（B）
People have wondered for a long time how their personalities and behaviors are formed．It is not easy to explain why one person is intelligent and another is not, or why one is cooperative and another is competitive．
Social scientists are, of course, extremely interested in these types of questions．They want to explain why we possess certain characteristics and exhibit certain behaviors．There are no clear answers yet, but two distinct schools of thought on the matter have developed．As one might expect, the two approaches are very different from one another, and there is a great deal of debate between proponents of each theory．The controversy is often referred to as “nature/nurture”．
Those who support the “nature” side of the conflict believe that our personalities and behavior patterns are largely determined by biological and genetic factors．That our environment has little, if anything, to do with our abilities, characteristics, and behavior is central to this theory．Taken to an extreme, this theory maintains that our behavior is predetermined to such a degree that we are almost completely governed by our instincts．
Proponents of the “nurture” theory, or, as they are often called, behaviorists, claimed that our environment is more important than our biologically based instincts in determining how we will act．A behaviorist, B．F．Skinner, sees humans as beings whose behavior is almost completely shaped by their surroundings．The behaviorists’ view of the human being is quite mechanistic; they maintain that, like machines, humans’ respond to environmental stimuli as the basis of their behavior．
Either of these theories cannot yet fully explain human behavior．In fact, it is quite likely that the key to our behavior lies somewhere between these two extremes．That the controversy will continue for a long time is certain．
69．Which of the following statements would the supporters of the “nature” theory agree with?
A．A person’s instincts have little effect on his actions．
B．Environment is important in determining a person’s behavior and personality．
C．Biological reasons have a strong influence on how we act．
D．The behaviorists’ view correctly explains how we act．
70．Concerning the nature/nurture controversy, the writer of this article____________．
A．supports the nature theory
B．supports the nurture theory
C．believes both are completely wrong
D．thinks that the correct explanation of human behavior will take ideas from both theories．
71．In the United States, Black people often score below White people on intelligence tests．With this in mind, which of the following statements is NOT true?
A．Nature proponents would say that Whites are genetically superior to Blacks．
B．Supporters of the nature theory would say that Whites score well because they have a superior environment．
C．Behaviorists would say that Blacks often lack the educational and environmental advantages that Whites enjoy．
D．Nurture proponents would disagree that Blacks are biologically inferior to Whites．
Unlike chemists and physicists, who usually do their experiments using machines, biologists and medical researchers have to use living things like rats. But there are three Nobel prize-winning scientists who actually chose to experiment on themselves – all in the name of science, reported The Telegraph.
● Werner Forssmann (Nobel prize winner in 1956)
Forssmann was a German scientist. He studied how to put a pipe inside the heart to measure the pressure inside and decide whether a patient needs surgery (手术).
Experiments had been done on horses before, so he wanted to try with human patients. But it was not permitted because the experiment was considered too dangerous.
Not giving up, Forssmann decided to experiment on himself. He anaesthetized (麻醉) his own arm and made a cut, putting the pipe 30 centimeters into his vein (血管). He then climbed two floors to the X-ray room before pushing the pipe all the way into his heart.
● Barry Marshall (Nobel prize winner in 2005)
Most doctors in the mid-20th century believed that gastritis was down to stress, spicy food or an unusually large amount of stomach acid (胃酸). But in 1979 an Australian scientist named Robin Warren found that the disease might be related to a bacteria (细菌) called Helicobacter pylori. So he teamed up with his colleague, Barry Marshall, to continue the study. When their request to experiment on patients was denied, Marshall bravely drank some of the bacteria. Five days later, he lost his appetite and soon was vomiting (呕吐) each morning – he indeed had gastritis.
● Ralph Steinman (Nobel prize winner in 2011)
This Canadian scientist discovered a new type of immune system cell (免疫细胞) called the dendritic cell. He believed that it had the ability to fight against cancer.
Steinman knew he couldn’t yet use his method to treat patients. So in 2007, when doctors told him that he had cancer and that it was unlikely for him to live longer than a year, he saw an opportunity.
With the help of his colleagues, he gave himself three different vaccines (疫苗) based on his research and a total of eight experimental therapies (疗法). Even though Steinman eventually died from his cancer, he lived four and a half years, much longer than doctors had said he would.The main purpose of the article is to ______.
| A．list some famous Nobel prize winners. |
| B．introduce a few Nobel prize winners who did experiments on themselves. |
| C．describe some dangerous experiments that Nobel prize-winners did on themselves. |
| D．list some difficulties that scientists go through to make important discoveries in biology . |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the article?
| A．Forssmann’s experiment ended in failure. |
| B．Forssmann had the pipe pushed all the way into his heart. |
| C．Barry Marshall succeeded by drinking some Helicobacter pylori. |
| D．Barry Marshall was given full responsibility for the study on gastritis at first. |
The underlined word “gastritis” in Paragraph 5 probably means ______.
| A．a kind of stomach disease |
| B．a kind of immune cell |
| C．a new type of therapy |
| D．a type of leg cancer |
From the text, we can conclude that Ralph Steinman ______.
| A．had his request to experiment on patients denied |
| B．believed that cancer comes from stress and spicy food |
| C．discovered a new type of cancer cell called the dendritic cell |
| D．tried different therapies containing the dendritic cell on himself |
I have this old clock that belonged to my mom. My dad gave it to me years ago after mom passed away.
I have mixed feelings about keeping the clock. I love it because it was my mom’s, but it also holds some bad memories.
You see, it chimes (打钟报时). It counts out the hour and rings once on the half hour. Or at least it used to. Now you never know what number it will ring.
When my mother was at home dying from cancer, she asked for the clock to be unplugged (拔去插头等). Hearing the hours count down really angered and frightened her.
Mom passed away. I decided I wanted to get the clock fixed so I could remember the good hours we had with her.
I took it to a local clock shop the other day.
“I know this has no particular value as a clock, but it was my mom’s and I need to get it fixed,” I said to the shop owner.
I went on to describe the problem.
“We get a lot of these in,” he told me. “Here’s what I do. We remove the clock works (机件) and replace it with a battery -operated movement (机芯) that chimes electronically,” he told me.
“You can’t fix this?” “No, we don’t have the time nor the parts.”
I thanked him and went home. I called a few other places and was told the same thing.
“How incredibly sad,” I told the last one disappointedly.
We copy the original instead of creating something new. We duplicate (复制); we don’t originate (发明). How incredibly sad that we have become a society that replaces craftsmanship (手艺) with convenience and easy fixes.
Sadly, this is also our attitude toward life itself.
Each of us is an original, one of a kind. But we find it so much easier to copy another’s style than to develop our own.
We are wannabes (崇拜别人的人) rather than “hey-world-look-at-me”s.
We fail to see the real value in who we are, so we spend our lives trying to be someone else.
The author decided to get the clock fixed because it ______.
| A．was a really old and valuable clock |
| B．left the author with mixed feelings |
| C．was the only thing that his mother had left him |
| D．brought him memories of being with his mother |
What did the clock shop owners tell the author?
| A．It would cost a lot to repair the clock. |
| B．They could only make the clock electronic. |
| C．The parts that the clock needed were electronic. |
| D．They had never repaired a clock like this before. |
The purpose of the article is to criticize ______.
| A．the irresponsible clock shop owners |
| B．people who do not value things with a history |
| C．people who do not have a creative attitude toward life |
| D．people’s ignorance (无知) of traditional craftsmanship |
When I left home for college, I sought to escape the limited world of farmers, small towns, and country life. I long for the excitement of the city, for the fast pace that rural life lacked, for adventure beyond the horizon. I dreamed of exploring the city, living within a new culture and landscape, and becoming part of the pulse of an urban jungle.
Yet some of my best times were driving home, leaving the city behind and slipping back into the valley. As city life disappeared and traffic thinned, I could see the faces of the other drivers relax. Then, around a bend in the highway, the grassland of the valley would come into being, offering a view of gentle rolling hills. The land seemed permanent. I felt as if I had stepped back in time.
I took comfort in the stability of the valley. Driving through small farm communities, I imagined the founding families still rooted in their grand homes, generations working the same lands, neighbors remaining neighbors for generations. I allowed familiar farmhouse landmarks to guide me.
Close to home, I often turned off the main highway and took a different, getting familiar farms again and testing my memory. Friends lived in those houses. I had eaten meals and spent time there; I had worked on some of these farms, lending a hand during a peak harvest, helping a family friend for a day or two. The houses and lands looked the same, and I could picture the gentle faces and hear familiar voices as if little had been changed. As I eased into our driveway I’d return to old ways, becoming a son once again, a child on the family farm. My feelings were honest and real. How I longed for a land where life stood still and my memories could be relived. When I left the farm for college, I could only return as visitor to the valley, a traveler looking for home.
Now the farm is once again my true home. I live in that farmhouse and work the permanent lands. My world may seem unchanged to casual observers, but they are wrong. I know this: if there’s a constant on these farms, it’s the constant of change.
The good observer will recognize the differences. A farmer replants an orchard (果园) with a new variety of peaches. Irrigation is added to block of old grapes, so I imagine the vineyard has a new owner. Occasionally the changes are clearly evident, like a FOR SALE sign. But I need to read the small print in order to make sure that a bank has taken possession of the farm. Most of the changes contain two stories. One is the physical change of the farm, the other involves the people on that land, the human story behind the change.
I’ve been back on the farm for a decade and still haven’t heard all the stories behind the changes around me. But once I add my stories to the landscape, I can call this place my home, a home that continues to evolve and changes as I add more and more of my stories.
A poet returns to the valley and says, “Little has changed in the valley, and how closed-minded you all are!” He comments about the lack of interest in sports, social and environmental issues in the poverty and inequality of our life. He was born and raised here, so he might have the right to criticize and lecture us. Yet he speaks for many who think they know the valley. How differently would others think of us if they knew the stories of a grape harvest in a wet year or a peach without a home?What made the writer relax as he drove from the city to the country?
| A．The land seemed familiar to him. |
| B．The traffic moved more slowly. |
| C．He could see for miles and miles. |
| D．The people he passed seemed to be calmer. |
When he was in college, why was the writer sad when he returned to his family home?
| A．He remembered how hard he used to work. |
| B．He recognized the old housed and land. |
| C．He realized that he was only a visitor. |
| D．He remembered his next door neighbors. |
Which of the following most likely indicates that there is a sad human story behind a physical change on the farm?
| A．A new variety of peach is being planted. |
| B．A piece of land is being sold by a bank. |
| C．Irrigation is being added to a grape operation. |
| D．A farm is being sold to a large corporation. |
The fact that most upsets the writer with the poet is that________.
| A．the poet thinks that the folk people are backward |
| B．the poet’s criticism and comments are not objective |
| C．the poet says that little has changed in the valley |
| D．the poet prefers to live in the urban area |
How can the appearance of a product be more important than what it does? The battle between form and function rose again when James Dyson, British inventor of the Dyson vacuum（真空）cleaner that has sold in millions around the world, resigned as chairman of London's Design Museum． It is widely believed that Mr．Dyson felt that the museum put too much stress on style and fashion at the expense of serious industrial design．
Mr．Dyson accused the museum of not keeping true to itself． He may be right, but these days, museums everywhere can no longer afford to be unique centers of scholarship and learning．Among competition for sponsorship, they must use exhibitions of populist culture, nice cafes and shops or, best of all, a new building by Frank Gehry to increase visitor numbers．
On the one hand, some producers can be too old-fashioned and too concerned with the importance of product engineering and the functionality of their goods．On the other hand there are those who believe that how a product looks is more important．Design is indeed a broad term, involving both function and form．Typically, in any given product area, it changes from the former to the latter． Clothing is a good example．But surely you would have to be a very shallow person to think something's appearance was more important than what it did．
Today nearly all goods at any given price-point do much the same job．So almost the only way producers can differentiate their products from those of their competitors is to create some sort of emotional connection with the consumer, which could be through the visual appeal of the product or its packaging; or the imagery（意象）created by advertising. And what of the Dyson vacuum cleaners? Mr. Dyson may believe that people buy these machines because of the graphs showing their superior suction(喝酒), but most vacuum cleaners do a good job; the main reason people pay extra for a Dyson is because it is a vacuum cleaner with a trendy brand. With its inside workings exposed, it is a bit like a Richard Rogers building with all its pipes shown in bright colors on the outside instead of being hidden inside. Functional it may be, but it is a bit of a trick, too．Mr. Dyson left the Design Museum because he thought the museum．
| A．didn't increase the number of visitors |
| B．couldn't provide scholarships for learners |
| C．hadn't great appeal for serious industrial designs |
| D．wasn't loyal to its original purpose of learning |
Speaking of clothing, the underlined word "latter" refers to．
| A．affording protection |
| B．indicating one's identity |
| C．making someone beautiful |
| D．providing warmth |
What is the author's opinion in Paragraph 4?
| A．A product with convenient packaging sells well． |
| B．The majority of consumers prefer to buy branded goods． |
| C．Emotion contributes much to the development of advertising industry． |
| D．Most similarly priced products are of a comparable standard． |
The author believes that people buy the Dyson vacuum cleaner because．
| A．it has a fashionable range |
| B．it has very good suction |
| C．it sells well around the world |
| D．it is invented by James Dyson |
What is the author's attitude towards the form of a product?
| A．Optimistic | B．Skeptical |
| C．Objective | D．Disapproving |
When you get in your car, you reach for it．When you’re at work, you take a break to have a moment alone with it．When you get into a lift, you play with it．
Cigarettes? Cup of coffee? No, it’s the third most addictive thing in modern life, the cell phone．And experts say it is becoming more difficult for many people to curb their longing to hug it more tightly than most of their personal relationships．
With its shiny surface, its smooth and satisfying touch, its air of complexity, the cell phone connects us to the world even as it disconnects us from people three feet away．In just the past couple of years, the cell phone has challenged individuals, employers, phone makers and counselors（顾问）in ways its inventors in the late 1940s never imagined．
The costs are becoming even more evident, and I don’t mean just the monthly bill．Dr．Chris Knippers, a counselor at the Betty Ford Center in Southern California, reports that the overuse of cell phones has become a social problem not much different from other harmful addictions: a barrier to one-on-one personal contact, and an escape from reality．
It sounds extreme, but we’ve all witnessed the evidence: The person at a restaurant who talks on the phone through an entire meal, ignoring his kids around the table; the woman who talks on the phone in the car, ignoring her husband; the teen who texts messages all the way home from school, avoiding contact with kids all around him．
Is it just rude, or is it a kind of unhealthiness? And pardon me, but how is this improving the quality of life?
Jim Williams, an industrial sociologist based in Massachusetts, notes that cell-phone addiction is part of a set of symptoms in a widening gulf of personal separation．He points to a study by Duke University researchers that found one-quarter of Americans say they have no one to discuss their most important personal business with．Despite the growing use of phones, e-mail and instant messaging, in other words, Williams says studies show that we don’t have as many friends as our parents. “Just as more information has led to less wisdom, more acquaintances via the Internet and cell phones have produced fewer friends,” he says．
If the cell phone has truly had these effects, it’s because it has become very widespread．Consider that in 1987, there were only 1 million cell phones in use．Today, something like 300 million Americans carry them．They far outnumber wired phones in the United States．Which of the following best explains the title of the passage?
| A．Cell phone users smoke less than they used to． |
| B．Cell phones have become as popular as cigarettes． |
| C．More people use cell phones than smoke cigarettes． |
| D．Cell phones have become as addictive as cigarettes． |
The underlined word “curb” in Paragraph 2 means ____．
| A．ignore | B．control |
| C．develop | D．rescue |
The example of a woman talking on the phone in the car supports the idea that ．
| A．cell phones do not necessarily bring people together |
| B．talking on the phone while driving is dangerous |
| C．women use cell phones more often than men |
| D．cell phones make one-on-one personal contact easy |