We can achieve knowledge either actively or passively（被动地）. We achieve it actively by direct experience, by testing and proving an idea, or by reasoning.
We achieve knowledge passively by being told by someone else. Most of the learning that takes place in the classroom and the kind that happens when we watch TV or read newspapers or magazines is passive. Conditioned as we are to passive learning, it’s not surprising that we depend on it in our everyday communication with friends and co-workers·
Unfortunately, passive learning has a serious problem. It makes us tend to accept what we are told even when it is little more than hearsay and rumor（谣言）.
Did you ever play the game Rumor? It begins when one person writes down a message but doesn’t show it to anyone. Then the person whispers it, word for word, to another person. That person, in turn, whispers it to still another, and so on, through all the people playing the game. The last person writes down the message word for word as he or she hears it. Then the two written statements are compared Typically, the original message has changed.
That’s what happens in daily life. The simple fact that people repeat a story in their own words changes the story. Then, too, most people listen imperfectly. And many enjoy adding their own creative touch to a story, trying to improve on it, stamping（打上标记）it with their own personal style. Yet those who hear it think they know.   
This process is also found among scholars and authors：A statement of opinion by one writer may be re-stated as fact by another, who may in turn be quoted（引用）by yet another; and this process may continue, unless it occurs to someone to question the facts on which the original writer based his opinion or to challenge the interpretation he placed upon those facts.
【小题1】According to the passage, passive learning may occur in______________.

We all know that everyone becomes a little more forgetful as they get older, but men’s minds decline more than women’s, according to the results of a worldwide survey.
General differences seem to be natural in male and female brains: Men are better at maintaining and dealing with mental images (useful in mathematical reasoning and spatial skills), while women tend to excel be good at recalling information from their brain’s files. Many studies have looked for a connection between sex and the amount of mental decline people experience as they age, but the results have been mixed.
Some studies found more age-related decline in men than in women, while others saw the opposite or even no relationship at all between sex and mental decline.
Those results could be improper because the studies involved older people, and women live longer than men: The men tested are the survivors, “so they’re the ones that may not have shown such cognitive(认知的) decline,” said study team leader Elizabeth of the University of Warwick in England.
Scientists surveyed completed four tasks that tested sex-related cognitive skills: matching an object to its rotated form, matching lines shown from the same angle, typing as many words in a particular category as possible in the given time, e.g. “object usually colored gray”, and recalling the location of objects in a line drawing. The first two were tasks at which men are usually good; the latter are typically dominated by women. Within each age group studied, men and women performed better in their separate categories on average. And though performance declined with age for both genders, women showed obviously less decline than men overall

1. 1.

   According to the passage, which of the following can NOT be typed into the same category?

   1. A.
      cloud
   2. B.
      sheep
   3. C.
      trees
   4. D.
      goose
2. 2.

   Which of the following statements is true according the article? _______

   1. A.
      Men do better than women when it comes to learning English
   2. B.
      Women stand out at remembering people’s names
   3. C.
      Women do well in dealing mathematic problems
   4. D.
      Men excel at typing as many words as possible in the given time
3. 3.

   One important factor that affects the correctness of the results is that ________

   1. A.
      women live longer than men
   2. B.
      people surveyed are all old
   3. C.
      the old men tested may not have shown such cognitive decline
   4. D.
      people taking part in this test came from all over the world
4. 4.

   The author aims to tell us that _________

   1. A.
      women’s minds perform better than men’s
   2. B.
      men’s minds decline more with age
   3. C.
      everyone becomes a little more forgetful as they get older
   4. D.
      a survey on human’s mind decline was done recently

We can achieve knowledge either actively or passively（被动地）. We achieve it actively by direct experience, by testing and proving an idea, or by reasoning.

    We achieve knowledge passively by being told by someone else. Most of the learning that takes place in the classroom and the kind that happens when we watch TV or read newspapers or magazines is passive. Conditioned as we are to passive learning, it’s not surprising that we depend on it in our everyday communication with friends and co-workers. Unfortunately, passive learning has a serious problem. It makes us tend to accept what we are told even when it is little more than hearsay and rumor（谣言）.

    Did you ever play the game Rumor? It begins when one person writes down a message but doesn’t show it to anyone. Then the person whispers it, word for word, to another person. That person, in turn, whispers it to still another, and so on, through all the people playing the game. The last person writes down the message word for word as he or she hears it. Then the two written statements are compared. Typically, the original message has changed.

    That’s what happens in daily life. The simple fact that people repeat a story in their own words changes the story. Then, too, most people listen imperfectly. And many enjoy adding their own creative touch to a story, trying to improve on it, stamping（打上标记）it with their own personal style. Yet those who hear it think they know.

    This process is also found among scholars and authors: A statement of opinion by one writer may be re-stated as fact by another, who may in turn be quoted by yet another; and this process may continue, unless it occurs to someone to question the facts on which the original writer based his opinion or to challenge the interpretation he placed upon those facts.

1. According to the passage, passive learning may occur in _______.

   A. doing a medical experiment          B. visiting an exhibition

   C. solving a math problem             D. doing scientific reasoning

2. The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refers to _____.

   A. active learning   B. knowledge      C. passive learning      D. communication 

3. The author mentions the game Rumor to show that _____.

   A. a message may be changed when being passed on

   B. a message should be delivered in different ways

   C. people may have problems with their sense of hearing

   D. people tend not to believe in what they know as rumor

4. What can we infer from the passage?

   A. Active learning is less important.

   B. Active learning occurs more frequently.

   C. Passive learning may not be reliable.

   D. Passive learning is not found among scholars.

We can see how the product life cycle works by looking at the introduction of instant coffee. When it was introduced，most people did not like it as well as “regular” coffee and it took several years to gain general acceptance (introduction stage)．At one point，though，instant coffee grew rapidly in popularity and many brands were introduced (stage of rapid growth)．After a while people became attached to one brand, sales leveled off (stage of maturity)．Sales went into a slight decline (衰退) when freeze-dried coffees were introduced (stage of decline)．

The importance of the product life cycle to marketers is this：Different stages in the product life cycle call for different strategies. The goal is to extend product life so that sales and profits do not decline. One strategy is called market modification. It means that marketing managers look for new users and market sections. Did you know，for example，that the backpacks that so many students carry today were originally designed for the military?

Market modification also means searching for increased usage among present customers or going for a different market，such as senior citizens. A marketer may re-position the product to appeal to new market sections.

Another product extension strategy is called product modification. It involves changing product quality，features，or styles to attract new users or more usage from present users. American auto manufacturers are using quality improvement as one way to recapture (夺回)world markets. Note，also，how auto manufacturers once changed styles dramatically from year to year to keep demand from falling.

56. According to the passage，when people grow fond of one particular brand of a product，its sales will_______ .

A. decrease gradually                                 B．become unstable

C. improve enormously                       D．remain at the same level

57. The first paragraph tells us that a new product is_______ .

A．usually introduced to satisfy different tastes

B．often more expensive than old ones

C．often inferior to old ones at first

D．not easily accepted by the public

58. Marketers need to know which of the four stages a product is in so as to______.

A．work out marketing policies

B．promote its production

C．increase its popularity

D．speed up its life cycle

59. The author mentions the example of “backpacks” to show the importance of_______ .

A．increasing usage among students

B．pleasing the young as well as the old

C．exploring new market sections

D．serving both military and civil needs

60. In order to recover their share of the world market，US auto makers are_______ .

A．improving product quality

B．re-positioning their product in the market

C．modernizing product styles

D．increasing product features

We can see how the product life cycle works by looking at the introduction of instant coffee. When it was introduced, most people did not like it as much as "regular" coffee and it took several years to gain general acceptance (introduction stage). At one point, though, instant coffee grew rapidly in popularity and many brands were introduced (stage of rapid growth). After a while people became attached to one brand and sales leveled off (stage of maturity). Sales went into a slight decline when freeze-dried coffees were introduced (stage of decline).
　　The importance of the product life cycle to marketers is this: different stages in the product life cycle call for different strategies. The goal is to extend product life so that sales and profits do not decline. One strategy is called market modification. It means that marketing managers look for new users and market sections. Do you know, for example, that the backpacks that so many students carry today were originally designed for the military?
　　Market modification also means searching for increased usage among present customers or going for a different market, such as senior citizens. A marketer may re-position the product to appeal to new market sections.
　　Another product extension strategy is called product modification. It involves changing product quality, features, or style to attract new users or more usage from present users. American auto manufacturers are using quality improvement as one way to recapture（夺回） world markets. Note, also, how auto manufacturers once changed styles dramatically from year to year to keep demand from falling.
46. According to the passage, when people grow accustomed to one particular brand of a product, its            sales will ______.                       
A. decrease gradually                                 B. become unstable
C. improve enormously                            D. remain at the same level
47. The first paragraph tells us that a new product is _____ .
　A. usually introduced to satisfy different tastes
　B. often more expensive than old ones
　C. often inferior to old ones at first
　D. not easily accepted by the public
48. Marketers need to know which of the four stages a product is in so as to _____ .
　A. work out marketing policies                   B. promote its production
　 C. increase its popularity                                      D. speed up its life cycle
49. The author mentions the example of "backpacks"(Line 4, Para.2 ) to show the importance of             _______ .
　 A. increasing usage among students       B. pleasing the young as well as the old
　 C. exploring new market sections             D. serving both military and civil needs
50. In order to recover their share of the world market, U.S. auto makers are _______ .
　 A. improving product feature                     B. making their products better
C. modernizing product style                    D. increasing product quantity