Text 1 The adage "like a kid at heart" may be truer than we think, since new research is showing that grown-ups are more immature than ever. Specifically, it seems a growing number of people are retaining the behaviors and attitudes associated with youth. As a consequence, many older people simply never achieve mental adulthood, according to a leading expert on evolutionary psychiatry. Among scientists, the phenomenon is called psychological neoteny. The theory's creator is Bruce Charlton, a professor in the School of Biology at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Charlton explained that humans have an inherent attraction to physical youth, since it can be a sign of fertility, health and vitality. In the mid-20th century, however, another force kicked in, due to increasing need for individuals to change jobs, learn new skills, move to new places and make new friends. A "child-like flexibility of attitudes, behaviors and knowledge" is probably adaptive to the increased instability of the modern world. Formal education now extends well past physical maturity, leaving students with minds that are, he said, "unfinished." When formal education continues into the early twenties, it Probably, to an extent, counteracts the attainment of psychological maturity, which would otherwise occur at about this age. Charlton pointed out that past cultures often marked the advent of adulthood with initiation ceremonies. While the human mind responds to new information over the course of any individual's lifetime, Charlton argues that past physical environments were more stable and allowed for a state of psychological maturity. In hunter-gatherer societies, that maturity was probably achieved during a person's late teens or early twenties. By contrast, many modern adults fail to attain this maturity, and such failure is common and indeed characteristic of highly educated and, on the whole, effective and socially valuable people. Charlton added that since modern cultures now favor cognitive flexibility, "immature" people tend to thrive and succeed, and have set the tone not only for contemporary life, but also for the future, when it is possible our genes may even change as a result of the psychological shift. The faults of youth are retained along with the virtues. These include short attention span, sensation and novelty-seeking, short cycles of arbitrary fashion and a sense of cultural shallowness. David Brooks, a social commentator and a columnist at The New York Times, has documented a somewhat related phenomenon concerning the current blurring of "the bourgeois world of capitalism and the bohemian counterculture," which Charlton believes is a version of psychological neoteny. Brooks believes such individuals have lost the wisdom and maturity of their bourgeois predecessors due to more emphasis placed on expertise, flexibility and vitality.
1. The term "psychological neoteny" comes closest in meaning to ______
Text 2 When my son started going to "school" full time in February, I readied myself for immunological battle. Day-care kids get sicker than children who stay at home, and I knew mine' would, too. But other parents assured me that by kindergarten he'd be the healthiest kid in class. Last week parenting message boards lit up when a University of California, Berkeley, researcher presented unpublished data showing that children who attend playgroups or day care have a 30 percent lower risk of developing childhood leukemia than kids who don't, possibly because they are exposed to more infections early in life. The human immune system is an elegant mix of two parts—a built-in, or innate, system and an acquired one. The innate system has already read the manual on generic germs. The acquired system, by contrast, is a bookworm, reading on the go,, learning with every new microbial visitor and growing wiser as it ages. Together, the two systems assess the foods we eat, the particles we breathe, the bacteria we touch, then determine whether or not to attack. Can a young immune system handle so much new information? Research published over the past decade is reassuring. Scientists at the University of Arizona found that 2-year-olds who attend day care in the first six months of life have almost twice as many colds as stay-at-home kids. But they have a third fewer colds between the ages of 6 and 11. By 13, there's no difference in the groups, suggesting that the kids' immune systems catch up with each other. Several studies have found that children who go to day care early in life are also less likely to develop asthma. The Arizona scientists discovered that high-risk children who start day care before 3 months old have lower levels of immunoglobutin E—a marker of allergic susceptibility connected to asthma-than non-day-care kids. Those levels remain low for the first three years of life. Anne Wright, the study's lead author, says this doesn't necessarily mean that kids benefit from being sick more often. She believes the findings support the "hygiene hypothesis," which suggests that simply being exposed to more microbes—which run rampant at day care—educates the immune system, making it less likely to launch unwarranted warfare. All this is good to know. But I had to ask the experts: why am I getting: so sick? "Because you live with the source," says Liu. And I hug and kiss him a lot, too, so I'm probably getting a big dose of germs. It's also possible that my immune system's memory has faded a bit, making old harmless viruses look new and dangerous. Or I may be meeting bugs my immune system has never seen before. The most comforting words I heard were from Columbia University pediatrician Philip L. Graham Ⅲ, who told me that pediatricians get horribly sick during their first year of treating patients. After that, they're immunological powerhouses.
1. The findings of the research at the University of California, Berkeley show that ______
A.school children are less unlikely to fall ill
B.parenting is closely related to children's health
C.group activities boost children's resistance to illness
D.children who play truancy are more likely to fall ill
4. An "unwarranted warfare" (Para.4) for the immune system is one in which ______
A.the immune system misjudges and fails to attack harmful germs
B.the immune system plays no part in screening out harmful germs
C.children suffer as a result of inaction on the part of the immune system
D.the innate system attacks harmful germs in place of the acquired system
A B C D
A
[解析] 这里unwarranted的意思是haying no justification or groundless(无根据的,无理由的)。这里warfare当然是指免疫系统对病菌的抵御战。第二段明确提到,免疫系统在与环境的相互作用中变得更强大,学会了抵御各种病菌的攻击。因此,这里所说的免疫系统不打“无根据的战争”,应该指免疫系统不会对所有细菌发起攻击,它会有选择地对有害细菌发起攻击,起到抵抗病菌侵入的作用。
5. From Doctor Philip L. Graham Ⅲ, the author has got the reassuring message that ______
A.the immune system's memory never fades even when one grows old
B.the larger the exposure to germs is, the healthier a person becomes
C.pediatricians never actually get sick when they treat child patients
D.the "hygiene hypothesis" is supported by convincing evidence
Text 3 New claims for unemployment insurance dipped last week, suggesting that companies are laying off fewer workers as the budding economic recovery unfolds. The Labor Department reported Thursday that for the work week ending April 27, new claims for jobless benefits went down by a seasonally adjusted 10,000 to 418,000, the lowest level since March 23. In another report, orders to US factories rose for the fourth straight month, a solid 0.4 percent rise in March. The figure was largely boosted by stronger demand for nondurable goods, such as food, clothes, paper products and chemicals. Total nondurable goods were up 1.6 percent in March, the biggest increase in two years. Orders also rose for some manufactured goods, including metals, construction machinery, household appliances and defense equipment. The report reinforces the view that the nation's manufacturers—which sharply cut production and saw hundreds of thousands of jobs evaporate during the recession—are on the comeback trail. Stocks were rising again Thursday. In the first half-hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 43 points and the Nasdaq index was up 14 points. In the jobless claims report, even with the decline, a government analyst said, the level was inflated as a result of a technical fluke. The distortion is coming from a requirement that laid-off workers seeking to take advantage of a federal extension for benefits must submit new claims. Congress recently passed legislation signed into law by President Bush that provided a 13-week extension of jobless benefits. The fluke has clouded the layoffs picture for several weeks. But the government analyst said the refiling requirement is having much less of an effect on the claims numbers than in previous weeks. The more stable four-week moving average of new claims, which smoothes out weekly fluctuations, also fell last week to 435,750, the lowest level since the beginning of April. But the number of workers continuing to receive unemployment benefits rose to 3.8 million for the work week ending April 20, evidence that people who are out of work are having trouble finding new jobs. Economists predict that job growth won't be strong enough in the coming months to prevent the nation's unemployment rate—now at 5.7 percent—from rising. Many economists are forecasting a rise in April's jobless rate to 5.8 percent and estimating that businesses added around 55,000 jobs during the month. The government will release the April employment report Friday. Even as the economy bounces back from recession, some economists expect the jobless rate will peak to just over 6 percent by June. That's because companies will be reluctant to quickly hire back laid-off workers until they are assured the recovery is here to stay. Given the fledgling rebound, many economists expect the Federal Reserve to leave short-term interest rates—now at 40-year lows—unchanged when it meets May 7. The Fed cut rates 11 times last year to rescue the economy from recession, which began in March 2001.
1. The fact that new claims for jobless benefits decreased shows that ______
A.the economy is welt on its way to recovery
B.more jobless workers have found new jobs
C.companies have slowed down firing workers
D.unemployment rates fluctuate on a seasonal basis
2. What is the present situation of the manufacturing industry?
A.It is recovering.
B.It now suffers much setback.
C.It has opened up thousands of employment opportunities.
D.It has increased the production of nondurable goods.
A B C D
A
[解析] 第一段提到,另一份报告显示,美国工厂订单连续4个月增加,3月份实际增长了0.4%。这一增长主要是对食品、服装、纸产品和化学品等非耐用品需求的增长造成的。金属制品、建筑机械、家用电器和防卫设备等某些制成品的订单也增加了。在3月,非耐用品的总量增长了1.6%,是两年里增幅最大的一次。报告强调,在经历了大量减产和成千上万地解雇工人的衰退阶段之后,全国的制造企业正在复苏(on the comeback trail)。
3. In the first sentence of the second paragraph, the "level" refers to the level of ______
5. One result of the present budding economic recovery is the ______
A.reduction in unemployment rate
B.gradual rise of the interest rates
C.reduced new claims for unemployment insurance
D.reduction in inflation rate
A B C D
C
[解析] 参阅第一段第一句及第1小题题解。
Text 4 The term "formal learning" refers to all learning which takes place in the classroom regardless of whether such learning is informed by conservative or progressive ideologies. "Informal learning", on the other hand, is used to refer to learning which takes place outside the classroom. These definitions provide the essential difference between the two modes of learning. Formal learning is separated from daily life and may actually promote ways of learning and thinking which often run counter to those obtained from practical daily life. A characteristic feature of formal learning is the centrality of activities which can prepare for the challenges of adult life outside the classroom, but it cannot, by its nature, consist of these challenges. In doing this, language plays a critical role as the major channel for information exchange. The language of the classroom is more similar to the language used by middle-class families than that used by working-class families. Middle-class children thus find it easier to acquire the language of the classroom than their working-class classmates. Informal learning, in contrast, occurs in the setting to which it relates, making learning immediately relevant. In this context, language does not occupy such an important role. the child's experience of learning is more direct, involving sight, touch, taste, and smell—senses that are under-utilised in the classroom. Whereas formal learning is transmitted by teachers selected to perform this role, informal learning is acquired as a natural part of a child's socialization. Adults or older children who are proficient in the skill or activity provide—sometimes unintentionally—target models of behaviour in the course of everyday activity. Informal learning, therefore, can take place at any time and place. The motivation of the learner provides another critical difference between the two models of learning. The formal learner is generally motivated by some kind of external goal such as parental approval, social status, and potential financial reward. The informal learner, however, tends to be motivated by successful completion of the task itself and the partial acquisition of adult status. Given that learning systems develop as a response to the social and economic contexts in which they are embedded, it is understandable that modern, highly urbanized societies have concentrated almost exclusively on the establishment of formal education systems. What these societies have failed to recognize are the ways in which formal learning inhibits the child's multi-sensory acquisition of practical skills. The failure to provide a child with a direct education may in part account for many of the social problems which trouble our societies.
1. Formal learning and informal learning are mainly distinguished by ______
A.children usually follow the examples of adults to shape their own behaviour
B.children's learning is more direct
C.children are highly motivated by the learning activity itself
D.all of the above
A B C D
D
[解析] 文章第五段指出,在非正规学习中,学习成了孩子社会成长过程(socialization)中一个自然部分,成年人或稍大一些孩子的某些优良行为,有意无意地成了孩子们模仿的对象(target model of behaviour),因此,A表达的内容与原文相符。 原文第四段指出,在非正规学习中,孩子学习的内容是可见可感的,更加直接。这与脱离现实(separated from daily life)的学校教育形成鲜明对比(见第二段),因此,B所表达的内容与原文也是相符的。 第六段谈了二者在学习动机(motivation)方面的差别。该段指出,在非正规学习中,学习者的学习动机产生于完成工作后的成就感和意识到自己“已长大”的感觉,因此,C也与原文相符。
4. Compared with informal learning, formal learning is ______
A.more practical
B.more interesting to children
C.more centralized
D.more progressive
A B C D
C
[解析] 参阅第1、3、5小题题解。
5. The author's attitude towards the present state of formal learning is one of ______
Text 5 When the shocking details of the suffering of Baby P emerged last month, ministers were quick to reassure an outraged public they would take whatever action necessary to tackle the flaws in the child protection system. And today the children's secretary, Ed Balls, immediately announced that Haringey's director of children's services, Sharon Shoesmith, was being removed from her post. Such tough talk serves only to distract us from recognising ministers' complicity in the failings that led to yet another child's horrific' death in the same north London borough. Lord Laming, who headed the inquiry into the murder of Victoria Climbié, said those at the top should be held accountable for her death. But the then director of Haringey's social services went on to a better-paid job in Hackney, while the council chief executive, Gurbux Singh, went on to head the Commission for Racial Equality. What is worse, however, is that the government's child protection reforms since the Climbié scandal have created a more bureaucratic child protection system that is only better in the sense it can be more easily audited. The government's response to Laming's finding that child protection professionals were failing to share and properly record data has been to set up a growing array of databases, such as the much-criticized Integrated Children's System. The theory was that this would lead to fewer errors, but in practice it has drowned social workers in paperwork, giving them even less time spend with families—the only means by which they can really detect abuse. Experts like Munro believe the introduction next month of Contact' Point, the database of all 11 million children in England, will only heighten the bureaucratic burden. The database will include the names, ages and addresses of all 11 million under-18s, rather than focus on those most in need of help. When you are searching for a needle in a haystack—a child at risk why make the haystack bigger? The momentum of the government's post-Climbié reforms has been to improve the wellbeing of all children rather than to focus on those most in need. The creation of children's trusts in every local authority, combining education and social services, has arguably led to child protection being marginalised. In favouring structural solutions to the problems identified in the Climbié inquiry, the government has failed to address the main requirement of good child protection—being able to make risk assessments of chaotic families often in difficult circumstances. Social workers and other professionals need to work within a system that encourages them to use their analytical skills rather than being tied to a tick-box culture that may allow the likes of Haringey to look good on paper despite all the shocking evidence to the contrary.
1. The author insists that the ministers should be punished for the scandal because ______
A.they let go those at the top who are responsible
B.too many children have been murdered recently
C.they actually take no action to protect children
D.they haven't made any inquiry into the two cases of murder