If you saw another kid ride her bike too fast around a corner and fall down, you might ride your bike more slowly on that turn. Yes, we humans are very sensitive to others' mistakes. And the same is true for other animals. Animals mess up all the time. They might eat poisonous leaves, fall off a tree or let their prey (猎物) slip away. By watching others fail, an animal can avoid making the same mistakes, thus improving its chance of survival.
Scientists suspected that one part of the brain helps animals process information about others' errors. Cells in that part appear to become more active when a person sees someone else making a mistake. But researchers didn't know whether individual cells in this part of the brain play different roles in detecting errors.
To investigate the brain's response to errors in more detail, the researchers taught a game to two macaques, a type of monkey. One monkey could press a yellow or green button while the other watched. If the first monkey pressed the right button, the team gave both animals a treat. Every couple of rounds, the two monkeys switched roles. Meanwhile, the scientists monitored individual cells in the animal's brains.
When the first monkey messed up the game by pressing the wrong button, a group of cells in the second monkey's brain fired. But if the second monkey also made the wrong choice during its turn, some of the cells in that group didn't respond. Those unresponsive cells reacted specifically to mistakes made by others, not to the monkey's own mistakes.
Scientists believe other parts of the brain also might help people process information about another's errors. "You start to think about this other person and see things from his angle. " Ellen de Bruijn, told Science News. She studies the brain at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands.
1. According to Paragraph 1 , animals' ability to learn from others' mistakes ______.
A. used to be ignored by humans
B. ensures that they will never fail
C. is being lost because of humans
D. helps them to survive better
2.The underlined word "detecting" in Paragraph 2 probably means "______".
A. correcting B. making
C. sensing D. drawing
3. In the experiment mentioned, those unresponsive cells are only sensitive to ______.
A. the same buttons B. others' mistakes
C. one's own mistakes D. the monkey's brain
A group of frogs （青蛙）were traveling through the woods. And two of them fell into a deep pit. When the other frogs saw how deep the pit was, they told the two frogs that they were as good as dead. The two frogs didn't listen and tried to jump out of the pit with all their might. The other frogs kept telling them to stop. Finally, one of the frogs heard what the other frogs were saying and gave up, so he died.
The other frog went on jumping as hard as he could. Once again, the other frogs cried at him and told him to stop and just allow himself to die. He jumped even harder and finally made himself out. When he got out, the other frogs said, "Didn't you hear us?" The frog explained to them that something was wrong with his hearing. He thought they were encouraging him the whole time.
There is power of life and death in the tongue. An encouraging word to someone who is down can lift him or her up and help them make it through the day. Be careful of what you say. Speak life to those who cross your path. The power of words—anyone can speak bad words that rob another of the spirit to go on in difficult times. But an encouraging word can go such a long way.
【写作内容】 1. 用约30个词概括上面这篇文章的内容。
2. 以约120个词就“语言的力量”发表你的看法和感受，内容包括：
(1) 语言在现实生活中的正负面影响；
(2)举一个发生在你或你认识的人身上的例子，说明语言的正或负面的影响；
(3) 日常生活中，我们应该如何利用好语言，让语言产生积极的影响。
【写作要求】 在作文中可以使用自己亲身的经历或虚构的故事，也可以参照阅读材料的内容，
但不得直接引用原文中的句子。
Until just a few years ago，we doctors believed that the brain stopped making new neural(神经系统的)connections (meaning that your memory began to get worse)when the body stopped developing，usually in your early 20s. And we knew that，like any other body part，neurons weaken as we age. Loss of brain function due to neural breakdown was assumed to be a normal，unavoidable part of aging.
It turns out that we were wrong. In the past few years，it has been discovered that you can，in fact，make new neurons starting in your 20s and continuing well into old age. You can literally rewire the brain with new parts as the older parts wear out. How？Simple：Keep learning. Just as your body can pack on and condition new muscle，your brain can rebuild used-up neurons.
How strong is the evidence for this？Strong enough that a $200 million industry devoted to brain boosting software (products like Brain Age，MindFit，and Lumosity that supposedly improve your memory function)has sprung up out of nowhere. All“mental fitness”means are keeping your memory intact(everything from phone numbers to how to throw a football)．So what can you do to stay smart?
Keep blood pressure down. People with high blood pressure are more likely to develop cognitive impairment later in life.
Eat more vitamins. Like E(in nuts and sunflower seeds)，B6 and B12(beef，tuna)，and folic acid(leafy greens，citrus，berries)，which help keep your brain’s chemistry in balance.
Exercise your brain. This is the best way to rebuild and strengthen those precious neurons. Learn to play chess or the guitar. When you’re at a stoplight，try to recall the starting lineup of the 1983 Celtics. See a movie that doesn’t feature Ben Stiller. Or read，like，a book.
Title：How to keep the 1.________smart？
Previous 2.____ | The brain no longer makes new neural connections once the 3.________ of one’s body has stopped. |
New 4. ________
| ●New neurons continue to occur even in one’s old age. ●5.________contributes to the development of the new parts of your brain. ●Many products which claim to improve your brain function appear in 6.the _________. |
7. _______ | ●Keep yourself away from 8._________blood pressure. ●9._________in more vitamins for the needs of your brain. ●10._______your brain as much as you can. |
This is an excerpt from Emma Watsons speech at the United Nations headquarters.
Today we are launching a campaign（called "He For She"）. I am reaching out to you because we need your help. We want to end gender inequality, and to do this, we need everyone involved. This is the first campaign of this kind in the UN. We want to try to involve as many men and boys as possible to be advocates for change.
I started questioning gender-based assumption a long time ago. When I was 8, I was confused being called bossy because I wanted to direct a play that we put on for our parents, but the boys were not. When I was 14, I started to be sexualized by certain elements of the media. At 15, my girlfriends started dropping out of a lot of sports teams because they didn’t want to appear masculine. At 18, my male friends were unable to express their feelings.
I decided that I was a feminist. This seemed uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word. Women are choosing not to identify as feminists. Why has the word become such an uncomfortable one? I’m from Britain and I think it is right that I am paid the same as my male counterparts. I think it is right that I should make decisions about my own body. I think it is right that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and decisions that will affect my life. I think it is right that socially, I am afforded the same respect as men.
But sadly, I can say that there is no one country in the world where all women can expect to receive these rights. No country in the world can yet say that they have achieved gender equality. These rights, I considered to be human rights, but I am one of the lucky ones.
My life is a sheer privilege because my parents didn’t love me less because I was born a daughter. My school did not limit me because I was a girl. My mentors didn’t assume that I would end up nowhere because I might give birth to a child one day. These influences were the gender equality ambassadors that made me who I am today. They may not know it but they are the inadvertent feminists who are changing the world today. We need more of those.
Men, I would like to take this opportunity to extend you a formal invitation. Gender equality is your issue, too. Because to date, I’ve seen young men suffering from mental illness, unable to ask for help for fear it will make them less of a man, or less of men. I’ve seen men made fragile and insecure by distorted sense of what constitutes male success. Men don’t have the benefits of equality, either. Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive, both men and women should be free to be strong. This is what "He For She" is about. It’s about freedom.
You might be thinking: who is this Harry Potter girl? What is she doing at the UN? I’ve been asking myself at the same thing. All I know is that I care about this problem and I want to make it better. And having seen what I’ve seen and given the chance, I feel my responsibility to say something. Statesman Edmund Burke said all that is needed for the forces of evil to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing.
In my nervousness for this speech and in my moment of doubt, I told myself firmly: If not me, who? If not now, when? If you have similar doubts when opportunities are presented to you, I hope those words would be helpful. Because the reality is that if we do nothing, it will take 75 years, or for me it will be nearly 100 before women can be expected to be paid as same as men for the same work. 15.5 million girls will be married in the 16 years as children. At current rate, it will be until 2086 before all rural African girls can have secondary education. We are struggling for a uniting world, but the good news is we have a uniting movement. It is called “He For She”. I am inviting you to step forward, to be seen and to ask yourself: if not me, who? If not now, when?
Thank you.
1.The campaign “He For She” aims to ________.
A. give women more freedom than men
B. give men more freedom than women
C. involve everyone to struggle for the end of gender inequality
D. involve as many men and boys as possible to live a free life.
2.We can know from Emma Watson’s personal experience that _________.
A. feminism has become an unpopular word
B. her parents didn’t love her because she was born a daughter
C. she was called bossy because she didn’t want to appear masculine
D. her mentors treated her the same way they treated boy students.
3.What does the underlined sentence mean?
A. Good men and women doing nothing leads to evil forces to develop.
B. Good men and women need to do nothing to defeat evil forces.
C. The victory of evil force leads to good men and women doing nothing.
D. It is necessary for good men and women do nothing to combat evil forces.
4.In the speech, Emma calls on people to ________.
A. participate in the campaign actively and take actions
B. admit that men and women should be equally paid
C. pay more attention to men suffering from mental illnesses
D. believe in her although she acted in the Harry Potter series
Conventional wisdom says that hardship can make us old before our time. In fact, a new study suggests that violence not only leaves long-term scars on childrens bodies, but also changes their DNA, causing changes that are equal to seven to ten years of premature aging.
Scientists measured this by studying the ends of childrens chromosomes(染色体), called telomeres, says Idan Shalev, lead author of a study published in Molecular Psychiatry.
Telomeres are special DNA sequences which prevent the DNA in chromosomes from separating. They get shorter each time a cell divides, until a cell cannot divide any more and dies.
Several factors have been found to shorten telomeres, including smoking, radiation and psychological stresses such as being treated badly when young and taking care of a chronically ill person.
In this study, researchers examined whether exposure to violence could make children’s telomeres shorten faster than normal. They interviewed the mothers of 236 children at ages 5, 7 and 10, asking whether the youngsters had been exposed to domestic violence between the mother and her partner; physical maltreatment by an adult; or bullying. Researchers measured the children’s telomeres—in cells obtained by swabbing the insides of their cheeks—at ages 5 and 10.
Telomeres shortened faster in kids exposed to two or more types of violence, says Shalev. Unless that pattern changes, the study suggests, these kids could be expected to develop diseases of aging, such as heart attacks or memory loss, seven to 10 years earlier than their peers.
Shalev says there is hope for these kids. His study found that, in rare cases, telomeres can lengthen. Better nutrition, exercise and stress reduction are three things that may be able to lengthen telomeres, he says.
The study confirms a small but growing number of studies suggesting that early childhood adversity imprints itself in our chromosomes, says Charles Nelson, a professor of pediatrics and neuroscience at Harvard Medical School.
1.The new study found that ________.
A. hardship can change a childs aging
B. violence leaves scars on a childs mind
C. violence can speed up a childs aging
D. hardship has a long term effect on a childs mind
2.According to the text, telomeres ________.
A. are at the ends of peoples chromosomes
B. can help prevent DNA from separating
C. can make a cell die quickly
D. become shorter before they die
3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?
A. Violence can cause quick cell division in childrens body.
B. Researchers measured the childrens telomeres from their legs in the study.
C. Being treated badly will make a childs telomeres shorten faster.
D. Children who have shorter telomeres may have a heart attack earlier.
4.What is the best title for the text?
A. Violence Aging Childrens DNA
B. Childrens Changing DNA Patterns
C. Violence and Telomeres
D. The Function of Telomeres
The power of humor and laughter is numerous. They entertain us and make us feel good. But, above all, we have discovered that humor and laughter are the best medicine. They relieve pain, reduce stress and anxiety, and are anti-aging and longevity facilitators.
They are extremely necessary for helping us to find and maintain a balance between life and work. However, they are slipping away from us. We have become far too serious. The only ones who still enjoy humor, laughter, fun and play to the fullest are young children. Children tend to laugh an average of 200 times a day. For adults, however, it is a totally different story.
In the 1950s people laughed on average 18 times a day. Today, we are lucky if we average between 4-6 times a day.
As a matter of fact, a recent study found that people laugh 6 more times in the presence of one person but 30 more times in a group of people. You can get a chuckle(咯咯笑) from jokes you get on the Internet, but it is not the same as belly jiggling laughter (a deep laugh) you get when you interact with others.
Socializing with friends and relatives was much looked forward to. However, this is no longer the case. In fact, the majority of people can hardly find time, nor do they have the inclination towards socializing outside home. They turn to electronic media such as television, computers, the Internet, videos, CDs, and audio equipment, which can provide them with instant self-entertainment at the push of a button.
The workplace does not fare(进展) much better. Due to the pressures to produce more in the same or fewer hours available and to compete, for example, in a manufacturing field with cheaper labor elsewhere in the world, humor and laughter in the workplace have gradually eroded（逐渐毁坏） away.
I have developed a real appreciation, perhaps closer to a strong desire for the power of humor and laughter. This encouraged me to write my first book titled “The Power of Humor” and subsequently my second book titled “Kids Say the Goggonest Things” based on the natural humor, laughter, play and fun that kids experience and they freely share with parents, grandparents and teachers.
From writing about humor and laughter, people start to ask me to speak up for them. To date, I have developed a number of humor-laughter topics that I use in my keynote presentations. You are invited to subscribe to my free monthly e-magazine “The Humormeister’s Forum” by clicking on the Free Humor E-zine navigation button on the website.
1.According to the author, laughter is leaving us partly because ________.
A. we treat everything in a serious way
B. it relieves pain, reduces stress and anxiety
C. we fail to maintain balance between life and work
D. the pace of change in our lives is becoming faster
2.The fourth paragraph mainly tells us that ________.
A. getting a deep laugh nowadays is difficult
B. we can entertain ourselves with the help of the Internet
C. people laugh more heartily when spending time with others
D. researchers have made a new discovery about the effect of laughter
3.The underlined word inclination in Paragraph 5 most probably means ________.
A. destination B. tendency
C. attitude D. approach
4.Which of the following articles can we most probably find in The Humormeisters Forum?
A. The power of honesty.
B. Dont be your own worst enemy.
C. Live life purposefully: The relationship within.
D. Funny Christmas stories to share with your loved ones.
