There’s no shortage of writing advice telling you to keep your writing simple —to use simple language. However, why do so many people continue to ignore that good advice?
     A conversation around the theme of simplicity(簡明) gets me thinking about this question. Why are people so fond of words that are hard to read?
     A study looked into the way word choice changes the judgment we make about someone’s intelligence. Students were asked to rate the intelligence of writers based on essays that they’d written, and choose books suitable for graduate study. The results? The simpler the essay, the more likely it was the author would be rated as intelligent, and recommended for going to the graduate school.
     The author of the study (Daniel Oppenheimer) concludes:
     "The experts are likely right: write clearly and simply if you can, and you’ll be more likely to be thought of as intelligent."
     So why is it so hard to put the writing advice into practice? In the same article Oppenheimer mentions that:

86% of students at Stanford admitted using complicated language in their essays to make their work sound more intelligent. Some of the possible reasons include:

●Desire to prove your topic is complicated by using complicated words.

●Fear of being regarded as lacking education.

●Natural desire to copy the language patterns of others.

●Little encouragement to use 'ordinary’words.

●Lack of time to 'translate’the complicated words used around you into everyday words.

●Longer words keep subjects impersonal(客觀的) —reducing potential for personal criticism and attack.

●It’s the way people above you write —so you think it’s the ladder to success.
     What about you? Can you see any hidden benefits of using long words? Have you ever found yourself changing a simple word for a longer one to achieve a particular effect?

36. Why do many people like to use longer words?
       a. They think of longer words as a sign of intelligence.

b. Lack of instructions on writing skills.

c. They think longer words reduce potential for personal criticism.

d. Lack of time to transform complicated words into simple ones.
     A. acd            B. abc             C. bcd           D. abd

37. What can you learn from the text about the study?
     A. It suggests that longer words are the ladder to success.

B. It shows that using plain language is more acceptable.

C. It proves that it is students’duty to choose books for graduate school.

D. It proves that schools always consider students’opinions.

38. When writing, according to the text, Oppenheimer encourages people to ______.

A. copy the language patterns of others      B. choose complicated topics

C. use complicated words                 D. use plain language

39. This text is probably from ______.
       A. a health magazine                     B. a magazine about language

C. a science report                       D. a lecture on intelligence

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科目：高中英語 來源：2015屆安徽省阜陽市高二上學(xué)期期中考試英語試卷（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解

It is not unusual for people to speak two or three languages; they’re known as bilinguals or trilinguals. Speakers of more than three languages are known as polyglots. And when we refer to people who speak many languages, perhaps a dozen or more, we use the term hyper-polyglot.

The most famous hyper-polyglot was Giuseppe Mezzofanti, a 19th century Italian cardinal, who was said to speak 72 languages. This claim sounds absurd. If you assume each language had 20,000 words, Mezzofanti would have to learn a word a minute, six hours a day, for eleven years—an impossible task. But Mezzofanti was tested by critics, and they were all impressed.

Did Mezzofanti have an extraordinary brain? Or are hyper-polyglots just ordinary people with ordinary brains who manage to do something extraordinary through hard work?

U.S. linguist Stephen Drashen believes that outstanding language learners just work harder at it and then they acquire unusually strong language ability. As an example, he mentions a Hungarian woman who worked as an interpreter during the 20th century. When she was 86, she could speak 16 languages and was still working on learning new languages. She said she learned them mostly on her own, reading fiction or working through dictionaries or textbooks.

Some researchers argue to the contrary. They believe that there is such a thing as a talent for learning languages. In the 1930s, a German scientist examined parts of the preserved brain of a hyper-polyglot named Emil Krebs, who could speak 60 languages fluently. The scientist found that the area of Krebs’s brain called Broca’s area, which is associated with language, looked different from the Broca’s area in the brains of men who speak only one language. However, we still don’t know if Krebs was born with a brain ready to learn dozens of languages or if his brain adapted to the demands he put on it.

Although it is still not clear whether the ability to learn many languages is in born, there’s no doubt that just about all of us can acquire skills in a second, third, or even fourth language by putting our mind to it.

1.What does the underlined sentence imply?

A. Mezzofanti could remember 360 words a day.

B. Mezzofanti had a special way to learn languages.

C. Mezzofanti’s achievement was ridiculous.

D. Mezzofanti language ability was astonishing.

2.The Hungarian woman became a hyper-polyglot mainly because of her __.

A. good memory       B. unique brain      C. hard work      D. learning methods

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A. had an unusual brain

B. was born with great talent

C. had worked hard at languages

D. expected too much of himself

4.The author seems to agree that ___.

A. it is not hard to learn foreign languages

B. hard work plays a part in language learning

C. there is no such thing as a talent for languages

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1.This text is written to _____.

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B．introduce the popularity of online music

C．persuade music fans to give up downloading music

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2.Which of the following statements is NOT true?

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B．Napster, a famous music website, broke down because of its piracy.

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B．Music lovers will be persuaded to pay for online music in time.

C．It is certain that no one will be willing to pay for online music.

D．There is a long way for music industry to go in fighting piracy.

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To get an extra 14 years of life, don’t smoke, eat lots of fruits and vegetables, exercise regularly and drink alcohol in a proper amount. That is according to a study published this Monday in the Public Library of Science Medicine Journal.

    After tracking more than 20,000 people aged 45-79 years in the United Kingdom from about 1993-2007, Kay-Tee, Khaw of the University of Cambridge and his colleagues found that people who adopted these four healthy habits lived an average of 14 years longer than those who didn’t.

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A．Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables a day．

B．Do proper exercise in the morning every day．

C．Drinking alcohol in the proper amount every day．

D．Having a cigarette before going to bed every day．

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B．the study observed people as well as tested specific changes．

C．there's no need for people under 45 to adopt these good habits．

D．only those from first class can benefit from these healthy behaviors．

3.What can be inferred from the passage?

A．All the people are well aware of the harm of their bad habits．

B．People aged 45 to 70 have bad habits in the United Kingdom．

C．Governments should take measures to help people change their bad habits．

D．People have adopted the four healthy habits after knowing they're good．

4.What would be the best title for this passage?

A．Smoking and Drinking Cuts You 14 Years

B．How to Live a Much Healthier Life

C．Healthy Habits May Give Extra 14 Years

D．How to Make Your Life Longer Than Others

 

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Why does most of the world travel on the right side today? Theories differ, but there’s no doubt that Napoleon was a major influence. The French had used the right since at least the late 18th century. Some say that before the French Revolution, noblemen drove their carriages on the left, forcing the peasants to the right. Regardless of the origin, Napoleon brought right-hand traffic to the nations he conquered, including Russia, Switzerland and Germany. Hitler, in turn, ordered right-hand traffic in Czechoslovakia and Austria in the 1930s. Nations that escaped right-hand control, like Great Britain, followed their left-hand tradition.

The U.S. has not always been a nation of right-hand rivers; earlier in its history, carriage and horse traffic traveled on the left, as it did in England. But by the late 1700s, people driving large wagons pulled by several pairs of horses began promoting a shift to the right. A driver would sit on the rear (后面的) left horse in order to wave his whip with his right hand; to see opposite traffic clearly, they traveled on the right.

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1.Why did people in Switzerland travel on the right?

A．They had used the right-hand since the 18th century.

B．Rich people enjoyed driving their carriages on the right.

C．Napoleon introduced the right-hand traffic to this country.

D．Hitler ordered them to go to against their left-hand tradition.

2.Of all the countries below, the one that travels on the right is ______.

A．Austria

B．England

C．Japan

D．Australia

3.Henry Ford produced cars with controls on the left _______.

A．in order to change traffic directions in the U.S.

B．so that passengers could get off conveniently

C．because rules at that time weren’t perfect

D．though many countries were strongly against that

4.According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

A．Before the French Revolution, all the French people used the right.

B．People in Britain and the U.S. travel on the same side nowadays.

C．The Burmese began to travel on the right in 1970.

D．All the Asian nations use the left at present.

5.What would be the best title for this passage?

A．Who made the great contributions to the shift of traffic directions?

B．How cars have become a popular means of transportation?

C．How Henry Ford produced his cars with controls on the left?

D．Why don’t people all drive on the same side of the road?

 

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