Text 3


William Shakespeare described old age as “second childishness”—sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste. In the case of taste he may, musically speaking, have been even more perceptive than he realized. A paper in Neurology by Giovanni Frisoni and his colleagues at the National Centre for Research and Care of Alzheimer’s Disease in Brescia, Italy, shows that one form of senile dementia can affect musical desires in ways that suggest a regression, if not to infancy, then at least to a patient’s teens.

Frontotemporal dementia is caused, as its name suggests, by damage to the front and sides of the brain. These regions are concerned with speech, and with such “higher” functions as abstract thinking and judgment. Frontotemporal damage therefore produces different symptoms from the loss of memory associated with Alzheimer’s disease, a more familiar dementia that affects the hippocampus and amygdala in the middle of the brain. Frontotemporal dementia is also rarer than Alzheimer’s. In the past five years the centre in Brescia has treated some 1,500 Alzheimer’s patients; it has seen only 46 with frontotemporal dementia.

Two of those patients interested Dr Frisoni. One was a 68-year-old lawyer, the other a 73-year-old housewife. Both had undamaged memories, but displayed the sorts of defect associated with frontotemporal dementia—a diagnosis that was confirmed by brain scanning.

About two years after he was first diagnosed the lawyer, once a classical music lover who referred to pop music as “mere noise”, started listening to the Italian pop band “883”. As his command of language and his emotional attachments to friends and family deteriorated, he continued to listen to the band at full volume for many hours a day. The housewife had not even had the lawyer’s love of classical music, having never enjoyed music of any sort in the past. But about a year after her diagnosis she became very interested in the songs that her 11-year-old granddaughter was listening to.

This kind of change in musical taste was not seen in any of the Alzheimer’s patients, and thus appears to be specific to those with frontotemporal dementia. And other studies have remarked on how frontotemporal-dementia patients sometimes gain new talents. Five sufferers who developed artistic abilities are known. And in another lapse of musical taste, one woman with the disease suddenly started composing and singing country and western songs.

Dr Frisoni speculates that the illness is causing people to develop a new attitude towards novel experiences. Previous studies of novelty-seeking behavior suggest that it is managed by the brain’s right frontal lobe. A predominance of the right over the left frontal lobe, caused by damage to the latter, might thus lead to a quest for new experience. Alternatively, the damage may have affected some specific neural circuit that is needed to appreciate certain kinds of music. Whether that is a gain or a loss is a different matter. As Dr Frisoni puts it in his article, “de gustibus non disputandum est.” Or, in plainer words, there is no accounting for taste.

11. Shakespeare described old age as “second childishness”（Line 1, Paragraph 1）, for they have the same ______.

A) favorite

B) memory

C) experience

D) sense

12. Which one is NOT a symptom of Frontotemporal dementia?

A) The loss of memory.

B) The loss of judgment.

C) The loss of abstract thinking.

D) The loss of speech.

13. From the two patients mentioned in the passage, it can be concluded that ______.

A) their command of language has deteriorated

B) their emotional attachments to friends and family are being lost

C) the Frontotemporal dementia can bring new gifts

D) Frontotemporal dementia can cause patients to change their musical tastes

14. The “novel” in the last paragraph means ______.

A) historical

B) special

C) story-like

D) strange

15. From the passage, it can be inferred that ______.

A) the damage of the left frontal lobe may affect some specific neural circuit

B) the lawyer patient has the left frontal lobe damaged

C) the damage of the left frontal lobe decreased the appreciation certain kinds of music

D) every patient has the same taste





题目分析


11. D 细节题。文章第一句“莎士比亚把老年人比作人生第二个幼年期”，紧接着后面“sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste”是补充说明，sans不知道是什么意思，但可以推断老人和婴儿在牙齿、眼睛、味觉方面的特点，即在这些方面都不敏感（sans是法语，意思是“没有”），那么A（爱好）、B（记忆）、C（经历）、D（感觉）中，符合原文的应该是D，因为牙齿、眼睛、味觉都和感官有关。

12. A 细节题。文章第二段提到脑周损伤痴呆，顾名思义，脑周受到破坏后会影响语言表达能力、抽象思维能力和判断能力，因此答案中只有A“丧失记忆”是文章没有提到的。

13. D 推理题。文章第五段中提到“这种音乐品味的变化在Alzheimer’s病人中是看不到的。它好像是脑周痴呆病人特有的症状。”而且文中提到的这两个人都是在爱好的音乐类型上发生了变化，所以答案A（驾驭语言的能力衰退）、B（对朋友和家人的感情疏远）、C（脑周痴呆可能会引发出新的兴趣和天分）、D（痴呆可使病人在音乐品味上发生变化）中，D最为适合。虽然第五段也提到了这种病可以让人产生新的天分，但这是其他的研究所发现的。

14. D 语义题。最后一段Frisoni论述到疾病使人对新鲜事物产生兴趣“A predominance of the right over the left frontal lobe, caused by damage to the latter, might thus lead to a quest for new experience.”A（历史的）、B（特别的）、C（特殊的，故事般的）、D（新奇的，稀奇的），这四个答案中，D最为符合。

15. B 推理题。文章最后一段解释了为什么病人会对一些新奇的经验有新的态度。“Previous studies of novelty-seeking behavior suggest that it is managed by the brain’s right frontal lobe. A predominance of the right over the left frontal lobe, caused by damage to the latter, might thus lead to a quest for new experience. Alternatively, the damage may have affected some specific neural circuit that is needed to appreciate certain kinds of music.”“研究表明，大脑的右前体控制人追求稀奇事务的行为。一旦左前体受损，右前脑体作用突出，随即引发人对新事物的兴趣。或者说，这种损伤会影响用来欣赏某种音乐的特殊神经电路。”A“左半脑体受损影响一些特殊神经电路”，根据文章，这种损伤能导致两种结果，不一定会影响神经电路；B“那位律师病人的左前脑体受损了”，律师对音乐的喜好发生了变化，这证明是左前脑体受损了；C“左半脑体受损能减少对音乐的喜好”，文中仅提到会影响，至于是增加还是减少对音乐的喜好就不一定了；D“每个病人有同样的品位”，从文章最后一句可以看出，每个人的品位是不同的。





Text 4


Compared with the glamorous thrill of the presidential primary, state elections in New Hampshire do not grip the voter—all those unfamiliar names, way down at the end of the ballot. That, at least, is the current explanation of how Tom Alciere managed to get elected to the state legislature last November. After an uneventful campaign of hand-shaking and sign-waving, this Republican from Nashua, who had lost several previous bids for office, won a seat by 55 votes. Whereupon his constituents learned that he was an advocate of killing policemen.

Mr. Alciere had not tried to conceal this. He posted vigorous notes on Internet discussion boards; one, in October, declared that “nobody will ever be safe until the last cop is dead.” He often joined in radio talk shows, sometimes describing himself as “Angry Tom”. But in his election campaign Mr. Alciere was much mistier: he promised only to fight for individual freedom. He later said that he did not bring up his opinions about the police because nobody asked.

This has prompted some soul-searching among journalists, and others, who failed to spot Angry Tom behind Candidate Tom. Mr. Alciere blames the voters. In one Internet message, he called his constituents “a bunch of fat, stupid, ugly old ladies that watch soap operas, play bingo, read tabloids and don’t know the metric system.” These people, be it noted, are part of the New Hampshire electorate that is so often admired for its maverick charm, wielding much power in the choice of America’s presidents through its first-in-the-nation primary.

The point is that New Hampshire pays attention to presidential races, but considers its own state law makers pretty unimportant. As Ken Gidge, a radio talk show host, puts it, quite possibly “a dog-catcher in a particular community has more power.” New Hampshire’s legislature has 400 members who face re-election every two years and earn an annual salary of $100. The legislature is a “dinosaur with a tiny little brain”, a symbol of New Hampshire’s disdain for government, says Arnie Arnesen, a political science professor at Franklin Pierce College. She claims that, in the past, some of its members have been found to have mental problems. No doubt others held opinions as pungent as Mr. Alciere’s; but they did not have an Internet on which to publicize them.

At first, Mr. Alciere refused to leave his seat, insisting he was “not a nut”. Then he said that he would step down, if 11 law makers pledged to bring his pet bills to a roll-call vote. He wants to legalize drugs, ban involuntary commitments to mental institutions, and replace state schools with online education. On January 10th, a compromise was reached: another freshman Republican agreed to submit eight of his proposals, and Mr. Alciere resigned. Some think he should have been kept around—to remind voters that they sometimes get what they deserve.

16. Tom Alciere could have been elected to the state legislature because ______.

A) people were familiar with his name for his several attendance campaigns

B) he was a charming person and gave thrills to his people

C) he approved of killing policemen

D) he was always the last one on the ballot list

17. In the election campaign, Mr. Alciere ______.

A) declared that all the cops should be killed

B) showed his anger on radio talk shows

C) didn’t answer the questions about the police issue

D) only played tricks with his constituents

18. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A) Some New Hampshire electorate has a little prestige in government.

B) Journalists didn’t pay enough attention to Alciere’s hatred to police.

C) Tom blamed his voters just to draw people’s attention.

D) The “stupid, fat, ugly old ladies” are a little popular in society.

19. The legislature is a “dinosaur with a tiny little brain（Lines 4~5, Paragraph 4）”, which implies ______.

A) New Hampshire pays too much attention to presidential races

B) some of the legislature members have mental problems

C) some people want to be as pungent as Mr. Alciere

D) there is indifference of the people on its own state governing

20. Mr. Alciere at last ______.

A) refused to leave his seat

B) would never pay his pet bills

C) resigned with some compromises accepted by the legislature

D) was expelled from the position by the opposite leader





题目分析


16. A 细节题。文章第一段中提到“和富有魅力的总统初选相比，在新罕布什尔州的州选举中，投票人对那些他们不熟悉的名字没有任何兴趣。而这就是Tom Alciere去年参选获胜的缘故。他曾好几次落选公职，但那次他获得了55票而获选。A“经过他几次的参选，人们记住了他的名字”；B“他非常有魅力，给他的人民以魅力四射的震颤”；C“他赞成杀死警察”；D“他常常在投票名单上是最后一个”。因此A最符合题意。

17. D 细节题。文章第二段Mr. Alciere在选举中只是许诺为个人而奋斗，并未提到警察，对此举文章用了misty的比较级来形容Alciere，misty意为“模糊的，不清楚的”。当时他没谈及关于警察的问题，因为他心里明白那会引起什么反应。A“宣布所有警察该死”；B“在广播脱口秀中发表愤怒”；C“没有回答有关警察的问题”；D“和他的选民玩心计”。Alciere说当时没有人问有关警察的问题，也就无从说他是否回答了这些问题，排除干扰项C。D更能体现misty一词，因而选D。

18. C 细节题。C“他污蔑他的选民只是为了引起人们的注意”，文中并没有这一点意思；A“许多选民在政府中有一定的声望”；B“记者并没有过多关注他仇恨警察这件事”；D“那些所谓‘愚蠢、肥胖、丑陋’的老女人在社会上还是有一定市场的”，这三个选项都能从文中找到。

19. B 语义题。由第四段可知“dinosaur with a tiny little little brain”是Arnie的评价。她接下来声称部分立法人员被证实精神有问题，因而我们可推知她之前的评价是基于此的，故选B“立法机构成员有精神问题”。A“新罕布什尔州给予总统选举太多的注意力”；C“一些人想和Alciere一样尖刻”；D“人们对本州立法机构的运作方式漠不关心”。这三项均不符合题意。

20. C 细节题。文章最后一段提到Alciere的8项提议被通过后，他才辞职。A“拒绝离位”；B“永不付宠物账单”（bill在文中的含义为“议案”）；C“Alciere与立法机关达成部分妥协后辞职了”；D“被反对派领导驱逐下台”。因此C为正确答案。