Associate Professor Junichiro Kawahara and a colleague divided the subjects into two groups — one asked to carry out tests in the presence of an Apple iPhone next to a computer monitor, and the other in the presence of a notebook.
The test involved asking the participant to search for a particular character among a mess of other characters on the screen.
Researchers measured the time it took to find the target.
The results of the experiment found that those with the mobile phone took longer to find the character, indicating that participants were automatically distracted by the presence of the phone.
The researchers suggest that people are drawn to the presence of a mobile phone, although there are individual differences in how one attempts to ignore it.
In conclusion.
Professor Kawahara said.
“The mere presence of a mobile phone was a distraction among infrequent internet users.
”
Another finding is that listening to one half of a mobile phone conversation also distracts people, and other studies have found that placing a mobile phone in view has a negative impact on the quality of face-to-face communications.
Holding a mobile phone makes you less likely to get a fair hearing from others.
191．What is the first paragraph mainly about?
A．A mobile phone won’t distract people unless it’s ringing.
B．People find it hard to concentrate if their phones are present.
C．Text messages distract people even if phones are power off.
D．A paper notepad can help people record much information.
192．Who will be affected most according to the findings?
A．People irregularly using phones.
B．People regularly using phones.
C．People usually using notepads.
D．People always using computers.
193．In a face-to-face communication, what is the effect of putting a mobile phone in sight?
A．It makes listeners feel much awkward.
B．It causes other people to lose respect for you.
C．It reduces people’s attention to what they are listening to.
D．It makes the air of the conversation more pleasant.
194．What can we learn from the text?
A．People perform worse with a mobile phone at hand.
B．Mobile phones do a lot of damage to people’s health.
C．People working with mobile phones will do very well.
D．Phones should be banned in all schools and universities.
Amy Maplethorpe, a first-year speech-language teacher at Raymond Ellis Primary School, used tennis balls, a hot glue gun, Mod Podge and a bit of paint to create two chairs that help students with sensory (感官的) problems.
According to the school’s Facebook page, which became very popular, the chairs provide a “different texture (质地) to improve sensory regulation (调控).
”
Maplethorpe told ABC News that the chairs will service about 15 to 20 students.
Children with sensory problems often have a hard time “dealing with sensory information”.
Things, such as coats, blankets and Maplethorpe’s chairs, often comfort a student.
Maplethorpe was excited to create the chair after seeing something similar on a website, and she made some changes to the idea.
“I wanted to continue to help students with sensory problems at Ellis and provide a different kind of seat for the students,” she continued.
“I was excited that this chair could help my students.
’’
The two chairs are now in the school’s sensory room, which was created recently, according to headmaster, Beth Kiewicz.
“When a child’s sensory needs are met, we then can move on to their needs in study,” Kiewicz, who has led the school for six years, told ABC News.
Maplethorpe said the chairs have already made a difference for some of her students.
“Students have become more patient, and have followed directions, while waiting for activities,” she said.
195．What gave Maplethorpe the idea to create the tennis ball chair?
A．Service in the sensory room.
B．Chairs in the teachers’ office.
C．Something similar on a website.
D．Encouragement from the headmaster.
196．How can the tennis ball chair help children with sensory problems?
A．It helps students with sensory regulation.
B．It causes students to be more restless.
C．It improves students’ memory.
D．It makes students sleep well.
197．According to the article, the tennis ball chair ________.
A．is not easy to make
B．has been proved helpful
C．can service more than 20 students
D．is the best way to treat sensory problems
You might think that “global warming” means nothing more than a rise in the world’s temperature.
But, rising sea levels caused by it have resulted in the first evacuation (撤离) of an island nation—the citizens of Tuvalu will have to leave their homeland.
During the 20th century, sea level rose 8—12 inches.
As a result, Tuvalu has experienced lowland flooding of salt water which has polluted the country’s drinking water.
Paani Laupepa, a Tuvaluan government official, reported to the Earth Policy Institute that the nation suffered an unusually high number of fierce storms in the past ten years.
Many scientists connect higher surface water temperatures resulting from global warming to greater and more damaging storms.
Laupepa expressed dissatisfaction with the United States for refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement calling for industrialized nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, which are a main cause of global warming.
“By refusing to sign the agreements the US has effectively taken away the freedom of future generations of Tuvaluans to live where their forefathers have lived for thousands of years,” Laupepa told the BBC．
Tuvalu has asked Australia and New Zealand to allow the gradual move of its people to both countries, Tuvalu is not the only country that is vulnerable (易受影响的) to rising sea levels.
Maumoon Gayoon, president of the Maldives, told the United Nations that global warming has made his country of 311,000 an “endangered nation”.
198．The text is mainly about .
A．rapid changes in earth’s temperature
B．bad effects of global warming
C．moving of a country to a new place
D．reasons for lowland flooding
199．According to scientists t the direct cause of more and fiercer storms is .
A．greenhouse gas emissions in industrialized nations
B．higher surface water temperatures of the sea
C．continuous global warming
D．rising sea levels
200．Laupepa was not satisfied with the United States because it did not .
A．agree to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions
B．sign an agreement with Tuvalu
C．allow Tuvaluans to move to the US
D．believe the problems facing Tuvalu were real
201．The country whose situation is similar to that of Tuvalu is .
A．Australia B．New Zealand
C．the Maldives D．the United States
China is determined to land its astronauts on the moon and set up a scientific station there,according to a project leader.
Zhou Yanfei,deputy chief designer of China's manned space program,said on Friday that China wishes to use the manned lunar missions to carry out scientific surveys and technology demonstrations,explore ways to develop lunar resources and strengthen the nation's space capabilities.
＂A new wave of lunar explorations has been emerging in the world,with participants aiming to make sustainable missions to deepen knowledge of the moon and exploit resources there,"he said in a report delivered at the 2020 China Space Conference in Fuzhou,Fujian province.
"Unlike other nations,China must depend on its own science and technology to realize our goals.
"
The country is independently able to land its astronauts on the moon because it has the technologies,a group of well-trained,innovative professionals and high-efficiency research and management systems,Zhou said.
"However,our existing carrier rockets can't perform landing missions to the moon because they are not powerful enough.
The Shenzhou- series manned spaceships are not suitable for lunar expeditions.
We don't have a lunar landing capsule,"he said.
"Our ground support system was designed for operations in low-Earth orbit rather than on the lunar surface.
To solve the problem, we set out to produce a powerful launch vehicle.
Zhou said researchers thought about two approaches-making a new heavy-lift rocket,or adjusting the next-generation rocket designed to carry astronauts,which is under development.
Researchers prefer the latter approach because it would be easier to design and make and would become operational earlier.
The new rocket is being designed at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology.
Its main body will be 87 meters tall,with a diameter of 5 meters,which would make it almost twice as tall as the Long March 5,currently the biggest of China's rockets.
202．Which is NOT the goal of the manned lunar mission?
A．To explore lunar resources.
B．To perform scientific experiments.
C．To set up a scientific station.
D．To strengthen the national space power.
203．What is the main idea of paragraph 4?
A．China is not capable of pursuing the manned lunar program.
B．There are still difficulties in pursuing the manned lunar program.
C．There are a series of steps in the Manned Lunar program.
D．It is manageable to carry out the Manned Lunar program.
204．What can we infer from the passage?
A．Nations must depend on themselves to explore the moon.
B．The Long March 5 is the biggest of China's rocket.
C．The newly-designed rocket will not carry astronauts.
D．Producing a powerful launch vehicle is the most difficult part in the program.
205．What do the figures in the last paragraph imply?
A．The new rocket is big enough to perform landing missions.
B．The new rocket is being made to launch lunar spaceship.
C．China's scientific power has improved.
D．The new rocket will be put into use soon.
阅读理解
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。
A recent announcement by scientists that they have successfully cloned the first human embryo(胚胎) has caused much debate and has shocked many people around the world.
On the one hand, some scientists point out that if you clone an embryo, you can produce valuable tissues(组织) and organs that could be used to save human lives.
On the other hand, many people, including some scientists, disagree and fear that if mankind interferes with (干涉) nature in this way, they may be on their way to producing a real-life Frankenstein's monster.
Cloning is producing an exact copy of a plant or an animal using its cells.
The first mammal to be cloned successfully from an adult cell was Dolly—the sheep.
She was born in 1996 and died in early 2003, at a much younger age than normal.
When she was born, many people were angry because they thought cloning would create more diseases in the animal world.
However, in general the scientists were praised for their wonderful scientific breakthrough.
The Scottish scientist who created Dolly, Ian Wilmut, is shocked that some scientists are now considering cloning human beings.
Although he researches cloning, he has never thought of creating copies of humans.
Instead, he thinks the scientists should concentrate on creating new tissues and organs that could eventually be used to cure diseases like cancer.
However, some people consider that cloning human embryos with the intention of destroying them shows no respect for human lives.
While cloning human embryos is illegal in many countries, some scientists are already pushing ahead with the research so as to deliver a cloned human baby.
Severino Antinori, an Italian doctor, is one of the leaders in this field of research.
He has declared that he wants to be the first to clone a human being.
In China, scientists have focused their efforts on cloning animals, as well as stem cells to be used in medical research.
China has succeeded in producing clones of cows and goats, and continues to research ways in which cloning can benefit mankind.
206．Which of the following statements about cloning is TRUE according to the passage?
A．Cloning technology can only be applied to animals.
B．A cloned animal can live longer than a normal one.
C．People all over the world are happy about the birth of Dolly.
D．Cloning can produce valuable tissues and organs to cure human diseases.
207．The reasons why some people disagree with cloning include the following EXCEPT that .
A．cloning may produce a real-life Frankenstein's monster
B．cloning might create more diseases in the animal world
C．cloning human embryos shows no respect for human lives
D．cloning can't help those who want to clone their dead children
208．Who is in favor of cloning human beings?
A．Ian Wilmut.
B．Severino Antinori.
C．The author.
D．The Chinese scientists.
Have you ever wondered why certain people always say they are lucky? Some people say the secret of being born lucky is probably a summer birthday.
May babies are the most likely to enjoy a lifetime of good fortune, a study of 40,000 people has found.
The time of year you are born has a lasting influence on optimism (乐观) and whether people think they are lucky, British and Swedish scientists said.
May is the luckiest month to be born in, with half of those born then considering themselves lucky.
October is the least lucky month with only 43 percent claiming good fortune.
The study adds to evidence that luck is not all down to chance, but is also affected by a person’s attitude.
Another research has shown that whether people think themselves lucky depends more on having a “glass half-full” (instead of “half-empty”) approach to life, than on success.
Professor Richard Wiseman, who led the study, said, “Something is influencing how people feel about their luck.
People create their own luck through their attitude towards life.
”
Luck is a psychological phenomenon (心理现象) and not a matter of blind chance.
There could be two reasons why those born in spring and summer reported themselves luckier than those born in autumn or winter.
“One theory is that the temperature at the time of birth might be helpful to the development of the brain.
” He said.
“People born in winter are more likely to suffer from depression”.
He said another possible reason is that mothers may be in a bad mood during winter, which influences their babies.
The researchers said their findings were based on statistics only, and would not be true for everyone.
What’s depression? Clinical depression is when one feels so sad and hopeless that sometimes he can’t imagine being happy.
The misery (苦恼) becomes so deep that you don’t feel like participating in life.
People who are chronically depressed usually have physical problems like stomachaches, headaches, and lack of energy.
As you probably know, some people experience such deep depression that they believe suicide (kill yourself) is the only way to escape their pain.
209．Why can your birthday influence your attitude towards life?
A．The time of your birthday decides how fortunate you will be.
B．Mothers may feel differently in different seasons, and their moods influence their babies.
C．How successful you will be lies in the hour of your birthday.
D．How you feel about your health is influenced by the time of your birthday.
210．Having a “glass half-full” approach to life is a (an) ________ attitude.
A．optimistic B．pessimistic (悲观的)
C．lucky D．depressing
211．Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A．People born in summer are probably more optimistic than those born in winter.
B．A person’s luck may be affected by his attitude.
C．Depression may harm one’s physical health.
D．Luck is never a matter of chance.
212．According to the research result, one’s luck mainly depends on ________.
A．chance B．the month to be born in
C．one’s attitude to life D．health state
阅读理解。
阅读短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
For anyone still doubting the belief that our emotions influence our physical health, a new study from New Zealand should be able to settle the matter.
It reports that the physical wounds of healthy seniors healed more quickly if they wrote about their most upsetting experiences.
This confirms the results of a 2010 study, and extends those findings to cover older adults—a group that is likely to suffer wounds (as from surgery), and one with less access to other ways of lowering tension (such as exercise).
Reported in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, a research team led by the University of Auckland’s Elizabeth Broadbent made a study featuring 50 healthy adults ranging in age from 64 to 97.
They were asked to write for 20 minutes per day for three consecutive (连续的) days.
Half were asked to write about the most upsetting experience in their life, describing their deepest thoughts, feelings, and emotions about the events, ideally not previously shared with others.
The others were asked to write about their daily activities without mentioning emotions, opinions or beliefs.
Two weeks after the third day of writing, all participants received a standard 4mm skin biopsy (皮下活体组织检查) on their inner arm.
The very tiny wounds caused by the biopsy were photographed regularly over the following days to determine the rate at which they healed.
On the 11th day after the biopsy, the wounds completely healed on 76.
2 percent of those who had done the expressive writing.
That was true of only 42.
1 percent of those who had written about everyday activities.
“The biological and psychological mechanisms (机体) behind this effect remain unclear,” the researchers wrote, noting that those who had done the expressive writing did not report lower stress levels or fewer depressive symptoms than the others in the control group.
Even if they weren’t consciously aware of feeling more relaxed or positive, the expressive writing appeared to have caused some sort of bodily reaction—probably involving their immune systems—thathastenedtheir recovery.
213．What was the difference between the two groups of participants in the study?
A．What they wrote.
B．Where they wrote.
C．When they wrote.
D．How often they wrote.
214．According to the text, the experiment lasted __________.
A．about three days B．about a month
C．about two weeks D．about ten days
215．The underlined word “hastened” in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to _______.
A．speeded B．showed C．limited D．ruined
216．What would be the best title of the text?
A．Sharing with others can reduce stress.
B．Skin biopsies are likely to cause wounds.
C．Expressive writing heals physical wounds.
D．Upsetting experiences influence our emotions.
If English means endless new words, difficult grammar and sometimes strange pronunciation, you are wrong.
Haven’t you noticed that you have become smarter since you started to learn a language?
According to a new study by a British university, learning a second language can lead to an increase in your brain power.
Researchers found that learning other languages changes grey matter.
This is the area of the brain which processes information.
It is similar to the way that exercise builds muscles.
The study also found the effect is greater when the younger people learn a second language.
A team led by Dr.
Andrea Mechelli, from London University, took a group of Britain people who only spoke English.
They were compared with a group of “early bilinguals” who had learnt a second language before the age of five, as well as a number of later learners.
Scans showed that grey matter density in the brain was greater in bilinguals than in people without a second language.
But the longer a person waited before mastering a new language, the smaller the difference was.
“Our findings suggest that the structure of the brain is changed by the experience of learning a second language,” said the scientists.
It means that the change itself increases the ability to learn.
Professor Dylan Vaughan Jones of the University of Wales has researched the link between bilingualism and math skill.
“Having two languages gives you two windows on the world and makes the brain more flexible,” he said.
“You are actually going beyond language and have a better understanding of different ideas.
”
The findings were matched in a study of native Italian speakers who had learned English as a second language between the ages of 2 and 34.
Reading, writing and comprehension were all tested.
The results showed that the younger they started to learn, the better.
“Studying a language means you get an entrance to another world,” explained the scientists.
217．The main subject talked about in this passage is .
A．science on learning a second language
B．man’s ability of learning a second language
C．language can help brain power
D．language learning and math study
218．In the second paragraph, the writer mentions “exercise” in order to .
A．say language is also a kind of physical labor
B．prove that one needs more practice when he/she is learning a language
C．show the importance of using the language when you learn the language
D．make people believe language learning helps grey matter work well
219．In the last two paragraphs, the author wants to tell us that .
A．learning a second language is the same as studying math
B．early learning of a second language helps you a great deal in study other subjects
C．Italian is the best choice for you as a second language
D．we’d better choose the ages between 2 and 34 to learn a second language
Rainy days don’t have to get you down, a happiness expert has reported.
Paul Dolan, Professor of Behavioral Science at the London School of Economics, said that people only feel miserable in bad weather because they think about it too much.
Studies have shown that people who live in warm, sunny climates are no happier than those in chilly, wet climates, he says.
So the British talking about the weather may be making us gloomier(沮丧的) than the weather itself.
He said: “A study was done that measured the happiness levels of people in California compared to the North West.
“They expected that people in California would be happier because it is more sunny, but they found that levels of happiness were exactly the same.
If it is sunny every day you get used to it and the sunshine doesn’t make you any happier.
Most of the time the weather doesn’t influence our well-being at all.
But when we think about it, and think that it does, that’s when we get miserable.
”
In his new book, Happiness By Design, Dolan argues that we can think ourselves happy by taking our attention away from what makes us sad.
“Most of our anxieties come from what might be,” he argues.
“If you want to be happier, pay attention to the things that make you feel good.
”
He also claimed that a problem shared was not always a problem halved(减半).
He believed that humans are actually very good at being able to get over tragedy(悲剧) and loss.
Professor Dolan also admitted for the first time that he had a stammer(口吃), which had made his early life miserable.
He added it only got better when he learned not to pay attention to his speech problem.
“Things are never as bad as you imagine them being,” he said.
220．What has the research found?
A．British people don’t like to chat about the weather.
B．Cold days make people feel less happy.
C．People are more likely to be happy when the sun is shining.
D．Rainy days have no influence on people’s mood.
221．What does the underlined word “miserable” in the second paragraph mean?
A．Good.
B．Unhappy.
C．Cheerful.
D．Confident.
222．What is Dolan’s suggestion for being happy?
A．Don’t think too much about yourself.
B．Avoid comparing yourself to others.
C．Don’t focus on what makes you sad.
D．Avoid doing many miserable things.
223．What do we know about Professor Dolan from the text?
A．Once he couldn’t speak fluently.
B．Once he didn’t want to share his problems with others.
C．He has the ability to get over bad things.
D．He has written many books about happiness.
While dog keepers realize their dogs can read their moods accurately,scientists have always been a little doubtful.
Now thanks to some researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna,Austria,we finally have some convincing evidence.
For their study,biologist Corson Miller and his team exposed eleven selected dogs to digital images of women that were either angry or happy.
Half the dogs were rewarded for touching the screen when shown a happy face,while the other half got their treat for selecting those that appeared angry.
Interestingly,the dogs were not provided with the entire face.
Some dogs were shown only upper halves while the others observed lower halves.
That’s because the scientists believe humans show their emotions on their entire face.
After some training like how to recognize small differences like the wrinkles between the eyes or the changes in their shape that accompany the happy or angry expressions,the dogs were mostly able to identify the correct expression not only on a familiar face but on a strange face.
The researchers concluded the dogs were smart enough to read human emotions.
They also found those being trained to read angry expressions took a longer time to learn.
They guess it may be because dogs find angry faces disgusting,causing them to withdraw quickly.
However,once the smart dogs realized they were getting rewarded,the trepidation seemed to disappear.
In fact,the dogs had such a good time playing the computer "game" that scientists had a hard time keeping them away from the touch screens after the study was completed.
The researchers also noticed only dogs with a male owner had a harder time understanding the expressions correctl.
Since the touchscreen models were all females, this confirmed what has been observed in previous studies-dogs are more efficient at reading facial expressions of people that are the same gender as their owner.
224．How did the scientists conduct the experiment?
A．By mixing the selected dogs together.
B．By leaving dogs to women who are either happy or angry.
C．By showing digital pictures of women’s happy or angry faces.
D．By rewarding only half of the dogs touching the screen.
225．Which of the following statements is TRUE about the dogs in the study?
A．The dogs were not all provided with the entire face.
B．The dogs couldn’t read strangers facial emotions.
C．According to their size,the dogs were given either upper or lower halves.
D．The dogs could make out small changes accompanying facial expressions.
226．The underlined word "trepidation" in Paragraph 5 probably means _________ .
A．curiosity B．horror
C．excitement D．doubt
227．How might the results change if the dogs with female owners are shown pictures of male faces?
A．They would be scared away at the sight of the pictures.
B．They found it easy to tell the emotions on the entire face.
C．They could only tell emotions on partial faces rather than on entire faces.
D．They found it hard to tell the moods on the faces of a different gender.
China’s first home-built polar research vessel and ice breaker has been named Xuelong 2, or Snow Dragon 2, according to a report of Science and Technology Daily on Tuesday.
The construction (建造)of the ship, jointly designed by China State Shipbuilding Corporation and Finland-based Aker Arctic Technology, was launched (开始建造)by Jiangnan Shipyard (Group) in December.
The new vessel will be 122.
5 meters long and be able to break through 1.
5-meter thick ice at a maximum speed of 3 knots(节，海里), said the Polar Research Institute of China.
Xuelong 2 is scheduled to be completed in 2019, when it will team up with the country's currently only icebreaker Xuelong to form a polar research fleet, directing scientific research groups and supplying resources to polar regions.
Xuelong, the country's first icebreaker, was built in Ukraine and put into service in 1994.
China first sent a research team to the Antarctic in 1984.
Since then, the country has set up four scientific research stations in the Antarctic.
228．From the passage, China’s first icebreaker was constructed in_________.
A．Finland B．Ukraine
C．China D．America
229．The underlined word “vessel” in first paragraph probably means_________.
A．plane B．train
C．ship D．coach
230．The best title for the passage would be __________.
A．China’s first home-built icebreaker named Snow Dragon 2
B．China designed her first icebreaker by herself
C．China has established four scientific research stations in the Antarctic
D．China’s first icebreaker is being built
231．According to the passage, __________.
A．Xuelong 2 has been completed
B．The new vessel will be able to break through 3-meter thick ice
C．China’s first icebreaker was put into service in 1984
D．XUelong 2 is being constructed
While dog keepers realize their dogs can read their moods accurately,scientists have always been a little doubtful.
Now thanks to some researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna,Austria,we finally have some convincing evidence.
For their study,biologist Corson Miller and his team exposed eleven selected dogs to digital images of women that were either angry or happy.
Half the dogs were rewarded for touching the screen when shown a happy face,while the other half got their treat for selecting those that appeared angry.
Interestingly,the dogs were not provided with the entire face.
Some dogs were shown only upper halves while the others observed lower halves.
That’s because the scientists believe humans show their emotions on their entire face.
After some training like how to recognize small differences like the wrinkles between the eyes or the changes in their shape that accompany the happy or angry expressions,the dogs were mostly able to identify the correct expression not only on a familiar face but on a strange face.
The researchers concluded the dogs were smart enough to read human emotions.
They also found those being trained to read angry expressions took a longer time to learn.
They guess it may be because dogs find angry faces disgusting,causing them to withdraw quickly.
However,once the smart dogs realized they were getting rewarded,the trepidation seemed to disappear.
In fact,the dogs had such a good time playing the computer "game" that scientists had a hard time keeping them away from the touch screens after the study was completed.
The researchers also noticed only dogs with a male owner had a harder time understanding the expressions correctl.
Since the touchscreen models were all females, this confirmed what has been observed in previous studies-dogs are more efficient at reading facial expressions of people that are the same gender as their owner.
232．How did the scientists conduct the experiment?
A．By mixing the selected dogs together.
B．By leaving dogs to women who are either happy or angry.
C．By showing digital pictures of women’s happy or angry faces.
D．By rewarding only half of the dogs touching the screen.
233．Which of the following statements is TRUE about the dogs in the study?
A．The dogs were not all provided with the entire face.
B．The dogs couldn’t read strangers facial emotions.
C．According to their size,the dogs were given either upper or lower halves.
D．The dogs could make out small changes accompanying facial expressions.
234．The underlined word "trepidation" in Paragraph 5 probably means _________ .
A．curiosity B．horror
C．excitement D．doubt
235．How might the results change if the dogs with female owners are shown pictures of male faces?
A．They would be scared away at the sight of the pictures.
B．They found it easy to tell the emotions on the entire face.
C．They could only tell emotions on partial faces rather than on entire faces.
D．They found it hard to tell the moods on the faces of a different gender.
If you have ever tried a new sport or tried learning a musical instrument （ 乐 器 ） , you may well know that the hardest part is getting started.
Once you have learned the skills, they return fairly easily, even if they are not used for long periods of time.
Most experts put this down to "muscle（肌肉）memory," which means the brain remembers the action and can remember it when needed.
There is another thing that may be as important in recalling formerly learned sport skills---the mistakes made while learning the task.
The study led by Reza Shadmehr included asking volunteers to play a simple video game: hitting a red target dot （ 目 标 点 ） with a slightly smaller blue dot, similar to playing virtual darts （ 虚 拟 飞 镖 ） .
What the gamers did not know was that as soon as they mastered the game, the researchers moved the blue dot slightly off-course, so forcing them to restart the learning process.
Though the volunteers did make mistakes every time the game was changed, they got faster at mastering it.
Reza believes that this has to do with the fact that in addition to performing the task to muscle memory, the brain is also correcting each wrong move and learning how to correct it.
He compares it to having a coach that points out the mistakes and makes suggestions on how to improve.
What surprised the scientists is that making mistakes not only trains the brain to do better at a certain task, but also helps it learn faster from mistakes, even when the mistakes are made while learning an entirely different task.
The brain keeps a general record of mistakes and draws on them whenever a new sport skill is being learned, to make sure that mistakes are not made again.
This helps make leaning much faster and probably explains why people, who master one sport or musical instrument, are able to pick up others more easily.
Making mistakes is a good thing.
So the next time you are practicing playing the piano, working on your tennis skill, or learning any other sport skill, don't get discouraged by the mistakes!
236．What does the underlined word "it" in Paragraph 1 refer to?
A．The brain.
B．The action.
C．A new sport.
D．An instrument.
237．The second paragraph is mainly about
A．how Reza carried out the experiment
B．when the gamers learned a game well
C．what games the volunteers were interested in
D．why the researchers liked to play virtual games
238．What surprised Reza most about the results?
A．Mistakes make people learn faster B．Mistakes add difficulty to learning
C．Mistakes will be repeated in learning D．Mistakes speed up the actions in brain
239．From the research, we know
A．learning is a course of practice B．the brain can point out most mistakes
C．mistakes train the brain to do tasks better D．mistakes will make people discouraged
240．What is the main idea of the passage?
A．Mistakes help achieve success B．Mistakes should be corrected in time
C．Muscle memory makes you succeed D．Muscle memory shows past experience
China is embracing an era of sharing economy.
After sharing bikes, sharing books are the next trend.
The book-sharing program at Sanxiaokou Xinhua Bookstore in Hefei, capital of Anhui province, has been running for several months since its launch on July 16, 2017.
Customers are encouraged to borrow up to two books, from all books available in this store, for free via an app, pay 99 yuan online as the deposit and return the books within 10 days.
A survey of 601 app users conducted by the company in late July found that more than 90 percent of the readers said they may want to keep some of the borrowed books permanently, but they don't want to visit the store again to complete the purchase.
When another nine stores joined the book-sharing program in August, the ability to purchase the borrowed books was made available on the app.
Zhao Shiping, a manager of the Sanxiaokou store, said that the daily customer flow in the first week of the book-sharing program was about 7,000 while the figure for the same period last year was 5,000 to 6,000.
So, book-sharing will reduce barriers for book purchasing and increase customer flow, which will increase the business value of the bookstore, its brand value and increase its value as a partner for companies outside the book sales sector.
In addition to bookstores, banks have also joined the trend of book-sharing.
Two branches of China Everbright Bank introduced book loan service at the end of this July.
The service is free for seven days and 0.
1 yuan is charged after that and 0.
5 yuan after 21 days.
Readers can return borrowed books to any branch of the bank.
This book-sharing project, a cooperation between Everbright Bank and an app called Youshugongdu, which translates as "let's read books together", will be expanded to other outlets to turn each outlet into a small community library with 1,000 to 2,000 books.
241．What’s the text mainly about?
A．Banks begins to sell books
B．People tend to share books online
C．A book-sharing program has been running
D．Bookstores and banks join book-sharing economy
242．Which group is benefit of books-sharing according to Paragraph 3?
①Increasing the customer flow
②Bringing convenience to the bookstores
③Reducing the barriers for book purchasing
④Increasing the brand value of the bookstores
A．①②③ B．①②④
C．①③④ D．②③④
243．How much should you pay for borrowing a book from the China Everbright Bank for two weeks?
A．￥0.
1 B．￥0.
7
C．￥1.
4 D．￥7
244．Where does the text most probably come from?
A．A newspaper B．A science fiction
C．A technology guide D．A teaching research paper
In Mountain View, California, there’s a new pizza shop — Zume Pizza.
It has robots and algorithms(计算程序) running the shop.
Their job is to solve a familiar problem: it’s football night and you order a ham and mushroom pizza for you and your friends.
It arrives later than you’d hoped and it’s cold.
Zume co-founder Julia Collins says, “Pizza is not meant to sit in a cardboard box.
The best pizza comes right out of the oven.
”
In reality, people tend to order pizzas instead of eating them in a restaurant.
Most pizzas are delivered in a cardboard box and are not hot when they arrive, so they don’t taste that good.
Zume’s solution is a delivery truck which is equipped with 56 mini-ovens.
Here’s how it works.
A customer places an order on the app.
Inside the Zume factory, a team of mostly robots puts the 14-inch pizza into its own oven.
Whether the truck has five pizzas or 56, it needs just one human worker — to drive and deliver them to your doorstep.
“She doesn’t have to think about when to turn the ovens on or off,” Collins says.
“She doesn’t have to think about what route to take or whom to go to first.
All of that is controlled by our algorithm.
” Four minutes before the truck is scheduled to arrive at a doorstep, the algorithm starts the oven(or ovens) to finish cooking that order.
Each pizza is then put into a special pizza box, which is not made of cardboard.
The driver then parks, cuts the pizza with a special knife and delivers it hot.
When you call a pizza store and are told “It’ll take an hour,” you hang up and it doesn’t get your business.
Because Zume is run mostly by robots, it doesn’t have that problem.
This week, Zume is beginning to use trucks to deliver to real customers in Mountain View.
245．Which pizza tastes best, according to the text?
A．One that is made by a factory.
B．One that is right out of the oven.
C．One that is delivered to your home.
D．One that is packed in a cardboard box.
246．How does a customer order a pizza from Zume?
A．By making a call.
B．By using an app.
C．By contacting some robots.
D．By stopping a delivery truck.
247．What does the underlined word, “it”, in the last paragraph refer to?
A．Zume Pizza.
B．The truck.
C．The robot.
D．The pizza factory.
248．Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
A．The Most Popular Pizza Shop B．An Advanced Delivery System
C．How to Make Pizza More Delicious D．Robots Guarantee Better Pizza
Such chronic (慢性的) diseases as heart disease, stroke, cancer and lung disorders are the most leading causes of death in the world.
Yet health experts say these conditions are often the most preventable.
The World Health Organization (WHO) points out chronic diseases lead to about 17 million early deaths each year.
The United Nations (UN) agency expects more than 380 million people to die of chronic diseases by 2015.
About 80% of the deaths will happen in developing nations.
Chronic diseases now cause two-thirds of all deaths in the Asia-Pacific area.
In ten years it could be almost three-fourths.
People are getting sick in their most economically productive years.
In fact, chronic diseases are killing more middle-aged people in poorer countries than in richer ones.
The WHO estimates (估计) that chronic diseases will cost China alone more than 500,000 million dollars in the next ten years.
That estimate represents the costs of medical treatment and lost productivity.
Russia and India are also expected to face huge economic losses.
According to a WHO report, deaths from chronic diseases have increased largely as the result of economic gains in many countries.
Until recently infectious and parasitic (寄生的) diseases have been the main killers in Asia and the Pacific but they are no longer the major cause of death in most countries.
As many as 80% of the deaths from chronic diseases could be prevented, health officials say.
An important tool for governments is to limit the marketing of alcohol and tobacco to young people.
Also, more programs are needed to urge healthy eating and more physical activity.
The UN aims to reduce chronic-disease deaths by 2% each year by international action through 2015, that’s to say, 36 million lives could be saved, including 25 million in Asia and the Pacific.
249．According to the passage, chronic diseases ________.
A．can be ignored B．can be prevented
C．will disappear D．are all deadly
250．In many countries, what’s mainly responsible for increasing deaths from chronic diseases?
A．The economic development.
B．The poor living conditions.
C．Infectious and parasitic diseases.
D．Young people’s bad habits.
251．Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A．Most deaths are caused by chronic diseases in the world.
B．The middle-aged are becoming victims of chronic diseases in Asia.
C．Infectious and parasitic diseases are no longer death killers.
D．To reduce chronic-disease deaths needs worldwide efforts.
252．The best title for the passage would be “________”.
A．Different Measures to Fight Chronic Diseases
B．The WHO’s Report on Heath in Developing Countries
C．The UN: the Leader of International Community
D．Chronic Diseases: the World’s Leading Killer
Garbage or trash is a major kind of environmental pollution.
Each person produces about 2kg of trash a day.
We are making waste products faster than nature can break them down.
And we are using up resources（资源）faster than they can be replaced（取代）.
This adds up to trouble for the environment.
Where does all that garbage go?What can be done to help dispose of（处理）garbage?How call we make less garbage?
Garbage isn't just the smelly rotting fruits,vegetables or meat that we throw away in our homes.
Those are only a small pan of all the stuff we throw away.
We create other kinds of waste,in construction,mining and in our factories.
Did you ever wonder what happens to your garbage?Most is burned or buried in landfills（垃圾填埋场）Less than a quarter of our waste is recycled.
With a population of 1.
3 billion（十亿）,garbage is a big problem for China.
Chinese cities create around 148 million tons of garbage every year.
The amount is growing at around 10 percent each year.
Once we used about 3 billion plastic shopping bags every day in China.
The result was a great waste of resources and serious pollution.
So we did something about that.
Now we use more cloth bags and shopping baskets when we shop.
In the coming years China will build waste-to-energy plants in cities to clean up the garbage.
But there’s a lot more that needs to be done.
And you can play a part.
253．What can be learned from the first paragraph?
A．Garbage is the most serious environmental pollution.
B．Each person produces 20kg of garbage a week.
C．Nature can break the garbage down as soon as we produce it.
D．We may use up our resources before they can be replaced.
254．Which of the following places probably produce the most garbage?
A．homes B．schools
C．factories D．banks
255．The underlined word "plant" in the last paragraph means_____.
A．植物 B．种植
C．设备 D．工厂
256．What is the best title for the article?
A．How to deal with garbage in daily life.
B．Let's make the Earth a cleaner place.
C．New resources.
D．Problems in big cities.
257．Who do you think the writer most likely is?
A．An English scientist.
B．A Chinese journalist.
C．A UN governor.
D．An American student.
Most maps show places you can visit and how to get there． Most maps, however, were not made by astronomers． At a recent meeting in Texas, three teams of these scientists presented new maps to show where dark matter was．
Dark matter neither produces nor reflects light, which means it's invisible (看不见) to human eyes and to most scientific instruments． That makes it a challenge to measure and study． What makes the matter more upset: Scientific measurements show that the universe holds about five times． as much dark matter as ordinary matter． Making up the known part of the universe, ordinary matter includes you, your dog, Earth, the sun, stars and planets．
Scientists find dark matter in the same way, they discover other things we can't see-by observing how the invisible matter affects things we can see． We can't see wind, for example, but we can feel a gentle wind or watch a windmill( 风车) turning on a hill． Dark matter doesn't turn windmills, but it does have gravity． Like ordinary matter, dark matter holds everything around it firmly with gravity． Dark matter's gravity holds galaxies (星系) together and bends rays of light as they move past．
To make the new maps, astronomers trained powerful telescopes to watch for bending light arriving from distant galaxies． These telescopes recorded light that came from galaxies billions of light-years away． By studying how the light changed as it traveled through space, the astronomers could work out the location and shape of dark matter groups．
One of the new maps shows dark matter is more than 600 times as large as a full moon． The other covers an area more than a thousand times as large． But that's just the beginning: The astronomers want to carry on further studies to better understand the dark matter．
258．We can learn from the passage that_____________．
A．most maps show the location of dark matter．
B．human eyes can’t see dark matter directly
C．galaxies are usually made of dark matter
D．dark matter is as much as ordinary matter
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