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Our brains naturally start slowing down at the cruelly young age of 30.1. used to be thought that this couldn’t be helped,but new studies show that people of any age can train their brains to work faster.“Your brain is a learning machine,”says Dr.Merzenich from University of California.2. (give) the right tools,we can train our acts as they did when we were young.All that 3.(require) is the practice designed just for this purpose: a few exercises for 4.mind.
Dr.Merzenich has developed a computer-based training method to speed up the process in5. the brain deals with information.Since much of the data we receive comes through speech,the Bain Fitness Program works with language and hearing to improve speed and accuracy.
Over the course of the training,the program starts asking you to distinguish sounds-between“dog” and “bog”,for example-6.an increasingly faster speed.It’s a bit like a tennis instructor,says Dr.Merzenich,hitting balls at you faster and 7.(fast) to keep you challenged.You may start out slow,but before long you’re pretty quick.
The biggest finding in brain research in the last decade is that the brain at any age is highly plastic.8. you ask your brain to learn,it will learn.And it may speed up in the process.
To keep your brain young and plastic,you can do one of a million new 9. (activity) that challenge and excite you: playing table tennis or bridge,doing crossword puzzles,learning a new language…“When it comes to10.(prevent) aging,you really do‘use it or lose it’”,says Barbara Sahakian ,a professor at Cambridage University.
I drive daily to work on Highway Ⅷ.Each spring ___colorful wild flowers in the ditches____the road.There is one ___golden flower that has always caught my eyes.It blooms（开花）only in the __ hours-the afternoon sun is too warm for it.
Last spring,I stated a wildflower garden in our yard.I can look through the kitchen window while doing the___ and enjoy the flowers.Those lovely golden flowers from the ditch,I have often though,would look great in the bed alongside other wildflowers.I____past the flowers every day,thinking I’ll dig them home.“___,they may be hard to keep till the office time ends.” Or,“___,I don’t want to get my good clothes dirty.” Whatever the reason,I never stopped to dig them out.My husband even gave me a folding shovel to be used for that expressed ____
One day on my way to the office,I was____to see the highway department had weeded out the ditches and the golden flowers were____“You have on one to____but yourself-you waited too long.” I thought to myself,“You____have done it when you first saw them blooming this spring.”
Days later,I____the news that my sister has brain cancer.She is 12 years older than me and___,because of age and distance,we hadn’t been as____as we would have.I couldn’t help but see the____between the golden flowers and the relationship between my sister and me.__,thanks to God,we have some time left to____some wonderful memories that will bloom every year for us.
And when I catch sight of the golden flowers again this spring,you can____I’ll surely stop an transplant them to my garden.
1.A. grows B. brings C. holds D. removes
2.A. along B. off C. around D. in
3.A. strange B. superior C. particular D. common
4.A. day B. evening C. morning D. noon
5.A. homework B. repairs C. dishes D. exercise
6.A. stopped B. walked C. dashed D. drove
7.A. What’s more B. Thus C. Never mind D. However
8.A. Remember it B. Make it C. Forget it D. Catch it
9.A. pleasure B. anger C. purpose D. anxiety
10.A. delighted B. shocked C. frightened D. saddened
11.A. falling B. gone C. standing D. abandoned
12.A. question B. blame C. hire D. follow
13.A. should B. must C. would D. might
14.A. discovered B. studied C. proved D. learned
15.A. unfortunately B. surprisingly C. frequently D. interestingly
16.A. deep B. close C. good D. long
17.A. connection B. combination C. condition D. competition
18.A. So B. In fact C. Still D. Above all
19.A. remember B. plant C. form D. harvest
20.A. doubt B. wonder C. bet D. understand
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An old Hollywood movie Free Willy has touched so deeply so many large audiences.1.The story goes;
Little killer whale Willy is captured and sent to a marine park to be trained.The whale trainers find it so hard to get Willy into their expected process of learning the designed tricks.2..Jessie teaches Willy to perform tricks far more wonderfully that any other whale trained by other whale trainers.
3.He decides to help Willy escape from the marine park.The two of them make it through chains of adventures and risks and Willy eventually gets back his free in the open sea.The closing scene of the movie goes to a great length of the director’s effort to level it high up as a film to touch deep into people’s heart,in which Jessie guides Willy in its repeated desperate attempts to jump over the fence into the sea.4.
Later,people get to know that the real whale who stars in the movie is still leading a Willy’s life in a Mexican sea park.That annoys the public and people want the entertainment industry to give up some of their gained interests and follow what is finally conducted in the case of Willy.5.And the film studio and the Mexican park had to eventually surrender to the public and children and fund for the whale’s free life in the open ocean.
A.Willy balloons up in his self-pride for himself to be a performing whale.
B.And also it has brought in so huge profits for the film studio which produced it.
C.It wins large seas of tears from wildly-beating hearts of young kids and adults as well.
D.Jessie and Willy are planning to fight for a larger share of the gain from all the performances.
E.And there Willy encounters little Jessie and a close friendship soon develops between the two.
F.Kids and adults launch countless campaigns and demonstrations of varied scales all across the US to protest.
G.To his great shock,Jessie overheard by chance that the owner is plotting to kill Willy for the vast amount of insurance profit.
It’s not piano lessons or dance classes.Nowadays,the biggest extra-curricular activity in the west is going to a tutor.Pat,a mother in Canada,spends about 800 Canadian dollars a month on tutors when finding out half her daughter’s class have tutors.She feels like her child is going to fall behind because everyone else seems to be ahead.
Shelley,a mother of three,also has tutors constantly coming in and out of her home.She was always yelling when she couldn’t manage to get her children focused.When she gets a tutor once a week,they become focused for one entire hour and can get most of their homework done.
Tutoring isn’t simply a private school phenomenon.Nor is it intended only for lower-achieving students.In Canada alone,seven percent of high school students reported using a tutor in 2010.That increased to 15 percent in 2015.
Overall,parents hire tutors because they are worried school are not meeting their expectations,but there is also a culture shift.A special value is placed on education in Asia,where tutoring is viewed as an extension to the school day. As a large number of Asians emigrated to the west over the recent years,their attitudes towards education have had an influence.
Another reason for the growth in business is parental frustration and their packed schedules.A lot of parents just don’t have time to help their children with homework and some others couldn’t help their children after Grade 3,according to a president of an American tutoring company.
There has been a noticeable change in the attitudes,too.Children used to get bullied（被欺负）for having a tutor, now it’s becoming the norm to have one.
Children don’t seem to mind that they have a tutor.One parent feels surprised that so many of her child’s classmates have tutors.For the amount parents pay in tuition,children should have as much extra help children with a tutor because_______.
1.Shelley decided to equip her children with a tutor because_______.
A. her children’s school is not meeting her expectation B. over half of her children’s classmates have tutors
C. her children’s homework is too difficult for her D. she had a hard time getting her children focused
2.In Canada,the population of high school students using a tutor grew by _______from 2010 to 2015.
A. 7%. B. 8%. C. 10%. D. 15%.
3.According to the passage,which of the following statement is TRUE?
A. Pat got a tutor because she can’t help her children with homework.
B. Shelley spends about 800 Canadian dollars on tutors every month.
C. Asians usually place more emphasis on education that Canadians.
D. Most students with the help of tutors have poor grades at school.
4.The tutoring business in the west has been seen in growth in recent years because_______.
a.a lot of parents are too occupied to help their children with homework.
b.children no longer get bullied for going to a tutor and getting extra help
c.many schools cannot offer as much help as their students need
d.Asians emigrating to the west have affected people’s attitude to tutoring.
A. a,b,c. B. a,b,d. C. a,c,d. D. b,c,d.
Moby Dick,or The Whale,of which only 5 copies were sold in the year of its first publication,has been recognized as one of the greatest masterpieces of the twentieth century novels across the world.Yet its author,Herman Melville,was not blessed enough to change his fate as the great work did.
Herman was born into an upper class New York family in 1819,but he had to drop out of school at the age of 15due to bankruptcy （破产）of the family.He struggled for living by working as a clerk at a bank,a farmer and a primary school teacher,but did not manage to hold on quite long to any of the jobs.And in 1841,he turned himself a whaling sailor on a big whaler.
In the next three years,his sailor’s life was torn apart by betrayal,injury,living with anthropophagi（食人族）， love,killing,imprisonment,prison break,which did not bear the expected fruit of fortune or being a captain.
At the age of 25 ,Herman returned to America,starting his writing career.During the following five years,he published five novels,among which was Moby Dick,but none of the works brought him any fame or sense of success.
He had to live up with his poor life,supported by regular financial help from his father in-law.Not much changed even after his father-in-law assisted him onto a post at the customhouse(海关).His self-doubt whether he should fight to write as an author disturbed Herman for the rest of his life till his death in 1899,which is suggested in his wife’s diary.And his wife described his several struggles where he fought bitterly back to his desk to pick up his pen.
1.Which of the following statements is TRUE about Moby Dick according to the passage?
A. It came out as a published novel in the twentieth century.
B. It was not recognized as a great work until the twentieth century.
C. It was not for sale until the twentieth century.
D. It was adampted from the passage?
2.What can be inferred from the passage?
A. Herman chose his life on purpose to make himself a great writer.
B. Herman’s parents had scheduled those failures in his life to make him a man.
C. Herman did not offer the best of himself to foresee and avoid those series of misfortune.
D. Herman’s insufficient capability to fight problems he was faced with might result.
3.What is the first working element that built Herman up be a most outstanding writer?
A. His rich life experience and perseverance. B. His sharp sense to observe and think.
C. Help from his wife and father-in-law. D. His brilliant language talent and skill.
4.What can we learn from Herman’ life story?
A. There is no much point struggling and working too hard in one’s like.
B. Never invest too much of yourself into what others have the power to judge.
C. Never trust decisions that have been made by others.
D. Never doubt yourself but stick to what you are committed to.
The Today I learned–The New York Times’ fun column always highlights some surprising and interesting facts. In that spirit,The New York Times lists some of the most eye-catching things out of the column and edits them into What I Learned This Year.Following are some facts out of What I Learned in 2016.
The world’s most-used natural resource (apart from water,listed at the second place and air,as the champion) is sand,which consists of extremely small pieces of stone-and it’s disappearing.
A team’s success (at work) is often driven by 3 factors (with the importance from high to low) —its culture,the interpersonal relationship and the IQ or talent of its individuals.
Giraffes have been keeping a secret from most of us for a long time: They’ really four different species,not one. The Greenland Shark lives at least 272 years and it could live as long as 512 years,which makes it the oldest living thing with a backbone（脊椎）on Earth.
More that 70 percent of Americans think Granola Bars (格拉诺拉燕麦棒)are healthy.Interesting,less than 30 percent of nutritionists（营养学家）agree.
Nearly 80 percent of teenagers say they don’t like to eat cereal porridge（燕麦粥）for breakfast,because they have to clean up the bowls after eating it.
It’s myth that closing unused apps on your smartphone will prolong battery life.And turning off Wi-Fi doesn’t help,either.
Annual percentage of highway death had been going down for the last four decades till it last year recorded the largest increase in 50 years.Blame Snapchat and other smarphone apps.
Death from gun-shooting is as enough as from car accidents in the United Stated and as scarce as from lightning strikes in Japan,which owns the reputation of one of the safest countries.
1.According to the passage,the world’s most-used natural resource is______.
A. water B. air C. sand D. stone
2.According to the passage,the most important factor of a team’s success is_____.
A. a team’s culture B. the interpersonal relationship C. individual IQ D. individual talent
3.Which of the following descriptions is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Most people still don’t know that giraffes have four species.
B. The Greenland Shark is the oldest living life on Earth.
C. Cereal porridge is as unhealthy as Granola Bars for teenagers.
D. Closing unused apps on smart phones will prolong battery life.
4.The underlined word “scarce” in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to ____.
A. enough B. safe C. familiar D. rare
