We spend a great amount of time listening to music. Most college students listen to music at least three or four times a week, and more than 50 percent of them go to at least one concert per year.
According to new research, we may be born liking music, because human beings are born to find certain combinations of sounds attractive. For example, young children can recognize a familiar Song even when its key is changed. Similarly, they respond with more emotions to their mothers' singing than to their mothers' speech. Careful analysis of mothers’ child-directed songs indicates that each mother's songs remain stable from one “performance” to the next, and this may encourage children’s engagement with the songs.
Research with adults suggests that music catches our attention by activating(激活) brain pathways that are most suited to processing music than to processing other kinds of sound. Specifically, music appreciation relies on the auditory cortex(听觉皮层) on the right side of the brain, which is specialized to process sound that characterizes music-in contrast to the left auditory cortex, which processes the stop-and-start bursts of sound that characterize speech.
Although some Psychologists remain skeptical about whether music may have powerful effects on our thinking, a number of studies have shown that listening to music can increase people’s spatial reasoning abilities Furthermore, It is clear that music can greatly influence our emotions. Personally significant music activates areas of the brain associated with pleasure and reward, the same areas that are activated by sex and good food.
Researchers do not agree about how humans' abilities to process and enjoy music have come into being. Anyway, the next time you enjoy listening to a piece of music, remember that the most complex pieces of audio equipment are the ones between your headphones.
1.Which of the following might belong to the “certain combinations of sounds “in paragraph2?
A.A song. B.A debate C.A quarrel. D.A dialogue.
2.It can be learned from paragraph 4 that .
A.no doubt music can increase people’s thinking ability
B.music simply gives people positive emotions
C.only music can give people pure pleasure and reward
D.music has a great influence on human beings
3.According to the passage, the most complex pieces of audio equipment lie .
A.at a college B.in a concert
C.in the brain D.in the headphone
A famous Anglican Church stands in a quiet corner of Dunedin in New Zealand's South Island. Built in 1865,it is the city's oldest church still in use.Countless couples have gathered here to marry.It's where morning tears are shared,friendships formed and comfort given during times of loss.
As with many churches,its walls are graced with a collection of beautiful stained-glass windows. Known as the“John Allen window”, one window portrays the short life of a local man,John Allen,who died in 1915 in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey.
John was the son of Sir James Allen,who as Minister of Defense,helped plan and administer New Zealand's World War I strategy,which saw 100,000 troops sent to fight. With the war over and his son dead, Sir James chose to install a window in the church, with which the Allen family had strong ties.
Divided into two parts，one depicts (描绘) St.George，the patron saint (守护神) of soldiers，while the other has an angel of peace, along with the words at the bottom,“John Hugh All Gallipoli,6th June,1915”. Two trees with local birds on the branches can be seen and a kiwi walks at the bottom- reminders that John was a lover of birds.
“There are many war memorials in the church," says the church. “However the ‘John Allen window' stands out; it touches people because of the beautiful design, the New Zealand birds and because John's story, of a life so full of promise ending tragically in the war,reflects the lives and stories of so many others involved in World War I.”
1.What does the word“portrays”in paragraph 2 most probably mean?
A.Starts. B.Changes.
C.Treasures. D.Represents.
2.Sir James Allen built the“John Allen window”to .
A.celebrate the end of World War I
B.honor the troops in the Gallipoli campaign
C.remember his son's sacrifice to the country
D.show the family's close ties with the church
3.What might be the main theme of the pictures on the window?
A.Freedom and equality.
B.Peace and war.
C.Human and nature.
D.Marriage and family.
4.What might be the best title for the text?
A.A Brave Soldier
B.Window on a Life
C.Cruelty of the War
D.A Grand Church
Directions: Write an English composition in 120 -150 words according to the instructions given below in Chinese.
请简要描述图片，并结合生活实际（自身或他人的例子），谈谈你对于“舒适圈”的看法。
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Directions: Translate the following sentences into English, using the words given in the brackets.
1.你估计这位著名艺术家的原版画作要多少钱？（estimate)
2.本想让自己放松一下的假期结果却成了一场灾难。（intend)
3.这个手无寸铁的年轻人冒着生命危险阻止了歹徒逃离现场，他足多么勇敢啊! (risk n.)
4.在当今社会，诱惑和干扰无处不在，自律即使不是最重要的，也是重要的品 质之一，因为它有效地促进了一个人的进步和发展。（where)
Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.
The Psychology of Spending
Dr. Thomas Gilovich, psychology professor at Cornell University, has studied the psychology of spending for over 20 years. According to Dr. Gilovich，“We buy things to make us happy, and we succeed, but only for a while. New things are exciting to us at first, but then we adapt to them.” In other words，once the freshness of our newest purchase wears off, we begin looking for something else to buy to make us happy.
Dr. Gilovich found that our satisfaction with possessions fades over time. Yet our happiness over things we've experienced increases. For that reason, he has concluded that we are spending our money on the wrong things. A study out of San Francisco State University agrees. The research showed that those people who spent money on experiences instead of possessions were happier. They also thought their money was better invested.
To begin with, activities like a trip, adventure, hobby, etc. tend to bring the participants together and unite them over a shared interest. According to Gilovich, “We consume experiences directly with other people.” As a result, these experiences typically create a positive link and good feelings toward the other person or people.
Besides, your experience shows others who you are and what you are. For example, you might be someone who loves taking cooking classes. More than likely, you'll become known by friends and family as a great cook. They won't know you as someone who owns the latest kitchen equipment.
Lastly, planned experiences arc frequently something we look forward to. Then when the moment arrives, if we enjoy the time involved in the activity, we're left with fond memories. These memories will often last a lifetime. Even our worst trips, on many occasions, arc later remembered with laughter.
Directions: Read the passage carefully. Fill in each blank with a proper sentence given in the box. Each sentence can be used only once. Note that there are two more sentences than you need.
Slower Walkers Have Slower Minds, Scientists Reveal
Of all human activities, few are so readily credited with enhancing the power of the mind as going for a good walk. However, those who assume that strolling along at a gentle pace is the symbol of superior intellect should think again, scientists have said. 1.
Doctors have long used walking speed to gain a quick and reliable understanding of older peopled mental capability, as it is increasingly recognized that pace is associated with not only muscular strength but also the central nervous system. 2. The relationship was so obvious, however, that the US scientists now say walking tests could be used to provide an early indication of dementia（痴呆）.
Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the study revealed an average difference of 16 IQ points between the slowest and the fastest walkers at the age of 45, This reflected both the participants’ natural walking speed and the pace they achieved when asked lo walk as fast as they could. 3. Actually, slower walkers were shown to have “speeded aging'' on a 19-measure scale devised by researchers, and their lungs, teeth and immune systems tended to be in worse shape than the people who walked faster.
The 904 New Zealand men and women who were tested at 45 were tracked from the age of three, each undergoing multiple tests over the years. The long-term data collection enabled researchers to establish that kids with lower IQ scores, lower linguistic ability and weaker emotional control tended to have slower walking speeds by middle age. 4.
The research team said genetic factors may explain the link between walking speed, brain capacity and physical health or that better brain health might promote physical activity, leading to better walking speed. Some of the differences in health and intellect may be the result of lifestyle choices individuals have made.
A. Those with a slower pace also scored less well in physical exercises such as hand-grip strength and biological markers of good health.
B. There are already signs in early life of who would become the slowest walkers.
C. In fact, based on a new series of experiments, they now believe the slower a person’s tendency to walk，the less able their brain.
D. Brain scanning during their final assessment at 45 showed the slower walkers tended to have lower total brain volume and less brain surface area.
E. Until now, however, no one knew it could signify underlying brain health so much earlier in life.
F. Researchers performed walking speed analysis on hundreds of middle-aged people, comparing their psychological results.
