Section C

　　Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks numbered from 36 to 43 with the exact words you have just heard. For blanks numbered from 44 to 46 you are required to fill in the missing information. For these blanks, you can either use the exact words you have just heard or write down the main points in your own words. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written。

　　If you are like most people, your intelligence (36) varies from season to season. You are probably a lot (37) sharper in the spring than you are at any other time of the year. A (38) noted scientist, Ellsworth Huntington (1876-1947)， concluded from other men’s work and his own among peoples in different climates that climate and temperature have a definite (39) effect on our (40) mental abilities。

　　He found that cool (41) weather is much more favorable for (42) creative thinking than is summer (43) heat. This does not mean that all people are (44) less intelligent in the summer than they are during the rest of the year. It does mean, however, that the mental abilities of (45) large numbers of people tend to be lowest in the summer。

　　Spring appears to be the best period of the year for thinking. One reason may be that in the spring man’s mental abilities are (46) affected by the same factors that bring about great changes in all nature。

　　Fall is the next best season, then winter. As for summer, it seems to be good time to take a long vacation from thinking!