In 1977, Irene Pepperberg of Harvard University began studying what was on another creature’s mind by talking to it. Her first experiments began with Alex. Alex was a one-year-old African grey parrot and Irene taught him to produce the sounds of the English language. “I thought if he learned to communicate, I could ask him questions about how he sees the world.”
At the time, most scientists didn’t believe animals had any thoughts. They thought animals were more like robots but didn’t have the ability to think or feel. Of course, if you own a pet you probably disagree. But it is the job of a scientist to prove this and nowadays more scientists accept that animals can think for themselves.
“That’s why I started my studies with Alex,” Irene said, “Some people actually called me crazy for trying this.”
Nowadays, we have more and more evidence that animals have all sorts of mental abilities. Sheep can recognize faces. Chimpanzees (黑猩猩) use a variety of tools and even use weapons to hunt. And Alex the parrot became a very good talker.
Thirty years after the Alex studies began. Irene was still giving him English lessons up until his recent death. For example, if Alex was hungry he could say “want grape”. Alex could count to six and was learning the sounds for seven and eight. “He has to hear the words over and over before he can correctly say them.” Irene said, after pronouncing “seven” for Alex a few times in a row. Alex could also tell the difference between colors, shapes, sizes, and materials (e.g. wood and metal). Before he finally died, Alex managed to say “seven”.
Another famous pet that proved some animals have greater mental skills was a dog called Rico. He appeared on a German TV game show in 2011. Rico knew the names of 200 different toys and easily learned the names of new ones. When Rico became famous, many other dog owners wanted to show how clever their pets were. Another dog called Betsy could understand 300 words.
One theory for dogs’ ability to learn a language is that they have ben close companions to humans for many centuries and so their ability to understand us is constantly evolving (进化). While animals can’t do what humans do yet, some scientists believe that examples like Alex and Rico prove that evolution develops intelligence, as well as physical appearance. Irene wanted to find out __________.
| A．what a parrot thinks | B．why a parrot can speak |
| C．how parrots make sounds | D．if parrots speak English |
Alex learnt new words by __________.
| A．singing them | B．reading them |
| C．writing them | D．rehearing them |
The two dogs mentioned in the article could _______.
| A．understand some words | B．recognize strange voices |
| C．copy human gestures | D．tell different colors |
The article concludes that ___________.
| A．our pets understand what we say |
| B．dogs may speak to humans one day |
| C．humans are related to chimpanzees |
| D．mental ability can evolve in animals |
A team of US psychologists have found that talking to another person for ten minutes a day helps with memory.
"Socializing is just as effective as more traditional kinds of mental exercise in boosting memory and intellectual performance," Oscar Ybarra, a psychologist at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, said in a statement.
In one investigation, they analyzed data on 3610 people, aged 24 to 96.
They found that the higher their level of social interaction (交流), the better their cognitive (认知的) functioning. Social interaction includes getting together or having phone chats with relatives, freinds and neighbors.
In another experiment, the researchers conducted lab tests on 76 college students, aged 18 to 21, to evaluate how social interactions and intellectual exercises affected the results of memory and mental performance tests.
The students were divided into three groups: the social interaction group had a discussion of a social issue for 10 minutes before taking the tests; the intellectual activities group completed three tasks (including a reading comprehension exercise and a crossword puzzle) before the tests; and a control group (对照组) watched a 10-minute clip (电源片段) of the Seinfeld television show.
"We found that short-term social interaction lasting for just 10 minutes improved participants’ intellectual performance as much as engaging in so-called ’intellectual’ activities for the same amount of time," Ybarra said.
The study was expected to be published in the February issue of the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.The underlined word "boosting" in the second paragraph can be replaced by ______.
| A．improving | B．decreasing | C．preventing | D．training |
Which is not included in social interaction?
| A．Having a talk with a neighbor. | B．Attending a birthday party. |
| C．Watching TV at home alone. | D．Calling your classmates |
What’s the purpose of the experiment on 76 college students?
| A．To judge the effect of social interaction on memory and intelligence. |
| B．To find out what is real social interaction. |
| C．To learn how much time is needed for social interaction. |
| D．To show the function of people’s cognition. |
Which of the following questions may be asked in the social interaction group in the experiment?
| A．What does the author want to show us? |
| B．Do you like living in a big city or a small one? |
| C．Which word can be used to fill in the blank? |
| D．What is the main idea of the second paragraph? |
What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．Intellectual exercises improve memory. |
| B．Different people have different ways of communication |
| C．Communicating with others keeps you healthy. |
| D．Social interaction makes you smart |
Are some people born clever and others born stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and our experiences? Strangely enough, the answer to both questions is yes.To some extent our intelligence is given to us at birth, and no amount of special education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On the other hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus the limits of a person’s intelligence are fixed at birth, but whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, now held by most experts, can be supported in a number of ways.
It is easy to show that intelligence is to some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationship between two people, the closer they are likely to be in intelligence. Thus if we take two unrelated people at random (随意地) from the population, it is likely that their degrees of intelligence will be completely different. If on the other hand we take two identical twins, they will very likely be as intelligent as each other. Relations like brothers and sisters, parents and children, usually have similar intelligence, and this clearly suggests that integigence depends on birth.
Imagine now that we take two identical twins and put them in different environments. We might send one, for example, to a university and the other to a factory where the work is boring. We would soon find differences in intelligence developing, and this shows that environment as well as birth plays a part. This conclusion is also suggested by the fact that people who lives in close contact with each other, but who are not related at all, are likely to have similar degrees of intelligence.Which of the following best describes the writer’s point in Paragraph One?
| A．To some extent, intelligence is given at birth. |
| B．Intelligence is developed by the environment. |
| C．Some people are born clever and others born stupid. |
| D．Intelligence is fixed at birth, but is developed by the environment. |
In the first paragraph,“no amount of special education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence” suggests that .
| A．no environment can change the least able into the most able |
| B．the difference in men’s intelligence depends on the amount of their education |
| C．if a person is born clever, he is certain to be a genius |
| D．if a person is born stupid, nothing can change him into an educated person |
The last paragraph mainly shows .
| A．the importance of education |
| B．the relationship between environment and birth |
| C．the writer’s final conclusion |
| D．the relationship between intelligence and environment |
The best title for this passage would be .
| A．Dependence on Education | B．Intelligence |
| C．Surroundings | D．Effect of Education |
Which statement about the passage is true?
| A．All twins have similar degrees of intelligence. |
| B．A man who is educated in university must make greater achievements than a man who works in a boring factory. |
| C．Proper education can change one’s intelligence at some degree. |
| D．Education can’t make a child born with low intelligence cleverer. |
It might sound ridiculous that goal setting could actually hold you back from completing tasks and dreams you may have. But it seems like everyone tells you should be setting goals for everything you want to accomplish, short term and long term. Goals can help you sometimes, but in some cases they just lead to constant frustration and they actually bring you down.
Let’s look at this a little closer with an example. A lot of people might set forth as a goal. Many people jump online and are looking to start a business online as a way to make money from home and let’s say they set a goal to make $10,000 in their first month. They do this because they seem tons of people making large sums of money in very little time so they think, $10,000 a month, that shouldn’t be too hard.
But what happens when you only bring in $1,000 in your first 30 days online? If this is pure profit you might still be happy but this is nowhere near reaching the goal you originally set out to meet. So naturally you would feel like you failed to reach your goal and you may be a little disappointed in yourself.
If you continue not to reach this goal month in month , it starts to add up and really weighs on you. I’m not saying that they are bad and you shouldn’t set them but you need to realize that you should not be emotionally attached to your goals.
An alternative approach would be to set certain milestones for when you want to accomplish things and start out small. Build your confidence by accomplishing smaller feats and if you overproduce, then it will be a nice surprise. You have to have some sort of end result in mind but break it down in to a day by day task. It makes it a lot easier for you to handle by just knowing everyday you have to complete a few small tasks and over time the snowball will roll into great things.The purpose of the passage is to _______.
| A．show that it’s necessary to set goals |
| B．prove the disadvantages of setting goals |
| C．suggest way of setting goals to reach success |
| D．introduce how to reach success by setting high goals. |
In Paragraph 2 , the writer used the example to _______.
| A．persuade readers not to be greedy for money |
| B．prove that goals often result in frustration. |
| C．show goal setting sometimes stops you realizing your dreams |
| D．advise readers not to set goals to avoid frustration |
According to the passage, always sticking to our goals is ______.
| A．important | B．unnecessary | C．ridiculous | D．natural |
What belief does the writer most probably hold?
| A．The higher goals we set, the more success we’ll achieve |
| B．Goal setting is not always necessary and helpful |
| C．We shouldn’t set higher goals than other people |
| D．Goals should be set for short term and long term. |
What information will probably be provided following the last paragraph?
| A．Another helpful tip for setting goals | B．Benefits of setting small goal |
| C．Side effects of goal setting | D．Success achieved without goal setting. |
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项中(A、B、C和 D)中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
Most of us feel upset if we miss just one meal, and if we try to go without food for 12 hours we would really be uncomfortable. But there are some people who seem able to “fast” for very long periods.
Various records are claimed for long fast, but in most cases there is no medical proof and so the records are doubtful. One South African woman claimed that she lived for 102 days on nothinig but water and soda water.
There are great differences among living things in the ability to survive without food. For example , a tick（扁虱）, which lives on animals, may survive a whole year. Warm-blooded animals use up their stores of food in the body more quickly.
In fact, the smaller and more active the animal, the more quickly it uses up its reserves. A small bird starves to death in about five days, a dog in about twenty. In general, we can say that a warm-blooded creature will die when it has lost about half its normal weight.
This matter of weight is important. Man and other creatures live in a state of metabolic equiplibrium（新陈代谢的平衡）which means maintaining the body weight once a certain point has been reached. This regulation of body weight is done by thirst, hunger, and appetite.
When your blood lacks nutritional materials, this registers（记录）in the hunger center of the brain and you feel “hungry”. The body is crying out for any kind of fuel(food). And it is our appetite that sees to it hat we chooose a mixed diet, which is the kind the body needs.According to this passage, a man will die _________.
| A．when a certain point in losing weight has been reached. |
| B．when his blood lacks nutritional material |
| C．when his normal weight is lost |
| D．when he goes without food for more than 12 hours |
The word “fast” in Paragraph 1 can best be replaced by ________.
| A．eat no food | B．live merely on water and soda water |
| C．live on nothing | D．remains alive for a long time without food |
A tick can survive much longer than a bird because ________.
| A．a tick lives on animals | B．a tick is much smaller |
| C．a bird is more active | D．both B and C |
A person feels hungry _________.
| A．if he doesn’t choose a mixed diet |
| B．because his body cries out for food |
| C．when soemthing is wrong with regulation of body weight |
| D．if there are not enough nutritional in his blood |
From the passage we can infer that the author ________.
| A．believes the South African woman very firmly |
| B．does not believe the South African woman at all |
| C．is not certain whether the South African woman’s claim was true. |
| D．is doubtful whether there was such a South African woman |
A peer is a person who is about the same age as you. Peers affect your life, whether you know it or not, just by spending time with you.
Peers can have a good effect on one another. Maybe another student in your science class taught you an easy way to remember the planets in solar system. Maybe you got others excited about your new favorite book and now everyone’s reading it.
However, sometimes peers affect one another in another way. For example, one kid in school might try to get another to cut class with him, your soccer friend might try to persuade you to be mean to another player and never pass her the ball, or a kid in the neighborhood might want you to shoplift with him.
Some kids give in to peer pressure because they want to be liked, to fit in, or because they worry that other kids may make fun of them if they don’t go along with the group. Others may go along because they are curious to try something new that others are doing. The idea that “ everyone’s doing it” may influence some kids to leave their better judgments or their common senses behind.
Peer pressure can be extremely strong and hard to get rid of. Experiments have shown how peer pressure can influence someone to change her/ his mind from what she/ he knows for sure is a correct answer to the incorrect answer——just because everyone else gives the incorrect answer! That holds true for people of any age in peer pressure situations.
It can be hard to walk away from peer pressure, but it can be done. Paying attention to your own feelings and beliefs about what is right and wrong can help you know the right thing to do. Inner strength and self- confidence can help you stand firm, walk away and resist doing something when you know better. What is the passage mainly about ?
| A．Peers have a good effect | B．Children give in to peer pressure |
| C．Peer pressure is hard to resist | D．Peer pressure |
The underlined word shoplift in Paragraph Three probably means __________.
| A．do some shopping | B．carry goods for shops |
| C．steal in shops | D．take the lift upstairs in shops |
The writer will not agree that ____.
| A．only children change their correct answers to incorrect ones because of peer pressure. |
| B．peers have an effect on one another |
| C．Peer pressure can be got rid of |
| D．Peers will believe in themselves if there are other peers who agree with them |
The writer intends to _________ by writing the passage.
| A．tell people to follow other’s opinions |
| B．warn people to stay away from their peers. |
| C．tell it is hard to walk away form per pressure. |
| D．persuade people to do the right thing regardless of peer pressure. |
It can be learned from the passage that_________.
| A．A peer is someone older than you. |
| B．Peers always affect you in good ways. |
| C．It is easy to get rid of peer pressure. |
| D．The effects of peer pressure have two sides. |
粤公网安备 44130202000953号