In a six-week study, experts found people who played online games designed to improve their cognitive(认知的) skills didn't get any smarter.
More than 8,600 people aged 18 to 60 were asked to play online brain games designed by the researchers to improve their memory, reasoning and other skills for at least 10 minutes a day, three times a week. They were compared to more than 2,700 people who didn't play any brain games, but spent a similar amount of time surfing the Internet and answering general knowledge questions. All participants were given a sort of I.Q test before and after the experiment.
Researchers said the people who did the brain training didn't do any better on the test after six weeks than people who had simply been on the Internet. On some sections of the test, the people who surfed the Net scored higher than those playing the games.
"If you're (playing these games) because they're fun, that's absolutely fine," said Adrian Owen, the study's lead author. "But if you're expecting (these games) to improve your I.Q., our data suggests this isn't the case," he said during a press briefing on Tuesday.
One maker of brain games said the company's games have been proven to boost brain power.
"Their conclusion would be like saying, 'I cannot run a mile in under 4 minutes and therefore it is impossible to do so," Aldrich said in a statement.
"There is precious little evidence to suggest the skills used in these games transfer to the real world," said Art Kramer, who was not linked to the study and has no ties to any companies that make brain training games.
Instead of playing brain games, Kramer said people would be better off getting some exercise. He said physical activity can spark(激发) new connections between nerves and produce new brain cells. "Fitness changes the building blocks of the brain's structure," he said.
1.. It can be inferred that the online brain games mentioned in the text are_____________.
A. costly B. unreliable C. illegal D. effective
2.. Which of the following statements is true about the experiment in the second paragraph?
A. The experiment lasted for a week.
B. Age didn’t affect the result of the research.
C. Every person played online brain games three times a day.
D. People who didn’t play online brain games did better in I.Q test
3.. What can we learn from the text?
A. Playing games which are fun can improve your I.Q.
B. There is a lot of evidence to suggest skills can transfer to the real world.
C. Do physical activity can boost your brain power.
D. Playing online games can spark new brain cells
4.The underlined sentence suggests that ___________.
A. The research was not linked to the study
B. Those playing the games can score higher in the test
C. playing the games can spark new connections between nerves
D. This isn’t the case that these games can improve your I.Q.
In our life, we face situations where we are either asked to choose between trust and disbelief. Many of us would say we have to choose trust over disbelief. Actually we are given intellectual(智力的) power to choose what we want, and what we choose certainly need not be the one that sounds pleasing. That is, we can choose both trust and disbelief, but we have to know when to choose between these two.
We should all realize that we are living in a world which is unfortunately mixed with people of various types. We have been given the power of judging who we are working with and who we are partnering with. We cannot give an excuse for believing a scheming(诡计多端的)person, just because he looked or sounded nice, unless we consider ourselves mentally unskillful.
This world was there before us and it does not owe us a single thing. We are asked to take care of ourselves and our belongings. Trust, too, has to be saved for the deserving(值得的) people. When we give trust universally to all, we end up troubled by the undeserving common cheat. People say trust is life. True! But only wisely exercised trust is life.
When we start a conversation with someone, the first things that we usually notice would be their dress, behavior, style and their language. What sometimes we all forget to look at is the person’s intention. Now how to look at a person’s intention is a lesson everybody has to learn for themselves in their own way -- there is no single standard for it. But it is certainly possible to discover the purpose if we seek a little bit more.
Certainly a false offer of friendship or guidance cannot stand undiscovered for long; we are therefore called to exercise disbelief over trust at least momentarily till we find out that we certainly are in agreement with a mutual(相互的)good-willed person.
The world teaches you lots of lessons and if we are willing, we can learn all that we want.
1.In the first paragraph, the author ________.
A. concentrates on the reason why we make different choices
B. focuses on how to choose between trust and disbelief
C. suggests that trust should be wisely exercised
D. implies that people are forced to make the choice
2.. We can infer from the passage that _________. 
A. people who we are working with are in fact those who we are partnering with
B. the first thing we notice tends to mislead our judgment
C. the mentally healthy people will not judge a person by his looks
D. the standards of looking at a person’s intention are not various
3.. The underlined sentence means __________
A. trust and disbelief go hand in hand with each other.
B. disbelief is necessary if you aren’t wise
C. trust is established if two people know each other
D. doubt may serve as the precondition for trust
4.Which of the following can serve as the best title for the passage?
A. Trust or Disbelief? B. Trust Is Life.
C. Trust over Disbelief? D. Disbelief over Trust?
|
From: |
<joseph_yana@orange.net> |
|
IP Address: |
193.252.22.118 (originates from France) |
|
Date: |
Mon, 02-Feb-2011 09:37:04am |
|
Attachment: |
(No attachment) |
|
Subject: |
[G-Spam] PLEASE REPLY BACK. |
|
Message: |
|
|
CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS PROPOSAL. FROM THE DESK OF: MR. JOSEPH YANA. AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (ADB) BURKINA-FASO. Dear Sir / Madam, I am the Bill and Exchange (assistant) Manager of the African Development Bank, MR. JOSEPH YANA. In my department I discovered an abandoned sum of USD$9.900.000 in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customers who died along with his wife and two children in July 2002 in a plane crash. Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin(近亲属) to come over and claim his money, but unfortunately we learnt that all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him in the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim. It is therefore upon this discovery that I in my department now decided to make this business proposal to you and release the money to you as next of kin or relation since nobody is coming for it and we don't want this money to go into the bank treasury as unclaimed fund. The banking law and guidelines here says that if such money remains unclaimed after ten years, the money will be transferred into the bank treasury as unclaimed fund. The request of the foreigner in this transaction（办理） is necessary because our late customer was a foreigner. We agree that 30% of this money will be for you as foreigner partner, 5% will be set aside for expenses incurred during the business and 65% would be for me, after which I shall visit your country for disbursement(开支) according to the percentages indicated. Therefore to enable the immediate transfer of this fund to you as arranged, you must apply first to the bank, and send your account number, your private telephone and fax number for easy and effective communication and location where the money will be sent. Upon receiving your reply, I will send to you by fax or e-mail the text of the application which you shall retype and fax to us. Trusting to receive your urgent reply through my alternative Email : jyana96 @ yahoo.com.id Best regards. MR. JOSEPH YANA. |
1. A foreigner who receives this letter should ________.
A. be a close relative of the dead.
B. send hundreds of dollars to Africa
C. go to African Development Bank for the wealth
D. not take it seriously.
2.Which of the following is true according to the text?
A. Many millionaires died in the plane crash.
B. Any money unclaimed will be given to a poor foreigner.
C. the division of the money seems quite reasonable.
D. AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK doesn’t exist at all.
3. A person who believes “__________” will fall into it.
A. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. B. There's no such thing as a free lunch.
C. All rivers run into the sea D. A short cut is often a wrong cut
While surfing television channels over the weekend，a scene from a family classic of last year portraying the now-so-familiar sorry state of retired parents being ill-treated by their children and families caught my attention. I wondered why the description of this relationship had not changed much over the many years! Even though the same movies and soaps accurately capture several other social changes around us — from value systems to new found economic freedom to the importance of technology and the changing approach to consumerism(消费主义) — are these creative efforts far from the truth in telling us that an average retiree is still struggling?
Look around and you will agree that the post-retired lifestyle for an ex-salaried class people is often a pale shadow of their last working years. Even self employed people, who have handed over the responsibility to the next generation, are no exception. Did the average middle class not save enough through his working years?
Socially, we already know that the Indians are taught the benefits of start saving early on in life. Household savings data supports this social behavior — India has the highest rates of savings among various economies and is far ahead of the west. Yet, tragically, a lifetime of savings does not seem to provide enough for a comfortable retirement!
A closer look at the pattern of what we do with our financial savings may tell us a bit more. Over half of households’ financial savings is put into a “safe” deposit, followed by large portions in insurance, pension, provident funds（福利基金） and the rest in physical currency. Less than a tenth goes into “risky” assets(资产) like stocks. While there might be nothing, in particular, worrisome in this investment pool, one has to consider inflation(通货膨胀). The real value of savings, over a few decades, may actually be lower than the starting point.
1.What had not changed much over the many years according to the passage?
A. Value systems B. The poor situation of retirees
C. Economic freedom D. Approach to consumerism
2.Which of the following statements about saving in India is right?
A. the concept of saving has been well received by Indians.
B. the amount of the savings ranks number one across the world.
C. long-standing savings can help the retirees live a care-free life.
D. saving early can not benefit people at all.
3. What can be inferred according to the last paragraph?
A. Half of the financial savings in stocks can be accepted.
B. The real value of saving must be lowered in a few years.
C. A loss of savings may hardly be avoided.
D. Inflation can be avoided on condition that you consume instead of saving.
4.What’s the best title of the text?
A. Retirees being treated unfairly
B. Is saving enough
C. Saving in India
D. How to deal with saving
完形填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）
阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、 B、 C 和 D ）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
“So teach him to close the door”, my daughter Emma responded after listening to me 36 , again, about the dog coming in from the back door, bringing with him a blast of Buffalo January 37 air．
Teach a dog to close a door behind him? That has got to be a really, really 38 thing to do．But then she took it a step 39 ．“Come on Kolby”, she said, grabbing(抓住) some treats and 40 him in front of the open door．“Touch．” And “touch” he did, which moved the door to a 41 position．She 42 him with a treat, smiled, looked at me, and said “see!” And I saw and became 43 ．Over the last few days I have been consistent（一致的） with Kolby．Each time he comes in I 44 him back to the open door patiently and ask him to close．There have been 45 in the beginning, but lately more and more successes．
However, there remains much work to be done．I have to get him follow my hand signal again and again 46 he will close the door from a distance．But, I now realize, as long as you keep to the 47 , the task will be completed, and, with the way things are progressing, 48 quickly．
What a 49 treat to have a dog that can close the door after himself! Even more wonder can be found in the 50 I learned so clearly from both Emma and Kolby．
A wish is just a wish until you decide to take 51 ．Once you 52 the belief that it is “too hard”, then it remains “too hard ” and out of 53 ．Once you decide to accomplish a goal, and 54 that it is “easy”, then it becomes “easy” to do what needs to be done．Just 55 doing it．
1. A．complain B．scream C．worry D．scare
2.A．thin B．fresh C．dirty D．cold
3.A．last B．funny C．hard D．possible
4.A．again B．further C．deeper D．backward
5.A．pushing B．tying C．seating D．positioning
6. A．stopped B．fixed C．closed D．locked
7.A．rewarded B．provided C．offered D．thanked
8.A．persuaded B．convinced C．inspired D．puzzled
9.A．bring B．pull C．drag D．call
10.A．pleasures B．experiments C．failures D．pauses
11. A．in case B．even if C．as if D．so that
12. A．interest B．focus C．progress D．harmony
13. A．determined B．taught C．bought D．completed
14.. A．wonderful B．small C．different D．simple
15. A．knowledge B．skills C．lessons D．experience
16.A．patience B．part C．delight D．action
17. A．hold on to B．pay attention to C．come up with D．get used to
18. A．date B．touch C．reach D．power
19. A．prove B．decide C．conclude D．realize
20. A．imagine. B．start C．keep D．enjoy
The purpose of her talking to me last night actually _______this: That I shall never trust him any more in future.
A. comes round B. comes out C. comes on D. comes to
