4. Passage Two When older people can no longer remember names at a cocktail party， they tend to think that their brainpower is declining. But a growing number of studies suggest that this assumption is often wrong. Instead，the research finds， the aging brain is simply taking in more data and trying to examine carefully a lot of information， often to its long-term benefit. Some brains do deteriorate with age. But for most aging adults， researchers say， much of what occurs is a gradually widening focus of attention that makes it more difficult to get hold of just one fact. Although that can be frustrating， it is often useful. “It may be that distractibility is not， in fact， a bad thing，” said Shelley H. Carson， a psychology researcher at Harvard. “It may increase the amount of information available to the conscious mind. ” For example， in studies where subjects are asked to read passages that are interrupted with unexpected words or phrases， adults 60 and older work much more slowly than college students. Although the students plow through the texts at a consistent speed regardless of what the out-of-place words mean， older people slow down even more when the words are related to the topic at hand. That indicates that they are not just stumbling (结结巴巴地念) over the extra information， but are taking it in and processing it. When both groups were later asked questions for which the out-of-place words might be answers， the older adults responded much better than the students. “For the young people， it’s as if the distraction never happened，” said a researcher of the review， Lynn Hasher， a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. “But for older adults， because they’ve retained all this extra data， they’re now suddenly the better problem solvers. They can transfer the information they’ve soaked up from one situation to another.” Such tendencies can yield big advantages in the real world， where it is not always clear what information is important， or will become important. For instance， a seemingly irrelevant point or suggestion in a memo can take on new meaning if the original plan changes. Why could older people give better replies than college students in the experiment?

43. Public attention at the moment is (_____)_ the problem of industrial relations.

A. 　 focused on

B. 　 searched for

C. 　 looked upon

D. 　 called for

47. From then on, a sound system of Party Committee meetings was(_____)in all leading bodies.

A. 　 constructed

B. 　 instituted

C. 　 confirmed

D. 　 given up

4. Passage Ten Nowadays， children heavily cling to digital devices such as computers and smart phones. Some spend up to six hours a day on their digital devices. They can be playing games online with people elsewhere， updating their status on social media， texting friends， or looking for the latest apps to download to their computers or smart phones. This worried Martin Strott. He is the headmaster of the Old Hall School in Wellington， England. He was so concerned that he challenged his students to take part in a week of 【 “digital】 【detox”】， a program to reduce their reliance on digital devices. Mr. Strott told the local newspaper， the Shropshire Star， that too much screen time would affect the development of their social skills. At another interview with a magazine， he mentioned that this over-reliance on digital devices “takes away family time and reduces their chances of face-to-face communication” . The parents are happy with the program. But what about the children? Nine-year-old Fred usually spends around two hours on his digital devices at home after school and around 12 hours on weekends. For him， the digital detox experience was “really hard” . He said that he had been engaged in many interesting outdoor activities organized by the headmaster， but still missed his phone and online games. The idea of keeping children away from their digital devices for a while to prevent too much dependence on them is not particularly new. There have been similar practices in the United States. But are they effective in the long run? According to Mr. Strott， even if kids go back to their digital devices， the hope is that at least they will think about how they will use their time. How did Fred feel about his “digital detox” experience?

A. Tough.

B. Ashamed.

C. Enjoyable.

D. Attractive.

39. I apologize for (_____)_ my promise.

A. 　 not having kept

B. 　 being kept

C. 　 not to have kept

D. 　 having not kept

4. Passage Twenty-One What will man be like in the future—in 5，000 or even 50，000 years from now? We can only make guesses， of course， but we can be sure that he will be different from what he is today. For man is slowly changing all the time. Let us take an obvious example. Man， even five hundred years ago， was shorter than he is today. Now， on average， men are about three inches taller. Five hundred years is relatively short period of time， so we may assume that man will continue to grow taller. Again， in the modern world we use our brains a great deal. Even so， we still make use of only about 20% of the brain’s capacity. As time goes on， however， we shall have to use our brains more and more， and eventually we shall need larger ones. This is likely to bring about a physical change to the head， in particular the forehead will grow larger. Nowadays our eyes are in constant use. In fact， we use them so much that very often they become weaker and we have to wear glasses. But over very long period of time it is likely that man’s eyes will grow stronger. On the other hand， we tend to make less use of our arms and legs. These， as a result， are likely to grow weaker. At the same time， however， our fingers will grow more sensitive because they are used a great deal in modern life. But what about hair? It will probably disappear from the body altogether in course of time because it does not serve a useful purpose any longer. In the future， then， both sexes are likely to be bald. Perhaps all this gives the impression that future man will not be a very attractive creature to look at. This may well be true. All the same， in spite of all these changes， future man will still have a lot in common with us. He will still be a human being， with thoughts and emotions similar to our own.Future man will probably ( ) .

A. have smaller eyes

B. see better

C. have larger eyes

D. wear better glasses

42. The food (_____)_ at the moment is for the dinner party.

A. 　 cooked

B. 　 to be cooked

C. 　 is being cooked

D. 　 being cooked

4. Passage Four Did your mum and dad go to university， or did they leave school and go straight to the Job Centre? The educational experience of parents is still important when it comes to how today’s students choose an area of study and what to do after graduation， according to the Future-track research in the UK. The research was done by the Higher Education Careers Service Unit. It plans to follow university applicants for six years from 2006 through their early careers. The first year’s findings come from a study of 130，000 university applicants. They show significant differences in prospective students’ approach to higher education， depending on whether their parents got degrees 【second-generation applicants】 or didn’t 【first-generation applicants】. First-generation applicants were more likely to say that their career and employment prospects were uppermost in their minds in deciding to go to university. About one-fifth of this group gave “to enable me to get a good job” as their main reason for choosing high education. And 37 percent said that a degree was “part of my career plan” . A young person coming from a non-professional household where finances are stretched may find the idea of learning for its own sake to be a luxury. This explains the explosion in vocational course. At Portsmouth University， first-year student Kim Burnett， 19， says that she specifically chose her degree in health research management and psychology to get a secure， well-paid job. Harriet Edge， 20， studying medicine at Manchester University， also wanted job security. Her parents lacked college degrees， though the fact that her uncle is a doctor appears to have influenced her choice. “Medicine is one of those fields where it’s pretty likely you’ll get a job at the end. That’s a big plus， as the debt levels after five years of study are going to be frightening，” she says. Many experts believe that this situation affects those with no family tradition of higher education far more keenly. The fact that 26 percent of respondents said that they needed more advice implies that some students may end up feeling that their higher education investment was not worthwhile. For those with graduate parents， this lack of guidance may， the researchers suggest， be less of a problem. “But， for those without the advantages， lack of access to career guidance before applying for higher education leaves them exposed to making poorer choices，” the survey concludes. It is implied that ( ) .

A. the cost of a degree in medicine is very high

B. higher education investment in medicine is not worthwhile

C. a student without family medical tradition is less likely to choose medicine

D. medicine is a field where every degree-holder can get a job

4. Passage Five The appeal of advertising to buying motives can have both negative and positive effects. Consumers may be convinced to buy a product of poor quality or high price because of an advertisement. For example， some advertisers have appealed to people’s desire for better fuel economy for their cars by advertising automotive products that improve gasoline mileage. Some of the products work. Others are worthless and a waste of consumers’ money. Sometimes advertising is intentionally misleading. A few years ago， a brand of bread was offered to dieters with the message that there were fewer calories in every slice. It turned out that the bread was not dietetic， but just regular bread. There were fewer calories because it was sliced very thin， but there were the same number of calories in every loaf. On the positive side， emotional appeals may respond to a consumer’s real concerns. Consider fire insurance. Fire insurance may be sold by appealing to fear of loss. But fear of loss is the real reason for fire insurance. The security of knowing that property is protected by insurance makes the purchase of fire insurance a worthwhile investment for most people. If consumers consider the quality of the insurance plans as the message in the ads， they will benefit from the advertising. Each consumer must evaluate her or his own situation. Are the benefits of the product important enough to justify buying it? Advertising is intended to appeal to consumers， but it does not force them to buy the product. Consumers still control the final buying decision. It can be inferred from the passage that a smart consumer should ( ) .

A. think carefully about the benefits described in the advertisements

B. guard against the deceiving nature of advertisements

C. be familiar with various advertising strategies

D. avoid buying products that have strong emotional appeal

45. You can eat food free in my restaurant (_____)_ you like.

A. 　whenever

B. 　 wherever

C. 　 whatever

D. 　 however

2. Passage Six We find that bright children are rarely held back by mixed-ability teaching. On the contrary， both their knowledge and experience are enriched. We feel that there are many disadvantages in streaming (把 …按能力分班) pupils. It does not take into account the fact that children develop at different rates. It can have a bad effect on both the bright and the not-so-bright child. After all， it can be quite discouraging to be at the bottom of the top grade! Besides， it is rather unreal to grade pupils just according to their intellectual (智力的) ability. This is only one aspect of their total personality. We are concerned to develop the abilities of all our pupils to the full， not just their academic ability. We also value personal qualities and social skills， and we find that mixed-ability teaching contributes to all these aspects of learning. In our classrooms， we work in various ways. The pupils often work in groups: this gives them the opportunity to learn to co-operate， to share， and to develop leadership skills. They also learn how to cope with personal problems as well as how to think， to make decisions， to analyze and evaluate， and to communicate effectively. The pupils learn from each other as well as from the teacher. Sometimes the pupils work in pairs. Sometimes they work on individual tasks and assignments， and they can do this at their own speed. They also have some formal class teaching when this is appropriate. We encourage our pupils to use the library， and we teach them the skills they need in order to do this efficiently. An advanced pupil can do advanced work. It doesn’t matter what age the child is. We expect our pupils to do their best， not their least， and we give them every encouragement to attain this goal. If we stream the pupils， it can ( ) .

A. have a good effect on both the bright and not-so-bright child

B. have a bad effect on both the bright and not-so-bright child

C. be really hard for the classroom arrangement

D. be easy for the classroom arrangement