Do you know that women’s brains are smaller than men’s? Normally the women’s brain weighs 10% less than men’s. Since research has shown that the bigger the brain, the cleverer the animal, men must be more intelligent（聪明的） than women. Right? Wrong. Men and women always score similarly on intelligence tests, despite the difference in brain size. Why? After years of study, researchers have concluded that it’s what’s inside that matters, not just the size of the brain. The brain is made up of “grey matter” and “white matter”. While men have more of the white matter, the amount（数量）of “thinking” brain is almost the same in both men and women.
It has been suggested that smaller brain appears to work faster, perhaps because the two sides of the brain are better connected in women. This means that little girls may learn to speak earlier, and that women can understand sorts of different information at the same time. When it comes to talking to the boss on the phone, cooking dinner and keeping an eye on the baby all at the same time, it’s women who come out on top every time.
There are other important differences between two sexes（性别）. As white matter is the key to spatial（空间的）tasks, men know better where things are in relation to other things. “A great footballer always knows where he is in relation to the other players, and he knows where to go,” says one researcher. That may explain one of life’s great mysteries: why men refuse to ask for directions … and women often need to!
The differences begin when fetuses（胎儿）are about nine weeks old, which can be seen in the action of children when they are very young. A boy would try to climb a barrier before him or push it down while a girl would ask for help from others. These brain differences also explain the fact that more men take up jobs that require good spatial skills, while more women speech skills. It may all go back to our ancestors, among whom women needed speech skills to take care of their babies and men needed spatial skills to hunt, according to one research.
【小题1】Which of the following is TRUE according to Paragraph 1?

A．Grey matter controls thinking in the brain.

B．Men’s brain is 10% less than women’s.

C．Grey matter plays the same role as white matter.

D．Men and women have the same amount of white matter.

【小题2】What can you infer from Paragraphs 2 and 3?

A．Men have weaker spatial abilities.

B．Women do not need to tell directions.

C．Women prefer doing many things at a time.

D．Women do many jobs at a time better than men.

【小题3】What can you learn from Paragraph 4?

A．Our children needed more spatial skills.

B．Women may have more feelings than men.

C．Young boys may be stronger than young girls.

D．More women take up jobs requiring speech skills.

【小题4】 The passage is mainly about _______.

A．ways of being more intelligent

B．differences between men and women

C．studies on brains between two sexes

D．studies on white matter and grey matter

Do you often talk with your parents? Here is some advice on how to talk with them.

Try to start your talk with something fun. This will make talking easier. For example, ask them questions about their day. How’s work? They love this.

Make it clear what you want to tell your parents. If they have an opinion, let them finish and don’t stop their talking. Ask them to do the same for you.

Show them respect (尊重) by listening to them carefully. Look them in the eye (直视).

Be honest. Honesty builds trust (信任). Life is good when your parents trust you.

If your parents don’t understand, that’s OK. It doesn’t mean they don’t love you. Sometimes you have to explain the things to them again.

When you finish the talk, thank them for listening. Say something like “thanks”. It will let them know this is important to you, and make them want to do it more often.

1.If you want to start the talk easily, you should say something        at the beginning.

A．fun              B．exciting           C．sad              D．unhappy

2.While talking to the parents, you should look them in the eye to show you     them.

A．dislike            B．understand        C．respect           D．agree with

3.When the parents don’t understand you, you can      .

A．ask them to stop                        B．argue with them

C．look them in the eye                     D．explain your idea to them again

4.When you finish the talk, you should       your parents for listening.

A．say goodbye to     B．thank             C．say sorry to        D．ask

5.What’s the main idea of this passage?

A．We should thank our parents.

B．It’s important to understang our parents.

C．We should love our parents.

D．Some ways to communicate with our parents.

 

When women sit together to watch a movie on TV, at the same time they usually talk about a lot of subjects, including children, men, careers and what’s happening in their lives. When groups of men and women watch a movie together, the men usually end up telling the women to shut up. Men can either talk or watch the screen---they can’t do both---and they don’t understand that women can. Besides(此外), women think that the point of all getting together is to have a good time and develop relationships--not just to sit there like couch potatoes staring (盯着) at the screen.
During the ad breaks, a man often asks a woman to explain the plot(the story that is told in a novel or play or movie etc.) and tell him where the relationship between the characters is going. He is unable, unlike women, to read the small body language signals that show how the characters are feeling emotionally(情绪上). Since women originally spent their days with the other women and children in the group, they developed the ability to communicate successfully because they want to keep relationships. For a woman, speech continues to have such a clear purpose: to build relationships and make friends. For men, to talk is to connect to the facts.
Men see the telephone as a communication tool for sending facts and information to other people, but a woman sees it as a way of keeping relationship. A woman can spend two weeks on vacation with her girlfriend and, when she returns home, telephone the same girlfriend and talk for another two hours.
There is no convincing(令人信服的)evidence that social conditioning, the fact that girls’ mothers talked them more, is the reason why girls talk more than boys. Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Lewis, author of Social Behaviour and Language Acquisition, conducted experiments that found mothers talked to and looked at baby girls more often than baby boys. Scientific evidence shows parents reply to the brain differences of their children. Since a girl’s brain is better organized to send and receive speech, we talk to them more. As a result, mothers who try to talk to their sons are usually pointed to receive only short complaints in reply.
【小题1】While watching TV with others, women usually talk a lot because they ___________.

A．are afraid of silence with their families and friends

B．can both talk and watch the screen at the same time

C．think they can have a good time and develop relationships

D．have to explain the plot and body language to their husbands

【小题2】After a vacation with her girlfriend, a woman would talk to her again on the phone for hours so as to ___________.

A．experience the happy time again

B．keep a close tie with her

C．recommend her a new wonderful place

D．remind her of something forgotten

【小题3】What does the writer want to tell us most?

A．Women’s brains are better organized for language and communication.

B．Women love to talk because they are more sociable than men.

C．Men do not like talking because they believe more in facts.

D．Social conditioning is not the reason why women love talking.

【小题4】Which of the following would be the BEST title for the passage?

A．Women Are Socially Trained to Talk

B．Talking Keeps Relationships

C．Women Love to Talk

D．Men Talk Differently from Women

阅读理解

C

China Youth says that more and more girl students have entered colleges to study in the recent few years. As we know, once the number of boys was larger than that of girls and boys did much better than girls in our country for a long time. Now, things have changed a lot.

In recent years, the proportion of girl students is growing fast. In 1998, about 39.7% of college students were girls. In 2000, it was 41.07% and in 2001, the number was 42.14%.

There are several reasons for this.

Firstly, there is little difference between boys and girls in their intelligence(智力). That’s to say, girls are as clever as boys. And boys have more interests than girls, so they may not always do well in their study.

Secondly, girls are more careful than boys. They work harder at school and they do better in all exams.

Another reason is that with the development of society, people pay more and more attention to girls’ education.

1.China Youth says that more and more ______.

A．boys are clever than girls

B．boys can’t go to school

C．girls have entered colleges

D．girls begin to study at school

2.42.14% refers to(指) the number of ______.

A．girls at schools in 1998

B．girls in colleges in 2001

C．boys at schools in 2001

D．boys in colleges in 1998

3.The writer gave us ______ reasons to explain the question.

A．two

B．three

C．four

D．five

4.What does the underlined word “proportion” mean in Chinese?

A．身高	B．比例
C．特性	D．速度

5.Which of the following sentences is TRUE?

A．Boys may not do well in their study as girls because they don’t like studying.

B．Boys are much cleverer than girls because they’re interested in many things.

C．Girls’ intelligence is the same as boys’.

D．Girls study harder, but they couldn’t get higher marks than boys.

 

I am a professor of sports and exercise so I often deal with nervousness in my research with sports people. Actually, most people experience nervousness at some time or another.
If you are feeling anxious, my advice is to first find the cause or causes. Make s list of those things that are making you nervous and work out which ones you can do something about. Focus all of your efforts on managing the causes that you can control.
Most people cannot tell the difference between controllable(可控制的) and uncontrollable causes, so things they can’s control become a big reason for nervousness. Dealing with this is very important if people want to keep a healthy mind.
Simply try to accept the uncontrollable causes of nervousness. You might be worried about the weather on a big day, an accident or an attack on the train, or perhaps just things that other people are doing at work. The results may be very important but there is still no use worrying because you can’t control any of these things. Accept that you can’t control everything. Once you understand this, it becomes easier not to worry.
If a situation, such as swimming, is causing you to be anxious, try to face it as often as possible so that you can get used to it.
It can often help to think about yourself doing the thing that makes you nervous—then close your eyes and imagine it going well. Imagine how the flight or job interview is going to happen so that you can get used to it. This will help you understand that the thing you fear most is probably not going to happen.
【小题1】Who wrote this passage?

A．A reporter.

B．A sportsman.

C．A patient.

D．A professor.

【小题2】The writer thinks there is no use worrying about some causes of nervousness because____.

A．most are not very important

B．they are not the real causes of the problem

C．they cannot be controlled by people

D．it’s better to deal with one cause at a time

【小题3】 If swimming makes you nervous, what should you do according to the writer?

A．Go swimming often to get used to it.

B．Avoid going to the swimming pool.

C．Find a swimming teacher.

D．Imagine watching others swim.

【小题4】What is true about nervousness according to the passage?

A．It usually has only one cause.

B．It is usually caused by people.

C．People can easily manage it.

D．Most people suffer from it.

【小题5】 What is the main purpose of this passage?

A．To introduce the writer’s sports experience.

B．To advise on how to deal with nervousness.

C．To help people remember their fears.

D．To explain the dangers of nervousness.