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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 stress-related disorders.
Until now, psychological research has maintained that both men and women have the same “fight-or-flight” 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 fight-or-flight 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 fight-or-flight 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 tend-or-befriend 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 stress-related disorders such as high blood pressure or aggressive behavior. The tend-and-befriend regulatory(调节的) system may protect women against stress, and this may explain why women on average live longer than men.
1.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.
2.What can be learned from the passage?
A. Male hormones help build up the body’s resistances 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.
3.Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
A. How men and women suffer from stress
B. How men and women get over stress
C. How researchers overcome stress problems
D. How researchers handle stress-related disorder
高二英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
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Researchers at the University of Bedforshire have developed a new technique for powering electronic device（装置）. The system, developed by Professor Ben Allen at the Centre for Wireless Research, uses radio waves as power.
Believed to be a world first, the team claims it could eventually eliminate (or get rid of) the need for conventional batteries. The university has now filed a patent application to secure the only rights to the technique.
Professor Allen and his team have created a system to use medium wave frequencies to replace batteries in small everyday devices like clocks and remote controls.
The new technique uses the “waste” energy of radio waves and has been developed as part of the university’s research into “power harvesting”. Professor Allen said that as radio waves have energy---like light waves, sound waves or wind waves---in theory, these waves could be used to create power.
“The emerging（新兴的）area of power harvesting technology promises to reduce our reliance on conventional batteries,” he said. “It’s really exciting way of taking power from sources other than what we would normally think of.”
The team is now waiting for the results of the patent application to secure recognition of the technique. Professor Allen said that the team’s achievements had all been done in their “spare time”. “Our next stage is to try and raise some real funds so that we can take this work forward and make a working prototype（模型）and maybe partner up with the right people and take this to a full product in due course,” he said.
“Power harvesting has a really important part in our future, because, just in this country, we dispose of somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 tones of batteries in landfill（垃圾填理）sites every single year－that is toxic chemicals going into the ground.”
He added that development of the product could also be “commercially beneficial”. “The market for this is several billion pounds. We’ve seen market predictions for 2020 which have these kinds of figures, so there’s a lot of commercial potential in this area,” he said.
Pro-Vice Chancellor at the University of Bedfordshire, Professor Carsten Maple, said, “This type of work is a reflection of the university’s growing reputation and experience in conducting innovative（创新的）research.”
1.From the text we know the new technique for powering electronic devices_____.
A. can be applied to all electronic devices.
B. uses radio waves to create power.
C. has replaced conventional batteries.
D. produces many toxic chemicals.
2.According to Professor Allen, power harvesting technology______.
A. makes every use of radio waves.
B. takes power from usual sources.
C. reduces our dependency on conventional batteries.
D. aims at huge commercial benefits.
3.What can we learn about Professor Allen and his team from the text?
A. They have made use of radio waves in their daily life.
B. They have raised a big fund to support their research.
C. They have gained a patent for their new technology.
D. They mainly did their research in their spare time.
4.What is Professor Carsten Maple’s attitude toward the new technique?
A. Critical. B. Favorable.
C. Conservative. D. Negative.
5.What is the text mainly about?
A. A new technique to create power.
B. A crisis concerning conventional batteries.
C. Some special sources of power.
D. The development of power harvesting.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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Researchers at the University of Bedforshire have developed a new technique for powering electronic device（装置）. The system, developed by Professor Ben Allen at the Centre for Wireless Research, uses radio waves as power.
Believed to be a world first, the team claims it could eventually get rid of the need for conventional batteries. The university has now applied for a patent(专利) application to secure the only rights to the technique.
Professor Allen and his team have created a system to use medium wave frequencies to replace batteries in small everyday devices like clocks and remote controls.
The new technique uses the “waste” energy of radio waves and has been developed as part of the university’s research into “power harvesting”. Professor Allen said that as radio waves have energy---like light waves, sound waves or wind waves---in theory, these waves could be used to create power.
“The new area of power harvesting technology promises to reduce our reliance on conventional batteries,” he said. “It’s really exciting way of taking power from sources other than what we would normally think of.”
The team is now waiting for the results of the patent application to secure recognition of the technique. Professor Allen said that the team’s achievements had all been done in their “spare time”. “Our next stage is to try and raise some real funds so that we can take this work forward and make a working pattern and maybe partner up with the right people and take this to a full product in due course,” he said.
“Power harvesting has a really important part in our future, because, just in this country, we leave somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 tons of batteries in landfill（垃圾填埋）sites every single year－that is poisonous chemicals going into the ground.”
He added that development of the product could also be “commercially（商业） beneficial”. “The market for this is several billion pounds. We’ve seen market predictions for 2020 which have these kinds of figures, so there’s a lot of commercial potential in this area,” he said.
Pro-Vice Chancellor at the University of Bedfordshire, Professor Carsten Maple said, “This type of work is a reflection of the university’s growing reputation and experience in carrying out creating research.”
1.From the text we know the new technique for powering electronic devices_____.
A. can be applied to all electronic devices.
B. uses radio waves to create power.
C. has replaced conventional batteries.
D. produces many poisonous chemicals.
2.According to Professor Allen, power harvesting technology______.
A. makes every use of radio waves.
B. takes power from usual sources.
C. reduces our dependency on conventional batteries.
D. aims at huge commercial benefits.
3.What can we learn about Professor Allen and his team from the text?
A. They have made use of radio waves in their daily life.
B. They have raised a big fund to support their research.
C. They have gained a patent for their new technology.
D. They mainly did their research in their spare time.
4.What is Professor Carsten Maple’s attitude toward the new technique?
A. Critical. B. Favorable.
C. Disapproving. D. Negative.
5.What is the text mainly about?
A. A new technique to create power.
B. A big problem concerning conventional batteries.
C. Some special sources of power.
D. The development of power harvesting.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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Scientists at Harvard University have recycled a kidney(‘肾)-in a rat. The researchers removed a kidney from a dead rat. Later, the renewed kidney was put into a living rat. It wasn't perfect. It did, however, show signs of working like a kidney should.
"It's really beautiful work," Edward Ross, a kidney researcher at the University of Florida in Gainesville, told Science News. He didn't work on the new study.
Kidneys are bean-shaped and act like guards in the body. They clean the blood by removing waste and extra water. Every day, an adult's kidneys filter(过滤) enough blood to fill a bathtub half full. Along the way, they produce eight cups of urine(尿) from that waste and water. When a person's kidneys fail, all of that waste stays in the body. Such patients can quickly become very sick and die, unless they are regularly connected to a machine that filters their blood.
At any given time, about 100,000 people in the United States are waiting for a replacement kidney. But healthy donated kidneys are difficult to get. Either a living person must donate one, or a kidney must be removed from someone who just died and earlier had agreed to the donation. In either case, people receiving new kidneys face the risk that their bodies will reject the donated ones.
But there may be another option. Researchers use knowledge of living things to grow or improve tissue that can aid human health. Harald Ott's team at Harvard started with a "used" kidney.
Scientists added kidney cells from rats and blood vessel cells from people to the matrix（母体）. These cells attached themselves and began to multiply. Before long, they formed new kidney tissue.
The scientists placed this renewed kidney into another rat. There it produced a small amount of urine. This experiment shows that the lab-grown kidney can do at least some of the work performed by a healthy kidney.
The results are a promising first step toward helping people with serious kidney problems. "This is still very early, but they've come a long way," Ross said.
1.What can we infer from Paragraph l?
A. Biology is a new and helpful science.
B. It's hard to put the rebuilt kidney into the rat.
C. Kidneys are very important to our life.
D. A used kidney may be recycled for new life.
2.What does Paragraph 3 mainly talk about?
A. The relationship between kidneys and health.
B. The difficulty of curing serious kidney diseases.
C. The function and importance of kidneys.
D. The methods of curing kidneys diseases.
3.For what purpose does the author use the figure 100,000 in Paragraph 4?
A. To stress used kidneys are hard to get.
B. To show the great need for healthy kidneys.
C. To explain many American people get kidney diseases.
D. To call on people to donate kidneys.
4.Which of the following is true according to the text?
A. The scientists are satisfied with the result of the experiment.
B. Ross is a kidney expert who is involved in the experiment.
C. The function of the renewed kidney is the same as a healthy kidney.
D. The renewed kidney produced a great deal of urine.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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Researchers at the University of Kansas say that people can accurately judge 90 percent of a stranger's personality simply by looking at the person’s shoes．“Shoes convey useful information about their wearers，’’the authors wrote in the new study published in the Journal of Research in Personality．
Lead researcher Omri Gillath said the judgments were based on the style，cost，color and condition of someone’s shoes．In the study，63 University of Kansas researchers looked at pictures showing 208 different pairs of shoes worn by the study’s participants．Volunteers in the study were photographed in their most commonly worn shoes，and then filled out a personality questionnaire．
Some of the results were expected：People with higher incomes most commonly wore expensive shoes，and flashier shoes were typically worn by outgoing people．However，some of the more specific results are strange enough．For example，“practical and functional’’ shoes were generally worn by more “pleasant" people，while ankle boots were more linked with ‘‘aggressive’’ personalities．The strangest of all may be that those who wore ‘‘uncomfortable looking” shoes tend to have “calm” personalities．And if you have several pairs of new shoes or take extreme care of them，you may suffer from “attachment anxiety"，spending lots of time worrying about what other people think of your appearance．There was even a political calculation in the mix with more liberal(主张变革的)types wearing “shabbier and less expensive” shoes．
The researchers noted that some people will choose shoe styles to mask their actual personalities，but researchers noted that volunteers were also likely to be unaware that their footwear choices were showing the deep side of their personalities．
1.What does this text mainly tell us?
A．The richer you are , the more expensive shoes you will wear.
B．Shoes convey false information about the wearer．
C．People’s personalities can be judged by their shoes．
D．People know little about their personalities．
2.Which of the results is beyond people’s expectations?
A．Wealthy people often wear expensive shoes．
B．Pleasant people like wearing uncomfortable shoes．
C．Aggressive people are likely to wear ankle boots．
D．Flashier shoes are typically worn by outgoing people．
3.People suffering from“attachment anxiety” tend to
A．wear strange shoes
B．worry about their appearance
C．have a calm character
D．become a political leader
4.The author wrote the text in order to
A．inform us of a new study
B．introduce a research method
C．teach how to choose shoes
D．describe different personalities
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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Researchers at the University of Kansas say that people can accurately judge 90 percent of a stranger's personality simply by looking at the person's shoes.“Shoes convey useful information about their wearers，”the authors wrote in the new study published in the Journal of Research in Personality.
Lead researcher Omri Gillath said the judgments were based on the style，cost，color and condition of someone's shoes. In the study，63 University of Kansas researchers looked at pictures showing 208 different pairs of shoes worn by the study's participants. Volunteers in the study were photographed in their most commonly worn shoes，and then filled out a personality questionnaire.
Some of the results were expected：People with higher incomes most commonly wore expensive shoes，and flashier shoes were typically worn by outgoing peopl
e. However，some of the more specific results are strange enough. For example，“practical and functional”shoes were generally worn by more“pleasant”people，while ankle boots were more linked with“aggressive”personalities. The strangest of all may be that those who wore“uncomfortable looking” shoes tend to have “calm” personalities. And if you have several pairs of new shoes or take extreme care of them，you may suffer from“attachment anxiety”，spending lots of time worrying about what other people think of your appearance. There was even a political calculation in the mix with more liberal(主张变革的)types wearing“shabbier and less expensive” shoes.The researchers noted that some people will choose shoe styles to mask their actual personalities，but researchers noted that volunteers were also likely to be unaware that their footwear choices were showing the deep side of their personalities.
1.What does this text mainly tell us?
A. Shoes can hide people's real personalities.
B. Shoes convey false information about the wearer.
C. People's personalities can be judged by their shoes.
D. People know little about their personalities.
2.The participants were asked to__________________.
A. provide pictures of their shoes
B. look at pictures of different shoes
C. design a personality questionnaire
D. hand in their commonly worn shoes
3.Which of the results is beyond people's expectation?
A. Wealthy people often wear expensive shoes.
B. Pleasant people like wearing uncomfortable shoes.
C. Aggressive people are likely to wear ankle boots.
D. Flashier shoes are typically worn by outgoing people.
4.People suffering from “attachment anxiety” tend to_______________ .
A. wear strange shoes B. worry about their appearance
C. have a calm character D. become a political leader
5.The author wrote the text in order to_____________ .
A. inform us of a new study
B. introduce a research method
C. teach how to choose shoes
D. describe different personalities
高二英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
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Researchers at the University of Kansas say that people can accurately judge 90 percent of a stranger's personality simply by looking at the person's shoes. “Shoes convey useful information about their wearers”, the authors wrote in the new study published in the Journal of Research in Personality．
Lead researcher Omri Gillath said the judgments were based on the style, cost, color and condition of someone's shoes. In the study, 63 University of Kansas researchers looked at pictures showing 208 different pairs of shoes worn by the study's participants. Volunteers in the study were photographed in their most commonly worn shoes, and then filled out a personality questionnaire.
Some of the results were expected: People with higher incomes most commonly wore expensive shoes, and flashier shoes were typically worn by outgoing people. However，some of the more specific results are strange enough. For example, “practical and functional ''shoes were generally worn by more “pleasant" people, while ankle boots were more linked with “aggressive” personalities. The strangest of all may be that those who wore “uncomfortable looking” shoes tend to have “calm” personalities. And if you have several pairs of new shoes or take extreme care of them, you may suffer from “attachment anxiety", spending lots of time worrying about what other people think of your appearance. There was even a political calculation in the mix with more liberal (主张变革的) types wearing “shabbier and less expensive” shoes.
The researchers noted that some people will choose shoe styles to mask their actual personalities, but researchers noted that volunteers were also likely to be unaware that their footwear choices were showing the deep side of their personalities.
1.What does this text mainly tell us?
A．Shoes Call hide people's real personalities．
B．Shoes convey false information about the wearer．
C．People's personalities call be judged by their shoes．
D．People know little about their personalities．
2.Which of the results is beyond people's expectation?
A．Wealthy people often wear expensive shoes．
B．Pleasant people like wearing uncomfortable shoes．
C．Aggressive people are likely to weal" ankle boots．
D．Flashier shoes are typically worn by outgoing people．
3.People suffering from “attachment anxiety” tend to
A．wear strange shoes B．worry about their appearance
C．have a calm character D．become a political leader
4.The author wrote the text in order to
A．inform us of a new study
B．introduce a research method
C．teach how to choose shoes
D．describe different personalities
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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Researchers at the University of Kansas say that people can accurately judge 90 percent of a stranger’s personality simply by looking at the person’s shoes.
“Shoes convey a thin but useful slice of information about their wearers,” the authors wrote in the new study published in the Journal of Research in Personality. “Shoes serve a practical purpose, and also serve as nonverbal indications with symbolic messages. People tend to pay attention to the shoes they and others wear.”
Medical Daily notes that the number of detailed personality traits detected in the study include a person’s general age, their gender, income, political affiliation(派别), and other personality characteristics, including someone’s emotional stability.
Lead researcher Omri Gillath said the judgments were based on the style, cost, color and condition of someone’s shoes. In the study, 63 University of Kansas students looked at pictures showing 208 different pairs of shoes worn by the study’s participants. Volunteers in the study were photographed in their most commonly worn shoes, and then filled out a personality questionnaire.
So, what do your shoes say about your personality?
Some of the results were expected: People with higher incomes most commonly wore expensive shoes, and flashier footwear was typically worn by extroverts(外向者).
However, some of the more specific results are interesting. For example, “practical and functional” shoes were generally worn by more “agreeable” people, while ankle boots were more closely aligned with “aggressive” personalities.
The strangest of all may be that those who wore “uncomfortable looking” shoes tend to have “calm” personalities.
And if you have several pairs of new shoes or take exceptional care of them, you may suffer from “attachment anxiety”, spending a large amount of time worrying about what other people think of your appearance. There was even a political calculation in the mix with more liberal types wearing “shabbier and less expensive” shoes.
The researchers noted that some people will choose shoe styles to mask their actual personality traits, but researchers noted that volunteers were also likely to be unaware that their footwear choices were revealing deep insights into their personalities.
1.We can infer from Paragraph 2 that___________.
A. shoes are vital to their wearers
B. a practical purpose is to wear shoes
C. people want to buy new shoes they pay attention to
D. shoes may give away their wearers’ information
2.Which of the following is NOT true according to the text?
A. People with high incomes probably wear expensive shoes.
B. Ankle boots are closely aligned with “aggressive” personalities．
C. People wearing “uncomfortable looking” shoes tend to be calm
D. People who wear practical and functional shoes may be hard to deal with
3.The underlined word “attachment anxiety”, probably means ___________.
A. Attached happiness to one’s personality.
B. Feeling always worried about everything.
C. Often feeling worried about his or her appearance.
D. Wasting an inordinate amount of time.
4.Which might be the best title for the passage?
A. Bad Shoes, Bad Personality.
B. People Are What They Wear.
C. How To Choose Suitable Shoes
D. Shoes Reflect A Person’s Personalities.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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An international team of researchers from the University of Oxford have found that the way people use the Internet is closely tied to the seasonal movements in the natural world. Their online species searches follow the patterns of seasonal animal migrations (迁徙).
Migratory birds ( 候 鸟 ) flood back to where they reproduce every spring. That migratory behavior is accompanied by some human behavior. “In English-language Wikipedia ( 维基百科), the online searches for migratory species tend to increase in spring when those birds arrive in the United States,” said the lead author John Mittermeier.
And not just birds. Mittermeier and his team surveyed nearly 2.5 billion Wikipedia search records, for 32,000 species, across 245 languages. They also saw variable search rates for insects, horsetails and flowering plants. Seasonal trends seemed to be widespread in Wikipedia behavior for many species of plants and animals.
This finding suggests new ways to monitor changes in the world’s biological diversity. It also shows new ways to see how much people care about nature, and which species and areas might be the most effective targets for conservation.
Mittermeier is encouraged by the search results. He commented, “I think there’s a concern among conservationists (生态环境保护者) that people are losing touch with the natural world and that they’re not interacting with native species anymore. And so in that sense, it was really exciting and quite unexpected for me to see people’s Wikipedia interest closely related to changes in nature.” Richard Grenyer, Associate Professor from the University of Oxford, says search data is useful to conservation biologists, “By using these big data approaches, we can direct our attention towards the difficult questions in modern conservation: which species and areas are changing, and where are the people who care the most and can do the most to help.”
1.What have researchers found about species searches?
A.They strengthen ties among people. B.They affect the animal movements.
C.They reflect animal migration seasons. D.They differ in language backgrounds.
2.What is the purpose of writing Paragraph 3?
A.To further support the research findings.
B.To show the variety of species searches.
C.To summarize the research process.
D.To present researchers’ heavy work load.
3.How does Mittermeier feel about the search results?
A.Sad about people’s not getting close to nature.
B.Worried about Wikipedia behavior.
C.Amazed at people’s care about nature.
D.Satisfied with Wikipedia’s service.
4.From which is the text probably taken?
A.A scientific magazine. B.A biology textbook.
C.A biography. D.A travel brochure .
高二英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
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In a report from Psychological Science, researchers at the University of Lyon report sleeping between two learning sessions improve your learning.
In this study, 40 French adults were randomly assigned to a “sleep” or “wake” group. They all were given 16 French-Swahili words in pairs in random order. After studying a pair for seven seconds, the Swahili word appeared on a screen and the participants were asked to type the French translation. If they made a mistake, the words appeared again until every word-pair was correctly translated. Twelve hours later, they did it again. The wake group did their tests first in the morning and then in the evening so they had no time to sleep in between. The sleep group members did their first session in the evening and the second came the next morning, after a good night’s sleep.
The sleep group members did much better at recalling the correct translations and were quicker to learn when they make a mistake. Both groups were eventually able to learn all the word-pairs but getting some sleep allowed the sleep group to learn in less time and with less effort. A follow-up showed that the sleep group still did better than the wake group a week later and even six months later.
So, if you have to learn something, study and then get a good night’s sleep.
1.What is the difference of the two groups’ tasks?
A. Who to learn. B. What to learn.
C. When to learn the words. D. How to learn the words.
2.How did the participants deal with a typing mistake they made?
A. Translating the same word again. B. Leaving the wrong word alone.
C. Asking for a correct answer. D. Redoing the typing twelve hours later.
3.What does the underlined word “it” in Para. 2 refer to?
A. Correcting the mistakes.
B. Typing the Swahili words.
C. Typing the French translation.
D. Showing the Swahili word on the screen.
4.Compared to the wake group, those in the sleep group _________.
A. typed more quickly
B. learned all the word-pairs
C. learnt with more effort
D. made fewer translation mistakes
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
e. However，some of the more specific results are strange enough. For example，“practical and functional”shoes were generally worn by more“pleasant”people，while ankle boots were more linked with“aggressive”personalities. The strangest of all may be that those who wore“uncomfortable looking” shoes tend to have “calm” personalities. And if you have several pairs of new shoes or take extreme care of them，you may suffer from“attachment anxiety”，spending lots of time worrying about what other people think of your appearance. There was even a political calculation in the mix with more liberal(主张变革的)types wearing“shabbier and less expensive” shoes.