Monkeys prefer heavy metal to classical music, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin whose findings are published this week in Biology Letters.
Scientists played a selection of music to a group of South American cotton-top monkeys but the only sound that got a reaction were from the heavy metal band Metallica. They were seemingly disinterested in Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis and Bach, but after the beautiful sound of Master of Puppets by Metallica was played the monkeys calmed down.
"Monkeys interpret rising and falling sounds differently than humans. Oddly, their only response to several samples of human music was a calming response to the heavy-metal band Metallica," said Professor Charles Snowdon, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Rather than making them excited or aggressive, the heavy metal tracks had a comforting effect. Dr Snowdon, who teamed up with National Symphony Orchestra musican David Teie, also played the monkeys music composed specifically for them. Although they enjoyed Metallica, they were much more interested in these pieces.
A melody(乐曲) based on the short calls of scared monkeys led to anxiety levels rapidly growing, researchers found, while one based on long calls the creatures make when they are happy had a calming effect.
Frans B.M. de Waal, a professor of psychology at Emory University who studies animals, said the findings appear to say more about how monkeys respond to the sounds they make than they do about music or the evolution of music.
Dr Snowdon no longer has a monkey colony to use in his research, but he said his co-author David Teie is exploring the concept of music for cats.
"If we understand how we can affect their emotional states through using musical sound and aspects of our speech, maybe those of us living with companion animals can have a better relationship with them, too," Snowdon said.
【小题1】The research mentioned in the passage is mainly about ______.
| A．the change of music over time | B．animals’ response to music |
| C．special music for animals | D．the origin of music |
| A．looked anxious | B．became restless |
| C．felt at ease | D．made long calls |
| A．of Led Zeppelin | B．of Miles Davis |
| C．of Metallica | D．specially composed for them |
| A．build better ties between animals and humans |
| B．compare monkeys and cats in term of music |
| C．develop new music based on animals’ calls |
| D．find better ways to keep animals under control |
【小题1】B
【小题2】C
【小题3】D
【小题4】A
解析试题分析：文章介绍了一个实验的结果，猴子对重金属音乐更感兴趣，听到感兴趣的音乐，猴子们会安静下来，它们还对特别为它们制作的音乐更感兴趣，这个研究的目的是为了在人和动物之间建立更好的纽带。
【小题1】细节题：从第二段的句子：Scientists played a selection of music to a group of South American cotton-top monkeys but the only sound that got a reaction were from the heavy metal band Metallica. 可知研究人员让猴子听不同的音乐是想看它们的反应，选B
【小题2】细节题：从第二段的：but after the beautiful sound of Master of Puppets by Metallica was played the monkeys calmed down.和第三段的句子：Oddly, their only response to several samples of human music was a calming response to the heavy-metal band Metallica,"可知猴子听到自己喜欢的音乐就安静下来了，选C
【小题3】细节题：从第四段的句子：Dr Snowdon, who teamed up with National Symphony Orchestra musican David Teie, also played the monkeys music composed specifically for them. Although they enjoyed Metallica, they were much more interested in these pieces. 可知猴子对特别为他们作的音乐最感兴趣。选D。
【小题4】细节题：从最后一段的句子："If we understand how we can affect their emotional states through using musical sound and aspects of our speech, maybe those of us living with companion animals can have a better relationship with them, too," 可知根据Snowdon 教授所说，这个研究的目的是为了在人和动物之间建立更好的纽带，选A
考点：考查科普类短文
手拉手全优练考卷系列答案科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
A smart phone (智能手机) is a mobile phone built on a mobile operating system, with more advanced computing abilities than a common phone. The first smart phones enabled the users to send and receive emails. Later models added the function of portable media players, pocket video cameras, and GPS navigation (导航) units to form one multi-use device. Many modern smart phones also include touchscreens and web browsers (浏览器) that display web pages.
A recent report says we spend an average of two hours and 40 minutes each day looking at a smart phone. That doesn’t mean making calls, but playing phone games and browsing the Web.
Nowadays we always find people checking emails in a restaurant, taking a picture of the food when it arrives, or checking a message during a conversation instead of traditional communication. It’s no secret that our lives are being affected by our smart phones obsession.
However, this phenomenon has never been presented so vividly as in the short YouTube film I Forgot My Phone. Despite only being online for a few days, it's already been viewed more than 10.5 million times. Whether it will be screened in the cinema remains to be seen.
Ironically, YouTube’s data show that the site gets a billion views per day from mobile devices, so a lot of those people watched it on their phones.
The short film, written by and starring actress Charlene Deguzman, shows groups of people in various social situations, the majority of whom are absorbed in their phones instead of the world around them. To a certain extent, we all do it.
【小题1】People prefer a smart phone to a common one, because the latter only can help us ______.
| A．check emails | B．send messages | C．find the destination | D．watch a video |
| A．devotion | B．contribution | C．addiction | D．emotion |
| A．People spend as average of two hours and 40 minutes each day using smart phones. |
| B．The film hasn’t been put on in the cinema. |
| C．The film is written by an actor named Charlene Deguzman. |
| D．The film has already been viewed more than 105 million times in the first few days. |
| A．encouraged | B．depressed | C．proud | D．satisfied |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
The first flights of the new airlines that will take tourists into space are ready to take off in 2012, and getting a seat on one is not all that different from booking a trip someplace on Earth. You can sign up on the website of, say, Virgin Galactic，the most wellknown of the new space tourism companies, or go to an approved travel agency and put down a large deposit. Soon you will be able to buy travel insurance，just as you can for any other vacation.
Until now，space tourism has been limited to the ultrawealthy. Just seven people have paid tens of millions of dollars each for a trip to the International Space Station aboard a Russian rocket.
But that could change this year, when Virgin Galactic intends to start offering flights just beyond the space barrier on a rocket ship it has built, featuring five minutes of weightlessness during a twoandahalfhour tour. At $ 200,000 a seat, this will open the final frontier to far more people.
At least two other specialty airlines have jumped in as well, taking reservations and deposits for future space flights.Allianz, the big insurer, will introduce an insurance product in 2012, lending space tourism the trappings of the regular travel industry.
“Just to be able to sell space travel as a regular part of your business, really, just how cool is that？” said Lynda Turley Garrett, president of Alpine Travel of Saratoga, Calif.，who is one of 58 accredited space agents for Virgin Galactic in the United States.
In five years，Ms.Garrett has sold three seats. But she expects that to change once passengers start going up and coming down to tell their friends. “By 2017，it'll be just like scheduling a flight to L．A.，” Ms.Garrett predicted.
【小题1】If you want to book a flight to space in 2012, you can________.
| A．go to any travel agency |
| B．telephone Virgin Galactic |
| C．pay a visit to Allianz |
| D．sign up on the website of Virgin Galactic |
| A．only the extremely rich people can afford the space trip |
| B．seven people have paid tens of millions of dollars for a space trip |
| C．Russia is the first country to build the space station |
| D．ordinary people are not allowed to take space tour |
| A．It is one of the approved space agencies. |
| B．It is a famous space tourism company. |
| C．It sells insurance products to space tourists. |
| D．Its rocket has carried space passengers successfully. |
| A．Standard uniforms. |
| B．Traditional decorations. |
| C．Symbolic signs. |
| D．Personal belongings. |
| A．Common. | B．Changeable. |
| C．Flexible. | D．Reasonable. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination and physical, cognitive (认知的), and emotional strength. Play is important to healthy brain development. Play allows children to create and explore a world they can master, conquering their fears while practicing adult roles. Undirected play allows children to learn how to work in groups, to share, to negotiate, and to resolve conflicts.
Ideally, much of play involves adults, but when play is controlled by adults, children acquiesce (顺从) to adult rules and concerns and lose some of the benefits play offers them, particularly in developing creativity, leadership, and group skills. In contrast to passive entertainment, play builds active, healthy bodies. In fact, it has been suggested that encouraging unstructured play may be an exceptional way to increase physical activity levels in children, which is one important strategy in the resolution of the obesity problem.
Children’s development is critically influenced by appropriate, affective relationships with loving and consistent caregivers as they relate to children through play. When parents observe their children in play or join with them in child-driven play, they are given a unique opportunity to see the world from their children’s vantage point as the child navigates a world perfectly created just to fit his or her needs. The interactions that occur through play tell children that parents are fully paying attention to them and help to build enduring relationships. Parents who have the opportunity to look at their children’s world learn to communicate more effectively with their children and are given another setting to offer guidance. Less verbal children may be able to express their views, giving their parents an opportunity to gain a fuller understanding of their perspective. Quite simply, play offers parents a wonderful opportunity to engage fully with their children.
Play is essential to the academic environment. It ensures that the school setting attends to the social and emotional development of children as well as their cognitive development. It has been shown to help children adjust to the school setting and even to strengthen children’s learning willingness. Social-emotional learning is best integrated (融合) with academic learning; it is concerning if some of the forces that enhance children’s ability to learn are improved at the expense of others. Play and unscheduled time that allow for peer interactions are important components of social-emotional learning.
【小题1】Compared with undirected play, play which is controlled by adults ________.
| A．doesn’t benefit the children at all |
| B．doesn’t help develop leadership and group skills |
| C．makes children become more active |
| D．helps increase physical activity levels |
| A．play offers parents a good chance to establish good relationships with children |
| B．children’s development is greatly influenced by relationships with parents |
| C．play helps children better express their views |
| D．play offers parents a unique opportunity to see the world from a different perspective |
| A．play can’t help children become adapted to the school setting |
| B．play makes social-emotional learning and academic learning separated |
| C．play is beneficial to social-emotional learning as well as academic learning |
| D．it is necessary to strengthen children’s academic development at the expense of others |
| A．Undirected play can help children develop team spirit. |
| B．Play can improve children’s willingness to learn. |
| C．Play helps adults gain a better understanding of the children’s thoughts. |
| D．Adults shouldn’t be involved in children’s play. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
At the moment, there are two reliable ways to make electricity from sunlight. You can use a panel of solar cells to create the current directly, by liberating electrons from a semiconducting material such as silicon. Or you can concentrate the sun’s rays using mirrors, boil water with them, and employ the steam to drive a generator.
Both work. But both are expensive. Gang Chen of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Zhifeng Ren of Boston College therefore propose an alternative. They suggest that a phenomenon called the thermoelectric（热电）effect might be used instead—and they have built a prototype（原型）to show that the idea is practical.
Thermoelectric devices are not new. They are used, for example, to capture waste heat from car engines. They work because certain materials generate an electrical potential difference within themselves if one part is hotter than another. That can be used to drive a current through an external circuit.
The reason thermoelectric materials have not, in the past, been applied successfully to the question of solar power is that to get a worthwhile current you have to have a significant temperature difference. (200℃ is considered a good starting point.) In a car engine, that is easy. For sunlight, however, it means concentrating the heat in some way. And if you are going to the trouble of building mirrors to do that, you might as well go down the steam-generation route, which is a much more efficient way of producing electricity. If the heat concentration could be done without all the equipment of mirrors, though, thermoelectricity’s inefficiency would be balanced by the cheapness of the equipment.
In their view, three things are needed to create a workable solar-thermoelectric device. The first is to make sure that most of the sunlight which falls on it is absorbed, rather than being reflected. The second is to choose a thermoelectric material which conducts heat badly but electricity well. The third is to be certain that the temperature gradient（梯度）which that badly conducting material creates is not wasted by poor design.
【小题1】The following methods can be adopted to make electricity from sunlight EXCEPT .
| A．putting a panel of solar cells into use |
| B．concentrating sun’s rays with mirrors |
| C．creating a solar-thermoelectric device |
| D．building a practical solar prototype |
| A．Because it’s hard for them to build enough mirrors to make it work. |
| B．Because 200℃ was hard to reach at that time even in a car engine. |
| C．Because of the failure of having a significant temperature difference. |
| D．Because it was hard to focus the sun’s rays with equipment of mirrors. |
| A．Thermoelectric Device --- the Best Method of All |
| B．A New Method of Making Electricity from Sunlight |
| C．How to Create a Workable Thermoelectric Device |
| D．Solar Power --- a New Energy Trend in the Future |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
For some people, music is no fun at all. About four percent of the population is what scientists call “amusic.” People who are amusic are born without the ability to recognize or reproduce musical notes (音调). Amusic people often cannot tell the difference between two songs. Amusics can only hear the difference between two notes if they are very far apart on the musical scale.
As a result, songs sound like noise to an amusic. Many amusics compare the sound of music to pieces of metal hitting each other. Life can be hard for amusics. Their inability to enjoy music set them apart from others. It can be difficult for other people to identify with their condition. In fact, most people cannot begin to grasp what it feels like to be amusic. Just going to a restaurant or a shopping mall can be uncomfortable or even painful. That is why many amusics intentionally stay away from places where there is music. However, this can result in withdrawal and social isolation. “I used to hate parties,” says Margaret, a seventy-year-old woman who only recently discovered that she was amusic. By studying people like Margaret, scientists are finally learning how to identify this unusual condition.
Scientists say that the brains of amusics are different from the brains of people who can appreciate music. The difference is complex, and it doesn’t involve defective hearing. Amusics can understand other nonmusical sounds well. They also have no problems understanding ordinary speech. Scientists compare amusics to people who just can’t see certain colors.
Many amusics are happy when their condition is finally diagnosed. For years, Margaret felt embarrassed about her problem with music. Now she knows that she is not alone. There is a name for her condition. That makes it easier for her to explain. “When people invite me to a concert, I just say, ‘No thanks, I’m amusic,’” says Margaret. “I just wish I had learned to say that when I was seventeen and not seventy.”
【小题1】Which of the following is true of amusics?
| A．Listening to music is far from enjoyable for them. |
| B．They love places where they are likely to hear music. |
| C．They can easily tell two different songs apart. |
| D．Their situation is well understood by musicians. |
| A．dislikes listening to speeches | B．can hear anything nonmusical |
| C．has a hearing problem | D．lacks a complex hearing system |
| A．her problem with music had been diagnosed earlier |
| B．she were seventeen years old rather than seventy |
| C．her problem could be easily explained |
| D．she were able to meet other amusics |
| A．Amusics’ strange behaviours. |
| B．Some people’s inability to enjoy music. |
| C．Musical talent and brain structure. |
| D．Identification and treatment of amusics. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
阅读下面短文，从各题A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
Your brain isn’t a muscle, but you can treat it like one
Many people focus on physical fitness, but few know that brain fitness is also something you can work on. In fact, you can exercise your brain as often as you do to your arms or legs —and the results can be positive and empowering.
To improve your brain, you can’t simply repeat the same exercises over and over. Just as lifting a two—pound weight will stop challenging you, so will repetitive exercises such as crosswords or Sudoku. Once you master easy exercises, you must move on to harder ones in order to push your brain —like your muscles —to a new level. 
The science behind brain training
Scientists once believed that your mental abilities were fixed in adulthood. Since studies have shown just the opposite, millions of people around the world have adopted the new practice of brain training. The most popular of these brain training products is made by the San Francisco—based Lumosity. Lumosity's scientists with an experienced team of game designers have developed a fun，effective online brain training program that measures，tracks，and adapts to your progress，so you'll always be challenged.
Promising studies on the effects of brain training
In a 2013 Stanford study，a treatment group of 21 breast cancer survivors used 12 weeks of Lumosity training to work on processing speed，mental flexibility，and working memory tasks. On average，those who trained improved on tests of these abilities，compared to a group that did not train with Lumosity.
There is even some evidence suggesting that Lumosity may be beneficial to normal，healthy adults. In a 2011 study by Lumosity and San Francisco State University researchers. 13 people who trained over 5 weeks improved working memory scores by 10％and attention scores by 20％.
Brain training is designed to meet real-life needs
The design of brain training is targeted at real-life benefits instead of improving game scores. Better attention，for example，can mean greater focus in the classroom or at an important business meeting. With improved processing speed，you might react and adapt faster to the demands of a busy life. And a better memory could mean stronger，longer relationships with the people closest to you.
【小题1】We can learn from the passage that _________.
| A．brain training speeds up the recovery of breast cancer |
| B．your brain is like a muscle because it gives you power |
| C．people's mental abilities can't develop after they grow up |
| D．Lumosity can measure，track and suit your level as you improve |
| A．Better attention. | B．A better memory. |
| C．Better writing skills. | D．Higher processing speed. |
| A．People should care more about physical health instead of mental health. |
| B．Brain training has been proved effective through scientific researches. |
| C．A bad memory is the only reason for weak relationships with people. |
| D．Playing online games is the best way of brain training. |
| A．Brain Training Makes a Difference | B．Train Your Brain like a Muscle |
| C．Lumosity，Your Best Choice | D．How to Train Your Brain |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Having a child may improve a woman’s memory, a new study suggests.
In the study, women who were new mothers scored better on tests of visuospatial memory – the ability to understand and remember information about their surroundings—compared with women who didn’t have children.
The findings contradicts the old belief that women develop“baby brain" or a decline in memory and cognitive(认知的) function, after they have kids, said study researcher Melissa Santiago, a doctoral student at Carlos Albizu University in Miami. “You don’t have to feel that because you have kids, your memory isn’t the same," Santiago said.
The study was small, and the findings will have to be tested in larger groups of people, Santiago said.
Previous studies on the topic have had mixed results—some showed motherhood hurts cognition, and others showed the opposite. Studies on rats show those with pups have better memory than those without offspring.
Santiago analyzed information from 35 first-time mothers whose children were ages 10 to 24 months, and 35 women who had never been pregnant. Both groups scored similarly on intelligence tests. The average age of mothers was 29 and the average age of never-pregnant women was 27.
To test visuospatial memory, the women were shown a paper containing six symbols for 10 seconds, and then asked to draw what they remembered. This task was repeated several times. The first time women were shown the paper, both groups remembered about the same amount. But on the second and third pass, mothers performed better than those without children, indicating that the mothers collected more information each time than the other women.
Later, the women were shown a variety of different symbols, and asked to remember which ones were presented on the earlier task. Mothers did not make a mistake in this task—they remembered every symbol correctly—but those without children made one or two errors, Santiago said.
【小题1】 How did Santiago lead to the findings?
| A．By observation. | B．By comparison. |
| C．By analyzing intelligence tests. | D．By asking women questions. |
| A．The study received little attention. |
| B．The study has just started. |
| C．The study was carried out among a small group of people. |
| D．A small group of researchers were involved in the study. |
| A．Ways to test visuospatial memory. |
| B．Why having kids improves memory. |
| C．How young mothers are different from never-pregnant women. |
| D．The negative effects that worries of women without children have. |
| A．may cause a heated discussion among parents |
| B．may cause an increase in the birth rate |
| C．are tested by previous similar studies |
| D．are encouraging news for mothers |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
[1] As adolescents(青少年), having a meaningful effect on the world can seem like an impossible task for the simple fact of being kids. Changing the world does not only mean finding a cure for cancer, eliminating poverty, or finding the origin of humanity, but recycling a piece of paper as well. Going Green is a practical way that adolescents can have a real, meaningful influence in the world. There are numerous options of how individuals can change their lifestyles to be more eco-conscious(有生态环保意识的). What follows are three simple ways young adolescents can go green and change the world.
1. Recycle
[2] According to a Wire & Twine online article, 63 million newspapers come out every day and of those 44 million are thrown away; recycling the Sunday newspaper alone we could save half a million trees a week.
[3] The age of technology constantly creates new phones, iPods, or new computers. Many will stand in line for hours if not days to get their hands on the new piece of technology, but what happens with the old ones once they are replaced? Nothing, according to Earth911 about 75% of the old devices sit in the back of a drawer collecting dust. By taking them to the local stores that collect them, they go to poor people which in turn removes them from landfills(垃圾填埋场) where the phones explode because of the lead and lithium-ion(锂离子) the phones contain.
2. Go vegetarian one day a week
[4] Instead of breaking down the pros and cons(利弊) of the vegetarian lifestyle into a long boring paragraph, here are some astonishing facts on going vegetarian for only one day. According to Noam Mohr, a physicist at the New York University, the United States would save 100 billion gallons of water which is enough to supply all homes in New England for about 4 months.
[5] The United States would save 70 million gallons of gas which is enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined and still have some to spare. The United States could prevent 3 million tons of soil erosion(侵蚀), 4.5 million tons of animal wastes, and about 7 tons of ammonia emissions (氨排放). The Environmental Defense concludes with the most interesting fact: if the entire population gives up one meal of chicken, the amount of carbon dioxide accumulated would be the same amount if more than half a million cars were taken off U.S. roads.
3. 第6题
[6] Most drink bottled water because of the common view that bottled water is healthier than regular tap water; actually, 25% of bottled water comes from regular tap water and all that is done extra is it going through a filter(过滤器). Tap water has higher regulations from the FDA (Food and Drug Administration美国食品药品管理局) than bottled water does. Companies do not need to list where they got the water from, how they purify the water, or what chemicals their plastic water bottles contain. Plastic bottles do not get recycled 90% of the time which results in 1.5 million tons of plastic in landfills which take thousands of years to rot. Not only are you drinking the same water as that in your house but also paying extra. The average 24-pack of bottled water cost $3.97 at the local Wal-Mart and a reusable water bottle cost between $4.99-$7.99; just imagine how much money could be saved if reusable water bottles replaced plastic water bottles.
[7] Changing the world for a positive has to start somewhere and while it may be hard and at times it may seem as if the small changes that are being done are not affecting the world, keep in mind what Margaret Mead once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
【小题1】What’s the whole passage mainly talked about?
| A．Ways to protect environment. | B．Ways to become powerful. |
| C．The importance of recycling. | D．The importance of saving water. |
| A．Changing the world involves many questions. |
| B．It’s not easy to change the world. |
| C．Changing the world is not so difficult. |
| D．We can actually do everything. |
| A．About 44%. | B．About 63%. | C．About 70%. | D．About 75%. |
| A．does a lot of reasoning | B．uses many facts |
| C．borrows VIPs’ phrases | D．puts forward new ideas |
| A．Much water and gas would be saved. | B．Much land would be spared. |
| C．More animals would survive. | D．More cars would be on the roads. |
| A．Drink healthy water | B．Produce bottled water |
| C．Give up bottled water | D．Reuse tap water |
| A．They think it’s cheaper. |
| B．They think it’s healthier. |
| C．They think it’s more fashionable. |
| D．They think it’s environmental friendly. |
| A．We should find a proper time to start action |
| B．Small changes will make big differences. |
| C．Personal efforts will not affect the world. |
| D．A small group of people matters. |
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