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

       How Americans Began to Eat Tomatoes

       People have strange ideas about food．For example, the tomato is a kind of very delicious vegetable．It is one of useful plants that can be prepared in many ways．It has rich nutrition and vitamin in it．But in the 18th century, Americans never ate tomatoes．They grew them in their gardens because tomato plants are so pretty．But they thought the vegetable was poisonous （有毒的）．They called tomatoes “poison apples．” President Thomas Jefferson, however, knew that tomatoes were good to eat．He was a learned man．He had been to Paris, where he learned to love the taste of tomatoes．He grew many kinds of tomatoes in his garden．The President taught his cook a way for a cream of tomato soup．This beautiful pink soup was served at the President’s party．The guests thought the soup tasted really good．They never thought their president would serve his honored guests poison apples．Jefferson never spoke

to his honored （忠实的） guests about the fact．

After you read the passage, which of the following do you think is true?

       A．Americans never ate tomatoes after they began to plant them．

       B．Americans didn’t eat tomatoes before 19th century．

       C．Even now Americans don’t eat tomatoes．

       D．In the 18th century Americans ate a lot of tomatoes．

The passage tells us that Jefferson was a President who learned to love the taste of tomatoes __________．

       A．while he was in Paris                  B．when he was a little boy

       C．because his parents told him so     D．from books

According to the text, _______ made the beautiful pink soup served at the President’s party?

       A．the President himself                  B．a French cook

　   C．the President’s cook            D．the President’s wife

From the passage we know all the honored guests invited by Jefferson were __________．

　   A．people from other countries　　　       B．from France

       C．people of his own country　　　　      D．men only

According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

       A．All of the guests knew the soup that was served at the President’s party was made of tomatoes．

　   B．All of the guests thought the soup which was prepared by the President’s cook was nice．

　   C．All of the guests thought the taste of the beautiful pink soup was nice．

　   D．None of the guests knew that their president would serve his honored guests poison apples．

Mr. Jackson was tired of living in his old house in the countryside and wanted to sell it and buy a better one. He tried to sell it for a long time, but was not successful, so at last he decided to go to an estate agent.

The agent advertised(登广告) the house straight away, and a few days later, the owner saw a very beautiful photograph of his house, with a wonderful description of his garden in an expensive magazine.

Having read the advertisement through, the house owner hurried to phone the estate agent, saying, “I'm sorry, Mr. Jones, but I've decided not to sell my house after all.” “Why?” the agent asked in a surprised voice. “Because from the advertisement in that magazine I can see it's just the kind of house I've wanted to live in all my life.”

1. Mr. Jackson wanted to sell his house because _____.

2.The reason why Mr. Jackson went to the estate agent was _____.

3. At last Mr. Jones _____.

4. What do you think of the advertisement in magazines?

5.What’s the meaning of “an estate agent” in paragraph one?

How Americans Began to Eat Tomatoes
People have strange ideas about food. For example, the tomato is a kind of very delicious vegetable. It is one of useful plants that can be prepared in many ways. It has rich nutrition and vitamin in it. But in the 18th century, Americans never ate tomatoes. They grew them in their gardens because tomato plants are so pretty. But they thought the vegetable was poisonous (有毒的). They called tomatoes “poison apples.”
President Thomas Jefferson, however, knew that tomatoes were good to eat. He was a learned man. He had been to Paris, where he learned to love the taste of tomatoes. He grew many kinds of tomatoes in his garden. The President taught his cook a way for a cream of tomato soup. This beautiful pink soup was served at the President’s party. The guests thought the soup tasted really good. They never thought their president would serve his honored guests poison apples. Jefferson never spoke to his honored (忠实的) guests about the fact.
56. After you read the passage, which of the following do you think is true?
A. Americans never ate tomatoes after they began to plant them.
B. Americans didn’t eat tomatoes before 19th century.
C. Even now Americans don’t eat tomatoes.
D. In the 18th century Americans ate a lot of tomatoes.
57. The passage tells us that Jefferson was a President who learned to love the taste of tomatoes       .
A. while he was in Paris                                        B. when he was a little boy 
C. because his parents told him so                            D. from books
58. According to the text, _______ made the beautiful pink soup served at the President’s party?
A. the President himself     B. a French cook        C. the President’s cook      D. the President’s wife
59. From the passage we know all the honored guests invited by Jefferson were       .
A. people from other countries   B. from France   C. people of his own country     D. men only
60. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?
A. All of the guests knew the soup that was served at the President’s party was made of tomatoes.
B. All of the guests thought the soup which was prepared by the President’s cook was nice.
C. All of the guests thought the taste of the beautiful pink soup was nice.
D. None of the guests knew that their president would serve his honored guests poison apples.

Every night for a year, Neil Simons quietly went out of his house. He wanted to “talk” to an owl settling for the night at the end of his garden. He made owl cries like a real wild owl and was happy to hear the bird “hooting (大声叫嚣)” back to him.

Last year Fred Cornes moved in next door. He heard an owl hooting and answered back. For 12 months the neighbors got into the back gardens of their homes, thinking they were talking with nature. Mr. Simmons kept a diary of all his talks with his bird friend. They would both be out again tonight if it wasn’t for a chance talk between their wives.

Mr. Simmons said. “My wife Kim was telling Fred’s wife Wendy about my owl watching and described how I got the birds to boot back. She said, ‘That’s funny — that’s just what Fred has been doing.’ Then the penny dropped, I felt such a fool when I found out. The trouble is that owl calls aren’t exactly the same and it’s easy to make a mistake.”

Mr. Cornes said, “I’m really flattered (过奖). I didn’t know I sounded so real. I love nature and I couldn’t resist hooting at the owls. I was very excited when they hooted back. I’m sorry that I was fooling my neighbor who was fooling me.”

After the talk between the wives, the two men would probably _________ .

A. stop observing owls                      B. not stay up hooting again

C. not enter the back garden again          D. make no mistakes about wild owl cries

“Then the penny dropped.” most probably means “Then __________.”

A. I understood                        B. everybody knew about it

     C. I heard the noise                      D. no money was paid

Mr. Simmons felt upset about the whole thing because __________.

A. all his efforts seemed to be meaningless  

B. his wife let out his secret by chance

C. garden owls hooted so differently

D. Fred had been doing the same

The text suggests that __________.

A. Nail seldom heard natural owl calls

B. the owl never hooted back to Neil

C. Fred was always good at pleasing owls

D. owl watching is no longer interesting to Fred