Lesson 4

听力部分

听力练习

一级练习：［难度系数★］

本课的主题“test and experiment”在英语专业四级考试听力里出现。先听一段简单的小对话，试一试！

A. The woman will attend her course at 7: 45.

B. The woman will be late for the blood test.

C. The man will have his blood tested before the first class.

D. The man decides to miss the first class for his blood test.

听力原文如下：

M: I'm going to take a blood test at 7: 45 tomorrow morning.

W: In that case, you won't miss any courses tomorrow morning then.

Q: What can we learn from the conversation?

二级练习：［难度系数★★］

这次的主题“intelligence”在较长的六级听力段落题里出现。依然是你熟悉的主题和词汇，挑战一下吧！

1. A. Students from America.

B. Students from England.

C. Students from Australia.

D. Students from Japan.

2. A. Those who know how to program computers.

B. Those who get special aid from their teachers.

C. Those who are very hard-working.

D. Those who have well-educated parents.

3. A. Japanese students study much harder than Columbian students.

B. Columbian students score higher than Japanese students in maths.

C. Columbian students are more optimistic about their maths skills.

D. Japanese students have better conditions for study.

4. A. Physics.

B. Mathematics.

C. Environmental science.

D. Life science.

听力原文如下：

The world's smartest adolescence in mathematics and science are in Singapore according to a global survey of educational achievement. In the third international mathematics and science study, 13-year-olds from Singapore achieved the best scores in standardized tests of maths and science that were ministered to 287, 896 students in 41 countries in 1994 and 1995. The survey suggests that science and maths education is especially strong in the Far East. While well behind those top scores, students from Australia earned higher marks in maths than their counterparts in England, who in turn did better than American students. The study collected information on the students' teachers and homes. Not surprisingly, the highest scoring students had well-educated parents or came from homes containing study aids such as computers, dictionaries or even such elementary facilities as desks. The study shows that boys generally did better than girls in science, but there was little difference between them in maths. Boys scored better than girls in physics and chemistry. There were no sex differences in the life and environmental sciences. In addition to being tested, students in the project were asked how proficient they thought they were in maths and science. Students in some countries such as Colombia and Kuwait had an overly optimistic view of their skills. Meanwhile some of the best students from Japan and Korea, for example, were needlessly pessimistic, even though they did far better in maths than almost all other students.

Q:

1. Of the four groups of students, who scored the lowest in maths according to the survey?

2. What kind of students are most likely to become top scorers?

3. In what way do Colombia students differ from Japanese students?

4. In which subject did boys score higher than girls?

听说练习

一级练习：听写填空［难度系数★］

这次的主题“illusion”在段落里出现。在这里我们加大了段落题的难度，加入了口语练习，但录音的速度适当放慢了。依然是你熟悉的主题和词汇，先用听写填空的方式挑战一下吧！

David Copperfield has been hailed by _____________________ as the greatest illusionist of our time. In addition to ______________________________, worldwide tours, and “_____________________,” the critically acclaimed Broadway show _____________________, he has been ____________________ of Forbes, Architectural Digest and Esquire and is the thirteenth __________________ in the world. Copperfield has _________________ __________________ and redefined it along the way. He has _______ the Statue of Liberty, ________________ the Great Wall of China, ___________ the air and made audience members __________________ in places they would never expect.

二级练习：口语复读与背诵［难度系数★★］

刚才听写填空练习的答案是“illusion”主题的关键表达，一定要积累成自己的口语素材。在今后同类主题的听力口语考试中，回忆起来，从容应对。

第一步：看着上面的听力原文跟读一遍。

第二步：自己试着完整地背诵一遍。（计时3分钟，背诵开始…）

词汇部分

一级练习：［难度系数★］

本课新学的词汇出现在六级、考研、考博考试中。这些词汇如果在题干里出现，是否减轻了你的阅读负担呢？如果在选项里出现（可它们不一定是正确选项），你能选对吗？试一试吧！

临考情境模拟：每题控制在1分钟内，本级测试限时7分钟，请把计时器调到7分钟。计时开始！

考查词汇：case

1. He is the only person who can ______ in this case because the other witnesses were killed mysteriously.

A. testify

B. charge

C. accuse

D. rectify

［六级真题］

考查词汇：vision

2. I have had my eyes tested and the report says that my ______ is perfect.

A. vision

B. horizon

C. outlook

D. perspective

［六级真题］

3. Although most birds have only a negligible sense of smell they have ______ vision.

A. vigorous

B. exact

C. acute

D. vivid

［六级真题］

4. Radar is used to extend the ______ of man's sense of observing his environment, especially the sense of vision.

A. validity

B. liability

C. capability

D. intensity

［六级真题］

5. If the struggle for a sustainable society ______, we must have some vision of what we are aiming for.

A. is to succeed

B. has succeeded

C. succeeds

D. succeeded

［考博真题］

考查词汇：perceive

6. We rarely perceive more than a minute ______ of the sights and sounds that fall upon our sense organs; the great majority pass us by.

A. fiction

B. function

C. fraction

D. friction

［六级真题］

考查词汇：cease

7. He is planning another tour abroad, yet his passport will ______ at the end of this month.

A. expire

B. exceed

C. terminate

D. cease

［考研真题］

二级练习：［难度系数★★］

这次新学的词汇在较难的GRE考试里出现，挑战一下吧！

临考情境模拟：每题控制在2分钟内，本级测试限时12分钟，请把计时器调到12分钟。计时开始！

考查词汇：case

1. People should not be praised for their virtue if they lack the energy to be ______; in such cases, goodness is merely the effect of ______.

A. depraved...hesitation

B. cruel...effortlessness

C. wicked...indolence

D. unjust...boredom

E. iniquitous...impiety

［GRE真题］

2. When a person suddenly loses consciousness a by-stander is not expected to ______ the problem but to attempt to ______ its effects by starting vital functions if they are absent.

A. cure...precipitate

B. minimize...predict

C. determine...detect

D. diagnose...counter

E. magnify...evaluate

［GRE真题］

考查词汇：vision

3. Literature is inevitably a ______ rather than ______ medium for the simple reason that writers interpose their own vision between the reader and reality.

A. distorting...a neutral

B. transparent...an opaque

C. colorful...a drab

D. flawless...an inexact

E. flexible...a rigid

［GRE真题］

考查词汇：perceive

4. Not all the indicators necessary to convey the effect of depth in a picture work simultaneously, the picture's illusion of ______ three-dimensional appearance must therefore result from the viewer's integration of various indicators perceived ______.

A. imitative...coincidentally

B. uniform...successively

C. temporary...comprehensively

D. expressive...sympathetically

E. schematic...passively

［GRE真题］

考查词汇：solid

5. A number of scientists have published articles _______ global warming, stating _______ that there is no solid scientific evidence to support the theory that the earth is warming because of increases in greenhouse gases.

A. debunking...categorically

B. rejecting...paradoxically

C. deploring...optimistically

D. dismissing...hesitantly

E. proving...candidly

［GRE真题］

考查词汇：cease

6. A major goal of law, to deter potential criminals by punishing wrongdoers, is not served when the penalty is so seldom invoked that it ______ to be a ______ threat.

A. tends...serious

B. appears...real

C. ceases...credible

D. fails...deceptive

E. seems...coercive

［GRE真题］

阅读部分

一级练习：［难度系数★］

本课的主题“science”在六级阅读里出现。下面的文章和题目中有你熟悉的主题和词汇，试一试！

临考情境模拟：请在5分钟内读完文章，4分钟做完题。请把计时器调到9分钟。计时开始！

A new high-performance contact lens under development at the department for applied physics at the University of Heidelberg will not only correct ordinary vision defects but will enhance normal night vision as much as five times, making people's vision sharper than that of cats.

Bille and his team work with an optical instrument called an active mirror—a device used in astronomical telescopes to spot newly emerging stars and far distant galaxies. Connected to a wave-front sensor that tracks and measures the course of a laser beam into the eye and back, the aluminum mirror detects the deficiencies of the cornea, the transparent protective layer covering the lens of the human eye. The highly precise data from the two instruments—which, Bille hopes, will one day be found at the opticians （眼镜商） all over the world—serve as a basis for the production of completely individualized contact lenses that correct and enhance the wearer's vision.

By day, Bille's contact lenses will focus rays of light so accurately on the retina （视网膜） that the image of a small leaf or the outline of a far distant tree will be formed with a sharpness that surpasses that of conventional vision aids by almost half a diopter （屈光度）. At night, the lenses have an even greater potential. “Because the new lens— in contrast to the already existing ones—also works when it's dark and the pupil is wide open,” says Bille, “lens wearers will be able to identify a face at a distance of 100 meters”—80 meters farther than they would normally be able to see. In his experiments night vision was enhanced by an even greater factor: in semi-darkness, test subjects could see up to 15 times better than without the lenses.

Bille's lenses are expected to reach the market in the year 2000, and one tentative plan is to use the Internet to transmit information on patients' visual defects from the optician to the manufacturer, who will then produce and mail the contact lenses within a couple of days. The physicist expects the lenses to cost about a dollar a pair, about the same as conventional one-day disposable lenses.

1. The new contact lens is meant for ______.

A. astronomical observations

C. those with vision defects

B. the night blind

D. optical experiments

2. What do the two instruments mentioned in the second paragraph （Lines 4-5） refer to?

A. The astronomical telescope and the wave-front sensor.

B. The aluminum mirror and the laser beam.

C. The active mirror and the contact lens.

D. The aluminum mirror and the wave-front sensor.

3. Individualized contact lenses （line 6, para. 2） are lenses designed ______.

A. to work like an astronomical telescope

B. to suit the wearer's specific needs

C. to process extremely accurate data

D. to test the wearer's eyesight

4. According to Bille, with the new lenses the wearer's vision ______.

A. will be far better at night than in the daytime

B. may be broadened about 15 times than without them

C. can be better improved in the daytime than at night

D. will be sharper by a much greater degree at night than in the daytime

5. Which of the following is true about Bille's lenses?

A. Their production process is complicated.

B. They will be sold at a very low price.

C. They have to be replaced every day.

D. Purchase orders can be made through the Internet.

［六级真题］

二级练习：［难度系数★★］

这次的主题“science”在较难的六级阅读里出现。依然是你熟悉的主题和词汇，挑战一下吧！

临考情境模拟：请在5分钟内读完文章，4分钟做完题。请把计时器调到9分钟。计时开始！

A nine year old schoolgirl single-handedly cooks up a science-fair experiment that ends up debunking（揭穿…的真相） a widely practiced medical treatment. Emily Rosa's target was a practice known as therapeutic （治疗的） touch （TT for short）, whose advocates manipulate patients' “energy field” to make them feel better and even, say some, to cure them of various ills. Yet Emily's test shows that these energy fields can't be detected, even by trained TT practitioners （行医者）. Obviously mindful of the publicity value of the situation, Journal editor George Lundberg appeared on TV to declare, “Age doesn't matter. It's good science that matters, and this is good science.”

Emily's mother Linda Rosa, a registered nurse, has been campaigning against TT for nearly a decade. Linda first thought about TT in the late '80s, when she learned it was on the approved list for continuing nursing education in Colorado. Its 100,000 trained practitioners （48,000 in the U. S.） don't even touch their patients. Instead, they waved their hands a few inches from the patient's body, pushing energy fields around until they're in “balance.” TT advocates say these manipulations can help heal wounds, relieve pain and reduce fever. The claims are taken seriously enough that TT therapists are frequently hired by leading hospitals, at up to $70 an hour, to smooth patients' energy, sometimes during surgery.

Yet Rosa could not find any evidence that it works. To provide such proof, TT therapists would have to sit down for independent testing—something they haven't been eager to do, even though James Randi has offered more than $1 million to anyone who can demonstrate the existence of a human energy field. （He's had one taker so far. She failed.） A skeptic might conclude that TT practitioners are afraid to lay their beliefs on the line. But who could turn down an innocent fourth-grader? Says Emily, “I think they didn't take me very seriously because I'm a kid.”

The experiment was straight forward: 21 TT therapists stuck their hands, palms up, through a screen. Emily held her own hand over one of theirs—left or right—and the practitioners had to say which hand it was. When the results were recorded, they'd done no better than they would have by simply guessing. If there was an energy field, they couldn't feel it.

1. Which of the following is evidence that TT is widely practiced?

A. TT has been in existence for decades.

B. Many patients were cured by therapeutic touch.

C. TT therapists are often employed by leading hospitals.

D. More than 100,000 people are undergoing TT treatment.

2. Very few TT practitioners responded to the $1 million offer because ______.

A. they didn't take the offer seriously

B. they didn't want to risk their career

C. they were unwilling to reveal their secret

D. they thought it was not in line with their practice

3. The purpose of Emily Rosa's experiment was ______.

A. to see why TT could work the way it did

B. to find out how TT cured patients' illnesses

C. to test whether she could sense the human energy field

D. to test whether a human energy field really existed

4. Why did some TT practitioners agree to be the subjects of Emil's experiment?

A. It involved nothing more than mere guessing.

B. They thought it was going to be a lot of fun.

C. It was more straightforward than other experiments.

D. They sensed no harm in a little girl's experiment.

5. What can we learn from the passage?

A. Some widely accepted beliefs can be deceiving.

B. Solid evidence weighs more than pure theories.

C. Little children can be as clever as trained TT practitioners.

D. The principle of TT is too profound to understand.

［六级真题］

写作部分

本课涉及对人类天赋的认识和开发的主题，这里给大家提供这方面的写作素材，方便大家积累下来，在以后遇到的教育类的话题中结合课文使用。

真题举例

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Children should begin learning a foreign language as soon as they start school. Use specific reasons and examples to support your position.

［TOEFL真题］

写作素材

1. Most experts agree that the earlier a child is introduced to a second language, the greater the chances are that the child will become truly proficient in the language. A February 1996 Newsweek article made the claim that “A child taught a second language after the age of 10 or so is unlikely ever to speak it like a native.” This statement is supported by linguists and has been proven in extensive research studies.

2. In addition to developing a lifelong ability to communicate with more people, children may derive other benefits from early language instruction, including improved overall school performance and superior problem-solving skills. Knowing a second language ultimately provides a competitive advantage in the work force by opening up additional job opportunities.

3. Students of foreign languages have access to a greater number of career possibilities and develop a deeper understanding of their own and other cultures. Some evidence also suggests that children who receive second language instruction are more creative and better at solving complex problems. The benefits to society are many. Chinese fluent in other languages enhance our economic competitiveness abroad, improve global communication, and maintain our political and security interests.

4. Studies have shown—and experience has supported—that children who learn a language before the onset of adolescence are much more likely to have native-like pronunciation. A number of experts attribute this proficiency to physiological changes that occur in the maturing brain as a child enters puberty. Of course, as with any subject, the more years a child can devote to learning a language, the more competent he or she will become. Regardless, introducing children to alternative ways of expressing themselves and to different cultures generally broadens their outlook and gives them the opportunity to communicate with many more people.

5. In most cases, learning another language enhances a child's native language ability. Children can learn much about his or her native language by learning the structure of other languages. Experimental studies have shown that no long-term delay in native language development occurs between children participating in second language immersion classes and those schooled exclusively in the native language.