Text 3
The Internet may be changing merely what we remember,not our capacity to do so,suggests Columbia University psychology professor Betsy Sparrow. In 2011,Sparrow led a study in which participants were asked to record 40 factoids in a computer (an ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain,"for example).Half of the participants were told the information would be erased,while the other half were told it would be saved.Guess what?The latter group made no effort to recall the information when quizzed on it later,because they knew they couldI find it on their computers.In the same study,a group was asked to remember both the information and the folders it was stored in.They didn't remember the information,but they remembered how to find the folders.In other words,human memory is not deteriorating but "adapting to new communications technology," Sparrow says.
In a very practical way,the Internet is becoming an extemal hard drive for our memories,a process known as "cognitive offloading." Traditionally,this role was fulfilled by data banks, libraries,and other humans.Your father may never remember birthdays because youir mother does, for instance. Some worry that this is having a destructive effect on society but Sparrow sees an upside. Perhaps,she suggests,the trend will change our approach to learning from a focus on individual facts and memorization to an emphasis on more conceptual thinking——something that is not available on the Internet. "I personally have never seen all that much intellectual value in memorizing things,"Sparrow says,adding that we haven't lost our ability to do it.
Still other experts say it's too soon to understand how the Internet affects our brains.There is no experimental evidence showing that it interferes with our ability to focus, for instance,wrote psychologists Christopher Chabris and Daniel J.Simons. And surfing the web exercised the brain more than reading did among computersavvy older adults in a 2008 study involving 24 participants at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at the University of California,Los Angeles.
"There may be costs associated with our increased reliance on the Internet,but I'd have to imagine that overall the benefits are going to outweigh those costs,"observes psychology professor Benjamin Storm. "It seems pretty clear that memory is changing, butis it changing for the better? At this point,we don't know."
31.Sparrow's study shows that with the Internet,the human brain will ______.
A. analyze information in detail
B. sollect information efficiently
C.switch its focus of memory
D. extend its memory duration
32.The process of "cognitive offloading" _______.
A. helps us identify false information
B. keeps our memory from failing
C. enables us to classify trivial facts
D.lessens our memory burdens
33.Which of the following would Sparrow support about the Internet?
A. It may reform our learning approach
B. It may impact our society negatively
C. It may enhance our adaptability to technology
D. It may interfere with our conceptual thinking
34.It is indicated in Para 3 that how the Internet affects our brains_____.
A. requires further academic research
B. is most studies in older adults
C. is reflected in our reading speed
D. depends on our web-surfing habits
35.Neither Sparrow nor Storm would agree that ________.
A. our reliance on the Internet will be costly
B. the Internet is weakening our memory
C. memory exercise is a must for our brain
D.our ability to focus declines with age
Text 4
Teenagers are paradoxical.That' s a mild and detached way of saying something that parents often express with considerably stronger language.But the paradox is scientificas well as personal. In adolescence,helpless and dependent children who have relied on grown-ups for just about everything become independent people who can take care of themselves and help each other. At the same time,once cheerful and compliant children become rebellious teenage risktakers.
A new study published in the journal child Development by Eveline Crone of the University of London and colleagues,suggests that the positive and negative sides of teenagers go hand in hand.The study is part of a new wave of thinking about adolescence.For a long time,scientists and policy makers concentrated on the idea that teenagers were a problem needed to be solved. The new work emphasizes that adolescence is a time of opportunity as well as risk.
The researchers studied "prosocial"and rebellious traits in more than 200 child and young adults,ranging from 1I to 28 years old. The participants filled out questions about how oftenthey did things that were altruistic and positive,like sacrificing their own interests to help a friend or rebellious and negative, like getting drunk or staying out late.
Other studies have shown that rebellious behavior increased as you become a teenager and then fades away as you grow older. But the new study shows that,interestingly,the same pattern holds for prosocial behavior Teenagers were more likely than younger children or adults to report that they did things like selfishly help a friend.
Most significantly,there was a positive correlation between prosociality and rebelliousness. The teenagers who were more rebellious were also more likely to help others.The good and bad sides of adolescence seem to develop together.
Is there some common factor that underlies these apparently contradictory developments? One idea is that teenager behavior is related to what researchers call" reward sensitivity" Decision-making always involves balancing rewards and risks,benefits and costs "Reward sensitivity" 'measures how much reward it takes to outweigh risk.
Teenagers are particularly sensitive to social rewards-winning the game,impressing a new friend,getting that boy to notice you. Reward sensitivity,like prosocial behavior and risk-taking, seems to go up in adolescence and then down again as we age. Somehow,when you hit 30,the chance that something excitng and new will happen at that party just doesn' t seem to outweigh the effort of getting up off the conch.
36. According to Parapraph 1, children growing into adolescence tend to____.
A.develop opposite personalitytraits
B. see the world in an unreasonable way
C. have fond memories of their past
D.show affection for their parents
37. It can be learned from parapraph 2 that Crone's study ____.
A.explores teenagers' social responsibilities
B.examines teenagers'emotional problems
C.provides a new insight into adolescence
D.highlights negative adolescence behavior
38.What does Crone's study find about prosocial behavior?
A.It results from the wish to cooperate.
B.It is cultivated through educatim.
C.It is subject to famiy influence.
D.It tends to peak in adolescence.
39.It can be learned from last two parapraph that teenagers ___.
A. overstress their influence on others
B.care a lot about social recognition
C.become anxious about their future
D.endeavor to live a joyful life
40.What is the text mainly about?
A.Why teenagers are self-contradictory
B.Why teenagers are risk-sensitive
C.How teenagers become independent
D.How teenagers develop prosociality