ThewordsofGandhi,Einsteinandot-优题课

We often hear people say, “I have a good memory for things like that” or “I can remember names”. But do you know memory is the single most important thing and it has played a very important part?
For early men, there were dangerous all around them—bad weather, wild animals. The key to keep on living lay in man’s ability to remember these dangers and the ways he had dealt with them in the past. In order for memories to be stored, the human brain became more complex. And as man learned how to deal with them, he became civilized (文明). Surprisingly, scientists today understand little about memory and how it works. They have not yet found a way to open up the brain and observe its function without destroying it. Perhaps there are two types of memory: short-term and long-term. Short-term refers to those facts that stay with us for a few seconds to a few hours. For instance, when you stay at a hotel, you remember the room number and forget as soon as you leave. Long-term memory, on the other hand, means you remember things for a long period of time. If you spend your honeymoon in a particular hotel, it’s likely that you’ll remember your stay quite clearly.
Scientists also believe that a short-term memory can become a long-term memory through consolidation (巩固). A lot of chemical and physical changes take place in the part of the brain. Although the human brain weighs three pounds, it contains 30 billion nerve cells (神经细胞) acting like a computer. When those changes strengthen the links (联系) in certain nerve cells, a thought becomes part of the long-term memory.
According to the author, without the development of man’s memory there would be .

A．no modern world	B．no recorded history
C．no animals	D．no dangers

Scientists’ knowledge about the function of brain is .

A．interesting	B．not enough
C．great	D．encouraging

Short-term memory can change into long-term memory on condition that.

A．memory is good

B．it acts like a computer

C．people do more exercise

D．the links in nerve cells are strengthened by certain changes

So far the great discovery scientists have made about the function of brain is.

A．the weight of brain	B．two types of memory
C．30 billion nerve cells	D．chemical and physical changes

A “blogger” is a person who writes on an Internet computer Web site called a “blog”. The word “blog” is a short way of saying Web log, or personal Web site. Anyone can start a blog, and they can write about anything they like.
There are millions of blogs on the Internet today. They provide news, information and ideas in many people who read them. They contain links to other Web sites. And they provide a place for people to write about their ideas and react to the ideas of others.
A research company called Perscus has studied more than 300 Web logs. It says that blogs are most popular with teenage girls. They use them to let their friends know what is happening in their lives. The study also says that more than 100,000 bloggers stopped taking part in the activity after a year.
However, some people develop serious blogs to present political and other ideas. For example, the Republican and Democratic parties in the southern state of Kentucky recently started their own blogs. And American companies are beginning to use blogs to advertise their products.
At the same time, some long-standing blogs have ended last week, blogging leader Dave Winer closed his free blog service weblogs. com. He says the site became too costly to continue. He started the blog four years ago. And thousands of people had written on it. They are now upset because they did not know that the site was closing.
One blog that is still going strong is called Rebecca’s Pocket. Rebecca Blood created the Website in 1999. She wrote about the history of blogs on the site. That article led to a book called “The Weblog Handbook”. It has been translated into four languages so far.
Ms. Blood says Rebecca’s Pocket gets about 30,000 visitors a month. She writes about anything and everything—politics, culture and movies. She recently provided medical advice. And she wrote about how to prevent people from stealing money from on-line bank accounts.
The text is mainly written to .

A．introduce an Internet computer Web site called “blog”

B．introduce a short way of saying Web log

C．tell readers about blogs

D．tell readers how to write blogs

From the text we can learn that blogs cover almost everything except.

A．different ideas	B．medical advice
C．advertisements	D．account passwords

Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the text?

A．Politicians don’t use blogs at all

B．A lot of bloggers no longer write or read blogs

C．Those who like to use blogs are mostly teenage girls.

D．Dave Winer closed his “weblogs.com” because of money shortage.

The reason why Rebecca’s Pocket is still going strong is that.

A．it was created by a woman.

B．it is about the history of blogs.

C．it provides useful information and advice

D．it has editions in at least four different languages

Cancer researchers urged people on Wednesday to take more vitamin D to lower risk of cancer， saying studies showed a clear link. "Our suggestion is for people to increase their intake， through diet or a vitamin supplement，" Dr. Cedric Garland said in a telephone interview.
Garland's research team reviewed 63 studies，including several large long-term ones，on the relationship between vitamin D and certain types of cancer worldwide between 1966 and 2004. "There's nothing that has this ability to prevent cancer，" he said， urging governments and public health officials to do more to fortify foods with vitamin D. Garland is part of a University of California at San Diego Moors Cancer Center team that published its findings this week online in the American Journal of Public Health.
Vitamin D is found in milk，as well as in some fortified orange juice，yogurt and cheeses，usually at around 100 international units （IU） a serving. People might want to consider a vitamin supplement to raise their intake to 1000 IUs per day， Garland said，adding that it was well within the safety guidelines established by the National Academy of Sciences.
The authors said that taking more vitamin D could be especially important for people living in northern areas，which receive less vitamin D from sunshine.
African Americans，who don't produce as much of the vitamin because of their skin color， could also benefit significantly from a higher intake， the authors said.
Which of the following can not help people get more Vitamin D？

A．Have some sunshine	B．Have more meat
C．Have more fortified cheese	D．Have a vitamin supplement

Who can Garland probably be？

A．A health researcher	B．A doctor
C．A scientist	D．A public health official

Which of the following food can lower people‘s chance of getting cancer？

A．Milk	B．Fortified orange juice
C．Fortified yogurt	D．All of the above

People from which area should take more Vitamin D according to the passage？

A．Asian people	B．African people
C．American people	D．European people

Once upon a time，the animals decided that they must do something heroic to meet the problems of” a new world”．So they organized a training school．
They adopted an activity curriculum（课程） consisting of running，climbing，swimming and flying．To make it easier to manage the curriculum，all the animals took all the subjects．
The duck was excellent in swimming，in fact，better than his instructor，but he made only passing grades in flying and was very poor in running．Since he was slow in running，he had to stay after school and also drop swimming in order to practice running．This was kept up until his webbed(脚蹼) feet were badly worn and he was only average in swimming．But average was acceptable in school，so nobody worried about that except the duck．
The rabbit started at the top of the class in running，but had a nervous breakdown because of so much make-up work in swimming．
The squirrel was excellent in climbing until he developed frustration in the flying class where his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of from the treetop down．He also developed a “Charlie horse” and then got a C in climbing and a D in running．
The eagle was a problem child and was disciplined severely．In the climbing class he beat all the others to the top of the tree，but insisted on using his own way to get there．
At the end of the year，an abnormal eel that could swim very well，and also run，climb and fly a little，had the highest average and was the one who gave a good-bye speech．
The prairie dogs stayed out of the school because the administration would not add digging to the curriculum．
Why was the duck kept after school according to the passage? Because ________．

A．he only passed in flying

B．he ran very slowly

C．he wasn’t good at swimming

D．he had to practice climbing

We can learn from the passage that ________．

A．an abnormal eel’s average score is the highest in all subjects

B．the squirrel met frustration before practicing climbing

C．the rabbit liked to make up in water so she failed at last

D．in fact，the duck behaved better than any other animal in class

What’s the reason that the eagle was disciplined?

A．He was a problem child．

B．He beat all to become the best．

C．He didn’t do as teachers taught．

D．He decided to climb to the top of the tree．

What activity curriculums were not offered in this training school?

A．Running．

B．Swimming．

C．Flying．

D．Digging．

In a new study about the way kids learn math in elementary school, Beilock and Levine found a surprising relationship between what female teachers think and what female students learn: If a female teacher is uncomfortable with her own math skills, then her female students are more likely to believe that boys are better than girls at math.
“If these girls keep getting math-anxious female teachers in later grades, it may create a snowball effect on their math achievement,” Levine told Science News. In other words, girls may end up learning math anxiety from their teachers. The study suggests that if these girls grow up believing that boys are better at math than girls are, then these girls may not do as well as they would have if they were more confident.
The researchers also gave the students tests to tell whether the students believed that a math superstar had to be a boy. Then the researchers turned to the teachers: To find out which teachers were anxious about math, the researchers asked the teachers how they felt at times when they came across math, such as when reading a sales receipt. A teacher who got nervous looking at the numbers on a sales receipt, for example, was probably anxious about math.
Boys, on average, were unaffected by a teacher’s anxiety. On average, girls with math-anxious teachers scored lower on the end-of-the-year math tests than other girls in the study did. Plus, on the test showing whether someone thought a math superstar had to be a boy, 20 girls showed feeling that boys would be better at math — and all of these girls had been taught by female teachers who had math anxiety.
According to surveys done before this one, college students who want to become elementary school teachers have the highest levels of anxiety about math. Plus, nine of every 10 elementary teachers are women, Levine said.
Which of the followings is NOT the study mentioned in the passage?

A．Girls may be bad at math because of their female teachers’ anxiety.

B．Most students tend to believe that a math superstar has to be a boy.

C．What kind of teachers is more likely to have math anxiety.

D．On average boys are also affected by a teacher’s anxiety.

What can you infer from the second paragraph?

A．Girls can do as well as boys if they are confident.

B．Girls are born much weaker than many boys.

C．Boys are stronger and better in math than girls.

D．Girls who are bad at math can do other things better.

According to the last paragraph, Levine’s imply attitude to the math teaching in elementary schools is _______.

A．hopeful

B．disappointed

C．worried

D．content