Some of the world’s most famous persons had suffered from a similar disability, such as Albert Einstein, the mathematician; Thomas Edison, the inventor; Auguste Rodin, the artist. What disabled these three famous men? Strange as it may seem, they all suffered from learning disabilities. They had great difficulty learning to read, write or use numbers. Almost always, there is a problem with one of the mental processes needed to understand or use written signs or spoken language. Yet he or she is unable to recognize difference in sizes, shapes or sounds that are easy for others to recognize. Learning disabilities are very common. They affect perhaps 10 percent of all children. Four times as many boys as girls have learning disabilities.

Since about 1970, new research has helped brain scientists understand these problems better. Scientists now know there are many different kinds of learning disabilities and that they are caused by many different things. There is no longer any question that all learning disabilities result from differences in the way the brain is organized.

You can not look at a child and tell if he or she has a learning disability. There is no outward （外部的） signs of disorder （混乱）. So some researchers began looking at the brain itself to learn what might be wrong. In one study, researchers examined the brain of a learning-disabled person who had died in an accident. They found two unusual things. One involved cells in the left side of the brain, which control language. These cells normally are white. In the learning-disabled person’s brain, however, these cells were gray . The researchers also found that many of the nerve cells were not in a line the way they should have been. The nerve cells were mixed together.

60. How can we learn whether a person has suffered from a learning disability or not?

A. By judging whether she or he sees or hears perfectly well.

B. By checking whether he or she is of normal or great intelligence.

C. By judging whether he or she is the world’s most famous person or not.

D. By judging whether he or she has any difficulty in recognizing the difference in sizes, shapes or sounds.

61. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. Among the children suffering from learning disabilities, girls are fewer than boys.

B. It is reported that many more girls have learning disabilities than boys.

C. All the world’s most famous persons have the chance to get the similar disorder. 

D. All the world’s most famous persons have suffered from learning disabilities.

62. Why did researchers examine the brain of a learning-disabled person who had died in an accident?

A. To try to look at the brain itself to find out the cause of learning disabilities.

B. To see if the person had any outward signs of disorder.

C. To check if the person is of normal or great intelligence.

D. To find out if the person suffered from a learning disability.

63. If someone has a learning disability, _______.

A. his or her nerve cells are in a line

B. he or she is able to recognize difference in sizes, shapes or sounds

C. he or she has no difficulty in learning to read, write or use numbers

D. his or her nerve cells in the left side of the brain are gray and are not in a line

 

Most of the flowers in nature are red, orange and yellow. If we have seen a black flower, it’s a chance in million. People have made a census ( 普查 ) to colors of more than four thousand kinds of flowers and discovered that only eight of them are black. As we know, sunlight is formed by seven different colored lights. The wave length of each light is different, so the quantity of heat in each light is also different. Flowers, especially their petals ( 花瓣 ) , are easy to be harmed by high temperature. Black flowers can take in all the light waves which cause the flowers to dry up in a high temperature. So black flowers can rarely survive sunlight. But red flowers, orange flowers and yellow flowers can protect themselves from sunlight by reflecting the red light, orange light and yellow light, each of which has a large quantity of heat.

1.It is _________ to see a black flower.

A．impossible

B．seldom

C．common

D．no chance

2.The passage tells us that ________________.

A．black flowers are so weak that it is difficult for them to grow up.

B．there is only eight black flowers in nature.

C．sunlight is formed by seven different colored lights, so the wave length of each light is different.

D．black flowers can take in the light of all the wave lengths which make them dry up because of high temperature.

3.Which of the following ideas is NOT true?

A．People have found that only a few kinds of flowers are black.

B．Flowers are easy to be harmed by very high temperature.

C．Red, orange and yellow flowers can also absorb the light of all wave lengths.

D．The black flowers cannot protect themselves from sunlight.

 

When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Dr. Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. He never yelled at us for playing in his yard. I remember him as someone who was a lot nicer than most of the adults in our community.

When Dr. Gibbs wasn’t saving lives, he was planting trees. His house sat on ten acres, and his life’s goal was to make it a forest.

The good doctor had some interesting theories concerning plant care and growth. He never watered his new trees, which flew in the face of conventional wisdom. Once I asked why. He said that watering plants spoiled them so that each successive tree generation would grow weaker and weaker. So you have to make things rough for them and weed out(淘汰) the weaker trees early on. He talked about how watering trees made for shallow roots, and how trees that weren’t watered had to grow deep roots in search of moisture. I took him to mean that deep roots were to be treasured.

So he never watered his trees. He planted an oak and, instead of watering it every morning, he beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. Smack! Slap! Pow! I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree’s attention.

Dr. Gibbs passed away a couple of years after I left home. Every now and again, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I’d watched him plant some twenty-five years ago. They’re extremely tall, big and robust since they have deep roots now. However, the trees in my garden trembled in a cold wind although I had watered them for several years.

It seems that adversity(逆境) and suffering benefit these trees in ways comfort and ease never could. I stood there deep in thought.

Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I stand over them and watch their little bodies, the rising and falling of life within. I often pray for them. Mostly I pray that their lives will be easy. But I think that it’s time to change my prayer(祷词) because now I know my children are going to encounter hardship.

According to Dr. Gibbs’ theories, trees will become weaker if they _________.

A. are lack of care　　　　　B. are watered      C. are weeded out　　　　　D. are beaten

According to Para.3 and Para.4, we can infer that Dr. Gibbs’ motto(座右铭) may be       .

A. “Seeing is believing”                                    B. “Put everything in proper use”

C. “Practice makes perfect”                               D. “No pain, no gain”

The underlined word robust in Para.5 most probably means _________.

A. strong　　                      B. strange　　       C. deep　　                        D. old

Which of the following may be the author’s best prayer for his two sons now?

A. I wish them strong wings, with which they can fly higher and touch the sky.

B. I wish them nice fortune so that they can meet people like Dr. Gibbs in the future.

C. I wish them deep roots into the earth since the rains fall and the winds blow often.

D. I wish them great shades under the tree since the sunlight is always sharp and bitter.

Which of the following can be the best title of this passage?

A Nice Doctor  B. The Deep Roots  C. Adversity and Suffering  D. My Childhood Memory

-----Do you think it is cold today?

-----        , but not as cold as yesterday.

A．Yes, sort of        B．Extremely         C．Frequently        D．No, not at all

 

完形填空

　　Henry's job was to examine cars which crossed the frontier(边境)to make sure that they were not smuggling (走私)anything into the country. Every evening 1 at weekends, he 2 see a factory worker coming up the hill towards the frontier, pushing a bicycle with a big load of straw(稻草)on it. When the bicycle 3 the frontier. Henry used to stop the man and 4 him take the straw off and 5 it. Then he would examine the straw carefully to see 6 he could find anything, after which he would look in all the man's pockets before he let him tie straw again. The man would then put it on his bicycle and go off 7 the hill with it. Although Henry was always 8 to find gold or jewellery or other valuable things 9 in the straw, he never found anything even though he examined it very 10 . He was sure that the man was 11 something, but he was not 12 to imagine what it could be.

　　Then one evening, after he had looked through the straw and emptied the factory worker's pockets 13 usual, he 14 to him, “Listen, I know that you're smuggling things 15 this frontier. Won't you tell me what it is that you are bringing 16 so successfully? I'm an old man, and today is my last day on the 17 . Tomorrow I'm going to 18 . I promise that I shall not tell 19 if you tell me what you've been smuggling. ”The factory worker didn't say anything for 20 . Then he smiled, turned to Henry and said quickly, “Bicycles! ”

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