We like to consider ourselves the superior race, and we are. It’s true that we are getting to know more and more, and we actually live in “the information age”. Our human vanity(虚荣心) makes us believe that we really have to know everything! Surprisingly, we do not have this ability. The question “what is happening in the Bermuda Triangle” is the very proof.

Where is the Bermuda Triangle located? The mysterious triangle is believed to be situated between Florida, Bermuda and Puerto Rico, where too many unusual events have happened.

On December the 5^th 1945, five U.S. military planes took off from Florida on a clear day only to disappear over Bermuda. Furthermore, some other disappearances took place; in 1947, an American C54 plane simply disappeared at 100 miles from Bermuda; at 80 miles, a Star Tiger plane disappeared in 1948.

Even Columbus had trouble in Bermuda. Some of his journals were about the strange happenings there: “the waters are changing their colors” and “compasses are going wild”.

Maybe it’s why it is called the Devil’s triangle or the Atlantic cemetery.

Many hypotheses were stated in order to explain the strange events. In spite of these attempts, the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle remains unsolved.

Some people get to say that maybe aliens are involved in it. Other imaginative scientists relate the happenings in Bermuda to Einstein’s theory, saying that the missing ships and planes are translated to another dimension of space and time and taken into another world.

Maybe we will just have to wait to go to Heaven and ask the One who made it. The answer will surely be a satisfying one!

1.The writer may probably think that______.

2. Columbus’ journals told us that in Bermuda _______.

3.The underlined word “hypotheses” in the 6^th paragraph probably means______.

4.The purpose of the writer is to______.

Do you sometimes argue about what seems to you to be simple fact? Do you argue whether it’s cold outdoors or whether the car in front of you is going faster than the speed limit?

If you get into such arguments, try to think about the story about the six blind men and the elephant. The first blind man who felt the elephant’s trunk said it was like a snake. The second who felt the elephant’s side said it was like a wall, while the third said it was like a spear as he touched the animal’s tusk. The fourth, who got hold of the elephant’s tail insisted that it was like a rope. The fifth man said it looked like a tree as he put his arms around one of the elephant’s legs. The sixth, who was tall and got hold of the elephant’s ears, said it was like a huge fan.

Each man’s idea of the animal came from his own experience. So if someone disagrees with you about a“simple fact”, it’s often because his experience in the matter is different from yours.

To see how hard it is for even one person to make up his mind about a“simple fact”, try this simple experiment. Get three large bowls. Put ice water in one. Put hot water in the second. Put lukewarm water in the third. Now put your left hand in the ice water. Put your right hand in the hot water. After thirty seconds, put both hands in the lukewarm water. Your right hand will tell you the water is cold. Your left hand will tell you it’s hot!

1.What makes people think about simple facts differently?

A. The fact that simple facts differ from one another.

B. The fact that people have different experience in the same simple fact.

C. The fact that people often disagree with one another.

D. The fact that it’s hard to make up one’s mind about simple facts.

2. Which of the following temperatures can the word“lukewarm”be applied to?

A. Around 1℃          B. Above 60℃      C. Around 25℃        D. Below 0℃

3. After reading the last paragraph, we may think of        .

A. Newton’s law                       B. Gallileo’s theory of falling objects

C. Einstein’s theory of relativity    D. Marx’s On Capital

4. The main idea of this passage is         .

A. people often judge something according to his own experience

B. people often agree about simple facts

C. it’s hard for a person to make up his mind about a simple fact

D. don’t care too much about simple facts

Parents are often amazed at how fast their child grows and develops. New research has determined that the ability to quantify may develop much sooner than most parents realize.

Kristy Vanmarle, professor of the University of Missouri, has determined that contrary to what previous studies have shown, infants（婴儿）are able to quantify substances（物质）—like sand or water—as early as 10 months. As long as the difference between the two substances is large enough, infants will choose the larger amount, especially when it comes to food.

With the assistance of her team researchers, Vanmarle tested the quantifying skills of babies by presenting them with two cups: one containing a small amount of food, and one containing a larger amount. Consistently, the babies chose the larger amount.

“Several studies throughout the last 15 years have shown that infants are very good at telling how many objects they see; however, infants don’t seem to count things like water or sand,” Vanmarle said. “What we’re saying is that they can quantify substances; it’s just much harder. The infants can see how much food goes into each cup and compare that in their memories. They decide which amount is larger, and they almost always select the larger one.”

“This information further refutes（驳斥）the long-held idea that babies know nothing of the world,” Vanmarle said.

“Since psychologists have begun studying infants with sensitive measures, we’ve discovered a lot of early abilities. I think for parents, it should be exciting to know that there’s somebody in there that has some fundamental and basic knowledge of the world, and that knowledge is guiding their development,” Vanmarle said.

In the future, Vanmarle says this kind of study could be linked to a child’s progress in math-related skills, although programs marketed to increase those abilities, such as “Baby Einstein,” still have mixed reviews when it comes to academic study.

1. The quantifying ability refers to the ability to     .

A. choose between different substances  B. describe the quantity of something

C. get much knowledge of the world    D. obtain math-related skills

2. What is mainly talked about in Paragraph 4?

A. The process of doing research.   B. The final choice of infants.

C. The scientific findings.         D. The observation of infants’ behavior.

3. Babies choose the larger amount of food     .

A. through their natural abilities  B. with the help of parents

C. on personal preference           D. by saying numbers

4.We can learn from the text that     .

A. some parents don’t care about their kids

B. scholars disagree on baby-training programs

C. little research has been done on infants

D. people used to think the world is known to babies

5.What’s the best title of the text?

A. Unique Quantifying Methods   B. Amazing Baby-training Ideas

C. Early Human Abilities         D. Breakthrough in Baby Studies

Parents are often amazed at how fast their child grows and develops. New research has determined that the ability to quantify may develop much sooner than most parents realize.

Kristy vanMarle, professor of the University of Missouri, has determined that contrary to what previous studies have shown, infants（婴儿）are able to quantify substances（物质）—like sand or water—as early as 10 months. As long as the difference between the two substances is large enough, infants will choose the larger amount, especially when it comes to food.

With the assistance of her team researchers, vanMarle tested the quantifying skills of babies by presenting them with two cups: one containing a small amount of food, and one containing a larger amount. Consistently, the babies chose the larger amount.

“Several studies throughout the last 15 years have shown that infants are very good at telling how many objects they see; however, infants don’t seem to count things like water or sand,” vanMarle said. “What we’re saying is that they can quantify substances; it’s just much harder. The infants can see how much food goes into each cup and compare that in their memories. They decide which amount is larger, and they almost always select the larger one.”

This information further refutes（驳斥）the long-held idea that babies “know nothing of the world,” vanMarle said.

“Since psychologists have begun studying infants with sensitive measures, we’ve discovered a lot of early abilities. I think for parents, it should be exciting to know that there’s somebody in there that has some fundamental and basic knowledge of the world, and that knowledge is guiding their development,” vanMarle said.

In the future, vanMarle says this kind of study could be linked to a child’s progress in math-related skills, although programs marketed to increase those abilities, such as “Baby Einstein,” still have mixed reviews when it comes to academic study.

1. The quantifying ability refers to the ability to     .

A. choose between different substances

B. get much knowledge of the world

C. describe the quantity of something

D. obtain math-related skills

2. What is mainly talked about in Paragraph 4?

A. The process of doing research.

B. The scientific findings.

C. The final choice of infants.

D. The observation of infants’ behavior.

3.Babies choose the larger amount of food     .

A. by saying numbers            B. with the help of parents

C. on personal preference           D. through their natural abilities

4. What’s the best title of the text?

A. Breakthrough in Baby Studies

B. Amazing Baby-training Ideas

C. Early Human Abilities

D. Unique Quantifying Methods

Einstein liked Bose’s paper so much that he _____ his own work and translated it into German.

A. gave off    B. turned down    C. took over    D, set aside