Italians are some of the fastest speakers on the planet, chatting at up to nine syllables (音节) per second. Many Germans, on the other hand, are slow ones, delivering five to six syllables during the same period. Yet in any given minute, Italians and Germans express about the same cover of information.
Scientists started with written texts from 17 languages. They calculated (计算) the information density (密度) of each language in bits. They found that Japanese, which has only 643 syllables, had an information density of about 5 bits per syllable, while English, with its 6949 syllables, had a density of just over 7 bits per syllable. Vietnamese, with its hard system of six tones, topped the charts at 8 bits per syllable.
Next, the researchers spent 3 years recording 10 speakers—five men and five women—from 14 of their 17 languages. Each read aloud 15 identical texts that had been translated into their mother tongue. After noting how long the speakers took to get through their readings, the researchers calculated an average (平均) speech rate per language, measured in syllables/second.
Some languages were clearly faster than others: no surprise there. But when the researchers took their final step to find out how much information moved per second, they were shocked by the agreement of their results. No matter how fast or slow, how simple or hard, each language moved toward an average rate of 39. 15 bits per second.
Language science has explained things so long like grammatical difficulty, so this information passing-on rate has been ignored. But the “why” is another question entirely. Some scientists doubt that the answer has everything to do with the weakness from our biology. Research in neuroscience (神经科学) supports that idea, with one recent paper suggesting an upper number to hearing processing of 9 syllables per second in U.S. English. It really seems that the bottleneck is in putting the ideas together.
1.What is the purpose of the first paragraph?
A.To explain the reason for the research.
B.To introduce the idea of the whole text.
C.To discuss different syllables of languages.
D.To stress the importance of how fast we speak.
2.Which has the highest information density per syllable according to the study?
A.English. B.Germans.
C.Japanese. D.Vietnamese.
3.What is the research mentioned in Paragraph 3 intended to show?
A.How fast we can speak.
B.How difficult the texts are.
C.How much information spreads per second.
D.How we can translate them into our mother language.
4.What does “the weakness from our biology” mean in the last paragraph?
A.The difficulty of language grammar.
B.The syllables of language we process.
C.The time of collecting our thoughts.
D.The density of language information.
5.What is the best title for the text?
A.How Can We Express Our Ideas Swiftly?
B.Why Are Languages Spoken Fast or Slow?
C.An Average Information Density: 6 Bits a Syllable
D.A Universal Passing-on Rate: 39. 15 Bits Per Second
Over the past half-century, North America has lost more than a quarter of its entire bird population, or around 3 billion birds.
“We saw this great net loss across the entire bird community,” says Ken Rosenberg, a scientist in Ithaca, N.Y. “But we also knew that other bird populations were increasing. And what we didn’t know is whether there was a net change.”
Common birds with decreasing populations include dark-eyed juncos and red-winged blackbirds, says Rosenberg. Grassland birds have suffered a 53% decrease, and more than a third of the shorebird population has been lost. Bird populations that have increased include raptors (猛禽), like the bald eagle, and waterfowl.
“The numbers of ducks and geese are larger than they’ve ever been, and that’s not an accident,” says Rosenberg. It’s because hunters who mainly want to see healthy waterfowl populations for sportful hunting have raised their voices.
“People are doing a wonderful effort to try and understand our bird populations with a lot of uncertainty, but the actual systems that we have in place to try and answer really tough questions like this are really far short of what we need,” Ted Simons in North Carolina State University says.
“In all, the conclusions weren’t necessarily surprising,” says Kristen Ruegg, a biologist at Colorado State University. There have been hints (暗示) that the loss was this large from all kinds of sources over the past few years. But in most cases, these were species-specific records of local extinctions or models of projected losses, resulting from things like climate change. This really sort of wakes people up to the idea that this is happening.
Elise Zipkin, a quantitative ecologist at Michigan State University, says the loss can be a big problem. “Just because a species hasn’t gone extinct (灭绝) or isn’t even necessarily close to extinction, it might still be in trouble,” she says. We need to be thinking about conservation (保护) efforts for that.”
1.Which of the following becomes more than before?
A.Dark-eyed juncos. B.The bald eagle.
C.Grassland birds. D.The shorebirds.
2.Why do duck and goose populations increase?
A.To hunt for fun. B.To provide rich foods.
C.To escape net loss. D.To keep people healthy.
3.What does the underlined word “tough” mean in Paragraph 5?
A.Extra. B.Interesting.
C.Difficult. D.Official.
4.What can we infer from Elise’s words in the last paragraph?
A.Bird loss can be a big problem. B.Climate change causes part of bird loss.
C.Protecting birds is quite necessary. D.What is happening is worth considering.
5.How does the author support the subject of the text?
A.By giving examples. B.By showing ideas.
C.By explaining numbers. D.By providing research results.
Last Friday, Mike Babbitt was about to leave the Bremerton Yacht Club to go gas up when the engine of the boat caught fire.
“The wind was blowing from the North. It would have blown the boat into the yacht (快艇) club so I just gave it all the power I could to get it away from the yacht club,” he told Komo News. However, that wasn’t the end of Mike’s mission (使命). Still on the boat were his two bulldogs Pearl and Hootie. He placed the dogs on a paddleboard before jumping into the water himself.
He explained to Komo News that he didn’t even have time to grasp a life coat or his oxygen. Mike served in the army for five years in a special police unit in Iraq and Afghanistan. During his time in the army, he suffered a pancreatic (胰腺的) attack that forced him to rely on oxygen treatment for the rest of his life.
Still, he succeeded in doing the unthinkable. “I just slid into the water and started paddling away from the fire and I could still feel the heat from the fire,” Mike told the news reporters. Mike was then rescued by some friends and later transported to a nearby hospital, where his wife Jamie met him. The fire is especially heartbreaking for Mike and his wife as the yacht was their only house. They had early sold their home and saved up in order to live a life on the water.
However, Mike is just happy to have survived. “I think it is the gift of God watching over us,” Mike told Komo News. “You have to put it exactly that were still alive and we’re still together.” A GoFundMe has since been created to help the Babbitts following the fire.
1.Where was Mike going when the yacht caught fire?
A.The club. B.The boat.
C.A police unit. D.A filling station.
2.What did Mike do in the end?
A.Got a life coat. B.Pushed the boat away.
C.Put out the fire. D.Saved Pearl and Hootie.
3.By writing Paragraph 3, the author intends to ________.
A.sum up the paragraphs before it B.continue talking about the incident
C.add some background information D.introduce a new subject for discussion
4.What probably is continued with the passage?
A.Opening up about the terrible fire. B.Raising money to help the Babbitts.
C.Being thankful for what God gives. D.Realizing a dream of living on the water.
5.Which of the following best describes Mike?
A.Brave and kind. B.Confident and calm.
C.Positive and devoted. D.Generous and grateful.
What: The 2019 World Championships
Why You Should Watch: It’s the best track field competition the world has to offer outside of the Olympic Games.
When: Races and field events begin on September 27 and run through October 6.
Where: On October 3, NBC Sports Network will continuously air the meet from 9:15 a. m. to 5:30 p. m. EST. All day, you can also stream (流播) every event on NBC Sports Gold(Requires: $59.99). Clicking, you can find the full broadcast plan here.
This year it’s the first time a Middle Eastern city has hosted the event. It also might be one of the hottest world championships. To reduce the possibility of heat stroke or tiredness, all of the events start after 4 p. m. Doha time (9 a. m. EST), with some events much later—including the marathon, which kicks off at midnight on September 27.
To help cool athletes and audiences, air conditioning units have been set inside the stadium. Athletes competing in events 1,500 meters and longer will also be asked to take a pill that tracks their temperatures, with the hope that this data can help prepare race organizers, athletes, and coaches for the hot conditions expected at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Temperature aside, there are some fiery races to look forward to this year, minus a few noteworthy names: six-time world champion Mo Farah of Great Britain, and two-time Olympic 800 gold medalist Caster Semenya of South Africa will not be competing.
Races to Watch on Day 7:
● The fastest time in the first round belongs to 10,000-meter champ Sifan Hassan. The race is at 4 p.m. EST.
● The men’s heats of the 1, 500 will include Craig Engels, Ben Blankenship, and 2016 Olympic gold medalist Matthew Centrowitz. The races start at 3 p.m.
● The finals of the women’s 400 meters includes Americans Adeline Jonathas and Phyllis Francis. The race is at 4:50 p.m.
1.What can you do on October 3?
A.Order all day’s live events. B.Go to the meet by plane.
C.Broadcast every event online. D.Find the plan for World Championships.
2.What is special about the 2019 World Championships?
A.It becomes the hottest one.
B.It is held in a Middle Eastern city.
C.The marathon begins after 9 a. m. EST.
D.The stadium is equipped with air conditioners.
3.Why are 1,500-meter runners required to take medicine?
A.To help athletes cool.
B.To add up players’ temperatures.
C.To explore the reason for the hot conditions.
D.To prepare for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
4.Who is probably absent from the 2019 World Championships?
A.Sifan Hassan. B.Ben Blankenship.
C.Caster Semenya. D.Adeline Jonathas.
5.Where is this text most likely from?
A.A web page. B.A magazine.
C.A guidebook. D.A news report.
Kim Stemple was a special-education teacher In 2012, she found herself ________ to an IV (静脉注射) in a Boston hospital being ________ for one of several diseases she had been diagnosed with, including lupus (狼疮) The normally lively Stemple was ________ getting upset a lot. And then a friend gave her a ________.
Before she got too sick to ________, Stemple had been a marathon runner. The medal came from a racing ________ who had just finished a half marathon in Las Vegas and hoped the present would ________ a kind of similar pick-me-up (提神剂). It worked like a(n) ________ —and then some.
After Stemple ________ the medal from her hospital IV pole, other patients said they wanted medals too. That got Stemple ________. “A medal is a simple way to give a(n) ________ message,” she told pilotonline. com. And so was born her ________, We Finish Together, which collects medals from ________ —runners, dancers, swimmers, singers, and even spelling bee winners—and donates them to all sorts of people in ________.
Receivers have included hospital patients, people of homeless shelters, and old soldiers. Part of the process is ________ with the donators writing a personalized ________ on the ribbon (缎带). “This gives them a connection to someone,” says Stemple. “If they receive a medal, they will know someone ________.”
Can a simple medal really make a ________? Yes, says Joan Musarra, who develops pulmonary fibrosis (肺纤维). “I opened my package containing my new medal and the notes of positive, warm thoughts. I was ________,” she wrote to Stemple. “At that moment, I was sitting on my sofa breathing through an oxygen tube because my lungs have become so worse. It means so much to me to feel that I am not ________.”
1.A.agreed B.invited C.tied D.preferred
2.A.prepared B.treated C.answered D.waited
3.A.naturally B.gradually C.regularly D.personally
4.A.pill B.suggestion C.way D.medal
5.A.exercise B.pack C.rise D.reward
6.A.judge B.guide C.partner D.inspector
7.A.change for B.serve as C.join in D.attach to
8.A.charm B.flag C.advertisement D.style
9.A.arose B.hung C.brought D.lay
10.A.wondering B.calculating C.thinking D.relieving
11.A.actual B.frequent C.reliable D.positive
12.A.health B.charity C.power D.reality
13.A.strangers B.athletes C.millionaires D.natives
14.A.addition B.cash C.need D.return
15.A.decorated B.replaced C.provided D.concerned
16.A.sign B.bill C.title D.note
17.A.cares B.agrees C.recovers D.deserves
18.A.hit B.difference C.promise D.beginning
19.A.attracted B.settled C.touched D.frightened
20.A.upset B.hopeless C.painful D.alone
—You grow bananas, and we are responsible for the sales of them.
—OK, ________.
A.Wait and see B.That’s a bargain C.Seeing is believing D.Easier said than done
