他们发现的是一种2004年在中东首次被确认的病毒。染上以色列急性麻痹病毒的蜜蜂会颤抖，进而身体变得僵硬，最后死去。但是病毒本身不可能是蜜蜂王国瓦解的唯一原因。最开始，所有感染该病毒的蜂巢也染有第二种病毒——克什米尔蜜蜂病毒。而这种病毒在许多健康的蜂巢内也存在。奇怪的是，还有一种病毒研究者们不能辨别。他们怀疑这可能是克什米尔病毒的新变种，但是也可能是一种新病毒。第二种病毒也只能在被抛弃的蜂巢中找到。

研究者承认，如此多的蜜蜂死去的原因是一系列因素综合作用的结果，到目前为止只在美国发现。以色列急性麻痹病毒之所以具有摧毁性的威力，可能是因为存在一种名为蜂螨的寄生虫。这种寄生虫减弱了蜜蜂的免疫系统，使得感染疾病的蜜蜂更容易死亡。据说，澳大利亚的蜜蜂就没有受到这种寄生虫的侵害。





TEXT TWO


Once upon a time, the only ideologically acceptable explanations of mental differences between men and women were cultural. Any biologist who dared to suggest in public that perhaps evolution might work differently on the sexes, and that this might perhaps result in some underlying neurological inequalities, was likely to get tarred and feathered. Today, by contrast, biology tends to be an explanation of first resort in matters sexual. So it is salutary to come across an experiment which shows that a newly discovered difference which fits easily, at first sight, into the biological-determinism camp, actually does not belong there at all.

Writing in Psychological Science, a team led by Ian Spence of the University of Toronto describes a test performed on people's ability to spot unusual objects that appear in their field of vision. Success at spatial tasks like this often differs between the sexes (men are better at remembering and locating general landmarks; women are better at remembering and locating food), so the researchers were not surprised to discover a discrepancy between the two. The test asked people to identify an “odd man out” object in a briefly displayed field of two dozen otherwise identical objects. Men had a 68% success rate. Women had a 55% success rate.

Had they left it at that, Dr. Spence and his colleagues might have concluded that they had uncovered yet another evolved difference between the sexes, come up with a “Just So” story to explain it in terms of division of labour on the African Savannah, and moved on. However, they did not leave it at that. Instead, they asked some of their volunteers to spend ten hours playing an action-packed, shoot-'em-up video game, called Medal of Honour: Pacific Assault. As a control, other volunteers were asked to play a decidedly non-action-packed puzzle game, called Ballance, for a similar time. Both sets were then asked to do the odd-man-out test again.

Among the Ballancers, there was no change in the ability to pick out the unusual. Among those who had played Medal of Honour, both sexes improved their performances. That is not surprising, given the different natures of the games. However, the improvement in the women was greater than the improvement in the men—so much so that there was no longer a significant difference between the two. Moreover, that absence of difference was long-lived. When the volunteers were tested again after five months, both the improvement and the lack of difference between the sexes remained. Though it is too early to be sure, it looks likely that the change in spatial acuity—and the abolition of any sex difference in that acuity—induced by playing Medal of Honour is permanent.

That has several implications. One is that playing violent computer games can have beneficial effects. Another is that the games might provide a way of rapidly improving spatial ability in people such as drivers and soldiers. And a third is that although genes are important, upbringing matters, too. In this instance, exactly which bit of upbringing remains unclear. Perhaps it has to do with the different games that boys and girls play. But without further research, that suggestion is as much of a “Just So” story as those tales from the savannah.

1. The “odd man out” object in the experiment of Ian Spence refers to _____.

[A] a weird mana

[B] the different object

[C] an ugly guy

[D] something separated from others

2. In Ian Spence's experiment, the fact that men had higher success rate of identifying the “odd man out” object proves _____.

[A] the biological-determinism is universal because men are better at remembering general landmarks than women

[B] the conclusion that women are of no difference with men in terms of judging objects

[C] it is an accepted conclusion that men have higher success rate at spatial tasks than women

[D] the biological discovery that men are genetically more intelligent than women

3. The word “control” (Line 5, Paragraph 3) most probably means _____.

[A] contrast

[B] regulation

[C] monitor

[D] manipulation

4. Which one of the following case is NOT true of game players' performances of identifying the “odd man out” object?

[A] There was no difference between men and women in identifying the “odd man out” object after playing the violent game.

[B] Women exceeds men at picking out the unusual object than men after playing the violent game.

[C] Men were the same as women at picking out the unusual object after playing Balance.

[D] Women were more greatly improved in identifying the “odd man out” object after playing Medal of Honor than men.

5. From the game experiment by Ian Spence, the following conclusions can be drawn that _____.

[A] violent games should be widely promoted to improve people's ability of remembering and locating general landmarks

[B] the reason that boys have better spatial ability is mainly because they play much more violent games

[C] genes in determining the spatial ability can be changed by acquired practice

[D] playing violent games could change people's congenital ability





文章剖析


这篇文章讲述了关于男女性别差异的一项研究。第一段讲述过去和当前生物学上对男女性别差异的看法；第二段至第五段讲述多伦多大学的Ian Spence关于男女性别差异及其原因所做的一个试验。





词汇注释


neurological adj. 神经学上的

salutary adj. 有益的

Savannah n. 大草原

acuity n. 敏度





难句突破


① So it is salutary to come across an experiment which shows that a newly discovered difference which fits easily, at first sight, into the biological-determinism camp, actually does not belong there at all.

主体句式：So it is salutary to come across an experiment...

结构分析：这是一个复合句，前面which引导的定语从句用来修饰experiment；后面which引导的定语从句修饰difference。

句子译文：因此，当一项试验发现的一种差异第一眼看来和绝对论阵营一致，而实际上并非如此时，这是值得庆贺的。

② Had they left it at that, Dr. Spence and his colleagues might have concluded that they had uncovered yet another evolved difference between the sexes, come up with a “Just So” story to explain it in terms of division of labour on the African Savannah, and moved on.

主体句式：Had they left it, ... Dr. Spence and his colleagues might have concluded that..., come up with..., and moved on.

结构分析：本句为虚拟语气，省略if之后，从句使用了倒装形式。在that引导的宾语从句中，有三个并列的动词作句子的谓语。

句子译文：如果实验到此为止，那么Spence博士和他的同事就可以得出结论，认为他们发现了性别之间的另外一种差异，用一个“也就是如此”的故事来解释非洲大草原上的劳动分工，然后继续。





题目分析


1. The “odd man out” object in the experiment of Ian Spence refers to _____.

[A] a weird man

[B] the different object

[C] an ugly guy

[D] something separated from others

1. 在Ian Spence的试验中，“孤立的物体”指的是 _____。

[A] 奇怪的人

[B] 不同的物体

[C] 丑陋的人

[D] 单个的物体

答案：B　难度系数：☆☆☆☆

分析：推理题。根据第二段：The test asked people to identify an “odd man out” object in a briefly displayed field of two dozen otherwise identical objects. 是要求试验对象找出和其他物体不同的物体；第一段提到了要找出unusual object，因此，选项B为正确答案。

2. In Ian Spence's experiment, the fact that men had higher success rate of identifying the “odd man out” object proves _____.

[A] the biological-determinism is universal because men are better at remembering general landmarks than women

[B] the conclusion that women are of no difference with men in terms of judging objects

[C] it is an accepted conclusion that men have higher success rate at spatial tasks than women

[D] the biological discovery that men are genetically more intelligent than women

2. 在Ian Spence的试验中，男性在辨认不同物体方面的成功率比女性高说明了 _____。

[A] 生物决定论是普适的，因为男性在记忆地标这方面比女性要强

[B] 女人在判断物体方面与男人没有区别的结论

[C] 一个已经被接受的结论，即男性在完成空间任务方面比女性有更高的成功率

[D] 男性比女性更聪明的生物学发现

答案：B　难度系数：☆☆☆

分析：细节题。根据第二段，选项A和C的表述是已有的结论：men are better at remembering and locating general landmarks; women are better at remembering and locating food，即从辨认不同物体方面的能力来看，男性的能力优于女性。选项D文章中没有提及，而且其表述显然也是错误的。文章第三段和第四段在描述试验结果时指出了：Had they left it at that, Dr. Spence and his colleagues might have concluded that they had uncovered yet another evolved difference between the sexes. 但是Among the Ballancers, there was no change in the ability to pick out the unusual. Among those who had played Medal of Honour, both sexes improved their performances. 可见，男女之间的差别是不大的，因此，答案为B。

3. The word “control” (Line 5, Paragraph 3) most probably means _____.

[A] contrast

[B] regulation

[C] monitor

[D] manipulation

3. control这个词（第三段第五行） 最有可能的意思是 _____。

[A] 对比

[B] 规范

[C] 监控

[D] 操纵

答案：A　难度系数：☆☆

分析：推理题。根据上下文：As a control, other volunteers were asked to play a decidedly non-action-packed puzzle game, called Ballance, for a similar time. 说明这两个游戏是两种不同的游戏，作者这样做是为了有一个控制组与另外一组进行参照和对比，因此，选项A为正确答案。

4. Which one of the following case is NOT true of game players' performances of identifying the “odd man out” object?

[A] There was no difference between men and women in identifying the “odd man out” object after playing the violent game.

[B] Women exceeded men at picking out the unusual object than men after playing the violent game.

[C] Men were the same as women at picking out the unusual object after playing Balance.

[D] Women were more greatly improved in identifying the “odd man out” object after playing Medal of Honor than men.

4. 关于志愿者们辨认不同物体的表现，下列哪项陈述是错误的？

[A] 玩完暴力游戏后，男性和女性在辨认不同物体方面没什么差别。

[B] 女性在玩完暴力游戏后，选出不同物体的能力比男性更强。

[C] 玩完《平衡》游戏后，男性和女性选出不同物体的能力是相同的。

[D] 女性在玩完《荣誉勋章》游戏后，辨别不同物体的能力增强的程度比男性要高。

答案：B　难度系数：☆

分析：细节题。根据第四段：Among the Ballancers, there was no change in the ability to pick out the unusual. Among those who had played Medal of Honour, both sexes improved their performances. 以及However, the improvement in the women was greater than the improvement in the men—so much so that there was no longer a significant difference between the two. 即玩完暴力游戏后，女性辨认不同物体的能力跟男性差不多，她们提高的程度大，因此，选项B是错误的，是正确答案。

5. From the game experiment by Ian Spence, the following conclusions can be drawn that _____.

[A] violent games should be widely promoted to improve people's ability of remembering and locating general landmarks

[B] the reason that boys have better spatial ability is mainly because they play much more violent games

[C] genes in determining the spatial ability can be changed by acquired practice

[D] playing violent games could change people's congenital ability

5. 从Ian Spence的游戏试验中，可以得出以下结论 _____。

[A] 应该大力普及暴力游戏，从而提高人们记忆和确定大路标的能力

[B] 男孩的空间能力比较强，是因为他们玩更多的暴力游戏

[C] 空间能力可以通过后天习得来改变

[D] 玩暴力游戏可以改变人们的先天能力

答案：C　难度系数：☆☆☆☆

分析：细节题。选项C，能力可以通过后天的培养来改变，因此该选项是正确的。选项A显然不正确，因为文章中没有提到violent games should be widely promoted。选项B也在文章的最后一段中有所暗示，即：Perhaps it has to do with the different games that boys and girls play. 但这只是一个猜测，不是定论。选项D更是明显错误的结论。因此，正确答案为C。





参考译文


过去，关于男性和女性的思想之间存在的差别，唯一可以为人所接受的解释就是文化。如果有谁敢于公开宣称进化有可能在男女身上起到了不同的作用，并称这可能导致了神经方面的不平等，这样的人可能会受到重罚。现在情况正好相反，生物学可能会成为性别差异的首选解释。因此，当一项试验发现的一种差异第一眼看来和绝对论阵营一致，而实际上并非如此时，这是值得庆贺的。

据《心理科学》报道，多伦多大学的Ian Spence领导一个小组进行了一项实验，旨在研究人们发现视野中出现的异物的能力。男性和女性在这种空间实验中的表现往往有差别（男性在记忆和确定路标方面表现更优；女性在记忆和找出食物的位置方面表现更好），因此研究者发现了性别之间的差异，他们对此丝毫不感到惊讶。该实验要求人们在放置有24个相同物体的展示台上辨认出“孤立的物体”。男性的正确率为68%，而女性的正确率为55%。

如果实验到此为止，那么Spence博士和他的同事就可以得出结论，认为他们发现了性别之间的另外一种差异，用一个“也就是如此”的故事来解释非洲大草原上的劳动分工，然后继续。但是他们却没有这样做。他们让一些志愿者花十个小时玩一种叫做《荣誉勋章：太平洋攻击》的情节火爆的射击视频游戏。参照组的志愿者则玩一种名为《平衡》的情节平淡的拼图游戏，也玩十个小时。然后让两组人一起再做“孤立物体”实验。

玩《平衡》游戏的志愿者在“孤立物体”实验中的前后表现没有什么变化。而玩《荣誉勋章》的志愿者中，无论男性还是女性的表现都有所提高。这一点都不奇怪，因为游戏的性质有别。但是，女性能力提高的幅度要比男性的大，以至于最后两者之间已经没有明显的差别了。而且，这种差异的消失一直都会存在。五个月后，志愿者们又接受了一次测试，他们能力的提高与性别之间的无差别还保持不变。尽管现在下结论还为时尚早，但是因为玩《荣誉勋章》游戏引起的空间敏度差别，以及该敏度上男女性别之间差别的消失是一直不变的。

这个结论有几个意义。其中一个意义是，玩暴力电脑游戏会有一些好的效果。另外一个意义是，该游戏可能提供了一种快速提高人们（如司机和士兵）空间能力的方法。第三个意义是，虽然基因很重要，但是后天的培养也很重要。在这个例子中，具体是哪些后天因素引起了能力的改变还不明确。也许这与男孩女孩玩的不同游戏有关。由于没有进行进一步的研究，这种建议也只是“仅此而已”的故事罢了，这和大草原上的那些故事并没有什么两样。





TEXT THREE


The dinosaurs fell victim to an asteroid smashing into the Earth, but people have no plans to allow such a calamity to befall them. For the past decade or so, astronomers have been watching the skies to identify dangerous flying objects. One lump of rock, called Apophis, the Greek name for an Egyptian god of destruction, alarmed astronomers when it was first spotted in 2004. They now think it is extremely unlikely to hit the planet. Even so, a private company has just unveiled plans to visit it, in case Apophis does decide to pop in on Earth sometime soon.

The reason for the trip is that the orbits of asteroids are difficult to predict. Apophis is expected to sweep close enough to the Earth in 2029 to pass below the altitude of communications satellites. Depending on its exact path, it could pass through what is known as a keyhole—a narrow range of orbits—that would deflect it and cause it to crash into the planet when it comes round again exactly seven years later.

Hence the bid to launch a probe by Astrium, a spacecraft subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace and defence giant. It would study the way in which Apophis is drifting because of the effects of sunlight and that would enable astronomers to plot its course more accurately. The probe would also map the details of Apophis's surface and determine its thermal properties, which would help identify the composition of the asteroid. Such information could prove invaluable if it became necessary to nudge the projectile from its path.

The idea is to launch the mission, called Apex, in 2013 and for it to rendezvous with the asteroid in January 2014. The probe would spend three years stalking Apophis so that, if it did appear to be heading towards the keyhole, action could be taken to divert it well before 2029. Improbable though astronomers think this particular impact may be, it would be good to know more about nearby asteroids so that when one does threaten to strike, its route can be changed. Apophis is some 350 metres across, considerably larger than the object that is thought to have flattened 2,000 square kilometres of Siberian forest as it vaporised in the atmosphere above Tunguska in 1908.

Smashing such an object to smithereens, a technique championed by Hollywood films, would be silly because the Earth would be pelted with lots of smaller bits of debris that could prove just as destructive, particularly near a city. Better to knock it off course or tow it away using the gravitational attraction of a spacecraft sent to divert it. The success of this approach would depend not only on the path the asteroid is expected to take, but also on how the material that forms it is bound together.

Astrium's plans have been submitted to the Planetary Society, a group of space enthusiasts that has stumped up $50,000 in prize money to inspire interest in a mission to Apophis. Given that the actual cost for such a mission would be more like $50m, both the American space agency, NASA, and its European counterpart are taking a close interest. It is they, after all, who would be footing most of the bill.

1. Apophis would probably hit on the Earth when _____.

[A] it passes through a narrow range of orbits which are equivalent of a keyhole

[B] it is forced to deviate from its original course when passing through the keyhole