An interesting question in humankind’s development is, when did we begin to think critically? In other words, when did we turn from animals focused only on the daily struggle to avoid starvation to humans who could think symbolically about the word around us? However, answering this question is not easy as thinking leaves no fossils to discover.
A commonsense assumption is that higher levels of thought go hand-in-hand with verbal language, because higher thinking, such as creative thought, would naturally seek a means of expression. So tracing the development of language could give an approximate idea of when humans began to think critically.
Interestingly, we do have some fossil evidence related to speech. Animals whose larynx (voice box) is placed high in their throats are unable to produce the variety of sounds necessary for speech. Fossil bones tell us that in early humans, the larynx was originally high in the throat. However, by about 200,000 years ago, it had moved lower in the throat. This lowering provided a larger sound chamber (the space in the throat and the mouth) in which passing air could be controlled by the tongue, making a wide range of sounds and rhythms possible.
So humans were physically able to speak around 200,000 years ago, but when did they actually start doing so? Estimates range from 35,000 to 100,000 years ago. But with no physical evidence of ancient language use, we need another approach to determine more precisely when humans began to speak - and to think critically.
Professor Richard Klein of Stanford University suggests that art may be the key. After all, ability to create or appreciate art is a uniquely human train. If ancient humans had the imagination to create a work of art (which in itself is a means of communication), then it seems highly likely that they would possess the primary means of communication: language. This suggests that the first works of art can be considered indicators of when language and critical though began.
Until recently the earliest art was believed to be cave paintings, carved figures, and jewelry found in southwestern Europe and thought to data from about 40,000 years ago. This suggested that humans first became capable of critical thought about 40,000 years ago. However, this time frame was recently overturned by an exciting discovery in South Africa. Anthropologist Christ Henshilwood spent more than ten years exploring a cave there. He found many well-made tools, but more intriguing were the 8,000 pieces of ochre, a soft stone that can be turned into paint. Hensilwood’s breakthrough came in 1999 when he found an ochre piece with lines cut in a careful pattern. In other words, it was deliberate artistic design. Henshilwood had found the oldest piece of art yet, its date of origin set at 70,000 years — nearly 30,000 years before the art in Europe.
Based on Henshilwood’s discovery, it seems that humans began to speak and think critically at least 70,000 years ago.
1. ______ made humans physically able to speak.| A．The evolution of the tongue |
| B．The lowering of the larynx |
| C．The appearance of various sounds |
| D．The higher thinking |
| A．No other animals than humans can enjoy art. |
| B．Before 1999, Africa was thought to be the origin of art. |
| C．Without creative though, humans would be unable to speak. |
| D．Evidence of ancient language use was once found in Europe. |
| A．30,000 |
| B．40,000 |
| C．70,000 |
| D．200,000 |
| A．How did humans stop struggling for starvation? |
| B．When did humans become able to create art? |
| C．How did humans communicate more freely? |
| D．When did humans begin to think? |
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【推荐1】Parrots live extremely long partly due to their relatively large brains; an international team of researchers has discovered. Simeon Smeele, a doctoral student at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, led the study, the results of which were published in March in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.
When it comes to lifespan, birds truly stand out. Lifespan tends to increase with an animal’s body size, roughly speaking. Thus, the bigger the animal, the longer they live. But a bird tends to live much longer than a comparably-sized mammal. One theory is that birds’ ability to fly means they are less at risk from the animals that kill them, which reduces their risk of being eaten, decreases stress, and frees up bodily resources for growth.
And among birds, parrots are the aging champions. The confirmed longest-living bird was Cookie, a Major Mitchell’s cockatoo (a species of parrot), who lived at the Brookfield Zoo in Illinois for all but one of his 83 years. Though cockatoos often weigh around a pound, they usually live for four decades. Most of the other 398 parrot species also live longer than other birds of similar size.
What sets parrots apart? In the new research, Smeele and his colleagues gathered data on over 130,000 individual parrots held in more than 1,000 zoos, representing 217 species. Through this data, they created reliable estimates of the average lifespan for each species. They next searched for a link between each species’ lifespan and its relative brain size and found a clear, positive correspondence. Parrot species with larger brains relative to their body size lived longer than species with smaller brains.
“This supports the idea that in general larger brains make species more flexible. For flexibility allows them to live longer.” Smeele said in a statement. “For example, if they run out of their favorite food, they could learn to find something new and thus survive.” He added, “All parrots have relatively large brain sizes compared to most other birds.”
Researchers have previously shown that, when trained, some parrots can recognize and understand objects, colors, and shapes, and even speak with an impressive vocabulary. They can even match five-year-old humans on basic tests of intelligence.
1. What do we know about parrots according to the text?| A．They outlive other similar-sized birds. |
| B．They live longer in the zoo than in the wild. |
| C．They have an average lifespan of four decades. |
| D．They live in relatively less competitive environments. |
| A．Goal. | B．Evidence. | C．Difference. | D．Connection. |
| A．Parrots find it hard to survive nowadays. |
| B．Bigger brains give parrots more adaptability. |
| C．Parrots like to discover new things by nature. |
| D．Bigger brains aid parrots with their social ability. |
| A．Why do parrots live so long? | B．Why are parrots so intelligent? |
| C．What do parrots do for a living? | D．What are the longest living animals? |
When I was little, I’d see tons of bats flying around streetlights at night in my neighborhood in upstate New York. But I’ll never forget the first time when I saw a bat up close. By the time I turned 7,though, I noticed something strange: All the bats in my neighborhood had disappeared, and I wondered why.
Then, three years ago, when I was 11 and visiting the state fair, I learned what had happened to my town’s bats. A disease called “white nose syndrome” had killed 93 percent of New York State’s bats. I was horrified. Then I wrote a letter to the host of an environmental program on the local radio station, asking if they could do a show on bats. They did!
But I still wanted to find a way to educate people face to face. I reached out to a teacher I had in elementary school and asked if I could make a presentation to her class. I described how bats help farmers by eating crop-damaging insects. It went over so well that other teachers started requesting me. Over the past three years, I’ve talked in front of everyone from 5-year-olds to senior citizens! Many people think that bats are blind, and that they always carry diseases, but none of that is true. The more I present, the more I notice that I am changing minds.
And while getting people to respect bats is pretty hard, getting them to respect me has been difficult too. When I first applied to host a booth(摊位)at a local street fair, the managers thought I was too young. But I refused to take “no” for an answer. I continued to
1. All the bats in the neighborhood disappeared because they .
| A．were killed by a disease |
| B．moved to another habitat |
| C．were hunted by other animals |
| D．hid in a place where people couldn’t find them |
| A．donate some money to save bats |
| B．make a radio program about bats |
| C．announce new findings about bats |
| D．finish some questionnaires about the fair |
| A．By building a new home for them. |
| B．By volunteering to work in the wild. |
| C．By improving their living environment. |
| D．By educating people that they are beneficial. |
| A．make an impressive persuasion. |
| B．look into the matter. |
| C．quarrel with them |
| D．stick to the facts. |
【推荐3】Scientists in Britain have managed to teach bumblebees (大黄蜂) to pull strings to get to food and then pass on what they have learned to others in their colony — showing a high level of intelligence despite their tiny brains.
Researchers at Queen Mary University of London said the experiments, often used to test the intelligence of apes (猿) and birds, showed for the first time that some insects are up to the task, and can also pass skills on through several generations.
The findings add to the evidence suggesting the ability for “culture spread” — the ability to learn and pass on knowledge and skills — may not be exclusive to humans.
In the research, published in the journal PLOS Biology on Tuesday, the scientists were able to train 23 out of a group of 40 bees to pull strings with their legs and feet.
The strings were attached to discs- or artificial “flowers” — containing food at their center but placed under a transparent screen. The bees, spotting the food beneath the screen, learned to pull the “flowers” out by pulling the string with their legs and feet to be able to get to it. From another group of bees given the chance to solve the task without any training, only two of 110 were successful.
Another group of bees was then allowed to observe the trained bees pulling the strings, and 60 percent of them successfully learned the skill. Finally, trained bees were put in colonies, and the scientists found the technique spread successfully to a majority of the colony’s worker bees.
Lars Chittka, a Queen Mary University professor who guided the project, said the team is interested in figuring out the brain processes behind the bees ‘learning and teaching skills.
1. What does the underlined word “exclusive” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?| A．Ordinary. | B．Unique. | C．Beneficial. | D．Widespread. |
| A．Bees learn best in insects. |
| B．Bees are as clever as birds. |
| C．Bees can be trained to learn skills. |
| D．Bees are born good learners. |
| A．How bees’ brain work. | B．Where bees learn skills. |
| C．How bees teach others. | D．What else bees can do. |
| A．Small bees, great abilities | B．Bees can learn and teach |
| C．Bees are smarter | D．Let bees learn |
IKEA’s name comes from Kamprad’s initials (I.K.) and the place where he grew up (‘E’ and ‘A’). Today IKEA is known for its modern, minimalist furniture, but it was not a furniture company in the beginning. Rather, IKEA sold all kinds of miscellaneous goods.
Kamprad’s goods included anything that he could sell for profits at discounted prices, including watches, pens and stockings.
IKEA first began to sell furniture through a mail-order catalogue in 1947. The furniture was all designed and made by manufacturers near Kamprad’s home. Initial sales were very encouraging, so Kamprad expanded the product line．Furniture was such a successful aspect of the business that IKEA became solely a furniture company in 1951.
In 1953 IKEA opened its first showroom in Almhult, Sweden. IKEA is known today for its large stores with furniture in attractive settings, but in the early1950s, people ordered from catalogues. Thus response to the first showroom was overwhelming: people loved being able to see and try the furniture before buying it. This led to increased sales and the company continued to develop. By 1955, IKEA was designing all its own furniture.
In 1956 Kamprad saw a man disassembling (拆卸) a table to make it easier to transport. Kamprad was inspired. The man had given him a great idea: flat packaging. Flat packaging would mean lower shipping costs for IKEA and lower prices for customers. IKEA tried it and sales went up. The problem was that people had to assemble furniture themselves, but over time, even this grew into an advantage for IKEA. Nowadays, IKEA is often seen as having connotations (内涵) of self-sufficiency. This image has done wonders for the company, leading to better sales and continued expansion．
Today there are over 200 stores in 32 countries. Amazingly, Ingvar Kamprad has managed to keep IKEA a privately-held company. In 2004 he was named the world’s richest man. He currently lives in Switzerland and is retired from the day-to-day operations of IKEA. IKEA itself, though, just keeps on growing.
1. The author states in Paragraph 6 that flat packaging___________.| A．needs large space to assembly furniture |
| B．is a business concept inspired by Kamprad |
| C．helps reduce transportation costs |
| D．makes the company self-sufficient |
| A．Ingvar Kamprad is the richest man in the world. |
| B．IKEA is the world’s largest furniture retailer. |
| C．The advantage of IKEA’s furniture is dissembling. |
| D．Ingvar Kamprad established IKEA and led it to great success. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Optimistic. |
| C．Doubtful. | D．Pessimistic. |
【推荐2】Many of our memory systems are driven by one single, powerful urge: to survive. We seem to be hard-wired to remember routes, so we can navigate our local environments safely. We’re also naturally talented at recognizing faces. Ever since we lived in groups, we humans have needed to know who’s “part of the pack”, and who isn’t, as a vital part of staying safe.
And we’re excellent at remembering things that might put our well-being at risk. A recent research study showed that we’re remarkably accurate at recalling anything connected with infection. Even imaginary dangers can sharpen our memory skills.
In the experiment, volunteers were shown a set of objects that they would be tested on later. But there was a twist. Some of the items were held by a researcher who was said to have COVID. And guess what? Those “contaminated (受污染的) ” objects proved to be significantly easier to recall. None of the volunteers would ever touch those things themselves. But their minds still prioritized them, locking in the information for later just in case it could keep them safe.
And it’s a reflex (反射) that you can use to your advantage. When you’ve got something important to remember, why not “tag” it with one of those unpleasant feelings that your brain can’t help holding on to? For example, are you constantly worried about forgetting the milk from your shopping list? Then picture the bottle and imagine opening it only to discover that it’s weeks out of date. Think about how it would look - and smell! Thanks to the power of disgust, you’ll have a much better chance of remembering the fresh milk you need.
Don’t try this technique too often, though, or you’ll end up always feeling on edge! But, in those moments when your memory needs a boost, a small bit of revulsion (反感) can be very healthy for your recall.
1. What do the underlined words “the pack” mean in Paragraph 1?| A．Living in groups. |
| B．Navigating systems. |
| C．Recognizing faces. |
| D．Remembering routes. |
| A．Volunteers are infected with COVID viruses. |
| B．Volunteers would touch contaminated objects. |
| C．Volunteers’ brains memorize all of the items tested later. |
| D．Volunteers’ brains lock on to contaminated objects. |
| A．Ask your teachers to remind you from time to time. |
| B．Recall a happy memory that is related to the school. |
| C．Imagine you will be awfully punished by your teacher. |
| D．Write the sentence. “Don’t be late” in your notebook. |
| A．Try this way constantly when you feel on edge. |
| B．Stay safe, and you will have a good memory. |
| C．Increase memory, and you will have healthy recall. |
| D．Think of something disgusting when your memory needs a boost. |
【推荐3】Singles Day falls on every November 11th, and as the name suggests, this relatively new holiday is one only for people who are still living single lives. I was a bit surprised when I googled ‘Singles Day’ on the Internet, to find that China is the only country in the world that has set aside a special day for singles to celebrate their lives.
*The Origin of Singles Day
An old story goes that once there were four single men, leading very boring lives. None of them were married, or had lovers, or did anything exciting. They just sat around all day and played Mahjong.
One day they played Mahjong from 11 in the morning until 11 at night. During the game, no matter who won, the winning card was always the ‘four columns’ card (the card shows four independent, parallel (并行) columns in two lines). Even more of a coincidence (巧合), it was Nov 11, or 11/11. In order to remember the day, they called it Singles Day.
*University culture
Singles Day was first celebrated at various universities in Nanjing, capital city of Jiangsu Province during the 1990s. It got the name Singles Day because the date consists of four “ones”. These college students have since graduated, and carried their university tradition into society, Singles Day is now a special day for all fashionable youths.
*______
The main way to celebrate Singles Day is to have dinner with your single friends, but it’s important that each person go Dutch to show their independence. People also hold “blind date” parties trying to say goodbye to their single lives.
For breakfast on Singles Day, singles often eat four youtiao representing the four “one” in “11. 11” and one baozi representing the middle dot.
Many singles also choose to say goodbye to their single lives on this day. Many attend “blind date” parties and many people choose to marry on this day. In addition to meaning “single”, the four “ones” of the date can also mean “only one” as in “the only one for me”, some people will use this date and this meaning to tell their special someone that they are the only “one” in their heart.
1. Singles Day got its name because ______.| A．single persons celebrate the day | B．the date is made up of four “one” |
| C．it was first celebrated at universities in Nanjing | D．the persons who play mahjong are four single men |
| A．is celebrated not only in universities but also in society | B．is celebrated mainly by holding “blind date” parties |
| C．was first celebrated in the early 21st century | D．was first celebrated by playing Mahjong |
| A．Special breakfast. | B．The only one for me. | C．Creative celebration. | D．Saying goodbye to single lives. |
| A．each of the singles doesn’t pay for their own meal while having dinner together |
| B．many singles often eat four youtiao and one baozi for breakfast every morning |
| C．many singles attend parties where blind people are present on Singles Day |
| D．Singles Day is very popular with young people in particular in China |
