【阅读选择】Hearing loss, which occurs typically prior to teenage years, progresses throughout one’s lifetime. Although hearing loss is now the world’s number one health problem, nearly 90 percent of people suffering hearing loss choose to leave the problem untreated. For many millions, treating hearing loss in a conventional way can involve numerous office visits, expensive testing and adjustments to fit your ear. Thanks to Crystal Ear, the "sound solution" is now convenient. Almost 90 percent of people with mild hearing loss, and millions more with just a little hearing drop-off(下降), can be dramatically helped with Crystal Ear. Moreover, its superior design is energy-efficient, so batteries can last months. Crystal Ear is now available to help these people treat their hearing loss with a small hearing amplifier(放大器). According to the passage, hearing loss is _____.

【阅读选择】As far as astronomers(天文学家) can determine, the entire universe is built of the same matter. They have no reason to doubt that matter obeys the same laws in every part of the universe. Therefore, it is reasonable to guess that other stars, with their own planets, were born in the same way as our own solar system. What we know of life on earth suggests that life will arise wherever the proper conditions exist. Astronomers believe that matter in different parts of the universe _____.

【阅读选择】You can’t change your energy cycle, but you can learn to make your life fit it better. Habit can help, Dr. Kleitman believes. Maybe you’re sleepy in the evening but you must stay up late anyway. Counteract your cycle to some extent by habitually staying up later than you want to. If your energy is low in the morning but you have an important job to do early in the day, rise before your usual hour. This won’t change your cycle, but you’ll get up steam and work better at your low point.If one wants to work more efficiently at his low point in the morning, he should _______.

【阅读选择】On the other hand, on the moon there will be an attraction between the butter and the moon; but the butter will weigh only about one-sixth as much as it does on the earth. This is because the moon is so much smaller than the earth. The amount of gravitational pull that a body produces depends on the amount of material in it. A packet of butter has a gravitational pull of its own; but this is very small in relation to the pull of something as large as the moon, or the earth, or the sun. We do not feel the gravitational pull of a packet of butter because ______.

【阅读选择】The other side of a state legal apparatus is a state military apparatus. While the one protects the individual from violence, the other sacrifices the individual to violence in the interests of the state. In war the state affirms supreme power over the individuals within its own borders. War is not simply a trial by combat to settle disputes between states; it is the moment when the state makes its most powerful demands upon its people for their commitment, allegiance, and supreme sacrifice. The word “allegiance" is closest in meaning to ______.

【阅读选择】Rhythm in literature is a more or less regular occurrence of certain elements of writing: a word, a phrase, an idea, a sound, or a grammatical construction. We are also accustomed to this recurrence in the alternate heavy and light beats in music. Our love for rhythm seems to be innate: witness the responses of a small child to lively music. Children love to beat on toy drums or empty boxes. They stamp their feet and chant nursery rhymes or nonsense syllables, not unlike primitive dancers. As children grow older, they are taught to restrain their responses to rhythm, but our love of rhythm remains. We live in rhythms; in fact we are governed by rhythms. According to the passage, an adult’s reaction to rhythm in music would probably be _____.

【阅读选择】Physiologically, we are rhythmical. We must eat, sleep, breathe, and play regularly to maintain good health. Emotionally we are rhythmical, too, for psychologists say that all of us feel alternate periods of relative depression and exhilaration. Intellectually we are also rhythmical, for we must have periods of relaxation following periods of concentration. It naturally follows then that rhythm, a fundamental aspect of our lives, must be a part of any good literary work—whether poetry or prose. According to the passage, which of the following pairs of activities best illustrates intellectual rhythm?

【阅读选择】One day a friend asked my wife Jill if I wanted a hearing aid. "He certainly does," replied Jill. After hearing about a remarkable new product, Jill finally got up the nerve to ask me if I’d ever thought about getting a hearing aid. "No way," I said. "It would make me look 20 years older." "No, no," she replied. "This is entirely different. It’s Crystal Ear!" Initially the writer did not want to buy a hearing aid because _______.

【阅读选择】Calorie restriction dramatically extends the lifespan of organisms as different as worms and rodents. Whether this works in humans is still unknown partly because few people are willing to submit to such a strict diet. According to the passage, we do not know whether humans will benefit from taking in fewer calories partly because ______.

【阅读选择】Get off to a slow start which saves your energy. Get up with a leisurely yawn and stretch. Sit on the edge of the bed a minute before putting your feet on the floor. Avoid the trouble of searching for clean clothes by laying them out the night before. Whenever possible, do routine work in the afternoon and save tasks requiring more energy or concentration for your sharp hours. You are advised to rise with a yawn and stretch because it will _______.