【推荐1】

Australian magpies can understand what other birds are saying to each other, a new study has found.

The research, published in the journal Animal Behavior, says the magpie has learned the meanings of different noisy miner calls and essentially eavesdrops(偷听) to find out which predators(食肉动物) are near.

Noisy miners----a small, native honeyeater----have different warning calls for ground-based and aerial(飞行的)predators. By playing both kinds of recording to a series of wild magpies, researchers observed the magpies raising their beaks(喙) to the sky, or dropping their heads to the ground.

Researchers attracted the magpies with cheese, then played the noisy miner calls, videotaping the results.

As a control, they also rolled a large orange ball towards the magpies to see how they ordinarily tilted(倾斜) their beaks to ground threats, and threw the ball to see how they reacted to aerial threats.

The researchers recorded an average maximum beak angle of 29 degrees for the thrown ball, and an average maximum of nine degrees when it was rolled.

The miners’ aerial warning caused an average maximum beak angle of 31 degrees, and the ground warning caused an average maximum of 24.

One of the study’s authors, Dominique Potvin, said the magpies showed an astonishing level of insight.

Magpies and miners broadly face the same types of predators and the two frequently live in the same ecosystem.

Potvin said this had encouraged the magpies’ learned behavior.

“Magpies are generally found on the ground and noisy miners are generally found up in trees. It pays for the magpie to pay attention to somebody who has a better view of predators than they do.”

She said it was unclear whether other birds could do the same, but it was highly likely other magpies around Australia already did.

“Magpies are a pretty smart group. We’re not sure if they’re learning this from other magpies or if they’re figuring it out on their own, but the ability is there.

As part of the experiment, researchers also played a third call: a common, non-warning call from a crimson rosella. They found the magpies did not respond.

Potvin said that we had been actively exploring animal cognition(认知) research. “It’s a good piece of the puzzle,” Potvin said. “Looking at the social relationships between species that live in communities.”

1. What have the researchers found about Australian magpies?

A．They can understand other bird calls.

B．They can communicate with noisy miners.

C．They have a special preference for cheeses.

D．They have the ability to warn the predators.

2. How did the researchers get their findings?

A．By calculating the beak angles of aerial and ground predators.

B．By comparing the magpie and the miner responses to threats.

C．By monitoring the magpie responses to the miner warning calls.

D．By recording the magpie louder scream for other birds’ attention.

3. The magpies’ cognition can help them _____.

A．have a better view of the predators than the miners

B．better protect themselves from the potential threats

C．cooperate with other birds to drive away the predators

D．live in harmony with other birds in the same ecosystem

4. We can learn from the passage that _____.

A．the magpies are smart learners of other birds’ behaviour

B．it’s likely that other birds have developed the same ability

C．the findings have clarified the relationships between species

D．a lot more remains to be explored about animal cognition

【推荐3】Last year Congress issued a moral call to action when it ordered the National Institutes of Health to reevaluate its ethical oversight (伦理上的疏忽) of government-funded primate (灵长类) research. Although the scientific community widely sees nonhuman primates as essential for advances in biomedicine (they have caused major gains in the fights against AIDS and neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s, for example), researchers agree more can be done to treat the animals more humanely and conduct research less wastefully. To that end, the NIH gathered famous scientists last September to discuss the future of primate-based research—and they agreed that data sharing is the way forward.

Researchers could reduce experiments on nonhuman primates by studying data that have already been collected to answer new questions, says David O’Connor, a pathologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. O’Connor is walking the walk: his laboratory studies the Zika virus in primates, and he immediately posts all the results online. The goal is to figure out ways to fight Zika as quickly as possible without placing an undue burden on research primates. The Seattle-based Allen Institute for Brain Science, which uses rhesus macaques, small South Asian monkeys, to study the molecular basis of brain development, also makes all results public. O’Connor says this practice should be more widespread so that “researchers who are using this scarce but vital resource can learn as much as possible from as few animals as necessary.” Still, he is skeptical that data sharing will catch on because it would require a change in “normative behavior”—science’s strong culture of secrecy, in which data are kept under wraps until they are published in a peer-reviewed journal. One step toward full transparency is to follow the lead of human clinical trials, says Christine Grady, a bioethicist at the NIH. U.S. law requires most clinical trials to register online and make their results public, even if a study fails or is inconclusive. This ensures that other researchers can learn from a trial regardless of its results—a move that could also safeguard primates against being used for the same thing twice. Nancy Haigwood, director of the Oregon National Primate Research Center, also says data sharing is “the way of the future.” Her center hosts 4,800 primates to study a variety of human diseases. She currently contributes results from her center to O’Connor’s Web site. “I don’t see a drawback,” she says. “We have to share data more quickly.”

1. What does Congress think of the primate research?

A．It has done a great deal of good to advances in biomedicine.

B．It is a huge waste of money to conduct research on primates.

C．Primate-based research must be stopped for moral reasons.

D．Proper attention should be given to treating primates humanely.

2. The underlined phrase “walking the walk” in Paragraph 2 shows that O’Connor _______.

A．is the leader in fighting Zika virus in primates

B．is walking away from his own responsibility

C．is carrying out what he has said he should do

D．is taking a tough road when posting his data

3. According to O’Connor, what might prevent scientists from sharing their data?

A．The deep-rooted culture that data should be kept secret until published.

B．The fact that scientists are reluctant to change their way of research.

C．The requirement that most clinical trials should be registered online.

D．The fear that they will be laughed at if a study fails or is inconclusive.

4. What could be the best title for the passage?

A．The Merciless Practice of Primate Research

B．To Treat Primates More Humanely: Transparency

C．To Abandon Experiments on Primates: Final Goal

D．The Burden of Research on Nonhuman Primates

【推荐1】They may be small and not able to speak, but babies are proving their amazing cleverness. Scientists began finding infants’ skills are more than they are supposed to be.
_________
Speaking of music, babies can’t seem to resist it. Not only are their ears turned to the beats, babies can actually dance to the music.
To test babies’ dancing ability, the researchers played recordings of classical music, rhythmic beats and speech to infants, and recorded the results. They also invited professional dancers to analyze how well the babies matched their movements to the music. The babies moved their arms, hands, legs feet and heads in response to the music, much more than to the speech. The finding suggests this dancing ability is innate(与生俱来的) in humans, though the researchers aren’t sure why it becomes weaker later in their life.
Learning Quickly while Sleeping
Babies can learn even while asleep, according to a 2011 study. In experiments with 26 sleeping infants, each just 1 to 2 days old, scientists played a musical tone followed by a puff of air to their eyes 200 times over the course of a half-hour. 124 electrodes(电极) stuck on the head and face of each baby recorded brain activity during the experiments. The babies rapidly learned to foretell a puff of air upon hearing the tone, showing a four-time increase on average in the chances of tightening their eyelids in response to the sound by the end of the experiments.
As newborns spend most of their time asleep, this newfound ability might be crucial to rapidly adapting to the world around them and help to ensure their survival, researchers said.
Judging Characters Well
Judging another person helpful or harmful is crucial when choosing friends. And that ability starts early. Kiley Hamlin of Yale University showed both 6-and 10-month-olds a puppet(木偶) show, in which one character helped another climb a hill. In another scene a third character pushed the climber down. The little ones then got to choose which character they preferred. For both age groups, most babies chose the helper character. This character-judging ability could be baby’s first step in the formation of morals, Hamlin thought.
1. Which of the following subtitles can fill in the underlined blank?

A．Dancing to Music

B．Babies’ Amazing Abilities

C．Learning to Dance Quickly

D．Born to Dance

2. The underlined word “it” in the third paragraph refers to______.

A．the finding

B．the dancing ability

C．the response

D．the baby

3. The experiment with 26 sleeping infants prove that_______.

A．babies can learn even while asleep

B．babies can respond to the world around them

C．babies can tighten their eyelids in response to the sound

D．babies can communicate with others while asleep

4. In the last experiment, most babies chose the helper character, showing that________.

A．babies can judge a person helpful or harmful

B．babies love to see a puppet show

C．babies were born to help others

D．babes have learned to help others

【推荐2】Until recently scientific evidence for a link between employee well-being and company performance has been scarce. In the new IZA World of Labor report, Dr. Eugenio Proto, of the University of Warwick’s Department of Economics, gives some proof.     1     Finding causal relations between employee well-being and company performance is important for firms to justify spending corporate resources to provide a happier work environment for their employees.

    2     Dr.Proto cites a number of researches that uncovered evidence that happiness leads to greater creativity, and that job satisfaction is positively related with worker productivity.     3     These can be defined as people who frequently experience positive emotions like joy, satisfaction, contentment, enthusiasm, and interest. For example, adolescent Americans who are “happier” end up with higher incomes several years later in life.

    4     First, if happiness in a workplace carries with it a return in terms of enhanced productivity, there are enormous implications for firms’ promotion policies and for the way they structure their internal labour markets. For example, managers could be rewarded on the basis of employees’ job satisfaction. Second, Proto suggests a win-win situation for everyone.The effect running from happiness to productivity raises the possibility of self-reinforcing spirals-ones that might even operate at a macroeconomic level. Happiness might lead to greater productivity in an economy.    5    

A．The conclusions are contrary to what most people think.

B．However, few companies are willing to invest in this aspect.

C．In turn, greater well-being in the population can be expected.

D．These findings have some implications for company practice.

E．Therefore, policies can be introduced to boost staff happiness.

F．Other studies show happy people are more likely to succeed in their career.

G．He notes there is a positive connection between happiness and productivity.

【推荐1】Life isn’t fair. That universal truth is something that children seem to understand at a young age，but the path through which they develop a sense of what’s fair and what isn’t—and how they act on injustices—is something that has been a puzzle for social scientists.

To find out which aspects of fairness might be universal and which might be culturally driven，a team of scientists traveled to seven countries to study how different groups of children play fair. The researchers designed an “inequity(不公平) game” that they used to test 866 pairs of children aged 4 to 15 in Canada，India，Mexico，Peru，Senegal，Uganda and the United States.

Two children of the same gender(性别) and similar age were seated across from each other and were offered some candy. Sometimes the allocations were equal and sometimes they were not. One of the two children got to decide whether both of them accepted the allocation or rejected it. The experiment was set up to work through a machine that required the child to pull one handle to accept the deal—resulting in the candy being poured into a bowl for two children each—and a different handle to reject it—pouring the sweets into a third bowl where neither one would get to eat them.

In all seven countries，the results indicated a rejection of disadvantageous inequity. That is，when the children were allocated less candy than others，they tended to route all the treats into the bowl that no one could access. The reactions to advantageous inequity were more mixed. Children in only three countries—the United States，Canada and Uganda—had a tendency to reject unequal distributions of candy when they got more than others. “Given that these countries tend to stress principles of equality，it is possible that children in these countries face social pressures to learn these principles earlier，” the researchers wrote.

1. What does paragraph 3 talk about?

A．The players of the game.

B．The tools of the game.

C．The rules of the game.

D．The results of the game.

2. Which factor can significantly affect kids’ attitude to advantageous inequity?

A．School education.

B．Social environment.

C．Parents’ influence.

D．National development.

3. What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A．To discuss the importance of fairness.

B．To draw readers’ attention to inequity.

C．To offer kids some tips for rejecting inequity.

D．To introduce a study on how kids play fair.

【推荐2】Bees play a vital role in the world. Unfortunately, bees are dying by the second.

The main purpose of bees is to make honey. Honey, shockingly, does not exist for human consumption, it is essential to the insects. Honeybees store honey in their hives (蜂巢) in order for the bees to have energy for their flight muscles and for heating the hive during the winter period. They collect pollen (花粉) which supplies protein for young bees to grow.

According to Honey, com, the increased production and quality of agricultural crops as a result of honey bee pollination is valued more than $14.6 billion per year. These insects are responsible for over 70 of the fruits and vegetables we eat today, including apples, grapes, coffee, beans, and broccoli.

So if they are so valuable to agriculture, why do they keep dying off? A key suspect seems to be pesticides (农药). Honeybees who are exposed to pesticides result in the damage to their neurological (神经的) functions, specifically memory or behavior. And that’s why the majority of worker bees disappear and leave behind a queen, plenty of food and a few nurse bees to care for the remaining immature bees and the queen. There are several other causes to the decline of bees, including the destruction of natural habitat, like woodlands, forests, and other habitats for bees. Climate change is also a factor in the decline of the wild bee population.

Actually, there are a variety of methods to help the bee population grow. One way is to start your own organic garden by planting bee-friendly plants. Pesticides are used in both industrial practices and even in your home, so it is best to find organic seeds and weed killers.

1. Why do honeybees store honey in their hives?

A．To provide enough honey for human to consume.

B．To draw protein out of honey for young bees.

C．To help attract other insects and make hives stronger.

D．To strengthen bee muscles and heat hives in winter.

2. Apples and beans are mentioned in the third paragraph to show that ________.

A．bees supply human beings with basic food

B．bees mainly live on these agricultural crops

C．bees are of great importance to fruits and vegetables

D．bees can bring in more money for famers every year

3. What is most likely to cause the worker bees to leave their hives behind?

A．The lack of food.

B．The abuse of pesticides.

C．The fighting among bees.

D．The destruction of the habitats.

4. What would the author probably discuss in the paragraph that follows?

A．Another way to save bees.

B．Other tips for choosing seeds.

C．More methods to plant green organic fruits.

D．Causes of the decline in the wild bee population.

【推荐3】Some years ago a young man applied to a large United States optical firm for a job as a lens designer. He apologized for lack of training, but on announcing that he owned two copies of the classic Conrady’s Applied Optics and Optical Design, one for his office and a second for his bedside table, he was hired on the spot. Perhaps the story will be repeated some day with Buchdahl’s Introduction to Hamiltonian Optics as a similar certificate of qualification.

Hamiltonian theory describes with powerful generality the overall properties of optical systems considered as ‘black boxes’, although it does not describe the detailed structure needed to construct the systems and achieve these properties. Buchdahl’s book is therefore on the subject of geometrical optics, but it is not about how to design lenses. It is, however a compact comprehensive account of the fundamentals of the theory written with the lens designer’s needs very much in mind. Every lens designer worth his salt has at some time in his career attempted to apply the broad concepts of Hamiltonian optics to the solutions of practical problems. Success has been sufficiently rare that the theory, as such, has made little direct contribution to techniques for optical instrument design. The failures have been frustrating because of the obvious fundamental power of the theory and because of its conceptual elegance. The indirect effects have been large, however, both in contributing to an understanding of fundamental principles that govern the overall behavior of optical systems and in pointing the way to other, more practical, theoretical approaches.

Buchdahl approaches the subject not only as a capable mathematical physicist, but as one who with a knowledge of practical optics has made a significant contribution to geometrical optical theory. Buchdahl’s approach has, over the last decade, had a major impact on modern lens design with computers. Thus, he brings to this exposition of Hamiltonian optics a familiarity with practical optics not usually found in authors on this subject.

The author claims his book to be non-mathematical, and indeed it might be so viewed by a professional mathematician. From the point of view of many physicists and engineers, it will appear to be quite mathematical. Moreover, this is a tightly written book. The subject matter is developed with precision, and the author expects the reader, at very point, to be master of the preceding exposition.

1. Hamiltonian theory met with failures as a result of ________.

A．newer finding related to the wave particle nature of light

B．very complicated concepts too difficult to understand by most lens designers

C．too much mathematical detail in the theory

D．not enough practical information offered by the theory to allow for use by lens crafters

2. The author of this passage implies that Introduction to Hamiltonian Optics is necessary to________.

A．the students who are major in mathematical geometry

B．those who want to grasp the basic principles of optical systems

C．the lens designers who look for instructions on practical designs

D．those who are interested in physics

3. The article points out that the great benefits of Hamiltonian optics have been found is ________.

A．indirect ways of learning mathematics

B．a fundamental power within the theory

C．its the conceptual elegance

D．its the practical applications in finding new approaches to old problems

4. This passage is probably excerpted from ________.

A．a review of a book	B．a chemistry textbook
C．an optician’s essay	D．a general science text

【推荐1】British people are famous for apologizing in almost every situation.Whether they are apologizing for asking a question, for their bad weather or because they sneezed, they are probably the number-one nation for apologies.

Brits pride themselves on their polite manners towards one another in public. As a result, they often use the word “sorry” quite a lot---even when they don't really mean it! Usually, if they want to ask a stranger for the time, they would start by saying “Sorry to bother you. Do you know what time it is?” If they are five minutes late for an appointment, they would generally greet the person by saying “Sorry, I’m late!”

That they say sorry does not only mean they feel sad for someone else because of their problems or misfortunes. Another main dictionary definition of “sorry” is feeling regret because they have done something wrong. And now, think about this. Normally, when they want to ask a stranger a question, they start with “Sorry to disturb you”. In this situation, they aren’t saying sorry because they feel sad for that person or because they feel regret.

In the British culture, apologizing, in general, is a way to be polite, especially to people who they don’t know very well. Furthermore, it also can bring them other benefits in their daily life. In a recent experiment, an actor approached different strangers on a rainy day to ask if he could use their mobile phones to make a call. When he approached one group of strangers and asked them without apologizing first, he was only 9% successful in borrowing their phones. However, when he apologized to another group of strangers about the bad weather before asking if he could use their mobile phones, he was 47% successful.

1. Why do British people say “sorry” so much?

A．To respect others.

B．To show their politeness.

C．To express their regret.

D．To apologize for their mistakes.

2. What can we infer about the word “sorry” from the third paragraph?

A．It is used in more situations than before.

B．It is embarrassing to use sorry improperly.

C．It has different meanings in different situations.

D．Its meaning is always hard to understand.

3. What is the main idea of the last paragraph?

A．The secrets to dealing with strangers.	B．The ways of borrowing a phone.
C．The benefits of saying “sorry”.	D．The keys to being a polite man.

4. What’s the author’s attitude towards saying “sorry”?

A．Disapproval.

B．Favorable.

C．Doubtful.

D．Indifferent.

【推荐2】For years, life went something like this: We'd grow up in one place, head off to college, and then find a city to live in for a few years at time to pursue a job or higher education. The end goal was to find somewhere to settle down, buy a house, start a family, and begin the whole cycle all over again.

But a new model for living is emerging: More and more people are moving from city to city throughout their entire lives, sometimes as frequently as every month. Just ask Alex Chatzielefteriou, who has had a front-row seat watching this evolution unfold.

Six years ago, he launched a startup called Blueground that rents out beautifully designed, fully furnished apartments for a month at a time, at rates that are cheaper than hotels. Today, the company has 3,000 properties in six U.S. cities, along with Dubai, Istanbul, London, Paris, and Chatzielefteriou's native Athens, and a staff of 400. The company just invested $78 million to continue its rapid expansion and make each one feel unique and cosy, rather than standardized, like what you might find in a traditional hotel.

Chatzielefteriou first came up with the idea for Blueground while he was working as a management consultant for McKinsey. “The accommodation of choice for consultants is the hotel,” he says. “I had to spend five years in a hotel room, living in 12 different cities. I loved seeing the world, but I didn't love feeling like I didn't have a home.” As he spoke to his friends and coworkers, he realized that many people were frustrated with this restless lifestyle. And what's more, hotels aren't a particularly cost-effective solution for companies either. In Chatzielefteriou's case, McKinsey sometimes paid S10,000 or more for him to stay in a major city for a month, which was far more expensive than local rents.

1. What's the main purpose of the first paragraph?

A．To tell the end goal of our life.

B．To introduce the topic of the text.

C．To stress the importance of buying a house.

D．To explain the reason for people's flooding into cities.

2. What motivated Chatzielefteriou to set up a company?

A．His urge to have a home.

B．His desire to make money.

C．His friends' encouragement.

D．His experience in living in hotel.

3. Why is Blueground a success?

A．It has obvious price superiority.

B．It has good geographical location.

C．It has beautifully designed apartments.

D．It has unique and comfortable environment.

4. What does the text mainly talk about?

A．The fall of traditional hotels.

B．The rise of a new living model.

C．The advantages of Blueground.

D．The disadvantages of traditional hotels.

【推荐3】You know you have to read "between the lines" to get the most out of anything. I want to persuade you to do something equally important in the course of your reading. I want to persuade you to “write between the lines." Unless you do, you are not likely to do the most efficient kind of reading.

I insist, quite bluntly, that marking up a book is not an act of damage but of love.

There are two ways in which one can own a book. The first is the property right you establish by paying for it, just as you pay for clothes and furniture. But this act of purchase is only the first step to possession. Full ownership comes only when you have made it a part of yourself and the best way to make yourself a part of it is by writing in it. I am arguing that books must be absorbed in your bloodstream to do you any good.

Why is marking up a book necessary to reading? First, it keeps you awake. (And I don't mean only conscious; I mean wide awake.) In the second place, reading, if it is active, is thinking and thinking tends to express itself in words, spoken or written. The marked book is usually the thought-through book. Finally, writing helps you remember the thoughts you had, or the thoughts the author expressed.

But, you may ask, why is writing necessary? Well, the physical act of writing, with your own hand, brings words and sentences more sharply before your mind and preserves them better in your memory. To set down your reaction to important words and sentences you have read, and the questions they have raised in your mind, is to preserve those reactions and sharpen those questions.

If reading is to accomplish anything more than passing time, it must be active. You can't let your eyes glide across the lines in a book and come up with an understanding of what you have read. The books you read for pleasure can be read in a state of relaxation, and nothing is lost. An ordinary piece of light fiction, like "Gone with the Wind," doesn't require the most active kind of reading, and you don't absorb the ideas of John Dewey the way you absorb the story of David Copperfield.

You may also say that this business of marking books is going to slow up your reading. It probably will. That's one of the reasons for doing it. Most of us have been taken in by the notion that speed of reading is a measure of our intelligence. There is no such things as the right speed for intelligent reading. Some things should be read quickly and effortlessly, and some should be read slowly and even laboriously. The sign of intelligence in reading is the ability to read different things differently according to their worth. In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through you — how many you can make your own. A few friends are better than a thousand acquaintances. If this be your aim, as it should be, you will not be impatient if it takes more time and effort to read a great book than it does a newspaper.

1. Full ownership of a book does not occur until ________.

A．it is purchased	B．it is read between the lines
C．it is written between the lines	D．it is worn, shaken and loosened

2. The main advantage of marking up a book is ________.

A．to keep you from feeling sleepy

B．to show that you are absorbed in reading

C．to make yourself conscious that you are reading actively

D．to make yourself a part of it, making further understanding possible

3. The author most probably agrees that ________.

A．Gone with the Wind and David Copperfield are not thought-through books

B．Marking a book can help preserve your questions about what is read

C．Reading will benefit us more if it is done actively

D．Intelligent people usually read quickly and differently

4. The purpose of this passage is ________.

A．to tell the readers how to read different books

B．to encourage the readers to read slowly but actively

C．to argue that the readers should read between lines

D．to introduce ways to mark up a book while reading