23. The house will most possibly be sold at the price of _______.

A. $ 5,000        B. $ 850        C. $ 700      D. an iPhone 6

24. The passage is most probably taken from ________.

A. a story book                B. a news report

C. an economy report            D. a tourist brochure

B

Regardless of the fact that getting dressed in baseball caps and T-shirts are classic American style choices; the preppy(学院风格) look is what sophisticated(高雅时髦的) British youths wear. But when it comes to the best-dressed nation, neither the US nor the UK tops CNN’s list. So which country has the best fashion sense? Take a look.

Italy

Italy is a country which lays a strong emphas is on outward appearance. Elegance is in Italian blood and most Italians would give up comfort in order to look graceful. They dress well even for simple trips to the grocery store.

Both males and females have a good understanding of style, dressing themselves up with well-groomed(讲究的) hair and a smart pair of shoes. It is no wonder that so many of the best fashion designers are Italian!

Sweden

Retail(零售) giant H & M continues to spread affordable Swedish style around the world. What has been called the “Swedish fashion miracle” actually comes from the “less is more” philosophy. The Swedes tend to adopt a practical approach to what they wear, but they don’t lack creativity.

France

The French have a chic(别致的) air about them. They appear casual and elegant without being over-dressed or under-dressed, and always seem to give off confidence in their style choices. “The laissez-faire(自由放任的) approach to fashion is something many people love — and the looks they wear are something we all want to emulate on a daily basis,” said The Huffington Post.

25. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the text?

A. Getting dressed sophisticatedly is American style.

B. Wearing T-shirts is British style.

C. British young people like the preppy style.

D. The UK is the best-dressed country in the world.

26. What can we learn from Swedish dressing style?

A. It is practical and creative.           B. It is unaffordable.

C. It lacks confidence.                     D. It lacks creativity.

27. What’s the meaning of the underlined word “emulate” in the last paragraph?

A. Imitate.             B. Thrill.           C. Like.        D. Hate.

C

Babies don’t learn to talk just from hearing sounds. They are lip-readers too. It happens during the stage when a baby’s babbling (咿呀声) gradually changes from unclear voices into that first “mama” or “dada” . The baby in order to do like you has to figure out how to shape their lips to make that particular sound they are hearing, according to developmental psychologist David Lewkowicz of Florida Atlantic University, who led the study.

Apparently it doesn’t take them too long to absorb the movements that match basic sounds. By their first birthdays, babies start changing back to look you in the eye again. It offers more evidence that quality face-time with babies is very important for speech development more than, say, turning on the latest baby DVD.

But Lewkowicz went a step further. He and his student Amy Hansen-Tift tested nearly 180 babies, groups of them at ages 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 months. How? They showed videos of a woman speaking in English or Spanish to babies of English speakers. They found that when the speaker used English, the 4-month-olds gazed mostly into her eyes. The 6-months-olds spent equal amounts of time looking at the eyes and the mouth. The 8-and 10-month-olds studied mostly the mouth. At 12 months, attention started changing back toward the speaker’s eyes.

But what happened when these babies accustomed to English heard Spanish? The 12-month-olds studied the mouth longer, just like younger babies. They needed the extra information to recognize the unfamiliar sounds. That fits with research into bilingualism (双语)that shows babies’ brains adjust themselves to distinguishing the sounds of their native language over other languages in the first year of life.

The continued lip-reading shows the 1-year-olds clearly still are fit for learning. Babies are so hard to study that this is “a fairly heroic data set”, says Duke University cognitive neuroscientist Gre g Appelbaum, who found the research so fascinating that he wants to know more.

28. According to the first paragraph, babies______.

A. might get its voice “mama” by lip-reading

B. learn to talk just from hearing the sounds

C. like to figure out how to shape their lips

D. communicate with parents through gestures

29. What is necessary in developing babies’ speech according to Lewkowicz?

A. Playing baby DVD nearby.

B. Teaching babies to read English.

C. Speaking with babies face to face.

D. Speaking different languages in front of babies.                                30. Which of the following shows the right change of babies’ eye gaze according to the text?

Eye gaze

4   8     12  Month

A.

Eye gaze

4   8   12    Month

C.

Eye gaze

4      8    12  Month

B.

Eye gaze

4     8     12    Month

D.

31. What would be the best title of the text?

A. Babies Have Different Methods to Talk

B. Babies Try Lip-reading in Learning to Talk

C. Babies Are Suitable to Learn Two Languages

D. Babies Can Easily Accept Foreign Language

D

It’s a popular belief that a fish’s memory lasts for only seven seconds. It may seem sad to think that they don’t remember what they’ve eaten or where they’ve been, and they don’t recognize you or any of their friends --- every moment in their life would be like seeing the world for the first time.

But don’t be so quick to feel sorry for them. A new study has found that fish have a much better memory than we used to think. In fact, certain species of fish can even remember events from as  long as 12 days ago.

In the study, researchers from MacEwan University in Canada trained a kind of fish called African cichlids to go to a certain area of their tank to get food. They then waited for 12 days before putting them back in the tank again.

Researchers used computer software to monitor the fish’s movements. They found that after such a long break the fish still went to the same place where they first got food. This suggested that they could remember their past experiences.

In fact, scientists had been thinking for a long time that African cichlids might have a good memory. An earlier study showed that they behaved aggressively in front of certain fish, perhaps because they remembered their past “fights”. But until  the latest findings, there was no clear evidence.

Just as a good memory can make our lives easier, it also plays an important part when a fish is trying to survive in the wild.

“If fish are able to remember that a certain area contains safe food, they will be able to go back to that area without putting their lives at risks,” lead researcher Trevor Hamilton told Live Science.

For a long time, fish were placed far below chimpanzees, dolphins and mice on the list of smart animals. But this study has given scientists a new understanding of their intelligence.

32. What is the article mainly about?

A. Fish having very bad memories.

B. Fish being smarter than we thought.

C. How fish improve their memory.

D. What we can learn from fish.

33. According to the article, people used to believe that _______.

A. fish could only remember part of their past experiences

B. fish could remember things that happened 12 days ago

C. a fish’s memory lasted for only seven minutes

D. fish didn’t recognize any of their friends

34. How can fish benefit most from a good memory? They can remember _______.

A. where to get food and survive

B. their enemies and fight

C. where to escape to when in danger

D. their friends and help each other