J. If humans are generally geared to recall details about one another, this pattern is probably even more powerful among teenagers who are hyperattentive to social minutiae: who is in, who is out, who likes whom, who is mad at whom. Their penchant for social drama is not—or not only—a way of distracting themselves from their schoolwork or of driving adults crazy. It is actually a neurological(神經的) sensitivity, initiated by hormonal changes. Evolutionarily speaking, people in this age group are at a stage in which they can prepare to find a mate and start their own family while separating from parents and striking out on their own. To do this successfully, their brain prompts them to think and even obsess about others.
K. Yet our schools focus primarily on students as individual entities. What would happen if educators instead took advantage of the fact that teens are powerfully compelled to think in social terms? In Social, Lieberman lays out a number of ways to do so. History and English could be presented through the lens of the psychological drives of the people involved. One could therefore present Napoleon in terms of his desire to impress or Churchill in terms of his lonely melancholy. Less inherently interpersonal subjects, such as math, could acquire a social aspect through team problem solving and peer tutoring. Research shows that when we absorb information in order to teach it to someone else, we learn it more accurately and deeply, perhaps in part because we are engaging our social cognition.
L. And although anxious parents may not welcome the notion, educators could turn adolescent recklessness to academic ends. “Risk taking in an educational context is a vital skill that enables progress and creativity,” wrote Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, a cognitive neuroscientist at University College London, in a review published last year. Yet, she noted, many young people are especially risk averse at school—afraid that one low test score or mediocre grade could cost them a spot at a selective university. We should assure such students that risk, and even peer pressure, can be a good thing—as long as it happens in the classroom and not the car.
36. It is thought probable that the human brain is particularly good at picking-up socially important information.
37. It can be concluded from experiment that the presence of peers increases risk-taking by adolescents and youth.
38. Students should be told that risk-taking in classroom can be something positive.
39. The urgency of finding a mate and getting married accounts for adolescents’ greater attention to social interactions.
40. According to Steinberg, the presence of peers increases the speed and effectiveness of teenagers’ leaning.
41. Teenagers’ parents are often concerned about negative peer influence.
42. Activating the brain’s network involved in socially motivated learning and memory may allow students to tap their mental powers.
43. The presence of peer intensifies the feeling of rewards in teens’ brains.
44. When we absorb information for the purpose of imparting it to ethers, we do so with greater secretary and depth.
45. Some experts are suggesting that we turn peer influence to good use in education.
答案：
36-40 H C L J G 41-45 A I F K D
Section C
Direction: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statement. For each of them there are four choice and our marked A),B),C) and D).You should decide on the best choice and nark the corresponding letter on Answer sheet2 with a single line through the centre.
Passage One
Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.
The Ebro Delta, in Spain, famous as a battleground during the Spanish Civil War, is now the setting for a different contest, one that is pitting rice farmers against two enemies: the rice-eating giant apple snail, and rising sea levels. What happens here will have a bearing on the future of European rice production and the overall health of southern European wetlands.
Located on the Mediterranean just two hours south of Barcelona, the Ebro Delta produces 120 million kilograms of rice a year, making it one of the continent’s most important rice-growing areas. As the sea creeps into these freshwater marshes, however, rising salinity (鹽分) is hampering rice production. At the same time, this sea-water also kills off the greedy giant apple snail, an introduced pest that feeds on young rice plants. The most promising strategy has become to harness one foe against the other.
The battle is currently being waged on land, in greenhouses at the University of Barcelona. Scientists working under the banner “Project Neurice” are seeking varieties of rice that can withstand the increasing salinity without losing the absorbency that makes European rice ideal for traditional Spanish and Italian dishes.
“The project has two sides,” says Xavier Serrat, Neurice project manager and researcher at the University of Barcelona. “The short-term fight against the snail, and a mid- to long-term fight against climate change. But the snail has given the project greater urgency.”
Originally from South America, the snails were accidentally introduced into the Ebro Delta by Global Aquatic Tecnologies, a company that raised the snails for fresh-water aquariums (水族館), but failed to prevent their escape. For now, the giant apple snail’s foothold in Europe is limited to the Ebro Delta. But the snail continues its march to new territory, says Serrat. “The question is not if it will reach other rice-growing areas of Europe, but when.”
Over the next year and a half investigators will test the various strains of saline-tolerant rice they’ve concocted. In 2018, farmers will plant the varieties with the most promise in the Ebro Delta and Europe’s other two main rice-growing regions—along the Po in Italy, and France’s Rhône. A season in the field will help determine which, if any, of the varieties are ready for commercialization.
As an EU-funded effort, the search for salt-tolerant varieties of rice is taking place in all three countries. Each team is crossbreeding a local European short-grain rice with a long-grain Asian variety that carries the salt-resistant gene. The scientists are breeding successive generations to arrive at varieties that incorporate salt tolerance but retain about 97 percent of the European rice genome (基因組).
46. Why does the author mention the Spanish Civil War at the beginning of the passage?（C）
A) It had great impact on the life of Spanish rice farmers.
B) It is of great significance in the records of Spanish history.
C) Rice farmers in the Ebro Delta are waging a battle of similar importance.
D) Rice farmers in the Ebro Delta are experiencing as hard a time as in the war.
47. What may be the more effective strategy for rice farmers to employ in fighting their enemies?（D）
A) Killing the weaker enemy first.
B) Eliminating the enemy one by one.
C) Killing two bird with one stone.
D) Using one evil to combat the other.
48. What do we learn about “Project Neurice”?（C）
A) Its goals will have to be realized at a cost.
B) It aims to increase the yield of Spanish rice.
C) Its immediate priority is to bring the pest under control.
D) It tries to kill the snails with the help of climate change.
49. What does Neurice project manager say about the giant apple snail?（B）
A) It can survive only on southern European wetlands.
B) It will invade other rice-growing regions of Europe.
C) It multiplies at a speed beyond human imagination.
D) It was introduced into the rice fields on purpose.
50. What is the ultimate goal of the EU-funded program?（A）
A) Cultivating ideal salt-resistant varieties.
B) Increasing the absorbency of the Spanish rice.
C) Introducing Spanish rice to the rest of Europe.
D) Popularizing the rice crossbreeding technology.
Part IV Translation （30 minutes）
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English. You should write your answer on Answer sheet 2.
過去，擁有一輛私家車對大部分中國人而言是件奢侈的事。如今，私家車在中國隨處可見。汽車成了人們生活中不可或缺的一部分，他們不僅開車上下班，還經常駕車出遊。有些城市的汽車增長速度過快，以至於交通擁堵和停車位不足的問題日益嚴峻，這些城市的市政府不得不出臺新規，限制上路汽車的數量。由於空氣汙染日益嚴重，現在越來越多的人選擇購買新能源汽車，中國政府也採取了一些措施，支持新能源汽車的發展。
譯文：
Private cars used to be a luxury for most Chinese people, while today they can be seen everywhere in China as an indispensable part of life. Not only do people drive to and from work, but they often travel by car. In some cities, the growth of cars is so fast that the problems of traffic jams and lack of parking space become more severe. The municipal governments of these cities therefore have to introduce new rules to limit the number of cars on the road. Also, the increasingly serious air pollution has driven more people to choose new energy vehicles, so the Chinese government has taken some measures to support the development of new energy vehicles.
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