Even when you’re extremely busy, you aren’t using your time with 100% efficiency. There are gaps in everyone’s schedule where they aren’t doing anything important. Even if your schedule has no gaps, there is probably lots of time when you aren’t working as fast or as effectively as you possibly could.
Why aren’t you completely efficient? It’s because time isn’t the limiting factor. If it were the limiting factor, people could work non-stop without breaks or any unproductive distractions(消遣). Instead, people, even those who are highly productive, need to take breaks, occasionally procrastinate (拖延) and slow down on tasks throughout the day.
The real and most important limiting factor for productivity is your energy levels to pay attention. Energy levels limit your productivity because when you’re tired, you can have enough time and still not get everything done. Your attention ability is also limited, because even if there are a million things that need to be done, you can only focus on one or two at a time.
You might not be able to insert another 4-5 hours into your schedule without making some sacrifices（牺牲）. But even extremely busy people can add an hour or two into their schedule without cancelling anything. The reason why it’s hard to “find time” isn’t a lack of time. It’s because you don’t have enough energy left to focus on something else that needs to fit into your day.
I first suspected time wasn’t the real problem during an extremely busy period in my life over a year ago. I was extremely busy, but at that time I still exercised regularly. I had daily to-do lists with over twenty items, and I still found time to exercise. However, after a few weeks off, because of illness, I stopped exercising. I was not busy by any standards, in fact, my schedule was very light. Despite this free time, I found it hard to find time to exercise. It seemed to get pushed later and later into my schedule until it was gone. How can I explain this strange experience? I believe you have known it.If someone can’t work with 100% efficiency, the most important limiting factor is ________.
| A．a schedule without gaps |
| B．breaks and distractions |
| C．the limited time |
| D．the limited energy |
According to Paragraph 4, everyone, including the extremely busy people, can ________.
| A．work without any rest |
| B．focus on many things at a time |
| C．find some more time in a day |
| D．do some exercise regularly |
The writer gives the example of himself in the last paragraph in order to ________.
| A．prove what the real limiting factor is |
| B．show us how busily he needs to work |
| C．explain how important a healthy body is |
| D．tell us what a strange experience he has |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．Do You Really Lack Time? |
| B．How Can You Work Efficiently? |
| C．What Makes Your Energy Limited? |
| D．When Should You Do Exercise? |
It’s almost time to head back to school, and well, it’s never too early to start shopping for those school supplies. If you have some extra cash left over after shopping for backpacks and number two pencils, then treat your kid to some cool electronics you can borrow from them later.
Acer Aspire One: Net books are great for many reasons. Parents will love them because they’re extremely affordable and light compared to the average laptop. They’re also ideal for students who don’t quite need a computer but want one to do research, check email, or just surf the Web. You can find a black or white version for the low price of $99.
Fuji Fine Pix Z20fd: This sub-$200 digital camera is the perfect thing for any high school student. Available in five eye-catching colors, the Fine Pix Z20fd is a 10-megapixel(兆像素) camera. Media kids will appreciate the camera’s blog and auction mode, as well as the “one touch” movie recording option that allows them to edit movies before sharing them online. This is certainly an affordable camera for photo-lovers of any age.
Mimobot: USB flash drives are all pretty much the same, but if you want to treat your teen to a hip flash drive, check out Momobot.com. Each drive is packed with cool wallpaper, digital magazines, and so on. You can find them in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB and 8GB capacities(容量) at the price of $35-$100.
Samsung S2: Regardless of what your teen may tell you, there are other music players out there packed with plenty of great features. Samsung’s S2 MP3 player is nice enough to wear around the neck and small enough to take to the gym. It is available in five colors (red, black, white, purple, and green), comes in capacities of 1GB or 2GB, and is available for the low price of $40 or less.
1. Judging from the content, whom is this passage probably written for?
A. Teenagers. B. Teachers. C. Students. D. Parents.
2. According to the second paragraph, which picture is a model of Acer Aspire One?
A. 
B. 
C.
D.
3. Which is the most expensive of the four goods?
A. Acer Aspire One. B. Fuji Fine Pix Z20fd.
C. Mimobot. D. Samsung S2.
4. Which could be the best title for this passage?
A. Cheap Gifts for you
B. Gift Ideas for High School Students
C. Best Goods for your Babies
D. New Products for your Children
第三部分 阅读理解（共20 小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
“Can I see my baby?” asked the happy new mother. The bundle(婴儿包) was placed in her arms and when she moved the fold of cloth to look upon his tiny face, she gasped—the baby had been born without ears. Time, however, proved that the baby’s hearing was perfect except his appearance.
One day when he rushed home from school and threw himself into his mother’s arms, he cried out bitterly, “A boy, a big boy called me—a f-…freak.” She sighed, knowing that his life was to be endless of heartbreaks.
He grew up, handsome for his misfortune. A favorite with his fellow students, he might have been class president, but for that. He developed a gift for literature and music.
The boy’s father had a talk with the family doctor. Could nothing be done? “I believe we could graft(移植) on a pair of outer ears, if they could be donated,” the doctor decided. So the search began for a person who would make such a sacrifice for a young man. Two years went by. “You’re going to the hospital, son. Mother and I have someone who will donate the ears you need. But it’s a secret,” said the father.
The operation was a brilliant success. His talents blossomed into genius. School and college became a series of successes. Later he married and entered the diplomatic(外交) service. “But I must know!” he urged his father. “Who gave so much for me? I could never do enough for him.”
“I do not believe you could,” said the father, “but the agreement was that you are not to know…, not yet.” The years kept the secret, but the day did come… one of the darkest days that ever pass through a son. He stood with his father over his mother’s casket(棺材). Slowly and tenderly, the father stretched forth a hand and raised the thick, reddish-brown hair to let out the secret.
1. The story is mainly about_______.
A. how a boy had new ears through an operation
B. what a devoted parent privately did for the child
C. how a disabled boy turned into a useful person
D. why a donator made a sacrifice to a bright boy
2 The underlined word “freak” in Paragraph 2 probably means “_______”.
A. slow-acting person B. ugly-looking child
C. badly-behaved student D. strangely-shaped creature
3. What can be inferred from the passage?
A. The agreement was between the donator and the family.
B. The boy was so popular that he was made class president.
C. Finally the boy came to know who the donator was.
D. The mother donated her ears to her son after she died.
4. We can learn from the passage that _______.
A. real love sometimes lies in what is done unknown
B. it is up to parents to help their children heart and soul
C. true beauty lies only in the heart not in appearance
D. it’s a virtue for young generations to learn to be grateful
第Ⅱ卷（非选择题，共35分）
第四部分：写作（共两节，满分35分）
第一节 任务型读写（共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分）
阅读下面短文，根据所读内容在表格中的空白处填入恰当的单词。注意：每个空格只填一个单词。
In a memory – based competition between you and a chimp (猩猩); who do you think would win? If you put yourself on top, you might want to guess again.
In a test that challenged participants to remember numbers, a young chimp performed better than Japanese college students.
Here's how the test worked. At Kyoto University in Japan, human students and chimpanzee participants sat in front of a computer. Five numbers, ranging from 1 to 9, were combined with one another and then, they appeared at random places on the screen.
The numbers stayed on the screen for less than a second. In the first test, for example, participants saw the numbers for 650 milliseconds (about two- thirds of a second).
Then, each number disappeared and they saw a white square instead. Participants had to touch the squares in numerical order, based on the numbers that had been there a moment before.
In this test, the students touched the boxes in the correct order about 80 percent of the time. A young chimp named Ayumu performed equally well.
During a harder test, participants were only able to see the numbers for 210 milliseconds.
This time, students only succeeded in putting the boxes in the correct order about 40 percent of the time. But Ayumustill could select the boxes in the right order nearly 80 percent of the time.
Some people have what's called a "photographic memory", which allows them to remember a surprising number of details after just a quick glimpse of something. Ayumu's memory might work in a similar way, says lead researcher Tetsuro Matsuzawa.
The chimp's young age might have something to do with his impressive performance, too. In previous tests, the Japanese researchers found that young chimps performed better than their mothers.
The scientists are interested to see whether Ayumu loses his strong memory as he arrows older. They already know that young children sometimes have sharp memories when offered something photographical, but they lose this ability over time.
| Topic |
A (76) competition between human beings and chimps |
| Purpose |
To judge whose memory is better |
| The (77) of the first test |
◆A chimp and some Japanese students participated in the competition and sat before a computer. ◆Different (78) of five numbers appeared on the screen. ◆Each of the number was (79) by a white square. |
| The results of the second test |
◆Students (80) to put the boxes in the right order about 40% of the time. ◆Ayumu got the right order (81) the time of the students |
| Conclusion |
◆Some people have “photographic memory”, (82) some people to remember numbers after they (83) at something. ◆The chimps have the similar (84) to human beings’. ◆Young children, just like chimps, have strong memory but they’ll lose it when they (85) . |
A team from Krakow, in Poland, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (机能性核共振成像) (FMRI) to assess brain activity when 40 volunteers were shown various images. Men showed activity in areas which dealt with what action they should take in order to avoid or face up to danger. But the study found more activity in the emotional centers of women's brains. The researchers, from another university, carried out scans on 21 men and 19 women. Brain activity was monitored while the volunteers were shown images of objects and images from ordinary life designed to remind different emotional states.
The images were displayed in two runs. For the first run, only negative pictures were shown. For the second run, only positive pictures were shown.
While viewing the negative images, women showed stronger and broader activity in the left thalamus（神经床）. This is an area which passes sense information to the pain and pleasure centres of the brain. Men showed more activity in an area of the brain called the left insula（脑岛）, which plays a key role in controlling natural functions, including breath, heart rate and digestion. Generally, activity in this area tells the body to either run away from danger, or meet it head on - the so-called "fight or flight response".
While viewing positive images, women showed stronger activity in an area of the brain associated with memory. With men, the stronger activity was recorded in an area associated with visual processing. Dr Urbanik believes these differences suggest women may analyze positive stimuli（刺激）in a broader social context and associate positive images with a particular memory.
For instance, viewing a picture of a smiling child might remind memories of a woman's own child at this age. On the contrary, male responses tend to be less emotional.
1．The research shows that men response differently to compared with women.
A．different images B．ordinary life
C．different activities D．medical scan
2．According to the passage, when faced with danger, .
A．women react more slowly than men B．women usually try to avoid it
C．men usually have no reaction D．men react to it more directly
3．What is discussed in the 4 th paragraph? .
A．Men and women’s different memories
B．The different responses to the children
C．Different reactions to positive stimuli
D．Negative results of the visual processing
4．The passage mainly develops .
A．by inferring B．by comparing
C．by listing examples D．by giving explanations
An Experiment
Materials: Newspaper, ‘ACE’ hardware ruler (1/8 “think”), a flat table.
Purposes: We’ll show that there is air pressure pushing on us, from every direction while we’re on this Earth.
|
Procedure:
First put a thin ruler on a flat table with a littleless than half of it hanging off the edge of the table
(see the drawing below). Next place a sheet of newspaper
over the ruler flat against the table. Make sure to have
as little air as possible under the paper so that the fold line of the newspaper is at the ruler. Then quickly strike the end of the ruler hanging off the edge of the table. If you strike it quick enough, the ruler will break near the table edge.
What’s going on?
The Earth is covered in a layer of air that is nearly 80 miles thick and at sea level (the bottom) exerts or ‘pushes’ hard almost 15 pounds of pressure per square inch. That means that a full sheet of newspaper laid out flat has nearly 9,300 pounds of air above it.
When you break the ruler above, you are able to break it because of the 'heavy' air pushing down on the paper while you quickly strike the ruler. At first the table is pushing back on the paper, and if you move the ruler quick enough, other air around the edges of the paper can't get under the paper fast enough, so you are trying to lift that 9,300 pounds with the ruler! Some air gets under the paper, but not enough, so the ruler breaks.
1．By doing the experiment, we may realize .
A．that air exits everywhere
B．why there are directions
C．that we live with air pressure
D．how air helps on the earth
2．How many steps are there in this experiment? .
A．2 B．3 C．4 D．5
3．The underlined word “exert” probably means .
A．cover completely B．advocate actively
C．influence gradually D．press heavily
4．The ruler breaks under a quick strike mainly because of .
A．the air pressure on the newspaper B．the heavy weight of the newspaper
C．the heavy weight of the flat table D．the strong power used on the ruler
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