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Lack of space forbids further treatment of the topic here. receives deserves prevents accepts
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His knowledge of French is fair. very useful very limited quite good rather special
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The new service helped boost pre-tax profits by 10%. return increase realize double
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He made a number of rude remarks about the food. comments signs manners noises
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Take some spare clothes in case you get wet. fine winter outdoor extra
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Afterwards there was just a feeling of let-down. excitement disappointment anger calm
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The book raised a storm of controversy. damage voice argument doubt
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The worst agonies of the war were now beginning. parts aspects results pains
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My principal concern is to get the job done fast. serious deep main particular
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They are trying to identify what is wrong with the present system. prove discover consider imagine
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Some comments are just inviting trouble. keeping out of getting into asking for suffering from
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I’ m sure I’ll be able to amuse myself for a few hours. treat hold entertain keep
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Several windows had been smashed. broken cleaned replaced fixed
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The AIDS convention will be held in Glasgow. party celebration union conference
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His heart gave a sudden leap when he saw her. jump hope silence life
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Some Schooling on Backpacks
According to the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 5, 900 kids were treated at hospital emergency rooms, clinics, and doctors’ offices last year for sprains(扭伤)and strains caused by backpacks. Such injuries are so widespread that more than 70 percent of physicians surveyed by the American Academy of Orthopedic(整形外科的)Surgeons listed backpacks as a potential clinical problem for children.
How do you avoid such problems? Choose bags that have wide, padded straps(有垫的背带)and a belt. That will help transfer some of the weight from the back and shoulders to the hips. You should also tighten both straps firmly, so the pack rests about 2 inches above your waist. Also, remember to pack your bag with the heaviest items closest to your back and to bend both knees when you pick it up.
How much should you stuff into your pack? That depends on your size and strength, but a general rule is not to exceed 20 percent of your body weight. So if a child weighs 100 pounds, the backpack and its load should not be more than 20 pounds. One hint; Make frequent trips to your locker(储物柜)to exchange books between classes.
Backpacks with wheels let you pull the weight along the ground, but they have problems too. Many are larger than the average shoulder bag, so students are tempted to carry more than they would in a conventional pack.
Roller bags often don’ t fit into a locker. They can also lead to tripping and falls in crowded halls. Whatever you use, 10 or 15 minutes of stretching and back strengthening is a good idea.
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Eye Problems
1 Our eyes are under a great deal of strain these days as computer work, television viewing, night driving, and even sunshine are making exceptional demands. Sunlight, especially in the summer, is now regarded as one cause of cataracts(白内障).
2 The thinning of the ozone(臭氧)layer means more short-wave ultraviolet(UV)rays(紫外线)are reaching the earth, and these are the biggest risk factor for clouding the lens of the eye. Ultraviolet rays increase the risk of changes to the cornea(角膜)causing clouded vision and eventually cataracts. The rays can be shielded only by anti-UV lenses. However, our eyes are not sufficiently protected by fashion sunglasses.
3 “Poor night vision and eye fatigue are noticeably more common, and there has been a big increase in minor eye complaints in the over-40s, “ says Dr. Mireille Bonnet, who took part in recent research. She says that the six muscles controlling each eye move more than 100, 000 times a day and that everyone should learn to exercise their eye muscles and allow them to rest.
4 It was traditionally thought that near- or far-sightedness were inherited conditions and could not be influenced by environmental factors, but new research is challenging this assumption.
5 Recent studies suggest that up to 80 percent of schoolchildren in the United States and western Europe are nearsighted. Years of focusing on close, two-dimensional work causes most children to become at least slightly nearsighted by the age of 10, say the researchers.
6 Problems with night vision, which affect around 25 percent of people, are also on the increase because of computer use. Using computer screens means the eye must operate in electromagnetic fields(电磁场)that make it work harder. It is estimated that 25 to 30 percent of people have eye conditions, such as difficulty with night vision, which result from staring at a screen.
A. The Development of Poor Night Vision
B. The Greatest Threat to the Eyes
C. The Function of Sunglasses
D. The Reason for Children’s Nearsightedness
E. The Effects of Computer on the Eyes
F. The Ways to Reduce Eye Complaints
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A. our parents
B. clouded vision
C. eye muscles
D. our eyes
E. computer use
F. eye move
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The Bilingual Brain
When Karl Kim immigrated to the United States from Korea as a teenager, he had a hard time learning English. Now he speaks it fluently, and he had a unique opportunity to see how our brains adapt to a second language. As a graduate student, Kim worked in the lab of Joy Hirsch, a neuroscientist in New York. Their work led to an important discovery. They found evidence that children and adults don’t use the same parts of the brain when they learn a second language.
The researchers used an instrument called an MRI(magnetic resonance imaging)scanner to study the brains of two groups of bilingual people. One group consisted of those who had learned a second language as children. The other consisted of people who, like Kim, learned their second language later in life. People from both groups were placed inside the MR1 scanner. This allowed Kim and Hirsch to see which parts of the brain were getting more blood and were more active. They asked people from both groups to think about what they had done the day before, first in one language and then the other. They couldn ’ t speak out loud because any movement would disrupt(干扰)the scanning.
Kim and Hirsch looked specifically at two language centers in the brain—Broca ’ s area, which is believed to control speech production, and Wernicke’ s area, which is thought to process meaning. Kim and Hirsch found that both groups of people used the same part of Wernicke’ s area no matter what language they were speaking. But their use of Broca’ s area was different.
People who learned a second language as children used the same region in Broca’ s area for both their first and second languages. People who learned a second language later in life used a different part of Broca’ s area for their second language. How does Hirsch explain this difference? Hirsch believes that when language is first being programmed in young children, their brains may mix the sounds and structures of all languages in the same area. Once that programming is complete, the processing of a new language must be taken over by a different part of the brain.
A second possibility is simply that we may acquire languages differently as children than we do as adults. Hirsch thinks that mothers teach a baby to speak by using different methods involving touch, sound and sight. And that is very different from learning a language in a high school or college class.
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Approaches to Understanding Intelligences
It pays to be smart, but we are not all smart in the same way. You may be a talented musician, but you might not be a good reader. Each of us is different.
Psychologists disagree about what is intelligence and what are talents or personal abilities. Psychologists have two different views on intelligence. Some believe there is one general intelligence. Others believe there are many different intelligences.
Some psychologists say there is one type of intelligence that can be measured with IQ tests. These psychologists support their view with research that concludes that people who do well on one kind of test for mental ability do well on other tests. They do well on tests using words, numbers, or pictures. They do well on individual or group tests, and written or oral tests. Those who do poorly on one test, do the same on all tests.
Studies of the brain show that there is a biological basis for general intelligence. The brains of intelligent people use less energy during problem solving. The brain waves of people with higher intelligence show a quicker reaction. Some researchers conclude that differences in intelligence result from differences in the speed and effectiveness of information processing by the brain.
Howard Gardner, a psychologist at the Harvard School of Education, has four children. He believes that all children are different and shouldn’ t be tested by one intelligence test. Although Gardner believes general intelligence exists, he doesn’ t think it tells much about the talents of a person outside of formal schooling. He thinks that the human mind has different intelligences. These intelligences allow us to solve the kinds of problems we are presented with in life. Each of us has different abilities within these intelligences. Gardner believes that the purpose of school should be to encourage development of all of our intelligences.
Gardner says that his theory is based on biology. For example, when one part of the brain is injured, other parts of the brain still work. People who cannot talk because of brain damage can still sing. So, there is not just one intelligence to lose. Gardner has identified 8 different kinds of intelligence; linguistic, mathematical, spatial, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, body-kinesthetic(身体动觉的), and naturalistic.
