1 . If you’ re reaching for the last piece of pizza at a party, and meanwhile see another hand going for it, your next move probably depends on how you feel and whom the hand belongs to. Your little sister — you might just grab the pizza. Your boss — you probably will give up.
Now researchers have made progress in understanding how mammals’ brain encodes social rank and uses this information to shape behaviors — such as whether to fight for the last pizza slice. They discovered that an area of the brain called the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) was responsible for representing social rank in mammals; changes to a mouse’s mPFC affected its dominance behavior. But it was unknown how the mPFC represented this information and which neurons(神经元) were involved in changing dominance behaviour.
In the new study, Professor Kay Tye let groups of four mice share a cage. Some mice became more dominant and others more subordinate. As soon as the mice were paired up, he discovered, the activity of their mPFC neurons could predict — with 90 percent certainty — the rank of their opponent.
“We expected animals might only signal rank when they are in a competition,” says co-researcher Nancy. “But it turns out animals walk around with this representation of social rank all the time.”
When the researchers next asked whether the activity of the mPFC neurons was associated with behaviour, they found something surprising. The brain activity patterns were linked with slight changes in behaviour, such as how fast a mouse moved, and they also could predict — a full 30 seconds before the competition started — which mouse would win the food reward.
The winner was not always the more dominant, but the one engaged in a winning mindset. Just as you might sometimes be in a more competitive mood and be more likely to snatch that pizza slice before your boss, a subordinate mouse might be in a more winning mindset than a more dominant mouse and end up winning.
The areas of the mPFC associated with social rank and winning mindset are next to one another and highly connected. Signals on social rank impact the state of the brain involved in winning mindset. In other words, a subordinate mouse’s confidence and winning mindset may partially decrease when faced with a dominant one.
“This is further evidence to suggest that we are in different brain states when we are with others compared to when we’re alone,” says Tye.
1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?| A．To provide background information. | B．To state the importance of social rank. |
| C．To give readers an example of social rank. | D．To introduce the topic of the reading passage. |
| A．The mPFC neurons. | B．The researchers. |
| C．The brain activity patterns. | D．The changes in behaviour. |
| A．Brain activities can influence social rank. |
| B．Dominant opponents boost winning mindset. |
| C．Social rank and winning mindset affect behaviour. |
| D．Animals only exhibit their rank in competition. |
| A．Winning mindset establishes dominance. |
| B．Social rank guides competitive behaviour. |
| C．A subordinate mouse can never been a winner. |
| D．Awareness of different people around you make your brain use different neurons. |
2 . Desperate to help his 96-year-old mother to speak her mother tongue again, Keith McDermott made an
Ray moved to America after meeting her husband when she was only 18, hence waving goodbye to her
So Keith, 70,
“When you have a parent in their nineties, you will find you two have something in common: you’re both old, so I am very sympathetic to my mother’s feelings of loneliness and isolation. I’m feeling it myself. ” Keith hopes to
| A．indication | B．appeal | C．assignment | D．apology |
| A．lady | B．traveler | C．explorer | D．gentleman |
| A．senior | B．childhood | C．enthusiastic | D．lonely |
| A．friends | B．life | C．tongue | D．Relatives |
| A．hope | B．tension | C．similarity | D．home |
| A．Concerning | B．Apart from | C．Despite | D．Due to |
| A．blue | B．faded | C．fragile | D．clear |
| A．leave | B．return | C．quit | D．talk |
| A．given | B．supposed | C．remembering | D．neglecting |
| A．go | B．fly | C．happen | D．start |
| A．searched | B．mentioned | C．linked | D．posted |
| A．embarrassed | B．touched | C．hooked | D．puzzled |
| A．stable | B．happy | C．fluent | D．passionate |
| A．take up | B．make up | C．bring up | D．set up |
| A．remind | B．accuse | C．inform | D．cure |
3 . Pieter Bruegel’s 1565 realistic painting The Harvesters hangs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “The work describes farmers cutting wheat nearly as tall as they are,” Ghent University biologist Ive De Smet says. “Nowadays, if you walk through a wheat field, you basically see wheat is about knee-high, which is a consequence of selective breeding (培育) from the second half of the 20th century.” De Smet says he’s teaming up with art historian David Vergauwen of Amarant to look at things where they can spot differences in shape, in color, and in size. Wheat is just one example of how historical artwork can help track the transformation of food crops over time.
Friends since childhood, they took interest in plants in artwork and began with a visit to the Hermitage Museum in Russia — where they noticed an odd-looking watermelon in an early-17th-century painting by Flemish artist Frans Snyders.
“So if you think of a watermelon, you cut it through, it should be dark red on the inside. But that one appeared to be pale and white.” De Smet assumed the painter had done a poor job. But Vergauwen said, “This is one of the best painters ever from that era. So if he paints it like that, that’s the way it must have been.” Other paintings showed that both red and white watermelons were raised during the 17th century.
The team hopes to set up an online research database of historical plant artwork. They create a social media hashtag (主题标签) for it. Anyone could send pictures of relevant artwork and details of plants when they visit a museum or exhibit through the hashtag. But, they add, the sources need to be realistic. “If you’re going to use, for example, Picasso to understand how a pear looked, you might be misled.”
1. What can we learn from De Smet’s words in paragraph 1?| A．Humans have mainly fed on wheat since 1565. |
| B．Wheat has gone through great changes in height. |
| C．The scene in The Harvesters may be unbelievable. |
| D．Selective breeding affects agricultural structure. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Disapproving. | C．Favorable. | D．Curious. |
| A．To encourage people to focus on art. |
| B．To collect more paintings for their database. |
| C．To advertise their research database. |
| D．To share some historical plant artwork. |
| A．Ancient paintings focused on food crops. |
| B．Two men create a database of plant artwork. |
| C．Plants today are different from their ancestors. |
| D．Old art reveals agricultural information. |
4 . 43-year-old John Chadwick started live-streaming (直播) life of the birds with their chicks.But just weeks after uploading the videos to YouTube, he gained millions of views from around the world.
John said, “To think that tens of millions of people have been watching the birds from around the world is just incredible and quite overwhelming.”
The sound engineer bought the bird box by accident. He placed it on a willow tree in his back garden in March, and within hours two blue tits (蓝冠山雀) moved in and they had five chicks. At first, he only wanted to show his family what the birds were up to.
John said, “Within a day the birds moved in, and I wanted to know what was going on inside. I started to livestream and do video highlights every day-on the first day 100 people watched it. It showed things like the chicks being fed in the nests as the parents carried in caterpillars (毛毛虫). After three months, I had 2, 000 subscribers.”
John decided to put a final video together and keep it as short as possible-showing the birds going into the nests, the eggs hatching, and the chicks fledging(长羽毛).
Now despite the huge global success of the videos, John is unlikely to make enough for a nest egg of his own. He still needs to struggle for his family. But some people say they find it quite relaxing and genuinely fascinated by John’s videos.
He said, “My personal challenge to myself was to get out of my comfortable zone. And I enjoy exploring new areas. But I keep in mind that I need to care for my family.”
1. Why did John livestream birds’ life at first?| A．To kill time at home. |
| B．To know more about the birds. |
| C．To get him closer to his family. |
| D．To call on people to shelter blue tits. |
| A．His financial problem. |
| B．Little blue tits’ settlements. |
| C．Improvement of his final video. |
| D．Challenges from online viewers. |
| A．Intelligent and hardworking. |
| B．Helpful and wise. |
| C．Knowledgeable and generous. |
| D．Adventurous and responsible. |
| A．A Bird Lover’s Video of Blue Tits Attracts Millions of Fans |
| B．A Video Raises People’s Awareness of Protecting Birds |
| C．Technology Can Greatly Affect the Survival of Wildlife |
| D．A Bird Lover Makes Efforts to Protect Rare Blue Tits |
5 . A number of events are going on at the Cooperage Project, located at 1030 Main Street in Honesdale. Enjoy!
The Cooperage Maker Fair
The Cooperage Maker Fair will be held from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on Friday, June 12 on the grounds of the City Museum. The Maker Fair is a place where people show what they are making—a showcase for invention and creativity,and share what they are learning. Anyone interested in presenting their projects, hobbies and experiments should apply to take part at www.cooperagemakerfair.com.
Such Sweet Thunder
At 7:00 pm on Wednesday, June 17, there will be a film screening of comedy Twelfth Night as part of the Such Sweet Thunder: Shakespeare’s Plays on Film Series. Dr.Robert Dugan will introduce the play with a brief background. Admission is free, but due to limited seating, booking is required at www.suchsweetthunder.com.
Sounds Like Teen Spirit
On Thursday, June 24,there will be an event called Sounds Like Teen Spirit from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm.Sounds Like Teen Spirit is designed to provide an opportunity to showcase the talent of our community’s youth.School-aged students are encouraged to share their performing art on stage at the Cooperage Project!
Great Brazilian Music Tour
On Saturday, June 27,a fantastic opportunity is ready for you to listen to some great Brazilian music by the musical group Minas. It is from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm, and doors open at 2:00 pm.We encourage children and their families to come to learn all about the rhythm, excitement and sound of Brazilian music.The two-hour performance is sure to be fun for the whole family. The admission charge is $5 for each person, and all the money will go to the local food bank. You can also give away old clothes and money at the entrance.
1. Which event requires people to make a reservation?| A．Such Sweet Thunder. | B．Sounds Like Teen Spirit. |
| C．The Cooperage Maker Fair. | D．Great Brazilian Music Tour. |
| A．On June 12. | B．On June 17. | C．On June 24. | D．On June 27. |
| A．Show your gift for invention. | B．Make a donation. |
| C．Perform with Minas on stage. | D．Learn to make music. |
