The boys were ready for an exciting week on the sea, but the trip did not start at all as they had ___21___.

    It was the first day of their weeklong ___22___ journey on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, and they had already been ___23___ one storm. But that was ___24___ compared to the one they found themselves in ___25___ the same day.

    Wave ___26___ wave was hitting their sailing vessel, and then, with a sudden surge, their ship—the Marguerite—was pushed onto its side.

    "A wall of wind and rain suddenly ___27___ us," Ethan Johnson says. "The boat tipped over, and the rail went one or two feet into the ___28___. And when an adult went to ___29___ to secure the main sail, he ___30___ and hurt his ankle."

    Chris Gill, the navigator, was below deck when the ___31___ tipped over, and all started flying around— ___32___ him.

    "When the boat shifted to 80 degrees ___33___ the gust of wind, I went flying to the other ___34___ of the cabin," Chris says. "It's not ___35___ to give the direction we should be going when all of your charts go ___36___off the table—and then you go, too."

    Working together, the group ___37___ to turn into the wind and steady the boat, and the injured adult was quickly given first aid. ___38___ as the wind continued to scream and lightning flashed all around them, everyone was asking the same ___39___: If this is happening on our first day, ___40___ will the next four be like?"

21. A. hoped  B. made   C. promised  D. required

22. A. swimming  B. skiing   C. sailing   D. diving

23. A. across  B. through  C. after   D. under

24. A. something  B. everything  C. anything  D. nothing

25. A. earlier  B. later   C. exactly   D. back

26. A. upon  B. against   C. by   D. for

27. A. greeted  B. met   C. struck   D. stuck

28. A. air   B. cloud   C. wind   D. water

29. A. rush  B. expect   C. try   D. start

30. A. slipped  B. ran   C. jumped   D. dashed

31. A. sail   B. rail   C. ship   D. table

32. A. without  B. including  C. alongside  D. with

33. A. ever since  B. devoted to  C. beginning from  D. because of

34. A. area  B. side   C. roof   D. seat

35. A. impossible  B. hard   C. easy   D. important

36. A. cutting  B. shooting  C. landing   D. rushing

37. A. attempted  B. started   C. managed  D. assisted

38. A. But   B. And   C. Though   D. However

39. A. problem  B. puzzle   C. schedule  D. question

40. A. how  B. what   C. whatever  D. however

    China has a long tradition of respecting education. But its present education is not that respectable. 

    According to the Hurun Report, which conducted one-on-one interviews with 980 wealthy Chinese people with net assets of more than 60 million yuan ($9.5 million) in 18 mainland cities from May to September, about 14 percent of them said they had either already moved overseas or had applied to do so, and another 46 percent said they planned to emigrate within three years. All cited the higher-quality education available for their children overseas as the reason. 

    Such a mindset has resulted in a growing number of Chinese students studying abroad. 

    To be fair, our primary and high schools are a leader in content throughout the world. The Program for International Student Assessment last year offered a feather in the cap for our education. Participating in the program administered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, teenagers in Shanghai were far in advance of their peers from 64 countries, including the United States, in reading literacy, mathematics and science. 

    So why does education in this country leave so many wealthy parents cold? 

    Children in China have no say in what they learn. They normally learn by rote and are forced to study the subjects that help them in examinations for a school of a higher grade, especially the college entrance exams. 

    Studies conducted by the China Youth and Children Research Center show that more than half of Chinese secondary school students study overtime and they don't get enough sleep. And more than 70 percent of students in primary and middle schools take after-school tutoring classes, which is considered a heavy burden on children. 

    And this situation turns many parents into demons like "Wolf Father" Xiao Baiyou in Guangdong province, who supported his children's learning with verbal abuse and physical violence. Xiao doesn't pale in comparison to Tiger Mother Amy Chua in the United States. He is satisfied with his parenting skills, as he has sent three of his four children to Peking University, one of China's most prestigious higher learning institutions. 

    Such ways of stimulating children to learn are certainly scary enough to make those Chinese parents with deep pockets choose a foreign school for their kids. 

As long as exams-oriented education continues, parents will look overseas for a better way to educate their children.

41. How many of the wealthy Chinese interviewed were in favor of moving overseas?

   A. 14% of them.   B. 46% of them.   C. 32% of them.   D. 60% of them.

42. What reason was given by the interviewed for their emigration to other countries?

   A. Better education for children.    B. one-on-one public service.

   C. Higher standard of living.       D. Increasing net assets.

43. What does "a feather in the cap" Paragraph 4 most probably mean?

   A. A hop.       B. An honor.     C. An escape.      D. A challenge.

44. Education in China is criticized in this passage for the following flaws EXCEPT ______.

   A. burdening children with after-school tutoring classes

   B. Depriving children of sleep with too much study

   C. forcing children to take college entrance exams

   D. making children learn by rote memorization

45. What is the author's opinion of "Wolf Father" and "Tiger Mother" parenting style?

   A. Supportive.    B. Satisfactory.    C. Stimulating.    D. Scary.

    Do you want to live with a strong sense of peacefulness, happiness, goodness, and self- respect? The collection of happiness actions broadly categorized as "honor" help you create this life of good feelings.

    Here's an example to show how honorable actions create happiness.

    Say a store clerk fails to charge us for an item. If we keep silent, and profit from the clerk's mistake, we would drive home with a sense of sneaky excitement. Later we might tell our family or friends about our good fortune. On the other hand, if we tell the clerk about the uncharged item, the clerk would be grateful and thank us for our honesty. We would leave the store with a quiet sense of honor that we might never share with another soul.

    Then, what is it to do with our sense of happiness?

    In the first case, where we don't tell the clerk, a couple of things would happen. Deep down inside we would know ourselves as a type of thief. In the process, we would lose some peace of mind and self-respect. We would also demonstrate that we cannot lie trusted, since we advertise our dishonor by telling our family and friends. We damage our own reputations by telling others. In contrast, bringing the error to the clerk's attention causes different things to happen.     Immediately the clerk knows us to be honorable. Upon leaving the store, we feel honorable and our self-respect is increased. Whenever we take honorable action we gain the deep internal rewards of goodness and a sense of nobility.

    There is a beautiful positive cycle that is created by living a life of honorable actions. Honorable thoughts lead to honorable actions. Honorable actions lead us to a happier existence. And it's easy to think and act honorably again when we're happy. While the positive cycle can be difficult to start, once it's started, it's easy to continue. Keeping on doing good deeds brings us peace of mind, which is important for our happiness.

45. According to the passage, the positive action in the example contributes to our___.

   A. self-respect    B. financial rewards    C. advertising ability  D. friendly relationship

46. The author thinks that keeping silent about the uncharged item is equal to___.

   A. lying        B. stealing           C. cheating          D. advertising

47. The phrase "bringing the error to the clerk's attention"(in Para. 5) means___.

   A. telling the truth to the clerk  B. offering advice to the clerk

   C. asking the clerk to be more attentive  D. reminding the clerk of the charged item

48. How will we feel if we let the clerk know her mistake?

   A. We'll be very excited.  B. We'll feel unfortunate.

   C. We'll have a sense of honor. D. We'll feel sorry for the clerk.

49. Which of the following can be the best title of this passage?

   A. How to Live Truthfully    B. Importance of Peacefulness

   C. Ways of Gaining Self-respect D. Happiness through Honorable Actions

    Women who own cats are more likely to have mental health problems and kill themselves because they can be infected by a common parasite that can be caught from cat litter, a study has found.

    Researchers found women infected with the Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) parasite(刚地弓形虫), which is spread through contact with cat waste or eating undercooked meat or unwashed vegetables, are at increased risk of attempting suicide.

    The study involved more than 45,000 women in Denmark. About a third of the world's population is infected with the parasite, which hides in cells in the brain and muscles, often without producing symptoms.

    The infection, which is called toxoplasmosis(弓形虫病), has been linked to mental illness, such as schizophrenia(精神分裂症), and changes in behavior.

    The study's senior author Doctor Teodor Postolache, an associate professor of psychiatry(精神病学) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in the United States, said, "We can't say with certainty that T. gondii caused the women to try to kill themselves, but we did find a predictive association between the infection and suicide attempts later in life that deserves additional studies."

    Doctor Albert Reece, vice president of medical affairs at the University of Maryland, said, "T. gondii infection is a major public health problem around the world, and many people don't realize they're infected.

    "Dr Postolache is a leading expert on suicide neuroimmunology(神经免疫学). Suicide is a critically important mental health issue. About one million people commit suicide and another 10 million attempt suicide worldwide each year. We hope that this type of research will one day help us find ways to save many lives that now end too early in suicide."

    Dr. Postolache's research team at the University of Maryland was the first to report a connection between T. gondii and suicidal behavior in 2009. He is cooperating with researchers in Denmark, Germany and Sweden to confirm and investigate the way leading to this association.

    The T. gondii parasite thrives in the intestines of cats, and it is spread through their waste. All warm-blooded animals can become infected through contact with it. Humans can become infected by changing their infected cats' litter boxes, eating unwashed vegetables, drinking water from a polluted source, or by eating undercooked or raw meat.

    Not washing kitchen knives after preparing raw meat before handling another food item also can lead to infection. Pregnant women can pass the parasite directly to their unborn babies and are advised not to change cat litter boxes to avoid possible infection.

    Babies don't produce antibodies to T. gondii for three months after they are born, so the antibodies present in their blood represented infection in the mothers. The scientists studied Danish health patients to determine if any of these women later attempted suicide, including cases of violent suicide attempts which may have involved guns, sharp instruments and jumping from high places.

    The study found that women infected with T. gondii were one and a half times more likely to attempt suicide compared to those who were not infected, and the risk seemed to rise with increasing levels of the T. gondii antibodies.

    Dr Postolache noted limitations to the study, such as the inability to determine the cause of the suicidal behavior.

    The findings were published online in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

50. The objects of the research are women from _____.

   A. Demark B. the USA C. Germany D. Sweden

51. The common way which is more likely to be infected with the disease is _____.

   A. to eat unwashed vegetables or undercooked meat

   B. to clean a place where a cat once lived for a time

   C. to pass the infection to her unborn baby during a woman's pregnancy

   D. to reuse kitchen tools which have been used to cut raw meat

52. What is the consequence if a woman is infected with the parasite in the passage?

   A. Having a high fever.  B. Doing deliberate self-harm.

   C. Keeping a depressed mood. D. Becoming bad tempered.

53. What can be inferred from the passage?

   A. Women have a higher risk to be infected by the parasite than men.

   B. The result of the research may help the scientists to find ways to stop suicide in advance.

   C. The scientists will continue their research into the possible connection.

   D. The risk of being infected seems to rise with the decreasing levels of the antibodies.

54. Which of the following statements would probably be the best title of the passage?

   A. Why are women more likely to commit suicide?

   B. Women should keep away from cats.

   C. Ways found to deal with women's mental problems.

   D. Are women who own cats at a suicide risk?

    Antidepressant(抗忧郁) drugs such as Prozac were viewed in the early 1900's as wonder pills that would remove depressive blues for good. But in the past five years, growing scientific evidence has shown these drugs work for only a minority of people. And now a research journal says that these antidepressants can make many patients' depression worse. This alarming suggestion centres on the very chemical that is targeted by antidepressants-serotonin(血清素). Drugs such as Prozac are known as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors ( or SSRIs). Their aim is to increase the level of this "feel-good" chemical in the brain.

    But the new research, published in the journal Frontiers In Evolutionary Psychology, points out that serotonin is like a chemical Swiss Army knife, performing a very wide range of jobs in the brain and body. And when we start changing serotonin levels purposely, it may cause a wide range of unwanted effects. These can include digestive problems and even early deaths in older people, according to the study's lead researcher Paul Andrews. "We need to be much more cautious about use of these drugs," says Andrews, an assistant professor of evolutionary psychology at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.

    Previous research has suggested that the drugs provide little benefit for most people with mild depression, and actively help only a few of the most severely depressed. Famous psychologist Irving Kirsch has found that for many patients, SSRIs are no more effective than a placebo pill. A research in 2010 on Danish children found a small, but significant, increase in the risk of heart problems among babies whose mothers had used SSRIs in early pregnancy(怀孕). "The key to understanding these side-effects is serotonin", says Andrews. Serotonin is also the reason why patients can often end up feeling still more depressed after they have finished a course of SSRI drugs. He argues that SSRI antidepressants disturb the brain, leaving the patient an even greater depression than before.

    "After long use, when a patient stops taking SSRIs, the brain will lower its levels of serotonin production," he says, adding that it also changes the way receptors in the brain respond to serotonin, making the brain less sensitive to the chemical. These changes are believed to be temporary, but studies indicate that the effects may continue for up to two years.

    Most disturbingly of all, Andrews' review features three recent studies which, he says, show that elderly antidepressant users are more likely to die earlier than non-users, even after taking other important variables into account. One study, published in the British Medical Journal last year, found patients given SSRIs were more than 4 percent more likely to die in the next year than those not on the drugs.

    "Serotonin is an ancient chemical," says Andrews. "It is regulating many different processes, and when you disturb these things, you can expect that it is going to cause some harm."

    Stafford Lightman, professor of medicine at the University of Bristol, and a leading UK expert in brain chemicals and hormones, says Andrews' review highlights some important problems, yet it should also be taken with a pinch of salt. "This report is doing the opposite of what drug companies do," he says. "Drug companies selectively present all the positives in their research, while this search selectively presents all the negatives that can be found. Nevertheless, Andrews' study is useful in that it is always worth pointing out that there is a downside to any medicine." Professor Lightman adds that there is still a great deal we don't know about SSRIs-not least what they actually do in our brains.

    When it comes to understanding why the drugs work only for a limited part of patients, U. S. scientists think they might now have the answer. They think that in many depressed patients, it's not only the lack of feel-good serotonin causing their depression, but also a failure in the area of the brain that produces new cells throughout our lives. This area, the hippocampus, is also responsible for regulating mood and memory. Research suggests that in patients whose hippocampus has lost the ability to produce new cells, SSRIs do not bring any benefit.

55. According to paragraph 2, serotonin, like a chemical Swiss Army knife, can ______.

   A. make many patients' depression worse

   B. cause a wide range of unwanted effects

   C. affect human body and brain m various ways

   D. provide little benefit for most depressed people.

56. We can learn from the text that ______.

   A. the number of patients with depression has decreased

   B. antidepressants can benefit people with mild depression

   C. people have realized that Prozac cannot be used to treat depression

   D. antidepressants may increase the risk of early death in older people

57. In Stafford Lightman's opinion, ______.

   A. drug companies don't know the negative effect of antidepressant

   B. Andrews focused on different things from the drug companies

   C. scientists have found what SSRIs do in the brain

   D. Andrews' research has no medical value

58. Which of the following is TRUE about SSRIs?

   A. They are used to increase the "feel-good" medical in the brain.

   B. They can work even when the hippocampus can't produce new cells.

   C. They create a risk of heart problems in pregnant women.

   D. They are responsible for controlling mood and memory.

59. What does the underlined sentence mean in Paragraph 6?

   A. Andrews' review might not be completely true.

   B. Andrews need to do more research to support his viewpoint.

   C. Andrew doesn't consider drug companies' interests.

   D. Andrews has found one of the disadvantages of the medicine.

60. What is the text mainly about?

   A. The aim of drug companies.  B. The function of SSRIs.

   C. The side-effects of antidepressants.  D. The cause of depression.