第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
　　　                                A              
    Endless playing of songs like All I want for Christmas in shops during the festive season doesn’t just drive us mad —the songs also make us more careless with our money, research has warned.
　　While repeated performance of Jingle Bells may seem like an innocent attempt to raise customers’ spirits during the nightmare of Christmas shopping, the songs also have a more delicate impact.
　　“Background music, or “Muzak”, can be used by marketers to impose cultures ---such as the commercialization of Christmas--- onto consumers and influence their behaviour,” experts said.
　　Dr. Alan Bradshaw of Royal Holloway, University of London, said, “Festive jingles are force-fed to Christmas shoppers in a bid to change their mood, influence their sense of time and what sort of products they buy. In other words, this is an attempt to control your shopping habits in a way that you might hardly be aware of.”
　　“Often we are told that we have the freedom to choose where we want to shop, but during Christmas the use of music in this way is so common that our freedom to choose disappears.”
　　Dr. Bradshaw and Prof Morris Holbrook of Columbia University examined the phenomenon and found that retailers often “dumb down” the music played in shops to relax customers, meaning it is easier to control their behaviour.
　　It is thought that slowing down the rhythm of music in shops can trick customers into thinking less time has passed, and therefore spend more time examining the shelves, for example.
　　Some providers of background music have been known to promote their services by claiming they can boost profits by controlling the behaviour of customers.
　　“A common trick is to take a popular current song and record an instrumental version which can be slowed down or sped up at different time of the day to influence behaviour in different ways,” Dr. Bradshaw said.
　　Background music is often classed as “Muzak” in honor of the Seattle-based company which began producing its soft-sounding melodies in the 1930s.

56. According to Dr. Bradshaw, in what ways does Christmas music influence customers?
　　①their mood  ②their income ③their sense of time ④ the sort of products they buy
　A.①②③      B.①③④      C.②③④     D.①②④
57. Shopkeepers slow down the rhythm of music in shops to ___________.
　A. let customers spend more time shopping
　B. make customers and sales assistants relaxed
　C. let customers enjoy the beautiful music
　D. help customers find what they really want
58. What kind of music is now often adapted to influence customers in shops?
　A. Classical music   B. Popular modern songs.  C. Folk songs.    D. Jazz music.
59. What is the best title of the passage?
　A. Music makes happy Christmas
　B. Christmas “Muzak”
　C. How to make Christmas music?
　D. Christmas music makes us spend more

B
　  Born in America in 1898, William was an extraordinary boy, gifted with an amazing IQ between 250 and 300. The genius went to a grammar school when he was only 6 years old and graduated just within 7 months. At the age of 11, he became the youngest student of the Harvard University. He graduated with high scores at the age of 16 and entered Harvard Law School at 18.
    Gifted with an amazing IQ between 220 and 230, Terence Tao makes it to this list of the people with the highest IQ in the world. Born in Adelaide, Australia in 1975, this genius first displayed his incredible intelligence at a mere age of 2, when he managed to solve basic arithmetic questions on his own. At the age of 16, he graduated with both Master's and Bachelor's degrees at the Flinders University. He has been considered as ''Mr. Fix it " by Charles Fefferman, who is a professor of Mathematics at Princeton University, and many other mathematicians want to interest him in their problems.
    This 31-year-old Japanese-American astrophysicist lands him third in this list. At the age of 12, Christopher Hirata already worked on college-level courses, around the time most of us were just in the 7th grade. At the age of 13, this gifted kid became the youngest American to have ever won the gold medal in the International physics Olympiad.
　　At the age of 16, he was already working with NASA on its project to conquer planet Mars. After he was awarded the Ph.D. at Princeton University, he went back to California Institute of Technology.
    The next person with very high IQ is Albert Einstein. With an IQ between 160 and 190, Albert Einstein is the genius behind the theory of relativity, which has had great impact on the world of science. He possessed such an amazing ability that after his death, researchers were eager to preserve and make research on his brain in search for clues to his exceptional brilliance, which to this day, has remained a mystery.

60. About William, which of the following is true?
   A. His IQ reached between 220 and 230. 
   B. At the age of 16, he graduated from a grammar school.
   C. At the age of 6, he graduated with both Master's and Bachelor's degrees.
   D. At the age of 11, he became the youngest student at the Harvard University.
61. How many people with remarkable IQ are mentioned in the passage?
   A. 3      B.4           C.5                 D.6
62. Who once worked on the project to conquer planet Mars?
   A. William  B. Terence Tao   C. Christopher Hirata    D. Albert Einstein
63. From the passage we can know that______.
   A .when William graduated from the Harvard University, he got the highest scores 
   B. at the age of 2, Terence solved basic arithmetic questions on his own 
   C. Christopher Hirata is a Japanese 
   D. researchers have found out why Albert Einstein was so brilliant
英语学习  http://www.yggk.net/english/