Can trees talk? Yes — but not in words. Scientists have reason to believe that trees do
communicate with each other. Not long ago, researchers learned some surprising things. First a willow tree attacked in the woods by caterpillars（毛毛虫）changed the chemistry of its leaves and made them taste so terrible that they got tired of the leaves and stopped eating them. Then even more astonishing, the tree sent out a special vapor—a signal causing its neighbors to change the chemistry of their own leaves and make them less tasty.
Communication, of course, does not need to be in words. We can talk each other by smiling, raising our shoulders and moving our hands. We know that birds and animals use a whole vocabulary of songs, sounds, and movements. Bees dance their signals, flying in certain patterns that tell other bees where to find nectar for honey. So why shouldn’t trees have ways of sending messages?
1．It can be inferred from the passage that caterpillars do not feed on leaves that .
A．have an unpleasant taste
B．are lying on the ground
C．have an unfamiliar shape
D．bees don’t like
2．According to the passage, the willow tree was able to communicate with each other by .
A．waving its branches B．giving off a special vapor
C．dropping its leaves D．changing the color of its trunk
3．According to the passage, bees communicate by .
A．touching one another B．smiling one another
C．making special movement D．making unusual sound
4．The author believes that the incident described in the passage .
A．cannot be taken seriously B．seems completely reasonable
C．should no longer be permitted D．must be checked more thorough
What does it mean to say that we live in a world of persuasion? It means that we live among competing interests. Your roommate’s need to study for an exam may take priority（优先）over pizza. Your instructor may have good reasons not to change your grade. And the object of your romantic interest may have other choices.
In such a world, persuasion is the art of getting others to give fair and favorable consideration to our point of view. When we persuade, we want to influence how others believe and behave. We may not always prevail — other points of view may be more persuasive, depending on the listener, the situation, and the merits of the case. But when we practice the art of persuasion, we try to ensure that our position receives the attention it deserves.
Some people, however, object to the very idea of persuasion. They may regard it as an unwelcome interruption into their lives. Just the opposite, we believe that persuasion is unavoidable — to live is to persuade. Persuasion may be ethical（合乎道义的）or unethical, selfless or selfish, inspiring or degrading. Persuaders may enlighten our minds or catch our vulnerability(弱点). Ethical persuasion, however, calls on sound reasoning and is sensitive to the feelings and needs of listeners. Such persuasion can help us apply the wisdom of the past to the decisions we now must make. Therefore, the most basic part of education is learning to resist the one kind of persuasion and to encourage and practice the other.
Beyond its personal importance to us, persuasion is necessary to society. The right to persuade and be persuaded is the bedrock of the American political system, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution（美国宪法）.According to the passage, persuasion means ________.
| A．changing others’ point of view |
| B．exercising power over other people |
| C．getting other people to consider your point of view |
| D．getting people to agree with you and do what you want |
The underlined word in the second paragraph “prevail” means“________”.
| A．fail | B．win | C．speak | D．listen |
The passage states that some people object to persuasion because they think it is ________.
| A．unwelcome behavior | B．difficult to do well |
| C．a danger to society | D．never successful |
The passage mainly discusses ________.
| A．people’s different opinions towards persuasion |
| B．the reasons why people persuade |
| C．that persuasion is both good and bad |
| D．that persuasion is important and it is all around us |
Can you believe your eyes? A recent experiment suggests that the answer to that question may depend on your age.
Martin Doherty, a psychologist at the University of Stirling in Scotland, led the team of scientists. In this experiment, Doherty and his team tested the perception(观察力) of some people, using pictures of some orange circles. The researchers showed the same pictures to two groups of people. The first group included 151 children aged 4 to 10, and the second group included 24 adults aged 18 to 25.
The first group of pictures showed two circles alone on a white background. One of the circles was larger than the other, and these people were asked to identify the larger one. Four-year-olds identified the correct circle 79 percent of the time. Adults identified the correct circle 95 percent of the time.
Next, both groups were shown a picture where the orange circles, again of different sizes, were surrounded by gray circles. Here's where the trick lies in. In some of the pictures, the smaller orange circle was surrounded by even smaller gray circles —making the orange circle appear larger than the other orange circle, which was the real larger one. And the larger orange circle was surrounded by even bigger gray circles—so it appeared to be smaller than the real smaller orange circle.
When young children aged 4 to 6 looked at these tricky pictures, they weren't fooled—they were still able to find the bigger circle with roughly the same accuracy as before. Older children and adults, on the other hand, did not do as well. Older children often identified the smaller circle as the larger one, and adults got it wrong most of the time.
As children get older, Doherty said, their brains may develop the ability to identify visual context. In other words, they will begin to process the whole picture at once: the tricky gray circles, as well as the orange circle in the middle. As a result, they're more likely to fall for this kind of visual trick.Why are younger children not fooled?_____________.
| A．Because their brain can hardly notice related things together. |
| B．Because older people are influenced by their experience. |
| C．Because people's eyes become weaker as they grow older. |
| D．Because they are smarter than older children and adults. |
Doherty and his team of scientists did an experiment to evaluate_____________.
| A．children's and adults' eye-sight |
| B．people's ability to see accurately |
| C．children's and adults' brains |
| D．the influence of people's age |
When asked to find the larger circle,_____________.
| A．children at 6 got it wrong 79 % of the time with no gray ones around |
| B．only adults over 18 got it right 95% of the time with gray ones around |
| C．children at 4 got it right about 79 % of the time with gray ones around |
| D．adults got it right most of the time with gray ones around |
According to the passage, we can know that_____________.
| A．a smaller orange circle appears bigger on a white background |
| B．an orange circle appears bigger than a gray one of the same size |
| C．a circle surrounded by other circles looks bigger than its real size |
| D．a circle surrounded by bigger ones looks smaller than its real size |
Everyone knows that eating too much junk food is not good to our health. Yet, what is it about junk food that is so completely irresistible(无可抗拒的)? For one thing, it’s everywhere. From chips in fast food restaurants to candy in supermarkets, junk food always seems available. Thankfully, science is now providing new clues to help us reduce snacking.
Make friends with dainty(讲究的) eaters.
Studies have found that people tend to increase or reduce the amount of food they eat depending on what their companions are taking in.
See happy movies and always get the smaller bag of popcorn(爆米花).
According to some experts, people eat up to 29% more popcorn if they are watching a sad or serious movie, compared to when they are watching a comedy. Viewers consumed almost 200 calories more when snacking from a large bucket, as opposed to when given a medium-sized container.
Eat breakfast.
Nutritionists have gone back and forth（来来回回）about the question of how much to eat in the morning, but new studies suggest that consuming a good breakfast is a must. Surveys on long-term weight-loss show that two key factors in keeping weight down are eating breakfast and exercising.
Divide your food and conquer overeating.
Any kind of dividing your food into portions slows down your eating. Any kind of marker makes you aware of what you’re eating and of portion size. Researchers advise reallocating（再分配）snack foods into small plastic bags. It sounds simplistic, but it works.Why do people eat too much junk food though it is bad for our health?
| A．It’s delicious from chips to candy. |
| B．Because it’s available here and there. |
| C．It’s easily taken everywhere. |
| D．It’s easily bought in fast food restaurants. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．If people are watching a tragedy, they eat up to 29% more popcorn. |
| B．People are likely to eat more food when staying with friends. |
| C．Nutritionists have the same opinion about how much to eat in the morning. |
| D．People prefer to snack from a large bucket. |
What will he or she do if he or she wants to lose weight?
| A．To eat nothing in the morning. |
| B．To get up early and to go to bed late. |
| C．To eat breakfast and exercise. |
| D．To snack from a medium-size bucket. |
Many gardeners believe that “talking” to their plants helps them grow---it turns out that they may not be crazy after all. According to the scientists from the University of Exeter, plants may keep communicating with each other through a secret “unseen” language.
For their experiment, the scientists picked a cabbage plant that is known to send out a gas when its surface is cut. In order to get video evidence of the communication, they changed the cabbage gene by adding the protein---luciderase(虫荧光素酶), which is what makes fireflies(萤火虫) glow in the dark.
When the changed cabbage plant was in full bloom, they cut a leaf off with a pair of scissors, and almost immediately, thanks to the luciderase, they could see the plant sending out “methyl jasmonate(茉莉酸甲酯)”.
While this was a known fact, what was surprising was the fact that the minute this gas began to give out, the nearby cabbage plants seemed to sense some kind of danger and started to send out a gas that they normally have to keep predators(捕食者) like caterpillars(毛虫) away.
What the scientists are not sure is whether the plants are trying to warn the other leaves or the near plants about the danger---something that will require further research However, the team, which is led by Professor Nick Smirnoff, is quite excited about the findings because this is the first time it has been proved that plants do not live a passive life, but actually move, sense and even communicate with each other.
However, before you get all concerned, they are quite sure that plants do not feel the pain when they are cut, since they do not have nerves---so go ahead and bite into that juicy carrot!What’s the best title of the passage?
| A． Plants Can Send Some Gas |
| B． Plants Can Communicate with Each Other |
| C． The “Unseen” Language of Plants |
| D． Plants Can’t Feel Pain |
What does the underlined word “they” in Paragraph 1 mean?
| A． Gardeners | B． Plants |
| C． Scientists | D． Fireflies |
When the plant sent out methyl jasmonate, which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?
| A． The nearby cabbage plants seemed to sense some kind of danger. |
| B． The nearby cabbage plants started to send out a gas. |
| C． The nearby cabbage plants tried to warn the near plants. |
| D． The nearby cabbage plants communicated through a secret language. |
According to the experiment, plants ________________.
| A． don’t live a passive life |
| B． can feel pain when they are cut |
| C． can warn the other leaves about danger |
| D． can talk with each other |
Why are so many people afraid to fail? Quite simply because we forget that failure is part of the human life and that every person has the right to fail. Every person is able to fight failure and finally succeed.
Most parents work hard at preventing failure or protecting their children from the knowledge that they have failed. One way is to lower standards(标准). When a child finishes making a table, the mother describes it as “perfect” even though it doesn’t stand still. Another way is to blame others. If John fails in science, his teacher is unfair or stupid.
There’s a problem with the two ways. It makes a child unprepared for life in the real world. Young children need to learn that no one can be best at everything, no one can win all the time, and that it’s possible to enjoy a game even when you don’t win. A child often feels terrible, of course, when he is not invited to a birthday party, or is not chosen into a football team. But parents should not say “It doesn’t matter.” quickly. The young should be allowed to experience failure and be helped to come out of it.
Failure never gives people pleasure. It hurts both adults and children. But it can be really good to your life when you learn to use it. You must learn to ask “Why did I fail?” Don’t blame anyone else. Ask yourself what you did wrong and how you can improve. If someone else can help, don’t be shy about asking them. Success just repeats what has been done. It is not as good a teacher as failure. You can learn how to give a good party from an unsuccessful one.How do most parents prevent their children from failure?
| A． They give them some presents. |
| B． They don’t tell them that they have failed. |
| C． They don’t blame others. |
| D． They help them to come out of failure. |
Which of the following does a person need to learn when he fails?
| A． It’s impossible to enjoy a game if he misses it. |
| B． He is the worst of all. |
| C． It’s natural not to win a game and no one can win all the time. |
| D． His teammates are not good enough. |
Which would be the best title for the passage?
| A． Learning from Failure |
| B． Ways of Preventing Failure |
| C． Reasons of Failure |
| D． Getting Pleasure from Failure |
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