Once a baby cries, the parents will go to see what happened as soon as possible. According to a new study, a baby’s cry can make adults react very quickly, even if they are not related(相关的).
Oxford University researchers used a game called Whack-a-mole for the study. The game needs people to hit one buttons(按钮). The players must react as quickly as they can to hit the button that lights up at random(随机的). It is a game that requires speed and accuracy(准确度).
The study included 40 men and women volunteers aged 19 to 59. Some of them had sons or daughters but none had a baby at the time. They played whack-a-mole after listening to different sounds, including babies’ crying, the crying of adults in trouble and birds’ song that sounds like babies’ crying.
The volunteer’ scores were higher after listening to the sound of crying babies. Men and women had similar scores. The results showed that a crying baby gets special attention.
“Few sounds make people react quite like the cry of a baby,” said Morten Kringelbach of Oxford’s psychiatry department, who led the study.
He added that a baby’s cry can increase adults’ heart rate and blood pressure. This is understandable, because in the course of human evolution(进化), taking care of babies has always been an important job for adults. When a baby is hungry or feeling bored or unwell, it will cry. As a result, human brains and bodies develop a special reaction to a baby’s cry.According to the passage, how many volunteers took part in the study?
A.80 | B.40 | C.19 | D.59 |
In the passage, the underlined word react means__________.
A.表演 | B.打击 | C.反应 | D.演示 |
The game “whack-a-mole” shows__________.
A.a baby’s cry can get special attention from adults |
B.men and women have different reaction speed and accuracy |
C.adults without babies react more quickly to a baby’s cry |
D.women react to a baby’s cry more quickly than men |
According to the passage, a baby’s cry__________.
A.can get the same attention from adults as the birds’ song |
B.is the noisiest sound |
C.can increase adults’ heart rate and blood pressure |
D.is good for its health |
From the last paragraph, we learn that_________.
A.taking care of the younger babies was the most important thing in the past |
B.human brains and bodies have developed to take care of babies |
C.baby cries are a good way make adults react quickly |
D.baby cries have developed a lot during the course of human evolution |
My name is Tom. I like shopping, but I think shopping with young children is not an easy thing. I have to look after them while I am shopping. I don’t think shopping with women is fun, either. I often go shopping with my friends. It is fun. If I think a kind of shirt is fit for me, I think it is also fit for my friends. So I’d like them to think about buying the same things.
My name is Sandy. I like shopping too. But I never go shopping on Saturdays or Sundays. There are a lot of people in the shops. I like shopping with my friends. I usually spend a lot of time choosing (选择) things because I never buy the first thing I see. I always look around other shops to find the best price. I can find the best very well. I dislike buying food in small shops and street markets. I think food in the supermarket is very fresh and very cheap, so I like shopping there.Tom and Sandy both like shopping______.
A.with friends | B.at weekends |
C.with their family | D.on the Internet |
When Tom shops with women or children, he thinks it is _________.
A.interesting or fun | B.fun or hard(困难) |
C.happy or hard | D.hard or not interesting |
Why does Sandy spend so much time choosing things?
A.Because she wants to find the best price. |
B.Because there are so many people. |
C.Because she doesn’t buy the first thing that she sees. |
D.Because she is very free. |
From what Tom says, we know _________.
A.many people like shopping at weekends. |
B.it is fun for Tom to go shopping with his friends. |
C.people don’t like shopping at weekends. |
D.things are cheap at weekends. |
Sandy likes to buy food____.
A.in small shops | B.in street markets |
C.in the supermarket | D.on the Internet |
Visit Swanlake Zoo Come and see the Indian elephants and the new tigers from America. The bears are waiting to meet you, and the monkeys from China are waiting to throw things at you. The lovely dogs from Australia are waiting to laugh at you, and the giraffes from Zambia are waiting to look down on you. Tickets Adults: $2.00 Children: Over 12: $1:00 Under 12: Free Opening time 9:00 a.m.—— 4:00 p.m.Except Friday 10:00 a.m.——3:00 p.m. Keep the zoo clean! Do not touch, give food or go near the animals. |
How many kinds of animals are talked about in the passage?
A.Four | B.Five | C.Six | D.Seven |
Now Mr. Smith is in the zoo with his two sons, one aged 14 and the other 10, how much are the tickets together?
A.$4.00 | B.$2.00 | C.$3.00 | D.$1.00 |
What does the underlined word “except” mean?
A.除了 | B.还有 | C.有时 | D.也是 |
Which of the following is the visiting time?
A.8:30 a.m. Monday | B.9:30 a.m. Friday |
C.3:00 p.m. Sunday | D.5:00 p.m. Tuesday |
Which of the following can we do in the zoo?
A.To give some food to the fish. |
B.To touch the monkeys on the head. |
C.To throw things everywhere. |
D.None(没有一个) of the above. |
It seems to be strange to you that there is a blind spot (盲点) on the eyes. Here is an interesting experiment (实验) that can make something disappear (消失), when one eye is open.
Make a card about the size of a postcard and write two English letters L and R on it, L on the left and R on the right. First, hold the card about 80 cm away and you see both the letters. Then close your right eye and look at the letter R only with your left eye. And now, as you move the card slowly towards you, you’ll find the letter L disappearing. But if you move the card nearer to your face, you can see the letter again. Now do the same experiment with your left eye closed, you’ll find the letter R disappearing.
Why does the letter disappear? It is because there is a blind spot on the eyes. When the image (影像) of the letter falls on the blind spot, you can’t see it. That is why either of the letters disappears.The writer of the passage thinks that ______________there is a blind spot on the eyes.
A.few people know | B.no one knows |
C.most people know | D.all the people know |
You fail to see the letter L in the experiment because ______________.
A.your eyes are poor |
B.its image falls on the blind spot |
C.your left eye is not open |
D.you move it close to your eye |
In which order (顺序) should you do the experiment?
①Hold the card
②Move the card nearer
③Close your right eye
④Write two English letters
⑤Look at the letter R ⑥Make a card
A.④⑥①②③⑤ | B.①③⑥④⑤② |
C.⑥①④③②⑤ | D.⑥④①③⑤② |
The passage mainly (主要) tells us ______________.
A.the blind spot can move |
B.an interesting experiment |
C.where the blind spot is |
D.there is a blind spot on the eyes |
As a child, Alain Robert was afraid of height. One day, when he was 12, he returned home from school. At the front door of his building, he looked for his keys. He didn’t have them. It was 3.30 p.m. and his parents worked until 6.00 p.m. Alain looked at his apartment on the eighth floor. He saw an open window. He closed his eyes and imagined (想象) himself climbing the building. When he opened his eyes, he told himself,“I can do it.”Fifteen minutes later, he was in his house and his fear (害怕) of height was gone.
Today Alain still climbs buildings. In 2003, he climbed a building in London dressed as Spiderman (蜘蛛侠) to advertise the movie. In 2004, he climbed Taipei 101(one of the tallest buildings in the world). To reach the top of a building, Alain uses only his hands and special shoes. He has no rope or other safety tools.
Alain climbs as a hobby. He also does it to raise money for charity (for poor children and the homeless).When he climbs, he wants to send a massage to people. If you have a dream——something you really want to do, it can become real. But you must be brave and keep trying. If something bad happens, don’t give up. Close your eyes and tell yourself, “I can do it.”The underlined word “charity” means “______________” in Chinese.
A.享受 | B.休闲 | C.慈善 | D.消费 |
Alain climbs for two reasons. They are ______________.
A.for fun and for his health |
B.for charity and for his job |
C.for his health and for charity |
D.for charity and for fun |
What can you learn from this passage?
A.We must learn to climb tall buildings. |
B.If we have a dream, we must be brave and hold on to it. |
C.If we say “I can do it”, we can climb tall buildings. |
D.We must climb tall buildings to raise money for charity. |
Americans use many expressions (习语) with the word “dog”. Many people in the United States love their dogs and treat them well. They take their dogs for walks, let them play outside and give them good food and medical care. However, dogs without owners to care for them lead a different kind of life. The expression, to lead a dog's life, describes (描述) a person who has an unhappy life.
Some people say we live in a dog-eat-dog world. That means many people are competing for the same things, like good jobs. They say that to be successful, a person has to work like a dog. This means they have to work very, very hard.
Very often, people say every dog has its day. This means that every person enjoys a successful period during his or her life. To be successful, people often have to learn new skills. Yet, some people say that you can never teach an old dog new tricks. They believe that older people do not like to learn new things and will not change the way they do things.
People also use dog expressions to describe the weather. The dog days of summer are the hottest days of the year. A rainstorm may cool the weather. But we do not want it to rain too hard. We do not want it to rain cats and dogs.What does “every dog has its day” mean?
A.A person has to work very hard. |
B.A person won’t change his way. |
C.A person doesn’t like to learn new things. |
D.Every person enjoys a successful period. |
Which of the following is WRONG according to the passage?
A.American people like keeping dogs a lot. |
B.If a dog has no owner, its life will be hard. |
C.People can use the word “dog” in many ways. |
D.People can use the word “dog” to describe the house. |
What’s the passage about?
A.Dogs’ lives | B.How to walk dogs |
C.Expressions about dogs | D.Why people have dogs |