Professor Reason recently persuaded 35 people to keep a diary of all their absent-minded actions for two weeks. When he came to analyze their embarrassing errors, he was surprised to find that nearly all of them fell into a few groups.
One of the women, for instance, on leaving her house for work one morning threw her pet dog her earrings and tried to fix a dog biscuit on her ear. “The explanation for this is that the brain is like a computer,” explains the professor. “People programme themselves to do certain activities regularly.” It was the woman’s custom every morning to throw her dog two biscuits and then put on her earrings. “But somehow the action got reversed（颠倒）in the programme.” About one in twenty of the incidents the volunteers reported were these “programme assembly failures.”
Twenty percent of all errors were “test failures” — mainly due to not verifying the progress of what the body was doing. A man about to get his car out of the garage passed through the back yard where his garden jacket and boots were kept, put them on — much to his surprise. A woman reported, “I got into the bath with my socks on.”
The commonest problem was information “storage failures”. People forgot the names of people whose faces they knew, went into a room and forgot why they were there, mislaid something, or smoked a cigarette without realizing it.
The research so far suggests that while the central processor of the brain is liberated from second-to-second control of a well-practiced routine, it must repeatedly switch back its attention at important decision points to check that the action goes on as intended. Otherwise the activity may be gotten by another frequently and recently used programme, resulting in embarrassing errors.
1.The purpose of the professor’s research is to __________.
A. show the difference between men and women
B. sort and explain some errors in human actions
C. find the causes which lead to computer failures
D. compare computer functions with brain working
2.Which of the following might be grouped under “programme assembly failures”?
A. A woman went to a shop and forgot what to buy.
B. A man returning home after work left his key in the lock.
C. A lady fell as she was paying attention to each step her feet were taking.
D. An old man, with his shoes on, was trying to put on his socks.
3.The underlined word “verifying” (in paragraph 3) can be replaced by “_______”.
A. improving B. changing C. checking D. stopping
4.According to the passage, the information “storage failure” refers to “_______”.
A. information collecting system being destroyed
B. one’s total memory being removed
C. the loss of part of one’s memory for a time
D. the separation of one’s action from words
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You are here: Experts > Science > Science/Nature for Kids > Science for Kids > Life Science for teens<> |
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Expert: Science Adviser - <>3/21/2011 |
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QUESTION: Dear Marie, Do you have some good suggestions of biology: plant, animal, human science experiments that would work well with teenagers? Scientific methods must go with the experiments. Thanks! < Donna ANSWER: Dear Donna, Marie is not online and I’ll help you instead of him. There are a lot of little things that can be done, but do you mean lab experiment or statistical analysis, etc.? Let us know what can be suitable for you teens, and we will do our best to send you some experiments to do. Best， Gloria |
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Expert: Science Adviser - 3/23/2011 |
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QUESTION: Dear Gloria, I need lab experiments. The teenage students and I will use data from these experiments to make charts, graphs, tables, etc. and to provide claims and evidence to explain more about the results. Thank you very much. Donna ANSWER: Hi there, Your best and easiest way is to do some chemistry experiments. Those are very easy and most probably you can do it in the lab and have charts, etc. for you. I do not have any particular one at the top of my head because I do cancer research and it is a bit more difficult than research for teenagers. I think you can look through these and see if you find something useful for you. http://www.siraze.net/chemistry/sezennur/experiments.htm If not, get back to me and Marie, and we’ll look more. The good thing about this site is that it has the procedures that you can follow. Good luck， Gloria |
1.How many Science Advisers are there working for this website?
A. Only one. B. At least two. C. About three. D. Over five.
2.According to Donna, she and the teenage students need ___________.
A. experiments in the lab B. statistical analysis
C. chemistry experiments D. charts and evidence
3.Who is this text for?
A. Teenagers. B. Teachers. C. Parents. D. Experts.
4. According to Gloria, Donna and the teenage students should __________.
A. turn to others for help B. do cancer researches
C. look through a website D. tell who will be helped
According to the dictionary definition of“create, ordinary people are creative every day”.To create means“to bring into being, to cause to exist something each of us does daily”.
We are creative whenever we look at or think about something in a new way. First, this includes an awareness of our surroundings. It means using all of our senses to become aware of our world. This may be as simple as being aware of color and texture(质地),as well as taste, when we plan a meal. Above all, it is the ability to notice things that others might miss.
A second part of creativity is an ability to see relationships among things. If we believe the expression,“There is nothing new under the sun, the creativity is remaking or recombining(重组) the old in new ways.”For example, we might do this by finding a more effective way to study or a better way to arrange our furniture, or we might make a new combination of camera lenses and filters to create an unusual photograph.
A third part of creativity is the courage and drive to make use of our new ideas, to ask for them to achieve some new results. To think up a new idea is one thing; to put the idea to work is another.
These three parts of creativity are included in all the great works of geniuses, but they are also included in many of our day-to-day activities.
1.“There is nothing new under the sun” really implies that _________.
A.a new thing can only be created at the basis of earliest things
B.a new thing is only a tale
C.we can seldom create new things
D.we can hardly see really new things in the world
2.What does the author think about the relationship between a new thought and its being put into practice?
A.It’s more difficult to create a new thought than to use it in practice.
B.To find a new thought will clearly lead to the production of a new thing.
C.A man with an excellent ability of practice can easily become an inventor.
D.One may come up with a new thought, but can not put it into practice.
3.The best title for this passage is__________.
A.How to Develop One’s Creativity B.What Is Creativity
C.The Importance of Creativity D.Creativity, a Not Faraway Thing
完形填空（共20小题；每小题1分，满分20分）
阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从1～20各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C或D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Butterfly’s wings
One day a small opening appeared on a cocoon(茧), a man sat and watched for the butterfly for several hours as it was struggling to 1 its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten 2 it could and it could go no further. So the man decided to 3 the butterfly: he took a pair of scissors and 4 the remaining part of the cocoon. The butterfly then 5 easily.
But it has a swollen(肿胀的) body and 6 wings. The man continued to 7 the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the 8 would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would 9 in time. Neither happened! 10, the butterfly spent the rest of its life 11 around with a swollen body and small, shriveled(褶皱的) wings. It 12 was able to fly. What the man did in his 13 and haste(匆忙)did no good to the butterfly. He didn’t know the 14 cocoon and the struggle 15 for the butterfly to get through the tiny 16 were the natural way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings 17 it would be ready for flight once it achieved its 18 from the cocoon.
Sometimes the 19is exactly what we need in our life. If we are allowed to go through our life without any 20, it would not be a good thing to us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been.
1.A. build B. force C. form D. destroy
2.A. as far as B. as long as C. as soon as D. as quick as
3.A. seize B. leave C. bring D. help
4.A. took off B. made up C. cut off D. picked up
5.A. spread over B. came out C. stayed in D. flew away
6.A. hard B. strong C. small D. large
7.A. watch B. look for C. look after D. follow
8.A. butterfly B. wings C. cocoon D. scissors
9.A. disappear B. enlarge C. lose D. contract
10.A. Luckily B. Probably C. In all D. In fact
11.A. crawling B. approaching C. running D. wandering
12.A. ever B. seldom C. always D. never
13.A. fear B. kindness C. evil D. confidence
14.A. restricting B. loose C. soft D. little
15.A. prepared B. wanted C. allowed D. required
16.A. place B. room C. opening D. space
17.A. even if B. otherwise C. when D. so that
18.A. life B. success C. progress D. freedom
19.A. courage B. struggle C. wisdom D. strength
20.A. fun B. friends C. obstacles D. achievement
Many activities in the shop, _______ many different types of interest, are planned _______ its out-of-date goods.
A. adjusting to; to deposit
B. catering to; to promote
C. applying to; to take to
D. appealing to; to claim
On the top of the hill ______.
A. does a temple stand
B. a temple stands there
C. stands a temple
D. a temple stands
