2. More than any other experience it is social interaction by which a person defines, expands, and
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develops his own personality. Therefore, the more involved you are, the more experiences you have, the greater will be the actualization of your personality. If, for example, you are an active person in your community, your personality will express this activity by its positive and outgoing nature. If, on the other hand, you are passive, merely allowing yourself to be acted upon without any involvement in the day-to-day activities of your community, you risk boredom and dullness. Much has been written about the ―mass man‖ and about the inability of the average citizen to affect his own destiny. Involved persons are not mass men or passive citizens.
3. Involvement in your community means developing your community and yourself by direct and relevant interaction. Since this interaction could involve you in any and all of the functions of your community, we suggest here that you select for your involvement activities which are most meaningful to you. You might consider your future career plans, hobbies, or educational interests as guides for your decision. For once you begin to be involved in your community and once you experience your own growth in self-awareness through community awareness, you may very well find social interaction a life-time project, regardless of where your community may be or how it may change. 74. The underlined words “pales next to” in the first paragraph most probably means_______. A. is associated with B. is most likely to C. is next to
D. is less important than
75. Which of the following is characteristic of an active person.
A. Being involved in social interaction. B. Risking boredom and dullness. C. Allowing oneself to be acted upon. D. Thinking passively all the time. A. suggestive
B. selective
C. comprehensive
D. decisive
76. According to the author, involvement in a community should be ______. 77. What would the author most probably write in the paragraph to follow? He may ___________________________________________________. Section C
Directions: Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete the statements in the fewest possible words.
What’s the secret to holding your breath?
How long can you hold your breath? I’m trying it right now. The first 30 seconds are easy. I want to A. tell us the difference between active citizen and passive ones B. define the name of social interaction and ―mass man‖
C. give us some advice on how to be involved in social interaction D. explain why awareness helps actualize one’s personality
give up at 45 seconds but I continue and it gets easier for a while. But, as I go past one minute, my heart is pounding. I breathe out a tiny bit and this helps. One minute and 12 seconds. I’m quite impressed with myself.
In some sports, it is very important to be able to hold your breath, particularly in freediving. In
2006, I met Sam Amps, who was captain of the UK freedive team. At a swimming pool in Bristol, she
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taught me some simple ways to help me hold my breath for longer while swimming underwater. By the end of the session, I could hold my breath for 90 seconds, long enough to let me swim across the pool. Sam swam across the pool three times easily. She could hold her breath for five minutes, while swimming. Five minutes!
I asked how she did it: very slow breathing for several minutes before each dive, then a big, deep
breath before diving in.
Our heart rate doesn’t slow down when we hold our breath. At least, it doesn’t if you’re doing it on
land. When you’re under cold water, the heart rate slows down in most people. This change in our bodies is useful in diving – but it is even more useful for not drowning.
Holding our breath is becoming very useful in one particular area of medicine. Radiotherapy for
breast cancer involves pointing radiation exactly at the tumor. It’s usually done in short periods, between breaths. But, if the patient can hold their breath for several minutes, it means that doctors can give the complete radiation dose, in the right place, all at the same time. The problem, of course, is that most people cannot hold their breath for several minutes. But doctors at University Hospital Birmingham have shown that, if patients are given air with extra oxygen before holding their breath, they can hold it for five-and-a-half minutes.
Surprisingly, to achieve this you have to fool the diaphragm (横膈膜). When you breathe in, you’re
pulling the muscle of your diaphragm flat so that the volume of your chest increases – this pulls the air into your lungs. When you hold your breath, you keep your diaphragm like that. If you breathe extra oxygen before a breath-hold, as in the Birmingham radiotherapy experiments, you may be able to stop the diaphragm from becoming tired too quickly. So, it’s your diaphragm, the main muscle of breathing, that is in charge when you are holding your breath. But, in the end, even if you’ve fooled it for a while, the signals from the diaphragm become too strong and you have to give up – and take a breath. 78. According to the author _________ is the name of the sport in which people swim underwater while holding their breath.
