题目内容
| Why must we pay taxes? The answer is that the government needs money for many things, for example, to pay its soldiers, sailors and airmen, to build roads, bridges, offices, schools, etc, and to buy goods from abroad; and only the people of the country can supply the money. One of the most important taxes is income-tax which a person pays according to the amount of his income, whether he is a merchant, a doctor, a lawyer, a shopkeeper, a miner or anything else. This is called a "direct" tax, because it is paid in money directly to the government. Another tax is paid on goods such as watches, jewelry, new clothes, tobacco wine, etc, when they are brought into a country. Such a tax is paid as part of the price of these goods if they are late sold in shops. We call it "indirect" tax, because it is paid indirectly through the shopkeepers. People usually complain about having to pay taxes, but they forget that the money is spent on things that they and their families need. We need policemen to catch thieves, to see that men obey the laws, to direct traffic, etc, and they must be paid what they earn; children need education and there must be schools and teachers; we want our streets to be kept clean, and the wages of men who do this kind of work have to be paid. Above all, the country must always be ready to defend itself against attacking enemies, and we can not have an army without paying for it. Besides, if a country wants to develop, there are many other things to do... Taxes, therefore, cannot be avoided. We buy our food and clothes and pay for our amusements; but, there are several things that the State finds the money for, and that is necessary for us if our society is to continue. We have no real reason to complain, therefore, when we are asked to supply money to be spent for the good of ourselves and for our fellow-citizens. Title: 1. _____ Tax
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7. Indirect 8. education 9. development 10. Conclusion
If you ask Americans whether or not they think their former president George W. Bush is smart, most of them will probably tell you they don’t think so. However, Bush’s IQ score is estimated to be above 120, which puts him in the top ten percent of the population.
It doesn’t seem to make sense. How come someone with such an IQ score is not considered smart? Researchers say: IQ does not tell the whole story. Some people have high IQ scores, but still they can be poor thinkers and decision-makers.
Keith Stanovich, a Canadian professor of human development and applied psychology, has been looking into the “clever fools” phenomenon for 15 years. He says IQ tests are very good at measuring certain mental faculties(能力), including logic, learning ability, working-memory capacity (how much information you can hold in mind), etc. Those faculties play a part in one’s academic success, but rational thinking is more important for us to make good judgments in real-life situations.
IQ tests fail to work when it comes to rational thinking. That’s because they are unable to assess things such as a person’s ability to weigh up information, or whether an individual can set aside the cognitive biases(认知偏差)that may be misleading.
“A high IQ is like height in a basketball player,” says David Perkins, who studies thinking and reasoning skills at Harvard University. “It is very important, all other things being equal. But all other things aren’t equal. It takes a lot more to be a good basketball player than being tall, and it takes a lot more to be a good thinker than having a high IQ.”
【小题1】According to the text your academic success depends on your __________.
| A.logic | B.mental faculties | C.learning ability | D.working-memory capacity |
| A.IQ scores | B.IQ test | C.rational thinking | D.cognitive biases |
| A.the former president George W. Bush has a high IQ score |
| B.many Americans think their former president George W. Bush is smart |
| C.David Perkins believe that a person’s IQ doesn’t need to be developed |
| D.Keith Stanovich looked into the “clever fools” phenomenon 5 years ago |
| A.Those who have high IQ do better than those who don’t in everything. |
| B.People with high IQ scores must be good decision-makers |
| C.People with high IQ scores are always smart in every way. |
| D.Why a high IQ doesn’t mean you’re smart |