第二十九组(建议用时：25分钟)阅读理解AHe was in the first third grade class I taught at Saint Mary’s School in Morris, Minn.All 34 of my students were dear to me, but Mark Eklund was one in a million.Very neat in appearance, he had that happytobealive attitude that made even his occasional misconduct delightful.Mark often talked constantly. I had to remind him again and again that talking without permission was not acceptable.What impressed me so much, though, was his sincere response every time I had to correct h im for misbehaving.“Thank you for correcting me, Sister！” I didn’t know what to make of it at first, but before long I became accustomed to hearing it many times a day.One morning my patience was growing thin when Mark talked once too often, and then I made a new teacher’s mistake.I looked at him and said，“If you say one more word, I am going to tape(用胶带封上) your mouth shut！”It wasn’t ten seconds later when Chuck, another student, blurted out, “Mark is talking again.” I hadn’t asked any of the students to help me watch Mark, but since I had stated the punishment in front of the class, I had to act on it.I remember the scene as if it had occurred this morning. I walked to my desk, very deliberately opened my drawer and took out a roll of masking tape.Without saying a word, I proceeded to Mark’s desk, tore off two pieces of tape and made a big X with them over his mouth.I then returned to the front of the room.As I glanced at Mark to see how he was doing, he winked at me.When I walked back to Ma rk’s desk and removed the tape, his first words were, “Thank you for correcting me, Sister.”One Friday, I asked the students to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name.Then I told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down.It took the remainder of the class period to finish the assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed me the paper.That Saturday, I wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and I listed what everyone else had said about that individual.On Monday I gave each student his or her list.Before long, the entire class was smiling.“Really？” I heard the whispers.“I never knew that meant anything to anyone！”“I didn’t know others liked me so much！”Then Mark said, “Thank you for teaching me, Sister.”No one ever mentioned those pieces of paper in class again.I never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents.Several years later, after I returned from vacation, my parents met me at the airport.Mother gave Dad a sideways glance and simply said，“Dad？” My father cleared his throat as he usually did before saying something important.“The Eklunds called last night，” he bega n.“Really？”I said.“I haven’t heard from them in years.I wonder how Mark is.”Dad responded quietly.“Mark was killed in the Vietn am War，” he said.“The funeral(葬礼) is tomorrow, and his parents would like it if you could attend.”I had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. Mark looked so handsome, so mature.After the funeral, Mark’s mother and father found me.“We want to show you something，”his father said.“They found this on Mark when he was killed.We thought you might recognize it.” Opening a billfold, he carefully removed two worn piecesof notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times.I knew without looking that the pieces of paper were the ones on which I had listed all the good things that Mark’s classmates had said about him.“Thank you so much for doing that，” Mark’s mother said.“As you can see, Mark behaved better and better at school.It’s all because of you and your list.”Mark’s classmates started to gather around us.Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said，“I still have my list.It’s in the top drawer of my desk at home.” Chuck’s wife said, “Chuck asked me to put this in our wedding album.”“I have mine too，”Marilyn said.“It’s in my diary.” Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn list to the group.“I carry this with me at all times，” Vicki said without batting an eyelash.“I think we all saved our lists.”That’s when I finally sat down and cried.1．The purpose of Paragraph 1 is to ________．A．introduce the topic of the storyB．inform readers of the writer’s jobC．introduce the main character of the storyD．make a comparison between the writer’s students2．Which of the following aspects of Mark impressed the writer most?A．His bravery shown in the Vietnam War.B．His constant talking without permission.C．His neat appearance and easy going manner.D．His sincere response after his bad behavior was corrected.3．Mother’s giving Dad a sideways glance and father’s clearing his throat show that ________．A．they felt it hard to tell the writer about Mark’s deathB．they were not sure whether the writer would attend Mark’s funeralC．they were afraid that the writer woul dn’t believe the news of Mark’s death D．they felt it necessary to persuade the writer into comforting Mark’s parents 4．Which can be seen as the climax (the most important point) of the story?A．Students’ being asked to list each ot her’s strongest point on the paper.B．The writer’s making a big X with two pieces of tape over Mark’s mouth.C．The writer’s being shown the worn pieces of paper kept in Mark’s wallet.D．Students’ smiling and whispering when they received the lists on Monday.5．At the end of the story, the writer sat down and cried, realizing that ________．A．Mark behaved so well that he gained the respect of his classmatesB．the lists made as a task in class should have meant so much to her students C．Mark’s death in the Vietnam War was a heavy blow to his familyD．Mark’s classmates kept their lists as a sweet memory of their happy school life6．What is the message conveyed in the story?A．Attitude means everything.B．Praise works wonders in a way.C．Patience is necessary for a teacher.D．Friendship between classmates is unforgettable.BFive or six years ago, I attended a lecture on the science of attention.A professor who conducted research in the medical school was talking about attention blindness, the basic feature of the human brain that, when we concentrate on one task, causes us to miss just about everything else.Because we can’t see what we can’t see, our lecturer was determined to catch us in the act.He had us watch avideo of six people tossing (投掷) basketballs back and forth, three in white shirtsand three in black, and our task was to keep track only of the tosses among the peoplein white.The tape rolled, and everyone began counting.Everyone except me.I’m dyslexic (患阅读困难症的), and the moment I saw thattape with the confusing basketball tossers, I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep trackof their movements, so I let my mind wander.I became curious, though, when about30 seconds into the tape, a gorilla (大猩猩) walked in among the players.She (welater learned a female student was in the gorilla suit) stared at the camera, beather chest with her fist, and then went away while they continued passing the balls.When the tape stopped, the professor asked how many people had counted at leasta dozen basketball tosses in all.Hands went up all over.He then asked who had counted13, 14, and congratulated those who had scored the perfect 15.Then he asked, “Andwho saw the gorilla？”I raised my hand and was surprised to discover I was the only person at my tableand one of only three or four in the large room to do so.He had set us up, trappingus in our own attention blindness.Yes, there had been a trick, but he wasn’t theone who had played it on us. By concentrating so hard on counting, we had managedto miss the gorilla in the midst.Attention blindness is the fundamental organizing principle of the brain, andI believe that it presents us with a great opportunity.My take is different fromthat of many neuroscientists: where they see the shortcomings of the individual,I sense an opportunity for cooperation.Fortunately, given the interactive natureof most of our lives in the digital age, we have the tools to control our differentforms of attention and take advantage of them.It’s not easy to admit that everything we’ve learned about how to pay attentionmeans that we’ve been missing everything else.It’s not easy for us logical, intelligent, confident types to admit that the very key to our success —our abilityto discover a problem and solve it, an achievement obtained in all those years inschool and beyond — may be exactly what limits us.No one ever told us that our wayof seeing left out everything else.7．Which of the following is TRUE about the writer when the tape was played?A．Like everyone else, the writer was counting carefully.B．The writer had difficulty keeping track of the tossers’ movements.C．The writer showed great curiosity about what the players were doing.D．The writer tried hard to stop her mind from wandering.8．What’s the total number of basketball tosses by the player in white shirtsin the video?A．13. B．14.C．15. D．30.9．Most of the people failed to notice the gorilla in the video because ________．A．they focused on the basketball tossing onlyB．they were trapped by the basketball playersC．they did not know what they were supposed to doD．they did not listen to the lecture carefully10．The underlined word “take”in Paragraph 5 most probably means “________ ”．A．understanding B．impressionC．scene D．preference11．In the writer’s opinion, attention blindness ________．A．should be viewed as a shortcoming of the individualB．might be overcome if we can discover problems and solve themC．makes it possible for us to work together for a shared purposeD．helps us to become logical, intelligent and confident types of people阅读理解A1．解析：选C。
