| A．hadn’t she | B．wasn’t she | C．didn’t she | D．wouldn’t she |
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 second language?
According to a new study by a British university, learning a second language can lead to an increase in your brainpower. Researchers found that learning other languages changes grey matter (灰质). This is the area of the brain which deals with information. It is similar to the way that exercise builds muscles. The study also found the effect is greater, the younger people learn a second language.
A team led by Dr Andrea Michelle, from University College London, took a group of Britons 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 (密度) 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.
“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 maths skills. “Having two languages gives you two windows on the world and makes the brain more flexible (灵活的).” 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 two 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.
1．The underlined word “bilingual” probably means________.| A．a researcher on language learning |
| B．a person who is good at learning foreign languages |
| C．a person who can speak two languages |
| D．an active language learner |
| A．Bilinguals have greater grey matter density than those who speak only one language. |
| B．The younger one starts to learn a second language, the more stupid he will be. |
| C．The participants (参与者) of Dr. Andrea’s team’s study are all bilinguals. |
| D．Grey matter is an area in people’s brain only receiving information. |
| 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．to show the importance of using the language when you learn the language |
| D．make people believe language learning helps grey matter work well |
| 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 maths study |
When I was 14, I got tired of school and left my home town to search for my fortune in big cities. One day I was
The beggar first asked me to wait for a moment. A few minutes later, he returned with a couple of old
“Well, young man, I’ve got a little
“Number two is to learn how to
The beggar then
| A．shopping | B．wandering | C．running | D．singing |
| A．watching | B．questioning | C．examining | D．admiring |
| A．worried | B．excited | C．puzzled | D．impatient |
| A．cookies | B．drinks | C．photos | D．books |
| A．show | B．teach | C．pay | D．spare |
| A．buy | B．judge | C．like | D．hate |
| A．went on | B．held on | C．kept up | D．ended up |
| A．teacher | B．dropout | C．beggar | D．worker |
| A．right | B．smart | C．stupid | D．wrong |
| A．frightened | B．hurt | C．shocked | D．disappointed |
| A．surprise | B．gift | C．lesson | D．advice |
| A．greatest | B．wealthiest | C．strongest | D．best |
| A．recognized | B．remembered | C．realized | D．understood |
| A．enjoyed | B．purchased | C．satisfied | D．experienced |
| A．like | B．as | C．on | D．by |
| A．survive | B．cheat | C．read | D．research |
| A．health | B．wisdom | C．appearance | D．money |
| A．arms | B．fingers | C．shoulders | D．hands |
| A．followed | B．led | C．forced | D．drove |
| A．character | B．step | C．request | D．figure |
During my school years, I had only close friend. We spent years together, and we were inseparable, in or out of school. But the Greg moved away, and I never thought it would take more than 40 years to bring us together again.
As children, Greg and I dove into everything with passion. At that time, we were pure (纯真的) and kind, full of curiosity and expectation for life. We raced our bikes and illustrated (给书加插图) our own comic books. We even became attracted to the same girl from around the corner, a sixth -grader named Joanne who barely (几乎不) knew we existed.
The last times a Greg was sometime in 1966. It was so short a meeting that I couldn’t recall saying goodbye before he moved. Since then, we lost touch.
But then, a few summers ago, I saw a familiar woman. “Excuse me. Would your name happen to be Joanne?”
“Uh, yes...” She didn’t recognise me until I explained who I was. We hadn’t exchanged more than a few dozen words in our entire lifetime. “Have you stayed in touch with Greg?” she asked. I was surprised she even knew of our friendship.
“No. I haven’t,” I admitted. “I wish I had.”
Back at the office I checked my messages. I received one email, and then read it from start to finish. The email was from Greg.
Greg had tracked me down through social media. He was now married, had two children and had become a musician and entrepreneur (企业家) . We exchanged several emails before connecting by phone. A month later, my wife and I drove to meet Greg and his family in person.
Standing in front of his house, I began to get nervous.
Seeing the photo, Greg handed me a small, old card.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has to recall (召回) hundreds of foods every year. Like cookie snack packs with pieces of blue plastic hiding inside, dressing and sauce containing salmonella (沙门氏菌) or various jams containing with lead (铅).
It can take a few months before a recall is issued. But now researchers have come up with a method that might fast-track that process, leading to early detection and, ultimately, faster recalls. The AI system relies on the fact that people increasingly buy foods and spices (调味料) online. And people tend to write review s of products they buy online, which are like bread crumbs (面包屑) to food-safety officials sniffing (嗅) out dangerous products.
The researchers linked FDA food recalls from 2012 to 2014 to Amazon reviews of those same products. They then trained machine-learning algorithms (算法) to distinguish between reviews for recalled items and reviews for items that had not been flagged. And the trained algorithms were able to predict FDA recalls three quarters of the time. They also identified another 20,000 reviews for possibly unsafe foods, most of which had never been recalled. The results are published in Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.
The World Health Organization estimates that 600 million people worldwide get sick annually from polluted food, and more than 400,000 people die from it. “So having tools that enable us to detect this a lot faster and hopefully investigate and do recalls faster will be useful not just in the U. S. but in other countries around the world as well.” Study author Elaine Nsoesie of Boston University. She did add one warning: even recalled products can still get five-star reviews. So stars alone don’t tell the whole sickening story. The proof, unfortunately, may still be in the pudding.
1．What will help FDA recall unsafe foods faster than before?| A．Efforts of food-safety officials. | B．Online reviews of the polluted foods. |
| C．Lots of online reviews of products. | D．New measures of food-safety officials. |
| A．By asking customers. | B．By describing facts. |
| C．By giving examples. | D．By making comparisons. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Careless. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Unclear. |
| A．FDA Detects Unsafe Foods |
| B．AI Sniffs out Unsafe Foods |
| C．FDA Develops System of Judging Reviews |
| D．AI Helps FDA Judge Reviews much better |
Contrary to popular opinion, the scientific pursuit for knowledge is not a predictable and well-defined process. To make new discoveries, researchers need the freedom to be creative, fail, and learn by chance. There is the romantic idea of the scientist who has an Eureka moment (顿悟时刻) and suddenly arrives at new insights. Another impression is that research only involves formal steps. Neither of those ideas is correct.
“Science and art are two different ways to make something understandable or imaginable,” says Biochemistry Professor Dolf Weijers. “From the outside, the research process looks very formal and the artistic process looks somewhat messy. But the scientific process can also unfold (展开) in an unpredictable way. Creative and associative thinking is very important for scientists to gain insight and make connections.”
There is an intersection (交叉点) between science and art. This is why Wageningen scientists look to artists for inspiration and exchange ideas about how to amplify creative freedom. Weijers and his colleague Joris Sprakel, together with other scientists and artists, have designed a plan to learn from each other and to exchange ideas. One example is the recent and special project in which they measured the forces that act on plant cells. A molecular (分子) sensor was used to visualise the different forces. They revealed the results in colourful images, each representing a different force.
What science and art also have in common is that they are topics of discussion in society. There are people who say that they do not value art and people who mistrust science. “It often creates the wrong impression because only the results of scientific studies are presented, and people do not have any insight into the artistic process leading to discovery. As a scientist, you are criticised if you say that something is different a few years later. Then you are viewed as unreliable. But what is often poorly understood is that there are no final results in science,” says Weijers.
1．What is the first paragraph mainly about?| A．The views on science research. | B．The purpose of science research. |
| C．The hardship of science research. | D．The attitude to science research. |
| A．Scientists should have creative and associative thinking. |
| B．The artistic process is too messy to be used in research. |
| C．The scientific process always unfolds in an unpredictable way. |
| D．The research process and the artistic process are totally different. |
| A．Refuse. | B．Detect. | C．Increase. | D．Imply. |
| A．To stress the importance of thinking freely. |
| B．To display the beauty of colourful images. |
| C．To present the findings of his recent project. |
| D．To show the connection between science and art. |
When the Lebanese director NadineLebaki was doing research for her filmCapernaum (何以为家), she interviewed many children
The question was, “ Are you happy to be alive?” Sadly , the
The 2-hour film begins with a story about Zain,
Besides, most of the other actorsfound it easy for them
Bus driver Harlan Jenifer was out at 3 am to drive his bus around Torresdale Avenue near Cottman in the Tacony neighborhood when he saw a tiny figure (人影) waiting at the bus stop. It was Annabelle, a 4-year-old little girl.
It was the wee hours (凌晨) of a rainy morning and Harlan was out to drive his SEPTA's 56 bus on his regular route (路线).As usual, he picked up his passengers (乘客) one by one. Of course, he had no idea that he would pick up a special (特别的) passenger at this time in the morning. Just as he was about to pass a stop near the Tacony neighborhood, a woman passenger told him about a little girl she saw, all alone waiting at the bus stop. He stopped his bus and was shocked (震惊的) at what he saw. Wearing her purple raincoat, sleeping clothes, and her boots, little Annabelle was patiently waiting for the bus to stop so she could ride on it.
The bus driver could not believe his eyes. His passengers at the time were also shocked to see a tiny kid all alone in the rain at that moment. Seeing a child about the age of a preschooler at 3 am without any adult (成年人) with her was surely a shock. Harlan was quite surprised and then it hit him. He had to do something to take the little girl safely back home.
He and the passengers on the bus tried to find out how this happened. As it turned out, Annabelle even walked 5 blocks (街区) in the rain before she reached the bus stop where she was found. Without hesitation (犹豫) , Harlan called the local police and told them of the little girl they found.
As Annabelle sat on the bus, the passengers comforted (安慰) her and made sure she was okay. As the little girl sat with the other passengers, she shared her mission (使命) that early morning. “All I want is a slushie(冰沙),” That was all she said. By the way, slushie is a frozen treat (冷冻食品) .
Within an hour, police officers came to fetch Annabelle.
Annabelle’s parents were happy to see her again.
During a recent long international trip, my youngest daughter got airsick again.
We were
When we stood in the middle of the terminal (航站楼), not only
He quietly asked me if my 4-year-old daughter was the passenger who had gotten
As he walked away, she smiled and said, “He
It’s often the horror stories that make the headlines, but small,
| A．doubting | B．making | C．exercising | D．changing |
| A．pointing out | B．quarrelling about | C．figuring out | D．worrying about |
| A．approached | B．examined | C．appreciated | D．ignored |
| A．hungry | B．embarrassed | C．sick | D．thirsty |
| A．advised | B．allowed | C．persuaded | D．inspired |
| A．Instead | B．Besides | C．Therefore | D．Otherwise |
| A．describing | B．delivering | C．mentioning | D．recommending |
| A．concerned | B．confused | C．nervous | D．curious |
| A．refusing | B．deciding | C．promising | D．pretending |
| A．unwillingly | B．slightly | C．regretfully | D．cheerfully |
| A．inquired | B．complained | C．thought | D．cared |
| A．wasted | B．saved | C．ruined | D．affected |
| A．mind-blowing | B．eye-opening | C．heart-warming | D．soul-searching |
| A．attracted | B．grateful | C．opposed | D．respectful |
| A．wonder | B．fortune | C．commitment | D．difference |
If you only have a few close friends, you may feel like an outcast in society. However, studies show that loners typically have greater intelligence than popular folks. So, if you prefer being alone most of the time, don’t beat yourself up about it.
Evolutionary psychologists Satoshi Kanazawa and Norman Li conducted a national survey involving 15,000 respondents aged from 18 to 28. The research revealed that people who lived in densely populated urban areas reported lower life satisfaction in general and that the more people socialized with close friends, the higher their self-reported happiness was. Of course, the only exception occurred when it came to intelligent individuals.
“The effect of population density on life satisfaction was therefore more than twice as large for low-IQ individuals than for high-IQ individuals,” they found. More intelligent individuals were actually less satisfied with life if they socialized with their friends more frequently. In other words, when intelligent people hang out more with their friends, they feel less happy.
What makes highly intelligent people so different from the average person? They prefer to spend their time alone usually because they have a larger goal in mind. They see socializing as a distraction when they could use their time more wisely. Also, they don’t appear to be as sensitive to population density as those with lower IQs. Therefore, they can navigate the challenges of modern living more efficiently and perhaps find novel solutions to most significant problems.
According to Kanazawa and Li’s savanna theory of happiness (稀树草原幸福理论), in the past, we would have lived in tribes instead of densely populated cities, helping to avoid loneliness. “Our ancestors lived as hunter-gatherers in small bands of about 150 individuals,” they explain. “In such settings, having frequent contact with friends was necessary for their survival.” While we no longer live in small tribes now, most of us still require close friends and family to survive. That may explain the epidemic of loneliness affecting millions of people worldwide.
However, highly intelligent people are the exception to this theory. They don’t mind spending most of their time alone. So, if you don’t have many friends, you may have learned to overcome your primitive instincts. Perhaps you represent this small group of humans who can thrive in the modern era.
1．What do Kanazawa and Li find out?| A．People today like living in densely populated urban areas. |
| B．People today have lower life satisfaction than before. |
| C．Socializing can enhance one’s happiness generally. |
| D．Happiness mainly lies in the joy of achievement. |
| A．They are extremely sensitive to the environment. |
| B．They dislike spending much time socializing. |
| C．They can’t handle life challenges effectively. |
| D．They enjoy the company of other people. |
| A．Loneliness poses a great health threat to us. |
| B．People now are smarter than our ancestors. |
| C．Densely populated urban areas are harmful to us. |
| D．We still need to make contact with others to survive. |
| A．Why do smart people keep just a few close friends? |
| B．Why do most people tend to live in urban areas? |
| C．How do the brains of intelligent people work? |
| D．What is the key to happiness? |
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