The idea for a science experiment can come from an unusual place. After watching a YouTube video of a dancing bird named Snowball, a scientist in California decided to study the ability of animals to keep the beat.
Bird lovers have long claimed that their pets have rhythm, and there are many videos of dancing birds online. Until now, scientists have suspected that humans are the only animals that can accurately keep rhythm with music.
Thanks to Snowball, that scientific opinion is changing. Snowball is a cockatoo, a kind of parrot, and his favorite song is "Everybody" by the Backstreet Boys. When he hears the song, he moves his feet and rocks his body with the tempo, or pace of the music, as though he is the only bird member of the boy band.
Aniruddh Patel is a neuroscientist, or a scientist who studies how the brain and the nervous system contribute to learning, seeing and other mental abilities. He works at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego. After seeing Snowball's dance online, Patel visited the cockatoo at the bird rescue facility he's called home for two years. The scientist played "Everybody" for Snowball and also played versions of the song that were sped up or slowed down. Sometimes, Snowball danced too fast or too slowly. Often, when there was a change in tempo, Snowball adjusted his dancing to match the rhythm. In other experiments, scientists have observed the same abilities in preschool children.
Patel isn't the only scientist who has studied Snowball's moves. Adena Schachner, who studies psychology at Harvard University, also wanted to know more abo
ut the dancing bird. Schachner's team played different musical pieces for Snowball and a parrot named Alex, as well as eight human volunteers. The scientists observed that the birds and the humans kept time to the music with about the same accuracy.
Schachner and her team watched thousands of YouTube videos of different animals moving to music. Not all the animals could dance, however. From watching the videos, the scientists observed that only animals that imitate sounds, including 14 parrot species and Asian elephants, accurately moved in time to music.
68. The underlined words “that scientific opinion” in the third paragraph refer to the theory that _____.
A. birds like Snowball have the ability to keep the beat
B. humans are the only animals that can accurately keep rhythm with music
C. the brain and the nervous system contribute to some mental abilities
D. bird pets can have their special rhythm under human’s instruction
69. From the fourth paragraph we may know that _________.
A. Patel is the only scientist who has studied Snowball’s moves.
B. Snowball is able to adjust his dancing to match the rhythm.
C. Snowball cannot dance to the versions of the song Everybody.
D. it is the brain and the nervous system that control the mental abilities.
70. The idea of studying animals’ ability to keep the beat comes from _________.
A. bird lovers’ discovery B. humans musical sense
C. the same abilities in children D. videos of dancing birds
71. According to the scientists, Snowball’s ability to dance to music is probably related to the fact that _________.
A. it is the only bird member of the Backstreet Boys band
B. it has the ability to imitate sounds
C. it is a kind of dancing parrot
D. it has the same abilities as preschool children
Every year thousands of tourists visit Pompeii, Italy. They see the sights that Pompeii is famous for-its stadium and theatres, its shops and restaurants. The tourists do not, however, see Pompeii’s people. They do not see them because Pompeii has no people. No one has lived in Pompeii for almost 2000 years.
Once, Pompeii was a busy city of 22,000 people. It lay at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, a grass-covered volcano. Mount Vesuvius had not erupted for centuries, so the people of Pompeii felt safe, But they were not.
In August of AD 79 , Mount Vesuvius erupted. The entire top of the mountain exploded, and a huge black cloud rose into the air. Soon stones and hot ash began to fall on Pompeii . When the eruption ended , Pompeii was hurried under 20 feet of stones and ashes. Almost all of its people were dead.
For centuries, Pompeii lay buried under stone and ash. Then, in the year 1861,an Italian scientist named Ginseppe began to uncover Pompeii. Slowly, carefully, Ginseppe and his men dug. The city looked almost the same as it had looked in AD79 , There were streets and fountains, houses and shops, There was a stadium with 20,000 seats , Perhaps the most important of all, there were everyday objects, which tell us a great deal about the people who lived in Pompeii. Many glasses and jars had some dark blue color in the bottom, so we know that the people of Pompeii liked wine, They liked bread, too; metal bread pans were in the bakery .In one bakery there were 81 round , flat loaves of bread –a type of bread that is still sold in Italy today . Tiny boxes filled with a dark, shiny powder tell us that women liked to wear eye-makeup.Why do large numbers of people come to Pompeii each year?
| A．To find the volcano |
| B．To shop and eat there |
| C．To watch sports and plays |
| D．To see how Pompeians lived |
Why did the city uncovered look almost the same as it had looked in AD 79?
| A．Ginseppe and his men dug it slowly and carefully. |
| B．The city was buried alive and remained untouched. |
| C．Scientists successfully rebuilt the city with everyday objects. |
| D．Nobody had lived in the city ever since the volcano erupted. |
What do we know about the Pompeians who lived 2000 years ago?
| A．They lived more or less the same as Italians now do . |
| B．They liked women wearing all kinds of makeup. |
| C．They enjoyed a lazy life with drinking and eating. |
| D．They went back to Pompeii after the eruption in AD79. |
40 years ago the idea of disabled people doing sport was never heard of. But when the yearly games for the disabled were started at Stoke Mandeville, England in 1948 by Sir Ludwig Guttmann, the situation began to change.
Sir Ludwig Guttmann, who had been driven to England in 1939 from Nazi Germany, had been asked by the British government to set up an injuries center at Stoke Mandeville Hospital near London, His ideas about treating injuries included sport for the disabled.
In the first games just two teams of injured soldiers took part .The next year, 1949, five teams took part. From those beginnings, things have developed fast. Teams now come from abroad to Stoke Mandeville every year. In 1990 the first Olympics for the disabled were held in Rome, in the same place as the normal Olympic Games. Now, every four years the Olympic Games for the disabled are held, if possible, in the same place as the normal Olympic Games, although they are organized separately. In other years games for the disabled are still held at Stoke Mandeville, In the 1984 Wheelchair Olympic Games, 1,064 wheelchair athletes form about 40 countries took part. Unfortunately, they were held at Stoke Mandeville and not in Los Angeles, along with the other Olympics.
The games have been a great success in helping the progress of international friendship and understanding, and in proving that being disabled does not mean you can’t enjoy sport. One small source of disappointment for those who organize and take part in the games, however, has been the unwillingness of the International Olympic Committee to include disabled events at the Olympic Games for the able-bodied. Perhaps a few more years are still needed to persuade those fortunate enough not to be disabled that their disabled fellow athletes should be included.The first games for the disabled were held ___ after Sir Ludwig Guttmann arrived in England.
| A．40 years | B．21 years | C．10 years | D．9 years |
Besides Stoke Mandeville, surely the games for the disabled were once held in_____.
| A．New York | B．London | C．Rome | D．Los Angeles |
What do we know about Sir Ludwig Guttmann from the passage?
| A．He is an early organizer of the games for the able-bodied |
| B． He is welcomed by the British government |
| C．He is an injured soldier. |
| D．He is from England. |
From the passage, we may know that the writer is_____.
| A．in favor of holding the games for the disabled |
| B．against holding the games for the disabled |
| C．a disabled person who once took part in the games |
| D．one of the organizers of the games for the disabled |
It is estimated that some seven hundred million people, about half the world’s adult population, are unable to read or write, and there are probably two hundred and fifty million more whose level is so slight that it is hardly called literacy(有文化).
Recently the attack on illiteracy had been stepped up. A world plan has been drawn up by a committee of UNESCO experts in Paris, as part of the United Nations Development Decade（十年计划）,and an international conference of the subject has also been held. UNESCO stresses that functional literacy is the aim. People must learn the basic skills of responsible citizenship, the ability of reading notices, newspapers, timetables, letters, price-lists to keep simple records and accounts, to select the importance of the information gathered, and to fill in the forms.
The major areas of illiteracy are in Asia, Africa, and Central and South America. In Africa there are at least one hundred million illiterate people, which is eighty to eighty-five percent of the total population. In Europe the figure is about twenty-four million; most of them are in Sothern Europe, with Spain, Italy, Portugal, Yugoslavia heading the list (the United Kingdom has about seven hundred thousand).
UNESGO is eager for each country in the world, poor or rich, to wipe out illiteracy.The author implies that this world plan is to______.
| A．be carried out in the major areas of illiteracy like Africa. |
| B．be realized in the years |
| C．be drawn up by Parisian experts |
| D．be discussed at an international conference |
The world plan mentioned in the passage aims at____.
| A．asking African countries to take the lead in attacking illiteracy |
| B．strengthening the function of the UNESCO |
| C．helping illiterate people learn functional reading and writing |
| D．training responsible citizens |
According to the passage, which of the following countries has the most illiterate people?
| A．England | B．France | C．Sweden | D．Spain |
Which of the statements is true?
| A．The major areas of illiteracy are in Asia, Africa, and Central and South America. |
| B．In the USA there are at least one hundred million illiterate people, |
| C．the United Kingdom has about seven hundred million illiterate people |
| D．In Europe the figure is about twenty-four million; most of them are in Northern Europe. |
A small piece of fish each day may keep the heart doctor away. That’s the finding of a study of Dutch men in which deaths from heart disease were more than 50 percent lower among those who consumed（消费） at least an ounce of salt water fish per day compared to those who never ate fish.
The Dutch research is one of three human studies that give strong scientific support to the long held belief that eating fish can provide health benefits, particularly to the heart.
Heart disease is the number-one killer in the United States, with more than 550,000deaths occurring from heart attacks each year. But previous research has shown that the level of heart disease is lower in cultures that consume more fish than Americans do. There are fewer heart disease deaths, for example, among the Eskimos of Greenland, who consume about 14 ounces of fish a day, and among the Japanese, whose daily fish consumption averages more than 3 ounces.
For 20 years, the Dutch study followed 852 middle-aged men, 20 percent of whom ate no fish.
At the start of the study, average fish consumption was about two-thirds of an ounce each day, with more men eating lean fish than fatty fish.
During the next two decades, 78of the men died from heart disease , The fewest deaths were among the group who regularly ate fish, even at levels far lower than those of the Japanese of Eskimos, This relationship was true regardless of other factors such as age, high blood pressure, or blood cholesterol(胆固醇)levels.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．The Dutch research has proved that eating fish can help to prevent heart disease. |
| B．People who regularly eat fish never suffer from heart disease. |
| C．Heart disease causes more deaths in America than any other disease. |
| D．There is a low level of heart disease in such countries as Japan and Greenland. |
The passage is mainly about______.
| A．the changes in people’s diet |
| B．the daily fish consumption of people in different cultures. |
| C．the high death rate of disease in some countries. |
| D．the effect of fish eating on people’s health |
We can infer from the passage that there are fewer heart disease deaths____.
| A．in Dutch |
| B．in America |
| C．in countries with high consumption of fish |
| D．in countries with good production of fish |
The phrase“this relationship (paragraph 6) refers to the connection between ____ and the level of heart disease.”
| A．the amount of fish eaten |
| B．regular fish-eating |
| C．the kind of fish eaten |
| D．people of different areas |
I was 230 pounds this spring and I decided to get down to a healthier 200.In a house full of food，including snacks bought for my 7yearold sons，I had a hard time cutting calories. Then I noticed my neighbors were having diet meals (减肥餐)．I decided to do the same，knowing I would never be able to stick to a diet if I had to do the buying and cooking myself. I was looking for food that I could afford but I might take a diet more seriously if it hurt me in the wallet.
After online searches，I decided to compare the offerings of four companies：Zone Manhattan，Chefs Diet，NuKitchen and eDiets. All four would send the meals to my door. Three send food daily，while eDiets sends a large package once a week. There were dozens of companies I could have chosen.Research suggests that the economic crisis has made diet programs less tempting.Consumers prefer doityourself diets with foods bought from the supermarket.
NuKitchen regards itself as the “personal chef”．I ordered the fiveday plan ($230.53) and the taste was disappointing. I neither lost nor gained weight on the food.
eDiets promises “healthy，delicious meals sent to your door”．I ordered five breakfasts，five lunches and five dinners. My total cost was $119.70，or less than $25 a day. Overall，the food from eDiets was better than that from NuKitchen.
Chefs Diet charged $380.99 for seven days，making it the most expensive of the four services.I never tasted anything terrible，but I never tasted anything that made me want to renew for a second week.
Zone Manhattan charged $349.80，with tax，for a week’s supply of food，or about $50 a day.I liked the food so much that I lost six pounds in the first four days on the diet.When the author began to have diet meals，she________.
| A．was 200 pounds |
| B．didn’t have any children |
| C．worked as a cook in a company offering diet meals |
| D．didn’t believe she could stick to a diet if she had to cook herself |
What does the underlined word “tempting” in Paragraph 2 mean?
| A．Attractive. | B．Expensive. | C．Delicious. | D．Useful. |
Which of the four companies’ food cost the least daily?
| A．Zone Manhattan’s. | B．Chefs Diet’s. |
| C．NuKitchen’s. | D．eDiets’． |
We can learn from the passage that________.
| A．the author gained weight on the food from Nukitchen |
| B．the author would choose the food of Zone Manhattan |
| C．the food from eDiets was the worst of the four |
| D．Zone Manhattan sends food once a week |