2014职称英语理工类新增ABC级文章及答案详解

2014全国职称英语理工类新增ABC级文章及答案详解

第二部分阅读判断

第八篇What Is a Dream?（B级）

For centuries, people have wondered about the strange things that they dream about. Some psychologists say that this nighttime activity of the mind has no special meaning. Others，however，think that dreams are an important part of our lives. In fact, many experts believe that dreams can tell us about a person?s mind and emotions.

Before modern times, many people thought that dreams contained messages from God. It was only in the twentieth century that people started to study dreams in a scientific way.

The Austrian psychologist, Sigmund Freud1，was probably the first person to study dreams scientifically. In his famous book, The interpretation of Dreams (1900), Freud wrote that dreams are an expression of a person?s wishes. He believed that dreams allow people to express the feelings, thoughts, and fears that they are afraid to express in real life.

The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung2was once a student of Freud?s. Jung，however，had a different idea about dreams. Jung believed that the purpose of a dream was to communicate a message to the dreamer. He thought people could learn more about themselves by thinking about their dreams. For example, people who dream about falling may learn that they have too high an opinion of themselves. On the other hand, people who dream about being heroes may learn that they think too little of themselves.

Modern-day psychologists continue to develop theories about dreams. For example, psychologist William Domhoff from the University of California, Santa Cruz，believes that dreams are tightly linked to a person?s daily life, thoughts, and behavior. A criminal, for example, might dream about crime.

Domhoff believes that there is a connection between dreams and age. His research shows that children do not dream as much as adults. According to Domhoff, dreaming is a mental skill that needs time to develop.

He has also found a link between dreams and gender. His studies show that the dreams of men and women are different. For example, the people in men?s dreams are often other men, and the dreams often involve fighting. This is not true of women?s dreams.3 Domhoff found this gender difference in the dreams of people from 11 cultures around the world, including both modern and traditional ones.

Can dreams help us understand ourselves? Psychologists continue to try to answer this question in different ways. However, one thing they agree on this: If you dream that something terrible is going to occur, you shouldn?t panic. The dream may have meaning, but it does not mean that some terrible event will actually take place. It?s important to remember that the world of dreams is not the real world.

词汇：

psychologist / sa?'k?l?d??st / n．心理学家psychiatrist /sai'kai?tr?st/ n．精神病学家(医生) Austrian / '?str??n / adj．奥地利的gender / 'd?end? / n．性别

注释：

1．Sigmund Freud西格蒙德?弗洛伊德（1856—1939)，犹太人，奥地利精神病医生及精神分析学家。精神分析学派的创始人。他认为被压抑的欲望绝大部分是属于性的，性的扰乱是精神病的根本原因。著有《性学三论》《梦的释义》《图腾与禁忌》《日常生活的心理病理学》《精神分析引论》《精神分析引论新编》等。

2．Carl Jung：卡尔?荣格，瑞士著名精神分析专家，分析心理学的创始人。

3．For example, the people in men?s dreams are often other men, and the dreams often involve fighting. This is not true of women?s dreams.例如，男人做梦会梦到男人，并且常与打斗有关；女人做梦与男人则不同。

练习：

1．Not everyone agrees that dreams are meaningful.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned 2．According to Freud, people dream about things that they cannot talk about.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned

3．Jung believed that dreams did not help one to understand oneself.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned

4．In the past, people believed that dreams involved emotions.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned 5．According to Domhoff, babies do not have the same ability to dream as adults do.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned

6．Men and women dream about different things.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned 7．Scientists agree that dreams predict the future.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned

答案与题解

1．A这句话恰好表达了本文第一段的意思。即有些心理学家认为，人脑睡眠中的活动没有特别意义；而有些人则认为，梦可以揭示人的思维和情感。

2．A第三段的最后一句讲的是弗洛伊德认为梦反映了人们在现实情况下害怕表达的情感、想法或恐惧。此句与本叙述一致。

3．B第四段的第二句和第三句：Jung believed that the purpose of a dream was to communicate

a message to the dreamer.（荣格认为梦的用途是向做梦者传递一个信息）He thought people

could learn more about themselves by thinking about their dreams.（他认为人们通过思考所做的梦能够更好地了解自己）。他给出了两个例子来说明他的论点。

4．C文中没有提及。

5．A依据第六段，Domhoff研究得出：婴儿不像成人做那么多的梦，做梦是一种需要时间提高的技能。这就说明了婴儿不具备成人做梦的能力。

6．A本文第七段讲述了做梦与性别的关系。第二句更指出男人和女人做的梦是不同的。7．B最后一段的倒数第二句讲的是：梦可能会有意义，但并不表示一些恐怖事情就一定会发生。因而不能预测未来。

*第十篇The Biology of Music（B级）

Humans use music as a powerful way to communicate. It may also play an important role in love. But what is music, and how does it work its magic? Science does not yet have all the answers.

What are two things that make humans different from animals? One is language, and the other is music. It is true that some animals can sing (and many birds sing better than a lot of people). However, the songs of animals, such as birds and whales, are very limited. It is also true that humans, not animals, have developed musical instruments. 1

Music is strange stuff. It is clearly different from language. However, people can use music to communicate things — especially their emotions. When music is combined with speech in a song, it is a very powerful form of communication. But, biologically speaking, what is music?

If music is truly different from speech, then we should process music and language in different parts of the brain. The scientific evidence suggests that this is true.

Sometimes people who suffer brain damage lose their ability to process language. However, they don?t automatically lose their musical abilities. For example, Vissarion Shebalin, a Russian composer，had a stroke in 1953. It injured the left side of his brain. He could no longer speak or understand speech. He could, however, still compose music until his death ten years later. On the other hand，sometimes strokes cause people to lose their musical ability, but they can still speak and understand speech. This shows that the brain processes music and language separately.

By studying the physical effects of music on the body，scientists have also learned a lot about how music influences the emotions. But why does music have such a strong effect on us? That is a harder question to answer. Geoffrey Miller, a researcher at University College, London, thinks that music and love have a strong connection. Music requires special talent, practice, and physical ability.

That?s why it may be a way of showing your fitness to be someone?s mate. For example, singing in tune or playing a musical instrument requires fine muscular control. You also need a good memory to remember the notes. And playing or singing those notes correctly suggests that your hearing is in excellent condition. Finally, when a man sings to the woman he loves (or vice versa)，it may be a way of showing off.

However, Miller?s theory still doesn?t explain why certain combinations of sounds influence our emotions so deeply. For scientists，this is clearly an area that needs further research.

词汇：

stroke /str??k/n．中风

automatically adv.自动地

note / n??t/n．音符

注释：

1．It is also true that humans, not animals, have developed musical instruments：人研制出了乐器，而动物则不能。Develop：研制，例如：Scientists are developing new drugs to treat cancer.科学家们正在研发新药用以治疗癌症。

练习：

1．Humans, but not animals, can sing.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned 2．People can use music to communicate their emotions.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned

3．We use the same part of the brain for music and language.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned 4．Geoffery Miler has done research on music and emotions.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned

5．It?s hard for humans to compose music.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned 6．Memory is not an important part in singing in tune.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned 7．Scientists does not know all the answers about the effects of music on humans.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned

答案与题解：

1．B第二段的第三句：It is true that some animals can sing (and many birds sing better than a lot of people).可以看出有些动物会唱歌，而不只人类会唱歌。

2．A第三段的第三句：However, people can use music to communicate things —especially their emotions.这句清楚表明，人们可以用音乐来表达情感。

3．B第四段说明：科学证明人们用大脑的不同区域处理语言和音乐。在第五段，作者用Vissarion Shebalin的例子进一步说明人脑处理语言和音乐的位置不同，Shebalin中风以后不能讲话也听不懂别人的话，但他却能创作乐曲。

4．A第六段的第四句：Geoffrey Miller, a researcher at University College，London，thinks that music and love have a strong connection.这句说明Miller对音乐和爱（情感）的关系进行了研究，他得出的结论是：音乐和爱有密切的关联。

5．C文中没有提及创作乐曲是否困难。

6．B第六段有一句：You also need a good memory to remember the notes.此句说明必须具备好的记忆力记音符才能唱得符合调子。

7．A最后一段讲的是：科学家们需要做更多的研究才能解释为什么有些声音影响我们的情感会如此之深。也就是说，科学家不能全部解释音乐对人类的影响。

+第十一篇Bill Gates: Unleashing Your Creativity（A级）

I?ve always been an optimist and I suppose it is rooted in1 my belief that the power of creativity

and intelligence can make the world a better place.

For as long as I can remember, I?ve loved learning new things and solving problems. So when I sat down at a computer for the first time in seventh grade, I was hooked. It was a clunky old teletype machine and it could barely do anything compared to the computers we have today.2 But it changed my life.

When my friend Paul Allen and I started Microsoft 30 years ago，we had a vision of “a computer on every desk and in every home”, which probably sounded a little too optimistic at a time when most computers were the size of refrigerators. But we believed that personal computers would change the world. And they have.

An d after 30 years, I?m still as inspired by computers as I was back in seventh grade.

I believe that computers are the most incredible tool we can use to feed our curiosity and inventiveness —to help us solve problems that even the smartest people couldn?t solve on their own.

Computers have transformed how we learn，giving kids everywhere a window into all of the world?s knowledge. They?re helping us build communities around the things we care about and to stay close to the people who are important to us, no matter where they are.3

Like my friend Warren Buffett, I feel particularly lucky to do something every day that I love to do. He calls it “tap-dancing to work”4. My job at Microsoft is as challenging as ever, but what makes me “tap-dancing to work” is when we show people something new, like a computer that can rec ognize your handwriting or your speech, or one that can store a lifetime?s worth of photos, and they say, “I didn?t know you could do that with a PC5! ”

But for all the cool things that a person can do with a PC，there are lots of other ways we can put our creativity and intelligence to work to improve our world6. There are still far too many people in the world whose most basic needs go unmet7. Every year, for example, millions of people die from diseases that are easy to prevent or treat in the developed world.

I believe that my own good fortune brings with it a responsibility to give back to the world. My wife, Melinda, and I have committed to8 improving health and education in a way that can help as many people as possible.

As a father, I believe that the death of a child in Africa is no less poignant or tragic than9 the death of a child anywhere else, and that it doesn?t take much to make an immense difference in these children?s lives10.

I?m still very much an optimist, and I believe that progress on even the world?s toughest problems is possible —and it?s happening every day. We?re seeing new drugs for deadly diseases, new diagnostic tools，and new attention paid to the health problems in the developing world.

I?m excited by the possibilities I see for medicine, for education and, of course, for technology. And I believe that through our natural inventiveness, creativity and willingness to solve tough problems, we're going to make some amazing achievements in all these areas in my lifetime.

词汇：

unleash / ?n'li:?/ vt．解开；放纵；使自由inspire / ?n'spa??(r) / vt．鼓舞

optimist /'Dpt?m?st/ n．乐观主义者incredible / ?n'kred?bl/ adj．难以置信的clunky (clonky) /'kl?nk?/ adj．发出沉闷金属声的curiosity /,kju?r?'Ds?t?/ n．好奇心inventiveness n.发明创造的能力teletype /'tel?ta?p/ (teletype-writer) n.电传打字机

poignant / 'p??nj?nt / adj．令人悲痛的，可怜的tragic /'traed3?k/ adj．悲剧的，悲惨的

vision /'v?3n/ n．想象；幻想；美景

immense /I'mens/ adj．巨大的

注释：

1．be rooted in：扎根于；深深地存在于

2．It was a clunky old teletype machine and it could barely do anything compared to the computers we have today.那是一台笨重的旧式电传打字机，跟我们今天的电脑相比几乎干不了什么事。本句中，barely意为almost not；compare to在美国英语中也可以等同于compare with （与……相比）。

3．They?re helping us build communities around the things we care about and to stay close to the people who are important to us, no matter where they are.电脑帮助我们就我们所关心的事情建立一个交流的场所，并且与那些我们认为对我们有重要意义的人密切相处，不管他们

身在何处。care about指不管喜欢或不喜欢的事情都很关心、介意、在乎、计较。4．“tap-dancing to work”：“跳着踢踏舞工作”。tap原意是“叩击、轻敲”；tap dance是“踢踏舞”。这里实际意思是“（手指）轻轻敲击键盘的工作”。

5．PC (personal computer)：个人计算机

6．But for all the cool things that a person can do with a PC, there are lots of other ways we can put our creativity and intelligence to work to improve our world.除了我们能用计算机做的所有神奇的事情，还有很多其他方式发挥我们的创造力和智慧，从而使世界更加美好。

7．go unmet：得不到满足。在这里go是系动词，unmet是过去分词作表语。

8．commit to此处意为承诺，保证做某事。

9．no less... than：和一样，不亚于……

10. and that it doesn?t take much to make an immense difference in these children?s lives.而且要改

善这些孩子们的命运，其实不难。此处it是形式主语，真正的主语是不定式短语to make an immense difference in these children?s lives。

练习：

1．A computer was as big as an icebox when Bill Gates was a high school student.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned

2．Bill Gates has been dreaming of the popularity of computers for his lifetime.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned

3．Bill Gates compares his hard work on a PC to “tap-dancing to wor k”.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned

4．To Bill Gates? mind, there is a big difference between the death of the poor?s children and the death of the rich?s children.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned

5．So far Bill Gates has contributed several dozen billion dollars to the charities.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned

6．Bill Gates and his wife consider it their duty to help the poor better their health and education as much as possible.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned

7．Bill Gates will leave only a small portion of his wealth for his children.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned

答案与题解：

1．A文章第三段中比尔?盖茨说，当他念七年级时，电脑就是冰箱那么大小。

2．A文章第三段比尔?盖茨说，他30年前与Paul Allen一起创办微软公司时就梦想一桌一机、一户一机，而且从其他各段也可以看到他对电脑有很多的期待。

3．B从第七段第二句可以看到作这样比较的是他的朋友Warren Buffett，而不是他自己。4．B在倒数第三段，比尔?盖茨已经明确说，所有这些儿童的死亡都一样令人伤心和悲痛，没有什么区别。

5．C文章没有提到他给慈善机构捐款的事。

6．A倒数第四段比尔?盖茨认为他一生好运，就理应回报社会，所以他和他的妻子做出了承诺，要帮助尽可能多的人改善医疗和教育条件。

7．C文章没有提到。

+第十四篇Stage Fright1（A级）

Fall down as you come onstage. That?s an odd trick. Not recommended. But it saved the pianist Vladimir Feltsman when he was a teenager back in Moscow. The veteran cellist Mstislav Rostropovich tripped him purposely to cure him of pre-performance panic,2 Mr. Feltsman said, “ All my fright was gone. I already fell. What else could happen?”

Today, music schools are addressing the problem of anxiety in classes that deal with performance techniques and career preparation. There are a variety of strategies that musicians can learn to fight stage fright and its symptoms: icy fingers, shaky limbs, racing heart, blank mind.3

Teachers and psychologists offer wide-ranging advice, from basics like learning pieces inside out,4 to mental discipline, such as visualizing a performance and taking steps to relax. Don?t deny that you?re jittery，they urge; some excitement is natural, even necessary for dynamic playing. And play in public often, simply for the experience.

Psychotherapist Diane Nichols suggests some strategies for the moments before performance, “Take two deep abdominal breaths, open up your shoulders, then smile,?? she says.“And not one of these …please don?t kill me?smiles. Then choose three friendly faces in the audience, people you would communicate with and make music to, and make eye contact with them.”She doesn?t want performers to think of the audience as a judge.

Extreme demands by mentors or parents are often at the root of stage fright，says Dorothy Delay, a well-known violin teacher. She tells other teachers to demand only what their students are able to achieve.

When Lynn Harrell was 20，he became the principal cellist of the Cleverland Orchestra, and he s uffered extreme stage fright. “There were times when I got so nervous I was sure the audience could see my chest responding to the throbbing. It was just total panic. I came to a point where I thought,… If I have to go through this to play music, I think I?m going to look for another job.”5 Recovery, he said, involved developing humility-recognizing that whatever his talent, he was fallible，and that an imperfect concert was not a disaster.6

It is not only young artists who suffer, of course. The legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz?s nerves were famous. The great tenor Franco Corelli is another example. “They had to push him on stage,” Sopran o Renata Scotto recalled.

Actually，success can make things worse. “In the beginning of your career, when you?re scared to death, nobody knows who you are, and they don?t have any expectations,” Soprano June Anderson said. “There?s less to lose. Later on, when you?re known, people are coming to see you, and they have certain expectations. You have a lot to lose.”

Anderson added，“I never stop being nervous until I?ve sung my last note.”

词汇：

veteran /'vet?r?n / adj．经验丰富的

jittery / 'd??t?ri / adj．紧张不安的

mentor / 'men,t?: / n．指导者

soprano / s?'prprɑ:n??/ n．女高音；女高音歌手cellist/ 't?el?st / n．大提琴演奏家abdominal / ?b'dɑm?n?l / adj．腹部的fallible/ 'f?l?b?l / adj．易犯错误的tenor /'ten?/ n．男高音

注释：

1．Stage Fright：舞台恐惧

2．The veteran cellist Mstislav Rostropovich tripped him purposely to cure him of pre-performance panic…资深大提琴家Mstislav Rostropovich故意把Vladimir Feltsman绊倒，因而治愈了他的上台前的恐惧症。cure somebody of something (illness, problem)：医治好病（解决问题）3．… its symptoms：icy fingers, shaky limbs, racing heart, blank mind：舞台恐惧的症状有手冰凉、身体颤抖、心跳加快和大脑一片空白。

4．Teachers and psychologists offer wide-ranging advice, from basics like learning pieces inside out ：老师和心理学家提出了方方面面的建议，一些基础知识，比如将演奏曲目烂熟于心…… inside out：in great detail详细地，从里到外地

5．I came to a point where I thought，“If I have to go through this to play music, I think I?m going to look for another job. ”我曾经一度认为，如果搞音乐就必须经过克服舞台恐惧这一关的话，这项工作不能做。

6．Recovery, he said, involved developing humility-recognizing that whatever his talent, he was fallible, and that an imperfect concert was not a disaster.不舞台恐惧意味着提高谦卑感，即认识到不管你多有才，你也会出错，一个有瑕疵的音乐会也绝对不是世界末日。

练习：

1．Falling down onstage was not a good way for Vladimir Feltsman to deal with his stage fright.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned

2．There are many signs of stage fright.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned 3．Teachers and psychologists cannot help people with extreme -stage fright.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned

4．To perform well on stage, you need to have some feelings of excitement.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned

5．If you have stage fright, it's helpful to have friendly audience.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned

6．Often people have stage fright because parents or teachers expect too much of them.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned 7．Famous musicians never suffer from stage fright.

A Right

B Wrong

C Not mentioned

答案与题解：

1．B本文第一段讲的是钢琴家Vladimir Feltsman被Mstislav Rostropovich绊倒后，他的舞台恐惧被治愈了的故事。

2．A第二段的最后一句点出舞台恐惧的诸多症状为手冰凉、身体颤抖、心跳加快和大脑一片空白。

3．B本文的第三、四、五、六段都在讲老师和心理学家为舞台恐惧者提供全方位的建议。4．A依据第三段的倒数第二句：some excitement is natural, even necessary for dynamic playing.(表演中激情是自然甚至是必要的）

5．C第四段提到克服舞台恐惧的方法之一是：在观众中选择三位友好的面孔，与他们用眼光交流。所以克服舞台恐惧要靠自己而不是指望所有的观众都友好。

6．A第五段讲了舞台恐惧的根源在于指导者或父母对表演者要求太高。extreme demands就是expect too much of them的意思。

7．B第七段讲的是：不只年轻艺术家有舞台恐惧症，钢琴家Vladimir Horowitz和男高音Franco Corelli亦不能幸免。Never一词不恰当。

第四部分阅读理解

第二十九篇I’ll Be Bac h（B级）

Composer David Cope is the inventor of a computer program that writes original works of classical music. It took Cope 30 years to develop the software. Now most people can?t tell the difference between music by the famous German composer J. S. Bach (1685-1750) and the Bach-like compositions from Cope?s computer.

It all started in 1980 in the United States, when Cope was trying to write an opera. He was having trouble thinking of new melodies, so he wrote a computer program to create the melodies. At first this music was not easy to listen to. What did Cope do? He began to rethink how human beings compose music. He realized that composers，brains work like big databases. First, they take in all the music that they have ever heard. Then they take out the music that they dislike. Finally, they make new music from what is left. According to Cope, only the great composers are able to create the database accurately, remember it, and form new musical patterns from it.

Cope built a huge database of existing music. He began with hundreds of works by Bach. The software analyzed the data：it broke it down into smaller pieces and looked for patterns. It then combined the pieces into new patterns. Before long, the program could compose short Bach-like works. They weren?t good, but it was a start.

Cope knew he had more work to do-he had a whole opera to write. He continued to improve the software. Soon it could analyze more complex music. He also added many other composers, including his own work, to the database.

A few years later，Cope?s computer program, called “Emmy”，was ready to help him with his opera. The process required a lot of collaboration between the composer and Emmy. Cope listened to

the computer?s musical ideas and used the ones that he liked. With Emmy, the opera too k only two weeks to finish. It was called Cradle Falling, and it was a great success! Cope received some of the best reviews of his career, but no one knew exactly how he had composed the work.

Since that first opera, Emmy has written thousands of compositions. Cope still gives Emmy feedback on what he likes and doesn?t like of her music, but she is doing most of the har d work of composing these days!

词汇：

original/?'r?d??n?l / adj．有独创性的collaboration / k?,l?b?'re???n / n．合作review/ r?'vju:/ n．评论feedback /'fi:db?k / n．反馈

注释

J. S. Bach约翰?塞巴斯蒂安?巴赫（德语：Johann Sebastian Bach，1685年3月31日一1750年7月28日），巴洛克时期的德国作曲家，杰出的管风琴、小提琴、大键琴演奏家，同作曲家亨德尔和泰勒曼齐名。巴赫被普遍认为是音乐史上最重要的作曲家之一，并被尊称为“西方‘现代音乐’之父”，也是西方文化史上最重要的人物之一。

练习：

1．The music composed by David cope is about ______.

A Classical music

B pop music

C drama

D country music

2．By developing a computer software，David cope aimed ______.

A to be like Bach

B to study Bach

C to write an opera

D to create a musical database

3．What did cope realize about a great composer?s brain?

A It forms new musical patterns all by itself

B It writes a computer program

C It can recognize any music patterns

D It creates an accurate database

4．Who is Emmy?

A a database

B a computer software

C a composer who helped David

D an opera

5．We can infer from the passage that ______.

A David Cope is a computer programmer.

B David Cope loves music.

C Bach?s music helped him a lot.

D Emmy did much more work than a composer.

答案与题解：

1．A第一段的第一句：David Cope发明了一个可以编写出古典音乐的电脑软件。

2．C从第二段的第一句可以看出，David编写电脑软件的目的是写歌剧。A、B和D都属于创作歌剧的一部分。

3．D第二段的后半部分讲的是伟大的歌剧作者与一般的歌剧作者的不同之处是通过对数据进行准确的构建、记忆而后创作出新的音乐形式。

4．B从第五段第一句可知Emmy是一计算机软件。

5．D从本文第一句可知David是一个作曲家，不是计算机程序员，所以排除A;B、C内容没有提及；从本文的第五段和第六段可知，Emmy大大提高了David的创作速度，最后一句，大部分困难的工作都由Emmy来做，所以作曲家只干一小部分工作。

第五部分补全短文

第四篇The Bilingual Brain（C级）

When Karl Kim immigrated to the United States from Korea?s a teenager, he had a hard time learning English. Now he speaks it fluently, and he had a unique opportunity to see how our brains adapt to a second language.1As a graduate student, Kim worked in the lab of Joy Hirsch, a neuroscientist in New York. ____1____ They found evidence that children and adults don?t use the same parts of the brain when they learn a second language.

The researchers used an instrument called an MRI2(magnetic resonance imaging) scanner to study the brains of two groups of bilingual people. ____2____. The other consisted of people who，like Kim，learned their second language later in life. People from both groups were placed inside the MRI scanner. This allowed Kim and Hirsch to see which parts of the brain were getting more blood and were more active. They asked people from both groups to think about what they had done the day before, first in one language and then the other. They couldn?t speak out loud because any movem ent would disrupt the scanning.

Kim and Hirsch looked specifically at two language centers in the brain - Broca's area3, which is believed to control speech production, and Wernicke?s area3, which is thought to process meaning. Kim and Hirsch found that both groups of people used the same part of Wernicke's area no matter what language they were speaking. ____3____

People who learned a second language as children used the same region in Broca?s area for both their first and second languages. People who learned a second language later in life used a different part of Broca?s area for their second language. ____4____ Hirsch believes that when language is first being programmed in young children, their brains may mix the sounds and structures of all languages in the same area. Once that programming is complete, the processing of a new language must be taken over by a different part of the brain.

A second possibility is simply that we may acquire languages differently as children than we do as adults. Hirsch thinks that mothers teach a baby to speak by using different methods involving touch, sound, and sight. ____5____

词汇：

immigrate / '?m?'gre?t / vt．使移居入境scanner / 'sk?n? / n．扫描仪

bilingual / ba?'l??gw(?) l / adj．具备双语能力的neuroscientist /'nj??r??'sa??nt?st / n．神经系统科学家

unique / ju: 'ni:k / adj．独特的

disrupt / dis'r?pt /使中断

注释：

1．Now he speaks it fluently, and he had a unique opportunity to see how our brains adapt to a second language.现在他说一口流利的英语，并且有一独特的机会来审视我们的大脑是如何适应第二语言的。adapt to：适应

2．MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)：磁共振成像

3．Bmca?s area：布洛卡区，也译为布罗卡区是大脑的一区，它主管语言讯息的处理、话语的产生。与Wernicke?s area共同形成语言系统。布若卡区与韦尼克区通常位于脑部的优势半脑(通常位于左侧），这是由于大多数人(97%)是右利的缘故。1861年法国神经学家兼外科医生保罗。布罗卡（Paul Broca，1824—1880)对一些失语症患者进行研究及治疗时发现此一区域，位于大脑皮层额下回后部的44、45区，故以其发现者的名字命名为布罗卡区。

练习：

A But thei r use of Broca?s area was different.

B One group consisted of those who had learned a second language as children.

C How does Hirsch explain this difference?

D We use special parts of the brain for language learning.

E And that is very different from learning a language in a high school or college class.

F Their work led to an important discovery.

答案与题解：

1．F根据本空的后一句：They found evidence that children and adults don?t use the same parts of the brain when they learn a second language.其中they found evidence与discovery相呼应。2．B依据本空的后一句The other consisted of people who, like Kim, learned their second language later in life. one. . . the other是一固定搭配，用来比较同类事物。

3．A整段讲的是Kim他们对大脑的两个语言中心的分析，得出两组被试都用Wernicke?s area中同一地带，紧接着该谈被试们使用Broca?s area的情况。

4．C本段的开头谈到孩子学习第一和第二语言都用Broca?s area相同的地带；而成人学习第二语言时使用Broca?s area不同的地带。后面都是Hirsch对这一现象的解释；He believes…

根据上下文C是恰当的。

5．E该句是全文的结束语。本段前两句都讲成年人与小孩习得语言的不同，Hirsch认为，母亲教小孩说话用不同于成人的方法，比如用触摸、声音和情景。Different是一关键词，所以，我们在中学和大学课堂学语言的方法和母亲教孩子的方法是不同的。

第十篇How Deafness Makes It Easier to Hear（B级）

Most people think of Beethoven?s hearing loss as an obstacle to composing music. However, he produced his most powerful works in the last decade of his life when he was completely deaf.

This is one of the most glorious cases of the triumph of will over adversity1, but his biographer, Maynard Solomon, takes a different view. ____1____. In his deaf world Beethoven could experiment, free from the sounds of the outside world, free to create new forms and harmonies.

Hearing loss does not seem to affect the musical ability of musicians who become deaf. They continue to “hear” music with as much, or greater, accuracy than if they were actually hearing it being played.

____2____. He described a fascinating phenomenon th at happened within three months: “my former m usical experiences began to play back to me. I couldn?t differentiate between what I heard and real hearing.2 After many years, it is still rewarding to listen to these play backs, to … hear? music which is new to me and to find many quiet accompaniments f or all of my moods. ”

How is it that the world we see，touch，hear，and smell is both “out there” and at the same time within us? There is no better example of this connection between external stimulus and internal perception than the cochlear implant3. ____3____. However, it might be possible to use the brain?s remarkable power to make sense of the electrical signals the implant produces.

When Michael Edgar first “switched on” his cochlear implant, the sounds he heard were not at all clear. Gradually, with much hard work, he began to identify everyday sounds. For example, “The insistent ringing of the telephone became clear almost at once.”

The primary purpose of the implant is to allow communication with others. When people spoke to Eagar, he heard their voices “coming through like a long-distance telephone call on a poor connection.” But when it came to his beloved music, the implant was of no help.4 ____4____. He said, “I play the piano as I used to and hear it in my head at the same time. The movement of my fingers and the feel of the keys give added …clarity? to hearing in my head.5”

Cochlear implants allow the deaf to hear again in a way that is not perfect，but which can change their lives. ____5____. Even the most amazing cochlear implants would have been useless to Beethoven as he composed his Ninth Symphony at the end of his life.

词汇：

obstacle / '?bst?k(?)l /n．障碍biographer / bai'?ɡr?f? / n．传记作者insistent / ?n's?st(?)nt / adj．连续的adversity / ?d'v ?:s?t?/ n．逆境；不幸fascinate / 'f?s?ne?t / vt．使着迷，使神魂颠倒accompaniment / ?'k?mp(?)nim(?)nt / n．伴奏

注释：

1．the triumph of will over adversity：the successful overcoming of difficulty through determination用意志力成功战胜不幸

2．I couldn?t differentiate between what I heard and real hearing.我不能分辨我听到的和真实的声音有什么不同。

3．cochlear implant：a device, surgically placed in the ear, that changes sounds into electric signals 人工耳蜗；耳蜗植入

4．But when it came to his beloved music, the implant was of no help.但是，如果碰到钟爱的音乐，人工耳蜗没有任何帮助。（我不用人工耳蜗就能听出来）

5．The movement of my fingers and the feel of the keys give added “clarity”to hearing in my head.由于我手指在钢琴上的飞动，我能感觉到琴键，因而使我听到的东西在脑海里更加清晰。

练习：

A No man-made device could replace the ability to hear.

B When he wanted to appreciate music, Eagar played the piano.

C Still, as Michael Eagar discovered, when it comes to musical harmonies, hearing is irrelevant.

D Michael Eagar, who died in 2003,became deaf at the age of 21.

E Beethoven produced his most wonderful works after he became deaf.

F Solomon argues that Beethoven?s deafness “heightened” his achievement as a composer.

答案与题解：

1．F本段的开头讲：贝多芬的例子是一个意志力战胜耳聋的极好的例子。但是，他的传记作家Maynard Solomon却持不同的意见。贝多芬的耳聋不是一种灾难；相反，对他成为作曲家起到了促进作用。后一句解释了耳聋如何使贝多芬更好地创作。

2．D该句是本段的开头，根据后一句：他描述了在三个月之内发生的奇妙的现象：我先前的音乐经历开始在我的脑海里回放。再有后一句的what I heard and real hearing可以判定D 是恰当的。

3．A依据前一句：只有人工耳蜗才能使外部刺激和内心感知联系起来（耳聋的人通过人工耳蜗听到外部的声音）。人工耳蜗就是一种man-made device，后一句也是在讲人工耳蜗的功能。所以A是对的。

4．B依据后一句的play the piano呼应When he wanted to appreciate music, Eagar played the piano，可以断定答案为B。

5．C前一句讲人工耳蜗的作用：它能使耳聋的人听到声音，尽管不完美，但改变了他们的生活；Still表示转折，该句承上启下，虽然人工耳蜗能帮助耳聋的人，但谈到音乐的韵律时，听力是不相关的（听力不起作用）。所以后一句讲贝多芬在他生命的最后时刻创作第九交响乐时，无论多么完美的人工耳蜗对他来说都没有用。

第十五篇 A Memory Drug?（A级）

IT?S DIFFICULT TO IMAGINE MANY THINGS that people w ould welcome more than a memory-enhancing drug. ____1____ Furthermore, such a drug could help people remember past experiences more clearly and help us acquire new information more easily for school and at work. As scientists learn more about memory, we are closing in on this tantalizing goal.1

Some of the most exciting evidence comes from research that has built on earlier findings linking LTP2 and memory to identify a gene that improves memory in mice. ____2____ Mice bred to have extra copies of this gene showed more activity in their NMDA receptors，more LTP，and improved performance on several different memory tasks —learning a spatial layout3, recognizing familiar objects，and recalling a fear-inducing shock.

If these basic insights about genes, LTP, and the synaptic basis of memory can be translated to people — and that remains to be seen — they could pave the way for memory-enhancing treatments. ____3____ As exciting as this may sound, it also raises troubling issues. Consider the potential educational implications of memory-enhancing drugs. If memory enhancers were available, children who used them might be able to acquire and retain extraordinary amounts of information, allowing them to progress far more rapidly in school than they could otherwise. How well could the brain handle such an onslaught of information? What happens to children who don?t have access to the

latest memory enhancers? Are they left behind in school — and as a result handicapped later in life?

____4____ Imagine that you are applying for a job that requires a good memory，such as a manager at a technology company or a sales position that requi res remembering customers? names as well as the attributes of different products and services. Would you take a memory-enhancing drug to increase your chances of landing the position? Would people who felt uncomfortable taking such a drug find themselves cut out of lucrative career opportunities?

Memory drugs might also help take the sting out of disturbing memories that we wish we could forget but can?t.4 The 2004 hit movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind told the story of a young man seeking just such freedom from the painful memories of a romantic breakup. As you will see in the section on persistence later in the chapter, emotionally arousing events often create intrusive memories, and researchers have already muted emotional memories with drugs that block the action of key hormones. Should emergency workers who must confront horrifying accident scenes that can burden them with persisting memories be provided with such drugs? Should such drugs be given to rape victims who can?t forget the trauma? Me mory drugs might provide some relief to such individuals. But could they also interfere with an individual?s ability to assimilate and come to terms with a difficult experience?5 ____5____

词汇：

tantalizing /'t?nt?la?z?? / adj．诱人的synaptic / s?'n?pt?k / adj．(解剖学）突触的steroid / 'st??r??d / n．类固醇onslaught /'?nsl?:t / n．大量lucrative / 'lu:kr?t?v / adj．有利可图的hit /hit / n．(演出等）成功

注释：

1．As scientists learn more about memory, we are closing in on this tantalizing goal.随着科学家们对记忆了解增多，我们正接近这一诱人的目标。

2．LTP&SNMDA：(Long-term Potentiation)给突触前纤维一个短暂的髙频剌激后，突触传递效率和强度增加几倍且能持续数小时至几天保持这种增强的现象。LTP发现海马LTP可能是学习记忆的分子基础。1973年Bliss及其合作者，电刺激麻醉兔的内嗅皮层，使海马表层的穿通纤维兴奋，可在齿状回记录到场电位。先用高频电刺激几秒钟后，再用单个电刺激，记录到的部分场电位幅度大大超过原先记录的对照值，并可持续几小时，几天。

这一现象称为长时程增强效应(LTP)。1983年发现NMDA(N—甲基一D—门冬氨酸）受体通道复合体在LTP过程中起重要作用，进一步深化了对LTP在大脑学习记忆中作用的理解。

3．a spatial layout：空间布局

4．Memory drugs might also help take the sting out of disturbing memories that we wish we could forget but can?t：增强记忆药对我们想忘记却又不能的令人烦扰的记忆变得令人易于接受。take the sting out of：使……易于被接受；使……令人感到愉快

5．But could t hey also interfere with an individual?s ability to assimilate and come to terms with a difficult experience? 中的come to terms with：让步；屈服

练习：

A Like steroids for bulking up the muscles, these drugs would bulk up memory.

B A memory enhancer could help eliminate forgetting associated with aging and disease.

C What are the potential implications of memory-enhancing drugs for the workplace?

D We may find ourselves struggling with these kinds of questions in the not-too-distant future.

E There is a pill that you could take every day to allow you to remember everything.

F The gene makes a protein that assists the NMDA2 receptor，which plays an important role in

long-term memory by helping to initiate LTP.

答案与题解：

1．B依据上一句的“很难想象一种提高人们记忆力的药会受到人们吹捧”；下面应该对这一现象做出解释，即这种药物有什么疗效；而后一句的Furthermore这一指示词起到了递进的作用，进一步说明这种药物的益处。More than ：非常，极其，十分

2．F前一句的关键词是gene、LTP和mice，它讲的是有些令人兴奋的证据是从研究中得出

的；该研究基于早期连接LTP和记忆的发现，该结果确定了提髙老鼠记忆的基因；而后一句进一步阐述这一发现，开头的mice可以是一个连接词。

3．A前一句讲：如果这种结果用于人类的话，人们就有可能把提高人的记忆力用于临床。这一句讲：就像类固醇用于提髙人的肌肉能力，这种药物也可以提高人的记忆力。

4．C一般情况下，每一段的第一句都是本段的主题句。而该句是一个问句：这种提高记忆力的药物用于职场有什么潜在的启示呢？紧接着本段其余几句都提出关于这种药物是否会对职场的提升有什么影响的问题。

5．D本句是全文的最后一句。应该是总结性的。鉴于前面都列举了这种提高记忆力的药所面临的一系列问题，所以，我们在不久的将来要面临这些问题。