[单项选择]
Young Adults Who Exercise Get Higher IQ
Scores
Young adults who are fit have a higher IQ
and are more likely to go on to university, reveals a major new study
1 out at the Sahlgrenska Academy and Sahlgrenska
University Hospital.
The results were recently published in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The study
2 1.2 million Swedish men doing military service
who were born between 1950 and 1976. The research group analyses the
3 of both physical and IQ tests the youngsters
took right after they started serving the army.
The study shows
a clear link 4 good physical fitness
and better results for the IQ test. The strongest links are for
5 thinking and verbal comprehension. But it is
only fitness that plays a 6 in the
results for the IQ test, and not strength. "Being fit means that you also have
good heart and lung 7 and that your
brain gets plenty of oxygen," says Michael Nilsson, professor at the Sahlgrenska
Academy and chief physician at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital. "This may be
one of the reasons why we can see a clear link with fitness, but not with
muscular 8 . We are also seeing that
there are growth factors that are important."
By analyzing data
for twins, the researchers have been 9
to determine that it is primarily environmental factors and not genes that
10 the link between fitness and a
higher IQ.
"We have also shown that those youngsters who
11 their physical fitness between the
ages of 15 and 18 increase their cognitive performance," says Maria Aberg,
researcher at the Sahlgrenska Academy and physician at Aby health centre. "This
being the case, physical education is a 12
that has an important place in schools, and is an absolute must
13 we want to do well in maths and other
theoretical subjects."
The researchers have also compared the
results from fitness tests during national service 14
the socio-economic status of the men later in life. Those who
were fit at 18 were more 15 to go into
higher education, and many secured more qualified jobs.
A. answers
B. questions
C. standards
D. results
[填空题]
Virtual Driver
Driving
involves sharp eyes and keen ears, analyzing with a brain, and coordination
between hands, feet and brain. A man has sharp eyes and keen ears, analyzes
through his brain, and maintains coordination (协调) between his hands and brains.
He can control a fast-moving car with different parts of his body.
1 Apparently there isn’t anyone in the driver’s
cab (驾驶室), but there is in fact a virtual driver. This virtual driver has eyes,
brains, hands and feet too. The minicameras on each side of the car are its eyes
and are responsible for observing the road conditions ahead of it as well as the
traffic to its left and right. If you open the boot (行李箱), you can see the most
important part of the automatic driving system: a built-in computer.
2 The brain of the car is responsible for
calculating the speeds objects surrounding the car are moving at, analyzing
their position on the road, choosing the fight path, and giving orders to the
wheel and the control system.
In comparison with the human
brain, the virtual driver’s best advantage is that it reacts quickly.
3 However, it takes the world’s best racecar
driver at least one second to react, and this doesn’t include the time he needs
to take action.
With its rapid reaction and accurate control,
the virtual driver can reduce the accident rate on expressways considerably. In
this case, is it possible for us to let it drive at any time and in any place
4 With its limited ability to recognize
things, the car can now only travel on expressways.
The
intelligent car determines its direction by the clear lines that mark the lanes
clearly and recognizes vehicles according to their regular shapes.
5 This being the case, people still have high
hopes about driverless cars, and think highly intelligent cars are what the cars
of the future should be like.
A. Experts say that we cannot do
that just yet.
B. In the near future, intelligent cars will be
put into commercial operation.
C. This is the brain of the
car.
D. But how does an intelligent car control
itself
E. It completes the processing of the images sent by
the cameras within 100 milliseconds.
F. However, it cannot
recognize moving people and bicycles on ordinary roads that have no clear
markings on them.
[填空题]
Cloning(克隆): Future Perfect
1. A clone is all exact copy of a plant or animal produced from any one
cell. Since Scottish scientists reported that they had managed to clone a sheep
named Dolly in 1997, research into cloning has grown rapidly. In May 1998,
scientists in Massachusetts managed to create two identical calves (牛犊) using
cloning technology. A mouse has also been cloned successfully. But the debate
over cloning humans really started when Chicago physicist Richard Seed made a
surprising announcement: "We will have managed to clone a human being within the
next two years," he told the world.
2. Seed’s announcement
provoked a lot of media attention, most of it negative. In Europe, nineteen
nations have already signed an agreement banning human cloning and in the US the
President announced, "We will be introducing a law to ban all human cloning and
many states in the US will have passed anti-cloning laws by the end of the
year."
3. Many researchers are not so negative about cloning,
they are worried that laws banning human cloning will threaten important
research. In March, The New England Journal of Medicine called any plan to ban
research on cloning humans seriously mistaken. Many researchers also believe
that in spite of attempts to ban it, human cloning will have become routine by
2010 because it is impossible to stop the progress of science.
4. Is there reason to fear that cloning will lead to a nightmare world The
public has been bombarded (轰炸) with newspaper articles, television shows and
films, as well as cartoons. Such information is often misleading, and makes
people wonder what on earth the scientists will be doing next.
Within the next five to ten years scientists will probably have found a way of
cloning humans. It could be that pretty soon we will be able to choose the
person that we want our child to look like. But how would it feel to be a clone
among hundreds, the anti-cloners ask. Pretty cool, answer the pro-cloners
(赞成克隆的人).Paragraph 2 ______
[单项选择]
Crystal Ear
One day a
friend asked my wife Jill if I wanted a hearing aid. "He certainly does,"
replied Jill. After hearing about a remarkable new product, Jill finally got up
me nerve to ask me if I’d ever thought about getting a heating aid. "No way." I
said. "It would make me look 20 years older." "No, no," she replied. "This is
entirely different. It’s Crystal Ear!" Jill was tight. Crystal Ear is
different—not the old-styled body worn or over—the—ear aid, but an advanced
personal sound system so small that it’s like contacts (隐形眼镜) for your ears. And
Crystal Ear is super sensitive and powerful, too. You will hear sounds your ears
have been missing for years. Crystal Ear will make speech louder, and the sound
is pure and natural.
I couldn’t believe how tiny it is. It is
smaller than the tip of my little finger and it’s almost invisible when worn.
There are no wires, no behind-the-ear device. Put it in your ear and its
ready-to wear mold (形状) fits comfortably. Since it’s not too loud or too fight,
you may even forget that you’re wearing it! Use it at work or at play. And if
your hearing problem is worse in certain situations, use Crystal Ear only when
you need it.
Hearing loss, which occurs typically prior to
teenage years, progresses throughout one’s life time. Although hearing loss is
now the world’s number one health problem, nearly 90 percent of people suffering
hearing loss choose to leave the problem untreated. For many millions, treating
hearing loss in a conventional way can involve numerous office visits, expensive
testing and adjustments to fit your ear. Thanks to Crystal Ear, the "sound
solution" is now convenient. Almost 90 percent of people with mild hearing loss,
and millions more with just a little hearing drop-off, can be dramatically
helped with Crystal Ear. Moreover, its superior design is energy-efficient, so
batteries can last months. Crystal Ear is now available to help these people
treat their hearing loss with a small heating amplifier(放大器).Initially the writer did not want to buy a hearing aid because ______.
A. it would make him look old
B. It would make him nervous
C. it was too expensive
D. it was old-styled
[单项选择]
Cosmetic Surgery
Surgery that can improve the way a person looks is becoming more and more
popular in the United States. This kind of surgery is called cosmetic surgery,
and both men and women are turning to this treatment as a way of keeping their
appearance young as well as keeping competitive (有竞争力的) in their jobs. Men
especially are beginning to turn to face-lifts (面部拉皮手术), liposuction (taking fat
out of the body), and implants (putting artificial parts into their bodies) to
help them look younger. As companies downsize (编造) and move younger employees
into higher positions, older employees in their late forties and early fifties
feel the need to look and act younger in order to stay competitive. These
operations are not without dangers, however.
One young woman
had an eye operation to get rid of the bags under her eyes. She described her
experience as terrible. She said, "When he started cutting, I was fully awake.
Even though he’d given me an injection near my eyes, I saw everything." She went
on to explain, "I knew I had to keep still because of what he was doing. He was
scraping (刮) away fat underneath my eyes. It took about ten minutes. After he
finished, I felt I couldn’t walk. I was so faint." Her troubles did not end
after the operation for two weeks. Her eyes were swollen (肿胀的) and almost
completely closed, and even dark glasses could not hide the side effects of the
operation.
Liposuction, taking fat out of the body, is probably
the most popular cosmetic operation in the United States. It seems simple
enough. First, a small cut is made over the place where the patient wants the
fat removed. Next, a small pipe is put into the cut. A machine like a vacuum
cleaner is then used to suck the fat out of the body. However, as one doctor
explained, some problems call happen after the operation. He warned, "Irregular
lumps and loose skin can reset from this operation. If it is not evenly done,
liposuction can produce a very lumpy result." Patients often must have more
liposuction to correct the problem.The way a man looks has little to do with the job opportunities he may
have.
A. Right
B. Wrong
C. Not mentioned
[单项选择]
Effects of Environmental
Pollution
If pollution continues to increase at
the present rate, formation of aerosols (浮质) in the atmosphere will cause the
onset (开始) of an ice age in about fifty years’ time. This conclusion, reached by
Dr. S.I. Rasool and Dr. S.H. Schneider of the United States Goddard Space Flight
Centre, answers the apparently conflicting questions of whether an increase in
the carbon dioxide (二氧化碳) content of the atmosphere will cause the Earth to warm
up or increasing the aerosol content will cause it to cool down. The Americans
have shown conclusively that the aerosol question is dominant.
Two specters haunting conservationists have been the prospect that environmental
pollution might lead to the planet’s becoming unbearably hot or cold. One of
these ghosts has now been laid. Because it seems that even an increase in the
amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to eight times its present value will
produce an increase in temperature of only 2℃, which would take place over
several thousand years. But the other problem now looms larger than
ever.
Aerosols are collections of small liquid or solid
particles dispersed in air or some other medium. The particles are all so tiny
that each is composed of only a few hundred atoms. Because of this they can
float in the air for a very long time. Perhaps the most commonly experienced
aerosol is industrial smog (烟雾) of the kind that plagued London in the 1950s and
is an even greater problem in Los Angeles today. These collections of aerosols
reflect the Sun’s heat and thereby cause the Earth to cool.
Dr.
Rasool and Dr. Schneider have calculated the exact effect of a dust aerosol
layer just above the Earth’s surface in the temperature of the planet. As the
layer builds up, the present delicate balance between the amount of heat
absorbed from the Sun and the amount radiated from the Earth is disturbed. The
aerosol layer not only reflects much of the Sun’s light but also transmits the
infrared (红外线的) radiation from below. So, while the heat input to the surface
drops, the loss of heat remains high until the planet cools to a new balanced
state.
Within fifty years, if no steps are taken to stop the
spread of aerosols in the atmosphere, a cooling of the Earth by as much as 3.5℃
seems inevitable. If that lasts for only a few years it would start another ice
age, and because the growing ice caps at each pole would themselves reflect much
of the Sun’s radiation it would probably continue to develop even if the aerosol
layer were destroyed.
The only bright spot in this gloomy
forecast lies in the hope expressed by Dr. Rasool and Dr. Schneider that nuclear
power may replace fossil fuels in time to prevent the aerosol content of the
atmosphere from becoming critical.We learn from the third paragraph that ______.
A. London was plagued with rats in the 1950s
B. London is covered with smog today
C. London was polluted by smog in the 1950s
D. Los Angeles is as heavily polluted today as London was in the
1950s