Bigger-brained birds survive better than their feathered friends with smaller brains, according to a study published on Tuesday.
Scientists have suspected that birds with large brains in relation to their body size lived longer because they were able to adapt their behavior to environmental challenges.
Now they have provided evidence that it does.
“We have tested the hypothesis(假设) that the brain can buffer(缓冲) animals against the environment and help them to survive when they face environmental challenges,” said Daniel Sol of the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications in Barcelona, Spain.
After comparing death rates, brain size and body mass of 236 species of birds from different regions of the world, Sol and scientists in Britain, Hungary and Canada discovered that the bigger the brain the better. Crows and parrots have the largest brains, while pheasants (野鸡) have a relatively small brain.
Earlier studies have shown there is a relationship between the size of the brain and an animal’s capacity to create new behavior and adapt more easily.
“The idea is that if you have a big brain, you are more capable of adjusting behavior and responding to environmental changes. This can help you to survive,” said Sol, who reported the finding in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
Tamas Szekely of the University of Bath in England and a co-author of the report, said birds were ideal to test the hypothesis because they are the only species in which brain size and behavioral response to environmental challenges such as climate and habitat destruction is understood.The finding of bird’s brains recently refers to ________.
| A．the smaller brain the birds have, the longer they live |
| B．the smaller brain the birds have, the cleverer they are |
| C．the bigger brain the birds have, the larger their bodies are |
| D．the bigger brain the birds have, the abler they are to deal with environment |
Scientists from ________ countries have made the discovery.
| A．two | B．three | C．four | D．five |
According to the text we can know that the report of the finding was written by________.
| A．Daniel Sol |
| B．Tamas Szekely |
| C．Daniel Sol and Tamas Szekely |
| D．someone whose name was not mentioned |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．Pheasants have the smallest brains of all birds. |
| B．Crows and parrots have the largest brains in all animals. |
| C．A pig’s brain is bigger than a cock, so it must be cleverer than the cock. |
| D．The discovery is now only certain about and mainly limited to birds. |
I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent.
I no longer consider myself the center of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows(誓约) mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends, and they to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today.
So here's what I wanted to tell you today: Get a life. A real life, not a desire of the next promotion(提升), the bigger paycheck, the larger house.
Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure(空闲), it is work. Pick up the phone. Send an e-mail. Write a letter. And realize that life is the best thing and that you have no business taking it for granted.
It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours, our minutes. It is so easy to exist instead of to live. I learned to live many years ago. Something really, really bad happened to me, something that changed my life in ways that, if I had my choice, it would never have been changed at all. And what I learned from it is what, today, seems to be the hardest lesson of all.
I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it, completely and totally. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned. By telling them this: Read in the backyard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a deadly illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived.The best title of this passage probably is________.
| A．Love your friends | B．Live a real life |
| C．Don't waste time | D．Be a good mother and wife |
The underlined sentence "It is so easy to exist instead of to live" in the fifth paragraph probably has the same meaning as________.
| A．it is so easy to keep alive but not to live a real life |
| B．it is very hard to live a real life |
| C．it is so easy to make a living |
| D．it is more difficult to exist than to live a happy life |
What's the author's attitude toward work?
| A．Do it well to serve others. |
| B．To earn enough money to make life better. |
| C．Try your best to get higher position and pay. |
| D．Don't let it affect your real life. |
It can be inferred from the passage that_________.
| A．the author is a success in personal life |
| B．the author didn't try her best to work well |
| C．the author spent all her time caring for her children |
| D．the author likes traveling very much |
When first entered ,Vanak Restaurant does not look like much of a restaurant, but once the pleasant smells of kabob（烤羊肉串）hit the senses ,you are incapable of calling it anything less.
Owned by a local couple, this Persian restaurant has an inviting, homelike atmosphere that many restaurants lack.
The space is small with only a few dining tables and nearly no decoration, but the environment is truly charming.
Lying in a hardly noticeable street corner, the restaurant still attracts all customers, especially those experienced in the delights of Middle Eastern cooking.
A common sight is that of old Persian men sitting in the corner talking loudly about world topics, watching news events on TV, drinking a black tea known as Persian chai, and reading local Persian newspapers all the while trying to finish off their plate piled with food.
The variety of food at the restaurant is limited, but the amount of each dish is fairly large. Most of the meals can serve two people and are under $10,so not only is it affordable but practical as well.
The food, especially appeals to health-conscious eaters because each dish is very healthy, made with limited fat and oil and served straight off the grill（烤肉架）.
The main dish that the restaurant is popular for is its kabobs, which are different style of grilled meat.
One delicious and extremely healthy dish is the Joojeh Kabob, which is made of grilled chicken pieces served with either rice or bread. Another great kabob is the Chelo Kabob, kabob consisting of grilled beef.
Although the restaurant is small, the atmosphere and the food is delicious. It is a place that should not be overlooked.When first entering the restaurant, one can find that it
| A．is splendidly decorated | B．has pleasant smells of kabobs |
| C．is crowded with dining tables | D．looks like a common restaurant |
What activity is also mentioned apart from dining in the restaurant?
| A．Watching news events on TV | B．Drinking a kind of black coffee |
| C．Reading local English newspapers | D．Discussing world topics in low voices |
The food of the restaurant
| A．is served in small amounts | B．is rather expensive |
| C．is rich in variety | D．is very health |
It can be inferred from the passage that the restaurant .
| A．occupies a large space | B．owns a favorable location |
| C．is popular for its special food | D．has a quiet environment inside |
What happens inside the skull of a soccer player who repeatedly heads a soccer ball? That question motivated a challenging new study of the brains of experienced players that has caused discussion and debate among soccer players, and some anxiety among those of us with soccer-playing children.
For the study, researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York selected 34adults, men and women. All of the volunteers had played soccer since childhood and now competed year-round in adult soccer leagues. Each filled out a detailed questionnaire developed especially for this study to determine how many times they had headed a soccer ball in the previous year, as well as whether they had experienced any known concussions (脑震荡) in the past.
Then the players completed computerized tests of their memory and other learning skills and had their brains scanned, using a complicated new M.R.I. technique which can find structural changes in the brain that can't be seen during most scans.
According to the data they presented at a Radiological Society of North America meeting last month, the researchers found that the players who had headed the ball more than about 1,100 times in the previous 12 months showed significant loss of white matter in parts of their brains involved with memory, attention and the processing of visual information, compared with players who had headed the ball fewer times.
This pattern of white matter loss is "similar to those seen in traumatic (外伤的) brain injury", like that after a serious concussion, the researchers reported, even though only one of these players was reported to have ever experienced a concussion.
The players who had headed the ball about 1,100 times or more in the past year were also generally worse at recalling lists of words read to them, forgetting or fumbling the words far more often than players who had headed the ball less.The passage is most probably a______.
| A．news report | B．research report |
| C．story for soccer players | D．text for doctors |
In which way can we find the structural changes in the brain?
| A．Computerized test. | B．Questionnaire.. |
| C．Scanning. | D．M.R.I. technique. |
From the passage we can conclude that frequent heading may have_____.
| A．significant effect on brain | B．little effect on one's brain |
| C．nothing to do with the brain injury | D．one's memory improved |
What is likely to be the cause of memory loss?
| A．Playing soccer frequently. | B．Tests of their memory. |
| C．White matter loss. | D．Information processing. |
The underlined word "fumbling" is closest in meaning to______.
| A．remembering | B．misunderstanding |
| C．recalling | D．missing |
A Swedish man was dug out alive after being snowed in his car on a forest track for two months with no food, police and local media reported on Saturday.
The 45-year-old from southern Sweden was found on Friday, February17, too weak to say more than a few words.
He was found not far from the city of Umea in the north of Sweden by snowmobilers who thought they had come across a ruined car until they dug their way to a window and saw movement inside.
The man, who was lying in the back seat in a sleeping bag, said he had been in the car since December 19.
“Just incredible that he’s alive considering that he had no food, but also since it’s been really cold for some time after Christmas.” a rescue team member told regional daily Vasterbottens- Kuriren, which broke the news.
Ebbe Nyberg, duty officer at the Umea police, said police saw no reason to doubt that the man had been stuck in the car for a very long time.
“We would not make up something like this. The rescue services were on site too and saw the same as us.” he told Vasterbottens-Kuriren.
Umea University Hospital, where the man is recovering after being rescued by police and a rescue team, said in a statement he was doing well considering the circumstances.
Doctors at the hospital said humans would normally be able to survive for about four weeks without food. Besides eating snow, the man probably survived by going into a dormant-like(休眠似的) state, physician Stefan Branth told Vasterbottens-Kuriren.
“A bit like a bear that hibernates. Humans can do that.” he said. “He probably had a body temperature of around 31 degrees which the body adjusted to. Due to the low temperature, not much energy was used up.”
“Why the man ended up under the snow in the forest remains unknown,” police said.Who found the Swedish man in the snow?
| A．Snowmobilers | B．The police | C．A rescue team | D．Local people |
“Police saw no reason to doubt that the man had been stuck in the car for a very long time.” implies that .
| A．police didn’t think it true | B．police were sure of the fact |
| C．police had some doubt on the fact | D．police had reasons to doubt the fact |
The reason why the man could survive was most probably that .
| A．he was only forty-five year old | B．he did not use any energy |
| C．he slept in the sleeping bag | D．he was in a dormant-like state |
Which is the correct order of the following events?
a．The Swedish man was stuck in the snow. b．He was sent to Umea University Hospital.
c．He was found by snowmobilers. d．He was recovering after treatment.
e．He stayed in his car for nearly two months. f．He was dug out by people.
| A．e, a, c, d, f, b | B．a, e, c, f, b, d | C．a, f, c, e, b, d | D．e, c, f, a, d, b |
Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
| A．A Traffic Accident | B．A Long Sleep in Winter |
| C．An Incredible Survival | D．A Successful Rescue |
If you are planning to learn a foreign language, here are some suggestions about language learning. I hope these suggestions can help improve your learning of a foreign language
Try to set aside some time every day for your study when your brain is at the most time for receiving information. It’s better to study for 30 minutes every day than for 3 hours once a week. If you can spare two or three hours a day, break them up into some periods to avoid brain getting tired.
Go over each lesson several times, perhaps once in the morning, once in the evening and once several days later. Give your brain time to understand the material, but the break between periods of study shouldn’t be too long, or you will forget most of what you’ve learned.
Make sure you’re comfortable with the bases of the language before learning the more advanced knowledge. Without full understanding of basic knowledge such as words pronunciation and spelling, you’ll find it very difficult to learn more.
Setting proper targets is a good way to encourage yourself. You could set yourself a time limit or aim for a certain level.
Once you have mastered the bases of the language, learn to apply them to the things that you’re interested in. In this way you are more likely to remember the words, phrases and grammatical constructions you meet.
You will find that at times you’re making rapid progress, while sometimes you seem to stand still or even go backwards. This is normal when learning a language, so don’t be discouraged.
Making mistakes in a foreign language is nothing to worry about. What matters is getting your message across, not whether you use all the right words, tenses, cases, etc. If you cannot think of the exact words, try using other ones.What is the best time plan for studying a foreign language ?
| A．A long period every day. | B．Several short periods every day. |
| C．A long period once a week. | D．Several short periods a week. |
The break between periods of study shouldn’t be too long, because ___________.
| A．you will be unable to go over a lesson for several times |
| B．you will be too tired to continue your study |
| C．you will waste a lot of time for study |
| D．you will forget what you are trying to learn easily |
If you don’t fully understand the basic knowledge, you will ____________.
| A．be unable to go on with your study | B．be uncomfortable with yourself |
| C．feel it very difficult to learn more | D．stop learning more in a short time |
According to the author, which of the following is NOT true ?
| A．Setting a goal can help you make rapid progress. |
| B．you should use what you’ve learned frequently to remember them. |
| C．Sometimes you may not make any progress. |
| D．Mistakes are quite normal in learning a language. |
The purpose of this passage is ____________.
| A．to give some advice on foreign language learning |
| B．to help students get high marks in foreign language exam |
| C．to encourage more people to learn foreign languages |
| D．to comfort those who don’t learn foreign languages well |