Everything that humans hear is in the form of waves(波). Just as the eye sees light waves in the form of colors, the ear hears sound waves in the form of noises. The ear and the eye turn these different waves into signals that the brain(大脑) can make sense of.
The ears and brain have an amazing ability to recognize(识别) particular sounds. For example, a mother often can tell when her baby is crying even if there are other crying babies in the same room. This is because the sound of her baby’s cry has special meaning to her and the brain has recorded its importance.
The ability to recognize sounds improves with experiences. As the brain receives information about sounds from day to day, it stores the information in its memory. When the brain hears new sounds, it gives meaning to them based on the information already in the memory. This is why certain words or songs can make a person happy. Often it is not the words or songs themselves that cause this feeling. The sounds are connected to happy memories for that person.
Another hearing process controlled by the brain is to decide where a sound is coming from. One ear is usually closer to the source(来源) of a sound than the other ear is. Sound waves are stronger when they reach the ear that is closer. They also reach the closer ear first. The brain recognizes these differences and uses them to decide the location of the source of the sound.
【小题1】Which of the following shows the normal hearing process of a mother hearing her baby crying?
a. The ears receive the sound waves.
b. The mother recognizes her baby’s cry.
c. The baby’s turn the sound waves into signals.
d. The baby’s cry travels in the form of sound waves.
e. The brain connects the signals to the information in the memory.

A．d-a-c-b-e	B．d-a-c-e-b
C．a-d-c-b-e	D．a-d-c-e-b

【小题2】Certain words or songs can change a person’s moods mainly because of his _____.

A．lifestyle	B．personality
C．experiences	D．hobbies

【小题3】 Why does a person feel happy when they hear some songs?

A．Because certain words or songs can make a person happy.

B．Because a person has the ability to recognize the sounds

C．Because the certain sounds are connected to happy memories for that person.

D．Because the person feel the song is special

【小题4】According to the last paragraph, it will be the most difficult for a person who has lost the hearing in one ear to tell ______.

A．where the source of a sound is

B．how loud a sound is

C．when a sound starts to appear

D．what makes a sound

【小题5】What is the best title for this passage ?

A．Human Brain’s Amazing Facts

B．Human Hearing Characteristics

C．How To Improve Hearing

D．How Do Humans Hear

Nathan Sawaya's childhood was a lot of fun. He drew cartoons, wrote stories, and played with plastic toy bricks (积木). His grandparents bought his first set of toy bricks when he was five years old and he's been building with toy bricks ever since. He even took his building bricks to college with him! Instead of books and a computer, he had a model of Greenwich Village made of bricks on his desk.

Nathan started as a lawyer but gave up His highly-paid (高薪的) job to become an artist that uses toys in his art. He uses toy bricks to build everything from the Statue of Liberty(自由女神像) to Superman! He has more than 1.5 million colored bricks in his working room in New York which he uses to make pieces of art. He started by building small models but then decided to do something big and created a self-portrait (自画像). It took him two days just to build the eyes.

Nathan's work has appeared in museums around the world. Children love his art because it is made out of the same toys that they play with at home and adults love his work because it is fascinating. Since it began in2007, Nathan's exhibition "The Art of the Brick" has been very popular with museum visitors everywhere.

"I'm proud that I took a dream I had as a child, to become an artist, and I have actually made a job out of it," says Nathan. "To do what you love in life is the most important thing."

1.What did Nathan put on his desk at college?

A．The Statue of Liberty.                    B．Superman.

C．His serf-portrait.                        D．A Greenwich Village modal.

2.Why did Nathan give up his job as a lawyer?

A．Because he made little money out of a lawyer.

B．Because he wanted to make toys for the children.

C．Because he decided to become an artist of toy bricks.

D．Because he was going to work in the museum instead.

3.What does the underlined word "it" in Paragraph 3 refer to?

A．Nathan's work.                         B．Nathan's exhibition.

C．Nathan's art.                           D．Nathan's self-portrait

4.What would be the best title for the passage?

A．The Brick Artist                         B．The Brick Exhibition

C．Toy Bricks for Adults                     D．The Artist's Childhood

 

The London Olympic Games are coming soon. This summer, Chinese sports fans will be able to watch the exciting games in 3-D on CCTV.
When you watch 3-D movies or TV, you have to wear a special pair of glasses. The 3-D glasses make the people and the things on the screen look like they are in the room with you.
3-D, means having three *dimensions: *width, height and *depth. 3-D technology is based on the way the human brain and eye work. Because the *pupils of a person’s eyes are about 6.5cm apart, when we look at something, each eye sees it from different *angle. Our eyes send the two pictures to our brain, and the brain puts them together. The small difference between the picture from the right eye and the picture from the left eye make us see depth.
While watching 2-D films, we don’t have to wear the special glasses. We see the pictures in two dimensions, each eye get the same information. This is because there is only one way of watching it.
So the aim of 3-D technology is to get a different picture into each eye of the person. It uses two film *projectors. One *projects a left eye picture and the other projects a right eye picture. When we are in the cinema, we can see different pictures in each eye at the same time with the help of the 3-D glasses.
While watching 3-D films, we feel that we are actually in the same environment as the things we are watching. However, some people are against watching 3-D films. One of the reasons is the 3-D glasses makes the screen of the film or TV look darker. It is bad for eyes. What’s more, people with eye problems may get headaches if they spend too much time watching 3-D movies, because their brains need to work harder to “read” the pictures.  
【小题1】Paragraph 3 mainly tells us __________.

A．how we see things in 3-D	B．how we watch the Olympic Games
C．how 3-D films are made	D．where we watch 3-D films or TV

【小题2】When we watch a 2-D film, each of our eyes get ________ information.

A．no

B．different

C．dark

D．the same

【小题3】Which is the following is right according to the passage?

A．We don’t have to wear 3-D glasses if we watch games in 3-D on TV.

B．The 3-D technology is based on the way the human ear and eye work.

C．All the people can have fun watching 3-D movies or TV for a long time.

D．3-D glasses make us see different pictures in each eye at the same time.

【小题4】Why are some people against watching 3-D films? Because ____________.

A．they make them more excited or sadder

B．3-D glasses make the screen look darker

C．3-D films make all people get headaches

D．they dislike watching the Olympic Games

Jean is a bright young woman from a rich and famous family. She goes to a good university and has almost everything that money can buy. But the people in Jean’s family are so busy that they can hardly find time to be with her. In fact, Jean is quite lonely.
So Jean spends a lot of her time on QQ. She likes being anonymous(匿名的) talking to people who do not know about her famous family and her rich life. She uses the name Linda on QQ and has made a lot of friends.
Last year Jean made a very special friend on QQ. His name was David and he lived in San Francisco. David was full of stories and jokes. He and Jean had the same interests in rock music and modern dance. So it always took them many hours to talk happily on QQ and sometimes they even forgot the time. Of course, they wanted to know more about each other. David sent a picture of himself: he was a tall, good-looking young man with a big, happy smile. As time went by, they became good friends and often sent cards and small things to each other.
When Jean’s father told her that he was going on a business trip to San Francisco, she asked him to let her go with him, so that she could give David a surprise for his birthday. She would take him the latest DVD of the rock singer they liked most. But when Jean knocked on David’s door in San Francisco, she found that the special friend she had talked to was a twelve-year-old boy named Jim!
【小题1】Jean spends time talking on QQ in order to            . 

A．tell others she is from a good family.

B．find someone to talk to.

C．learn more from the QQ talking.

D．find a good boy friend.

【小题2】The real name of the special friend she made on QQ is         .

A．David

B．Jean

C．Jim

D．Linda

【小题3】Which of the following sentences is wrong according to the passage

A．Both David and Linda aren’t real names.

B．Jim was a tall, good-looking young man.

C．Jean went to San Francisco with her father.

D．Jim and Jean both like rock music.

【小题4】What’s the best title of the passage?

A．A Real Surprise	B．A Talk on QQ
C．A Bright Young Girl	D．A Good-looking Boy

How do you remember the way to your house? Where do dreams come from?

It is your brain (大脑) that does these things. A British scientist showed that sleep can improve one’s memory. It’s not a dream for students to study when they sleep. In fact, your brain is working day and night. If you learn words before bed, a certain part of your brain may help you to remember the words while you sleep. What’s more, another scientist in the USA found that there was a “talent button(按钮)” in the human brain. It might make a person more talented(有才能的).

There are more interesting things about the brain. Your brain uses less energy than a fridge light. Just two bananas can give the brain enough energy to work for a whole day. According to some scientists, yawning（打哈欠）keeps your brain “cool”, which makes us think quicker.

Here are some pieces of advice to keep a good brain:

● Eat healthy food.

● Get a lot of playtime or exercise.

● Don’t drink or smoke.

● Use your brain a lot.

1.A British scientist found out that               .

A．drinking could affect our memories.

B．dreams could affect our memories.

C．sleep could improve our memories.

D．bananas could improve our memories.

2.According to the passage, if we want to have a good brain, we should  .

A．use our brains more

B．sleep fewer hours

C．work longer hours

D．remember fewer things

3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Our brains only work in the daytime.

B．Our brains need much energy every day.

C．Smoking can keep our brains healthy.

D．Getting exercise is good for our brains.