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 (損傷) , such as in autism ( 孤獨癥，自閉癥) 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 in1724.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are many excellent reasons for not undergoing unnecessary experimentation on one's brain.The term idiot savant is outdated and inappropriate.Virtually all savants have a high degree of intelligence and are thus not idiots.

　　72.What does the passage mainly talk about?

　　A.Idiot savants have areas of outstanding abilities.

　　B.Human Beings have complicated thinking process.

　　C.The brains of the idiot savants are partly impaired.

　　D.The reasons why people have wonderful skills vary.

　　73.Which of the following can be done by Rain Man?

　　A.He can play wonderful pieces of classical music.

　　B.He can guess out exactly the length of a man's life.

　　C.He can memorize the contents of the pictures fast.

　　D.He can count matches dropped on the floor quickly.

　　74.What can you infer from the passage?

　　A.Idiot savants have real talents for art and math.

　　B.Dr.Down is the first person who found idiot savants.

　　C.Few people wish to risk becoming savants by brain operations.

　　D.Intentional left brain impairments will surely lead to idiot savants.

　　75.Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?

　　答案：

　　72—75 ADCB

　　高考英語閱讀理解練習2

　　Laws that would have ensured pupils from five to 16 received a full financial education got lost in the ‘wash up’. An application is calling on the next government to bring it back.

　　At school the children are taught to add up and subtract(減法) but, extraordinarily, are not routinely shown how to open a bank account — let alone how to manage their finances in an increasingly complex and demanding world.

　　Today the parenting website Mumsnet and the consumer campaigner Martin Lewis have joined forces to launch an online application to make financial education a compulsory element of the school curriculum in England. Children from five to 16 should be taught about everything from pocket money to pensions, they say. And that was exactly the plan preserved in the Children, Schools and Families bill that was shelved by the government in the so-called “wash-up” earlier this month — the rush to legislation before parliament was dismissed. Consumer and parent groups believe financial education has always been one of the most frustrating omissions of the curriculum.

　　As the Personal Finance Education Group (Pfeg) points out, the good habits of young children do not last long. Over 75% of seven- to 11-year-olds are savers but by the time they get to 17, over half of them are in debt to family and friends. By this age, 26% see a credit card or overdraft(透支) as a way of extending their spending power. Pfeg predicts that these young people will “find it much harder to avoid the serious unexpected dangers that have befallen many of their parents' generation unless they receive good quality financial education while at school.”

　　The UK has been in the worst financial recession(衰退)for generations. It does seem odd that — unless parents step in — young people are left in the dark until they are cruelly introduced to the world of debt when they turn up at university. In a recent poll of over 8,000 people, 97% supported financial education in schools, while 3% said it was a job for parents.

　　61. The passage is mainly about _____________.

　　A. how to manage school lessons

　　B. how to deal with the financial crisis

　　C. teaching young people about money

　　D. teaching students how to study effectively

　　62. It can be inferred from the first two paragraphs that __________.

　　A. the author complains about the school education

　　B. pupils should not be taught to add up and subtract

　　C. students have been taught to manage their finances

　　D. laws on financial education have been effectively carried out

　　63. The website and the consumer campaigner joined to _________.

　　A. instruct the pupils to donate their pocket money

　　B. promote the connection of schools and families

　　C. ask the government to dismiss the parliament

　　D. appeal for the curriculum of financial education

　　64. According to Pfeg, ___________.

　　A. it is easy to keep good habits long

　　B. teenagers spend their money as planned

　　C. parents are willing to pay the debt for their kids

　　D. it will be in trouble if the teenagers are left alone

　　65. A poll is mentioned to ___________.

　　A. stress the necessity of the curriculum reform

　　B. show the seriousness of the financial recession

　　C. make the readers aware of burden of the parents

　　D. illustrate some people are strongly against the proposal

　　答案：

　　61-65 CADDA