五、阅读理解
Are you the kind of person who doesn't like school? Or are you more like Michael Nicholson, who can't stop learning? He has 30 degrees (学位), including 22 master's and a doctor's! If you're also crazy about studying, you might be a philomath—a person who loves to learn and study. The word comes from Greek with “phil” meaning “a lover of ” and “math” meaning “learning”.
Humans are all philomaths in a way—our brain (大脑) is born to be curious. We want to learn and understand, not only to know the world better but also because of something called neoteny. This word means the childlike features of some animals, including humans, that stay with them even when they become adults (成年人). One of these features is neuroplasticity (神经可塑性), which helps our brains stay flexible—this gives us the ability to learn all our lives. Many animals which are close to us in DNA,like primates (灵长类), can't do this and can only learn during their youth.
★ Lots of people remember their school days as being boring or even meaningless. Why is it? Scientists have suggested that if an idea is too difficult or boring,it becomes harder to bring old and new ideas together. If this happens,we lose interest and take in less information. This experience of education at school may lead to (导致) people giving up learning chances in later life.
So,don't let a bad educational experience stop you learning something new as an adult. We are lifelong learners by nature,so make good use of your biology and find out your natural philomath. Who knows what you could make happen?
( ) 1. Michael Nicholson is talked about in Paragraph 1 to ______.
A. give an example
B. make comparison (对比)
C. raise a question
D. list numbers
( ) 2. What does the underlined phrase “stay flexible” in Paragraph 2 mean?
A. Work very hard.
B. Forget things quickly.
C. Be able to change easily.
D. Move slowly and carefully.
( ) 3. Which of the following can be put in “★”?
A. And being a philomath is easy.
B. So school education is the most important.
C. And children would try hard at school.
D. Many people love learning,but still there are some can't stand (忍受) it.
( ) 4. The writer's writing purpose (目的) is to ______.
A. introduce what a philomath is
B. tell us the importance of learning
C. show how a philomath develops
D. encourage us to be a lifelong learner
答案：五、1.A 2.C 3.D 4.D
解析：
翻译:
五、阅读理解
你是那种不喜欢上学的人吗？或者你更像迈克尔·尼科尔森，一个学不停的人？他有30个学位，包括22个硕士学位和1个博士学位！如果你也痴迷于学习，你可能是一个“爱智者”——一个热爱学习和钻研的人。这个词来自希腊语，“phil”的意思是“……的爱好者”，“math”的意思是“学习”。
从某种意义上说，人类都是爱智者——我们的大脑生来就充满好奇心。我们想要学习和理解，这不仅是为了更好地了解世界，还因为一种叫做“幼态延续”的现象。这个词指的是包括人类在内的一些动物的孩童般的特征，即使它们成年后这些特征也会保留下来。其中一个特征是神经可塑性，它有助于我们的大脑保持灵活——这使我们有能力终生学习。许多在基因上与我们相近的动物，比如灵长类动物，就做不到这一点，它们只能在幼年时期学习。
★很多人觉得他们的学生时代很无聊，甚至毫无意义。这是为什么呢？科学家们认为，如果一个想法太难或太无聊，就会更难将新旧想法结合起来。如果发生这种情况，我们就会失去兴趣，吸收的信息也会减少。学校里的这种教育经历可能会导致人们在以后的生活中放弃学习的机会。
所以，不要让一次糟糕的教育经历阻止你成年后学习新东西。我们天生就是终生学习者，所以好好利用你的生理特性，发掘你天生的爱智本能。谁知道你会带来什么惊喜呢？
（ ）1. 第一段提到迈克尔·尼科尔森是为了______。
A. 举个例子
B. 进行对比
C. 提出一个问题
D. 列举数字
（ ）2. 第二段中划线短语“stay flexible”是什么意思？
A. 非常努力地工作。
B. 很快忘记事情。
C. 能够轻易改变。
D. 缓慢而小心地移动。
（ ）3. 下列哪一项可以放在“★”处？
A. 而且成为一个爱智者很容易。
B. 所以学校教育是最重要的。
C. 而且孩子们在学校会很努力。
D. 很多人热爱学习，但仍然有一些人无法忍受学习。
（ ）4. 作者的写作目的是______。
A. 介绍什么是爱智者
B. 告诉我们学习的重要性
C. 展示爱智者是如何成长的
D. 鼓励我们成为终生学习者
