Do you remember the night when you took advantage of my 17-year-old neighbor who had to drive to pick up his sister from her dance lessons? Do you know how we all felt when he hit another car and killed the two people in the other car? He died the next morning too. His sister walked home from her dance lesson, and passed police cars and a crowd of people gathering on the sidewalk just two blocks away from the dance studio. She didn’t realize her brother was in the midst of it all. She never saw him again. And it’s all your fault.
I wish you’d walk out of my life forever. I don’t want anything to do with you. Look at all the pain you’ve caused. Sure, you’ve made people happy too from time to time. But the damage you’ve caused in the lives of millions is inexcusable. Stop luring (引诱) in the people I love. Stop hurting me, please.
Sincerely,
Anonymous
21. What is author’s purpose in writing to alcohol?
A. To introduce Mr. Alcohol to the readers
B. To describe the harm alcohol did to his family.
C. To show how much alcohol can hurt people.
D. To show the great fun alcohol can bring to people’s life.
22. What did alcohol do to the author’s father?
A. It made him crash into two other cars and took his life.
B. It made him drink too much and he had to get his stomach pumped.
C. It made him kill two other people when driving.
D. It made him get into a car accident and badly injure himself.
23. The underlined phrase “were intrigued by” is closest in meaning to ________.
A. were familiar with B. were interested in
C. were disappointed with D. were satisfied with
24. What is the tone of the article?
A. Critical B. Doubtful C. Unconcerned D. Humorous
B
American researchers found females are the more talkative sex because of a special “language protein” in the brain.
The study, conducted by neuroscientists(神经学家) and psychologist from the University of Maryland, concluded that women talked more because they had more of the Foxp2 protein. The research, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, found that higher levels were found among humans that were women but in rats that were males. Their findings came after it was previously claimed that ladies speak about 20,000 words a day – over 13,000 more than men. “This study is one of the first to report a sex difference in the expression of a language-associated protein in humans or animals,” said Prof Margaret McCarthy, who led the study. In their study, the researchers attempted to determine what might make male rats more vocal than their female friends.
They separated four-day-old rats from their mothers and then counted the number of times they cried out in the “ultrasonic(超声波的) range”, the frequencies higher than humans can hear, over five minutes. While both sexes called out hundreds of cries, the males called out twice as often, they found. But when the pups were returned to their mother’s cage, she fussed over her sons first. Tests conducted on the parts of the brain known to be associated with vocal calls showed the male pups have up to twice as much Foxp2 protein as the females. The researchers then increased the production in the brains of female pups and reduced it in males. This led to the female rats crying out more often and their mothers showing more interest to them. In contrast, males became less “talkative”.
The researchers then tested samples from ten children, aged between three and five, which showed that females had up to 30 per cent more of the Foxp2 protein than males, in a brain area key to language in humans.
“Based on our observations, we assume higher levels of Foxp2 in girls and higher levels of Foxp2 in male rats is an indication that Foxp2 protein levels are associated with the more communicative sex,” said Prof McCarthy.
“Our results imply Foxp2 as a component (成分)of the neurobiological basis of sex differences in vocal communication in mammals.”
25. From the second paragraph, we can learn that ________.
A. women always speak more words than men
B. men and male rats have low levels of language protein
C. women and male rats have similar levels of Foxp2
D. McCarthy isn’t the first to find females more talkative
26 The underlined phrase “fussed over” in the third paragraph probably means______.
A. paid attention to B. related to C. put pressure on D. counted on
27. The researchers carried out the experiments on rats in order to _______.
A. test which part of the brain is key to language in rats and humans
B. prove the levels of Foxp2 protein in humans and rats are different
C. determine the reason why female rats are more talkative than male rats
D. discover the association between Foxp2 protein and vocal communication
28. Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
A. Tests on humans and rats B. Why women are the talkative sex
C. Sex differences in Foxp2 protein D. Foxp2 protein determines oral ability
