A new study has found that it may be possible to train people to be more intelligent，increasing the brainpower they had at birth.
Until now，it has been widely assumed that the kind of mental ability that allows us to solve new problems without having any relevant previous experience—what psychologists call fluid intelligence—is innate and cannot be taught（though people can raise their grades on tests of it by practicing）.
But in the new study，researchers describe a method for improving this skill，along with experiments to prove it works.
The key, researchers found, was carefully structured training in working memory—the kind that allows memorization of a telephone number just long enough to dial it. This type of memory is closely related to fluid intelligence，so the researchers reasoned that improving it might lead to improvements in fluid intelligence.
First they measured fluid intelligence of volunteers using standard tests. Then they trained each in a complicated memory task—the child’s card game，in which they had to recall a card they saw and heard. During the course, they needed to ignore irrelevant items，monitor ongoing performance，manage two tasks at the same time and connect related items to one another in space and time.
The four groups experienced a half-hour of training daily for 8，12，17 and 19 days，respectively. To make sure they were not just improving their test-taking skills，the researchers compared them with control groups that took the tests without the training.
The results, published Monday in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences，were striking. Improvement in the trained groups was a lot greater. Moreover，the longer they trained, the higher their scores were. All performers，from the weakest to the strongest，showed significant improvement.
“Our results show you can increase your intelligence with proper training.”said Dr Jaeggi, a co-author of the paper.“No one knows how long the gains will last after training stops，”he added，“and the experiment’s design did not allow the researchers to determine whether more training would continue to produce further gains.”
67．The researchers thought the key to improving the intelligence was ______________.
A．memorizing telephone numbers
B．improving working memory
C．training in concentration
D．recalling a card
68．The following aspects of the training help increase intelligence EXCEPT___________.
A．ignoring irrelevant items
B．monitoring ongoing performance
C．managing two tasks at the same time
D．using previous experience
69．When the experiment was conducted，the researchers______________.
A．trained the four groups for the same period of time
B．only made comparisons between the four groups
C．compared the four groups with control groups
D．trained the four groups together
70．By writing the article，the writer intends to ______________.
A．inform the readers of a new study
B．call on people to be trained to increase intelligence
C．prove one’s born brainpower can be improved
D．tell people the improved intelligence will last forever
A train sped up through the countryside at 60 mph as a“traveller”relaxes with his newspaper. But this is no businessman taking it easy—the driver of the passenger express（快车）is doing the reading.
A Sunday Express reader caught this Virgin employee on film as the train sped through Derbyshire on its way to Plymouth from Newcastle.
Virgin，which has come under repeated criticism over their rail service, yesterday fired the driver after being shown the photograph. A spokesman said an inquiry（调查）was under way to make sure exactly what he was doing and why he appeared to have taken his eyes off the track ahead.
The picture comes in the week that the public inquiry into the Southall rail disaster, which claimed seven lives, heard that the driver at the centre of that case had earlier been spotted with his feet on the control button of his cab.
Larry Harrison，who worked for Great Western Trains，drove through two warning signals before crashing at 60 mph into a waiting train.
The reader who took this picture was standing on a bridge outside Chesterfield early one summer’s evening. He said，“I only realized what I’d got when I had the pictures developed. I couldn’t believe it.”
“As far as I could see，there was no one else in the cab with the drive，unless they were hiding, The person with the paper open was certainly sitting in the driver’s normal seat.”
The photographer works on the railways and does not want to be named，but he added，“I’ve seen many drivers with their feet on the control panel but I’ve never seen them reading papers like this. There is an automatic warning system and driver’s safety device which reminds him when he passes yellow and red signals. But you should never take your eyes off the track and rely only on sounds because you could have unexpected objects on the line or suddenly have speed limits given.”
63．Who is the“traveller”mentioned in the first paragraph？
A．A train driver. B．A businessman.
C．A passenger. D．A newspaper reader.
64．The train ______________when the picture was taken.
A．was driving to Plymouth
B．was ready for a picture
C．had seven people on it
D．crashed into another train
65．Who took the picture of the driver of the passenger express？
A．A professional photographer.
B．A newspaper reporter.
C．Another train driver.
D．A member of the railway staff.
66．According to what we have read，we may find this passage most probably______________.
A．at a train station
B．from a news report
C．from a driver’s safety guide
D．from the police inquiry
“First we make our habits，then our habits make us.”——Charles C．Noble
It’s such a simple concept，yet it's something we don’t always do. It’s not extremely difficult to do, and yet I think it’s something that would make a world of difference in anyone’s life. Break your goals into habits，and focus on putting those habits into autopilot. My belief is that having one goal to focus on is much more powerful than having many goals.
I try to turn my goals into habits，and in doing so，I put my goals on autopilot. Turning a goal into a habit means really focusing on it，seriously，for at least a month，to the exclusion of all else. The more you can focus on it, the more it’ll be put on autopilot. Let’s look at my marathon goal as an example. I was just starting out in running，and l had the brilliant idea to run a marathon within a year. But in order to achieve that goal，I broke it down into two habits：
1．I had to make running a daily habit.
2．I had to report to people in order to have accountability（责任）—I did this through family，friends and coworkers，through a blog，and through a column in my local newspaper every two weeks. With this accountability，there’s no way l would stop running.
The accountability habit took a couple of months，mainly because I didn’t focus on it too much while l was building the running habit. But it stuck，and for that first year of running，I would report to people I knew and blog about my running every day and I would write a column every two weeks for my local paper.
Once those two habits were firmly fixed，my marathon goal was pretty much on autopilot. I still had to do the work，of course，but it didn’t require constant focus. And eventually，I ran the marathon. I was able to achieve this because，all year long，I had the daily running habit and daily accountability habit. I put my marathon goal into autopilot，and that made it much easier--instead of struggling with it daily for an entire year，I focused on it for one month and was able to accomplish it while focusing on new habits and goals.
55．According to the passage，we can see the key to forming a habit is ______________.
A．to break the goals into habits
B．to report to other people about your plan
C．to set a reasonable goal first
D．to focus on the habit as much as possible
56．The author told people about his running in order to ______________.
A．get more support
B．ask for their opinions
C．carry out his plan better
D．earn more admiration
57．What do we know about the author？
A．He was a local athlete.
B．He often gave people advice.
C．He had no blogs before.
D．He wrote for a local newspaper.
58．The passage is mainly about ______________.
A．goals and habits
B．how to turn your goals into habits
C．habits and achievements
D．how to make running a good habit
To her, it is a wonderful place because you never know what it may have_______.
|
A．in common |
B．in store |
|
C．in sight |
D．in turn |
第二节短文写作（共1题；满分25分）
目前，有些中学聘用外教承担英语口语课教学。对此，你们班里的同学展开了讨论。请根据以下要点写一篇短文介绍讨论的情况。
1．有人认为聘请外教的目的只是为了提高学校的知名度，并没有什么实际意义；
2．有人认为外教可以帮助学生提高学习兴趣，锻炼口语；
3．你的看法。
注意：1．词数120个左右；
2．可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3．开头已给出，不计入总词数。
There was a heated discussion in our class yesterday on the topic“Is it necessary to employ foreign teachers in middle schools？”_______________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
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第四部分书面表达（共两节，满分40分）
第一节完成句子（共10小题；每小题1.5分，满分15分）
阅读下列各小题，根据括号内的汉语提示，用句末括号里的英语单词完成句子。
71．_____（没必要）for you to get up early tomorrow.（need）
72．_____（是因为坏天气）that the football match had to be put off？（because of）
73．So _____（考试如此难）that only a few students passed it.（difficult）
74．_____（若她知道）that Mary would come to see her，she would never have gone to the party.（know）
75．I can’t go out to play，with_____（如此多的作业要做）.（do）
76．We have produced_____（两倍多的棉花）this year as we did last year.（twice）
77．The news reporters hurried to the airport，_____（结果被告知）the film stars had left.（tell）
78．_____（一直没有收到）any letter from him for so long，I gave him a call.（receive）
79．_____（他是否出过国）doesn’t make much difference.（abroad）
80．The river looks more beautiful，_____（两岸长满了鲜花和绿草）.（grow）
