Question

    If you examine the birth certificate of every soccer player in the last Word Cup tournament, you will most likely find the excellent players were born in the earlier months of the year. If you then examine the European national youth teams that feed the World Cup, you will find this phenomenon even more _______ .

What might account for this strange phenomenon? Some guess a certain astrological sign(星座) _________superior soccer skills; others maintain that winter-born babies have higher oxygen capacity which increases soccer stamina(it t ).But Anderson Ericsson, a 58-year-old professor who is called the expert on experts, believes in neither. His first experiment, nearly 30 years ago, involved _______ training a person to hear and repeat a random series of numbers. "With the first subject after 20 hours of training, his digital span rose to 20, Ericsson recalls, "and after about 200 hours of training he could repeat up to 80 numbers

This success, coupled with later research showing memory itself is not _______ determined, led Ericsson to conclude that the act of memorizing is a cognitive( i in a) exercise, which means whatever inborn differences two people may exhibit in their abilities to memorize, those differences are _________ by how well each person encodes the information. And the best way to learn how to encode information meaningfully, Ericsson determined, was a process known as _________ practice. It involves more than simply repeating a task _______ playing a C-minor scale 100 times hitting tennis serves until your shoulder pops out of its socket. _______ it involves stepping outside your comfort zone, setting specific and well-defined goals, focusing on _______ areas of expertise, obtaining immediate feedback from professionals and concentrating as much on technique as on outcome.

Ericsson and his colleagues have thus taken to studying high achievers in a wide range of ________ including soccer, golf, chess, piano playing and darts. They gather all the data they can and make a rather shocking statement: the trait we commonly call talent is highly ________, And yes, expert performers are nearly always made.

Ericsson’s formula seems appealing to many tiger parents: "practice makes perfect" is naturally ________ to genetic determinism. By________ innate ability as insignificant, many are confident they can make a concert-level pianist or an Olympic figure skater of their kids as long as they push them hard enough. Ericsson, ________ believes what parents should learn from the science of expertise is not the effect of logging thousands of hours, but how to get kids to. ________ the importance and challenge of effective practice

1.A.understandable B.misleading C.appealing D.noticeable

2.A.promises B.improves C.compromises D.masters

3.A.numbers B.subjects C.memory D.practice

4.A.physically B.genetically C.fundamentally D.psychologically

5.A.overshadow B.demonstrated C.strengthened D.produced

6.A.enormous B.deliberate C.desperate D.persistent

7.A.on average B.more importantly C.for instance D.in particular

8.A.Besides B.Nevertheless C.Therefore D.Rather

9.A.various B.comprehensive C.targeted D.minor

10.A.pursuits B.occupations C.performances D.assumptions

11.A.underestimate B.overrated C.flexible D.demanding

12.A.equal B.inferior C.preferable D.beneficial

13.A.dismissing B.lacking C.recognizing D.highlighting

14.A.likewise B.therefore C.besides D.however

15.A.study B.practice C.reflect D.embrace

Answer

1.D

2.A

3.C

4.B

5.A

6.B

7.C

8.D

9.C

10.A

11.B

12.C

13.A

14.D

15.D

【解析】

本文为说明文。本文通过对足球、高尔夫、国际象棋、钢琴演奏和飞镖等领域取得高成就的人进行研究，发现天才并非是天生的，是后天通过练习创造的，即熟能生巧。

1.考查形容词作表语。句意：如果你接着调查世界杯和职业比赛的欧洲国家青年队的话，那么你会发现这一奇怪的现象甚至更明显。A. understandable可理解的；B. misleading误导的；C. appealing有吸引力的；D. noticeable明显的。上文说“你调查所有的运动员的话，有可能会发现……”，可知“如果你接着调查的话，你会发现这种现象更明显（noticeable）”，上下文两句进行对比之后更明显。故选D。

2.考查动词辨析。句意：有人猜测某种星座的人具备更高的足球技能。A. promises使很可能，预示；B. improves提高，改进；C. compromises妥协；D. masters掌握。根据语境可知，此处是指某种星座预示（promises）某人可能具备的才能。故选A。

3.考查名词辨析。句意：他的第一个实验涉及到记忆训练，让一个人听到并重复一系列随机的数字。A. numbers数字；B. subjects主题；C. memory记忆；D. practice练习。根据后面的“training a person to hear and repeat a random series of numbers.”以及后面的“This success, coupled with later research showing memory itself”可知，进行的记忆训练（memory training）。故选C。

4.考查副词辨析。句意：这一成功，连同后来的实验证明了记忆本身不是由遗传决定。A. physically身体上；B. genetically遗传上；C. fundamentally基本上；D. psychologically心理上。根据本句后的“the act of memorizing is a cognitive( i in a) exercise, which means whatever inborn differences two people may exhibit in their abilities to memorize, those differences” 即记忆过程是一种认知练习，而不是一种本能练习，可知，这不是由遗传（genetically）决定的。故选B。

5.考查动词辨析。句意：换句话说，无论两个人在记忆力能力上可能存在怎样的天生差异，这些差异都会被每个人恰当地“解读”所记的信息所掩盖。A. overshadow掩盖，遮蔽；B. demonstrated描述，显示；C. strengthened加强，强化；D. produced生产。根据上下文的内容即是这些差异，会被人后来的理解所掩盖（overshadow）。故选A。

6.考查形容词辨析。句意：埃里克森认为，了解如何有意义地解读信息的最佳方法是一种被称为刻意练习的过程。A. enormous许多的；B. deliberate故意的；C. desperate沮丧的；D. persistent执著的，不屈不挠的。根据“It involves more than simply repeating a task”可知，这里涉及到反复的背诵，背诵就是刻意的、故意的（deliberate）。故选B。

7.考查介词短语辨析。句意：它不仅仅是简单地重复一个任务，例如弹100次C小调，练习击球一直到肩膀脱臼。A. on average平均；B. more importantly更重要的是；C. for instance例如；D. in particular尤其，特别。后面的100次弹奏就是一个事例。故选C。

8.考查副词辨析。句意：更确切地说，它涉及到走出你的舒适区，设定具体和明确的目标，专注于有针对性的专业领域，从专业人士那里获得即时的反馈，关注技术和结果。A. Besides此外；B. Nevertheless尽管如此，不过；C. Therefore因此；D. Rather (纠正所说的话或提供更确切的信息) 更确切地讲，更准确地说。根据前面的“involves more than simply repeating a task...”可知，涉及的不仅仅是单纯的重复，下面提供更确切的信息，即更确切地说（rather）。故选D。

9.考查形容词辨析。句意：设定具体和明确的目标，专注于有针对性的专业领域的专业知识……A. various不同的；B. comprehensive综合的，全面的；C. targeted有针对性的；D. minor次要的，较小的。根据空前空后的“specific and well-defined goals”，“areas of expertise,”可知，本空指应该是有针对性的（targeted）。故选C。

10.考查名词辨析。句意：因此，埃里克森和他的同事们开始寻找在足球、高尔夫、国际象棋、钢琴演奏和飞镖等广泛领域取得高成就的人。A. pursuits寻找，追求；B. occupations职业；C. performances表现；D. assumptions假设。根据后面的宾语可知，此处是寻找（pursuits）人。故选A。

11.考查形容词辨析。句意：人震惊的结论：我们通常所说的天赋特征被严重高估了。A. underestimate低估的；B. overrated高估的；C. flexible灵活的；D. demanding要求高的。根据后面一段“expert performers are nearly always made”可知，“专家级的表演都是制造出来的”可推断出“天赋被高估了（overrated）”，故选B。

12.考查形容词辨析。句意：埃里克森的公式对于许多“虎爸虎妈”来说是可取的。“熟能生巧”自然比基因决定论更受欢迎。A. equal平等的；B. inferior较低的；C. preferable更可取的；D. beneficial有益的。 后一句“熟能生巧”对于想培养好孩子的父母来说，自己的孩子不够聪明，可通过后面的训练来实现。因此这一点自然比基因决定论更受欢迎，可知，对“虎爸虎妈”来说是更可取的（preferable）。故选C。

13.考查动词辨析。句意：很多人认为先天的能力并不重要，但他们相信，只要努力，就能把孩子培养成钢琴演奏家或奥运会花样滑冰选手。A. dismissing摒弃，对……不屑一提；B. lacking缺乏；C. recognizing意识到；D. highlighting强调。他们认为只要努力就能把孩子培养好，所以他们对于先天的能力不重视，即不屑一提（dismissing）。故选A。

14.考查副词辨析。句意：然而，埃里克森认为，父母应该从这门专业科学中学到的不是重复数千小时工作的效果。A. likewise同样地，类似的；B. therefore因此；C. besides此外；D. however然而。根据本空前后的句子可知，此处是指转折关系，要用however。故选D。

15.考查动词辨析。句意：而是如何让孩子去做。让孩子乐于接受有效的实践是重要的，也是挑战。A. study研究；B. practice练习；C. reflect反思；D. embrace拥抱，欣然接受，乐意采纳(思想、建议等)。根据语境可知，让学生知道如何努力，要接受（embrace）成功在于有效的实践。故选D。