About two-thirds of the world’s population is expected to live in cities by the year 2020 and, according to the United Nations, approximately 3.7 billion people will inhabit urban areas some 10 years later. As cities grow, so do the number of buildings that characterize them: office towers, factories, shopping malls and high-rise apartment buildings. These structures depend on artificial ventilation systems to keep clean and cool air flowing to the people inside. We know these systems by the term “air-conditioning“. Although many of us may feel air-conditioners bring relief from hot, humid or polluted outside air, they pose many potential health hazards. Much research has looked at how the circulation of air inside a closed environment — such as an office building — can spread disease or expose occupants to harmful chemicals. One of the more widely publicized dangers is that of Legionnaire’s disease, which was first recognized in the 1970s. This was found to have affected people in buildings with air-conditioning systems in which warm air pumped out of the system’s cooling towers was somehow sucked back into the air intake, in most cases due to poor design. This warm air was, needless to say, the perfect environment for the rapid growth of disease-carrying bacteria originating from outside the building, where it existed in harmless quantities. The warm, bacteria-laden air was combined with cooled, conditioned air and was then circulated around various parts of the building. Studies showed that even people outside such buildings were at risk if they walked past air exhaust ducts. Cases of Legionnaire’s disease are becoming fewer with newer system designs and modifications to older systems, but many older buildings, particularly in developing countries, require constant monitoring. The ways in which air-conditioners work to “clean“ the air can inadvertently cause health problems, too. One such way is with the use of an electrostatic precipitator, which removes dust and smoke particles from the air. What precipitators also do, however, is to emit large quantities of positive air ions into the ventilation system. A growing number of studies show that overexposure to positive air ions can result in headaches, fatigue and feelings of irritation. Large air-conditioning systems add water to the air they circulate by means of humidifiers. In older systems, the water used for this process is kept in special reservoirs, the bottoms of which provide breeding grounds for bacteria and fungi which can find their way into the ventilation system. The risk to human health from this situation has been highlighted by the fact that the immune systems of approximately half of workers in air-conditioned office buildings have developed antibodies to fight off the organisms found at the bottom of system reservoirs. Chemical disinfectants, called “biocides“, that are added to reservoirs to make them germ-free, are dangerous in their own right in sufficient quantities, as they often contain compounds such as pentachlorophenol, which is strongly linked to abdominal cancers. Finally, it should be pointed out that the artificial climatic environment created by air-conditioners can also adversely affect us. In a natural environment, whether indoor or outdoor, there are small variations in temperature and humidity. Indeed, the human body has long been accustomed to these normal changes. In an air-conditioned living or work environment, however, body temperatures remain well under 37°C, our normal temperature. This leads to a weakened immune system and thus greater susceptibility to diseases such as colds and flu.

Fortunately, my attorney helped me obtain compensation for my injuries, which ______my monthly income. augmented allotted allocated aggregated

Most people who are color-blind actually can distinguish several colors. Some, however, have a truly______view of a world all in shades of gray. opalescent translucent astigmatic monochromatic

The total energy given off is thousands of times more than any______chemical reaction could produce. compatible conformable comparable conceivable

If large sums of money are to be spent on environmental disasters, it is better to spend them on______problems such as unsanitary water in third-world countries. pressing promising protruding puzzling

With the acceleration of technological advances, many people consider a personal computer______after only three years. outbound outsize outdated outright

A century ago, people considered the physician’s conclusion______, doubting it was something to defy God. incontrovertible incompetent inappropriate incapable

Compassion is a great human emotion, which refers to the pity for those who suffer______. undesirably unwittingly unearthly undeservedly

He could hardly believe his luck when his______response turned out to be correct. inhibitive interactive intuitive indirect

These figures include only the budget as it was set up, since expenses therein are still being caused while a budget for the future is being prepared. incurred increased inflated initiated

Recently released photos by the crew of Mr. Six show special-effects artists meticulously pasting man-made muscles on the chest of award-winning actor Zhang Hanyu, so as to help him play the supporting role of Men Saner. intentionally precisely concretely randomly

The wave of strikes that has gripped France for a month showed some signs of abating yesterday as prison officers agreed to go back to work. ascending retreating diminishing pacifying

Yahoo news says that January 17 is commonly known as the day when New Year’s resolutions are ditched, and some psychologists believe many people give up even faster. amended abandoned altered affected

During the first 100, 000 to 700, 000 years after the Big Bang, the universe was farther dense than the air on earth, which means that sound waves could indeed move through it. farther denser than far more dense than further denser than far denser than

I have noticed, with admiration, that in Italy rather more attention tends to be paid to intellectual life than it did elsewhere. than it does than it has than it will than it is

I always recalled that unforgettable November day — at intervals, while turning over the leaves of my book, the aspect of that winter afternoon was studied. the aspect of that winter afternoon was being studied studied was the aspect of that winter afternoon the aspect of that winter afternoon was to be studied I studied the aspect of that winter afternoon

Rather than focused on the astonishing number of criminals involved in the incident and the broader issues, Reker determined women, such as those who were randomly attacked days ago, are the key to a solution. Rather than focus Rather than to focus Rather than focusing Rather than be focused

About two-thirds of the world’s population is expected to live in cities by the year 2020 and, according to the United Nations, approximately 3.7 billion people will inhabit urban areas some 10 years later. As cities grow, so do the number of buildings that characterize them: office towers, factories, shopping malls and high-rise apartment buildings. These structures depend on artificial ventilation systems to keep clean and cool air flowing to the people inside. We know these systems by the term “air-conditioning“. Although many of us may feel air-conditioners bring relief from hot, humid or polluted outside air, they pose many potential health hazards. Much research has looked at how the circulation of air inside a closed environment — such as an office building — can spread disease or expose occupants to harmful chemicals. One of the more widely publicized dangers is that of Legionnaire’s disease, which was first recognized in the 1970s. This was found to have affected people in buildings with air-conditioning systems in which warm air pumped out of the system’s cooling towers was somehow sucked back into the air intake, in most cases due to poor design. This warm air was, needless to say, the perfect environment for the rapid growth of disease-carrying bacteria originating from outside the building, where it existed in harmless quantities. The warm, bacteria-laden air was combined with cooled, conditioned air and was then circulated around various parts of the building. Studies showed that even people outside such buildings were at risk if they walked past air exhaust ducts. Cases of Legionnaire’s disease are becoming fewer with newer system designs and modifications to older systems, but many older buildings, particularly in developing countries, require constant monitoring. The ways in which air-conditioners work to “clean“ the air can inadvertently cause health problems, too. One such way is with the use of an electrostatic precipitator, which removes dust and smoke particles from the air. What precipitators also do, however, is to emit large quantities of positive air ions into the ventilation system. A growing number of studies show that overexposure to positive air ions can result in headaches, fatigue and feelings of irritation. Large air-conditioning systems add water to the air they circulate by means of humidifiers. In older systems, the water used for this process is kept in special reservoirs, the bottoms of which provide breeding grounds for bacteria and fungi which can find their way into the ventilation system. The risk to human health from this situation has been highlighted by the fact that the immune systems of approximately half of workers in air-conditioned office buildings have developed antibodies to fight off the organisms found at the bottom of system reservoirs. Chemical disinfectants, called “biocides“, that are added to reservoirs to make them germ-free, are dangerous in their own right in sufficient quantities, as they often contain compounds such as pentachlorophenol, which is strongly linked to abdominal cancers. Finally, it should be pointed out that the artificial climatic environment created by air-conditioners can also adversely affect us. In a natural environment, whether indoor or outdoor, there are small variations in temperature and humidity. Indeed, the human body has long been accustomed to these normal changes. In an air-conditioned living or work environment, however, body temperatures remain well under 37°C, our normal temperature. This leads to a weakened immune system and thus greater susceptibility to diseases such as colds and flu.

Municipal bans on smoking in restaurants and bars are highly controversial, but history shows they can also be highly effective. But are all smoking bans equally successful? The barkeeper and blogger who writes as “Scribbler50“ was outraged when, in 2003, New York City enacted one of the first comprehensive smoking bans in bars and restaurants, “How can a guy and some board just kick us in the teeth like this? This smacks of fascism.“ If people are aware of the consequences of smoking or visiting places with lots of secondhand smoke, should the government really have to tell us what to do? Won’t people just vote with their feet and smoke even more when they’re at home and away from restrictions? Scribbler50’s post inspired the physician who blogs as “PalMD“ last week to look up the research on the effectiveness of smoking bans. He found several studies showing that not only did workers in restaurants and bars show improved health shortly after the bans were put in place, but smokers themselves also reduced the number of cigarettes they smoked. Overall, however, smoking rates remain persistently high, despite the common workplace smoking bans. Can other government measures help these smokers live healthier lives, or at least prevent people from taking up the habit? In the U.S., warning messages have been in place on cigarette packages for decades. But the messages are rather clinical, for example: “Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, and May Complicate Pregnancy.“ What if packages contained more dramatic warnings? In January, psychologist and science writer Christian Jarrett looked at a small study of smokers’ reactions to cigarette warnings. The researchers measured self-esteem in student smokers, then showed them cigarette packages with either death-related warnings (“Smokers die earlier“) or esteem-related warnings (“Smoking makes you unattractive“). Students who derived self-esteem from smoking and saw the death-related warnings later viewed smoking more positively than those who saw the esteem-related warnings. For students whose smoking wasn’t motivated by self-esteem, the effect was reversed. So not all anti-smoking messages are equal: Depending on who the message is directed at, a morbid warning on a cigarette label may actually backfire. Scribbler50, for his part, is now a convert favoring smoking restrictions, at least in his narrow limits as a bartender. His patrons who haven’t quit smoking say they smoke a lot less now that they have to go outside to get a nicotine fix. He doesn’t miss emptying ashtrays, or the holier-than-thou customers who complained every time a fellow patron lit up, or working in a smoke-filled bar all night and going home “smelling like you put out a three-alarm“. Would it be right to enact even more restrictions on smoking in the interest of public health? It’s hard to deny that banning smoking in public, indoor spaces has been a huge success. Why not try out some stronger smoking bans? Parents in some areas are already restricted from smoking in cars with children, but I haven’t seen a study that evaluates the success of those measures. Perhaps a state or municipality could try extending the ban to homes, with provisions for studying the results. It’s also possible that stronger measures would be counter-productive, like the stronger warnings on cigarette labels. Maybe we’ll decide that at some level deciding whether or not to smoke should still be an individual choice. Or maybe in a few generations, it won’t be necessary to regulate smoking: There won’t be any smokers left.

Research on friendship has established a number of facts, some interesting, some even useful. Did you know that the average student has five to six friends, or that a friend who was previously an enemy is liked more than one who has always been on the right side? Would you believe that physically attractive individuals are preferred as friends to those less comely, and is it fair that physically attractive defendants are less likely to be found guilty in court? Unfortunately, such titbits do not tell us much more about the nature or the purpose of friendship. In fact, studies of friendship seem to implicate more complex factors. For example, one function friendship seems to fulfill is that it supports the image we have of ourselves, and confirms the value of the attitudes we hold. Certainly we appear to project ourselves onto our friends; several studies have shown that we judge them to be more like us than they (objectively) are. This suggests that we ought to choose friends who are similar to us (“birds of a feather“) rather than those who would be complementary (“opposites attract“). In our experiment, some developing friendships were monitored amongst first-year students living in the same hostel. It was found that similarity of attitudes (toward politics, religion and ethics, pastimes and aesthetics) was a good predictor of what friendships would be established by the end of the four months, though it had less to do with initial alliances — not surprisingly, since attitudes may not be obvious on first inspection. There have also been studies of pairings, both voluntary (married couples) and forced (student roommates), to see who remained together and who split up. Again, the evidence seems to favor similarity rather than complementarity as an omen of a successful relationship, though there is a complication: when marriage is concerned, once the field has been narrowed down to potential mates who come from similar backgrounds and share a broad range of attitudes and values, a degree of complementarity seems to become desirable. When a couple is not just similar but almost identical, something else seems to be needed. Similarity can breed contempt; it has also been found that when we find others obnoxious, we dislike them more if they are like us than when they are dissimilar. The difficulty of linking friendship with similarity of personality probably reflects the complexity of our personalities: we have many facets and therefore require a disparate group of friends to support us. This, of course, can explain why we may have two close friends who have little in common and indeed dislike each other. By and large, though, it looks as though we would do well to choose friends (and spouses) who resemble us. If this were not so, computer dating agencies would have gone out of business years ago.

Whether the extension of consciousness is a “good thing“ for human beings is a question that______of a wide solution. requires needs admits seeks

The passage intends to______.

Flu and colds are caused mainly due to______.

Which of the following is NOT true of the ill effect of air conditioning on the human body?

The word “adversely“ underlined in Paragraph 6 means______.

Which of the following substances CANNOT be found directly from an old ventilation system?

The word “inadvertently“ underlined in Paragraph 4 means______.

The word “ducts“ underlined in Paragraph 3 means______.

Bacteria came into a ventilation system when______.

The word “hazards“ underlined in Paragraph 2 means______.

______are NOT the feature of urbanization, according to the passage.