1 . How tall are you? Do you tower over your friends and family - or are they people you literally have to look up to?
Of course, our height is out of our control.
In a recent study scientists have discovered a brain receptor, called MC3R, linked to our growing process.
For those eager to be taller, we need to look at the Dutch, who stand head and shoulders above the rest of us as the tallest people in the world. But, of course tall people have to stoop (俯身) through doorways and struggle to fit in cars and can have joint and cardiovascular problems.
| A．Are you getting as tall as you want to be? |
| B．It’s a biological fact influenced partly by genetics. |
| C．So maybe we should be careful for what we wish for. |
| D．Obviously, we’re not all the same, and size doesn’t really matter. |
| E．It’s thought to be the crucial link between food and sex development and growth. |
| F．There is a ceiling for height, and it’s reached when people achieve their genetic potential. |
| G．If this makes you want to be taller, it’s good to know we are taller than we were 150 years ago. |
2 . Have you ever wondered if you see the same colours as other people? Most people know what blue is when they see it. They see the colour and call it “blue” because they were taught the word and associated it with what they saw. But how do you know what you see as blue isn’t someone else’s red?
The ability to perceive colours is down to receptors in our eyes. Light waves hit these receptors and they react depending on which colour the light is, sending signals to the brain. The brain then decodes these signals to determine which colour light the eyes are receiving. Some people’s receptors are more developed than others. People with weaker receptors usually have colour blindness. The inability of the receptor to interpret the light waves correctly means that some people cannot tell different shades of a colour.
In the past, most scientists would argue that everyone saw colours in the same way. However, research was conducted on monkeys, in which they were injected with a virus affecting their receptors. This enabled them to understand more colours than usual and brought an interesting discovery. Normally monkeys can only see blue and green, but the virus allowed monkeys to see red. The neurons (神经元) in their brains adapted to be able to understand new colours, which might mean the neurons in our brains are not instinctive (本能的) to automatically understand which colour is which. This implies that our brains and neurons may adapt depending on our stimulus (刺激) during the developmental phase. Colour could be a very personal experience, unique to everyone.
So, the next time you talk about your favourite colour, just remember if yours is blue and your friend says red, you might actually be thinking about the same colour. What if everyone in the world has the same favourite colour, but just calls it different names?
1. What does the underlined word “perceive” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Explain. | B．See. | C．Analyze. | D．Track. |
| A．They can see many shades of some colours. |
| B．Their receptors fail to send signals to their brains. |
| C．There are not enough light waves hitting their receptors. |
| D．The receptors in their eyes are not well developed. |
| A．Monkeys can only only see two colours-green and blue. |
| B．The neurons in monkeys’ brain can instinctively distinguish colours. |
| C．Brains and neurons can be stimulated to recognize new colors. |
| D．The neurons in human brain work differently from monkey’s. |
