練習題：

　　Choose correct answers to the question:

　　1.Jewish parents in Eastern Europe longed for their children to attend music school

　　because ______ .

　　A. it would allow them access to a better life in the West

　　B. Jewish children are born with excellent musical talent

　　C. they wanted their children to enter into the professional field

　　D. it would enable the family to get better treatment in their own country

　　2.Nurturing societies as mentioned in the passage refer to societies that ______ .

　　A. enforce strong discipline on students who want to achieve excellence

　　B. treasure talent and provide opportunities for its full development

　　C. encourage people to compete with each other

　　D. promise talented children high positions

　　3.Japan is described in the passage as a country that attaches importance to ______ .

　　A. all-round development.

　　B. the learning of Western music

　　C. strict training of children

　　D. variety in academic studies

　　4.Which of the following contributes to the emergence of musical prodigies according

　　to the passage?

　　A. A natural gift.

　　B. Extensive knowledge of music.

　　C. Very early training.

　　D. A prejudice-free society.

　　5.Which of the following titles best summarizes the main idea of the passage?

　　A. Jewish Contribution to Music.

　　B. Training of Musicians in the World

　　C. Music and Society

　　D. The Making of Prodigies

　　1.[A] 原文首段最后一句提到，所有猶太人父母的夢想就是讓孩子上音樂學校，由because引導的從句解釋了原因，即因為這是通往西方世界的通行證。A項為原文的同義改寫，故選A。B、D在文中沒有提及，原文中說進入professional field是不被允許的,故C不符合。

　　2.[B] nurturing societies出現(xiàn)在文中第2段第2句，很顯然nurturing society指的是前一句說的“重視在某一特定領(lǐng)域中的優(yōu)異表現(xiàn)，能培養(yǎng)才能的社會”,B與原文相符。

　　3.[C] 日本在文中作為典型的nurturing society的例子，之后提到日本社會竟爭激烈，注重規(guī)范和紀律，結(jié)合這兩點可知，C正確。

　　4.[A] 最后一段第2句提到，遺傳在天才的產(chǎn)生上也起很重要的作用，即天賦，故選A。其他三項在文中并未提及。

　　5.[D] 本文中，prodigies是一個關(guān)鍵詞，四個選項中只有D包含了這一關(guān)鍵詞。其他三個選項都只是文中的局部信息，不是文章主旨，均排除。

　　Taste is such a subjective matter that we don't usually conduct preference tests for food.The most you can say about anyone's preference, is that it's one person's opinion. Butbecause the two big cola(可樂) companies Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola are marketed aggressively,we've wondered how big a role taste preference actually plays in brand loyalty. We set up ataste test that challenged people who identified themselves as either C0ca-Cola or Pepsi fans:Find your brand in a blind tasting.

　　We invited staff volunteers who had a strong liking for either Coca-Cola Classic (傳統(tǒng)型)or Pepsi,Diet (低糖的)Coke, or Diet Pepsi-These were people who thought they'd have no trouble tellingtheir brand from the other brand. We eventually located 19 regular cola drinkers and 27 dietcola drinkers.

　　We eventually located 19regular cola drinkers and 27diet cola drinkers. Then we fed them fourunidentifiedsamples of cola one at a time, regular colas for the one group, diet versions for theother. We asked themto tell us whether each sample was Coke or Pepsi; then we analyzed therecords statistically to compare the participants 'choices with what mere gum-work would haveaccomplished.

　　Getting all four samples right was a tough test, but not too tough, we thought, for people whobelieved they could recognize their brand. In the end, only 7out of19regular cola drinkerscorrectly identified theirbrand of choice in all four trials. The diet-cola drinkers did a little worse-only 7of27identified all four samples correctly.

　　While both groups did better than chance would predict, nearly half the participants in eachgroup made the wrong choice two or more times. Two people got all four samples wrong.Overall, half the participants did about as well on the last round of tasting as on the first, sofatigue, or taste burn out, was not a factor. Our preference test results suggest that only afew Pepsi participants and Coke fans may really be able to tell their favorite brand by taste andprice.

　　練習題：

　　Choose correct answers to the question:

　　1. According to the passage the preference test was conducted in order to _____.

　　A. find out the role taste preference plays in a person's drinking

　　B. reveal which cola is more to the liking of the drinkers

　　C. show that a person's opinion about taste is mere guess-work

　　D. compare the ability of the participants in choosing their drinks

　　2. The statistics recorded in the preference tests show _____.

　　A. Coca-Cola and Pepsi are people's two most favorite drinks

　　B. there is not much difference in taste between Coca-Cola and Pepsi

　　C. few people had trouble telling Coca-Cola from Pepsi

　　D. people's tastes differ from one another

　　3. It is implied in the first paragraph that _____.

　　A. the purpose of taste tests b to promote the sale of colas

　　B. the improvement of quality is the chief concern of the two cola companies

　　C. the competition between the two colas is very strong

　　D. blind tasting is necessary for identifying fans

　　4. The word "burnout"(Line4,Para.5) here refers to the state of _____.

　　A. being seriously burnt in the skin

　　B. being unable to burn for lack of fuel

　　C. being badly damaged by fire

　　D. being unable to function because of excessive use

　　5. The author's purpose in writing this passage is to _____.

　　A. show that taste preference is highly subjective

　　B. argue that taste testing is an important marketing strategy

　　C. emphasize that taste and price are closely related to each other

　　D. recommend that blind tasting be introduced in the quality control of colas

　　1.[A] 第1段第3句提到，由于兩大可樂公司的營銷如此具有攻擊性，我們不由想知道對味道的偏好在品牌忠誠度上起多大的作用，A與之相符。

　　2.[B] 第4段第2、3句表明可口可樂和百事可樂在味道方面并無多大差異，B與之相符。A、D不是實驗數(shù)據(jù)所表明的事情，故排除;C與原文的意思不相符，也排除。

　　3.[C] 由第1段第3句中Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola are marketed so aggressively可知兩大公司競爭極為激烈，故選C。

　　4.[D] 文章最后一段第3句中，fatigue與taste bum out之間用or連接，表明兩者語義比較接近，對比四個選項，D符合，表示味覺疲勞、麻木。

　　5.[A] 文章第1句Taste is such... food表明味覺偏好是十分主觀的，且下文講到的實驗結(jié)果也更進一步印證了該觀點，故選A。