Question

Here is an astonishing and significant fact: Mental work alone can’t make us tired. It sounds absurd. But years ago, scientists tried to find out how long the human brain could labor without reaching a stage of fatigue (tiredness). To the amazement of these scientists, they discovered that blood passing through the brain, when it is active, shows no fatigue at all! If we took a drop of blood from a day laborer, we would find it full of fatigue toxins (毒素) and fatigue products. But if we took blood from the brain of an Albert Einstein, it would show no fatigue toxins at the end of the day.

So far as the brain is concerned, it can work as well and swiftly at the end of eight or even twelve hours of effort as at the beginning. The brain is totally tireless. So what makes us tired?

Some scientists declare that most of our fatigue comes from our mental and emotional attitudes. One of England’s most outstanding scientists, J.A. Hadfield, says, “The greater part of the fatigue from which we suffer is of mental origin. In fact, fatigue of purely physical origin is rare.” Dr. Brill, a famous American scientist, goes even further. He declares, “One hundred percent of the fatigue of sitting worker in good health is due to emotional problems.”

What kinds of emotions make sitting workers tired? Joy? Satisfaction? No! A feeling of being bored, anger, anxiety, tenseness, worry, a feeling of not being appreciated—those are the emotions that tire sitting workers. Hard work by itself seldom causes fatigue. We get tired because our emotions produce nervousness in the body.

1.What surprised the scientists a few years ago?

A. Fatigue toxins could hardly be found in a laborer’s blood.

B. Albert Einstein didn’t feel worn after a day’s work.

C. The brain could work for many hours without fatigue.

D. A mental worker’s blood was filled with fatigue toxins.

2.According to the author, which of the following can make sitting workers tired?

A. Challenging mental work.

B. Unpleasant emotions.

C. Endless tasks.

D. Physical labor.

3.What’s the author’s attitude towards the scientists’ idea?

A. He agrees with them.

B. He doubts them.

C. He argues against them.

D. He hesitates to accept them.

4.We can infer from the passage that in order to stay energetic, sitting workers need to ________.

A. have some good food

B. enjoy their work

C. exercise regularly

D. discover fatigue toxins

Answer

1.C

2.B

3.A

4.B

【解析】

试题分析：本文是一篇说明文，科学家们发现脑力劳动不能使人劳累，使人劳累的是人的精神和情感状态，即厌烦、生气、焦急、紧张、忧虑以及不被欣赏等。因而在体内产生紧张感，因而觉得身体累了。

1. 细节理解题。根据第一句Here is an astonishing and significant fact: Mental work alone can’t make us tire.可知，“纯粹的脑力劳动不会让感觉到累”这个事实让科学家感到惊讶，故选C。

2. 细节理解题。根据最后一段中A feeling of being bored, anger, anxiety, tenseness, worry, a feeling of not being appreciated—those are the emotions that tire sitting workers.可知，厌烦、生气、焦虑、紧张还有不高兴的情感才会导致坐着工作的工人劳累，这四个选项里只有B才提到，故选B。

3. 推理判断题。根据文章最后一句We get tired because our emotions produce nervousness in the body.可知，作者同意我们感觉到累是因为我们身体里产生了紧张，也就是作者赞同科学家的观点，故选A。

4. 推理判断题。根据最后一段最后两句Hard work by itself seldom causes fatigue. We get tired because our emotions produce nervousness in the body.可孩子，我们累是因为我们紧张，故只要人们心情不紧张，好好享受生活，那么就能保持精力旺盛，不觉得累，故选B。

【名师点拨】

细节题的破解一般采用寻读法，即先看试题，再读文章。对有关信息进行快速定位，再将相关信息进行整合、甄别、分析、对比，有根有据地排除干扰项，选出正确答案。此法加强了阅读的针对性，提高了做题的准确率，节省了宝贵的时间。寻读法还特别适用于对图形表格类题材的理解。做此类型的题目还要特别注意句子的逻辑关系。英语中有许多功能词，如：表因果关系的because, since, as等；表转折关系的but, however ,on the contrary, on the other hand等等。5.最后一段中A feeling of being bored, anger, anxiety, tenseness, worry, a feeling of not being appreciated—those are the emotions that tire sitting workers.可知，厌烦、生气、焦虑、紧张还有不高兴的情感才会导致坐着工作的工人劳累，这四个选项里只有B才提到，故选B。

考点：考查科普类阅读