The research carried out by the University of Bari in Italy could help prove hospitals who are accused of wasting money on art and decoration as it suggests a pleasant environment helps patients ease discomfort and pain.
A team headed by Professor Marina de Tommaso at the Neurophysiopathology Pain Unit asked a group of men and women to pick the 20 paintings they considered most ugly and most beautiful from a selection of 300 works by artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli. They were then asked to look at either the beautiful paintings, or the ugly painting, or a blank panel while the team zapped(照射) a short laser pulse at their hand, creating a sensation as if they had been stuck by a pin. The subjects rated the pain as being a third less intense while they were viewing the beautiful paintings, compared with when looking at the ugly paintings or the blank panel. Electrodes measuring the brain's electrical activity also confirmed a reduced response to the pain when the subject looked at beautiful paintings.
While distractions, such as music, are known to reduce pain in hospital patients, Prof de Tommaso says this is the first result to show that beauty plays a part.
The findings, reported in New Scientist, also go a long way to show that beautiful surroundings could aid the healing process.
"Hospitals have been designed to be functional, but we think that their artistic aspects should be taken into account too," said the neurologist. "Beauty obviously offers a distraction that ugly paintings do not. But at least there is no suggestion that ugly surroundings make the pain worse. " "I think these results show that more research is needed into the field how a beautiful environment can alleviate suffering."
Pictures they liked included Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh and Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. Pictures they found ugly included works by Pablo Picasso, the Italian 20th century artist Anonio Bueno and Columbian Fernando Botero. "These people were not art experts so some of the pictures they found ugly would be considered masterpieces by the art world," said Prof de Tommaso.
1.The underlined word “alleviate” in the fifth paragraph probably means “_________”.
A. cure B. ease C. improve D. kill
2.How many artists have been mentioned in the passage?
A. 4. B. 5. C. 6. D. 7.
3.Which of the following is TURE about the view of Prof de Tommaso’s?
A. Beautiful surroundings could help to heal sufferings completely .
B. Hospitals must take their artistic aspects into consideration first.
C. Ugly surroundings will surely make the pain worse.
D. Both music and beauty can reduce pain in hospital patients.
4.Which of the following is the suitable title for the passage?
A. Beautiful surroundings can ease pain.
B. Ugly paintings could be masterpieces.
C. More research should be done in the field.
D. Latest environmental research.
Dear Grandma,
It was nice seeing you at Christmas．You looked so happy!
After losing two grandparents within the past year, I have taken some time to reflect on what is most important．I want to let you know what a positive influence you have been on me．I am the person I am because of you．
I remember being on your farm a lot when I was younger．I remember the projects you planned for us．We painted rocks to represent our family members．We made doll clothes out of colorful socks．We made many "playhouses" in the woods．
We learned that if you left a bucket of soybeans in the rain, you would soon have a bucket of growing beans．We learned that if we helped pick the strawberries in the morning, we'd have them on our ice cream in the afternoon．We learned that some plants have funny names, like the elephant ear plant．We learned that you could make do with what you had．We learned that making things out of paper and cardboard was more fun than what came inside the packaging．We learned it was OK to get dirty, but Grandma would wash us up before Mom came．
You once made models of everyone's houses, which made me want to be an architect．Another time, you made quilts for all of the grandkids．I still use mine every night．The edge has worn out．
But you taught me how to fix it．
I love and respect you．You are always patient, with a quiet determination．
Grandma, thank you for everything you have taught me．I hope that I am able to pass on all these memories and skills to my children and grandchildren．
Love always,
KellyAfter losing two grandparents, the author began to _____．
| A．realize her grandma's influence on her |
| B．become a person like her grandma |
| C．write to her grandma regularly |
| D．like her grandma very much |
On her grandma's farm, Kelly learned to ______．
| A．make strawberry ice cream |
| B．name different funny plants |
| C．mend the worn-out edge of her quilt |
| D．use cupboards to make models of houses |
Kelly's grandma ______．
| A．was willing to help others |
| B．was skilled in making things |
| C．wanted Kelly to be an architect |
| D．disliked the kids' bad behaviors |
Kelly wrote this letter mainly to ______．
| A．send her grandma best wishes for Christmas |
| B．show love and respect for her grandma |
| C．recall her happy life on the farm |
| D．ask her grandma for help |
Severely disabled people may soon be able to use their noses to write, drive a wheelchair or surf the Internet, thanks to a device (装置) developed by doctors in Israel.
The device will be used by breathing in and out through the nose, according to a study. Healthy people who tested the device quickly learned to play computer games and write sentences by sniffing. Encouraged by the results, the researchers decided to test their device on people who are paralyzed (瘫痪) but whose intelligence remains normal. Ten paralyzed who tested the device quickly learned to use their noses to write words, open a webpage, copy words and put them into a search engine.
With their success in helping severely disabled people to communicate, the researchers decided to make use of the new technology to design an electric wheelchair to be driven by sniffs.
Ten healthy people easily mastered sniff—driving a wheelchair through a maze (迷宫), and a 30-year-old man who had been paralyzed from the neck down for six years was as good a sniff-driver as the healthy participants at his second attempt. In other words, a paralyzed person could use the sniff controller to drive an electric wheelchair.
At the moment, sniff-controlled technology is still in the stage of development, and the Weizmann Institute has already applied for a patent on the device. "I’ll be very happy if it can help us to make money, but the real problem is that I hope someone will develop it, because this would help a lot of people," said Sobel, one of the lead researchers of the study.What’s the purpose of the passage?
| A．To introduce a new invention. |
| B．To equip the disabled with life skills. |
| C．To show the nose's special functions. |
| D．To instruct doctors to apply for a patent. |
In the test, the paralyzed people with normal intelligence can use their nose to ______.
| A．type long sentences quickly |
| B．play computer games easily |
| C．enter a website without much difficulty |
| D．communicate with others successfully |
With the help of the sniffing device, a 30-year-old disabled man ______.
| A．spent six years learning how to drive a wheelchair |
| B．failed to drive through the maze at his first attempt |
| C．took the wheelchair controlled by healthy participants |
| D．managed to drive an electric wheelchair by sniffing |
From the last paragraph, we can infer that the sniff-controlled technology ______.
| A．will be applied to other fields of research |
| B．needs further developing to serve more people |
| C．has become an important patented invention |
| D．shows the wisdom and talents of Israel doctors |
When Dekalb Walcott III was just 8 years old, his father, a Chicago fire chief, let him tag along on a call. Dekalb says a lot of kids idolized basketball player Michael Jordan when he was growing up in Chicago in the 1990s. Not him.
"I wanted to be like Dekalb Walcott Jr.," he says of his father. So when his dad asked if he wanted to go on that call with him when he was 8, Dekalb was excited. "I'm jumping up and down, saying, Mom, can I go? Can I go?"
The experience changed Dekalb's life, he tells his dad on a visit to Story Corps. "My eyes got big from the moment the alarm went off." the younger Dekalb says. "This is the life that I want to live someday."
Now 27, the younger Dekalb is living that life. He became a firefighter at 21 and went to work alongside his dad at the Chicago Fire Department. Before his father retired, the pair even went out on a call together—father supervising(监督)son.
"You know, it's everything for me to watch you grow," his father says. But he also recalls worrying about one particular fire that his son faced.
I received a phone call that night. And they said, “Well, your son was at this fire.” I said, “OK, which way is this conversation going to go?” Dekalb Walcott Jr. recalls.
And they said, “But he's OK. And he put it out all by himself. Everybody here was proud of him.'
And the word went around, “Who was out there managing that fire? Oh, that's Walcott! That's Walcott up there!” So, you know, moments like that, it's heaven on Earth for a dad.
Dekalb Walcott Jr. retired in 2009. The younger Dekalb says he's proud of being a second-generation firefighter. "You know, it makes me look forward to fatherhood as well, because I'm definitely looking forward to passing that torch down to my son."The underlined phrase tag along in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______.
| A．put out fire |
| B．watch basketball |
| C．follow his father |
| D．ask his mother’s permission |
Dekalb Walcott III determined to become a firefighter at the age of _________.
| A．27 | B．21 | C．8 | D．35 |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．Dekalb Walcott III wants his son to become a firefighter too. |
| B．Dekalb Walcott Jr. is proud to be a second-generation firefighter. |
| C．Dekalb Walcott Jr. wants to pass the torch to Dekalb Walcott III. |
| D．Dekalb Walcott III is proud that his son has become an excellent firefighter. |
Which of the following is the best title of the passage?
| A．Putting Out Fire: A Challenging Job for Father and son. |
| B．Passing The Torch: A Firefighter Dad's Legacy. |
| C．Dekalb Walcott III: A Second-generation Firefighter. |
| D．Dekalb Walcott Jr.: A Chicago Fire Chief. |
Etymology, the study of words and word roots, may sound like the kind of thing done by boring librarians in small, dusty rooms．Yet etymologists actually have a uniquely interesting job．They are in many ways just like archaeologists (考古学家) digging up the physical history of people and events．The special aspect of etymology is that it digs up history, so to speak, through the words and phrases that are left behind．
The English language, in particular, is a great field to explore history through words. As a language, English has an extraordinary number of words．This is partly due to its ability to adapt foreign words so readily．For example, "English" words such as kindergarten (from German), croissant (from French), and cheetah (from Hindi) have become part of the language with little or no change from their original sounds and spellings. So English-language etymologists have a vast world of words to explore．
Another enjoyable thing about etymology for most word experts is solving word mysteries(谜)．No, etymologists do not go around solving murders, like the great detective Sherlock Holmes．What these word experts solve are mysterious origins of some of our most common words
One of the biggest questions English language experts have pursued is how English came to have the phrase OK．Though it is one of the most commonly used expressions, its exact beginning is a puzzle even to this day．Even its spelling is not entirely consistent-unless you spell it Okay, it is hard even to call it a word．
Etymologists have been able to narrow OK’s origin down to a likely, although not certain, source(来源)．It became widely used around the time of Martin Van Buren's run for president in 1840. His nickname was Old Kinderhook. What troubles word experts about this explanation is that the phrase appeared in some newspapers before Van Buren became well known．It is likely that Van Buren could be called its primary source Etymologists will doubtlessly keep searching for the initial source．However, it is clear that OK’s popularity and reputation have topped those of the American president to whom it has been most clearly linked．The author mentions the words like "croissant" in Paragraph 2 to indicate________．
| A．words have changed a lot in the two languages |
| B．what English-language etymologists are exploring now |
| C．English has absorbed many words from other foreign languages |
| D．the English vocabulary is difficult to the non-English-speaking people |
The underlined word "pursued" in Paragraph 4 means___________．
| A．looked upon | B．dug up | C．put in | D．set down |
We can learn from the passage that etymologists_______．
| A．discover the possible origin of words |
| B．help detectives to solve mysterious murders |
| C．write interesting stories for some newspapers |
| D．explore the English language as well as the recent events |
What is the main purpose of the passage?
| A．To present the history of English words. |
| B．To explain the procedure of an etymologist's job. |
| C．To introduce the pleasure of the study of words and word roots． |
| D．To teach readers how to distinguish English and non-English words |
Charles Dickens is often thought of as one of the greatest British writers.February 7 marked the 200th anniversary of his birthday. Yet for many, his language is old-fashioned and his stories often improbable. So why do so many people know and read Dickens today?
One reason is the British government's insistence that every child studies a Dickens novel at school. Alongside William Shakespeare, Dickens is on every English literature school reading list.His stories, though often long by today's standards, are great moral tales. They are filled with colorful characters.
Earlier this month a ceremony was held in Portsmouth ,where Dickens was born Prince Charles said at the ceremony, Dickens used his creative genius to campaign passionately for social justice, his characterization is a fresh today as on the day is was written.
His books stand out from many other writers because of his insight into human nature. Dickens like Shakespeare tells us truths about human behavior. They are as true in the 21st century as they were to his readers in the 19th century.
Readers have returned to Dickens’ books again and again over the years to see what he has to say about their own times.
No surprise then that it was Dickens whom Britons turned to during the economic crisis in the last couple of years. Dickens helped them make sense of a world that was rapidly falling apart. The BBC adapted one of his less well-known novels, Little Dorrit, into a popular television drama thatintroduced many Brits to the novel for the first time. A dark story about greed and money, it was the perfect illustration of bad times.
As long as Dickens’s novels have something to say to modern audiences, it seems likely that he will remain one of Britain’s best-loved writers.In the article, the author intends to tell us ______.
| A．why Dickens’ novels still appeal to readers in modern times |
| B．that Dickens’ works are no longer popular among young people |
| C．why the British government puts Dickens on school reading lists |
| D．that Dickens and Shakespeare’s works are required for study at school |
In Britain, people still read Dickens because of ______.
a) romance in his books
b) moral value in his books
c) his colorful characters
d) his insight into human nature
e) government education requirement
f) his prediction of the current economic crisis
| A．abdf | B．bcde | C．bdef | D．abed |
We can infer from the article that ______.
| A．it’s better to read Dickens in time of difficulty |
| B．Dickens was a great social observer of his time |
| C．human nature seems worse during bad times |
| D．Dickens’s novels are short and easy to read |
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．Little Dorrit is one of Dickens’ best-known novels. |
| B．Dickens’ novels are of greater value during economic crisis. |
| C．Dickens’ works have gained more popularity than Shakespeare’s |
| D．Dickens’ novels are still of realistic significance to today’s world. |