In Colombia, there are some unwritten rules that people are used to. These rules are not officially established, but people do respect them. For example, on a bus, a person keeps a distance from another person, and people don’t like to touch each other. Many people come to work late because they prefer to wait for another bus if the first one is too crowded. They don’t want to have to stand too close to another person, or maybe they are afraid of starting a conversation.
A friend of mine in Colombia once said his mom got angry because he came home late, so he asked her, “Mom, what do you think of most people arriving at their jobs so late?” That gave her the answer to her question since everyone knows no one wants to get on a bus that is too crowded. His mother realized at that moment that customs have a big influence on a person’s life.
Sometimes, people don’t like to make any kind of conversation or make eye contact(接触) with others. For example, when they are in line at a bank, they prefer to look up or down rather than look at other people.
Moreover, people usually look down when they are in an elevator. Not only on a bus, in line at a bank, and in an elevator do people usually avoid talking to other people, but also in the streets when they are walking, they prefer to look down and to avoid contact with others.
【小题1】 Why do many people get to work late in Colombia?

A．They always think the next bus will be better.

B．They don’t want to get on crowded buses.

C．It’s an official rule in Colombia.

D．They get into conversations and miss their buses.

Did you know that women’s brains are smaller than men’s? The average women’s brain weighs 10% less than men’s. Since research has shown that the bigger the brain, the cleverer the animal, men must be more intelligent(聪明的) than women. Right? Wrong. Men and women always score similarly on intelligence tests, despite the difference in brain size. Why? After years of study, researchers have concluded that it’s what’s inside that matters, not just the size of the brain. The brain consists of “grey matter” and “white matter” while men have more of latter, the amount of “thinking” brain is almost exactly the same in both sexes.
It has been suggested that smaller brain appears to work faster, perhaps because the two sides of the brain are better connected in women. This means that little girls tend to learn to speak earlier, and that women can understand sorts of information from different sources at the same time. When it comes to talking to the boss on the phone, cooking dinner and keeping an eye on the baby all at the same time, it’s women who come out on top every time.
There are other important differences between two sexes. As white matter is the key to spatial(空间的) tasks, men know better where things are in relation to other things. “A great footballer always knows where he is in relation to the other players, and he knows where to go,” says one researcher. That may explain one of life’s great mysteries: why men refuse to ask for directions … and women often need to!
The differences begin when fetuses(胎儿) are about mine weeks old, which can be seen in the action of children ad young as one. A boy would try to climb a barrier (障碍物) before him or push it down while a girl would attract help from others. These brain differences also explain the fact that more men take up jobs that require good spatial skills, while more women speech skills. It may all go back to our ancestors, among whom women needed speech skills to take care of their babies and men needed spatial skills to hunt, according to one research.
If all this disappoints you, it shouldn’t. “The brain changes throughout our lives according to what we do with it.” says a biologist.
【小题1】Which of the following is true according to the first paragraph?

“The price of books for our students is just getting higher and higher and，combined with the rising cost of tuition，it’s killing these students，”said Peter Jason，a college professor．“Remember，students are one of the poorest groups of people in America．Almost half of them have at least one part-time job．In fact，one of my students has three jobs．And she still manages to have high scores and go to school full-time.”
Textbook prices are traditionally high．Adding to that problem，many college teachers change textbooks year after year；they either upgrade to a new edition or switch to an entirely different textbook．This further hurts students because if an instructor no longer uses a particular textbook，that book has no resale value．
Dr．Jason decided to make lire a little easier and a lot cheaper for his students by writing his own book on public speaking．“Many books have an increased price because of CD-ROMs，lots of color photographs and pictures．I talked to my students，and many of them，like me，prefer to keep things simple! So，a few years ago，I wrote my own textbook．Compared to most other public speaking books，mine is half the number of pages，and one-third the price．That is，$30 instead of $90．When I wrote a second edition last year，students only had to buy the 35 new pages, For only $7．00，they had almost a new book. Now my loose-leaf textbook enjoys great popularity among the students．Maybe in the future more writers and publishers will try it．”   
【小题1】What did Dr. Jason say about students at college?

Did you know that women’s brains are smaller than men’s? The average women’s brain weighs 10% less than men’s. Since research has shown that the bigger the brain, the cleverer the animal, men must be more intelligent(聪明的) than women. Right? Wrong. Men and women always score similarly on intelligence tests, despite the difference in brain size. Why? After years of study, researchers have concluded that it’s what’s inside that matters, not just the size of the brain. The brain consists of  “grey matter” and
It has been suggested that smaller brain appears to work faster, perhaps because the two sides of the brain are better connected in women. This means that little girls tend to learn to speak earlier, and that women can understand sorts of information from different sources at the same time. When it comes to talking to the boss on the phone, cooking dinner and keeping an eye on the baby all at the same time, it’s women who come out on top every time.
There are other important differences between two sexes. As white matter is the key to spatial(空间的) tasks, men know better where things are in relation to other things. “A great footballer always knows where he is in relation to the other players, and he knows where to go,” says one researcher. That may explain one of life’s great mysteries: why men refuse to ask for directions … and women often need to!
The differences begin when fetuses(胎儿) are about mine weeks old, which can be seen in the action of children ad young as one. A boy would try to climb a barrier (障碍物) before him or push it down while a girl would attract help from others. These brain differences also explain the fact that more men take up jobs that require good spatial skills, while more women speech skills. It may all go back to our ancestors(祖先) ,among whom women needed speech skills to take care of their babies and men needed spatial skills to hunt, according to one research.
If all this disappoints you, it shouldn’t. “The brain changes throughout our lives according to what we do with it.” says a biologist.
【小题1】Which of the following is true according to the first paragraph?

I had once helped a friend of mine run a watermelon stall. I noticed something interesting. Almost every buyer would lift the melon up to their ear，smartly tap it, apparently trying to listen to something. I wondered what they expected to hear.

Finally I could no longer hold back my curiosity and made bold to ask a customer—an elderly gentleman—about this. Hearing my question，he roared with laughter. Then he replied in a self­mocking(自嘲)tone.“Young lady，I have been doing this for more than fifty years. All I know is that everybody would stare at you as if you were a fool if you just pick up the melon and leave！”

Not long after that，my watermelon stall friend unexpectedly sent me an invitation for her wedding，which really surprised me. I asked her, “How come you are seized by a sudden desire to get married? I don't remember ever hearing you mention that yon've got a boyfriend.” She answered while counting money，“Everyone has to get married anyway，so it is better to get married sooner than later.”

I could think of no word to refute(反驳)her. It seems that everybody is living for everybody else and has forgotten the need of their own heart. It may be safe and save a lot of worries by following others' suit in doing things. The use of We or Us will give one a steady and sure sense of pride. But using the pronoun “I” would often give one a guilty conscience.

I find all these things somewhat funny. We have got used to taking cue from(模仿) others and follow their suit. In turn，we also take it for granted that we should judge the right and wrong of others by our own standard. As a matter of fact，this massive practice is still wrong though we all follow others' suit like this, but we feel at ease and, justified simply because this is the way of us, and so we can have an easy conscience because this has been practiced by so many people.

1.The writer probably feels that it is ________.

A．necessary for the buyer to tap the watermelon

B．foolish of the buyers to buy watermelon without tapping it

C．funny that the buyers will tap the watermelons when buying them

D．wise of the elderly gentleman to tap watermelons before buy them

2.The writer uses the example of her friend's decision of getting married to show that ________.

A．her friend took no account of others's feeling

B．her friend decided to marry just to follow the crowd

C．her friend was a person who has strong personality

D．everybody in the world should marry for  others

3.Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A．It may be safe to follow others' suit in doing things.

B．I was surprised to receive my friend's invitation for her wedding.

C．My experience of helping my friend run a watermelon stall was interesting.

D．The use of We or I will give speakers themselves quite different senses.

4.Which word can replace the underlined word“justified”in the last paragraph?

A．Reasonable.       B．Embarrassed.     C．Ashamed.        D．Nervous.

5.In which section of a magazine can you read the passage?

A．Art and Life          B．Sport and Health

C．Culture and Society    D．Science and Technology