There is some unwelcome news for students preparing for exams and officers putting in long hours-----you don't need the break as much as you may think that makes you feel less tired.
Scientists have long assumed that willpower (意志力) is a limited resource, which is why you feel the need to have a rest, have a snack and come back to a task when you're feeling better. They argued that the only way to restore willpower was by rest, food or entertainment.
But psychologists have challenged this theory, saying weak willpower is all in your head. They found that people's beliefs in willpower determine how long and how well they'll be able to work on a tough mental exercise. "If you think of willpower as something that's limited, you're more likely to be tired when you perform a difficult task," said Prof.Veronika Job. "'But if you think of willpower as something that is not easily used up, you can go on and on."
The researchers designed four experiments to test students'-beliefs in willpower. After a tiring task, those, who believed or were led to believe that willpower is a limited resource, performed worse on standard concentration tests than those who thought of willpower as something they had more control over. They also found that leading up to final exam week, students who believed the limited resource theory ate junk food 24 percent more often than those who believed they had more control in resisting temptation (誘惑).
Mr. Job said. "The theory that willpower is a limited resource is interesting, but it has had unintended consequences. Students who may already have trouble studying are being told that their power of concentration is limited, and they need to take frequent breaks. But a belief in willpower as a non-limited resource makes people stronger in their ability to work through challenges.'"
The findings could help people who are" battling temptation. Willpower isn't driven by a biologically based process as much as we used to think. The belief in it is what influences your behavior.
小題1:The theory that willpower is limited supports that _________.
A．people must eat snacks when they feel tired
B．people do need a break to restore their willpower
C．there’s no way to strengthen people’s willpower
D．weak willpower doesn’t affect people’s life much
小題2:What have the scientists long believed regarding willpower?
A．It is in the charge of people.
B．It is a limited resource.
C．There is no way to restore willpower.
D．It doesn’t easily run out.
小題3:Which of the following best helps the students to prepare better for their exams?
A．Push themselves even if they want to take a break.
B．Don’t eat fast food while studying.
C．Remind themselves willpower is not limited.
D．Stay in a comfortable and quiet place.
小題4:The following groups can benefit from the findings except
A．patients following strict diets
B．children liking to watch TV
C．smokers trying to give up smoking
D．employees facing a new but well-paid task
小題5:What’s the best title for the passage?
A．A new theory about willpowerB．How to build strong willpower
C．The great influence of willpowerD．Willpower doesn’t last long

小題1:B
小題2:B
小題3:C
小題4:D
小題5:A

試題分析：人們長久以來認(rèn)為意志力是有限的，所以人們累了就需要休息，但是一項(xiàng)新的研究表明，人的意志力是無限的，這會導(dǎo)致人們更加專注，對于那些和誘惑做斗爭的人，這個發(fā)現(xiàn)是很有用的。
小題1:細(xì)節(jié)題：從第二段的句子：They argued that the only way to restore willpower was by rest, food or entertainment.可知人們的意志力是有限的支持了：人們需要休息修復(fù)他們的意志力這種說法，選B
小題2:細(xì)節(jié)題：從文章第二段的句子：Scientists have long assumed that willpower (意志力) is a limited resource, which is why you feel the need to have a rest, have a snack and come back to a task when you're feeling better.可知科學(xué)家長期以來認(rèn)為意志力是一個有限的資源，選B
小題3:細(xì)節(jié)題：從文章第四段的句子：After a tiring task, those, who believed or were led to believe that willpower is a limited resource, performed worse on standard concentration tests than those who thought of willpower as something they had more control over.可知提醒孩子自己意志力不是有限的可以幫助他們更好的準(zhǔn)備考試。選C
小題4:推理題：從最后一段的句子：The findings could help people who are" battling temptation.可知對那些要和誘惑作斗爭的人來說，這項(xiàng)發(fā)現(xiàn)是有用的。所以遵循嚴(yán)格飲食計(jì)劃的病人，喜歡看電視的孩子和想戒煙的抽煙者都可以從這項(xiàng)發(fā)現(xiàn)受益，而面對一個新的，但是報酬豐厚的任務(wù)的職員不能受益于這個發(fā)現(xiàn)。選D
小題5:標(biāo)題確定題：從那個全篇文章和第一段的句子：There is some unwelcome news for students preparing for exams and officers putting in long hours-----you don't need the break as much as you may think that makes you feel less tired.可知文章介紹了一個關(guān)于意志力的新發(fā)現(xiàn)，所以A是最好的標(biāo)題。
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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

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.
小題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
小題2:From Paragraph 2 we can know that ________.
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
小題3:Which of the following is true of Virgin Galactic?
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.
小題4:What does the underlined word “trappings” in Paragraph 4 probably refer to?
A．Standard uniforms.
B．Traditional decorations.
C．Symbolic signs.
D．Personal belongings.
小題5:What does Ms. Garrett think of the future space travel?
A．Common.　B．Changeable.
C．Flexible.　D．Reasonable.

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Our love of music and appreciation of musical harmony is learnt and not based on natural ability, a new study by University of Melbourne researchers has found. The researchers said previous theories about how we appreciate music were based on the physical functions of sound, the ear itself and a born ability to hear harmony.
The study shows that musical harmony can be learnt, and it is a matter of training the brain to hear the sounds. So if you thought that the music of some foreign culture (or Jazz) sounded like the crying of cats, it’s simply because you haven’t learnt to listen by their rules.
The researchers used 66 volunteers with a range of musical training and tested their ability to hear combinations of notes(音符) to determine if they found the combinations familiar or pleasing. They found that people needed to be familiar with combinations of notes. If they found the notes unfamiliar they also found the sound unpleasant. This finding put an end to centuries of theories claiming that physical functions of the ear determine what we find attractive.
The study found that trained musicians were much more sensitive to unpleasant notes than non-musicians. When they couldn’t find the note, the musicians reported that the sounds were unpleasant, while non-musicians were much less sensitive. This shows the importance of training or nurturing(培養(yǎng)) the brain to like particular sound of combinations of notes, like those found in jazz or rock.
Depending on their training, a strange chord(和弦) sound was pleasant to some musicians, but very unpleasant to others. This showed us that even the ability to hear a musical note is learnt.
To confirm this finding, they trained 19 non-musicians to find the notes of a random selection of western chords. Not only did the participants’ ability to hear notes improve rapidly, afterward they reported that the chords they had learnt sounded more pleasant -- regardless of how the chords were played.
The question of why some combinations of musical notes are heard as pleasant or unpleasant has long been debated. “We have shown in this study that for music, beauty is in the brain of the beholder(觀看者)”, a researcher said.
小題1:According to the study, people find foreign music quite unpleasant because_____.
A．they hear the music much too often
B．they don’t like the person playing it
C．they have no idea about how to listen
D．they have no born musical ability at all
小題2:Although non-musicians were less sensitive to music, they can still_____.
A．be trained to like particular music
B．make friends with real musicians
C．find the beauty of chords without training
D．enjoy the beauty of music when played by musicians
小題3:The 19 non-musicians were trained in order to show_____.
A．the brain likes particular combinations of notes
B．not a strange note was pleasant to all musicians
C．how the chords were played was very important
D．people’s ability to hear a musical note can be learnt
小題4:What is the main idea of the passage?
A．Love of musical harmony can’t be taught.
B．Love of music is not natural but nurtured.
C．Listening to music can improve your brain.
D．You can be a musician without being trained.

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light cannot get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying.
Because no light can get out, people can’t see black holes. Space telescopes with special tools can help find black holes. The special tools can see how stars that are very close to black holes act differently from other ones.
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The largest black holes are called “supermassive”(超大質(zhì)量黑洞). These black holes have masses that are more than one million suns together. Scientists have found proof that every large galaxy contains a supermassive black hole at its center. The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy has a mass equal to about four million suns and would fit inside a very large ball that could hold a few million Earths.
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A black hole can not be seen because strong gravity pulls all of the light into the middle of the black hole. But scientists can see how the strong gravity affects the stars and gas around the black hole. Scientists can study stars to find out if they are flying around, or orbiting a black hole.
When a black hole and a star are close together, high-energy light is made. This kind of light cannot be seen with human eyes. Scientists use satellites and telescopes in space to see the high-energy light.
小題1:The gravity of a black hole may become so strong that light cannot get out when ____________.
A．the star is going to die
B．special tools are used on it
C．other stars come close to it
D．it is seen from the space telescopes
小題2:According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?
A．A black hole can be very tiny but extremely heavy.
B．The gravity of a black hole holds all light in its center.
C．Scientists observe high-energy light through their own eyes.
D．Some small black holes came into being as early as the universe.
小題3:The underlined word “galaxy” in Paragraph 5 means __________.
A．a(chǎn) black holeB．the Milky Way
C．a(chǎn) series of starsD．a(chǎn) planet near the earth
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A．Neither the sun nor the earth is as heavy as a black hole.
B．There is a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
C．The supermassive black hole had existed before the Milky Way was formed.
D．There is a reason why the large black holes are called “supermassive”.
小題5:The last two paragraph mainly focus on the question of _________.
A．what a black hole is
B．how black holes form
C．how big black holes are
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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

As they migrate (遷移), butterflies and moths choose the winds they want to fly with, and they change their body positions if they start floating in the wrong direction. This new finding suggests that insects may employ some of the same methods that birds use for traveling long distances. Scientists have long thought that insects were simply at the mercy of the wind.
Fascinating as their skills of flight are, migrating behavior has been difficult to study in   insects because many long distant trips happen thousands of feet above ground. Only recently have scientists developed technologies that can detect (測出) such little creatures at such great heights.
To their surprise, though, the insects weren’t passive travelers on the winds. In autumn, for example, most light winds blew from the east, but the insects somehow sought out ones that carried them south and they positioned themselves to navigate directly to their wintering homes.
Even in the spring, when most winds flowed northward, the insects didn’t always go with the flow. If breezes weren’t blowing in the exact direction they wanted to go, the insects changed their body positions to compensate (補(bǔ)償). Many migrating birds do the same thing.
The study also found, butterflies and moths actively flew within the air streams that pushed them along. By adding flight speeds to wind speeds, the scientists calculated that butterflies and moths can travel as fast as 100 kilometers an hour. The findings may have real-world applications. With climate warming, migrating insects are growing in number. Knowing how and when these pests move could help when farmers decide when to spray their crops.
小題1:What’s the main idea of the text?  
A．Insects migrate with the seasons．
B．Wind helps insects greatly in migrating．
C．Windsurfing insects have real direction．
D．Scientists have trouble in observing insects．
小題2:Scientists originally thought that ________．
A．insects always waited for their favorable winds
B．insects chose the winds they wanted to ride
C．insects were just blown about by the wind
D．insects positioned themselves in the winds
小題3:It is not easy to study the migrating behavior of the insects because ________．         
A．the little creatures can fly very fast
B．they have no regular migrating courses
C．the wind’s direction is hard to foresee
D．their flight is long and high above ground
小題4:We can learn from the text that _________．          
A．insects fly in the way birds do
B．insects travel more easily in autumn
C．insects never position themselves when flying low
D．insects rest a lot when the wind pushes them along
小題5:According to the passage, the findings can__________．             
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C．prevent climate warmingD．help protect insects

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Normally a student must attend a certain number of courses in order to graduate, and each course which he attends gives him a credit which he may count towards a degree. In many American universities the total work for a degree consists of thirty-six courses each lasting for one semester. A typical course consists of three classes per week for fifteen weeks; while attending a university a student will probably attend four or five courses during each semester. Normally a student would expect to take four years attending two semesters each year. It is possible to spread the period of work for the degree over a longer period. It is also possible for a student to move between one university and another during his degree course, though this is not in fact done as a regular practice.
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小題1:Normally a student would at least attend __________classes each week.
A．36B．12C．20D．15
小題2:According to the first paragraph an American student is allowed
A．to live in a different university
B．to change permanently his or her university
C．to live at home and drive to classes
D．to get two degrees from two different universities
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A．their academic performance will affect their future careers
B．they are heavily involved in student affairs
C．they have to obey university rules
D．they want to run for positions of authority
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A．they hate the constant pressure and stress of their study
B．they will then be able to stay longer in the university
C．such positions help them get better jobs
D．such positions are usually well paid
小題5:The student organizations seem to be effective in__________.
A．dealing with the academic affairs of the university
B．ensuring that the students observe university regulations
C．evaluating students' performance by bringing them before a court
D．keeping up the students' enthusiasm for social activities

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination and physical, cognitive (認(rèn)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.
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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.
小題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
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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
小題3:From the last paragraph, we know that ________.
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
小題4:Which of the following statements is NOT true?
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：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解



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（熱電）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.
小題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
小題2:Why was the application of thermoelectric materials a failure in the past?
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.
小題3:Which of the following is the best title for this passage?
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：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Online Communication
In an age when technology moves faster than most can keep up with, a small group of people still remain in the time of old-fashioned letter. Frankly speaking, I was once certain that traditional letters could never be replaced by other means of communication.
But a story about online communication changed my mind.
An old man, who suffered a lot from Parkinson’s disease, was not able to talk clearly and could hardly write his name. Living totally alone, he managed to keep in touch with nearly all the members of his family. How did he achieve this? He clicked out words on his computer keyboard.
I, therefore, managed to get an E-mail box as soon as the opportunity came. My life changed. E-mail, and all online communication, is something truly different. It has capabilities（能力） that few other products can match.
E-mail is convenient. It takes less time with its fast speed and 24-hour connection. The slow postal service is no match. If you wouldn’t want to have a face-to-face talk with your manager, you might talk with him through E-mail even if you are in the same office.
Naming all the good things about online communication is not easy. But wait. E-mail can be inconvenient. It can waste time and energy. Just think what may happen when you take a short vacation and return to find your e-mail box filled with 200 unread messages. You could easily spend half a day clearing junk ads.
Then, online communication will keep us staying at our computer while it connects us to distant strangers. Once we throw ourselves into the machine, we may forget the human touches we once held so dear. I’m sure there is and always will be a place for the old-fashioned letter, phone call, and face-to-face meeting… even in the world of modern communication.
As I listen to the sound of the modem(調(diào)制解調(diào)器), I was excited at stepping out to the outside world but, at the same time, I sensed a loss of control over something valuable in my personal life.
小題1:What is the most probable meaning of the underlined word “junk” in paragraph6?
A．old and uselessB．New and usefulC．Short but valuableD．Long but clear
小題2:What does the writer think of online communication?
A．It should replace old-fashioned letters completely.
B．It is perfect and always does good to you.
C．It is extremely useful and convenient, but it may be inconvenient or even harmful.
D．It does more harm than good.
小題3:What caused the writer to become interested in E-mail and online communication?
A．The sound of the modem.B．His own illness.
C．The changing of his life.D．A sick old man’s experience.
小題4:According to the writer, traditional means of communication will never disappear because ________.
A．they are convenient and popular though they are slow
B．they help to keep the friendly relationship between people
C．most people cannot keep up with the development of technology
D．modern means of communication does too much harm
小題5:How did the sick old man keep in touch with his family members?
A．With the help of his computer.B．By writing letters with his pen.
C．By making telephone calls.D．By visiting them regularly.

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