Children are quick to ask “why” and “how’’ when it comes to new things, but research suggests that they learn more when teachers turn the questions back on them. “When children explain events, they learn more than when just getting the results,’’ said Cristine H. Legare, a professor at the University of Texas.
Ms. Legare brought in 96 children aged 3 to 5 and set before them a complex toy made up of colorful, interlocking gears (齿轮). With the first group, the researchers asked, “Can you explain this to me?” With the second one, they said, “Look, isn’t this interesting?’’
The two groups of children focused on different things, researchers found. Children who were asked to observe noticed the colors of the toy, while those asked to explain focused on the chain of gears working on each other.
Children who had explained the toy were better at re-creating it and not being disturbed by decorative gears, and they were better able to use what they had learned who had observed the toy outperformed the children in the explanation group on a memory task focused on the toy’s colors.
Dedre Gentner, the director of the cognitive science program at Northwestern University, said that teachers introducing a concept can improve students’ understanding by giving examples of close comparisons, and then asking children to explain how concepts are related.
In a series of experiments with 3-to 7-year-olds, she focus children can be con be confused by comparisons that focus on a relationship rather than a direct-object match.
For example, a 3-year-old shown a picture of two rabbits facing each other and told “this is a toma ’’ and then asked to find another “tome” will choose a picture of a rabbit over one of two cats facing each other 98 percent of the time. A 7-year-old is more likely to recognize the more abstract comparison of a relationship.
However, Ms. Gentner found that 3-year-olds can think more like 7-yesr-olds if they are given more examples. When shown a “toma” with rabbits and another with cats, and then asked, “Can you say why both of these are tomas?” most of the children can give a good explanation.
What is mainly described in the text?
| A．Observation comes first for a learner. |
| B．Children can learn more first for a learner. |
| C．pictures can learn more by explaining. |
| D．Teachers should be patient with children. |
As for the gear toy, the first group___.
| A．learned more about its history |
| B．focused on the design of the toy |
| C．had a clear memory of its colors |
| D．found it hard to create the toy again |
The author develops the text mainly___.
| A．by cause and effect |
| B．by order in space |
| C．by examples |
| D．by time and events |
The time of year a baby is born can shape what profession they will embark on in later life, a new study has suggested. Being born in a certain month appears to indicate the possibility of what job a person will end up with, the study by the Office for National Statistics found.
Researchers have uncovered that the month in which babies are born could also affect everything from intelligence to length of life. A child born in December is more likely to become a dentist while someone whose birthday falls in January will tend to a debt collector, they found.
A February birth appears to increase the chances of being an artist while March babies appear to go on to become pilots. Meanwhile, April and May are said to have a fairly even spread of professions, births in the summer months mean a much lower chance of becoming a high-earning football player, doctor or dentist. The study was gained by researchers who analyzed the birth months of people in 19 separate occupations using information from the last census (人口普查), the Daily Mail reported. Although these trends may be difficult to explain, relations between birth months and specific health problems have a scientific basis.
Spring babies are at greater risk of illnesses including schizophrenia(精神分裂症), Alzheimer’s disease(早老性痴呆病), asthma(哮喘) and autism(自闭症). They may also be less clever than classmates born in other parts of the year.What does the underlined phrase “embark on” refer to?
| A．land on | B．keep in touch with |
| C．be engaged in | D．break from |
According to the researchers, a child born in March is likely to become_______.
| A．a debt collector | B．a pilot |
| C．a dentist | D．an artist |
We can learn from the text that______.
| A．the month babies are born could only affect his intelligence and length of life |
| B．People born in the summer months are more likely to get highly paid |
| C．Spring babies may have the bigger chance to get ill |
| D．the choice of profession for April and May is very narrow |
What can be included from the passage?
| A．There exist connections between birth date and occupations |
| B．The fate has been already decided when people are born |
| C．People born in Autumn would be more successful than those born in Spring |
| D．The time of year one is born decides which specific health problems one has |
As long as I can remember, I've always loved to draw. But my interest in drawing wasn't encouraged very much. Growing up in the 1950s, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, boys were supposed to be athletic. Certain peer pressures encouraged little fingers to learn how to hold footballs rather than crayons.
My early love for drawing developed into a love for telling stories through pictures. Stories began as fragments (片段) of pictures in my mind. I created a story by posing questions to myself. I called it the “what if” and “what then” approach. For example, for my book The Polar Express, I started out by thinking “What if a boy gets on that train? Where does he go？”
From the time I come up with the idea, write and illustrate the book, and deliver it to the printer, it takes about seven months. First, I begin thinking of the idea. Then I imagine the pictures and the story. A good picture book should have events that are visually arresting. I first consider scenes that are exciting to look at and then my challenge is to weave a story around those pictures. The next step is putting the illustrations and story down on paper.
When you first look at my illustrations, you see ordinary, everyday things. But if you look closer, things might not seem quite so simple. When I'm writing a book, I always try to create something strange or puzzling in each picture. By using artistic strategies, I can give the drawing a kind of mysterious quality.
All of my books are picture books, so they are generally thought of as books for children. But when I make them, I think of the books as being for everybody — for people of all ages. When I was a kid, I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up, but now I'm really glad I became an artist and a storyteller.Why does the author mention The Polar Express?
| A．To tell us an interesting story. |
| B．To introduce his famous work. |
| C．To make up a sentence with “what if”． |
| D．To show us how he designed his book. |
The underlined word “arresting” in Paragraph 3 probably means ________.
| A．frightening | B．interesting |
| C．satisfying | D．worrying |
Which of the following is TRUE about the author?
| A．He did well when he was at school. |
| B．He only wrote something for children. |
| C．He tried his best to meet the readers' taste. |
| D．He regretted not working hard at drawing. |
What would be the best title for this passage?
| A．Telling Stories by Drawing |
| B．“What if” and “What Then” |
| C．How to Tell Interesting Stories |
| D．Working as a Famous Storyteller |
Thirteen vehicles lined up last March to race across the Mojave Desert, seeking a million in prize money. To win, they had to finish the 142mile race in less than 10 hours. Teams and watchers knew there might be no winner at all, because these vehicles were missing a key part — drivers.
DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, organized the race as part of a push to develop robotic vehicles for future battlefields. But the Grand Challenge, as it was called, just proved how difficult it is to get a car to speed across an unfamiliar desert without human guidance. One had its brake lock up in the starting area. Another began by throwing itself onto a wall. Another got tied up by bushes near the road after 1.9 miles.
One turned upside down. One took off in entirely the wrong direction and had to be disabled by remote control. One went a little more than a mile and rushed into a fence; another managed to go for six miles but stuck on a rock. The “winner”， if there was any, reached 7.8 miles before it ran into a long narrow hole, and the front wheels caught on fire.
“You get a lot of respect for natural abilities of the living things，” says Reinhold Behringe, who helped design two of the carsize vehicles for a company called SciAutonics.“Even ants can do all these tasks effortlessly. It's very hard for us to put these abilities into our machines.”
The robotic vehicles, though with necessary modern equipment such as advanced computers and GPS guidance, had trouble figuring out fast enough the blocks ahead that a twoyearold human recognizes immediately. Sure, that very young child, who has just only learned to walk, may not think to wipe apple juice off her face, but she already knows that when there's a cookie in the kitchen she has to climb up the table, and that when she gets to the cookie it will taste good. She is more advanced, even months old, than any machine humans have designed.
Watchers doubted if any of the vehicles could finish the race because ________.
| A．they did not have any human guidance |
| B．the road was not familiar to the drivers |
| C．the distance was too long for the vehicles |
| D．the prize money was unattractive to the drivers |
From the passage we know “robotic vehicles” are a kind of machines that________.
| A．can do effortlessly whatever tasks living things can |
| B．can take part in a race across 142miles with a time limit |
| C．can show off their ability to turn themselves upside down |
| D．can move from place to place without being driven by human beings |
In the last paragraph, the author implies that there is a long way to go ________.
| A．for a robotic vehicle to finish a 142mile race without any difficulties |
| B．for a little child who has just learned to walk to reach the cookie on the table |
| C．for a robotic vehicle to deal with a simple problem that a little child can solve |
| D．for a little child to understand the importance of wiping apple juice off his/her face |
Fourteenyearold Richie Hawley had spent five years studying violin at the Community School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles when he took part in a violin contest. Ninetytwo young people were invited to the contest and Hawley came out first.
The contest could have been the perfect setup for fear, worrying about mistakes, and trying to impress the judges. But Hawley said he did pretty well at staying calm. “I couldn't be thinking about how many mistakes I'd make — it would distract me from playing.” he says. “I don't even remember trying to impress people while I played. It's almost as if they weren't there. I just wanted to make music.”
Hawley is a winner. But he didn't become a winner by concentrating on winning. He did it by concentrating on playing well.
“The important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part，” said the founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin. “The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”
A characteristic of high performers is their intense, pleasurable concentration on work, rather than on their competitors or future glory or money, says Dr. Charles Garfield, who has studied 1,500 achievers in business, science, sports, arts, and professions. “They are interested in winning, but they're most interested in selfdevelopment, testing their limits.”
One of the most surprising things about top performers is how many losses they've had — and how much they've learned from each. “Not one of the 1,500 I studied defined losing as failing，” Garfield says. “They kept calling their losses ‘setback’．”
A healthy attitude towards setbacks is essential to winning, experts agree.
“The worst thing you can do if you've had a setback is to let yourself get stuck in a prolonged depression. You should analyze carefully what went wrong, identify specific things you did right and give yourself credit for them.” Garfield believes that most people don't give themselves enough praise. He even suggests keeping a diary of all the positive things you've done on the way to a goal.What is common among high performers is that they tend to give priority to ________.
| A．glory | B．Wealth |
| C．pleasure | D．Work |
According to the passage, successful people concentrate on _______.
| A．challenging their own limits | B．learning from others |
| C．defeating their opponents | D．avoiding setbacks |
The passage tells us that “praise” in times of trouble ________.
| A．helps people deal with their disappointment |
| B．makes people forget their setbacks |
| C．makes people regret about their past |
| D．helps people realize their goals |
People are being lured (引诱) onto Facebook with the promise of a fun, free service without realizing they’re paying for it by giving up large amounts of personal information. Facebook then attempts to make money by selling their data to advertisers that want to send targeted messages.
Most Facebook users don’t realize this is happening. Even if they know what the company is up to, they still have no idea what they’re paying for Facebook because people don’t really know what their personal data is worth.
The biggest problem, however, is that the company keeps changing the rules. Early on, you keep everything private. That was the great thing about facebook--you could create your own little private network. Last year, the company changed its privacy rules so that many things--your city, your photo, your friends' names--were set, by default (默认) to be shared with everyone on the Internet.
According to Facebook’s vice-president Elliot Schrage, the company is simply making changes to improve its service, and if people don’t share information, they have a “less satisfying experience”.
Some critics think this is more about Facebook looking to make more money. Its original business model, which involved selling ads and putting them at the side of the page, totally failed. Who wants to look at ads when they’re online connecting with their friends?
The privacy issue has already landed Facebook in hot water in Washington. In April, Senator(议员) Charles Schumer called on Facebook to change its privacy policy. He also urged the Federal Trade Commission to set guidelines for social-networking sites. “I think the senator rightly communicated that we had not been clear about what the new products were and how people could choose to use them or not to use them,” Schrage admits.
I suspect that whatever Facebook has done so far to invade our privacy is only the beginning, which is why I’m considering deactivating(撤销) my account. Facebook is a handy site, but I’m upset by the idea that my information is in the hands of people I don’t know. That’s too high a price to pay.What do we learn about Facebook from the first paragraph?
| A．It is a website that sends messages to targeted users. |
| B．It makes money by putting on advertisements. |
| C．It provides loads of information to its users. |
| D．It profits by selling its users’ personal data. |
Why does Facebook make changes to its rules according to Elliot Schrage?
| A．To provide better service to its users. |
| B．To follow the Federal guidelines. |
| C．To improve its users’ connectivity. |
| D．To expand its scope of business. |
What does Senator Charles Schumer advocate(倡导)?
| A．Setting guidelines for advertising on websites. |
| B．Banning the sharing of users’ personal information. |
| C．Removing ads from all social-networking sites. |
| D．Formulating (制订) regulations for social-networking sites.. |
Why does the author plan to cancel his Facebook account?
| A．He is dissatisfied with its present service. |
| B．He doesn’t want his personal data abused. |
| C．He finds many of its users untrustworthy. |
| D．He is upset by its frequent rule changes. |