EveryAmericanfamilyhasitsowntr-优题课

Now let us look at how we read. When we read a printed text, our eyes move across a page in short, jerky movement. We recognize words usually when our eyes are still when they fixate. Each time they fixate, we see a group of words. This is known as the recognition span or the visual span. The length of time in which the eyes stop ---the duration of the fixation ----varies considerably from person to person. It also varies within any one person according to his purpose in reading and his familiarity with the text. Furthermore, it can be affected by such factors as lighting and tiredness.
Unfortunately, in the past, many reading improvement courses have concentrated too much on how our eyes move across the printed page. As a result of this misleading emphasis on the purely visual aspects of reading, numerous exercises have been devised to train the eyes to see more words at one fixation. For instance, in some exercises, words are flashed on to a screen for, say, a tenth or a twentieth of a second. One of the exercises has required students to fix their eyes on some central point, taking in the words on either side. Such word patterns are often constructed in the shape of rather steep pyramids so the reader takes in more and more words at each successive fixation. All these exercises are very clever, but it’s one thing to improve a person’s ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently. Reading requires the ability to understand the relationship between words. Consequently, for these reasons, many experts have now begun to question the usefulness of eye training, especially since any approach which trains a person to read isolated words and phrases would seem unlikely to help him in reading a continuous text.
The time of the recognition span can be affected by the following facts except ________ .

A．the length of a group of words.

B．lighting and tiredness.

C．one’s familiarity with the text.

D．one’s purpose in reading.

The author may believe that reading ______.

A．demands an deeply-participating mind.

B．demands more mind than eyes.

C．requires a reader to take in more words at each fixation.

D．requires a reader to see words more quickly.

What does the author mean by saying “but it’s one thing to improve a person’s ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently.” in the second paragraph?

A．The reading exercises mentioned can’t help to improve an efficient reading.

B．The reading exercises mentioned has done a great job to improve one’s ability to see words.

C．The ability to see words is not needed when an efficient reading is conducted.

D．The reading exercises mentioned can’t help to improve both the ability to see or comprehend words.

Which of the following is NOT true?

A．The emphasis on the purely visual aspects is misleading.

B．The eye training will help readers in reading a continuous text.

C．The visual span is a word or a group of words we see each time.

D．Many experts began to question the efficiency of eye training.

The tune of the author in writing this article is ________.

A．pessimistic

B．optimistic

C．critical

D．neutral

阅读下面短文，并根据短文后的要求答题（请注意问题后的字数要求）。
Scientists believe that conditions on Mars around 3.8 billion years ago were very similar to those of the early earth, when primitive organisms were spreading through our oceans. At that time, Mars would have been much warmer and wetter than it is today, with an atmosphere composed mainly of carbon dioxide, just like that of the earth at the time. Under these conditions, it is highly probable that life may have arisen on Mars as well.
But, even if life did not arise naturally on Mars, it does not mean that it could not have existed there. According to Professor Paul Davies of the University of Adelaide, Australia, life forms could have been transferred between the earth and Mars in wreckage (broke pieces) created by the impact of comet(彗星) and small planets on the surface of the two planets.
Even today, about 500 tons of material from Mars lands on earth every year. It is mainly in the form of the dust but occasionally a larger chunk(厚片，大块) strikes the earth. In 1911, a piece of Martian rock crashed in Egypt, killing a dog. According to Professor Davies, it is in these chunks of rock, which were much larger and more frequent in the past that life forms could have been transported from planet to planet.
“But how could these life forms have survived their journey through space?” says Paul Davies, “The difficulty in believing this theory is that a bacterium on its own in space has to struggle itself not only against cold but also against deadly cosmic (宇宙的) radiation. But wrapped in a rock the situation is different. A rock ten meters across would shield life inside it from a lot of radiation and the temperature might only be minus 10 or 20 degrees, the sort of thing we have on earth.”
Where do some scientists suppose life probably come from? (3’) (No more than 6 words)
____________________________________________________________________________
What does Professor Paul Davies believe? (3’) (No more than 6 words)
____________________________________________________________________________
Why could life survive when transferred from one planet to another? (3’) (No more than 12 words)
____________________________________________________________________________
According to Professor Paul Davies, how did the wreckage come into being? (3’) (No more than 10 words)
____________________________________________________________________________
List at least two differences about Mars between the past and now. (3’) (No more than 16 words)
____________________________________________________________________________

There were smiling children all the way. Clearly they knew at what time the train passed their homes and they made it their business to stand along the railway, wave to complete strangers and cheer them up as they rushed towards Penage. Often whole families stood outside their homes and waved and smiled as if those on the trains were their favorite relatives. This is the simple village people of Malaysia. I was moved.
I had always traveled to Malaysia by plane or car, so this was the first time I was on a train. I did not particularly relish the long train journey and had brought along a dozen magazines to read and reread. I looked about the train. There was not one familiar face. I sighed and sat down to read my Economics.
It was not long before the train was across the Causeway and in Malaysia. Johore Baru was just another city like Singapore, so I was tired of looking at the crowds of people as they hurried past. As we went beyond the city, I watched the straight rows of rubber trees and miles and miles of green. Then the first village came into sight, immediately I came alive; I decided to wave back..
From then on my journey became interesting. I threw my magazines into the waste basket and decided to join in Malaysian life. Then everything came alive. The mountains seemed to speak to me. Even the trees were smiling. I stared at everything as if I was looking at it for the first time.
The day passed fast and I even forgot to have my lunch until I felt hungry. I looked at my watch and was surprised that it was 3:00 pm. Soon the train pulled up at Butterworth. I looked at the people all around me. They all looked beautiful. When my uncle arrived with a smile, I threw my arms around him to give him a warm hug (拥抱). I had never done this before. He seemed surprised and then his weather-beaten face warmed up with a huge smile. We walked arm in arm to his car.
I looked forward to the return journey.
The author expected the train trip to be_________.

A．adventurous

B．dull

C．exciting

D．pleasant

What did the author remember most fondly of her train trip?

A．The mountains along the way.

B．The friendly country people.

C．The crowds of people in the streets.

D．The simple lunch served on the train.

Which of the following words can best take the place of the word “relish” in the second paragraph?

A．choose

B．enjoy

C．prepare for

D．carry on

Where was the writer going?

A．Butterworth.

B．The Causeway.

C．Johore Baru.

D．Singapore.

What can we learn from the story?

A．Comfort in traveling by train.

B．Pleasure of living in the country.

C．Reading gives people delight.

D．Smiles brighten people up.

Protecting Copyright
Having finished her homework, Ma Li wants some music. As usual, she starts her computer and goes to Baidu.com to download music files. But this time she is surprised when an announcement about protecting songs’ copyright bursts onto the screen. The age of free music and movie downloads may have come to an end as Web companies like Baidu are accused of pirating copyright. Lawsuits have been filed against four websites offering free downloads. In September 2005, a Beijing court ordered Baidu to pay recording company Shanghai Push compensation for their losses. Baidu was also told to block the links to the pirated music on the website. This caused a heated discussion on Interact file sharing.
“Baidu’s defeat in the lawsuit shows it is not right to get copyrighted songs without paying. Down loaders may face lawsuits or fines,” said an official.
Like many teens, Huang Ruoru, an 18-year-old girl from Puning in Guangdong Province, doesn’t think that getting music from websites is wrong. She always shares her favourite songs downloaded from Baidu with her friends. When told about the lawsuit, she began to feel a little guilty about obtaining others’ work without paying.
However, other teenagers have different ideas. Wang Yafei, a Senior 2 girl from Jinan, Shandong Province pointed out that file sharing is a good way to promote pop singers. “If I download a song and really like it, I will buy the CD,” she said. “So what the recording companies really should concentrate on is improving their music, rather than pursuingfile-sharers.”
Which of the following best describes the passage?

A．Downloading material can be illegal.

B．Music on the Internet is of better quality.

C．It’s good to get free music on the Internet.

D．Baidu is a popular web company.

The four web companies were put to court because ________.

A．they got copyrighted songs without paying

B．they make copyrighted files for free downloads

C．they downloaded copyrighted music for people

D．they offer free music on line

How do some of the teenagers feel while downloading free music after the lawsuit?

A．A bit guilty.	B．A little sad.
C．Extremely angry.	D．Awfully sorry.

What’s the advantage of file sharing for recording companies?

A．Getting more money from web companies.

B．Making pop singers more popular.

C．Helping to improve the music.

D．Enabling people to download favorite songs.

It can be inferred from the text that _________.

A．Web companies are still ignoring the copyright laws.

B．Teenagers haven’t got money to buy CDs.

C．Teenagers are probably still downloading free music.

D．Teenagers prefer CDs with copyright to pirated music.

Judging from recent surveys, most experts in sleep behavior agree that there is virtually an epidemic（流行病） of sleepiness in the nation．“I can’t think of a single study that hasn’t found Americans getting less sleep than they ought to,” says Dr．David．Even people who think they are sleeping enough would probably be better off with more rest．
The beginning of our sleep-deficit（lack）crises can be traced back to the invention of the light bulb a century ago．From diary entries and our personal accounts from the 18th and 19th centuries, sleep scientists have reached the conclusion that the average person used to sleep about 9.5 hours a night．“The best sleep habits once were forced on us, when we had nothing to do in the evening down on the farm, and it was dark．” By the 1950s and 1960s, the sleep schedule had been reduced dramatically, to between 7.5 and 8 hours, and most people had to wake to an alarm clock．“People cheat in their sleep, and they don’t even realize they’re doing it,” says Dr．David．“They think they’re okay because they can get by on 6.5 hours, when they really need 7.5, 8 or even more to feel ideally energetic. ”
Perhaps the most merciless robber of sleep, researches say, is the complexity of the day．Whenever pressures from work, family, friends and community increase, many people consider sleep the least expensive item on their programs．“In our society, you’re considered dynamic if you say you need only 5．5 hours’ sleep．If you’ve got to get 8．5 hours, people think you lack drive and ambition．”
To determine the consequences of sleep-deficit, researchers have put subjects through a set of psychological and performance tests requiring them, for instance, to add columns of numbers or recall a passage read to them only minutes earlier．“We’ve found that if you’re in sleep deficit, performance suffers,” says Dr．David．“Short-term memory is weakened, as are abilities to make decisions and to concentrate．”
What is the main topic of the passage?

A．The history of people’s sleeping patterns．

B．The epidemic of sleepiness in the modern times．

C．Research on the causes and consequences of sleep-deficit．

D．The minimum of our sleeping hours．

Which of the following is Dr．David’s opinion?

A．People’s metal power suffers if they are lacking in sleep．

B．Some people can remain energetic with only 6．5 hours’ sleep a night．

C．If they get 8．5 hours’ sleep, people will be full of drive and ambition．

D．People who think they are sleeping enough are better off than those who don't．

People in the 18th and 19th centuries slept about 9．5 hours a night because _______．

A．they had no electricity

B．they knew what was best for their health

C．they were forced by their parents to do so

D．they were not so dynamic and ambitious as modern people are

The major cause of sleep-deficit of modern people is _______．

A．the endless TV programs in the evenings and the internet

B．the heavy work load of the day

C．the sufficient energy modern people usually have

D．loud noises in the modern cities

What does the word “subjects” in paragraph 4 mean?

A．Person or thing that is being discussed or described．

B．Branch of knowledge studied in a school．

C．Person or thing being treated in a certain way or being experimented on．

D．Any member of a State apart from the supreme ruler．

A．watching a movie	B．making visits
C．having a big meal	D．watching football

A．He is too thankful to say a word.	B．His mind is on the food before him.
C．He feels too excited to speak.	D．He is shy to speak in public.