E

Sorry to say, our brains naturally start slowing down at the cruelly young age of 30. It used to be thought that this couldn't be helped, but new studies show that people of any age can train their brains to work faster. "Your brain is a learning machine," says University of California scientist Dr. Michael Merzenich. Given the right tools, we can train our brains to act like they did when we were younger. All that's required is the practice designed just for the purpose a few exercises for the mind.

Merzenich has developed a computer-based training method to speed up the process(过程)                         in which the brain deals with information (positscience.com). Since much of the data we receive comes through speech, the Brain Fitness Program works with language and hearing to better speed and accuracy (准确性).

Over the course of training, the program starts asking you to distinguish (辨别) sounds (between "dog" and "bog", for example) at an increasingly faster speed. It's a bit like tennis instructor, says Merzenich, hitting balls at you—faster and faster to keep you challenged(受到挑战). You may start out slow, but before long you're pretty quick.

The biggest finding in brain research in the last ten years is that the brain at any age is highly plastic. If you ask your brain to learn, it will learn. And it may even speed up while in the process.

To keep your brain young and plastic you can do one of a million new activities that challenge and excite you playing table tennis or bridge, doing crossword puzzles, learning a language.... "When it comes to preventing ageing, you really do 'use it or lose it' ," says Barbara Sahakian, professor at Cambridge University.

47. Dr. Merzenich’s training method mainly depends on ________. 

A. speech training    

B. computer languages

C. the activities one joins in     

D. the information being dealt with

48. By saying "the brain at any age is highly plastic", the writer probably means the brain can be____. 

A. used     

B. mastered    

C. developed     

D. researched

49. What can we learn from the text?

   A. Practice makes a quick mind.

   B. Brain research started ten yeas ago.

   C. Dr. Merzenich is a scientist in computer.

   D. People believed nothing could stop the brain slowing down.

50. Which of the following agrees with the writer's idea?

   A. The training methods work better for the old.

   B. People should use the brain to stop it from ageing.

   C. The training of the brain should start at an early age.

   D. It's necessary to take part in as many activities as possible.

 

第二节 根据对话内容，从对话后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。选项中有两项多余选项。（共5小题；每小题2分，共10分）

——Hi, Andy! Nice to see you back.     51    

——Terrible! I don't want to talk about it.

——Why? Something unpleasant happened ? You got robbed, attacked or…?

——No, nothing like that. It just wasn't any fun. That's all.

——I don't get it.      52     

——No, the books were quite helpful, but the trip was bad.

——Er,      53     

——No. You know how careful I am about things like that.

——    54     

——No, everywhere we went was clean.

——Then, was it the weather ?

——No. It's just that I forget to mention the “self” in the “self-planned travel”.

——    55     

——The problem was Alice! She was always complaining! So the next time I'm travelling, I'm travelling alone.