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Passage
One
What
would happen if people were suddenly paid for doing something
they usually did from intrinsic motivation, such as donate
blood? Researchers generally thought that if people were
given external rewards (money, awards, prizes, or tokens)
for doing tasks (donating blood) that they formerly did
from intrinsic motivation, their performance of these tasks
would decrease.
Because the finding that external rewards
decreased intrinsic motivation was widely accepted, many
books advised that rewards should not be used in educational
settings, hospitals, or volunteer organizations because
such rewards would do more harm than good. However, researchers
recently reanalyzed the past 25 years of studies on intrinsic
motivation and reached two different conclusions. First,
they found that any decrease in intrinsic interest resulting
from an external reward was so small as to not be detected
by statistical analysis of hundreds of studies. Second,
they found that verbal praise, which is a form of external
reward, did not decrease intrinsic interest but rather increased
it.
For a long time, it was also thought that
external rewards automatically decreased creative work and
interest. But researchers have found that the effects of
giving children a reward for completing a creative task
depends on how they perceive the reward. If they perceive
the reward as a treat, it will increase their intrinsic
interest, but if they see the reward as an external pressure
to be creative, it will decrease their intrinsic interest.
These studies show that, unlike previously
thought, external rewards do not automatically decrease
intrinsic interest and that verbal praise actually increases
intrinsic motivation. Research on intrinsic motivation shows
how cognitive factors, such as how you perceive situations,
influence your motivation and achievement.
(277 words)
1.
It was thought by the researchers that if people were given
some awards for doing tasks that they formerly did from
intrinsic motivation, they would _______. ( D
)
(a) do those tasks better
(b) finish those tasks in less time
(c) not change their attitude towards those tasks
(d) give a less satisfactory performance
2.
The word "intrinsic" means _____. (
C
)
(a) external
(b) excellent
(c) inherent
(d) moralistic
3.
According to researchers, if a child is given a reward for
completing a creative task, _____. (
D
)
(a) the child will be more interested in the task
(b) the child will be less interested in the task
(c) the child will see the reward as a treat and do the
task better
(d) the way the child sees the reward affects their interest
4.
Recent studies show that _________. (
D
)
(a) external rewards decrease intrinsic motivation
(b) decreases in intrinsic interest resulting from an external
reward can be detected by statistical analysis
(c) verbal praise decreases intrinsic interest
(d) external rewards do not automatically decrease
intrinsic interest
5.
The passage discusses _____. (
A
)
(a) intrinsic motivation
(b) donating blood
(c) external awards
(d) the function of verbal praises
TOP
Passage
Two
On May 12, 1946, Louis Alexander Slotin
was carrying out an experiment in the laboratories at Los
Alamos with seven other men. Slotin, then aged thirty-five,
was concerned with the assembly of pieces of plutonium,
each of which alone is too small to be dangerous, and which
will only sustain a chain reaction when they are put together.
Atomic bombs are, in fact, detonated in this way, by suddenly
bringing together several harmless pieces of plutonium so
that they form a larger, explosive mass. Slotin himself
had tested the assembly of the first experimental bomb which
had been exploded in New Mexico in July, 1945.
Now, nearly a year later, Slotin was again
doing an experiment of this kind. He was nudging toward
one another, by tiny movements, several pieces of plutonium,
in order to ensure that their total mass would be large
enough to make a chain reaction; and he was doing it, as
experts are tempted to do such things, with a screwdriver.
The screwdriver slipped, the pieces of plutonium came a
fraction too close together, and suddenly the instruments
which everyone was watching registered a great upsurge of
neutrons, which is the sign that a chain reaction has begun.
The assembly was filling the room with radioactivity.
Slotin moved at once; he pulled the pieces
of plutonium apart with his bare hands. This was virtually
an act of suicide, for it exposed him to the largest dose
of radioactivity. Then he calmly asked his seven co-workers
to mark their precise positions at the time of the accident,
in order that the degree of exposure of each one to the
radioactivity could be fixed.
Having done this and alerted the medical
service, Slotin apologized to his companions, and said what
turned out to be exactly true: that he thought that he would
die and that they would recover. Slotin had saved the lives
of the seven men working with him by cutting to a minimum
the time during which the assembly of plutonium was giving
out neutrons and radioactive rays. He himself died of radiation
sickness nine days later.
The setting for his act, the people involved,
and the disaster are scientific: but this is not the reason
why I tell Slotin's story. I tell it to show that morality—shall we call it heroism in this case?－has the same
anatomy the world over. There are two things that make up
morality. One is the sense that other people matter: the
sense of common loyalty, of charity and tenderness, the
sense of human love. The other is a clear judgment of what
is at stake: a cold knowledge, without a trace of deception,
of precisely what will happen to oneself and to others if
one plays either the hero or the coward. This is the highest
morality: to combine human love with an unflinching, a scientific
judgment.
(480 words)
6.
Louis Alexander Slotin was a scientist
_________. ( C
)
(a) whose job was to gather pieces of plutonium
(b) who had tested many experimental bombs before
(c) who studied the chain action when pieces of plutonium
were put together
(d) who experimented to see if pieces of plutonium
would explode when put together
7.
What happened when Slotin was doing an experiment again
in 1946? (
C
)
(a) One of his co-workers made a mistake and a piece of
plutonium exploded.
(b) The screwdriver he used slipped and the pieces of plutonium
became a fraction.
(c) He made a mistake and the pieces of plutonium began
a chain reaction.
(d) The instruments in the laboratory sent off radiation.
8.
What did Slotin do when the room was filled with radioactivity?
(
A
)
(a) He pulled his bare hands to pull pieces apart.
(b) He exposed himself to the highest dose of radioactivity
without knowing it.
(c) He tried to stay away from the radioactivity to save
himself and others.
(d) He saved the lives of the seven co-workers by preventing
them from any harm of the radioactivity.
9.
According to the passage, what didn't happen? (
B
)
(a) Slotin apologized for his mistake.
(b) Slotin didn't know the consequences of his mistake.
(c) Slotin informed the medical service of the accident.
(d) Slotin himself died of radiation sickness a few days
later.
10.
The author of the passage thinks that the highest morality
combines _____. (
C
)
(a) the sense of common loyalty and that of human love
(b) charity and tenderness
(c) human love and cold knowledge
(d) morality and heroism
TOP
Passage
Three
The Breitling Orbiter 3 crossed the finish
line over Mauritania last Saturday. Swiss psychiatrist Bertrand
Piccard was ecstatic: "I am with the angels and just completely
happy," he said over satellite relay. British balloon instructor
Brian Jones, for his part, said calmly, "I am going to have
a cup of tea, like any good Englishman." They had sailed
into history. And they decided to sail on a little more. "We do not land. We go to
Egypt," Piccard radioed air-traffic
control in Senegal. "We are a balloon flying around the
world." They touched down in Egypt on Sunday morning. "I
will be tearing their eyes out when I see them," their erstwhile
rival Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic, told
TIME. "But apart from that, I think a hug and a bottle of
champagne will be appropriate."
Since 1981 there have been nearly 20 attempts
to circumnavigate the globe in a balloon. Steve Fossett,
a Chicago millionaire who attempted the feat five times,
plunged into the Coral Sea after traveling 22 911 km last
August. And on Christmas Day he went down again near the
coast of Hawaii, taking along his partners, Per Lindstrand
of Sweden and Branson. The U.S.Coast Guard fished them out
at a cost—to taxpayers—of about $130 000. Setting the
elusive record was worth the trouble to Fossett. "I can't
tell you how it ranks with the others, like climbing Mount
Everest or making the first transatlantic airplane flight,"
said Fossett. "But it's one of the great explorations."
It's tough for pioneers to make a name for
themselves these days. Both poles have been reached, the
Atlantic has been crossed and recrossed, and the eagle has
landed. So why not do it in a balloon? Well, what can you
say about a pastime whose first passengers were, in an experiment
by the French Montgolfier brothers in 1783, a duck, a rooster
and a sheep? No wonder Piccard has a complex. "The way the
public sees it is this," he explained before lift-off. "If
we don't leave, we are idiots. If we do leave but don't
succeed in our mission, we are incompetent. But if we do
succeed, it's because it was easy and anyone could have
done it."
But you see, the psychiatrist has a legacy
to uphold: his grandfather Auguste was the first to reach
the stratosphere in a balloon, and his father Jacques dove
to the deepest point of the ocean in a bathyscaphe. "Bertrand
believes it's his destiny to fly a balloon around the
world,"
said his rival Andy Elson, as the Orbiter 3 pushed the world
record further and further.
(432 words)
11.
When Breitling Orbiter crossed the finish line, Piccard
and Jones ______. (
D
)
(a) landed Mauritania
(b) decided to sail in a flying balloon
(c) reached Egypt
(d) had sailed around the world
12.
How many attempts have been made to fly around the world
in a balloon since 1981? (
C
)
(a) 2
(b) 10
(c) 20
(d) 40
13.
Which of the following is true? (
D
)
(a) Steve Fossett succeeded in flying around the world
in a balloon after many attempts.
(b) Fossett didn't think high of his record in attempting
to fly around the globe.
(c) On a Christmas Day Fossett was found alone near the
coast of Hawaii.
(d) Fossett enjoyed very much the feat to circumnavigate
the globe.
14.
The decided to cross the world in a balloon because
_____. ( D
)
(a) it is much easier to do
(b) they had reached both poles
(c) they had recrossed the Atlantic
(d) they wanted to make a name for themselves
15.
According to the passage, ________. (
C
)
(a) Piccard was fully aware that his feat would be appreciated
by the public
(b) Piccard thought that if they didn't succeed they were
incompetent
(c) Piccard regarded his mission as a way to uphold his
family legacy
(d) Andy Elson was with him in the balloon
TOP
测验结果：15 题中 共答对题，
答错题， 还有题未答。
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