1 . Dogs can’t speak, but their brains respond to spoken words. Every dog owner knows that saying “Good dog!” in a happy, high voice will make their pet joyfully wag its tail. That made scientists curious: What exactly happens in your dog’s brain when it hears praise, and is it similar to the way our own brain processes such information?
When a person gets others’ compliment, the more primitive, subcortical auditory regions (皮层下听觉区) first reacts to the intonation — the emotional force of spoken words. Next, the brain taps the more recently evolved auditory cortex (听觉皮层) to figure out the meaning of the words, which is learned.
In 2016, a team of scientists discovered that dogs’ brains, like those of humans, compute the intonation and meaning of a word separately — although dogs use their right brain to do so, whereas we use our left one. Still, a puzzle remained: Do their brains go through the same steps to process approval?
It’s an important question, because dogs are a speechless species, yet they respond correctly to our words. For instance, some dogs are capable of recognising thousands of names of individual objects, and can link each name to a specific object.
When the scientists studied scans of the brains of pet dogs, they found that theirs, like ours, process the sounds of spoken words in this manner — analyzing first the emotional component with the older region of the brain, the subcortical regions, and then the words’ meaning with the newer part, the cortex.
See why dogs are so successful at partnering with us? Dogs and humans last shared a common ancestor some 100 million years ago, so it’s likely that our brains respond to sounds in a similar way. As domesticated animals that have evolved alongside humans for the past 10,000 years, dogs make special use of it to process human emotions. You know, what we say really matters to dogs!
1. Which of the following can replace the underlined word “compliment”?| A．Reply. | B．Praise. | C．Warning. | D．Advice. |
| A．Linking it to an object. | B．Analyzing the emotion. |
| C．Working out its meaning. | D．Tapping the auditory cortex. |
| A．By comparing opinions. | B．By raising examples. |
| C．By providing answers to questions. | D．By analyzing causes and effects. |
| A．Dogs—good listeners |
| B．Dogs—perfect partners |
| C．Dogs and humans share a common ancestor actually |
| D．Dogs understand spoken words the same way we do |
2 . The death of soccer legend Diego Maradona has shocked fans worldwide and drawn an outpouring of grief. Maradona, 60, died of a heart attack on Nov 25,2020.
Argentina's president, Alberto Fernandez, declared three days of national mourning upon Maradona's death. "You took us to the top of the world," he wrote on the social networking platform Twitter, "and you were the greatest of Indeed, Maradona lived a life that showed that soccer at its peak can have passions that move entire nations. He was a man who was deified (奉若神明)in Argentina and the Italian city of Naples.
Maradona reached legendary position during the 1986 World Cup in Mexico after scoring two winning goals against England in the quarterfinal. That was a redemption (救赎)for the nation, which was defeated in a war over territory (领土)conflict by the UK just four years earlier. But his magic didn't stop there. At a time when teams were largely domestic, Maradona became the first truly global soccer superstar. Before his arrival in Napoli in 1984 they never won the Serie A title. The city took him in, regarding him as the man to bring back pride and respect to Naples. The club won the championship for the first time ever in the 1986-87 season.
Magician though Maradona may have been, he was deeply human, thus deeply flawed. He appeared in newspapers more for his drug habit than for his soccer skills in the late 1990s. After he played his goodbye game in 2001, Maradona stated, "The ball does not show the dirt."
As a symbol and idol he shone brighter than any other athlete in the last century. Argentina and Barcelona star Lionel Messi wrote, "He leaves us but does not leave, because Diego is eternal (不朽的)
1. Why was Maradona regarded as "the greatest of all"?| A．Because he was an international superstar. |
| B．Because he played soccer to the death of his life. |
| C．Because he lit the passion that moved the country with his soccer life. |
| D．Because he won back the territory tor the country after the 1986 World Cup. |
| A．Imperfect. | B．Athletic. | C．Noted. | D．Influential. |
| A．He was a perfect human respected by people. |
| B．He built his legendary status in soccer in his 20s. |
| C．He was a great soccer player as well as a magician. |
| D．He was the brightest soccer star in the 19th century. |
| A．The Rise of a Superstar. | B．The Biography of a Soccer Player. |
| C．An Intense Soccer Match. | D．Passing of a Legend. |
3 . Six Flags and another amusement park company shut down eight more thrill rides on Friday around the US after a teenage girl had her feet cut off at the ankle on a Superman Tower of Power.
State inspectors, meanwhile, returned to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom where the accident happened to examine the ride, which lifts passengers 54 metres straight up, then drops them nearly the same distance at speeds reaching 87kph.
It was unclear at what point during the ride the 13-year-old was injured on Thursday, said Wendy Goldberg, a Six Flags spokesperson.
The girl was taken to a hospital. Details of her condition were not immediately available on Friday.
Six Flags has shut down similar rides at parks in St. Louis, Gurnee, Illinois, and near Washington as a safety precaution, Goldberg said. Six Flags Over Texas, near Dallas, also has a Superman Tower of Power, but it is not the same ride, Goldberg said.
There were no reports of injuries on the ride before Thursday, she said.
“Millions of people have safely ridden this ride in our parks,” Goldberg said.
The accident led Cedar Fair Entertainment to shut down and inspect drop tower rides at five of its amusement parks as a precaution, company spokesperson Stacy Frole said.
Intamin, a Swiss company, made all the rides that were closed by both companies, said Craig Ross, a spokesperson for Cedar Fair.
“We're going to keep these things down until we're certain it’s safe," Ross said. "We'll wait and see.”
An email message sent to Intamin was not immediately returned on Friday.
The five Cedar Fair rides that will be shut down are at Kings Island near Cincinnati; Canada's Wonderland, in Toronto； Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia; Carowinds, in Charlotte, North Carolina; and Great America in Santa Clara, California.
1. Why did the amusement park companies shut down their thrill rides?| A．Because they went wrong. | B．Because an accident happened. |
| C．Because they are not well received. | D．Because of terrible weather. |
| A．Standard. | B．Condition. | C．Rule. | D．Protection. |
| A．Six Flags has shut down some rides at parks Charlotte, North Carolina. |
| B．There are five Cedar Fair rides to be shut down in California. |
| C．Cedar Fair Entertainment was caused to shut down. |
| D．Intamin belongs to Switzerland. |
| A．Six Flags Closes More Rides After Accident |
| B．The Five Cedar Fair Rides will Be Shut Down |
| C．Six Flags Amusement Part Company |
| D．Girl’s Feet Cut Off in Amusement Ride |
4 . An Italian company has told staff to stop sending any internal (内部) emails for a week in an effort to reduce stress levels.
Home textiles company Gabel, based in the northern Como region, appointed an expert to interview its employees about what their main concerns were at work, the local La Provincia di Como website reports. Many said that managing the huge volume of internal emails was a burden during the working day. That pushed the company’s management to propose a solution, which — somewhat ironically — was sent to all staff in an email.
“Together we will begin the following experiment, which will take us back in time to when people talked more,” managing director Emilio Colombo wrote, declaring an “email-free” week until 13 November. “We invite you not to use email for internal communications (between colleagues at the same location), in favor of a more direct and immediate contact.”
The company’s president, Michele Moltrasio, tells the BBC it hasn’t been easy to stop such an “ingrained” practice, temporarily, but that employees have welcomed the challenge. “They are rediscovering the pleasure of meeting and talking rather than writing,” he says. And that includes Mr. Moltrasio, who is avoiding emails along with everyone else. “Even if from next week we all go back to using email, these days of experimentation are very worthwhile, to understand and rethink the methods and pace of working,” he says.
Several recent studies have found that a high volume of emails raises stress levels at work. In 2013, researchers said that a full inbox led to peaks in people’s blood pressure and heart rate. And last year, a study at the University of British Columbia found that limiting email use during the day lowered people’s stress levels “significantly.”
1. What did an Italian company do to reduce its employees’ pressure at work?| A．Ask its employees not to send emails anymore. |
| B．Launch a campaign to stop using emails temporarily. |
| C．Ask experts to design a new way of communication. |
| D．Interview employees about their concerns at work. |
| A．Deep-rooted. | B．Highly-praised. | C．Newly-released. | D．Commonly-seen. |
| A．Emails have been an outdated means of communication in the company. |
| B．Employees don’t communicate with each other so directly as they did in the past. |
| C．It is quite easy for employees to stop using emails. |
| D．Employees’ working stress is due to the large number of emails they deal with every day. |
| A．Negative. | B．Supportive. | C．Doubtful. | D．Reserved. |
5 . Winslow Homer was a famous American painter. Since Art History class in college，I had always admired his works and I was lucky to see a large exhibition of his works when I was in my early 30s. It was at this event that I bought a print of his painting “Snap the Whip”. It always hung in my classroom until I retired from teaching.
I thought it truly captured the freedom and fun of childhood. In the painting，a group of young boys are playing a game arm in arm on the grass ground in front of a farm house. They are jumping and laughing wildly with great joy. One of the boys is falling down to the ground. They are not even wearing shoes!
During my last year of teaching，there was a young woman in her first year of teaching right next door to me and we got to be good friends. She had been an art student before taking up education. Her eyes were drawn immediately to this print when she entered my room. So on my last day of teaching，after the students had left，I took the painting off the wall and walked next door and gave it to her.
She was really surprised，but very glad to have it. I was delighted that she liked it and all the students she would have would treasure it as much as I had. We found the perfect place for it on one of her walls and hung it together. I was happy that she brought back this wonderful memory for me.
1. Why did the author admire the painting “Snap the Whip”so much？| A．He had a deep love for children and students. |
| B．It was bought from a famous American painter. |
| C．He appreciated the freedom and fun in the painting. |
| D．It had also drawn the attention of the young woman. |
| A．Homeless children. | B．The nature of children. |
| C．Hard-working farmers. | D．The pleasure of working. |
| A．Recognized. | B．Controlled. |
| C．Caught. | D．Influenced. |
| A．Regretful. | B．Painful. |
| C．Proud. | D．Pleased. |
