Parents are often amazed at how fast their child grows and develops. New research has determined that the ability to quantify may develop much sooner than most parents realize.
Kristy vanMarle, professor of the University of Missouri, has determined that contrary to what previous studies have shown, infants（婴儿）are able to quantify substances（物质）—like sand or water—as early as 10 months. As long as the difference between the two substances is large enough, infants will choose the larger amount, especially when it comes to food.
With the assistance of her team researchers, vanMarle tested the quantifying skills of babies by presenting them with two cups: one containing a small amount of food, and one containing a larger amount. Consistently, the babies chose the larger amount.
“Several studies throughout the last 15 years have shown that infants are very good at telling how many objects they see; however, infants don’t seem to count things like water or sand,” vanMarle said. “What we’re saying is that they can quantify substances; it’s just much harder. The infants can see how much food goes into each cup and compare that in their memories. They decide which amount is larger, and they almost always select the larger one.”
This information further refutes（驳斥）the long-held idea that babies “know nothing of the world,” vanMarle said.
“Since psychologists have begun studying infants with sensitive measures, we’ve discovered a lot of early abilities. I think for parents, it should be exciting to know that there’s somebody in there that has some fundamental and basic knowledge of the world, and that knowledge is guiding their development,” vanMarle said.
In the future, vanMarle says this kind of study could be linked to a child’s progress in math-related skills, although programs marketed to increase those abilities, such as “Baby Einstein,” still have mixed reviews when it comes to academic study.The quantifying ability refers to the ability to ________.
| A．choose between different substances |
| B．get much knowledge of the world |
| C．identify the quantity of something |
| D．obtain math-related skills |
Babies choose the larger amount of food ________.
| A．by saying numbers |
| B．with the help of parents |
| C．on personal preference |
| D．through their natural abilities |
We can learn from the text that ________.
| A．some parents don't care about their kids |
| B．people used to think the world is known to babies |
| C．little research has been done on infants |
| D．scholars have different opinions on baby-training programs |
As is known to us all, baths and bathing have long been considered of medical importance to man. In Greece there are the ruins of a water system for baths built over 3,000 years ago. The Romans had warm public baths. In some baths, as many 3,000 persons could bathe at the same time.
Treating disease by taking bathing has been popular for centuries. Modern medical bathing first became popular in Europe and by the late1700’s has also become popular in theUnited States.
For many years frequent(经常的) bathing was believed to be bad for one’s health. Ordinary bathing just to keep clean was avoided, and perfume was often used to cover up body smells!
By the1700’s doctors began to say that soap and water were good for health. They believed that it was good for people to be clean. Slowly, people began to bathe more frequently. During the Victorian Age of the late 19th century, taking a bath on Saturday night became common.
In theUnited Statesordinary bathing was slow to become popular. During the 18th and early 19th centuries, many Americans were known as “The Great Unwashed!” In one American city, for example, a person was only allowed to take a bathe every thirty days! That was a law!
Frequency of bathing today is partly a matter of habit. People know that bathing for cleanliness is important to health, Doctors know that dirty bodies increase the chance of diseases. As a result, in theUnited States, people generally bathe often. Some people bath once a day at least. They consider a daily bath essential (="necessary)" to good health. A water system for baths was built by_________over 3,000 years ago.
| A．the Greeks | B．the Romans | C．the Americans | D．the Europeans |
In the 18th century doctors believed that being clean was__________.
| A．good for health | B．unimportant | C．harmful | D．important |
The underlined word perfume probably means_____________.
| A．a strange smelling substance | B．good health |
| C．a sweet smelling substance | D．large wealth |
Whichof the following gives the main idea of the passage?
| A．Everybody inAmericatakes a daily bath. |
| B．A bath a day keeps the doctor away. |
| C．Bathing has become easier and cheaper. |
| D．Taking baths has become popular in the world. |
Who says constant texting is just a bad habit? The teenager with the fastest thumbs in the country was crowned on Wednesday at the LG US National Texting Championship in New York City, winning ＄50,000 after a series of fierce texting battles.
16-year-old Austin Wiershke comes from Rhinelander, Wisconsin of the United States. He took home the top prize at the fifth annual texting event, beating 11 other competitors in the final, including last year’s champion Brianna Hendrickson from Brooklyn, New York.
Wiershke, who was wearing a gray shirt and having Justin Bieber’s hairstyle, sailed through each level of the competition by typing passages of text on a QWERTY keyboard rapidly without any mistaken. One special round even included being blindfolded(蒙眼) on the state to make up phrases by memory.
“I’m extremely nervous,” Wiershke said while waiting for the results after the final round. “I’m getting ready to hear Brianna’s name. When I heard my name was announced, I really couldn’t believe my ears.” After the announcement was made, confetti(五彩纸屑) dropped from the ceiling and Wiershke was met on the stage by the singer who said that she liked texting very much. She was Ashley Tisdale, a famous and beautiful singer, who awarded him his check.
In August, a film on Music Television called “Thumbs” took a behind-the –scenes look at the teenager’s life. It shows how he practiced texting to be the fastest. The film followed a series of young texting competitors, including Brianna Hendrickson, in the weeks leading up to this year’s LG US National Texting Championship. Besides showing the always –connected lifestyle of these teenagers nationwide, the mover also shows the studies, sports , dreams and friendships among these competitors.What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．A teenager receiver $50,000. |
| B．Teenagers in the US make money by texting. |
| C．A teenager was named the fastest texter in the US. |
| D．The LG US National Texting Championship was held in New York City. |
During the special round, competitors were required to text_____________.
| A．among confetti |
| B．without using their eyes |
| C．using a special keyboard |
| D．extremely difficult words |
We can infer that Austin Wiershke_________.
| A．wasn’t used to using the QWERTY keyboard |
| B．didn’t think Brianna Hendrickson would win this time |
| C．didn’t expect he would beat Brianna Hendrickson |
| D．was very confident when he was waiting for the result of the contest |
Through the film called “Thumb”, people can know____________.
| A．the development of the LG US National Texting Championship |
| B．various parts of the competitors’ life |
| C．what happened to the competitors after the contest |
| D．the details of the texting contest |
Hearing plays an important part in our everyday life, but few of us take the steps we need to protect our hearing.
It is easy to see how your hearing is under assault in today’s world. There are so many things to hear, and so many new instruments, like iPods and headphones, which can harm your hearing if used improperly. Keeping the volume(音量)to a reasonable level on an iPod or other portable listening instruments is one of the most important ways to protect your hearing. Another great way to keep your hearing protected is to avoid loud noises whenever possible. There are many loud noises from power tools to machinery, and it is important to avoid these noises as often as possible. When it is not possible to avoid them, keep your hearing protected by using earplugs(耳机).
If you think your hearing may have already been damaged by modern technology, it is important to have your hearing tested by a physician. Only such a professional will be able to measure your level of hearing loss and help you find the best solution to your hearing problem.
For those with hearing issues, the choices have never been greater. There are many excellent hearing aids on the market. Having a hearing aid can be a perfect choice for the young and the old alike, and many people who swore they would never wear a hearing aid find that they love the convenience and quality these instruments represent.
Never let an unimportant thing like vanity(虚荣) get in the way of treating a hearing problem. These days there are hearing aids that are nearly invisible to the naked eye, including a number of models that fit completely inside the ear. If you believe you may be experiencing a problem with your hearing, it is important to have it checked out, and to take the right measures to protect your ears. In many cases, this treatment will be as simple as wearing earplugs. Taking care of your ears is of great importance. After all, you only get one set of ears.The second paragraph mainly talks about_____.
| A．the causes of hearing loss |
| B．the importance of hearing |
| C．how to cure hearing problems |
| D．how to protect your hearing |
The underlined phrase “under assault” in Paragraph 2 most probably means_____.
| A．under consideration |
| B．under protection |
| C．under attack |
| D．under treatment |
All the following factors may cause hearing problems EXCEPT_____.
| A．using iPods improperly |
| B．listening to MP3 at full volume |
| C．standing near machinery making a loud noise |
| D．using earplugs when there are loud noises |
The World Health Organization recently reported that the number of cases of tuberculosis(TB) has been abating since 2006 . Also, fewer people are dying from TB. But a study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, says smoking could threaten this progress.
Nearly twenty percent of all people use tobacco, and millions of non-smokers get sick from breathing the smoke. The new study predicts that smoking will produce an additional thirty-four million TB deaths by 2024.
Efforts to control the spread of TB have mainly focused on finding and treating infections. Fewer efforts have been made to understand the causes. Dr Anthony Fauci is the director of the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases. He said, “Despite our control efforts, we still have more than a million people each year dying from TB and millions of people getting infected; we realize it’s still a very important problem. So we have to do the practical thing and we have to do the fundamental research things at the same time. ”
Smoking does not cause TB; bacteria cause the infection. But the study says smoking affects the nervous system in a way that makes an inactive case of TB more likely to develop into an active one. Stanton Glantz is the director of the University of California’s Centre for Tobacco Control Research and Education and an author of the new study. He says it shows that TB cannot be controlled unless tobacco use is controlled. He said, “It increases the number of people who will get TB by about seven percent.”
The study is described as the first to identify a direct link between tobacco use and rates of TB infection and death. Professor Glantz says the results should guide those creating health policies and TB control efforts. He said, “If you want to control the infectious disease of TB, you have to control the tobacco industry and the tobacco industry’s efforts to increase tobacco use, particularly in developing countries where TB is a big problem.” What would be the beat title for this passage?
| A．Scientists try to find the causes of TB deaths. |
| B．Study shows smoking is harmful to our health. |
| C．Study links smoking to millions of TB deaths. |
| D．Scientists pay more attention to TB deaths than before. |
What does the underlined word “abating” in Paragraph 1 mean?
| A．Responding | B．Surviving. | C．Rising. | D．Falling. |
What would Dr Anthony Fauci probably agree with?
| A．More efforts are needed to find the causes of TB infections. |
| B．TB infections are no longer a serious problem. |
| C．Few efforts have been put into the work of treating TB infections. |
| D．The practical and the fundamental research cannot be done together at present. |
It is implied in the passage that ____________.
| A．it is not very hard to control TB |
| B．smoking indirectly leads to TB |
| C．an inactive case of TB is deadly |
| D．people cannot blame smoking for TB |
Imagine that you are sitting in a park and suddenly remember that you need to send an urgent email. You have your laptop computer with you and you connect it to a wireless access point and access the Internet. Then you send your email. This wouldn’t have been possible if there were no wireless Internet for laptops. Wireless Internet has come into our life in so many ways that we don’t even realize what a necessary part it has become of our day-to-day lives.
How do we connect to a wireless Internet service for laptop computers? There are two ways to do this. They are Wi-Fi connection and Bluetooth connection. Wireless networking is very easy. You just switch on the Wi-Fi button that has been provided in the laptop for Wi-Fi scanning. Once that is done, the computer will connect to the Internet.
An interesting fact about Wi-Fi networking is that you can create a network between similar wireless equipment. Consider a situation where you and your friend both have Wi-Fi laptops, and there is some data you want to exchange. Traditional networking architecture demands that you have a wireless router (路由器). But the beauty of Wi-Fi networking technology is that you can set up a network between you and your friend’s laptop, and share all the data you want.
Broadband (宽带) Internet connection is typically preferred by any user as it provides better speed for Internet surfing. Up until the invention of 3G mobile phones, Internet speed on mobile phones was very slow. 3G has the promise of changing the entire face of broadband technology. Just imagine browsing at speeds of more that 2MB per second. To give you a measure of the speed, 3G enables you to watch high quality live videos on the Internet.
It is amazing to see how technology changes and the rate at which it changes. There may come a time when you may be able to browse using mobile wireless Internet for laptops anywhere in the world.What can we learn from Paragraph 1?
| A．Wireless Internet will become a reality soon. |
| B．We can send emails outdoors through wireless Internet. |
| C．Laptops enable us to do business everywhere. |
| D．People can easily find a laptop to surf the Internet. |
People can enjoy a wireless Internet service for laptop computers by .
| A．connecting to another computer | B．switching off the Wi-Fi button |
| C．using bluetooth connection | D．connecting bluetooth to Wi-Fi |
What should we do to share some data with a friend through Wi-Fi networking?
| A．Use the same computer. | B．Surf online. |
| C．Have a wireless router. | D．Set up a network. |
One main advantage of 3G mobile phones mentioned in the passage is .
| A．their low price | B．their different functions |
| C．their high Internet speed | D．their bright future |