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阅读理解专题卷21
Sheep, like turkeys and ostriches, are not considered the cleverest animals. British scientists said last Wednesday human may have underestimated(低估) the woolly creatures. They could be much smarter than we think.
Researchers at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, southern. England, have shown that animals have a good memory system and are extremely good at recognizing faces--which they think is a sure sign of intelligence.
Behavioral scientist Keith Kendrick and his friends trained 20 sheep to recognize and distinguish(区分) 25 pairs of sheep faces and used electrodes(电极) to measure their brain activity, which showed they could remember 50 faces for up to two years.
"If they can do that with faces, the fact is that they have to have reasonable intelligence, otherwise, what is the point of having a system for remembering anything else," Kendrick said in an interview.
So hours of seemingly mindless eating grass may not be so mindless after all.
Kendrick believes sheep got their reputation as dumb animals because they live in large groups and do not appear to have much ind
ividuality and are frightened of just about everything.
All animals, including humans, once they are frightened don't tend to show signs of intelligent action," he explained.
In research reported in the science journal Nature, Kendrick and his team showed that sheep, like humans, have a specialized system in the brain, which allows them to distinguish between many different faces that look extremely similar.
"The most important findings of the study is that they are able, both from a behavioral point of view and from looking at the way the brain is organized, to remember a large number of faces of individuals for a very long time," said Kendrick. "It is a very strange system. They are showing similar abilities in many ways to humans. "
1. From the first paragraph we can find that ______.
A. people used to think sheep are smarter than the other animals
B. people used to raise sheep in a wrong way
C. people don't consider sheep as clever animals
D. people have done a lot of research on sheep
2. From what Kendrick said in the interview we learn that ________.
A. scientists have learned a lot about sheep's intelligence
B. scientists have learned little about sheep's intelligence
C. scientists can't do anything more about sheep's memory
D. scientists don't have to research animals' memory
3. As is shown in the passage _________.
A. sheep are among the weak animals
B. it is not right for people to raise sheep in groups
C. when sheep eat grass in the fields their minds may be active
D. if people feel frightened, they may become more brave
4. When scientists found that sheep show similar abilities in many ways to humans they may think it _____.
A. worrying B. moving C. frightening D. interesting
A punctual person is in the habit of doing a thing at the proper time and is never late in keeping an appointment.
The unpunctual man, on one hand, never does what he has to do at the proper time. He is always in a hurry and in the end loses both time and his good name. A lost thing may be found again, but lost time can never be regained. Time is more valuable than material things. In fact, time is life itself. The unpunctual man is for ever wasting and mismanaging his most valuable asset (财产) as well as other’s. The unpunctual person is always complaining that he finds no time to answer letters, or return calls or keep appointments promptly. But the man who really has a great deal to do is very careful of his time and seldom complains of want of it. He knows that he can not get through his huge amount of work unless he faithfully keeps every piece of work when it has to be attended to.
Failure to be punctual in keeping one’s appointments is the sign of disrespect towards others. If a person is invited to dinner and arrives later than the appointed time, he keeps all the other guests waiting for him. Usually this will be regarded as a great disrespect to the host and all other guests present.
Unpunctuality, moreover, is very harmful when it comes to do one’s duty, whether public or private. Imagine how it would be if those who are put in charge of important tasks failed to be at their proper place at the appointed time. A man who is known to be habitually unpunctual is never trusted by his friends or fellow men.
5.What does the author think is the main difference between a punctual person and an unpunctual person?
A. A punctual person does everything ahead of time while an unpunctual person does everything behind schedule.
B. A punctual person does everything at the right time while an unpunctual person seldom does anything at the correct time.
C. A punctual person has a lot of appointments while an unpunctual person has few appointments.
D. A punctual person has much time to do everything while an unpunctual person has little time to do anything.
6. According to the passage, the main reason that a person is always unpunctual is that _______.
A. he has more work to do than other people
B. he is always in a hurry when he works
C. he doesn’t care much about time
D. he always mismanages and wastes his time
7.According to the third paragraph, when you are invited to dinner, you should arrive there _______.
A. after other guests have arrived
B. before all other guests
C. at the appointed time
D. after the host has got things ready
8.Which of the following statements best describes the harm of unpunctuality?
A. If you are an unpunctual person, you cannot be in charge of any important task.
B. If your friends know that you are unpunctual, they may not see you again.
C. Unpunctuality may bring about heavy losses for both public and private affairs.
D. Unpunctuality may make you miss a lot of appointments and lose friends.
A well-known manufacturer of weighing machines produced a new model.
The machine had a computer inside it, and this computer could do wonderful things: it could weigh people very accurately; it could tell them their weight in their own language; and it could tell them what they should eat to reduce their weight.
The manufacturer decided to try out his machine before he sold it to the shops.
He looked around for a good place to put it and finally decided on an airport. There were always people at an airport from many different countries.
The first person to use the machine was an Italian woman. She stood on the machine, put a coin in and waited to hear her weight.
The machine took only a second or two to weigh her, decide on her nationality and the language she spoke, and figure out what kind of food she should eat.
“Good morning, madam,” it said in perfect Italian. “Your weight is 72 kilos, three more than it should be for a woman of your height, age and nationality. This is because you have been eating too much spaghetti. I suggest you eat more fruit and vegetables. Please have a nice day”.
The second person to use the machine was a Chinese girl. She stood on the machine, put a coin in and waited to hear her weight.
“Good morning, Miss," the machine said in perfect Chinese. "Your weight is 38 kilos, exactly the correct weight for your height, age and nationality. Continue to eat what you are eating. Please have a nice day.”
The third person to use the machine was a huge Australian woman. She walked up to the machine and looked at it for a long time. At last she found the courage to stand on the machine and put a coin in. The machine spoke immediately. “Good morning. Will one of you ladies please get off?”
9. What could the computer do?
A. Weigh and talk to people. B. Translate information.
C. Give them diet pills. D. Make them lose weight.
10. What did the machine say to the Italian woman?
A. She was a little too light. B. She was a little too heavy.
C. She disliked spaghetti. D. She couldn’t speak Italian.
11.What did the machine say to the Chinese woman?
A. She should eat more. B. She could speak Chinese.
C. She would have a nice day. D. She was fine.
12.What did the machine suggest about the Australian woman?
A. She was unwell. B. She was courageous.
C. She was too heavy. D. She had dieted well.
“Congratulations, Mr. Jones, it’s a girl.”
Fatherhood is going to have a different meaning and bring forth a different answer from every man who hears these words. Some feel proud when they receive the news, while others worry, wondering whether they will be good fathers. Although there are some men who like children and may have had considerable experience with them, others do not particularly care for children and spend little time with them. Many fathers and mothers have been planning and looking forward to children for some time. For other couples, pregnancy(怀孕) was an accident that both husband and wife have accepted willingly or unwillingly.
Whatever the reaction to the birth of a child, it is obvious that the change from the role of husband to that of father is a difficult task. Yet, unfortunately, few attempts have been made to educate fathers in this re-socialization process. Although many good books have been written about American mothers, only recently have some books discussed the role of a father.
It is argued by some writers that the transition to the father’s role, although difficult, is not nearly as great as the transition the wife must make to the mother’s role. The mother’s role seems to require a complete transformation of daily routine and adaptation to a new life, on the other hand, the father’s role is less demanding and immediate. However, even though we have mentioned the fact that growing numbers of women are working outside the home, the father is still thought by many as the breadwinner in the household.
13.According to the author, being a father _______.
A. brings a feeling of excitement to some men
B. has a different meaning for those who have daughters
C. makes some men feel proud and others uneasy
D. means nothing but more responsibilities.
14. It is stated in the passage that ________.
A. some parents are not prepared to have a child
B. young couples do not like children at all
C. working couples do not have much time to take care of their children
D. many parents look forward to having a boy as their first child
15.The transition to the mother’s role requires that the wife _______.
A. changes her life style in a quite different way
B. makes a complete change in her everyday life to deal with the new situation
C. stays at home to take care of the baby
D. helps her husband in his re-socialization process
16.Some writers argue that with respect to the change of roles, fathers, compared with mothers, _______.
A. have to do more in the household B. have to make more difficult adaptations
C. have an easier job to do D. can usually do a better job
How do you know if your home is an easy aim for thefts(偷窃)? Around the holidays, many families don’t consider taking proper measures to prevent their homes from suffering holiday thefts. With just a few simple steps, you can better make sure of the safety of your home during all of the holiday celebrations. Here are a few tips for making it difficult to tell you are away from home.
● Either have a trusted neighbor pick up your mail and newspapers, or tell your mailperson to hold your mail until you return. Nothing says “Hey, we are not home!” like when your postbox is filled with all kinds of mails and you have many different newspapers in your driveway.
● Set several different lights in your house on random timers (随机定时器)。Don’t leave your outdoor lights on all the time. Instead, put your outside lights on timers to be on during the nights. If an outdoor light remains on for days at a time, it means that nobody is home to turn it off.
● If you have pets that you are not taking with you on vacation, leave them with a friend, rather than having someone come into your house every day to take care of them. When thefts see a neighbor or friend entering your house every day, they will know you are not home.
● Close all your curtains when you leave town. This is effective to deter possible thefts, as no one can see what is in your house. If they don’t know what there is to take, then the risk is even greater for them to break in.
● This article just has suggested a few tips to help you keep your house safe while you are on holiday. Nothing can truly protect your home unless you have it monitored by a professional home security system.
17.. What is the main idea of the passage?
A. to tell us how to prevent the thefts around the holidays
B. to let the outdoor lights on all the time
C. to tell us many families suffering from the thefts while they are on holiday
D. to tell you to have your neighbor go to your house to take care of your pet.
18..If you are on holiday in other places, the lights in your house should________.
A. be lit in an irregular way B. be kept on all the night
C. be replaced by random timers D be turned on only once one day
19..To make your home is well protected, what does the writer advise you to do?
A. Have all the curtains closed B. Stop your mail service at once
C. Turn to your close neighbors or friends D. Equip your home with security system
20.. Most of the tips mentioned in the text seem to ______.
A. be very popular with families B. have no effect on preventing thefts
C. give a false impression on thefts. D. be a little hard to be brought into effect.
21..The underlined word “deter ”probably means “___________ ”.
A. discover B. discourage C. surprise D. attract
Twelve years ago, when I was 50,I wondered what 60 or 70 would be like? I looked around and saw only one style of living. It’s not fair, I thought. Young people have so many styles to choose from, but older people have just one choice. So I decide to do something about it , something practical.
I worked on my fitness by joining exercise classes in town. A few years later, my husband and I moved to a retirement community, and I wanted to teach aerobic(有氧运动的)classes. The community center wouldn’t give me a room to teach in, so I had to walk around and find any available empty room.
One day, the community center staff came to me and asked if I would help with the entertainment for a Hawaiian luau(夏威夷式宴会)they were putting on. I said yes. Then I talked five other ladies into dancing with me. We performed the hula(呼啦舞)and a war chant and brought the house down. Someone had a camera and took pictures, and then sent them to our local paper. We got requests for more engagements, which in turn led to more publicity and yet more engagements. Soon we had invitations from all over the country. The Dancing Grannies were born!
I think
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