We hear with our ears, right? Yes, but scientists have known for years that we a

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We hear with our ears, right? Yes, but scientists have known for years that we also hear with our eyes. In a study published in 1976, researchers found that people combined both auditory cues(听力提示) and visual ones，like mouth and face movements, when they heard speech.
A new study that looks at a different set of sensory cues adds to a growing body of evidence that suggests such combination is natural. In a paper, Bryan Gick and Donald Derrick report that people can hear with their skin.
The researchers had volunteers listen to spoken syllables. Meanwhile, they connected the volunteers to a device that would blow a tiny puff (气流) of air onto the skin of their hands or necks. The syllables included “ba” and “pa”, which produce brief puffs from the mouth when spoken, and “da” and “ta,” which do not produce puffs. They found that when listeners heard “da” or “ta” while a puff of air was blown onto their skin, they considered the sounds as “ba” or “pa”.
Dr. Gick said the findings were similar to those from the 1976 study, in which visual cues defeated auditory ones — volunteers listened to one syllable but thought it another because they were watching a video of mouth movements corresponding to the second syllable. In his study，he said，cues from sens

ory receivers on the skin defeate

d the ears as well. “Our skin is doing the hearing for us,” he said.
Dr. Gick noted that it would normally be rare that someone actually sensed a puff of air produced by another, although people might occasionally sense their own puffs. “What’s so persuasive about this particular effect,” he added. “is that people are picking up on this information that they don’t know they are using.” That supports the idea that combining different sensory cues is natural.
Dr. Gick said the finding also suggested that other sensory cues might be at work in speech perception(知觉) — that, as he put it, “we are these fantastic perception machines that take in all the information available to us and combine it faultlessly.”
小题1:“Da” or “ta” were considered as “ba” or “pa” when __________.

A．they were spoken quickly

B．puffs of air were blown onto the listener’s skin

C．they were pronounced using a special device

D．they were made with face movements

小题2:Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．Humans combine different sensory cues through experience.

B．Dr. Gick’s new study is more important than the one in 1976.

C．People sometimes can sense their own puffs when speaking

D．Only auditory and visual cues are at work in speech perception.

小题3:What is the best title of the text?

A．We Can Hear with Our Skin

B．Our Visual Cues Is Doing the Hearing for Us

C．Facial Expressions Are Important

D．We Are Fantastic Machines

答案

小题1:B
小题2:C
小题3:A

解析

略

举一反三

Imagine a boy from a small village in East Africa. He, since a very early age, has been looking after cattle. At twelve years old he knows more about cattle than most of you. However, he has never been to school. Has this boy had any education?
Education is discovering about ourselves and about the people and things around us. All the people who care about us — our parents, brothers, sisters, friends — are our

teachers. In fact, we learn something from everyone we meet. We start learning on the day we were born, not on the first day we go to school. Every day we have new

experiences, like finding a bird’s nest, discovering a new street in our neighborhood, making friends with someone we didn’t like before. New experiences are even more fun when we share them with other people.
Encouragement from the people around us enables us to exp

lore things as many as possible. As we grow up, we begin to find out what we are capable of doing. You may be good at cooking, or singing or playing football. You find this out by doing these things. Just thinking about cooking doesn’t tell you whether you are good at it.
We learn so much just living from day to day. So why is school important? Of course you can learn some things better at home than at school, like how to do the shopping, and how to help old or disabled people who can’t do everything for themselves. At school, teachers help us to read and write. With their guidance, we begin to see things in different ways.
小题1: The writer takes the African boy as an example to show that _______.

A．African children are very poor.	B．some children are unlucky.
C．there are many kinds of education.	D．schools are of great importance.

小题2:In the opinion of the writer, .

A．we have to learn from the people around us.	B．the school is not important at all.
C．only people who care for us can teach us.	D．education takes place everywhere.

小题3: One can find out what he / she is good at by _.

A．what people encourage him/ her to do.	B．the teachings of those he / she meets.
C．thinking about it when growing up.	D．trying and practising things.

小题4: The passage tells us that _ .

A．everyone gets education from the day he or she was born.

B．different classes of people receive different kinds of education.

C．the school is absolutely necessary if one wants to understand the world.

D．everyone will find out what he or she is good at.

小题5:According to the last paragraph, we know that .

A．the school is not so important as our living places.

B．the school

enables us to understand the world in other ways.

C．the school teaches us things which are useless at home.

D．the school cannot prepare us for our daily lives.

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What does fizz (气泡) taste like? In Bubbly (多泡的)drinks such

as sodas, tiny bubbles give the drink a lift--- and have a distinct taste, In a new study on mice, scientists have connected that fizzy-taste feeling to the ability to taste sourness, such as that of oranges or vinegar.
Scientists first thought the taste of bubbles came from the bubbles bursting on the tongue, but now ate starting to think differently. Charles Zuker, of Columbia University, and his team studied the nervous system of mice to understand how the tongue tastes carbon dioxide, which is the gas that makes up the bubbles.
Animals, including human beings, are able to detect different tastes by using taste buds(味蕾) which pick up tastes in the mouth, and then send them to the brain. In the experiment, different groups of mice were genetically engineered to be missing one of the senses involved in taste. “Genetically engineered” means the researchers were able to turn off the switches for certain senses by changing the genes responsible for taste. The mice in one group could not taste sweet; another, sour; the third, bitter, and the fourth, salt. When the scientists gave carbon dioxide to the mice, the nervous systems of all the mice responded to the gas, except those of the mice that could not taste sour.
This shows that the taste of the bubbles must be sour, and that by turning off the ability of the mice to taste sour, the scientists also turned off their ability to taste carbon dioxide. When they studied the cells that detect sourness, the researchers found a protein attached to the cells that is important to the process of tasting carbon dioxide. When carbon dioxide comes into contact with this protein, the protein knocks off particles called protons. These protons(质子), in turn, travel to the brain, which says ,” Hey! That’s a taste!”
It may seem like a lot of work to get from a can of soda to a taste, but the science of the senses is anything but simple, “ Taste is a challenging system to study,” one researcher says.
小题1: What is the most important function of the bubbles?

A．To look interesting .	B．To make drinks taste good.
C．To make drinks funny.	D．To produce a lot of fizz.

小题2:From the experiment the researchers learned that______.

A．sourness has nothing to do with the taste of bubbles.

B．there is a connection between sourness and bubbles.

C．the taste of bubbles is better if it’s less sour.

D．most mice cannot taste carbon dioxide.

小题3: It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A．the taste of bubbles is produced by the bubbles bursting on the tongue.

B．the nervous systems of mice show how the tongue tastes carbon dioxide.

C．taste seems simple but is very complex to research.

D．nerve cells sending signals to the brain is the first step in tasting something.

小题4: Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A．Nervous Systems Understand How the Tongue Tastes.

B．The Process of Taste

C．The taste

of Bubbles.

D．Different Animals Detect Different Tastes.

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Who"s in control of your life? Who is pulling your string? For the majority of us, it"s other people-society, colleagues, friends, family or our religious community. We learned this way of operating when we were very young, of course. We were brainwashed. We discovered that feeling important and feeling accepted was a nice experience and so we

learned to do everything we could to make other people like us. As Oscar Wilde puts it, “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else"s opinions, their lives a mimicry(模仿)，their passions a quotation.”
So when people tell us how wonderful we are, it makes us feel good. We long for this good feeling like a drug－we are addicted to it and seek it out wherever we can. Therefore, we are so eager for the approval of others that we live unhappy and limited lives failing to do the things we really want to. Just as drug addicts and alcoholics live worsened lives to keep getting their fix(一剂毒品)，we worsen our own existence to get our own constant fix of approval.
But just as with any drug, there is a price to pay. The price of the approval drug is freedom－the freedom to be ourselves. The truth is that we cannot-control what other people think. People have their own agenda(日程安排), and they come with their own baggage and, in the end, they"re more interested in themselves than in you. Furthermore, if we try to live by the opinions of others, we will build our life on sinking sand. Everyone has a different way of thinking, and people change their opinions all the time. The person who tries to please everyone will only end up getting exhausted and probable pleasing no one in the process.
So how can we take back control? I think there"s only one way－make a conscious decision to stop caring what other people think. We should guide ourselves by means of a set of values－not values imposed from the outside by others, but innate values which come from within. If we are driven by these values and not by the changing opinions and value systems of others, we will live a more authentic(真实的), effective, purposeful and happy life.
小题1:What Oscar Wilde says implies that .

A．most people"s thoughts are controlled by others.

B．we have thoughts similar to those of others.

C．most people have a variety of thoughts.

D．other people"s thoughts are more important.

小题2: What does the author try to argue in the third paragraph?

A．The price of taking the drug is freedom.

B．Changing opinions may cost us our freedom.

C．We may lose ourselves to please others.

D．We need to pay for what we want to get.

小题3: It can be concluded from the passage that .

A．it"s important to accept others" opinions.

B．it"s better to do what we like.

C．we shouldn"t care what others think.

D．we shouldn"t change our

won opinions.

小题4: The author tries to persuade the readers to accept his arguments mainly by .

A．making suggestions.	B．analyzing causes and effects.
C．providing examples and facts.	D．discussing questions

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How much can environment affect intelligence? In one study, striking increases in IQ occurred in 25 children who were moved from an orphanage(孤儿院) to more stimulating（使人兴奋的，使人振奋的） environments．The children, who were all considered mentally retarded and unadoptable, were moved to an institution where they received personal attention from adults．Later, these supposedly retarded children were adopted by parents who gave them love, a family ,and a stimulating home environment．The children gained an average of 29 IQ points．For one child, the increase was an amazing 58 points．A second group of initially less "retarded" children, who stayed in the orphanage, lost an average of 26 IQ points.
Other encouraging results can be found in early childhood education programs, which provide stimulating intellectual experiences for disadvantaged children．In one study, children from low-income families were given enriched environments from early infancy(婴儿期) through preschool．By age 2 their IQ scores were already higher than those in a control group．More important, they were still 5 points higher seven years later．High-quality enrichment programs such as Head Start can prevent children from falling behind in school.
A particularly striking environmental effect is the fact that 14 nations have shown average IQ gains of from 5 to 25 points during the last 30 years．These IQ boosts, averaging 15 points, occurred in far too short a time for genetics to explain them．It is more likely that the gains reflect environmental forces, such as improved education, nutrition, and living in a technologically complex society.
小题1:What"s the main idea of this passage

A．Retarded children cannot improve their IQ"s.

B．Orphanages are full of mentally retarded children.

C．Environmental factors influence a child"s IQ.

D．Early childhood education programs are important.

小题2:The author is in favor of _____________ according to the passage.

A．putting retarded children into institutions

B．providing early childhood education programs

C．keeping children in orphanages

D．keeping retarded children with others like themselves

小题3:Which of the following is NOT mentioned as an environmental factor that affects IQ .

A．Good nutrition．	B．Improved technology.
C．Better education．	D．Food pollution.

小题4:What can we conclude from the passage ?

A．Attention from parents has little effect on a child"s IQ.

B．Head Start programs are a waste of money.

C．Increases in IQ have happened in the US more rapidly than elsewhere.

D．Genetics are less important than environment in gaining one"s IQ.

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Cities need to put efforts to deal w

ith pollution and clear the air.
Chinese cities will need to put efforts to clear up the sky when

a new department to improve regional air quality is set up by 2015, according to the latest plan released by the State Council．
Besides the existing pollution control program for S02, regional emission caps （区域排放上限） for other certain chemicals will be established in the three key air polluting areas— rhe Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region．Coal-consumption caps will also be tried out in some areas, according to the plan．
The plan is aimed at dealing with regional air pollution—such as acid rain and smog—which have become increasingly obvious in China in recent years and caused a severe threat to people"s health, Zhang Lijun, vice-minister of environmental protection, said in an interview on Monday.
The air quality in a city affects the regions nearby because pollutants （污染物）can travel through the atmosphere, said Chai Fahe, vice-direc

tor of Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences．
“So efforts to reduce air pollution in a single city, targeting a certain pollutant w

ill not oe enough," Chai said．
Zhang said the country"s major industrial districts—the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region—have recorded more than 100 misty days annually in recent years．
These three regions, home to at least 200 millio

n people, occupy only 6．3 percent of the country"s area but consume 40 percent of the country"s coal and produce half of its steel, according to official figures．
Studies also show that the visibility （能见度） in eastern regions of China has dropped by 7 to 15 km compared to that in the early 1960s, as a result of air pollution．
Liaoning province, the Shandong Peninsula, Wuhan in Hubei province and its surrounding area, the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan region in Hunan province, the Chengdu-Chongqing region, and the western coast of the Taiwan Straits are also listed as areas to carry out such regional air pollution control programs, according to the plan．
The new plan also requires an improved air quality system, which will measure the pollution levels．"The current system, which only measures some major pollutants, cannot reflect the true picture．" said Chai．
小题1:It will not be enough to reduce air pollution in a single city because ______.

A．air pollution has b

een becoming more and more serious in recent years

B．air pollution like acid rain and smog is threatening people"s health

C．air pollutants in a city can travel in the sky and affect nearby areas

D．air pollutants stay in fixed places over the cities

小题2:Suppose the visibility in eastern regions of China was 130 km in the early 1960s, the visibility there nowadays is .

A．123 to 115 km

B．137 to 145 km

C．123 to 145 km

D．115 to 137 km

小题3:The main purpose of the passage is .

A．to inform readers of the damage caused by air pollution

B．to introduce the new plan to control air pollution

C．to provide official figures of air pollution levels

D．to point out the regions affected by air pollution

小题4:What does the underlined phrase "the true picture" in the last paragraph mean?

A．The major pollutants．

B．The key polluted areas．

C．The major polluted cities．

D．The pollution levels．

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