【推荐2】You’re walking down a quiet street and suddenly you hear some footsteps. Undoubtedly, it means that there’s someone around. But have you ever wonder why it occurs to us that it’s someone else’s footsteps, not ours?

According to a new study published in the journal Nature in September, this phenomenon arises from a function in our brain to ignore the noise we make ourselves.

In order to explore how our brain does this, a group of scientists carried out an experiment with mice at Duke University. The research entered on an intuition(直觉)—that we are usually unaware of the sound of our own footsteps—as a vehicle for understanding larger neural(神经系统的) phenomena; how this behavior reveals the ability to monitor, recognize, and remember the sound of one’s own movements in relation to those of their larger environments.

In the experiment, research controlled the sounds of a group of mice could hear, reported Science Daily. During the first several days, the mice would hear the same sound each time they took a step. This was just like “running on a tiny piano with each key playing exactly the same note”, senior study author Richard Mooney, a professor of neurobiology at Duke University, told Live Science.

Scientists found that their auditory cortex (听觉皮层) – the area of the brain that processes sound – became active at first but decreased its response to the sound after two or three minutes when the mice became familiar with it.

“ It’s almost like they were wearing special headphones that could filter(过滤) out the sound of their own movements.” David Schneider, an assistant professor at the Center for Neutral Science at New York University, told HuffPost.

But once the sound changed, their auditory cortex became active again. This suggests that the “sensory filter” in a mouse’s brain could help it detect new sounds or abnormal noise in the environment easily after tuning out familiar sounds.

“For mice, this is really important,” said Schneider. “They are prey animals, so they really need to be able to listen for a cat creeping up on them, even when they’re walking and making noise.

Being able to ignore the sounds of one’s own movements is likely important for humans as well. But the ability to predict the sounds of our own actions is also important for more complex human behaviors such as speaking or playing an instrument.

“When we learn to speak or to play music, we predict what sounds we are going to hear – such as when we prepare to strike keys on a piano – and we compare this to what we actually hear, ”explains Schneider. “We use mismatches between expectation and experience to change how we play – and we get better over time because our brain is trying to minimize these errors.”

1. What can be discovered about mice in the experiment?

A．Their brain responds inactively to the familiar sounds

B．They are able to detect sounds other animals don’t notice.

C．They cannot identify different sounds except their own footsteps.

D．Different areas of their brain are responsible for different sounds.

2. What’s the function of the sensory filter?

A．Getting used to abnormal or unfamiliar sounds.

B．Ignoring the sounds made by our companions.

C．Identifying the sounds from a larger environment.

D．Being sensitive to the sounds of our own movement.

3. Why can a good symphony conductor immediately recognize it when a wrong note is played?

A．He has the ability to match the wrong note with the instrument player.

B．He has an intuition that he should ignore the sound of his own movement.

C．He has a low expectation and knows where players are likely to make errors.

D．He has a good prediction of how each note should be played in the orchestra.

4. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Noise-filtering ability ensures us a quiet and undisturbed environment.

B．The ability to ignore familiar noises helps to detect potential dangers.

C．The activeness of auditory cortex determines our activity performance.

D．Sound-predicting ability seems not so important for humans as for animals.

【推荐3】As climate change quickly advances, many Middle Eastern countries aremaking the change from oil-based economies to ones that attract people fromaround the world--for travelling, business, work or to live.

One such example is NEOM to be built in Saudi Arabia. A key part of NEOM is “The Line”, a $725 billion futuristic city designed to house 9 millionpeople. It is a mirrored (镜子) wall-like building 200 meters wide and 500 meterstall. To be built in north-western Tabuk province, the project will spread 170 kilometres from the Red Sea across deserts, mountains and valleys.

At first look, the project appears environmentally impressive. The city area isno more than 100 metres from any point in the city. A high-speed electric publictransport service makes sure every part of   “The Line” is within 20 minutes away. Unluckily, as in many high-rise buildings with a large population inside, a vertical (垂直的) transportation would be needed, for it is just like a 125-floor building.

The project costs also seem OK at $55,000 per person. Let’s say this isachievable in a country like Saudi Arabia and only covers infrastructure (基础设施). Even so, it remains to be seen how super-high-speed transport and mostadvanced infrastructure and services within the hugest building ever built can becost-effective.

The Line is planned for green living. Energy comes from renewable sources,waste water is reused, and it owns the latest “smart city” and mixed-use buildingtechnologies. Car ownership is avoided in favour of walking, cycling and publictransport.

However, the materials to be used and the building of such a big projectcould be very harmful to the environment. The plan says no one would be morethan two minutes from nature. But does this include the waiting times for a liftWithout careful design, a high dependence on vertical transportation may ruin thepleasure of walkable or bicycle-friendly areas.

1. Why will “The Line” be built in Saudi Arabia

A．To take a step towards green economies.

B．To attract more tourists from all over the world.

C．To house the increasing population in Saudi Arabia.

D．To make preparations for a project known as NEOM.

2. How does the author introduce “The Line” in paragraph 2?

A．By showing an example.	B．By designing drawings.
C．By making a comparison.	D．By supplying numbers.

3. What do we know about “The Line”?

A．It will surely cost S725 million to build.	B．It will be wholly environmentally friendly.
C．It will require a vertical transportation.	D．It will be a 125-floor building for certain.

4. What does the author think of “The Line”?

A．Unclear.	B．Doubtful.
C．Indifferent.	D．Hopeful.

【推荐2】Education affects all aspects and stages of human life. From the moment we are young children, education is a part of our daily life. Monday through Friday we sit in classrooms learning and studying various topics until we graduate from high school.    1    Then when we are in college, we have the freedom to select class schedules. Staying up late studying, socializing and worrying about upcoming tests seem like a never-ending cycle, until finally, we graduate.

While graduation is an exciting time in a person's life, there is also a negative side which some graduates seem to experience post-college.    2    

As symptoms are not always so obvious or miserable, some graduates don't realize they are in a state of depression. But they may feel tired, or restless, lose interest in life and become unable to enjoy anything, find it hard to make decisions, and even have difficulty in sleeping     3    

With college graduation approaching, many students have idealistic hopes about life after the diploma.     4    Difficulty in finding a job, stress from loans and feeling powerless are all real reasons that may cause depression. Many college graduates start off working jobs that are part-time. Even if some get hired doing what they went to school for, they still may run into some trouble.

    5    They are taught to think independently and lo be creative in their problem solving. But upon finding a job, many realize that the companies that employ them have strict routines with little room for independent thought and creatively.

A．hor many it is on to university.

B．Some college graduates suffer from depression.

C．They are always preparing for finals and graduation.

D．During university years, students feel powerful and important.

E．They expect to get hired into a top position at their dream company.

F．If you think you are suffering from depression, talking to a psychologist.

G．Avoiding people and losing self- confidence are also some of depression's symptoms.

【推荐3】We are all interested in equality, but while some people try to protect the school and examination system in the name of equality, others, still in the name of equality, want only to destroy it.
Any society which is interested in equality of opportunity and standards of achievement must regularly test its pupils. The standards may be changed—no examination is perfect — but to have no tests or examinations would mean the end of equality and of standards. There are groups of people who oppose this view and who do not believe either in examinations or in any controls in schools or on teachers. This would mean that everything would depend on luck since every pupil would depend on the efficiency, the values and the purpose of each teacher.
Without examinations, employers will look for employees from the highly respected schools and from families known to them--- a form of favoritism will replace equality. At the moment, the bright child from ill-respected school can show certificates to prove he or she is suitable for the job, while the lack of certificate indicates the unsuitability of a dull child attending a well-respected school. This defence of excellence and opportunity would disappear if examinations were taken away, and the bright child from a poor family would be a prisoner of his or her school’s reputation, unable to compete with the child from the favored school.
The opponents of the examination system suggest that examinations are an evil force because they show differences between pupils. According to these people, there must be no special, different, academic class. They have even suggested that there should be no form of difference in sport or any other area: all jobs or posts should be filled by unsystematic selection. The selection would be made by people who themselves are probably selected by some computer.
1. The underlined word “favoritism” in paragraph three is used to describe the phenomenon that _______.

A．bright children also need certificate to get satisfying jobs.

B．children from well-respected schools tend to have good jobs.

C．poor children with certificates are favored in job markets.

D．children attending ordinary schools achieve great success.

2. What would happen if examinations were taken away according to the author?

A．Schools for bright children would lose their reputation.

B．There would be more opportunities and excellence.

C．Children from poor families would be able to change their schools.

D．Children’s job opportunity would be affected by their school reputation.

3. The opponents of the examination system will agree that _______.

A．jobs should not be assigned by systematic selection.

B．computers should be selected to take over many jobs.

C．special classes are necessary to keep the school standards.

D．schools that win academic subjects should be done away with.

4. The passage mainly focuses on __________.

A．schools and certificates.	B．examination and equality.
C．opportunity and employment.	D．standards and reputation.