阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

　　A

　　Like many men at some point, I dream about opening a bar. I plan to call it Work Out. It will cater to married women in need of a little fun. On Friday nights, they will be able to come here and enjoy themselves.

　　See, I have a gift for business. I am, as my wife Zsa Zsa likes to note, “A man with a million ideas, none of them very good.” Speaking of Zsa Zsa, she is fed up with this plain little life I’ve made for us——too many kids, too many chores, mind – numbing debt. The other day, she said she thought we needed a new family car. “Sure. How about an 87 Lincoln?” I said, and saw my dear Zsa Zsa age about 20 years, and become her mother right before my eyes.

　　Yes, money is our madness. Last year, we thought we had found a little cushion when I published a book about the life here in suburban America. It sold 12 copies——six of them to my mother. Four other copies went to various aunts and uncles, who used them for martini coasters (杯垫), then sold them at yard sales. The two remaining copies went to perfect strangers. (I think I owe you dinner, whoever you are. Call me, OK? We’ll arrange something.)

　　When the book didn’t take off, I wrote a TV show. Then I penned a short novel based on the earlier TV idea that didn’t sell. Currently, I am at work on a set of encyclopedias(百科全书). In a month, I plan to sell them door – to – door.

　　Such is the life of a writer, sending off the most personal thoughts possible to his hard drive. I am a writer, but also the breadwinner in my family. I’m at the keyboard at 6 almost every morning, hoping to tap out one idea——just one——that will

　　take us up the hill, to the mountain, to the top.

　　1. According to the passage, the author is leading a/an life.

　　A. enjoyable B. wealthy C. hard D. comfortable

　　【答案】C

　　【解析】细节理解题。由“she is fed up with this plain little life I’ve made for us——too many kids, too many chores, mind – numbing debt.”可知作者过着艰难的生活。故选C。

　　2. By saying “Sure. How about an 87 Lincoln?”, the author .

　　A. promised it to his wife B. was showing off their fortune

　　C. thought his wife would like it D. was just joking

　　【答案】D

　　【解析】细节理解题。由“she is fed up with this plain little life I’ve made for us——too many kids, too many chores, mind – numbing debt.”可知他们有太多的孩子，杂物以及让人头脑麻木的债务。他们根本没钱买车，所以作者说买林肯车只是开个玩笑。

　　3. What was the result of the book the author mentioned in the 3rd paragraph?

　　A. It didn’t sell well at all

　　B. He sold it door – to – door.

　　C. He made a lot of money from it.

　　D. It was really a cushion for his family.

　　【答案】A

　　【解析】细节理解题。由It sold 12 copies——six of them to my mother. Four other cop

　　ies went to various aunts and uncles, who used them for martini coasters (杯垫), then sold them at yard sales. The two remaining copies went to perfect strangers.”可知书卖的一点也不好。

　　4. What does the underlined word “cushion” mean ?

　　A. Comfortable seat.

　　B. Financial help.

　　C. Unexpected success.

　　D. Best-selling book.

　　【答案】B

　　【解析】词义猜测题。由“money is our madness.”可知他们以为他们找到了财富。故选B。

　　5. From the account above, which of the following statements is true?

　　A. He has a real gift for business.

　　B. He isn’t serious enough about life.

　　C. He is a hard – working writer.

　　D. His wife is satisfied with their plain life.

　　【答案】C

　　【解析】推理判断题。由“Such is the life of a writer, sending off the most person

　　al thoughts possible to his hard drive.”可知他是个努力工作的作家。

　　B

　　As you dash outdoors in the middle of winter, you might make it halfway down the block before realizing that your ears are freezing because you forgot your hat.

　　Now, scientists have shown that even though you’ve had an apparent memory lapse(丧失), your brain never forgot what you should have done.

　　Memory works mainly by association. For example, as you try to remember where you left your keys, you might recall you last had them in the living room, which reminds you that there was an ad for soap on television, which reminds you that you need soap, and so on. And then, as you’re heading out of the door to buy soap, you remember that your keys are on the kitchen counter. Your brain knew where the keys were all along. It just took a round-about way to get there.

　　Now, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies are studying associative memory in monkeys to figure out just how this complicated process works.

　　First, the researchers trained a group of monkeys to remember arbitrary(任意的) pairs of symbols. The researchers showed the monkeys

　　one symbol(cold weather) and then gave them the choice of two other symbols, one of which (a hat) would be associated with the first. A correct choice would earn them a sip of their favorite juice.

　　Most of the monkeys performed the test perfectly, but one kept making mistakes.

　　“We wondered what happened in the brain when the monkey made the wrong choice, although it apparently learned the right pairing of symbols,” said study leader Thomas Albright.

　　Albright and his team observed signals from the nerve cells in the monkey’s inferior temporal cortex (ITC), an area of its brain used for visual pattern recognition and for storing this type of memory.

　　As the monkey was deciding which symbol to choose

　　, about a quarter of the activity in the ITC was due to the choice behavior.

　　Meanwhile, more than half the activity was in a different group of nerve cells, which scientists believe represent the monkey’s memory of the correct symbol pairing, and surprisingly, these cells continued to fire even when the monkey chose the wrong symbol.

　　“In this sense, the cells ‘knew’ more than the monkeys let on in their behavior,” Albright said. “

　　Thus, behavior may vary, but knowledge endures.”

　　1.The example of the keys and soap is given to explain the relationship between __________.

　　A.memory lapse and human brain

　　B.memory and association

　　C.memory and television ads

　　D.memory and our daily life

　　2.Which of the following best expresses the general idea of the text?

　　A.Your brain may forget something, but not always.

　　B.Activity is a round-about way to memory.

　　C.Your brain remembers what you forget.

　　D.Monkeys have better memory than us.

　　3.The researchers believe the monkey that made the wrong choice ________.

　　A.also knew the correct answer

　　B.had the worst memory

　　C.failed to see the objects well

　　D.had some trouble with its nerve system

　　4.The underlined word “endures” may be best replaced by __________.

　　A.disappears B.increases C.improves D.remains

　　参考答案-------BCAD