C. It helps local farmers grow fruits.

D. It makes meals out of unwanted food.

27. What does Curtin suggest people do?

A. Buy only what is needed. B. Reduce food consumption.

C. Go shopping once a week. D. Eat in restaurants less often.

C

The elderly residents (居民) in care homes in London are being given hens to  look after to stop them feeling lonely.

The project was dreamed up by a local charity (慈善组织) to reduce loneliness  and improve elderly people’s wellbeing. It is also being used to help patients  suffering dementia, a serious illness of the mind. Staff in care homes have  reported a reduction in the use of medicine where hens are in use.

Among those taking part in the project is 80-year-old Ruth Xavier. She  said, “I used to keep hens when I was younger and had to prepare their breakfast  each morning before I went to school.

“I like the project a lot. I am down there in my wheelchair in the morning  letting the hens out and down there again at night to see they’ve gone to  bed.

“It’s good to have a different focus. People have been bringing their  children to see the hens and residents come and sit outside to watch them. I’m  enjoying the creative activities, and it feels great to have done something  useful.”

There are now 700 elderly people looking after hens in 20 care homes in the  North East, and the charity has been given financial support to roll it out  countrywide.

Wendy Wilson, extra care manager at 60 Penfold Street, one of the first to  embark on the project, said, “Residents really welcome the idea of the project  and the creative sessions. We are looking forward to the benefits and fun the  project can bring to people here.”

Lynn Lewis, director of Notting Hill Pathways, said, “We are happy to be  taking part in the project. It will really help connect our residents through a  shared interest and creative activities.”

28. What is the purpose of the project?

A. To ensure harmony in care homes.

B. To provide part-time jobs for he aged.

C. To raise money for medical research.

D. To promote the elderly people’s welfare.

29. How has the project affected Ruth Xavier?

A. She has learned new life skills.

B. She has gained a sense of achievement.

C. She has recovered her memory.

D. She has developed a strong personality.

30. What do the underlined words “embark on” mean in paragraph 7?

A. Improve. B. Oppose. C. Begin. D. Evaluate.

31. What can we learn about the project from the last two paragraphs?

A. It is well received. B. It needs to be more creative.

C. It is highly profitable. D. It takes ages to see the results.

D

Human speech contains more than 2,000 different sounds, from the common “m”  and “a” to the rare clicks of some southern African languages. But why are  certain sounds more common than others? A ground-breaking, five-year study shows  that diet-related changes in human bite led to new speech sounds that are now  found in half the world’s languages.

More than 30 years ago, the scholar Charles Hockett noted that speech  sounds called labiodentals, such as “f” and “v”, were more common in the  languages in society that ate softer foods. Now a team of researchers led by  Damian Blasi at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, has found how and why  this trend arose.

They discovered the upper and lower front teeth of ancient human adults  were aligned(对齐), making it hard to produce labiodentals, which are formed by  touching the lower lip to the upper teeth. Later, our jaws changed to an  overbite structure (结构), making it easier to produce such sounds.

The team showed that this change in bite was connected with the development  of agriculture in the Neolithic period. Food became easier to chew at this  point. The jawbone didn’t have to do as much work and so didn’t grow to be so  large.

Analyses of a language database also confirmed that there was a global  change in the sound of world languages after the Neolithic age, with the use of  “f” and “v” increasing remarkably during the last few thousand years. These  sounds are still not found in the languages of many hunter-gatherer people  today.

This research overturns the popular view that all human speech sounds were  present when human beings evolved around 300,000 years ago. “The set of speech  sounds we use has not necessarily remained stable since the appearance of human  beings, but rather the huge variety of speech sounds that we find today is the  product of a complex interplay of things like biological change and cultural  evolution,” said Steven Moran, a member of the research team.

32. Which aspect of the human speech sound does Damian Blasi’s research  focus on?

A. Its variety. B. Its distribution. C. Its quantity. D. Its  development.

33. Why was it difficult for ancient human adults to produce  labiodentals?

A. They had fewer upper teeth than lower teeth.