A study showed that the experiences children ...

A study showed that the experiences children have in their first few years are important . These experiences affect the development of the brain. When children receive more attention, they often have higher IQs. Babies receive information when they see, hear and feel things, which makes connections between different parts of the brain. There are a hundred trillion (万亿) connections in the brain of a three-year-old child.

Researcher Judit Gervain tested how good newborns are at distinguishing different sound patterns. Her researchers produced images of the brains of babies as they heard different sound patterns. For example, one order was mu-ba-ba. This is the pattern “A-B-B". Another order was mu-ba-ge. This is the pattern “A-B-C”. The images showed that the part of the brain responsible for speech was more active during the “A-B-B” pattern. This shows that babies can tell the difference between different patterns. They also were sensitive to where it occurred in the order.

Gervain is excited by these findings because the order of sounds is the building block of words and grammar. “Position is key to language," she says. “If something is at the beginning or at the end, it makes a big difference: ‘John caught the bear.’ is very different from ‘The bear caught John.’ ”

Researchers led by scientist Patricia Kuhl have found that language delivered by televisions, audio books,the Internet, or smartphones－no matter how educational－doesn’t appear to be enough for children’s brain development. They carried out a study of nine-month-old American babies. They expected the first group who’d watched videos in Chinese to show the same kind of learning as the second group who were brought face-to-face with the same sounds. Instead they found a huge difference. The babies in the second group were able to distinguish between similar Chinese sounds as well as native listeners. But the other babies －regardless of whether they had watched the video or listened to the audio－learned nothing.

1.What makes connections in a baby’s brain?

A. Having a higher IQ. B. The connection with other babies.

C. The baby’s early age. D. Experiencing new information.

2.What did Judit Gervain and her team find in the experiment?

A. Word order is relevant to meaning. B. Babies identify different sound patterns.

C. A certain brain region processes language. D. Babies can well understand different words.

3.What does the underlined sentence mean in Paragraph 3?

A. Words have different sounds.

B. Grammar is important in learning languages

C. Different orders have different meanings.

D. Different languages have different grammar.

4.What is the main conclusion from the study led by Patricia Kuhl?

A. Babies shouldn’t watch a lot of television.

B. Social communication improves babies’ brain development.

C. Listening to different languages helps to develop babies’ brain

D. Foreign languages are beneficial to babies’ brain development

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Recently a new US study has shown that couples who expect their children to help care for them in old age should hope they have daughters because they are likely to be twice as attentive overall.

The research by Angelina Grigoryeva, a sociologist at Princeton University, found that, while women provide as much care for their elderly parents as they can manage, men do as little as they can get away with and often leave it to female family members.

Using data from the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study, a study which has been tracking a cross-section of over-50s for the last decade, she calculated that women provide an average of 12.3 hours a month of care for elderly parents while men offer only 5.6 hours.

“Whereas the amount of elderly parent care daughters provide is associated with limitations they face, such as employment or childcare, sons’ caregiving is connected only with the presence or absence of other helpers, such as sisters or a parent's spouse （配偶）,” she explained.

“Sons reduce their relative caregiving efforts when they have a sister, while daughters increase theirs when they have a brother.”

“This suggests that sons pass on parent caregiving responsibilities to their sisters.”

In the UK, the 2011 census （人口普查）showed that there are now around 6.5 million people with caring responsibilities — a figure which has risen by a tenth in a decade.

But many are doing so at the risk of their own health. The census showed that those who provide 50 hours or more of care a week while trying to hold down a full-time job are three times more likely to be struggling with ill health than their working counterparts （相对应的人）who are not careers.

1.What does the underlined phrase “is associated with” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A.is faced with B.is related to

C.is filled with D.is fond of

2.According to the study we know that　　 .

A.American couples are preferring daughters to sons a lot

B.sons are twice likely as daughters to care for parents in old age

C.having a brother makes women do their share less

D.men tend to take less care of their parents than women

3.Which of the following statements is true?

A.The number of people providing care has increased by 6.5 million.

B.More people have left behind their work to look after the elderly.

C.Many people who both work and care others can be threatened by health problems.

D.People shouldn't take much responsibility to care for the old.

4.What's the attitude of the author in the article?

A.Positive. B.Subjective.

C.Objective. D.Negative.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Sharks use their good sense of smell to search for prey（猎物）. But a new study shows that the rising levels of carbon dioxide in the ocean could reduce sharks' ability to find food. It's bad news for a healthy ocean. Sharks are top predators（掠食动物）and are like the ocean's weed controllers.

Dixson works at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. Her earlier work has shown that clown fish in acidifying（酸化的）water act strangely. "We want to expand this research to sharks .because we know how important it is for sharks to find their food through their sense of smell," said Dixson.

Her team started by placing sharks in each of three different pools for five days. Each pool had a different level of carbon dioxide in it. The first had the same amount as today's ocean water. The second had a level of carbon dioxide that scientists expect to reach by 2050. The third pool had the highest level of carbon dioxide that could develop by the year 2100.

Sharks weren't allowed to eat any food while in the pools. This made sure that they would be hungry. Then, Dixson released the sharks one at a time into a pool with two side-by-side streams of flowing water. In one stream, the researchers pumped water, in which a dead squid had been overnight. This water smelled strongly of the squid. The other stream contained ocean water with no scent（气味）. Because each stream flowed at the same rate and in the same direction, the squid smell stayed in its stream. The sharks could choose to swim in either stream.

Sharks that had been swimming for five days in pools of regular ocean water spent more than 60 percent of their time in the squid-scented stream. The same was true for sharks that had been in water with the carbon dioxide level that could develop by the year 2050. But sharks exposed to the highest level of carbon dioxide spent just 15 percent of their time in the squid-scented stream.

1.Why did the writer mention the sharks smell at the beginning of the passage?

A. Because the writer appreciates their ability to find food.

B. Because the writer considers them dangerous to human beings.

C. Because the writer intends to show how to control weed in the ocean.

D. Because the writer worries about the sharks in the ocean.

2.What is Paragraph 3 mainly about?

A. What the ocean in the future will be like.

B. Who helped Dixson conduct the study.

C. What kinds of pools were used during the study.

D. What the levels of carbon dioxide will be at in the ocean in the future.

3.The researchers pumped water where a dead squid had been overnight to ______.

A. help the sharks look for food

B. test the sharks' sense of smell

C. prove that sharks like eating squids

D. explain why carbon dioxide in the ocean affects sharks

4.What does the underlined sentence in the last paragraph suggest?

A. Sharks like the squid-scented stream better.

B. Sharks like the stream with the high level of carbon dioxide.

C. Sharks spent 15% of their time in the squid-scented stream.

D. The high level of carbon dioxide can affect the sharks ability to smell.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Parents in the U.S. are claiming the popular children’s TV show Peppa Pig has caused their kids to start speaking in a British accent. The cartoon follows the life of a pig, Peppa, and her family as they go about their day-to-day life in a fictional U. K. town made up of various animal families.

And now parents of children who love the show are noticing that Peppa’s southern British accent and vocabulary seem to be rubbing off on those watching the show. One parent wrote online: “My 4-year baby girl loves watching Peppa Pig and I have noticed her accent and grammar is extraordinary. I’d like to thank Peppa Pig for the slight yet adorable British accent my toddler (幼儿) is acquiring.” added by another parent. A third parent wrote: “The most entertaining aspect of my life right now is that my toddler now speaks with a British accent.”

Writer Janet Manley called it the “Peppa effect”. Janet revealed that immediately after her daughter’s first time watching the show two years ago, she started calling her “mummy”. Her daughter also began snorting at the end of her sentences, just like the cartoon pig. And the “Peppa effect” isn’t anything new. Parents have been discussing about it for a number of years. Since the show first aired, there have been a total of 241 episodes created as the show surged in popularity.

1.What’s the background of the cartoon?

A. A made-up U.K. town. B. A traditional U.K. town.

C. An ancient U.K. town. D. A fictional U.K. city.

2.What’s the most obvious influence of Peppa Pig on kids according to some parents?

A. Dressing preference. B. Diet preference.

C. Emotions. D. Accent.

3.What’s the attitude of parents toward the show?

A. Critical. B. Doubtful.

C. Positive. D. Indifference.

4.Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A. Peppa Pig is a popular U. S. cartoon.

B. Peppa Pig is popular with children of all ages.

C. Children who love the show are influenced in every aspect of their life.

D. Parents have been concerned with the ‘Peppa effect’ for a long time.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Government statistics recently showed that in the UK, more than 3,000 people a year experience electric shocks in their home. A smaller number of people are killed after contact with power lines outside the home. Electric shocks can cause a person’s heart or breathing to stop, can also cause burns and are potentially fatal. It is essential for people to learn basic first aid techniques to deal with such emergencies.

What to do?

If you are the first person to reach someone who has had an electric shock, don’t touch them!

If they are still holding the appliance that has given them shock (e.g. a hair dryer), unplug it or turn off the power at its source. Under no circumstances will you try to move the appliance with your hand!

If you can’t turn off the power, use a piece of wood, like a broom handle or a chair, to separate the victim from the appliance or the power source. You may even be able to do this with a folded newspaper.

The victim must remain lying down. If they are unconscious, victims should be placed on their side. But they should not be moved if there is a possibility of neck or spine injuries unless it is absolutely necessary.

It is essential to maintain the victim’s body heat, so make sure you cover him or her with a blanket before you do anything else. If the victim is not breathing, apply mouth-to-mouth resuscitation(恢复呼吸). Keep the victim’s head low until professional help arrives.

If the electric shock has been caused by an external power line, the dangers to the victim and to anybody providing first aid are much greater.

1.What kind of passage is it?

A. An advertisement.　　 B. A horror story.

C. A news report.　　　　 D. First aid emergency advice.

2.The underlined sentence, “Under no circumstances will you try to move the appliance with your hand!” implies that 　　　　　 .

A. you should move the appliance that caused it

B. you should pick up the appliance and turn off the electricity

C. it is very dangerous to touch the appliance with your hands

D. it is unnecessary to unplug the appliance with your hands

3.If you can’t turn off the power, you cannot separate the victim from the appliance or the power source by using _________.

A. a folded newspaper　 B. a blanket

C. a broom handle　　 D. a chair

4.When a person has got an electric shock, you should 　　　　　 .

A. separate the victim from the appliance and let them sit up

B. keep the victim warm and help them breathe again

C. move the victim onto their side if they have got neck injuries

D. keep the victim’s head high until professional help arrives

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

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 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. 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. 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 were aged two to four the first time they were tested. More than seven hundred children were 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 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. The more they are spanked, the slower their mental development.

1.According to the first study, we mainly infer that 　　　　　　　 .

A．the game is called Prisoner’s Dilemma

B．the less a group punished itself, the lower its earnings

C．adults are much more cooperative if rewarded

D．the game is introduced in the journal Science

2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the second study?

A．Children's IQs have much to do with physical punishment．

B．The study is about violence and cooperation of children．

C．The children tested were divided into groups of four．

D．Children's mental development only relies on their IQs．

3.What does the underlined word "spanked" refer to?

A． Punished．　　　 B． Blamed．　　 C． Tested．　　　　 D． Praised．

4.What might be the best title for the text?

A． The Best Way to Correct Misbehavior

B． Punishment Is the Best Way of Education

C． Cooperation Is the Most Successful Behavior

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

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

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 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. Harvard researcher David Rand says the most successful behavior proved to be cooperation. The groups that rewarded the most earned about twice as much in the game as the groups that rewarded the least. And the more a group punished itself, the lower its earnings. 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 were aged two to four the first time they were tested. More than seven hundred children were 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 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. The more they are spanked, the slower their mental development.

1.Which of the following is TRUE according to the second study?

A. Children’s IQs have much to do with physical punishment.

B. The study is about violence and cooperation of children.

C. The children tested were divided into groups of four.

D. Children’s mental development only relies on their IQs.

2. What does the underlined word “spanked” refer to?

A. punished　　　　　　　　 B. blamed　　　　　　　　　　 C. tested　　　　　 D. praised

3.What might be the best title for the text?

A. The Best Way to Correct Misbehavior

B. Punishment Is the Best Way of Education

C. Cooperation Is the Most Successful Behavior

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

高二英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析

Internet data shows that younger adults have become the main audience crazy about changing their appearance. Once the world of the female in her fifties, plastic surgery(整形手术) has become the focus of the younger Internet users.

The recent death of Stephanie Kuleba, an 18-year-old high school cheerleader who died as a result of plastic surgery, brought our attention to the fashion of becoming a more “ideal” body among teenagers. In fact, search data confirms this phenomenon. One of the most popular sites visited from the search term “plastic surgery” is the official site of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (www. plastic surgery. org). Over 25% of the visitors, which is up from 19.6% two years ago, fell within the 18 to 24 years old.

Plastic surgery has become an American obsession (痴迷). Checking other countries, such as the UK and Australia, the 18 to 24-year-old’s being interested in plastic surgery is an obvious US phenomenon. Unlike the other groups who visit sites related to diseases and keeping healthy, younger Internet users rush to sites that deal with personal appearance, such as those focused on body-building, weight loss and skin-care, and obviously plastic surgery.

While television on surgery may be driving the interest of a younger audience, one factor appears to be a key in preventing such teens from changing their bodies: the failing U.S. economy. There has been a decline in all plastic surgery topics over the last year. While older age continue to search for information on procedures such as liposuction(抽脂), it’s younger Internet users who in tough economic times are focusing on improving their outer beauty, though at a discount price.

1.Why does the author mention the death of the 18-year-old cheerleader?

A. To show cheerleaders pay more attention to their appearance.

B. To warn people that plastic surgery is not as safe as it is said to be.

C. To prove the fact that people will pursue beauty at any cost.

D. To draw attention to the issue of young people having plastic surgery.

2.While young people are surfing on the Internet, they are very interested in____________.

A. how to be physically and mentally healthy.

B. how to make themselves look young.

C. how to prevent and cure diseases.

D. how to have more attractive appearance.

3.What may affect young people’s decision on whether to have plastic surgery?

A. The safety of the operation

B. The total expense of the surgery.

C. The need for having the operation.

D. The results of the surgery.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

A study ________ in the USA in 1977 showed that the chemical ASA in aspirin could prevent a stroke.

高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

A study ________ in the U.S.A. in 1977 showed that the chemical ASA in aspirin could prevent a stroke.

A. carrying out    B. carried out    C. working out    D. worked out

高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析