Our brains work in complex and strange ways. There are some people who can calculate the day of the week for any given date in 40,000 years, but who cannot add two plus two. Others can perform complex classical piano pieces after hearing them once, but they cannot read or write.
Dr. J. Langdon Down first described this condition in 1887. He called these people idiot savants. An idiot savant is a person who has significant mental injury, such as in autism (自闭症) or retardation. At the same time, the person also exhibits some extraordinary skills, which are unusual for most people. The skills of the savant may vary from being exceptionally gifted in music or in mathematics, or having a photographic memory.
One of the first descriptions of a human who could calculate quickly was written in 1789 by Dr. Benjamin Rush, an American doctor. His patient, Thomas Fuller, was brought to Virginia as a slave in 1724. It took Thomas only 90 seconds to work out that a man who has lived 70 years, 17 days, and 12 hours has lived 2,210,500,800 seconds. Despite this ability, he died in 1790 without ever learning to read or write.
Another idiot savant slave became famous as a pianist in the 1860s. Blind Tom had a vocabulary of only 100 words, but he played 5,000 musical pieces beautifully.
In the excellent movie Rain Man, made in 1988 and available on video cassette, Dustin Hoffman plays an idiot savant who amazes his brother played by Tom Cruise, with his ability to perform complex calculations very rapidly.
Today we more clearly recognize that the idiot savant is special because of brain impairment. Yet not all brain injury leads to savant skills. Some studies have shown that people who have purposeful interruption of the left side of the brain can develop idiot savant skills. However few people wish to participate in such experiments. There are many excellent reasons for not undergoing unnecessary experimentation on one’s brain. The term idiot savant is outdated and inappropriate. Virtually all savants have a high degree of intelligence and are thus not idiots.What does the passage mainly talk about?
| A．Idiot savants have areas of outstanding abilities. |
| B．Human Beings have complicated thinking process. |
| C．The brains of the idiot savants are partly impaired. |
| D．The reasons why people have wonderful skills vary. |
Which of the following can be done by Rain Man?
| A．He can play wonderful pieces of classical music. |
| B．He can guess out exactly the length of a man’s life. |
| C．He can memorize the contents of the pictures fast. |
| D．He can count matches dropped on the floor quickly. |
What can you infer from the passage?
| A．Idiot savants have real talents for art and math. |
| B．Dr. Down is the first person who found idiot savants. |
| C．Few people wish to risk becoming savants by brain operations. |
| D．Intentional left brain impairments will surely lead to idiot savants. |
Language is always changing. In a society where life continues year after year with few changes, the language does not change either. The earliest known languages had difficult grammar but a small, limited vocabulary. Over the century, the grammar changed, and the vocabulary grew. For example, the English and Spanish people who came to America during the sixteenth century gave names to all the new plants and animals they found. In this way, hundreds of new words were introduced into English and Spanish vocabularies. Today life is changing very fast, and language is changing fast too.
There are several major(主要) language families in the world. Some scientists say there are nine main families, but other scientists divide them differently. The languages in each family are connected, and scientists think that they came from the same parent language. About 3 percent of the people in the world speak languages that are not in these major families.The early language had ________.
| A．a lot of problems | B．words and easy grammar |
| C．words but no grammar | D．grammar but not many words |
In the next few hundred years we can expect language to _____.
| A．stay exactly the same |
| B．change a great deal |
| C．change only a little |
| D．ask more words and drop some grammar |
What this article shows is that _____.
| A．languages change fast |
| B．languages really don't want to change |
| C．language really with changes in society |
| D．Spanish and English change |
Tea drinking was common in China for nearly one thousand years before anyone in Europe had ever heard about tea．People in Britain were much slower in finding out what tea was like, mainly because tea was very expensive. It could not be bought in shops and even those people who could afford to have it sent from Holland did so only because it was a fashionable curiosity. Some of them were not sure how to use it. They thought it was a vegetable and tried cooking the leaves. Then they served them mixed with butter and salt. They soon discovered their mistake but many people used to spread the used tea leaves on bread and give them to their children as sandwiches.
Tea remained scarce and very expensive in England until the ships of the East India Company began to bring it direct from China early in the seventeenth century. During the next few years so much tea came into the country that the price fell and many people could afford to buy it.
At the same time people on the Continent were becoming more and more fond of tea．Until then tea had been drunk without milk in it, but one day a famous French lady named Madame de Sevigne decided to see what tea tasted like when milk was added．She found it so pleasant that she would never again drink it without milk. Because she was such a great lady her friends thought they must copy everything she did, so they also drank their tea with milk in it. Slowly this habit spread until it reached England and today only very few Britons drink tea without milk.
At first, tea was usually drunk after dinner in the evening No one ever thought of drinking tea in the afternoon until a duchess (公爵夫人) found that a cup of tea and a piece of cake at three or four o’clock stopped her getting “a sinking feeling” as she called it. She invited her friends to have this new meal with her and so, tea-time was born.Which of the following is true of the introduction of tea into Britain?
| A．The Britons got expensive tea from India. |
| B．Tea reached Britain from Holland. |
| C．The Britons were the first people in Europe who drank tea. |
| D．It was not until the 17th century that the Britons had tea. |
This passage mainly discusses_____________.
| A．the history of tea drinking in Britain |
| B．how tea became a popular drink in Britain |
| C．how the Britons got the habit of drinking tea |
| D．how tea-time was born |
Tea became a popular drink in Britain.
| A．in eighteenth century |
| B．in sixteenth century |
| C．in seventeenth century |
| D．in the late seventeenth century |
People in Europe began to drink tea with milk because.
| A．it tasted like milk |
| B．it tasted more pleasant |
| C．it became a popular drink |
| D．Madame de Sevinge was such a lady with great social influence that people tried to copy the way she drank tea |
We may infer from the passage that the habit of drinking tea in Britain was mostly due to the influence of ________.
| A．a famous French lady | B．the ancient Chinese |
| C．the upper social class | D．people in Holland |
People in the United States honor their parents with 2 special days: Mother’s Day on the second Sunday in May and Father’s Day on the 3rd Sunday in June. These days are to show love and respect for parents. They raise their children and educate them to be responsible citizens. They give love and care. These two days offer an opportunity to think about the changing roles of mothers and fathers. More mothers now work outside the home and more fathers must help with childcare.
These two special days are celebrated in many different ways. On mother’s Day, people wear carnations. A red one symbolizes a living mother. A white one shows that the mother is dead. Many people attend religious services to honor parents. It’s also a day when people whose parents are dead visit the cemetery(grave). On these days families get together at home as well as in restaurants. They often have outdoor barbecue for Father’s Day. These are days of fun and good feelings and memories.
Another tradition is to give cards and gifts. Children make them in school. Many people make their own presents. These are more valued than those bought in stores. It’s not the value of the gift that is important, but “the thought that counts”. Greeting card stores, florists, candy makers, bakers, phone companies and other stores do lots of business during these holidays.Which is NOT a reason for children to show love and respect for parents?
| A．Parents bring up children. |
| B．Parents give love and care to children. |
| C．Parents educate children to be good persons. |
| D．Parents pass away before children grow up. |
What do you know from the passage?
| A．Both festivals are in May. |
| B．Fewer women worked outside the home in the past. |
| C．Not all the children respect their parents. |
| D．Fathers are not as important as mothers at home. |
Which do you know about “carnation”?
| A．It only has two kinds of color. |
| B．It refers to the special clothes people wear on Mother’s Day. |
| C．It’s a kind of flower showing love and best wishes. |
| D．People can wear them only on the second Sunday in May. |
On Mother’s Day and Father’s Day ___________.
| A．people sometimes have family parties |
| B．everyone goes to the cemetery |
| C．children always go to parents’ home |
| D．hand-made cards are the most valuable gifts. |
What do you think “florists” do ?
| A．They sell flowers. |
| B．They make bread or pastry. |
| C．They offer enough room for having family parties. |
| D．They sell special clothes for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. |
A fad diet is a diet that suddenly becomes popular, usually because it promises people that they will lose a lot of weight overnight. Although dieters may really show weight loss from a fad diet, they will almost certainly get back the weight if their usual eating habits (习惯) remain unchanged. Moreover, fad diets continuously call for special products of questionable value or for “health foods” that may cost twice as much as supermarket(超市) foods. Worse yet, certain fad diets don't include nutrients(营养)good for health. People have been known to become very ill as a result of following medically unhealthy diets.
The worse fact of fad diets, though, is that they keep people who are over-weight or sick from receiving the medical care that they truly need.The word “fad” in the first sentence means ______.
| A．new | B．wonderful | C．popular quickly | D．loved by people |
From the text we know that ______.
| A．people refuse to accept fad diets |
| B．fad diets can help people to lose weight |
| C．a man can lose weight after eating a fad diet |
| D．fad diets are now welcomed by people |
In the writer's opinion, fad diets______.
| A．are very helpful | B．are not healthy diet |
| C．won't cost much | D．include lots of nutrients |
A fad dieter has to ______.
| A．spend more money | B．lose much weight |
| C．keep his usual eating habits | D．go to doctors very often |
The last paragraph tells us ______.
| A．that fad dieters are often overweight |
| B．fad dieters need medical care if they are overweight or sick |
| C．how fad dieters get sick |
| D．overweight or sick fad dieter can’t get medical care in time |
Good health is the most valuable thing a person can have, but one cannot take good health for granted. It is important to remember that the body needs proper care in order to be healthy. There are three things that a person can do to help stay in good shape: eat right food ,get enough sleep, and exercise regularly.
Proper nutrition (营养) is important for good health. Your body cannot work well unless it receives the proper kind of “fuel”(燃料).Don't eat too much food with lots of sugar and fat. Eat plenty of foods high in protein (蛋白质) ,like meat, fish, eggs and nuts. Vegetables and fruits are very important because they provide necessary vitamins (维他命) and minerals. However, don't overeat. It is not helpful to be overweight.
Getting the proper amount of sleep is also important. If you don't get enough sleep, you feel tired and easily get angry. You have no energy. Over a long period of time a little a amount of sleep may even result in a change of personality (人的个性).Be sure to allow yourself from seven to nine hours of sleep each night. If you do, your body will feel strong and refreshed, and your mind will be sharp.
Finally, get plenty of exercise. Exercise firms the body, strengthens the muscles, and prevents you from gaining weight. It also improves your heart and lungs. If you follow a regular exercise program, you will probably increase your life-span (寿命).Any kind of exercise is good. Most sports are excellent for keeping the body in good shapes: basketball, swimming, bicycling, running and so on are good examples. Sports are not only good for your body, but they are enjoyable and interesting, too.
If everybody, were to eat the right foods, get plenty of sleep and exercise regularly, the world would be a happier and healthier place. We would all live to be much older and wiser.According to the passage,_________.
| A．we should always keep fit |
| B．if we were healthy, we could spend our days in doing things with less sleep |
| C．one can eat a lot to stay in good shape |
| D．one needn't take any exercise if he is healthy |
In order to keep good health, ___________ .
| A．we should eat a lot of sweets |
| B．one needs a large amount of fat |
| C．people should eat according to the foods nutrition |
| D．we must try to sleep now and then |
Eating more and sleeping less________.
| A．can keep healthy |
| B．is no good for you |
| C．gets you more energy |
| D．will keep your personality |
The writer explains ________in this passage.
| A．how to eat |
| B．the importance of doing exercise |
| C．how to keep healthy |
| D．what to eat |
The title of the article should be___________ .
| A．Eating and Exercising |
| B．How Vitamins Work in Man's Body |
| C．Staying Healthy |
| D．Sleeping Well |