y studies have looked for a connection between sex and the amount of mental decline (衰退) people experience as they age, but the results have been mixed.
　　Some studies found more age-related decline in men than in women, while others saw the opposite or even no relationship at all between sex and mental decline. Those results could be improper because the studies involved older people, and women live longer than men : The men tested are the survivors, "so they're the ones that may not have shown such cognitive decline," said study team leader Elizabeth of the University of Warwick in England.
　　People surveyed completed four tasks that tested sex-related cognitive skills: matching an object to its rotated form, matching lines shown from the same angle, typing as many words in a particular category (范围) as possible in the given time, e.g. "object usually colored gray", and recalling the location of objects in a line drawing. The first two were tasks at which men usually excel; the latter were typically dominated by women.
　　Within each age group studied, men and women performed better in their separate categories on average. And though performance declined with age for both genders, women showed obviously less decline than men overall.
　　26. The underlined word in the second paragraph means _________.
　　A. natural
　　B. great
　　C. obvious
　　D. absolute
　　27. According to the passage, which of the following can NOT be typed into the same category.'?
　　A. Cloud.
　　B. Sheep.
　　C. Trees.
　　D. Goose.
　　28. Which of the following statements is true according to the article?
　　A. Men do better than women when it comes to learning English.
　　B. Women stand out at remembering people' s names.
　　C. Men .excel at typing as many words in a particular category as possible in the given time.
　　D. Women excel at dealing mathematic problems.
　　29. One important factor that affects the correctness of the results is that _________.
　　A. the old men tested may not have shown such cognitive decline
　　B. people surveyed are all old
　　C. people taking part in this test came from all over the world
　　D. womenlive longer than men
　　30. The author aims to' tell us that _________.

　　A. women' s minds perform better than men' s
　　B. men's minds decline more with age
　　C. everyone becomes a little more forgetful as they get older
　　D. a survey on human's mind decline was done recently

　　C
　　It seems that politicians around the world are thinking about the health of their countries. While in China, Chen Zhu has announced his plans for a universal health service and reform across health services. Gordon Brown, the UK Prime Minister, has also announced he is planning to make some changes in our health service.
　　The crux of Mr. Brown' s proposals is related to giving the NHS ( National Health Service) a greater focus on prevention, rather than just curing patients.
　　He is planning to introduce increased screening for common diseases such as heart disease, strokes and cancer, for example, breast cancer. In Britain there are 200,000 deaths a year from heart attacks and strokes, many of which might have been avoided if the condition had been known about.
　　Initially, the diagnostic (诊断的) tests will be available for those who are vulnerable, or most likely to have the disease. One example is a plan to offer all men over 65 an ultrasound test to check for problems with the main artery (动脉), a condition which kills 3,000 men a year. The opposition have criticized Mr. Brown' s proposals, saying that they are just a trick, and claiming that there is no proper timetable for the changes. They also say that Mr. Brown is reducing the money available for the treatment of certain conditions while putting more money towards testing for them.
　　The NHS was founded in 1948, and is paid for by taxation. The idea is that the rich pay more towards the health service than the poor. However, in recent years there has been a great increase in the use of private health care, and it' s much quicker. The NHS waiting lists for operations can be very long, so many people who can afford it choose to pay for medical care themselves.
　　31. The underlined word "vulnerable" in the fourth paragraph probably means _________.
　　A. sick
　　B. weak
　　C. wounded
　　D. old
　　32. All the following statements are true except that _________.
　　A. all people should pay for their health care at the NHS
　　B. some people are against the reform of health care
　　C. the writer is likely to come from Britain
　　D. more money will be spent on testing people than before _________.
　　33. Which of the following is the reason for the increasing private health care?
　　A. People are paying more attention to their own health.
　　B. People are well off enough to pay their health care.
　　C. The NHS was not available for most of the people.
　　D. It' s not so convenient for people to go to the NHS for their health care.
　　34. According to the passage, the purpose of the health reform plan in the UK is to _________.
　　A. encourage more private health care
　　B. focus on the prevention rather than on curing the patient
　　C. deal with the main artery problems
　　D. fight against the opposition in the UK
　　35. The author of this passage intends to tell us
　　A. the NHS should be reformed right away
　　B. more and more people are dying from diseases
　　C. the plan to reform the NHS in the UK
　　D. the criticism of Mr. Brown' s proposals
　　D
　　More than 6000 children were expelled(开除) from US schools last year for bringing guns and bombs to school, the US Department of Education said on May 8.
　　The department gave a report on the expulsions as saying handguns accounted for 58 percent of the 6093 expulsions in 1996--1997, against 7 percent for rifles(步枪) or shotguns and 35 percent for other types of firearms.
　　"The report is a clear sign that our nation&#