It is not unusual for people to speak two or three languages; they’re known as bilinguals or trilinguals. Speakers of more than three languages are known as polyglots. And when we refer to people who speak many languages, perhaps a dozen or more, we use the term hyper-polyglot.
The most famous hyper-polyglot was Giuseppe Mezzofanti, a 19th century Italian cardinal, who was said to speak 72 languages. This claim sounds absurd. If you assume each language had 20,000 words, Mezzofanti would have to learn a word a minute, six hours a day, for eleven years—an impossible task. But Mezzofanti was tested by critics, and they were all impressed.
Did Mezzofanti have an extraordinary brain? Or are hyper-polyglots just ordinary people with ordinary brains who manage to do something extraordinary through hard work?
U.S. linguist Stephen Drashen believes that outstanding language learners just work harder at it and then they acquire unusually strong language ability. As an example, he mentions a Hungarian woman who worked as an interpreter during the 20th century. When she was 86, she could speak 16 languages and was still working on learning new languages. She said she learned them mostly on her own, reading fiction or working through dictionaries or textbooks.
Some researchers argue to the contrary. They believe that there is such a thing as a talent for learning languages. In the 1930s, a German scientist examined parts of the preserved brain of a hyper-polyglot named Emil Krebs, who could speak 60 languages fluently. The scientist found that the area of Krebs’s brain called Broca’s area, which is associated with language, looked different from the Broca’s area in the brains of men who speak only one language. However, we still don’t know if Krebs was born with a brain ready to learn dozens of languages or if his brain adapted to the demands he put on it.
Although it is still not clear whether the ability to learn many languages is in born, there’s no doubt that just about all of us can acquire skills in a second, third, or even fourth language by putting our mind to it.
1.What does the underlined sentence imply?
A. Mezzofanti could remember 360 words a day.
B. Mezzofanti had a special way to learn languages.
C. Mezzofanti’s achievement was ridiculous.
D. Mezzofanti language ability was astonishing.
2.The Hungarian woman became a hyper-polyglot mainly because of her __.
A. good memory B. unique brain C. hard work D. learning methods
3.The German scientist’s findings showed that Krebs ___.
A. had an unusual brain
B. was born with great talent
C. had worked hard at languages
D. expected too much of himself
4.The author seems to agree that ___.
A. it is not hard to learn foreign languages
B. hard work plays a part in language learning
C. there is no such thing as a talent for languages
D. hyper-polyglots have an inborn talent for language
1.D
2.C
3.A
4.B
【解析】
試題分析：文章介紹了人在學習語言存在的一些現象，有些人能撐握很多種語言，文中舉了兩個例子Giuseppe Mezzofanti spoke 72 languages. Emil Krebs spoke 60 languages.有兩種觀點來解釋這種現象。一種是有這種學習語言的天賦；他們天生善于學習語言，在大腦部分有不同于常人的地方。另一種情況是他們在學習語言方面很刻苦，他們的大腦和普通人是一樣的。善于學習語言的人的大腦是否和普通人一樣還不夠清晰，但每個人用心去學習三四種語言都是不難的。
1.D細節理解題。The most famous hyper-polyglot was Giuseppe Mezzofanti, a 19th century Italian cardinal, who was said to speak 72 languages. This claim sounds absurd. If you assume each language had 20,000 words, Mezzofanti would have to learn a word a minute, six hours a day, for eleven years—an impossible task. But Mezzofanti was tested by critics, and they were all impressed.句意為：Giuseppe Mezzofanti 是十九世紀的意大利人，能說七十二種語言，聽起來有點我荒謬，如果你假定每種語言有兩萬個單詞，那么Mezzofanti不得不一分種記一個單詞，每天六個小時，也要十一年的時間，是一件不可能的任務。所以他感覺這種學習語言的能力是令人吃驚的。
2.C細節理解題。She said she learned them mostly on her own, reading fiction or working through dictionaries or textbooks.句意思為：她（The Hungarian woman）她學習語言大多都是靠她自己，讀小說，看詞典或者是練習本等，所以此處應是通過努力的工作而學到的。故答案應為C。
3.A細節理解題。The scientist found that the area of Krebs’s brain called Broca’s area, which is associated with language, looked different from the Broca’s area in the brains of men who speak only one language.科學家發現，他的大腦叫著Broca’s area的部分和語言有關，說一種語言的人的這個大腦部分與Krebs’的這個部分是不同的，所以答案應為A。有一種不同尋常的電腦。
4.B大意理解題。Although it is still not clear whether the ability to learn many languages is in born, there’s no doubt that just about all of us can acquire skills in a second, third, or even fourth language by putting our mind to it. 句意為：盡管學習語言的能力與先天是否有關還不是很清楚，但毫無疑問，通過我們的用心學習，我們大多數都能夠撐握二種三種甚至是四種語言。故答案應為B。
【考點】考查社會現象類文章的閱讀理解。
科目：高中英語 來源：湖南省師大附中2010屆高三第七次月考（英語） 題型：閱讀理解
There is one difference between the sexes on which every expert and study agrees: men are more aggressive than women. It shows up in 2-year-olds. It continues through school days and persists into adulthood. It is even constant across cultures. And there is little doubt that it is rooted in biology.
If there's a woman’s trait(特點) which is the same as men’s aggressiveness, it's what social scientists refer to as the result of "education". Feminists have argued that the caring nature of women is not biological in origin, but rather has been forced into women by a society that wanted to keep them in the home. But the signs that it is at least partly inborn are too numerous to ignore. Just as tiny infant girls respond more readily to human faces, female toddlers(學步者) learn much faster than males how to pick up nonverbal cues（非言語暗示） from others. And grown women are far more skilful than men at interpreting facial expressions: A recent study by University of Pennsylvania brain researcher Ruben Gur showed that they easily read emotions such as anger, sadness and fear. The only such emotion men could pick up was disgust.
What difference do such differences make in the real world? Among other things, women appear to be somewhat less competitive--or at least competitive in different ways--than men. At the Harvard Law School, for instance, female students enter with qualities just as outstanding as those of their male peers. But they don' t qualify for the well-known Law Review in proper numbers, a fact some school officials owe to women' s discomfort in the incredibly competitive atmosphere.
Students of management styles have found fewer differences than they expected between men and women who reach leadership positions, perhaps because many successful women deliberately imitate men. But an analysis by Purdue social psychologist Alice Eagly of 166 studies of leadership style did find one difference: Men tend to be more “autocratic”-making decisions on their own--while women tend to consult colleagues more often. Studies of behavior in small groups turn up even more differences. Men will typically dominate the discussion, says University of Toronto psychologist Kenneth Dion, spending more time talking and less time listening.
【小題1】The passage mainly discusses__________.
| A．how sex differences are demonstrated in social relations | B．how hormone determines sex differences | C．why there are differences between males and females | D．why men and women have different social roles |
| A．It is not inborn in any sense. |
| B．It is inspired by women’s families. |
| C．It is caused by social prejudice. |
| D．It is partly biological in origin. |
| A．women are not as competitive as men |
| B．law is not the fight profession for women |
| C．women are as excellent as men when they are young |
| D．academic qualities are not equal to performance |
| A．Men leaders should consult colleagues and subordinates more often. |
| B．Female leaders' success is due to their imitating male leaders. |
| C．Men and women are different in their leadership style. |
| D．Decisiveness is an important quality for a successful politician. |
| A．denies the difference sexes make in real life |
| B．is prejudiced against men |
| C．discourages women to be competitive |
| D．treats sex difference objectively |
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科目：高中英語 來源：2013屆山東省臨沭一中高三學情調查英語卷（帶解析） 題型：閱讀理解
When an ant dies, other ants take it out of the nest, often within an hour after its death. This behavior interests scientists and they wonder how ants know for sure—and so soon—that another ant is dead.
One scientist recently came up with a way to explain this ant behavior. Dong-Hwan Choe is a biologist, a scientist who studies animals and plants. He found that ants have a chemical on the outside of their bodies that signals to other ants, “I'm dead—take me away” when it is dead.
But there's a question to answer: As we know, if an ant is dead, it stops moving. But when an ant is sleeping or knocked unconscious, it is also not moving. However, other ants don't move the living ant out of the nest. How do they know this ant is not dead? Choe found that ants have another chemical on their bodies, which tells nearby ants something like, “Wait—I'm not dead yet” when it is not dead. Choe suspects that when an ant dies, the chemical that says, “Wait I'm not dead yet” quickly goes away. When other ants detect the “dead” chemical without the “not dead yet” chemical, they move away the body.
To test his theory , Choe and his team put different chemicals on ants. When the scientists used the “I'm dead” chemical, other ants quickly moved the treated ant away. When the scientists used the “Wait—I'm not dead yet” chemical, other ants left the treated ant alone. Choe believes this behavior shows that the “not dead yet” chemical overrides the “dead” chemical when picked up by other ants. And that when an ant dies, the “not dead yet” 
chemical fades away. Other nearby ants then detect the remaining “dead” chemical and remove the body from the nest.
Understanding this behavior can help scientists figure out how to stop ants from invading new places and causing problems.
【小題1】What is the function of the first paragraph?
| A．Leading the following paragraphs. |
| B．Showing the main idea of the passage. |
| C．Introducing the background of the passage. |
| D．Giving a summary of the passage. |
| A．is weaker than | B．is stronger than | C．is better than | D．is worse than |
| A．Living ants can also be taken away when they are not moving. |
| B．When an ant dies, it can tell others using a certain chemical. |
| C．A living ant can pretend to be dead using a special chemical. |
| D．Ants often use chemicals to communicate with each other. |
| A．Choe did this study in order to stop ants from invading new places. |
| B．Choe is a biologist who is only interested in animals, especially in ants. |
| C．Choe first came up with an idea to explain this ant behavior，and then did some tests to prove his theory. |
| D．Choe did the research on this ant behavior on his own |
| A．How to decide whether an ant is dead or not. |
| B．Why ants have special chemicals on their bodies. |
| C．reasons for the removable behavior of ants. |
| D．How ants manage to keep their nests clean. |
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科目：高中英語 來源：2012-2013學年江西省贛州市會昌中學高二下學期第二次月考英語卷（帶解析） 題型：閱讀理解
“Why should I care about the environment?” some people ask. There is a very simple reason: We live on the earth, and it is the only place we can live on right now, as we cannot live in space yet. If we treat the earth like a garbage dump, it will become dirty and unlivable. If we treat it well by being eco-conscious, the earth will stay clean and suitable for living, for ourselves and for our children.
What is “being eco-conscious”?
Being eco-conscious means being aware of your actions, and what you do to the environment. For example, you might think, “Using hairspray is great for fixing my hair.” However, if you are eco-conscious, you would ask, “Does this hairspray have CFCs in it? Could I be destroying the earth by using hairspray?”
How can I be eco-conscious?
You can find many simple ways to help the environment in your everyday life.
When you go shopping, bring a bag or a basket with you. Please try not to use plastic bags as much as you can.
You can go to work by bike or on foot if it is not far from your home.
You can put your rubbish into different bags, which makes it convenient for recycling.
You can eat less chewing gum.
You can use your own chopsticks instead of the disposable ones in your company or in restaurants.
You can put batteries in a special box instead of in garbage bins.
You can use the water which has been used for washing vegetables or fruits to clean the floor and the toilet or to water your garden.
You can turn off the decorative lights in your room when watching TV.
You can turn down your air conditioner by one degree, as this will cause a 10% reduction in energy use.
You can use recycled paper. Every ton of recycled office paper saves 380 gallons of oil. You can also use recycled glass instead of glass made from raw materials. This will reduce the related air pollution by 20%, and the related water pollution by 50%.
Please believe that. If you do a little, it will make a big difference.
【小題1】Human beings should care about the environment because _________ .
| A．if we make the earth unlivable, we’ll have to live in space |
| B．it can help our children live better |
| C．if we don’t, the earth will become a garbage dump |
| D．it will help to make the world a good living place |
| A．be aware of the importance of protecting the environment |
| B．use plastic bags when he buys something |
| C．know nothing about CFCs |
| D．turn his air conditioner to a higher degree |
| A．share a car with your colleagues |
| B．use paper bags instead of plastic bags |
| C．use hairspray containing CFCs |
| D．use recycled glass instead of glass made from raw materials |
| A．it’s very hard for human beings to keep the earth clean and comfortable |
| B．protecting the environment is the duty of everybody |
| C．we should protect the environment together, as it’s no use doing it individually |
| D．it’s very easy to be eco-conscious |
| A．Being eco-conscious means you should know much about the environment. |
| B．The more we care, the better the environment will be. |
| C．If each of us just does a little, we can’t make any difference. |
| D．If we treat the earth badly, we’ll make a lot of trouble for ourselves. |
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科目：高中英語 來源：2011屆上海市松江區高三英語5月模擬測試 題型：閱讀理解
I have never heard about a “Fashion Week” outside of New York, London or Milan. But then one just happens to turn up in Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan. Actually, I’m ignorant of all those countries in Central Asia, whose names are always ending in “stan.” For decades, even centuries, Central Asia has been out of focus, a blank on the map of empires. Just as the introduction from Turusbek Mamashov, from the Tourism agency of the president of the Kyrgyz Republic, says, “Throughout this Fashion Week project, we need to create a revolution in the minds of our people, preparing the country for the international tourism market. It is an opportunity as well as an investment.” What he says is right. If you just give it a glimpse (一瞥), you’ll find out that the flavor (風情) of the Silk Road is still there.
As part of the route for Silk Road traders and migrating tribes through its epic(史詩的) history, Kyrgyzstan, like other Central Asian countries, is a vast place of desert, grassland and mountain ranges. It is not widely known that Kyrgyzstan is the Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai’s birthplace.
Bishkek, the place holding Fashion Week, is the capital and industrial center of independent Kyrgyzstan. It is a relaxed, handsome place with wide streets and large amounts of greenery. Especially in the autumn of November, the yellow leaves falling everywhere make the whole city a legend in fall. The mountains are just at its rear, in that case a unique scene of picturesque beauty is composed by snow-white peaks, lakes and the urban Landscape.
Today, Ala-Too Square is the center of the poetic places worth seeing in Bishkek. The “White House,” the seat of the Kyrgyzstan Government, is just at the west of the square. Behind this is Panfilov Park, a great place to head for a national holiday. The State Museum of Fine Arts is opposite, which is also called the Gapar Aitiev Museum of Applied Arts, featuring Kyrgyz jewelry, rugs and works by local artists.
One of the joys besides the scenery is the openness of the people. Bishkek is a city without a big population but mainly good-natured people from many races, 47 percent are Russian and about a third are Kyrgyz. Most travelers vote Kyrgyzstan as the most appealing, accessible and welcoming of the former Soviet Central Asian republics. It is written by a tourist that Kyrgyzstan is the country Russians most desperately want to keep: hills always covered with grass and wild flowers. Kyrgyz men always ride a horse wearing a photogenic hat.
【小題1】 According to the passage, Kyrgyzstan used to be ___________.
| A．an international fashion centre | B．an important part of Silk Road |
| C．the focus of the world | D．a vast desert land in Central Asia |
| A．start a revolution in Kyrgyzstan | B．attract foreign investment to Kyrgyzstan |
| C．promote tourism in Kyrgyzstan | D．celebrate the independence of Kyrgyzstan |
| A．Bishkek is a crowded modern city surrounded by mountain ranges. |
| B．Panfilov Park is a popular destination for local people during holidays. |
| C．The majority of the population in Bishkek are Russian and Kyrgyz. |
| D．The famous poet Li Bai is thought to have been born in Kyrgyzstan. |
| A．Reflections and thoughts on the glorious history of the Silk Road. |
B．Feelings about the ongoin g Fashion Week project in Bishkek. |
| C．The geographic features and imposing history of Kyrgyzstan. |
| D．The natural and cultural characteristics and attractions in Kyrgyzstan. |
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科目：高中英語 來源：2011屆山西省晉中市高三上學期四校聯考英語卷 題型：閱讀理解
Like most big projects, learning to manage your mother well is what you should do. Here are what I believe the best steps towards a better relationship with her. They are not necessarily surprising or revolutionary, but they have worked for many people. Try them.
Remember your mother’s age. As children, we often do not think of our mother as having an age. Even when we become conscious of her as an individual, age does not change our view; she is still our mother. Knowing our mother’s age, not just in numbers of years but in terms of her psychological and physical state, often helps us to understand her better.
Listen to your mother. I have found that sometimes the things my mother told me long ago are remarkably useful. If your mother knows that you respect her point of view, even if you do not share it, it will help her feel close to you.
Remember that your mother has a past. A key step in managing our relationship with our mother is to find out about her early life.In learning about our mother’s past, we know that it can encourage us to think about her whole life.
Ask your mother about your c
hildhood histo
ry. My grandparents died when I was young. If you are fortunate enough to have living family, think of your life as a jigsaw puzzle and ask as many questions as you can to put the picture together. Understanding your roots and your childhood can hel
p you know more clearly who you are, as part of a family which you share with your mother.
Remember that managing your mother is really about managing yourself. Taking any measure to managing our mother is the issue of how we manage ourselves. No matter how difficult we find her, it is important to remember that it is not her behavior itself that is causing us discomfort, but the way we feel about 
her behavior. We should follow the way of her life. At the heart of managing your mother is being able to accept your flawed self. Only then are you able to accept your mother-----with all her failings.
64. 【小題1】What does the underlined phrase “a jigsaw puzzle” mean?
| A．拼圖玩具 | B．瀏覽迷宮 | C．填充字謎 | D．游戲人生 |
| A．You will have a better relationship with your mother if you respect her opinion. |
| B．Knowing your mother’s age is a useful piece of advice. |
| C．The key measure of managing our mother is how we manage ourselves. |
| D．It is unreasonable to expect our mother to change totally from the way she was brought up. |
| A．to give information about how you think of your mother |
| B．to improve the relationship with your mother |
| C．to keep a sense of humor about your mother all day long |
| D．to accept your mother-----with all her failings |
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