1 . Everyone knows you must exercise regularly to keep good health. Indeed, staying physically fit is a big part of our culture. We consider (or rightly so) that healthy people are attractive people. Since most of us want to be attractive, there is no shortage of exercise clubs, training videos, magazines and books offering to help us stay physically fit.
Unfortunately, however, our culture doesn’t place the same emphasis on mental fitness. Although we tend to like men and women with strong, healthy-looking bodies, we don’t have the same degree of respect or attraction for smart, educated, mentally healthy people. This is a pity, because there are great rewards for people who have developed the ability to think well.
If your mind is well trained and flexible, you will be able to understand a great deal of what happens around you. And if you are also well educated-that is, if you understand basic science, mathematics, music, art, literature, history and so on—you will find it much easier to make good decisions throughout your life. Over the long run, this leads to a sense of control over your destiny (命运) and a much better life than otherwise (in another way).
People who are poorly educated or who don’t think well—that is, people who are not mentally fit—see things differently. Their world is controlled by mysterious, often malevolent (恶意的) forces. Such people live within a system they will never master, forced to follow rules they will never understand. Although it may not be obvious, most spend their lives being manipulated (控制) by others. They are told what to do, what to think, how to spend their money, and what they should and should not aspire (渴望) to in life.
In my opinion, if you want to live well, you must be able to use your mind well. For this reason, I want you to be able to concentrate, to solve problems, to understand complex ideas, and to think clearly and quickly. Such skills will make it easier for you to make informed decisions, understand current events, choose good friends, manage your money well, make wise long-term decisions and appreciate music, art and literature.
The key to developing such skills is to enjoy learning, and to have the ability and motivation to teach yourself.
The underlined word “this” in the third paragraph means “ ______”.| A．the understanding of a great deal of what goes on around you |
| B．the understanding of basic science and mathematics |
| C．being able to make good decisions in life |
| D．good training in body and mind |
2 . Now let us look at how we read. When we read a printed text, our eyes move across a page in short, rough movement. We recognize words usually when our eyes are still when they fixate (凝视). Each time they fixate, we see a group of words. This is known as the recognition span or the visual span. The length of time of which the eyes stop -the duration of the fixation — varies considerably from person to person. It also varies within one person according to his purpose in reading and his familiarity with the text. Furthermore, it can be affected by such factors as lighting and tiredness.
Unfortunately, in the past, many reading improvement courses have concentrated too much on how our eyes move across the printed page. As a result of this misleading emphasis on the purely visual aspects of reading, numerous exercises have been devised to train the eyes to see more words at one fixation. For instance, in some exercises, words are flashed on to a screen for, say, a tenth or a twentieth of a second. One of the exercises has required students to fix their eyes on some central point, taking in the words on either side. Such word patterns are often constructed in the shape of rather steep pyramids so the reader takes in more and more words at each successive fixation. All these exercises are very clever, but it’s one thing to improve a person’s ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently. Reading requires the ability to understand the relationship between words. Consequently, for these reasons, many experts have now begun to question the usefulness of eye training, especially since any approach which trains a person to read isolated words and phrases would seem unlikely to help him in reading a continuous text.
What does the author mean by saying the underlined sentence in the second paragraph?| A．The ability to see words is not needed when an efficient reading is conducted. |
| B．The reading exercises mentioned can’t help to improve both the ability to see and to comprehend words. |
| C．The reading exercises mentioned can’t help to improve an efficient reading. |
| D．The reading exercises mentioned have done a great job to improve one’s ability to see words. |
3 . Now let us look at how we read. When we read a printed text, our eyes move across a page in short, rough movement. We recognize words usually when our eyes are still when they fixate (凝视). Each time they fixate, we see a group of words. This is known as the recognition span or the visual span. The length of time of which the eyes stop -the duration of the fixation — varies considerably from person to person. It also varies within one person according to his purpose in reading and his familiarity with the text. Furthermore, it can be affected by such factors as lighting and tiredness.
Unfortunately, in the past, many reading improvement courses have concentrated too much on how our eyes move across the printed page. As a result of this misleading emphasis on the purely visual aspects of reading, numerous exercises have been devised to train the eyes to see more words at one fixation. For instance, in some exercises, words are flashed on to a screen for, say, a tenth or a twentieth of a second. One of the exercises has required students to fix their eyes on some central point, taking in the words on either side. Such word patterns are often constructed in the shape of rather steep pyramids so the reader takes in more and more words at each successive fixation. All these exercises are very clever, but it’s one thing to improve a person’s ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently. Reading requires the ability to understand the relationship between words. Consequently, for these reasons, many experts have now begun to question the usefulness of eye training, especially since any approach which trains a person to read isolated words and phrases would seem unlikely to help him in reading a continuous text.
What is the writer’s attitude in writing this passage?| A．critical | B．neutral | C．pessimistic | D．optimistic |
4 . Everyone knows you must exercise regularly to keep good health. Indeed, staying physically fit is a big part of our culture. We consider (or rightly so) that healthy people are attractive people. Since most of us want to be attractive, there is no shortage of exercise clubs, training videos, magazines and books offering to help us stay physically fit.
Unfortunately, however, our culture doesn’t place the same emphasis on mental fitness. Although we tend to like men and women with strong, healthy-looking bodies, we don’t have the same degree of respect or attraction for smart, educated, mentally healthy people. This is a pity, because there are great rewards for people who have developed the ability to think well.
If your mind is well trained and flexible, you will be able to understand a great deal of what happens around you. And if you are also well educated-that is, if you understand basic science, mathematics, music, art, literature, history and so on—you will find it much easier to make good decisions throughout your life. Over the long run, this leads to a sense of control over your destiny (命运) and a much better life than otherwise (in another way).
People who are poorly educated or who don’t think well—that is, people who are not mentally fit—see things differently. Their world is controlled by mysterious, often malevolent (恶意的) forces. Such people live within a system they will never master, forced to follow rules they will never understand. Although it may not be obvious, most spend their lives being manipulated (控制) by others. They are told what to do, what to think, how to spend their money, and what they should and should not aspire (渴望) to in life.
In my opinion, if you want to live well, you must be able to use your mind well. For this reason, I want you to be able to concentrate, to solve problems, to understand complex ideas, and to think clearly and quickly. Such skills will make it easier for you to make informed decisions, understand current events, choose good friends, manage your money well, make wise long-term decisions and appreciate music, art and literature.
The key to developing such skills is to enjoy learning, and to have the ability and motivation to teach yourself.
The writer of this passage thinks those who are not mentally fit______.| A．live a poor and mysterious life |
| B．enjoy being fooled and ruled |
| C．often do what others do |
| D．can’t control over their life |
5 . To avoid becoming the head story on the evening news, be prepared. Before you head out on a hike, check the weather, take plenty of water, and make sure someone knows where you’ll be and when you’ll be back. Bring clothes to keep you warm when wet. Avoid cotton, which is easy to take in moisture(潮气).
“To avoid getting lost, check often to make sure you’re still on the trail(路线),”says John Dill, a search-and-rescue worker at Yosemite National Park in California.“The minute you think you might not be on the trail, stop.” If you’re not alone, focusing on the needs of others can help you get rid of your own fears. Other keys to survival: staying observant and remembering to rest.
The surest way to get out alive is to take basic precautions(预防措施), such as taking a set of survival equipment. It includes waterproof matches for starting a fire, a folding knife for cutting branches, and a plastic tarp(防水布) for making shelter.
Generally, people who try to find their own way out get along worse than those who stay, says Richard N. Bradley, MD, of the American Red Cross. Find shelter before dark, and try to keep dry. Stay visible so that anyone searching can see you. In a wide-open area, make a signal with colorful tools, make a big X out of rocks, or dig a long shallow hole.
You can go several days without eating, so in most cases, you’d better not search for food, since there are lots of poisonous plants in the wild, says Dr Bradley. You cannot survive without water, so if you run out of water, it’s usually better to drink from a stream with suspect water than to go without.
By saying “becoming the lead story on the evening news” in Para. 1, the author really means ______.| A．you will be interviewed by the journalist |
| B．you will become famous for your survival in a forest |
| C．the news that you are lost will spread around quickly |
| D．your experience in the wild will be reported in the evening news |
6 . Now let us look at how we read. When we read a printed text, our eyes move across a page in short, rough movement. We recognize words usually when our eyes are still when they fixate (凝视). Each time they fixate, we see a group of words. This is known as the recognition span or the visual span. The length of time of which the eyes stop -the duration of the fixation — varies considerably from person to person. It also varies within one person according to his purpose in reading and his familiarity with the text. Furthermore, it can be affected by such factors as lighting and tiredness.
Unfortunately, in the past, many reading improvement courses have concentrated too much on how our eyes move across the printed page. As a result of this misleading emphasis on the purely visual aspects of reading, numerous exercises have been devised to train the eyes to see more words at one fixation. For instance, in some exercises, words are flashed on to a screen for, say, a tenth or a twentieth of a second. One of the exercises has required students to fix their eyes on some central point, taking in the words on either side. Such word patterns are often constructed in the shape of rather steep pyramids so the reader takes in more and more words at each successive fixation. All these exercises are very clever, but it’s one thing to improve a person’s ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently. Reading requires the ability to understand the relationship between words. Consequently, for these reasons, many experts have now begun to question the usefulness of eye training, especially since any approach which trains a person to read isolated words and phrases would seem unlikely to help him in reading a continuous text.
The author may believe that reading ______.| A．requires a reader to take in more words at each fixation |
| B．requires a reader to see words more quickly |
| C．demands a deeply-participating mind |
| D．demands more mind than eyes |
7 . A month after Hurricane Katrina, I returned home in New Orleans. There lay my house, reduced to waist-high ruins, smelly and dirty.
Before the trip, I’d had my car fixed. When the office employee of the garage was writing up the bill, she noticed my Louisiana license plate. “You from New Orleans?” she asked. I said I was, “No charge,” she said, and firmly shook her head when I reached for my wallet. The next day I went for a haircut, and the same thing happened.
As my wife was studying in Florida, we decided to move there and tried to find a rental house that we could afford while also paying off a mortgage (抵押贷款) on our ruined house. We looked at many places, but none was satisfactory. We’d begun to accept that we’d have to live in extremely reduced circumstances for a while, when I got a very curious e-mail from a James Kennedy in California. He’d read some pieces I’d written about our sufferings for Slate, the online magazine, and wanted to give us (“no conditions attached”) a new house across the lake from New Orleans.
It sounded too good to be true, but I replied, thanking him for his exceptional generosity, that we had no plans to go back. Then a poet at the University of Florida offered to let his house to me while he went to England on his one-year paid leave. The rent was rather reasonable. I mentioned the poet’s offer to James Kennedy, and the next day he sent a check covering our entire rent for eight months.
Throughout this painful experience, the kindness of strangers has done much to bring back my faith in humanity. It’s almost worth losing your worldly possessions to be reminded that people are really nice when given half a chance.
1. It can be inferred from the text that ______.| A．the author’s family was in financial difficulty |
| B．rents were comparatively reasonable despite the disaster |
| C．houses were difficult to find in the hurricane-stricken area |
| D．the mortgage on the ruined house was paid off by the bank |
| A．worldly possessions can be given up when necessary |
| B．generosity should be encouraged in some cases |
| C．people benefit from their sad stories |
| D．human beings are kind after all |
8 . Everyone knows you must exercise regularly to keep good health. Indeed, staying physically fit is a big part of our culture. We consider (or rightly so) that healthy people are attractive people. Since most of us want to be attractive, there is no shortage of exercise clubs, training videos, magazines and books offering to help us stay physically fit.
Unfortunately, however, our culture doesn’t place the same emphasis on mental fitness. Although we tend to like men and women with strong, healthy-looking bodies, we don’t have the same degree of respect or attraction for smart, educated, mentally healthy people. This is a pity, because there are great rewards for people who have developed the ability to think well.
If your mind is well trained and flexible, you will be able to understand a great deal of what happens around you. And if you are also well educated-that is, if you understand basic science, mathematics, music, art, literature, history and so on—you will find it much easier to make good decisions throughout your life. Over the long run, this leads to a sense of control over your destiny (命运) and a much better life than otherwise (in another way).
People who are poorly educated or who don’t think well—that is, people who are not mentally fit—see things differently. Their world is controlled by mysterious, often malevolent (恶意的) forces. Such people live within a system they will never master, forced to follow rules they will never understand. Although it may not be obvious, most spend their lives being manipulated (控制) by others. They are told what to do, what to think, how to spend their money, and what they should and should not aspire (渴望) to in life.
In my opinion, if you want to live well, you must be able to use your mind well. For this reason, I want you to be able to concentrate, to solve problems, to understand complex ideas, and to think clearly and quickly. Such skills will make it easier for you to make informed decisions, understand current events, choose good friends, manage your money well, make wise long-term decisions and appreciate music, art and literature.
The key to developing such skills is to enjoy learning, and to have the ability and motivation to teach yourself.
The writer of the passage feels disappointed that ______.| A．too little has been done to help people to keep physically fit |
| B．too much has been done to help people to keep physically fit |
| C．physically healthy people are not as popular as mentally healthy people |
| D．mentally healthy people are not as popular as physically healthy people |
9 . To avoid becoming the head story on the evening news, be prepared. Before you head out on a hike, check the weather, take plenty of water, and make sure someone knows where you’ll be and when you’ll be back. Bring clothes to keep you warm when wet. Avoid cotton, which is easy to take in moisture(潮气).
“To avoid getting lost, check often to make sure you’re still on the trail(路线),”says John Dill, a search-and-rescue worker at Yosemite National Park in California.“The minute you think you might not be on the trail, stop.” If you’re not alone, focusing on the needs of others can help you get rid of your own fears. Other keys to survival: staying observant and remembering to rest.
The surest way to get out alive is to take basic precautions(预防措施), such as taking a set of survival equipment. It includes waterproof matches for starting a fire, a folding knife for cutting branches, and a plastic tarp(防水布) for making shelter.
Generally, people who try to find their own way out get along worse than those who stay, says Richard N. Bradley, MD, of the American Red Cross. Find shelter before dark, and try to keep dry. Stay visible so that anyone searching can see you. In a wide-open area, make a signal with colorful tools, make a big X out of rocks, or dig a long shallow hole.
You can go several days without eating, so in most cases, you’d better not search for food, since there are lots of poisonous plants in the wild, says Dr Bradley. You cannot survive without water, so if you run out of water, it’s usually better to drink from a stream with suspect water than to go without.
1. According to the writer, how can you avoid getting lost when you are alone?| A．Make sure you don’t leave the trail. |
| B．Remember not to stop on the trail. |
| C．Try to look for others’ help. |
| D．Overcome the fear of getting lost. |
| A．try to find food to fill your stomach in the wild |
| B．stay in the shelter before dark |
| C．remain where you get lost and wait for help |
| D．drink water from the stream |
| A．To find some water to drink. |
| B．To store some food you’ve brought along |
| C．To attract the rescuer’s attention. |
| D．To use it as a shelter. |
10 . Now let us look at how we read. When we read a printed text, our eyes move across a page in short, rough movement. We recognize words usually when our eyes are still when they fixate (凝视). Each time they fixate, we see a group of words. This is known as the recognition span or the visual span. The length of time of which the eyes stop -the duration of the fixation — varies considerably from person to person. It also varies within one person according to his purpose in reading and his familiarity with the text. Furthermore, it can be affected by such factors as lighting and tiredness.
Unfortunately, in the past, many reading improvement courses have concentrated too much on how our eyes move across the printed page. As a result of this misleading emphasis on the purely visual aspects of reading, numerous exercises have been devised to train the eyes to see more words at one fixation. For instance, in some exercises, words are flashed on to a screen for, say, a tenth or a twentieth of a second. One of the exercises has required students to fix their eyes on some central point, taking in the words on either side. Such word patterns are often constructed in the shape of rather steep pyramids so the reader takes in more and more words at each successive fixation. All these exercises are very clever, but it’s one thing to improve a person’s ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently. Reading requires the ability to understand the relationship between words. Consequently, for these reasons, many experts have now begun to question the usefulness of eye training, especially since any approach which trains a person to read isolated words and phrases would seem unlikely to help him in reading a continuous text.
The time of the recognition span can be affected by the following facts EXCEPT ______.| A．one’s familiarity with the text |
| B．one’s purpose in reading |
| C．the length of a group of words |
| D．lighting and tiredness |
