Birthdays often involve surprises. But this year's surprise on the birthday of the great British playwright William Shakespeare is surely one of the most dramatic.
On April 22, one day before his 441st birthday anniversary, experts discovered that one of the most recognizable portraits of William Shakespeare is a fake. This means that we no longer have a good idea of what Shakespeare looked like. “It's very possible that many pictures of Shakespeare might be unreliable because many of them are copies of this one,” said an expert from Britain's National Portrait Gallery.
The discovery comes after four months of testing using X-rays, ultraviolet light, microphotography and paint samples. The experts from the gallery say the image —commonly known as the “Flower portrait”— was actually painted in the 1800s, about two centuries after Shakespeare's death. The art experts who work at the gallery say they also used modern chemistry technology to check the paint on the picture. These checks found traces of paint dating from about 1814. Shakespeare died in 1616, and the date that appears on the portrait is 1609.
“We now think the portrait dates back to around 1818 to 1840. This was when there was a renewed interest in Shakespeare's plays,” Tarnya Cooper, the gallery's curator (馆长), told the Associated President.
The fake picture has often been used as a cover for collections of his plays. It is called the Flower portrait because one of its owners, Desmond Flower, gave it to the Royal Shakespeare Company.
“There have always been questions about the painting,” said David Howells, curator for the Royal Shakespeare Company. “Now we know the truth, we can put the image in its proper place in the history of Shakespearean portraiture.”
Two other images of Shakespeare, are also being studied as part of the investigation and the results will come out later this month.________.What makes the birthday of Shakespeare dramatic this year?
| A．It was found that he painted a portrait in 1814 instead of in 1609. |
| B．The Flower portrait has been found to be a fake. |
| C．Three portraits of Shakespeare are being tested to identify a real one. |
| D．It was found that there was a renewed interest in Shakespeare's plays around 1818 to 1840. |
Which statement is True according to the passage?
| A．Portraits of Shakespeare are all unreliable. |
| B．“Flower portrait” was a portrait of Shakespeare given to Desmond Flower. |
| C．1814 might be when the portrait was drawn. |
| D．The Flower portrait is not often used as a cover for Shakespeare's play. |
How many methods were used to test the portrait?
| A．Not mentioned. | B．Two |
| C．Three | D．At least four. |
The best title for this passage is ________.
| A．Birthdays often involve surprises |
| B．The surprise on the 441st birthday of Shakespeare |
| C．One portrait of Shakespeare is a fake |
| D．How can we know Shakespeare's appearance? |
Which is the best sentence to fill in the blank in the last paragraph?
| A．Soon we'll know which portrait is reliable. |
| B．Maybe we cannot find a real portrait of Shakespeare. |
| C．If the two portraits are found to be false, they will test more. |
| D．For now what Shakespeare really looked like will remain a mystery. |
Can you believe your eyes? A recent experiment suggests that the answer to that question may depend on your age.
Martin Doherty, a psychologist at the University of Stirling in Scotland, led the team of scientists. In this experiment, Doherty and his team tested the perception(观察力) of some people, using pictures of some orange circles. The researchers showed the same pictures to two groups of people. The first group included 151 children aged 4 to 10, and the second group included 24 adults aged 18 to 25.
The first group of pictures showed two circles alone on a white background. One of the circles was larger than the other, and these people were asked to identify the larger one. Four-year-olds identified the correct circle 79 percent of the time. Adults identified the correct circle 95 percent of the time.
Next, both groups were shown a picture where the orange circles, again of different sizes, were surrounded by gray circles. Here’s where the trick lies in. In some of the pictures, the smaller orange circle was surrounded by even smaller gray circles — making the orange circle appear larger than the other orange circle, which was the real larger one. And the larger orange circle was surrounded by even bigger gray circles — so it appeared to be smaller than the real smaller orange circle.
When young children aged 4 to 6 looked at these tricky pictures, they weren’t fooled — they were still able to find the bigger circle with roughly the same accuracy as before. Older children and adults, on the other hand, did not do as well. Older children often identified the smaller circle as the larger one, and adults got it wrong most of the time.
As children get older, Doherty said, their brains may develop the ability to identify visual context. In other words, they will begin to process the whole picture at once: the tricky gray circles, as well as the orange circle in the middle. As a result, they’re more likely to fall for this kind of visual trick.Doherty and his team of scientists did an experiment to evaluate .
| A．children’s and adults’ eye-sight |
| B．people’s ability to see accurately |
| C．children’s and adults’ brains |
| D．the influence of people’s age |
When asked to find the larger circle, .
| A．children at 6 got it wrong 79 % of the time with no gray ones around |
| B．only adults over 18 got it right 95% of the time with gray ones around |
| C．children at 4 got it right about 79 % of the time with gray ones around |
| D．adults got it right most of the time with gray ones around |
According to the passage, we can know that .
| A．a smaller orange circle appears bigger on a white background |
| B．an orange circle appears bigger than a gray one of the same size |
| C．a circle surrounded by other circles looks bigger than its real size |
| D．a circle surrounded by bigger ones looks smaller than its real size |
Visual context may work when children get older than .
| A．4 | B．6 | C．10 | D．18 |
Why are younger children not fooled?
| A．Because they are smarter than older children and adults. |
| B．Because older people are influenced by their experience. |
| C．Because people’s eyes become weaker as they grow older. |
| D．Because their brain can hardly notice related things together. |
阅读下面短文,并按照题目要求用英语回答问题.
Almost everybody in America will spend a part of his or her life behind a shopping cart（购物手推车）. They will, in a lifetime, push the chrome-plated contraptions many miles. But few will know—or even think to ask—who it was that invented them.
Sylvan N. Goldman invented the shopping cart in 1937. At that time he was in the supermarket business. Every day he would see shoppers lugging（吃力地携带） groceries around in baskets they had to carry.
One day Goldman suddenly had the idea of putting baskets on wheels. The wheeled baskets would make shopping much easier for his customers, and would help to attract more business.
On June 4, 1937, Goldman’s first carts were ready for use in his market. He was terribly excited on the morning of that day as customers began arriving. He couldn’t wait to see them using his invention.
But Goldman was disappointed. Most shoppers gave the carts a long look, but hardly anybody would give them a try.
After a while, Goldman decided to ask customers why they weren’t using his carts. “Don’t you think this arm is strong enough to carry a shopping basket?” one shopper replied.
But Goldman wasn’t beaten yet. He knew his carts would be a great success if only he could persuade people to give them a try. To this end, Goldman hired a group of people to push carts around his market and pretend they were shopping! Seeing this, the real customers gradually began copying the phony（假冒的） customers.
As Goldman had hoped, the carts were soon attracting larger and larger numbers of customers to his market. But not only did more people come—those who came bought more. With larger, easier-to-handle baskets, customers unconsciously bought a greater number of items than before.
Today’s shopping carts are five times larger than Goldman’s original model. Perhaps that’s one reason Americans today spend more than five times as much money on food each year as they did before 1937—before the coming of the shopping cart.The underlined words “chrome-plate contraptions” in Paragraph 1 refer to ______.
（No more than 3 words）What was the purpose of Goldman’s invention? （No more than 10 words）
Why was Goldman disappointed at first? （No more than 10 words）
Why did Goldman hire people to push carts around his market? （No more than 10 words）
What do you think of Goldman? Please give your reasons. （No more than 20 words）
The first time I remember noticing I remember noticing the crossing guard was when he waved to me as I drove my son to school. He1me with a puzzle ---- all because he waved to me like someone does2seeing a close friend. A big,3smile accompanied his wave. For the next few days I tried to4his face to see if I knew him. I didn't. Perhaps he had5me for someone else. By the time I contented myself with the6that he and I were strangers, we were greeting each other warmly every morning like old friends.
Then one day the7was solved. As I8the school he was standing in the middle of the road9his stop sign. I was in live behind four cars.10the kids had reached the safety of the sidewalk, he lowered his sign and let the cars11. To the first he waved and12in just the same way he had done to me over the last few days. The kids already had the window down and were happily waving their reply. The second car got the same13from the crossing guard, and the driver, a stiff-looking（表情刻板的） businessman, gave a brief, almost14wave back. Each following car of kids on their way to school15more heartily.
Every morning I continued to watch the man with16.So far I haven't seen anyone17to wave back. I find it interesting that one person can make such a（n）18to so many people's lives by doing one simple thing like waving and smiling warmly. His19armed the start of my day. With a friendly wave and smiling face he had changed the20of the whole neighbourhood.
| 1． |
|
| 2． |
|
| 3． |
|
| 4． |
|
| 5． |
|
| 6． |
|
| 7． |
|
| 8． |
|
| 9． |
|
| 10． |
|
| 11． |
|
| 12． |
|
| 13． |
|
| 14． |
|
| 15． |
|
| 16． |
|
| 17． |
|
| 18． |
|
| 19． |
|
| 20． |
|
Want to be a happy married couple? Consider having kids．
A new study found that having children boosts happiness．And the more, literally, the merrier．
But unmarried couples shouldn’t expect to find greater happiness through child-raising．The study, published in the Oct．14 online edition of the Journal of Happiness Studies, suggests that having children has little or no effect on boosting happiness among couples who aren’t hitched(和谐)．
The findings contradict previous research that suggested that having more offspring doesn't lead to greater happiness and might even make people less satisfied with their lives．One theory behind the conclusion is that parents don’t receive many rewards in return for the hard work of raising children．
The new study, however, notes that parents say children are one of the most important things in their lives, if not the most important．
The study found that life satisfaction for married people -- women especially -- goes up the more kids they have．Single, separated and co-habiting people, by contrast, report negative experiences．
“One is tempted to advance that children make people rich under the ‘right conditions’ -- a time in life when people feel that they are ready, or at least willing, to enter parenthood,” Dr．Luis Angeles, of the University of Glasgow in Scotland, said in a news release from the journal’s publisher．“This time can come at very different moments for different individuals, but a likely signal of its approach may well be the act of marriage．”he underlined word “offspring” in the fourth paragraph can be replaced by _____．
| A．generation | B．children | C．mothers | D．marriage |
The best title of this passage should be _______．
| A．Children Are the Source of Happiness |
| B．Are You Happy Married Couple? |
| C．Married with Children Paves Way to Happiness |
| D．The Right Conditions of Having Children |
Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
| A．The more children women have, the happier they are． |
| B．The more children the married women have, the more unsatisfied they become． |
| C．Raising kids can give any person happiness． |
| D．Without marriage, one woman had better not raise kids． |
In the passage, the underlined part ‘right conditions’ refers to _______．
| A．a time when the couple are ready and willing to become parents |
| B．the situation where the family is rich enough to raise a child |
| C．the situation where the couple are very happy |
| D．a time when the couple thinks raising children can boost happiness |
The surprising experiment I am about to describe proves that air is all aroud you and that it proves down upon you．Air pressure is a wonderful force．When you swim underwater, you can feel water push down your body．The air all around you does the same．However, your body is so used to it that you do not notice this ．The pressure is caused by a layer of air called the atmosphere．This layer surrounds the Earth , extending to about five kilometers above the Earth’s surface．
The following experiment is an easy one that you can do at home．But make sure that you are supervised , because you will need to use matches．Now for the experiment！
What you need
·A hard-boiled egg without the shell
·A bottle with a neck slightly smaller than the egg
·A piece of paper
·A match
Metheod
1) Check that the egg will sit firmly on the neck of the bottle．
2) Tear the paper into strips and put the strips into the bottle．
3) Light the paper by dropping a burning match into the bottle．
4) Quickly sit the egg on the neck of the bottle．
Result
Astonishingly,the egg will be sucked into the bottle．Your friends will be amazed when you show them the experiment．But be careful when you handle matches．
Why it happened
As the paper burns,it needs oxyen and uses up the oxygen(air) in the bottle．The egg acts as a seal in the neck of the bottle,so no more air can get inside ．This reduces the air pressure inside the bottle．The air pressure must equalize,so more air from outside must enter the bottle．The outside air pressure against the egg and then the egg is pushed into the bottle!The proves that air is all around and that it is pressing down on it．When you do the experiment, why need you a person beside you?
| A．You couldn’t place the egg on the bottle by yourself． |
| B．The egg needs to be shelled． |
| C．You need to use matches． |
| D．The bottle can’t sit firmly on the desk． |
The purpose of doing this experiment is to prove ______．
| A．air pressure is a wonderful force |
| B．water can push down your body when you swim underwater |
| C．the air pressure is not equalized around us |
| D．the earth is surrounded by a layer of air called the atmosphere |
How did the egg put into the bottle？
| A．The oxygen inside the bottle suckde the egg in． |
| B．It became solt without the shell． |
| C．The neck of the bottle was wide enough． |
| D．The outside air pressure forced it into the bottle． |
The passage is ______．
| A．an experiment report | B．a scientific story |
| C．a research report | D．an interesting novel |