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If you saw another kid ride her bike too fast around a corner and fall down, you might ride your bike more slowly on that turn. Yes, we humans are very sensitive to others’ mistakes. And the same is true for other animals. Animals mess up all the time. They might eat poisonous leaves, fall off a tree or let their prey(猎物) slip away. By watching others fail, an animal can avoid making the same mistakes, thus improving its chance of survival.
Scientists suspected that one part of the brain helps animals process information about others’ errors. Cells in that part appear to become more active when a person sees someone else making a mistake. But researchers didn’t know whether individual cells in this part of the brain play different roles in detecting errors.
To investigate the brain’s response to errors in more detail, the researchers taught a game to two macaques, a type of monkey. One monkey could press a yellow or green button while the other watched. If the first monkey pressed the right button, the team gave both animals a treat. Every couple of rounds, the two monkeys switched roles. Meanwhile, the scientists monitored individual cells in the animal’s brains.
When the first monkey messed up the game by pressing the wrong button, a group of cells in the second monkey’s brain fired. But if the second monkey also made the wrong choice during its turn, some of the cells in that group didn’t respond. Those unresponsive cells reacted specifically to mistakes made by others, not to the monkey’s own mistakes.
Scientists believe other parts of the brain also might help people process information about another’s errors. “You start to think about this other person and see things from his angle.” Ellen de Bruijn told Science News. She studies the brain at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands.
According to Paragraph l, animals’ ability to learn from others’ mistakes          .

A.used to be ignored by humans
B.helps them to survive better
C.is being lost because of humans
D.ensures that they will never fail

The underlined word “detecting” in Paragraph 2 probably means “    ”.

A.correcting B.making C.drawing D.sensing

From the game the scientists taught to two macaques, we can see        .

A.animals can avoid the same mistakes
B.which part of the brain is more active
C.how the brain responds to mistakes
D.how the brain processes information

In the experiment mentioned, those unresponsive cells are only sensitive to        .

A.others’ mistakes B.the same buttons
C.one’s own mistakes D.the monkey’s brain

What’s the main idea of the passage?

A.Animals can learn from mistakes like human beings.
B.An interesting experiment by scientists surprised us.
C.Monkeys can avoid making mistakes by learning from us.
D.The brain cells are always sensitive to others’ information.
科目 英语   题型 阅读理解   难度 中等
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My mind went blank when I saw the gun pointing against the car window as we pulled out of the garage. This can't be happening to me. Then I felt the gun, cold, against my head, and I heard my friend Jeremy saying,“What do you want? Take my wallet,” but at the time I thought of nothing.
I remember being a little annoyed when the gunman pulled me from the car by the hair. I remember the walk to the house—Jeremy, me, the two men with two guns. I remember the fear and anger in the gunmen's voices because Jeremy was being slow, and I remember wondering why he was being slow. I did not realize that Jeremy had thrown the keys into the bush. But I remember that sound of the gun hitting Jeremy's head and the feeling as the man who had hold of my hair released me. And I remember the split second when I realized he was looking at Jeremy,and I remember wondering how far I could run before he pulled the trigger. But I was already running, and upon reaching the car across the street, I didn't crouch (蹲伏) behind it but screamed instead.
I remember thinking there was something ridiculous and illogical about screaming “Help, help!” at eight o'clock on a Tuesday evening in December and changing my plea(恳求) to the more specific “Help, let me in, please let me in!” But the houses were cold, closed, unfriendly, and I ran on until I heard Jeremy's screams behind me announcing that our attackers had fled.
The neighbors who had not opened their doors to us came out with baseball bats and helped Jeremy find his glasses and keys. In a group they were very brave. We waited for the police to come until someone said to someone else that the noodles were getting cold, and I said politely,“Please go and eat. We're OK.”
I was happy to see them go. They had been talking of stricter sentences for criminals, of bringing back the death penalty(处罚) and how the President is going to clean up the country. I was thinking, they could be saying all of this over my dead body, and I still feel that stiffer sentences wouldn't change a thing. In a rush all the anger I should have felt for my attackers was directed against these contented people standing in front of their warm, comfortable homes talking about all the guns they were going to buy. What good would guns have been to Jeremy and me?
People all over the neighborhood had called to report our screams, and the police turned out in force twenty minutes later. They were illtempered about what was, to them, much trouble about nothing. After all, Jeremy was hardly hurt, and we were hopeless when it came to describing the gunmen. “Typical,” said one policeman when we couldn't even agree on how tall the men were. Both of us were able to describe the guns in horrifying detail, but the two policemen who stayed to make the report didn't think that would be much help.
The policemen were matteroffact about the whole thing. The thin one said,“That was a stupid thing to do, throwing away the keys. When a man has a gun against your head you do what you're told.” Jeremy looked properly embarrassed.
Then the fat policeman came up and the thin one went to look around the outside of the house. “That was the best thing you could have done, throwing away the keys,” he said. “If you had gone into the house with them...” His voice became weaker. “They would have hurt her” ——he twisted his head toward me——“and killed you both.” Jeremy looked happier. “Look,” said the fat policeman kindly, “ there's no right or wrong in the situation. There's just luck.”
All that sleepless night I replayed the moment those black gloves came up to the car window. How long did the whole thing last? Three minutes, five, eight? No matter how many hours of my life I may spend reliving it, I know there is no way to prepare for the next time—no intelligent response to a gun. The fat cop was right. There's only luck. The next time I might end up dead.
And I’m sure there will be a next time. It can happen anywhere, anytime, to anyone.Security is an illusion(幻觉); there is no safety in locks or in guns. Guns make some people feel safe and some people feel strong, but they're fooling themselves.
When the writer saw the gun pointing against the car window,________.

A.she felt very annoyed
B.she lost consciousness
C.she felt very much nervous
D.she lost the power of thinking

What most possibly drove the two gunmen away?

A.Jeremy's fighting.
B.The author's screaming.
C.Their neighbour's brave action.
D.The police's arrival.

When the author called for help, the neighbors didn't come out immediately because________.

A.they were much too frightened
B.they were busy preparing dinners
C.they needed time to find baseball bats
D.they thought someone was playing a trick

What the author wants to tell us is that________.

A.neighbors are not helpful in moments of difficulty
B.the police are not reliable when one is in trouble
C.security is impossible as long as people can have guns
D.preventing robbers entering your house is the best choice

With the average temperature for January standing at -50 ℃,it is no wonder the Russian village of Oymyakon is the coldest permanently inhabited settlement in the world.Known as the“Pole of Cold”,the coldest ever temperature recorded in Oymyakon is -71.2 ℃.This is the lowest recorded temperature for any permanently inhabited location on Earth and the lowest temperature recorded in the northern hemisphere(北半球).
Ironically,Oymyakon actually means“nonfreezing water”due to a nearby hot spring.Most homes in Oymyakon still burn coal and wood for heat and enjoy few modern conveniences.
Nothing grows there so people eat reindeer(驯鹿)meat and horsemeat.A single shop provides the town's bare necessities and the locals work as reindeerbreeders,hunters and icefishermen.
There are few modern conveniences in the village—with many buildings still having outdoor toilets—and most people still burn coal and wood for heat.When coal deliveries are irregular,the power station starts burning wood.If the power ceases,the town shuts down in about five hours,and the pipes freeze and crack.
Daily problems that come with living in Oymyakon include pen ink freezing,glasses freezing to people's faces and batteries losing power.Locals are said to leave their cars running all day for fear of not being able to restart them.Even if there was coverage for mobile phone reception,the phones themselves would not work in such conditions.
Another problem caused by the frozen temperatures is burying dead bodies,which can take anything up to three days.The earth must first have thawed(融解)sufficiently in order to dig it,so a bonfire is lit for a couple of hours.Hot coals are then pushed to the side and a hole couple of inches deep is dug.The process is repeated for several days until the hole is deep enough to bury the coffin.
Travel companies offer tourists the opportunity to visit the village and sample life in the freezing conditions.
From the passage we can infer that people in Oymyakon ________.

A.prefer meat to any other kind of food
B.seldom have fresh vegetables and fruits
C.can buy anything in the shop
D.might row a boat to catch fish

Which of the following is the first step when burying a dead body?

A.The coffin must be put in place.
B.A bonfire has to be lit first.
C.Hot coals have to be pushed to the side.
D.A hole couple of inches deep is dug.

Mobile phones would not work in Oymyakon because ________.

A.the batteries are of poor quality
B.there was no coverage for phone reception
C.batteries can't be charged in such conditions
D.the extreme coldness makes the batteries lose power

Why do the locals have their cars running all day?

A.They are afraid they can't get the car started.
B.They want to keep warm in the car.
C.They have abundant oil resources.
D.They have little awareness of saving.

When times get tough,we all look for ways to cut back.When we're hungry,we eat at home instead of going out.We take buses instead of taxis.And we wear our old designer jeans just a few months longer.With college expenses at alltime highs,high school students are eager to do anything to cut the cost of a university education.

One costcutting proposal is to allow college students to get a bachelor's degree in three years instead of four.Educational institutions have been actively exploring ways to make the learning process more efficient.But there's a question:Would the quality of undergraduate(本科生)education suffer? Few US universities have formally approved a “threeyear degree”model.
I doubt that mainstream North American colleges will carry out a threeyear curriculum(课程)any time soon.For one thing,most universities already allow highly qualified students to graduate early by testing out of certain classes and obtaining a number of college credits(学分).In addition,at famous universities,the committee who determine which courses are required and which courses are electives are unlikely to suddenly “throw out”one quarter of the required credits.Professors will resist “diluting(稀释)”the quality of the education they offer.
In my opinion,a quality fouryear education is always superior to a quality threeyear education.A college education requires sufficient time for a student to become skilled in their major and do coursework in fields outside their major.It is not a good idea to water down education,any more than it's not a good idea to water down medicine.If we want to help students find their way through university,we should help them understand early on what knowledge and skills they need to have upon graduation.We should allow students to test out of as many courses as possible.We should give them a chance to earn money as interns(实习生)in meaningful parttime jobs that relate to their university studies,such as the fiveyear coop program at Northeastern University.
The first paragraph serves as a(n) ________.

A.explanation B.definition
C.introduction D.comment

In most US universities,________.

A.college students are offered the coop program
B.electives' credits make up one quarter of the required credits
C.all students are required to finish fouryear education before graduation
D.some excellent students can graduate ahead of time

We can infer that ________.

A.the author is a college professor
B.the author thinks the cost of a university education is too high for people to afford
C.the author considers the university education quality very important
D.the author pays special attention to the allround development of college students

Which of the following can be the best title?

A.It's time to shorten the learning process
B.Best learning takes place over time
C.University education should be watered down
D.College education calls for reform

When 19-year-old Sophia Giorgi said she was thinking of volunteering to help the Make-A-Wish Foundation (基金会),nobody understood what she was talking about.But Sophia knew just how important Make-A-Wish could be because this special organization had helped to make a dream come true for one of her best friends .We were interested in finding out more,so we went along to meet Sophia and listen to what she had to say.
Sophia told us that Make-A -Wish is a worldwide organization that started in the United States in 1980.“It's a charity(慈善机构)that helps children who have got very serious illnesses.Make-A-Wish helps children feel happy even though they are sick, by making their wishes and dreams come true ,” Sophia explained .
We asked Sophia how Make-A-Wish had first started.She said it had all begun with a very sick young boy called Chris ,who had been dreaming for a long time of becoming a policeman .Sophia said lots of people had wanted to find a way to make Chris's dream come true—so, with everybody's help, Chris, only seven years old at the time,had been a “policeman” for a day.” When people saw how delighted Chris was when his dream came true, they decided to try and help other sick children too,and that was the beginning of Make-A-Wish,” explained Sophia.
Sophia also told us the Foundation tries to give children and their families a special, happy time.A Make-A-Wish volunteer visits the families and asks the children what they would wish for if they could have anything in the world.Sophia said the volunteers were important because they were the ones who helped to make the wishes come true. They do this either by providing things that are necessary,or by raising money or helping out in whatever way they can.
Sophia found out about Make-A-Wish because her best friend had________.

A.benefited from it B.volunteered to help it
C.dreamed about it D.told the author about it

According to Sophia,Make-A-Wish________.

A.is an international charity
B.was understood by nobody at first
C.raises money for very poor families
D.started by drawing the interest of the public

What is said about Chris in Paragraph 3?

A.He has been a policeman since he was seven.
B.He gave people the idea of starting Make-A-Wish
C.He wanted people to help make his dream come true.
D.He was the first child Make-A-Wish helped after it had been set up.

Which of the following is true about Make-A-Wish volunteers?

A.They are important for making wishes come true.
B.They try to help children get over their illnesses.
C.They visit sick children to make them feel special.
D.They provide what is necessary to make Make-A-Wish popular.

The longest solar eclipse (日食) of the century cast a wide shadow for several minutes over Asia and the Pacific Ocean on 22th July, drawing people outside to watch the sight in the sky.
Day turned into night. Temperature turned cooler in cities and villages filled with fans of astronomy. The total eclipse could be seen starting in India on Wednesday morning and moving eastward across China and parts of the Pacific. Millions cast their eyes towards the heavens to catch an unusual view of the sun’s colorful ring. Cloud in some areas prevented people from fully enjoying the sight. Still, many were frightened.
The total eclipse occurs about twice a year as the moon passes between the earth and the sun on the same plane as earth’s circle.
The local astronomy society gave a flash on how an eclipse happens. Wednesday’s event lasted up to more than six minutes in some places. In India, thousands bathed in the Ganges River in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi to clean their souls. It was sunny sky in Hong Kong for the eclipse, where students, parents and the elderly flooded in a primary school to watch.
In Shanghai, children climbed up ladders to look through two large telescopes on the school roof to catch sight of the moon moving across the sun. Others looked through a pair of glasses covered with solar filter (过滤器) paper, where they could take pictures of the moon moving over the sun.
In some cultures, many old stories are about eclipse. In India, a eclipse was considered unfavorable. In Chinese tradition, there is a story about a heavenly dog eating the sun. As the story goes, people would make noise to frighten off the dog and save the sun.
What can we learn about the longest solar eclipse of the century?

A.Not everyone in the world could see the longest eclipse.
B.Any of the Asians was excited to watch the eclipse.
C.All people saw the longest solar eclipse on Wednesday.
D.The Chinese all caught sight of the total eclipse at the same time.

What does the text imply about the total solar eclipse?

A.All people watched the solar eclipse for at least six minutes.
B.In ancient China, people couldn’t understand this phenomenon.
C.Your eyes must be hurt without filter equipment while watching.
D.You can watch the total solar eclipse directly only with your eyes.

Which of the following statements about eclipse is TURE according to the text?

A.Most Chinese people used to think eclipses would bring about misfortunes.
B.Chinese fathers were pleased to watch solar eclipses.
C.Indians think bad fortune will come about along with eclipses.
D.The Chinese people are too frightened to go outside when eclipses occur.

Where can we see the eclipse start?

A.In Shanghai. B.In India. C.In Hong Kong. D.In the Pacific Ocean.

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