Many people think of the brain as a mystery. They don't know much about intelligence and how it works. When they do think about what intelligence is, many people believe that a person is born smart, average, or dumb — and stays that way in the whole life. But new research shows that the brain is more like a muscle — it changes and gets stronger when you use it. And scientists have been able to show just how the brain grows and gets stronger when you learn.
Everyone knows that when you lift weights, your muscles get bigger and you get stronger. A person who can't lift 20 pounds when he/she starts exercising can get strong enough to lift 100 pounds after working out for a long time. That's because the muscles become larger and stronger with exercise. And when you stop exercising, the muscles shrink and you get weaker. That's why people say “Use it or lose it！”
But most people don't know that when they practice and learn new things, parts of their brain change and get larger a lot like muscles do when they exercise. Inside the cortex (皮層) of the brain are billions of tiny nerve cells, called neurons. The nerve cells have branches connecting them to other cells in a complicated network. Communication between these brain cells is what allows us to think and solve problems. When you learn new things, these tiny connections in the brain actually multiply and get stronger. The more you challenge your mind to learn, the more your brain cells grow. Then, things that you once found very hard or even impossible to do — like speaking a foreign language or doing algebra (代數(shù)) — seem to become easy after learning them for a period of time. The result is a stronger, smarter brain.
Scientists started thinking that the human brain could develop and change when they studied animals' brains. They found out that animals that lived in a challenging environment were more “perspicacious” — they were better at solving problems and learning new things.
小題1:According to the first paragraph，________.
A．the function of our brain is like that of the muscle
B．until now it's impossible to explain the brain's mystery
C．many people believe one's intelligence is naturally determined
D．one's brain grows stronger as the age increases
小題2:Training muscles is compared to ________.
A．using the brain
B．connecting things in your brain
C．lifting weights
D．doing research about the brain
小題3:What is Paragraph 3 mainly about_________?
The complex structure of the brain.
B. How changes in the muscles affect the brain.
C. The importance of the brain.
D. How the brain becomes stronger by learning new things.
小題4:What does the underlined word “perspicacious” in the last paragraph probably mean_________?
A．Strong.B．Smart.C．Popular.D．Active.
小題5:The paragraph that follows the passage will most probably talk about _______.
A．the differences between animals’ brains and humans’ brains
B．the relation between human brains and muscles
C．scientists’ findings about animals’ brains
D．how to make your brain smarter through self-development

小題1:C
小題2:A
小題3:D
小題4:B
小題5:D

試題分析：通常情況下，很多人都認為人的智力是與生俱來的，是由先天的遺傳條件決定的。但是，科學研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，人類大腦也可以像肌肉一樣，通過學習得到發(fā)展。
小題1:根據(jù)第一段“When they do think about what intelligence is, many people believe that a person is born smart, average, or dumb”可知，許多人認為，一個人的智力是與生俱來的，有的人天生聰明，有的智力一般，有的天生智力低下，故選C。
小題2:根據(jù)第一段“But new research shows that the brain is more like a muscle — it changes and gets stronger when you use it.”可知，大腦就像肌肉一樣，會隨著不斷的使用而變得更加強大，故選A。
小題3:根據(jù)“When you learn new things, these tiny connections in the brain actually multiply and get stronger. The more you challenge your mind to learn, the more your brain cells grow.”可知，第三段主要講的是如何通過學習使大腦變強大，故選D。
小題4:根據(jù)“they were better at solving problems and learning new things”可知，生活在挑戰(zhàn)性環(huán)境下的動物，它們更善于解決問題和學習新事物，科學家認為，人類大腦也可以發(fā)展并發(fā)生變化。根據(jù)破折號后面的解釋可以推斷，生活在挑戰(zhàn)性環(huán)境下的動物更聰明，故選B。
小題5:根據(jù)最后一段“Scientists started thinking that the human brain could develop and change when they studied animals' brains.”可知，科學家認為人類大腦與動物大腦一樣，也可以得到鍛煉并變得更加聰明，最后一段介紹了動物變聰明的條件--生活在挑戰(zhàn)性環(huán)境中，下一段有可能介紹人類如何讓大腦變得更聰明，故選D。
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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

To most of us，school means classes，teachers，schedules，grades，and tests.But for the children at Sudbury Valley School in Massachusetts，school is very different.
Firstly，there are no lessons.All the children，aged between 4 and 19，do whatever they want.There are no teachers—only “staff members”．The idea behind this is that you do not need to make children learn，because children want to learn anyway.“You do not need to say to a three year­old，‘Go explore your environment.'You can't stop them！” says Daniel Greenberg，a founder of the school.“But if you make children do what you want all day，they will lose all taste for learning.”
At Sudbury Valley School，you will permit children to talk，read，paint，cook，work on computers，study French，play the piano，climb trees or just run around.Two boys spent three years just fishing!
The other way that Sudbury Valley School is different is that the children can decide the rules.Every week，there is a school meeting where both children and staff have one vote each—even the four­year­olds.They decide the school rules，how to spend the school budget，and even which staff they want and do not want any more.
When the school first opened in 1968，people said it would never work.But today，the school has 200 students，and 80%of its students go on to college. Even the two boys who went fishing all the time have successful careers today.One of them is a musician and the other is a computer scientist.
小題1:What is the main topic of the article?
A．An unusual school.B．Children's hobbies.
C．A school without rules.D．Education in the US.
小題2:What does the school believe?
A．Teachers cannot teach children Well.
B．Children learn best when they do what they want to do.
C．Learning is for adults—children should only play.
D．Children should only learn about one thing at a time.
小題3:What does Daniel Greenberg say about three­year­olds?
A．They love learning.
B．They are very naughty.
C．They want to be outside all the time.
D．They are too young to learn anything.
小題4:Who has the most power in the school meetings?
A．The older children have more power than the younger children.
B．A child has more power than an adult.
C．The younger children have more power than the older children.
D．Everybody has equal power.

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Reseachers at the University of Kansas say that people can accurately judge 90 percent of a stranger's personality simply by looking at the person’s shoes．“Shoes convey useful information about their wearers，’’the authors wrote in the new study published in the Journal of Research in Personality．
Lead researcher Omri Gillath said the judgments were based on the style，cost，color and condition of someone’s shoes．In the study，63 University of Kansas researchers looked at pictures showing 208 different pairs of shoes worn by the study’s participants.Volunteers in the study were photographed in their most commonly worn shoes，and then filled out a personality questionnaire．
Some of the results were expected：People with higher incomes most commonly wore expensive shoes，and flashier shoes were typically worn by outgoing people．However，some of the more specific results are strange enough．For example，“practical and functional’’shoes were generally worn by more“pleasant"people，while ankle boots were more linked with ‘‘a(chǎn)ggressive’’personalities．The strangest of all may be that those who wore‘‘uncomfortable looking” shoes tend to have “calm” personalities. And if you have several pairs of new shoes or take extreme care of them，you may suffer from“attachment anxiety"，spending lots of time worrying about what other people think of your appearance．There was even a political calculation in the mix with more liberal(主張變革的)types wearing“shabbier and less expensive” shoes．
The researchers noted that some people will choose shoe styles to mask their actual personalities，but researchers noted that volunteers were also likely to be unaware that their footwear choices were showing the deep side of their personalities．
小題1:What does this text mainly tell us?
A．People’s personalities call be judged by their shoes．
B．Shoes convey false information about the wearer．
C．People know little about their personalities．
D．Shoes Call hide people’s real personalities．
小題2:The participants were asked to       
A．look at pictures of different shoes
B．provide pictures of their shoes
C．hand in their commonly worn shoes
D．design a personality questionnaire
小題3:Which of the results is beyond people’s expectation?
A．Pleasant people like wearing uncomfortable shoes．
B．Wealthy people often wear expensive shoes．
C．Flahshier shoes are typically worn by outgoing people．
D．Aggressive people are likely to weal"ankle boots．
小題4:People suffering from“attachment anxiety” tend to       
A．become a political leader
B．have a calm character
C．worry about their appearance
D．wear strange shoes
小題5:The author wrote the text in order to      
A．teach how to choose shoes
B．describe different personalities
C．inform us of a new study
D．introduce a research method

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

There is no denying that over the years college education has been accepted without the slightest doubt. All high school graduates should go, says conventional wisdom and statistical evidence, because college will help them earn more, become “better” citizens and be more responsible than those who don’t go.
But college can never work its magic for everyone. Now with half our high school graduates attending college, those unfit for the pattern are getting more. College graduates are selling shoes and driving taxis; college students interfere with each other’s experiments and write false letters of recommendation in the fierce competition for admission into graduate schools. Others find no stimulation (激勵) in their studies, and consequently have to drop out, which is often encouraged by college administrators.
Some observers say the fault lies with young people themselves --- they are spoiled and expecting too much. But that’s a condemnation (譴責）of the students as a whole, and doesn’t explain all campus unhappiness. Others blame our society. Both are partly right. We have been told that young people have to go to college because our economy can’t absorb an army of untrained eighteen-year-olds. But disappointed graduates are learning that it can no longer absorb an army of trained twenty-two-year-olds, either.
Some campus watchers suggest that college may not be the best, the proper or the only place for every young person after finishing high school. It seems that through the rosy (玫瑰的) glow of our own college experiences, we may have been looking at those surveys and statistics upside down. Perhaps college does not make people intelligent, ambitious, happy, or quick to learn things—maybe it is just the other way around. Intelligent, ambitious, happy, quick-learning people are merely those who are attracted to college in the first place. And perhaps all those successful college graduates would have been successful even without college education. This is heresy (異端邪說) to those who have been brought up to believe that if a little schooling is good, more has to be much better. But contrary evidence is beginning to pile up.
小題1:According to the first paragraph, ______.
A．people now no longer challenge college education
B．people have great expectations for college education
C．the author thinks youngsters should all go to college
D．people still have a low opinion of college education
小題2:More young people drop out of college because ______.
A．they are no longer motivated in their studies
B．they can start selling shoes and driving taxis
C．they compete for admission to graduate schools
D．college administrators encourage them to do so
小題3:Who does the author think is responsible for campus unhappiness?
A．young students who are all spoiled and expecting too much.
B．our society that can’t offer enough jobs to college graduates.
C．our society that has not enough jobs for high school graduates.
D．young people as well as our society are to blame for all this.
小題4:Which of the following statements is TRUE about those surveys and statistics?
A．They prove high school graduates are smarter than college graduates.
B．They are so convincing that we think of our rosy college experiences.
C．They may have been misread because of our rosy college experiences.
D．They prove wrong because they contradict our rosy college experiences.
小題5:What is the meaning of the underlined sentence in Paragraph 4?     
A．It is just the oppositeB．There is no right way
C．It is the wrong wayD．There’s no other way
小題6:What is the main purpose of this passage?
A．To inform young people college education is no longer important now.
B．To prove college education doesn’t make young people more intelligent.
C．Toargueagainsttheideathatcollegeisthefirst choiceforallyoungsters.
D．To tell young people that there’s something wrong with college education.

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

In our world today, the media and entertainment industries are constantly focusing on beauty over brains. Movies, television shows, commercials, and magazines all make use of models and actors whose physical attributes(特性) will sell their product.
As our country is trying to reduce the obesity numbers, eating disorder statistics continue to increase due to the push for thinner people. While obesity is a serious medical condition that can lead to many health problems, many of us try to lose weight for appearance purposes. Children as young as elementary school age have begun to worry about the numbers that appear on the scale. In my opinion, it seems that “fat” has become the new“ugly”.
Two weeks ago, 37-year-old Wisconsin television reporter Livingston, who is 235 pounds, received an email from a man named Krause. In the email Krause attacked her, writing,“Your physical condition hasn’t improved for many years. Surely you don’t consider yourself a suitable example for this community’s young people, girls in particular.”
Today, it seems that a vast majority of people care more about how they look and appear to their peers rather than what is inside. The truth is that every person is built differently; we all come in different shapes and sizes. Just because someone is heavier, that doesn’t mean they eat large amounts of junk food around the day. Likewise, even though a person is thin, that doesn’t mean they are necessarily healthy and fit.
If you are reading this and you struggle with your weight or your appearance, please recognize that you are beautiful and special in your own way. You are worth so much more than you realize, and even if I don’t know you, understand that I respect and support you. Beauty is not defined by size; it is defined by how we treat others and respect ourselves. In the words of the talented film actress Kirstie Alley, “There’s a lot more to life than how fat or thin you are.”
小題1:With so many people losing weight, it will end in        .
A．models’ and actors’ appearance in ads
B．the fall of media and entertainment industries
C．more and more people becoming obesity
D．more people’s suffering from eating disorder
小題2:The underlined phrase “the numbers that appear on the scale” in the second paragraph may mean     .
A．intelligenceB．weightC．patienceD．strength
小題3:The writer used the example of Jennifer Livingston to show        .
A．people think “fat” looks ugly
B．fat people are becoming cleverer
C．physical condition is good
D．young people never follow example
小題4:What Kirstie Alley said means         .
A．people should pay attention to the appearance
B．there is no need for any people to go on diet
C．people are beautiful when they concern others
D．there’s always someone who understands and supports you

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

My six-year-old came home from school this week with two envelopes. One was for a donation to help people in the Philippines. The other was to help hungry families have a Thanksgiving meal.
“I’ll put a check in each of these. Then you can add your own money from your piggy bank, okay?” I said, thinking he’d be so excited to put his own stamp on things.
“That’s okay, mom. You put money in. I don’t want to waste mine,” he sweetly sang as he colored. “I want to fill my bank all the way up.”
Ack! I guess I know what our dinnertime discussion will be about tonight, I thought.
I had figured that through watching his parents donate items, helping us take toys from time to time to needy kids and putting money in the basket at church, he would just understand why it was important to help people in need — and even want to do it himself.
But of course he doesn’t really understand yet. “There’s a big disconnect between the people ‘over there’ and my piggy bank,” said parenting educator Vicki Hoefle.
“There’s nothing wrong with the child. There’s just no connection.”
As for having that conversation immediately, or forcing my son to put money into the envelopes: “Try not to do it now,” Hoefle said. Teaching a child about donating their own money or toys or time to people in need “should be a gentle introduction into what we hope will be a way of life for our kids.”
She suggested these things to help children understand the importance of giving:
* Just talk about it. Then explore the issue from a perspective he can understand.
* Use the course of a year to introduce kids to opportunities. That way, they won’t be shocked when you ask them to stuff their own money into an envelope （like this writer just did）.
* Pick a family charity for the year and have a conversation about how you all can help throughout the year.
* Think of this not as something you must teach, but as something to expose them to.
At her house, Hoefle said, “When you got something new, you gave something up.” Each birthday, her children would pick what toys they had outgrown and give them away. “There was a comfort in it. It just became a natural part of the kids’ lives.”
So I will fill those envelopes alone this time. But I’ll make sure he understands why they should be filled—gradually.
小題1:When the writer asked her son to give money to help the poor, he __________.
A．declined to donate
B．sang a sweet song
C．put all his money in a bank
D．seemed very surprised
小題2:Hoefle’s attitude towards children’s unwillingness to donate money can be best described as “_______”.
A．criticalB．tolerantC．positiveD．worried
小題3:Which of the following is Hoefle’s approach to educating kids about charity?
A．Giving courses about charity.
B．Setting a rule for children to give.
C．Inviting a lot of poor people home.
D．Giving children enough real life chances.
小題4:What can we learn about the writer from the passage?
A．She often makes donations for people in need.
B．She taught her son a lesson over dinner that evening.
C．She is at a loss as for what she should do next.
D．She invited a parenting educator home for advice.
小題5:What is the best title of the passage?
A．Kids, please help those in need.
B．Why are kids unwilling to donate?
C．Kindness is lost in the young generation.
D．How can we help kids learn generosity?

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Dreams can be familiar and strange, fantastical or boring, but some dreams might be connected to the mental processes that help us learn. In a recent study, scientists found a connection between nap-time dreams and better memory in people who were learning a new skill.
In the study,99 college students between the ages of 18 and 30 each spent an hour on a compute, trying to get through a virtual maze（迷宮）.The maze was different place each time they tired—making it even more difficult. They were also told to find a particular picture of a tree and remember where it was.
For the first 90 minutes of a five-hour break, half of the participants stayed awake and an half were told to take a short nap .Participants who stayed awake were asked to describe their thoughts. Participants who took a nap were asked about their dreams before sleep and after sleep—and they were awakened within a minute of sleep to describe their dreams.
Stickgold, a neuroscientist（神經(jīng)科學家）,wanted to know what people were dreaming about when their eyes weren＇t moving during sleep.
Four of the 50 people who slept said their dreams were connected to the maze. Some dreamed about the music that had been playing when they were working ; others said they dreamed about seeing people in the maze. When these four people tried the computer maze again, they were able to find the tree faster than before their naps.
Stickgold suggests the dream itself doesn‘t  help a person learn—it＇s the other way around.He suspects that the dream was caused by the brain processes associated with learning.
All four of the people who dreamed about the task had done poorly the first time, which makes Stickgold wonder if the dreams show up when a person finds a new task particularly difficult. People who had other dreams, or people who didn＇t take a nap, didn＇t show the same improvement.
小題1:Before having a short nap, participants of the experiment were asked to       .
A．stay in a different place in the maze
B．design a virtual maze which is difficult to get through
C．experience the experiment and try to remember something
D．get through a virtual maze on a computer from the same place
小題2:What can we learn from the text?
A．Participants who took a nap were required to express their thoughts.
B．Some dreams may encourage people to invent something new.
C．Participants who dreamed about films could finish the task more easily.
D．Participants whose dreams had something to do with the maze could find the tree faster.
小題3:According to Stickgold,       .
A．every person may dream about what they learned
B．people＇s brain processes may still be connected with their learning in their dreams
C．once people＇s eyes stop moving, they are sure to dream about something
D．no matter how fantastical or boring, dreams are connected with people＇s life
小題4:What is the best title for this text?
A．Dreams Are StrangeB．Not All Dreams Are True
C．Dreaming Makes PerfectD．Stickgold, a Dream Expert

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Wikipedia: The Online Know-It-All
If you want to find out a piece of information about anything, the best place to search for it is Wikipedia. The name “Wikipedia” is from the Hawaiian word wiki, meaning “quick”. This online encyclopedia (百科全書) is written by thousands of people around the world. Anyone with Internet access can write, add or make changes to Wikipedia articles if he or she finds it incorrect or not well written. In this way, people who know a lot about a certain subject can write about it even if they are not university professors. But contributions cannot damage Wikipedia because many experienced editors are watching pages and techies (技術(shù)專家) can write editing programs to keep track of or correct bad edits. Where there are disagreements on how to present facts, editors work together to arrive at an article that fairly represents current expert opinion on the subject.
Wikipedia is quite different from paper-based reference sources in important ways. Unlike printed encyclopedias, it is continually created and updated, with articles on historic events appearing within minutes, rather than months or years.
What’s more, Wikipedia includes articles written in about 285 languages. This fact makes it one of the few websites on the Internet that are truly international. It was started in 2001 by Larry Sanger and Jimmy Wales, as a free online English-language encyclopedia project. Since its creation, it has grown rapidly into one of the largest reference websites, attracting nearly 500 million unique visitors monthly. There are more than 77,000 active contributors working on more than 22,000,000 articles in different languages. As of today, there are 4,396,866 articles in English.
So, if you are looking for some information, why not try Wikipedia? It’s free, multilingual，and informative.  
小題1:According to the passage, what is Wikipedia?
A．A free website encyclopedia.B．A computer game.
C．A free encyclopedia in book form.D．An online university.
小題2:From the passage we know that ______.
A．Wikipedia only charges users a small fee
B．Wikipedia catches a wide audience
C．incorrect editions might do great harm to Wikipedia
D．it will take long to update the information on Wikipedia
小題3:Where can we probably read the passage?
A．In a story book.B．In a research report.
C．In a science magazine.D．In a travel brochure.

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

A group of senior high school students are playing outside on a basketball court. They are shouting with excitement. And they all have the same dream. They wish to play in the NBA, just like Huston Rocket’s Yao Ming. “Someday, there will be more Chinese players like Yao in the NBA,” said 15-year-old Xie Tao, a senior 1 boy at Shanghai No. 2 Middle School. Xie always watches Yao playing on TV. “He is a great player. He makes me proud to be Chinese,” he said.
Like Xie, 17-year-old Liu Yan at Beijing No. 22 Middle School is also a big NBA fan. “Since early May, I’ve not missed one game in the NBA,” said the senior 3 student.
Basketball is becoming popular in middle schools across the country. And more young players are starting to like the sport. More students are playing the game.
Jiang Hui, a basketball teacher at Beijing No. 2 Middle School, said that 85 percent of the students at this school like the sport. “Students are full of passion for the game,” Jiang’s team won the regional first prize in the 2004 National High School Boy’s Basketball League in   march. The league is the first national basketball competition for high school students.
Playing basketball is a good way to exercise. But students also enjoy it for other reasons. For Li Yan, a Senior 2 at Shanghai No. 12 Middle School, basketball teaches him lessons in life. “When I am in a game, I feel more confident about my studies, “ he said. “ It also teaches me to have a good team spirit and to enjoy friendship.”
小題1:The same dream of the group of senior high school students is to ______.
A．to play in the NBAB．be as tall as Yao Ming
C．watch Yao Ming playing on TVD．visit Huston Rocket’s center
小題2:How many students are mentioned in the passage?
A．2.B．3 C．4D．5
小題3:Which school team won the regional first prize in the first national basketball competition for high school students?
A．Shanghai No. 2 Middle School.B．Beijing No. 22 Middle School.
C．Beijing No. 2 Middle School.D．Shanghai No. 12 Middle School.
小題4:Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A．Basketball is becoming popular in middle schools in Chine.
B．The 2004 National High School Boy’s Basketball League was held in May.
C．Playing basketball is a good way to exercise.
D．Students enjoys playing basketball for a lot of reasons.
小題5:Who learns to have a good team spirit from playing basketball?
A．Xie TaoB．Yao MingC．Jiang HuiD．Li Yan

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