单选题
If you were to examine the birth certificates of every soccer player in 2006's World Cup tournament, you would most likely find a noteworthy quirk: elite soccer players are more likely to have been born in the earlier months of the year than in the later months. If you then examined the European national youth teams that feed the World Cup and professional ranks, you would find this strange phenomenon to be even more pronounced. What might account for this strange phenomenon? Here are a few guesses: a) certain astrological signs confer superior soccer skills; b) winter-born babies tend to have higher oxygen capacity, which increases soccer stamina; c) soccer-mad parents are more likely to conceive children in springtime, at the annual peak of soccer mania; d) none of the above. Anders Ericsson, a 58-year-old psychology professor at Florida State University, says he believes strongly in "none of the above." Ericsson grew up in Sweden, and studied nuclear engineering until he realized he would have more opportunity to conduct his own research if he switched to psychology. His first experiment, nearly 30 years ago, involved memory: training a person to hear and then repeat a random series of numbers. "With the first subject, after about 20 hours of training, his digit span had risen from 7 to 20," Ericsson recalls. "He kept improving, and after about 200 hours of training he had risen to over 80 numbers." This success, coupled with later research showing that memory itself is not genetically determined, led Ericsson to conclude that the act of memorizing is more of a cognitive exercise than an intuitive one. In other words, whatever inborn differences two people may exhibit in their abilities to memorize, those differences are swamped by how well each person "encodes" the information. And the best way to learn how to encode information meaningfully, Ericsson determined, was a process known as deliberate practice. Deliberate practice entails more than simply repeating a task, Rather: it involves setting specific goals, obtaining immediate feedback and concentrating as much on technique as on outcome. Ericsson and his colleagues have thus taken to studying expert performers in a wide range of pursuits, including soccer. They gather all the data they can, not just performance statistics and biographical details but also the results of their own laboratory experiments with high achievers. Their work makes a rather startling assertion: the trait we commonly call talent is highly overrated. Or, put another way, expert performers--whether in memory or surgery, ballet or computer programming-- are nearly always made, not born.
单选题
The birthday phenomenon found among soccer players is mentioned to ______. A. stress the importance of professional training B. spotlight the soccer superstars in the World Cup C. introduce the topic of what makes expert performance D. explain why some soccer teams play better than others
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】推理题。本题最好在结合全文大意的基础上用排除法来解答。我们知道，本文只是围绕“what makes expert performance”，来阐述。选项A所说的与本题的题干内容在逻辑上没有联系，故可排除之；B项好像也并非作者的主要目的。D项所说的“踢得更好”，从常识判断，也根本不能跟球员生日扯上关系。因此可推断，只有c项是本题的答案。
单选题
The underlined word "mania" (Line 3, Paragraph 2) most probably means ______. A. fun B. craze C. hysteria D. excitement
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】词义理解题。本题不难，我们根据题干的提示(Line 3，Paragraph 2)，可定位到本题在原文的出处第二段这句话：soccer-mad parents are more likely to conceive children in springtime，at the annual peak of soccer mania。根据mania 一词的上文soccer-mad parents 以及the annual peak 可知，春天是狂热球迷的顶峰时期，他们往往在这时候怀上小孩。因此，mania 的意思最可能就是craze(狂热)。
单选题
According to Ericsson, good memory ______. A. depends on meaningful processing of information B. results from intuitive rather than cognitive exercises C. is determined by genetic rather than psychological factors D. requires immediate feedback and a high degree of concentration
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】细节题。本题难度也不高，考查的是文章的细节信息。只要找到本题的确切出处“Deliberate practice entails... a task．Rather, it involves... ，obtaining immediate feedback and concentrating as much on technique as on out come.”就可以排除其他选项，得出答案D。
单选题
Ericsson and his colleagues believe that ______. A. talent is a dominating factor for professional success B. biographical data provide the key to excellent performance C. the role of talent tends to be overlooked D. high achievers owe their success mostly to nurture
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】推理题。根据最后一段可知，天赋这个特征被人们大大地高估了，由此可排除A和C两项。至于 B项，原文并没有指出所谓的“the key to excellent performance”，因此也排除。最后，根据末句Or, put another way, expert performers—whether... programming— are nearly always made，not born．可以推知，有大成就者的成功要归功于后天的教育。故选D。
单选题
Which of the following proverbs is closest to the message the text tries to convey? A. "Faith will move mountains." B. "One reaps what one sows." C. "Practice makes perfect." D. "Like father, like son./