Question

【題目】“Earworms”, some people call them. Songs that get stuck in your head go round and round, sometimes for days, sometimes for months. For no clear reason you cannot help yourself from humming or singing a tune by Lady Gaga.

To a psychologist, the most interesting thing about earworms is that they show a part of our mind that is clearly outside of our control. Earworms arrive without permission and refuse to leave when we tell them to. They are parasites（寄生蟲(chóng)）, living in a part of our minds.

If you have got a earworm you can suffer an attack of it simply by someone mentioning the tune, without having to hear it. This proves that earworms are a part of long-term memory.

Human have an “inner ear”, for remembering phone numbers, for instance.

When it gets infected with earworms, rather than review our plans for the day, or lists of things to remember, the inner ear gets stuck on a few short bars of music or a couple of phrases from a song. A part of us that we normally do not have to think about, that should just do what we ask, has been turned against us, upsetting us with a request that we never asked for. The mind is an inner world which we do not have complete knowledge of, or have control over.

Fortunately psychology can provide some advice on how to deal with an uncontrollable mind. Consider the famous “don’t think of a white bear” problem, which tell you to try not to think about white bears or to do something else, to avoid both thinking of the white bear and not thinking of the white bear. For earworms, the solution may be the same. Our inner ear has become infected with an earworm. This is a part not under our control, so just sending in instructions to “shut up” is unlikely to be of much help (and has been shown to make it worse). Much better is to employ the inner ear in another task. If your mind is poisoned by Brittany Spears’ Toxic, for instance, then try singing Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You Out Of My Head. Let me know if it works!

【1】According to the passage, earworms are ______.

A. songs that keep going round in our mind

B. tunes by pop singers like Lady Gaga

C. parasites clearly under our control

D. worms that live in a part of our brain

【2】Which of the following statement is TRUE?

A. Singing songs may get earworms out of your head.

B. Earworms are used for keeping long-term memory.

C. Humans do not have complete control over their mind.

D. You won’t suffer from earworms unless you hear the song.

【3】What does “it” in the last paragraph refer to?

A. The instruction to shut up your mind.

B. “Don’t think of the white bear” problem.

C. Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You out Of My head.

D. The relation between earworms and popular songs.

【4】What is the passage mainly about?

A. The causes and influences of earworms.

B. What earworms are and how to deal with them.

C. How to clear earworms from your head.

D. The relation between earworms and popular songs.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】A

【2】C

【3】D

【4】B

【解析】這篇短文主要介紹了什么是耳朵蟲(chóng)現(xiàn)象,以及應(yīng)對(duì)此一問(wèn)題的方法。

【1】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第一段"Earworms", some people call them. Songs that get stuck in your head go round and round, sometimes for days, sometimes for months.描述可知。故選A。

【2】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第二段To a psychologist, the most interesting thing about earworms is that they show a part of our mind that is clearly outside of our control. 描述可知，故選C。

【3】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。聯(lián)系前文Much better is to employ the inner ear in another task.描述,可知此處指的是給受耳朵蟲(chóng)感染的內(nèi)耳另一個(gè)任務(wù),故選D。

【4】主旨大意題。這篇短文主要給我們介紹了什么是耳朵蟲(chóng),以及如何應(yīng)對(duì)耳朵蟲(chóng)現(xiàn)象.故選B。