Question

【题目】

Goldfish have pretty boring lives, so maybe it’s a good thing they can only concentrate for nine seconds! But according to new research, humans are becoming like goldfish. Our attention span(时长) is getting shorter and it’s all because of technology.

“We move quickly from one site to another on the web,” says Dr. Ted Selker, a computer scientist from Massachusetts, “And we are losing the ability to concentrate.” With millions of websites to choose from, the attention span of the average Internet user is just seconds. There are other digital distractions(使人分心的事) too: emails, instant messaging and quickie movies on websites.

Some people are worried about the effect on young people. “You need time to understand and think about what you read,” says Julia Wood, from London. “Young people search the net all the time and their brains become full of useless information but there is no time to make sense of it. I am trying to persuade my pupils to read more books, so that they concentrate on one subject for longer. ”

Other teachers are trying more unusual methods to improve students’ concentration. Anne Savan, from Wales, was so worried about her students that she started playing Mozart during her science lessons. She says that it had an amazing effect, “The music made them calmer, and their concentration was much better.”

But not everyone believes that there is a problem. Ray Cole, an educational psychologist says, “On the web, young people learn to make quick decisions about what is and isn’t worth reading. They might look at five unhelpful websites very quickly, before stopping and reading a sixth useful website more carefully. In a world with so much information available, this is an important skill. ”

【1】According to new research, why humans are becoming like goldfish?

A. Because we have pretty boring lives like goldfish.

B. Because our attention span(时长) is getting shorter like goldfish.

C. Because we can only concentrate for nine seconds like goldfish.

D. Because we are hard to learn new things like goldfish.

【2】What may cause a shorter attention span according to Dr. Ted Selker?

A. We move quickly from one site to another on the web.

B. We become more and more busy.

C. Our traditional methods of reading is losing.

D. We spend much time in making decisions.

【3】What will help students overcome a short attention span?

A. Receiving emails.B. Texting messages.

C. Reading more books.D. Watching quickie movies.

【4】What is the best title for this passage?

A. Computer Games are Monsters

B. Goldfish and Human Beings

C. Short Attention Span

D. Thinking about Skipping on the Websites.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】B

【2】A

【3】C

【4】D

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文，介绍了有人认为随着科技的发展, 人们将大量时间花在浏览网站上, 快速不断地浏览网站使人们的注意力时长越来越短，但是也有人认为, 浏览网站可以提高年轻人的判断能力。

【1】细节理解题。根据第一段中的“humans are becoming like goldfish. Our attention span(时长) is getting shorter”可知, 人类正变得像金鱼一样是因为我们的注意力时长正变得越来越短，故B项正确。

【2】细节理解题。根据第二段中的“We move quickly from one site to another on the web. . . And we are losing the ability to concentrate. ”可知, Ted Selker认为, 由于快速浏览网站, 人们正在丧失集中注意力的能力，故A项正确。

【3】细节理解题。根据第三段中的“I am trying to persuade my pupils to read more books, so that they concentrate on one subject for longer.”可知, 多读书将有助于学生克服注意力时间短的问题，故C项正确。

【4】主旨大意题。通读全文可知，本文介绍了有人认为随着科技的发展, 人们将大量时间花在浏览网站上, 快速不断地浏览网站使人们的注意力时长越来越短; 但是也有人认为, 浏览网站可以提高年轻人的判断能力，因此文章主要介绍的是人们对浏览网站的不同观点，故D项（好好考虑一下是否浏览网站）作标题最能概括出文章内容。

文章标题形式的主旨大意题的难度较大，被选选项要具有高度的概括性，准确地概括出全文内容，因此抓住文章主题是关键，例如本篇第4题，通读全文可知，本文介绍了有人认为随着科技的发展, 人们将大量时间花在浏览网站上, 快速不断地浏览网站使人们的注意力时长越来越短; 但是也有人认为, 浏览网站可以提高年轻人的判断能力，因此将文章的主题概括为：人们对浏览网站的不同观点，故D项（好好考虑一下是否浏览网站）作标题最能体现出人们对快速浏览网站的不同观点，最能概括出文章内容。