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Have you ever imagined what bees can do with their tiny brains? Now scientists are looking into a bee’s brain.
Clint Perry, a scientist, has spent much time studying how bees think. He says studying bees is not very different from studying other animals. “The main difficulty is to design（设计）an experiment（实验）bee and get what we want,” he says. “With humans, we can ask them a question and get an answer. But we can’t use the same way to get an answer from bees. They are just trying to get sugar. Bees like sugar.”
The fact that bees like sugar is helpful for scientists to design experiments. For example, in one experiment, Perry gave bees a task: to find delicious sugar on a landing place above a black bar（棒）. Perry made the task easier or harder by moving the landing place farther from or closer to the black bar. He found that bees would avoid the task when it was difficult. And when the task was easy, bees would try it.
As for humans, we might choose not to take a test when we weren’t ready for it. And we might choose to take the test when we were well prepared. In the same way, bees seemed to make decisions like humans.
Perry points out that we are not sure whether bees actually make a thoughtful choice from experiments. Now scientists still do not know how bees manage to do so much with their tiny brains. But learning more about how bees’ brains work could help us learn more about how our own brains deal with information.
根据语篇内容，选择最佳选项。
（1）What did Perry study in his experiments?
| A． |
How bees sleep. |
B． |
How bees think. |
C． |
How bees dream. |
（2）What can we know from Paragraph 2?
| A． |
Bees can talk. |
B． |
Bees are lazy. |
C． |
Bees like sugar. |
（3）What would bees do when the task was easy according to Paragraph 3?
| A． |
They would try it. |
B． |
They would avoid it. |
C． |
They would praise it. |
（4）What’s the importance of looking into bees’ brains?
| A． |
It helps us learn how human brains work. |
| B． |
It tells us how to make thoughtful choices. |
| C． |
It lets us know how to deal with information. |
（5）Where is the article probably taken from?
| A． |
A travel magazine. |
B． |
A sports magazine. |
C． |
A science magazine. |
Oxford graduates sell faces to pay ￡50,000 university debts
Business is growing for two graduates who decided to pay off (偿清) their university debts by selling advertising space on their faces. Ross Harper and Ed Moyse, both from Oxford, are selling advertising space for hundreds of pounds a day and have earned more than ￡25,000 since setting up business last October.
Anyone can buy the advertising space, from businesses to individuals or groups, on a day-to-day basis, through the pair's website, buy my face. co. uk. The logo(标识) is then seen by people as they go about their daily business. The pair sold their first face ads to friends and family for just ￡1 a day, but as need has increased, so has the daily price, which has reached an amazing of￡400 by now, the end of May. So far, the main customers have been Paddy Power, the online betting agency(网络博彩企业) , accountancy firm(会计事务所) Ernest & Young, which is now the website's official sponsor(赞助商) Moyse and Harper said, 'It's our special way of paying off our student debts. We've seen so many students unsuccessfully applying for jobs, only to find one that they never really wanted. It's just something a bit different and has taken off quite nicely.'Why do the two Oxford graduates sell advertising space on their faces?
| A．To raise money for their friends. |
| B．To earn money for their family. |
| C．To pay off their university debts. |
| D．To pay for their online betting. |
Where can people buy their advertising space?
| A．At Oxford University. |
| B．At the website buy myface. co. uk. |
| C．At the accountancy firm |
| D．At the online betting agency. |
How much money do they earn every day on average(平均) so far?
| A．Just ￡1. | B．About ￡100. |
| C．Over ￡400. | D．Up to ￡500. |
From the last paragraph we can learn that Moyse and Harpe_______.
| A．are satisfied with their special job |
| B．have paid off their debts already |
| C．are ready to apply for another job |
| D．never really wanted to do face ads |
Saying no starts small
'All right then-just one more piece…' Words every girl has said when they are faced with the delicious cheesecake. Of course, many of us know we may eat the whole thing in the end.
It isn't just girls. Most of us find it hard to say 'no' to something attractive, However, scientists now say that willpower is very important to success and a happy life.
Scientists in different countries have been studying the effects of willpower on people's lives for a long time. The results are similar, according to an article on February 7 in the Guardian, a famous British newspaper.
In one experiment, scientists told young children that they could either have a marshmallow(圆形软糖) now, or two marshmallows in 15 minutes. Waiting obviously needed more willpower. Scientists then continued studying the children as they grew up. They wanted to see if some children always had stronger willpower. They also wanted to see how having stronger willpower affected their lives.
Years later, scientists found that the children who had waited for two marshmallows were all healthier, happier and richer adults. Oppositely, the children who had shown weaker willpower at that young age were more likely to be in low-paid jobs, to be overweight, to have social problems.
But there is hope, Roy F Baumeister, an American social psychology(心理学) professor(教授) told the Guardian. Baumeister says we can train our willpower just like we train our muscles. Even a little practice can strengthen our overall self-control if we do it regularly.
You could start by making yourself stand up straight, speaking in complete sentences, or using a computer mouse with the other hand. Scientists have found that people who manage to change little habits often perform much better in laboratory willpower tests.
Like muscles, willpower can 'get tired'. Don't try to do too many things at the same time, or when you don't have enough energy, for example when you are ill. If you already feel tired, you can try to recharge(恢复) your willpower with a good night's sleep and by eating well.The example of a girl eating cheesecake is used to_______.
| A．prove that girls have weak willpower |
| B．introduce the topic of willpower to the readers |
| C．show that cheesecake is especially attractive to girls |
| D．show the connection between willpower and success |
What can we infer from the experiment?
| A．The scientists had already known the results before the experiment. |
| B．It showed that willpower is the most important to success and a happy life. |
| C．The children who chose to wait were more likely to be successful in their lives. |
| D．The children who chose only one marshmallow at first had stronger willpower. |
Which of the following is NOT mentioned about the training of willpower?
| A．You should have a goal every day. |
| B．Good rest and proper diet can help. |
| C．Willpower needs to be exercised regularly. |
| D．Keep willpower from being used too much. |
What is the article mainly about?
| A．How willpower and muscles are similar and how they can be trained. |
| B．How willpower affects people's lives and how it is similar to muscles. |
| C．How willpower is important to success and how we can make it stronger. |
| D．How willpower is connected with success and how they affect each other. |
There is a famous English saying "You are what you eat", and it means what you put in your mouth will become part of you. Many experts（专家） use it to tell people it's important to have a good eating habit. For example, too much sweet food makes a person overweight. To avoid being fat, kids are told to keep off sweet food. However, a team of American scientists have discovered something new about eating sweet food.
"When we say some people 'sweet', we mean they are kind and friendly to us. Perhaps this word can help us learn more about people's feelings and acts." said Brian Meier, a scientist from the study team. "Taste is something we experience every day. What we have done is to find whether we can know someone's character and behavior depending on their taste."
In one of their experiments, college students were asked questions about their character- whether, for example, they were soft-hearted or not. Then they were asked to make a list of their favorite food. According to their answers, the scientists found that the students who liked sweet food were nicer.
In their another experiment, the scientists found that people who preferred sweet food such as cookies and chocolate were more willing to help other people in need, and those who ate non-sweet food such as chips weren't. For example, people with a sweet tooth were more likely to volunteer to clean up their city, visit sick children in the hospital and so on.
The result of the experiments is that people's helpfulness or being nice has something to do with their taste for sweet food. So eating sweet food is a useful way to make people nice and helpful. Next time, try some ice-cream.The underlined word "it" in the sentence "Many experts use it to tell people it's important to have a good eating habit." refers to______.
| A．the sweet food | B．the English saying |
| C．the American team | D．the eating habit |
According to the result of the experiments, sweet food makes people______.
| A．overweight | B．excited | C．relaxed | D．friendly |
The scientists found that the people who preferred______ were less helpful.
| A．chips | B．chocolate | C．ice-cream | D．cookies |
It can be learnt from the passage that______.
| A．scientists asked college students questions about their future |
| B．scientists told college students not to eat sweet food |
| C．people with a sweet tooth are more willing to help others |
| D．people's character has nothing to do with their taste |
Once there was a forest where all the animals lived happily together. One day a family went to spend the day in the forest, and the son left his socks there. After the family left, a bear came by, found the socks, and decided to try them on. They fit so well, and he liked them so much that he wouldn't take them off.
All the animals talked about the bear's new look. Soon, in that forest, there began appearing squirrels in shirts, rabbits in shoes, and even rats (老鼠) wearing hats! The forest doctor shook his head, telling animals, "This can't be good. Animals don't need clothes!" But no one listened to him. They said he was just out of fashion.
However, it wasn't long before the first results of fashion-fever came. Several times the squirrel caught his shirt on trees, stopping him in mid-jump and sending him falling to the ground from a tree. The rat couldn't go into his hole without taking off his hat first. Even the bear, because of his socks, slipped（滑到） from the river rock and almost killed himself.
When the animals came to see the doctor, he gave them all the same advice, "Take off those clothes before one day they're going to kill you." Those who listened to the doctor's advice stopped having accidents. And the animals realized that they didn't need clothes at all. Starting to wear them had been very dangerous, and they had only done it to make others admire them, and to get attention. ______ found the socks and tried them on.
| A．The son | B．The bear | C．The rabbit | D．The rat |
From the story we can know that______.
| A．the family had a good time with the bear |
| B．the animals didn't like the bear's new look |
| C．the forest doctor told the animals not to wear clothes |
| D．the squirrel couldn't go into his hole with his hat on |
The underlined sentence "it wasn't long before the first results of fashion-fever came." probably means that_______.
| A．soon the animals had a fever because of the clothes |
| B．soon the animals enjoyed wearing clothes very much |
| C．soon the animals became healthier in the warm clothes |
| D．soon the animals had lots of accidents because of the clothes |
The story is written to tell us______.
| A．helping others is helping yourself |
| B．we should be careful in the forest |
| C．things that fit yourself are the best |
| D．animals must be looked after well |
This year 2, 300 teenagers from all over the world will spend about ten months in U.S. homes. They will attend U.S. schools, meet U.S. teenagers, and form impressions (印象) of the real American teenagers. American teenagers will go to other countries to learn new languages and have a new understanding of the rest of the world.
Here is a two-way student exchange in action. Fred, nineteen, spent last year in Germany with George's family. In return, George's son, Mike, spent a year in Fred's home in America.
Fred, a lively young man, knew little German when he arrived, but after two months' study, the language began to come to him. School was completely different from what he had expected -much harder. Students rose respectfully (尊敬地) when the teacher entered the room. They took fourteen subjects instead of the six that are usual in the United States. There were almost no outside activities.
Family life, too, was different. The family's word was law, and all activities were around the family rather than the individual. Fred found the food too simple at first. Also, he missed having a car.
"Back home, you pick up some friends in a car and go out and have a good time. In Germany, you walk, but you soon learn to like it."
At the same time, in America, Mike, a friendly German boy, was also forming his idea. "I suppose I should criticize(批评)American schools." He says. "It is far too easy by our level. But I have to say that I like it very much. In Germany we do nothing but study. Here we take part in many outside activities. I think that maybe your schools are better in training for citizens. There ought to be some middle ground between the two."The whole exchange program is mainly to______.
| A．help teenagers in other countries know the real America |
| B．send students in America to travel in Germany |
| C．let students learn something about other countries |
| D．have teenagers learn new languages |
What did Fred and Mike agree on?
| A．American food tasted better than German food. |
| B．German schools were harder than American schools. |
| C．Americans and Germans were both friendly. |
| D．There were more cars on the streets in America. |
What is particular in American schools?
| A．There is some middle ground between the two teaching buildings. |
| B．There are a lot of after-school activities. |
| C．Students usually take 14 subjects in all. |
| D．Students go outside to enjoy themselves in a car. |
What did Mike think after experiencing the American school life?
| A．A better education should include something good from both America and Germany. |
| B．German schools trained students to be better citizens. |
| C．American schools were not as good as German schools. |
| D．The easy life in the American school was more helpful to students. |