Do women’s minds work the same as men’s? Absolutely not.At least, that is what most men are convinced of.Psychologists view the subject either as a matter or frustration or a joke.Now the biologists have moved into this minefield, and some of them have found that there are real differences between the brains of men and women.But being different, they point out hurriedly, is not the same as being better or worse.
There is, however, a definite structural variation between the male and female brain.The difference is in a part of the brain that is used in the most complex intellectual processes-the link between the two halves of the brain.
The two halves are linked by a trunkline of between 200 and 300 million nerves, the corpus callosum.Scientists have found quite recently that the corpus callosum in women is always larger and probably richer in nerve fibres than it is in men.This is the first time that a structural difference has been found between the brains of women and men and it must have some significance.The question is "What?", and, if this difference exists, are there others? Research shows that present-day women think differently and behave differently from men.Are some of these differences biological and inborn, a result of evolution? We tend to think that is the influence of society that produces these differences.But could we be wrong?
Research showed that these two halves of the brain had different functions, and that the corpus callosum enabled them to work together.For most people, the left half is used for word handing, analytical and logical activities; the right half works on pictures, patterns and forms.We need both halves working together.And the better the connections, the more harmoniously the two halves work.And, according to research findings, women have the better connections.
But it isn't all that easy to explain the actual differences between skills of men and women on this basis.In schools throughout the world girls tend to be better than boys at "language subjects" and boys better at maths and physics.If these differences correspond with the differences in the hemispheric trunkline, here is an unalterable distinction between the sexes.
We shan't know for a while, partly because we don't know of any precise relationship between abilities in school subject and the functioning of the two halves of the brain, and we cannot understand how the two halves interact via the corpus callosum.But this striking difference must have some effect and, because the difference is in the parts of the brain involved in intellect, we should be looking for differences in intellectual processing.Which of the following statements is CORRECT?
| A．Results of scientific research fail to support popular belief. |
| B．Brain differences point to superiority of one sex over the other. |
| C．Biologists are conducting research where psychologists have given up |
| D．The structural difference in the brain between the sexes has long been known. |
The corpus callosum functions in __________.
| A．forming the nerve fibers. |
| B．differing man from woman. |
| C．enabling the brain to work. |
| D．processing the most complex intellectuality. |
According to the passage it is commonly believed that brain differences are caused by ______
| A．social | B．psycological | C．physical | D．biological |
"these differences" in paragraph 5 refer to those in ________.
| A．school subjects |
| B．skills of men and women |
| C．the brain structure of men and women |
| D．activities carried out by the brain |
At the end of the passage the author proposes more work on ________.
| A．the brain structure as a whole |
| B．the functioning of part of the brain |
| C．the distinction between the sexes |
| D．the effects of the corpus callosum |
Britain's most popular lie has been disclosed, with one in four people admitting using “sorry I had no signal" when returning a missed mobile phone call, a survey found.
Researchers found the average Briton tells on average four lies every day or almost 1500 every year. Almost one in six men admitted they were most likely to lie to their wife or girlfriend, on average at least twice a day. The most popular lie was saying you had no mobile phone signal, with one in four people admitting regularly using the little white lie. It usually came after they hit the “ignore" button when their mobile rang.
Three quarters of people think women are better liars. The research found 46 per cent of girls have been caught lying, compared to 58 of men.
The second most common fib（无关紧要的谎言） is “I haven't got any cash on me” when asked for money by tramps (流浪者), beggars and Big Issue sellers. “Nothing's wrong – I'm fine” came third followed by “You look lovely” and “Nice to see you”.
Modern technology turned out to have contributed to many lies with “I didn't get your text” in 18th, “Our server was down” in 20th and “My battery died” in 26th place.
Other lies to make the top ten included “I'll give you a ring”, “We're just good friends” and “We'll have to meet up soon”. “I'm on my way” and “No, your bum doesn't look big in that” completed the top ten.
Men tell the most fibs, coming out with five every day compared to women who lie just three times.
In many cases perhaps it is better to flatter with a fib than destroy someone with the truth, according to a spokesman for OnePoll, which carried out the research of 4,300 adults.
66. Whether the person being called has pushed the “ignore” button or ______, the calle
r at the other end hears the same tone.
A. really has no signal B. can’t get the text
C. has a battery failure D. answers the call
67. Most people think women are better liars because ______.
A. there’re more women liars B. fewer women liars are found out
C. women tell less harmful lies D. women are harder to convince
68. “Our server was down” is perhaps a lie told as an excuse for not ______.
A. inviting a friend to dinner B. responding to an e-mail
C. coming to a party on time D. cleaning one’s room
69. “You look lovely” and “I’m on my way” rank _____ on the popular-lie list.
A. 3rd and 8th B. 5th and 10th C. 4th and 9th D. 5th and 12th
70. The OnePoll spokesman seems to think it’s ______ for the British to lie so much.
A. puzzling B. disgusting C. impossible D. reasonable
It looks exactly like other handicraft (手工艺品) shops in a traditional Chinese hutong, or alley, except that each item has a story. The city's first-of-its-kind charity shop, owned by Nathan Zhang, sells Chinese handicrafts along with used books, clothes and other items. The concept is that money from what is sold is donated to help rural (农村的) women in China.
“Many NGOs (non-governmental organizations) produce their own things but don't have a place to sell it,” said Zhang, who returned to Beijing in 2008 after working in Canada for nearly a decade in the telecommunications world. “A rural women's group tried to open a little shop but only sold two things. When they put their products in my shop, everything sold out.”
Located in Wudaoying Hutong in Dongcheng district, Brand Nu's walls are lined with handicrafts from a number of different NGO supported projects aimed at benefiting women across the country. The other half of the space is filled with almost brand-new clothes that have been donated from Beijing citizens. The jackets, dresses, tops and pants sell for around 30 yuan ($4.40) each.
Most of the money Brand Nu gets goes directly to the Beijing Cultural Development Center for Rural Women. The NGO offers a number of programs for poor women, including literacy classes (识字班), support networks and mental health education.
Zhang is also working with a local Scottish designer to create a clothing line made from the fabric (织物) of second-hand garments. And he is collecting books and raising money to help the NGO build a library near Beijing. He plans on expanding his product line soon as well, engaging more disadvantaged women to make sweaters, soaps and other items that he can sell in Beijing to help raise their socioeconomic status in the countryside.
Yet with ambitions come worries. Right now Zhang is operating on a shoestring budget and looking for work on the side to support both his business and his family. “I wanted to do something meaningful,” said Zhang. “If you can help one woman, you can help an entire family.”
61. The name of the charity shop is ______.
A. Nathan Zhang B. NGO C. Wudaoyin Hutong D. Brand Nu
62. The owner of the charity shop ______.
A. is a returned overseas Chinese
B. has long been working for the charity cause
C. is professionally engaged in telecommunication
D. is also the head of an NGO
63. The charity shop ______.
A. sells goods to poor women at low prices
B. sends donated clothes to poor rural women
C. opens literacy classes for illiterate women
D. gives money to poor women through an NGO
64. The last paragraph but one tells us that Zhang tries to ______.
A. open more charity shops
B. donate more money to the rural women
C. help the women live better through their own efforts
D. find jobs in Beijing for the rural women
65. The article is mainly about ______.
A. the charity cause in Beijing B. Beijing’s first charity shop and its owner
C. the living condition of rural women D. the difficult situation a charity worker faces
第三部分阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Anchors on China Central Television (CCTV) will need to do some fast talking to replace the popular English acronyms(首字母缩略词) they’re now banned from using. Shanghai Daily reports that “anchors at China Central Television [CCTV] have been banned from saying the Engli
sh acronyms NBA, CBA, GDP, and the like in their programs.”
The replacement for those handy acronyms? Chinese presenters must use the full Chinese name, standardized by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.
Although CCTV (oops, we mean China Central Television)presenters must already have a score of at least 94 in their government-rated oral Mandarin proficiency exam, saying the full name of organizations like the CBA or WTO ― 10 and 6 character’s long separately ― is sure to challenge even the most skillful anchors. CCTV sports anchor Sun Zhengping tells Shanghai Daily, “A full Chinese explanation of the English initials must be followed if my tongue slips. It is a little trouble but a necessary one because not every audience member can understand the initials.”
Although the government isn’t giving any official explanation for the shift, it is believed to have to do with a proposal by Huang Youyi, director of the China International Publishing Group, at March’s NPC meeting. In his speech, Huang said, “With more and more publications mixing Chinese with English, measures and regulations should be adopted to avoid English invading Chinese. If we don’t pay attention and don’t take measures to stop the expansion of mixing Chinese with English, Chinese won’t be a pure language in a couple of years.”
Although China is far from the first country to take measures to protect local languages (the French and Québécois beat them to it by a long way), acronyms are more about saving time than they
are about corrupting a language, we would think. Good luck to the CCTV anchors.
56. CCTV anchors have to “do some fast talking” because they can no longer ______.
A. speak as slowly as they like B. mix English into Chinese
C. use shortened Chinese expressions D. have so much time for their program
57. According the writer, “CBA” is supposed to be replaced with “______” by CCTV anchors.
A. 中国男子篮球甲级联赛 B. 中国篮球协会全国男女篮球职业联赛
C. 中国篮球联赛 D. The Chinese Basketball Association
58. When Sun Zhengping said “if my tongue slips”, he meant “if I _____”.
A. habitually use an English acronym B. speak a little bit too fast
C. make a mistake in pronunciation D. say something impolite or improper
59. What’s Huang Youyi’s proposal?
A. Using full English names instead of short forms.
B. Translating Chinese terms into proper English.
C. Avoiding Chinese words mixing into English.
D. Keeping our mother tongue as a pure language.
60. What’s the main idea of the last paragraph？
A. China has fallen behind in the matter. B. The ban is not necessary.
C. Chinese shouldn’t be corrupted
. D. CCTV anchors will have a hard time.
Olaf Stapledon wrote a book called First and Last Men, in which he looked millions of years ahead. He told of different men and of strange civilisations（文明）, broken up by long 'dark ages' in between. In his view, what is called the present time is no more than a moment in human history and we are just the First Men. In 2,000 million years from now there will be the Eighteenth or Last Men.
However, most of our ideas about the future are really very short-sighted. Perhaps we can see some possibilities for the next fifty years. But the next hundred ? The next thousand? The next million? That's much more difficult.
When men and women lived by hunting 50,000 years ago, how could they even begin to picture modern life? Yet to men of 50,000 years from now, we may seem as primitive（原始的）in our ideas as the Stone-Age hunters do to us. Perhaps through the spundels and ballalators, these words, which I have just made up, have to stand for things and ideas that we simply can't think of .
So why bother even to try imagining life far in the future ? Here are two reasons. First unless we remember how short our own lives are compared with the whole human history, we are likely to think our own interests are much more important than they really are. If we make the earth a poor place to live because. we are careless or greedy（贪婪） or quarrelsome,our grand-children will not bother to think of excuses for us.
Second, by trying to escape from present interests and imagine life far in the future, we may arrive at quite fresh ideas that we can use ourselves. For example, if we imagine that in the future men may give up farming, we can think of trying it now. So set your imagination free when you think about the future .
53．A particular mention made of Stapledon's book in the opening paragraph ____________
A．serves as a description of human history
B．serves an introduction to the discussion
C．shows a disagreement of views
D． Shows the popularity of the book
54．The text discusses men and women 50,000 years ago and 50,000 years from now in order to show that _________.
A．human history is extremely long B．life has changed a great deal
C．it is useless to plan for the next 50 years
D．it is difficult to tell what will happen in the future
55．Spundels and ballalators are used in the text to refer to _________.
A．tools used in farming B．ideas about modern life
C．unknown things in the future D．hunting skills in the Stone Age
56．According to the writer of the text, imagining the future will _________.
A．serve the interests of the present and future generations
B．enable us to better understand human history
C．help us to improve farming
D．make life worth living
Decision-thinking is not unlike. It often matters not only what you think, but also what others think you think and what you think they think you think. The mental process（过程） is similar. Naturally, this card game has often been of considerable interest to people who are, by any standards, good thinkers.
The great mathematician John von Neumann was one of the founders of game theory. In particular, he showed that all games fall into two classes; there are what he called games of 'perfect information', games like chess where the players can't hide anything or play tricks; they don't win by chance, but by means of logic and skills. Then there are games of 'imperfect information', like poker, in which it is impossible to know in advance that one course of action is better than another.
One mistaken idea about business is that it can be treated as a game of perfect information. Quite the reverse, business and life itself are games which we must normally play with very imperfect information. Business decisions are often made with many unknown and unknowable factors（因素）, as best poker players. But few business people find it comfortable to admit that they are taking a chance, and many still prefer to believe that they are playing chess, not poker.
49．The subject discussed in this text is _________.
A．the process of reaching decisions
B．the difference between poker and chess.
C．the secret of making good business plans
D．the value of information in winning games
50．An important factor in a game of imperfect information is ___________.
A．rules B．luck C．time D．ideas
51．Which of the following can be used in place of "Quite the reverse"?
A．Quite right. B．True enough.
C．Most unlikely. D．Just the opposite.
52．In the writer's opinion, when making business decisions one should ___________ .
A．put perfect information before imperfect information
B．accept the existence of unknown factors
C．regard business as a game of chess
D．mix known and unknown factors