Tons of people enjoy listening to different types of music while they paint, write, or draw. Many believe that music helps get the creative juices flowing, but an international new study is challenging that view by putting volunteers through a series of tests.
The study was performed as a joint partnership between psychologists at three universities in Europe. The results suggest that any task that relies on verbal(与文字有关的) creativity was impaired(削弱) when listening to any type of music.
Subjects(受试者) in the project all spoke English as their first language, and had no problem in their sight or hearing.
The tasks were simple word games. For example, subjects were given three words, such as dress, shine, and flower. Then, they were asked to find a single word which could be connected with all three to form a common phrase or word. The single word, in this case, would be “sun” (sundress, sunflower, etc).
Subjects completed the tasks in either a quiet room, or while they were played background music with foreign lyrics(歌词), English lyrics, and instrumental music with no lyrics at all.
The research team also tested the library background noises, but found that such noises had no great difference in subjects’ creativity. The study’s authors believe that was the case because library noise is a “steady state” environment which is not as disruptive(扰乱的). Music with or without lyrics is characterized by changes in pitch or tone.
It’s worth mentioning that even familiar music with well known lyrics impaired subjects’ creativity, even when subjects declared that they worked or studied with music on regularly and the music improved their overall mood.
So next time you sit down for a study session with those lo-fi beats, you may be giving your brain something else to focus on rather than your work.
1.What does “that view” in Paragraph 1 refer to?
A.Listening to music while working is so common.
B.People enjoy listening to different types of music.
C.Listening to music impairs creativity.
D.Music helps improve our creativity.
2.According to the word game in Paragraph 4, if volunteers are given three words “foot, base, basket”, what is the single word?
A.Case. B.Line. C.Print. D.Ball.
3.Which of the following had no great difference in performance of the verbal tasks?
A.Familiar music with well known lyrics.
B.The quiet and library noise conditions.
C.Background music with foreign lyrics.
D.Instrumental music with no lyrics.
4.According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
A.Music cannot disrupt the verbal working memory of the disabled.
B.Different kinds of music impair different parts of our brains.
C.You may do your best work without listening to music.
D.Library noises are characterized by changes in pitch or tone.
Have you ever been swimming in a pond, stream, or lake and had a leech(水蛭) stick on you? You probably shouted and tried to force it away as fast as you could. But leeches aren’t really sick, and sometimes they can save lives.
In ancient Egypt and later medieval(中世纪) Europe, doctors put leeches on patients. They believed that the spineless wormlike living things can cure all kinds of illnesses by sucking(吮吸) a patient’s blood. In Europe and in the United States, millions of leeches were used throughout the 1800s. Doctors used leeches to treat a number of illnesses, from obesity to headaches. People soon learned that leeches could not cure most diseases and were not a good treatment for patients. However in 1985, a Harvard University doctor changed people’s thinking once again. He was trying to reattach(重新接上) a patient’s ear, which had been cut off. He had trouble reconnecting the veins because the patient’s blood kept clotting(凝). He used a leech to draw out the blood and saved the ear.
Since then, leeches have often been used in surgery where body parts are reattached. During surgery, a leech is placed on the area where the surgeon does not want the blood to pool and clot. Then the leech produces a thing that keeps the veins(静脉) open and stops the blood from clotting. The leech sucks up excess blood, allowing fresh blood to flow, which helps the patient get well.
Some people are scared to death at the thought of having a blood sucking thing attached to them. But why not welcome a leech if it can save your life?
1.What is the passage mostly about?
A.Patient’s interest in leeches.
B.How and where leeches live.
C.The medical uses of leeches.
D.Leeches in ancient medicine.
2.When were leeches first used?
A.In medieval Europe.
B.In ancient Egypt.
C.In 1985 by a Harvard University doctor.
D.In the 1800s in Europe and in the United States.
3.When a leech is placed on a patient, which one happens first?
A.The leech produces a thing.
B.The patient’s veins open.
C.The patient’s blood flow faster
D.The leech sucks up excess blood.
4.Why did a doctor in 1985 decide to try using leeches?
A.He needed a way to close the wound.
B.He wanted to change people’s thought.
C.He believed in the mystery of nature.
D.He needed to keep blood from clotting
He was the only gray cub(狼崽) of the she-wolf. The other cubs had red in their hair. He was gray like his father. He was the strongest cub. He showed more anger than his brothers and sisters.
He made more noises.
He was a carnivorous animal. He came of a breed of meat-killers and meat-eaters. His father and mother lived wholly upon meat. In his first months of life, he lived on mother’s milk, which was transformed directly from meat. And now, at a month old, when his eyes had been open for but a week, he was beginning himself to eat meat.
There came a time when there was no meat. For many days the cubs did not eat. They were too weak and tired to play. One-Eye, the cub’s father, was killed in the fight over food. Even the she-wolf left the cave to find meat, but there was nothing. One by one, the cubs died. Only the she-wolf and the gray cub were left.
One day the gray cub ran out of the cave to hunt for his own food. He met a weasel（黄鼠狼）of his size. The rat-like animal ran at him and bit his throat. He was nearly dead when the she-wolf arrived just in time to kill and eat it.
The gray cub was not good at hunting yet, and still needed food from his mother. One day, the she-wolf brought him a lynx（猞猁）kitten. While eating, he heard great noise. The kitten’s mother had followed the she-wolf here. The she-wolf and the she-lynx started to fight, and they would fight to the death. The bite was enough to give the she-wolf the chance she needed. The lynx was dead, but the she-wolf was badly hurt. For a week, she did not move. The gray cub had to find food for both of them.
Without his mother to take care of him, he learnt what life was about. Without meat there was no life. Animals had to eat other animals to survive. The law was: EAT OR BE EATEN.
(—Taken from White Fang)
1.What does the underlined word “carnivorous” mean?
A.Meat-eating. B.Grass-eating. C.Proud. D.Dangerous.
2.Which of the following can prove the law of meat?
A.The gray cub was the strongest cub.
B.The gray cub made more noises.
C.The she-lynx fought against the she-wolf.
D.The gray cub was gray like his father, One-Eye.
3.Which sentence should go in the empty box in Paragraph 5?
A.Wolves live only on meat.
B.He ran forward and bit one of her legs.
C.Soon he was losing a lot of blood.
D.He could not stop the lynx from biting him.
4.After reading the passage, we can infer (推断) _______.
A.The cub’s brothers and sisters died of hunger.
B.One-Eye, the father died from a fight for meat
C.Life was easy for the she-wolf and the gray cub.
D.The she-wolf came in time to kill and eat the weasel.
Here are some classical English novels. Which would you like to read first?
A LITTLE PRINCESS Author(作者): Frances Hodgson Burnett ￥18 (online) Motherless Sara Crewe was sent home from India to school at Miss Minchin’s. Her father was very rich and she lived a rich and comfortable life. Then her father died and Sara lost everything. She had to learn to do with her changed life. Her strong character made her able to fight successfully against anything. It’s an excellent book with 4 tapes for children. |
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| PETER PAN Author: J.M Barrie ￥15 (in bookstores) ￥12 (online) It is a children’s story full of imagination and adventures, which is about Wendy, John and Michael Darling’s adventures in Never-Never Land with Peter Pan, the boy who would not grow up. The children are happy and lovely. (with 2 tapes) | ||
UNCLE TOM’S CABIN Author: Harriet Beecher Stowe ￥20 (in bookstores) ￥16 (online) The most famous novel in American history, Uncle Tom’s Cabin talked about the struggle(战争) between free states and slave(奴隶) states during the American Civil War（内战）and is as powerful today as when it first came out in 1852. More than 300,000 copies were sold in the United States alone in its first year. |
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| THE SECRET GARDEN Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett ￥35 (in bookstores) ￥30 (online) Mary Lennox, a sick orphan, finds herself in her uncle’s dark house. Why are so many rooms locked? Why is one of the gardens locked? And what is that crying she hears at night? Through the power of hope, friendship and the magic of nature, the brave girl brings the house and a long-lost garden back to life. | ||
1.We can know from the passage that _________.
A.there are two books with tapes
B.we can buy all the four books in bookstores
C.three of the books are written by Frances Hodgson Burnett
D.the books are cheaper in bookstores than online
2.Which of the following is about UNCLE TOM’S CABIN?
A.It was a great success the year it was published.
B.It’s about the struggle during the African Civil War.
C.A brave girl successfully fought against slaves.
D.It’s about a boy who refuses to grow up.
3.How much does it cost to order these four books online?
A.$ 88 B.$76 C.￥88 D.￥76
My grandfather was a serious man. A quick look from him was enough to keep my sisters and me in line. ______ every summer I looked forward to seeing Grandpa in his farm. We enjoyed every moment of feeding and washing the animals.
Grandpa was a man who didn’t show his ______easily. There were times he caught us touching some of his personal things or exploring places that we weren’t ______ to. His quiet scolding(责备) left us ______ for the rest of our stay.
One morning I heard “clickety-clack, clickety-clack, ping”. I stopped and found where the sound ______: Grandpa in his study, typing a letter. I leaned ________ to see better when I fell through the door. For a while I ______ on the floor of the study. I stood up and went red in the face, hoping the scolding would be short.
Grandpa’s eyes shone. He called me over. I went to him _______ with my eyes looking at the floor. He asked what I was doing, and I told him that I was drawn by the ______ of the typewriter. I only wanted to get a better _____. I wasn’t going to touch anything, I _____.
The rest of the summer I stood near his elbow watching him type. How I wished to _____ the beautiful yellow keys with steel rims.
After going home, I spent the year writing poems, letters, and stories in my notebooks and ________ myself to use Grandpa’s typewriter to write novels.________, I planned to be a writer, and writers used typewriters.
The next summer, I’d hear the sounds of typewriter keys and walk toward them, admiring the ________ of the words forming on the page. I wished he would offer me a chance to try it. But he never did.
On returning home that year, I got a parcel. I found the typewriter in the box! My serious grandfather！
1.A.So B.Otherwise C.Then D.Yet
2.A.spirits B.feelings C.courage D.strength
3.A.afforded B.regarded C.supposed D.known
4.A.well-dressed B.well-organized C.well-behaved D.well-balanced
5.A.came across B.came over C.came out D.came from
6.A.farther B.longer C.higher D.lower
7.A.lie B.lied C.lay D.laid
8.A.excitedly B.slowly C.quickly D.proudly
9.A.appearance B.movement C.voice D.sound
10.A.expression B.impression C.photo D.look
11.A.accepted B.promised C.agreed D.wished
12.A.touch B.fall C.move D.attack
13.A.imagining B.remembering C.reminding D.mentioning
14.A.After all B.As usual C.At last D.Above all
15.A.advantage B.wonder C.memory D.step
— John was seriously injured in the school bus accident.
—_______ .
A.Take it easy B.Not at all
C.It's too dangerous D.I'm sorry to hear that
