Ants have a reputation for strength,organization and teamwork.But researchers have now discovered that a key secret to the success of ants is their ability to identify the importance of age in the work place.
A study of Gentral American leaf-cutter ants has shown that the younger and stronger members are give the toughest job of cutting therough the leaves they harvest.Their sharp youn teeth do this job effectively,but as they get older their teeth become relatively worn and blunt.
But rather than being retired or abandoned by the group,the ageing ants are given a new role more suyted to their physical abilities.They become carriers and teansport the leaves back to the kingdom where they are harvested for food.
The findings by researchers from the University of Oregon and the Oregong State University support previous research showin the survival of a leaf-cutter kingdom depends on the efficiency(效率）of is workers.
“Cuting leaves is hard work,”said Dr.Robert Schofield,who led the research team.“Much of the cutting is done with a V-shaped blade(刀片）between teeth on their jaws.This blade starts out as sharp as the sharpest razor blade that humans have developed.”But over rime the teeth become blunter and the cutting job slows down.The team estimated that,because of this age-related wear,a colony(蚁群)spent twice the energy cutting leaves than it would if all the ants had sharp blades.Its findings support the idea that wear and break can be significant problems for insects as well as largre animals.
Like humans,leaf-cuttre ant recognize that older members of the group can still make a worhwhile contribution to society.“This study shows an advantage of social living that we are familiar with,”said Dr.Schofield.
【小题1】The younger and stronger ants do the toughest job because      .

Ants have a reputation for strength,organization and teamwork.But researchers have now discovered that a key secret to the success of ants is their ability to identify the importance of age in the work place.

A study of Gentral American leaf-cutter ants has shown that the younger and stronger members are give the toughest job of cutting therough the leaves they harvest.Their sharp youn teeth do this job effectively,but as they get older their teeth become relatively worn and blunt.

But rather than being retired or abandoned by the group,the ageing ants are given a new role more suyted to their physical abilities.They become carriers and teansport the leaves back to the kingdom where they are harvested for food.

The findings by researchers from the University of Oregon and the Oregong State University support previous research showin the survival of a leaf-cutter kingdom depends on the efficiency(效率）of is workers.

“Cuting leaves is hard work,”said Dr.Robert Schofield,who led the research team.“Much of the cutting is done with a V-shaped blade(刀片）between teeth on their jaws.This blade starts out as sharp as the sharpest razor blade that humans have developed.”But over rime the teeth become blunter and the cutting job slows down.The team estimated that,because of this age-related wear,a colony(蚁群)spent twice the energy cutting leaves than it would if all the ants had sharp blades.Its findings support the idea that wear and break can be significant problems for insects as well as largre animals.

Like humans,leaf-cuttre ant recognize that older members of the group can still make a worhwhile contribution to society.“This study shows an advantage of social living that we are familiar with,”said Dr.Schofield.

1.The younger and stronger ants do the toughest job because      .

2.The undrelined word“blunt”in the second paragraph can be replaced by      .

3.What happens to the ants when they become old?

4.It can be learned from the passage that       .

5.What can be the best title for the passage?

       Americans have a reputation for being global illiterate（文盲）, only one in ten can speak another language .That does not stop millions of American tourists ,businessmen, diplomats and journalists from visiting and working in nearly every country in the world. Americans simply expect everyone else to know their language. Few Americans study foreign language extensively and few American schools and universities ask them to. “We want to learn about the people outside America,” says Chicago Spanish tutor Jody Miles, “It’s sad ,isn’t it? It’s the Americans’ attitude: “They’ll find me a guide who speaks English.

       The American preference for English is hardly discouraged in the nation’s schools. At least 20 percent of the country’s high schools teach no foreign language at all. Few schools teach languages to students under 12, when they can best learn another language .As a result ,fewer than 3 percent of all high school graduates achieve “ meaningful” competence in a foreign language . But that is no bar to getting into the nation’s colleges ;only 8 percent have a foreign language requirement. Some colleges permit students to take proficiency（精通）exams to demonstrate they can speak a foreign language―to some degree―instead of taking a language course. Harvard even allows undergraduates to “psych out” of its one year foreign language requirement. Students can persuade health-clinic psychiatrists（精神病医师）to prove their psychological inability to learn another language.

       Still ,there are many students who want to learn foreign languages. Some study Spanish to understand the country’s growing Hispanic（西班牙的）population; others want to study the language of their immigrant ancestors .Another reason to learn a foreign language is the tight job market. If you have two qualified people applying for a job at an international firm and only one speaks a foreign language ,it’s obvious who will be chosen.

Questions:

73．Find in the passage a word closest in meaning to the underlined word “competence”.

74．Who is responsible for American students’ incompetence in foreign languages?（回答词数不超过5个）

75．How can Harvard students be allowed to go without the one year foreign language requirement?（回答词数不超过10个）

Ants have a reputation for strength,organization and teamwork.But researchers have now discovered that a key secret to the success of ants is their ability to identify the importance of age in the work place.
A study of Gentral American leaf-cutter ants has shown that the younger and stronger members are give the toughest job of cutting therough the leaves they harvest.Their sharp youn teeth do this job effectively,but as they get older their teeth become relatively worn and blunt.
But rather than being retired or abandoned by the group,the ageing ants are given a new role more suyted to their physical abilities.They become carriers and teansport the leaves back to the kingdom where they are harvested for food.
The findings by researchers from the University of Oregon and the Oregong State University support previous research showin the survival of a leaf-cutter kingdom depends on the efficiency(效率）of is workers.
“Cuting leaves is hard work,”said Dr.Robert Schofield,who led the research team.“Much of the cutting is done with a V-shaped blade(刀片）between teeth on their jaws.This blade starts out as sharp as the sharpest razor blade that humans have developed.”But over rime the teeth become blunter and the cutting job slows down.The team estimated that,because of this age-related wear,a colony(蚁群)spent twice the energy cutting leaves than it would if all the ants had sharp blades.Its findings support the idea that wear and break can be significant problems for insects as well as largre animals.
Like humans,leaf-cuttre ant recognize that older members of the group can still make a worhwhile contribution to society.“This study shows an advantage of social living that we are familiar with,”said Dr.Schofield.

1. 1.

   The younger and stronger ants do the toughest job because      .

   1. A.
      they can teansport the leaves effectively
   2. B.
      they have a sharp blade to cut leaves
   3. C.
      other members are busy with other work
   4. D.
      they can finish the job in a better organized way
2. 2.

   The undrelined word“blunt”in the second paragraph can be replaced by      .

   1. A.
      quite loose
   2. B.
      less sharp
   3. C.
      quite fragile
   4. D.
      more dirty
3. 3.

   What happens to the ants when they become old?

   1. A.
      They no longer hve work to do.
   2. B.
      They keep doing the same work.
   3. C.
      They have to leave and live on themselves.
   4. D.
      They are given a new worthwhile job.
4. 4.

   It can be learned from the passage that       .

   1. A.
      Dr.Schofield is the first to research leaf-cuttre ants
   2. B.
      older ants are more powerful in carrying leaves
   3. C.
      large animals can also suffer from some kind of wear
   4. D.
      leaf-cutter ants are the most lever ants in the world
5. 5.

   What can be the best title for the passage?

   1. A.
      The key secret to the success of ants
   2. B.
      The developed structure of ant colony
   3. C.
      The most challenging job for leaf-cutter ants
   4. D.
      No V-shaped blade,no success of ants

For years, there has been a bias (偏见) against science among clinical psychologists (临床心理学家). In a two-year analysis to be published in November in Perspectives on Psychological Science, psychologists led by Timothy B. Baker of the University of Wisconsin charge that many clinical psychologists fail to “provide the treatments for which there is the strongest evidence of effectiveness” and “give more weight to their personal experiences than to science.” As a result, patients have no guarantee that their “treatment will be informed by … science.” Walter Mischel of Columbia University is even crueler in his judgment. “The disconnect between what clinical psychologists do and what science has discovered is an extreme embarrassment,” he told me, and “there is a widening gap between clinical practice and science.”

The “widening” reflects the great progress that psychological research has made in identifying (确认) the most effective treatments. Thanks to strict clinical trials, we now know that teaching patients to think about their thoughts in new, healthier ways and to act on those new ways of thinking are effective against depression, panic disorder and other problems, with multiple trials showing that these treatments — the tools of psychology — bring more lasting benefits than drugs.

You wouldn’t know this if you sought help from a typical clinical psychologist. Although many treatments are effective, relatively few psychologists learn or practice them.

Why in the world not? For one thing, says Baker, clinical psychologists are “very doubtful about the role of science” and “lack solid science training”. Also, one third of patients get better no matter what treatment (if any) they have, “and psychologists remember these successes, believing, wrongly, that they are the result of the treatment.”

When faced with evidence that treatments they offer are not supported by science, clinical psychologists argue that they know better than some study what works. A 2008 study of 591 psychologists in private practice found that they rely more on their own and colleagues’ experience than on science when deciding how to treat a patient. If they keep on this path as insurance companies demand evidence-based medicine, warns Mischel, psychology will “discredit itself.”

Many clinical psychologists fail to provide the most effective treatments because ________.

A. they are unfamiliar with their patients                   B. they believe in science and evidence

C. they depend on their colleagues’ help              D. they rely on their personal experiences

The widening gap between clinical practice and science is due to _______.

A. the cruel judgment by Walter Mischel

B. the fact that most patients get better after being treated

C. the great progress that has been made in psychological research

D. the fact that patients prefer to take drugs rather than have other treatments

How do clinical psychologists respond when charged that their treatments are not supported by science?

A. They feel embarrassed.                                        B. They try to defend themselves.

C. They are disappointed.                                         D. They doubt their treatments.

In Mischel’s opinion, psychology will ____.

  A. destroy its own reputation if no improvement is made

B. develop faster with the support of insurance companies

  C. work together with insurance companies to provide better treatment

  D. become more reliable if insurance companies won’t demand evidence-based medicine