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Recent research has claimed that an excess of positive ions in the air can have an ill effect on people’s physical or psychological health. What are positive ions? Well, the air is full of ions, electrically charged particles,
and generally there is a rough balance between the positive and the negative charged. But sometimes this balance becomes disturbed and a larger proportion of positive ions are found. This happens naturally before thunderstorm, earthquakes
when winds such as the Mistral, Hamsin or Sharav are blowing in certain countries. Or it can be caused by a build-up of static electricity indoors from carpets or clothing made of man-made fibres, or from TV sets, duplicators or
computer display screens.
When a large number of positive ions are present in the air many people experience unpleasant effects such as headaches, fatigue, irritability, and some sensitive people suffer nausea or even mental disturbance. Animals
are also affected, particularly before earthquakes, snakes have been observed to come out of hibernation, rats to flee from their burrows, dogs howl and cats jump about unaccountably. This has led the US Geographical Survey to fund a
network of volunteers to watch animals in an effort to foresee such disasters before they hit vulnerable areas such as California.
Conversely, when large numbers of negative ions are present, then people have a feeling of well-being. Natural conditions that produce these large amounts are near the sea, close to waterfalls or fountains, or in any place where water is sprayed, or forms a spray. This probably accounts for the beneficial effect of a holiday by the sea, or in the mountains with tumbling streams or waterfalls.
To increase the supply of negative ions indoors, some scientists recommend the use of ionisers: small portable machines, which generate negative ions. They claim that ionisers not only clean and refresh the air but also improve the health of people sensitive to excess positive ions. Of course, there are the detractors, other scientists, who dismiss such claims and are skeptical about negative/positive ion research. Therefore people can only make up their own minds by observing the effects on themselves, or on others, of a negative rich or poor environment. After all it is debatable whether depending on seismic readings to anticipate earthquakes is more effective than watching the cat.
1.What effect does exceeding positive ionization have on some people?
A.They think they are insane.
B.They feel rather bad-tempered and short-fussed.
C.They become violently sick.
D.They are too tired to do anything.
2.In accordance with the passage, static electricity can be caused by___.
A.using home-made electrical goods.
B.wearing clothes made of natural materials.
C.walking on artificial floor coverings.
D.copying TV programs on a computer.
3.A high negative ion count is likely to be found___.
A.near a pound with a water pump.
B.close to a slow-flowing river.
C.high in some barren mountains.
D.by a rotating water sprinkler.
4.What kind of machine can generate negative ions indoors?
A.Ionisers.
B.Air-conditioners.
C.Exhaust-fans
D.Vacuum pumps.
5.Some scientists believe that___.
A.watching animals to anticipate earthquakes is more effective than depending
on seismography.
B.the unusual behavior of animals cannot be trusted.
C.neither watching nor using seismographs is reliable.
D.earthquake
Passage 2
Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage:
There are two kinds of memory: shot-term and long-term. Information in
long-term memory can be remembered at a later time when it is needed. The
information may be kept for days or weeks. However, information over and over.
The following experiment shows how short-term memory has been studied.
Henning studied how students who are learning English as a second language
remember vocabulary. The subjects in his experiment were 75 college students.
They represented all levels of ability in English: beginning, intermediate, and
native-speaking students.
To begin, the subjects listened to a recording of a native speaker reading a
paragraph in English. Following the recording, the subjects took a 15-question
test to see which words they remembered, each question had four choices. The
subjects had to circle the word they had heard in the recording. Some of the
questions had four choices that sound alike. For example, weather, whether,
wither, and wetter are four words that sound alike. Some of the questions had
four choices that have the same meaning. Method, way, manner, and system would
be four words with the same meaning. Finally the subjects took a language
proficiency test.
Henning found that students with a lower proficiency in English made more of
their mistakes on words that sound alike; students with a higher proficiency
made more of their mistakes on words that have the same meaning. Henning’s
results suggest that beginning students hold the sound of words in their
short-term memory, and advanced students hold the meaning of words in their
short-term memory.
6. Henning made the experiment in order to study .
A. how students remember English vocabulary by short-term memory
B. how students learn English vocabulary
C. how to develop students’ ability in English
D. how long information in short-term memory is kept
7. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Information in short-term memory is different from that in long-term
memory.
B. Long-term memory can be achieved only by training.
C. It is easier to test short-term memory than long-term memory.
D. Henning gave a separate test on vocabulary to his students.
8. From Henning’s result we can see that .
A. beginners have difficulty distinguishing the pronunciation of words
B. advanced students remember words by their meaning
C. it is difficult to remember words that sound alike
D. it is difficult to remember words that have the same meaning
9. The word “subjects” in the passage means .
A. memory B. the theme of listening material
C. a branch of knowledge studied D. the students experimented on
