A new study has found some secrets of people’s understanding of large numbers.
Researchers studied a group of people who were born deaf and never learned any spoken language or a formal sign language, but they have developed a gesture system to communicate with people around them. The gestures let them express approximate amounts, but not exact numbers.
“Up to three, they’re fine,” says Elizabet Spaepen, a researcher at the University of Chicago and an author of the study. “But past three, they start to fall apart.” In one test, Spaepen would knock her fist against a study participant’s fist a certain number of times and then ask them to respond with the same number of knocks. “If I were to knock four times on their fist, they might knock on my fist five times,” she says.
The finding offers a clue to just how much language affects our understanding of numbers. That has been a big question since 2004, when other researchers published data on two tribes in the Amazon whose members also lack words for big numbers. “What they have are words that mean one and two,” Spaepen says, “and then they have a word to mean many.”
Members of the Amazonian tribes also had trouble matching numbers larger than three or four. But some scholars felt that these earlier studies failed to prove that language was the reason. They pointed out that the tribes lived in groups that didn’t use money and had no need for exact numbers.
The new research appears to answer that criticism. “It proves that the kinds of problems in understanding numbers that we found in the Amazonian tribes are not due to just the cultural or environmental circumstances,” says Peter Gordon of Columbia University, one of the researchers involved in the earlier studies.The participants of the new study ______.
| A．cannot communicate with one another |
| B．use a formal sign language to express numbers |
| C．have some physical disability |
| D．come from a distant tribe |
According to the passage, the new study _______.
| A．ignored the cultural influence on the participants |
| B．is doubted by many people |
| C．has found it is harder to learn numbers than learning a sign language |
| D．has shown that our understanding of numbers is influenced by our mastering of language. |
The tribes involved in earlier studies _________.
| A．often dealt with big numbers. |
| B．didn’t use money in their daily life |
| C．didn’t have their own language |
| D．often made trouble for the researchers |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．Peter Gordon is a researcher of the University of Chicago. |
| B．Peter Gordon thinks less of the new study than his earlier studies. |
| C．Peter Gordon believes people’s understanding of numbers has nothing to do with cultural circumstances. |
| D．Peter Gordon is in favor of the finding of the new study. |
In which part of a newspaper would you most probably find this passage?
| A．Science | B．Health |
| C．Politics | D．Lifestyle |
It has been argued that an infant under three who is cared for outside the home may suffer because of the separation from his parents．The British psychoanalyst John Bowlby believes that separation from the parents during the sensitive "attachment" period from birth to three may scar （留下疤痕） a child's personality and incline to emotional problems in later life．Some people have drawn the conclusion from Bowlby's work that children should not be sent to day care before the age of three, and many people do believe this．But there are also arguments against such a strong conclusion．
Firstly, anthropologists （人类学家） point out that the hidden love between children and parents found in modem societies does not usually exist in traditional societies．For example, we saw earlier that among the Ngonis the father and mother of a child did not raise their infant alone．But traditional societies are so different from modern societies that comparisons based on just one factor are hard to understand．
Secondly, common sense tells us that day care would not be so widespread today if parents and caretakers found that children had problems with it．But Bowlby's analysis raises the possibility that early day care has delayed effects．The possibility that such care might lead to more mental illness or crime 15 or 20 years later can only be noticed by the use of statistics．Statistical studies of this kind have not yet been carried out, and even if they were, the results would be certain to be complicated and controversial．
Thirdly, in the last decade, there have been a number of careful American studies of children in day care, and they have reported that day care had a neutral of slightly positive effect on children's development．But tests that have had to be used to measure this development are not widely enough accepted to settle the issue．This passage is mainly talking about________．
| A．children's personality |
| B．advantages of infants' early care |
| C．infants' education |
| D．negative effect of infant school |
The phrase "day care in the first paragraph probably means_____.
| A．nursing school | B．baby-sitter |
| C．boarding school | D．primary school |
According to Bowlby, children under the age of three______．
| A．should not be sent to school |
| B．should be cared for outside the home |
| C．will not suffer fro m parental separation |
| D．don't mind who will look after them |
The argument against Bowlby's conclusion shows that___．
| A．children have problems with day care |
| B．there is no negative effect on infants who go to school before three |
| C．there is a long-term effect on infants who go to school before three |
| D．children who are sent to school before three are sent to mental illness |
Botany （植物学） , the study of plants, occupies a particular position in the history of human knowledge．For many thousands of years it was the one field of awareness about which humans had anything more than the vaguest （模糊的）） of insights．It is impossible to know today just what our Stone Age ancestors knew about plants, but from what we can observe of pre-industrial societies that still exist, a detailed learning of plants and their properties must be extremely ancient．This is logical．Plants are the basis of the food pyramid for all living things even for other plants．They have always been enormously important to the welfare of people not only for food but also for clothing, tools, medicines, shelter, and a great many other purposes．Tribes living today in the jungle of the Amazon recognize hundreds of plants and know many properties of each．To them, botany has no name and is probably not even recognized as a special branch of "knowledge" at all．
Unfortunately, the more industrialized we become, the farther away we move from direct contact with plants, and the less distinct our knowledge grows．Yet everyone comes unconsciously on an amazing amount of botanical knowledge, and few people will fail to recognize a rose or an apple．When nor Neolithic ancestors, living in the Middle East about 10,000 years ago, discovered that certain grasses could be harvested and their seeds planted for richer fields the next season—the first, great step in a new association of plants and humans was taken．Grains were discovered and from them flowed the wonder of agriculture: cultivated crops．From then on, humans would increasingly take their living from the controlled production of a few plants, rather than getting a little here and a little there from many varieties that grew wild, and the accumulated knowledge of tens of thousands of years of experience with plants in the wild would begin to fade away．What does the writer mean when he says "This is logical" in the first paragraph?
| A．Human knowledge of plants is well organized and very detailed． |
| B．It is not surprising that early humans had a detailed knowledge of plants． |
| C．There is no clear way to determine the extent of our ancestor's knowledge of plant． |
| D．It is reasonable to assume our ancestors behave much like people in pre-industrial societies． |
According to the passage, general knowledge of botany begun to fade away because ____．
| A．people no longer value plants as a useful resource |
| B．direct contact with a variety of plants has decreased |
| C．botany is not recognized as a special branch of science |
| D．research is unable to keep up with the increasing number of plants |
We learn that the first great step toward the practice of agriculture is____．
| A．the changing diets of early humans |
| B．the development of a system of names for plants |
| C．the invention of agricultural implements （工具） and machinery |
| D．the discovery of certain grasses that could be harvested and replanted |
Human would depend on the controlled production of a few plants for living with
| A．the knowledge of plants |
| B．the discovery of certain grasses |
| C．the development of machinery |
| D．the appearance of agriculture |
In an age dominated （控制的） by new media and the Internet, there are so many alternative ways of learning．Gone are the days when, if we couldn't make it into a classroom, the only real option was to pick up a book, or when audio materials consisted of bad quality cassettes or sporadic（时有时无的） radio and TV programmes．With the appearance of broadband access to the web, we have a whole new learning domain （统领） at our fingertips．Sophisticated learning materials in the form of text or high-quality audio are now available at the touch of a button, and tests and assignments can be submitted （进行） and marked online．Questions and learning, studying away from the classroom has never seemed easier．Yet many teachers would argue that face-to-face contact between teachers and students is an essential part of the language learning experience．Enter the concept of blended （融合的） learning, an approach to education which seeks to combine the best of new technology and actual human contact．
Advocates of blended learning argue that an approach to study which combines the benefits of new technology with the best aspects of face-to-face （often abbreviated to F2F） teaching, will achieve better results．For example, there are some aspects of study, like practical sessions, dealing with more subjective questions, or meeting the needs of an individual student, which require face-to-face human interaction, whereas the more mechanical aspects of learning, such as answers to clear-cut questions, can be managed simply and effectively in a remote environment using new technology．
Blended learning approaches have proven especially appropriate in language learning．For example, in an ELT （English Language Teaching ） environment, a simple scenario （剧情概要） might be a classroom session where a teacher asks a group of students to use a wiki to create a text． Students then go away and compose and edit the text remotely．During the next F2F session, the teacher express his opinion about their work．What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．Blended learning is an effective learning approach． |
| B．More and more people will use Internet-based learning materials, |
| C．There are so many different ways of learning for people to choose in today's world． |
| D．Blended learning methods have proven to be effective except in language learning． |
Which of the following aspects of study doesn't require face-to-face interaction between teachers and students?
| A．Practical sessions． |
| B．Tackling the needs of an individual student． |
| C．Dealing with more subjective questions． |
| D．Providing answers to clear-cut questions． |
It can be inferred from the passage that ______．
| A．the radio and TV in the past were of poor quality |
| B．people do not get audio materials through cassettes nowadays |
| C．it was not convenient for people to leam outside a classroom in the past |
| D．it was difficult to find a classroom with good learning conditions in the old days |
Which of the following can be best describe the writer's attitude towards blended learning?
| A．Critical． | B．Objective （客观的） ． |
| C．Supportive． | D．Neutral （中立的） ． |
Where can we most probably read this text?
| A．In a newspaper． | B．In a magazine． |
| C．In traveling guide． | D．In a history textbook． |
The business hours of Cook's Cottage on Saturday in the summer are _____?
| A．11:00 am—2:00 pm | B．5:00 pm—10:30 pm |
| C．9:00 am—5:30 pm | D．9:00 am—5:00 pm． |
The Anchorage Restaurant is ____．
| A．in Williamstown | B．in the center of the city |
| C．in Anchorage | D．in Port Philip Bay |
Where can you spend the night in a tour?
| A．Cook's Cottage． | B．Sovereign Hill． |
| C．Sydney Tower． | D．Westfield Counterpoint． |
I'm fat, I'm too skinny．I'd be happy if I were taller, shorter, had curly hair, straight hair, a smaller nose, bigger muscles, longer legs．
Do any of these statements sound familiar? Are you used to putting yourself down? If so, you' re not alone．As a teen, you're going through many changes in your body．And as your body changes, so does your image of yourself．Lots of people have trouble adjusting, and this can affect their self-esteem （自尊） ．
If you have a positive body image, you probably like and accept yourself the way you are．This healthy attitude allows you to explore other aspects of growing up, such as developing good friendships, growing more independent from your parents, and challenging yourself physically and mentally．Developing these parts of yourself can help boost （提升） yourself-esteem．
A positive attitude and a healthy lifestyle （such as exercising and eating right） are a great combination for building good self-esteem．
Some people think they need to change how they look or act to feel good about themselves． But actually all you need to do is change the way you see your body and how you think about yourself．
The first thing to do is recognize that your body is your own, no matter what shape, size or color it comes in．If you are very worried about your weight or size, check with your doctor to verify （核实） that things are OK．But it is no one's business but your own what your body is like—ultimately, you have to be happy with yourself．
Next, identify which aspects of your appearance you can realistically change and which you can't．Everyone has things about themselves that they can't change and need to accept—like their height, for example, or their shoe size．
When you hear negative comments coming from within yourself, tell yourself to stop．Try building your self-esteem by giving yourself three good things every day．By focusing on the good things you do and the positive aspects of your life, you can change how you feel about yourself．
The most important thing is to get help if you feel like your body image and self-esteem are affecting your life．If we have a positive body image, we will_____．
| A．concentrate on our body image only |
| B．not develop strong self-esteem |
| C．like and accept ourselves as we are |
| D．be less independent of our parents |
______ can NOT help to boost your self-esteem．
| A．Growing independent from your parents |
| B．Accepting your own body as it actually is |
| C．Having a positive attitude and a healthy lifestyle |
| D．Improving your body image as much as you can |
To improve our body image, we have to _____．
| A．think about ourselves |
| B．be happy with ourselves |
| C．change the shape, size or color of one's body |
| D．check with our doctor to verify that our body is OK |
Which is probably the best title of the passage?
| A．Importance of Body Image | B．Effects on a Person's Self-esteem |
| C．Tips for Improving Body Image | D．Self-esteem and Body Image |