Lesson 7

听力部分

听力练习

一级练习：［难度系数★］

本课的主题“bats”在TOEFL听力里出现，先听一段短文，试一试！

1. A. The adaptations of the African grass mouse to its environment

B. The sleeping habits of the African grass mouse

C. The effect of intense sunlight on the diet of the African grass mouse

D. The habitat of the African grass mouse

2. A. It has a flattened shape

B. It has an extra layer of pigmented tissue

C. It has a furry covering

D. It has a large cranial cavity

3. A. They are active during daylight hours

B. Their heads are exposed to sunlight while they sleep

C. They have only partially adapted to their tropical environment

D. Their wings are easily damaged by ultraviolet radiation

听力原文如下：

Human populations near the equator have evolved dark skin over many generations because of exposure to the fierce rays of the Sun. A similar phenomenon has also occurred in other parts of the animal kingdom. The African grass mouse is a good example. Most mice are nocturnal, but the African grass mouse is active during daylight hours. This means that it spends its days searching for food in the semidry bush and scrub habitats of eastern and southern Africa. Its fur is striped, like a chipmunk's, which helps it blend in with its environment. Because it spends a lot of time in the intense tropical sun, the grass mouse has also evolved two separate safeguards against the Sun's ultraviolet radiation. First, like the populations of humans in this region of the world, the skin of the grass mouse contains lots of melanin, or dark pigment. Second, and quite unusual, this mouse has a layer of melanin-pigmented tissue between its skull and skin. This unique “cap” provides an extra measure of protection for the grass mouse and three other types of African mouse-like rodents that are active during the day. The only other species scientists have identified with the same sort of skull adaptation is the white tent-making bat of the Central American tropics. Although these bats sleep during the day, they do so curled up with their heads exposed to the sun.

Q:

1. What is the speaker mainly discussing?

2. What is unusual about the head of the African grass mouse?

3. Why do white tent-making bats need protection from the Sun's rays?

二级练习：［难度系数★★］

这次的主题“animal”在较长的TOEFL听力段落题里出现。依然是你熟悉的主题和词汇，挑战一下吧！

1. A. How animals react to frightening situations.

B. Why mice are particularly fearful animals.

C. Whether fearfulness is a genetic trait.

D. Why certain animals are feared by humans.

2. A. They fought with the other mice.

B. They stayed close to their mothers.

C. They ran back and forth constantly.

D. They remained close to one wall.

3. A. The extent of damage to the nervous system.

B. The presence or absence of certain nerve-cell receptors.

C. The size of nerve-cell receptors in the brain.

D. The level of danger in the mammal's environment.

4. A. To show the relationship between fearfulness and environment.

B. To give examples of animals that aren't fearful.

C. To compare fear in mammals to fear in other animals.

D. To identify the nerves that control fear in certain animals.

听力原文如下：

We've been looking at fear from a biological perspective, and someone asked whether the tendency to be fearful is genetic. What some studies have done with mice indicate that mammals do inherit fearfulness to some degree. In one study, for instance, a group of mice was placed in a brightly lit open box with no hiding places. Some of the mice wandered around the box and didn't appear to be bothered about being so exposed. But other mice didn't move. They stayed up against one wall which indicated that they were afraid. Well, when fearful mice, or you might say anxious mice like the ones who stayed in one place, when mice like these were bred with one another repeatedly, after about twelve or so generations, then all of the offspring showed similar signs of fearfulness. And even when a new born mouse from this generation was raised by a mother and with other mice who were not fearful, that mouse still tended to be fearful as an adult. Now why is this? Well it's thought that specific genes in an animal's body have an influence on anxious behavior. These are genes that are associated with particular nerve-cell receptors in the brain. And the degree of overall fearfulness in the mammal seems to depend in large part on the presence or absence of these nerve-cell receptors. And this appears to apply to humans as well by the way. But while a tendency towards anxiety and fear may well be an inherited trait, the specific form that the fear takes has more to do with the individual's environment. So a particular fear, like the fear of snakes or the fear of spiders, say, is not genetic, but the overall tendency to have fearful responses is.

Q:

1. What is the talk mainly about?

2. How did some of the mice in the study demonstrate that they were afraid?

3. According to the professor, what contributes to a mammal's tendency to be fearful?

4. Why does the professor mention snakes and spiders?

听说练习

一级练习：听写填空［难度系数★］

这次的主题“bats”在段落听写练习里出现。在这里我们加大了段落听写题的难度，加入了口语练习，但录音的速度适当放慢了。依然是你熟悉的主题和词汇，先用听写填空的方式挑战一下吧！

While flying at night, bats use _________________________________ to ________, to _______, and to ____________. The Microchiroptera tend to rely heavily on a form of sonar called ______________. In echolocation, bats __________________________________ that are usually well above the threshold of human hearing. The sound waves _________ in front of the bat, ____________________________ and bouncing back _________________. By _________ the echoes, bats are able to _______________, _____________, and in some instances, __________________ around them. Such information is instrumental in ____________________ and in tracking winged insects and other live prey in the dark.

二级练习：口语复读与背诵［难度系数★★］

刚才的段落听写填空练习的答案是“bats”主题的关键表达，一定要积累成自己的口语素材。在今后同类主题的听力口语考试中，回忆起来，从容应对。

第一步：看着上面的听力原文跟读一遍。

第二步：自己试着完整地背诵一遍。（计时3分钟，背诵开始…）

词汇部分

一级练习：［难度系数★］

本课新学的词汇出现在六级、专业四级、考研考试中。这些词汇如果在题干里出现，是否减轻了你的阅读负担呢？如果在选项里出现（可它们不一定是正确选项），你能选对吗？试一试吧！

临考情境模拟：每题控制在1分钟内，本级测试限时11分钟，请把计时器调到11分钟。计时开始！

考查词汇：utilitarian

1. His argument does not suggest that mankind can ______ to be wasteful in the utilization of these resources.

A. resort

B. grant

C. afford

D. entitle

［六级真题］

考查词汇：appreciation

2. The Government's policies will come under close ______ in the weeks before the election.

A. appreciation

B. specification

C. scrutiny

D. apprehension

［六级真题］

考查词汇：elapse

3. Weeks ______ before anyone was arrested in connection with the bank robbery.

A. elapsed

B. expired

C. overlapped

D. terminated

［六级真题］

4. Many years had ______ before they returned to their original urban areas.

A. floated

B. elapsed

C. skipped

D. proceeded

［六级真题］

考查词汇：reflect

5. His illness first ______ itself as severe stomach pains and headaches.

A. expressed

B. manifested

C. reflected

D. displayed

［六级真题］

考查词汇：steer

6. Bruce Stephen gripped the ______ wheel hard as the car bounced up and down.

A. stirring

B. driving

C. steering

D. revolving

［六级真题］

考查词汇：interval

7. The returns in the short ______ may be small, but over a number of years the investment will be well repaid.

A. interval

B. range

C. span

D. term

［考研真题］

考查词汇：steer

8. The system was redesigned to embrace the network and eventually ______ it in a profitable direction.

A. adapt

B. control

C. install

D. steer

［考研真题］

考查词汇：serve

9. By the end of the year 2004, he ______ in the army for 40 years.

A. will have served

B. will serve

C. will be serving

D. will be served

［考博真题］

考查词汇：utilitarian

10. The diversity of tropical plants in the region represents a seemingly ______ source of raw materials, of which only a few have been utilized.

A. exploited

B. controversial

C. inexhaustible

D. remarkable

［专四真题］

考查词汇：reflect

11. The tone of the article ______ the writer's mood at the time.

A. reproduced

B. reflected

C. imagined

D. imitated

［专四真题］

二级练习：［难度系数★★］

这次新学的词汇在较难的GRE考试里出现，挑战一下吧！

临考情境模拟：每题控制在2分钟内，本级测试限时14分钟，请把计时器调到14分钟。计时开始！

考查词汇：serve

1. Rather than enhancing a country's security, the successful development of nuclear weapons could serve at first to increase that country's ______.

A. boldness

B. influence

C. responsibility

D. moderation

E. vulnerability

［GRE真题］

考查词汇：appreciation

2. Hampshire's assertions, far from showing that we can ______ the ancient puzzles about objectivity, reveal the issue to be even more ______ than we had thought.

A. adapt...pressing

B. dismiss...relevant

C. rediscover...unconventional

D. admire...elusive

E. appreciate...interesting

［GRE真题］

3. Aptly enough, this work so imbued with the notion of changing times and styles has been constantly ______ over the years, thereby reflecting its own mutability.

A. appreciated

B. emulated

C. criticized

D. revised

E. reprinted

［GRE真题］

4. I am often impressed by my own ______ other people's idiocies: what is harder to ______ is that they, in their folly, are equally engaged in putting up with mine.

A. analysis of...justify

B. forbearance toward...underestimate

C. exasperation with...credit

D. involvement in...allow

E. tolerance of...appreciate

［GRE真题］

考查词汇：reflect

5. Increased governmental alarm about global warming ______ the concern among scientists that such warming is occurring, though when to expect major effects is still ______.

A. echoes...agreed on

B. precludes...under consideration

C. reflects...in dispute

D. obviates...in doubt

E. encourages...confirmed

［GRE真题］

6. Artificial light ______ the respiratory activity of some microorganisms in the winter but not in the summer, in part because in the summer their respiration is already at its peak and thus cannot be ______.

A. stimulates...lessened

B. inhibits...quickened

C. reflects...expanded

D. elevates...measured

E. enhances...increased

［GRE真题］

7. Ability to ______ is the test of the perceptive historian; a history, after all, consists not only of what the historian had included, but also, in some sense, of what has been left out.

A. defer

B. select

C. confer

D. devise

E. reflect

［GRE真题］

阅读部分

一级练习：［难度系数★］

本课的主题“technology”在英语六级阅读里出现。下面的文章和题目中有你熟悉的主题和词汇，试一试！

临考情境模拟：请在5分钟内读完文章，4分钟做完题。请把计时器调到9分钟。计时开始！

To live in the United States today is to gain an appreciation for Dahrendorf's assertion that social change exists everywhere. Technology, the application of knowledge for practical ends, is a major source of social change.

Yet we would do well to remind ourselves that technology is a human creation; it does not exist naturally. A spear or a robot is as much a cultural as a physical object. Until humans use a spear to hunt game or a robot to produce machine parts, neither is much more than a solid mass of matter. For a bird looking for an object on which to rest, a spear or robot serves the purpose equally well. The explosion of the Challenger space shuttle and the Russian nuclear accident at Chernobyl drive home the human quality of technology; they provide cases in which well-planned systems suddenly went haywire and there was no ready hand to set them right. Since technology is a human creation, we are responsible for what is done with it. Pessimists worry that we will use our technology eventually to blow our world and ourselves to pieces. But they have been saying this for decades, and so far we have managed to survive and even flourish. Whether we will continue to do so in the years ahead remains uncertain. Clearly, the impact of technology on our lives deserves a closer examination.

Few technological developments have had a greater impact on our lives than the computer revolution. Scientists and engineers have designed specialized machines that can do the tasks that once only people could do. There are those who assert that the switch to an information-based economy is in the same camp as other great historical milestones, particularly the Industrial Revolution. Yet when we ask why the Industrial Revolution was a revolution, we find that it was not the machines. The primary reason why it was revolutionary is that it led to great social change. It gave rise to mass production and, through mass production, to a society in which wealth was not confined to the few.

In somewhat similar fashion, computers promise to revolutionize the structure of American life, particularly as they free the human mind and open new possibilities in knowledge and communication. The Industrial Revolution supplemented and replaced the muscles of humans and animals by mechanical methods. The computer extends this development to supplement and replace some aspects of the mind of human beings by electronic methods. It is the capacity of the computer for solving problems and making decisions that represents its greatest potential and that poses the greatest difficulties in predicting the impact on society.

1. A spear or a robot has the quality of technology only when it ______.

A. is used both as a cultural and a physical object

B. serves different purposes equally well

C. is utilized by man

D. can be of use to both man and animal

2. The examples of the Challenger and Chernobyl cited by the author serve to show that ______.

A. if not given close examination, technology could be used to destroy our world

B. technology is a human creation, so we are responsible for it

C. technology usually goes wrong, if not controlled by man

D. being a human creation, technology is liable to error

3. According to the author, the introduction of the computer is a revolution mainly because ______.

A. the computer has revolutionized the workings of the human mind

B. the computer can do the tasks that could only be done by people before

C. it has helped to switch to an information technology

D. it has a great potential impact on society

4. By using the phrase “the human quality of technology”, the author refers to the fact that technology ______.

A. has a great impact on human life

B. has some characteristics of human nature

C. can replace some aspects of the human mind

D. does not exist in the natural world

5. The passage is based on the author's ______.

A. keen insight into the nature of technology

B. prejudiced criticism of the role of the Industrial Revolution

C. cautious analysis of the replacement of the human mind by computers

D. exaggerated description of the negative consequences of technology

［六级真题］

写作部分

本课涉及科学实验中动物研究的话题，这里给大家提供这方面的写作素材，方便大家积累下来，在以后遇到的学术类话题中结合课文使用。

真题举例

Scientists are doing experiments on live animals for the purpose of research nowadays. Some people believe that this is not only cruel but also unnecessary; others think it is in the interest of mankind as a whole. Discuss the two views and give your opinion.

［IELTS真题］

写作素材（参考范文）

1. Does animal testing work?

2. Is animal testing morally right?

3. New scanning technologies （such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging） can help doctors learn about disease from human patients without the need for invasive surgery, or animal testing. Similarly, autopsies and cell culture studies can reveal a great deal of information without having to simulate the disease in a lab animal. Computer models have also been developed that simulate an animal's response, removing the need for live animal tests.

4. Animal researchers say that it will be impossible to eliminate all animal tests. But most scientists accept that it is extremely important to minimise the suffering of laboratory animals, and to use as few animals as possible.

5. Since animal experiments began, people have expressed concern that the animals may suffer, or that too many are sacrificed in the name of science. Since 1822 legislation has limited the way that doctors and scientists can use animals, and the rules have been growing stricter.