阅读理解

　　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．

完形填空

　　When Amy wrote her first novel in secondary school, she never imagined that she would become a writer one day．Like many 　　1　　 writers on the Internet, the 　　2　　 woman got into this online world accidentally(偶然地)．

　　Three years ago, Amy worked in a medical industry．Her job kept her busy for six months and left her almost 　　3　　 to do for the rest of the year．To fill the time, she started writing 　　4　　 on the Internet．Her first novel was about her neighbours and their life 　　5　　 she is familiar with．

　　Amy has been interested in writing 　　6　　 she was a child．At first, she just wanted to share her novels 　　7　　 people she knew．Then one day an editor of a famous website emailed her, asking her 　　8　　 she would like to sell the electronic copyright(授权)of one of her novels．She 　　9　　 immediately and the novel was moved to the VIP section of the website．She got ＄ 1,500 for that．

　　Now Amy is a full-time 　　10　　．So far her eight novels have come out online, and five of them 　　11　　．

　　“The Internet made me famous and brought me 　　12　　,” she said．“I earn much more money now－about ＄60,000 a year．I am 　　13　　 with my career, but there is one problem－that my talent might run out after five years and I’ll have to 　　14　　 to work in the medical industry．”

　　“Before that day comes, I’ll keep 　　15　　 for the readers with my light and close-to-everyday-life writing style,” said Amy with a smile．