They baby is just one day old and has not yet left hospital. She is quiet but alert (警觉). Twenty centimeters from her face researchers have placed a white card with two black spots on it. She stares at it carefully. A researcher removes the card and replaces it by another, this time with the spots differently spaced. As the cards change from one to the other, her gaze(凝视) starts to lose its focus — until a third, with three black spots, is presented. Her gaze returns: she looks at it for twice as long as she did at the previous card. Can she tell that the number two is different from three, just 24 hours after coming into the world?

Or do newborns simply prefer more to fewer? The same experiment, but with three spots shown before two, shows the same return of interest when the number of spots changes. Perhaps it is just the newness? When slightly older babies were shown cards with pictures of objects (a comb, a key, an orange and so on), changing the number of objects had an effect separate from changing the objects themselves. Could it be the pattern that two things make, as opposed to three? No again. Babies paid more attention to squares moving randomly on a screen when their number changed from two to three, or three to two. The effect even crosses between senses. Babies who were repeatedly shown two spots became more excited when they then heard three drumbeats than when they heard just two; likewise (同样地) when the researchers started with drumbeats and moved to spots.

60. The experiment described in Paragraph 1 is related to the baby’s__.

A. sense of hearing B. sense of sight C. sense of touch D. sense of smell

61. Babies are sensitive to the change in______.

A. the size of cards B. the colour of pictures

C. the shape of patterns D. the number of objects

62. Why did the researchers test the babies with drumbeats?

A. To reduce the difficulty of the experiment. B. To see how babies recognize sounds.

C. To carry their experiment further. D. To keep the babies’ interest.

63. Where does this text probably come from?

A. Science fiction. B. Children’s literature. C. An advertisement. D. A science report.

C

It happened to me recently. I was telling someone how much I had enjoyed reading Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father and how it had changed my views of our President. A friend I was talking to agreed with me that it was, in his words, “a brilliantly (精彩地)written book”. However, he then went on to talk about Mr. Obama in a way which suggested he had no idea of his background at all. I sensed that I was talking to a book liar.

And it seems that my friend is not the only one. Approximately two thirds of people have lied about reading a book which they haven’t. In the World Book Day’s “Report on Guilty Secrets”, Dreams From My Father is at number 9. The report lists ten books, and various authors, which people have lied about reading, and as I’m not one to lie too often (I’d hate to be caught out), I’ll admit here and now that I haven’t read the entire top ten. But I am pleased to say that, unlike 42 percent of people, I have read the book at number one, George Orwell’s 1984. I think it’s really brilliant.

The World Book Day report also has some other interesting information in it. It says that many people lie about having read Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky (I haven’t read him, but haven’t lied about it either) and Herman Melville.

Asked why they lied, the most common reason was to “impress” someone they were speaking to. This could be tricky if the conversation became more in–depth!

But when asked which authors they actually enjoy, people named J. K. Rowling, John Grisham, Sophie Kinsella (ah, the big sellers, in other words). Forty-two percent of people asked admitted they turned to the back of the book to read the end before finishing the story (I’ll come clean: I do this and am astonished that 58 percent said they had never done so).

64. How did the author find his friend a book liar?

A. By judging his manner of speaking. B. By looking into his background.

C. By mentioning a famous name. D. By discussing the book itself.

65. Which of the following is a “guilty secret” according to the World Book Day report?

A. Charles Dickens is very low on the top-ten list. B. 42% of people pretended to have read 1984.

C. The author admitted having read 9 books. D. Dreams From My Father is hardly read.

66. By lying about reading, a person hopes to .

A. control the conversation B. appear knowledgeable

C. learn about the book D. make more friends

67. What is the author’s attitude to 58% of readers?

A. Favorable. B. Uncaring C. Doubtful D. Friendly

D