Encouraging pupils to keep noise to a minimum should be a valuable component of all children’s education, according to new research.
Dr. Helen Lees, from Stirling University’s school of education, says that “enforced（强制的）silence” is seen as a punishment and often acts to suppress children’s natural ability. But she says that teaching children about the benefits of “enforced silence”,--- deliberate stillness that gives them the opportunity to focus and reflect in a stress-free environment--- can have a significant effect on pupils’ concentration and behavior.
It is the latest in a string of researches to establish a link between the classroom environment and pupils’ academic ability.
A study almost a decade ago in London found that children’s exam results were cut by as much as a third if they were taught in noisy classrooms. Teaching unions have also called for a limit of 26℃ to be put on classroom temperatures because teachers and pupils struggle to work in hot conditions, and some educationalists claim that too much clutter（杂乱的东西）on classroom walls can prevent children from concentrating.
Dr. Lees said, “When we take some research on school settings and put it all together, what we see is that education without silence does not make much sense. In areas of better learning outcomes, better self- confidence and well-being measures, enforced silence in a person’s life and an individual’s education is shown throughout the relevant research to be a benefit.”
Dozens of schools across Britain have already introduced periods of “reflective silence” into the timetable.
Kevin Hogston, head of Sheringdale Primary, south London, has just introduced a minute’s silence at the start of twice-weekly meetings in which children are taught breathing techniques and encouraged to reflect. The school plans to introduce it into classrooms every day.According to Dr. Helen Lees, “enforced silence” ＿＿
| A．is an effective way of punishment |
| B．does not make much sense in class |
| C．can improve pupils’ confidence |
| D．makes pupils more creative |
The underlined word, “suppress”, in the second paragraph probably means “_________”.
| A．prevent | B．improve | C．apply | D．reveal |
What can be inferred from the research on school settings?
| A．Students are more active if taught in noisy classrooms. |
| B．Silence makes a great difference to pupils. |
| C．Clutter on the walls can help students concentrate. |
| D．Most schools are not satisfactory in terms of classroom temperatures. |
What would be the best title for the text?
| A．Arranging classroom settings benefits studies |
| B．Achieving silence is beneficial for people |
| C．Using enforced silence is effective punishment |
| D．Keeping quiet in class improves academic performance |
How do people traditionally manufacture (制造) things? They usually start with a sheet of metal, wood or other material and cut, drill (钻) and shave it to create a desired shape. Sometimes, they use a mold (模具) made of metal or sand, pour liquid plastic or metal into it and let it cool to create a solid part.
Now, a completely different method is gaining popularity.
On Oct. 9, 2013, London Science Museum kicked off its new exhibition, 3-D: Printing the Future, with over 600 3-D printed objects on display, including space probes (探测器), toy dolls and even human organs – basically any product you can think of, reported Live Science.
You might find it hard to believe that an object can actually be “printed out” like a picture. But it is not that hard to understand how it works. Just as a traditional printer sprays (喷洒) ink onto paper line by line, modern 3-D printers spread material onto a surface layer by layer, from the bottom to the top, gradually building up a shape.
Instead of ink, the materials the 3-D printer uses are mainly plastic, resin (树脂) and certain metals. The thinner each layer is – from a millimeter to less than the width of a hair – the smoother and finer the object will be. And objects always come out in one piece, sparing you the trouble of putting different parts together afterward.
For example, 10 years ago a desktop 3-D printer might have cost ￡20,000 (200,000 yuan), while now it costs only about ￡1,000, according to the BBC. In fact, 3-D printers have been around for some time, but until recently they hadn’t been very popular since few people could afford them. Last year, though, saw a big decrease in the price of 3-D printers.
However, as 3-D printing technology becomes more commonplace, it may trigger certain problems. One of them is piracy (盗版). “Once you can download a coffee maker, or print out a new set of kitchen utensils (餐具) on your personal 3-D printer, who will visit a retail (零售的) store again?” an expert on 3-D printing told Forbes News.
Even more frightening, the world’s first 3-D printed gun was successfully fired in the US in May of this year, which means that 3-D printing could potentially give more people access to weapons.
According to the article, in the future, 3-D printing technology will probably ______.
| A．change the way people make products |
| B．be applied as widely in our daily lives as computers |
| C．forbid many countries to make purchases of weapons |
| D．take the place of normal printers and save lots of energy |
What was the big event that happened in the 3-D printing industry last year?
| A．Over 600 3-D printed objects were on display in an exhibition. |
| B．3-D printing technology came to be used in various fields. |
| C．The world’s first 3-D printed gun was successfully made. |
| D．The 3-D printer became more affordable for consumers. |
What is the author’s attitude toward 3-D printing technology?
| A．Amused. | B．Objective. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Negative. |
Unlike chemists and physicists, who usually do their experiments using machines, biologists and medical researchers have to use living things like rats. But there are three Nobel prize-winning scientists who actually chose to experiment on themselves – all in the name of science, reported The Telegraph.
● Werner Forssmann (Nobel prize winner in 1956)
Forssmann was a German scientist. He studied how to put a pipe inside the heart to measure the pressure inside and decide whether a patient needs surgery (手术).
Experiments had been done on horses before, so he wanted to try with human patients. But it was not permitted because the experiment was considered too dangerous.
Not giving up, Forssmann decided to experiment on himself. He anaesthetized (麻醉) his own arm and made a cut, putting the pipe 30 centimeters into his vein (血管). He then climbed two floors to the X-ray room before pushing the pipe all the way into his heart.
● Barry Marshall (Nobel prize winner in 2005)
Most doctors in the mid-20th century believed that gastritis was down to stress, spicy food or an unusually large amount of stomach acid (胃酸). But in 1979 an Australian scientist named Robin Warren found that the disease might be related to a bacteria (细菌) called Helicobacter pylori. So he teamed up with his colleague, Barry Marshall, to continue the study. When their request to experiment on patients was denied, Marshall bravely drank some of the bacteria. Five days later, he lost his appetite and soon was vomiting (呕吐) each morning – he indeed had gastritis.
● Ralph Steinman (Nobel prize winner in 2011)
This Canadian scientist discovered a new type of immune system cell (免疫细胞) called the dendritic cell. He believed that it had the ability to fight against cancer.
Steinman knew he couldn’t yet use his method to treat patients. So in 2007, when doctors told him that he had cancer and that it was unlikely for him to live longer than a year, he saw an opportunity.
With the help of his colleagues, he gave himself three different vaccines (疫苗) based on his research and a total of eight experimental therapies (疗法). Even though Steinman eventually died from his cancer, he lived four and a half years, much longer than doctors had said he would.The main purpose of the article is to ______.
| A．list some famous Nobel prize winners. |
| B．introduce a few Nobel prize winners who did experiments on themselves. |
| C．describe some dangerous experiments that Nobel prize-winners did on themselves. |
| D．list some difficulties that scientists go through to make important discoveries in biology . |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the article?
| A．Forssmann’s experiment ended in failure. |
| B．Forssmann had the pipe pushed all the way into his heart. |
| C．Barry Marshall succeeded by drinking some Helicobacter pylori. |
| D．Barry Marshall was given full responsibility for the study on gastritis at first. |
The underlined word “gastritis” in Paragraph 5 probably means ______.
| A．a kind of stomach disease |
| B．a kind of immune cell |
| C．a new type of therapy |
| D．a type of leg cancer |
From the text, we can conclude that Ralph Steinman ______.
| A．had his request to experiment on patients denied |
| B．believed that cancer comes from stress and spicy food |
| C．discovered a new type of cancer cell called the dendritic cell |
| D．tried different therapies containing the dendritic cell on himself |
I have this old clock that belonged to my mom. My dad gave it to me years ago after mom passed away.
I have mixed feelings about keeping the clock. I love it because it was my mom’s, but it also holds some bad memories.
You see, it chimes (打钟报时). It counts out the hour and rings once on the half hour. Or at least it used to. Now you never know what number it will ring.
When my mother was at home dying from cancer, she asked for the clock to be unplugged (拔去插头等). Hearing the hours count down really angered and frightened her.
Mom passed away. I decided I wanted to get the clock fixed so I could remember the good hours we had with her.
I took it to a local clock shop the other day.
“I know this has no particular value as a clock, but it was my mom’s and I need to get it fixed,” I said to the shop owner.
I went on to describe the problem.
“We get a lot of these in,” he told me. “Here’s what I do. We remove the clock works (机件) and replace it with a battery -operated movement (机芯) that chimes electronically,” he told me.
“You can’t fix this?” “No, we don’t have the time nor the parts.”
I thanked him and went home. I called a few other places and was told the same thing.
“How incredibly sad,” I told the last one disappointedly.
We copy the original instead of creating something new. We duplicate (复制); we don’t originate (发明). How incredibly sad that we have become a society that replaces craftsmanship (手艺) with convenience and easy fixes.
Sadly, this is also our attitude toward life itself.
Each of us is an original, one of a kind. But we find it so much easier to copy another’s style than to develop our own.
We are wannabes (崇拜别人的人) rather than “hey-world-look-at-me”s.
We fail to see the real value in who we are, so we spend our lives trying to be someone else.
The author decided to get the clock fixed because it ______.
| A．was a really old and valuable clock |
| B．left the author with mixed feelings |
| C．was the only thing that his mother had left him |
| D．brought him memories of being with his mother |
What did the clock shop owners tell the author?
| A．It would cost a lot to repair the clock. |
| B．They could only make the clock electronic. |
| C．The parts that the clock needed were electronic. |
| D．They had never repaired a clock like this before. |
The purpose of the article is to criticize ______.
| A．the irresponsible clock shop owners |
| B．people who do not value things with a history |
| C．people who do not have a creative attitude toward life |
| D．people’s ignorance (无知) of traditional craftsmanship |
When I left home for college, I sought to escape the limited world of farmers, small towns, and country life. I long for the excitement of the city, for the fast pace that rural life lacked, for adventure beyond the horizon. I dreamed of exploring the city, living within a new culture and landscape, and becoming part of the pulse of an urban jungle.
Yet some of my best times were driving home, leaving the city behind and slipping back into the valley. As city life disappeared and traffic thinned, I could see the faces of the other drivers relax. Then, around a bend in the highway, the grassland of the valley would come into being, offering a view of gentle rolling hills. The land seemed permanent. I felt as if I had stepped back in time.
I took comfort in the stability of the valley. Driving through small farm communities, I imagined the founding families still rooted in their grand homes, generations working the same lands, neighbors remaining neighbors for generations. I allowed familiar farmhouse landmarks to guide me.
Close to home, I often turned off the main highway and took a different, getting familiar farms again and testing my memory. Friends lived in those houses. I had eaten meals and spent time there; I had worked on some of these farms, lending a hand during a peak harvest, helping a family friend for a day or two. The houses and lands looked the same, and I could picture the gentle faces and hear familiar voices as if little had been changed. As I eased into our driveway I’d return to old ways, becoming a son once again, a child on the family farm. My feelings were honest and real. How I longed for a land where life stood still and my memories could be relived. When I left the farm for college, I could only return as visitor to the valley, a traveler looking for home.
Now the farm is once again my true home. I live in that farmhouse and work the permanent lands. My world may seem unchanged to casual observers, but they are wrong. I know this: if there’s a constant on these farms, it’s the constant of change.
The good observer will recognize the differences. A farmer replants an orchard (果园) with a new variety of peaches. Irrigation is added to block of old grapes, so I imagine the vineyard has a new owner. Occasionally the changes are clearly evident, like a FOR SALE sign. But I need to read the small print in order to make sure that a bank has taken possession of the farm. Most of the changes contain two stories. One is the physical change of the farm, the other involves the people on that land, the human story behind the change.
I’ve been back on the farm for a decade and still haven’t heard all the stories behind the changes around me. But once I add my stories to the landscape, I can call this place my home, a home that continues to evolve and changes as I add more and more of my stories.
A poet returns to the valley and says, “Little has changed in the valley, and how closed-minded you all are!” He comments about the lack of interest in sports, social and environmental issues in the poverty and inequality of our life. He was born and raised here, so he might have the right to criticize and lecture us. Yet he speaks for many who think they know the valley. How differently would others think of us if they knew the stories of a grape harvest in a wet year or a peach without a home?What made the writer relax as he drove from the city to the country?
| A．The land seemed familiar to him. |
| B．The traffic moved more slowly. |
| C．He could see for miles and miles. |
| D．The people he passed seemed to be calmer. |
When he was in college, why was the writer sad when he returned to his family home?
| A．He remembered how hard he used to work. |
| B．He recognized the old housed and land. |
| C．He realized that he was only a visitor. |
| D．He remembered his next door neighbors. |
Which of the following most likely indicates that there is a sad human story behind a physical change on the farm?
| A．A new variety of peach is being planted. |
| B．A piece of land is being sold by a bank. |
| C．Irrigation is being added to a grape operation. |
| D．A farm is being sold to a large corporation. |
The fact that most upsets the writer with the poet is that________.
| A．the poet thinks that the folk people are backward |
| B．the poet’s criticism and comments are not objective |
| C．the poet says that little has changed in the valley |
| D．the poet prefers to live in the urban area |
How can the appearance of a product be more important than what it does? The battle between form and function rose again when James Dyson, British inventor of the Dyson vacuum（真空）cleaner that has sold in millions around the world, resigned as chairman of London's Design Museum． It is widely believed that Mr．Dyson felt that the museum put too much stress on style and fashion at the expense of serious industrial design．
Mr．Dyson accused the museum of not keeping true to itself． He may be right, but these days, museums everywhere can no longer afford to be unique centers of scholarship and learning．Among competition for sponsorship, they must use exhibitions of populist culture, nice cafes and shops or, best of all, a new building by Frank Gehry to increase visitor numbers．
On the one hand, some producers can be too old-fashioned and too concerned with the importance of product engineering and the functionality of their goods．On the other hand there are those who believe that how a product looks is more important．Design is indeed a broad term, involving both function and form．Typically, in any given product area, it changes from the former to the latter． Clothing is a good example．But surely you would have to be a very shallow person to think something's appearance was more important than what it did．
Today nearly all goods at any given price-point do much the same job．So almost the only way producers can differentiate their products from those of their competitors is to create some sort of emotional connection with the consumer, which could be through the visual appeal of the product or its packaging; or the imagery（意象）created by advertising. And what of the Dyson vacuum cleaners? Mr. Dyson may believe that people buy these machines because of the graphs showing their superior suction(喝酒), but most vacuum cleaners do a good job; the main reason people pay extra for a Dyson is because it is a vacuum cleaner with a trendy brand. With its inside workings exposed, it is a bit like a Richard Rogers building with all its pipes shown in bright colors on the outside instead of being hidden inside. Functional it may be, but it is a bit of a trick, too．Mr. Dyson left the Design Museum because he thought the museum．
| A．didn't increase the number of visitors |
| B．couldn't provide scholarships for learners |
| C．hadn't great appeal for serious industrial designs |
| D．wasn't loyal to its original purpose of learning |
Speaking of clothing, the underlined word "latter" refers to．
| A．affording protection |
| B．indicating one's identity |
| C．making someone beautiful |
| D．providing warmth |
What is the author's opinion in Paragraph 4?
| A．A product with convenient packaging sells well． |
| B．The majority of consumers prefer to buy branded goods． |
| C．Emotion contributes much to the development of advertising industry． |
| D．Most similarly priced products are of a comparable standard． |
The author believes that people buy the Dyson vacuum cleaner because．
| A．it has a fashionable range |
| B．it has very good suction |
| C．it sells well around the world |
| D．it is invented by James Dyson |
What is the author's attitude towards the form of a product?
| A．Optimistic | B．Skeptical |
| C．Objective | D．Disapproving |