| graduate contribute produce science demand recycle occasional |
2. Climbing is physically
3. Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for his
4.
5. Plastic bottles can be
6. The country is totally self-sufficient in food
7. If you do something in a
2 . You may have heard that humans only use 10 percent of their brain power, and that if you could unlock the rest of your brainpower, you could do so much more. However, there is a powerful body of evidence debunking the 10 percent myth. Scientists have consistently shown that humans use their entire brain throughout each day.
Despite the evidence, the 10 percent myth has inspired many references in the cultural imagination. A 2013 study showed that about 65 percent of Americans believed the myth, and a 1998 study showed that a full third of psychology majors, who focus on the workings of the brain, fell for it.
Neuropsychology studies how the anatomy (构造) of the brain affects someone’s behavior, emotion, and cognition. Over the years, brain scientists have shown that different parts of the brain are responsible for specific functions. Contrary to the 10 percent myth, scientists have proven that every part of the brain is integral for our daily functioning. Many brain imaging studies that measure brain activity when a person is doing a specific task show how different parts of the brain work together. For example, while you are reading this text on your smartphone, some parts of your brain, including those responsible for vision, reading comprehension, and holding your phone, will be more active.
However, some brain images unintentionally support the 10 percent myth, because they often show small bright splotches (斑点) on an otherwise gray brain. This may imply that only the bright spots have brain activity, but that isn’t the case. Rather, colored splotches represent brain areas that are more active when someone’s doing a task compared to when they’re not. The gray spots are still active, just to a lesser degree.
A more direct counter to the 10 percent myth lies in individuals who have suffered brain damage. If the 10 percent myth were true, damage to perhaps 90 percent of the brain wouldn’t affect daily functioning. Yet studies show that damaging even a very small part of the brain may have devastating consequences. For example, damage to Broca’s area hinders proper formation of words and fluent speech, though general language comprehension remains intact.
Another line of evidence against the 10 percent myth comes from evolution. The adult brain only constitutes 2 percent of body mass, yet it consumes over 20 percent of the body’s energy. In comparison, the adult brains of many vertebrate species—including some fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals—consume 2 to 8 percent of their body’s energy. The brain has been shaped by millions of years of natural selection, which passes down favorable traits to increase likelihood of survival. It is unlikely that the body would dedicate so much of its energy to keep an entire brain functioning if it only uses 10 percent of the brain.
1. What does the underlined phrase “fell for” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Believed. | B．Proved. | C．Developed. | D．Discovered. |
| A．We have a huge potential for brain development. |
| B．We consume too much body energy using our brain. |
| C．We rely on every part of our brain for daily activities. |
| D．We can see inactive brain areas by using brain images. |
| A．Objective. | B．Doubtful. |
| C．Unconcerned. | D．Supportive. |
| A．What Percentage of the Human Brain Is Used? |
| B．How Can the Human Brain Be Fully Developed? |
| C．How Can the Myth of the Human Brain Be Solved? |
| D．What Are the Functions of the Different Parts of the Human Brain? |
3 . As digital devices have taken over society, “keyboard activity is now often recommended as a replacement for early handwriting,” a new study notes. The idea is that typing may be easier for young children.
The potential benefits of handwriting for learning and memory have been debated for some time. The new study set out to answer two questions. How does handwriting compare to using a keyboard or drawing when it comes to learning new information? And how similar are handwriting and drawing?
In all, 12 adults and 12 seventh-graders took part. Researchers asked each of them to write and draw with a digital pen. Each was also asked to type on a keyboard. While performing these tasks, each volunteer wore a cap that held electrodes (电极) next to their head. It looked somewhat like a hair net fitted with 256 sensors, which recorded the volunteers’ brainwaves, a type of electrical activity, as EEGs.
The electrodes noted which parts of the brain turned on during each task. And they showed that the brain activity was about the same in both the kids and the adults. Writing turned on memory areas in the brain. Typing didn’t. Drawing images and writing also turned on parts of the brain involved with learning. Writing even activated language areas.
This suggests, according to Van der Meer, the new study’s leader, that when we write by hand, “we both learn better and remember better.” Her team now suggests “that children, from an early age, must be exposed to handwriting and drawing activities in school.”
These new findings back up other studies showing potential benefits of handwriting, says Joshua Weiner, who was not involved with the new study. His own students type faster than they can write, he finds. Slowing down seems to require them to “think more” when taking notes, he says. He adds that this could “improve memory and enhance learning.” Weiner concludes that “writing may be beneficial” as it involves more of a “brain response”.
Van der Meer recognizes that learning to write by hand is a slower process. She is also aware that it requires fine motor skills. But, she adds, “If we don’t challenge our brain, it can’t reach its full potential.”
1. A cap was used in the experiment to ________.| A．give the volunteers instructions |
| B．record the volunteers’ every move |
| C．help the volunteers better focus on the task |
| D．keep track of the volunteers’ brain activity |
| A．The tools invented by the researchers. | B．The background of the participants. |
| C．The process of the experiment. | D．The application of the study. |
| A．Typing made the brain more active. |
| B．Writing turned on more areas in the brain. |
| C．Drawing activated the area related to memory. |
| D．Adults could do better than kids in taking notes. |
| A．Keyboards should be used as little as possible. |
| B．Requirements for hand-written notes will benefit kids. |
| C．The process of writing slows down the brain response. |
| D．Typing gives us a chance to improve memory and learning. |
4 . Shannon St. Onge thought she could get home from work before the storm hit Pense, a town in Saskatchewan, Canada.
“Yesterday, the weather network was warning of a storm. Expected start time was at around 7 pm,” she wrote on social media.
“I grabbed takeout for the kids, filled my gas tank, replaced my broken phone charger and then hit the dirt roads at around 5:30 to head home before the storm hit.”
She took a dirt road because she thought it would be better for the winter driving conditions.
“Just as the pavement (路面) turned into gravel (石子路), the wind picked up and visibility became reduced. The wind whips the snow from the open fields across the roads and creates sometimes dangerous conditions,” she said.
“I found myself driving with my head out of the driver’s window, watching the edge of the gravel as my guide, while I crawled forward at 15km/hr, not actually looking forward at the road ahead. I did this for about 10 km, until I could no longer see and I had to stop, right where I was—12 km from home.”
She pulled over and called 911. The operator suggested she wait the storm out, but the storm was not projected to let up until dawn.
“What if I didn’t make it home at all?” she wondered.
She posted her location on the Pense community webpage in hopes someone might be able to find her.
That’s when 80-year-old Andre Bouvier Sr. got a call about St. Onge’s urgent request for help. He lived about half a mile away from where she was pulled over.
His tractor would not start so he decided to head out on foot with a flashlight. To his surprise, he found two other vehicles with people who also needed help stranded together with St. Onge.
He led all seven stranded people back to his home and welcomed them in for the evening.
“This family fed us and gave us a warm place to rest our eyes for a few hours,” she said. “When we all woke up at 5 am, he had already plowed the driveway for us, and at around 5:30, we headed to town. Visibility was better, but still very, very poor.”
“In the end, we all made it home safely and I have never hugged my kids tighter.”
As for Bouvier, he didn’t want much credit for his efforts.
“Everybody would have done the same thing,” he said. “You don’t think about it. You just do it.”
1. In spite of the warning, St. Onge still tried to drive back home mainly because she ________.| A．didn’t trust the weather forecast |
| B．was fully prepared for the storm |
| C．had thought she could get home before the storm began |
| D．took the dirt road that she thought would be safe enough |
| A．The wrong road. | B．The empty gas tank. |
| C．The poor visibility. | D．The serious accident. |
| A．He received a call for help from Shannon St. Onge. |
| B．He walked 12 km to rescue the people who were stuck. |
| C．He drove Shannon St. Onge to town himself the next morning. |
| D．He had cleared the driveway before Shannon St. Onge woke up. |
| A．Warm-hearted and considerate. | B．Responsible and talented. |
| C．Strong-willed and ambitious. | D．Independent and motivated. |
5 . Your sleep position can determine a lot about your health, and can also affect your health in different ways.
It’s difficult to control what sleep position we naturally fall into, as our body will subconsciously fall into the most comfortable position. However, some positions are better for you than others, and some could actually hinder your health and wellbeing.
If you sleep on your side
More than 60 percent of people sleep on their side. This is mostly likely because it is one of the most comfortable sleep positions. Often our body naturally moves to this position, which is linked to when we were in the foetal (胎儿的) position.
Sleeping on your side offers a number of benefits to your body, from promoting healthy spine alignment, which can help to prevent back pain, to reducing heartburn and snoring. Side sleeping would be particularly beneficial for older people, those who snore or have sleep apnoea (呼吸暂停), those with back pain and pregnant women.
There are a few drawbacks to sleeping on your side, however. Those with shoulder pain and those who are worried about wrinkles should refrain from side sleeping.
If you sleep on your back
Lying on your back is the second most popular sleep position and offers just as many benefits as side sleeping.
When you’re sleeping on your back, your weight is evenly distributed, which helps prevent neck and back pain. Back sleeping would also be advised for those who want to keep their skin in good condition and those who suffer from neck and spinal pain.
However, back sleeping is the worst position if you snore or suffer from sleep apnoea. If you are a back sleeper, ensure you have a supportive pillow (枕头) which fits in the curve of your neck and supports your head and natural spinal curve.
If you sleep on your stomach
Sleeping on your stomach is the least common sleep position. There are more negatives to this position compared to positives.
The stomach offers the least amount of back support and can actually increase pressure on the spine which may cause pain once you wake up. Furthermore, those who sleep on their stomach will have their head facing one side, which may also cause a stiff neck upon waking.
Which sleep position is right for you?
Determining the right sleep position for yourself is personal preference. Regardless of which position you choose, make sure that you have a firm mattress and pillows. These will support the spine and neck, which is vital to prevent any pains in future.
1. According to the passage, sleeping on the side ________.| A．is the most comfortable sleep position | B．may cure people of their shoulder pain |
| C．reminds people of the foetal position | D．is good for those who snore |
| A．sleeping on their side | B．sleeping on their back |
| C．pressing their face into the pillow | D．having their head face one side |
| A．How to judge sleep quality. | B．How to evaluate one’s health. |
| C．How to develop good habits. | D．How to choose sleep positions. |
6 . One person can change the world starting with a single blade of grass! When Brian Schwartz decided he wanted to make a
When Schwartz lost his job at a digital advertising agency, he made up his mind to stay active and busy. He wanted to help those having a
Using his own lawnmower and minivan, Schwartz started with one
One of his former co-workers posted what he did on the Internet. Schwartz explains on the website, “It just feels
This grassroots “mowment” has brought people together,
| A．difference | B．profit | C．list | D．choice |
| A．teaching | B．watching | C．examining | D．helping |
| A．long | B．happy | C．hard | D．quiet |
| A．active | B．ordinary | C．senior | D．responsible |
| A．boring | B．tiring | C．interesting | D．exciting |
| A．welcomed | B．rejected | C．abandoned | D．borrowed |
| A．park | B．room | C．shop | D．office |
| A．courses | B．discounts | C．suggestions | D．services |
| A．free | B．good | C．strange | D．safe |
| A．true | B．polite | C．practical | D．reasonable |
| A．levels | B．prices | C．production | D．awareness |
| A．volunteers | B．friends | C．engineers | D．colleagues |
| A．hired | B．inspired | C．ordered | D．elected |
| A．grow | B．return | C．train | D．gather |
| A．paid | B．required | C．qualified | D．motivated |
7 . Earth is experiencing its sixth mass extinction: somewhere between 30 and 159 species(物种) disappear every day, and more than 300 types of animals have died out since 1500. This is not good for the future of life on our planet, but what if we could make some of the extinct species come back to life? Thanks to ongoing advances in DNA recovery and cloning technology, de-extinction may soon be realized, and we may see Tasmanian Tigers, or Dodo Birds back into existence in the near future.
Some scientists are confident and optimistic about de-extinction. They think that the best reasons for de-extinction have more to do with ecology than tourism. “If this is always going to be a zoo animal, then stop,” says Ben Novak, the lead researcherat Revive & Restore—a foundation devoted to rescuing endangered and extinct species in San Francisco, California. “The goals have to be about ecological restoration and function.”
Take passenger pigeons for example. Their numbers reached nearly 5 billion at the start of the 19th century, and they played an important role in shaping the forests they inhabited(居住). After their extinction, the forests have never been the same. “The passenger pigeon is a very important ecological species if we want their original habitat back.” Novak says.
However, we need to think twice about Novak’s idea. Any new scientific initiative is bound to have risks, so is de-extinction. Although some assume that de-extinction may help the environment, we can’t be so sure. The de-extinct animals would now be strangers to their habitats. As the habitat is no longer what it was, the species role within the ecosystem may have also changed. This could be actually a threat to the other species within the environment as the de-extinct animals enter the area and compete for food sources. Once again we’re trying to force nature to act in a certain way, rather than letting it remain natural.
Many scientists also believe that priorities(优先权) would change within the conservation of currently endangered species. Would we still put in the effort to preserve living animals if we knew we could just magically bring them back from the dead? Douglas McCauley, an ecologist at University of California, Santa Barbara, stresses this worry. “Honestly, the thing that scares me most is that the public absorbs the misimpression that extinction is no longer scary. The general attitude becomes: Deforest, no worry, we can reforest. If we drive something extinct, no worry, we can de-extinct it.” said McCauley.
It seems that with the subject of de-extinction, we must look at our reasons for doing such a thing. Yes, we may, in the near future, be able to de-extinct the extinct species. But does that mean we should? Are the risks really worth it? Does it make sense to focus on the dead than the living? And who are we truly benefiting in the end?
1. Ben Novak probably agrees that ________.| A．the value of de-extinctionlies in tourism |
| B．de-extinct animals are unfit to live in the zoo |
| C．de-extinction results from the change of ecosystem |
| D．de-extinction aims to bring back former environment |
| A．People’s impressions on lost species. |
| B．Change of public attitude towards de-extinction. |
| C．Importance of the conservation of living animals. |
| D．Effects of de-extinction on the protection of endangered species. |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Doubtful. | C．Neutral. | D．Supportive. |
I: Introduction P: Point Sp: Sub-point (次要点) C: Conclusion
A． | B． | C． | D． |
While most spiders hunt alone, there are a few hundred species of social spiders that live in colonies. A.studiosus is one of them. Up to 50 individuals gather together to spin large collective webs, which catch larger prey than each spider could trap on its own.
All the colony members look the same, but they don’t all behave in the same way. The females can be aggressive or docile (温驯的). It’s surprisingly easy to realize their personalities—just put two of them in a small box overnight and check on them the next morning. If they’re both docile, they will have built a joint web in one corner of the box. If one of them is aggressive, the pair will be at opposite corners.
Colin Wright from the University of Pittsburgh has now found that these personality types do different jobs within the web, creating a natural division of labor. They’re a little like ants, where small workers clean and look for food, and big soldiers guard and defend. But unlike these insects, the social spiders don’t have castes (社会阶层) with different builds. Instead, their roles are defined by their personalities.
When Wright’s team first started studying A.studiosus, they couldn’t work out what the docile spiders did. They didn’t seem to repair webs, keep enemies away, or catch prey. But when the researchers checked the fates of colonies in the wild, they found that those with a mix of docile and aggressive members were more likely to survive than those with just a single type. The docile members were clearly doing something important.
It turns out that they act as the colony’s babysitters. They spend most of their time standing watching over the eggs, or directly feeding the youngsters by regurgitating (反刍) food—just like a mother bird might. Meanwhile, the aggressive spiders generally avoid these tasks; instead, they spend most of their time building the web, catching prey, and defending their colonies. Compared to the docile spiders, the aggressive ones are better at those tasks, because the docile females rarely respond to enemies—and when they do respond, they do so slowly.
For now, it’s not clear why the spiders naturally fall into their respective careers, or even what drives their different personalities in the first place. The team are now trying to answer these questions. In the meantime, Wright suggests that biologists should pay more attention to personality types, when trying to understand how animal societies work.
1. According to the passage, what are the two personality types of female A.studiosus?2. What are the aggressive female spiders mainly responsible for?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
In an A.studiosus colony, the division of labor is based on the different builds of the spiders.
4. Do you think personality traits influence human career choices? Why or why not? (In about 40 words)
