How Room Designs Affect Our Work and Feelings
Architects have long had the feeling that the places we live in can affect our thoughts, feelings and behaviors. But now scientists are giving this feeling an empirical basis. They are discovering how to design spaces that promote creativity, keep people focused and lead to relaxation.
Researches show that aspects of the physical environment can influence creativity. In 2007, Joan Meyers—Levy at the University of Minnesota, reported that the height of a room’s ceiling affects how people think. Her research indicates that higher ceilings encourage people to think more freely, which may lead them to make more abstract connections. Low ceilings, on the other hand, may inspire a more detailed outlook.
In additions to ceiling height, the view afforded by a building may influence an occupant’s ability to concentrate. Nancy Wells and her colleagues at Cornell University found in their study that kids who experienced the greatest increase in greenness as a result of a family move made the most gains on a standard test of attention.
Using nature to improve focus of attention ought to pay off academically, and it seems to, according to a study led by C. Kenneth Tanner, head of the School Design & Planning Laboratory at the University of Georgia. Tanner and his team found that students in classrooms with unblocked views of at least 50 feet outside the window had higher scores on tests of vocabulary, language arts and maths than did students whose classrooms primarily overlooked roads and parking lots.
Recent study on room lighting design suggests than dim light helps people to loosen up. If that is true generally, keeping the light low during dinner or at parties could increase relaxation. Researchers of Harvard Medical School also discovered that furniture with rounded edges could help visitors relax.
So far scientists have focused mainly on public buildings. “We have a very limited number of studies, so we’re almost looking at the problem through a straw,” architect David Allison says. “How do you take answers to very specific questions and make broad, generalized use of them? That's what we’re all struggling with.”What does Joan Meyers—Levy focus on in her research?
| A．Light. | B．Ceilings. | C．Windows. | D．Furniture. |
The passage tells us that _____.
| A．the shape of furniture may affect people’s feelings |
| B．lower ceilings may help improve students’ creativity |
| C．children in a dim classroom may improve their grades |
| D．students in rooms with unblocked views may feel relaxed |
The underlined sentence in the last paragraph probably means that _____.
| A．the problem is not approached step by step |
| B．the researches so far have faults in themselves |
| C．the problem is too difficult for researchers to detect |
| D．research in this area is not enough to make generalized patterns |
.Which of the following shows the organization of the passage?
CP: Central Point P: Point SP: Sub-point（次要点） C: Conclusion
It’s well known that our human memory can fail us. People can be forgetful, and they can sometimes also “remember” things incorrectly, with damaging consequences in the classroom, courtroom, and other areas of life. Now, researchers show for the first time that bumblebees(大黄蜂) can be unreliable witnesses too.
Bumblebees are rather clever animals, which explains why Chittka has been studying learning and memory in the insects for the last 20 years.
Most times when people have studied memory in animals, errors in performance have been taken to mean that the animals failed to learn the task or perhaps learned it and then forgot. But what if animals can experience a more interesting type of memory failure?
To find out, Chittka first trained bumblebees to expect a reward when visiting a yellow artificial flower followed by one with black-and-white rings. During subsequent tests, bees were given a choice between three types of flowers. Two were the types they’d seen in the training before. The third had yellow-and-white rings, representing a mixed-up version of the other two. Minutes after the training, the bees showed a clear preference for the flower that recently rewarded them.
One or three days later, however, something very different happened when the bumblebees’ memory was put to the test. At first, the bees showed the same preference displayed in the earlier tests, but as the time went on, they began selecting the flower with yellow rings, even though they’d never actually seen that one in training before.
Chittka says that insects make similar errors in the conjunction (结合) of long-term memories as humans do. The ability to extract (提取) common features between different events in the environment might come at the expense of remembering every detail correctly. In bees, with their limited brain capacity (容量), the pressure to store main features of several objects rather than each individual object might be much greater, compared with humans.Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
| A．Human memory can fail sometimes. |
| B．Bumblebees make false memories too. |
| C．Humans are not as clever as bumblebees. |
| D．Bumblebees have extraordinary memory. |
Which of the following is the closest in meaning to the underlined word “subsequent”?
| A．scientific | B．accurate |
| C．following | D．exceptional |
According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true?
| A．Memory failure influences students’ study effects. |
| B．Bumblebees’ memory is complicated and worth studying. |
| C．The bees couldn’t make out which flower had rewarded them days later. |
| D．Bumblebees are stupid insects with limited brain capacity. |
What does the test mentioned in Paragraph 4 tell us?
| A．Short-term memories serve the bees well. |
| B．The yellow artificial flower appeals to the bees. |
| C．Bumblebees like the flowers with yellow-and-white rings. |
| D．Bees have remarkable abilities to distinguish colors. |
We can infer from the passage that ______.
| A．Chittka thinks that bumblebees failed to remember the color of the flowers |
| B．Researchers have learned that bumblebees are unreliable animals |
| C．There exist no similarities between the memory errors in humans and bees. |
| D．It is less challenging for humans than bees to store main features of several objects. |
“BANG!” the door caused a reverberation (回声). It was just standing there, with father standing on one side, and me on the other side.
We were both in great anger. “Never set foot in this house again!” stormed father. With tears welling up in my eyes, I rushed out of the flat and ran along the street.
The street lights were shining, causing rather sad feelings. I wandered aimlessly.
A young father who held a child in his arms walked past me. I felt as if I saw my childhood from another space: happy and carefree.
But now
I dont know whether it is because I have grown up or because dad is getting old. We differ in our ways of thinking. We are just like two people coming from two different worlds. It feels like there is an iron door between us that can never be opened.
I wandered the streets, without a destination in mind. My heart was frozen on this hot summer night. As I walked on, there were fewer and fewer people on the streets, until I had only the street lights to keep me company. When I finally reached the high-rise apartment block in which I lived, I saw that the light was still on.
I thought to myself: Is father waiting for me, or is he still angry with me?
In fact, it was nothing. Perhaps, dad was throwing away some of his old stamps. Perhaps he thought they were useless. I never had the courage to tell him that I liked collecting stamps.
All the lights were off except fathers.
Dad was always like this. Maybe he didnt know how to express himself. After shouting at me, he never showed any mercy or any moments of regret.
This was how he always was. He has been a leader for so long that telling everyone else what to do has become his second nature.
The light was still on. Am I wrong? I whispered, maybe
With the key in my hand, I was as nervous as I had ever been. At last, I decided to open the door. As soon as I opened the door, tears ran down my cheeks. I suddenly realized that the iron door that I had imagined between us did not exist at all. Love----its second to none.Which is the correct order of the following events according to the passage?
a. I opened the door and entered the house.
b. I ran out into the street angrily.
c. I reached the place where I lived and saw my house still brightly lit.
d. I recalled my happy childhood.
e. I began to walk about in the street without any aim.
| A．e, b, d, c, a | B．b, e, d, c, a |
| C．b, e, c, d, a | D．e, b, c, a, d |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The author fully understood why he and his father had different thinking. |
| B．The author’s father didn’t approve of his stamp collecting. |
| C．The author and his father lacked communication. |
| D．The author’s father opened the door for him when he came back. |
According to the author, why did his father often shout at him?
| A．Perhaps the father was getting older and older. |
| B．Perhaps the son had already grown up. |
| C．Perhaps they never agreed with each other. |
| D．Perhaps the father had been used to doing that. |
What did the author mean by the underlined sentence “My heart was frozen on this hot summer night”?
| A．He felt lonely because there were so few people on the street. |
| B．He felt uncomfortable because it was a very hot night. |
| C．He was completely disappointed with his father. |
| D．He was at a loss because he had nowhere to go. |
What was the author’s attitude towards his father at the end of the story?
| A．He loved his father. |
| B．He was frustrated with his father. |
| C．He was afraid of his father. |
| D．He was dissatisfied with his father. |
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) ---- About 140 pilot whales that stranded(使...搁浅) themselves on a remote stretch of New Zealand beach have died, but conservation workers and volunteers are hoping the remaining 60 or so will survive after they managed to get them refloated, an official said Saturday.
The geography of Farewell Spit on the South Island seems to work against whales, which regularly become stranded there. The stranding of 198 whales on Friday was one of the largest in recent years and inspired 80 workers and volunteers to help out.
By late Saturday, 140 of the whales had died, said Department of Conservation area manager Andrew Lamason.
He said the workers and volunteers worked throughout the day to keep the surviving whales watered and covered before refloating them during Saturday night’s high tide.
“We’ve had a really good crew of volunteers, and people have been wanting to come from all over the country,”Lamason said.
He said the surviving whales had moved to deeper water. But he cautioned that although hopes for their survival were high, whales had been refloated in the past only to return and get stranded again.
Lamason said the scale(规模) of the stranding has been tough on the helpers, both physically and mentally.
“It’s very sad, they’re very intelligent animals,” he said. “The common view is that it’s part of nature.”
The focus will now turn to the dead whales, and the enormous task of dealing with the remains, Lamason said, adding that in the past helpers have typically buried them in the sand, but that he’s not sure what the approach will be this time.
He said the department had been experimenting with moving the the dead whales into the water, which has the advantage of providing food for other sea creatures.What is the exact number of whales stranded last Friday?
| A．140. | B．60. | C．80. | D．198. |
Why did the volunteers have to wait until Saturday before they could refloat the whales?
| A．Because they were very busy on Friday. |
| B．Because they had to wait for the sea water to rise. |
| C．Because the whales were too intelligent. |
| D．Because the whales were buried deep in the sand. |
Which of the following words can be used to describe Lamason’s attitude towards the result of refloating the whales?
| A．Doubtful. | B．Optimistic. |
| C．Positive. | D．Careless. |
What did Lamason say about the feelings of the workers and volunteers?
| A．They were very happy to see so many whales. |
| B．They thought refloating the whales was not a hard job. |
| C．They were physically tired and emotionally hurt. |
| D．They believed that this is very natural. |
How will the volunteers deal with the dead whales this time according to Lamason?
| A．They will bury them in the sand. |
| B．They will throw them into the ocean. |
| C．They do not have any exact idea yet. |
| D．They will feed them to other sea creatures. |
As the oldest university in the English-speaking world, Oxford is a unique and historic institution. There is no clear date of foundation, but teaching existed at Oxford in some form in 1096 and developed rapidly from 1167, when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris. From 1878, academic halls were established for women and they were admitted to full membership of the University in 1920. Five all-male colleges first admitted women in 1974. St Hilda's College, which was originally for women only, was the last of Oxford’s single sex colleges. It has admitted both men and women since 2008.
By 1200, the town of Cambridge had at least one school of some distinction. Then, in 1209, some scholars settled there. By 1226 the scholars were numerous enough to have set up an organisation, and seem to have arranged regular courses of study, taught by their own members. From the start there was conflict between the town and the students. Students, usually aged about fourteen or fifteen, often caused disturbances; citizens of the town, on the other hand, were known to overcharge for rooms and food. King Henry III took the scholars under his protection as early as 1231 and arranged for them to be sheltered from exploitation by their landlords.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1861 in response to the increasing industrialization of the United States, MIT adopted a European university model and stressed laboratory instruction in applied science and engineering. The current 168-acre campus opened in 1916 and extends over 1 mile (1.6 km) along the northern bank of the Charles River basin.
On April 29, 1911, Tsinghua Xuetang began its first term of study, and from that year on, the Tsinghua’s anniversary has fallen on the last Sunday of April. Following the outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japan in 1937, Tsinghua University, Peking University and Nankai University combined to form the National Southwest Associated University in Kunming. After the war, Tsinghua University moved back to its original Beijing campus.The University of Oxford did not take in female students until ______.
| A．2008 | B．1878 | C．1920 | D．1974 |
When the University of Cambridge was set up, ______.
| A．there were too many scholars |
| B．students were mostly adults |
| C．King Henry III gave much help |
| D．the town people were very friendly |
The reason for founding MIT is ______.
| A．to meet the need of American industrialization |
| B．to take advantage of the European university style |
| C．to cover an extended area along the Charles River |
| D．to stress research and education in the physical sciences |
Which of the four universities was once moved to another place in history?
| A．Oxford. | B．Cambridge. |
| C．MIT. | D．Tsinghua. |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to this passage?
| A．Henry III banned students attending the University of Paris. |
| B．The landlords of Cambridge asked for too much money. |
| C．MIT covers a very large area of land. |
| D．Tsingua, Peking and Nankai once joined together. |
People have wondered for a long time how their personalities and behaviors are formed. It’s not easy to explain why one person is intelligent and another is not, or why one is cooperative and another is competitive.
Social scientists are, of course, extremely interested in these types of question. They want to explain why we possess certain characteristics and exhibit certain behaviors. There are no clear answers yet, but two distinct schools of thought on the matter have developed. As one might expect, the two approaches are very different from each other, and there is a great deal of debate between proponents of each theory. The argument is often conveniently referred to as nature vs. nurture.
Those who support the “nature” side of the conflict believe that our personalities and behavior patterns are largely determined by biological and genetic factors. That our environment has little, if anything, to do with our abilities, characteristics and behavior is central to this theory. Taken to an extreme, this theory maintains that our behavior is predetermined(注定)to such a great degree that we are almost completely governed by our instincts(本能).
Proponents of the “nurture” theory, or, as they are often called, behaviorists, claim that our environment is more important than our biologically based instincts in determining how we will act. Behaviorists see humans as beings whose behavior is almost completely shaped by their surroundings. Their view of the human being is quite mechanistic; they maintain that, like machines, humans respond to environmental stimuli (something that helps sb./ sth. to develop better and more quickly)as the basis of their behavior.
The social and political connections of these two theories are significant. In the United States, for example, blacks often score below whites on standardized intelligent test. This leads some “nature” proponents to conclude that blacks are genetically worse than whites. Behaviorists, in contrast, say that the differences in scores are due to the fact that blacks are often robbed of many of the educational and other environmental advantages that whites enjoy, and that, as a result ,they do not develop the same responses that whites do.
Neither of these theories can yet fully explain human behavior. In fact, it is quite likely that the key to our behavior lies somewhere between these two extremes. That the argument will continue for a long time is certain.The author is mainly concerned about solving the problem.
| A．why our personalities and behaviors differ |
| B．what makes different stages of intelligence |
| C．how social scientists form different theories |
| D．what causes the “nature/ nurture” argument |
The underlined word “proponents” can best be replaced by.
| A．approaches | B．advocates |
| C．principles | D．characters |
Which of the following statements may be supported by the “nature” school?
| A．We are born with certain personalities and behaviors. |
| B．Environment has nothing to do with our personalities. |
| C．Abilities and characteristics are showed by behaviors. |
| D．Only extreme behaviors are determined by instincts. |
What can we learn about the behaviorists?
| A．They believe human beings are mechanical. |
| B．They compare our behaviors to the machines. |
| C．They suggest that we react to the environment as the machines do. |
| D．They agree that the mechanistic theory can be applied on us as well. |