Violin prodigies (神童), I learned, have come in distinct waves from distinct regions. Most of the great performers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were born and brought up in Russia and Eastern Europe. I asked Isaac Stern, one of the world’s greatest violinists the reason for this phenomenon. “It is very clear,” he told me. “They were all Jews and Jews at the time were severely oppressed and ill-treated in that part of the world. They were not allowed into the professional fields, but they were allowed to achieve excellence on a concert stage.” As a result, every Jewish parent’s dream was to have a child in the music school because it was a passport to the West.
Another element in the emergence of prodigies, I found, is a society that values excellence in a certain field to nurture (培育) talent. Nowadays, the most nurturing societies seem to be in the Far East. “In Japan, a most competitive society, with stronger discipline than ours,” says Isaac Stern, children are ready to test their limits every day in many fields, including music. When Western music came to Japan after World War II, that music not only became part of their daily lives, but it became a discipline as well. The Koreans and Chinese as we know, are just as highly motivated as the Japanese.
That’s a good thing, because even prodigies must work hard. Next to hard work, biological inheritance（遗传） plays an important role in the making of a prodigy. J. S. Bach, for example, was the top of several generations of musicians, and four of his sons had significant careers in music. Jewish parents in Eastern Europe longed for their children to attend music school because ________.
| A．it would allow them access to a better life in the West |
| B．Jewish children are born with excellent musical talent |
| C．they wanted their children to enter into the professional field |
| D．it would enable the family to get better treatment in their own country |
Nurturing societies as mentioned in the passage refer to societies that ________.
| A．are highly motivated in the education of music |
| B．treasure talent and provide opportunities for its full development |
| C．encourage people to compete with each other |
| D．promise talented children high positions |
Which of the following contributes to the emergence of musical prodigies according to the passage?
| A．a natural gift. | B．extensive knowledge of music. |
| C．very early training. | D．a prejudice-free society. |
Which of the following titles best summarizes the main idea of the passage?
| A．Jewish Contribution to Music | B．Training of Musicians in the World |
| C．Music and Society | D．The Making of Music Prodigies |
A year ago August, Dave Fuss lost his job driving a truck for a small company in west Michigan. His wife, Gerrie, was still working in the local school cafeteria, but work for Dave was scarce, and the price of everything was rising. The Fusses were at risk of joining the millions of Americans who have lost their homes in recent years. Then Dave and Gerrie received a timely gift—＄7,000，a legacy from their neighbors Ish and Arlene Hatch, who died in an accident . “It really made a difference when we were going under financially.” says Dave.
But the Fusses weren’t the only folks in Alto and the neighboring town of Lowell to receive unexpected legacy from the Hatches. Dozens of other families were touched by the Hatches’ generosity. In some cases, it was a few thousand dollars ; in others, it was more than ＄100,000.
It surprised nearly everyone that the Hatches had so much money, more than ＄3 million—they were am elderly couple who lived in an old house on what was left of the family farm .
Children of the Great Depression, Ish and Arlene were known for their habit of saving, They thrived own comparison shopping and would routinely go from store to store, checking prices before making a new purchase .
Through the years, the Hatches paid for local children to attend summer camp when their parents couldn’t afford it. “Ish and Arlene never asked you needed anything,” says their friend Sand Van Weelden, “They could see things they could do go make you happier, and they would do them.
Even more extraordinary was that the Hatches had their farmland distributed. It was the Hatches’ wish that their legacy—a legacy of kindness as much as one of dollars and cent —should enrich the whole community and last for generations to come.
Neighbors helping neighbors ——that was Ish and Arlene Hatch’s story. According go the text, the Fusses___________.
| A．were employed by a truck company | B．were in financial difficulty |
| C．worked in a school cafeteria | D．lost their home |
Which of the following is true of the Hatches?
| A．They had their children during the Great Depression |
| B．They left the family farm to live in an old house |
| C．They gave away their possessions to their neighbors |
| D．They helped their neighbors to find jobs |
Why would the Hatches routinely go from store to store?
| A．They decided to open a store |
| B．They wanted to save money |
| C．They couldn’t afford expensive things |
| D．They wanted to buy gifts for local kids |
According to Sand Van Weelden, the Hatches were ___________.
| A．understanding | B．optimistic | C．childlike | D．curious |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．The community of Alto was poor |
| B．The summer camp was attractive to the parents |
| C．Sandy Van Weelden got a legacy form the Hatches |
| D．The Hatches would like the neighbors to follow their example |
Can you believe your eyes? A recent experiment suggests that the answer to that question may depend on your age.
Martin Doherty, a psychologist at the University of Stirling in Scotland, led the team of scientists. In this experiment, Doherty and his team tested the perception(观察力) of some people, using pictures of some orange circles. The researchers showed the same pictures to two groups of people. The first group included 151 children aged 4 to 10, and the second group included 24 adults aged 18 to 25.
The first group of pictures showed two circles alone on a white background. One of the circles was larger than the other, and these people were asked to identify the larger one. Four-year-olds identified the correct circle 79 percent of the time. Adults identified the correct circle 95 percent of the time.
Next, both groups were shown a picture where the orange circles, again of different sizes, were surrounded by gray circles. Here’s where the trick lies in. In some of the pictures, the smaller orange circle was surrounded by even smaller gray circles — making the orange circle appear larger than the other orange circle, which was the real larger one. And the larger orange circle was surrounded by even bigger gray circles — so it appeared to be smaller than the real smaller orange circle.
When young children aged 4 to 6 looked at these tricky pictures, they weren’t fooled — they were still able to find the bigger circle with roughly the same accuracy as before. Older children and adults, on the other hand, did not do as well. Older children often identified the smaller circle as the larger one, and adults got it wrong most of the time.
As children get older, Doherty said, their brains may develop the ability to identify visual context. In other words, they will begin to process the whole picture at once: the tricky gray circles, as well as the orange circle in the middle. As a result, they’re more likely to fall for this kind of visual trick.Doherty and his team of scientists did an experiment to evaluate.
| A．children’s and adults’ eye-sight |
| B．people’s ability to see accurately |
| C．children’s and adults’ brains |
| D．the influence of people’s age |
When asked to find the larger circle,.
| A．children at 6 got it wrong 79 % of the time with no gray ones around |
| B．only adults over 18 got it right 95% of the time with gray ones around |
| C．children at 4 got it right about 79 % of the time with gray ones around |
| D．adults got it right most of the time with gray ones around |
According to the passage, we can know that.
| A．a smaller orange circle appears bigger on a white background |
| B．an orange circle appears bigger than a gray one of the same size |
| C．a circle surrounded by other circles looks bigger than its real size |
| D．a circle surrounded by bigger ones looks smaller than its real size |
Visual context may work when children get older than.
| A．4 | B．6 | C．10 | D．18 |
Why are younger children not fooled?
| A．Because they are smarter than older children and adults. |
| B．Because older people are influenced by their experience. |
| C．Because people’s eyes become weaker as they grow older. |
| D．Because their brain can hardly notice related things together. |
It was Monday. Mrs. Smith's dog was hungry , but there was not any meat in the house.
Considering that there was no better way. Mrs. Smith took a piece of paper, and wrote the following words on it：“Give my dog half a pound of meat.”Then she gave the paper to her dog and said gently：“Take this to the butcher（* person whose job is selling meat）and he's going to give you your lunch today.”
Holding the piece of paper in its mouth, the dog ran to the butcher's. It gave the paper to the butcher. The butcher read it carefully, recognized that it was really the lady's handwriting and soon did it as he was asked to. The dog was very happy, and ate the meat up at once.
At noon, the dog came to the shop again. It gave the butcher a piece of paper again. After reading it, he gave it half a pound of meat once more.
The next day, the dog came again exactly at noon. And as usual, it brought a piece of paper in the mouth. This time, the butcher did not take a look at paper, and gave the dog its meat, for he had regarded the dog as one of his customers.
But, the dog came again at four o'clock. And the same thing happened once again. To the butcher's more surprise, it came for the third time at six o'clock, and brought with it a third piece of paper. The butcher felt a bit puzzled . He said to himeself,“This is a small dog. Why does Mrs. Smith give it so much meat to eat today？”
Looking at the piece of paper, he found that there were not any words on it！Mrs. Smith treated her little dog quite .
| A．cruelly | B．fairly | C．kindly | D．friendly |
It seemed that the dog knew well that the paper Mrs. Smith gave it .
| A．might do it much harm | B．could do it much good |
| C．would help the butcher | D．was worth many pounds |
The butcher did not give any meat to the dog .
| A．before he felt sure that the words were really written by Mrs. Smith |
| B．when he found that the words on the paper were not clear |
| C．because he had sold out all the meat in his shop |
| D．until he was paid enough by Mrs. Smith |
From its experience, the dog found that .
| A．only the paper with Mrs. Smith's words in it could bring it meat |
| B．the butcher would give the meat to it whenever he saw it |
| C．Mrs. Smith would pay for the meat it got from the butcher |
| D．a piece of paper could bring it half a pound of meat |
At the end of the story, you'll find that .
| A．the dog was clever enough to write on the paper |
| B．the dog dared not go to the butcher's any more |
| C．the butcher was told not to give any meat to the dog |
| D．the butcher found himself cheated by the clever animal |
阅读下面短文，按照句子结构的语法性和上下文连贯的要求,在空格处填入一个适当的词或使用括号中词语的正确形式填空。
Nowadays, people are talking about the expansion of college enrollment. This new policy___16___(adopt) by the government benefits a lot of high school graduates and therefore the country as well. There ___17___ (use) to be such a fierce competition among high school graduates to enter college___18__many of them studied too hard only to spoil their health. Even some of them killed___19___only because they failed in the entrance exams. Now they will have more chances to attend college and the country is also going to benefit 20it. There will be more well-educated and highly qualified citizens and professionals, ___21___ is essential to the development of the country.
22, now some students who otherwise can’t enter a college are not studying hard enough. They think now since colleges enroll more students, they are more 23(like) to be admitted into one of them even without a high score.
24 (doubt), although there is still room for improvement to this policy, I think it is still a good one which brings more good 25harm to the students and the nation. It should be still carried out.
A farmer had a cow. He took very good care of this cow and one day when it was ill, he was very worried. He telephoned the vet.
“What’s the problem?” The vet asked him when he arrived.
“My cow’s ill,” the farmer said. “I don’t know what's the matter with her. She’s lying down and won’t eat. She’s making a strange noise.”
The vet looked over the cow. "She’s certainly ill," he said, "and she needs to take some very strong medicine."
He took a bottle out of his box, put two pills into his hand and said, "Give her these. The pills should make her better."
“How should I give them to her?” the farmer asked.
The vet gave him a tube (管子)and said, "Put this tube in her mouth, then put the pills in the tube and blow. That’ll make it."
The next day the vet came to the farm again. The farmer was sitting outside his house and looked more worried.
“How’s your cow?” the vet asked.
“No change,” the farmer said, “and I’m feeling very strange myself.”
“Oh?” the vet said, "Why?"
“I did what you said,” the farmer answered. “I put the tube in the cow’s mouth and then put two pills down it.”
“And?” the vet asked.
“The cow blew first,” the farmer said.In the story, the vet must be _________.
| A．the farmer's friend | B．a milk factory |
| C．a hospital for cows | D．a doctor for animals |
The farmer asked the vet for help when his cow _______
| A．couldn't lie down | B．didn't eat the pills |
| C．couldn't make any noise | D．was ill |
What medicine did the vet give the farmer?
| A．Bottle of pills. | B．A long tube. | C．Two pills. | D．A small box. |
The vet taught the farmer how _________.
| A．to blow the tube |
| B．to make the cow take the pills |
| C．to take the medicine |
| D．to put the tube in his mouth |
Which of the following is true?
| A．The farmer ate the pills himself. |
| B．The cow got better after taking the medicine. |
| C．The vet came to help the farmer change the cow the next day. |
| D．The farmer waited for the vet outside his house the next day. |