It's puzzling, isn't it? No matter where you try to tickle yourself, even on the soles of your feet or under your arms, you just can't. To understand why, you need to know more about how your brain works. One of its main tasks is to try to make good guesses about what's going to happen next. While you're busy getting on with your life, walking downstairs or eating your breakfast, parts of your brain are always trying to predict the future. Remember when you first learned how to ride a bicycle? At first, it took a lot of concentration to keep the handlebars steady and push the pedals . But after a while, cycling became easy. Now you're not aware of the movements you make to keep the bike going. From experience, your brain knows exactly what to expect so your body rides the bike automatically. Your brain is predicting all the movements you need to make. You only have to think consciously about cycling if something changes---like if there's a strong wind or you get a flat tyre. When something unexpected happens like this, your brain is forced to change its predictions about what will happen next. If it does its job well, you'll adjust to the strong wind, leaning your body so you don't fall. Why is it so important for our brains to predict what will happen next? It helps us make fewer mistakes and can even save our lives. For example, when a chief fireman sees a fire, he immediately makes decisions about how best to position his men. His past experiences help him foresee what might happen and choose the best plan for fighting the fire. His brain can instantly predict how different plans would work out, and he can _ any bad or dangerous plans without putting his men at risk in real life. So how does all this answer your question about tickling? Because your brain is always predicting your own actions, and how your body will feel as a result, you cannot tickle yourself. Other people can tickle you because they can surprise you. You can't predict what their tickling actions will be. Our brains cannot predict what will happen when we _ . A) walk down the stairs B) eat our breakfast C) suddenly lose our balance and fall D) ride a bike
C
Crime in the city of prefix = st1 /Cliohit a 30-year low last year. "This is ly wonderful for our citizens, our businesses, and our visitors," said Police Chief Louis Gates. Clio has a population of 28,000, but it has at least 30 gangs . The gangs make most of their money from dealing drugs and offering "protection." They also commit violent crimes, such as stealing, robbery or even murder. There were 1,486 thefts last year. Most of the thefts involved cars. Thieves also robbed the people at gunpoint or pick pocketed them. They broke .into houses and businesses at the alarming rate of two a day two years ago, but that rate was down to only one a day last year. "That's a 50-percent decrease in one year," said Gates. "I think the police officers deserve a big pat on the back. Even better, maybe they'll get that 10-percent raise that they are all hoping for. " With an example of how the police force has helped reduce crime, Gates talked about bicycle thefts. "For years and years, kids were locking up their bikes at bike stands in front of schools, libraries, and shopping mails. About 10 percent of the time, the kids would come out of the school or wherever and discover that their bike was no longer there. We wracked our brains( ) trying to find a solution to this problem. Finally, at the beginning of last year, when we simply removed most of the bike stands, then the bicycle theft rate came down quickly. Most cities in the state have similar problems. They all involve too many people, too much crime, too few police, and too little money. These problems go along with civilization everywhere. They might reduce, but they will probably never disappear. All people can do is hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Crime in the city of Cliois mainly caused by _ . A) illegal gangs B) protection providers C) cruel murderers D) drug dealers
A
Q: Yorkshire, England was the setting for two great novels of the 19th century. One of them is Jane Eyre written by Charlotte Bronte. The Bronte family had three girls and a boy. Charlotte was born in 1816, Emily was born in 1818 and Anne in 1820. Their brother Branwell was born in 1817. The children wrote and told stories and walked over the hills. They grew up largely self-educated. Branwell showed a great interest in drawing. The girls took positions as teachers or taught children in their homes. The girls were determined to earn money for Branwell's art education. As children, the girls had all written many stories. Charlotte alone wrote 22 books, each with 60 to 100 pages of small handwriting. Therefore, they turned to writing for income. By 1847, Charlotte had written The Professor; Emily, Wuthering Heights; and Anne, Agnes Grey. After much difficulty, Anne and Emily found a publisher , but there was no interest shown in Charlotte's book. ( It was not published until 1859. ) However, one publisher expressed an interest in seeing more of her work. Jane Eyre was already started, and she hurriedly finished it. It was accepted at once; thus each of the sisters had a book published in 1847. Jane Eyre was immediately successful; _ , however, did not do so well. Emily lived only a short while after the publication of her book, and Anne died in 1849. Charlotte published Shirley in 1849, and Villette in 1853. In 1854 she married Arthur Bell Nicholls. But only a year later, she died of tuberculosis as her sisters had. What did the Bronte sisters want to do for Branwell Bronte? A) Help him write stories. B) Help him get trained in art. C) Teach him how to draw well. D) Teach him how to educate himself.
A: B
Even a child knows that nodding the head means "Yes". But some people will probably be puzzled when they first come to India. When they talk to an Indian, he often shakes his head. They might think that the Indian does not like what he said, but _ he is expressing agreement. The Indians have a habit of shaking their heads slightly when they talk to somebody. It doesn't mean "No", but "Yes". If a person doesn't know this, it might cause misunderstanding. At one time a foreigner in Indian told his driver who was an Indian to take him to his office. The driver shook his head. The foreigner repeated his request and the driver shook his head again. At last, the foreigner shouted angrily, "Drive me to my office at once!" The driver said in a low voice, "Yes, sir," smiling and shaking his head again at the same time. Generally speaking, nodding the head means _ , and shaking the head means _ . A) Yes; No B) No; Yes C) Yes; Yes D) No; No
A