Professor Reason recently persuaded 35 people to keep a diary of all their absent?minded actions for two weeks. When he came to analyse their embarrassing errors, he was surprised to find that nearly all of them fell into a few groups.

     One of the women, for instance, on leaving her house for work one morning threw her pet dog her ear?rings and tried to fix a dog biscuit on her ear. “The explanation for this is that the brain is like a computer,”explains the professor.“People programme themselves to do certain activities regularly. It was the woman's custom every morning to throw her dog two biscuits and then put on her ear rings. But somehow the action got reversed(颠倒) in the programme.” About one in twenty of the incidents the volunteers reported were these “programme assembly failures”.

     Twenty percent of all errors were “test failures”— primarily due to not verifying the progress of what the body was doing. A man about to get his car out

 of the garage passed through the back yard where his garden jacket and boots were kept, put them on—much to his surprise. A woman victim reported:“I got into the bath with my socks on.”

     The commonest problem was information “storage failures”. People forgot the

 names of people whose faces they knew,went into a room and forgot why they were

 there, mislaid something, or smoked a cigarette without realizing it.

     The research so far suggests that while the “central processor” of the brain is liberated from second?to?second control of a well?practised routine, it must repeatedly switch back its attention at important decision points to check that the action goes on as intended. Otherwise the activity may be “captured” by another frequently and recently used programme, resulting in embarrassing errors.

1.The purpose of Professor Reason's research is  _______.

A.to show the difference between men and women in their reasoning

B.to classify and explain some errors in human actions

C.to find the causes which lead to computer failures

D.to compare computer functions with brain workings

2.Which of the following might be grouped under “programme assembly failures”?

A.A woman went into a shop and forgot what to buy.

B.A man returning home after work left his key in the lock.

C.A lady fell as she was concentrating on each step her feet were taking.

D.An old man, with his shoes on, was trying to put on his socks.

3.The word “verifying” in paragraph 3 can be replaced by _______ .

A.improvingB.changingC.checkingD.stopping

4.According to the passage, the information “storage failures” refer to _______ .

A.the destruction of information collecting system

B.the elimination of one's total memory

C.the temporary loss of part of one's memory

D.the separation of one's action from consciousness


四.阅读理解:
A
Professor Reason recently persuaded 35 people to keep a diary of all their absent-minded actions for two weeks. When he came to analyze(分析) their embarrassing errors , he was surprised to find that nearly all of them fell into a few groups .
One of the women, for instance, on leaving her house for work one morning threw her pet dog her ear-rings and tried to fix a dog biscuit on her ear. “ The explanation for this is that the brain is like a computer, ” explains the professor, “ People programme themselves to do certain activities regularly. It was the woman’s custom every morning to throw her dog two biscuits and then put on her ear-rings. But somehow the action got reversed(颠倒) in the programme .” About one in twenty of the incidents the volunteers reported were these “ programme assembly failures.”
Twenty per cent of all errors were “ test failures ”—primarily due to not verifying the progress of what the body was doing . A man about to get his car out of the garage passed through the back yard where his garden jacket and boots were kept , put them on —much to his surprise . A woman victim reported : “ I got into the bath with my socks on .”
The commonest problem was information “ storage failures”. People forgot the names of people whose faces they knew, went into a room and forgot why they were there, mislaid something, or smoked a cigarette without realizing it.
The research so far suggests that while the “ central processor” of the brain is liberated from second-to-second control of a well-practiced routine, it must repeatedly switch back its attention at important decision points to check that the action goes on as intended. Otherwise the activity may be “ captured ” by another frequently and recently used programme, resulting in embarrassing errors.
1. The purpose of Professor Reason’s research is     .
A. to show the difference between men and women in their reasoning
B. to classify and explain some errors in human actions
C. to find the causes which lead to computer failures
D. to compare computer functions with brain workings .
2. Which of the following might be grouped under “ programme assembly failures ”?
A. A woman went into a shop and forgot what to buy.
B. A man returning home after work left his key in the lock.
C. A lady fell as she was concentrating on each step her feet were taking.
D. An old man, with his shoes on, was trying to put on his socks.
3. The word “ verifying ” in paragraph 3 can be replaced by      .
A. improving    B. changing   C. checking  D. stopping
4. According to the passage, the information “ storage failures ” refer to     .
A. the destruction of information collecting system
B. the elimination of one’s total memory
C. the temporary loss of part of one’s memory
D. the separation of one’s action from consciousness


Not long ago , Richard Denniston found himself suffering the same pain that millions of other pet owners have faced . His little Scottish dog had a brain tumor(肿块)and would soon die. Like others who faced the problem before him , Denniston just wanted to end his pet’s suffering . However , he took one step further.
Deniston , an expert who studies animals , collected a tiny skin sample from the dog and took it to his laboratory at Louisiana State University. There he  cultivated  it and froze it in liquid nitrogen.
From that idea , Denniston started a new technology .Denniston’s company will save pet’s DNA $500,plus a monthly storage fee of Us $10, until cloning becomes a reality .
Thanks mostly to the contribution of a California multimillionaire , that day may not be so far off.
“It could happen extremely soon if everything went on well.”says Mark Westhusin , a professor leading a dog cloning team . Most experts put successful dog cloning a year to five years down the road . The cost is bound to be expensive at first , but it would eventually drop to a few thousand dollars.
Since Dolly , the sheep which was first cloned in 1997 ,cattle ,goats ,mice and monkeys have been cloned in labs . Pets are likely to be next.
“I really believe that the technology is going to become available for many species in the near future ,”Denniston says .
1. After his pet died ,Richard Denniston_______.
A. did something more than the ordinary pet owners
B. did as other pet owners
C. did nothing but feel very sad
D.could not help feeling lonely without his dear pet
2. Richard Denniston_________in liquid nitrogen for an experiment.
A. was a doctor who put his dog
B. was an animal expert who put a piece of his dog’s skin
C.was an expert at collecting skin samples who then put them
D.took great interest in freezing things
3. The underlined word “cultivated ”in Para . 2 probably means_________.
A. bought     B.discovered    C.caught     D.trained
4. Cloning will cost people_______.
A. a lot of money in five years .
B. much in the beginning and then be reduced to a thousand dollars.
C. much and then will surely be reduced to thousands of dollars.
D.much at first and then might be reduced to a few thousand dollars.

  Professor Reason recently persuaded 35 people to keep a diary of all their absent-minded actions for two weeks. When he came to analyze their embarrassing errors, he was surprised to find that nearly all of them fell into a few groups.

    One of the women, for instance, on leaving her house for work one morning threw her pet dog her earrings and tried to fix a dog biscuit on her ear. “The explanation for this is that the brain is like a computer,” explains the professor. “People programme themselves to do certain activities regularly.” It was the woman’s custom every morning to throw her dog two biscuits and then put on her earrings. “But somehow the action got reversed(颠倒)in the programme.” About one in twenty of the incidents the volunteers reported were these “programme assembly failures.”

   Twenty percent of all errors were “test failures” — mainly due to not verifying the progress of what the body was doing. A man about to get his car out of the garage passed through the back yard where his garden jacket and boots were kept, put them on — much to his surprise. A woman reported, “I got into the bath with my socks on.”

   The commonest problem was information “storage failures”. People forgot the names of people whose faces they knew, went into a room and forgot why they were there, mislaid something, or smoked a cigarette without realizing it.

   The research so far suggests that while the central processor of the brain is liberated from second-to-second control of a well-practiced routine, it must repeatedly switch back its attention at important decision points to check that the action goes on as intended. Otherwise the activity may be gotten by another frequently and recently used programme, resulting in embarrassing errors.

1.The purpose of the professor’s research is to __________.

    A. show the difference between men and women

    B. sort and explain some errors in human actions

    C. find the causes which lead to computer failures

    D. compare computer functions with brain working

2.Which of the following might be grouped under “programme assembly failures”?

    A. A woman went to a shop and forgot what to buy.

    B. A man returning home after work left his key in the lock.

    C. A lady fell as she was paying attention to each step her feet were taking.

    D. An old man, with his shoes on, was trying to put on his socks.

3.The underlined word “verifying” (in paragraph 3) can be replaced by “_______”.

    A. improving          B. changing     C. checking       D. stopping

4.According to the passage, the information “storage failure” refers to “_______”.

   A. information collecting system being destroyed

   B. one’s total memory being removed

   C. the loss of part of one’s memory for a time

   D. the separation of one’s action from words

 

 

Every pet owner loves his pet. There is no argument here.

But when we asked our readers whether they would clone(克隆) their beloved animals, the answers were split almost down the middle. Of the 228 readers who answered it, 108 would clone, 111 would not and nine weighed each side without offering an opinion.

Clearly, from readers’ response, this is an issue that reaches deeply into both the joy and final sadness of owning a pet. It speaks, as well, to people’s widely differing expectations over the developing scientific procedure.

Most of the respondents (被调查的人) who liked the idea strongly believed it would produce at least a close copy of the original; many felt the process would actually return an exact copy. Those on the other side, however, held little hope a clone could never truly recreate a pet, many simply didn’t wish to go against the natural law of life and death.

Both sides expressed equal love for their animals. More than a few respondents owned “the best dog/cat in the world”. They thought of their pets as their “best friend”, “a member of the family,” “the light of my life.” They told moving stories of pets’ heroism(英勇精神), cleverness and selfless devotion.

“People become very close to their animals, and the loss can be just as hard to bear as when a friend or family member dies,” says Gary Kowalski, author of Goodbye, Friend: Healing Wisdom for Anyone Who Has Ever Lost a Pet. “For me, cloning feels like an attempt to turn death away…It’s understandable. Death is always painful. It’s difficult to deal with. It’s hard to accept.”

  But would cloning reduce the blow? This question seemed to be at the heart of this problem.

71. So far as the cloning of pets is concerned, a recent survey shows that, of all pet owners, __________.

A. a lot more of them are for it  

B. a lot more of them are against it

C. very few of them are willing to tell their opinions

D. about half of them are for it and the other half against it

72. While talking about the respondents from the readers, the underlined expression “final sadness of owning a pet” refers to ___________.

A. the death of one’s pet   

B. the high cost of owning a pet

C. the troubles one has to deal with in keeping a pet

D. the dangers involved in the cloning of a pet

73. In spite of(尽管) their differences on the problem of cloning, it seems that ________.

A. all pet owners try to go against the natural law of life and death

B. all pet owners love their pets very much

C. people who support cloning love their pets more

D. people who dislike cloning love their pets more

74. From what Gary Kowalski says, we can know that he _________.

A. has never thought about the problem of cloning

B. is going to write another book on pets

C. support the idea of cloning pets

D. is all against the cloning of pets

75. What is the key question at the heart of the problem of cloning pets?

A. Can cloning make one suffers less pain when a pet dies?

B. Can pet owners afford the cost of cloning?

C. Does cloning go against the law of nature?

D. Can cloning really produce an exact copy of one’s pet?

 

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