Imagine you’re in a dark room, running your fingers over a smooth surface in search of a single dot the size of this period, How high do you think the dot must be for your finger to feel it?
Scientists have determined that the human finger is so sensitive it can detect a surface bump just one micron（l0－6m）"high． The human eye, by contrast, can't tell anything much smaller than100 microns．No wonder we rely on touch rather than eyesight when faced with a new roll of toilet paper．
Biologically, touch is the mother of all sensory（感觉的） systems．It is an ancient sense in evolution: even the simplest single-celled living things can feel when something brushes up against them and will respond by moving closer or pulling away． It is the first sense aroused during a baby’s development and the last to weaken at life's peak． Patients in a deep coma （昏迷）who seem otherwise lost to the world will show skin reaction when touched by a nurse．
“Touch ,is so central to what we are that we almost cannot imagine ourselves without it,” said Chris Dijkerman．“It's 'not like eyesight, where you close your eyes and you don't see anything． You can't do that with touch．It's always there．"
Long ignored in favor of the sensory heavyweights of eyesight and hearing, the study of touch lately:: has been gaining new concern among scientists．They're exploring the effects of recently reported false touch impressions, of people being made to feel as though they had three arms, for example, with the hope of gaining the true understanding of how the mind works．
Others are turning to touch for more practical purposes: to build better touch screen instruments and robot hands, a more well-rounded virtual life．。“There's a fair amount of research into new ways of offloading information onto our sense of touch," said Lynette Jones． "To have your cell phone buzzing （making a low sound） as opposed to ringing turned out to have a lot of advantages in．some situations．"
Touch is our most active sense, our means of seizing the world and experiencing it 'first hand． Dr．Susan Lederman pointed out that while we can become aware of something by seeing or hear,ing7;-．from a distance and without really trying, if we want to learn about something by means of touch, we must make a move．We must rub the cloth, or pet the cat． Touching is a two-way street, and that's not true for seeing or hearing． If you have a soft object and you squeeze it, you change its shape． The physical world reacts back．"
Our hands are smart and can do many tasks automatically - button a shirt, fit a key in a lock, play the; piano for others．Dr．Lederman and her colleagues have shown that blindfolded subjects can easily recognize a wide range of common -objects placed．in their hands．But on some feeling tasks, touch is all thumbs （very clumsy）． When people are given a raised line drawing of a common object, they're puzzled．“If all we've got is outline information;" Dr．Lederman said,．“no weight, no texture, no temperature information, well, we're very, very bad with that．"
Touch also turns out to be easy to fool, Among the sensory tricks now being investigated is something called the Pinocchio illusion． Researchers have found that if they shake the band of the biceps（二头肌）, many people report feeling that their forearm is getting 'longer, their hand floating ever further from their elbow（肘）． And if they are told to touch the forefinger of the shaken arm to the tip of their nose, they feel as though their nose was lengthening, too． Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
| A．Our eyes are more sensitive than our fingers． |
| B．Our fingers are more sensitive than our eyes． |
| C．Our eyes are more sensitive than our ears． |
| D．Our noses are less sensitive than our ears． |
The sense that is firstly awaked during a child's development is the sense of ．
| A．sight | B．taste | C．hearing | D．touch |
The underlined sentence “You can't do that with touch” here means “You can't ”．
| A．close your skin | B．close your eyes ' | C．touch anything | D．see anything |
Scientists are lately getting interested in the following except ．
| A．living a well-rounded virtual life |
| B．understanding how the mind works |
| C．favoring eyesight and hearing |
| D．building better 'touch screen objects |
In the view of , movement is needed when we want to know something by touching．
| A．the author | B．Chris Dijkerman |
| C．Lynette Jones | D．Susan Lederman |
Have you winterized your horse yet? Even though global warming may have made our climate more mild, many animals are still hibernating(冬眠) .It's too bad that humans can't hibernate. In fact, as a species, we almost did.
Apparently, at times in the past , peasants in France liked a semi-state of human hibernation . So writes Graham Robb, a British scholar who has studied the sleeping habits of the French peasants. As soon as the weather turned cold people all over France shut themselves away and practiced the forgotten art of doing nothing at all for months on end.
In line with this, Jeff Warren, a producer at CBC Radio's The Current, tells us that the way we sleep has changed fundamentally since the invention of artificial(人造的) lighting and the electric bulb.
When historians began studying texts of the Middle Ages, they noticed something referred to as "first sleep", which was not clarified, though. Now scientists are telling us our ancestors most likely slept in separate periods. The business of eight hours' uninterrupted sleep is a modern invention.
In the past , without the artificial light of the city to bathe in, humans went to sleep when it became dark and then woke themselves around midnight. The late night period was known as "The Watch" It was when people actually kept watch against wild animals ,although many of them simply moved around or visited family and neighbours .
According to some sleep researchers, a short period of insomnia(失眠) at midnight is not a disorder .It is normal . Humans can experience another state of consciousness around their sleeping, which occurs in the brief period before we fall asleep or wake ourselves in the morning .This period can be an extraordinarily creative time for some people .The impressive inventor, Thomas Edison , used this state to hit upon many of his new ideas.
Playing with your sleep rhythms can be adventurous ,as anxiety may set in. Medical science doesn't help much in this case. It offers us medicines for a full night's continuous sleep, which sounds natural ; however, according to Warren's theory，it is really the opposite of what we need.
| 1． |
The example of the French peasants shows the fact that.
|
| 2． |
The late night was called "The Watch"because it was a time for people.
|
| 3． |
What does the author advise people to do ?
|
| 4． |
What is the author's purpose in writing the passage?
|
This brief book is aimed at high school shjeents , but speaks to anyone learning at any stage of life.
Its formal ,serious style closely matches its content ,a school-masterly bonnk on schooling .The author , W .H . Armstrong ,starts with the basics : reading and writing . In his opinion , reading doesn’t just mean recognizing each word on the page ; it means taking a sandwich and makes it a part of himself .The goal is to bring the information back to life , not just to treat it as dead facts on paper from dead trees . Reading and writing cannot be completely separated from each other ; in fact ,the aim of reading is to express the information you have got from the text .I’ve seen it again and again ：some-one who can’t express an idea after reading a text is just as ineffective as someone who hasn’t read it at all.
Only a thied of the bonk remains after that discussion ,which Armstrong devotes to specific tips for studying languages ,math , science and history . He generally handles these topics thoroughly(透彻地) and equally ,except for some weakness in the science and math sections and a bit too much passion(激情) regarding history to his students , that was a hundred times more than my history teachers ever got across .to my disappointment , in this part of the book he ignores the arts .As a matter of fact ,they demand all the concentration and study that math and science do,though the study differs slightly in kind .Although it’s commonly believed that the arts can only be naturally acquired ,actually ,learning the arts is no more natural than learning French or mathematics.
My other comment is that the text aged. The first edition apparently dates to the 1960s---none of the references(参考文献)seem newer than the late 1950s. As a result, the discussion misses the entire computer age.
These are small points, though, and don’t affect the main discussion. I recommend it to any student and any teacher, including the self-taught student.
63. According to Armstrong, the goal of reading is to________.
A. gain knowledge and expand one’s view
B. understand the meaning between the lines
C. experts ideas based on what one has read
D. get information and keep it alive in memory
64. The author of the passage insists that learning the arts_________.
A. requires great efforts
B. demands real passion
C. is less natural than learning maths
D. is as natural as learning a language
65. What is a shortcoming of Armstrong’s work according to the author?
A. Some ideas are slightly contradictory.
B. There is too much discussion on studying science.
C. The style is too serious.
D. It lacks new information.
66. This passage can be classified as________.
A. an advertisement
B. a book review
C. a feature story
D. A news report
They wear the latest fashions with the most up-to-date accessorise(配饰)。Yet these are ginrls in their teens or twenties but women in their sixties and seventies.A gengration which would once only wear old-fashioned clothes is now faouring the same high street looks worn by those half their age.
Professor Julia Twigg, a social policy expert , said ,“Wimen over 75 are now shopping for clothes more frequently than they old when they were young in the 1960s .In the 1960s buying a coat for a woman was a serious matter . It was an expensive item that they would puechase only every three or four years — now you can pick one up at the supernnackrt whosever you wish to .Fashion is a lot cheaper and peope fet tired of things more quickiy . ”
Fashion designer Angela Barnard ,who runs own fashion business in London ,said older women were much more affected celebrity(名流) style than in previous years .
She said ,“When people see stars such as Judi Dench and Helen Mirren looking attractive and fashionable in their sixties ,they want to follow them . Older women are much more aware of celebrities .There’s also the boom in TV programmes showing people how they can change theiy look,and many of my older customers do roga to stay in shape well in their fifties . When I started my business a fen years ago .my older customers wended to be very rich, but now they are what I would call ordinary women .My own mother is 61 and she wears the latest fashions in a way she would caill ordinsry women .My own mother is 61 and she wears the latest fashions in a way she would never have done ten yeare ago.”
59. Professor Twigg found that ,compared with the 1960s,_______.
A. the price of clothes has generally fallen by 70%
B. the spending on clothes has increased by 5% or 6%
C. people spend 30% less than they did on cotothes
D. the amount of chothes bought has risen by 5% or 6%
60. What can we learn about old women in terms of fashion？
A.They are often ignored by fashion designers .
B. They are now more easily influenced by stars .
C. They are regarded as pioneers in the latest fashion .
D. They are more interested in clothes because of their old age .
61. It can be concluded that old women tend to wear the latest fashions today mainly because.
A. they get tired of things more quickly
B.TV shows teach them how to change look
C. they are in much better shape now
D. clothes are much cheaper than before
62. Which is the best possible title of the passage ?
A. Age Is No Barrier for Fashion Fans
B.The More Fashionable ,the Less Expensive
C.Unexpected Changes in Fashion
D.Boom of the British Fashion Industry
For many parents , raising a teenager is like fighting a long war ,but years go by without any clear winner . Like a border conflict between neighboring countries ,the parent-teen war is about boundaries: Where is the line between what I control and what you do?
Both sides want peace ,but neither feels it has any power to stop the conflict . In part ,this is because neither is willing to admit .any responsibility for starting it . From the parents’ point of view, the only cause of their fight is their adolescents’ complete unreasonableness. And of course .theteens see it in exactly the same way , except oppositely . Both feel trapped
In this article. I’ll describe three no-win situations that commonly arise between teens and parents and then suggest some ways out of the trap. The first no-win situation is quarrels over unimportant things . Examples include the color of the teen’s hair, the cleanliness of the bedroom ,the preferred style of clothing , the child’s failure to eat a good breakfast before school ,or his tendency to sleep until noon on the weekends .Second ,blaming , the goal of a blaming battle is to make the other admit that his bad attitude is the reason why everything goes wrong . Third , needing to be right ,It doesn’t matter what the topic is –politics. The taws of physics ,or the proper way to break an egg –the point of these arguments is to prove that you are right and the other person is wrong .for both wish to be considered an authority --- someone who actually knows something --- and therefore to command respect. Unfortunately , as long as long as parents and teens continue to assume that they know more than the other ,they’ll continue to fight these battles forever and never make any real progress
55. Why does the author compare the parent—teen war to a border conflict?
A. both can continue for generations .
B. Both are about where to draw the line
C. Neither has any clear winner
D. Neither can be put to an end
56. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2 mean?
A. The teens blame their parents for starting the conflict.
B. The teens agree with their parents on the cause of the conflict
C. The teens accuse their parents of misleading them
D. The teens tend to have a full understanding of their parents
57.Parents and teens want to be right because they want to ________.
A. give orders to the other
B. know more than the other
C. gain respect from the other
D .get the other to behave properly
58. What will the author most probably discuss in the paragraph that follows?
A. causes for the parent –teen conflicts
B. Examples of the parent –teen war.
C. Solutions for the parent –teen problems
D. Future of the parent-teen relationship
It was a Sunday and the heavy storm had lasted all night.The morning after the storm,though,was beautiful:blue skies,warm air and a calm,inviting sea touching the shore gently.
My father realised it was a good day for fishing and invited my sister and me to go with him.I was only 14 and fishing had never been my thing, but I decided to go all the same.I’m so glad I did.
On the road to the harbour we could see the terrible destruction on the coast,but the harbour itself was in fairly good shape.After allm it was protected by the arms of a bay that had only one tiny channel to the sea.As we got on board,we noticed two big humps(脊背) in the distance.
On approaching them,we saw it was a mother whale with her baby.We couldn’t beliece it ----there aren’t any whales along the coast here.The storm must have driven them across the ocean into the bay, in which the still water was so badlly polluted that nothing could surive.
The little baby whale ----actually as big as our boal----was obviously stuck and could not move.The mother dived under the water and came up suddenly,making big whirlpools(漩涡) and waves.”She’s trying to help her baby, but on the wrong side,”my father said.At this point,myfather moved our boat in a semicirele to the other side and ,heading the boat towards the baby whale,pushed it gently.With our several gentle pushes the big hump turned over and disappared under water.Then it swam up right beside its mum.They stuggled in their desperate attempts to escape but missed the exit and started heading in the wrong direction.We hurried up to the whales
and tried to lead them towards the bay channel.Showly,they let us lead them,some-times rising from the water right beside us to breathe----and to give us a trusting look with those huge eyes.Once they hit their first part of clean water flowing straight from the sea,the mum gave us a wave with her tail and off they swam into the distance.
In the excitement it had felt like only a few minutes, but we had been with those wonderful animals for almost an hour and a half.That was the simple and lasting beauty of the day,Nearly four decades later ,I still look back fondly to that golden day at sea.
51. The author says “I’m so glad I did .”(in Para.2)because __________.
A. be witnessed the whole process of fishing
B. he enjoyed the beauty of the calm sea
C. he experienced the rescue of the whales
D. he spent the weekend with his family
52. The harbour survived the storm owing to____________.
A. the shape of the harbour
B. the arms of the bay
C. the still water in the channel
D. the long coast line
53. The mother whale failed to help her baby because__________.
A. she had stayed in the polluted water for too long
B. the whirlpools she had made were not big enough
C. she had no other whales around to tutu to for help
D. the waves pushed her baby in the wrong direction
54.what is the theme of the story?
A. Saving lives brings people a sense of happiness
B. Fishing provides excitement for children
C. It’s necessary to live in harmony with animals
D. it’s vital to protect the environment