阅读部分

填空 1-4

1. increased

2. wild

3. temperature

4. rainy

判断 5-10

5. NOT GIVEN

6. TRUE

7. FALSE

8. TRUE

9. TRUE

10. FALSE

判断 11-13

11. region

12. mobility

13. copper

Why was he so smart?

Parts of Albert Einstein’s brain provide us with an insight into his brilliance

A Albert Einstein was a German-born physicist and Nobel-prize winner who developed the general theory of relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement he is widely regarded as a genius, but how did he get that way? Many researchers have assumed that it took a special brain to come up with the theory of relativity and other stunning insights that form the foundation of modern physics. A study of 14 newly-discovered photographs of Einstein’s brain, which was preserved for study after his death, concludes it was indeed unusual in many ways. But researchers still do not know exactly how the brain’s extra folds and convolutions translated into Einstein’s amazing abilities.

B The story of Einstein’s brain began in 1955 when the Nobel-prize-winning physicist died in New Jersey, at 76. His son Hans Albert gave the examining pathologist Thomas Harvey permission to preserve the brain for scientific study. Harvey photographed the brain and then cut it into 240 blocks, which were embedded in a substance called resin. He cut the blocks into as many as 2000 thin sections for microscopic study and in subsequent years microscopic slides and photographs of the brain were made available to at least 18 researchers around the world. Apart from the slides carried by Harvey himself, no one is sure where all the specimens are now.

C Harvey noticed immediately that Einstein had no parietal operculum (part of the ‘lid’ of the brain) in either hemisphere. It became immediately clear that Einstein’s brain grew in an interesting way. Despite this, only six peer-reviewed publications resulted from these scattered specimens. Some of these studies did find interesting features in Einstein’s brain, including a greater density of neurons in some parts and a higher-than-usual ratio of the brain’s glia (cells that help neurons to transmit nerve impulses) to neurons. Two studies of the brain’s anatomy, including one published in 2009 by anthropologist Dean Falk of Florida State University in the US, found that Einstein’s parietal lobes – possibly linked to his remarkable ability to conceptualise physics problems – had an unusual pattern of grooves and ridges.

D But the analysis was based on only a handful of photographs that had been previously made available to Harvey, who died in 2007. In 2010, Harvey’s heirs agreed to transfer all of his specimens to the US Army’s National Museum of Health and Medicine in Maryland, in the hope that future researchers could discover the secrets behind Einstein’s genius. For a new study, published in the journal Brain, Falk and his team worked with Adrianne Noe, director of the museum, to analyse 14 photographs of the whole brain that had never before been made public.

E.Fal's team analysed Einstein's brain and then set the data against studies of 85 other humans already described in the scientific literature, and found that the great physicist did have something special between his ears. Although the brain, weighing 1230 grams, is average in weight, several regions feature additional convolutions and folds. The regions on the left side of the brain that facilitate sensory inputs into and motor control of, the face and tongue are much larger than normal, and his prefrontal cortex— linked to planning, focused attention and perseverance in the face of challenges — is also greatly expanded.

14-20 标题题

Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A–G.

Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i–x, in boxes 14–20 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i. Initial research is disputed

ii. Research findings from the initial allocation of material taken from Einstein’s brain

iii. A researcher identifies issues arising from a comprehensive study of Einstein’s brain

iv. Similarities in brains is common within families

v. Material collected from Einstein’s brain is prepared and distributed

vi. Einstein’s brilliance was partly a result of self-development

vii. The limits to which brain training can affect brain function

viii. Researchers obtain access to previously unreleased material

ix. Making comparisons with existing brain analyses

x. Outstanding scientific achievements arouse interest in Einstein’s brain

14 Paragraph A .................... X

15 Paragraph B .................... V

16 Paragraph C .................... ii

17 Paragraph D .................... viii

18 Paragraph E .................... ix

19 Paragraph F .................... iii

20 Paragraph G .................... i

21-24 人名匹配（特殊词匹配题）

21. C

22. B

23. A

24. B

25-26 填空

25. resin

26. preserverance

How did music begin?

Why is musical behavior universal? What could be its adaptive, or survival, value? And just what is music anyway? Like speech, it is not one identifiable cognitive capacity but is composed of multiple separate components. Pitch recognition varies from 'tone deaf' to 'perfect' and influences abilities for musical memory, discrimination of melodies, awareness of changing harmony, and even the ability to keep time. Other components of music include perception of melody, meter, and rhythm. Often disregarded are additional important abilities to synchronize and take turns. Individuals vary in their endowment of these different features, and individual cultures vary in the importance they give to a particular musical feature.

Steven Mithen, a cognitive archeologist and professor of early prehistory at Reading University in England, has boldly tackled the difficult subject of the origin and adaptive value of human music. Whether or not one is convinced by his concluding hypothesis, his book The Singing Neanderthals is a treasure trove of information and analysis relevant to understanding the evolution of music. Anyone who subsequently proposes another hypothesis will not be able to neglect the knowledge and questions set forth by Mithen, nor can his conclusions be ignored, based as they are on careful consideration and synthesis of this vast range of specialist material.

Mithen rightly pays tribute to his predecessors in the study of the evolution of music, including John Blacking (1973) and Nils Wallin (1991). Although both contributed important insights and were themselves musically trained, they did not (and at the time could not) command the resources Mithen brings to bear.

Anthropologist and performing classical musician Blacking's ideas lacked evidence from archeology and neurology, while neuroscientist and musicologist Wallin neglected paleontology and ethnomusicology. Mithen considers ideas proposed in more recent comprehensive evolutionary hypotheses of music and incorporates them into the strands that he gradually weaves into two major themes. The first, proposed in a preliminary form by Steven Brown (2000), is the co-evolution of what we today call music and language. The second is a completely original hypothesis of the existence among Neanderthals of a proto-music language that was holistic (not composed of segmented elements), manipulative (influencing emotional states and hence responses of oneself and others), multimodal (using both sound and movement), musical (temporally controlled, rhythmic, and melodic), and mimetic (utilizing sound symbolism and gesture) — what Mithen terms 'the "Hmmmm" communication system ... a prelinguistic musical mode of thought and action.'

Mithen's hypotheses account for important aspects that are usually excluded in the majority of discussions of music: he appreciates that it typically includes bodily movement (toe-tapping, head-nodding, hand-clapping, and dance) and that 'music-making is first and foremost a shared activity, not just in the modern Western world, but throughout human cultures and history.' Although he does not describe the musical behavior of Mbuti or Ba-Benjellé pygmies in Central Africa, or Kaluli villagers in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, as others have done, such small-scale societies well illustrate the ubiquity (and complexity) of communal singing during most daily activity — 'woven tapestries' (Meurant 1995) of sound that may even incorporate the natural sounds of the forest (Feld 2001).

Especially welcome to communication and cognitive studies in general is Mithen's emphasis on the importance of acquiring emotional intelligence — the ability to communicate one's feelings with face, voice, and body, and to decode the emotional signals of others in increasingly complex social interactions. Mithen proposes that 'vocal grooming' (Aiello and Dunbar 1993) would have been initially musical more than verbal. Rather than emphasizing the competitive advantages of comprehending the intentions and desires of others, Mithen points out that the emotional content of musical vocalizations would have been more 'honest' than words — contributing to social commitment and expressing, inducing, and sharing emotion, especially happiness, thereby promoting selectively advantageous cooperative behavior.

Mithen appreciates that behavior may have had more than one adaptive function — and admits that, at least in homo ergaster (a common ancestor of both Neanderthals and homo sapiens), 'singing and dancing may have provided both indicator and esthetic traits for females when choosing mates.' However, he disagrees completely with the now notorious pronouncement by Steven Pinker (1997) that music, although derived from other adaptive capacities, is itself peripheral and even nonadaptive — like a taste for sugar or fat. Music, says Mithen, is too different from language (or anything else) to be a spin-off. He makes the further point that the emotional power of music indicates a long evolutionary history, not a recent invention aimed at pleasure: 'We don't have emotions for fun.'

The book is both thought-provoking and informative, but some of Mithen's claims are questionable. He thinks that modern humans are relatively limited in their musical abilities compared to Neanderthals. He suggests that the evolution of language has inhibited the musical abilities that modern humans have inherited from the common ancestor that we share with Neanderthals. Yet here I think he slips into the Westernized assumptions about music that he decries elsewhere and reveals his own weak spot — insufficient acquaintance with the ethnomusicological literature. It is not spoken language itself that stunts musical ability, but the factors in modernized societies that have made music a specialty — individuality, competitiveness, compartmentalization, and institutionalization — reinforced by the high degree of literate training required to read (and compose) musical scores as well as literary texts. In small-scale pre-modern societies, everyone participates in music — regularly, spontaneously, and wholeheartedly — and benefits thereby from the many adaptive advantages Mithen recognizes and so expertly describes.

* Neanderthal: a primitive human-like species widespread in Europe in the early Stone Age

Questions 27 – 30

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

Write the correct letter in boxes 27 – 30 on your answer sheet.

27 In the first paragraph, what does the writer say about the nature of music?

A Music is not a universal phenomenon.

B Music has little value for human survival.

C Musical ability is made up of many different elements.

D Speech and musical ability both require people to take turns.

28 Who originally suggested that language and music developed at the same time?

A John Blacking

B Nils Wallin

C Steven Mithen

D Steven Brown

29 Mithen believes that Neanderthals' proto-music language was used to

A alert others to danger.

B develop a basic vocabulary.

C affect the behaviour of others.

D distinguish them from other creatures.

30 Mithen notes that, for an ancestor common to both Neanderthals and homo sapiens, musical ability may have been relevant when

A selecting a partner.

B concealing emotions.

C carrying out solitary tasks.

D competing for group leadership.

Questions 31 – 35

Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A – F, below.

Write the correct letter, A – F, in boxes 31 – 35 on your answer sheet.

31 The importance given to certain musical features

32 Mithen's contribution to the study of the evolution of music

33 The contribution of previous researchers to the study of the evolution of music

34 Mithen argues that the strong emotional impact of music

35 The reviewer disagrees with Mithen's belief that musical ability

A while useful, is limited because of the narrow scope of the investigation.

B has been limited by the development of speech.

C must be acknowledged by anyone putting forward an alternative explanation.

D is not the same in all traditions.

E is evidence that it has existed for a long time.

F has been rejected by many authorities.

Questions 36 – 40

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 3? In boxes 36 – 40 on your answer sheet, write

YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer

NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer

NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

36 Most discussions of music ignore its association with physical movement.

37 Evidence to support Mithen's view that music is a shared activity can be found in small communities in remote locations today.

38 Mithen believes that the musical quality of adult speech directed at babies is similar to the musical communication of Neanderthals.

39 Mithen's hypothesis about the adaptive function of music supports that of Steven Pinker.

40 Modernised societies rely too heavily on electronically produced music.

参考答案：

27-30: C D C A

31-35: D C A E B

36-40: Y Y NG N NG