Even while in a deep sleep, people can still learn brand new information. Sleepers soak in new associations between smells and sounds, knowledge that lingers into the next waking day, researchers report online August 26 in Nature Neuroscience. The new study is the first to show that entirely new information can get into the sleeping mind, says Anat Arzi of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. "The brain is not passive while you sleep. It's quite active. You can do quite a lot of things while you are asleep." But the results don't mean that Spanish vocabulary tapes now have a place on the nightstand. L, Researchers have tried but largely failed to find evidence that complicated information, such as new pairs of words, can make its way into the brain during sleep. Instead of trying to teach people something complicated like a new language, Arzi and her colleagues relied on the sense of smell and hearing. As anyone who has walked by a dumpster in July knows, smells can cause a nose-jerk reaction. Catching a bad smell automatically makes people inhale less, reducing the size of the inhale. But scent of fresh bread causes a long, deep inhale., rzi and her team took advantage of this reaction for their experiment. As people slept in the laboratory, the researchers delivered pleasant scent, such as shampoo. As this nice smell got into the sleepers' noses, the researchers played a particular music. Later, a disgusting smell, such as rotten fish or meat, was paired with a different music. Neither the smell nor the sound woke people up. After just four exposures to the smell-music pair during a single night, the sleepers started to automatically respond to the tones without the accompanying smells, taking in bigger breaths when the shampoo-associated tone played and smaller breaths when played the sound linked to the rotten fish smell. This new learned association lingered into the next waking day, too. Even though the sleepers had no idea they had been exposed to smells or sounds, their behavior proved that... How do Arzi and her team do their research? By A) giving instructions B) analyzing human brains C) following the guides of others D) doing experiments
D
(Question)
Doctors say obesity,also known as severe overweight,is a complex condition.A doctor may advise medical interventions in addition to changes in behavior.But experts say the more successful weightloss plans include a wellbalanced diet and exercise. People who want to avoid weight gain have to balance the number of calories they eat with the number of calories they use.To lose weight,you can reduce the number of calories you take in,or increase the number you use,or both.Experts at the National Institutes of Health say to lose weight,a person should do some moderate or intensive physical exercise most days of the week.This could include fast walking,sports or strength training. A recent study looked at four of the most popular dieting plans in the United States.Researchers at Stanford University studied more than three hundred overweight women,mostly in their thirties or forties.Each woman went on one of the four plans:Atkins,The Zone,Ornish or LEARN.The women attended diet classes and received written information about the food plans.At the end of a year,the women on the Atkins diet had lost the most,more than four and a half kilograms on average. Christopher Gardner led the study,reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. He said the Atkins diet may be more successful because of its simple message to lower the intake of sugar.Also,he said the advice to increase protein in the diet leads to more satisfying meals. But last week,another report suggested that only a small minority of people have longterm success in dieting.Researchers at the University of California found that most dieters regained their lost weight within five years.And often they gained back even more.But those who kept the weight off generally were the ones who exercised. You are most likely to gain too much weight if _ . A) you eat the same number of calories as the number you use B) you take in less calories than the number you use C) you take in more calories than the number you use D) you take exercise regularly on the weekdays
(Answer)
C
Ques: In Vietnam, two members of a family of street vendors are finding a way to help the poorest students in Hanoi. Pham Minh Dap and his brother are providing the students with mostly free English and Japanese lessons at a learning center they created. The men want to help people who would not normally have a chance to learn a foreign language. Some education experts in Vietnam say such knowledge may help college graduates get jobs. The country's economy has improved. But many graduates continue to have a hard time finding employment. Local media reported ten percent of university graduates do not have a job. Earlier this year, 24-year-old Pham Minh Dap and his brother established a school they call "Stand By You". Volunteers teach poor students English and Japanese. Many classes are free. Students with some language knowledge pay 25 to 50 cents per class. Mr. Dap pays about $ 500 to rent the language center space and for other costs. He gives about $ 150 from his earnings as a street Vendor and private language teaching. His brother gives the same amount from the money he earns as a secretary. Friends provide the rest. Mr. Dap and many of his family members have sold things outside HoaBinh Park in the center of Vietnam's capital for five years. They come from a village of rice farmers in Thanh Hoa Province. Twenty-four-year-old Pham THi Trang is one of 600 students at the language school. She is finishing her university studies. Her parents work in a market in a village in Ha Nam Province. She says life is hard in the city. She earns about $50 a month from a part-time job, and her parents give her $ 75. But this is not enough to live on. She has said she has to be very careful with money so she can pay her bills. Demand for the school is growing. About 1,000 people are on a waiting list to enter. Ten people have offered to teach for free. And Mr. Dap says he is hoping to raise money to pay for a bigger place. He wants to open more classes. Mr. Dap wants to pay for a bigger place because _ . A) he wants to make more money. B) he wants to open more classes for poor students. C) he wants to change his job. D) he wants to provide a wider space for students to play.
Ans: B
Question: "Mind over matter" is an English saying meaning that we can control our bodies with our minds. Now scientists are finding increasing evidence that our mind can have a great effect on our physical health. Since our mind influences how we feel, it's not true to say if someone is ill just because he feels ill. The influence of the mind on how well we feel is the basis of what is known as the placebo effect. A placebo (which is Latin for "I shall please") is a harmless, inactive substance. Patients are sometimes given placebo pills and begin to feel better because they believe that they have been given real drugs and expect to respond to them. The placebo effect is very strong: research on pain suggests that up to 30% of the effect of most painkillers is a placebo effect. So if it is so powerful, why don't doctors use it today? According to Dr Persaud, they really do. "All these things like seeing a doctor, going to a hospital, and being scanned have a very strong placebo effect," he says. From the passage it can be seen that there will be no placebo effect if a patient . A) is dressed in white B) has a physical exam C) takes placebo pills D) sees a doctor
Answer:
A