It is one of the oldest magic tricks in the book—a magician locks a woman in a box, with her head and feet sticking out from either end, and saws (锯) it in half. But when she finally jumps out of the box, the woman is unharmed.
This trick was introduced nearly a century ago. It has been around for some time, but it never goes wrong. Why is it so successful? The answer is simple: the human mind is easily fooled.
Our brain processes the world around us based on information that sensory organs, including the eyes, pick up. For instance, when we see a cow or a horse standing behind a tree, we automatically “fill in” the part of the animal’s body that is hidden from our sight. “So the brain is taking this kind of very sparse (匮乏的) information about the world and it’s generating this rich world by filling in information,” Stephen Macknik, a scientist at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Arizona, US, told Science magazine.
But since our brains are filling in the gaps, sometimes they get it wrong. They tend to be driven by our previous experiences and we expect things to go as they have in the past even if sometimes they do not.
This tendency explains magicians’ success in fooling people with well-known coin tricks. For example, when you see a magician throw a coin up and down in one hand and then fake a coin thrown to the other hand, you would naturally believe that the coin is in the other hand.
Apart from the information gaps, magicians also use the “blind spots” theory when doing their shows.
The most well-known experiment demonstrating this theory is called the “invisible gorilla (大猩猩)”, in which volunteers watch a video of two basketball teams. They are asked to count how many times the teams wearing white shirts pass the ball. In the meantime, a person dressed as a gorilla walks onto the court. But shockingly, half of the viewers don’t notice the gorilla, even when they appear to be looking directly at it.
Magicians employ this tactic (招数), what they call “misdirection”, in almost every one of their acts. They direct our attention somewhere else using comedy and music, which can make us miss stuff during the performance.
1.The magic trick is mentioned in the first paragraph to ________.
A. introduce the steps of the magic trick
B. prove magic tricks seldom go wrong
C. reveal how magic tricks are designed
D. get us to wonder how magicians trick the mind
2.We can conclude from the passage that the human mind is easily fooled because our brain ________.
A. may have difficulty remembering what we just saw
B. fills in information about the magic world
C. is influenced by our previous experiences
D. processes far more information than our sensory organs pick up
3.What does the underlined word “invisible” in paragraph 7 refer to?
A. Unnoticed. B. Unimportant.
C. Unpleasant. D. Unprepared.
4.During the “invisible gorilla” experiment, people watching the video ignore the “gorilla” because ________.
A. they don’t look directly at it
B. they are not interested in it
C. they are too focused on counting
D. they consider it to be a distraction
5.Why do magicians usually use comedy and music when they play magic tricks?
A. To get viewers to stay focused on the show.
B. To make the show more fun and exciting.
C. To draw viewers’ attention away from a secret action.
D. To create information gaps between magicians and viewers.
British writer John Donne once said: “No man is an island; every book is a world.” As an enthusiastic reader, I can’t agree with the latter part of the sentence more. Every summer, I endeavor to find some peaceful places where I can attack some classics without being disturbed. Thomas Hardy wants to live far from the madding crowd. I am no friend to chaos, either.
I read George Orwell’s 1984 in a New England beachside cottage with no locks on the doors, no telephones or televisions in the rooms. 1984 is a good book that needs deep reflection. Attempting Sound and Fury lying on the bed of a poorly-occupied motel, however, was less fruitful: I made it through one and a quarter volumes, but then my eyelids were so heavy that I couldn’t keep them open.
But this summer I find myself at a loss. I’m not quite interested in J.D.Salinger, say, or Frankenstein. There’s always War and Peace which I’ve covered some distance several times, only to get bogged down in the “War” part, set it aside for a while, and realize that I have to start over from the beginning again, having forgotten everyone’s name and social rank. How appealing to simply fall back on a favorite—once more into The Call of the Wild or Alice in the Wonderland, which feels almost like cheating, too exciting and too much fun to properly belong to serious literature.
And then there’s John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. This title does not amaze but confuse. We’re never short of sour grapes, but we’ve never heard of angry grapes. Anyway grapes are my favorite fruit of summer. These stone fruits can always make me feel cheerful and peaceful all at once.
1.What can we infer from Paragraph 2?
A. The author has a cottage in New England.
B. 1984 is a book that needs careful thought.
C. Both of the reading attempts were not fruitful.
D. Sound and Fury was set in a poorly-occupied motel.
2.What does the underlined phrase “get bogged down” in paragraph 3 refer to?
A. Get confused. B. Be carried away.
C. Be interpreted. D. Make no progress.
3.Why does the author say reading his favorite books feels like cheating?
A. He finishes them quickly. B. He should read something serious.
C. He barely understands them. D. He gets amazed by their titles.
4.What can we know about the author from this passage?
A. Thomas Hardy is his friend. B. He shows talent for literature.
C. He is quite forgetful. D. He is a literary-minded man.
5.What’s the author’s purpose in writing the passage?
A. To share his reading experience.
B. To encourage readers to read books.
C. To introduce good books to readers.
D. To condemn the chaotic world we live in.
From childhood, Moira loved to write. Throughout school she enjoyed writing, but pursuing it professionally was never a possibility. Her father was a doctor, her mother a nurse. “Medicine was a fairly safe choice,” Moira says, “and writing was a career where it wasn’t a certainty that you’d have high income.”
She became a doctor but still wanted to write something. However, being a doctor was so demanding that she didn’t take up writing until her thirties. She produced a novel—a fictionalized version of her travel in China after university. She got excellent reviews. Moira sent it off to as many agents as she could find, and found one who wanted to represent her. Suddenly, it seemed she was on her way as an author.
“I had one lengthy phone call with the agent where we went through all possible areas that she thought needed polishing. I worked on those and sent it back to her but didn’t hear anything.” It wasn’t long before Moira found another agent who was interested if she was willing to rewrite it from the first person to the third person. She did the hard work and sent it off again. “I got back a really brief letter: ‘Thank you, I’m no longer interested.’ It was really disappointing.”
A decade went by, and Moira found herself eager to write again, this time purely for her own enjoyment. She set herself the challenge of creating a thriller and chose Western Australia as her setting.
As she was writing just for herself, something surprising began to happen. “The characters took on a life of their own; they started doing things I hadn’t thought about. It just flew.” One day, an agent called from Australia. Three weeks later, Moira had a publication deal. Her novel, Cicada, was published in March.
“Even if it hadn’t been published I still gained so much from the process,” says Moira.
1.What do we know about Moira?
A. She was a writer. B. She was a doctor.
C. She was an agent. D. She was a nurse.
2.What does the author imply about her first novel?
A. It was produced after she graduated from university.
B. It was published by one of the agents.
C. It was modified according to the agents’ requirements.
D. It was made into a thriller with Western Australia as the setting.
3.What made Moira write again ten years later?
A. The money. B. The setting.
C. The challenge. D. The pleasure.
4.What does the underlined word “flew” in paragraph 5 refer to?
A. Succeeded. B. Survived.
C. Broke. D. Failed.
5.What would be the best title of the passage?
A. An Adventure in China B. How to Be a Writer
C. Moira’s First Novel D. A Passion for Writing
It’s nearly exam time, so check out some of the best free apps around to help you manage the stress of exams and ensure you are studying effectively over the coming weeks.
Exam Countdown
This app can help to remind you how many days, hours, and minutes you have until your exam. This can help to motivate you to hit the books before it’s too late.
Block The Internet
Are you constantly checking Facebook when you should be writing an essay? Or perhaps are you distracted by a battle in League of Legends? Download this app to get rid of online distractions by temporarily blocking Internet sites on your mobile. Simply add the websites you want to block and the period of time to block them for. Guarantee to get yourself focused on that assignment.
CBT-i Coach
The US Department of Veterans (老兵) Affairs developed the app, CBT-i Coach, to assist with insomnia (失眠) and help people who would like to improve their sleeping habits. It provides several key parts: information about sleep and insomnia, strategies for improving sleep, relaxation skills and a helpful sleep diary.
Yoga
Yoga has great health benefits both for the mind and body, and will help you to perform at your best while at university. Download a yoga app and have your own personal yoga instructor in your living room. You can choose from short or long workouts and have a qualified instructor teaching you how to do each pose. Choose from a variety of yoga routines and watch the instructional videos. Go on, stretch out those sore muscles.
1.If you are not good at managing your time before an exam, you could try ________.
A. Block The Internet B. Exam Countdown
C. CBT- i Coach D. Yoga
2.Which app is the most useful for a student addicted to video games?
A. Yoga. B. CBT- i Coach.
C. Exam Countdown. D. Block The Internet.
3.What do we know about CBT-i Coach from this article?
A. It helps to build up stronger muscles.
B. It helps students to manage their study time.
C. It monitors and improves people’s sleeping quality.
D. It is used to treat soldiers with sleeping difficulties.
4.When using the Yoga app, the students are expected to ________.
A. ask a personal Yoga coach to instruct them face to face
B. choose some short workouts to avoid being so tired
C. choose some long workouts to guarantee the training effect
D. follow the instructional videos to stretch out the muscles
5.What does the author mainly intend to tell us in this passage?
A. Some apps to help students better prepare for exams.
B. The influence of our study habits on our exam results.
C. Several tips on how to throw off anxiety before exams.
D. Details of some apps to help to improve learning skills.
I always wondered how people would react if I tried to approach a total stranger for help in a busy place like a street corner or a mall. I had always ______ a stranger who tried to catch my ______ in a busy place.
Yesterday I was in a busy shopping mall buying a large piece of luggage because I just had the ______ to do it after many days of planning. After the ______, I picked up my phone from my pocket to call my driver waiting in the parking lot but my phone was _____.
Then I requested the shop assistant who had ______ sold me the merchandise （which was not cheap）if she could ring my driver for me. She ______ that it was the shop policy that they cannot use ______ while working in the shop.
After I got out of the shop onto the busy street, I ______ a young mother with her two kids to make the same ______. As soon as I said “Excuse me, madam!” she grabbed her kids and ran. I ______ a kidnapper.
I stood there wondering how many times I had ______ to strangers like the young _____. I stood there in the ______ street with people rushing by, looking at their faces to see if there was a sign of ______ on their faces.
I saw a man pretty shabbily dressed compared to me who ______ to notice me. I just stopped him and made my request. He ______ called my driver and waited till my car came to make sure I was picked up, turned around ______ I could thank him adequately and was gone.
I was ______ by his kindness and hope I will do ______ to strangers who try to catch my attention from now on.
1.A. helped out B. hurried by C. smiled at D. taken in
2.A. attention B. thought C. devotion D. sympathy
3.A. right B. time C. ability D. way
4.A. rest B. lunch C. bargain D. purchase
5.A. lost B. dead C. gone D. wrong
6.A. still B. simply C. just D. even
7.A. believed B. promised C. replied D. predicted
8.A. phones B. clocks C. watches D. computers
9.A. noticed B. recognized C. welcomed D. approached
10.A. mistake B. request C. apology D. comment
11.A. met with B. appeared in C. felt like D. ran after
12.A. referred B. objected C. reacted D. applied
13.A. driver B. assistant C. man D. mum
14.A. busy B. clean C. deserted D. dark
15.A. eagerness B. forgiveness C. thankfulness D. kindness
16.A. pretended B. seemed C. managed D. attempted
17.A. suddenly B. frequently C. actually D. immediately
18.A. before B. when C. unless D. while
19.A. disappointed B. puzzled C. surprised D. frightened
20.A. similarly B. normally C. quickly D. carefully
They were abroad during the months when we were carrying out the investigation, or they __________to our help.
A. would have come B. could come
C. have come D. had come
