四．阅读理解：
A
Professor Reason recently persuaded 35 people to keep a diary of all their absent-minded actions for two weeks. When he came to analyze(分析) their embarrassing errors , he was surprised to find that nearly all of them fell into a few groups .
One of the women, for instance, on leaving her house for work one morning threw her pet dog her ear-rings and tried to fix a dog biscuit on her ear. “ The explanation for this is that the brain is like a computer, ” explains the professor, “ People programme themselves to do certain activities regularly. It was the woman’s custom every morning to throw her dog two biscuits and then put on her ear-rings. But somehow the action got reversed(颠倒) in the programme .” About one in twenty of the incidents the volunteers reported were these “ programme assembly failures.”
Twenty per cent of all errors were “ test failures ”—primarily due to not verifying the progress of what the body was doing . A man about to get his car out of the garage passed through the back yard where his garden jacket and boots were kept , put them on —much to his surprise . A woman victim reported : “ I got into the bath with my socks on .”
The commonest problem was information “ storage failures”. People forgot the names of people whose faces they knew, went into a room and forgot why they were there, mislaid something, or smoked a cigarette without realizing it.
The research so far suggests that while the “ central processor” of the brain is liberated from second-to-second control of a well-practiced routine, it must repeatedly switch back its attention at important decision points to check that the action goes on as intended. Otherwise the activity may be “ captured ” by another frequently and recently used programme, resulting in embarrassing errors.
1. The purpose of Professor Reason’s research is     .
A. to show the difference between men and women in their reasoning
B. to classify and explain some errors in human actions
C. to find the causes which lead to computer failures
D. to compare computer functions with brain workings .
2. Which of the following might be grouped under “ programme assembly failures ”?
A. A woman went into a shop and forgot what to buy.
B. A man returning home after work left his key in the lock.
C. A lady fell as she was concentrating on each step her feet were taking.
D. An old man, with his shoes on, was trying to put on his socks.
3. The word “ verifying ” in paragraph 3 can be replaced by      .
A. improving    B. changing   C. checking  D. stopping
4. According to the passage, the information “ storage failures ” refer to     .
A. the destruction of information collecting system
B. the elimination of one’s total memory
C. the temporary loss of part of one’s memory
D. the separation of one’s action from consciousness

I had the meanest mother in the world. While other kids ate candy for breakfast, I had to have cereal (谷类食物), eggs or toast. While others had Cokes and candy for lunch, I had to eat a sandwich. As you can guess, my supper was different from other kids' too. But at least I wasn't alone in my sufferings. My sister and two brothers had the same mean mother as I did.

My mother insisted upon knowing where we were at all times. She had to know who our friends were and where we were going. She insisted if we said we'd be gone an hour, then we be gone one hour or less—not one hour and one minute. And she always insisted upon us telling the truth. Now you can see how mean she was.

The worst is yet to come. We had to be in bed by nine each night and up at eight the next morning. We had to wash dishes, make beds, and learn to cook. We had to wear clean clothes and take a bath, while the other kids always wore their clothes for days. I believe she laid awake at night thinking up mean things to do to us.

Through the years, things didn't improve a bit. We could not lie in bed, “sick” like our friends did, and miss school. Our marks in school had to be up to par(达到正常水平). Our friends' report cards had beautiful colors on them, black for passing, red for failing. My mother, being as different as she was, would settle for nothing less than ugly black marks.

As the years rolled by, we were one by one put to shame. We were graduated from high school. With our mother behind us, talking, hitting and demanding respect, none of us was allowed the pleasure of being a dropout.

My mother was a complete failure as a mother. Out of four children, a couple of us attained some higher education. And whom do we have to blame for the terrible way we turned out? You're right, our mean mother. She forced us to grow up into educated and honest adults.

Now I am trying to raise my three children. I am filled with pride when my children think I am mean because, you see, I had the meanest mother in the world.

1.What does the sentence “But at least I wasn't alone in my sufferings.” mean?

A．The author's mother was only mean to her.

B．The author's mother suffered her.

C．The author's mother was mean to her sister, brothers and her.

D．The author wasn't alone because of suffering.

2.Why was the author's mother mean to her children?

A．Because she wanted her children to be top students in school.

B．Because she wanted her children to bring home colored report cards like her friends did.

C．Because she wanted her children to drop out.

D．Because she wanted her children to do their best at school and be educated and respected citizens.

3.Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Some of the children weren't able to go to college because of their mean mother.

B．Mother didn't let the author tell lies.

C．Mother asked the author to wear clean clothes.

D．The author could not miss school even if she was ill.

4.The passage was written in a way of _______ tone?

A．humorous         B．hateful            C．ridiculous         D．critical

Pairs, Jan. 11--- An armored (武装) car robbery last night ended in a wild gunbattle that two men dead and a hostage (人质) seriously wounded.

The drama (刺激的事件) began when an armored car carrying the contents of safety（储备）boxes to a bank was struck by a large truck, police said.

The bank guards were helpless when the robbers jumped out of the truck and tied them. The robbers used heavy tools and explosives (爆炸品) to break the armored car.

A passing police car turned to look into the accident as the men were removing the contents of the armored car. Police said the three robbers fled on foot across a nearby highway.

Stopping a private car driven by a teenaged girl, the three escaped for central Pairs with the police car in hot pursuit（追捕）.

A plain clothes policeman saw the car as it drove through the street of Lat in Quarter. The policeman tried to stop the car, but the thieves started shooting at him, witness (目击者) said.

The girl hostage tried to slip away. Just as she was crawling (爬出) away from the car, she was hit by a bullet. Police said she was out of danger at Central Hospital.

The gunmen gave up the car and got into a shop, pouring fire on more than 50 policemen that surrounded the building. After a wild gunbattle, police broke into the room. They only found two of the gunmen, both seriously wounded. The third thief was believed to have escaped with over $1.3 million in cash and jewellery.

1.The passage is about _____.

2.The robbers came       and they _____.

3.The three robbers escaped on foot across a nearby highway because_____.

4.A plain clothes policeman is ______.

5.After a wild gunbattle, ______.

The “Bystander Apathy Effect” was first studied by researchers in New York after neighbors ignored—and in some cases turned up the volume on their TVs—the cries of a woman as she was murdered (over a half-hour period). With regard to helping those in difficulty generally, they found that:

(1) women are helped more than men;

(2) men help more than women;

(3) attractive women are helped more than unattractive women.

    Other factors relate to the number of people in the area, whether the person is thought to be in trouble through their own fault, and whether a person sees himself as being able to help.

    According to Adrian Furnham, Professor of University College, London, there are three reasons why we tend to stand by doing nothing:

(1) “Shifting of responsibility”－the more people there are, the less likely help is to be given. Each person excuses himself by thinking someone else will help, so that the more “other people’ there are, the greater the total shifting of responsibility.

(2) “'Fear of making a mistake'’－situations are often not clear. People think that those involved in an accident may know each other or it may be a joke, so a fear of embarrassment makes them keep themselves to themselves.

(3) “Fear of the consequences if attention is turned on you, and the person is violent.”

    Laurie Taylor, Professor of Sociology at London University, says: “In the experiments I’ve seen on intervention (介入), much depends on the neighborhood or setting. There is a silence on public transport which is hard to break. We are embarrassed to draw attention to something that is happening, while in a football match, people get involved, and a fight would easily follow. ”

    Psychotherapist Alan Dupuy identifies the importance of the individual: “The British as a whole have some difficulty intervening, but there are exceptional individuals in every group who are prepared to intervene, regardless of their own safety: These would be people with a strong moral code or religious ideals.”

Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

A. Pretty women are more likely to be helped.  

B. People on a bus are more likely to stop a crime.

C. Religious people are more likely to look on.  

D. Criminals are more likely to harm women.

Which factor is NOT related with intervention according to the passage?

A. Sex.              B. Nationality.                  C. Profession.                  D. Setting.

Which phenomenon can be described as the “Bystander Apathy Effect”?

A. When one is in trouble, people think it’s his own fault.

B. In a football match, people get involved in a fight.

C. Seeing a murder, people feel sorry that it should have happened.

D. On hearing a cry for help, people keep themselves to themselves.

The author wrote this article ______.

A. to explain why bystanders behave as they do  

B. to urge people to stand out when in need

C. to criticize the selfishness of bystanders  

D. to analyze the weakness of human nature

We have all experienced days when everything goes wrong．A day may begin well enough，but suddenly everything seems to get out of control．It seems as if a single unimportant event may cause a number of things to happen．Let us suppose that you are preparing a meal and keeping an eye on the baby at the same time．The telephone rings and this means your troubles are beginning．While you are on the phone，the baby pulls the table-cloth off the table，destroying your half-prepared meal．You hang up hurriedly and attend to your baby．Meanwhile，the meal gets burnt．As if this were not enough to bring you to tears，your husband arrives,unexpectedly bringing three guests to dinner．

Things can go wrong on a number of people on the road. During the rush hour one evening two cars hit each other and both drivers began to argue．The woman driver behind the two cars happened to be a learner．She suddenly got into a panic(恐慌)and stopped her car．This made the driver following her stop suddenly．His wife was sitting beside him holding a large cake．As she was thrown forward，the cake went right through the window and landed on the road．Seeing a cake flying through the air，a truck-driver had to stop his truck all of a sudden．The truck was carrying empty beer bottles and hundreds of them slid off the back of the truck on the road．This led to yet another angry argument．Meanwhile，the traffic piled up behind．It took the police nearly an hour to get the traffic on the move again．In the meanwhile，the truck-driver had to sweep up hundreds of broken bottles.Only two dogs were enjoying themselves from the accident，for they were happily having what was left of the cake．It was just one of those days!

1.In the writer’s opinion         .

2.What did the police do after the accident?

3.When the telephone rings        .

4.From the story we can see_________．