Teenagers around the world can be glad with the news that their brain deserves the blame when parents' orders go ignored while they tap on their smartphones. A new scientific study from the University College London has found that humans may suffer temporarily deaf when they're simultaneously focusing on something visual. Research found that the 13 volunteers experienced inattentional deafness to the normal-volume sounds playing in the background as their visual tasks became increasingly difficult. 'We found that when volunteers were performing the demanding visual task, they were unable to hear sounds that they would normally hear,' study co-author Maria Chait said in a statement. 'The brain scans showed that people were not only ignoring or filtering out the sounds, they were not actually hearing them in the first place.' The findings, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, suggest that the visual and auditory processing centers that make sense of the sights and sounds that surround us share limited resources. Inattentional deafness is a common everyday experience and the study explains why, according to UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience Professor Nilli Lavie, a co-author of the study. 'This could also explain why you might not hear your bus or train stop being announced if you're concentrating on your phone, book, or newspaper. ''If you try to talk to someone focusing on a book, game, or television program and don't receive a response, they are not necessarily ignoring you, they simply might not hear you! ' she said. Loud sounds--like ambulance sirens--will still be able to break through, but some situations could become potentially dangerous when the quieter ones go unheard, according to Medical Daily. 'This has more serious implications in situations such as the operating theater, when a surgeon concentrating on their work might not hear the equipment beeping,' Lavie said. 'It also applies to drivers concentrating on complex directions as well as cyclists and motorists who are focusing intently... What does the passage mainly want to tell us? A) The benefit of the inattentional deafness B) The expectation from young teenagers. C) Concentrating on something visual can cause short deaf ears D) Inattentional deafness is not a good thing
C
(Question)
Almost a decade ago, the federal government dropped $10 million for an Earth-monitoring satellite that never made it into space. Today it sits in a closet in Maryland. Cost to taxpayers for storing it: $1 million a year. And _ . Who knows what's in the rest of them? Because we think the government should be held to at least the same standards as a publicly traded company, and because as taxpayers, we're America's shareholders, we performed an audit of sorts of the federal books. We're not economists, but we do have common sense. We tried to get help from Congressional staffers from both parties, as well as various watchdog groups and agencies. In the end, we found that the federal government wastes nearly $1 trillion every year. That's roughly equal to the amount collected annually by the Internal Revenue Service in personal income taxes. Put another way, it's also equal to about one-third of the country's $2.9 trillion total annual budget. And reclaiming that lost trillion could help wipe out the country's annual budget deficit , improve education, and provide health insurance for those who don't have it. So how do you define "waste"? David Walker of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a federal watchdog agency, calls it "the government's failure to give taxpayers the most for their money." For our part, we used the kind of household test you would use on a piece of meat sitting in your refrigerator: If it smells rotten, it's waste. Our government regularly pays for products and services it never gets, wildly overpays companies to do things it could do more cheaply itself, loses money outright due to lax accounting and oversight, and spends money randomly on unnecessary programs. How exactly does the federal government waste your hard-earned tax dollars? We've identified what we consider ten of the worst ways. Which of the following can best describe the feeling of the author? A) Annoyed. B) Calm. C) Surprised. D) Not concerned.
(Answer)
A
Ques: There are many colors in nature. But do you know if a color has weight? I think you'll say "no". But I am afraid you are wrong. If you don't believe, you may do a small experiment. First, put two objects with the same weight into two boxes. Then cover the box. Third, wrap one box with a red piece of paper, the other with a white piece of paper. OK. Now hold the boxes with your hand one by one. It is certain that you will think the red one is a little heavier. Why do you think so? A scientist found that different colors have different weights in a man's mind. So he did many tests and at last he got the result. That is to say, every color has its own weight in our mind and their order is the same. The heaviest color is red, then blue, green, yellow and white. The scientist told us that colors also have smell. Can you smell the color? Of course not. Then why did the scientist say so? That is because every color stands for a kind of light with a certain wavelength . It reaches our brain through sense organs . According to this discovery, scientists say that people accept the colors they like, and refuse the colors they hate. So your body and mind will be healthy by using the colors you like. Or you'll be nervous or ill. For example, if you stay in a room with red windows, wallpapers and furniture for two hours, you'll feel you have been there for four hours. But if the room is blue, you'll feel you have been there for only an hour. Another example, if a person walks out of a red room and into a blue room, his temperature will fall. That means our body temperature will change with different colors. If a person walks from a blue room to a red room, his body temperature will _ . A) rise B) fall C) stay the same D) change now and then
Ans: A
Aria Ricardo was a beautiful, slim young woman with dark hair, dark eyes, and dark skin.She used to work as a model and earn as much as $ 2 000 in one day in front of the camera.She modeled for top magazines in Paris, Rome, Tokyo, and throughout the United States. Aria's father, now retired because of a disability, was a police officer who really loved his work.Aria would rather follow in her father's footsteps than pursue her modeling career.She remembered listening to her father tell stories when he came home after a day on the beat.The excitement, tensions and risks of police work appealed to her. Aria got started in the modeling business quite by accident.She accompanied a friend to an interview at a modeling agency.Her friend wanted the job, while Aria didn't.The people at the agency were impressed with Aria's appearance and poise.They knew she'd be brilliant in front of the camera.So they sent her on her first modeling job--for Seventeen Magazine--right away. Despite her success as a model, Aria never gave up her dream of being a police officer.She passed the written exam for the New York Police Department.She planned to enter the Police Academy as quickly as possible.Her family and friends thought she was out of her mind even to consider such a thing.Police work was dangerous and the pay couldn't compare to a top model's income.But Aria knew what she wanted, and she went for it.She had never really intended to be a model anyway.Finally she hooked her fish. Aria's family would like her to _ . A) remain a model B) do whatever she liked C) find something challenging D) follow her father's footsteps
A