托福考试易错题（2019/5/11）

第1题：Long before they can actually speak, babies pay special attention to the speech they　　　 hear around them. Within the first month of their lives, babies’’ responses to the sound of　　　 the human voice will be different from their responses to other sorts of auditory stimuli. They will stop crying when they hear a person talking, but not if they hear a bell or the(5)　 sound of a rattle.At first, the sounds that an infant notices might be only those words that　　　 receive the heaviest emphasis and that often occur at the ends of utterances.By the time　　　 they are six or seven weeks old, babies can detect the difference between syllables　　　 pronounced with rising and falling inflections. Very soon, these differences in adult stress　　　 and intonation can influence babies’’ emotional states and behavior. Long before they(10)　 develop actual language comprehension, babies can sense when an adult is playful or　　　 angry, attempting to initiate or terminate new behavior, and so on, merely on the basis of　　　 cues such as the rate, volume, and melody of adult speech.　　　 Adults make it as easy as they can for babies to pick up a language by exaggerating　　　 such cues. One researcher observed babies and their mothers in six diverse cultures and(15)　 found that, in all six languages, the mothers used simplified syntax, short utterances and　　　 nonsense sounds, and transformed certain sounds into baby talk. Other investigators have　　　 noted that when mothers talk to babies who are only a few months old, they exaggerate　　　 the pitch, loudness, and intensity of their words. They also exaggerate their facial　　　 expressions, hold vowels longer, and emphasize certain words.(20)　 More significant for language development than their response to general intonation is　　　 observation that tiny babies can make relatively fine distinctions between speech sounds.　　　 other words, babies enter the world with the ability to make precisely those perceptual　　　 discriminations that are necessary if they are to acquire aural language.　　　 Babies obviously derive pleasure from sound input, too: even as young as nine months(25)　 they will listen to songs or stories, although the words themselves are beyond their　　　 understanding. For babies, language is a sensory-motor delight rather than the route to　　　 prosaic meaning that it often is for adults.Which of the following can be inferred about the findings described in paragraph 2 A、Babies who are exposed to more than one language can speak earlier than babies exposed to a single language. B、Mothers from different cultures speak to their babies in similar ways. C．Babies ignore facial expressions in comprehending aural language. D．The mothers observed by the researchers were consciously teaching their babies to speak.

【单选题】： A     B     C     D

{{B}} Gadgets with a SportingChance{{/B}}
Consumer electronics: New sports equipment, from tennis rackets to running shoes, uses processing power to enhance performance. Is that fair Why should aspiring athletes stand on the sidelines when a spot of electronic assistance can put them in the middle of the game That is the question many sports-equipment makers are asking as they sense an opportunity to boost their sales with high-tech products. You could call it the revenge of the nerds: a new wave of microchip-equipped sporting goods promises to enhance the performance of novices and non-sporting types alike--and could even make difficult sports easier.
Take cross-country skiing. Victor Petrenko, an engineer atDartmouthCollege’s Ice Research Lab in New Hampshire, has invented some smart ski-brakes that, he believes, will increase the popularity of cross-country skiing by making the sport less challenging for beginners. The brakes, currently being tested by a ski manufacturer in theAlps, offer the necessary friction for a bigger "kick-off force" and make the skis less likely to slide backwards in their trucks. To make this happen, an electric current from the bottom of the skis pulses through the ice, melting a thin layer of snow that instantly refreezes and acts as a sort of glue.
This is not the only form of smart ski to hit the slopes.Atomic, a leading ski-maker based inAustria, plans to introduce a system later this year that runs a diagnostic safety check to ensure that the ski binding is properly closed, with the result being shown on a tiny built-in liquid-crystal display. Meanwhile, tennis equipment manufacturers are hoping that innovation will bring new zip to their business as well. They certainly need to do something: according to Sport ScanInfo, a market-research firm based in Florida, sales of tennis rackets inAmerica fell 12.5% during the first half of 2004 compared with the first half of 2003.
With the ball clearly in their court, researchers at Head, a maker of sporting equipment, have devised a product that should appeal to players suffering from tennis elbow.A、chip inside the racket controls piezo-electric fibres, which convert mechanical energy from the ball’s impact into electrical potential energy. This energy is then used to generate a counter-force in the piezo-electric fibres that causes a dampening effect.All of this, the firm says, translates into less stress on the elbow. Head claims that residual vibrations in the racket are dampened twice as fast as in conventional rackets, reducing the shock experienced by the player’s arm by more than 50%.
No doubt purists will object that this is simply not cricket. Rule-makers in many sports are now being forced to consider the implications of equipment that promises to augment athletes’ performance with electronic muscle. The International Tennis Federation, that body is responsible for setting the rules of the game, has specified in its most recent guidelines that "no energy source that in any way changes or affects the playing characteristics of a racket may be built into or attached to a racket".
Yet despite such wording, the guideline does not actually eliminate the use of Head’s smart rackets, because there is no external energy source---the damping effect relies solely on energy from the ball’s impact. Though high-tech equipment may cause controversy on the court, tennis clubs have to adhere to the guidelines set for the sport, explains Stuart Miller, the ITF’s technical manager.And if the rules allow self-generated forces to modify a racket’s response, so be it.

Different sports have encou

第2题：{{B}}Set 2{{/B}}

【单选题】： A     B     C     D

第3题：Like bacteria, protozoans _______by splitting in two. A、reproducing B．reproduce C．to reproduce D．reproduction

【单选题】： A     B     C     D

第4题： A、Get a new suit. B．Worry less about his appearance. C．Look for a different joB、 D．Have his suit cleaneD、

【单选题】： A     B     C     D

第5题：Reading 3 "GroupDecision Making" Advantages of GroupDecision Making →Committees, task forces, and ad hoc groups are frequently assigned to identify and recommend decision alternatives or, in some cases, to actually make important decisions. In essence, a group is a tool that can focus the experience and expertise of several people on a particular problem or situation. Thus, a group offers the advantage of greater total knowledge. Groups accumulate more information, knowledge, and facts than individuals and often consider more alternatives.Each person in the group is able to draw on his or her unique education, experience, insights, and other resources and contribute those to the group. The varied backgrounds, training levels, and expertise of group members also help overcome tunnel vision by enabling the group to view the problem in more than one way. → Participation in group decision making usually leads to higher member satisfaction. People tend to accept a decision more readily and to be better satisfied with it when they have participated in making that decision. In addition, people will better understand and be more committed to a decision in which they have had a say than to a decision made for them.As a result, such a decision is more likely to be implemented successfully. Disadvantages of GroupDecision Making → While groups have many potential benefits, we all know that they can also be frustrating. One obvious disadvantage of group decision making is the timerequired to make a decision. The time needed for group discussion and the associated compromising and selecting of a decision alternative can be considerable. Time costs money, so a waste of time becomes a disadvantage if a decision made by a group could have been made just as effectively by an individual working alone. Consequently, group decisions should be avoided when speed and efficiency are the primary considerations. A、second disadvantage is that the group discussion may be dominated by an individual or subgroup.Effectiveness can be reduced if one individual, such as the group leader, dominates the discussion by talking too much or being closed to other points of view. Some group leaders try to control the group and provide the major input. Such dominance can stifle other group members’ willingness to participate and could cause decision alternatives to be ignored or overlookeD、All group members need to be encouraged and permitted to contribute. →Another disadvantage of group decision making is that members may be less concerned with the group’s goals than with their own personal goals. They may become so sidetracked in trying to win an argument that they forget about group performance. On the other hand, a group may try too hard to compromise and consequently may not make optimal decisions. Sometimes this stems from the desire to maintain friendships and avoid disagreements. Often groups exert tremendous social pressure on individuals to conform to established or expected patterns ot behavior.Especially when they are dealing with important and controversial issues, interacting groups may be prone to a phenomenon called groupthink. → Groupthink is an agreement-at-any-cost mentality that results in ineffective group decision making. It occurs when groups are highly cohesive, have highly directive leaders, are insulated so they have no clear ways to get objective information, and—because they lack outside information—have little hope that a better solution might be found than the one proposed by the leader or other influential group members. These conditions fo

【单选题】： A     B     C     D