Passage Nine(Holmes’ Knowledge)
His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing. Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle, he inquired in the naivest way who he might be and what he had done. My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar system.
“You appear to be astonished, ” Holmes said, smiling at my expression. “Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it. You see, I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose: A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has difficulty in laying his hand upon it. It is a mistake to think that the little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it, there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you know before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”
“But the Solar System! ” I protested.
“What the deuce is it to me?” he interrupted impatiently.
One morning, I picked up a magazine from the table and attempted to while away the time with it, while my companion munched silently at his toast. One of the articles had a pencil mark at the heading, and I naturally began to run my eye through it.
Its somewhat ambitious title was “The Book of Life, ” and it attempted to show how much an observant man might learn by an accurate and systematic examination of all that came in his way. It struck me as being a remarkable mixture of shrewdness and of absurdity. The reasoning was close and intense, but the deduction appeared to me to be far-fetched and exaggerated. The writer claimed by a momentary expression, a twitch of a muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom a man’s inmost thought. Deceit, according to him, was impossibility in the case of one trained to observation and analysis. His conclusions were as infallible as so many propositions of Euclid. So startling would his results appear to the uninitiated that until they learned the processes by which he had arrived at them they might well consider him as a necromancer.
“From a drop of water, ”said the writer, “a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic. So all life is a great chain, the nature of which is known whenever we are shown a single link of it. Like all other arts, the science of Deduction and Analysis is one which can be acquired by long and patient study, nor is life long enough to allow any mortal to attain the highest possible perfection in it. ”
This smartly written piece of theory I could not accept until a succession of evidences justified it.
1.What is the author’s attitude toward Holmes?
[A]Praising.        B.Critical.            [C]Ironical.             [D]Distaste.
2.What way did the author take to stick out Holmes’ uniqueness?
[A]By deduction.       B.By explanation.         [C]By contrast.          [D]By analysis.
3.What was the Holmes’ idea about knowledge-learning?
[A]Learning what every body learned.
B.Learning what was useful to you.
[C]Learning whatever you came across.
[D]Learning what was different to you.
4.What did the article mentioned in the passage talk about?
[A]One may master the way of reasoning through observation.
B.One may become rather critical through observation and analysis.
[C]One may become rather sharp through observation and analysis.
[D]One may become practical through observation and analysis.

Passage Nine(Holmes’ Knowledge)

His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing. Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle, he inquired in the naivest way who he might be and what he had done. My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar system.

  “You appear to be astonished, ” Holmes said, smiling at my expression. “Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it. You see, I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose: A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has difficulty in laying his hand upon it. It is a mistake to think that the little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it, there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you know before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”

  “But the Solar System! ” I protested.

  “What the deuce is it to me?” he interrupted impatiently.

  One morning, I picked up a magazine from the table and attempted to while away the time with it, while my companion munched silently at his toast. One of the articles had a pencil mark at the heading, and I naturally began to run my eye through it.

  Its somewhat ambitious title was “The Book of Life, ” and it attempted to show how much an observant man might learn by an accurate and systematic examination of all that came in his way. It struck me as being a remarkable mixture of shrewdness and of absurdity. The reasoning was close and intense, but the deduction appeared to me to be far-fetched and exaggerated. The writer claimed by a momentary expression, a twitch of a muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom a man’s inmost thought. Deceit, according to him, was impossibility in the case of one trained to observation and analysis. His conclusions were as infallible as so many propositions of Euclid. So startling would his results appear to the uninitiated that until they learned the processes by which he had arrived at them they might well consider him as a necromancer.

  “From a drop of water, ”said the writer, “a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic. So all life is a great chain, the nature of which is known whenever we are shown a single link of it. Like all other arts, the science of Deduction and Analysis is one which can be acquired by long and patient study, nor is life long enough to allow any mortal to attain the highest possible perfection in it. ”

  This smartly written piece of theory I could not accept until a succession of evidences justified it.

1.What is the author’s attitude toward Holmes?

[A]Praising.        B.Critical.            [C]Ironical.             [D]Distaste.

2.What way did the author take to stick out Holmes’ uniqueness?

[A]By deduction.       B.By explanation.         [C]By contrast.          [D]By analysis.

3.What was the Holmes’ idea about knowledge-learning?

[A]Learning what every body learned.

B.Learning what was useful to you.

[C]Learning whatever you came across.

[D]Learning what was different to you.

4.What did the article mentioned in the passage talk about?

[A]One may master the way of reasoning through observation.

B.One may become rather critical through observation and analysis.

[C]One may become rather sharp through observation and analysis.

[D]One may become practical through observation and analysis.

The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution has just published a report on new materials and has looked at the case of nanotechnology（纳米技术）, which describes the science of the very small. Nanotechnology covers those man-made materials or objects that are about a thousand times smaller than the microtechnology（微电子技术）we use, such as the silicon chips of computers.

Nanotechnology gets its name from the nanometer, which is a billionth of a meter. There are about 600 consumer products already on the market that use nanotechnology. Nanomedicine is also being developed to fight cancer and other fatal diseases.

The Royal Commission found no evidence of harm to health or the environment from nanomaterials, but this “absence of evidence” is not being taken as “evidence of absence”. In other words, just because there are no apparent problems, this is not to say that here is no risk now or in the future. The commission is concerned about the pace at which we are inventing and adopting new nanomaterials, which could result in future problems that we are ill-equipped to understand or even find with current testing methods.

One of the problems about nanotechnology is that when we make something very small out of a well known material, we may actually change the functionality of that material even if the chemical composition remains the same. Indeed, it is not the particle（颗粒）size that should concern us, but its functionality. Take gold, for example, which is a famously inert (惰性) substance, and valuable because of it. It doesn’t rust or corrode because it doesn’t interact with water or oxygen. However, a particle of gold that is between 2 and 5 nanometers in diameter becomes highly reactive. This is not due to a change in chemical composition, but because of a change in the physical size of the gold particles. How can a change in size result in a change of function? One reason is to do with surface area. Nanoparticles have relatively a much bigger surface area. It is like comparing the surface area of a basketball with the total surface area of many pea-sized balls with the same weight of the single basketball. The pea-sized balls have a surface area many hundreds, indeed thousands of times bigger than the basketball, and this allows them to interact more easily with the environment. It is this increased interactivity that changes their functionality—and makes them potentially more dangerous to health or the environment.

1.Why does the writer mention microtechnology in the first paragraph?

A. to introduce the topic of nanotechnology

B. to help us better understand nanotechnology

C. to help us know more about microtechnology

D. to compare microtechnology with nanotechnology

2.The example of the “gold” in the last paragraph is intended to show that_________.

A. gold is valuable because it is an inert substance

B. an inert substance like gold doesn’t interact with water or oxygen

C. the function of gold is steady because it is an inert substance

D. the function of gold changes when made into something very small

3.Which process explains that there might be risks in nanotechnology?

A. expand surface area →increase interactivity → change functionality→cause possible dangers

B. expand surface area → change functionality → increase interactivity →cause possible dangers

C. increase interactivity → expand surface area → change functionality→cause possible dangers

D. increase interactivity → change functionality → expand surface area→cause possible dangers

4.What does the passage mainly focus on?

A. the introduction of nanotechnology and its wide use

B. the present use of nanotechnology and its future

C. the potential danger nanotechnology may bring us

D. the proposal to stop nanotechnology due to the potential danger

At a primary school in a small town in the east of South Carolina, second-grade teachers Garneau and Lynne are convinced that separating elementary-age boys and girls produces immediate academic improvement in both genders(性别).

       David Chadwell, South Carolina’s coordinator of single gender education says, “Boys and girls learn, hear and respond to their surroundings differently. We can teach boys and girls based on what we now know.”

       Male and female eyes are not organized in the same way, he explains. The composition of the male eye makes it sensitive to motion and direction. “Boys interpret the world as objects moving through space,” he says.

       The male eye is also drawn to cooler colors like silver and black. It’s no accident boys tend to create pictures of moving objects instead of drawing the happy colorful family, like girls do in their class.

       The female eye, on the other hand, is drawn to warmer colors like red, yellow and orange. To attract girls, Chadwell says, the teacher doesn’t need to move as much as in boy’s class. Using descriptive phrases and lots of colors in presentations or on the blackboard gets their attention.

       Boys and girls also hear differently. “When someone speaks in a loud tone, girls interpret it as yelling,” Chadwell says. “They think you’re mad and can shut down.” Girls are more sensitive to sounds. He advises girls’ teachers to watch the tone of their voices. Boys’ teachers should sound more forceful, even excited.

       A boy’s nervous system causes him to be more cautious when he is standing, moving, and the room temperature is around 69 degrees Fahrenheit. Stress in boys, he says, tends to increase blood flow to their brains, a process that helps them stay focused. Girls are more focused when seated in a warmer room around 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Girls also respond to stress differently. When exposed to threat and conflict, blood goes to their guts(肠道), leaving them feeling nervous or anxious.

       These differences can be applied in the classroom, Chadwell adds. “Single gender programs are about maximizing the learning.”

What is David Chadwell’s attitude toward separating elementary-age boys and girls while learning?

       A. Supportive               B. Worried            C. Concerned                D. Uninterested

To engage boy in a class, the teacher ______.

       A. must have a moving object in this hand   B. needs to wear clothes in warm color

       C. has to speak politely                              D. had better move constantly while teaching

Which of the following shows the organization of the passage?

       (??= Paragraph 1  ??= Paragraph 2  ??= Paragraph 3  ….. ??= Paragraph 8)

       A.                                  B.

C.                                     D.

Which of the following is the best title of the passage?

       A. Ways of teaching boys and ways of teaching girls

       B. Boys and girls should be separated

       C. How boys and girls learn differently

       D. How to teach more effectively

Which of the following students is most likely to be focused?

       A. A boy sitting in a warm room                 B. A standing boy who is faced with stress

       C. A girl standing in a cold room                D. A girl who is facing a lot of pressure

If you are a high school senior graduating and looking to enter college in 2006, you will take the new exam.

The biggest change to the SAT (美国学术能力倾向测验) will be the introduction of a new writing section. The writing section will consist of two parts: an essay and a multiple-choice section. Students will be given 25 minutes to respond to a prompt (提示) and construct a well-organized essay that effectively deals with the task. The essay question may require students to complete a statement, to react to a quote, or to agree or disagree with a point of view. In any case, a good essay will support the chosen position with specific reasons and examples from literature, history, art, science, current affairs, or even a student's own experiences.

Essays will be scored based on the procedures for the current SAT II: Writing Test. Essays will be graded by two independent readers On a scale of 1～6, and their two scores will be combined to form an essay subscore that ranges from 2 to 12. Should the readers' scores vary by more than 2 points, a third reader will score the essay; The readers will be high school teachers and college professors who teach composition. To ensure that essays will be scored in a timely manner, they will be scanned and made available to readers on the Internet for grading purpose.

The writing section will also include multiple-choice grammar and usage questions. Some of these questions will call upon students to improve given sentences and paragraphs. Others will present students with sentences and require them to identify mistakes in diction (措辞), grammar, sentence construction, subject-verb agreement, proper word usage.

The highest possible score on the new writing section will be 800. Scores on the essay and multiple-choice section will be combined to produce a single score. A writing subscore will also be assigned. The highest possible scores on the Critical Reading and Math sections will remain 800 each, making 2,400 a perfect score on the new SAT.

Which parts are included in the writing section of SAT according to the passage?

A. Essay and multiple-choice.          B. Essay and critical writing.

C. Multiple-choice and math.          D. Multiple-choice and literature.

In Paragraph 3, the writer of this passage mainly described _________.

A. application of the Internet in scoring the essay

B. relationship between high tech and testing

C. cheating in the essay scoring procedure

D. the scoring procedure of the essay

Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A. The SAT is designed for high school seniors wishing to enter a college.

B. The writer criticized the multiple-choice in the SAT.

C. Good specific examples are encouraged in essay writing.

D. The SAT consists of the Critical Reading, Math and the Writing sections.

Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?

A. The new SAT scoring.              B. Language testing reform.

C. College entrance exam reform.               D. The new writing section of SAT.