Research at the University of Liverpool, UK, has found that Shakespeare’s language stimulates positive brain activity.

   Shakespeare uses a linguistic（语言的）technique known as functional change that involves, for example, using a noun to serve as a verb．Researchers found that this technique allows the brain to understand what a word means before it understands the function of the word within a sentence．This process causes a sudden peak in brain activity and forces the brain to work backwards in order to fully understand what Shakespeare is trying to say.

Professor Philip Davis, from the university’s School of English, said: “The brain reacts to reading a phrase such as ‘he godded me’ from the tragedy of Coriolanus, in a similar way to putting a jigsaw puzzle（拼图玩具）together．If it is easy to see which pieces fit together you become bored of the game．But if the pieces don’t appear to fit, when we know they should, the brain becomes excited．By throwing irregular words into seemingly normal sentences, Shakespeare surprises the brain in a manner that produces a sudden burst of activity — a sense of drama created out of the simplest of things.”

Experts believe that this heightened brain activity may be one of the reasons why Shakespeare’s plays have such a dramatic impact on their readers.

Professor Neil Roberts, from the university’s Magnetic Resonance and Image Analysis Research Center, and Professor Davis, together with Dr Guillaune Thierry, from the University of Wales, UK, monitored 20 participants using an electroencephalogram (EEG) as they read selected lines from Shakespeare’s plays.

“The brain signal is relatively stable when we understand the meaning of a word but when the word changes the grammar of the whole sentence, brain readings suddenly peak．The brain is then forced to retrace its thinking process in order to understand what it is supposed to make of this unusual word,” explains Professor Roberts.

1．The research conducted by the professors has showed that ___________.

         A．Shakespeare uses functional change to mislead readers

         B．Shakespeare’s language excites positive brain activity.

         C．Shakespeare’s plays have a dramatic effect on their readers.

         D．Shakespeare’s language makes the brain signal relatively stable

2．Which of the following words can replace the underlined pronoun “it” in the 2nd paragraph?

         A．technique              B．word            C．brain            C．sentence

3．In the 3rd paragraph, the example of a jigsaw puzzle is used here to state___________.

         A．the function of Shakespeare’s linguistic technique

         B．a sense of drama created by playing the game

         C．the Shakespeare’s thinking process

         D．the brain’s reaction to reading a book

4．Based on the research, Shakespeare’s plays have a great effect on their reader lies in_______.

         A．language used in plays                B．characters showed in works

         C．brain activity increased in reading       D．thinking process when writing

Learning Chinese has been like climbing a steep(陡峭的)mountain.

My mother was born in Tokyo,while my father moved from Shanghai to Hong Kong when he was seven years old. At home we speak English. I know some basic Chinese customs :to use chosticks gracefully (得体地)and what to say on Spring Festival to get a red envelope. But I never truly learned to speak Chinese.

Why should I need to learn the language ,anyway? I live in America where everyone speaks English.

I realized I was wrong in ninth grade when I arrived at Philips Academy,a famous boarding school in Massachusetts.The school encourages a global outlook(视野). There I decided to welcome the opportunity to learn Chinese. I met other American-born Chinese and together we spoke Ching-lish outside of the classroom.

I searched for ways to access Chinese culture through dramas such as Meteor Garden (《流星花园》)and music by singers such as S.H.E,Wilbur Pan and Jasmine Leung（梁静茹）. Listening to Chinese music is where I found my favorite singer in the whole world:Jay Chou. Even if I cannot understand what he is crooning（哼唱）, I do feel more Chinese whenever I listen to his music.

Last summer I spent five weeks in China,four of which were taking a language course at a Beijing high school. I was proud when I could understand the dialogue in Intitial D（《头文字D》） and when I could easily translate Fairy Tale sung by Kong Leung（光良）.

Learning Chinese has been a rocky trek（艰苦跋涉）, and I know it will continue to be that way before I arrive at a relative plateau（高地） of fluency（流利）.I hope that one day I will be able to work and maybe even live in China as a true Chinese.

1.The author wrote the text mainly to___.

A.share her experience of learning Chinese

B.tell us why she is interested in learning Chinese

C.show off(炫耀) the progress she made in learning Chinese

D.give advice on how to learn Chinese

2.The author's attitude to learning Chinese changed because___.

A.she found Chinese was interesting to learn

B.she wanted to take a course to pass easily

C.she realized she should have an open mind to the outside world

D. she made friends with some American___born Chinese at the school she studied

3.The author tried all of the following to learn Chinese EXCEPT___.

A.listening to Chinese music

B.practicing speaking Chinese with her parents

C.enjoying Chinese dramas

D.taking a Chinese course in China

4.We can learn from the text that___.

A.S.H.E.is the author's favorite singer[来源:Zxxk.Com]

B.dialogues in Meteor Garden are easy to guess

C.the author enjoys learning Chinese though it is difficult

D.the author can speak fluent Chinese now

Learning Chinese has been like climbing a steep(陡峭的)mountain.

My mother was born in Tokyo,while my father moved from Shanghai to Hong Kong when he was seven years old. At home we speak English. I know some basic Chinese customs :to use chosticks gracefully (得体地)and what to say on Spring Festival to get a red envelope. But I never truly learned to speak Chinese.

Why should I need to learn the language ,anyway? I live in America where everyone speaks English.

I realized I was wrong in ninth grade when I arrived at Philips Academy,a famous boarding school in Massachusetts.The school encourages a global outlook(视野). There I decided to welcome the opportunity to learn Chinese. I met other American-born Chinese and together we spoke Ching-lish outside of the classroom.

I searched for ways to access Chinese culture through dramas such as Meteor Garden (《流星花园》)and music by singers such as S.H.E,Wilbur Pan and Jasmine Leung（梁静茹）. Listening to Chinese music is where I found my favorite singer in the whole world:Jay Chou. Even if I cannot understand what he is crooning（哼唱）, I do feel more Chinese whenever I listen to his music.

Last summer I spent five weeks in China,four of which were taking a language course at a Beijing high school. I was proud when I could understand the dialogue in Intitial D（《头文字D》） and when I could easily translate Fairy Tale sung by Kong Leung（光良）.

Learning Chinese has been a rocky trek（艰苦跋涉）, and I know it will continue to be that way before I arrive at a relative plateau（高地） of fluency（流利）.I hope that one day I will be able to work and maybe even live in China as a true Chinese.

1、The author wrote the text mainly to___.

A.share her experience of learning Chinese

B.tell us why she is interested in learning Chinese

C.show off(炫耀) the progress she made in learning Chinese

D.give advice on how to learn Chinese

2、The author's attitude to learning Chinese changed because___.

A.she found Chinese was interesting to learn

B.she wanted to take a course to pass easily

C.she realized she should have an open mind to the outside world

D.she made friends with some American___born Chinese at the school she studied

3、The author tried all of the following to learn Chinese EXCEPT___.

A.listening to Chinese music

B.practicing speaking Chinese with her parents

C.enjoying Chinese dramas

D.taking a Chinese course in China

4、We can learn from the text that___.

A.S.H.E.is the author's favorite singer

B.dialogues in Meteor Garden are easy to guess

C.the author enjoys learning Chinese though it is difficult

D.the author can speak fluent Chinese now

Let children learn to judge their own work. A child learning to talk does not learn by being corrected all the time :if corrected too much, he will stop talking. He notices a thousand times a day the difference between the language he uses and the language those

Around him use. Bit by bit .he makes the necessary changes to make his language like other people's. In the same way, children learn to do all the other things: they should learn to do without being taught, such as to walk, run, climb,  whistle, ride a bicycle—compare their own performances with those of more skilled people, and slowly make the needed changes. But in school we never give a child a chance to find out his mistakes and correct them for himself. We do it all for him. We act as if we thought that he would never notice a mistake unless it was pointed out to him, or correct it unless he was made to .Let him work out, with the help of other children if he wants it, what this word says, what the  answer is to that problem, whether this is a good way of saying or doing this or not.

   If it is a matter of right answer, as it may be in mathematics or science, give him the answer book. Let him correct his own papers. Why should we teachers waste time on such routine（常规）work? Our job should be to help the child when he tells us that he can’t find the way to get the right answer .Let the children learn what all educated persons must some day learn ,how to measure their own understanding, how to know what they   know or do not know.

According to the passage ,the best way for children to learn things is by______

A .listening to skilled people's advice     

B .asking older people many questions.

C .making mistakes and having them corrected 

 D .doing what other people do

which of the following does the writer think teachers should NOT do?

A. Give children correct answers.        

 B .Allow children to make mistakes.

C .Point out children's mistakes to them.

D. Let children mark their own work.

According to the writer, teachers in school should______

A. allow children to learn from each other

B. point out children's mistakes whenever found

C .correct children's mistakes as soon as possible

D. give children more book knowledge

The passage suggests that learning to speak and learning to ride a bicycle are ____

A. different from learning other skills

B. the same as learning other skills

C. more important than other skills

D. not really important skills

There was one shop in the town of Mufulira which was widely known for its racial discrimination. It was a drugstore .While Europeans were served at the counter ,a long line of Africans queued at the window and often not only were kept waiting but were treated rudely by the shop assistants .One day I was determined to make a public protest （抗议）against this kind of thing ,and many of the schoolboys in my class followed me to the store.

I simply went into the shop and asked the manager politely for some medicine. As soon as he saw me standing in the place where only European customers were allowed to stand ,he shouted at me in a bastard （怪声怪气的）language which is only used by a boss when speaking to his servants .I stood at the counter and politely requested in proper English that I should be served .The manager became angry and said , “Even if you stand till Christmas ,I will never serve you .”

I went to the District Commissioner’s office .Fortunately ,he was out ,for he was one of the old school; however ,I saw a young District Officer who was a friend of mine .He was very concerned to hear my story and told me that all I had to do was come to him personally and he would buy my medicine for me .I protested that that was not good enough .I asked him to accompany me back to the store and to make a protest to the manager .This he did ,and I well remember him saying to the manager , “Here is Mr. Kaunda who is a responsible member of the Urban Advisory Council, and you treat him like a common servant .” The manager of the drugstore apologized and said , “If only he had introduced himself and explained who he was ,then ,of course ,I should have given him proper service.”

I had to explain once again that he had missed my point .Why should I have to introduce myself every time I went into a store…any more than I should have to buy my medicine by going to a European friend ? I want to prove that any man of any color ,whatever his position ,should have the right to go into any shop and buy what he wanted .After all, the money which I paid across the counter was exactly the same money as was paid by a European customer.

1.The writer was ,at the time of the story ,     .

2.The manager of the drugstore shouted at the writer in dirty words because     .

3.In paragraph 3, the underlined sentence “he was one of the old school” means     .

A．he stuck to those old racial ideas

B．he graduated from an old white school

C．he was in charge of an old black school

4.Why didn’t the writer wait at the window of the drugstore like other Africans?