American doctors have been trying to figure out the secrets behind Asians being healthier than Americans since the early 90s - The Japan has the lowest mortality rates in the world and Chinese medicine has been around for thousands of years, since around 2000 B.C. only meant that there's more to Asian health philosophy. In Asian medicine, there's an acknowledgment of the whole-body theory of medicine, instead of isolationism that's prevalent in many American doctor's offices.
The main reason behind a better health lies in the difference between Asian and American culture. Diet, exercise, and a holistic approach to medicine all contribute to Asians living longer and healthier than their American counterparts. In addition, the result of the Asian lifestyle has led to a stronger overall immune system and better detoxification（解毒） efficiency.
The more preferred drink in the American lifestyle is soda, beer or coffee. However, in Asian culture, the preferred drink is water or herbal tea. Consumption of water serves to immediately strengthen one's body detoxification program, since water dilutes toxins and helps flush the body. Americans savor red meat and pork, while most Asians prefer chicken, rice and fish. Also, the foods in Asia are mostly organic and lack the hormonal toxins that American food carries. Overall the Asian diet leads to less food-introduced toxins into the body, and allows the body to spend its energy on its immune system rather than toxin control. Also, the fish that Asians consume have very strong immunological effects, providing more antioxidants than the red meat preferred in America.
The average American family has more than one car. In Asia, on average there's 1 car per 4 families. In Asian cultures, people use bicycles more than four-wheeled transportation. The Asian lifestyle also involves more labor and physical work, such as agricultural labor and gardening. The American lifestyle praises white-collar jobs which lead to Americans sitting in front of computer screens for hours on end. Exercise helps detoxification in two ways: it speeds up metabolism, and induces sweat.
Medicine in Asia centers mostly on natural ingredients that have healing properties. Asian medicine also addresses the mind-body connection and the importance of mental balance. There are more traditional medicine doctors per person in Asia than in America. American medicine costs more and is symptom-focused, often ignoring the overall cause of the symptoms. In America, the prescriptions that are chemically derived are dangerous toxins that stress the body's detoxification system. Using Asian medicine means using only natural ingredients, which the body can easily detoxify while getting the same health benefit.
It is not very difficult to adopt the Asian lifestyle and improve your body's detoxification and immune system. You can change your lifestyle today by eating and drinking organic, exercising rigorously at least three times a week, and using organic health alternative therapies over dangerous prescription medicines.  
Emma Deangela is the author of detox and fasting site at eDetoxify.com. Combining both Asian and Western philosophy, Emma Deangela has helped many people by giving them health consultation to make their lives better and healthier through natural health philosophy. Visit eDetoxify.com to discover the health philosophy that leads many people to a healthy life.
小題1:According to the first paragraph, which theory is more popular among American doctors?

A．whole-body theory	B．isolationism
C．Combined Theory of East and West	D．Not clearly mentioned.

小題2: The differences between Asian and American culture are not discussed in _____

A．Diet

B．Exercise

C．Medicine

D．Accidents

小題3:“contribute to” in the second paragraph means _____.

A．leads to

B．pay money to

C．a(chǎn)gree on

D．result from

小題4: From the third and fourth paragraphs, the writer thinks Asians live longer than Americans because ______.

A．Asians don’t eat beef or mutton

B．Asians are good at catching fish

C．Asian lifestyle involves physical work more

D．Asians are not fond of office work

小題5: The writer’s advice is put forward in the ____ paragraph.

A．last

B．last but one

C．first

D．missing

小題6:The passage is overall a(n)______.

A．a(chǎn)dvertisement to a website	B．lecture to college students
C．magazine introduction	D．newspaper front-page

Cleveland has won the distinction of being the worst city in the United States, according to a new survey. The city has high unemployment, terrible weather, heavy taxes, and ordinary sports teams, all of which have pushed it to the No. 1 position in the Forbes.com list.
"Cleveland was the only city that fell in the bottom half of rankings in all nine categories. And it has been entitled with a less than endearing nickname: the Mistake by the lake," Forbes said on its website,
The economic downturn hit cities across the United States last year particularly in the mid-west section of the country. Crime and unemployment secured the No. 2 spot for Stockton, which held the top position in last year's ranking. Memphis got third place thanks to its violent crime rate and the number of officials who are guilty, while the poor auto industry drove the Michigan cities of Detroit and Flint into the top five.
"A lot of the cities that showed up on our list are going through hard times fight now, dealing with high unemployment, with declining producing bases. Many have experienced strong movement out of the city over the last 20 and 30 years."
Despite (盡管) its fine weather, Miami scored in the bottom 10 percent in commuting (上下班往返) time, and violent crime which sent it into sixth place.
"One of the biggest surprises is Miami. The good weather and no state income taxes blur some of the severe problems that Miami has related to crime as well as long commutes," Badenhausen added.
Florida was followed in the poor ranking by St Louis, Buffalo, Canton, Ohio and Chicago, which has the country's highest sales tax at 10.25 percent. New York, the nation's biggest city, is rich in culture but its lengthy commuting time and high income taxes pushed it into 16th place.
小題1:From the text we can learn that ______.

A．Cleveland has been entitled a lovely nickname

B．the economic downturn hit cities in the mid-east section

C．Miami scored in the bottom 10 percent in all nine categories

D．commuting time in New York is too long

小題2:What information can be inferred according to the text?

A．The number of officials who are guilty is large in Memphis.

B．Stockton got second place in last year's ranking.

C．High income taxes made New York get 16th place.

D．Ohio has the country's highest sales tax.

小題3:The word "blur" underlined in the last paragraph but one probably means ______.

A．make it possible

B．make it unclear

C．make if obvious

D．make it important

小題4:Which of the following is the correct ranking order?

A．Cleveland, Detroit, Miami, Buffalo, Florida.

B．Stockton, Miami, Flint, Florida, Canton.

C．Cleveland, Stockton, Miami, Chicago, Florida.

D．Stockton, Detroit, Miami, Florida, St Louis.

Retirement Age
Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely．The " standard" retirement age varies from country to country, but it is generally between 50 and 70, according to the latest statistics, 2011．However, for a long time, people have got into an argument about whether the age of retirement should be increased or reduced in their own countries．
There are several arguments for allowing older people to continue working as long as they are able．Many people think that older employees have a large amount of knowledge and experience which can be lost to a business or organization if they are made to retire．Besides, older employees are often extremely faithful employees to and are more willing to implement company policies than the young．A more important point is regarding the attitudes in society to old people．To force someone to resign or retire at 60 or 65 indicates that the society does not value the input of these people and that effectively their useful life is over．
Allowing old people to work indefinitely （無限地）, however, is not always a good policy．Some people took the strong view that age alone is no guarantee of ability．Many young employees have more experience or skills than older staff, who may have been stuck in one area for most of their working lives．Having compulsory retirement allows new ideas in an organization．On the other hand, older people should be rewarded by society for their life' s labor by being given generous pensions and the freedom to enjoy leisure．They can have time to do whatever they like, that is, they can have their own plans or roles and achieve their retirement goals．
With many young people unemployed or frustrated in low-level positions, there are often calls to compulsorily retire older workers．However, this can affect the older individual' s freedom—and right—to work．In my opinion, giving workers more choices over their retirement age will benefit society and the individual．
小題1:According to the passage, older people should go on with work because ____.

A．they will help the business not to fail quickly

B．they have grasped much practical experience

C．they need to have a sense of achievement

D．they want to learn more knowledge

小題2:The underlined word "implement" in Paragraph 2 probably means "______".

A．take over

B．work on

C．get rid of

D．carry out

小題3:The third paragraph is mainly to tell us that ______．

A．older people can' t do their work well

B．young people usually have new ideas

C．it is better for older people to retire on time

D．older people would like to do something else

小題4:Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?

One of the most difficult questions to answer is how much a job is worth. We naturally expect that a doctor’s salary will be higher than a bus conductor’s wages. But the question becomes much more difficult to answer when we compare a miner with an engineer, or an unskilled man working on an oil-rig（鉆探平臺）with a teacher in a secondary school. What the doctor, the engineer and the teacher have in common is that they have devoted several years to studying in order to obtain the necessary qualifications for their professions. We feel instinctively that these skills and these years should be rewarded. At the same time we recognize that the work of the miner and the oil-rig laborer is both hard and dangerous, and that they must be highly paid for the risks they take.
　　Another aspect we must take into consideration is how socially useful a man’s work is. Most people would agree that looking after the sick or teaching children is more important than, say, selling second-hand cars. Yet it is almost certain that the used-car salesman earns more than the nurse and the schoolteacher.
　　Indeed, this whole question of just rewards can be turned on its head. You can argue that a man who does a job which brings him personal satisfaction is already receiving part of his reward in the form of a so-called “psychic（精神的）wage”, and that it is the man with the boring, repetitive job who needs more money to make up for the soul-destroying repetitiveness of his work. It is significant that the jobs like nursing and teaching continue to be poorly paid, while others, such as those in the world of sport or entertainment, carry financial rewards out of all proportion to their social worth.
Although the amount of money that people earn is largely determined by market forces, this should not prevent us from seeking some way to decide what is the right pay for the job. A starting point would be to try to decide the ratio（比率）which ought to exist between the highest and the lowest paid. The picture is made more complicated by two factors: firstly by the welfare benefits which every citizen receives, and secondly by the taxation system which is often used as an instrument of social justice by taxing high incomes at a very high rate indeed. Most countries now regard a ratio of 7:1 as socially acceptable. If it is less, the highly-qualified people carrying heavy responsibilities will become disappointed, and might even end up by leaving for another country. If it is more, the difference between rich and poor will be so great that it will lead to social unrest.
小題1:Why do people naturally expect that doctors should be well-paid?

A．Their work requires greater intelligence.

B．They are under constant pressure at work.

C．They work harder than most other people.

D．They have studied for years to get qualified.

小題2:In Paragraph 2 and 3, the author indicates that __________.

A．the talented should do more important work

B．unskilled jobs have less social responsibility

C．those with more socially useful jobs earn less

D．people want to pay more to important services

小題3:Which of the following statements would the author agree?

A．It’s difficult to define the social value of a job.

B．The market will decide what the right pay is for a job.

C．People should find a proper ratio between high and low pay.

D．Those receiving high salary should carry heavy responsibilities.

Crowd controls could soon become an important skill for climbers on Mount Everest, as important as physical strength or watching the weather. In a single day last week, nearly 40 people reached the top of the world --- a record. Reports from base camp spoke of queues at dangerous ridges and crowds as people passed each other in the final dash for the 8, 848 meters top.
More traditional mountaineers tease about the circus atmosphere surrounding Everest in re­cent years, and there are warnings that the crowds are making the mountain more dangerous. In 1996, 14 died on the mountain when the members of several groups were trapped at high altitudes by sudden snowstorms. Bad weather in early May led to this year’s jam on the summit ridge, but the loss, luckily, was light. Just four climbers died, in­cluding a Nepali Sherpa who had made 11 previous successful climbing.
Traditionalists are also worried about the growing tendency of climbers to set records and achieve “firsts”, rather than simply climb the mountain. This year’s crop of mountaineers included the oldest man, 64-year-old Sherman Bull from Connecticut, and the youngest, 16-year-old Temba Tsheri Sherpa of Nepal. An American with only one arm was on the mountain this year; an Indian with no legs also tried but failed. Erik Weihennieyer, an Ameri­can, became the first blind person to reach the top of the world. His fellow climbers stayed in front of him on the way up, describing the type of land and ringing bells.
Nepal（尼泊爾）views Mount Everest as something of a cash cow. The government charges journeys a minimum of $ 70,000. That is probably why officials in Katmandu are ignoring concerns about overcrowding and talking about even more climbers coming next year. But a celebration of the 48th anniversary of the first conquest of Everest, by Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, was cancelled after violent strikes. Tumultuous（動亂的）Nepali politics, it seems, could be just the crowd-control mea­sure that Everest needs.
小題1:What is the problem that the climbers have to face in recent years?

A．Bad Weather.

B．Technology.

C．Overcrowding.

D．Physical strength.

小題2:What is the main idea of the second paragraph?

A．The risks of mountain climbing.

B．The consequence of overcrowding.

C．The challenge that climbers have to face.

D．The damage that snowstorms have caused.

小題3:Several climbers are mentioned in Paragraph 3 to show ______.

A．their great courage	B．their common motivation
C．their different identity	D．their outstanding achievements

小題4:What is the attitude of the Nepali government towards overcrowding?

A．Unconcerned.

B．Doubtful.

C．Disapproving.

D．Worried.

How far would you be willing to go to satisfy your need to know? Far enough to find out your possibility of dying from a terrible disease? These days that’s more than an academic question, as Tracy Smith reports in our Cover Story.
There are now more than a thousand genetic tests, for everything from baldness to breast cancer, and the list is growing. Question is, do you really want to know what might eventually kill you? For instance, Nobel Prize-winning scientist James Watson, one of the first people to map their entire genetic makeup, is said to have asked not to be told if he were at a higher risk for Alzheimer’（老年癡呆癥）.
“If I tell you that you have an increased risk of getting a terrible disease, that could weigh on your mind and make you anxious, through which you see the rest of your life as you wait for that disease to hit you. It could really mess you up.” Said Dr. Robert Green, a Harvard geneticist.
“Every ache and pain,” Smith suggested, “could be understood as the beginning of the end.” “That ’s right. If you ever worried you were at risk for Alzheimer’s disease, then every time you can’t find your car in the parking lot, you think the disease has started.”
Dr. Green has been thinking about this issue for years. He led a study of people who wanted to know if they were at a higher genetic risk for Alzheimer’s. It was thought that people who got bad news would, for lack of a better medical term, freak out. But Green and his team found that there was “no significant difference” between how people handled good news and possibly the worst news of their lives. In fact, most people think they can handle it. People who ask for the information usually can handle the information, good or bad, said Green.
小題1:Which of the following is true about James Watson？

A．He doesn’t want to know his chance of getting a disease.

B．He is strongly in favor of the present genetic tests.

C．He believes genetic mapping can help cure any disease.

D．He is more likely to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease.

小題2:The first paragraph is meant to__________.

A．a(chǎn)sk some questions	B．satisfy readers’ curiosity
C．introduce the topic	D．describe an academic fact

小題3:According to Paragraphs 3 and 4, if a person is at a higher genetic risk, it is__________.

A．necessary to remove his anxiety	B．impossible to hide his disease
C．better to inform him immediately	D．a(chǎn)dvisable not to let him know

小題4:The underlined part “freak out” in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to“_________”.

A．leave off

B．break down

C．drop out

D．turn away

小題5:The study led by Dr. Green indicates that people__________.

A．can accept some bad news	B．tend to find out the truth
C．prefer to hear good news	D．have the right to be informed

“Dining out”, or “eating out”, is a phrase people use in Britain when they eat in a restaurant or a pub. Eating out is more popular in Britain today than ever before.
However, eating out can be expensive. Restaurants are normally more expensive than pubs, though many pubs serve very good, simple food. As British people don’t dine out every night of the week, eating in a restaurant is often seen as a special occasion. When going for the first date, or if celebrating an anniversary or a birthday, many people like to go to a restaurant. People often eat in a restaurant before going to the cinema or the theatre.
As in all cultures, there are many rules of etiquette (禮節(jié))surrounding food and eating, and nowhere is this more pronounced than when eating in a smart restaurant. People are almost always expected to eat with a knife and fork and these should be held in the correct hand and used in the correct way. It is also impolite to have your elbows on the dining table when you are eating.
There’re many such “unspoken” rules — they are normally only important when eating in a very elegant and expensive restaurant, and vary slightly from restaurant to restaurant and place to place. A recent nationwide survey showed that there was a divide in manners between the north and south of Britain — the “worst” manners were in Scotland and the northeast, and the “best” in Wales and the southeast! However, this survey was almost certainly conducted by someone in the southeast, so it may not be entirely fair.
Naturally, restaurants vary greatly in quality and price. However, almost all British cities have a vast range of food and cooking styles to choose from as well as traditional British food,. from the very cheap to the very expensive — French, Italian, Indian, Greek, Thai, Japanese and many more. In fact, when asked what their favorite food is, many British people say an Indian curry (咖喱菜）rather than any other dish!
As well as dining in a restaurant, when people are too tired to cook after work they often get a “takeaway”. This means they order from a takeaway or takeout restaurant by phone, then go to collect it and take it home to eat. Many takeout restaurants also deliver to your house. While you can normally find a takeout restaurant for almost any cuisine, the most popular are Italian, Indian and Chinese — and all you have to do is to open the door, pay and eat!
小題1:What can be concluded from the first two paragraphs?

A．The British spend more eating out than cooking at home.

B．The British pay great attention to eating in a restaurant.

C．The British often dine out when celebrating festivals.

D．People tend to eat in a restaurant after watching a movie.

小題2:The underlined word ^“pronounced” in Paragraph 3 probably means “_____”.

A．polite

B．expensive

C．strange

D．obvious

小題3:According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?

A．There exist great differences of rules in different restaurants.

B．People from Wales and southeast Britain are the most polite.

C．Your order in a takeout restaurant can be sent to your home.

D．Traditional British food is seldom served in British restaurants.

小題4:What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．Restaurant culture in Britain.	B．Table manners in Britain.
C．Different restaurants in Britain.	D．Traditional and foreign foods in Britain.

Does Fame Drive You Crazy?
Although being famous might sound like a dream come true, today’s star, feeling like zoo animals, face pressures that few of us can imagine. They are at the center of much of the world’s attention. Paparazzi (狗仔隊(duì)) camp outside their homes, cameras ready. Tabloids (小報(bào)) publish thrilling stories about their personal lives. Just imagine not being able to do anything without being photographed or interrupted for a signature.
According to psychologist Christina Villareal, celebrities — famous people — worry constantly about their public appearance. Eventually, they start to lose track of who they really are, seeing themselves the way their fans imagine them, not as the people they were before everyone knew their names. “Over time,” Villareal says, “they feel separated and alone.”
The phenomenon of tracking celebrities has been around for ages. In the 4th century B.C., painters followed
Alexander the Great into battle, hoping to picture his victories for his admirers. When Charles Dickens visited America in the 19th century, his sold-out readings attracted thousands of fans, leading him to complain (抱怨) about his lack of privacy. Tabloids of the 1920s and 1930s ran articles about film-stars in much the same way that modern tabloids and websites do.
Being a public figure today, however, is a lot more difficult than it used to be. Superstars cannot move about without worrying about photographers with modern cameras. When they say something silly or do something ridiculous, there is always the Internet to spread the news in minutes and keep their “story” alive forever.
If fame is so troublesome, why aren’t all celebrities running away from it? The answer is there are still ways to deal with it. Some stars stay calm by surrounding themselves with trusted friends and family or by escaping to remote places away from big cities. They focus not on how famous they are but on what they love to do or whatever made them famous in the first place.
Sometimes a few celebrities can get a little justice. Still, even stars who enjoy full justice often complain about how hard their lives are. They are tired of being famous already.
小題1:It can be learned from the passage that stars today___.

A．a(chǎn)re often misunderstood by the public

B．can no longer have their privacy protected

C．spend too much on their public appearance

D．care little about how they have come into fame

小題2:What is the main idea of Paragraph 3?

A．Great heroes of the past were generally admired.

B．The problem faced by celebrities has a long history.

C．Well-known actors are usually targets of tabloids.

D．Works of popular writers often have a lot of readers.

小題3: What makes it much harder to be a celebrity today?

A．Availability of modern media.	B．Inadequate social recognition.
C．Lack of favorable chances.	D．Huge population of fans.

小題4:What is the author’s attitude toward modern celebrity?

A．Sincere.

B．Sceptical.

C．Disapproving.

D．Sympathetic.

We’ve considered several ways of paying to cut in line: hiring line standers, buying tickets from scalpers (票販子), or purchasing line-cutting privileges directly from, say, an airline or an amusement park. Each of these deals replaces the morals of the queue (waiting your turn) with the morals of the market (paying a price for faster service).
Markets and queues—paying and waiting—are two different ways of allocating things, and each is appropriate to different activities. The morals of the queue, “First come, first served, have an egalitarian (平等主義的) appeal. They tell us to ignore privilege, power, and deep pockets.
The principle seems right on playgrounds and at bus stops. But the morals of the queue do not govern all occasions. If I put my house up for sale, I have no duty to accept the first offer that comes along, simply because it’s the first. Selling my house and waiting for a bus are different activities, properly governed by different standards.
Sometimes standards change, and it is unclear which principle should apply. Think of the recorded message you hear, played over and over, as you wait on hold when calling your bank: “Your call will be answered in the order in which it was received.” This is essential for the morals of the queue. It’s as if the company is trying to ease our impatience with fairness.
But don’t take the recorded message too seriously. Today, some people’s calls are answered faster than others. Call center technology enables companies to “score” incoming calls and to give faster service to those that come from rich places. You might call this telephonic queue jumping.
Of course, markets and queues are not the only ways of allocating things. Some goods we distribute by merit, others by need, still others by chance. However, the tendency of markets to replace queues, and other non-market ways of allocating goods is so common in modern life that we scarcely notice it anymore. It is striking that most of the paid queue-jumping schemes we’ve considered—at airports and amusement parks, in call centers, doctors’ offices, and national parks—are recent developments, scarcely imaginable three decades ago. The disappearance of the queues in these places may seem an unusual concern, but these are not the only places that markets have entered.
小題1:According to the author, which of the following seems governed by the principle “First come, first served”?

A．Taking buses.	B．Buying houses.
C．Flying with an airline.	D．Visiting amusement parks.

小題2:The example of the recorded message in Paragraphs 4 and 5 illustrates ______.

A．the necessity of patience in queuing

B．the advantage of modern technology

C．the uncertainty of allocation principle

D．the fairness of telephonic services

小題3:The passage is meant to ______.

A．justify paying for faster services

B．discuss the morals of allocating things

C．a(chǎn)nalyze the reason for standing in line

D．criticize the behavior of queue jumping

We’ve reached a strange—some would say unusual—point. While fighting world hunger continues to be the matter of vital importance according to a recent report from the World Health Organization (WHO), more people now die from being overweight, or say, from being extremely fat, than from being underweight. It’s the good life that’s more likely to kill us these days.
Worse, nearly l8 million children under the age of five around the world are estimated to be overweight. What’s going on?
We really don’t have many excuses for our weight problems. The dangers of the problem have been drilled into us by public-health campaigns since 2001 and the message is getting through—up to a point.
In the 1970s, Finland, for example, had the highest rate of heart disease in the world and being overweight was its main cause. Not any more. A public-health campaign has greatly reduced the number of heart disease deaths by 80 per cent over the past three decades.
Maybe that explains why the percentage of people in Finland taking diet pills doubled between 2001 and 2005, and doctors even offer surgery of removing fat inside and change the shape of the body. That has become a sort of fashion. No wonder it ranks as the world’s most body-conscious country.
We know what we should be doing to lose weight—but actually doing it is another matter. By far the most popular excuse is not taking enough exercise. More than half of us admit we lack willpower.
Others blame good food. They say: it’s just too inviting and it makes them overeat. Still others lay the blame on the Americans, complaining that pounds have piled on thanks to eating too much American-style fast food.
Some also blame their parents—their genes. But unfortunately, the parents are wronged because they’re normal in shape, or rather slim.
It’s a similar story around the world, although people are relatively unlikely to have tried to lose weight. Parents are eager to see their kids shape up. Do as I say—not as I do.
小題1:What is the “strange” point mentioned in the first sentence?

A．The good life is a greater risk than the bad life.

B．Starvation is taking more people’s lives in the world.

C．WHO report shows people’s unawareness of food safety.

D．Overweight issue remains unresolved despite WHO’s efforts.

小題2:Why does the author think that people have no excuse for being overweight?

A．A lot of effective diet pills are available.

B．Body image has nothing to do with good food.

C．They have been made fully aware of its dangers.

D．There are too many overweight people in the world.

小題3:The example of Finland is used to illustrate ______.

A．the cause of heart disease

B．the fashion of body shaping

C．the effectiveness of a campaign

D．the history of a body-conscious country

小題4:Which would be the best title for the passage?

A．Actions or Excuses?	B．Overweight or Underweight?
C．WHO in a Dilemma	D．No Longer Dying of Hunger