Stephen Hawking was born in Oxford, England, on January 8, 1942. At the age of 17, he entered University College, Oxford. He wanted to study mathematics, but took up the study of physics when math was unavailable. He received a Ph.D. in physics despite being diagnosed (诊断) with Ameliotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (肌萎缩性脊髓侧索硬化症) while at Oxford in 1963. In 1985 he became ill with pneumonia (肺炎), and since then has required 24-hour nursing. Dr. Hawking’s determination, along with the help of his family and associates, has allowed him to continue to work. In 1970 he began studying black holes. His research led him to predict that black holes send out radiation in the X-ray to gamma-ray(伽马射线) range of the spectrum (光谱). In the 1980s he returned to an earlier interest, the origins of the universe. He has co-authored many publications, such as 300 Years of Gravity and The Large Scale Structure of Space time. Dr. Hawking has also written books such as A Brief History of Time, Black Holes and Baby Universes and other Essays, The Universe in a Nutshell and others. He continues to give lectures, despite having been unable to speak since 1985, with the aid of a speech synthesizer (合成器) and a portable computer. He currently holds Isaac Newton’s chair as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University in England.
【小题1】Hawking went to University College, Oxford, in order to _____.
A. get a Ph.D. in physics
B. study mathematics
C. study the universe and black holes
D. seek help from the Lucasian Professor
【小题2】Before Hawking started researching black holes, _____.

Stephen Hawking was born in Oxford, England, on January 8, 1942. At the age of 17, he entered University College, Oxford. He wanted to study mathematics, but took up the study of physics when math was unavailable. He received a Ph.D. in physics despite being diagnosed (诊断) with Ameliotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (肌萎缩性脊髓侧索硬化症) while at Oxford in 1963. In 1985 he became ill with pneumonia (肺炎), and since then has required 24-hour nursing. Dr. Hawking’s determination, along with the help of his family and associates, has allowed him to continue to work. In 1970 he began studying black holes. His research led him to predict that black holes send out radiation in the X-ray to gamma-ray(伽马射线) range of the spectrum (光谱). In the 1980s he returned to an earlier interest, the origins of the universe. He has co-authored many publications, such as 300 Years of Gravity and The Large Scale Structure of Space time. Dr. Hawking has also written books such as A Brief History of Time, Black Holes and Baby Universes and other Essays, The Universe in a Nutshell and others. He continues to give lectures, despite having been unable to speak since 1985, with the aid of a speech synthesizer (合成器) and a portable computer. He currently holds Isaac Newton’s chair as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University in England.

1.Hawking went to University College, Oxford, in order to _____.

A. get a Ph.D. in physics

B. study mathematics

C. study the universe and black holes

D. seek help from the Lucasian Professor

2.Before Hawking started researching black holes, _____.

3.Which of the following books was NOT written by Dr. Hawking alone?

4.When did Hawking enter University College, Oxford?

Plants may not have eyes and ears，but they can recognize their siblings (兄弟姐妹)，and researchers at the University of Delaware have discovered how.The ID system lies in the roots and the chemical signals they secrete (分泌)．

Canadian researchers published that sea rocket，a common seashore plant，can recognize its siblings.Susan Dudley observed that when siblings are grown next to each other in the soil，they “play nice” and don’t send out more roots to compete.However，the moment one of the plants is thrown in with strangers，it begins competing with them by rapidly growing more roots to take up the water and mineral nutrients in the soil.

After reading Dudley’s study，Bais decided to find the method behind the sibling recognition.Working in his laboratory，Bais and his doctoral student Meredith Biedrzycki set up a study with wild populations of Arabidopsis thaliana.In a series of experiments，young seedlings were exposed to liquid media containing the root secretions from siblings，from strangers，or only their own secretions.The length of the longest lateral (侧面的) root was measured.The exposure of plants to the root secretions of strangers induced (引诱) greater lateral root formation than exposure of plants to sibling secretions.Strangers planted next to each other are often shorter，because so much of their energy is directed at root growth.Because siblings aren’t competing against each other，their roots are often much shallower (浅的)．

Biedrzycki did the painstaking laboratory research，observing more than 3,000 plants involved in the study every day for seven continuous days and documenting the root patterns.“Arabidopsis roots are nearly translucent (半透明的) when they are young and were also twisted when I removed them from plates，”Biedrzycki notes.“This manuscript (手稿) is very important for my research since the focus of my thesis project is understanding the biochemical ways behind root secretions.”

The research also may have implications for the home gardener.“Often we’ll put plants in the ground next to each other and when they don’t do well，we blame the local garden center where we bought them or we attribute their failure to a germ，”Bais says.“But maybe there’s more to it than that.”

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

A．A Great Biology Researcher

B．Plants Recognize Their Siblings

C．Plants’ Roots and Secretions

D．A Research on Plants

2. What encouraged Bais to study the sibling recognition?

A．Sea rocket.

B．Plants’ sensing system.

C．Biedrzycki’s thesis project.

D．Dudley’s study.

3. What does the underlined word “painstaking” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．Important.? B．Adventurous.

C．Careful.? D．Hard?working.

4.What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．The local garden center should be blamed when plants can’t grow well.

B．The local garden center often sells low quality seeds to customers.

C．Plants in the home garden can’t grow well because of the germ and seeds.

D．Competing against strangers，plants in the home garden can’t grow well.

Many years ago in a small German town, a Jewish businessman had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to the moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the businessman’s beautiful daughter. So he proposed a bargain.

The moneylender told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty bag. The girl would then have to pick one pebble from the bag. If she picked the black pebble, she would become the moneylender’s wife and he would forgo her father’s debt. If she picked the white pebble, she need not marry him and her father’s debt would still be forgiven. But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail.

They were standing on a pebble-strewn path. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. The sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick a pebble from the bag. No doubt she was caught in a dilemma.

What would you have done if you were the girl? Careful analysis would produce three possibilities:

1.The girl should refuse to take a pebble.

2.The girl should know that there were two black pebbles in the bag and expose the money-lender as a cheat.

3.The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from his debt and imprisonment.

The above story is used with the hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral (横向的)and logical thinking.

Read on…

The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles. “Oh, how clumsy of me!” she said. “But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.” Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had picked the white one. And since the moneylender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one.

1.The underlined word “forgo” in paragraph 2 may mean ________.

A. pay off                              B. run out                             C. take over                                 D. give up

2.Which of the following indicates lateral thinking?

A. The girl refused to take a pebble and fled at once.

B. The girl exposed the cheat and found another way.

C. The girl picked one pebbles and made it disappear.

D. The girl picked a black pebble and accepted the result.

3.It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A. The girl dropped the pebble onto the path on purpose

B. The girl dropped the pebble onto the path by accident

C. The girl didn’t know there were two black pebbles in the bag                 

D. The girl replaced a black pebble in the bag

4.What lesson can we learn from the story?

A. Keeping calm when facing a difficult situation.

B. Thinking about a complicated problem in another way.

C. Thinking twice before making a final choice.

D. Coming up with a clever answer is easy.

Lateral thinking（迂回思维），first described by Edward de Bono in 1967，is just a few years older than Edward’s son．You might imagine that Caspar was raised to be an adventurous thinker，but the de Bono was so famous，Casspar’s parents worried that any time he would say something bright at school，his teachers might ask，“Where do you get that idea from？”

“We had to be careful and not overdo it．”Edward admits．Now Caspar is at Oxford-which once looked unlikely because he is also slightly dyslexic（诵读困难）．In fact，when he was applying to Oxford，none of his school teachers thought he had a chance．“So then we did several thinking sessions,”his father says，“using my techniques and，when he went up for the exam，he did extremely well．”Soon after，Edward de Bone decided to write his latest book，“Teach Your Child How to Think”，in which he transforms the thinking skills he developed for brain-storming businessmen into informal exercises for parents and children to share．

Thinking is traditionally regarded as something executed in a logical sequence，and everybody knows that children aren’t very logical．So isn’t it an uphill battle，trying to teach them to think？“You know，”Edward de Bono says，“if you examine people’s thinking，it is quite unusual to find faults of logic．But the faults of perception are huge！Often we think ineffectively because we take too limited a view．”

“Teach Your Child How to Think”offers lessons in perception improvement，of clearly seeing the implications of something you are saying and of exploring the alternatives．

60．What is TRUE about Caspar？

A．He is Edward’s son．    B．He is an adventurous thinker．

C．He first described lateral thinking．      D．He is often scolded by his teacher．

61．It can be inferred from paragraph 2 that Edward        .

       A．was likely to improve children’s logic with his book

       B．gave a description of lateral thinking several years after his son was born

       C．was prompted to study lateral thinking because his son was slightly dyslexic

       D．once taught businessmen how to think before he wrote for parents and chikdren

62．According to Paragraph 3，which of the following statements expresses Edward de Bone’s view？

       A．Everybody knows that children aren’t very logical．

       B．It is an uphill battle trying to teach children to think．

       C．We often think ineffectively because we take too limited a view．

       D．Thinking is traditionally regarded as something executed in a logical sequence．

63．Lateral thinking refers to the following EXCEPT         ．

       A．improving one’s logic in thinking

       B．improving one’s perception in thinking

       C．seeing the implications of what you are saying

       D．exploring the alternatives for what you are saying