Section Ⅱ Reading Comprehension

Part A

Directions:Read the following four texts．Answer the questions below each text by choosing A,B,C or D．Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1．(40 points)

Text 1

If you were to examine the birth certificates of every soccer player in 2006's World Cup tournament．you would most likely fend a noteworthy quirk：elite soccer players are more likely to have been born in the earlier months of the year than in the later months．If you then examined the European national youth teams that feed the World Cup and professional ranks, you would find this strange phenomenon to be even more pronounced．

What might account for this strange phenomenon? Here are a few guesses: a)certain astrological signs confer superior soccer skills; b)winter born babies tend to have higher oxygen capacity, which increases soccer stamina; c) soccer mad parents are more likely to conceive children in springtime,at the annual peak of soccer mania；d)none of the above．

Anders Ericsson, a 58-year-old psychology professor at Florida State University, says he believes strongly in "none of the above". Ericsson grew up in Sweden,and studied nuclear engineering until he realized he would have more opportunity to conduct his own research if he switched to psychology. His first experiment,nearly 30 years ago, involved memory: training a person to hear and then repeat a random series of numbers. "With the first subject, after about 20 hours of training, his digit span had risen from 7 to 20," Ericsson recalls." He kept improving, and after about 200 hours of training he had risen to over 80 numbers."

This success, coupled with later research showing that memory itself is not genetically determined, led Ericsson to conclude that the act of memorizing is more of a cognitive exercise than an intuitive one. In other words，whatever inborn differences two people may exhibit in their abilities to memorize, those differences are swamped by how well each person "encodes" the information．And the best way to learn how to encode information meaningfully, Ericsson determined, was a process known as deliberate practice．Deliberate practice entails more than simply repeating a task．Rather, it involves sexing specific goals, obtaining immediate feedback and concentrating as much on technique as on outcome．

Ericsson and his colleagues have thus taken to studying expert performers in a wide range of pursuits，including soccer．They gather all the data they can，not just performance statistics and biographical details but also the results of their own laboratory experiments with high achievers．Their work makes a rather startling assertion: the trait we commonly call talent is highly overrated. Or, put another way, expert performers-whether in memory or surgery, ballet or computer programming-are nearly always made, not born．

如果你查一下参加2006年世界杯足球锦标赛的每位运动员的出生证明，就极可能发现一个值得注意的怪现象：出色的足球运动员往往出生在一年内的前几个月而不是后几个月。如果你再查一下为世界杯和职业球队输送球员的欧洲国家青年队的出生证明，你就会发现这一现象更加明显。

如何解释这一怪现象呢？这里有几种猜测：1）某些星象迹象赋予这些人出色的球技；2）冬天出生的孩子氧容量高，因此踢足球的耐力好；3）对足球狂热的父母更可能在春天这个一年之中足球狂热的高峰期孕育子女；4）以上猜测都不成立。

Anders Ericsson是佛罗里达州立大学的心理学教授，他坚信前三种推测均不成立。Ericsson在瑞典长大，开始时学习核工程，直到他意识到如果自己改学心理学，就会有更多的机会进行自己的研究。大约30年前他做了第一个实验，与记忆力相关：训练一个人听，然后复述一组随机的数字。他回忆到："在经过大约20个小时的训练后，第一个受试者的数字记忆跨度从7个上升至20个，他不断地进步，在经过大约200个小时的训练后，他记忆的数字超过了80个。"

后来进行的实验表明了记忆力本身不是由基因决定的，这些结果与第一次实验的成功一起让Ericsson得出结论，记忆行为与其说是一种直觉行为，不如说是一种认知行为。换句话说，不管两个人的记忆能力方面表现出来的先天差异有多大，这些差异都会被每个人解码信息能力的强弱所掩盖。Ericsson认为，学习有意义地解码信息的最好方式就是一个被称为"有意练习"的过程。"有意练习"需要的不仅仅是简单的重复一项任务，而是要确立特定目标，获得即时反馈，既关注结果又关注技巧。

因而，Ericsson和他的同事开始研究不同领域的技艺精湛的从业者，包括足球运动员。他们收集所有能够得到的数据，不仅是他们的表现数据，个人生活细节内容，还包括对于那些取得大成就的人的实验研究结果。他们的研究结论令人吃惊：我们对通常认为的天赋评价过高。换一种方式来说，那些专家级的从业者，无论记忆力超群者，还是专家级外科医生，无论是卓越的芭蕾舞演员还是出色的计算机程序员，他们几乎都是后天练就的，而非天生的。

21. The birthday phenomenon found among soccer players is mentioned to.
[A] stress the importance of professional training
[B] spotlight the soccer superstars in the World Cup
[C] introduce the topic of what makes expert performance
[D] explain why some soccer teams play better than others

22. The word "mania"(Line 4：Paragraph 2) most probably means.
[A] fun
[B] craze
[C] hysteria
[D] excitement

23. According to Ericsson, good memory.
[A] depends on meaningful processing of information
[B] results from intuitive rather than cognitive exercises
[C] is determined by genetic rather than psychological factors
[D] requires immediate feedback and a high degree of concentration

24. Ericsson and his colleagues believe that.
[A] talent is a dominating factor for professional success
[B] biographical data provide the key to excellent performance
[C] the role of talent tends to be overlooked
[D] high achievers owe their Success mostly to nurture

25. Which of the following proverbs is closest to the message the text tries to convey?
[A] "Faith will move mountains．"
[B] "One reaps what one sows．"
[C] "Practice makes perfect．"
[D] "Like father like son．"

第一段中心句：If you were to examine the birth certificates of every soccer player, you would most likely find a noteworthy quirk：elite soccer players are more likely to have been born in the earlier months of the year than in the later months．如果你查一下参加2006年世界杯足球锦标赛的每位运动员的出生证明，就极可能发现一个值得注意的奇怪现象：出色的足球运动员一般出生在一年内的前几个月而不是后几个月。

第二段中心句：What might account for this strange phenomenon?　什么可以解释这一奇怪现象呢？

第三段中心句：Anders Ericsson，a 58yearold psychology professor at Florida State University, says he believes strongly in "none of the above"．安德斯·埃里克森是佛罗里达州立大学的心理学教授，他坚信前三种推测皆不成立。

第四段中心句：This success，coupled with later research showing that memory itself is not genetically determined，led Ericsson to conclude that the act of memorizing is more of a cognitive exercise than an intuitive one．这次成功，连同后来进行的实验表明"记忆力本身不是由基因决定的"，让埃里克森得出结论，记忆行为与其说是直觉训练不如说是认知训练。

第五段中心句：Or，put another way, expert performers-whether in memory or surgery, ballet or computer programming-are nearly always made，not born．换一种方式来说，那些成就优秀者（无论是在记忆里还是外科手术方面，不管是在跳芭蕾还是计算机编程方面）几乎都是后天培养的，而不是天生的。

Text 2

For the past several years，the Sunday newspaper supplement Parade has featured a column called "Ask Marilyn．"People are invited to query Marilyn VOS Savant．Who at age 10 had tested at a mental level of someone about 23 years old；that gave her an IQ of 228-the highest score ever recorded．IQ tests ask you to complete verbal and visual analogies，to envision paper after it has been folded and cut，and to deduce numerical sequences．among other similar tasks．So it is a bit confusing when Vos Savant fields such queries from the average Joe(whose IQ is 100) as，What's the difference between love and fondness? Or what is the nature of luck and coincidence? It's not obvious how the capacity to visualize objects and to figure out numerical patterns suits one to answer questions that have eluded some of the best poets and philosophers．

Clearly, intelligence encompasses more that a score on a test. Just what does it mean to be smart? How much of intelligence can be specified，and how much can we learn about it from neurology, genetics, computer science and other fields?

The defining term of intelligence in humans still seems to be the IQ score，even though IQ tests are not given as often as they used to be．The test comes primarily in two forms：the Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale and the Wechsler Intelligence Scales (both come in adult and children's version)．Generally costing several hundred dollars． they are usually given only by psychologists，although variations of them populate bookstores and the Wide Web．Superhigh scores 1ike Vos Savant's are no longer possible，because scoring is now based on a statistical population distribution among age peers，rather than simply dividing the mental age by the chronological age and multiplying by 100．Other standardized tests，such as the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT)and the Graduate Record Exam(GRE)，capture the main aspects of IQ tests．

Such standardized tests may not assess all the important elements necessary to succeed in school and in life．argues Robert J．Sternberg．In his article "How Intelligent Is Intelligence Testing?"，Sternberg notes that traditional tests best assess analytical and verbal skills but fail to measure creativity and practical knowledge，components also critical to problem solving and life success．Moreover, IQ tests do not necessarily predict so well once populations or situations change．Research has found that IQ predicted leadership skills when the tests were given under low stress conditions，but under high stress conditions，IQ was negatively correlated with leadership-that is, it predicted the opposite．Anyone who has toiled through SAT will testify that test taking skill also matters，whether it's knowing when to guess or what questions to skip．

在过去的几年里，周日增刊Parade报纸有一个名为"向玛里琳提问"的特写专栏。人们被邀请向Marilyn vos Aavant提问，她在10岁时就参加了大约23岁人的智力测试，得出智商为228，那是有记录以来的最高分。智商测试让你完成语言和视觉类推，想象纸在折叠之后和剪裁之后的样子，推论数字顺序以及其他一些类似的任务。因此当Savant即时回复来自普通人的一些问题时有点儿令人困惑，这些问题诸如：爱和喜欢之间的区别是什么？运气和巧合的本质是什么？而那种想象物体和计算数字模式的能力如何让人能够回答连一些最好的诗人和哲学家都避之惟恐不及的问题，这还不够明朗。

显然，智力所包含的远不只是测试中的分数。那么聪明意味着什么呢？智力中有多大比例能够详细进行解释呢？我们又能够从神经学、遗传学、计算机科学和其他领域对智力了解多少呢？

虽然智商测试不像过去用的那样多了，对人类智力进行定义的仍然是智商数。测试主要采用两种形式：一种是斯坦福-比奈智力量表，一种是温切斯勒智力量表（两个量表均有成人和儿童两个版本）。尽管这两种测试的改编版在书店和互联网上占有一席之地，它们通常只由心理学家进行测试，花费为几百美元。像vos Savant那样的超高分数不再可能出现，这是因为现在的计分建立在同龄人的人口分布统计数学的基础上，而不仅仅是用智力年龄除以胜利年龄再乘以100。其他一些标准化考试，如SAT和GRE，借鉴了智商测试的主要方面。

Robert J .Sternberg认为，这些标准化考试可能不会评估对在学校和生活中取得成功必要的所有重要因素。在他的"智商测试有多明智"一文中，Sternberg指出传统的考试很好地评价了分析和语言能力，而没有评估创造力和实践知识，而后者对解决问题和在生活中取得成功至关重要。此外，一旦人口或环境发生改变，智商测试就测得不准确了。研究表明当智商测试在压力小的环境下进行时，它能预测领导能力。当智商测试在压力大的环境下进行时，智商与领导力负相关，即它预测的内容正好相反。任何一个考过SAT的人都可以证实，考试技巧也是有关系的，要知道何时猜测，要跳过什么问题。

26. Which of the following may be required in an intelligence test?
[A] Answering philosophical questions．
[B] Folding or cutting paper into different shapes．
[C] Telling the differences between certain concepts．
[D] Choosing words or graphs similar to the given ones．

27. What can be inferred about intelligence testing from Paragraph 3?
[A] People no longer use IQ scores as an indicator of intelligence．
[B] More versions of IQ tests are now available on the Internet．
[C] The test contents and formats for adults and children may be different．
[D] Scientists have defined the important elements of human intelligence．

28. People nowadays can no longer achieve IQ scores as high as Vos Savant's because.
[A] the scores are obtained through different computational procedures
[B] creativity rather than analytical skills is emphasized now
[C] Vos Savant's case is an extreme one that will not repeat
[D] the defining characteristic of IQ tests has changed

29. We can conclude from the last paragraph that.
[A] test scores may not be reliable indicators of one's ability
[B] IQ scores and SAT results are highly correlated
[C] testing involves a lot of guesswork
[D] traditional tests are out of date

30. What is the author's attitude towards IQ tests?
[A] Supportive
[B] Skeptical
[C] Impartial
[D] Biased

第一段中心句：It's not obvious how the capacity to visualize objects and to figure out numerical patterns suits one to answer questions that have eluded some of the best poets and philosophers．并不明显的是，想象物体形状和算出数字规律的能力怎样就能让人能够回答那些让一部分最优秀的诗人和哲学家都难以回答的问题。

第二段中心句：Clearly, intelligence encompasses more that a score on a test. 显然，智力不只是一次测试成绩那么简单。

第三段中心句：The defining term of intelligence in humans still seems to be the IQ score，even though IQ tests are not given as often as they used to be．虽然，智商测试不像过去用的那样多了，但是对人类智力定义的仍然是智商数。

第四段中心句：Such standardized tests may not assess all the important elements necessary to succeed in school and in life．argues Robert J．Sternberg．Robert J．Sternberg认为，这些标准化考试可能不会评估对在学校和生活中取得成功必要的所有重要因素。