As children face their final month of revision before the exam season starts, many parents are looking for the words to motivate their offspring．But could they be mistakenly praising the value of ability over effort, asks Matthew Syed．
Take a glance at these expressions of encouragement:
"You learned that so quickly, you're so smart!"
"Look at that drawing．Are you -the next Picasso or what?"
They appear as the kind of confidence-boosting statements that should be given to children or, indeed, anyone else．Such phrases are used in homes and classrooms every day, particularly with exams approaching．
Intelligence-based praise leads the receiver towards the fixed thought —it suggests to them that intelligence is of primary importance rather than the effort through which intelligence can be transformed．
Let's take a quick second look into the science of expertise, and ask a question．Where does excellence come from? For a long time, it was thought the answer to this depended, to a large degree, on genetic inheritance．Or, to put it another way, it is all about talent．
It turns out that this is mistaken．Dozens of studies have found that top performers—whether in maths, mi sic or whatever—learn no faster than those who reach lower levels of achievement—hour after hour, they improve at almost the same rates．
The difference is simply that high achievers practice for more hours．Further research has shown that when students seem to possess a particular gift, it is often because they have been given extra tuition at home by their parents．
This is not to deny that some kids start out better than others—it is merely to suggest that the starting point we have in life is not particularly relevant．
Why? Because, over time, with the right, kind of practice, we change so dramatically．It is not just the body that changes, but the brain．The question of talent versus effort would not matter terribly much if it as merely theoretical．But it is so much more than that．It influences the way we think, feel, and the way we engage with our world．What is the best title of this passage?
| A．The Words That Could Encourage Your Child |
| B．Intelligence Says All |
| C．High and Low Achievers |
| D．Start Early, Learn More |
Which statement is intelligence-based praise?
| A．"You're so brilliant - you passed that exam without really studying!" |
| B．"With more efforts, you can achieve more!" |
| C．" You combine study with entertainment so well!" |
| D．"You study so hard even when you are so good at it!" |
The writer thinks the answer to the question of talent versus effort is _____．
| A．simple | B．complicated | C．obvious | D．mysterious |
Why do some people have higher achievements?
| A．Because they are born with great talent. |
| B．Because they start better than others. |
| C．Because they spend more of their spare time practicing what they have learnt. |
| D．Because they improve themselves at almost the same rates. |
Have you got any wonderful plans for your coming summer vacation? Here are some wonderful films for you to kill time.
| Away We Go With a baby on his way, a young couple, Burt and Verona, look at their lives and are puzzled about what they really want. So they hit the road and seek a place to call home. On their journey, they visit a handful of characters and learned a lot. It’s about taking the scenic route in life, preparing for the hope and excitement and fear of new beginnings, while never forgetting to look out of the window. |
Orphan Esther, a bright and well-behaved child, however, is not as innocent as she appears. Soon after being taken home, the peace of her adoptive family is completely changed You want a good horror film about a child from hell? Then you got one! Do not, in any cases, take children to see it. |
| 500 Days of Summer Tom is in love with Summer from the moment he sees her. Can he accept that she simply likes him for now, not for forever? The movie is about Tom wrestling with that reality. Tom remembers his love, Summer, as a series of joys and bafflements. But Summer is just herself and he cannot have her. Here is a rare movie that begins by telling us how it will end and is about how the hero has no idea why. |
2012 The director Roland Emmerich successfully dresses a corny story with an old Mayan prediction, which is believed by many to happen in the coming 2012 and as a result, attracts millions of people into the cinema. It’s just an entertaining Hollywood blockbuster(大片) with plenty of jokes, instead of a description of what the end of the world is really like. Don’t take it too seriously! |
45. This passage aims to __________.
A. make comments on films for a cinema B. advertise several films for a website
C. recommend several films for fun D. introduce films for a film corporation
46. If you bring your seven-year-old sister to the cinema, which of the following film should you avoid?
A. Away We Go. B. Orphan. C. 2012. D. 500 Days of Summer.
47. Among all the characters mentioned in the passage, who directed films in Hollywood?
A. Roland Emmerich B. Esther C. Burt and Verona D. Tom and Summer
48. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Orphan is a comedy about Esther adopted by a kind family.
B. 500 Days of Summer is a romance with a happy ending.
C. Away We Go shows beautiful scenery on the young couple’s journey.
D. The ancient Mayan prediction is going to happen in 2012.
第二部分．阅读理解（共25小题。第一节每小题2分，第二节每小题1分；满分45分）
第一节阅读下面五篇短文，从每题后所给的四个选项中选出最佳答案。
Most of us lead unhealthy lives; we spend far too much sitting down. If in addition we are careless about our diets, our bodies soon become loose and fatty and our systems slow moving. There are some aspects(方面) of our unhealthy lives that we cannot avoid. I am thinking of such features of modern city life as pollution, noise, rushed meals and stress. But keeping fit is a way to reduce the effects of these evils. The usual suggestion to a person who is looking for a way to keep fit is to take up some sport or other. While it is true that every weekend you will find people playing football and hockey in the local park, they are outnumbered a hundred to one by the people who are simply watching them.
For those who do not particularly enjoy competitive sports — and it is especially difficult to do so if you are not good at them — there are such separate activities as cycling, walking, jogging and swimming. What often happens though is that you do them in such a leisurely way, so slowly, that it is doubtful if you are doing yourself much good, except for the fact that you have at least managed to get up out of your armchair.
Even after you have found a way for keeping in shape, through sport or gymnastics, you are still only half way to good health, because, according to the experts, you must also master the art of complete mental and physical relaxation(放松). It has to do with deep breathing, emptying your mind of all thoughts, meditation, and so on. Yoga, as practiced in the West, is the most widely known and popular of the systems for achieving the necessary state of relaxation. It seems ironical (讽刺性的), though, that as our lives have improved in a material sense we have found it increasingly necessary to go back to forms of activity — physical effort on the one hand and relaxation on the other — which were the natural way of life of our forefathers.
41. Pollution, noise and stress are examples of _____.
A. the causes of unfitness B. unavoidable things in town
C. the things we can completely do away with D. bad features of modern living
42. We don’t get much out of separate sports because we _____.
A. don’t do them very often B. don’t do them actively enough
C. find it hard to get out of our armchairs D. don’t find them interesting
43. To be healthy we must _____.
A. keep fit and active B. have a sound mind
C. be active and practise Yoga D. keep fit and learn to relax
44. Our forefathers were healthy because______.
A. their way of life closely connected with both exercise and relaxation
B. they were careful to get plenty of fresh air
C. they spent most of the time out of doors
D. their environment was not polluted
Just how far does the euro(欧元) have to fall before Europe actually becomes reasonable?
Anyone traveling to the old continent from the U.S. in recent years has learned the hard way how expensive it is. The situation has improved in the last couple of months, thanks to the Greek financial crisis. But it still has a way to go.
Alarm about Greece—and other financially unstable countries in Europe—has dragged down the euro sharply. In November, before the crisis struck, you needed about $1.49 to buy one euro. Today you need only about $1.36. That's a 9% cut.
What does that mean for you, the would-be traveler? It's a big sale.
As recently as November, when the euro was flying high, the OECD estimated that countries like France, Italy and Germany were about a third more expensive than the U.S. Not all European countries were quite as expensive for the American visitor: Greece only cost about 17% more than the US, while the Czech Republic (which is not part of the eurozone) was actually about 15% cheaper than back home.
Fast-forward two months, and the situation looks somewhat better.
At current exchange rates, places like France will still cost you about 23% more than the U.S., but cheaper countries such as Spain and Greece are now only about 6% more expensive. The Czech Republic's a fifth cheaper than the U.S.
European prices will only break even(持平) with the U.S. if the euro falls to about $1.10, says the OECD. But is it going to get there?
Greece's financial crisis may or may not be over. Members of a labor union just occupied part of the finance ministry to protest against the planned austerity(紧缩) measures. No, it doesn't inspire confidence!
Julian Jessop, chief international economist at the Capital Economics consultancy in London, sees the euro falling to $1.25 by year-end. “We still think the euro should be a lot lower,” he says. “We think the outlook for the European economy is a lot worse than for the U.S. And Greece is only a symptom of a wider problem: Does the eurozone make sense as a currency union?” If he's right, you may want to wait to change your money or book a trip.
67. In the passage the writer offers some suggestions to the travellers from______.
A．USA B．Europe C．Greece D．China
68. The underlined word “it” in the passage refers to ______.
A.the planned austerity measures
B.Greece’s financial crisis
C.the protest from a labor union
D.the decline of the euro in value
69. Julian Jessop has a negative attitude toward the euro because he thinks ______.
A.Greece’s financial crisis may not be over
B.the euro will drop to $ 1.25 by the end of the year
C.the European economy is a lot worse than the US’
D.the other European countries have a similar problem like Greece
70. The purpose of the author writing the passage is to tell the readers that ______.
A.the euro shall be further reasonably lowered
B.travelers to Europe will save less in the future
C.the economic situation in Europe is worsening
D.the Greek financial crisis influences the whole Europe
The idea for a science experiment can come from an unusual place. After watching a YouTube video of a dancing bird named Snowball, a scientist in California decided to study the ability of animals to keep the beat.
Bird lovers have long claimed that their pets have rhythm, and there are many videos of dancing birds online. Until now, scientists have suspected that humans are the only animals that can accurately keep rhythm with music.
Thanks to Snowball, that scientific opinion is changing. Snowball is a cockatoo, a kind of parrot, and his favorite song is "Everybody" by the Backstreet Boys. When he hears the song, he moves his feet and rocks his body with the tempo, or pace of the music, as though he is the only bird member of the boy band.
Aniruddh Patel is a neuroscientist, or a scientist who studies how the brain and the nervous system contribute to learning, seeing and other mental abilities. He works at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego. After seeing Snowball's dance online, Patel visited the cockatoo at the bird rescue facility he's called home for two years. The scientist played "Everybody" for Snowball and also played versions of the song that were sped up or slowed down. Sometimes, Snowball danced too fast or too slowly. Often, when there was a change in tempo, Snowball adjusted his dancing to match the rhythm. In other experiments, scientists have observed the same abilities in preschool children.
Patel isn't the only scientist who has studied Snowball's moves. Adena Schachner, who studies psychology at Harvard University, also wanted to know more about the dancing bird. Schachner's team played different musical pieces for Snowball and a parrot named Alex, as well as eight human volunteers. The scientists observed that the birds and the humans kept time to the music with about the same accuracy.
Schachner and her team watched thousands of YouTube videos of different animals moving to music. Not all the animals could dance, however. From watching the videos, the scientists observed that only animals that imitate sounds, including 14 parrot species and Asian elephants, accurately moved in time to music.
63. The underlined words “that scientific opinion” in the third paragraph refers to the theory that ______.
A.birds like Snowball have the ability to keep the beat
B.humans are the only animals that can accurately keep rhythm with music
C.the brain and the nervous system contribute to some mental abilities
D.bird pets can have their special rhythm under human’s instruction
64. From the fourth paragraph we may know that ______.
A.Patel is the only scientist who has studied Snowball’s moves.
B.Snowball is able to adjust his dancing to match the rhythm.
C.Snowball cannot dance to the versions of the song Everybody.
D.it is the brain and the nervous system that control the mental abilities.
65. The idea of studying animals’ ability to keep the beat comes from ______.
A.bird lovers’ discovery
B.humans musical sense
C.the same abilities in children
D.videos of dancing birds
66. According to the scientists, Snowball’s ability to dance to music is probably related to the fact that ______.
A.it is the only bird member of the Backstreet Boys band
B.it has the ability to imitate sounds
C.it is a kind of dancing parrot
D.it has the same abilities as preschool children
Despite all the reports of Internet security attacks over the years, including the recent ones on Google’s e-mail service, many people have reacted to the break-ins with a shrug（耸肩）.
Mr. Shulman and his company examined a list of 32 million passwords that an unknown hacker stole last month from RockYou, a company that makes software for users of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. The list was briefly posted on the Web, and hackers and security researchers downloaded it.
The list provided an unusually detailed window into computer users’ password habits. Typically, only government agencies like the F.B.I. or the National Security Agency have had access to such a large password list.
Some Web sites try to keep back the attackers by freezing an account for a certain period of time if too many incorrect passwords are typed. But experts say that the hackers simply learn to trick the system, by making guesses at an acceptable rate, for instance.
To improve security, some Web sites are forcing users to mix letters, numbers and even symbols in their passwords. Others, like Twitter, prevent people from picking common passwords.
Still, researchers say, social networking and entertainment Web sites often try to make life simpler for their users and are reluctant to put too many controls in place.
Even commercial sites like eBay must weigh the consequences of freezing accounts, since a hacker could, say, try to win an auction(拍卖) by freezing the accounts of other potential buyers.
But owing to the reality of our overcrowded brains, the experts suggest that everyone choose at least two different passwords — a complex one for Web sites where security is vital, such as banks and e-mail, and a simpler one for less risky places, such as social networking and entertainment sites.
Mr. Moss relies on passwords at least 12 characters long, figuring that those make him a more difficult target than the millions of people who choose five- and six-character passwords.
“It’s like the joke where the hikers run into a bear in the forest, and the hiker that survives is the one who outruns his companions,” Mr. Moss said. “You just want to run that bit faster.
59. The underlined sentence “Many people have reacted to the break-ins with a shrug” shows that many people ______.
don’t take seriously the hacker’s break-ins
are worried and frightened at the hacker’s break-ins
don’t know what to do with the hacker’s attacks
are eager to get helps from the experts
60. According to the passage, which of the following web sites needs a more complex password?
A social web site.
An entertainment web site.
A commercial web site.
A government web site.
61. The Internet users are advised to______ in order to keep back the hackers.
mix letters, numbers and symbols as well
choose passwords with at least 12 characters
choose passwords with 5 or 6 characters
choose at least two different passwords
62. Which would be the best title for the passage?
Password, Simple or Complex?
Popular Passwords, High Risk!
Clever Hackers, Stupid Netizens.
Hacker, the Enemy of Internet Security.
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