In a noisy restaurant, you can still hear your friend’s voice clearly. You talk happily without paying attention to others’ conversations. That’s because selective (选择性的) attention is helping you.
Selective attention is an amazing ability in our brain. It allows people to choose and focus on (专注于) something in the environment. At the same time, it can filter out (过滤) unnecessary information, so people can focus on one conversation in a crowded place. But how does selective attention work? Researchers from Columbia University did an experiment to study it. The result shows that the brain is selective about the sounds it hears. When a person listens to someone talking, their brain waves (波) change to pick out the features of the speaker’s voice and filter out other voices.
To further understand how selective attention works, the researchers studied two parts of the brain’s listening centre: Heschl’s gyrus (HG) and the superior temporal gyrus (STG). Information from the ears reaches HG first, passes through it and arrives at STG later. In the study, they found the following facts: in HG area, every voice is treated the same way. That is to say, HG doesn’t prefer one voice or another. But in STG area, it’s possible to choose one speaker’s voice and make it louder. The whole process (过程) only takes 150 milliseconds and it happens immediately to a listener. As a result, people can focus on one voice when there are many other conversations around.
“Today’s study is quite important. We want to better understand how the brain helps us to hear so well, as well as create technologies that help people,” said Dr. Mesgarani, the leader of the researchers. With the help of the finding, speech recognition technologies have been improved. The researchers have already developed a new kind of hearing aid that can help collect information more correctly. It could make one speaker’s voice louder over another. They also plan to study more about HG and STG activity in situations that have more speakers.
1. What can selective attention help people do according to the passage?| A．Choose where to talk. | B．Hear more in a conversation |
| C．Forget unnecessary information. | D．Focus on one voice in a noisy place. |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．How to improve listening | B．How the listening centre works. |
| C．How to make a better hearing aid. | D．How HG and STG protect each other. |
| A．A Great Ability in Brain | B．A New Study on Technologies |
| C．A Key to Reducing Noise | D．A Way to Make Conversation |
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【推荐1】In December 2021, people in Shenzhen found that water ran more slowly from their taps. The government said the city was facing its most serious water shortage ever.
Some other cities in the southern part of China, like Chengdu and Guangzhou, are also becoming“thirsty”, The Paper reported. Compared with northern areas, southern areas have more rain and are close to more rivers and lakes. So why are they still short on water?
In big cities like Shenzhen and Guangzhou, populations are growing fast. As a result, people and factories need more and more water. Each person in Shenzhen has less than 200 cubic meters of water each year. It’s 1/12 of the country’s average. According to the United Nations, it is an“absolute water shortage” (极度缺水) when the number is below 500 cubic meters.
Climate change is making the water problem worse. For example, most cities in Guangdong rely on the Dongjiang River as their main source (来源) of water. In 2021, the river was reported to be drying up. Because of climate change, there’s also less snow in the mountains of Tibet. The snow has long been the source of water for many areas in China. Those mountains might provide less water in the future.
There are other reasons for water shortages. For example, water pollution makes it harder to get clean drinking water. Factories and farms don’t use water efficiently (有效地). Some cities have enough rainfall but don’t have big lakes or reservoirs (水库) to store water. The water just goes into the sea.
1. Why does the writer call these cities“thirsty”?| A．Because they have wasted too much water. |
| B．Because they use more water than other cities. |
| C．Because they have few lakes and rivers. |
| D．Because they are short on water. |
| A．meets the UN’s standards |
| B．is higher than the country’s average |
| C．shows that the city’s water problem is serious |
| D．is the same as other parts of China |
| A．depend | B．focus | C．advise | D．reply |
| A．People are using up the water in these rivers. |
| B．The rivers flow through many areas with less rain. |
| C．Mountains in Tibet have less snow. |
| D．Most water goes to the sea before people can get it. |
| A．Water pollution. | B．Wasting water. |
| C．Lack of storing place. | D．Climate change. |
【推荐2】Have you ever paid attention to the Air Quality Index (空气质量指标) or AQI reported in the newspaper? The AQI helps us understand what the air quality around us means to our health. The AQI uses colors, numbers and words to tell us about the air. Let’s see what these colors, and numbers mean.
AQI colors | AQI numbers | Health | What to do |
Green | 0-50 | Good | Just enjoy the clean air? |
Yellow | 51-100 | Moderate (适中) | Air quality is fine for most people |
orange | 101-150 | Unhealthy for sensitive(敏感的) group | Active children and adults and people with lung disease should spend less time outdoors. |
Red | 151-200 | Unhealthy | People with lung disease and active kids and adults shouldn’t spend too long time outdoors. Everybody else should try to spend less time outsides. |
Purple | 201-300 | Very unhealthy | People with lung disease and active kids and adults should not spend any time outdoors. Everybody should try not to go outsides. |
1. If the Air Quality is ________, the air quality is good for most people.
| A．yellow | B．orange | C．red | D．purple |
| A．96 | B．129 | C．167 | D．258 |
| A．smaller, worse | B．smaller, better | C．bigger, better | D．bigger, meet |
| A．to spend less time indoors | B．to stay outdoors often for fresh air |
| C．never to spend any time outdoors | D．not to stay outdoors for a long time |
| A．If the AQI number is 120, the AQI color will be yellow. | B．The AQI can’t help people know the air quality. |
| C．If the AQI color is orange, the air is the best for people. | D．People with lung disease are very sensitive to the air. |
【推荐3】In recent years, we have been used to wearing masks (口罩) much more often in our daily lives. Do you think wearing a mask makes us prettier or uglier?
Scientists did an experiment (实验) to answer this question. They prepared many photos of men faces. Each face was shown in four ways: without a mask, wearing a cloth mask, wearing a blue medical mask, and covering the lower half of the face with a black book.
Then, the scientists showed the photos to 43 women. They were asked to pick out the most attractive (迷人的) face. According to the results, the photos with medical masks topped the list. And the photos with cloth masks came in second place.
In the past, we usually stayed away from mask wearers. We just thought that they might be sick and might make us sick, too. But now, the situation has changed. When we see people not wearing masks in public places, we might feel unsafe. As a result, mask wearers are now considered to be healthier and more attractive.
Masks also make the wearer more attractive by covering part of his face. Our brain fills in the missing part of it. The appearance we imagine may be better than the real one.
It’s really helpful to wear a mask. Making you prettier is just one reason ...
1. Why did the scientists do the experiment?| A．To take nicer photos. |
| B．To answer a question. |
| C．To make people prettier. |
| D．To make a new mask. |
| A．Photos without masks. |
| B．Photos with cloth masks. |
| C．Photos with a black book. |
| D．Photos with medical masks. |
| A．A change of ways to wear masks. |
| B．Suggestions on how to be attractive. |
| C．A change of ideas of mask wearers. |
| D．Suggestions on how to keep healthy. |
| A．Other reasons of wearing masks. |
| B．Development of medicine. |
| C．Results of another experiment. |
| D．Advice on choosing masks. |
Cartoon | Character Introduction |
 | Coyote (America) He likes to brag (吹牛), that is, to tell stories that are not true. In one tale, Coyote says he can fly. He sticks crow feathers on his back. Do you think a Coyote can really fly? |
 | Monkey King (China) He likes to be bad and make mischief (恶作剧). In one tale, Monkey King tricks his friends into working for him while he rests in a nearby tree. |
 | Reynard the Fox (France) In one tale, the tricky fox pretends to be dead. A farmer throws Reynard into his wagon. There, the clever fox eats the farmer’s food. |
 | Anansi (West Africa) Anansi, the spider always wants more than he has. His greediness gets him into trouble. |
| A．boring | B．about kid | C．about animals | D．very short |
| A．Coyote | B．Monkey King | C．Reynard the Fox | D．Anansi |
| A．likes to brag | B．likes to be bad |
| C．pretends to be dead | D．wants more than he has |
| A．狡猾 | B．贪婪 | C．愚蠢 | D．聪明 |
【推荐2】Internet buzzwords(热词), a newly-born form of cultural expression, have became popular among young people.
Why do buzzwords become so popular? Because people like to search for similar groups. In the similar groups, people use the same way to express themselves, which makes them feel they belong(属于) here and are accepted by each other. Buzzwords are just this kind of way for people to find such groups.
However, some think that the buzzwords cause people’s poor language use. It is not true, for Internet buzzwords should never be thought as a simple symbol. For example, “yyds” expresses that one person admires(仰慕) somebody. It may seem that these people are not using complete words, but in fact, what they are doing is adding colors to daily life.
Sometimes young people can not express themselves through the common language. But the problem can be solved by encouraging them to read books. The popularity of buzzwords should not be the cause of the problem. We cannot consider it as a wrong thing. Only by accepting new cultural forms with an open mind can we move ahead step by step and make progress in the coming times.
1. Buzzwords become so popular because ________.| A．it is easier for people to use |
| B．they are thought to be a simple symbol |
| C．people like to use new words |
| D．people like to search for similar groups |
| A．符号 | B．文字 | C．图片 | D．表格 |
| A．adds colors to daily life |
| B．causes poor language use |
| C．means that one person admires somebody |
| D．encourages people to read more books |
| A．We must refuse the Internet buzzwords. |
| B．We’d better use buzzwords every day. |
| C．We should accept buzzwords with an open mind. |
| D．We can’t solve the problem caused by buzzwords. |
【推荐3】People from Europe and America brought Africans to America as slaves (奴隶) before and during the 19th century.
Jazz came soon after blues. Composers used more musical instruments.
Musicians change the music to show their emotions (情感) when they play blues and jazz.
阅读短文，从所给的七个选项中选出能填入文中空缺处的最佳选项。
| A．These Africans brought their music with them. |
| B．Europeans and Americans brought music together with them. |
| C．Sometimes they sang without any instruments. |
| D．They play the music differently each time. |
| E．The two kinds of music attracted (吸引) people so much. |
| F．Jazz can be happier and is often faster. |
| G．Blues and jazz became very popular in the 20th century. |
