单选题   Man still has a lot to learn about the most powerful and complex part of his body—the brain.
    In ancient times men did not think that the brain was the center of mental activity. Aristotle, the philosopher of ancient Greece, thought that the mind was based in the heart. It was not until the 18th century that man realized that the whole of the brain was involved in the workings of the mind.
    During the 19th century scientists found that when certain parts of the brain were damaged, men lost the ability to do certain things. And so, people thought that each part of the brain controlled a different activity. But modern research has found that this is not so. It is not easy to say exactly what each part of the brain does.
    In the past 50 years there has been a great increase in the amount of research being done on the brain. Chemists and biologists have found that the way the brain works is far more complicated than they had thought. In fact many people believe that we are only now really starting to learn the truth about how the human brain works. The more scientists find out, the more questions they are unable to answer. For instance, chemists have found that over 100,000 chemical reactions take place in the brain every second. Mathematicians who have tried to use computers to copy the way the brain works have found that even using the latest electronic equipment they would have to build a computer which weighed over 10,000 kilos. Some recent research also suggests that we remember everything that happens to us. We may not be able to recall this information, but it is all stored in our brains.
    Scientists hope that if we can discover how the brain works, the better use we will be able to put it to. For example, how do we learn language? Some children learn to speak, read and write when they are very young compared to average children. But scientists are not sure why this happens. They are trying to find out whether there is something about the way we teach language to children which in fact prevents children from learning sooner.
单选题     What does the author want to convey in the passage?
 
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】主旨题。第一段点明文章主题,第二段和第三段讲的是历史上人们对于大脑的认识,而后几段是近些年人类对于大脑的科学研究。观察此题选项,A、C、D都只是其中的一部分,只有B最为全面。
单选题     What does the author mention in the history of the brain study?
 
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】细节题。本题的定位点在文章的第二段和第三段,根据“the mind was based in the heart”,可见那时人们认为脑子的工作是基于心的,故A错误。而文章只说了心脏和脑子的关系,并没有说心脏是人类行为的控制中心,故C排除。又根据19世纪的认知,“people thought that each part of the brain controlled a different activity”,即不同的大脑部位控制不同的行为,可知B,大脑各部分合作控制行为错误,故选D。
单选题     The sentence 'that man realized that the whole of the brain was involved in the workings of the mind' implicates all the statements below EXCEPT ______.
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】细节题。此句可以翻译为“人们意识到在人的意识活动时,整个大脑都参与”,故A、B、D都正确,只有C逻辑不对,我们思维活动时只需要大脑这句话没有提及。
单选题     What is NOT true according to the author?
 
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】细节题。“Mathematicians who have tried to use computers to copy the way the brain works”,由此可知数学家只是尝试用电脑模拟大脑的活动,而非为模拟大脑活动二建了一个电脑,A与原文不符,为本题答案。
单选题     Which of the following best describes the author's tone in this passage?
 
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】态度题。此题是仔细阅读常考考点,文章的语气语调。作者全文都在陈述人类在不同时期对于大脑的探索,一直在陈述事实,不带感情色彩,也没有对于什么观点有评论,故选D,作者的语气是客观的。