What do Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad, Sir Richard Branson, Billionaire investor Charles Schwab, Walt Disney, and Henry Ford have in common? All are or were successful entrepreneurs with dyslexia — a learning disorder that makes it very difficult to read, write, and spell. People with dyslexia have trouble connecting the letters they see to the sounds they make and as a result, often struggle in school.
But in the real world, they make great achievements. They’re behind some of the most successful companies on Earth.
Richard Branson is one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time. He created numerous businesses under the Virgin umbrella and has a net worth of $5 billion. Branson once admitted that Virgin which now employs 90,000 people would not have been successful had he not been dyslexic. Branson had a hard time keeping up with his peers because of his dyslexia and dropped out at the age of 16. Yet he transformed his weakness into an advantage. He understood the importance of communicating well. And his dyslexia also forced him to delegate tasks to those who excelled in the areas where he was weak.
Research has found people with dyslexia are more likely to delegate authority and also twice as likely to own two or more businesses. A study out of Cass Business School in London found more than a third of American entrepreneurs surveyed showed signs of dyslexia. Another commissioned by the BBC found 40% of that country’s self-made millionaires showed some signs of the learning disability. That’s significantly higher than the estimated 5% to 10% of the general population with some degree of dyslexia.
The question is: Are their entrepreneurial strengths a result of nature or nurture? A dyslexia expert believes they are naturally better at certain things, like picking up social cues. In an article in The Sacramento Bee about California governor Gavin Newsom who has dyslexia, Dr. Marilu Gorno-Tempini of UC San Francisco said, “He can understand what people need and their emotions more than others. I don’t think that’s a compensation. I think that’s the superpower of his dyslexic brain.” She and other scientists at UC San Francisco recently discovered children with the disorder had greater changes in heart rate and facial behavior when they viewed video clips of others experiencing emotions compared to children without dyslexia.
Eleanor Palser, one of the researchers who conducted the study, concluded to Newsthink, “This tells us that dyslexia might be associated with biological differences in empathy(移情)...”
1. Why are some famous people mentioned in Paragraph 1?| A．To demonstrate their problems. |
| B．To advertise their products. |
| C．To show their achievements. |
| D．To introduce the topic. |
| A．He never gave up studying during adolescence. |
| B．Dyslexia prevented him from being more successful. |
| C．He worked hard to improve his communication skills. |
| D．Dyslexia drove him to appoint people to suitable posts. |
| A．Dyslexia might be associated with biological differences in empathy. |
| B．Gavin’s ability to understand others’ emotions compensates for his disability. |
| C．Children with dyslexia underwent more physical changes when watching videos. |
| D．Those who have dyslexia develop their ability to read others’ emotions by nurture. |
| A．How People With Dyslexia Succeed in life. |
| B．How Successful Entrepreneurs Overcome Dyslexia. |
| C．Why People With Dyslexia Are Extremely Empathetic. |
| D．Why So Many Successful Entrepreneurs Have Dyslexia. |
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How Colleges Can Measure Up in Teaching “Critical Thinking”
After becoming president of Purdue University in 2013, Mitch Daniels asked the teaching staff to prove that their students have actually achieved one of higher education’s most important goals: critical thinking skills.
Purdue now has a pilot test to assess students’ critical thinking skills.
American universities, despite their global reputation for excellence in teaching, have only begun to demonstrate what they can produce in real-world learning. Knowledge-based degrees are still important, but employers are demanding advanced thinking skills from college graduates.
| A．If the intellectual worth of a college degree can be accurately measured, more people will seek higher education―and come out better thinkers. |
| B．Two years before, a nationwide study of college graduates had shown that more than a third had made no significant gains in such mental abilities during their school years. |
| C．Despite the success of the experiment, the actual results are frustrating, and mostly confirm earlier studies. |
| D．Many can’t reason clearly or perform competently in analyzing complex, non-technical problems. |
| E．Yet like many college teachers in the U.S., the professors remain doubtful that their work as educators can be measured by a “learning outcome” such as a graduate’s ability to investigate and reason. |
| F．It is important to identify the common goals of general higher education and translate them into the design of the learning outcomes assessment. |
Do not underestimate(低估) the power of revision in the days and hours before an examination. The closer you are to the exam, the more chance you have of storing and attaining key information. But do not overdo it.
On the day of the exam, have a good breakfast, pack everything you need ( pens, pencils, erasers, etc), then make your way to the examination hall in good time. Do not arrive too early, as other people's anxiety can be passed on to you, and you may suffer from panic（恐慌）.
Once in your seat, simply pause for a few seconds and collect your thoughts. Close your eyes and take in a few slow, deep breaths to help you relax. When you turn over the test paper, spend a short period reading through all the instructions(要求，说明) and questions, before writing. It is always wise to allow 10 minutes at the end of the exam to give yourself time to ___________.
Try not to be tempted(被诱惑) to look at those students around you, or at the clock. If you need something else to focus on to help you collect your thoughts, you can choose the ceiling, the wall or anything else that will not allow you to be distracted(分心).
Finally, once you have finished, never attend the discussion by other students. Go home and have a well-earned rest---then prepare for your next exam.
1. What the main idea of the first paragraph?(no more than 7 words)2. Fill in the blanks in the third paragraph.(no more than 5 words)
3. Translate the underlined sentence in the second paragraph.
4. What does the underlined word “it” refer to? (no more than 3 words)
5. To get a better result, what should one do with an exam?(no more than 30 words)
【推荐3】For much of the past hundred years, classrooms have been designed with the teacher seated in front of desks for students. But many educators now say children can do better in a less structured environment.
Bob Pearlman works as an education consultant in the United States. He told The Associate Press that traditional classrooms are a thing of the past. Now students work in ''extended learning areas" that in elude project planning rooms, workrooms, and laboratories, as well as learning spaces for groups and individuals. Pearlman points to Albemarle County Public Schools, in Charlottesville, Virginia. The school system invited teams from all its schools to develop learning spaces that would help students deal with complex ideas and work on creative building projects. Now, its elementary school classes have exchanged traditional desks for things like soft seating and connectable tables.
Another change to the design of classrooms is the ability to connect to the Internet. " Classrooms, libraries, and laboratories used to be the only spaces where students spent their school hours. Wireless, laptops and project learning have changed that," Pearlman said. He noted that this has made all school spaces into possible extended learning areas.
David Thornburg, who wrote the book From the Campfire to the Holodeck, said Pearlman's concept catered to the students' need. He said schools should provide spaces based on how humans learn. That could mean one room is used in different ways at different times, or in different ways at the same time.
Earp is with Teacher magazine, a publication of the nonprofit Australia n Council for Educational Research. She noted that in the 1970s, American Robert Sommer, a psychologist, was urging a critical look at traditional classroom designs. Earp said that in addition to newer "freeform" classroom designs, some teachers could find good results with designs that combine new and old ideas. They could try lining up desks at the start of the year and then placing them in groups as the classroom relationships become clearer and project work begins.
1. What change happened to Albemarle County Public Schools?| A．Classroom furniture. | B．Learning materials. |
| C．Teaching Strategy. | D．Studying time. |
| A．The new design. | B．The existing classroom. |
| C．The application of the Internet. | D．The limitation on learning spaces. |
| A．Objective. | B．Neutral. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Disapproving. |
| A．It should be designed by teachers. |
| B．It should provide freedom for students. |
| C．It should focus on comfortable learning environment. |
| D．It should be combined with both modern and conventional ideas. |
| A．Different opinions about classroom designs. |
| B．The considerations in classroom designing. |
| C．Shortcomings of traditional classrooms. |
| D．The ways to enlarge learning spaces. |
【推荐1】Tomatoes are common in daily life. Cathie Martin, a British scientist, has been working on developing purple tomatoes for years. Though the color is unusual, now this special kind of tomatoes, which has gained approval from the US government, has very high levels of antioxidants(抗氧化剂).
Antioxidants, also known as AOS, are found naturally in plants like blueberries and red cabbage. Scientists believe AOS may help prevent heart disease and help fight against diseases like diabetes. But tomatoes naturally only have a small amount of AOS in them. Martin wanted to see if she could create tomatoes with lots of AOS by changing the DNA of a tomato plant.
A plant developed from specially created DNA is known as a GMO. After adding two genes(基因) from a plant called snapdragon, Martin soon found her plants were producing small purple tomatoes with lots of AOS. Martin and other scientists further tested the tomatoes on mice that were likely to get cancer. The mice that were fed the purple tomatoes lived about 30% longer than those fed normal tomatoes. Though that’s good news, experiments on mice don’t always predict what effects on humans will be like. We need to see more experiments about it.
GMOs were first allowed in America in the late 1990s. But GMO products weren’t popular with customers. Many people were scared by the idea that the foods weren’t natural or safe. There’re still questions about the effects of GMO crops on the environment. However, scientists deny these claims.
Even so, many people still have concerns about them. Because of these concerns, most GMO products created over the last 20 years have focused on helping farmers rather than attracting customers.
Anyway, on September 7, 2022, the US approved the purple tomatoes, which is the first time it has approved a GMO plant designed to target human health.
1. What makes purple tomatoes really special?| A．Their medical value. | B．Their delicious flavor. |
| C．Their proper size. | D．Their pleasant color. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Concerned. | D．Opposed. |
| A．The environment affects GMO foods. |
| B．The customers do not like GMO foods. |
| C．GMO products are used to help farmers. |
| D．Scientists think GMO products are safe. |
| A．Different DNA can benefit plant growth. |
| B．Tomatoes with changed DNA are approved. |
| C．Scientists are changing DNA of crops. |
| D．Human health depends on changed DNA. |
【推荐2】Although baby dolls are usually targeted at children, the toys have been inspiring the imaginations of an older age group as well. One assisted living home company has brought dolls which sound like and look like tiny humans to live with the elderly people with Alzheimer’s (老年痴呆症) as a way to help improve their health.
The dolls bring joy to the patients’ days and help them remember what it means to look after and care for someone. One unexpected effect of the toys is that many patients have even been able to abate their anxiety medication as they focus on looking after the dolls.
During Cuddle (拥抱) Therapy, they cuddle, hold, rock, and tend to them, looking after the dolls as they were babies. While it has been shown that caring for the dolls greatly alleviates (减轻) the senior citizen’s sadness and anxiety, it also allows them to express love and recreate a sense of connection to their environment and the world.
Although Cuddle Therapy isn’t the most high-tech solution, patients have a strong emotional response and show signs of improvement when it comes to their mental health. Executive Director at Poet’s Walk Warrenton, Terra Brown said, “Among the various forms of recreation therapy that our caregivers provide, we have found Cuddle Therapy is one of the simplest and most effective. It is also one of the most successful as it gives our residents a sense of purpose that they long for.” The therapy is offered in four U. S. states. April Hannewald’s mother is a patient at Poet’s Walk Memory Care Community in Nevada, and because of Cuddle Therapy, she’s become re-energized and feels a greater sense of purpose. “My mother is not very verbal any more, but when I’m pushing her around in a wheelchair, she immediately starts talking in full sentences when we pass the baby dolls,” saying things like these, “Oh look! What are the babies doing?” Hannewald said.
1. What is the feature of the dolls brought by that assisted living home company?| A．They can take any shape. | B．They can do various things. |
| C．They can make sounds of various animals. | D．They’re like real human babies in appearance. |
| A．Reduce. | B．Double. | C．Repeat. | D．Check. |
| A．They can remind the elderly patients of their childhood. |
| B．They can take care of the elderly patients when necessary. |
| C．They can help improve the elderly patients’ mental condition. |
| D．They can replace the elderly patients’ family and stay with them. |
| A．To explain how to use the dolls. | B．To show the dolls are very popular. |
| C．To show the dolls are really helpful. | D．To explain why people buy the dolls. |
【推荐3】If you live in a town or city on the edge of a desert or coastline where sand dunes form, you might understand the threat they can have. It’s, sometimes, a piece of cake for them to cover roads, buildings, farms and other man-made developments with their unpredictable movements. Thus, figuring out how they move is important for preventing some natural disasters.
Now scientists have discovered that dunes have been secretly moving in ways we never knew before. There are different explanations on dune interaction, however, Karol Bacik, first author on the new dune study, and his colleagues have found a new one for dune movement. The researchers employed high-speed cameras to observe how dunes separated by distance can act as if they’re connected.
It turns out, currents flowing over sand dunes can carry “information” to other dunes downstream in the form of swirls(旋涡). For instance, as wind or water flows over the top of a dune, it slightly moves. This can generate “swirls” on the back of a downstream dune and push it in a direction opposite the movement of the front dune.
It’s the first time that researchers were able to provide causal explanations for some of these strange, previously unpredictable movements. The team also hopes to get out of the laboratory and into the real world, to see if their models can be applied to dune movements in complex natural systems. They plan to use satellite images over large deserts to track groups of dunes over long periods.
Perhaps they can start to alter the dune marching orders in the near future. Imagine being able to tell a dune field exactly how you want it to move. That’s the idea that this research might one day make possible.
1. We can learn that the purpose of the study is to _________.| A．stop the sand dunes from moving around |
| B．figure out the track of sand dune movements |
| C．prove the interaction of dunes with each other |
| D．examine a model of sand dunes in the real world |
| A．A study. | B．An interaction. | C．An explanation. | D．A dune. |
| A．A sand dune communicates with another only by currents. |
| B．Swirls on the back of a dune are the power to move itself. |
| C．Some strange dune movements have got causally explained before. |
| D．Researchers think it unnecessary to study further on the dune models. |
【推荐1】Facebook has taken over a start-up named CTRL-Labs, which is developing devices that can pick up electrical signals from the brain and transmit them to a computer. CTRL-Labs has designed a wristband that can identify the signals the brain sends to the hand telling it to move, and decode (解码) them. It could then transmit that command — for example, to press a button — to a computer or other devices.
It also captures (捕捉) your intention”, said Facebook VR president Andrew Bosworth. “So you can share a photo with a friend using an imperceptible (极细微的) movement or just by, well, intending to,” he said in a post on his personal Facebook page.
Facebook has not confirmed a report by CNBC which claimed that the deal was worth between $500 m and $ l bn (£0.4bn and £0.8bn).). Mr Bosworth said he hoped the CTRL-Labs team would help Facebook to “build this kind of technology, at scale and get it into consumer products faster”.
There was a mixed response to the news.
“Facebook needed to leave us alone. Step away from our lives more.” tweeted tech commentator Azeem Azhar.
“I’m very curious to see what the response is from regulators here,” wrote an analyst Fatemeh Khatibloo.
Underneath Andrew Bosworth’s Facebook post, Josh Chan, founder of an educational app, said the news was exciting.
“As an educator, I’m imagining how this could transform how we all learn,” he said.
Facebook implied it would be some time before the product came to market. “The CTRL-Labs technology is an innovative input that Facebook hopes will be used to significantly improve the upcoming Facebook VR experiences a few years down the road to fundamentally improve the user experience.” it said.
Facebook may have more to say about the new acquisition on Wednesday at its annual VR headset event, which the firm purchased in 2014 for around $2bn.
1. What does the underlined sentence imply?| A．Facebook should not affect people’s lives any more. |
| B．Facebook should get less involved in people’s lives. |
| C．Facebook should be less concerned about people’s lives. |
| D．People’s lives have been totally disturbed by Facebook. |
| A．Positive. | B．Negative. | C．Objective. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．The acquisition of a start-up company that has designed a fancy wristband. |
| B．The design of a high-tech product that can greatly affect people’s lives. |
| C．The development of a wristband that can capture users’ intentions. |
| D．The purchase of a start-up company that is developing a mind-reading product. |
【推荐2】Kids love to play. It is the way they learn new things and it even helps them with their growth and development. But what happens when some children can’t find a toy that represents them, looks like them, or has the disabilities that they do?
Amy Jandrisevits has found a way to give every child a toy that matches them. She creates a nonprofit organization called “A Doll Like Me”. She spends her time sewing beautiful, custom-made dolls that match their owners. For children with disabilities, this means their doll may have a birthmark or a missing limb, just like them. The therapeutic value kids get from these dolls is great.
Jandrisevits explained, “I am excited that I still get to play with dolls many years later. I love being able to combine my passion for social work with creativity. It is an honor to be invited into lives filled with beauty, tragedy, joy, pain and pride. It’s heartwarming when I see the kids responses.
“My doll has a baby hand and I have a baby hand. My doll has a big hand and I have a big hand.” These are the things kids have said about their custom-made dolls. Jandrisevits said, “We cannot experience true empathy until we look into the faces of these children, watch their reactions to receiving a doll, and hear what they say about themselves. Some of them have long struggled with how they look. Parents now tell me how the comments have shifted from ‘What’ wrong with your daughter?’ to ‘How amazing it is that her doll looks just like her!’. That’s an entirely different message, isn’t it?”
A Doll Like Me is now creating diversity in kids’ toys and allowing children with disabilities to be represented by what they play with. And it means the world to them. Jandrisevits said, “Remember that what makes us different also makes us beautiful and because of that, everyone deserves to look into the sweet face of a doll and see their own.”
1. The author raises a question at the beginning of the text to ________ .| A．introduce the topic | B．present a suggestion |
| C．encourage kids to play | D．explain the importance of toys |
| A．They are able to sense their owners emotions. |
| B．They help children realize their problems. |
| C．They can communicate with children. |
| D．They bear similarities to their owners. |
| A．Tiring but meaningful. | B．Pleasant and relaxing. |
| C．Significant and rewarding. | D．Challenging but interesting. |
| A．It brings them friendship and praise. |
| B．It makes them be treated with understanding. |
| C．It improves their relationships with their parents. |
| D．It causes them to be less sensitive to hurtful comments. |
| A．It’s necessary to put yourself in others’ shoes. |
| B．Every child needs a toy that represents themselves. |
| C．Children tend to play with dolls to hide their feelings. |
| D．It’s never easy to change people’s attitude to special toys. |
【推荐3】If you are a recent social science graduate who has had to listen to jokes about unemployment from your computer major classmates, you may have had the last laugh. There are many advantages for the social science major because this high-tech "Information Age" demands people who are flexible (灵活) and who have good communication skills.
There are many social science majors in large companies who fill important positions. For example, a number of research studies found that social science majors had achieved greater managerial success than those who had technical training or pre-professional courses. Studies show that social science majors are most suited for change, which is the leading feature (特点) of the kind of high-speed, high-pressure, high-tech world we now live in.
Social science majors are not only experiencing success in their long term company jobs, but they are also finding jobs more easily. A study showed that many companies had filled a large percentage of their entry level positions with social science graduates. The study also showed that the most sought-after quality in a person who was looking for a job was communication skills, noted as "very important" by 92 percent of the companies. Social science majors have these skills, often without knowing how important they are. It is probably due to these skills that they have been offered a wide variety of positions.
Finally, although some social science majors may still find it more difficult than their technically trained classmates to land the first job, recent graduates report that they don't regret their choice of study.
1. By saying that "you may have had the last laugh" in the first paragraph, the author means that you may have ________.| A．shared the jokes with computer majors |
| B．earned as much as computer majors |
| C．found jobs more easily than computer majors |
| D．stopped joking about computer majors |
| A．are ready to change when situations change |
| B．are better able to deal with difficulties |
| C．are equally good at computer skills |
| D．are likely to give others pressure |
| A．keep for some time |
| B．successfully get |
| C．immediately start |
| D．lose regretfully |
| A．Willingness to take low-paid jobs. |
| B．Readiness to gain high-tech knowledge. |
| C．Skills in expressing themselves. |
| D．Part-time work experience. |
