives.
小題4:Skin bleaching may cause the problem of ______.
A．emotional problems B．kidney cancerC．lighter skin D．low birth rate
小題5:The author holds a/ an ______ attitude towards skin lightening.
A．positiveB．negativeC．supportiveD．optimistic

小題1:D
小題1:B
小題1:D
小題1:A
小題1:B
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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Young people looking for a job with good pay, flexible hours and job security should consider working in health care, according to a list of the top 15 best jobs in the US for young people.
Health care is the fastest growing sector of the US economy and nearly half of what are considered the top jobs for young people are in the sector, Forbes.com said.
With a medium annual salary of $33,470, dental assistants topped the ranking, while medical assistants, who earn about $28,860, came in No. 3, followed by physical therapist assistants who make a medium salary of nearly $50,000 and health aides who earn $20,560.
Teachers of self-enrichment courses such as pottery and art, were the only non-health job in the top five.
"Almost every one of these requires physical contact," Laurence Shatkin, the author of the book "150 Best Jobs for Your Skills," told Forbes. com. "You have to show up to do them, so you're not being shipped overseas, and they can't be done by a robot."
Shatkin studied which jobs have the highest concentration of 16 to 24 year olds, pay well and have opportunities for entry level positions. He based the ranking on annual salary and openings and projected growth. Many of the jobs do not require a college degree.
Fitness trainers and aerobics instructors, pharmacy technicians and surgical technologists were also among the top 10 jobs for young people.
Because many of the jobs can be done on a part-time basis, they offer the flexibility for people to continue their education while doing them. Some of the jobs offer career prospects and advancements.
"Young people may not have figured out what their priorities are yet," Shatkin told Forbes.com.   "They may use these jobs to discover what they like and where they fit in."
小題1:From the passage, we know that health care is a sector where people in the USA can ________.
A．work the shortest time
B．make the most money
C．enjoy its safest working conditions
D．experience its fastest development
小題2:After reading the passage, we can infer that _________.
A．teachers of self-enrichment courses are No.2 among the top five jobs
B．dental assistants are listed as the best job due to their highest salary
C．people still need to go to college to get a good job
D．good jobs are those that can be done part-time
小題3:What can be the best title for the passage?
A．Health Care among Top Jobs for Young People
B．Factors for People to Consider while Seeking Jobs
C．Results from Forbes.com on Best Jobs
D．The Higher the Pay Is, the Better the Job Is

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

The word “sport” first meant something that people did in their free time. Later it often meant hunting wild animals and birds. About a hundred years ago the word was first used for organized games. This is the usual meaning of the word today. People spend a lot of their time playing football, basketball, tennis and many other sports. Such people play because they want to. A few people are paid for the sport they play. These people are called professional sportsmen. They may be sportsmen for only a few years, but during that time the best ones can earn a lot of money. For example, a professional footballer in England earns more than 30,000 dollars a year. The stars earn a lot more. International golf and tennis champions can make more than 500,000 dollars a year. Of course, only a few sportsmen can earn as much money as that.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about sportsmen and money is that the stars can earn more money from advertising than from sports. An advertisement for sports equipment does not simply say “Buy our things”. It says “Buy the same shirt and shoes as …”. Famous sportsmen can even advertise things like watches and food. They allow the companies to use their names or a photograph of them and they are paid for this. Sport is no longer just something for people’s spare time.
小題1:From the passage we can learnt that_______.
A.  people spend too much money on sports
the development of sport is slower than any other activity
most people enjoy sport because they can earn money
nowadays sport is not merely a pastime for people
小題2:Nowadays, the word “sport” means “________” .
A．what people do in their spare timeB．hunting wild animals and birds
C．organized games D．something people are paid to do
小題3:People play sports for ________.
A．funB．differentC．moneyD．keeping fit
小題4:What surprises people most is that ________.
A．the stars get more money from advertising
B．the word “sport” meant hunting animals
C．professional sportsmen are paid for what they do
D．only a few sportsmen can earn ＄500,000 a year

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Modern science suggests that a healthy lifestyle matters much to how long you can live and how well you live. Here are some tips for you to form a healthy lifestyle.
Keep a scientific diet. Keep in mind that sugar can be removed from our diet completely. Over intake of sugar is one of the main reasons for getting fat. Over intake of protein or fat and low intake of fiber can also lead to getting fat. We need only a few grams of protein every day to keep our body in order. Like rain to crops, not the more the better.
Be always in a good mood. There is a relationship between the mood and health. A good mood keeps you in high spirits. Thanks to the Internet, we can enjoy and learn much without going out. Take a look at some online shops and pick up some bargains, enjoy music and movies and chat with some good friends. Just keep happy.
Enough sleep. Two studies show the reasons why teens and adults don’t have enough sleep. With teens, a major reason is mobile phone use; with adults, it’s work. Meanwhile, a third study of young children shows that a lack of sleep in early life may lead to serious problems in future. Everyone needs at least 8-hour sleep to recover from tiredness and the hurt caused by hard work in the daytime.
Proper exercise. Do exercise to keep away from fatness. Because of the quick pace of modern life, you don’t have time to do exercise every day, but at least three times a week and 45 minutes each time.
小題1:The author wrote the passage to _______.
A．tell the readers how to take proper exercise every day
B．provide some advice on how to form a healthy lifestyle
C．a(chǎn)sk people to care about their health rather than their work
D．make some surveys among those who have health problems
小題2: Which of the following can lead to getting fat according to the passage?
A．low intake of protein.
B．low intake of fat.
C．over intake of fiber.
D．over intake of sugar.
小題3:The main reason why teenagers don’t have enough sleep is that they _______.
A．use mobile phones too much
B．have too much homework
C．eat too much sugar every day
D．don’t have enough exercise
小題4:How many minutes do you need to do exercise at least every week?
A．45 minutes.B．90 minutes.C．115 minutes.D．135 minutes.
小題5:What can we conclude from the passage?
A．We must take in much sugar for our body’s functioning well.
B．The Internet leads to more health problems.
C．The least sleep time needed for adults is less that that of teens.
D．We need to do many things to form a healthy lifestyle.

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

The research carried out by the University of Bad in Italy could help prove hospitals who are accused of wasting money on art and decoration as it suggests a pleasant environment helps patients ease discomfort and pain.
A team headed by Professor Marina de Tommaso at the Neurophysiopathology
Pain Unit asked a group of men and women to pick the 20 paintings they considered
most ugly and most beautiful from a selection of 300 works by artists such as
Leonardo da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli. They were then asked to look at either the beautiful paintings, or the ugly painting, or a blank panel while the team zapped(照射) a short laser pulse at their hand, creating a sensation as if they had been stuck by a pin. The subjects rated the pain as being a third less intense while they were
viewing the beautiful paintings, compared with when looking at the ugly paintings
or the blank panel. Electrodes measuring the brain's electrical activity also confirmed a reduced resoonse to the pain when the subject looked at beautiful paintings.
While distractions, such as music, are known to reduce pain in hospital patients,Prof de Tommaso says this is the first result to show that beauty plays a part.
The findings, reported in New Scientist, also go a long way to show that
beaufiful surroundings could aid the healing process.
"Hospitals have been designed to be functional, but we think that their artistic aspects should be taken into account too," said the neurologist."Beauty boyiously offers a distraction that ugly paintings do not. But at least there is no suggestion that ugly surroundings make the pain worse. I think these results show that more research is needed into the field how a beautiful environment can alleviate suffering."
Pictures they liked included Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh and Botticellis Birth of Venus. Pictures they found ugly included works by pablo Picasso, the Italian 20th century artist Anonio Bueno and Columbian Fernando Botero." These people were not art experts so some of the pictures they found ugly would be considered masterpieces by the art world," said Prof de Tommaso.
小題1:The underlined word "alleviate" in the fifth paragraph probably means"______".
A．cureB．easeC．improveD．kill
小題2:How many artists have been mentioned in the passage?                    
A．4.B．5.C．6.D．7.
小題3: Which of the following is TURE about the view of Prof de Tommaso's?
A．Beautiful surroundings could help to heal sufferings completely.
B．Hospitals must take their artistic aspects into consideration first.
C．Ugly surroundings will surely make the pain worse.
D．Both music and beauty can reduce pain in hospital patients.
小題4:From the last paragraph, we know that_______.
A．some artists' paintings were beautiful, so they were masterpieces
B．only art experts could judge they were masterpieces or not, though ugly
C．the artists mentioned above were not really art masters.
D．some of them were art masters, while others were not.
小題5:Which of the following is the suitable title for the passage?
A．Beautiful surroundings can ease pain.
B．Ugly paintings could be masterpieces.
C．More research should be done in he field.
D．Latest environmental research.

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

It is difficult for doctors to help a person with a damaged brain. Without enough blood, the brain lives for only three to five minutes. More often the doctors can’t fix the damage. Sometimes they are afraid to try something to help because it is dangerous to work on the brain. The doctors might make the person worse if he operates on the brain.
Dr. Robert White, a famous professor and doctor, thinks he knows a way to help. He thinks doctors should make the brain very cold. If it is very cold, the brain can live without blood for 30 minutes. This gives the doctor a longer time to do something for the brain.
Dr. White tried his idea on 13 monkeys. First he taught them to do different jobs, then he operated on them. He made the monkeys’ blood back to the monkeys’ brains. When the brain’s temperature was 10℃, Dr. White stopped the blood to the brain. After 30 minutes he turned the blood back on. He warmed the blood again. After their operations the monkeys were like they had been before. They were healthy and busy. Each one could still do the jobs the doctor had taught them.
小題1:.The biggest difficulty in operating on the damaged brain is that ____.
A．the time is too short for doctors
B．the patients are often too nervous
C．the damage is extremely hard to fix
D．the blood-cooling machine might break down
小題2:.The brain operation was made possible mainly by ____.
A．taking the blood out of the brain
B．trying the operation on monkeys first
C．having the blood go through a machine
D．lowering the brain’s temperature
小題3:.With Dr. White’s new idea, the operation on the damaged brain ____.
A．can last as long as 30 minutes
B．can keep the brain’s blood warm
C．can keep the patient’s brain healthy
D．can help monkeys do different jobs
小題4:. What is the right order of the steps in the operations?
a. send the cooled back to the brain      b. stop the blood to the brain
c. have the blood cooled down          d. operate on the brain
A．a(chǎn), b, c, dB．c, a, b, dC．c, b, d, aD．b, c, d, a

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

 The common cold is the world's most widespread illness, which is a plague that man receives.
The most widespread mistake of all is that colds are caused by cold. They are not. They are caused by viruses passing on from person to person. You catch a cold by coming into contact directly or indirectly, with someone who already has one. If cold causes colds, it would be reasonable to expect the Eskimos to suffer from them forever. But they do not. And in isolated Arctic regions, explorers have reported being free from colds until coming into contract again with infected people from the outside world by way of packages and mail dropped from airplanes.
During the First World War, soldiers who spent long periods in the trenches, cold and wet, seldom caught colds.
In the Second World War, prisoners at Auschwitz concentration camp, naked and starved, were astonished to find that they seldom had colds.
At the Common Cold Research Unit in England, volunteers took part in experiments in which they gave themselves to the discomforts of being cold and wet for long stretches of time. After taking hot baths, they put on bathing suits, allowed themselves to be with cold water, and then stood about dripping wet in a room. Some wore wet socks all day while others exercised in the rain until close to exhaustion. Not one of the volunteers came down with a cold unless a cold virus was actually dropped in his nose.
If then, cold and wet have nothing to do with catching colds, why are they more frequent in winter? Despite the most hard research, no one has yet found out the answer. One explanation offered by scientists is that people tend to stay together indoors more in cold weather than at other times, and that makes it easier for cold viruses to be passed on.
No one has yet found a cure for the cold. There are drugs and pain-killers such as aspirin, but all that they do is to relieve the symptoms.
小題1:The writer offered ___ examples to support his argument.
A．4B．5C．6D．3
小題2:Arctic explorers may catch colds when___.
A．they are working in the isolated Arctic regions
B．they are writing reports in terribly cold weather
C．they are free from work in the isolated Arctic regions
D．they are coming into touch again with the outside world
小題3:Volunteers taking part in the experiments in the Common Cold Research Unit___.
A．suffered a lotB．never caught colds
C．often caught coldsD．became very strong
小題4:The passage mainly discusses___.
A．the experiments on the common cold
B．the fallacy about the common cold
C．the reason and the way people catch colds
D．the continued spread of common colds

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

A new study has been carried to test the role of story telling in lowering blood pressure．Dr．Thomas Houston, a professor of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, led a group of scientists that investigated how pre-recorded videos of hypertension （高血壓） patients' talking about their medical histories helped another group of patients with high blood pressure to control their condition over several months．
Houston was surprised by their studies that suggested that communication can be a powerful tool in medicine．They showed that those who had had similar experiences, when talking to someone with a similar background, could help change their behavior to become healthier．Hypertension is difficult to control, since it is dependent on diet, exercise and mental state．Medical treatments with drugs, and lifestyle therapies（療法） have been relatively ineffective because people find it hard to follow those medical requirements．
In the test, his team carefully chose their story-tellers from 230 members of a patients' community with whom they could most easily relate．Next, they divided their study population into two groups．One received three interactive （互動(dòng)） DVDs containing the tellers' stories of their experiences in living with and treating their hypertension．The other were given educational discs on an unrelated health topic．The study volunteers reported that they had listened to the DVDs, and after three months, those who heard the stories of the hypertensive patients lowered their blood pressure．
While the study did not address how the story-telling influenced the patients' behavior, Houston suspects that watching patients of similar backgrounds who had a similar medical experience helped to motivate them to seek medical help to their hypertension．They found that after six months the difference in blood pressure between those who watched the story-tellers and those who observed the unrelated videos remained, suggesting that the story-telling continued to have an effect．
小題1:We can learn from the text that the pre-recorded videos _________．
A．tell medical histories of hypertension patients
B．introduce some medical treatments of hypertension
C．introduce a good lifestyle for hypertensive patients
D．tell scientific discoveries of the scientist group
小題2:Houston was surprised to find that _______．
A．hypertension is really difficult to control
B．communication has some medical effects
C．medical treatments have no effect at all
D．people don't follow the medical requirements
小題3:Which of the following is true about the study?
A．The scientists chose 230 patients from a hospital．
B．Both the groups used the same videos about health topic．
C．The two groups lowered blood pressure in different degrees．
D．The story-tellers were hypertension patients as well．
小題4:Which of the following could be the best title of the text?
A．The stories of some hypertension patients．
B．Medical treatments of blood pressure．
C．Storytelling may help lower blood pressure．
D．Suggestions about how to lower blood pressure．

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Britain is set to face an increase in cold winters, with up to one-in-seven hitting the UK with longer periods of time when temperatures are below freezing, a study has suggested．The prediction was based on research that found out how low solar activity affected winter weather patterns．
However, the researchers were eager to stress that their findings did not suggest that the region was about to fall suddenly into a "little ice age"．The findings appear in the journal Environmental Research Letters．"We could get to the point where one-in-seven winters are very cold, as we had at the start of last winter and all through the winter before last," said co-author Mike Lockwood, professor of space environment physics at the University of Reading．
Using the Central England Temperature （CET） record, the world's longest instrumental data series that dates back to 1659, the team said that in general temperatures during recent winters had been obviously lower than the longer-term temperatures．"The mean CET for December, January and February for the recent relatively cold winters of 2008 ~ 2009 and 2009~2010 were 3．50℃ and 2．53℃ respectively," they wrote．"However, the mean value for the previous 20 winters had been 5．04℃．The series of lower winter temperatures in the UK during the last three years had raised questions about the probability of more similar, or even colder, winters occurring in the future．"
Last year．Professor Lockwood and colleagues published a paper that found a link between fewer sunspots and atmospheric conditions that "blocked" warm westerly winds reaching Europe during winter months, opening the way for cold easterly winds from the Arctic and Russia to sweep across the region．Professor Lockwood, while acknowledging that there were a range of possible meteorological factors （氣象因素） that could influence blocking events, said the latest study moved things forward by showing that there was "improvement in the predictive skill" when solar activity was taken into consideration．
小題1:We can know from the second paragraph that _____．
A．research shows that Britain will soon fall into an ice age
B．Mike Lockwood's research focuses on space environment physics
C．it was quite cold in Britain over the entire winter last year
D．so far one-in-seven winters have been very cold in Britain
小題2:The．underlined word "mean" in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to "_____"．
A．a(chǎn)verageB．stableC．ungenerousD．changeable
小題3:What can we infer from the last paragraph?
A．It was sunspots that blocked warm westerly winds reaching Europe．
B．Meteorological factors hardly have any influence on blocking events．
C．The latest study done by Professor Lockwood was of little practical value．
D．Considering solar activity or not affects the accuracy of weather forecasting．
小題4:What's the best title of the passage?
A．Another big danger approaching the UK
B．Research finds out solar activity is to blame for the cold
C．UK faces more cold winters due to weaker solar activity
D．Changes in weather patterns should be responsible for low solar activity

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