Speakers of different languages not only describe the world differently but think about it differently too, according to a new study.
Researchers used a cartoon cat Sylvester to study how language was reflected (反映) in the gestures people made. Dr. Sotaro Kita of the University of Bristol’s Department of Experimental Psychology (心理学), showed the cartoon to a group of native English, Japanese and Turkish speakers and then watched their gestures as they described the actions they had seen. He found speakers of the three different languages used different gestures to describe the same event, which appeared to reflect the way the structure of their languages expressed that event. For example, when describing a scene where the cat swings on a rope, the English speakers used gestures showing an arc trajectory (弧形轨迹) and the Japanese and Turkish speakers tended to use straight gestures showing the motion but not the arc.
Dr. Kita suggests this is because Japanese and Turkish have no proper verb to express the English meaning “to swing”. While English speakers use the arc gesture as their language can readily express the change of location and the arc-shaped trajectory, Japanese and Turkish speakers cannot as easily express the idea of movement with an arc trajectory so they use the straight gesture.
Dr. Kita said, “My research suggests that speakers of different languages cause different spatial (空间的) images of the same event in a way that matches the expressive possibilities of their own languages. In other words, language influences (影响) spatial thinking at the moment of speaking.”
68. Researchers watched the gestures the people made because they wanted to know _____.
| A．how language was reflected |
| B．whether they could express the same idea |
| C．whether they could describe what they had seen |
| D．how the structure of language changed |
69. After watching the gestures of speakers of the three different languages, Dr. Kita concluded that _____.
| A．Japanese and Turkish people couldn’t express the meaning of “swing” |
| B．English was obviously better than Japanese and Turkish |
| C．no word in Japanese and Turkish could express some ideas of English |
| D．every language had its own special way to describe things |
70.What is mainly discussed in the text?
| A．Differences between languages. |
| B．Differences between gestures. |
| C．How people use different gestures to express the same event. |
| D．That language influences the way people think. |
Scientists are developing a new kind of machine to take the place of humans. These machines can do jobs in places that are too dangerous for humans. For example, they are being developed to work in nuclear power center, deep under the oceans and in outer space.
John Marrit, a psychologist(心理学家) in Williamsburg Massachusetts, helped develop the new machine. This is how they work. A machine is placed in an area far away from the person who operates it. The person wears special hard hat with television screens and sound equipment. The screens and sound equipment let the person see and hear exactly what the machine is seeing and hearing. Mr. Marrit says this gives the person the feeling of being in the same place as the machine. The idea, he says, is being there without going there. The person uses an electronic control to make the machine move. The machine copies the person’s movements exactly. If the person raises his right arm, the machine raises the right arm, too. This means an expert can do a dangerous job while staying in the safe place. For example, a person can direct the machine to destroy a bomb without going near the bomb himself.The new kind of machine being introduced in the passage is _______.
| A．in existence | B．only an idea |
| C．being tried out | D．being researched and developed |
The machine _______.
| A．follows the person’s order |
| B．is controlled by a computer |
| C．does exactly what the person does |
| D．is controlled by a television on the person’s head |
The difference between such a new machine and a robot is that _______.
| A．the new machine is more difficult to make than a robot |
| B．the new machine is more difficult to be controlled |
| C．a robot is controlled by man indirectly |
| D．a robot can’t be used in places too dangerous or faraway |
A flock of hungry pigeons were flying across the sky in search of food. Having traveled a long distance, they felt tired and settled down on a tree. Just below the tree, they saw grains strewn (撒满) all over the ground. The pigeons were happy to have found enough food to eat. All the pigeons came down from the tree and started eating the grains. As they were doing so, a huge net fell on them and trapped them all.
The pigeons were taken aback. They noticed a hunter sitting at a distance from the tree, a bow and arrow in hand. The pigeons realized it was the hunter who had trapped them in the net. The hunter got up and began to move towards the pigeons.
The leader of the pigeons spoke, “Friends, we are in great trouble. The hunter will catch us if we do not act swiftly in a few seconds. There is only one option available at this moment. Let all of us use our force together and fly up along with the net. If all of us use our force and fly together, we can fly carrying the net along with us. Let us start now.”
All the pigeons agreed with him and flew high carrying the net along with them. After traveling enough distance away from the hunter, the pigeons settled on a tree and carefully came out of the net one by one and thus escaped the evil design of the hunter.Who strewed the grains over the ground?
| A．A villager. | B．The hunter. |
| C．The pigeon. | D．The writer. |
The word “”has the closest meaning to the underlined word “option”.
| A．reason | B．choice | C．action | D．opinion |
How did the pigeons react when they got trapped?
| A．They didn’t know what to do. |
| B．They tried to fly in all directions. |
| C．They remained rather calm. |
| D．They decided to fight for their lives. |
This story wants to tell us that .
| A．two heads are better than one. |
| B．confidence will save everyone. |
| C．teamwork can work wonders. |
| D．actions speak louder than words. |
Once upon a time there was a monster（怪兽）. He was very ugly and had no friends. No one wanted to talk to him. Even other monsters thought he was ugly.
He lived alone and was very unhappy because he was so lonely.
“I wish I had a friend.” He said to himself every day, “One friend would be enough. Someone to talk to.”
He wrote a letter to a magazine. The magazine gave people advice.
“Dear Editor,” he wrote, “I am a ugly monster. How can I find a friend?”
“Dear monster,” the Editor replied, “Advertise for a friend in this magazine.” The monster wrote an advertisement.
“Monster wants a friend, male or female. I have two heads, four arms, six legs and three tails. I have one blue eye, one green eye and one brown eye. Smoke comes out of my nose. But I am really a kind monster and will be a good friend to someone. If you would like to meet me, please stand outside Blake’s Store at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 7th. Write to Mr. A, Box 45, everybody’s Magazine.”
A few days later he went to the magazine.
“Do you have any letters for Box 45?” he asked.
The clerk looked in Box 45.
“Yes, there is one.” She said, and gave it to him.
The monster opened the letter, and read, “Dear Monster, I think a person’s character is more important than his appearance. I will wait outside Blake’s Store on Friday. Please carry a flower so that I will recognize you. Yours sincerely, Miss Alice Thwaite.”Why was the monster unhappy?
| A．He had no friends. | B．He was ugly. |
| C．He had two heads. | D．He had three tails. |
What did the monster advertise for?
| A．A magazine. | B．A friend. | C．An editor. | D．A male or female monster. |
How did the monster describe him in the advertisement?
| A．Ugly | B．Lonely | C．Kind | D．Good-looking |
What was strange about Miss Thwaite’s letter?
| A．She was not interested in people’s appearance. |
| B．She wanted to meet the monster. |
| C．She needed a flower to recognize him. |
| D．It was the only reply. |
Women’s fashions change more rapidly than men’s. In the early 1990’s, all women wore their skirts to the ankle. Today, some skirts are even longer than before, but some are very short. Women’s shoes have also gone through all sorts of boots for women were very common at the beginning of this century. Then for years, they were not considered fashionable. Today, they’re back again in all colours, lengths and materials. In fact, today’s women can wear all types of clothes on almost any occasion. While all of these changes were taking place in women’s fashions, men’s clothing remained almost the same until a few years ago. And, in fact, most men are still dressed in the kinds of clothes they used to wear.What kind of skirts do women like to wear today?
| A．Long skirts. |
| B．Short skirts. |
| C．Both long skirts and short skirts. |
| D．Neither long skirts nor short skirts. |
Now boots are considered ______now.
| A．fashionable | B．unfashionable | C．uncommon | D．fit for girls most |
When today’s women go to the party, they wear _______.
| A．skirts down to the ankle |
| B．red long boots |
| C．long skirts and short boots |
| D．any kinds of clothes they like |
The passage tries to tell us _______.
| A．boots for women have been thought fashionable since 1900 |
| B．women’s shoes are back again in all colours, length etc. |
| C．today men are dressed in the kinds of clothes they used to wear |
| D．fashions for clothes, shoes and so on always change |
The United Nations is warning that the world is not prepared to deal with the fast growth of cities. The World Economic and Social Survey 2013 calls for new ways to meet the needs of city populations. More than 6.5 billion people are expected to be living in cities by 2050.
Most new city dwellers will be in developing countries. The United Nations says the effect on limited resources in many countries will be huge. The World Economic and Social Survey points to the increasing demand for energy, water, sanitation, public services, education and health care.
The world population is expected to rise to more than nine billion by 2050, two-thirds of all people are expected to live in cities. The United Nations says about 80 percent of this growing urban population will be found in Africa and Asia.
The report says sustainable development of urban areas requires coordination and investments to deal with important issues, these include land-use, food security, job creation and transportation.
Willem Van Der Geest is with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, he says cities need to work closely with rural communities, so that food supplies can be secured, and the environment can be protected.
"We need enough integration(整合，融合) with cities... An integration between the rural and urban economies is absolutely vital for issues of nutrition, food security, and environmental sustainability."
The report says development in a sustainable（可持续发展）way is important to end poverty. The report also examines the problem of food insecurity, which affects hundreds of millions of people around the world. One in eight people still severely lack nutrition.
UN officials say some things are clear. The Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, Shamshad Akhtar, says world food production will have to increase by 70%, that increase will be needed to feed the additional 2.3 billion people expected on the planet by the middle of the century. She says an important part of meeting that need is to waste less food. "There has to be efforts to reduce food wastage. ."
Food and nutrition security are core elements of the sustainable development agenda.The survey includes the following statements except that ______.
| A．varieties of demands are hard to meet because of the increasing population in Africa and Asia. |
| B．one way to put an end to poverty is to be able to develop for a long time. |
| C．transportation is an important issue to deal with when it comes to sustainable development of urban areas. |
| D．hundreds of millions of people around the world are affected by the problem of food insecurity. |
From the passage we can infer that ______.
| A．cities grow so fast that the world can’t find out new ways to deal with the growing population. |
| B．the growing city dwellers who mainly come from the developing countries greatly challenge limited resources in the world. |
| C．sustainable development of urban areas requires coordination and investments to deal with important issues |
| D．food wastage is an effective way to feed the additional 2.3 biilion people by the middle of the century. |
What is the best titile of the passage?
| A．The World Economic and Social Survey 2013. |
| B．City Population Will Increase to 9 Billion. |
| C．Cities Need to Cooperate with Rural Areas. |
| D．The World Is Not Prepared to Deal with the Fast Growth of Cities. |
The passage is chosen from ______.
| A．a textbook | B．a travel guide | C．a novel | D．a newspaper |