Professor Reason recently persuaded 35 people to keep a diary of all their absent-minded actions for two weeks. When he came to analyze their embarrassing errors, he was surprised to find that nearly all of them fell into a few groups.
One of the women, for instance, on leaving her house for work one morning threw her pet dog her earrings and tried to fix a dog biscuit on her ear. “The explanation for this is that the brain is like a computer,” explains the professor. “People programme themselves to do certain activities regularly.” It was the woman’s custom every morning to throw her dog two biscuits and then put on her earrings. “But somehow the action got reversed（颠倒）in the programme.” About one in twenty of the incidents the volunteers reported were these “programme assembly failures.”
Twenty percent of all errors were “test failures” — mainly due to not verifying the progress of what the body was doing. A man about to get his car out of the garage passed through the back yard where his garden jacket and boots were kept, put them on — much to his surprise. A woman reported, “I got into the bath with my socks on.”
The commonest problem was information “storage failures”. People forgot the names of people whose faces they knew, went into a room and forgot why they were there, mislaid something, or smoked a cigarette without realizing it.
The research so far suggests that while the central processor of the brain is liberated from second-to-second control of a well-practiced routine, it must repeatedly switch back its attention at important decision points to check that the action goes on as intended. Otherwise the activity may be gotten by another frequently and recently used programme, resulting in embarrassing errors.The purpose of the professor’s research is to __________.
| A．show the difference between men and women |
| B．sort and explain some errors in human actions |
| C．find the causes which lead to computer failures |
| D．compare computer functions with brain working |
Which of the following might be grouped under “programme assembly failures”?
| A．A woman went to a shop and forgot what to buy. |
| B．A man returning home after work left his key in the lock. |
| C．A lady fell as she was paying attention to each step her feet were taking. |
| D．An old man, with his shoes on, was trying to put on his socks. |
The underlined word “verifying” (in paragraph 3) can be replaced by “_______”.
| A．improving | B．changing | C．checking | D．stopping |
According to the passage, the information “storage failure” refers to “_______”.
| A．information collecting system being destroyed |
| B．one’s total memory being removed |
| C．the loss of part of one’s memory for a time |
| D．the separation of one’s action from words |
Welcome to Adventureland!
Everyone loves Adventureland! The Parks and Exhibitions were built for you to explore（探索）, enjoy, and admire their wonders. Every visit will be an unforgettable experience. You will go away enriched, longing to come back. What are you going to do this time?
The Travel Pavilion
Explore places you have never been to before, and experience different ways of life. Visit the Amazon jungle（丛林）village, the Turkish market, the Tai floating market, the Berber mountain house and others. Talk to the people there who will tell you about their lives, and things they make. You can try making a carpet, making nets, fishing…
The Future Tower
This exhibition shows how progress will touch our lives. It allows us to look into the future and explore the cities of the next century and the way we’ll be living then. Spend some time in our space station and climb into our simulator（模拟装置）for the Journey to Mars!
The Nature Park
This is not really one park but several. In the Safari Park you can drive among African animals in one of our Range Cruisers: see lions, giraffes, elephants in the wild. Move on to the Ocean Park to watch the dolphins and whales. And then there is still the Aviary to see…
The Pyramid
This is the center of Adventureland. Run out of film, need some postcards and stamps? For all these things and many more, visit our underground shopping center. Come here for information and ideas too.The Travel Pavilion is built to help visitors .
| A．realize the importance of travelling |
| B．become familiar with mountain countries |
| C．learn how to make things such as fishing nets |
| D．learn something about different places in the world |
If you are interested in knowing about what people’s life will be, you may visit .
| A．The Travel Pavilion | B．The Future Tower |
| C．The Safari Park | D．The Pyramid |
If you want to get a toy lion to take home, where will you most likely go?
| A．The Pyramid. | B．The Nature Park. | C．The Future Tower. | D．The Travel Pavilion. |
It is natural that children are curious about the world around them. For example, they want to know how their hearts beat. They want to know why the ocean water tastes salty.
As children gr
ow up, they become curious about different kinds of things. When they are babies, they are interested in the parts of their bodies and in the smiles of their mothers. They become interested in the physical world around them: the plants, the animals, the sky. Later, they become interested in the things that people have made: wheels, bicycles, cars. And when they are adults, their curiosity continues. Sometimes this curiosity leads to a career (生涯、职业) in science.
Scientists spend their lives trying to find out about the world．Those who work with the earth sciences study the earth, the oceans, and the skies. Other scientists who study living things work with the biological sciences. A third group of scientists study the physical sciences, e. g. physics, chemistry.
These scientists have already discovered a lot about our world．For example, they tell us why your heart beats fast when you run. They say that when you are quiet, your heart normally beats sixty-five or seventy-five times a minute. Your heart is a pump (泵) that pumps blood to all parts of the body. The blood carries oxygen and nutrition. When you run, your muscles work very hard and use the nutrition that the blood carries to them. The muscles need oxygen, too . So your brain sends a signal to the heart. The signal means that the muscles need more nutriti
on and oxygen. Then the heart beats fast and sends blood quickly to the muscles. It may beat 90 to 140 times a minute.
Of course, scientists cannot answer all of our questions. If we ask, “Why does the ocean water taste salty” scientists will say that the salt comes from rocks. When a rock gets very hot or very cold, it cracks. Rain falls into cracks. The rain then carries the salt into the earth and into the rivers. The rivers carry the salt into the ocean. But then we ask , “What happens to the salt in the ocean? The ocean does not get saltier every year.” Scientists are not sure about the a
nswer to this question.
We know a lot about our world, but there are still many answers that we do not have, and we are curious.According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
| A．People of different ages are interested in different things |
| B．People in different countries are interested in different things. |
| C．Men and women are curious about different things. |
| D．People are curious in the same way. |
Scientists who work with the biological sciences study____.
| A．the earth , the oceans and the sky | B．plants and animals |
| C．man-made things | D．ocean water |
When you run, your muscles need ____.
| A．more nutrition and oxygen | B．more signals | C．more salt | D．water |
A rock cracks _____.
| A．in wet regions | B．in dry regions |
| C．at very high or very low temperatures | D．when salty water falls in |
People are always curious because ____.
| A．they cannot explain many things | B．they know nothing about the world |
| C．they know little about the world | D．they want to be scientists |
Chocolate is good for your heart, skin and brain. Usually, people think that chocolate is bad for their health. They describe chocolate as “something to die for” or say “death by chocolate”．Now they should bite their tongues! Evidence(证据) is showing that some kinds 
of chocolate are actually good for you in the following ways:
A happier heart
Scientists at Harvard University recently examined 136 studies on cocoa—the main ingredient in chocolate and found that it does seem to strengthen the heart．Studies have shown heart benefits from increased blood flow．These benefits are the result of cocoa’s chemicals, which seem to prevent both cell damage and inflammation(炎症)．
Better blood pressure
If yours is high, chocolate may help．Jeffrey Blumberg from Tufts University recently found that people with high blood pressure who ate 3.5 ounces of dark chocolate per day for two weeks saw their blood pressure drop quickly．
Muscle magic
Chocolate milk may help you recover after a hard workout(锻炼)．In a small study at Indiana University, people who drank chocolate milk between workouts did better on a tiredness test than those who had some sports drinks．
Better for your skin．German researchers gave 24 women a half-cup of special cocoa every day．After three months, the women’s skin was moister(滑润的)and smoother．The research shows that chocolate helps protect and increase blood flow to the skin, improving its appearance．
Brain gains
It sounds almost too good to be true, but research suggests that chocolate may improve your memory, attention span, reaction time, and problem-solving by increasing blood flow to the brain．Which of the following is wrong?
| A．Coca’s chemicals can prevent both cell damage and inflammation. |
| B．Chocolate may help you lower your blood pressure. |
| C．People early know chocolate is good for their health. |
| D．chocolate may improve your memory, attention span, reaction time, and problem-solving. |
What’s the meaning of the underlined sentence in the fourth paragraph?
| A．Sports drinks are better than chocolate milk． |
| B．Sports drinks can make people easy to be tired． |
| C．Drinking milk can keep you energetic at work． |
| D．We should drink chocolate milk between times when we work hard． |
What’s the main idea of the text?
| A．Chocolate, a Healthy Food | B．More Chocolate, Less Health |
| C．Chocolate and Blood Pressure | D．Advice on Eating Chocolate |
The conclusion that chocolate may help lower blood pressure was brought out by ．
| A．scientists at Harvard University |
| B．Jeffrey Blumberg from Tufts University |
| C．scientists at Indiana University |
| D．German researchers |
What’s the meaning of “bite their tongues” in the first paragraph?
| A．Think of it．． | B．Speak up． | C． Stop talking | D．Listen to it |
He wishes the holiday season would end already. His back aches, his red suit feels like a spacesuit , his cheeks have gone tight from smiling for 12 hours —and still the kids keep coming and coming , like ants at a picnic . As Christmas becomes more commercialized (商业化) across the U. S. and Canada, so must Santas. As the holiday begins earlier each year, so must its spokesmen .
The questions from children these days are harder than ever. Now, with thousands of children expecting a father or mother serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, the questions are as heart-breaking as they are unanswerable. For example, “Can you please bring Daddy home from the war in time for Christmas morning?”
Santas also have a pretty good chance of getting sued (指控). A professional Santa Claus in Canada told a story: A Santa had a girl on his knee, and he commented, “You have nice eyes and nice hair.” The girl later said it was sexual harassment (骚扰) . When a Santa feels anxious, he often shows it in the same ways ordinary people do: The Santas were always seen to hang around at the dinner table when the show ended. Many of them just sleep in bed for several days and don’t see other children again.In the first paragraph, “spokesmen” refers to .
| A．businessmen | B．political leaders |
| C．organizers of the activities | D．Santa Clauses |
The passage implies that the job of Santa Claus is .
| A．well-paid | B．very hard | C．worth doing | D．dangerous |
According to the third paragraph, Santas may sometimes be blamed(责备) for .
| A．doing something against the law | B．hanging around the dinner table |
| C．being lazy and sleeping in bed for days | D．not playing their roles as expected |
What would be the best title for the passage ?
| A．Christmas: Not a Good Festival for Santas | B．Is Santa Claus Really Alive? |
| C．A Christmas Story | D．What Does Santa Claus Do for Children? |
Every year on my birthday, from the time I turned 12, a white gardenia was delivered to my house. No card came with it. Calls to the flower-shop were not helpful at all. After a while I stopped trying to discover the sender’s name and just delighted in the beautiful white flower in soft pink paper.
But I never stopped imagining who the giver might be. Some of my happiest moments were spent daydreaming about the sender. My mother encouraged these imaginings. She’d ask me if there was someone for whom I had done special kindness. Perhaps it was the old man across the street whose mail I’d delivered during the winter. As a girl, though, I had more fun imagining that it might be a boy I had run into.
One month before my graduation, my father died. I felt so sad that I became completely uninterested in my upcoming graduation dance, and I didn’t care if I had a new dress or not. But my mother, in her own sadness, would not let me miss any of those things. She wanted her children to feel loved and lovable. In truth, my mother wanted her children to see themselves much like the gardenia-lovely, strong and perfect with perhaps a bit of mystery(神秘).My mother died ten days after I was married. I was 22. That was the year the gardenia stopped coming.Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
| A．A childhood Dream. | B．A Mother’s Love. |
| C．A Graduation Party. | D．A Special Birthday. |
The mother insisted that her daughter go to the graduation dance because _________.
| A．she could take care of things herself | B．she hoped she would find a boyfriend |
| C．she wanted her to be happy and strong | D．she thought education was most important |
Who was the sender of the flower?
| A．A boy the writer had run into. | B．One of the writer’s neighbors. |
| C．One of the writer’s classmates. | D．The writer’s mother. |
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