Listening to music can help me focus better. Since I discovered it two years ago，I've used music to get through boring work or to focus creatively. I've found that it can make even the dullest jobs enjoyable and help clear mental blocks to creativity.

I first noticed the good effects of music while playing video games. It was a few days before Christmas in 2005 and I was playing online video games. My parents had just given me a new MP3，so I decided to listen to music through the headphones while I played. After a few minutes I noticed a great change in my style of play. I was playing more naturally. The music relaxed me，and，to a certain extent，distracted me from the game，allowing my subconscious(潜意识的)talent to come through. The music also helped me block out the outside world. With those headphones on I was like a machine，moving from one task to the next without unnecessary thoughts or actions.

Music can also have a great effect on mood. If I'm in a bad mood at work，I'll listen to some of Bob Marley's and get down to business. It always takes my mind off what I'm doing and makes me a happier person. The same is true for classic rock. One summer，I did a boring job collecting bottle openers by hand. Without a radio playing classic rock in the background，I would have hated life.

Listening to music with relaxing rhythms and a positive message helps you forget your work and think happy thoughts. But the results you see will depend heavily on your personal tastes. Experiment with the types of music you listen to during certain tasks. By trial and error you'll finally discover your best choice.

I'm always looking for new concentration aids，so I'd love to know what type of music works best for me.

1. We can infer that the passage was written in ________.

A. 2005　  　B. 2006　　  C. 2007　 　D. 2008

2. The author first discovered the effects of music ________.

A. from his parents  B. by chance

C. at work         D. when he was a child

3. Which of the following statements is NOT an effect of music for the author?

A. It helps him block out the outside world.

B. It arouses his subconscious talent.

C. It helps his mind relax.

D. It makes him work without any thought.

4. The author mentions the experience of collecting bottle openers in Paragraph 3 to ________.

A. tell us that life is dull

B. drove that music affects mood

C. tell us how to seek happiness

D. tell us bad mood can affect work

5. In order to get the greatest effect of music，you are advised to ________.

A. listen to some of Bob Marley's

B. only choose relaxing music

C. test all kinds of music

D. listen to classic rock

When you think about math, you probably don’t think about breaking the law, solving mysteries or finding criminals. But a mathematician in Maryland does, and he has come up with mathematical tools to help police find criminals.
People who solve crimes look for patterns that might reveal (揭示) the identity of the criminal. It’s long been believed, for example, that criminals will break the law closer to where they live, simply because it’s easier to get around in their own neighborhood. If police see a pattern of robberies in a certain area, they may look for a suspect who lives near the crime scenes. So, the farther away from the area a crime takes place, the less likely it is that the same criminal did it.
But Mike O’Leary, a mathematician at Towson University in Maryland, says that this kind of approach may be too simple. He says that police may get better clues to the location of a criminal’s home base by combining these patterns with a city’s layout (布局) and historical crime records.
The records of past crimes contain geographical information and can reveal easy targets — that is, the kind of stores that might be less difficult to rob. Because these stores are along roads, the locations of past crimes contain information about where major streets and intersections are. O’Leary is writing a new computer program that will quickly provide this kind of information for a given city. His program also includes information about the people who live in the city, and information about how a criminal’s patterns change with age. It’s been shown, for example, that the younger the criminal, the closer to home the crime.
Other computer programmers have worked on similar software, but O’Leary’s uses more math. The mathematician plans to make his computer program available, free of charge, to police departments around the country.
The program is just one way to use math to fight crime. O’Leary says that criminology — the study of crime and criminals — contains a lot of good math problems. “I feel like I’m in a gold mine and I’m the only one who knows what gold looks like,” he says. “It’s a lot of fun.”
61. To find criminals, police usually _________.
A. check who are on the crime scene
B. seek help from local people
C. depend on new mathematical tools
D. focus on where crimes take place
62. O’Leary is writing a computer program that _________.
A. uses math to increase the speed of calculation
B. tells the identity of a criminal in a certain area
C. provides the crime records of a given city
D. shows changes in criminals’ patterns
63. By “I’m the only one who knows what gold looks like”, O’Leary means that he _________.
A. is better at finding gold than others
B. is the only one who uses math to make money
C. knows best how to use math to help solve crimes
D. has more knowledge of gold than other mathematicians
64. What do you know about O’Leary according to the passage?
A. He is a man full of impractical imagination.
B. He is a man full of self-confidence.
C. He is a man who is talkative but lazy.
D. He is a man who doesn’t like mathematics.
65. What is the main idea of the text?
A. Math could help police find criminals.
B. Criminals live near where crimes occur.
C. Crime records could be used to fight crime.
D. Computer software works in preventing crimes.

When I was growing up, I always gave my mom an apron （围裙）on her birthday．I wanted my own mom —   21  that apron I'd just given her, of course —to   22  me at the end of each afternoon bearing a plate of home-baked   23  as she waited breathlessly to hear about my   24  day at school．
Mom loved her family without question, but as an elementary-school teacher she had her own exciting days to   25   .She had hardly any extra time and   26 , and home-baked treats were rare in our house except   27  very special occasions．Since Mom didn't make cookies very often, the   28  of her baking were not always the same．Sometimes the cookies were browned a little more than planned or   29  together and other times the cookies weren't smooth．  30 , none of that bothered anyone in the family．All we   31  was swallowing whatever we were having for dinner that night so we could get to the cookies   32  us on the kitchen counter．
Now that I'm a mom myself, I can   33  all too well why my mother didn't always have the time to wear the apron．As was true with my mother, the list of things I need to do is often   34 than the day itself．But I also understand the desire to   35  the same yellow mixing bowl my mother used and make something special for my family every so often．Whatever I bake is met with approval, appreciation and good   36  by my husband and children．At some level, I believe they're   37  that I was thinking about them as I   38  the brown sugar into the butter or frosted the cake with their favorite kind of icing．They always know I love them．I  39  they know it a little better when I'm in a baking mood．
I'm sure my mother felt   40  the same way whenever she made cookies for us．Those cookies will always, in my mind, be the best treat．

–- Excuse me, would you mind answering a few questions?

--- Well, I don’t know. I’m in a hurry _______.

A．actually           B．seriously          C．immediately       D．anxiously

–- Excuse me, would you mind answering a few questions?
--- Well, I don’t know. I’m in a hurry _______.