Are we getting more stupid? According to Gerald Crabtree, a scientist at Stanford University in the US, we are. You may not want to hear this, but Crabtree believes that human intelligence reached its peak more than 2,000 years ago and ever since then has been going downhill. “If an average Greek from 1,000 BC were transported to modern times, he or she would be one of the brightest among us,” Crabtree told The Guardian.

At the heart of Crabtree’s thinking is a simple idea. In the past, intelligence was critical for survival when our ancestors had to avoid dangerous animals and hunt for food. The difference of being smart or stupid is often life or death. However, after the spread of agriculture, when our ancestors began to live in dense ( 稠密的）farming communities, the need to keep their intelligence in peak condition gradually reduced. This is not hard to understand. Most of the time,pressure is what keeps us going – you need the pressure from your teachers to finish your homework; the pressure of looking pretty prompts(促使) you to lose weight when summer comes. And the same is also true of our intelligence – if we think less, we become less smart.

These mutations(變) are harmful to our intelligence and they were all developed in the past 3,000 years. The other evidence that Crabtree holds is in our genes. He found that among the 2,000 to 5,000 genes that we have that determine human intelligence , there are two or more mutations in each of us. However, Crabtree’s theory has been criticized by some who say that early humans may have better hunting and surviving abilities, but people today have developed a more diverse intelligence. For example, spearing a tiger doesn’t necessarily require more brainpower than playing chess or writing a poem. Moreover, the power of modern education means a lot more people have the opportunity to learn nowadays. “You wouldn’t get Stephen Hawking 2,000 years ago. He just wouldn’t exist,” Thomas Hills of the University of Warwick, UK, told Live Science. “But now we have people of his intellectual capacity doing things and making insights(洞察力) that we would never have achieved in our environment of evolutionary adaptation.”

1.What is Crabtree’s recent finding according to the article?

A. The Greeks from 1,000 BC could have been the smartest in human history.

B. Our ancient ancestors had no better surviving abilities than we do nowadays.

C. Humans have been getting steadily more intelligent since the invention of farming.

D. Mutations in genes that decide human intelligence have affected the development of intelligence.

2.According to Crabtree, ancient humans _______.

A. had many more genes that determine human intelligence

B. were forced to be smart due to natural selection pressures

C. relied more on group intelligence than individual intelligence

D. developed a diverse intelligence to adapt to the hard realities

3.Some argue that Crabtree’s theory is false because they think _______.

A. people today are under much more pressure than early humans

B. it’s ridiculous to compare a hunter’s and a poet’s intelligence

C. modern education is far more advanced than ancient education

D. human intelligence nowadays is different from that of the distant past

4.What is Thomas Hills’ attitude toward Crabtree’s theory?

A. Supportive B. Unfavorable

C. Worried D. Confused

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科目：高中英語 來源：2015-2016學(xué)年云南昆明三中、滇池中學(xué)高一下期中英語卷（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解

Elephants might be the most well-known and well-loved animal in African wildlife. But conservation (保護) of the African elephant faces special difficulties. While the elephant population is half of what it was 40 years ago, some areas of Africa have more elephants than populated areas can support. That’s why AWF scientists are studying elephant behavior, protecting habitats and finding ways for humans to live peacefully with elephants in Africa.

Years ago, over hunting and the ivory trade were the biggest threats to elephants survival. Luckily, ivory bans (禁令), hunting rules and protected areas protect elephants from these dangers today.

The 21st century brings a different challenge to elephant conservation —land-use. Elephants walk across borders and outside parks and other protected areas. So they often destroy crops, causing conflicts (沖突) between local farmers and these big animals.

Successful conservation strategies (策略) must allow elephants to walk freely in their natural habitats while reducing conflicts between elephants and local people.

AWF researchers are searching for a way to give both elephants and people the space they need. The AWF is collecting information on elephant habitats and behavior. The information they gather will help to develop the widest possible space for elephants.

The AWF is helping elephants by protecting their habitats. And they also work with local farmers to improve their life in order to encourage them to protect rather than destroy elephants.

1.The first paragraph of the text is mainly to tell readers _____.

A. African elephants are endangered now

B. there remains a lot to do to protect African elephants

C. African elephants are popular animals

D. the number of African elephants has increased over the years

2.What is the biggest difficulty in protecting African elephants now?

A. They are still being killed.

B. Their habitats are being destroyed.

C. They don’t have enough food.

D. They can’t live in peace with farmers.

3.To protect elephants, the AWF does all the following EXCEPT _____.

A. keeping elephants

B. protecting elephants’ habitats

C. doing research on elephants

D. helping farmers improve their life

4.What is the best title for the text?

A. African elephants conservation

B. Living with African elephants

C. African elephants’ situation

D. African elephants being endangered

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科目：高中英語 來源：2015-2016學(xué)年江蘇鹽城中學(xué)高一下期中考試英語試卷（解析版） 題型：完形填空

完形填空

閱讀下列短文，從短文后所給各題的四個選項A, B, C,和D中，選出可以填入空白處的最佳選項。

Whatever misfortune you face, just hold up your head and face it with a smile! I got to know this from a musical soul.

The other day I was feeling quite _________ , having just been laid off from my job. With so many _________ to pay, I was wondering what was going to happen to my family.

I got off the bus when I heard piano music and singing rising above the noise of the _________ . I walked a bit slower, trying to find out where it was coming from. Through the _________ I saw a young lady sitting at a piano with a box next to her.

She was singing songs about love and her sweet voice _________ me a bit. Then I stood there watching her playing, thinking that it must take _________ to perform on her own in front of hundreds of people she didn’t know.

She might have felt my _________ for she occasionally looked in my direction.

By now I was telling myself that I could at least tell her how good she sounded. I walked _________ and put some money in her box and she expressed her thanks with a smile on her face.

I asked her _________ , “Why are you playing the piano in the middle of this crowded place?”

She explained to me that she sees so many _________ people in the world that she is trying to relieve the pain by _________ motivational (激勵的) music.

Instead of continuing my way home, I said to her, “I have been going through a _________ time lately, but you’ve made me_________ again.”

“I’m happy that I could be _________ to you,” she replied. “Why are you so sad?”

I told her my story and said, “I’m not so _________ about what to do….”

“You see, here’s the _________ ,” she responded. “When you were walking, your head was down.” She looked me in the eyes and went on, “Don’t look defeated, because _________ comes in different ways and if your head is down you might never see it. You should_________ more … lift your head up.”

I was really _________ by what she said! I did hold my head up and soon got through the difficult time.

So _________ in trouble, just face it bravely and you are sure to overcome your difficulty sooner or later.

1.A. lonely B. relaxed C. frustrated D. breathless

2.A. fare B. bills C. fines D. prices

3.A. listeners B. background C. instrument D. traffic

4.A. trees B. crowd C. buildings D. street

5.A. shocked B. amused C. excited D. comforted

6.A. energy B. courage C. patience D. technique

7.A. presence B. mood C. thought D. appreciation

8.A. aside B. down C. over D. off

9.A. quietly B. eagerly C. seriously D. curiously

10.A. negative B. unhealthy C. positive D. elderly

11.A. sharing B. creating C. enjoying D. teaching

12.A. tense B. wonderful C. crazy D. rough

13.A. enthusiastic B. emotional C. hopeful D. energetic

14.A. helpful B. worthwhile C. useful D. available

15.A. ashamed B. sure C. particular D. anxious

16.A. problem B. situation C. conflict D. condition

17.A. success B. aid C. opportunity D. happiness

18.A. focus B. look C. fight D. smile

19.A. impressed B. moved C. inspired D. satisfied

20.A. however B. whenever C. whoever D. wherever

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科目：高中英語 來源：2015-2016學(xué)年江蘇鹽城中學(xué)高一下期中考試英語試卷（解析版） 題型：單項填空

Masha, a hostess on a Chinese TV program, could not forget those _______moments when she first arrived in China, _______ about Chinese culture.

A. embarrassing, confusing

B. embarrassed, confusing

C. embarrassing, confused

D. embarrassed, confused

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科目：高中英語 來源：2015-2016學(xué)年廣東深圳高級中學(xué)高二下期中考試英語卷（解析版） 題型：短文改錯

短文改錯

假如英語課上老師要求同桌之間交換修改作文，請你修改你同桌的以下作文，文中共有10處語言錯誤，每句中最多有兩處。每處錯誤僅涉及一個單詞的增加，刪除或修改。

增加：在缺詞處加一個漏字符號（∧），并在其下面寫出該加的詞。

刪除：把多余的詞用斜線（\）劃掉。

修改：在錯的詞下劃一橫線，并在該詞下面寫出修改后的詞。

注意：1．每處錯誤及其修改均僅限一詞；

2．只允許修改10處，多者（從第11處起）不計分。

Dear Editor,

I used to be a physician in the children’s department of a hospital. From time to time I treated children who had poisoned by medicine with older family members. The children didn’t know the medicine was danger; they just knew it tasted sweet. Children easily open the bottle what we now use in China.

Some days before I talked about medicines with an American. He showed me a sort of plastic bottle. The design was quite simple and I’m sure our Chinese factories could produce these bottles. The top of the bottle can be opened by pressing down on them while turning, which is difficult for most young children to do so, though grown-up can open these bottles very easily.

I’m certainly that the expense of making such tops would be very small. As a doctor, I’d love to see this doing. And most parents would be grateful.

Sincerely yours

Li Hua

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科目：高中英語 來源：2015-2016學(xué)年廣東汕頭金山中學(xué)高二下期末考試英語卷（解析版） 題型：語法填空

語法填空

閱讀下面材料，在空白處填入適當(dāng)?shù)膬?nèi)容（1個單詞）或括號內(nèi)單詞的正確形式。

I was traveling in a small place in New York. That place had no taxi for a short 1. (distant). One had to take a rickshaw(人力車).

I called out for an old man in the 2. (wait) line. Before I got on the rickshaw, I 3. (automatic) asked how much he would charge to take me across to the Mall. I 4. (tell) “10 dollars”. Then I started bargaining. He just gave a hard smile and said, “ 5. you feel like, please give me. It is not necessary to bargain on this small amount.”

I was a bit ashamed at myself and kept quiet while he continued, “ 6. (like) those taxis, my vehicle does not run on petrol or diesel(柴油) or even gas; it runs on my sweat. So please give it to me with a smile, for the money has to feed so many 7. (hunger) mouths at home.”

When we reached the Mall, I gave him the money and the smile 8. requested and added 9. gentle pat on his back. He smiled back as if 10. (give) me a receipt and I would preserve his smile for a long time.

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科目：高中英語 來源：2016屆高三復(fù)習(xí)跟蹤檢測英語試卷（30）（解析版） 題型：語法填空

語法填空

Our experience at the Children's Medical Care Center was eye?opening. We saw a lot of children without hair due to their radioactive treatment. We played with them and taught them to draw pictures. The children, though suffering such great pains, 1. (be) so friendly that it was much easier to interact with them than we 2. (expect)．

One day, an incident deeply touched us. A girl suggested that she teach us how to fold paper. She taught us 3. great patience, explaining each step slowly and clearly. Though we could easily do that, we still pretended to know nothing about it. We followed her, step by step, doing everything she told us. Finally, when we finished our work 4. (success), she gave each of us _5. big hug. We could see the pride and happiness on her face. Her father was so thankful to us that he held our hands tightly, tears in his eyes. And it was not until then 6. we knew the girl would receive an operation the next day.

Many stories happened at the Center. It was really a _7. (value) experience to us all, enriching our life in a positive way. The children's happy faces and _8._ strong minds will stay with us forever. The days we spent at the Center inspired us boys 9. (reflect) on many things. We began to reflect on how to deal with the difficulties in life, because our “troubles” seem not worth 10. (mention) at all compared with what these innocent kids are going through.

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科目：高中英語 來源：2016屆高三復(fù)習(xí)跟蹤檢測英語試卷（25）（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解

閱讀理解。

Two recent studies have found that punishment is not the best way to influence behavior.

One showed that adults are much more cooperative if they work in a system based on rewards. Researchers at Harvard University in the United States and the Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden did the study.

They had about two hundred college students play a version of the game known as the Prisoner's Dilemma. The game is based on the tension (緊張氣氛) between the interests of an individual and a group. The students played in groups of four. Each player could win points for the group, so they would all gain equally. But each player could also reward or punish each of the other three players, at a cost to the punisher.

Harvard researcher David Rand says the most successful behavior proved to be cooperation. The groups that rewarded it the most earned about twice as much in the game as the groups that rewarded it the least. And the more a group punished itself, the lower its earnings were. The group with the most punishment earned twenty?five percent less than the group with the least punishment. The study appeared last month in the journal Science.

The other study involved children. It was presented last month in California at a conference on violence and abuse. Researchers used intelligence tests given to two groups. More

than eight hundred children aged two to four the first time they were tested. More than seven hundred children aged five to nine.

The two groups were retested four years later, and the study compared the results with the first test. Both groups contained children whose parents used physical punishment and children whose parents did not. The study says the IQs — or intelligence quotients — of the younger children who were not spanked were five points higher than those who were. In the older group, the difference was almost three points.

Murray Strauss from the University of New Hampshire worked with Mallie Paschall from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. Professor Strauss has written extensively about physical punishment of children. He says the more they are spanked, the slower their mental development. He also looked at average IQs in other nations and found them lower where spanking was more common.

1.Which could be the best title of the passage?

A．Punishment

B．The Best Way to Influence Behavior

C．Punishment or Reward: Which Works Better on Behavior?

D．Two Recent Studies

2.The underlined word “spanked” probably means “______”．

A．won B．punished

C．tested D．praised

3.According to the passage, the researchers may agree the best way to influence behavior is ________.

A．rewarding good behavior

B．correcting bad behavior

C．punishing badly?behaved children

D．praising well?behaved children

4.The author develops the passage ________.

A．in order of time

B．in order of importance

C．by describing his experiences

D．by using quotations (引證) and statistics

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科目：高中英語 來源：2016屆高三復(fù)習(xí)跟蹤檢測英語試卷（11）（解析版） 題型：完形填空

完形填空

Beginning to learn gymnastics even before she could barely walk, Svetlana had always dreamed to enter the Olympics scene some day.

However, her ________ ended in the car on the winding road when a lorry appeared out of nowhere. The last thing she ________ was a blinding flash of light. In hospital, when told she would never ________ again, she couldn't believe it. Three months later, she was ________ out of hospital on a wheelchair. Then a friend came to her house to visit her with an old children's storybook. A bookmark in it made her________ to page 117. The name of the _________ was ‘The Day Clara Walked’. She was determined to return to stage whatever it might cost.

_________， after a year's hard exercise, Svetlana recovered and was able to display her gymnastics. While she was sitting on the green bench ________ the Athens Olympic Stadium, memories _________： first, the pain and the tears, the book under her pillow, the words of relatives full of advice and comfort, and the pity in those eyes that had once held _________ for her talent. Then followed the trips to the gym where everyone looked on ________， their disbelief transforming slowly to wonder, ________ she could balance the hoop (圈) as well as her teammates. She registered for the 2004 Olympic Games, and finally she received _________ from the Olympic Committee.

Her _________ was interrupted by the attendant who said, “It's time”， two words that she had been ________ to hear for so long. Smoothing her dress, she walked into the stadium, each ________ firm and steady. Everything was ________， and the applause rang loud in her ears, her heart beating ________ in her chest.

Later that night, Svetlana pulled the gold medal out of her pocket and placed it on the old ________on the shelf, which opened to page 117, to the chapter ‘The Day Clara Walked’， tears ________ her vision.

1.A.intention B．dream C．life D．career

2.A.remembered B．forgot C．experienced D．suffered

3.A.see B．dance C．sing D．walk

4.A.wheeled B．rocked C．thrown D．rushed

5.A.point B．relate C．open D．a(chǎn)dapt

6.A.bookmark B．page C．story D．chapter

7.A.Fortunately B．Surprisingly C．Suddenly D．Certainly

8.A.outside B．inside C．beneath D．opposite

9.A.squeezed out B．faded away C．mixed up D．flooded in

10.A.fright B．a(chǎn)dmiration C．sympathy D．regret

11.A.cheerfully B．thankfully C．nervously D．doubtfully

12.A.until B．while C．a(chǎn)s D．once

13.A.approval B．praise C．support D．a(chǎn)ccess

14.A.plan B．thought C．a(chǎn)ttempt D．sight

15.A.eager B．content C．upset D．proud

16.A.breath B．wave C．step D．look

17.A.unexpected B．perfect C．a(chǎn)wful D．finished

18.A.immediately B．swiftly C．properly D．fiercely

19.A.hoop B．letter C．book D．dress

20.A.rolling B．filling C．clouding D．rushing

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