They may be small and not able to speak, but babies are proving their amazing cleverness. Scientists began finding infants’ skills are more than they are supposed to be.
_________
Speaking of music, babies can’t seem to resist it. Not only are their ears turned to the beats, babies can actually dance to the music.
To test babies’ dancing ability, the researchers played recordings of classical music, rhythmic beats and speech to infants, and recorded the results. They also invited professional dancers to analyze how well the babies matched their movements to the music. The babies moved their arms, hands, legs feet and heads in response to the music, much more than to the speech. The finding suggests this dancing ability is innate(与生俱来的) in humans, though the researchers aren’t sure why it becomes weaker later in their life.
Learning Quickly while Sleeping
Babies can learn even while asleep, according to a 2011 study. In experiments with 26 sleeping infants, each just 1 to 2 days old, scientists played a musical tone followed by a puff of air to their eyes 200 times over the course of a half-hour. 124 electrodes(电极) stuck on the head and face of each baby recorded brain activity during the experiments. The babies rapidly learned to foretell a puff of air upon hearing the tone, showing a four-time increase on average in the chances of tightening their eyelids in response to the sound by the end of the experiments.
As newborns spend most of their time asleep, this newfound ability might be crucial to rapidly adapting to the world around them and help to ensure their survival, researchers said.
Judging Characters Well
Judging another person helpful or harmful is crucial when choosing friends. And that ability starts early. Kiley Hamlin of Yale University showed both 6-and 10-month-olds a puppet(木偶) show, in which one character helped another climb a hill. In another scene a third character pushed the climber down. The little ones then got to choose which character they preferred. For both age groups, most babies chose the helper character. This character-judging ability could be baby’s first step in the formation of morals, Hamlin thought.
1.Which of the following subtitles can fill in the underlined blank?
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A．Dancing to Music |
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B．Babies’ Amazing Abilities |
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C．Learning to Dance Quickly |
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D．Born to Dance |
2.The underlined word “it” in the third paragraph refers to______.
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A．the finding |
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B．the dancing ability |
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C．the response |
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D．the baby |
3.The experiment with 26 sleeping infants prove that_______.
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A．babies can learn even while asleep |
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B．babies can respond to the world around them |
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C．babies can tighten their eyelids in response to the sound |
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D．babies can communicate with others while asleep |
4.In the last experiment, most babies chose the helper character, showing that________.
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A．babies can judge a person helpful or harmful |
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B．babies love to see a puppet show |
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C．babies were born to help others |
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D．babes have learned to help others |
Joey is loyal, encouraging and self-sacrificing, always putting others’ interests ahead of his own. He is a hard worker, who also loves to run and play. In short, he’s an ideal friend and a heroic character.
Here is the thing: Joey is a horse, who appears as the main character in Steven Spielberg’s new film War Horse.
It is based on Michael Morpurgo’s 1982 novel, which also caused the same-titled Tony Awards winning play.
The film follows the saga of Joey, a racehorse that’s trained for farm work under the loving care of Albert (Jeremy Irvine )after Albert’s drunk father Ted(Peter Mullan ) overpays for the animal at auction(拍卖会).
Then the World War I tears Albert and Joey apart. Joey is sold into the war effort for the British and starts his episodic adventures in Europe.
Splendidly staged, the battle plots in the film are visually astounding and impressive.
And with Spielberg’s unique, top-notch direction and storytelling skills, War Horse cannot escape its episodic nature, calling to mind another Spielberg film about the horrors of war and its effects upon soldiers and civilians—Saving Private Ryan.
While that film shocked with horrific scenes of bleeding, it relied on a company of easily-described characters and a focused storyline to present heroic themes.
Like Saving Private Ryan, War Horse clings to a series of characters, not only Albert, but also British officers, French civilians and German soldiers, who display courage in the face of danger. Everyone who comes in contact with Joey is either already in touch with their inner angel or is quickly moved to become more humane.
Although none of this covers the fact that we’ve seen this stuff elsewhere before, the lovely sentiment will steal your heart.
And the emotional signature of Spielberg can be felt as he establishes the relationship between the boy and the horse and the mood of the piece – there will be tears.
Therefore, calling this beautiful, dramatically incomplete film “ Saving Private Joey”, is entirely justifiable.
1.In common with “ Saving Private Ryan”, the film War Horse _________ .
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A．is full of terrifying scenes of bleeding and killing |
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B．received the title of Tony Awards Winning Play |
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C．covers a lot of characters |
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D．tells the story happening in the Second World War |
2.Which statement is true according to the passage?
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A．War Horse is based on the same-titled novel by Steven Spielberg. |
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B．Joey is a heroic character because he saved many people’s lives. |
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C．Albert sold Joey into the war effort for Europe. |
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D．Joey came to Albert’s care after Ted paid a lot of money for it. |
3.According to the passage, what does the underlined word astounding mean?
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A．astonishing |
B．confusing |
C．satisfying |
D．disappointing |
4.What is the best title for the passage?
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A．Joey ─ a heroic race horse |
B．Albert and Joey |
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C．Saving Private Joey |
D．Spielberg’s Joey |
根据短文内容，从下框的选项中选出能概括每一段主题的最佳选项，并在答题纸上将该选项涂黑，选项中有一项为多余选项。
A. Using a proverb to tell us how to keep healthy
B. Getting up early --- one good way to keep healthy
C. The importance of sleeping
D. Introduction to keeping healthy
E. The importance of the blood in our bodies
F. The benefit of exercise
1.__________
Habit is something we do very often. We do not think when we are doing it. We can have good habits or bad habits. This text gives some advice on how to be healthy. It tells you what to do if you want to be healthy. It also tells you what you must not do. It talks about good habits and bad habits.
2._________
Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. This is an old English saying. Have you heard of it before? It means that we must go to bed early and get up early in the morning. if we do, we shall be healthy, we shall also be rich and clever.
3.________
Is this true? Perhaps it is. The body must have enough sleep .Children of your age need ten hours’ sleep every night. If you do not go to bed early, you can not have enough sleep. Then you can not think properly and you cannot do your work properly. You’ll not be wise and you may not become wealthy!
4.________
Some people go to bed late at night and get up late in the morning. This is not good for them. We must sleep at night when it is dark. The dark helps us to sleep properly. When daylight comes, we must get up. This is the time for exercise. Exercise means doing things with the body. Walking, running, jumping, swimming, playing games are all exercises. If the body is not used, it becomes weak. Exercise keeps it strong.
5.________
Exercise helps the blood to move around inside the body. This is very important. Blood takes food to all parts of our bodies. The brain in our heads also need blood. We think with our brains. If we keep our bodies healthy and take exercise, we can think well.
One day, while a woodcutter was cutting a branch of a tree above a river. When he began crying, God appeared and asked him, "Why are you crying?"
The woodcutter told him that he had dropped his axe into water. God went down into the water and reappeared with a golden axe.
"Is this your axe?" God asked.
The woodcutter said "No."
God again went down and came up with a silver axe." Is this your axe?" God asked.
The woodcutter said "No."
God again went down and came up with a iron axe." Is this your axe?" God asked.
The woodcutter said "Yes."
God was pleased with the man's honesty and gave him all the three axes.
The woodcutter went home happily. One day while he was walking with his wife along the river, his wife fell into the river. W hen he began crying, God appeared and asked him, "Why are you crying?"
"My wife has fallen into water."
God went down into the water and came up with Jennifer Lopez.
"Is this your wife?" God asked him.
"Yes." he said.
God was furious(狂怒的),"YOU CHEAT !Now I am going to curse you."
The woodcutter quickly said, “Forgive me my lord. It is a misunderstanding. IF I say 'No' to Jennifer Lopez, you will come up with Catherine Zeta Jones, If I also say 'No' to her, you will finally come up
With my wife and I will say, 'Yes.' Then you will give all the three to me .I am a poor man .I will not be able to look after all the three. So that's why I've to say 'Yes' "
1.Which of the following best describes the author's tone in telling the story?
A. Optimistic B. Humoristic C. Objective D. Critical
2.The impression that the woodcutter makes on you is that he is -----
A. foolish but honest B. foolish and honest
C. smart but honest D. smart and honest
3.What can you infer about Jennifer Lopez and Catherine Zeta Jones?
A. They are the secret lovers of the woodcutter
B. They look much like the woodcutter's wife.
C. They are both rich women with a lot of gold and silver.
D. They are both popular with women, much worthy than his wife
Egypt: Bridging the Gap between School English and Real English
Teaching English in Egypt in general and in my town Damietta in particular, is mainly directed towards helping students to pass their final exams. Unfortunately, most teachers do not adopt a long -term approach that guarantees that their students will be able to use English outside the classroom. So students only concentrate on one skill which is writing. Thus their listening and speaking skills are disabled. What is important to them is to pass the exam which is primarily based on writing .Teachers are not only concentrated with providing their students with questions that are similar to those of the final exam, particularly General Secondary Education Certificate (GSEC) Examination, so students spend most of their time answering typical exam questions.
Most students' scores are high; a lot of students get full marks. However, few students are able to communicate in English because their role plays. As a result, a lot of students complain that they are unable to understand and talk fluently with native speakers of English.
To enable students to communicate freely and spontaneously(自然地) in English, I bring features of real communication into language practice, I always ask students about their own experiences, and suggest groups of students practice what they have learned outside the classroom. This helps lower-achieving students absorb language. Furthermore, role play is a very effective way to improve speaking skills particularly if it is connected to the experience of the students.
1.Who probably write this passage?
A. a teacher B. a governor C. a student D. a reporter
2.In Egypt, the students only concentrate on ------
A. listening skill B. speaking skill C. reading skill D. writing skill
3.The teachers question their students based on -------
A. what they learn in the class
B. What their parents expect
C. The questions that are similar to those of GSEC
D. The ability that will be used outside the classroom
4.Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A. Most of the students can't get high marks but can communicate with the native speakers of English.
B. Communicating skill is more important than writing skill.
C. Role play connected to the speaker's experience is more effective
in improving his skill.
D. The lower--achieving students can do better in speaking skill than the upper achieving students.
5.Who will responsible for the gap between school English and real English?
A. Their parents B. The students C. The school D. The education sys tem
October 31, 2009, California
Tsien Hsue-shen, PhD'39, one of the founders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, died on October 31, He was 98.
Tsien, born in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, graduated from the National Qinghua University in 1934 and in August of 1935 he left China to study at the Massachusetts Institute Technology. In 1936 he went to the California Institute of Technology to commence graduate studies .Tsien obtained his doctor degree in 1939 and would remain at Caltech for 20 years, becoming the Goddard Professor and establishing a reputation as one of the leading rocket scientists in the United States.
In 1943, Tsien and two others in the Caltech rocketry group drafted the first document to use the name Jet Propulsion Laboratory. During the Second World War, he was amongst the other scientists participated the "Manhattan Project" .After World War II he served as a consultant to the United States Army Air Force. During this time, Conlonel Tsien worked on designing an intercontinental space plane. His work would inspire the X--20Dyna-Soar which would later be the inspiration for the Space Shuttle. In1945 Tsien Hsue--shen married Jiang Ying, the daughter of Jiang Baili--one of the Chinese nationalist leader Chiang Kai--shen's leading military strategists. But in 1950, the Chinese-born scientist was accused of harboring Communist sympathies and stripped of his security clearance.
In September 1955 he was permitted to leave for China, where Tsien resumed his research, founded the Institute of Mechanics, and went on to become the father of China's missile program, a trusted member of the government and Party's inner circle, and the nation's most honored scientist, Tsien retired in 1991 and has maintained a low public profile in Beijing, China. The PRC government launched its manned space program in 1992 and used Tsien's research as the basis for the Long March rocket which successfully launched the Shenzhou V mission in October of 2003.The elderly Tsien was able to watch China's first manned space mission on television from his hospital bed.
In his late years, since the 1980s, Tsien devoted himself to spirituality research, and advocated scientific investigation of traditional Chinese medicine, Qigong and "special human body functions".
1.The underlined word "commence" in this passage probably means ____
A. make up B. get C. begin D. promise
2.Tsien Hsue--shen got married at the age of ______
A.45 B.28 C. 24 D.34
3.What is the right order of the events related to Tsien Hsue--shen ?
a. his later life b. return to China c. career in the U.S.A d. his early life and education
A. a-b-c-d B. d-c-b-a C. d-b-c-a D. c-b-d-a
4.Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A. Tsien Hsue--shen got a doctor's degree in 1939.
B. Tsien Hsue--shen married Jiang Ying, the daughter of Chinese nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shen.
C. Tsien Hsue-shen has made a contribution to the Space Shuttle.
D. Tsien Hsue-shen was interested in traditional Chinese medicine, qigong and "special human body functions" in his later life.
