Baby girls make their way directly for dolls as soon as they can crawl, while boys will head for the toy cars, a study has shown. The findings, the first to show differences in very young babies, suggest there is a biological basis to their preferences.
Psychologists Dr Brenda Todd from City University London carried out an experiment involving 90 infants aged nine months to 36 months. The babies were allowed to choose from seven toys. Some were stereotypically boys' toys - a car, a digger, a ball and a blue teddy. The rest were girls’ toys: a pink teddy, a doll and a cooking set. They were placed a meter away from the toys, and could pick whichever toy they liked. Their choice and the amount of time they spent playing with each toy were recorded.
Of the youngest children (nine to 14 months), girls spent significantly longer playing with the doll than boys, and boys spent much more time with the car and ball than the girls did. Among the two-and three-year-olds, girls spent 50 percent of the time playing with the doll while only two boys briefly touched it. The boys spent almost 90 percent of their time playing with cars, which the girls barely touched. There was no link between the parents’ view on which toys were more appropriate for boys or girls, and the children’s choice.
Dr Brenda Todd said: “Children of this age are already exposed to much socialization. Boys may be given ‘toys that go’ while girls get toys they can care for, which may help shape their preference. But these findings agree with the former idea that children show natural interests in particular kinds of toys. There could be a biological basis for their choices. Males through evolution have been adapted to prefer moving objects, probably through hunting instincts（本能）, while girls prefer warmer colors such as pink, the color of a newborn baby.”Baby boys and girls have different toy preferences probably because .
| A．baby boys are much more active |
| B．baby girls like bright colors more |
| C．their parents treat them differently |
| D．there is a natural difference between them |
What can we infer from Paragraph 3 ?
| A．Nine-month-old baby boys don’t play with dolls at all. |
| B．Two-year-old baby girls sometimes play with cars and balls. |
| C．The older the babies are, the more obvious their preference is. |
| D．Parents should teach their babies to share each other’s toys. |
What conclusion did Dr. Brenda Todd draw from the results of the study?
| A．Adults purposely influence their babies preference. |
| B．Babies’ preference isn’t affected by social surroundings. |
| C．Baby boys preferring to moving toys will be good at hunting. |
| D．Baby girls preferring warmer colors will be warm-hearted. |
We may read this article in a section of a newspaper.
| A．science | B．health | C．education | D．entertainment |
My teenage son Karl became withdraw after his father died. As a single parent, I tried to do my best to talk to him. But the more I tried, the more he pulled away. When his report card arrived during his junior year, it said that he had been absent 95 times from classes and had six falling grades for the year. At this rate he would never graduate. I sent him to the school adviser, and I even begged him. Nothing worked.
One night I felt so powerless that I got down on my knees and pleaded for help. “Please God, I can’t do anything more for my son. I’m at the end of my rope. I’m giving the whole thing up to you.”
I was at work when I got a phone call. A man introduced himself as the headmaster. “I want to talk to you about Karl’s absences.” Before he could say another word, I choked up and all my disappointment and sadness over Karl came pouring out into the ears of this stranger. “I love my son but I just don’t know what to do. I’ve tried everything to get Karl to go back to school and nothing has worked. It’s out of my hands.” For a moment there was silence on the other end of the line. The headmaster seriously said, “thank you for your time”, and hung up.
Karl’s next report card showed a marked improvement in his grades. Finally, he even made the honor roll. In his fourth year, I attended a parent-teacher meeting with Karl. I noticed that his teachers were astonished at the way he had turned himself around. On our way home, he said, “Mum, remember that call from the headmaster last year?” I nodded. “That was I. I thought I’d play a joke but when I heard what you said, it really hit me how much I was hurting you. That’s when I knew I had to make you proud.”By saying “Karl became withdrawn”, the author means that the boy changed entirely and _____.
| A．preferred to stay alone at home | B．often escaped school |
| C．refused to talk to others | D．began to dislike his mother |
There was silence on the other end of the line because _____.
| A．the speaker was too moved to say anything to the mother |
| B．the speaker waited for the mother to finish speaking |
| C．the speaker didn’t want the mother to recognize his voice |
| D．the speaker was unable to interrupt the mother |
What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．Children in single-parent families often have mental problems. |
| B．Mother’s love plays an important role in teenagers’ life. |
| C．Being understood by parents is very important to teenagers. |
| D．School education doesn’t work without full support from parents. |
Did you ever look up at the moon and think you saw a man’s face there? When the moon is round and full, the shadows(影子) of the moon mountains and the lines of the moon valleys sometimes seem to show a giant nose and mouth and eyes. At least, some people think so.
If there were a man on the moon—instead of mountains and valleys that just look like the face of a man—what would he be like?
He would not be like anyone you know. He would not be like anyone anybody knows.
If the man on the moon were bothered by too much heat or cold the way Earth people are, he could not stay on the moon.
The moon becomes very, very hot. It becomes as hot as boiling water. And the moon becomes very, very cold. It becomes colder than ice.
Whatever part of the moon the sun shines on is hot and bright. The rest of the moon is cold and dark.
If the man on the moon had to breathe to stay alive, he couldn’t live on the moon because there’s no air there. He’d have to carry an oxygen tank, as astronauts do. There’s no food on the moon, either. Nothing grows—not even weeds（grass）.
If the man on the moon liked to climb mountains, he would be very happy. There are many high places there, such as the raised land around the holes, or craters(火山口), of the moon. Some of these rims are as tall as Earth’s highest mountains.
But if the man on the moon liked to swim, he would be unhappy. There is no water on the moon—just dust and rock.
When you think of what it’s like on the moon, you may wonder why it interests our scientists. One reason is that the moon is Earth’s nearest neighbor—it is the easiest place in space to get to.
Going back and forth between the moon and Earth, astronauts will get a lot of practice in space travel. Things learned on moon trips will be of great help to astronauts who later take long, long trips to some of the planets.
Scientists are also interested in the moon because it has no air. The air that surrounds Earth cuts down the view of the scientists who look at the stars through telescopes. A telescope on the moon would give them a clearer, closer view of the stars.（words: 411）What is the reason why our scientists are interested in the moon.?
| A．The moon is beautiful. |
| B．The moon is different from the earth. |
| C．The moon is Earth’s nearest neighbor—it is the easiest place in space to get to. |
| D．The moon is the easiest place in space to get to and it has no air, unlike Earth. |
The underlined word “rim” in the Paragraph 8 means _________ .
| A．ball | B．hill | C．round edge | D．height |
What is the main thought of the passage?
| A．We can learn much from research on the Moon. |
| B．There may be human beings on the moon. |
| C．If there were a man on the Moon, there would be many similarities between the man on the Moon and on the Earth. |
| D．A telescope on the Moon would help scientists have a clearer, closer sight of the stars. |
Everyone has got two personalities(性格)—the one that is shown to the world and the other that is secret and real. You don’t show your secret personality when you’re awake because you can control your behavior, but when you’re asleep, your sleeping position shows the real you. In a normal night, of course, people frequently change their position. The important position is the one that you go to sleep in.
If you go to sleep on your back, you’re a very open person. You normally trust people and you are easily influenced by fashion or new ideas. You don’t like to upset people, so you never express your real feelings. You’re quite shy and you aren’t very confident.
If you sleep on your stomach, you are a rather secretive(不坦率的)person. You worry a lot and you’re always easily upset. You’re very stubborn, but you aren’t very ambitious(有雄心的). You usually live for today not for tomorrow. This means that you enjoy having a good time.
If you sleep curled up(卷曲), you are probably a very nervous person. You have a low opinion of yourself and so you’re often defensive（提防的）. You’re shy and you don’t normally like meeting people. You prefer to be on your own. You’re easily hurt.
If you sleep on your side, you have usually got a well-balanced personality. You know your strengths and weaknesses. You’re usually careful. You have a confident personality. You sometimes feel anxious, but you don’t often get depressed（压抑）. You always say what you think even if it annoys people.（words: 278）According to the writer，you naturally show your secret and real personality _______.
| A．only in a normal night |
| B．only when you go to sleep |
| C．only when you refuse to show yourself to the world |
| D．only when you change sleeping position |
Which is NOT mentioned in the second paragraph about a person’s personality?
| A．He or she is always open with others. |
| B．He or she always likes new ideas earlier than others. |
| C．He or she is always easily upset. |
| D．He or she tends（倾向） to believe in others. |
Point out which sentence is used to show the personality of a person who is used to sleeping on his or her stomach?
| A．He or she is careful not to offend（冒犯） others. |
| B．He or she doesn’t want to stick to his or her opinion. |
| C．He or she likes to bring others happiness. |
| D．He or she can’t be successful in any business. |
Maybe you don’t want to make friends with a person who sleeps curled up. Why?
| A．He or she would rather be alone than communicate with you. |
| B．He or she is rarely ready to help you. |
| C．He or she prefers staying at home to going out. |
| D．He or she wouldn’t like to get help from you. |
It appears that the writer tends to think highly of the person who sleeps on one side because __________.
| A．he or she always shows sympathy for people |
| B．he or she is confident，but not stubborn |
| C．he or she has more strengths than weaknesses |
| D．he or she often considers annoying people |
Memory, they say, is a matter of practice and exercise. If you have the wish and really make a self-effort, then you can quite easily improve your ability to remember things. But even if you are successful, there are times when your memory seems to play tricks on you.
Sometimes you remember things that did not happen. One morning last week, for example, I got up and found that I had left the front door unlocked all night, yet I clearly remembered locking it carefully the night before.
Memory “trick” works the other way as well. Once in a while you remember not doing something, and then find out that you did. One day last month, for example, I was sitting in a barber(理发师) shop waiting for my turn to get a haircut, and suddenly I realized that I had got a haircut two days before at the barber shop across the street from my office.
We always seem to find something funny in incidents（小事） caused by people’s forgetfulness or absent-mindedness(心不在焉). Stories about absent-minded professors have been told for years, and we never got tired of hearing new ones. Unfortunately, however, absent-mindedness is not always funny. There are times when “trick” of our memory can cause us great trouble. （words: 169）If you want to have a good memory, ________.
| A．you should force yourself to remember things |
| B．you should make a self-effort of practice and exercise |
| C．you should never stop learning |
| D．you should try hard to remember things |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．One night the writer forgot to lock the front door. |
| B．One night the writer forgot having locked the front door. |
| C．The writer remembered to lock the door. |
| D．The writer remembered unlocking the front door. |
From the sentence "We never get tired of hearing new ones", we can infer that______.
| A．we enjoy hearing new stories about absent-mindedness of professors |
| B．we don’t want to know anything more about absent-mindedness of professors |
| C．we will never get rid of（摆脱） listening to new stories about absent-mindedness |
| D．absent-mindedness happens not only to professors but to many other people |
Now I’d like to talk to you about your final exam. The exam will be held next Thursday, the last day of the exam week. Remember to bring two or three pens in case you run out of ink. And unlike the mid-term exam, this test will not include multiple-choice questions; it will consist entirely of essays(文章). You’ll have to answer three of the five essay questions. The exam will be comprehensive (全面的), which means you’ll be responsible for all of the subject matters we covered in class this term, I would suggest you review your mid-term exam as well as textbooks and your class notes. The final exam will count as 50 percent of your grade of the course. The research project (项目) will count as 20 percent and the mid-term exam 30 percent. I’ll be in my office almost all day next Tuesday. If you run into any problems, please drop in. Good luck to you and I’ll see you on Tuesday. （words: 176）What will be included in the exam?
| A．There will be only multiple-choice questions. |
| B．The exam will contain both multiple-choice and essay questions. |
| C．The exam will have an oral and a written sections. |
| D．Therewill be only essay questions. |
Why does the teacher call the exam comprehensive?
| A．It will be easy to understand. |
| B．Students will be tested on all the materials discussed in class. |
| C．It will cover topics from a wide variety of subjects. |
| D．Students must complete all parts of it. |
The underlined phrase run into probably means.
| A．go into | B．meet somebody unexpectedly |
| C．come up against something with force | D．come across |
When was this talk most likely given?
| A．During the first week of class | B．During mid-term week |
| C．On the last day of class | D．On the last day of the exam week |