Movies that have had a great influence on society and awareness tend to force us to care about topics outside of our comfort zone. While the characters in the following two classic stories suffer from medical issues, they have an effect on our understanding of illness and the human spirit.

●My Left Foot (1989)

Health issue: cerebral palsy (大脑性麻痹)

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Brenda Fricker

Plot summary: It is a true story of Irish writer and cerebral palsy victim Christy Brown. He is a young Irish man suffering from cerebral palsy, which make most of his body motionless except for his left foot. Because of his disorder, Brown is considered mentally useless by most people who know him, including his own father. However, with support from his mother, Brown learns to write and paint with his left foot and eventually becomes a famous artist and author.

Influence: Although Brown’s 1970 novel Down All the Days was quite popular, by the 1980s, many still associated cerebral palsy with his complete mental and physical disability. The film helped to change people’s wrong ideas by stressing Brown’s literary and artistic contribution, his sense of humor and struggles with depression.

●The King’s Speech (2010)

Health issue: the stutter (口吃)

Starring: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter

Plot summary: GeorgeⅥ, King of the United Kingdom, suffers from a stuttering disorder, so most people think he is unfit to lead the country. But with the help of a speech expert, King George Ⅵ overcomes his disorder and becomes a capable leader.

Influence: The King’s Speech has been praised for its accurate description of the challenges commonly faced by GeorgeⅥ who had a speech disorder. “This movie raised awareness of the complexities of the stutter and also of the help that is available to those in need,” Jane Fraser, President of The Stuttering Foundation, tells Yahoo Health.

21. What do the two movies have in common?

A. They describe doctor’s life            B. They give advice on health

C. They make us comfortable            D. They affect the audience a lot

22. From the text, we know that Brown

A. wrote many popular novels            B. wrote his experience in the novel

C. had no sense of humor at all           D. was full of energy all the time

23. Which of the following is TRUE about GeorgeⅥ?

A. He was upset about having stuttering     B. He finally became a speech expert

C. He was thought unfit to be a king        D. He was unwilling to be a king

The “melting pot” in American cuisine(菜肴,烹饪法) is a myth, not terribly unlike the idea of a melting pot of American culture, notes chef Dan Barber. “Most cultures don’t think about their cuisine in such monolithic(统一的) terms,” he says. “French, Mexican, Chinese, and Italian cuisines each consist of dozens of distinct regional foods. And I think ‘American’ cuisine is moving in the same direction, becoming more localized, not globalized. ”

American cuisine is shaped by the natural wealth of the country. Having never faced agricultural hardship, Americans don’t have to rely on rotating crops, such as the Japanese, whose food culture now showcases buckwheat (荞麦) alongside rice, or the Indians, or the French and Italians, who feature beans alongside wheat. “That kind of negotiation with the land forced people to incorporate(接受) those crops in to the culture,” says Barber. And so eating soba noodles becomes part of what it means to be Japanese, and eating beans becomes part of what it means to be French.

So if what we eat is what we are, what are Americans? Well, meat. “If Americans have any unifying food identity, I would say we are a mostly white meat culture,” says Barber. “The protein-centric dinner plate, whether you’re talking about a boneless chicken breast, or a 16-ounce steak, as an everyday expectation is something that America really created, and now exports to the rest of the world.”

Every single culture and religion uses food as part of their celebrations, says Ellen Gustafson, co-founder of the FEED Project and The 30 Project, which aims to deal with both hunger and overweight issues globally. “The celebratory nature of food is universal. Every season, every harvest, and every holiday has its own food, and this is true in America as well. It helps define us.”

24. According to the first paragraph, American cuisine ________.

A. consists of varieties of regional foods     B. is becoming more and more globalized

C. has absorbed a lot from Chinese cuisine   D. is not as unified as its culture

25. What has made American cuisine different from other cuisines according to the article?

A. Relying on rotating crops    B. The difficulty of planting crops

C. The US’ melting pot culture  D. The US’ agricultural wealth

26. We can conclude from the article that _____ has become part of what it means to be American.

A. eating rice  B. eating beans  C. eating white meat  D. eating soba noodles

27. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the article?
A. American cuisine is healthier than other cuisines.

   B. American cuisine hasn’t changed much over time.

   C. Americans use food as part of their celebrations.

   D. Americans are quite proud of their own cuisine.

In a time when a dangerous number of people are overweight, many people seem to have forgotten the most important way to keep healthy and slim---exercise. And as a new study carried out on mice in the lab has shown, exercise done early in life can reward you in your adult years.

A team of researchers at the University of California studied the effects of early exercise on adult physical activity, body mass and eating. They found that early-age exercise in mice has positive effects on adult levels of voluntary exercise in addition to reducing body mass.

“These results may have an effect on the importance of regular physical education in elementary and middle schools,” said Theodore Garland, a professor of biology, who led the research project. “If kids exercise regularly through their school years, then they may be more likely to exercise as adults, which could have far-reaching positive effects on human health and well-being.”

Although the positive effects of early-life exercise lasted for only one week, it is important to note that one week in the life of a mouse is the same as about nine months for humans. “Our results suggest that any positive effects of early-life exercise on adult exercise will need to be kept up if they are to be long-lasting.”

His team of researchers found, too, that all mice that had access to early exercise were lighter in weight than non-exercised mice.

Garland explained that, in general, exercise will stimulate appetite sooner or later. However, it is possible that certain types of exercise, done for certain periods of time or at certain light levels, might not stimulate appetite much, if at all, at least in some individuals.

“If we could understand what sorts of exercise these might be, then we might be able to tailor exercise recommendations in a way that would bring the benefits of exercise without increase in appetite, leading to a better chance of weight loss,” he said.

28. How long do the positive effects of early-life exercise last for a mouse?

A. One day       B. One week     C. One month      D. Nine months

29. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the article?

A. More study is needed to better understand the effects of different types of exercise.

B. Early-life exercise has life-long positive effects on people

C. Kids should be encouraged to do exercise as early as possible to ensure physical health.

D. The new study on mice mainly focused on how exercise affects appetite.

30. The underlined word “stimulate” in the last but one paragraph is closest in meaning to _______.

A. decline         B. improve      C. vary            D. harm

31. What is the article mainly about?

A. New ways to fight against being overweight.

B. The positive effects of mice

C .The possible risks of doing exercise

D. The positive effects of early- life exercise.

   A dog might be man’s best friend, but my dogs are more like my kids! I think everyone should experience the unconditional love of a dog, but owning one is not for the nervousness. It’s work—especially when it comes to the job of cleaning up their waste. When you clean up after your dogs, your neighbors will love you for keeping those smelly landmines （地雷）out of their yards. But there are even bigger benefits. You’ll not only be doing your part to keep bacteria out of your yard and neighborhood, you’re also keeping harmful microorganisms （微生物）away from the drinking water supply.

There are more than 77 million pet dogs in the United States and their waste is found in backyards, neighborhood parks, and the green areas that frequently line small waterways. When you don’t clean up after your dog, heavy rain can carry bacteria from the waste into drains（下水道）. Dog waste left in parks and other such places can be swept directly into nearby streams. This affects the quality of the water in our streams. These small channels often empty directly into our local drinking water supply or the water where we boat or fish.

    Dog waste contains harmful microorganisms like roundworms that can be passed onto humans. This is why dog waste should not be used as fertilizer （肥料）around your home. And it won’t fertilize your yard either if you leave it behind like other types of fertilizer. Dogs don’t eat the same kinds of natural material that cattle, horses or even elephants eat. The waste from those animals is actually beneficial for your yard and garden.

    You should always pick up after your dog and throw the waste into the trash can. Some smaller cities might prefer the waste to be washed down the toilet, but in cities where there are many dogs, it’s best to send the waste to the landfill（垃圾填埋场）.

    When you properly deal with your dog’s waste, you’ll be doing your part to keep harmful bacteria out of your yards, your neighborhoods and your drinking water.

32. What is the first paragraph mainly about?

A. The author’s dog is as lovely as a child.

    B. Dog waste can pollute the environment.

    C. Owning a dog is a troublesome experience.

    D. Dog waste is more harmful than landmines.

33. Which shows the right organization of the passage?

（P1 ＝ Paragraph 1; P2 ＝ Paragraph 2; P3 ＝ Paragraph 3; P4 ＝ Paragraph 4; P5 ＝ Paragraph 5）

34. Which of the following statements about dog waste is true?

    A. It makes a kind of natural fertilizer of high quality.

    B. The microorganisms in dog waste are helpful to water.

    C. It is better to wash dog waste down a toilet or bury it in a landfill.

    D. Dog waste is more beneficial to soil than other kinds of animal waste.

35. What is the main purpose of this passage?

A. To scold those who ignore their dog’s waste.

    B. To introduce ways of cleaning up dog waste.

    C. To warn dog owners about the danger of dog waste.

    D. To argue it is the duty of the owners to clean up dog waste.

    It may help you to know that there is no such thing as a perfect speech. At some point in every speech, every speaker says something that is not understood exactly as he has planned.   36  . Why? Because the listeners do not know what the speaker plans to say.   37  . If you lose your place for a moment, wrongly change the order of a couple of sentences, or forget to pause at a certain point, no one will be any the wiser. When such moments occur, don’t worry about them.   38  .

Even if you do make an obvious mistake during a speech, that doesn’t really matter. Most likely, however, you don’t remember.   39  . Speech-makers care a lot about making mistakes in a speech because they regard speech-making as a kind of performance rather than as an act of communication.   40  . But, in fact, the listeners are not looking for a performance. They are looking for a well-thought-out speech that expresses the speaker’s ideas clearly and directly. Sometimes a mistake or he can actually increase a speaker’s attractiveness by making him more human.

As you work on your speech, don't worry about being perfect. Once you free your mind of this, you will find it much easier to give your speech freely.

   A. They feel the listeners are like judges in an ice-skating competition

   B. They hear only what the speaker does say

   C. The speech-makers think the audience care little about their appearance

   D. Because you were fixing your attention on your own message

   E. Reconsider what your audience would like to hear

   F. Fortunately, the moments are usually not obvious to the listeners

   G. Just continue as if nothing happened