The gift of being able to describe a face accurately is a rare one, as every experienced police officer knows to his cost. As the Lancet put it recently:” When we try to describe faces precisely words fail us, and we resort to identikit (拼臉型圖) procedures.”
Yet, according to one authority on the subject, we can each probably recognise more than 1,000 faces, the majority of which differ in fine details. This, when one comes to think of it, is a tremendous feat, though, curiously enough, relatively little attention has been devoted to the fundamental problems of how and why we acquire this gift for recognizing and remembering faces. Is it an inborn property of our brains, or an acquired one? As so often happens, the experts tend to differ.
Thus, some argue that it is inborn, and that there are “special characteristics about the brain’s ability to distinguish faces”. In support of this these they note how much better we are at recognizing a face after a single encounter than we are, for example, in recognizing an individual horse. On the other hand, there are those, and they are probably in the majority, who claim that the gift is an acquired one.
The arguments in favour of this latter view, it must be confessed, are impressive. It is a habit that is acquired soon after birth. Watch, for instance, how a quite young baby recognises his member by sight. Granted that his other senses help – the sound other voice, his sense of smell, the distinctive way she handles him.
But of all these, sight is predominant. Formed at the very beginning of life, the ability to recognize faces quickly becomes an established habit, and one that is, essential for daily living, if not necessarily for survival. How essential and valuable it is we probably do not appreciate until we encounter people who have been deprived of the faculty.
This unfortunate inability to recognize familiar faces is known to all, but such people can often recognize individuals by their voices, their walking manners or their spectacles. With typical human ingenuity many of these unfortunate people overcome their handicap by recognizing other characteristic features.
1.It is stated in the passage that ______.
A.it is unusual for a person to be able to identify a face satisfactorily B.the ability to recognize faces unhesitatingly is an unusual gift C.quit a few people can visualize faces they have seen D.few people can give exact details of the appearance of a face
2.What the author feels strange about is that _______.
A.people have the tremendous ability to recognize more than 1,000 faces B.people don’t think much of the problem of how and why we acquire the ability to recognize and remember faces C.people don’t realize how essential and valuable it is for them to have the ability to recognize faces D.people have been arguing much over the way people recognize and remember faces
3.What is the first suggested explanation of the origin of the ability?
A.It is one of the characteristics peculiar to human beings. B.It is acquired soon after birth. C.It is something we can do from the very moment we are born. D.It is learned from our environment and experiences.
4.According to the passage, how important is the ability to recognize faces?
A.It is useful in daily life but is not necessarily essential. B.It is absence would make normal everyday life impossible. C.Under certain circumstances we could not exist without it. D.Normal social life would be difficult without it.
5.This passage seems to emphasize that ______.
A.the ability to recognize individuals is dependent on other senses as well as sight B.sight is indispensable to recognizing individuals C.the ability to recognise faces is a special inborn ability of the brain D.the importance of the ability of recognize faces in fully appreciated by people.
第39篇答案：DBCBA
第40篇：(Unit 10, Passage 4)
Scattered through the seas of the world are billions of tons of small plants and animals called plankton. Most of these plants and animals are too small for the human eye to see. They drift about lazily with the currents, providing a basic food for many larger animals.
Plankton has been described as the equivalent of the grasses that grow on the dry land continents, and the comparison is an appropriate one. In potential food value however, plankton far outweighs that of the land grasses. One scientist has estimated that while grasses of the world produce about 49 billion tons of valuable carbohydrates each year. The sea’s plankton generates more than twice as much.
Despite its enormous food potential, little effort was made until recently to farm plankton as we farm grasses on land. Now marine scientists have at last begun to study this possibility, especially as the sea’s resources loom even more important as a means of feeding an expanding world population.
No one yet has seriously suggested that “planktonburgers” may soon become popular around the world. As a possible farmed supplementary food source, however, plankton is gaining considerable interest among marine scientists.
One type of plankton that seems to have great harvest possibilities is a tiny shrimplike creature called krill. Growing to two or three inches long, krill provide the major food for the giant blue whale, the largest animal ever to inhabit the Earth. Realizing that this whale may grow 100 feet and weigh 150 tons at maturity, it is not surprising that each one devours more than one ton of krill daily.
Krill swim about just below the surface in huge schools sometimes miles wide, mainly in the cold Antarctic. Because of their pink color, they often appear as a solid reddish mass when viewed from a ship or from the air. Krill are very high in food value. A pound of these crustaceans contains about 460 calories—about the same as shrimp or lobster, to which they are related. If the krill can feed such huge creatures as whales, many scientists reason, they must certainly be contenders as new food source for humans.
1.Which of the following best portrays the organization of the passage?
A.The author presents the advantages and disadvantages of plankton as a food source. B.The author quotes public opinion to support the argument for farming plankton. C.The author classifies the different food sources according to amount of carbohydrate. D.The author makes a general statement about plankton as a food source and then moves to a specific example.
2.According to the passage, why is plankton regarded to be more valuable than land grasses?
A.It is easier to cultivate. B.It produces more carbohydrates. C.It does not require soil. D.It is more palatable.
3.Why does the author mention “planktonburgers”?
A.To describe the appearance of one type of plankton. B.To illustrate how much plankton a whale consumes. C.To suggest plankton as a possible food sources. D.To compare the food values of beef and plankton.
4.What is mentioned as one conspicuous feature of krill?
A.They are the smallest marine animals. B.They are pink in color. C.They are similar in size to lobsters. D.They have grass like bodies.
5.The author mentions all of the following as reasons why plankton could be considered a human food source except that it is ___.
A.high in food value. B.in abundant supply in the oceans. C.an appropriate food for other animals. D.free of chemicals and pollutants.
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