题型:阅读理解 题类:常考题 难易度:普通
甘肃省天水市第一中学2017-2018学年高一上学期英语第一次月考试卷
Our brains work in complex and strange ways.There are some people who can calculate the day of the week for any given date in 40,000 years,but who cannot add two plus two.Others can perform complex classical piano pieces after hearing them once,but they cannot read or write.
Dr.J.Langdon Down first described this condition in 1887.He called these people idiot savants.An idiot savant is a person who has significant mental impairment(损伤),such as in autism(孤独症,自闭症)or retardation.At the same time,the person also exhibits some extraordinary skills,which are unusual for most people.The skills of the savant may vary from being exceptionally gifted in music or in mathematics,or having a photographic memory.
One of the first descriptions of a human who could calculate quickly was written in 1789 by Dr.Benjamin Rush, an American doctor.His patient,Thomas Fuller,was brought to Virginia as a slave in 1724.It took Thomas only 90 seconds to work out that a man who has lived 70 years,17 days,and 12 hours has lived 2,210,500,800 seconds. Despite this ability,he died in 1790 without ever learning to read or write.
Another idiot savant slave became famous as a pianist in the 1860s.Blind Tom had a vocabulary of only 100 words,but he played 5,000 musical pieces beautifully.
In the excellent movie Rain Man,made in 1988 and available on video cassette,Dustin Hoffman plays an idiot savant who amazes his brother played by Tom Cruise,with his ability to perform complex calculations very rapidly.
Today we more clearly recognize that the idiot savant is special because of brain impairment.Yet not all brain impairment leads to savant skills.Some studies have shown that people who have purposeful interruption of the left side of the brain can develop idiot savant skills.However few people wish to participate in such experiments.There are many excellent reasons for not undergoing unnecessary experimentation on one's brain.The term idiot savant is outdated and inappropriate.Virtually all savants have a high degree of intelligence and are thus not idiots.
China's government has been trying all measures to reduce pollution in the past few years. Now people can enjoy a fresh environment everywhere. The following two graphs are adopted from the column of “City Information” on the webpage of Beijing Review.
Graph 1: Olympic Cities Air Quality Report
City | Date | API | Major Pollutant | Air Quality Degree | Quality Condition |
Beijing | Sep. 8 | 37 | N/A | Ⅰ | Very good |
Qinhuangdao | Sep. 8 | 52 | PM10 | Ⅱ | Good |
Qingdao | Sep. 8 | 68 | PM10 | Ⅱ | Good |
Shanghai | Sep. 8 | 67 | PM10 | Ⅱ | Good |
Shenyang | Sep. 8 | 88 | PM10 | Ⅱ | Good |
Tianjin | Sep. 8 | 54 | PM10 | Ⅱ | Good |
Graph 2: Chinese National Standard
API Values | Levels of health concern | Colors |
When the API is in this range: | ...air quality conditions are: | ...as symbolized by this color: |
0 to 50 | Very good | Blue |
51 to 100 | Good | Green |
101 to 150 | Slight pollution | Yellow |
151 to 200 | Moderate pollution | Orange |
201 to 250 | Medium pollution | Red |
251 to 300 | High pollution | Purple |
301 to 500 | Hazardous | Brown |
Notes:
API stands for Air Pollution Index(指数).
Particulate matter (PM10) is a major component of air pollution that threatens both our health and our environment. It consists of very small liquid and solid particles floating in the air.
Sulfur dioxide(SO2) acts as an acid. Inhalation(吸入) results in labored breathing, coughing, or a sore throat and may cause permanent lung damage.
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