Dyslexia is a learning disorder, it interferes with the ability to recognize words, and for some readers to understand what they have read. Experts say dyslexia affects about five to ten percent of the population of the United States. Researchers have long known that people with dyslexia write or read words and letters backwards in the wrong order.
But a new study shows that people with dyslexia may have trouble redirecting their attention betweensenses, from seeing something to hearing something. The study suggests something that might help dyslexic people learn more quickly - play video games.
Vanessa Harrar of Britain’s University of Oxford led the study. She reported the findings in the journalCurrent Biology. The study suggests that dyslexic people may have trouble moving quickly from what they read to what they hear.
In the study, Doctor Harrar tested 17 people with dyslexia, and 19 others without reading problems. The volunteers were asked to push a button as quickly as possible when they heard a sound, saw a light or experienced both together. Doctor Harrar compared the speed of their reactions. She found that people with dyslexia were just as fast as the others when they saw only a picture or heard only a sound. But the Dyslexicshad a slower reaction time when they heard a sound and saw a picture at the same time, this may have an effect on how dyslexic children are taught how to read.
Doctor Harrar feels like playing video games could help dyslexic people shift from seeing to hearing more quickly. She adds that images in video games force the eyes to move and focus quickly. “Video game types of things pop out of here and there, they move your eyes around the screen quite quickly in response to things quite quickly, and the more you play a video game the faster you get that kind of thing. So, the video game is really training the attention system to move quickly,” said Harrar. When children learn the alphabet, they usually see the letter first and then hear the sound, or they see and hear the letter at the same time. The study shows that Dyslexics might learn more quickly if they hear the sound of a letter or word first before seeing it.According to Doctor Harrar’s study, the dyslexic people have difficulty in______.
A.recognizing words |
B.reading words backwards |
C.writing letters in order |
D.shifting from seeing to hearing |
Which factor affects the way dyslexic children are taught to read?
A.They react more slowly to a single picture or sound |
B.They react as fast as others to a single picture or sound |
C.It takes them longer to react to sounds and pictures together |
D.It is difficult for them to understand before seeing the word |
How does the author suggest Dyslexics are taught based on the research finding?
A.by putting hearing previous to seeing |
B.by training the attention on games |
C.by seeing first and then hearing later |
D.by moving the eyes around the screen |
What can be the best title of the passage?
A.Video Games Might Help Dyslexics |
B.Dyslexia Affects Attention between Senses |
C.Video Games Can Train the Attention System |
D.Dyslexics Might Learn Better through Sound |
(6)阅读理解
It is time for students to sell such things as chocolate bars and greeting cards to raise money for their school, class or club. It is inevitable that they will knock on your door and you will easily hand ever your cash for overpriced items that you really do not want. That is okay, though, because there are many reasons why children should be allowed to raise money for their schools and clubs.
Fundraising(自筹资金) is a great way to help children learn social skills. It is not easy to go up to a complete stranger and ask them for their money. They have to nicely ask for help, show the interested buyer what they have to offer and explain how it will help them in school. If someone refuses to buy an item, that child has to take the failure in stride(从容处理), and that is a learning lesson as well.
Students can learn how to deal with money by fundraising. Of course, it might seem safer for us to take charge of our children’s earnings from their fundraising before it is turned in to the school. However, by making them keep track of it, count it, and make sure everyone pays the right amount, they are learning an important lesson. Dealing with money is important to know about when they are older.
Fundraising helps improve their schools. It is the child’s school. They have to learn there and grow there. Why not let them help in making it a better place? When one of our local schools lacked funding for sports, the students and parents joined hands to raise that money needed. When they succeeded, they felt they accomplished something important.
Fundraising allows for more life experiences for the child. Most fundraising is done for individual classes and clubs. The raised money is used towards things like parties, trips. The children receive the rewards for their hard work at raising the money. Without fundraising, these field trips and special school memories would be missed.
In a word, fundraising helps children a lot in many ways.
1. We can infer that the author is probably a .
A. manager B. student C. parent D. officer
2. What is the main idea of this passage?
A. Children should be allowed to fundraise.
B. Fundraising is good for both families and children.
C. Children should learn to deal with money.
D. Children should be taught how to fundraise.
3. Which of the following is not the benefits of fundraising by students?
A. It’s a good way to gain social skills for students.
B. Students can master the skills in financing through it.
C. It can help students get high mark at school.
D. It gives students many valuable life experiences.
4. The author thinks that fundraising .
A. adds to the family’s burden B. wastes the learning time
C. cultivates the children’s character D. builds up the children’s bodies
5. Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?
CP: Central point P: Point Sp: Sub-point(次要点) C: Conclusion
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A
(5)阅读理解
Can you believe your eyes? A recent experiment suggests that the answer to that question may depend on your age.
Martin Doherty, a psychologist at the University of Stirling in Scotland, led the team of scientists. In this experiment, Doherty and his team tested the perception(观察力) of some people, using pictures of some orange circles. The researchers showed the same pictures to two groups of people. The first group included 151 children aged 4 to 10, and the second group included 24 adults aged 18 to 25.
The first group of pictures showed two circles alone on a white background. One of the circles was larger than the other, and these people were asked to identify the larger one. Four-year-olds identified the correct circle 79 percent of the time. Adults identified the correct circle 95 percent of the time.
Next, both groups were shown a picture where the orange circles, again of different sizes, were surrounded by gray circles. Here’s where the trick lies in. In some of the pictures, the smaller orange circle was surrounded by even smaller gray circles — making the orange circle appear larger than the other orange circle, which was the real larger one. And the larger orange circle was surrounded by even bigger gray circles — so it appeared to be smaller than the real smaller orange circle.
When young children aged 4 to 6 looked at these tricky pictures, they weren’t fooled — they were still able to find the bigger circle with roughly the same accuracy as before. Older children and adults, on the other hand, did not do as well. Older children often identified the smaller circle as the larger one, and adults got it wrong most of the time.
As children get older, Doherty said, their brains may develop the ability to identify visual context. In other words, they will begin to process the whole picture at once: the tricky gray circles, as well as the orange circle in the middle. As a result, they’re more likely to fall for this kind of visual trick.
1.Doherty and his team of scientists did an experiment to evaluate .
A.children’s and adults’ eye-sight
B.people’s ability to see accurately
C.children’s and adults’ brains
D.the influence of people’s age
2.When asked to find the larger circle, .
A.children at 6 got it wrong 79 % of the time with no gray ones around
B.only adults over 18 got it right 95% of the time with gray ones around
C.children at 4 got it right about 79 % of the time with gray ones around
D.adults got it right most of the time with gray ones around
3.According to the passage, we can know that .
A.a smaller orange circle appears bigger on a white background
B.an orange circle appears bigger than a gray one of the same size
C.a circle surrounded by other circles looks bigger than its real size
D.a circle surrounded by bigger ones looks smaller than its real size
4.Visual context may work when children get older than .
A.4 B.6 C.10 D.18
5.Why are younger children not fooled?
A.Because they are smarter than older children and adults.
B.Because older people are influenced by their experience.
C.Because people’s eyes become weaker as they grow older.
D.Because their brain can hardly notice related things together.
The way people hold to the belief that a fun - filled, pain free life equals happiness actually reduces their chances of ever attaining real happiness. If fun and pleasure are equal to happiness then pain must be equal to unhappiness. But in fact, the opposite is true: more often than not things that lead to happiness involve some pain.
As a result, many people avoid the very attempts that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain inevitably(不可避免的)brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, religious commitment (义务), self - improvement.
Ask a bachelor(单身汉)why he resists marriage even though he finds dating to be less and less satisfying. If he is honest he will tell you that he is afraid of making a commitment. For commitment is in fact quite painful. The single life is filled with fun, adventure, excitement. Marriage has such moments, but they are not its most distinguishing features.
Couples with infant children are lucky to get a whole night’s sleep or a three - day vacation. I don’t know any parent who would choose the word fun to describe raising children. But couples who decide not to have children never know the joys of watching a child grow up or of playing with a grandchild.
Understanding and accepting that true happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the most liberating realizations. It liberates(解放) time: now we can devote more hours to activities that can genuinely increase our happiness. It liberates money: buying that new car or those fancy clothes that will do nothing to increase our happiness now seems pointless. And it liberates us from envy: we now understand that all those who are always having so much fun actually may not be happy at all.
1. According to the author, a bachelor resists marriage chiefly because _______ .
A. he finds more fun in dating than in marriage
B. he believes that life will be more cheerful if he remains single
C. he is reluctant to take on family responsibilities
D. he fears it will put an end to all his fun adventure and excitement
2. Raising children, in the author’s opinion is ________ .
A. a rewarding task B. a thankless job
C. a moral duty D. a source of inevitable pain
3. From the last paragraph, we learn that envy sometimes stems from ________
A. hatred B. ignorance C. prejudice D. misunderstanding
4. To understand what true happiness is one must ________ .
A. have as much fun as possible during one’s lifetime
B. be able to distinguish happiness from fun
C. put up with pain under all circumstances
D. make every effort to liberate oneself from pain
5. What is the author trying to tell us?
A. It is important to make commitments
B. One must know how to attain happiness.
C. Happiness often goes hand in hand with pain.
D. It is pain that leads to happiness.
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1. What is the purpose of the text?
A. To introduce a language school in Japan.
B. To hire language teachers to work in Japan.
C. To describe working conditions in Japan.
D. To make clear the requirements for Japanese teachers.
2. We know from the text that those who are going to Japan will _______.
A. teach English only in Osaka
B. receive a degree from a university
C. have free accommodation
D. get trained for the job
3. Before going to Japan, you need _______.
A. to see the manager of NOVA France B. to take some computer courses
C. to write a letter to Japan D. to find a place to live
4. If you want to work in Japan you should _______.
A. have some working experience B. know how to use computers
C. present good teaching plans D. speak several languages
In the U.S., people prefer waiting for a table to sitting with people they don’t know. This means a hostess may not seat a small group until a small table is available, even if a large one is. If you are sitting at a table with people you don’t know, it is impolite to light up a cigarette without first asking if it will disturb them.
At American restaurants and coffee shops you are usually served tap water before you order. You may find the bread and butter is free, and if you order coffee, you may get a free refill.
Most cities and towns have no rules about opening and closing time for stores or restaurants, though they usually do make rules for bars. Especially in large cities, stores may be open 24 hours a day.
Serving in restaurants are often large, too large for many people. If you can’t finish your meal but would like to enjoy the food later, ask your waitress or waiter for a “doggie bag”. It may have a picture of a dog on it, but everybody knows you’re taking the food for yourself.
“Supper” and “dinner” are both words for the evening meal. Some people have “Sunday dinner”. This is an especially big noon meal.
Tips are not usually added to the check. They are not included in the price of the meal, either. A tip of about 15% is expected and you should leave it on the table when you leave. In some restaurants, a check is brought on a plate and you put your money there. Then the waiter or waitress brings you your change.
1. According to the passage, which statement is true?
A. American people like sitting with people they don’t know.
B. A Hostess always seats a small group at a large table.
C. American people never sit with people they don’t know.
D. American people would not light up a cigarette if the people who sit at the same table mind their smoking.
2. What is served before you order? ______ .
A. Cold water B. Bread C. Coffee D. Butter
3. What do American people always do when servings are too large for them?
A. They take the food home with a doggie bag for their dogs.
B. They leave the food on the table and go away.
C. They ask the waitress or waiter to keep the food for them.
D. They take the food home with a doggie bag and enjoy the food later.
4. What can you learn about “tips” according to the passage?
A. Tips are usually included in the total check.
B. A 15 percent tip in large cities indicates satisfactory service.
C. Tips are supposed to be left on the table when customers leave.
D. People are not expected to pay tips in addition.