A Smashing tradition: MIT Students Drop Piano
One of the highlights of the school year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology only lasts a few seconds but has a big influence. Residents of an MIT dormitory dropped an upright piano from their roof on 26th April to celebrate the last day students can drop classes without having them appear on their college report.
About 200 onlookers watched as the piano crashed into a second piano, a baby grand, positioned on the ground six stories below for a better smash. People scrambled (争先恐后) for souvenir pieces-keys, hammers, strings and splinters. The tradition began in 1972 at the Baker House dormitory and has been observed irregularly until 2006 when it became an annual event.
Crafton Family Comes Back Home after 7 Years at Sea
While most of us will love to go on a vacation for a week or two on a small private sailboat, without doubt, spending seven precious years on sea is something most of us will never imagine or dare to do. However, that is what an American family has done. Tom Crafton and Kathy Crafton along with their three children have traveled across the world on their 43-foot sailboat named Nueva Vida. Over the past seven years the family had sailed 30,000 miles and visited more than 20 different countries. The family has recently come back to their homeland.
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Living in the limelight（聚光灯）can be difficult but as these splendid pictures show for one bear the tourist train never stops. This arctic animal loves nothing more than an audience and will even climb out of his snowy bed to give the crowd a wave. The funny poses(姿态) of the friendly polar bear were caught on camera by Swedish photographer, Hams Strand.Which of the following is true about the first incident?
| A．The typical style of celebration has been kept alive every year since1972. |
| B．Another small piano on the ground is meant to hold the falling one. |
| C．The students dropped the piano in celebration of their graduation. |
| D．The tradition became an annual event for MIT students several years ago. |
The writer thinks Crafton family’s seven-year sailing is ______.
| A．unusual | B．strange | C．common | D．doubtful |
What would be the best subtitle for the third incident?
| A．The Limelight Makes Polar Bear Live Hard |
| B．Splendid Pictures of Polar Bear Attract Tourists |
| C．The Tourist Train Would Stop without Polar Bear |
| D．Polar Bear Says Hello to Tourists with a Friendly Wave |
The passage is probably taken out of ______.
| A．a novel | B．a magazine | C．a diary | D．a report |
When several different people look at the same person, it is not unusual for each of them to see different things; when you alone observe one behavior or one person at two different times, you may see different things. The following are but some of the factors that lead to these varying perceptions (感知，认知)：
(1)Each person’s perceptions of others are formed by his or her own cultural conditioning education, and personal experiences.
(2) Sometimes perceptions differ because of what we choose to observe and how we deal with what we’ve observed. It is not necessarily true that person perception is based on observations of a particular person. Your observations may be totally controlled by what others have told you about this person; or you may focus (聚焦) primarily on the situation or role relationship. Most people do not use the same yardstick (标准) to measure their parents, their friends, and strangers.
(3) Sometimes we see only what we want to see or don’t see what may be obvious to others because of out own needs, desires, or temporary emotional states. This is a process known as selective perception. Selective perception is obviously more difficult when contradictory (矛盾的) information is particularly obvious, but it can be done. We can ignore (忽视) the stimulus- “He’s basically a good boy so what I saw was not shoplifting. ”
We can reduce the importance of the contradictory information- “All kids (孩子) get into mischief (顽皮) . Taking a book from the bookstore isn’t such a big deal. ” We can change the meaning of the contradictory information-”It wasn’t shoplifting because he was going to pay for it later.”…The first factor given by the author that affects our perception is _____.
| A．the abilities of one’s auditory (听) and visual (视) sensors |
| B．cultural background and personal experiences |
| C．experiences one learns from others |
| D．critical measures taken by other people |
While observing a particular person, ______.
| A．one is likely to take all aspects (方面) into consideration |
| B．one pays more attention to his/her advantages |
| C．children often differ from grown-ups in perception |
| D．one tends to choose certain cues (提示) to look for |
Observation of the same person by two people at the same time may differ because ______.
| A．their measuring yardsticks are not the same |
| B．either of them may be slow to catch information |
| C．the time for observation is not long enough |
| D．each of them uses different language to express his/her impressions |
The word “stimulus ” in paragraph 4 refers to ______.
| A．something attractive | B．selective perception |
| C．contradictory information | D．shoplifting |
There were two interesting pieces of news items in the paper a few years ago. One was about a man who received a bill from the telephone company for $ 2,000 a month for doing nothing.
The connection between the two news items is simple; computers-the best invention of the 20th century. The telephone bill came from a computer which made a terrifying mistake; that man’s bill was only $ 23.26. The other item was not as amusing. A man walked into the unguarded computer room of a large packaged food company and expertly programmed the computer to pay him $ 2,000 a month for raw meat which he “supplied ” to the company. Of course he never sent the meat, but he certainly received the money . The computer wrote out a bill, and even “signed ” it. It was only a random (随便) check that uncovered the trick. It could be happening in thousands of other companies all over the world.
Computers are not the magical workers that some people say they are. They make mistakes, they’re sometimes slower than human beings and they’re easily fooled.
The US used to conscript (征兵) people with the help of a computer. The army sent out a card, which had to be filled in and sent back. It was easy to avoid being called up simply by spreading candle-wax(腊) on the card. The computer couldn’t read the card, and did nothing with it.
It’s in our everyday life that computers cause many problems. Let’s get back to using people instead of computers, before a mistake that we can’t put right.In the first paragraph we can conclude ______.
| A．the paper is telling a lie | B．the first sentence is the topic sentence |
| C．the two news items made people surprised | |
| D．if a man did nothing at all for the telephone company, he would still get $2,000 a month |
The main idea of the second paragraph is _______.
| A．the computers are magical workers |
| B．the computers can do anything as well as man |
| C．the computers can write out the bill and even sign it |
| D．the computers sometimes also make mistakes |
Computers ______.
| A．were used to conscript people | B．are usually faster than human beings |
| C．are not so magical as people expect | |
| D．were not easily controlled and always fooled human beings |
The writer thinks _______.
| A．we’d better use people instead of computers in our everyday life |
| B．we should not use computers because they always make mistakes |
| C．computers are widely used in our everyday life |
| D．if we want to work well, don’t use the computers |
There are two types of twins; identical and non-identical twins. Identical twins are formed from a single egg in mother’s body which divides to from two separate babies. Identical twins look the same, and are often dressed by their parents in clothes of the same colors. It is often difficult to tell identical twins from each other, even when they are standing side by side. Non-identical twins come into being when the mother produces two separated eggs a the same time, both of which grow to form babies. In this case the twins look like normal brothers and sisters and are easy to tell one from the other.
In the 1970s and 1980s a scientist did some research into twins. He invited many pairs of identical twins to university and asked them to take part in a week of tests. He was particularly interested in adopted (收养) twins who had been separated at birth. He would give the twins different kinds of tests to study their speed of thinking, their speech, their memory, the ways they saw and heard different things, and so on. Time and time again he found separated twins who preferred clothes of the same color, used the same kind of shaving soap, wore the same shaped square glasses and the same colored socks.
There is a third type of twins, but it is a very unusual one. Twins which are joined together at birth are known in western countries as Siamese twins.It is difficult to tell identical twins apart because _______.
| A．they are dressed in the same clothes | B．they are dressed in the same color |
| C．they are very alike | D．they are standing side by side |
If the twins are easy to tell from each other, they are ______.
| A．very probably non-identical twins | B．surely identical twins |
| C．surely identical twins | D．always a brother and a sister |
Which of the following is NOT true according to this passage?
| A．In the 1970s and 1980s a scientist did some research into the two main types of twins. |
| B．In the week of tests, he tested their speed of thinking, their speech, their memory and some other things. |
| C．There were twins who had been separated from each other as soon as they were born. |
| D．Very often, separated twins were found to choose things of the same kind, the same shape and the same color. |
This passage mainly tells us _______.
| A．the main types of twins | B．what has been found out about twins |
| C．how twins are formed | D．how a scientist studied twins |
Early in the 18th century, Captain Cook, a famous explorer of Australia, unexpectedly caught sight of an unusual animal during his first visit to Australia. The animal had a large mouse like head and jumped along on its large legs. To his great surprise, the unusual animal carried its young in a special pocket of flesh. Captain Cook pointed to the animal which was eating grass in the distance and asked his native guide what the animal was referred to. The guide seemed not to know that he was pointing at and finally said “Kang-a-roo”, but their requests were met with puzzled looks of the native people. Before long they got to discover that the native guide who made the answer to Cook’s question really meant, “I don’t know what you pointing at. “ Funny enough, the name “ Kang-a-roo”, stuck and it is still in use today.Which of the following sentences best expresses the main idea?
| A．captain Cook’s guide made a joke. |
| B．Native Australians could not speak English in Cook’s time. |
| C．Some words have rather funny origins (起源). |
| D．Captain Cook was a lover of wild animals. |
When the native guide said “Kang-a-roo ”, he really meant “ ______”
| A．Ah, it is a special kind of animal |
| B．I wonder what you have said |
| C．What do you mean by pointing at that animal? |
| D．I have no idea of what you are referring to. |
We can infer from this passage ______.
| A．we should learn many different languages |
| B．Captain Cook made a mistake in understanding |
| C．Captain Cook was a foolish explorer |
| D．the importance of a language in common |
A scientist turns out to be able to see the future by offering each of some four-year-olds a piece of candy and watching how he or she deals with it. Some children reach eagerly for the treat they see. Some last a few minutes before they give in. But others are determined to wait until the last moment.
By the time the children reach high school, something remarkable has happened. A survey found that those who as four-year-olds had enough self-control to hold out generally grew up to be more popular, adventurous, confident and dependable. The children who gave in to temptation early on were more likely to be lonely, easily frustrated and inflexible .
Actually, the ability to delay reward is a sign of emotional intelligence which doesn’t show up on an IQ test.
The hardware of the brain and the software of the mind have long been scientists’ concerns. But brain theory can’t explain what we wonder about most, like the question why some people remain upbeat in the face of troubles that would sink a less resistant soul.
Here comes the theory of Daniel Goleman, writer of Emotional Intelligence: when it comes to predicting people’s success, brain ability as measured by IQ may actually matter less than the qualities of mind once thought of as “character”.
EQ is not the opposite of IQ. What researchers have been trying to understand is how they work together; how one’s ability to handle stress, for instance, affects the ability to concentrate and put intelligence to use. Among the elements for success, researchers now generally agree that IQ counts for about 20%; the rest depends on everything from social class to luck.
While many researchers in this relatively new field are glad to see emotional issues finally taken seriously, some few fear EQ invites misuse. Which of the following is true of EQ and IQ according to the text?
| A．The higher a person’s EQ is, the higher his or her IQ is. |
| B．The higher a person’s IQ is, the higher his or her EQ is. |
| C．Some people can be blessed with lots of both, but some with little of either. |
| D．Scientists have already discovered the way in which EQ and IQ work together. |
The underlined word “upbeat” in Paragraph 4 probably means .
| A．kind | B．floating | C．excited | D．optimistic |
What is most likely to be written in the paragraph that follows?
| A．Information about famous people with high EQ. |
| B．Examples showing the opposite voice about EQ. |
| C．Some reasons why EQ is a relatively new field. |
| D．Strong demand for basic emotional education. |