Would a person born blind, who has learned to distinguish objects by touch, be able to recognize them purely by sight if he regained the ability to see? The question, known as Molyneux’s problem, is about whether the human mind has a built-in concept of shapes that is so innate(天生的) that such a blind person could immediately recognize an object with restored vision. The alternative is that the concepts of shapes are not innate but have to be learned by exploring an object through sight, touch and other senses.
After their attempt to test it in blind children failed, Lars Chittka of Queen Mary University of London and his colleagues have taken another attempt at finding an answer, this time using another species. To test whether bumblebees can form an internal representation of objects, they first trained the insects to distinguish globes from cubes using a sugar reward. The bees were trained in the light, where they could see but not touch the objects. Then they were tested in the dark, where they could touch but not see the globes or cubes. The researchers found that the bumblebees spent more time in contact with the shape they had been trained to associate with the sugar reward, even though they had to rely on touch rather than sight to distinguish the objects.
The researchers also did the reverse test with untrained bumblebees, first teaching them with rewards in the dark and then testing them in the light. Again, the bees were able to recognize the shape associated with the sugar reward, though they had to rely on sight rather than touch in the test. In short, bees have solved Molyneux's problem because the fact suggests that they can picture object features and access them through sight or touch.
However, some experts express their warnings. Jonathan Birch, a philosopher of science, cautions that the bees may have had prior experience associating visual and tactile(触觉的) information about straight edges and curved surfaces in the context of their nests, so it is not possible to eliminate the possibility that some of the cross-sensory concept is learned rather than innate.
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“Good news,” Mom said, with a bright smile on her face. "The Parker family wants Surfer. They'll be here in an hour to take him home. ” Surfer had been with us for two days. While I was sad at the thought of seeing him go, I knew I couldn't keep him.
My family operate a foster home（收养所）for pets. Surfer had been in an animal shelter, and he was sent to us so we could place him with a loving family. Surfer was a cute puppy, so finding a home for him had been very easy. Dad entered Surfer's information into a pet adoption website, along with some photos, and within a few hours, the Parkers applied to adopt him. Mom looked over their application, and they seemed like responsible people, so she called them.
However, not every dog was so lucky. Zooey was nine years old, and she'd been with us for a few months. It seemed like nobody wanted to adopt an older dog. Dad said that was a shame because older dogs made wonderful companions. Zooey's previous owner had treated her terribly, and when she was sent to us she was injured. I remember how angry Dad seemed at the time. "No dog should be treated like that,“ he said.
When Zooey came to us, she was upset around everyone. She barked at our two dogs as if in defense and backed away when I tried to approach her. But with our considerate care, it wasn't long before Zooey trusted us. I took her on walks around the neighborhood and got her used to other people and dogs. She took a real liking to Surfer. In fact, they often curled together as they napped（打盹）.
The Parkers soon arrived, and we all went into the backyard so they could meet with Surfer. Zooey followed us out, her tail wagging lazily, as Surfer rolled in the grass with the two Parker children.
注意:1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2.至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3.续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4.续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1 ：
When Surfer got tired, he wandered back to Zooey.
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Paragraph 2 ：
Mr. and Mrs. Parker asked if they could adopt Zooey too
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A Sweet Song
“Nothing will ever be the same again,” Ally whispered.
Ally’s father died last summer. It wasn’t fair, Ally thought, frowning. Dad was young and had never been sick. Why had his heart suddenly stopped? Ally curled herself up in her father’s favorite chair and looked at his picture on the bookcase. It was one of her favorite shots. Ally smiled. “I miss you, Dad,” she said softly.
She felt a hand smoothing her hair and glanced up. “ Why don’t you come outside with me, Ally?” her mother asked. “The birds are nesting (筑巢) in the woods. By this time last year you had already taken dozens of pictures.” But she knew bird watching wouldn’t be the same this year. How could it be? Ally wondered. Ever since she could remember she and Dad had been a team, searching the woods for the special wood warbler (林中莺). “I’ll be out in a while, I promise,” she answered.
After her mother left, Ally reached for the photo album she and Dad had put together. On the cover was a photo of a tiny orange bird with blue-gray wings and black eyes. Dad cut it from a local newspaper. Ally smiled, remembering the excited look on Dad’s face when he showed her the pretty bird.
“I can’t believe someone spotted (发现) this little guy way up here in New Jersey,” he said. “Wood warblers are usually found in the south, not this far north. I bet if we search real hard, Ally, we’ll see this little guy together someday.”
Ally leaned her head back and closed her eyes, letting her mind wander. She loved thinking about the times she and Dad had spent searching the woods for the little bird. They’d never spotted the warbler, but her father had an amazing way of making each outing seem special. He was her best friend, and when they were together Ally felt comfortable, “If only I could get that good feeling back,” she thought, sighing.
Staring at the bird, suddenly, she knew exactly what she had to do. Waving goodbye to her mom, she placed her camera around her neck and hurried outside. “Please let me see the warbler,” she murmured to herself. She gave her worried Mom a kiss and then set off into the woods.
注意:
1.所续写短文的词数应为 l50 左右；请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
2.续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
Paragraph 1:
Familiar smells of the earth rose up to greet her the moment Ally stepped into the woods.
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Paragraph 2:
All too soon the sun disappeared behind thick grey clouds and Ally was about to head home when a ringing birdsong floated down to her.
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You are supposed to use two or three of the following techniques and underline them：
·Interesting descriptions and use of vocabulary to describe animals or people；
·Direct speech.
·Building up tension by giving hints as to what might happen later；
·Vivid psychological insights into someone’s thoughts and feelings.
The Zeigarnik Effect
Have you ever found yourself thinking about a partially finished project for school or work when you were trying to focus on other things? Or perhaps you wondered what would happen next in your favorite TV show or film series. If you have, you’ve experienced the Zeigarnik effect. You tend to remember unfinished tasks better than finished tasks. Knowledge of the Zeigarnik effect can be put into use in everyday life.
The effect is especially well suited for helping overcome procrastination or delaying an action to a later time. We often put off big tasks that seem overwhelming. However, the Zeigarnik effect suggests that the key to overcoming procrastination is to just get started. The first step could be something small and seemingly insignificant. In fact, it’s probably best if it’s something fairly easy.
The Zeigarnik effect can be useful for students who are studying for an exam. The effect tells us that breaking up study periods can actually improve recall. So instead of cramming for an exam all in one sitting, breaks should be scheduled in which the student focuses on something else. This will cause intrusive（侵入的）thoughts, enabling students to rehearse and consolidate the information that must be remembered, leading to better recall when they take the exam.
The Zeigarnik effect also points to reasons why people may experience mental health problems. If an individual leaves important tasks incomplete, the intrusive thoughts that result can lead to stress, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, and emotional distress. Conversely, completing a task can give an individual a sense of accomplishment and lead to a feeling of closure that can improve psychological well - being.
The Zeigarnik effect can actually be used to positively impact your work productivity.
“At almost any given age, most of us are getting better at some things and worse at others,” Joshua Hartshorne, an MIT cognitive science researcher and the lead author of a study looking at how intelligence changes as we age, told Business Insider.
The team behind that study quizzed thousands of people aged 10-90 on their ability to do things like remembering lists of words, recognizing faces. Their results suggest that no matter what your age, there’s almost always a new peak on the horizon.
1.用约 30 个单词概述图表和上文的主要内容；
2.用约 120 个单词发表你的观点，内容包括:
(1)谈谈”不同年龄达到不同能力巅峰”这一研究发现的意义(至少两点)；
(2)结合自身实际，说明如何在现阶段把握你的优势。
【写作要求】
(1) 须表明个人观点，同时提供理由或依据；
(2) 阐述观点或提供论据时，不得直接引用原文中的句子；
(3) 文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称；
(4) 不必写标题。
【评分标准】 内容完整，语言规范，语篇连贯，词数适当。
注意:作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称。
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【推荐3】Why do people like what they like? Scientists have taken on the task of solving this mystery(奥秘)for ages. In the 1960s, psychologist Robert Zajonc conducted a series of experiments where he showed people nonsense words and random shapes. Afterward he asked his subjects which they preferred out of ever thing they had been shown. In study
after study, people always chose the words and shapes they had seen the most. Their preference was for familiarity.
This discovery was one of the most important findings in modern psychology. But the preference for familiarity has clear limits. People get tired of even their favorite songs and movies. On one hand, humans seek familiarity, because it makes then feel safe. On the other hand, people love the thrill of something new. This change between familiarity and discovery affects ns all the time- not just our preferences for pictures and songs, but also our preferences for ideas and even people.
For that reason, the power of familiarity seems to be strongest when a person isn’t expecting it. The opposite is also true: A surprise seems to work best when it contains some familiarity. Nobody knows this better than Raymond Loews, who is considered to be the "father of industrial design. He had a theory that he said could help artists sell anything to anyone. He called it MAYA --"Most Advanced Yet Acceptable""To sell something surprising, make it familiar; and to sell something familiar, make it surprising," he said.
One of Loewy’s final tasks was too add an element(要素)of familiarity to a truly new invention: NASA’s first space station. Loewy’s biggest contribution to the space station was that he insisted NASA install a window with a view of Earth. Today, tens of millions of people have seen this small detail in films about astronauts. It is hard to imagine a more perfect example of MAYA: a window to a new world can also show you home.
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