60. What does the author mainly discuss in the text?　

A. Technology　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. Sustainability　

C. Ethanol energy　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. Environmental protection　

答案　 57.C　 58.A　 59.A　 60.B

Passage 7

(09·天津D篇)

Next time a customer comes to your office, offer him a cup of coffee. And when you’re doing your holiday shopping online, make sure you’re holding a large glass of iced tea. The physical sensation(感觉) of warmth encourages emotional warmth, while a cold drink in hand prevents you from making unwise decisions-those are the practical lesson being drawn from recent research by psychologist John A. Bargh.

Psychologists have known that one person’s perception(感知) of another’s “warmth” is a powerful determiner in social relationships. Judging someone to be either “warm” or “cold” is a primary consideration, even trumping evidence that a “cold” person may be more capable. Much of this is rooted in very early childhood experiences, Bargh argues, when babies’ conceptual sense of the world around them is shaped by physical sensations, particularly warmth and coldness. Classic studies by Harry Harlow, published in 1958, showed monkeys preferred to stay close to a cloth “mother” rather than one made of wire, even when the wire “mother” carried a food bottle. Harlow’s work and later studies have led psychologists to stress the need for warm physical contact from caregivers to help young children grow into healthy adults with normal social skills.

Feelings of “warmth” and “coldness” in social judgments appear to be universal. Although no worldwide study has been done, Bargh says that describing people as “warm” or “cold” is common to many cultures, and studies have found those perceptions influence judgment in dozens of countries.

To test the relationship between physical and psychological warmth, Bargh conducted an experiment which involved 41 college students. A research assistant who was unaware of the study’s hypotheses(假设), handed the students either a hot cup of coffee, or a cold drink, to hold while the researcher filled out a short information form: The drink was then handed back. After that, the students were asked to rate the personality of “Person A” based on a particular description. Those who had briefly held the warm drink regarded Person A as warmer than those who had held the iced drink.

“We are grounded in our physical experiences even when we think abstractly,” says Bargh.

59. The author thinks that replacing gas with corn ethanol is　　　　　 .　

A. impractical　 　　　　B. acceptable　　　　 C. admirable　　　　　 D. useless　

58. The underlined word “it” in the second paragraph refers to “　　　　　 ”　

A. the energy benefit　　　　　　　　　　　 B. the forest loss　

C. climate change　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. burning ethanol　

57. What might directly cause the loss of the forest according to the text?　

A. The growing demand for energy to make ethanol　

B. The increasing carbon dioxide in the air　

C. The greater need for farmland　

D. The big change in weather.　

58. According to the passage, people are advised_______.　

A. to treat wild and caged parrots equally

B to set up comfortable homes for parrots

C. not to keep wild parrots as pets

D. not to let more parrots go to the wild

答案　 55.B　 56.C　 57.B　 58.C　

Passage 6

(09·四川E篇)

All too often, a choice that seems sustainable(可持续的)turns out on closer examination to be problematic. Probably the best example is the rush to produce ethanol(乙醇) for fuel from corn. Corn is a renewable resource -you can harvest it and grow more, almost limitlessly. So replacing gas with corn ethanol seems like a great idea.　

　 One might get a bit more energy out of the ethanol than that used to make it, which could still make ethanol more sustainable than gas generally, but that’s not the end of the problem. Using corn to make ethanol means less corn is left to feed animals and people, which drives up the cost of food. That result leads to turning the fallow land –including, in some cases, rain forest in places such as Brazil-into farmland, which in turn gives off lots of carbon dioxide (CO) into the air. Finally, over many years, the energy benefit from burning ethanol would make up for the forest loss. But by then, climate change would have progressed so far that it might not help.　

　 You cannot really declare any practice “sustainable” until you have done a complete life-cycle analysis of its environmental(环境的) costs. Even then, technology and public keep developing, and that development can lead to unforeseen and undesired results. The admirable goal of living　　　 sustainably requires plenty of thought on an ongoing basis.　

57. Why are researches on parrots important according to the passage?

A. The Trust shows great concern for the programme.　

B. We need to knows more about how to preserve parrots

C. Many people are interested in collecting parrots.　

D. Parrots’ intelligence may someday benefit people.　

56. The reintroducing experience three years ago shows that man-raised parrots ______.　

A. can find their way back home in Jersey

B. are unable to recognize their parents

C. are unable to adapt to the wild

D. can produce a new species

55. What do we know about the area where the five parrots were reintroduced?

A. Its landscape is new to parrots of their king.　

B. It used to be home to parrots of their kind.　

C. It is close to where they had been kept.　

D. Pine trees were planted to attract birds.　

67. Which of the following shows the organization of the passage?

CP: Central Point　 P: point　 Sp: Sub-point(次要点)C: Conclusion

答案　 64.B　 65.A　 66.D　 67.C

Passage 5

(09·湖北B篇)

Three years ago, five parrots were set free in a wild place of Arizona, thousands of miles from the Channel Islands in Jersey sher they had been looked after by zookeepers. No evolutionary strategies informed them how to behave in this new Landscape of mountainous pine forest unoccupied by their king for 50 years. To the researchers’ surprise, they failed to make contact with a group of wild parrots imported from Mexico and set free at the same time. Within 24 hours the reintroducing ended in failure, and the poor birds were back in cages, on their way to the safety of the Arizona reintroduction programme.　

Ever since then, the programme has enjoyed great success, mainly because the birds now being set free are Mexican birds illegally caught in the wild, confiscated (没收) on arrival north of the border, and raised by their parents in the safety of the programme. The experience shows how little we know about the behaviour and psychology(心理) of parrots, as Peter Bennett, a bird researcher, points out:” Reintroducing species of high intelligence like parrots is a lot more difficult. People like parrots, always treating them as nothing more than pers or valuable ‘collectables’. ”

Now that many species of parrot are in immediate danger of dying out, biologists are working together to study the natural history and the behaviour of this family of birds. Last year was an important turning point: conservationists founded the World Parrot Trust, based at Hayle in Cornwall, to support research into both wild and caged birds.　

Research on parrots is vital for two reasons. Forest, as the Arizona programme showed, when reintroducing parrots to the wild, we need to be aware of what the birds must know if they are to survive in their natural home. We also need to learn more about the needs of parrots keot as pets, particularly as the Trust’s campaign does not attempt to discourage the practice, but rather urges people who buy parrots as pets to choose birds raised by humans.　

66. The underlined sentence in the last paragraph probably means that _______.

A. the problem is not approached step by step

B. the researches so far have faults in themselves

C. the problem is too difficult for researchers to detect

D. research in this area is not enough to make generalized pattens