Speaking two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in an increasingly globalized world．But in recent years, scientists have begun to show that the advantages of bilingualism （双语能力） are even more important than being able to converse with a wider range of people．Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter．It can have a deep effect on your brain, improving skills not related to language and even protecting against a serious mental disorder in old age．

This view of bilingualism is different from the understanding of bilingualism through much of the 20th century．Researchers, educators and policy makers long considered a second language to be an interruption that prevented a child's school work and ability to think and understand things．They were not wrong about the interruption: there is ample evidence that in a bilingual \s brain both language systems are active even when he is using only one language, thus creating situations in which one system disturbs the other．But this interruption, researchers are finding out, isn't so much a disturbance．It forces the brain to solve inside conflict, giving the mind a workout that strengthens its thinking muscles．

The key difference between bilinguals and monolinguals may be more basic: a heightened ability to monitor the environment．"Bilinguals have to switch languages quite often—you may talk to your father in one language and to your mother in another language," says Albert Costa, a researcher at the University of Pompea Fabra in Spain．

"It requires keeping track of changes around you in the same way that we monitor our surroundings when driving．" In a study comparing German-Italian bilinguals with Italian monolinguals on monitoring tasks, Mr．Costa and his colleagues found that the bilingual subjects not only performed better, but they also did so with less activity in parts of the brain involved in monitoring, showing that they did better in it．

1.From the passage we can learn that experts used to believe that ______．

A．interruption forced a bilingual's brain to strengthen its thinking ability

B．a second language stopped children's studying as well as mental development

C．using two languages annoyed the children who have trouble in learning skills

D．language systems were busy in a bilingual's brain when he was using languages

2.The underlined word "switch" in Paragraph 3 probably means "______"．

A．change      B．use         C．speak     D．study

3.What is the author's attitude towards bilingualism?

A．Cautious．  B．Doubtful．   C．Concerned．  D．Favourable．

4.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A．How Bilinguals Use Languages    

B．What Bilingualism Is Really about

C．Why Bilinguals Are More Intelligent   

D．When People Learn a Second Language

 

 (06·湖北C篇)

The young boy saw me, or rather, he saw the car and quickly ran up to me, eager to sell his bunches (串) of bananas and bags of peanuts. Though he appeared to be about twelve, he seemed to have already known the bitterness of life. "Banana 300 naira. Peanuts 200 naira"

    He said in a low voice. I bargained him down to 200 total for the fruit and nuts. When he agreed, I handed him a 500 naira bill He didn't have change, so I told him not to worry.

    He .said thanks and smiled a row of perfect teeth.

   When, two weeks later, I saw the boy again, I was more aware of my position in a society where it's not that uncommon to see a little boy who should be in school standing on the comer selling fruit in the burning sun. My parents had raised me to be aware of the advantage we had been afforded and the responsibility it brought to us.

   I pulled over and rolled down my window. He had a bunch of bananas and a bag of peanuts ready. I waved them away. “What's up”. I asked him. “I...I don't have money to buy books for school.” I reached into my pocket and handed him two fresh 500 naira bills.

    "Will this help?” I asked. He looked around nervously before taking the money. One thousand naira was a lot of money to someone whose family probably made about 5,000 naira or less each year. "Thank you, sir," he said. 'Thank you very much.”

   When driving home, I wondered if my little friend actually used the money for school-books. What if he's a cheat (骗子)? And then I wondered why I did it Did I do it to make myself feel better? Was I using him? Later, I realized that I didn't know his name or the least bit about him, nor did I think to ask.

   Over the next six months, I was busy working in a news agency in northern Nigeria. Sometime after I returned, I went out for a drive When I was about to pull over, the boy suddenly appeared by my window with a big smile ready on his face

   "oh, gosh! Long time."

   "Are you in school now?”  I asked.

   He nodded.

   "That's good," I said. A silence fell as we looked at each other, and then I realized what he wanted. "Here," I held out a 500 naira bill. "Take this.” He shook his head and stepped back as if hurt. "What's wrong?” I asked. "It's a gift"

   He shook his head again and brought his hand from behind his back. HIS face shone with sweat (汗水)。 He dropped a bunch of bananas and a bag of peanuts in the front seat before he said, "I've been waiting to give these to you."

64. What was the author's first impression of the boy?

   A. He seemed to be poor and greedy.  

B. He seemed to have suffered a lot

   C. He seemed younger than his age.  

D. He seemed good at bargaining

65. The second time the author met the boy, the boy________.

   A. told him his purpose of selling fruit and nuts

   B. wanted to express his thanks

   C. asked him for money for his schoolbooks

   D. tried to take advantage of him

66. Why did the author give his money to the boy?

       A. Because he had enough money to do that.

    B. Because he had learnt to help others since childhood.

    C. Because he held a higher position in the society.

    D. Because he had been asked by the news agency to do so.

67. Which of the following best describes the boy?

    A. Brave and polite.                        B. Kind and smart

    C. Honest and thankful.                     D. Shy and nervous.

  

 (06·陕西B卷A篇)

For centuries,the only form of written correspondence (通信)was the letters were,and are,sent by some form of postal service,the history of which goes back a long way .indeed,the egyptians began sending letters from about 2000 BC,as did the Chinese a thousand years later.

   Of course,modern postal service now are march more developed and faster.depending as they do on cars and planes fore delivery.Yet they are stell too slow for some people to send urgent documents (紧急文件)and letters.

   The invention of the fax (传真) machine increased the speed of delivering documents even more.When you send a fax you are sending a copy of a piece of correspondence to someone by telephone service.It was not until the early 1980s that such a service was developed enough for bussinesses to be able to fax documents to each other.

   The fax service is still very much in use when copies of documents require to be sent ,but,as a way of fast correspondence,it has been largely taken the place of by email ,Email is used to describe messages sent form one computer user to another.

   There are advantages and disadvantages with emails.ifyou send some one an email ,then he will receive it extremely quickly .Normal postal services are rather slow as far as speed of delivery is concerned.

However,if you write something by email,which you might later regret ,and send it immediately,there is no chance for second thoughts.at least,if you are have to address and seal(封)the envelope and take it to the post box..there is plenty of time to change your mind .The message is think before you email!

41.We can learn from the tex that__________.

A.      email is less popular than the fax service   

B.      the postal service has over the years become faster

C.      the postal service has over the years become slower

D.     the fax service has a history as long as the postal service does

42.It can be inferred from the text that_________.

A.        the fax service had been fully developed by the 1980s

B.         letters have been used in China for about 1,000 years

C.        the fax machine was invented after the 1980s

D.        letters have been used in Egypt for about 2,000 years

43.In the last paragraph,the wrin intentings think before you email”to show then________.

A.you may regret if you than’t your envelope

B.you may regre l before you send something by email

C.you’d better  not send your email in a hurry

D.you regrse before you on time to send an email

44.The text madtry deal with_________.

A.the  progress in correspondence

B.the advantage of fax machines

C.the advantage of emails

D.the invention of fas machines

 Nuclear science should be developed to benefit the people ______ harm them.

A. more than     B. rather than     C. less than      D. better than

Psychology(心理学) has a new application in the field of medicine. Many doctors, together with their patients, are looking for alternative methods of treatment of physical problems. In large hospitals, modern therapy（疗法） seems to focus on the physical disease. Patients may feel they are treated like broken machines. Some doctors have recognized this as a problem. They are now using psychological therapy, in which the patient is working with the doctors against the disease with the help of medicine. The patient does not wait for the medicine and treatment to cure him or her, but instead the patient joins in the fight.

　 The doctor knows that a disease affects a patient's body physically. The body of the patient changes because of the disease. He is not only physically affected, but also has an emotional response to the disease. Because his mind is affected, his attitude and behavior change. The medical treatment might cure the patient's physical problems, but the patient's mind must fight the emotional ones. For example, the studies of one doctor, Carl Simonton, M. D., have shown that a typical cancer patient has predictable attitudes. She typically feels depressed, upset, and angry. Her constant depression makes her acts unfriendly toward her family, friends, doctors, and nurses. Such attitudes and behaviors prevent recovery. Therefore, a doctor's treatment must help the patient change that. Simonton's method emphasizes treatment of the “whole” patient.

　 The attitude of a cancer patient receiving radiation therapy, an X-ray treatment, can become more positive. The physician who is following Simonton's psychological treatment plan suggests that the patient imagine that he or she can see the tumor（肿瘤） in the body. In the mental picture, the patient "sees" a powerful beam of radiation like a million bullets of energy. The patient imagines the beam hitting the tumor cells and causing them to shrink. For another cancer patient, Dr. Simonton asks him to imagine the medicine going from the stomach into the bloodstream and to the cancer cells. The patient imagines that the medicine is like an army fighting the diseased cells and sees the cancer cells gradually dying and his blood carry away the dead cells. Both the medical therapy and the patient's positive attitude fight the disease.

　 Doctors are not certain why this mental therapy works. However, this use of psychology does help some patients because their attitudes about themselves change. They become more confident because they use the power within their own minds to help stop the disease.

　 Another application of using the mind to help cure disease is the use of suggestion therapy. At first, the doctor helps the patient to concentrate deeply. The patient thinks only about one thing. He becomes so unaware of other things around him that he is asleep, or rather in a trance（催眠状态）. Then the physician makes “a suggestion” to the patient about the medical problem. The patient's mind responds to the suggestion even after the patient is no longer in the trance. In this way, the patient uses his mind to help his body respond to treatment.

　 Doctors have learned that this use of psychology is helpful for both adults and children. For example, physicians have used suggestion to help adults deal with the strong pain of some disease. Furthermore, sometimes the adult patient worries about her illness so much that the anxiety keeps her from getting well. The right suggestions may help the patient to stop being anxious. Such treatment may help the patient with a chronic（慢性的）diseases. Asthma （哮喘） is an example of a chronic disorder. Asthma is a disease that causes the patient to have difficulty in breathing. The patient starts to cough and sometimes has to fight to get the air that he or she needs. Psychology can help relieve the symptoms of this disorder. After suggestion therapy, the asthma patient breathes more easily.

　 Physicians have learned that the psychological method is very useful in treating children. Children respond quickly to the treatment because they are fascinated by it. For example, Dr. Basil R. Collison has worked with 121 asthmatic children in Sydney, Australia, and had good results. Twenty-five of the children had excellent results. They were able to breathe more easily, and they did not need medication. Another forty-three were also helped. The symptoms of the asthma occurred less frequently, and when they did, they were not as strong. Most of the children also felt better about themselves. Doctors have also used suggestion to change habits like nail-biting, thumb-sucking, and sleep-related problems.

　 Many professional medical groups have accepted the medical use of psychology and that psychology has important applications in medicine.

66. What does the passage mainly discuss?

A. How suggestion therapy benefits adults and children.

B. How modern therapy focuses on the disease.

C. Responses from the medical world.

D. How to use the mind against disease.

67. How does psychological therapy work?

A. The patient waits for the medicine and treatment to cure him.

B. The doctor uses medical treatment to cure the patient's problems.

C. The doctor, the medicine, and the patient work together to fight disease.

D. The patient uses his mind to cure himself.

68. What can we learn from the studies of Carl Simonton, M. D.?

A. The medical treatment can cure the patient's mental disease.

B. The treatment of a patient by treating the body and the mind is necessary.

C. The mental treatment is more important than medical treatment.

D. Few patients have emotional response to the disease.

69. It can be learned from the passage that suggestion therapy cannot be used to 　　　　　 .

A. help adults deal with the strong pain of some diseases

B. help the patients with chronic diseases

C. help change some bad habits 　　 D. help cure patients of insomnia（失眠症）

70. According to the passage, which of the following remains unknown so far?

A. The value of mental therapy. 　　

B. The effectiveness of suggestion therapy.

C. The working principle of suggestion therapy.

D. The importance of psychology in medical treatment.