英语每日一练
In this section, there are four passages followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer and mark your answer on the Answer Sheet.
Five or six years ago, I attended a lecture on the science of attention. A philosopher who conducts research in the medical school was talking about attention blindness, the basic feature of the human brain that, when we concentrate intensely 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 a video of six people tossing basketballs back and forth, three in white shirts and three in black, and our task was to keep track only of the tosses among the people in white. The tape rolled, and everyone began counting.
Everyone except me, I’m dyslexic, and the moment I saw that grainy tape with the confusing basketball tossers, I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep track of their movements, so I let my mind wander. My curiosity was aroused, though, when about 30 seconds into the tape, a gorilla (大猩猩)came in among the players. She (we later learned a female student was in the gorilla suit) stared at the camera, thumped her chest, and then strode away while they continued passing the balls.
When the tape stopped, the philosopher asked how many people had counted at least a dozen basketball tosses. Hands went up all over. He then asked who had counted 13, 14, and congratulated those who’d scored the perfect 15. Then he asked, “And who saw the gorilla?”
I raised my hand and was surprised to discover I was the only person at my table and one of only three or four in the large room to do so. He’d set us up trapping us in our own attention blind- ness. Yes, there had been a trick, but he wasn’t the one who had played it on us. By concentrating so hard on counting, we had managed to miss the gorilla in the midst.
1.This passage describes_______.
A. a basketball match
B. an experiment
C. a philosopher
D. a gorilla
2.“Attention blindness” refers to _______.
A. the fact that one can’t see what one can’t see
B. seeing one thing while missing all else
C. keeping track of just about everything
D. the condition of being blind to details
3. “Catch us in the act” (Para. 1) is closest in meaning to “find us_______.”
A. doing something improper
B. sleeping during the lecture
C. counting the basketball losses
D. failing to notice something within sight
4. How many people in the room saw the gorilla in the video?
A. 1.
B. 3 or 4.
C. 13 or 14.
D. 15.
5. Whom does “he” (last paragraph) refer to?
A. The author.
B. The gorilla.
C. The lecturer.
D. The student.
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正确答案
1. 【答案】B
【考点】主旨概括
【解析】 文章描述了什么？
通读全文，可以得知作者着重描述演讲者为证明演讲的主题，现场和听众做了一次互动性的实验。因此B项“一次实验”符合题意。
【误项排除】A项“一场篮球比赛”、C项“一位学者”、D项“一只大猩猩”都只是原文的细节点，不是论述的重点。
2. 【答案】B
【考点】语义推断
【解析】 “Attention blindness”是什么意思？
根据文中该词的下文，可以得知，Attention blindness是人类大脑的基本特征，当我们全力集中于一项任务时，我们往往会忽略掉其它几乎所有的事情，即：注意盲点。因此选B“关注于一件事的同时会忽略其它事情”。
【误项排除】A项“我们无法看到我们看不到的东西的这个事实”、C项“关注于几乎所有的事情”、D项“忽略细节的情况”，这三项都不符合。
3. 【答案】D
【考点】语义推断
【解析】 与“Catch us in the act”意思最接近的是哪个？
“Catch us in the act”是一个固定搭配，意思是“当场抓住某人，抓住某人正在做某事”根据原文，可以得知这是学者在演讲中有意设计的一次实验，并当场让学生参与其中，从而证明其演讲主题：注意盲点是使得人们在关注于一件事的同时会忽略其它事情。因此选D项“发现没有注意到我们视力范围内的一些事情”。
【误项排除】A项“发现我们做一些不合适的事情”和B项“发现我们在演讲中睡着了”，文章没有涉及;C项“发现我们在计数投球的次数”，与原文不符合。
4.【答案】B
【考点】细节推断
【解析】 “房间里有多少人看到了视频中的大猩猩”？
根据文章的最后一段的第一句，可以得知整个房间里注意到大猩猩的只有三四人，我是当中一个，因此选B。
【误项排除】其它三项不符合题意。
5.【答案】C
【考点】细节推断
【解析】 最后一段中的he指的是谁。
从该词出处的上一句，可以得知是他有意设计，并在我们的注意盲视中抓了个现行。而该句：确实，这有些恶作剧，但是他不是在我们身上玩弄恶作剧的人。他就是指演讲家，因此选C。
【误项排除】A项“作者”、B项“大猩猩”和D项“学生”，都不符合原文。
