Roger Sperry and Robert Ornstein of the Calif...

Roger Sperry and Robert Ornstein of the California Institute of Technology, Nobel Prize winners, discovered that the human brain has two sides, and each side has different work to do.

The left side of the brain controls language and number and it analyses and reasons. 1. It controls our appreciation of music and our sense of rhythm. It is also the right side of our brain which daydreams.

Leonardo da Vinci was the great painter and sculptor. He was also an architect, a scientist and an inventor! 2. When he invented machines he used both his imaginative ability and his analytical (分析)ability.

3. Albert Einstein enjoyed art, playing the violin and sailing. Indeed, Einstein said his scientific discoveries grew from his imagination rather than from analysis, reason and language. He said that written and spoken words were not important in his thinking. The story goes that Einstein was daydreaming one summer's day while sitting on a hill. He imagined that he was riding on sunbeams to the far distance of the universe. Then he found that he had returned to the sun. So he realized that the universe must curve(弯曲).4. He then used the left side of his brain to apply analysis, number and reason. And finally he used language to explain it.

Traditional education in schools encourages us to use the left side of our brains. Language, number, analysis and reason are given more importance in our schools than imagination and daydreaming. Why don't we give more value to visual thinking? Why jump on one foot if we have two perfectly good legs!

5.We need to use our imagination to think of solutions to problems and to enjoy emotional and artistic experiences. And we need to be logical and to be able to analyze and organize in order to survive day by day.

A.We benefit by thinking creatively.

B.We all need both sides of our brain.

C.He got this idea by using his imagination.

D.Great scientists and great artists are similar.

E.He was considered crazy for his strange ideas.

F.He used both sides of his brain within each activity.

G.The right side controls our imagination and our understanding of space.

高二英语七选五中等难度题查看答案及解析

After the captain left, his assistant Roger and other members of the team stayed behind to _____ any misunderstanding, but they refused to hear complaints(抱怨).

A. approve          B. polish            C. switch           D. clarify

高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

The phrase “live, love and laugh” was one my cousin Roger lived by every day of his life. Even in his sickness, he found the positive in what some would see as a negative situation. He enjoyed life. He loved to laugh and most importantly, he lived life to the absolute fullest. He loved to travel, learning new things about different people and their culture.

Roger was born and raised in Alabama, and he then moved to Buffalo, New York where he lived for many, many years until he relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, his final resting place.

Whether his travels were long visits or short visits, large cities or small towns, his favorite souvenir item was T-shirt. Everywhere he went he would buy a T-shirt to remind him of his travels. Every T-shirt he owned had a story behind it that he would share with others.

As long as he was laughing, living and traveling, he was happy. He loved everybody he came in contact with and everybody loved him. The old saying, “He never met a stranger”, definitely applied to Roger and his life.

His last few years of life were in and out of the hospital at least 10~15 days a month, sometimes more. Two weeks before he passed away, I spoke with him on the phone, and even then he managed to tell jokes about life.

I know he left this world happily; he refused to allow anything or anyone to hold him down, even his severe illnesses. He was definitely a model to look up when it comes to not allowing any situation to keep you from moving forward in life.

I will forever miss his smile and his love for life. My cousin Roger knew the true meaning of the phrase “live, love and laugh”.

1.The author believes that Roger 　　　　 .

A. was a foolish man

B. was rich in spirit

C. had a healthy body

D. pretended to be happy

2.We can learn from the text that Roger 　　　　 .

A. had few good friends

B. was afraid of his illnesses

C. seldom contacted the author

D. was loved by everyone who knew him

3.What the author’s purpose in writing this passage?

A. To feel pity for Roger.

B. To encourage readers to help others.

C. To encourage readers to be positive all the time.

D. To show that health is the most important thing.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

In a recent announcement, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology（MIT）said that they have joined forces to offer free online courses in an effort to attract millions of online learners worldwide.

Beginning this fall, a number of courses developed by teachers at both universities will be offered online through a new $60 million program, known as edX. “Anyone with an Internet connection anywhere in the world can use our online courses,” Harvard President Drew Faust said during a meeting to announce the plan.

MIT has offered a program called OpenCourseWare for ten years that makes materials from more than 2,000 classes free online. It has been used by more than 100 million people. In December, the school announced it also would begin offering a special certificate, known as MITx, for people who complete certain online courses. Harvard has long offered courses to a wider population through a similar program.

The MITx will serve as the foundation for the new learning platform.

MIT President Susan Hockfield said more than 120,000 people signed up for the first MITx course. She said Harvard and MIT hope other universities will join them in offering courses on the open-source edX platform.

“Fasten your seatbelts,” Hockfield said.

Other universities, including Stanford, Yale and Carnegie-Mellon, have been experimenting with teaching to a global population online.

The Harvard-MIT program will be monitored by a not-for-profit（非盈利的）organization based in Cambridge, to be owned equally by the two universities. Both MIT and Harvard have provided $30 million to start the program. They also plan to use the edX platform to research how students learn and which teaching methods and tools are most successful.

1.According to this text, edX is _______.

A.a part of the free MIT OpenCourseWare

B.a free computer program by MIT and Harvard

C.a Harvard-MIT platform of free online courses

D.a free program online for universities worldwide

2.What is said about online education in the text?

A.Universities have been trying online courses.

B.About 2,000 online courses have been offered.

C.Over 100 million people have finished courses online.

D.Stanford and Yale together have courses similar to edX.

3.The underlined part in the text probably means “　　　　　　 ”.

A.Get ready for the difficulties

B.Get ready for this educational change

C.Get prepared to complete the online courses

D.Get prepared to make materials for the edX courses

4.What can be said about MITx according to the text?

A.It is first offered as part of the edX learning program.

B.It is another free MIT-Harvard online learning program.

C.It is a standard to recognize online learners’ achievement.

D.It is a new kind of free online course of Harvard and MIT.

高二英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

Robert Burns, the son of a hard-working and intelligent farmer, was the oldest of seven children. Although always hard pressed financially, their father encouraged his sons with their education. As a result, Burns not only read the Scottish poetry of Ramsay and the collections by Hailes and Herd, but also the works of Pope, Locke, and Shakespeare.

By 1781, Burns had tried his hand at several agricultural jobs without success. Although he had begun writing, and his poems were spread widely in manuscript (手稿), none were published until 1786, when Burns published Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786), which was an immediate success. Later Burns brought out a second edition of his poems at Edinburgh in 1787, and for two winters he was socially active in the Scottish city. In 1788 he retired to a farm at Ellis land. By 1791 Burns had failed as a farmer, and he moved to Dumfries, where he held a position as a tax collector. He died of illness at 37.

Burns’s art is at its best in songs such as My Heart’s in the Highlands. Some of his songs, such as Auld Lang Syne and Comin’ thro’ the Rye, are among the most familiar and best-loved songs in the English language. But his talent was not limited to songs; two descriptive pieces, Tam o’ Shanter and The Jolly Beggars, are among his masterpieces.

Burns had a fine sense of humor, which was reflected in his satirical (讽刺的), descriptive, and playful poems. His great popularity with the Scots lay in his ability to describe the life of his fellow rural Scots. His use of dialect brought an energetic, much-needed freshness into English poetry.

1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?

A．Burn had a wealthy childhood.

B．Burns was best loved by his parents.

C．Burns’s father cared more about his kids’ education.

D．Burns wanted to be a poet when he grew up.

2.Robert was not officially accepted by readers until______.

A．1781             B．1786             C．1787             D．1791

3. Robert made his best achievement in art by writing _______.

A．songs            B．poems            C．stories            D．humors

4. What was Robert’s biggest contribution to English poetry?

A．His satirical style.                        B．His descriptiveness.

C．His fine sense of humor.                  D．His use of Scottish dialect.

5. We can conclude from the passage that Robert _______.

A．majored in agriculture when he was a student

B．earned a lot of money by publishing his poems

C．was a failure in managing farms but a success in art

D．showed much interest in collecting tax before he died

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

British anthropologists Russell Hill and Robert Barton of the University of Durham, after studying the results of one-on-one boxing, taekwondo, Greco-Roman wrestling and freestyle wrestling matches at the Olympic Games, conclude that when two competitors are equally matched in fitness and skill, the athlete wearing red is more likely to win.

Hill and Barton report that when one competitor is much better than the other, colour has no effect on the result. However, when there is only a small difference between them, the effect of colour is enough to tip the balance. The anthropologists say that the number of times red wins is not simply by chance, but that these results are statistically significant.

Joanna Setchell, a primate (灵长目动物) researcher at the University of Cambridge, has found similar results in nature. She studies the large African monkeys known as mandrills. Mandrills have bright red noses that stand out against their white faces. Setchell’s work shows that the powerful males—the ones who are more successful with females—have a brighter red nose than other males.

As well as the studies on primates by Setchell, another study shows the effect of red among birds. In an experiment, scientists put red plastic tings on the legs of male zebra finches and this increased the birds’ success with female zebra finches. Zebra finches already have bright red beaks (鸟喙), so this study suggests that, as with Olympic athletes, an extra flash of red is significant. In fact, researchers from the University of Glasgow say that the birds’ brightly coloured beaks are an indicator of health. Jonathan Blount, a biologist, and his colleagues think they have found proof that bright red or orange beaks attract females because they mean that the males are healthier. Nothing in nature is simple, however, because in species such as the blue footed booby, a completely different colour seems to give the male birds the same advantage with females.

Meanwhile, what about those athletes who win in their events while wearing red? Do their clothes give them an unintentional advantage? Robert Barton accepts that “that is the implication” of their findings. Is it time for sports authorities to consider new regulations on sports clothing?

1.According to their research, Hill and Barton conclude that ___________.

A. the colour of clothing has an effect on most sport events

B. red should be the choice of colour for clothing in sports

C. red plays a role when competitors are equally capable

D. athletes perform better when surrounded by bright red

2.The underlined word "tip" in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to ___________.

A. achieve　　 B. seek

C. keep　　 D. change

3.The example of the blue footed booby proves that ___________.

A. male birds use different body parts to draw attention

B. red is not the only colour to attract female birds

C. blue gives female birds the same advantage

D. blue can indicate how healthy a bird is

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Is there anybody out there? For centuries human beings have been wondering. As we've gained greater understanding of the universe, however, our searches have taken on a more concrete form. Questions about aliens have become a subject for science rather than science fiction and philosophy.

Now a new cooperation(合作)between the Very Large Array observatory in New Mexico and the privately funded Seti Institute in California could mean that our curiosity about aliens is closer than ever before to being satisfied. Data from the VLA's 28 giant radio telescopes will be fed through a special supercomputer that will search for distant signals. Scientists who work at the Seti Institute said the announcement means their research is now “almost mainstream".

How likely it is that a signal will be found, and what this might mean, are hard questions to answer. Seti's existing projects haven't detected any life signals from other planets so far. But recent discoveries in space and Earth sciences have provided some encouragement to those who are enthusiastic about the likelihood, however remote, of detecting other civilizations.

While once it was thought that our solar system could be unique, since the discovery of the first exoplanet (a planet in another solar system) in the 1990s, thousands more have been located(确定位置). Around one in five stars are now thought to have a planet in their orbit in a so-called “habitable zone"—that is at a distance from the star where the temperature(neither too hot nor too cold) means that life is theoretically feasible.

If there is another life form somewhere, could it be as intelligent as us? Or cause a risk to us, as the physicist Stephen Hawking once warned? As investigations of Mars continue, our interest in the possibility of alien life appears clear—especially when conditions in our own earth appear even more unstable.

1.What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?

A.Global cooperation helps to study aliens.

B.Searching for aliens is becoming a trend.

C.Aliens have caught wide attention globally.

D.There are many uncertainties about aliens study.

2.What is the encouraging news to searchers for distant civilizations?

A.VLA has developed new radio telescopes.

B.Seti has detected signals from other planets.

C.More and more exoplanets have been found.

D.Other civilizations have been located in a habitable zone.

3.What does the underlined word “feasible" in paragraph 4 most probably mean?

A.Possible. B.Tough.

C.Easy. D.Certain.

4.In which section of a newspaper may this text appear?

A.Literature. B.Health.

C.Education. D.Science.

高二英语阅读选择中等难度题查看答案及解析

假如你是李华，你校英语角准备举办一次文化艺术节(the Festival of Arts and Culture), 主办人Robert针对本次艺术节向学生们征求意见。请你用英语给他写一封信, 谈谈对此次活动的看法及建议。

注意: 词数120左右

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高二英语提纲类作文中等难度题查看答案及解析

Robert has never had an art lesson or even visited a museum in fact. he has spent a good part of his life mopping floors. But when he began painting on canvas (帆布) at age 60—after years of sketching (素描) people on the subway -he knew he had found his passion. “I was very lonely” he said, “It made me feel good to create something beautiful.”

Now, Robert, 75, is debuting (首秀) his collection of colorful scenes and landscape at New York City’s Outsider Art Fair, the premier showcase for self-taught artist. “It feels great to say I am an artist. I was always told that I didn’t have any talent. I became something from nothing.” adds Robert.

Abandoned by his parents to an orphanage at age 7, Robert was on his own by the time he was 15, working the counter at a Schrafft’s restaurant in Manhattan and street-bustling for money on the side. At Scharafft’s, one of his regular customers was a former school teacher Marian O’Conner, who taught him to read and later left him enough money to buy a modest apartment. “She told me someday I would be something,” said Robert, who considered O’Conner his second mother. “So I kept going.” In 2009 artist Daniel Belardineli discovered Robert’s work on the walls of the town hall and arranged his first art show. “It was like a left blow,” he said, “I saw these raw drawings that jumped out with emotion.” Whatever comes next, for Robert it has all been worth it. “I have had a lot of hard times,” said Robert, “But my art kept me going. Good thing happen to those who wait.”

1.Why did Robert begin painting on canvas?

A.He was inspired by an art museum.

B.He was told that he was talented in painting.

C.He felt passionate about painting beauty in life.

D.He was invited to the New York City’s Outsider Art Fair.

2.What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 mean?

A.He lived up to the expectation. B.He knew nothing about painting.

C.He rose to fame from an unknown. D.He had no trouble becoming famous.

3.According to Daniel Belardineli, Robert’s painting is probably____.

A.subtle and life-like B.dull but meaningful

C.healing and peaceful D.primitive but powerful

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

A.A natural born artist B.A lonely orphan

C.A caring teacher D.A lucky dog

高二英语阅读选择中等难度题查看答案及解析

Inventor, physicist, surveyor, astronomer, biologist, artist... Robert Hooke was all these and more. Some say he was the greatest experimental scientist of the seventeenth century. Once he worked with renowned men of science like Christian Huygens, Antony van Leeuwenhoek, Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton and the great architect, Christopher Wren.

Hooke’s early education began at home, under the guidance of his father. He entered Westminster School at the age of thirteen, and from there he went to Oxford, where he came in contact with some of the best scientists in England. Hooke impressed them with his skill at designing experiments and devising instruments. In 1662, at the age of twenty-eight, he was named Curator of Experiments of the newly formed Royal Society of London. Hooke accepted the job, even though he knew that it had no money to pay him!

Watching living things through the microscope was one of his favorite occupations.

He devised a compound microscope for this purpose. One day while observing a cork (软木) under a microscope, he saw honeycomb-like structures. They were cells—the smallest units of life. In fact, it was Hooke who coined the term “cell” as the box like cells of the cork reminded him of the cells of a monastery (修道院).Perhaps because of his varied interests, Hooke often left experiments unfinished. Others took up where he left　 off and then claimed sole (独占的) credit. This sometimes led to quarrels with colleagues. One work that he finished was his book MICRO GRAPHIA, a volume that reveals the immense potential of the microscope. The book also includes, among other things, ideas on gravity and light which may have helped scientists like Newton while they　 were developing their own theories on these phenomena.

Hooke made valuable contributions to astronomy too. A crater (陨石坑) on the moon is named after him in appreciation of his services to this branch of science.

1.From the first paragraph, we can know that Robert Hooke ________.

A.was famous because he worked with many scientists

B.liked making friends with the famous people

C.received a lot from other scientists

D.made contributions to many different fields

2.Robert Hooke probably went to school in________.

A.1634 B.1647 C.1662 D.1640

3.Robert Hooke made himself known to some of the best scientists in England by________.

A.learning by himself with his father's help

B.introducing himself to them

C.designing experiments and instruments

D.refusing any reward from Royal Society of London

4.Robert Hooke couldn’t get along well with his colleagues because________.

A.he couldn’t finish his work on time sometimes

B.he had all kinds of interests in his daily life

C.he was too proud to look up to them

D.the other scientists took the fruits of his experiments

高二英语阅读选择中等难度题查看答案及解析