45. What did the science professors learn after the experiment?

A. They should change the way they teach

B. A poem could be explained in clear definitions.

C. A poetry class could be more informative.

D. Their teaching was an enjoyable experience.

答案：41—45 BCDAA

解析：41. B。可通过第2段的语句“in the poetry class…All students noticed one thing—the importance of spoken words”来判断。 42. C。细节理解。参考文章第二句“The students who came together were all science or engineering professors at Cornell University”。 43. D。细节理解。参考文章中的“This class was part of a study to answer the questions: Why is science difficult for many nonscience students?” 44. A。细节判断题。文中有这样的表述：“This search for different levels of meaning…is important…in humanities”。 45. A。参考倒数第二段最后一句。

B

Runners in a relay(接力) race pass a stick in one direction. However, merchants passed silk, gold, fruit, and glass along the Silk Road in more than one direction. They earned their living by traveling the famous Silk Road.

The Silk Road was not a simple trading network. It passed through thousands of cities and towns. It started from eastern China, across Central Asia and the Middle East, and ended in the Mediterranean Sea. It was used from about 200 B.C. to about 1300 A.D., when sea travel offered new routes(路线). It was sometimes called the world’s longest highway. However, the Silk Road was made up of many routes, not one smooth path. They passed through what are now 18 countries. The routes crossed mountains and deserts and had many dangers of hot sun, deep snow and even battles. Only experienced traders could return safe.

The Silk Road got its name from its most prized product. Silk could be used like money to pay taxes or buy goods. But the traders carried more than just silk. Gold, silver, and glass from Europe were much found in the Middle East and Asia. Horses traded from other areas changed farming practices in China. Indian merchants traded salt and other valuable goods. Chinese merchants traded paper, which produced an immediate effect on the West. Apples traveled from central Asia to Rome. The Chinese had learned to graft(嫁接) different trees together to make new kinds of fruit. They passed this science on to others, including the Romans. The Romans used grafting to grow the apple. Trading along the Silk Road led to world-wide business 2,000 years before the World Wide Web.

The people along the Silk Road did not share just goods. They also shared their beliefs. The Silk Road provided pathways for learning, diplomacy(外交), and religion (宗教).

46. It’s probable that traders along the Silk Road needed         .

A. to remember the entire trade route       B. to know the making of products

C. to receive certain special training        D. to deal with a lot of difficulties

47. The Silk Road became less important because          .

A. it was made up of different routes        B. silk trading became less popular

C. sea travel provided easier routes         D. people needed fewer foreign goods

48. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 3 refer to?

A. Silk.                                     B. A trading network.

C. The world’s longest highway.   D. Goods.

49. New technologies could travel along the Silk Road because people          .

A. learned from one another               B. shared each other’s beliefs

C. traded goods along the route             D. earned their living by traveling

50. What is the best title for the passage?

A. The Silk Road: Past and Present         B. The Silk Road: East Meets West

C. The Silk Road: Routes Full of Dangers    D. The Silk Road: Pathways for Learning

答案：46—50 DCAAB

解析：46. D。推理判断题。根据第二段中的“…crossed mountains and deserts and had many dangers of… ”可知。47. D。推理判断。根据文中的描述“used from about 200 B.C. to about 1300 A.D., when sea travel offered new routes”可知，1300A.D.之后，人们更少的使用它了，最主要还是因为它“had many dangers”，而人们采用sea travel的原因，不难猜出是因为它没那么多危险。48. A。其后就讲到了silk的种种用途，所以这部分内容所指的肯定也是silk。49. A。根据“The Chinese had learned…The Romans used grafting…”可知中西方互相学习才会促成new technologies的传递。50. B。本文描述的是Silk Road连接东方和西方间的贸易、文化、技术等交流，选B项合文意。

C

Did you know that women’s brains are smaller than men’s? The average women’s brain weighs 10% less than men’s. Since research has shown that the bigger the brain, the cleverer the animal, men must be more intelligent(聪明的) than women. Right? Wrong. Men and women always score similarly on intelligence tests, despite the difference in brain size. Why? After years of study, researchers have concluded that it’s what’s inside that matters, not just the size of the brain. The brain consists of “grey matter” and “white matter”. While men have more of the latter, the amount of “thinking” brain is almost exactly the same in both sexes.

It has been suggested that smaller brain appears to work faster, perhaps because the two sides of the brain are better connected in women. This means that little girls tend to learn to speak earlier, and that women can understand sorts of information from different sources at the same time. When it comes to talking to the boss on the phone, cooking dinner and keeping an eye on the baby all at the same time, it’s women who come out on top every time.

There are other important differences between two sexes. As white matter is the key to spatial(空间的) tasks, men know better where things are in relation to other things. “A great footballer always knows where he is in relation to the other players, and he knows where to go,” says one researcher. That may explain one of life’s great mysteries: why men refuse to ask for directions…and women often need to!

The differences begin when fetuses(胎儿) are about nine weeks old, which can be seen in the action of children as young as one. A boy would try to climb a barrier (障碍物) before him or push it down while a girl would attract help from others. These brain differences also explain the fact that more men take up jobs that require good spatial skills, while more women speech skills. It may all go back to our ancestors(祖先), among whom women needed speech skills to take care of their babies and men needed spatial skills to hunt, according to one research.

If all this disappoints you, it shouldn’t. “The brain changes throughout our lives according to what we do with it.” says a biologist.

51. The passage mainly tells us ________.

A. the difference between men’s and women’s brains

B. the changes in brain throughout our lives

C. that men are better at spatial tasks

D. that brain differences are related to our ancestors

52. Which of the following is true according to the first paragraph?

A. Women’s brain is 10% less than men’s

B. Grey matter plays the same role as white matter.

C. Grey matter controls thinking in the brain.

D. Both sexes have the same amount of white matter.

53. What can we infer from the second and third paragraphs?

A. Women prefer doing many things at a time.

B. Men do better dealing with one job at a time.

C. Women do not need to tell directions.

D. Men have weaker spatial abilities.

54. Which of the following do you agree with according to the fourth paragraph?

A. Young boys may be stronger than young girls.

B. More women take up jobs requiring speech skills

C. Women may have stronger feelings than men.

D. Our ancestors needed more spatial skills.

60. What is the writer’s attitude in writing this passage?

A. Defensive.    B. Persuasive.  C. Supportive.   D. Objective.

答案：51—55 ACBBD