Scientists at Royal Holloway, University of London and Queen Mary, University of London have discovered that bees learn to fly the shortest possible route between flowers even if they discover the flowers in a different order. Bees are effectively solving the “traveling salesman problem”, and they are the first creatures found to do this. 
The traveling salesman must find the shortest route that allows him to visit all locations on his route. Computers solve it by comparing the length of all possible routes and choosing the shortest, and it can keep computers busy for days. However, bees solve it without computer assistance using a brain the size of grass seed. Dr. Nigel Raine, from the School of Biological Sciences at Royal Holloway explains, “Bees solve traveling salesman problems every day. They visit flowers at multiple locations and because bees use lots of energy to fly, they find a route which keeps flying to a minimum. ”
The team used the computer to control artificial flowers to test whether bees would follow a route defined by the order in which they discovered the flowers or if they would find the shortest route. After exploring the location of the flowers, bees quickly learned to fly the shortest route.
As well as improving our understanding of how bees move around the landscape pollinating(授粉)crops and wild flowers, this research, which is due to be published in The American Naturalist, has other applications. Our lifestyle relies on networks such as traffic on the roads, information flow on the Web and business supply chains. By understanding how bees can solve their problems with such a tiny brain, we can improve our management of these everyday networks without needing lots of computer time. Dr. Raine adds, “Despite their tiny brains, bees are capable of extraordinary feats of behavior. We need to understand how they can solve the traveling salesman problem without a computer. ”
【小題1】 What would be the best title of the passage?
| A．Bees help salesmen travel |
| B．Tiny-brained bees solve a complex mathematical problem |
| C．How bees discover the flowers |
| D．How to solve the “traveling salesman problem” |
| A．can be solved by a computer easily |
| B．can’t even be solved by a computer |
| C．can puzzle both people and computers |
| D．remains to be solved by scientists |
| A．provide further proof for the research |
| B．tell us how bees can fly the shortest route between flowers |
| C．tell us how the research about bees’ flying route was conducted |
| D．explain the importance of the research |
| A．a(chǎn)ll creatures are smarter than computers |
| B．the research about bees’ flying route can be applied to many fields |
| C．our networks are more complex than bees’ ones |
| D．with the help of the computer we can find out how bees can solve the “traveling salesman problem” |
科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解
Make Up Your Mind to Succeed
Kind-hearted parents have unknowingly left their children defenseless against failure. The generation born between 1980 and 2001 grew up playing sports where scores and performance were played down because “everyone’s winner.” And their report cards sounded more positive (正面的) than ever before. As a result, Stanford University professor Carol Dweck, PhD, calls them “the overpraised generation.”
Dweck has been studying how people deal with failure for 40 years. Her research has led her to find out two clearly different mind-sets that have a great effect on how we react to it. Here’s how they work:
A fixed mind-set is grounded in the belief that talent (才能) is genetic – you’re a born artist, point guard, or numbers person. The fixed mind-set believes he’s sure to succeed without much effort and regards failure as personal shame. When things get difficult, he’s quick to blame, lie, and even stay away from future difficulties.
On the other hand, a growth mind-set believes that no talent is entirely heaven-sent and that effort and learning make everything possible. Because the ego (自尊) isn’t on the line as much, the growth mind-set sees failure as a chance rather than shame. When faced with a difficulty, he’s quick to rethink, change and try again. In fact, he enjoys this experience.
We are all born with growth mind-sets. (Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to live in the world.) But parents, teachers, and instructors often push us into fixed mind-sets by encouraging certain actions and misdirecting praise. Dweck’s book, Mind-set: The New Psychology of Success, and online instructional program explain this in depth. But she says there are many little things you can start doing today to make sure that your children, grandchildren and even you are never defeated by failure.
【小題1】 What does the author think about the present generation?
| A．They don’t do well at school. | B．They are often misunderstood. |
| C．They are eager to win in sports. | D．They are given too much praise. |
| A．doesn’t want to work hard |
| B．cares a lot about personal safety |
| C．cannot share his ideas with others |
| D．can succeed with the help of teachers |
| A．Admitting failure is shameful. |
| B．Talent comes with one’s birth. |
| C．Scores should be highly valued. |
| D．Getting over difficulties is enjoyable. |
| A．Encourage them to learn from failures. |
| B．Prevent them from making mistakes. |
| C．Guide them in doing little things. |
| D．Help them grow with praise. |
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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解
On October 12,1989，some British scientists were working at the computers to look for the information they needed.Suddenly they saw a lot of very bright points crossing the computer screens.At the same time the computers were working much slower.To find out what was happening they stopped their work to check some parts of the computers.To their horror，they found out that most of their stored information was got rid of by computer viruses(病毒)！Clearly all these computers had been infected by computer viruses.
It is said that the computer viruses were made by a group of young men fond of playing tricks.They all had excellent education.They created the viruses just to show their intelligence. These kinds of computer viruses are named Jerusalem Viruses.These viruses can stay in computers for a long time.When the time comes they will attack(襲擊)the computers by lowering the functions，damaging their normal programs or even getting rid of all the information.
We now come to know that Jerusalem Viruses often attack computers on Friday and that they are spreading(傳播)to a lot of computers.Among the countries that were attacked by computer viruses last year are Britain，Australia，Switzerland and the U．S.But till now，how to get rid of the terrible viruses remains a problem.
【小題1】When the viruses attack the computers，the computers will work________.
| A．normally | B．slowly | C．faster | D．well |
| A．damage the computers |
| B．test their ability |
| C．tell people that they were intelligent |
| D．play a trick on users of the computers |
| A．have been in nature for years |
| B．stay in any computers |
| C．be difficult to get rid of at present |
| D．be able to be got rid of in the near future |
| A．Last year six countries found their computers were infected by viruses. |
| B．The viruses will come to a new computer after staying in the old one for some time. |
| C．Scientists are trying to find a way to get rid of the viruses. |
| D．The Jerusalem Viruses are dangerous to human health. |
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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解
You may be fascinated with pictures of animals in the wild. You might have imagined yourself taking pictures of animals that are rarely seen in the city. If you do get that chance, you may want to consider the following tips or rules. 
First of all, a lot of professional photographers give respect to these animals and the environment they are in. Just remember that you should respect the animals and the environment in case these animals bite or hurt you.
Keep in mind that you are taking pictures of real, live, wild animals. A wild animal may bite to protect itself. You must be sensitive while taking their pictures and be gentle in all your movements. Do not feed the animals, or interact with animals that are sleeping or caring for their young.
If you are going to a place where it is privately(私人)owned, you’d better get the owner’s permission first before you start taking pictures.
Change the flash of your camera to natural light, so the animals will not be frightened or surprised when you start shooting. Animals do not react well when they are surprised.
Be very patient. Make sure you are aware of the changes in behavior of the animal and its moods. Be familiar with the animals’ natural habitat.
Now if those rules are clear, it is time for planning. Consider the weather; some animals do not go out when it is raining while some animals love the rain. Therefore, a little research on the weather will not hurt. You should consider taking pictures after sunrise and before sunset. Now if the animal is nocturnal(夜間活動的), then you should prepare to battle not only the wild but also the darkness.
An adventure in the wild will make you very excited. However, you should be well equipped, have experts to back you up, and also a permit for doing the photo shoot. If you do not have any of these, then maybe you should consider visiting the zoo instead.
【小題1】The main purpose of the author in writing this passage is .
| A．to call for us to protect animals |
| B．to show where to buy pictures of animals |
| C．to explain how to get along with wild animals |
| D．to give us tips on taking pictures of animals in the wild |
| A．Respecting the animals. |
| B．Making gentle movements. |
| C．Making the animals happy. |
| D．Changing the flash of your camera to natural light. |
| A．a(chǎn)sk the owner to take pictures for us |
| B．a(chǎn)sk for the owner’s permission first |
| C．make sure the owner is present when we take pictures |
| D．take pictures when the owner is feeding animals |
| A．most animals love being taken pictures of |
| B．we have to finish the pictures before sunset |
| C．we’d better take pictures when the animals are sleeping |
| D．we should pay attention to the animals’ moods when taking pictures |
| A．①②④ | B．②③④ | C．①②③ | D．①③④ |
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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解
Growers around the world are using new methods to grow grapes to make wine. They use natural and organic methods to control harmful insects and weeds instead of using chemicals. Now, a winery in Canada has adopted a natural way to control its grapevines (葡萄藤). The Featherstone Winery is in southern Ontario. The grapevines, like other plants, need to be cut every year.
Cutting grapevines must be done very carefully. Only a targeted area of leaves is removed from the lower part of the vines to help the grapes grow better. But at the Featherstone Winery, no man or machine does the cutting. Instead, the job is done by 40 little wooly lambs.
David Johnson owns the vineyard (葡萄園). He says he learned about using lambs while visiting wineries in New Zealand. The young lambs are perfectly designed to do the job. They eat the grape leaves on the lower parts of the vine. But they are not tall enough to reach the grapes. They only weigh about 22 kilograms, so they do not beat down the soil. And their waste makes good organic fertilizer. In addition, using the lambs costs much less than hiring workers to cut the vines for seven weeks in summer. And when the cutting is done in August, the lambs become tasty dishes.
Mr. Johnson says he had a difficult time finding enough lambs to do the job. There are about 50 million lambs in New Zealand. But there are not nearly as many in Ontario. Also, some organic pesticides (殺蟲劑) are harmful to lambs. And the lambs must be watched to make sure they do not eat too much of the grapevines.
David Johnson says the lambs help him carry out his environmental ideas about farming. They are lovely and peaceful and he likes having them in his vineyard. People visiting the vineyard also enjoy watching the lambs do their job.
【小題1】Farmers who grow grapes with natural and organic methods ________.
| A．don't cut grapevines every year |
| B．don't use chemicals to control harmful insects and weeds |
| C．don't need to control harmful insects and weeds |
| D．don't use organic fertilizer |
| A．only have to remove the dead leaves |
| B．need to remove a specific area of leaves |
| C．shouldn't remove any part of the plants |
| D．should let little lambs do the cutting |
| A．the future of getting lambs to do the cutting |
| B．the worries about using organic pesticides |
| C．the ways to get lambs to do the cutting |
| D．the problems related to lambs doing the cutting |
| A．owns several wineries in Canada |
| B．buys lambs from New Zealand |
| C．is concerned about protecting the environment |
| D．loves keeping lambs instead of farming |
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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解
Bananas are one of the world’s most important food crops. They are also one of the most valuable exports. Bananas do not grow from seeds. Instead, they grow from existing plants. Bananas are threatened by disease because all the plants on a farm are copies of each other. They all share the same genetic weaknesses. For example, the Cavendish banana is most popular in North American and European markets. However, some kinds of fungus organisms easily infect the Cavendish. Black Sigatoka disease affects the leaves of Cavendish banana plants. The disease is controlled on large farms by putting chemicals on the plants’ leaves. Farmers put anti-fungal chemicals on their crops up to once a week. 
Another fungal disease is more serious. Panama disease attacks the roots of the banana plants. There is no chemical treatment for this disease. Infected plants must be destroyed. Panama disease has affected crops in Southeast Asia, Australia and South Africa. There is concern that it may spread to bananas grown in the Americas. This could threaten an important export product for Central and South America.
The International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain supports research on bananas. The group has headquarters in France and other offices in the major banana-growing areas of the world. The group says that more research must be done to develop improved kinds of bananas. The group says that fungal diseases mainly affect only one kind of banana. In fact, there are five hundred different kinds of bananas. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has said that the Cavendish banana represents only 10% of world production.
The U. N. agency says farmers should grow different kinds of bananas. This protects against diseases that affect only one kind. Experts warn that disease may cause the Cavendish banana to disappear. This happened earlier to another popular banana because of its genetic weakness against disease.
【小題1】What does this passage mainly tell us?
| A．Bananas are the world’s most important food crops. |
| B．The risk to a popular banana shows need to grow other kinds. |
| C．There are five hundred different kinds of bananas. |
| D．How to grow bananas in different countries. |
| A．they grow from seeds |
| B．they are one of the most valuable exports |
| C．the only way to prevent it is to put chemicals on their leaves |
| D．they have genetic weaknesses against disease |
| A．doesn’t belong to fungal disease |
| B．a(chǎn)ffects the leaves of banana plants |
| C．destroys bananas more seriously than Black Sigatoka disease |
| D．has spread to bananas all over the world |
| A．the center of the group is in the US |
| B．the Cavendish banana covers only a small part of the yield of bananas |
| C．the key to solving the disease is to research all kinds of bananas |
| D．each fungal disease affects five hundred different kinds of bananas |
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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解
Researchers have developed new software using smart phones’GPS and imaging abilities that determine the exact location of distant objects as well as monitor the speed and direction of moving objects．The software could eventually allow smart phone-armed soldiers to target the location of their enemies．On the home front，the software could be used by everyone，including golfers judging distance to the green and biologists documenting the location of a rare animal without disturbing it．
“The great advantage of a Smartphone is that it provides so many tools in a single，readily available，relatively inexpensive package，”said Qia Wang，a doctoral student who led the development of the software．“For example，on the battlefield，a soldier needs a rangefinder，compass，GPS and other tools to get information before calling in an air strike．With our software，the soldier can have all those instruments in one device that can be purchased off the shelf．When that soldier returns from War，she can use the same Software to protect her family by clocking a speeder near her children’s school and catching the criminal on video．”
Wang and his colleagues developed their software to locate and track：
Targets of known size—when the size of the target is known．a(chǎn) single image is enough to pinpoint the target’s location．
Targets of unknown size—If the exact size of a target is unknown，the software uses two images to triangulate the location of the target·
Moving targets—By taking a short video of a moving target，the smartphone software can calculate how fast the target is moving and in what direction it is going.
“Currently，our software is limited by the physical abilities of smartphone hardware，but the devices are improving rapidly，”Wang said．“We expect that improvements in GPS accuracy，battery life and camera resolution will allow our software to make even more accurate observations．”
【小題1】From Paragraph 1 we can know that the new software can.
| A．determine the speed of moving objects |
| B．1ocate objects in the distance exactly |
| C．defend soldiers against their enemies |
| D．help biologists protect rare animal |
| A．make an advertisement |
| B．describe the software briefly |
| C．show the benefits of the software |
| D．present the functions of smartphones |
| A．By taking a short video． |
| B．By locating its position. |
| C．By taking a single image． |
| D．By measuring real-life size. |
| A．Casual． | B．Optimistic． | C．Cautious． | D．Flexible |
| A．Qia Wang，a Talented Doctoral Student |
| B．Use Smartphones to Their Full Potential |
| C．Targeting and Tracking With Smartphones |
| D．Smartphone-armed Soldiers on the Battlefield |
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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解
Many people think of the brain as a mystery. They don't know much about intelligence and how it works. When they do think about what intelligence is, many people believe that a person is born smart, average, or dumb — and stays that way in the whole life. But new research shows that the brain is more like a muscle — it changes and gets stronger when you use it. And scientists have been able to show just how the brain grows and gets stronger when you learn.
Everyone knows that when you lift weights, your muscles get bigger and you get stronger. A person who can't lift 20 pounds when he/she starts exercising can get strong enough to lift 100 pounds after working out for a long time. That's because the muscles become larger and stronger with exercise. And when you stop exercising, the muscles shrink and you get weaker. That's why people say “Use it or lose it！”
But most people don't know that when they practice and learn new things, parts of their brain change and get larger a lot like muscles do when they exercise. Inside the cortex (皮層) of the brain are billions of tiny nerve cells, called neurons. The nerve cells have branches connecting them to other cells in a complicated network. Communication between these brain cells is what allows us to think and solve problems. When you learn new things, these tiny connections in the brain actually multiply and get stronger. The more you challenge your mind to learn, the more your brain cells grow. Then, things that you once found very hard or even impossible to do — like speaking a foreign language or doing algebra (代數(shù)) — seem to become easy after learning them for a period of time. The result is a stronger, smarter brain.
Scientists started thinking that the human brain could develop and change when they studied animals' brains. They found out that animals that lived in a challenging environment were more “perspicacious” — they were better at solving problems and learning new things.
【小題1】According to the first paragraph，________.
| A．the function of our brain is like that of the muscle |
| B．until now it's impossible to explain the brain's mystery |
| C．many people believe one's intelligence is naturally determined |
| D．one's brain grows stronger as the age increases |
| A．using the brain |
| B．connecting things in your brain |
| C．lifting weights |
| D．doing research about the brain |
| A．Strong. | B．Smart. | C．Popular. | D．Active. |
| A．the differences between animals’ brains and humans’ brains |
| B．the relation between human brains and muscles |
| C．scientists’ findings about animals’ brains |
| D．how to make your brain smarter through self-development |
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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解
A board game is a game played on a pre-marked surface or “board” according to a set of rules. Board games have been played in most cultures and societies throughout history. Do you think of yourself as a bit of an expert at board games like chess or Go?
Maybe you’re not quite as good as you think. New research from the University of Manchester and Oxford suggests complex games like these are impossible to learn fully. They may even be too complex for the human mind to understand.
Researchers studied two-player games, to try and understand the strategies which people use to make decisions during the game. Some games with two players are simple, with only a small number of possible moves. Players can quickly work out the best strategy but that means the game soon becomes boring.
It gets more interesting when there are many possible moves. That’s why people are so fascinated by complex board games like chess or Go, or some card games. But what the researchers found was that with difficult games, players find it hard to work out the best strategy and their actions become less reasonable.
This research is part of the field called game theory: the study of human strategic decision-making. Much thinking on how people play complex games is based on something called “the balance point”, which is when players have a perfect knowledge of what they are going to do and of what their rivals are going to do.
When you add more than two players then of course the game becomes even harder to understand. Trading on the stock market is an example of a complex multi-player game.
【小題1】Which of the following games belongs to board games?
| A．football | B．badminton | C．swimming | D．Mahjong |
| A．the simpler the board game is, the better it is |
| B．people dislike board games for the complex moves |
| C．players are easy to lose patience when in difficult games |
| D．it’s possible for people to understand complex games thoroughly |
| A．a(chǎn)sk other players to work out the best strategy |
| B．have a good knowledge of the games they are playing |
| C．figure out the next actions of themselves and their opponents |
| D．come to a quick decision about what to do next by themselves |
| A．Culture | B．Discovery | C．Career | D．Campus |
| A．a(chǎn) new research about board games |
| B．the importance of playing board games |
| C．how the players win board games |
| D．how to learn board games fully |
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