Take a look at the following list of numbers: 4, 8, 5, 3, 7, 9, 6. Read them loud. Now look away and spend 20 seconds memorizing them in order before saying them out loud again. If you speak English, you have about a 50% chance of remembering those perfectly. If you are Chinese, though, you’re almost certain to get it right every time. Why is that? Because we most easily memorize whatever we can say or read within a two-second period. And unlike English, the Chinese language allows them to fit all those seven numbers into two seconds.

That example comes from Stanislas Dahaene’s book The Number Sense. As Dahaene explains: Chinese number words are remarkably brief. Most of them can be spoken out in less than one-quarter of a second (for instance, 4 is “si” and 7 “qi”). Their English pronunciations are longer. The memory gap between English and Chinese apparently is entirely due to this difference in length.

It turns out that there is also a big difference in how number-naming systems in Western and Asian languages are constructed. In English, we say fourteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen and nineteen, so one might expect that we would also say oneteen, twoteen, threeteen, and fiveteen. But we don’t. We use a different form: eleven, twelve, thirteen and fifteen. For numbers above 20, we put the “decade” first and the unit number second (twenty-one, twenty-two), while for the teens, we do it the other way around (fourteen, seventeen, eighteen). The number system in English is highly irregular. Not so in China, Japan, and Korea. They have a logical counting system. Eleven is ten-one. Twelve is ten-two. Twenty-four is two-tens-four and so on.

That difference means that Asian children learn to count much faster than American children. Four-year-old Chinese children can count, on average, to 40. American children at that age can count only to 15. By the age of five, in other words, American children are already a year behind their Asian friends in the most fundamental of math skills.

The regularity of their number system also means that Asian children can perform basic functions, such as addition, far more easily. Ask an English-speaking seven-year-old to add thirty-seven plus twenty-two in her head, and she has to change the words to numbers (37+22). Only then can she do the math: 2 plus 7 is 9 and 30 and 20 is 50, which makes 59. Ask an Asian child to add three-tens-seven and two-tens-two, and then the necessary equation(等式) is right there, in the sentence. No number translation is necessary: it’s five-tens-nine.

When it comes to math, in other words, Asians have a built-in advantage. For years, students from China, South Korea, and Japan --- outperformed their Western classmates at mathematics, and the typical assumption is that it has something to do with a kind of Asian talent for math. The differences between the number systems in the East and the West suggest something very different --- that being good at math may also be rooted in a group’s culture.

What does the passage mainly talk about?

A. The Asian number-naming system helps grasp advanced math skills better.

B. Western culture fail to provide their children with adequate number knowledge.

C. Children in Western countries have to learn by heart the learning things.

D. Asian children’s advantage in math may be sourced from their culture.

What makes a Chinese easier to remember a list of numbers than an American?

A. Their understanding of numbers.

B. Their mother tongue.

C. Their math education.

D. Their different IQ.

Asian children can reach answers in basic math functions more quickly because ____________.

A. they pronounce the numbers in a shorter period

B. they practice math from an early age

C. English speaking children translate language into numbers first

D. American children can only count to 15 at the age of four

阅读下面的短文,请根据短文后的要求答题(请注意问题后的字数要求)

As American friend of mine who was high up in a big corporation had worked out a way of heading a good of e-mails before most of us bad, even heard of the concept. If any information he was sent was vital enough, his back of response would ensure the sender rang him up , if the sender wasn’t important enough to have his private numbers the communication couldn’t be that important, my friend is now even more senior in the same company so the strategy must work.

Almost every week now there seems to be a report suggesting that we are all being driven crazy by the bother of e-mail. He this is the case, it’s only because we haven’t developed an appropriate in dealing with it.

________ Firstly. You junk nothing with an exclamation mark on a string of capital letters, or from my address, you don’t recognize on feel confident about.

Secondly, e-mail don’t and have to be answered. Because e-mail is so easy, there’s a tendency for correspondence to carry on for ever, but it is permissible to stop an endless discussion or to accept a point of information sent by a colleague without acknowledging it.

Thirdly, a reply e-mail thoughts have to be the same length as the original. We all have e-mail pals who send long, chatty e-mails, which are nice to receive, but who then expect an equally long reply. The chart of e-mail can consist in the simple, incomplete sentence, totally regardless of the of the bread of the letter meat by post. You are perfectly within the bounds of politeness in responding to a marathon e-mail with a better reply.

76.Which sentence in the passage to the closest in meaning to the following one?

The possible existence of annoyance results from our inability to sort out e-mails.

77.Fill in the blank in Paragraph 3 with a proper sentence. (within 10 words )

78.What advice si given in the last paragraph? (within 10 words)

79.For what purpose does the author mention his American friend in Paragraph 1? (within 10 words)

80.Franslate the underlined sentence in the last paragraph into Chinese.

 


第三部分:阅读理解(共20小题;每小题2分,满分40分)
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项。
A
When I worked in Swaziland, one day we went to an orphanage. There we found a beautiful little girl named Tanzile. I gave her a sweet and she said something back to me in Si-swati, which the nurse next to me translated, “She wants another one — to give to her little sister.” I said “of course”. When we were going to leave, we passed by Tanzile’s house to say goodbye. To our surprise she seemed to be holding on to that extra sweet I had given her. I remember saying to the nurse “this little darling is clever — she has taken two for herself.”
But the nurse told us, “Tanzile is 7 now. Two years ago her mum and dad both died of AIDS. She was separated from her sister who was three at the time. Tanzile has not laid eyes on her since. But from then on whenever Tanzile receives anything from anyone, including food — she refuses to accept it, unless they give her two.” In fact, in the little mud hut where she lives, we find a pile of old things which she has been collecting to give to her sister one day.
People sometimes look at faces of African children and think that they are somehow different from our kids — that somehow they don’t feel pain or love. But that is not true. Their pain is deep. And so is their love. I can still remember the nurse trying to convince her that “if someone gives you food, you must accept it — even if it is only one piece and not two — for your own health.” And it was so hard for us to keep the tears from our eyes as she shook her head. Her hope and her love was all that she had. It mattered more than anything else. When I returned home that day, I was shocked to find that this was not an isolated story but others in the hospital knew of orphans just like Tanzile — waiting with a little pile of things in their hut, for their lovers who they haven’t seen so long.
I think of that old song — “when we’re hungry, love will keep us alive.”
56. From the passage we can learn Tanzile__________.
A. is very clever        B. knows her sister has died
C. has stored a lot for her sister       D. doesn’t like sweets
57. How old was her sister when the author met with Tanzile?
A. Three years old.    B. Four years old.
C. Five years old.     D. Six years old.
58. What has the author learned from her experience in Africa?
A. Love is more important in life than anything else.
B. African children are different in a way.
C. African children should be treated fairly.
D. We should express our love in time.
59. The best title for the passage would be __________
A. Give every child two sweets      B. Tanzile’s love for her sister
C. One for my sister               D. Change your attitude to African children


第三部分:阅读理解(共20小题;每小题2分,满分40分)
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项。
When I worked in Swaziland, one day we went to an orphanage (孤儿院).There we found a beautiful little girl named Tanzile.I gave her a sweet and she said something back to me in Si-swati, which the nurse next to me translated, “She wants another one — to give to her little sister.” I said “of course”.When we were going to leave, we passed by Tanzile’s house to say goodbye.To our surprise she seemed to be holding on to that extra sweet I had given her.I remember saying to the nurse “this little darling is clever — she has taken two for herself.”
But the nurse told us, “Tanzile is 7 now.Two years ago her mum and dad both died of AIDS.She was separated from her sister who was three at the time.Tanzile has not laid eyes on her since.But from then on whenever Tanzile receives anything from anyone, including food — she refuses to accept it, unless they give her two.” In fact, in the little mud hut where she lives, we find a pile of old things which she has been collecting to give to her sister one day.
People sometimes look at faces of African children and think that they are somehow different from our kids — that somehow they don’t feel pain or love.But that is not true.Their pain is deep.And so is their love.I can still remember the nurse trying to convince her that “if someone gives you food, you must accept it — even if it is only one piece and not two — for your own health.” And it was so hard for us to keep the tears from our eyes as she shook her head.Her hope and her love was all that she had.It mattered more than anything else.When I returned home that day, I was shocked to find that this was not an isolated story but others in the hospital knew of orphans just like Tanzile — waiting with a little pile of things in their hut, for their lovers who they haven’t seen so long.
I think of that old song — “when we’re hungry, love will keep us alive.”
56.From the passage we can learn Tanzile       .
A.is very clever                         B.knows her sister has died
C.has stored a lot for her sister          D.doesn’t like sweets
57.How old was her sister when the author met with Tanzile?
A.Three years old.          B.Four years old.
C.Five years old.            D.Six years old.
58.What has the author learned from her experience in Africa?
A.Love is more important in life than anything else.
B.African children are different in a way.
C.African children should be treated fairly.
D.We should express our love in time.
59.The best title for the passage would be        .
A.Give every child two sweets       B.Tanzile’s love for her sister
C.One for my sister              D.Change your attitude to African children

第三部分:阅读理解(共20小题;每小题2分,满分40分)

阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项。

When I worked in Swaziland, one day we went to an orphanage (孤儿院).There we found a beautiful little girl named Tanzile.I gave her a sweet and she said something back to me in Si-swati, which the nurse next to me translated, “She wants another one — to give to her little sister.” I said “of course”.When we were going to leave, we passed by Tanzile’s house to say goodbye.To our surprise she seemed to be holding on to that extra sweet I had given her.I remember saying to the nurse “this little darling is clever — she has taken two for herself.”

But the nurse told us, “Tanzile is 7 now.Two years ago her mum and dad both died of AIDS.She was separated from her sister who was three at the time.Tanzile has not laid eyes on her since.But from then on whenever Tanzile receives anything from anyone, including food — she refuses to accept it, unless they give her two.” In fact, in the little mud hut where she lives, we find a pile of old things which she has been collecting to give to her sister one day.

People sometimes look at faces of African children and think that they are somehow different from our kids — that somehow they don’t feel pain or love.But that is not true.Their pain is deep.And so is their love.I can still remember the nurse trying to convince her that “if someone gives you food, you must accept it — even if it is only one piece and not two — for your own health.” And it was so hard for us to keep the tears from our eyes as she shook her head.Her hope and her love was all that she had.It mattered more than anything else.When I returned home that day, I was shocked to find that this was not an isolated story but others in the hospital knew of orphans just like Tanzile — waiting with a little pile of things in their hut, for their lovers who they haven’t seen so long.

I think of that old song — “when we’re hungry, love will keep us alive.”

56.From the passage we can learn Tanzile       .

A.is very clever                         B.knows her sister has died

C.has stored a lot for her sister          D.doesn’t like sweets

57.How old was her sister when the author met with Tanzile?

A.Three years old.          B.Four years old.

C.Five years old.            D.Six years old.

58.What has the author learned from her experience in Africa?

A.Love is more important in life than anything else.

B.African children are different in a way.

C.African children should be treated fairly.

D.We should express our love in time.

59.The best title for the passage would be        .

A.Give every child two sweets       B.Tanzile’s love for her sister

C.One for my sister              D.Change your attitude to African children

 

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