1 . Some students get so nervous before a test. They do poorly even if they know the material. Sian Beilock, a professor at the University of Chicago in Illinois, has studied these highly anxious test-takers. The students start worrying about the results. And when we worry, it actually uses up attention and memory resources（资源）.
Professor Beilock and another researcher, Gerardo Ramirez, have developed a possible solution. Just before an exam, highly anxious test-takers spend ten minutes writing about their worries about the test.
The researchers tested the idea on a group of twenty anxious college students. They gave them two short maths tests. After the first one, they asked the students to either sit quietly or write about their feelings about the upcoming second test.
Professor Beilock says those who sat quietly scored（得分） an average of 12% worse on the second test. But the students who had written about their fears improved（提高） their performance by an average of 5%. Next, the researchers used younger students in a biology class. They told them before final exams either to write about their feelings or to think about things unrelated（不相关的） to the test. Professor Beilock says highly anxious students who did the writing got an average grade of B+, compared to a B-for those who did not.
"What we showed is that for students who are highly test-anxious, and who'd done our writing intervention（干预）, all of a sudden there was no relationship between test anxiety and grades. They were performing just as well as their classmates who don't normally get nervous in these tests."
But what if students do not have a chance to write about their fears immediately before an exam? Professor Beilock says students can try it themselves at home or in the library and still improve their performance.
1. What do the students start worrying about before an exam?| A．Whether they can pass the exams. |
| B．What other students do during the test. |
| C．Whether they have remembered the materials. |
| D．What kind of problems they will meet on the test paper. |
| A．Making the students focused on the test. |
| B．Asking the students to sit quietly before the test. |
| C．Having the students write about their worries about the test. |
| D．Asking the students to direct the attention away from the test. |
| A．became less nervous before the test |
| B．were better at controlling their feelings |
| C．did worse than those who wrote about their feelings |
| D．did better than those who wrote about their feelings |
| A．writing about our worries before an exam can work a bit |
| B．we can only write about our worries right before an exam |
| C．the best place to write about our worries is in the test room |
| D．it doesn't matter where we write about our worries before an exam |
2 . Race walking shares many fitness benefits with running, research shows, while most likely contributing to fewer injuries. It does, however, have its own problem.
Race walkers are conditioned athletes. The longest track and field event at the Summer Olympics is the 50-kilometer race walk, which is about five miles longer than the marathon. But the sport’s rules require that a race walker’s knees stay straight through most of the leg swing and one foot remain in contact (接触) with the ground at all times. It’s this strange form that makes race walking such an attractive activity, however, says Jaclyn Norberg, an assistant professor of exercise science at Salem State University in Salem, Mass.
Like running, race walking is physically demanding, she says, According to most calculations, race walkers moving at a pace of six miles per hour would burn about 800 calories(卡路里) per hour, which is approximately twice as many as they would burn walking, although fewer than running, which would probably burn about 1,000 or more calories per hour.
However, race walking does not pound the body as much as running does, Dr. Norberg says. According to her research, runners hit the ground with as much as four times their body weight per step, while race walkers, who do not leave the ground, create only about 1.4 times their body weight with each step.
As a result, she says, some of the injuries associated with running, such as runner’s knee, are uncommon among race walkers. But the sport’s strange form does place considerable stress on the ankles and hips, so people with a history of such injuries might want to be cautious in adopting the sport. In fact, anyone wishing to try race walking should probably first consult a coach or experienced racer to learn proper technique, she says. It takes some practice.
1. Why are race walkers conditioned athletes?| A．They must run long distances. |
| B．They are qualified for the marathon. |
| C．They have to follow special rules. |
| D．They are good at swinging their legs. |
| A．It’s more popular at the Olympics. |
| B．It’s less challenging physically. |
| C．It’s more effective in body building. |
| D．It’s less likely to cause knee injuries. |
| A．Getting experts’ opinions. |
| B．Having a medical checkup. |
| C．Hiring an experienced coach. |
| D．Doing regular exercises. |
| A．Skeptical. | B．Objective. |
| C．Tolerant. | D．Conservative. |
3 . The connection between people and plants has long been the subject of scientific research. Recent studies have found positive effects. A study conducted in Youngstown，Ohio，for example, discovered that greener areas of the city experienced less crime. In another，employees were shown to be 15% more productive when their workplaces were decorated with houseplants.
The engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT)have taken it a step further changing the actual composition of plants in order to get them to perform diverse，even unusual functions. These include plants that have sensors printed onto their leaves to show when they’re short of water and a plant that can detect harmful chemicals in groundwater. ＂We’re thinking about how we can engineer plants to replace functions of the things that we use every day,＂explained Michael Strano, a professor of chemical engineering at MIT.
One of his latest projects has been to make plants glow(发光)in experiments using some common vegetables. Strano’s team found that they could create a faint light for three-and-a-half hours. The light，about one-thousandth of the amount needed to read by，is just a start. The technology, Strano said, could one day be used to light the rooms or even to turn trees into self-powered street lamps.
In the future，the team hopes to develop a version of the technology that can be sprayed onto plant leaves in a one-off treatment that would last the plant’s lifetime. The engineers are also trying to develop an on and off＂switch＂where the glow would fade when exposed to daylight.
Lighting accounts for about 7% of the total electricity consumed in the US. Since lighting is often far removed from the power source(电源)-such as the distance from a power plant to street lamps on a remote highway-a lot of energy is lost during transmission(传输).Glowing plants could reduce this distance and therefore help save energy.
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?| A．A new study of different plants. |
| B．A big fall in crime rates. |
| C．Employees from various workplaces. |
| D．Benefits from green plants. |
| A．To detect plants’ lack of water |
| B．To change compositions of plants |
| C．To make the life of plants longer. |
| D．To test chemicals in plants. |
| A．They will speed up energy production. |
| B．They may transmit electricity to the home. |
| C．They might help reduce energy consumption. |
| D．They could take the place of power plants. |
| A．Can we grow more glowing plants? |
| B．How do we live with glowing plants? |
| C．Could glowing plants replace lamps? |
| D．How are glowing plants made pollution-free? |
4 . You can remember the face, but can't put a name to it. Many of us have been caught in this embarrassing situation. But researchers say it is often easier to remember someone's name than what they look like.
Twenty-four volunteers were shown 40 pictures of strangers, paired with random(随机的) names. They were given time to memorize the faces and names before being tested on which they thought they had seen before.
The participants could remember up to 85 percent of the names but only 73 percent of the faces. When they were shown a different picture of the same person, the participants could recall only 64 percent of faces, according to the study, led by the University of York.
That may be because faces are only recognized visually(视觉地), while names can be both spoken and written down so appear in our visual and audio memory. When people were shown famous people, they also remembered their names more accurately than their photographs. Co-author Dr Rob Jenkins, from the university’s psychology department, said, ''Our study suggests that, while many people may be bad at remembering names, they are likely to be even worse at remembering faces. This will surprise many people as it is against our initial understanding. Our life experiences with names and faces have misled us about how our minds work. '' Remembering names gets harder with age, leading to many uncomfortable moments for middle-aged people when they run into people they know.
But to study whether names are harder to recall than faces, the researchers, whose findings are published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, used a ''fair test'' where the participants were presented with strangers' names and faces.
1. What can we know according to the research in Paragraph 3?| A．It is certain that names are harder to recall than faces. |
| B．Remembering names is more easily than remembering faces. |
| C．Most participants can remember the face not the name to it. |
| D．The participants can recall 73% faces of the same person. |
| A．Age will weaken the ability to remember names. |
| B．Unlike faces, names are only recognized visually. |
| C．Faces can appear in our visual and audio memory. |
| D．Rob Jenkins has proved people can remember faces better. |
| A．Clear. | B．first. |
| C．Unusual. | D．Creative. |
| A．People can't remember strangers’ names and faces. |
| B．Recalling names is more difficult than remembering faces. |
| C．The researcher uses the same method to study another problem. |
| D．Whether names are harder to recall than faces is further proved. |
5 . Living in a foreign culture can be exciting, but it can also be confusing(令人迷惑的). A group of Americans who taught English in other countries recently discussed their experiences. They found that miscommunication was always possible, even over something as simple as “yes” and “no”.
On her first day in Micronesia, an island in the Pacific, Lisa thought people weren’t paying any attention to her. The day was hot. She went into a store and asked, “Do you have cold drinks？” The woman there didn’t say anything. Lisa repeated the question. Still the woman said nothing. She later learned that the woman had answered her: She had raised her eyebrows(眉毛), which in Micronesia means “yes”.
Jan remembered an experience she had in Bulgaria, a country in Europe. She went to a restaurant that was famous for its cabbage. She asked the waiter, “Do you have cabbage today？” He nodded his head. Jan waited, but the cabbage never came. In that country, a nod means “no”.
Tom had a similar problem when he arrived in India. After explaining something in class, he asked his students if they understood. They answered with many different nods and shakes of the head. He thought some people had not understood, so he explained again. When he asked again, they did the same thing. He soon found out that his students did understand. In India, people nod and shake their heads in different ways depending on where they come from. You have to know where a person is from to understand whether they mean “yes” or “no”．
1. The Americans teaching English in other countries found that they ________.| A．had problems with communication | B．needed to learn foreign languages |
| C．should often discuss their experiences | D．should go abroad for vacations |
| A．nodding heads | B．raising eyebrows |
| C．shaking heads | D．saying “no” |
| A．he didn’t know where the students came from |
| B．he didn’t explain everything clearly enough |
| C．some students didn’t understand his questions |
| D．he did not know much about Indian culture |
| A．In Bulgaria, nodding heads means “no” |
| B．Jan taught English on a Pacific island. |
| C．Lisa was trying to buy some cabbage. |
| D．In India，only shaking heads means “yes”. |
6 . For centuries, dolphins have got our admiration, and it is easy to see why. They are beautiful, cute and smart sea animals. Dolphins are not fish, but warm-blooded animals. They live in groups, and speak to each other in their own language. In this way, they are like other animals, such as bees and birds. But dolphins are very different from almost all land animals. It is said that dolphins are the world’s second brightest creatures after humans and have many brain features related to intelligence. Their brain is nearly the same size as our own, and they live a long time at least twenty or thirty years.
Like some animals, dolphins use sound to help them find their way around. They also make these sounds to talk to each other and to help them find food. We now know they do not use their ears to receive these sounds, but the lower part of the mouth, called the jaw.
Strangely, dolphins seem to like man, and for thousands of years there have been stories about the dolphin and its friendship with people.
There is a story about sailors in the 19th century. In a dangerous part of the sea off the coast of New Zealand, they learnt to look for a dolphin called Jack. From 1871 to 1903, Jack met every boat in the area and showed it the way. Then in 1903 a passenger on a boat called The Penguin shot and wounded Jack. He recovered and for nine years more continued to guide all ships through the area－except for The Penguin.
Today, some people continue to kill dolphins, but many countries of the world now protect them and in these places it is against the law to kill them.
1. Dolphins are different from many other animals because they _____.| A．live in groups |
| B．have large brains |
| C．are warm-blooded |
| D．have their own language |
| A．Its nose. | B．Its ears. | C．Its jaw. | D．Its eyes. |
| A．He was lonely and liked to be with people. |
| B．They enjoyed playing with him. |
| C．He was seriously wounded. |
| D．They wanted his help. |
| A．dolphins are friendly and clever |
| B．people are cruel to animals |
| C．Jack is different from other dolphins |
| D．dolphins should be protected by law |
7 . Getting less sleep has become a bad habit for most American kids. According to a new survey(调查) by the National Sleep Foundation, 51% of kids aged 10 to 18 go to bed at 10 pm or later on school nights, even though they have to get up early. Last year the Foundation reported that nearly 60% of 7- to 12-year-olds said they felt tired during the day, and 15% said they had fallen asleep at school.
How much sleep you need depends a lot on your age. Babies need a lot of rest: most of them sleep about 18 hours a day! Adults need about eight hours. For most school-age children, ten hours is ideal(理想的). But the new National Sleep Foundation survey found that 35% of 10- to 12-year-olds get only seven or eight hours. And guess what almost half of the surveyed kids said they do before bedtime? Watch TV.
“More children are going to bed with TVs on, and there are more opportunities(机会) to stay awake, with more homework, the Internet and the phone,” says Dr. Mary Carskadon, a sleep researcher at Brown University Medical School. She says these activities at bedtime can get kids all excited and make it hard for them to calm down and sleep. Other experts say part of the problem is chemical. Changing levels of body chemicals called hormones not only make teenagers’ bodies develop adult characteristics, but also make it hard for teenagers to fall asleep before 11 pm.
Because sleepiness is such a problem for teenagers, some school districts have decided to start high school classes later than they used to. Three years ago, schools in Edina, Minnesota, changed the start time from 7:25 am to 8:30 am. Students, parents and teachers are pleased with the results.
1. What is the new National Sleep Foundation survey on?| A．American kids’ sleeping habits. | B．Teenagers’ sleep-related diseases. |
| C．Activities to prevent sleeplessness. | D．Learning problems and lack of sleep. |
| A．7 hours. | B．8 hours. |
| C．10 hours. | D．18 hours. |
| A．They are affected by certain body chemicals. |
| B．They tend to do things that excite them. |
| C．They follow their parents’ examples. |
| D．They don’t need to go to school early. |
8 . I work with Volunteers for Wildlife, a rescue and education organization at Bailey Arboretum in Locust Valley. Trying to help injured, displaced or sick creatures can be heartbreaking; survival is never certain. However, when it works, it is simply beautiful.
I got a rescue call from a woman in Muttontown. She had found a young owl(猫头鹰) on the ground. When I arrived, I saw a 2-to 3-week-old owl. It had already been placed in a carrier for safety.
I examined the chick(雏鸟) and it seemed fine. If I could locate the nest, I might have been able to put it back, but no luck. My next work was to construct a nest and anchor it in a tree.
The homeowner was very helpful. A wire basket was found. I put some pine branches into the basket to make this nest safe and comfortable. I placed the chick in the nest, and it quickly calmed down.
Now all that was needed were the parents, but they were absent. I gave the homeowner a recording of the hunger screams of owl chicks. These advertise the presence of chicks to adults; they might also encourage our chick to start calling as well. I gave the owner as much information as possible and headed home to see what news the night might bring.
A nervous night to be sure, but sometimes the spirits of nature smile on us all! The homeowner called to say that the parents had responded to the recordings. I drove over and saw the chick in the nest looking healthy and active. And it was accompanied in the nest by the greatest sight of all — LUNCH! The parents had done their duty and would probably continue to do so.
1. What is unavoidable in the author’s rescue work according to paragraph 1?| A．Efforts made in vain. |
| B．Getting injured in his work. |
| C．Feeling uncertain about his future. |
| D．Creatures forced out of their homes. |
| A．To rescue a woman. |
| B．To take care of a woman. |
| C．To look at a baby owl. |
| D．To cure a young owl. |
| A．A new nest. |
| B．Some food. |
| C．A recording. |
| D．Its parents. |
| A．It’s unexpected. |
| B．It’s beautiful. |
| C．It’s humorous. |
| D．It’s discouraging. |
