2018年成人英语三级考试阅读理解冲刺题及答案(7)

It is difficult to imagine what life would be like without memory. The meanings of thousands of everyday perceptions, the bases for the decisions we make, and the roots of our habits and skills are to be found in our past experiences, which are brought into the present by memory.

Memory can be defined as the capacity to keep information available for later use. It includes not only "remembering" things like arithmetic or historical facts, but also involving any change in the way an animal typically behaves. Memory is involved when a rat gives up eating grain because he has sniffed something suspicious in the grain pile. Memory is also involved when a six-year-old child learns to swing a baseball bat.

Memory' exists not only in humans and animals but also in some physical objects and ma-chines. Computers, for example, contain devices for storing data for later use. It is interesting to compare the memory-storage capacity of a computer with that of a human being. The instant-access memory of a large computer may hold up to 100,000 "words"--ready for instant use. An average U.S. teenager probably recognizes the meaning of about 100,000 words of English. However, this is but a fraction of the total amount of information which the teenager has stored. Consider, for ex- ample, the number of faces and places that the teenager can recognize on sight.

The use of words is the basis of the advanced problem-solving intelligence of human beings.

A large part of aperson' s memory is in terms of words and combinations of words.

11. According to the passage, memory is considered to be__________.

A. the basis for decision making and problem solving

B. an ability to store experiences for future use

C. an intelligence typically possessed by human beings

D. the data mainly consisting of words and combinations of words

答案：B

12. The comparison made between the memory capacity of a large computer and that of a human being shows that__________.

A. the computer' s memory has a little bigger capacity than a teenager' s

B. the computer's memory capacity is much smaller that an adult human being' s

C.the computer' s memory capacity is much smaller even than a teenager' s

D. both A and B

答案：C

13. The whole passage implies that__________.

A. only human beings have problem-solving intelligence

B. a person' s memory is different from a computer' s in every respect

C. animals are able to solve only very simple problems

D. animals solve problems by instincts rather than intelligence

答案：C

14. The phrase "in terms of" in the last sentence can best be replaced by__________.

A. "in connection with"

B. "expressed by"

C. "consisting"

D. "by means of"

答案：B

15. The topic of the passage is:__________.

A. What would life be like without memory ?

B. Memory is of vital importance to life.

C. How is a person' s memory different from an animal' s or a computer' s?

D. What is contained in memory ?

答案：B

Today anyone will accept money in exchange for goods and services. People use money to buy food, furniture, books, bicycles and hundreds of others they need or want. When they work,they usually get paid in money.

Most of the money today is made of metal or paper. But people used to use all kinds of things as money. One of the first kinds of money was shells.

Shells were not the only things used as money. In China, cloth and knives were used. In the Philippine Islands, rice was used as money. In some parts of Africa, cattle were one of the earliest kinds of money. Other animals were used as money, too.

The first metal coins were made in China. They were round and had a square hole in the cen-tre. People strung them together and carried them from place to place.

Different countries have used different metals and designs for their money. The first coins in England were made of tin. Sweden and Russia used copper to make their money. Later, other countries began to make coins of gold and silver.

But even gold and silver were inconvenient if you had to buy something expensive. Again the Chinese thought of a way to improve money. They began to use paper money. The first paper money looked more like a note from one person to another than paper money used today.

Money has had an interesting history from the days of shell money until today.

16. Which of the following can be cited as an example of the use of money in exchange for services?

A. To sell a bicycle for $ 20.

B. To get some money for old books at a garage sale.

C. To buy things you need or want.

D. To get paid for your work.

答案：D

17. Where were shells used as money in history?

A. In the Philippines.

B. In China.

C. In Africa.

D. We don' t know.

答案：D

18. Why, according to the passage, did ancient Chinese coins have a square hole in the centre?

A. Because it would be easier to put them together and carry them around.

B. Because it would be lighter for people to carry them from place to place.

C. Because people wanted to make it look nicer.

D. Because people wanted to save the expensive metal they were made from.

答案：A

19. Why does the author say that even gold and silver were inconvenient if you had to buy some-thing expensive?

A. Because they are easy to steal.

B. Because they are difficult for people to obtain.

C. Because they are not easy to carry around.

D. Because they themselves are expensive, too.

答案：C

20. Which do you choose as the best title for this passage?

A. Money and Its Uses

B. Different Things Used as Money

C. Different Countries, Different Money

D. The History of Money

答案：D

My father was a foreman of a sugar-cane plantation in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. My first job was to drive the oxen that plowed the cane fields. I would walk behind an ox, guiding him with a broomstick. For $1 a day, I worked eight hours straight, with no food breaks.

It was very tedious work, but it prepared me for life and taught me many lasting lessons. Be-cause the plantation owners were always watching us, I had to be on time every day and work as hardas I could. I' ve never been late for any job since. I also learned about being respectful and loyal to the people you work for. More important, I earned my pay.

I was only six years old, but I was doing a man' s job. Our family needed every dollar we could make because my father never earned more than $18 a week. Our home was a three-room wood shack with dirty floor and no toilet. Nothing made me prouder than bringing home money to help my mother, father, two brothers and three sisters. This gave me self-esteem, one of the most important things a person can have.

When I was seven, I got work at a golf course near our house. My job was to stand down the fairway and spot the balls as they landed so the golfers could find them. Losing a ball meant you were fired, so I never miss one. Some nights I would lie in bed and dream of making thousands of dollars playing golf and being able to buy a bicycle.

The more I dreamed, the more I thought. Why not? I made my first golf club out of guava limb and a piece of pipe. Then I hammered an empty tin can into the shape of a ball. And finally I dug two small holes in the ground and hit the ball back and forth. I practiced with the same devo-tion and intensity I learned working in the field--except now I was driving goff balls with club, not oxen with a broomstick.

21. What was the writer' s first job?

A. To stand down the fairway at a golf course.

B. To spot the balls as they landed so the golfers could find them.

C. To drive the oxen that plowed the cane fields.

D. To watch the sugar-cane plantation.

答案：C

22. The word "tedious" in paragraph 2 most probably means__________.

A. hard

B. boring

C. interesting

D. long

答案：B

23. What did the writer learn about from his first job?

A. He could work as hard as possible.

B. He could go to work on time.

C. He should never fail to go to work.

D. He should be respectful and loyal to the people he works for.

答案：D

24. What gave the writer self-esteem?

A. Having a big family.

B. Bringing money back home to help the family.

C. Helping his father with the work.

D. All of the above.

答案：B

25. What was the writer' s dream while working at a golf course?

A. Making a lot of money by playing golf.

B. Becoming a successful golfer.

C. Running a golf course near his house.

D. Both A & B.

答案：A

Some psychologists(心理学家) maintain that mental acts such as thinking are not performed in the brain alone, but that one' s muscles also participate. It may be said that we think with our muscles in somewhat the same way that we listen to music with our bodies.

You surely are not surprised to be told that you usually listen to music not only with your ears but with your whole body. Few people can listen to music without moving their body or, more specifically,some part of their body. Often when one listens to a symphonic concert on the radio, he is attracted to direct the orchestra (乐队) even though he knows there is a good conductor on the job.

Strange as this behavior may be, there is a very good reason for it. One cannot derive all pos-sible enjoyment from music unless he participates, so to speak, in its performance. The listener"feels" himself into the music with more or less noticeable motions of his body.

The muscles of the body actually participate in the mental process of thinking in the same way, but this participation is less obvious because it is less noticeable.

26. Some psychologists think that thinking is__________.

A. not a mental process

B. more of a physical process than a mental action

C. a process that involves our entire bodies

D. a process that involves the muscles as well as the brain

答案：D

27. The process of thinking and that of listening to music are similar in that__________.

A. both are mental acts

B. muscles participate in both processes

C. both processes are performed by the entire body

D. we derive equal enjoyment from them

答案：B

28. Few people are able to listen to familiar music without__________.

A. moving some part of their body

B. stopping what they are doing to listen

C. directing the orchestra playing it

D. wishing that they could conduct music properly

答案：A

29. The listener' s way of "feeling" the music is__________.

A. the unnoticed motion of his muscles

B. "participating" in the performance

C. bending an ear to the music

D. being the conductor of the orchestra

答案：B

30. According to the passage, muscle participation in the process of thinking is__________.

A. deliberate

B. apparent

C. indistinct

D. impressive

答案：C