Hacking our senses to boost learning power
Some schools are pumping music, noises and pleasant smells into the classroom to see if it improves exam results. Could it work? Why do songs stick in our heads? What does your school smell like? Is it noisy or peaceful?
It might not seem important, but a growing body of research suggests that smells and sounds can have an impact on learning, performance and creativity. Indeed, some head teachers have recently taken to broadcasting noises and pumping smells into their schools to see whether it can boost grades. Is there anything in it? And if so, what are the implications for the way we work and study?
There is certainly some well-established research to suggest that some noises can have a harmful effect on learning. Numerous studies over the past 15 years have found that children attending schools under the flight paths of large airports fall behind in their exam results. Bridget Shield, a professor of acoustics (声学) at London South Bank University, and Julie Dockrell, from the Institute of Education, have been conducting studies on the effects of all sorts of noises, such as traffic and sirens (汽笛), as well as noise generated by the children themselves. When they recreated those particular sounds in an experimental setting while children completed various learning tasks, they found a significant negative effect on exam scores.
“Everything points to a bad impact of the noise on children’s performance, in numeracy, in literacy, and in spelling,” says Shield. The noise seemed to have an especially harmful effect on children with special needs.
Whether background sounds are beneficial or not seems to depend on what kind of noise it is — and the volume. In a series of studies published last year, Ravi Mehta from the College of Business at Illinois and his colleagues tested people’s creativity while exposed to a soundtrack made up of background noises — such as coffee-shop chatter and construction-site drilling — at different volumes. They found that people were more creative when the background noises were played at a medium level than when volume was low. Loud background noise, however, damaged their creativity.
Many teachers all over the world already play music to students in class. Many are inspired by the belief that hearing music can boost IQ in later tasks, the so-called Mozart effect. While the evidence actually suggests it’s hard to say classical music boosts brainpower, researchers do think pleasant sounds before a task can sometimes lift your mood and help you perform well, says Perham, who has done his own studies on the phenomenon. The key appears to be that you enjoy what you’re hearing. ‘If you like the music or you like the sound — even listening to a Stephen King novel — then you do better. It doesn’t matter about the music,’ he says.
So, it seems that schools that choose to prevent disturbing noises and create positive soundscapes could enhance the learning of their students, so long as they make careful choices. Yet this isn’t the only sense being used to affect learning. Special educational needs students at Sydenham high school in London are being encouraged to revise different subjects in the presence of different smells — grapefruit scents for maths, lavender for French and spearmint for history.
1.The four questions in the first paragraph are meant to ________.
A.create some sense of humour to please the readers
B.provide the most frequently asked questions in schools nowadays
C.hold the readers’ attention and arouse their curiosity to go on reading
D.declare the purpose of the article: to try to offer key to those questions
2.What does the conclusion of the studies of noise conducted by Bridget Shield and Julie Dockrell suggest?
A.Peaceful music plays an active role in students’ learning.
B.Not all noises have a negative impact on children’s performance.
C.We should create for school children a more peaceful environment.
D.Children with special needs might be exposed to some particular sounds.
3.Ravi Mehta’s experiment indicates that ________.
A.students’ creativity improves in a quiet environment
B.we may play some Mozart music while students are learning
C.a proper volume of background noises does improve creativity
D.noise of coffee-shop chatter is better than that of construction-site drilling
4.Towards the positive impact of appropriate background sound and smell on students’ learning and creativity, the author’s attitude is ________.
A.ambiguous B.doubtful
C.negative D.supportive
5.Which of the following is most likely to follow up the research findings?
A.Experts’ research into other senses that can improve students’ grades.
B.More successful examples of boosting learning power by using music.
C.Suggestions for pumping lots of pleasant smells into school campuses.
D.Debates on whether noises can really have positive effect on students’ performance.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题
Hacking our senses to boost learning power
Some schools are pumping music, noises and pleasant smells into the classroom to see if it improves exam results. Could it work? Why do songs stick in our heads? What does your school smell like? Is it noisy or peaceful?
It might not seem important, but a growing body of research suggests that smells and sounds can have an impact on learning, performance and creativity. Indeed, some head teachers have recently taken to broadcasting noises and pumping smells into their schools to see whether it can boost grades. Is there anything in it? And if so, what are the implications for the way we work and study?
There is certainly some well-established research to suggest that some noises can have a harmful effect on learning. Numerous studies over the past 15 years have found that children attending schools under the flight paths of large airports fall behind in their exam results. Bridget Shield, a professor of acoustics (声学) at London South Bank University, and Julie Dockrell, from the Institute of Education, have been conducting studies on the effects of all sorts of noises, such as traffic and sirens (汽笛), as well as noise generated by the children themselves. When they recreated those particular sounds in an experimental setting while children completed various learning tasks, they found a significant negative effect on exam scores.
“Everything points to a bad impact of the noise on children’s performance, in numeracy, in literacy, and in spelling,” says Shield. The noise seemed to have an especially harmful effect on children with special needs.
Whether background sounds are beneficial or not seems to depend on what kind of noise it is — and the volume. In a series of studies published last year, Ravi Mehta from the College of Business at Illinois and his colleagues tested people’s creativity while exposed to a soundtrack made up of background noises — such as coffee-shop chatter and construction-site drilling — at different volumes. They found that people were more creative when the background noises were played at a medium level than when volume was low. Loud background noise, however, damaged their creativity.
Many teachers all over the world already play music to students in class. Many are inspired by the belief that hearing music can boost IQ in later tasks, the so-called Mozart effect. While the evidence actually suggests it’s hard to say classical music boosts brainpower, researchers do think pleasant sounds before a task can sometimes lift your mood and help you perform well, says Perham, who has done his own studies on the phenomenon. The key appears to be that you enjoy what you’re hearing. ‘If you like the music or you like the sound — even listening to a Stephen King novel — then you do better. It doesn’t matter about the music,’ he says.
So, it seems that schools that choose to prevent disturbing noises and create positive soundscapes could enhance the learning of their students, so long as they make careful choices. Yet this isn’t the only sense being used to affect learning. Special educational needs students at Sydenham high school in London are being encouraged to revise different subjects in the presence of different smells — grapefruit scents for maths, lavender for French and spearmint for history.
1.The four questions in the first paragraph are meant to ________.
A.create some sense of humour to please the readers
B.provide the most frequently asked questions in schools nowadays
C.hold the readers’ attention and arouse their curiosity to go on reading
D.declare the purpose of the article: to try to offer key to those questions
2.What does the conclusion of the studies of noise conducted by Bridget Shield and Julie Dockrell suggest?
A.Peaceful music plays an active role in students’ learning.
B.Not all noises have a negative impact on children’s performance.
C.We should create for school children a more peaceful environment.
D.Children with special needs might be exposed to some particular sounds.
3.Ravi Mehta’s experiment indicates that ________.
A.students’ creativity improves in a quiet environment
B.we may play some Mozart music while students are learning
C.a proper volume of background noises does improve creativity
D.noise of coffee-shop chatter is better than that of construction-site drilling
4.Towards the positive impact of appropriate background sound and smell on students’ learning and creativity, the author’s attitude is ________.
A.ambiguous B.doubtful
C.negative D.supportive
5.Which of the following is most likely to follow up the research findings?
A.Experts’ research into other senses that can improve students’ grades.
B.More successful examples of boosting learning power by using music.
C.Suggestions for pumping lots of pleasant smells into school campuses.
D.Debates on whether noises can really have positive effect on students’ performance.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Scientists have proved that sleeping and learning go hand in hand. Even a short nap can boost our memory and sharpen our thinking. But the relationship goes deeper than that.
“The brain is not passive while you sleep,” scientist Anat Arzi said. “It’s quite active. You can do many things while you are asleep.”
Arzi and her coworkers didn’t try to teach the sleeping volunteers any complex information, like new words or facts. Instead, the scientists taught volunteers to make new connections between smells and sounds.
When we smell something good, like a flower, we take deep breaths. When we smell something bad, we take short breaths. Arzi and her co-workers based their experiment on these reactions.
Once the volunteers fell asleep in the lab, the scientists went to work. They gave them a whiff of something pleasant and meanwhile played a particular musical note. They didn’t wake up, but they heard—and sniffed(吸气) deeply. Then the scientists gave the volunteers a whiff of something terrible and played a different musical note. Again, the volunteers heard and smelled—a short snort this
time—but didn’t wake up. The researchers repeated the experiment.
After just four repetitions, volunteers made a connection between the musical notes and their paired smells. When the scientists played the musical tone that went with good smells, the sleepers breathed deeply. And when the scientists played the musical tone that went with bad smells, the sleepers breathed briefly—despite there being no bad smell.
The next day, the volunteers woke up with the sound-smell connection. They breathed deeply when hearing one tone and cut their breaths short when hearing the other, which must have been unusual for them. Imagine walking down the street and taking a deep breath upon hearing a particular sound!
1.In the study, the volunteers were taught _______.
A．to become active during sleep
B．to tell the difference between smell
C．to learn new words and scientific facts
D．to make sound-smell connections
2. How did the volunteers react when smelling something nice and hearing musical notes?
A．They took a deep breath. B．They had a wonderful dream.
C．They woke up at once. D．They took a short breath.
3. When the volunteers woke up the next day, they_______.
A．learned how to play to musical tones
B．forgot what happened during their sleep
C．continued with the sound-smell connection
D．changed their reaction when hearing.
4.The passage mainly tell us______
A．special smells and sounds can improve our memory.
B．our brain can actually learn something new during the sleep.
C．the volunteers will always hear similar sounds in the street.
D．our brain can tell the difference between smells during the sleep.
5.Which of the following is NOT true?
A．A short sleep can improve our memory and sharpen our thinking.
B．Arzi and her coworkers didn’t try to teach the sleeping volunteer some simple information.
C．When the volunteer smelt something terrible, they didn’t wake up.
D．After four repetitions, volunteers made a connection between the musical notes and their pared smells.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Scientists have proved that sleeping and learning go hand in hand. Even a short nap can boost our memory and sharpen our thinking. But the relationship goes deeper than that.
“The brain is not passive while you sleep,” scientist Anat Arzi said. “It’s quite active. You can do many things while you are asleep.”
Arzi and her coworkers didn’t try to teach the sleeping volunteers any complex information, like new words or facts. Instead, the scientists taught volunteers to make new connections between smells and sounds.
When we smell something good, like a flower, we take deep breaths. When we smell something bad, we take short breaths. Arzi and her co-workers based their experiment on these reactions.
Once the volunteers fell asleep in the lab, the scientists went to work. They gave them a whiff of something pleasant and meanwhile played a particular musical note. They didn’t wake up, but they heard—and sniffed(吸气) deeply. Then the scientists gave the volunteers a whiff of something terrible and played a different musical note. Again, the volunteers heard and smelled—a short snort this time—but didn’t wake up. The researchers repeated the experiment.
After just four repetitions, volunteers made a connection between the musical notes and their paired smells. When the scientists played the musical tone that went with good smells, the sleepers breathed deeply. And when the scientists played the musical tone that went with bad smells, the sleepers breathed briefly—despite there being no bad smell.
The next day, the volunteers woke up with the sound-smell connection. They breathed deeply when hearing one tone and cut their breaths short when hearing the other, which must have been unusual for them. Imagine walking down the street and taking a deep breath upon hearing a particular sound!
1.In the study, the volunteers were taught _______.
A. to become active during sleep
B. to tell the difference between smells
C. to learn new words and scientific facts
D. to make sound-smell connections
2.How did the volunteers react when smelling something nice and hearing musical notes?
A. They took a deep breath.
B. They had a wonderful dream.
C. They woke up at once.
D. They took a short breath.
3.When the volunteers woke up the next day, they_______.
A. learned how to play to musical tones
B. forgot what happened during their sleep
C. continued with the sound-smell connection
D. changed their reaction when hearing the sound
4.The passage mainly tells us _______.
A. special smells and sounds can improve our memory
B. our brain can actually learn something new during sleep
C. the volunteers will always hear similar sounds on the street
D. our brain can tell the difference between smells during sleep
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Everyone is born with the ability to learn. There are normally two types of learning in our daily life and study — active learning and passive (被动的) learning. 1. This will help you develop a habit of active learning gradually.
2. I bet that no one sits down to read with the purpose of not getting the contents. But I’m sure that some of you have been in a situation, probably more than once, where you read an assignment, closed the book and thought “what the word was about”. 3. Active readers, on the other hand, set goals and check their understanding as they read. When they finish, they can explain the main points and know that they’ve seen what they have read.
Active learners think about information deeply and critically. Being thoughtful is an important part of active learning, because it means that you are analyzing and absorbing the information. 4. For instance, you may make connections between the new information and what you already know, identify concepts that you may not understand very well, or evaluate the importance of what you are reading. An active learner considers constantly in this way. In contrast, passive learners may read the text and listen to lectures and even understand most of what is read and heard. 5.
All in all, behavior of an active learner and a passive one varies greatly. Equipping yourself with study strategies (策略) of active learners may eventually help you become one of them
A.Passive learners won’t be strict with themselves.
B.You need to know some differences between them.
C.In other words, you are processing what you read.
D.However, that important step of reflecting on it is not taken.
E.Active learners accept much of the responsibility for learning.
F.When interacting with the text in this way, you are doing passively.
G.Active learners study with the purpose of grasping and memorizing information.
高二英语七选五中等难度题查看答案及解析
Teenagers at one German school are learning how to achieve happiness alongside other traditional subjects such as math and languages.
The class sit in a circle with their eyes shut and they count from one to ten: someone starts, the next voice comes from the far right, a third from the other side.
The aim of the game is to listen for an opportunity to shout out the number without clashing (冲突) with another voice or leaving a pause. On the first try, most of the young Germans try to be first, while a few are too shy to join in, but by the fifth time round, they develop a rhythm. The message: give other people space but also confidently claim your own. This is a requirement for social well-being.
The Willy Hellpach School in Heidelberg is the first in the nation to develop a happiness course. It is intended for students preparing for university entrance exams.
"The course isn't there to make you happy," Ernst Fritz -Schubert, the school principal, warned pupils, "but rather to help you discover the ways to become happy."
Cooking a meal together is one of the class exercises. Improving body language under the guidance of two professional actresses is another.
The course is taught for three periods a week. Despite the happy subject, the pupils themselves insist it is no laughing matter.
"In the first period, we had to each say something positive about another member of the class and about ourselves. No laughing at people." said Fanny, 17.
Research by the school shows it is not the first to start happiness classes: they also exist at some U. S. universities, mainly based on positive thinking, using findings from studies of depression.
1.What's the writing purpose of this passage?
A. To help students struggle against being sad.
B. To describe all the traditional courses.
C. To arouse the readers' interest in happiness.
D. To introduce the happiness course.
2.The game intended for the students in the 2nd paragraph is mainly to _________.
A. try their best to get opportunities for themselves
B. practice how to speak in front of people
C. equip them with required social skills
D. confidently speak out one's opinions
3.According to the passage, the happiness course is _________.
A. to help students discover the ways to happiness
B. to make all the students happy all the time
C. required to be taken by the first year students
D. created by the Willy Hellpach School
4.It can be inferred from the passage that _________.
A. the students can certainly become happy after the course
B. the students just took the course as a laughing matter
C. the students' self'-respect can also improve happiness
D. the students waste time learning something without value
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
语法填空
There are many things we need to know but do not learn at school． For example， if we want to use our money1.(wise)， we need to shop carefully． We need to know how to compare the prices and quality． We need to know how to make2.best decision when we shop． Knowing how to make such decisions 3.(be) a life skill， and we need these skills if we are to lead useful and happy lives．
Some of the decisions are small． For example， will I take an apple or a pear4.lunch? Will I take the bus to school today or will I walk？ Others are more important． For example， will I eat healthy food 5.will I eat junk food because it is 6.(tasty)？ We make decisions like this every day．7.， making the wrong ones can result 8.unhappiness． We have to realize that the 9.(choose) we make can affect the rest of our lives， and it can also affect other people． Next time you decide 10.(waste) time in class， play a joke on someone or talk loudly at the movies， consider this: who else does your decision affect？
高二英语语法填空简单题查看答案及解析
完形填空
Where do you go when you want to learn something?School?A friend?A tutor?These are all _____ places of learning.But it may well be that the learning you really want _____ somewhere else instead.I had the _____ of seeing this first hand on a _____.
My daughter plays on a recreational soccer team.They did very well this season and so _____ a tournament,which normally was only for more skilled club teams.This led to some _____ experiences on Saturday as they played against teams _____ trained.Through the first two games,her _____ did not get one serious shot on goal.As a parent,I _____ seeing my daughter playing her best, _____ still defeated.
It seemed that something clicked with the _____ between Saturday and Sunday.When they _____ for their Sunday game,they were _____ different.They had begun to integrate(融合)the kinds of play and teamwork they had _____ the day before into their _____.They played aggressively and _____ scored a goal.
It _____ me that playing against the other team was a great _____ moment for all the girls on the team.I think it is a general principle. _____ is the best teacher.The lessons they learned may not be _____ what they would have gotten in school,but are certainly more personal and meaningful,because they had to work them out on their own.
1.A.public B.traditional C.official D.special
2.A.passes B.works C.lies D.ends
3.A.dream B.idea C.habit D.chance
4.A.trip B.holiday C.weekend D.square
5.A.won B.entered C.organized D.watched
6.A.painful B.strange C.common D.practical
7.A.less B.poorly C.newly D.better
8.A.fans B.tutors C.class D.team
9.A.imagined B.hated C.avoided D.missed
10.A.if B.or C.but D.as
11.A.girls B.parents C.coaches D.viewers
12.A.dressed B.showed up C.made up D.planned
13.A.slightly B.hardly C.basically D.completely
14.A.seen B.known C.heard D.read
15.A.styles B.training C.game D.rules
16.A.even B.still C.seldom D.again
17.A.confused B.struck C.reminded D.warned
18.A.touching B.thinking C.encouraging D.learning
19.A.Experience B.Independence C.Curiosity D.Interest
20.A.harmful to B.mixed with C.different from D.applied to
高二英语完形填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
Where do you go when you want to learn something？School？A friend？A tutor？These are all _________ places of learning.But it may well be that the learning you really want _________ somewhere else instead.I had the _________ of seeing this first hand on a _________．
My daughter plays on a recreational soccer team.They did very well this season and so _________ a tournament，which normally was only for more skilled club teams.This led to some _________ experiences on Saturday as they played against teams _________ trained.Through the first two games，her _________ did not get one serious shot on goal.As a parent，I _________ seeing my daughter playing her best，__________ still defeated.
It seemed that something clicked with the __________ between Saturday and Sunday.When they __________ for their Sunday game，they were __________ different.They had begun to integrate (融合) the kinds of play and teamwork they had __________ the day before into their __________．They played aggressively and __________ scored a goal.
It __________ me that playing against the other team was a great __________ moment for all the girls on the team.I think it is a general principle.__________ is the best teacher.The lessons they learned may not be __________ what they would have gotten in school，but are certainly more personal and meaningful，because they had to work them out on their own.
1.A. public B. traditional C. official D. special
2.A. passes B. works C. lies D. ends
3.A. dream B. idea C. habit D. chance
4.A. trip B. holiday C. weekend D. square
5.A. won B. entered C. organized D. watched
6.A. painful B. strange C. common D. practical
7.A. less B. poorly C. newly D. better
8.A. fans B. tutors C. class D. team
9.A. imagined B. hated C. avoided D. missed
10.A. if B. or C. but D. as
11.A. girls B. parents C. coaches D. viewers
12.A. dressed B. showed up C. made up D. planned
13.A. slightly B. hardly C. basically D. completely
14.A. seen B. known C. heard D. read
15.A. styles B. training C. game D. rules
16.A. even B. still C. seldom D. again
17.A. confused B. struck C. reminded D. warned
18.A. touching B. thinking C. encouraging D. learning
19.A. Experience B. Independence C. Curiosity D. Interest
20.A. harmful to B. mixed with C. different from D. applied to
高二英语完形填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
Our school forbids_____ ,that is to say, we are not allowed ____ at school.
| A．to smoke, to smoke | B．students’ smoking, smoking |
| C．students’ to smoke, smoking | D．students’ smoking, to smoke |
高二英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
Our school _______ smoking, that is to say, we are not allowed to smoke at school.
A.allows B.promises
C.objects D.forbids
高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析