三、阅读

　　Physical activity does the body good, and there’s growing evidence that it helps the brain too. Researchers in the Netherlands report that children who get more exercise, whether at school or on their own, 　26　to have higher GPAs and better scores on standardized tests. In a 　27　 of 14 studies that looked at physical activity and academic　28　, investigators found that the more children moved, the better their grades were in school, 　29　 in the basic subjects of math, English and reading.

　　The data will certainly fuel the ongoing debate over whether physical education classes should be cut as schools struggle to 　30　 on smaller budgets. The arguments against physical education have included concerns that gym time may be taking away from study time. With standardized test scores in the U.S. 　31　 in recent years, some administrators believe students need to spend more time in the classroom instead of on the playground. But as these findings show, exercise and academics may not be 　32　 exclusive. Physical activity can improve blood 　33　 to the brain, fueling memory, attention and creativity, which are 　34　 to learning. And exercise releases hormones that can improve 　35　 and relieve stress, which can also help learning. So while it may seem as if kids are just exercising their bodies when they’re running around, they may actually be exercising their brains as well.

　　A)attendance

　　B)consequently

　　C)current

　　D)depressing

　　E)dropping

　　F)essential

　　G)feasible

　　H)flow

　　I)mood

　　J)mutually

　　K)particularly

　　L)performance

　　M)review

　　N)survive

　　O)tend

　　答案：

　　26. (O) tend

　　27. (M) review

　　28. (L) performance

　　29. (K) particularly

　　30. (N) survive

　　31. (E) dropping

　　32. (J) mutually

　　33. (H) flow

　　34. (F) essential

　　35. (I) mood

　　Finding the Right Home—and Contentment, Too

　　[A] When your elderly relative needs to enter some sort of long-term care facility—a moment few parents or children approach without fear—what you would like is to have everything made clear.

　　[B] Does assisted living really mark a great improvement over a nursing home, or has the industry simply hired better interior designers? Are nursing homes as bad as people fear, or is that an out-moded stereotype (固定看法)? Can doing one’s homework really steer families to the best places? It is genuinely hard to know.

　　[C] I am about to make things more complicated by suggesting that what kind of facility an older person lives in may matter less than we have assumed. And that the characteristics adult children look for when they begin the search are not necessarily the things that make a difference to the people who are going to move in. I am not talking about the quality of care, let me hastily add. Nobody flourishes in a gloomy environment with irresponsible staff and a poor safety record. But an accumulating body of research indicates that some distinctions between one type of elder care and another have little real bearing on how well residents do.

　　[D]The most recent of these studies, published in The journal of Applied Gerontology, surveyed 150 Connecticut residents of assisted living, nursing homes and smaller residential care homes (known in some states as board and care homes or adult care homes). Researchers from the University of Connecticut Health Center asked the residents a large number of questions about their quality of life, emotional well-being and social interaction, as well as about the quality of the facilities.

　　[E]“We thought we would see differences based on the housing types,” said the lead author of the study, Julie Robison, an associate professor of medicine at the university. A reasonable assumption—don’t families struggle to avoid nursing homes and suffer real guilt if they can’t?

　　[F] In the initial results, assisted living residents did paint the most positive picture. They were less likely to report symptoms of depression than those in the other facilities, for instance, and less likely to be bored or lonely. They scored higher on social interaction.

　　[G] But when the researchers plugged in a number of other variables, such differences disappeared. It is not the housing type, they found, that creates differences in residents’ responses. “It is the characteristics of the specific environment they are in, combined with their own personal characteristics—how healthy they feel they are, their age and marital status,” Dr. Robison explained. Whether residents felt involved in the decision to move and how long they had lived there also proved significant.

　　[H] An elderly person who describes herself as in poor health, therefore, might be no less depressed in assisted living (even if her children preferred it) than in a nursing home. A person who bad input into where he would move and has had time to adapt to it might do as well in a nursing home as in a small residential care home, other factors being equal. It is an interaction between the person and the place, not the sort of place in itself, that leads to better or worse experiences. “You can’t just say, ‘Let’s put this person in a residential care home instead of a nursing home—she will be much better off,” Dr. Robison said. What matters, she added, “is a combination of what people bring in with them, and what they find there.”

　　[I] Such findings, which run counter to common sense, have surfaced before. In a multi-state study of assisted living, for instance, University of North Carolina researchers found that a host of variables—the facility’s type, size or age; whether a chain owned it; how attractive the neighborhood was—had no significant relationship to how the residents fared in terms of illness, mental decline, hospitalizations or mortality. What mattered most was the residents’ physical health and mental status. What people were like when they came in had greater consequence than what happened one they were there.

　　[J] As I was considering all this, a press release from a respected research firm crossed my desk, announcing that the five-star rating system that Medicare developed in 2008 to help families compare nursing home quality also has little relationship to how satisfied its residents or their family members are. As a matter of fact, consumers expressed higher satisfaction with the one-star facilities, the lowest rated, than with the five-star ones. (More on this study and the star ratings will appear in a subsequent post.)

　　[K] Before we collectively tear our hair out—how are we supposed to find our way in a landscape this confusing?—here is a thought from Dr. Philip Sloane, a geriatrician(老年病学专家)at the University of North Carolina：“In a way, that could be liberating for families.”

　　[L] Of course, sons and daughters want to visit the facilities, talk to the administrators and residents and other families, and do everything possible to fulfill their duties. But perhaps they don’t have to turn themselves into private investigators or Congressional subcommittees. “Families can look a bit more for where the residents are going to be happy，” Dr. Sloane said. And involving the future resident in the process can be very important.

　　[M] We all have our own ideas about what would bring our parents happiness. They have their ideas, too. A friend recently took her mother to visit an expensive assisted living/nursing home near my town. I have seen this place—it is elegant, inside and out. But nobody greeted the daughter and mother when they arrived, though the visit had been planned; nobody introduced them to the other residents. When they had lunch in the dining room, they sat alone at a table.

　　[N] The daughter feared her mother would be ignored there, and so she decided to move her into a more welcoming facility. Based on what is emerging from some of this research, that might have been as rational a way as any to reach a decision.

　　36. Many people feel guilty when they cannot find a place other than a nursing home for their parents.

　　37.Though it helps for children to investigate care facilities, involving their parents in the decision-making process may prove very important.

　　38.It is really difficult to tell if assisted living is better than a nursing home.

　　39.How a resident feels depends on an interaction between themselves and the care facility they live in.

　　40.The author thinks her friend made a rational decision in choosing a more hospitable place over an apparently elegant assisted living home.

　　41.The system Medicare developed to rate nursing home quality is of little help to finding a satisfactory place.

　　42.At first the researchers of the most recent study found residents in assisted living facilities gave higher scores on social interaction.

　　43.What kind of care facility old people live in may be less important than we think.

　　44.The findings of the latest research were similar to an earlier multi-state study of assisted living.

　　45.A resident’s satisfaction with a care facility has much to do with whether they had participated in the decision to move in and how long they had stayed there.

　　参考答案：

　　36. 正确选项 E

　　37. 正确选项 L

　　38. 正确选项 B

　　39. 正确选项 H

　　40. 正确选项 N

　　41. 正确选项 J

　　42. 正确选项 F

　　43. 正确选项 C

　　44. 正确选项 I

　　45. 正确选项 G

　　Passage one

　　Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.

　　As Artificial Intelligence(AI) becomes increasingly sophisticated, there are growing concerns that robots could become a threat. This danger can be avoided, according to computer science professor Stuart Russell, if we figure out how to turn human values into a programmable code.

　　Russell argues that as robots take on more complicated tasks, it’s necessary to translate our morals into AI language.

　　For example, if a robot does chores around the house, you wouldn’t want it to put the pet cat in the oven to make dinner for the hungry children. “You would want that robot preloaded with a good set of values,” said Russell.

　　Some robots are already programmed with basic human values. For example, mobile robots have been programmed to keep a comfortable distance from humans. Obviously there are cultural differences, but if you were talking to another person and they came up close in your personal space, you wouldn’t think that’s the kind of thing a properly brought-up person would do.

　　It will be possible to create more sophisticated moral machines, if only we can find a way to set out human values as clear rules.

　　Robots could also learn values from drawing patterns from large sets of data on human behavior. They are dangerous only if programmers are careless.

　　The biggest concern with robots going against human values is that human beings fail to so sufficient testing and they’ve produced a system that will break some kind of taboo(禁忌).

　　One simple check would be to program a robot to check the correct course of action with a human when presented with an unusual situation.

　　If the robot is unsure whether an animal is suitable for the microwave, it has the opportunity to stop, send out beeps(嘟嘟声), and ask for directions from a human. If we humans aren’t quite sure about a decision, we go and ask somebody else.

　　The most difficult step in programming values will be deciding exactly what we believe in moral, and how to create a set of ethical rules. But if we come up with an answer, robots could be good for humanity.

　　46.What does the author say about the threat of robots?

　　A)It may constitute a challenge to computer progranmers.

　　B)It accompanies all machinery involving high technology.

　　C)It can be avoided if human values are translated into their language.

　　D)It has become an inevitable peril as technology gets more sophisticated.

　　47.What would we think of a person who invades our personal space according to the author?

　　A)They are aggressive.

　　B)They are outgoing.

　　C)They are ignorant.

　　D)They are ill-bred.

　　48.How do robots learn human values?

　　A)By interacting with humans in everyday life situations.

　　B)By following the daily routines of civilized human beings.

　　C)By picking up patterns from massive data on human behavior.

　　D)By imitating the behavior of property brought-up human beings.

　　49.What will a well-programmed robot do when facing an unusual situation?

　　A)keep a distance from possible dangers.

　　B)Stop to seek advice from a human being.

　　C)Trigger its built-in alarm system at once.

　　D)Do sufficient testing before taking action.

　　50.What is most difficult to do when we turn human values into a programmable code?

　　A)Determine what is moral and ethical.

　　B)Design some large-scale experiments.

　　C)Set rules for man-machine interaction.

　　D)Develop a more sophisticated program.

　　参考答案：

　　46. 正确选项C. It can be avoided if human values are translated into their language.

　　47. 正确选项 D. They are ill-bred.

　　48. 正确选项 C. By picking up patterns from massive data on human behavior.

　　49. 正确选项 D. Do sufficient testing before taking action.

　　50. 正确选项 A. Determine what is moral and ethical.

　　解析：

　　46. B. It weakens in one’s later years.

　　解析：从原文第一段declining mental function is often seen as a problem of old age, “心智功能衰退经常被看做是老年人的问题”，可以看出B是正确答案。

　　47. D. Some of them begin to decline when people are still young.

　　解析：从原文第一段but certain aspects of brain function actually begin their decline in young adulthood , a new study suggests. “但是一项新的研究表明，大脑的某些功能在人们年轻的时候就开始衰退”，可以看出D是正确选项。

　　48. C. They function quite well even in old age.

　　解析：从原文第五段中原句Most people’s minds function at a high level even in their later years, according to researcher Timothy Salthouse. “根据研究人员Timothy Salthouse的说法，大多数人的心智功能在他们晚年依然保持高水平工作”，可以看出C是正确选项。

　　50. D. can put what they have learnt into more effective use.

　　解析：从原文第六段中原句but that the amount of knowledge one has, and the effectiveness of integrating it with one’s abilities, may increase throughout all of adulthood if there are no diseases. “但是只要一个人没有疾病，那么这个人拥有的知识量，以及把知识和能力结合在一起的效率，可能会在整个成年时期增加”可以看出D是正确选项。

　　50. A. find ways to slow down our mental decline.

　　解析：从原文倒数第二段中原句We gain insight in cognition changes, and may possibly discover ways to slow the rate of decline.“我们更加了解认知变化，而且可能会发现减缓衰退的方法”，可以看出A是正确选项。

　　Passage two

　　51. 答案：A to see whether people’s personality affects their life span 研究人们的性格是否会影响长寿

　　解析：题目问在这本期刊(the Journal of American Geriatrics Society)中刊登的本次研究的目的是什么?根据题干中的已知信息回文定位在第一段，通读本段，发现答案应来自本段第四句与第五句。第四句说某种性格 会有助于长寿吗?第五句说，在the Journal of American Geriatrics Society 这本期刊中刊登了一项新的研究就这个问题进行了探索(原文的this question 指的就是第四句这个问句)，研究了246个人的性格特点，而在246个人的父母都是百岁老人。可见本次研究的目的就是通过研究百岁老人其子女的性格特点， 来解答性格与长寿之间是否存在某种关联。

　　52. 答案：D They are more likely to get over hardship. 他们克服困难的可能性更多。

　　解析：题目问对于外向的人和有同情心的人，作者暗示了什么?根据题干中的已知信息回文定位在第二段，通读本段，本段共计3句话。第一句的大意是说该研究 表明长寿的人和其他人相比，大多是性格更加外向、更积极主动而且没那么神经质。第二句大意是说长寿的女性和拥有正常寿命的女性比较起来更富有同情心，也更 具有合作精神。第三句说上述这两项研究结果也与进化理论的观点一直，那就是喜欢交朋友的人和乐于助人的人能够获得足够的资源来让自己渡过难关。喜欢交朋友 就是前文说的外向，乐于助人是因为有同情心，所以答案应该选D。C选项 They generally appear more resourceful他们总是变现得更加足智多谋。resourceful 形容人的时候表明人是机智的，足智多谋的，和资源没有关系。可见，词汇仍然是基础。

　　53. 答案：C Such personality characteristics as self-discipline have no effect on longevity. 诸如自律这样的性格特点对长寿没有影响。

　　解析：题目问这次研究中让人意外的研究结果是什么?根据题干回文定位到第三段。通读全段。该段大意为：但是有趣的是，人们观念里认为有助于长寿的那些性 格特点反而对实验对象是不是可能长寿没有任何影响。例如，那些更能进行自我约束的人也没有比其他人更长寿的可能。同样的，善于接受新鲜事物也与长寿没关 系，这也可能解释了有一些坏脾气的了，老年人就是江山易改本性难移。可见，这次研究表明自我约束(自律)等人们以前认为对长寿本应该有帮助的性格特点其实 与长寿没什么关系，所以答案选C。

　　54. 答案 D Mothers’ negative personality characteristics may affect their children’s life spans. 母亲负面的性格特点可能影响子女的寿命

　　解析：题目问最近一次对于挪威母亲的研究表明了什么?根据题干关键字回文定位到第五段。第五段说然而在另一项研究中表明母亲的性格也可能影响其子女是否 长寿。该研究的被试为28，000名挪威母亲，研究发现那些更易焦虑、抑郁和发怒的母亲更有可能让其子女的饮食不健康，而童年时期的饮食习惯很难在成年时 打破所以这就意味着抑郁的母亲所生的孩子可能无法长寿。可见母亲的性格特点如果是负面的，就会影响到子女的寿命，所以选D。

　　55. 答案 B Longevity results form a combination of mental and physical health. 长寿是心身健康的共同产物。

　　解析：题目问从文中的两项研究中我们能得知什么?根据题目定位在最后一段。最后一段说性格决定命运，而且每个人都知道可以学着去改变。但是这两个研究都 表明了长寿不只需要身体健康，也需要心理健康。也就是说想长寿，既要有一个好身体，也要有一个健康积极的心态，所以答案选B。

责任编辑：gzp