Question

If you studied pictures that ancient people left on rock walls and you tried to determine their meaning, you would not detect interest in romance among the artists.     , you would see plenty of animals with people running after them. Life for ancient people’s earned to center on hunting and gathering wild foods for meals.

In modern times, when food is available in grocery stores, finding love is more     in people’s lives. The     is all around us. It is easy to prepare a list of modern stories having to do with love. An endless number of books and movies qualify as love stories in popular culture.

Researchers are studying whether love, a highly valued emotional state, can be     . They ask, what is love? Toothpaste companies want us to think attraction is all about clean teeth, but clean teeth go only so far. Scientists wonder how much the brain gets involved. You have probably heard that opposites attract but that     attract, too. One thing is certain: The truth about love is not yet set in stone.

First Impression

To help determine the     of attraction, researchers paired 164 college classmates and had them talk for 3, 6 or 10 minutes so they could get a sense of each other’s individuality. Then students were asked to     what kind of relationship they were likely to build with their partners. After nine weeks, they reported what happened.

As it turned out, their     judgments often held true. Students seemed to     at an early stage who would best fit into their lives.

The     Knows

Scientists have also turned to nonhumans to increase understanding of attraction. Many animals give off pheromones — natural chemicals that can be detected by, and then can produce a response in, other animals of the same species. Pheromones can signal that an animal is either ready to fight or is feeling     to partnerships. In contrast, humans do not seem to be as     as other animals at detecting such chemicals. Smell, however, does seem to play a part in human attraction. Although we may not be aware of chemicals like pheromones consciously, we give and receive loads of information through smell in every interaction with other people.

Face Value

Being fond of someone seems to have a number of factors, including seeing something we find attractive. Researchers had people judge faces for         . The participants had 0.013 seconds to view each face, yet somehow they generally considered the images the same as people who had more time to study the same faces. The way we           attractiveness seem to be somewhat automatic.

  When shown an attractive face and then words with good or bad associations, people responded to       words faster after viewing an attractive face. Seeing something attractive seems to cause happy thinking.

1.A. Instead        B. Therefore     C. Moreover      D. Otherwise

2.A. romantic  B. stressful      C. central   D. artificial

3.A. priority    B. proof    C. possibility  D. principle

4.A. tested     B. impressed   C. changed       D. created

5.A. appearances B. virtues   C. similarities  D. passions

6.A. illustrations   B. implications C. ingredients   D. intentions

7.A. predict     B. investigate    C. diagnose     D. recall

8.A. critical     B. initial      C. random  D. mature

9.A. memorize   B. distinguish   C. negotiate      D. question

10.A. Nose      B. Eye         C. Heart         D. Hand

11.A. open      B. alert        C. resistant  D. superior

12.A. disappointed  B. amazed     C. confused     D. gifted

13.A. emotion    B. attractiveness C. individuality  D. signals

14.A. enhance    B. possess        C. maintain  D. assess

15.A. familiar     B. plain      C. positive  D. irritating

Answer

1.A

2.C

3.B

4.D

5.C

6.C

7.A

8.B

9.B

10.A

11.A

12.D

13.B

14.D

15.C

【解析】

试题分析：古代和现代的人追求不同，现代人追求的是爱，但是科学家依然对爱还不是很清楚。

1.】A 考查副词以及对语境的理解 Instead 意为相反，Therefore意为因此， Moreover意为此外， Otherwise 意为否则。观察空格前后的句式结构，可以前面用的是you would not detect … ,后面用的是you would see ，使用的动词不同，结构相同。由于前面有not，后面没有，所以可知此处表达为意思相反，所以答案为A。

2.】C 考查形容词以及对语境的理解 romantic 意为浪漫的，stressful 意为压力的，central 意为中心的， artificial 意为人工的。根据上一句话“life for ancient people seemed to center on hunting”及本句的“In modern times, finding love is ”，分析语境，知道这两个句子是把古代和现代的情况进行对比。前一句用了center ,后一句用central, 两者的关系是同根重现。

3.】B 考查名词以及对语境的理解 priority 意为优先权，proof 意为证明，possibility 意为可能性，principle 意为原则。后两句的意思是：很容易准备一系列的有关爱的现代故事。在当前的流行文化中，无数的故事和电影归类为爱情故事。根据这两句，的意思，结合上下文语境可知道本句的意思就是有很多证明的例子，所以答案为proof.

4.】D 考查动词以及对语境的理解 tested 意为测试，imposed意为强加，changed 意为改变，created 意为创造。根据本段的最后一句话“One thing is certain: The truth about love is not yet set in stone. 确定了一件事情是：爱的真理还不确定”可以知道科学家研究的是爱是否能够创造，而不应该是测试，改变或者是强加。其中set in stone 就像中文里说的“板上钉钉”，表示绝对不变。

5.】C 考查名词以及对语境的理解 appearances 意为外表，virtues 意为美德，similarities意为相似，passions 意为激情。根据划线部分前面的连词but 可以判断前后是转折的意思，而opposites意为相反的，所以答案为相似的。

6.】C 考查名词以及对语境的理解 illustrations 意为说明，implications 意为含义；暗示；牵连，卷入；可能的结果，影响，ingredients 意为成分，intentions 意为意图，目的。根据小标题First Impression （第一印象）以及后面所描述的实验方法、内容和结果，可以知道实验的目的是决定吸引力的成分。

7.】A 考查动词以及对语境的理解 predict 意为预测，investigate 意为调查，diagnose 意为诊断， recall 意为回忆。根据58题后面的judgment (判断)，可以知道此处的答案应该是和判断同义的词。又根据该句后面的句子“after nine weeks, they reported what happened. 9周之后，报道发生了什么事情？”可以知道这一些是还没有发生的事情，也就是预测到的东西。

8.】B 考查形容词以及对语境的理解 critical 意为 批评的 ，initial 意为原始的 ，random 意为随意的， mature 意为成熟的。根据第57题预测的东西，那么预测的东西相对而言就是原始的，最初的判断。

9.】B 考查动词以及对语境的理解 memorize 意为记忆，distinguish 意为区别，negotiate 意为谈判， question意为疑问。根据前一句话的意思“结果证明他们最初的判断是正确的”，该句要表达的意思和前一句相同，也就是说“学生似乎能够在早期区别适合他们的生活人”。

10.】A 考查名词以及对语境的理解 Nose 意为鼻子，Eye 意为眼睛， Heart 意为心脏， Hand意为手。空格处的词是小标题，是对本段的高度概括。它往往在句首或句末找答案。在本段的最后两句话都提到了一个词smell（嗅觉），四个选项中和嗅觉有关的词只有A。

11.】A 考查形容词以及对语境的理解 open 意为开放的，alert 意为警觉的，resistant 意为抵抗的，superior 意为优越的。根据前面的搭配either… or…要么……，要么，表明此处是一个反义表达。前面使用的是战争，那么后面应该是一种开放，也就是坦诚以对。

12.】D 考查形容词以及对语境的理解 disappointed 意为失望的，amazed 意为惊奇的，confused 意为困惑的，gifted 意为有天赋的。根据In contrast（相反）以及后文“Although we may not be aware of chemicals 尽管我们没有意识到”， 结合上下文语境知道在这里表达人类没有像动物那么有天赋。

13.】B 考查名词以及对语境的理解 emotion意为情感，attractiveness 意为吸引力，individuality 意为个人的 ，signals意为信号。根据上一句话最后一个单词attractive，结合上下文知道此处的答案和这个单词attractive是同根重现，所以答案是attractiveness.

14.】D 考查动词以及对语境的理解 enhance 意为加强，possess 意为拥有，maintain 意为维持， assess 意为评定。该句是本段的总结，前面提到的是研究者做的吸引力实验，最后得出的结论就是我们评估吸引力的方法自动的。这是评估的方法，而不能是拥有，维持，或者是加强，所以答案为assess.

15.】C 考查形容词以及对语境的理解 familiar 意为熟悉，plain 意为普通的， positive 意为积极的， irritating 意为无礼的。根据最后一句的表达“Seeing something attractive seems to cause happy thinking. 看一些吸引力的事情似乎能够导致快乐的思考。”不能得出答案的表达应该是一种快乐思考，所以答案为positive积极的。

【考点定位】这是一篇说明文，阐述什么是爱？