新東方6級(jí)訓(xùn)練閱讀11
Birds that are literally half-asleep-with one brain hemisphere alert and the other sleeping-control which side of the brain remains awake, according to a new study of sleeping ducks.
Earlier studies have documented half-brain sleep in a wide range of birds. The brain hemispheres take turns sinking into the sleep stage characterized by slow brain waves. The eye controlled by the sleeping hemisphere keeps shut, while the wakeful hemisphere's eye stays open and alert. Birds also can sleep with both hemispheres resting at once.
Earlier studies have documented half-brain sleep in a wide range of birds. The brain hemispheres take turns sinking into the sleep stage characterized by slow brain waves. The eye controlled by the sleeping hemisphere keeps shut, while the wakeful hemisphere's eye stays open and alert. Birds also can sleep with both hemispheres resting at once.
Decades of studies of bird flocks led researchers to predict extra alertness in the more vulnerable, end-of-the-row sleepers, Sure enough, the end birds tended to watch carefully on the side away from their companions. Ducks in the inner spots showed no preference for gaze direction.
Also, birds dozing（打盹）at the end of the line resorted to single-hemisphere sleep, rather than total relaxation, more often than inner ducks did. Rotaing 16 birds through the positions in a four-duck row, the researchers found outer birds half-asleep during some 32 percent of dozing time versus about 12 percent for birds in internal spots.
"We believe this is the first evidence for an animal behaviorally controlling sleep and wakefulness simultaneously in different regions of the brain," the researchers say.
The results provide the best evidence for a long-standing supposition that single-hemisphere sleep evolved as creatures scanned for enemies. The preference for opening an eye on the lookout side could be widespread, he predicts. He's seen it in a pair of birds dozing side-by-side in the zoo and in a single pet bird sleeping by mirror. The mirror-side eye closed as if the reflection were a companion and the other eye stayed open.
Useful as half-sleeping might be, it's only been found in birds and such water mammals（哺乳動(dòng)物）as dolphins, whales, and seals. Perhaps keeping one side of the brain awake allows a sleeping animal to surface occasionally to avoid drowning.
Studies of birds may offer unique insights into sleep. Jerome M. Siegel of the UGLA says he wonders if birds' half-brain sleep "is just the tip of the iceberg（冰山）". He speculates that more examples may turn up when we take a closer look at other species.
16. Which of the following is evidence that TT is widely practiced?
A) TT has been in existence for decades.
B) Many patients were cured by therapeutic touch.
C) TT therapists are often employed by leading hospitals.
D) More than 100,000 people are undergoing TT treatment.
注：D為迷惑選項(xiàng)數(shù)字必轉(zhuǎn)化，C對(duì)應(yīng)第二段末句。
17. Very few TT practitioners responded to the $1 million offer because ____________.
A) they didn't take the offer seriously
B) they didn't want to risk their career
C) they were unwilling to reveal their secret
D) they thought it was not in line with their practice
注：爭(zhēng)議題，B、C皆可。
18. The purpose of Emily Rosa's experiment was ____________.
A) to see why TT could work the way it did
B) to find out how TT cured patient's illness
C) to test whether she could sense the human energy field
D) to test whether a human energy field really existed
注：對(duì)應(yīng)文章第三段首句
19. Why did some TT practitioners agree to be the subjects of Emily's experiment?
A) It involved nothing more than mere guessing.
B) They thought it was going to be a lot of fun.
C) It was more straightforward than other experiments.
D) They sensed no harm in a little girl's experiment.
注：對(duì)應(yīng)文章第三段末句，no harm對(duì)應(yīng)innocent，little girl對(duì)應(yīng)fourth-grade
20. What can we learn from the passage?
A) Some widely accepted beliefs can be deceiving.
B) Solid evidence weighs more than pure theories.
C) Little children can be as clever as trained TT practitioners.
D) The principle of TT is too profound to understand.
A nine-year-old schoolgirl single-handedly cooks up a science-fair experiment that ends up debunking（揭穿．．．的真相）a widely practiced medical treatment. Emily Rosa's target was a practice known as therapeutic（治療）touch (TT for short), whose advocates manipulate patients' "energy field" to make them feel better and even, say some, to cure them of various ills. Yet Emily's test shows that these energy fields can't be detected, even by trained TT practitioners（行醫(yī)者）. Obviously mindful of the publicity value of the situation, Journal editor George Lundberg appeared on TV to declare, "Age doesn't matter. It's good science that matters, and this is good science."
Emily's mother Linda Rosa, a registered nurse, has been campaigning against TT for nearly a decade. Linda first thought about TT in the late '80s, when she learned it was on the approved list for continuing nursing education in Colorado. Its 100,000 trained practitioners (48,000 in the U.S.) don't even touch their patients. Instead, they waved their hands a few inches from the patient's body, pushing energy fields around until they're in "balance." TT advocates say these manipulations can help heal wounds, relieve pain and reduce fever. The claims are taken seriously enough that TT therapists are frequently hired by leading hospitals, at up to $70 an hour, the smooth patients' energy, sometimes during surgery.
Yet Rosa could not find any evidence that it works. To provide such proof, TT therapists would have to sit down for independent testing-something they haven't been eager to do, even though James Randi has offered more than $1 million to anyone who can demonstrate the existence of a human energy field. (He's had one taker so far. She failed.) A skeptic might conclude that TT practitioners are afraid to lay their beliefs on the line. But who could turn down an innocent fourth-grader? Says Emily: "I think they didn't take me very seriously because I'm a kid."
The experiment was straightforward: 21 TT therapists stuck their hands, palms up, through a screen. Emily held her own hand over one of theirs-left or right-and the practitioners had to say which hand it was. When the results were recorded, they'd done no better than they would have by simply guessing. if there was an energy field, they couldn't feel it.
21. We learn from the first paragraph that two systems of automated highways __________.
A) are being planned
B) are being modified
C) are now in wide use
D) are under construction
注：on the drawing borad就是planned
22. A special-purpose lane system is probably advantageous in that ________________.
A) it would require only minor changes to existing highways
B) it would achieve the greatest highway traffic efficiency
C) it has a lane for both automated and partially automated vehicles
D) it offers more lanes for automated vehicles
注：A選項(xiàng)說反了
23. Which of the following is true about driving on an automated highway?
A) Vehicles traveling on it are assigned different lanes according to their destinations.
B) A car can join existing traffic any time in a mixed lane system.
C) The driver should inform his car computer of his destination before driving onto it.
D) The driver should share the automated lane with those f regular vehicles.
注：對(duì)應(yīng)第二段開頭
24. We know form the passage that a car can enter a special-purpose lane _____________.
A) by smoothly merging with cars on the conventional lane
B) by way of a ramp with electronic control devices
C) through a specially guarded gate
D) after all trespassers are identified and removed
注：爭(zhēng)議題
25. When driving in an automated lane, the driver ___________.
A) should harmonize with newly entering cars
B) doesn't have to rely on his computer system
C) should watch out for potential accidents
D) doesn't have to hold not to the steering wheel
注：文章最后一段
What might driving on an automated highway be like? The answer depends on what kind of system is ultimately adopted. Two distinct types are on the drawing board. The first is a special-purpose lane system, in which certain lanes are reserved for automated vehicles. The second is a mixed traffic system: fully automated vehicles would share the road with partially automated or manually driven cars. A special-purpose land system would require more extensive physical modifications to existing highways, but it promises the greatest gains in freeway（高速公路）capacity.
Under either scheme, the driver would specify the desired destination, furnishing this information to a computer in the car at the beginning of the trip or perhaps just before reaching the automated highway. If a mixed traffic system was in place, automated driving could begin whenever the driver was on suitably equipped roads. If special-purpose lanes were available, the car could enter them and join existing traffic in two different ways.One method would use a special onramp（入口引道）. As the driver approached the point of entry for the highway, devices installed on the roadside would electronically check the vehicle to determine its destination and to ascertain that it had the proper automation equipment in good working order. Assuming it passed such tests, the driver would then be guided through a gate and toward an automated lane. In this case, the transition from manual to automated control would take place on the entrance ramp. An alternative technique could employ conventional lanes, which would be shared by automated and regular vehicles. The driver would steer onto the highway and move in normal fashion to a "transition" lane. The vehicle would then shift under computer control onto a lane reserved for automated traffic. (The limitation of these lanes to automated traffic would presumably be well respected, because all trespassers（非法進(jìn)入者）could be swiftly identified by authorities.)
Either approach to joining a lane of automated traffic would harmonize the movement of newly entering vehicles with those already traveling. Automatic control here should allow for smooth merging, without the usual uncertainties and potential for accidents. and once a vehicle had settled into automated travel, the drive would be free to release the wheel, open the morning paper or just relax.
26. According to the author, the conventional notion of intelligence measured n terms of one's ability to read, write and compute _____________.
A) is a widely held but wrong concept
B) will help eliminate intellectual prejudice
C) is the root of all mental distress
D) will contribute to one's self-fulfillment
注：作者態(tài)度題，應(yīng)該選負(fù)選項(xiàng)
27. It is implied in the passage that holding a university degree _____________.
A) may result in one's inability to solve complex real-life problems
B) does not indicate one's ability to write properly worded documents
C) may make one mentally sick and physically weak
D) does not meat that one is highly intelligent
28. The author thinks that an intelligent person knows _____________.
A) how to put up with some very prevalent myths
B) how to find the best way to achieve success in life
C) how to avoid depression and make his life worthwhile
D) how to persuade others to compromise
注：對(duì)應(yīng)第二段第一句話
29. In the last paragraph, the author tells us that _____________.
A) difficulties are but part of everyone's life
B)depression and unhappiness are unavoidable in life反
C) everybody should learn to avoid trying circumstances反
D) good feelings can contribute to eventual academic excellence
30. According to the passage, what kind of people are rare?
A) Those who don't emphasize bookish excellence in their pursuit of happiness.
B) Those who are aware of difficulties in life but know how to avoid unhappiness.
C) Those who measure happiness by an absence of problems but seldom suffer form N. B. D.'s.
C) Those who measure happiness by an absence of problems but seldom suffer form N. B. D.'s.
D) Those who are able to secure happiness though having to struggle against trying circumstances.
注：文章最后一句
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