What happens inside the skull of a soccer player who repeatedly heads a soccer ball? That question motivate a challenging new study of the brains of experienced players that has caused discussion and debate among soccer players, and some anxiety among those of us with soccer-playing children. For the study, researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York selected 34 adults,men and women. All of the volunteers had played soccer since childhood and now competed year-round in adult soccer leagues. Each filled out a detailed questionnaire developed especially for this study to determine how many times they had headed a soccer ball in the previous year, as well as whether they had experienced any known concussions in the past. Then the players completed computerized tests of their memory and other learning skills and had their brains scanned, using a complicated new MRI technique which can find structural changes in the brain that can't be seen during most scans. According to the data they presented at a Radiological Society of North America meeting last month,the researchers found that the players who had headed the ball more than about 1,100 times in the previous 12 months showed significant loss of white matter in parts of their brains involved with memory,attention and the processing of visual information, compared with players who had headed the ball fewer times. This pattern of white matter loss is "similar to those seen in traumatic brain injury" , like that after a serious concussion, the researchers reported,even though only one of these players was reported to have ever experienced a conc ussion. The players who had headed the ball about 1,100 times or more in the past year were also generally worse at recalling lists of words read to them, forgetting or _ the words far more often than players who had headed the ball less. The passage is most probably a _ . A) news report B) research report C) story for soccer players D) text for doctors
B
(Question)
Proper arrangement of classroom space is important to encouraging interaction. Most of us have noticed how important physical setting is to efficiency and comfort in our work. College classroom space should be designed to encourage the activity of critical thinking. We are in the 21stcentury now, but step into almost any college classroom and you _ . Desks are normally in straight rows, so students can clearly see the teacher but not all their classmates. The assumption behind such an arrangement is obvious: Everything of importance comes from the teacher. With a little imagination and effort, unless desks are fixed to the floor, the teacher can correct this situation and create space that encourages interchange among students. In small or standard-size classes, chairs, desks, and tables can be arranged in a variety of ways: circles, U-shapes or semicircles. The primary goal should be for everyone to be able to see everyone else. Arrangement of the classroom should also make it easy to divide students into small groups for discussion or problem-solving exercises. Small classes with movable desks and tables present no problem. Even in large lecture halls, it is possible for students to turn around and form groups of four or six. Breaking a class into small groups provides more opportunities for students to interact with each other, think out loud, and see how other students' thinking processes operate---all these are essential elements in developing new modes of critical thinking. In courses that regularly use a small group format, students might be asked to stay in the same small groups throughout the course. A colleague of mine, John, allows students to move around during the first two weeks, until they find a group they are comfortable with. John then asks them to stay in the same seat, with the same group, from that time on. This not only creates a comfortable setting for interaction but helps him learn students' names and faces. The expression "step back in time at least a hundred years" is intended to convey that _ . A) college classrooms often reminded people of their past B) critical thinking was encouraged even one century ago C) desk arrangement in a classroom was quite different from that a hundred years ago D) today's arrangement of college classroom space has little difference from past's
(Answer)
D
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to play the character of Ronald McDonald for the McDonald's Corporation. One day each month,we visited hospitals bringing a little happiness to the children there. But there were two rules placed on me during a visit. First, I could not go anywhere in the hospital without permission. And second, I could not physically touch anyone within the hospital. They did not want me to carry germs from one patient to another. Breaking either of these rules, I was told, I could lose my job. One day, as I was heading down a hallway and on my way home, I heard a little voice coming through a halfopened door,"Ronald,Ronald." I stepped in and saw a boy,about five years old, lying in his dad's arms, Mom with a nurse on the other side. I knew by the feeling in the room that the situation was _ . I asked his name. He told me it was Billy and that I did a few simple magic tricks for him. As I stepped back to say goodbye, he asked me "Ronald, would you hold me?" At such a simple request, my heart was screaming, "Yes!"But my mind was screaming louder. "No!You are going to lose your job!" "Hold me" was such a simple request, and yet I searched for any reasonable excuses that allowed me to leave, but none. It took me a moment to realize that in this situation, losing my job may not be the disaster I feared. Then, I picked up this little boy. He was so weak and so scared. We laughed and cried for 45 minutes. With tears in my eyes, I left them. Less than 48 hours later, I received a phone call from Billy's mom that Billy had passed away. She and her husband simply wanted to thank me for making a difference in their little boy's life. Billy's mom told me shortly after I left the room. Billy looked at her and said, "Momma, I don't care any more if I see Santa this year because I was held by Ronald McDonald." For the record, McDonald's Corporation did find it out, but, given the situation,permitted me to go on with my job. I continued as Ronald for another year before leaving the corporation to... We learn from the story that _ . A) the author left the corporation because he broke the rules B) the author left the corporation because he didn't like the rules C) the boy was quite happy with the experience with the author D) the boy was quite happy with Santa at Christmas
C