E
New research at Yale University has provided the strongest evidence that humans are evolving(进化)- and suggests that women of the future will be shorter, heavier, and healthier, and will have children for longer.
As medicine has allowed people who would previously have died young to live to childbearing age and beyond, many have assumed that natural selection no longer works on our species. But Prof Stephen Stearns, the evolutionary biologist at Yale University behind the study, says: "That's just plain false." While survival to reproductive age(生育年龄) is no longer such a barrier(障碍) for humans, other evolutionary pressures – including sexual selection and reproductive fitness – are still working away in full force. If the trends the research detected are representative and continue for another 10 generations, Prof Stearns says that the average woman in 2409AD will be 2cm shorter and 1kg heavier, will bear her first child five months earlier.
Prof Stearns and his team studied the medical histories of 14,000 residents of the Massachusetts town of Framingham, using medical data from a study going back to 1948 and spanning three generations. It looked at 2,238 women past reproductive age – so that they had had all the children they were going to – and tested their height, weight, cholesterol(胆固醇), blood pressure, and other traits, to see if there was a correlation with the number of children they had borne. It found that shorter, heavier women had more children than lighter, taller ones. Women with lower blood pressure and cholesterol were also more likely to have large families. Women who gave birth early or had a late menopause were likely to have more children as well. More importantly, however, these traits were then passed on to their daughters, who also, on average, had more children.
The study has not determined why these factors are linked to reproductive success, but it is likely that they indicate genetic, rather than environmental, effects. Prof Stearns’ team controlled for other factors, including social and cultural change.
Research suggesting humans are evolving has been carried out before, but this is believed to be the first that directly compares reproductive success of individuals with physiological changes(生理变化).
72. What is the main idea of the passage?
A. Natural selection no longer works on our species, especially the woman.
B. Woman of the future will be shorter, heavier, and healthier, and will have children for longer
C. Some genetic, rather than environmental effects has more influence on the evolvement of the humans.
D. Evolutionary pressures are still working in full force on the evolvement of the humans.
73. Which of the following statements is False about the women’s evolvement according to the research?
A. women will shorter
B. women will be fatter
C. The time for the women to have baby will be longer
D. women will be cleverer
74. Which factor is the most promising related to reproductive success?
A. Genetic B. Social C. Environmental D. Cultural
75. This passage may most likely be taken from .
A. a geography magazine
B. a medicine and technology research journal
C. a daily newspaper
D. an entertainment book
高三英语阅读理解简单题
E
New research at Yale University has provided the strongest evidence that humans are evolving(进化)- and suggests that women of the future will be shorter, heavier, and healthier, and will have children for longer.
As medicine has allowed people who would previously have died young to live to childbearing age and beyond, many have assumed that natural selection no longer works on our species. But Prof Stephen Stearns, the evolutionary biologist at Yale University behind the study, says: "That's just plain false." While survival to reproductive age(生育年龄) is no longer such a barrier(障碍) for humans, other evolutionary pressures – including sexual selection and reproductive fitness – are still working away in full force. If the trends the research detected are representative and continue for another 10 generations, Prof Stearns says that the average woman in 2409AD will be 2cm shorter and 1kg heavier, will bear her first child five months earlier.
Prof Stearns and his team studied the medical histories of 14,000 residents of the Massachusetts town of Framingham, using medical data from a study going back to 1948 and spanning three generations. It looked at 2,238 women past reproductive age – so that they had had all the children they were going to – and tested their height, weight, cholesterol(胆固醇), blood pressure, and other traits, to see if there was a correlation with the number of children they had borne. It found that shorter, heavier women had more children than lighter, taller ones. Women with lower blood pressure and cholesterol were also more likely to have large families. Women who gave birth early or had a late menopause were likely to have more children as well. More importantly, however, these traits were then passed on to their daughters, who also, on average, had more children.
The study has not determined why these factors are linked to reproductive success, but it is likely that they indicate genetic, rather than environmental, effects. Prof Stearns’ team controlled for other factors, including social and cultural change.
Research suggesting humans are evolving has been carried out before, but this is believed to be the first that directly compares reproductive success of individuals with physiological changes(生理变化).
72. What is the main idea of the passage?
A. Natural selection no longer works on our species, especially the woman.
B. Woman of the future will be shorter, heavier, and healthier, and will have children for longer
C. Some genetic, rather than environmental effects has more influence on the evolvement of the humans.
D. Evolutionary pressures are still working in full force on the evolvement of the humans.
73. Which of the following statements is False about the women’s evolvement according to the research?
A. women will shorter
B. women will be fatter
C. The time for the women to have baby will be longer
D. women will be cleverer
74. Which factor is the most promising related to reproductive success?
A. Genetic B. Social C. Environmental D. Cultural
75. This passage may most likely be taken from .
A. a geography magazine
B. a medicine and technology research journal
C. a daily newspaper
D. an entertainment book
高三英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析
Researchers at Yale, Texas A&M and Boston University predict that by 2030 urban areas will expand by more than 463,000 square miles, or l.2 million square kilometers. That is equal to 20,000 American football fields becoming urban every day for the first three decades of this century.
The growth in urban areas will go with the construction of roads and buildings, water and sanitation facilities, and energy and transport systems that will transform land cover and cities globally. Recent estimates suggest that between $25 trillion(万亿) and $30 trillion will be spent on infrastructure(基础设施) worldwide by 2030, with $100 billion a year in China alone.
"Considering the long life and near unavoidability of infrastructure investments, it will be critical for current urbanization-related policies to consider their lasting impacts," said Karen Seto, lead author of the study. "We have a huge opportunity to shape how cities develop and their environmental impacts."
Nearly half of the increase in high-probability ----defined as greater than 75 percent ---- urban expansion is forecasted to occur in Asia, with China and India absorbing 55 percent of the regional total. In China, urban- expansion is expected to create a l,l00-mile coastal urban corridor from Hangzhou to Shenyang. In India, urban expansion will be gathered around seven state capital cities, with large areas of low-probability growth forecasted for the Himalaya region where many small villages and towns currently exist.
Africa's urban land cover will grow the fastest, at 590 percent above the 2000 level of 16,000 square miles. Urban expansion win be concentrated in that continent's five regions: the Nile River in Egypt; the coast of West Africa on the Gulf of Guinea; the northern shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya and Uganda and extending into Rwanda and Burundi; the Kano region in northern Nigeria; and greater Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
"Urban expansion is concentrated in. only a few areas where there are large cities and industry," said Seto. "From the northern shore of Lake Victoria down to Rwanda is also a major hotspot of urban expansion."
In North America, where 78 percent of the total population lives in urban areas, urban land cover will nearly double by 96,000 square miles by 2030.The study also forecasts that 48 of the 221 countries in the study will experience insignificant amounts of urban expansion. "
1.As for China, the expansion of urban area means .
A.$ 100 billion will be spent on infrastructure a year
B.creating a coastal urban corridor from Hangzhou to Qingdao
C.it will become the fastest developing country in the next decade
D.it will make up 55% of the increase in urban expansion in Asia
2.According to the passage infrastructure doesn't include .
A.construction of roads B.sanitation facilities
C.energy systems D.land cover transformation
3.In paragraph three the underlined word “their lasting impacts” refers to the impacts of .
A.the development of cities B.urbanization-related policies
C.infrastructure in vestments D.China’s expansion of urban area
4.The best title for this passage should be .
A.The limitation of urban expansion
B.More investment on infrastructure
C.The fast development of the third world
D.The future urban expansion of the world
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Teaching and research are supported by the University’s extensive collections—the Yale University Art Gallery, the Yale Center for British Art, the Peabody Museum of Natural History, and the Collection of Musical Instruments. All the collections are open to the public.
Yale University Art Gallery
The Yale University Art Gallery, founded in 1832, today houses a collection that has grown to rank with those of the major public art museums in the United States. Its two connected buildings house ancient, medieval, and Renaissance art, Near and Far Eastern art, archaeological material from the University’s excavations (古迹), Pre-Columbian and African art, works of European and American masters from actually every period, and a rich collection of modern art. Across the street, the Yale Center for British Art, which was opened in 1977, holds the largest collection of British art and illustrated books anywhere outside the United Kingdom.
Peabody Museum of Natural History
Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History, founded in 1866, contains one of the great scientific collections in North America. Among its holdings are the University’s comprehensive mineralogical and ornithological collections, the second-largest repository of dinosaur artifacts in the United States, and the largest undamaged Apatosaurus (Brontosaurus 雷龙) in the world. The Peabody is truly a working museum, where public exhibition, research, conservation, teaching, and learning intersect (贯穿).
Yale Center for British Art
Institutions like the Art Gallery, the Center for British Art, and the Peabody Museum hold only a portion of the treasures in the University’s collections. From paintings by Picasso, to pterodactyl (翼龙) remains, to a 1689 tenor viol in the Collection of Musical Instruments, Yale’s possessions are meant to be accessible to the communities they enrich.
Collection of Musical Instruments
Exhibitions are also frequently mounted (裱贴) at the following venues on campus: Art + Architecture Gallery (School of Architecture), Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Green Hall Gallery (School of Art), and Sterling Memorial Library, including the Arts of the Book Collection.
1. Which of the following cannot be found in the Yale University Art Gallery?
A. Near and Far Eastern art.
B. Pre-Columbian and African art
C. British art and illustrated books.
D. Works of European and American masters.
2.Where will you go if you want to enjoy dinosaur artifacts?
A. Peabody Museum of Natural History.
B. Collection of Musical Instruments.
C. Yale University Art Gallery.
D. Yale Center for British Art.
3. Which of the following has the longest history according to the passage?
A. Yale Center for British Art.
B. Yale University Art Gallery.
C. Peabody Museum of Natural History.
D. A musical instrument named tenor viol.
4.We can learn from the passage that in Yale, ______.
A. collections are partly open to the public
B. there are many venues just for exhibitions
C. collections are from art museums in the US
D. exhibitions are frequently mounted on campus
5.What is the text mainly about?
A. Introduction to Yale University. B. Introduction to collections in Yale.
C. Introduction to venues in Yale. D. Introduction to art works in Yale.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Dan Bebber is a senior research fellow at the University of Exeter in Britain. He says research has shown that wild plants and animals are moving toward Earth's North and South poles as the planet warms.
Mr Bebber wanted to know if the same thing was happening with organisms that attack agricultural crops. He examined reports of first sightings of new insects and diseases around the world. The records came from CABI - the Centre for Agricultural Bioscience International. He says the group began collecting information from developing and industrialized countries years ago.
Dan Bebber and his research team studied 612 different organisms - from viruses and bacteria to insects like beetles and butterflies. They found that since 1960, crop pests and diseases have been moving toward the poles at an average rate of about 3 kilometers each year. Mr Bebber says this puts the most productive farmland in the world in danger.
"As new species of pests and diseases evolve and potentially the environment for them becomes more amenable at higher latitudes, the pressure on the breadbaskets of the world is going to increase."
Farmers face other threats. Invasive species passed through trade are also causing problems. Gene Kritsky is an Entomologist at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Ohio. He specialises in the study of insects. He says climate change may improve conditions for some invasive species.
“It means that species in other parts of the world that might do well in warmer temperatures can now do well in the breadbasket of America.”
Another Entomologist Christian Krupke of Purdue University says the effects of these changes will depend very much on the crop, the insect and the disease. But he says the research is a warning sign that people should care about climate change and do something about it.
1.The purpose of Dan Bebber’s research was to find ______.
A. if farmland could be moved to colder places thanks to global warming
B. if diseases and insects harmful to crops were going towards colder areas
C. if organisms were moving to the north and south poles
D. if the number of crop pests was increasing
2.According to Dan Bebber, if crop pests keep moving towards the poles, ______.
A. it will be hard for farmers to kill them
B. the most productive farmland will produce more crops
C. the earth will not produce enough food to support the world
D. the conditions for some crops may be improved
3.Which of the following is not a threat that farmers have to face?
A. Climate change helps crop pests to adapt to new environment.
B. Foreign species are brought in by trade.
C. Invasive species doing well in warmer places might do well in America.
D. The impacts of the climate and species changes on crops are not easy to determine.
4.The underlined word “amenable” in the fourth paragraph most probably means ______.
A. agreeable B. terrible C. unfriendly D. changeable
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Research at the University of Liverpool, UK, has found that Shakespeare’s language stimulates positive brain activity.
Shakespeare uses a linguistic(语言的)technique known as functional change that involves, for example, using a noun to serve as a verb.Researchers found that this technique allows the brain to understand what a word means before it understands the function of the word within a sentence.This process causes a sudden peak in brain activity and forces the brain to work backwards in order to fully understand what Shakespeare is trying to say.
Professor Philip Davis, from the university’s School of English, said: “The brain reacts to reading a phrase such as ‘he godded me’ from the tragedy of Coriolanus, in a similar way to putting a jigsaw puzzle(拼图玩具)together.If it is easy to see which pieces fit together you become bored of the game.But if the pieces don’t appear to fit, when we know they should, the brain becomes excited.By throwing irregular words into seemingly normal sentences, Shakespeare surprises the brain in a manner that produces a sudden burst of activity — a sense of drama created out of the simplest of things.”
Experts believe that this heightened brain activity may be one of the reasons why Shakespeare’s plays have such a dramatic impact on their readers.
Professor Neil Roberts, from the university’s Magnetic Resonance and Image Analysis Research Center, and Professor Davis, together with Dr Guillaune Thierry, from the University of Wales, UK, monitored 20 participants using an electroencephalogram (EEG) as they read selected lines from Shakespeare’s plays.
“The brain signal is relatively stable when we understand the meaning of a word but when the word changes the grammar of the whole sentence, brain readings suddenly peak.The brain is then forced to retrace its thinking process in order to understand what it is supposed to make of this unusual word,” explains Professor Roberts.
1.The research conducted by the professors has showed that ___________.
A.Shakespeare uses functional change to mislead readers
B.Shakespeare’s language excites positive brain activity.
C.Shakespeare’s plays have a dramatic effect on their readers.
D.Shakespeare’s language makes the brain signal relatively stable
2.Which of the following words can replace the underlined pronoun “it” in the 2nd paragraph?
A.technique B.word C.brain C.sentence
3.In the 3rd paragraph, the example of a jigsaw puzzle is used here to state___________.
A.the function of Shakespeare’s linguistic technique
B.a sense of drama created by playing the game
C.the Shakespeare’s thinking process
D.the brain’s reaction to reading a book
4.Based on the research, Shakespeare’s plays have a great effect on their reader lies in_______.
A.language used in plays B.characters showed in works
C.brain activity increased in reading D.thinking process when writing
高三英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析
Research at the University of Liverpool, UK, has found that Shakespeare’s language stimulates positive brain activity.
Shakespeare uses a linguistic(语言的)technique known as functional change that involves, for example, using a noun to serve as a verb. Researchers found that this technique allows the brain to understand what a word means before it understands the function of the word within a sentence. This process causes a sudden peak in brain activity and forces the brain to work backwards in order to fully understand what Shakespeare is trying to say.
Professor Philip Davis, from the university’s School of English, said: “The brain reacts to reading a phrase such as ‘he godded me’ from the tragedy of Coriolanus, in a similar way to putting a jigsaw puzzle(拼图玩具)together. If it is easy to see which pieces fit together you become bored of the game. But if the pieces don’t appear to fit, when we know they should, the brain becomes excited. By throwing irregular words into seemingly normal sentences, Shakespeare surprises the brain in a manner that produces a sudden burst of activity — a sense of drama created out of the simplest of things.”
Experts believe that this heightened brain activity may be one of the reasons why Shakespeare’s plays have such a dramatic impact on their readers.
Professor Neil Roberts, from the university’s Magnetic Resonance and Image Analysis Research Center, and Professor Davis, together with Dr Guillaune Thierry, from the University of Wales, UK, monitored 20 participants using an electroencephalogram (EEG) as they read selected lines from Shakespeare’s plays.
“The brain signal is relatively stable when we understand the meaning of a word but when the word changes the grammar of the whole sentence, brain readings suddenly peak. The brain is then forced to retrace its thinking process in order to understand what it is supposed to make of this unusual word,” explains Professor Roberts.
1.The research conducted by the professors has showed that ________.
A. Shakespeare uses functional change to mislead readers
B. Shakespeare’s language excites positive brain activity.
C. Shakespeare’s plays have a dramatic effect on their readers.
D. Shakespeare’s language makes the brain signal relatively stable
2.Which of the following words can replace the underlined pronoun “it” in the 2nd paragraph?
A. technique B. word C. brain C. sentence
3.In the 3rd paragraph, the example of a jigsaw puzzle is used here to state________.
A. the function of Shakespeare’s linguistic technique
B. a sense of drama created by playing the game
C. the Shakespeare’s thinking process
D. the brain’s reaction to reading a book
4.Based on the research, Shakespeare’s plays have a great effect on their reader lies in ________.
A. language used in plays B. characters showed in works
C. brain activity increased in reading D. thinking process when writing
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
A Chinese graduate's record-setting $8,888,888_________ to his school at Yale University has stirred wide debate at home.
A. prize B. donation C. reward D. award
高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
At Yale University, enrollment in basic Chinese in 2005 grew rapidly, and for the first time professors can remember, large numbers of freshmen were arriving with enough knowledge of the Chinese language to start in second- or third-year Chinese language class, rather than basic Chinese.
The American interest in China is not just at the university level. In the 2006 school year, high-school students will be offered an Advanced Placement test, which is one of the national exams American students take for university admission, in Chinese. This is the first time Chinese is offered in the Advanced Placement test, which is usually limited to the most important subjects that high school students take.
What is surprising is that earlier last year, an organization that tracks university students surveyed high schools throughout America, asking if they planned to offer the language courses that prepare students for the language Advanced Placement test. They expected that only a hundred high schools, mostly in California, New York, and a few other places with large immigrant populations, would show interest in each of the new language programs. Although that was true for the courses in Italian, Russian and Japanese, it was not true for the Chinese language course. There were thousands of American high schools that indicated that they planned to build their Chinese programs to levels where students could take the Advanced Placement exam for Chinese language. The demand for courses in Chinese is rising so rapidly that it is rapidly overtaking all other foreign languages except Spanish.
1. According to the passage many freshmen at Yale University today ________.
A.know enough basic Chinese |
B.needn’t learn Chinese any more |
C.take courses in the Chinese language |
D.go to university to study Chinese |
2. For university entrance, the American high-school students ________.
A.have to learn Chinese | B.learn more than one foreign language. |
C.take the Advanced Placement Test | D.used to have a test in Chinese |
3. We can learn from the passage that ________.
A.Chinese will overtake all foreign languages in American high schools |
B.Americans will know more about China and its people |
C.the U.S. government pays much attention to language studies |
D.Chinese may take the place of English in American universities |
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
阅读下面短文,在空白处填入 1 个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
A new study led by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health and published in the journal Lancet Planetary Health, finds that China’s countrywide ban 1. traffic mobility from February 10 to March 14 greatly limited automobile emissions and sharply reduced the 2. (country) often severe air pollution.
The improved air quality, in turn, prevented thousands of pollution-related 3. (death), an 4. (estimate)12,125, more than lives lost from the epidemic(流行 病), the study finds.
“This is a very surprising result. The epidemic continues to be a terrible thing for China and the rest of the world, but the decrease in emissions that accompanied 5. has actually presented some positive health results,” said Kai Chen, assistant professor at the Yale School of Public Health and the study’s first author. “The question is, how can we have one without the 6. ?”
Although the findings cannot be directly applied to other countries due to different severity of and responses to COVID-19, as well as 7. (differ) air pollution levels and population characteristics, reduced air pollution levels 8. (detect) in other Asian and European countries and the U.S.9. their own lockdowns (封城), Chen said. He notes that this reduction in pollution has 10. (like) brought about similar health benefits.
高三英语语法填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
Researchers in the psychology department at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) have discovered a major difference in the way men and women respond to stress. This difference may explain why men are more likely to suffer from stressrelated disorders.
Until now, psychological research has maintained that both men and women have the same “fightorflight” reaction to stress. In other words, individuals either react with aggressive behavior, such as verbal or physical conflict (“fight”), or they react by withdrawing from the stressful situation (“flight”). However, the UCLA research team found that men and women have quite different biological and behavioral responses to stress. While men often react to stress in the fightorflight response, women often have another kind of reaction which could be called “tend and befriend.” That is, they often react to stressful conditions by protecting and nurturing their young (“tend”), and by looking for social contact and support from others—especially other females (“befriend”).
Scientists have long known that in the fightorflight reaction to stress, an important role is played by certain hormones (激素) released by the body. The UCLA research team suggests that the female tendorbefriend response is also based on a hormone. This hormone, called oxytocin, has been studied in the context of childbirth, but now it is being studied for its role in the response of both men and women to stress. The principal investigator, Dr. Shelley E. Taylor, explained that “animals and people with high levels of oxytocin are calmer, more relaxed, more social, and less anxious.” While men also secrete (分泌) oxytocin, its effects are reduced by male hormones.
In terms of everyday behavior, the UCLA study found that women are far more likely than men to seek social contact when they are feeling stressed. They may phone relatives or friends, or ask directions if they are lost.
The study also showed how fathers and mothers responded differently when they came home to their family after a stressful day at work. The typical father wanted to be left alone to enjoy some peace and quiet. For a typical mother, coping with a bad day at work meant focusing her attention on her children and their needs.
The differences in responding to stress may explain the fact that women have lower frequency of stressrelated disorders such as high blood pressure or aggressive behavior. The tendandbefriend regulatory (调节的) system may protect women against stress, and this may explain why women on average live longer than men.
1.The UCLA study shows that in response to stress, men are more likely than women to ________.
A. turn to friends for help
B. solve a conflict calmly
C. find an escape from reality
D. seek comfort from children
2.Which of the following is true about oxytocin according to the passage?
A. Men have the same level of oxytocin as women do.
B. Oxytocin used to be studied in both men and women.
C. Both animals and people have high levels of oxytocin.
D. Oxytocin has more of an effect on women than on men.
3.What can be learned from the passage?
A. Male hormones help build up the body's resistance to stress.
B. In a family a mother cares more about children than a father does.
C. Biological differences lead to different behavioral responses to stress.
D. The UCLA study was designed to confirm previous research findings.
4.Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
A. How men and women get over stress
B. How men and women suffer from stress
C. How researchers overcome stress problems
D. How researchers handle stressrelated disorders
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析