Research on animal intelligence always makes us wonder just how smart humans are. (1) the fruit-fly experiments described by Carl Zimmer in the Science Times. Fruit flies who were taught to be smarter than the average fruit fly (2) to live shorter lives. This suggests that (3) bulbs burn longer, that there is a(n) (4) in not being too bright. Intelligence, it (5) , is a high-priced option. It takes more upkeep, burns more fuel and is slow (6) the starting line because it depends on learning — a(n) (7) process — instead of instinct. Plenty of other species are able to learn, and one of the things they’ve apparently learned is when to (8) . Is there an adaptive value to (9) intelligence That’s the question behind this new research. Instead of casting a wistful glance (10) at all the species we’ve left in the dust I.Q.-wise, it implicitly asks what the real (11) of our own intelligence might be. This is (12) the mind of every animal we’ve ever met. Research on animal intelligence also makes us wonder what experiments animals would (13) on humans if they had the chance. Every cat with an owner, (14) , is running a small-scale study in operant conditioning. We believe that (15) animals ran the labs, they would test us to (16) the limits of our patience, our faithfulness, our memory for locations. They would try to decide what intelligence in humans is really (17) , not merely how much of it there is. (18) , they would hope to study a(n) (19) question: Are humans actually aware of the world they live in (20) the results are inconclusive.
A. deliver
B. carry
C. perform
D. apply
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By late middle ages many workers are looking 41 to retirement, and millions of those 42 have retired are only too glad to exchange the routines of work 43 the satisfaction that a more leisured life may 44. Many other workers are reluctant to give up their 45. The desire to continue working often stems from harsh economic reality, for 46 usually brings a sharp drop in income. 47 workers fear the loss of social identity that can result from 48 a job. They may be left with “nothing to do”, and may find that they are 49 a life with significant meaning and fulfillment. Those old people who 50 like to continue working are often victims of 51 is perhaps the most striking example of age discrimination (歧视): the practice of mandatory (强制的) retirement, under which people are forced to give up their jobs immediately when they 52 a certain age. Until recently the precise age for mandatory retirement 53 from job to job. The usual mandatory retirement age in the U.S.A., however, was sixtyfive. The objection to mandatory retirement is that there is no 54 to suggest that most people over the age of sixtyfive or seventy are incapable of working; at the turn of the century, in fact, 70 percent of men over sixtyfive were still 55 in the labor force.
A. in
B. for
C. to
D. with
Text 2 It is a wise father that knows his own child, but today a man can boost his paternal (fatherly) wisdom— or at least confirm that he’s the kid’s dad. All he needs to do is shell out $30 for paternity testing kit (PTK) at his local drugstore—and another $120 to get the results. More than 60,000 people have purchased the PTKs since they first became available without prescriptions last year, according to Doug Fogg, chief operating officer of Identigene, which makes the over-the-counter kits. More than two dozen companies sell DNA tests directly to the public, ranging in price from a few hundred dollars to more than $ 2,500. Among the most popular: paternity and kinship testing, which adopted children can use to find their biological relatives and families can use to track down kids put up for adoption. DNA testing is also the latest rage among passionate genealogists—and supports businesses that offer to search for a family’s geographic roots. Most tests require collecting cells by swabbing saliva in the mouth and sending it to the company for testing. All tests require a potential candidate with whom to compare DNA. But some observers are skeptical. "There is a kind of false precision being hawked by people claiming they are doing ancestry testing," says Troy Duster, a New York University sociologist. He notes that each individual has many ancestors—numbering in the hundreds just a few centuries back. Yet most ancestry testing only considers a single lineage, either the Y chromosome inherited through men in a father’s line or mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down only from mothers. This DNA can reveal genetic information about only one or two ancestors, even though, for example, just three generations back people also have six other great-grandparents or, four generations back, 14 other great-great-grandparents. Critics also argue that commercial genetic testing is only as good as the reference collections to which a sample is compared. Databases used by some companies don’t rely on data collected systematically but rather lump together information from different research projects. This means that a DNA database may have a lot of data from some regions and not others, so a person’s test results may differ depending on the company that processes the results. In addition, the computer programs a company uses to estimate relationships may be patented and not subject to peer review or outside evaluation. In the last paragraph, a problem commercial genetic testing faces is ______.
A. disorganized data collection
B. overlapping database building
C. excessive sample comparison
D. lack of patent evaluation
Text 1 Habits are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine. "Net choice, but habit rules the unreflecting herd," William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st century, even the word "habit" carries a negative implication. So it seems paradoxical to talk about habits in the same context as creativity and innovation. But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks. Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try—the more we step outside our comfort zone—the more inherently creative we become, both in the workplace and in our personal lives. But don’t bother trying to kill off old habits; once those ruts of procedure are worn into the brain, they’re there to stay. Instead, the new habits we deliberately press into ourselves create parallel pathways that can bypass those old reads. "The first thing needed for innovation is a fascination with wonder," says Dawna Markova, author of The Open Mind. "But we are taught instead to ’decide’, just as our president calls himself ’the Decider’." She adds, however, that "to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one. A good innovational thinker is always exploring the many other possibilities." All of us work through problems in ways of which we’re unaware, she says. Researchers in the late 1960a discovered that humans are born with the capacity to approach challenges in four primary ways: analytically, procedurally, relationally (or collaboratively) and innovatively. At the end of adolescence, however, the brain shuts down half of that capacity, preserving only those modes of thought that have seemed most valuable during the first decade or so of life. The current emphasis on standardized testing highlights analysis and procedure, meaning that few of us inherently use our innovative and collaborative modes of thought. "This breaks the major rule in the American belief system — that anyone can do anything," explains M. J. Ryan, author of the 2006 book This Year I Will... and Ms. Markova’s business partner. "That’s a lie that we have perpetuated, and it fosters commonness. Knowing what you’re good at and doing even more of it creates excellence." This is where developing new habits comes in. In Wordsworth’s view, "habits" is characterized by being ______.
A. casual
B. familiar
C. mechanical
D. changeable
Research on animal intelligence always makes us wonder just how smart humans are. (1) the fruit-fly experiments described by Carl Zimmer in the Science Times. Fruit flies who were taught to be smarter than the average fruit fly (2) to live shorter lives. This suggests that (3) bulbs burn longer, that there is a(n) (4) in not being too bright. Intelligence, it (5) , is a high-priced option. It takes more upkeep, burns more fuel and is slow (6) the starting line because it depends on learning — a(n) (7) process — instead of instinct. Plenty of other species are able to learn, and one of the things they’ve apparently learned is when to (8) . Is there an adaptive value to (9) intelligence That’s the question behind this new research. Instead of casting a wistful glance (10) at all the species we’ve left in the dust I.Q.-wise, it implicitly asks what the real (11) of our own intelligence might be. This is (12) the mind of every animal we’ve ever met. Research on animal intelligence also makes us wonder what experiments animals would (13) on humans if they had the chance. Every cat with an owner, (14) , is running a small-scale study in operant conditioning. We believe that (15) animals ran the labs, they would test us to (16) the limits of our patience, our faithfulness, our memory for locations. They would try to decide what intelligence in humans is really (17) , not merely how much of it there is. (18) , they would hope to study a(n) (19) question: Are humans actually aware of the world they live in (20) the results are inconclusive.
A. incredible
B. spontaneous
C. inevitable
D. gradual