单项选择题

Some believe that in the age of identikit computer games, mass entertainment and conformity on the supermarket shelves, truly inspired thinking has gone out of the window, But, there are others who hold the view that there is still plenty of scope for innovation, lateral thought and creative solutions. Despite the standardisation of modern life, there is an unabated appetite for great ideas, visionary thinking and inspired debate. In the first of a series of monthly debates on contemporary issues, we ask two original thinkers to discuss the nature of creativity. Here is the first one.
Yes. Absolutely. Since I started working as an inventor 10 or 12 years ago, I’ve seen a big change in attitudes to creativity and invention. Back then, there was hardly any support for inventors, apart from the national organisation the Institute of Patentees and Inventors. Today, there are lots of little inventors’ clubs popping up all over the place, my last count was 19 nationally and growing. These non-profit clubs, run by inventors for inventors, are an indication that people are once again interested in invention.
I’ve been a project leader, a croupier, an IT consultant and I’ve written a motor manual. I spent my teens under a 1950s two-tone Riley RME car, learning to put it together. Back in the Sixties, kids like me were always out doing things, making go-karts, riding bicycles or exploring. We learned to overcome challenges and solve problems. We weren’t just sitting at a PlayStation, like many kids do today.
But I think, and hope, things are shifting back. There’s a lot more interest in design and creativity and such talents are getting a much higher profile in the media. It’s evident with TV programmes such as Channel 4’s Scrapheap Challenge or BBC 2’s The Apprentice and Dragon’s Den, where people are given a task to solve or face the challenge of selling their idea to a panel.
And, thankfully, the image of the mad scientist with electrified hair working in the garden shed is long gone—although, there are still a few exceptions!
That’s not to say there aren’t problems. With the decline in manufacturing we are losing the ability to know how to make things. There’s a real skills gap developing. In my opinion, the government does little or nothing to help innovation at the lone-inventor or small or medium enterprise level. I would love to see more money spent on teaching our school kids how to be inventive. But, despite everything, if you have a good idea and real determination, you can still do very well.
My own specialist area is packaging closures—almost every product needs it. I got the idea for Squeezeopen after looking at an old tin of boot polish when my mother complained she couldn’t get the lid off. If you can do something cheaper, better, and you are 100 per-cent committed, there is a chance it will be a Success.
I see a fantastic amount of innovation and opportunities out there. People don’t realise how much is going on. New materials are coming out all the time and the space programme and scientific research are producing a variety of spin-offs. Innovation doesn’t have to be high-tech: creativity and inventing is about finding the right solution to a problem, whatever it is. There’s a lot of talent out there and, thankfully, some of the more progressive companies are suddenly realising they don’t want to miss out—it’s an exciting time.
Which of the following is INCORRECT about the kids in the sixties

A. Out doing things, making go-karts.
B. Riding bicycles and exploring.
C. Sitting before computers to play games.
D. Like to overcome challenges and solve problems.

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单项选择题

Some believe that in the age of identikit computer games, mass entertainment and conformity on the supermarket shelves, truly inspired thinking has gone out of the window, But, there are others who hold the view that there is still plenty of scope for innovation, lateral thought and creative solutions. Despite the standardisation of modern life, there is an unabated appetite for great ideas, visionary thinking and inspired debate. In the first of a series of monthly debates on contemporary issues, we ask two original thinkers to discuss the nature of creativity. Here is the first one.
Yes. Absolutely. Since I started working as an inventor 10 or 12 years ago, I’ve seen a big change in attitudes to creativity and invention. Back then, there was hardly any support for inventors, apart from the national organisation the Institute of Patentees and Inventors. Today, there are lots of little inventors’ clubs popping up all over the place, my last count was 19 nationally and growing. These non-profit clubs, run by inventors for inventors, are an indication that people are once again interested in invention.
I’ve been a project leader, a croupier, an IT consultant and I’ve written a motor manual. I spent my teens under a 1950s two-tone Riley RME car, learning to put it together. Back in the Sixties, kids like me were always out doing things, making go-karts, riding bicycles or exploring. We learned to overcome challenges and solve problems. We weren’t just sitting at a PlayStation, like many kids do today.
But I think, and hope, things are shifting back. There’s a lot more interest in design and creativity and such talents are getting a much higher profile in the media. It’s evident with TV programmes such as Channel 4’s Scrapheap Challenge or BBC 2’s The Apprentice and Dragon’s Den, where people are given a task to solve or face the challenge of selling their idea to a panel.
And, thankfully, the image of the mad scientist with electrified hair working in the garden shed is long gone—although, there are still a few exceptions!
That’s not to say there aren’t problems. With the decline in manufacturing we are losing the ability to know how to make things. There’s a real skills gap developing. In my opinion, the government does little or nothing to help innovation at the lone-inventor or small or medium enterprise level. I would love to see more money spent on teaching our school kids how to be inventive. But, despite everything, if you have a good idea and real determination, you can still do very well.
My own specialist area is packaging closures—almost every product needs it. I got the idea for Squeezeopen after looking at an old tin of boot polish when my mother complained she couldn’t get the lid off. If you can do something cheaper, better, and you are 100 per-cent committed, there is a chance it will be a Success.
I see a fantastic amount of innovation and opportunities out there. People don’t realise how much is going on. New materials are coming out all the time and the space programme and scientific research are producing a variety of spin-offs. Innovation doesn’t have to be high-tech: creativity and inventing is about finding the right solution to a problem, whatever it is. There’s a lot of talent out there and, thankfully, some of the more progressive companies are suddenly realising they don’t want to miss out—it’s an exciting time.
What is the debate concerned with

A. What should we do to inspire people’s creativity
B. Will people’s invention and inspiration be exhausted in the future
C. Is there still a future for invention and inspiration
D. Who will be winner of the future technology

单项选择题

Three years ago E]on College, a school of more than 4, 000 students with a rising academic reputation, decided it was no longer good marketing to be known as Fighting Christians and changed its mascot to the Phoenix, emblematic of its rebirth after a major fire in the 1920s.
Some alumni resisted, but the change produced nothing like the soul-searching the school went through when, five months later, it joined a major movement in US higher e-ducation by dropping the word "college" and renaming itself Elon University.
In the past 10 years, according to Higher Education Publications Inc. in Arlington, 161 other US colleges have done the same thing, for reasons that often have as much to do with image as academics. To make the situation more confusing, many of the new universities still advertise their collegelike atmosphere, while some institutions that call themselves colleges still tell potential applicants that they are just like universities.
Guess which image is more appealing to 21st-century teenagers and their tuition-paying parents George Dehne & Associates, a consulting firm, found that two-thirds of prospective students said they planned to enroll in a public or private university, not college. Dehne found that universities were more highly regarded than colleges by employers and graduate schools and more likely to be credited with having better students, a better social life, greater diversity of students, greater prestige and stronger science programs.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in Menlo Park, Calif. , classifies institutions based on the number and range of their academic program. "But the use of college, university or anything else in the name has nothing to do with it," said Alexander C. McCormick, senior scholar at the foundation. A few states regulate name changes of even private schools. In Oregon, a school that calls itself a university without authorization can be charged with "unlawful trade practices".
But in most cases, colleges can rename themselves if they choose, and very few of the bigger ones have resisted the temptation. Among the 228 universities ranked by U. S. News & World Report in its "America’s Best Colleges" guide, only three of them—Boston College (12,375 students), the College of William and Mary (7,500 students) and Dartmouth College (5,000 students)—insist on keeping the more intimate title.
The colleges that have made the switch call the renaming a reasoned response to the demands of students, faculty and modern preferences. Longwood College in Farmville, Va. , for instance, became a university in July because of the growth of its graduate programs and its effort to attain Division I athletic status among other factors.
Leo Lambert, the President of Elon University, said his school’s name change has worked out fine. He’s not sure there’s any connection, but applications have increased 30 percent since the switch, and campus visits are up 67 percent.
Lambert says he’s also seen signs of the power of the word "university". For instance, when he and his daughter Callie were visiting colleges last summer, they attended an information session at William and Mary. Although William and Mary officials said much about the virtues of intimacy, Lambert recalled, they also "took pains to make the point that they were really a university—law school, graduate programs, etc.—that chose to call itself a college.\
What is the passage mainly concerned with

A. America’s best colleges.
B. The power of the word "university".
C. Elon College renames itself.
D. Colleges upgrade their image by changing their names.

单项选择题

One of the more noted optical illusions in the annals of visual deception appeared in the night sky this week when a giant full moon appeared on the horizon. The giant ball of yellow-white light made the Moon appear to linger for longer, and Earth’s satellite seemed larger at that point in its journey across the sky than at any other position.
In fact, the size of the Moon in the sky does not vary and its apparent enlargement on the horizon is purely a trick of the eye. It was first written about by the ancient Chinese and Greeks—although scientists are still arguing over its cause. The illusion was especially visible on Wednesday night because this month’s full moon coincided with the summer solstice, while clear skies gave spectacular views as the moon rose slowly above the horizon. When the Moon is full, it and the Sun are on opposite sides of the sky. During summer, when the Sun rises high in our sky, the full moons are correspondingly low—allowing them to linger longer over the horizon.
The astronomer Sir Patrick Moore said that there was no doubt that when a full moon was low on the horizon it invariably looked bigger than when it was high up in the sky, but that this was purely an illusion. "The effect is visible at every full moon but was particularly good this time because the full moon was as low in the sky as it could ever be and appeared to hover above the horizon," Sir Patrick said.
One way of showing that the Moon does not really vary in size is to hold up a small coin to the sky to see how far away it can be held before it blocks out the Moon—it should do it at the same distance no matter where the Moon is positioned. "It has been known and commented on for many hundreds of years. An explanation was given by the last and greatest astronomer of ancient times, Ptolemy, who said the illusion was due to the fact that we were seeing the Moon across filled space and could compare it with objects such as trees and houses," Sir Patrick said.
The conventional explanation for the illusion today is that it is a combination of two psychological effects. The first is the Ponzo illusion, named after Mario Ponzo in 1913, who drew two identical bars across converging lines such as railway tracks. Both bars are the same size but the nearer looks smaller because the eye and the brain judge the farther bar to be bigger in proportion to its surroundings. This could explain why we perceive the Moon to be larger when it lies against a background of familiar objects such as trees and buildings.
However, critics of this idea point out that airline pilots flying at high altitudes sometimes experience the Moon illusion even without seeing any recognizable features on the horizon. And, curiously, the illusion disappears for many people when they bend down and watch a full moon through their legs.
The second explanation is that the brain does not see the sky as the "ceiling" of a true hemisphere, but rather as a flattened dome. In other words, objects that are overhead, such as flying birds, are perceived to be nearer than objects on the horizon—which is why we imagine objects on the horizon to be bigger than objects overhead.
But this explanation does not satisfy some scientists, either. In a theory similar in some ways to the Ponzo illusion, Professor Don McCready of the University of Wisconsin believes the true explanation rests in the fact that our brains tend to make objects smaller when they appear closer to us based on distance cues. When the Moon is on the horizon, the surroun-ding buildings and trees give us clues that it is very far away which causes the brain to perceive it to be larger than it would normally appear, Professor McCready said.
The conventional explanation for the Moon illusion today is that ______.

A. our brains tend to make objects smaller when they appear closer to us based on distance cues
B. objects that are overhead are perceived to be nearer than objects on the horizon
C. the effects of Ponzo illusion
D. it is a combination of two psychological effects

单项选择题

Some believe that in the age of identikit computer games, mass entertainment and conformity on the supermarket shelves, truly inspired thinking has gone out of the window, But, there are others who hold the view that there is still plenty of scope for innovation, lateral thought and creative solutions. Despite the standardisation of modern life, there is an unabated appetite for great ideas, visionary thinking and inspired debate. In the first of a series of monthly debates on contemporary issues, we ask two original thinkers to discuss the nature of creativity. Here is the first one.
Yes. Absolutely. Since I started working as an inventor 10 or 12 years ago, I’ve seen a big change in attitudes to creativity and invention. Back then, there was hardly any support for inventors, apart from the national organisation the Institute of Patentees and Inventors. Today, there are lots of little inventors’ clubs popping up all over the place, my last count was 19 nationally and growing. These non-profit clubs, run by inventors for inventors, are an indication that people are once again interested in invention.
I’ve been a project leader, a croupier, an IT consultant and I’ve written a motor manual. I spent my teens under a 1950s two-tone Riley RME car, learning to put it together. Back in the Sixties, kids like me were always out doing things, making go-karts, riding bicycles or exploring. We learned to overcome challenges and solve problems. We weren’t just sitting at a PlayStation, like many kids do today.
But I think, and hope, things are shifting back. There’s a lot more interest in design and creativity and such talents are getting a much higher profile in the media. It’s evident with TV programmes such as Channel 4’s Scrapheap Challenge or BBC 2’s The Apprentice and Dragon’s Den, where people are given a task to solve or face the challenge of selling their idea to a panel.
And, thankfully, the image of the mad scientist with electrified hair working in the garden shed is long gone—although, there are still a few exceptions!
That’s not to say there aren’t problems. With the decline in manufacturing we are losing the ability to know how to make things. There’s a real skills gap developing. In my opinion, the government does little or nothing to help innovation at the lone-inventor or small or medium enterprise level. I would love to see more money spent on teaching our school kids how to be inventive. But, despite everything, if you have a good idea and real determination, you can still do very well.
My own specialist area is packaging closures—almost every product needs it. I got the idea for Squeezeopen after looking at an old tin of boot polish when my mother complained she couldn’t get the lid off. If you can do something cheaper, better, and you are 100 per-cent committed, there is a chance it will be a Success.
I see a fantastic amount of innovation and opportunities out there. People don’t realise how much is going on. New materials are coming out all the time and the space programme and scientific research are producing a variety of spin-offs. Innovation doesn’t have to be high-tech: creativity and inventing is about finding the right solution to a problem, whatever it is. There’s a lot of talent out there and, thankfully, some of the more progressive companies are suddenly realising they don’t want to miss out—it’s an exciting time.
According to the opinion of the interviewer, ______.

A. the future for invention depends
B. there is still a future for invention and inspiration
C. there is no future for invention and inspiration in modern society
D. the future for invention and inspiration is unclear

单项选择题

Three years ago E]on College, a school of more than 4, 000 students with a rising academic reputation, decided it was no longer good marketing to be known as Fighting Christians and changed its mascot to the Phoenix, emblematic of its rebirth after a major fire in the 1920s.
Some alumni resisted, but the change produced nothing like the soul-searching the school went through when, five months later, it joined a major movement in US higher e-ducation by dropping the word "college" and renaming itself Elon University.
In the past 10 years, according to Higher Education Publications Inc. in Arlington, 161 other US colleges have done the same thing, for reasons that often have as much to do with image as academics. To make the situation more confusing, many of the new universities still advertise their collegelike atmosphere, while some institutions that call themselves colleges still tell potential applicants that they are just like universities.
Guess which image is more appealing to 21st-century teenagers and their tuition-paying parents George Dehne & Associates, a consulting firm, found that two-thirds of prospective students said they planned to enroll in a public or private university, not college. Dehne found that universities were more highly regarded than colleges by employers and graduate schools and more likely to be credited with having better students, a better social life, greater diversity of students, greater prestige and stronger science programs.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in Menlo Park, Calif. , classifies institutions based on the number and range of their academic program. "But the use of college, university or anything else in the name has nothing to do with it," said Alexander C. McCormick, senior scholar at the foundation. A few states regulate name changes of even private schools. In Oregon, a school that calls itself a university without authorization can be charged with "unlawful trade practices".
But in most cases, colleges can rename themselves if they choose, and very few of the bigger ones have resisted the temptation. Among the 228 universities ranked by U. S. News & World Report in its "America’s Best Colleges" guide, only three of them—Boston College (12,375 students), the College of William and Mary (7,500 students) and Dartmouth College (5,000 students)—insist on keeping the more intimate title.
The colleges that have made the switch call the renaming a reasoned response to the demands of students, faculty and modern preferences. Longwood College in Farmville, Va. , for instance, became a university in July because of the growth of its graduate programs and its effort to attain Division I athletic status among other factors.
Leo Lambert, the President of Elon University, said his school’s name change has worked out fine. He’s not sure there’s any connection, but applications have increased 30 percent since the switch, and campus visits are up 67 percent.
Lambert says he’s also seen signs of the power of the word "university". For instance, when he and his daughter Callie were visiting colleges last summer, they attended an information session at William and Mary. Although William and Mary officials said much about the virtues of intimacy, Lambert recalled, they also "took pains to make the point that they were really a university—law school, graduate programs, etc.—that chose to call itself a college.\
Elon College renamed itself as ______.

A. Elon University
B. Elon Institute
C. Elon Academy
D. Elon School

单项选择题

One of the more noted optical illusions in the annals of visual deception appeared in the night sky this week when a giant full moon appeared on the horizon. The giant ball of yellow-white light made the Moon appear to linger for longer, and Earth’s satellite seemed larger at that point in its journey across the sky than at any other position.
In fact, the size of the Moon in the sky does not vary and its apparent enlargement on the horizon is purely a trick of the eye. It was first written about by the ancient Chinese and Greeks—although scientists are still arguing over its cause. The illusion was especially visible on Wednesday night because this month’s full moon coincided with the summer solstice, while clear skies gave spectacular views as the moon rose slowly above the horizon. When the Moon is full, it and the Sun are on opposite sides of the sky. During summer, when the Sun rises high in our sky, the full moons are correspondingly low—allowing them to linger longer over the horizon.
The astronomer Sir Patrick Moore said that there was no doubt that when a full moon was low on the horizon it invariably looked bigger than when it was high up in the sky, but that this was purely an illusion. "The effect is visible at every full moon but was particularly good this time because the full moon was as low in the sky as it could ever be and appeared to hover above the horizon," Sir Patrick said.
One way of showing that the Moon does not really vary in size is to hold up a small coin to the sky to see how far away it can be held before it blocks out the Moon—it should do it at the same distance no matter where the Moon is positioned. "It has been known and commented on for many hundreds of years. An explanation was given by the last and greatest astronomer of ancient times, Ptolemy, who said the illusion was due to the fact that we were seeing the Moon across filled space and could compare it with objects such as trees and houses," Sir Patrick said.
The conventional explanation for the illusion today is that it is a combination of two psychological effects. The first is the Ponzo illusion, named after Mario Ponzo in 1913, who drew two identical bars across converging lines such as railway tracks. Both bars are the same size but the nearer looks smaller because the eye and the brain judge the farther bar to be bigger in proportion to its surroundings. This could explain why we perceive the Moon to be larger when it lies against a background of familiar objects such as trees and buildings.
However, critics of this idea point out that airline pilots flying at high altitudes sometimes experience the Moon illusion even without seeing any recognizable features on the horizon. And, curiously, the illusion disappears for many people when they bend down and watch a full moon through their legs.
The second explanation is that the brain does not see the sky as the "ceiling" of a true hemisphere, but rather as a flattened dome. In other words, objects that are overhead, such as flying birds, are perceived to be nearer than objects on the horizon—which is why we imagine objects on the horizon to be bigger than objects overhead.
But this explanation does not satisfy some scientists, either. In a theory similar in some ways to the Ponzo illusion, Professor Don McCready of the University of Wisconsin believes the true explanation rests in the fact that our brains tend to make objects smaller when they appear closer to us based on distance cues. When the Moon is on the horizon, the surroun-ding buildings and trees give us clues that it is very far away which causes the brain to perceive it to be larger than it would normally appear, Professor McCready said.
Which of the following is INCORRECT according to the passage

A. The brain does not see the sky as the "ceiling" of a true hemisphere, but rather as a flattened dome.
B. The size of the Moon in the sky does not vary and its apparent enlargement on the horizon is purely a trick of the eye.
C. Professor Don McCready believes our brains tend to make objects bigger when they appear closer to us based on distance cues.
D. The moon illusion is an optical illusion.

单项选择题

Some believe that in the age of identikit computer games, mass entertainment and conformity on the supermarket shelves, truly inspired thinking has gone out of the window, But, there are others who hold the view that there is still plenty of scope for innovation, lateral thought and creative solutions. Despite the standardisation of modern life, there is an unabated appetite for great ideas, visionary thinking and inspired debate. In the first of a series of monthly debates on contemporary issues, we ask two original thinkers to discuss the nature of creativity. Here is the first one.
Yes. Absolutely. Since I started working as an inventor 10 or 12 years ago, I’ve seen a big change in attitudes to creativity and invention. Back then, there was hardly any support for inventors, apart from the national organisation the Institute of Patentees and Inventors. Today, there are lots of little inventors’ clubs popping up all over the place, my last count was 19 nationally and growing. These non-profit clubs, run by inventors for inventors, are an indication that people are once again interested in invention.
I’ve been a project leader, a croupier, an IT consultant and I’ve written a motor manual. I spent my teens under a 1950s two-tone Riley RME car, learning to put it together. Back in the Sixties, kids like me were always out doing things, making go-karts, riding bicycles or exploring. We learned to overcome challenges and solve problems. We weren’t just sitting at a PlayStation, like many kids do today.
But I think, and hope, things are shifting back. There’s a lot more interest in design and creativity and such talents are getting a much higher profile in the media. It’s evident with TV programmes such as Channel 4’s Scrapheap Challenge or BBC 2’s The Apprentice and Dragon’s Den, where people are given a task to solve or face the challenge of selling their idea to a panel.
And, thankfully, the image of the mad scientist with electrified hair working in the garden shed is long gone—although, there are still a few exceptions!
That’s not to say there aren’t problems. With the decline in manufacturing we are losing the ability to know how to make things. There’s a real skills gap developing. In my opinion, the government does little or nothing to help innovation at the lone-inventor or small or medium enterprise level. I would love to see more money spent on teaching our school kids how to be inventive. But, despite everything, if you have a good idea and real determination, you can still do very well.
My own specialist area is packaging closures—almost every product needs it. I got the idea for Squeezeopen after looking at an old tin of boot polish when my mother complained she couldn’t get the lid off. If you can do something cheaper, better, and you are 100 per-cent committed, there is a chance it will be a Success.
I see a fantastic amount of innovation and opportunities out there. People don’t realise how much is going on. New materials are coming out all the time and the space programme and scientific research are producing a variety of spin-offs. Innovation doesn’t have to be high-tech: creativity and inventing is about finding the right solution to a problem, whatever it is. There’s a lot of talent out there and, thankfully, some of the more progressive companies are suddenly realising they don’t want to miss out—it’s an exciting time.
Which of the following is INCORRECT about the kids in the sixties

A. Out doing things, making go-karts.
B. Riding bicycles and exploring.
C. Sitting before computers to play games.
D. Like to overcome challenges and solve problems.

单项选择题

Three years ago E]on College, a school of more than 4, 000 students with a rising academic reputation, decided it was no longer good marketing to be known as Fighting Christians and changed its mascot to the Phoenix, emblematic of its rebirth after a major fire in the 1920s.
Some alumni resisted, but the change produced nothing like the soul-searching the school went through when, five months later, it joined a major movement in US higher e-ducation by dropping the word "college" and renaming itself Elon University.
In the past 10 years, according to Higher Education Publications Inc. in Arlington, 161 other US colleges have done the same thing, for reasons that often have as much to do with image as academics. To make the situation more confusing, many of the new universities still advertise their collegelike atmosphere, while some institutions that call themselves colleges still tell potential applicants that they are just like universities.
Guess which image is more appealing to 21st-century teenagers and their tuition-paying parents George Dehne & Associates, a consulting firm, found that two-thirds of prospective students said they planned to enroll in a public or private university, not college. Dehne found that universities were more highly regarded than colleges by employers and graduate schools and more likely to be credited with having better students, a better social life, greater diversity of students, greater prestige and stronger science programs.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in Menlo Park, Calif. , classifies institutions based on the number and range of their academic program. "But the use of college, university or anything else in the name has nothing to do with it," said Alexander C. McCormick, senior scholar at the foundation. A few states regulate name changes of even private schools. In Oregon, a school that calls itself a university without authorization can be charged with "unlawful trade practices".
But in most cases, colleges can rename themselves if they choose, and very few of the bigger ones have resisted the temptation. Among the 228 universities ranked by U. S. News & World Report in its "America’s Best Colleges" guide, only three of them—Boston College (12,375 students), the College of William and Mary (7,500 students) and Dartmouth College (5,000 students)—insist on keeping the more intimate title.
The colleges that have made the switch call the renaming a reasoned response to the demands of students, faculty and modern preferences. Longwood College in Farmville, Va. , for instance, became a university in July because of the growth of its graduate programs and its effort to attain Division I athletic status among other factors.
Leo Lambert, the President of Elon University, said his school’s name change has worked out fine. He’s not sure there’s any connection, but applications have increased 30 percent since the switch, and campus visits are up 67 percent.
Lambert says he’s also seen signs of the power of the word "university". For instance, when he and his daughter Callie were visiting colleges last summer, they attended an information session at William and Mary. Although William and Mary officials said much about the virtues of intimacy, Lambert recalled, they also "took pains to make the point that they were really a university—law school, graduate programs, etc.—that chose to call itself a college.\
What is the controversy revealed in the passage

A. Some colleges change into university, and the opposite is also true.
B. Some universities advertise their collegelike atmosphere, while some colleges tell potential applicants that they are just like universities.
C. Some colleges change into university, and some universities into institute.
D. Some private colleges change into universities and schools at the same time.

单项选择题

One of the more noted optical illusions in the annals of visual deception appeared in the night sky this week when a giant full moon appeared on the horizon. The giant ball of yellow-white light made the Moon appear to linger for longer, and Earth’s satellite seemed larger at that point in its journey across the sky than at any other position.
In fact, the size of the Moon in the sky does not vary and its apparent enlargement on the horizon is purely a trick of the eye. It was first written about by the ancient Chinese and Greeks—although scientists are still arguing over its cause. The illusion was especially visible on Wednesday night because this month’s full moon coincided with the summer solstice, while clear skies gave spectacular views as the moon rose slowly above the horizon. When the Moon is full, it and the Sun are on opposite sides of the sky. During summer, when the Sun rises high in our sky, the full moons are correspondingly low—allowing them to linger longer over the horizon.
The astronomer Sir Patrick Moore said that there was no doubt that when a full moon was low on the horizon it invariably looked bigger than when it was high up in the sky, but that this was purely an illusion. "The effect is visible at every full moon but was particularly good this time because the full moon was as low in the sky as it could ever be and appeared to hover above the horizon," Sir Patrick said.
One way of showing that the Moon does not really vary in size is to hold up a small coin to the sky to see how far away it can be held before it blocks out the Moon—it should do it at the same distance no matter where the Moon is positioned. "It has been known and commented on for many hundreds of years. An explanation was given by the last and greatest astronomer of ancient times, Ptolemy, who said the illusion was due to the fact that we were seeing the Moon across filled space and could compare it with objects such as trees and houses," Sir Patrick said.
The conventional explanation for the illusion today is that it is a combination of two psychological effects. The first is the Ponzo illusion, named after Mario Ponzo in 1913, who drew two identical bars across converging lines such as railway tracks. Both bars are the same size but the nearer looks smaller because the eye and the brain judge the farther bar to be bigger in proportion to its surroundings. This could explain why we perceive the Moon to be larger when it lies against a background of familiar objects such as trees and buildings.
However, critics of this idea point out that airline pilots flying at high altitudes sometimes experience the Moon illusion even without seeing any recognizable features on the horizon. And, curiously, the illusion disappears for many people when they bend down and watch a full moon through their legs.
The second explanation is that the brain does not see the sky as the "ceiling" of a true hemisphere, but rather as a flattened dome. In other words, objects that are overhead, such as flying birds, are perceived to be nearer than objects on the horizon—which is why we imagine objects on the horizon to be bigger than objects overhead.
But this explanation does not satisfy some scientists, either. In a theory similar in some ways to the Ponzo illusion, Professor Don McCready of the University of Wisconsin believes the true explanation rests in the fact that our brains tend to make objects smaller when they appear closer to us based on distance cues. When the Moon is on the horizon, the surroun-ding buildings and trees give us clues that it is very far away which causes the brain to perceive it to be larger than it would normally appear, Professor McCready said.
What is the question raised in the passage

A. Has the Moon got bigger
B. Has the Moon changed its color
C. What does the Ponzo illusion mean
D. What is visual illusion

单项选择题

Some believe that in the age of identikit computer games, mass entertainment and conformity on the supermarket shelves, truly inspired thinking has gone out of the window, But, there are others who hold the view that there is still plenty of scope for innovation, lateral thought and creative solutions. Despite the standardisation of modern life, there is an unabated appetite for great ideas, visionary thinking and inspired debate. In the first of a series of monthly debates on contemporary issues, we ask two original thinkers to discuss the nature of creativity. Here is the first one.
Yes. Absolutely. Since I started working as an inventor 10 or 12 years ago, I’ve seen a big change in attitudes to creativity and invention. Back then, there was hardly any support for inventors, apart from the national organisation the Institute of Patentees and Inventors. Today, there are lots of little inventors’ clubs popping up all over the place, my last count was 19 nationally and growing. These non-profit clubs, run by inventors for inventors, are an indication that people are once again interested in invention.
I’ve been a project leader, a croupier, an IT consultant and I’ve written a motor manual. I spent my teens under a 1950s two-tone Riley RME car, learning to put it together. Back in the Sixties, kids like me were always out doing things, making go-karts, riding bicycles or exploring. We learned to overcome challenges and solve problems. We weren’t just sitting at a PlayStation, like many kids do today.
But I think, and hope, things are shifting back. There’s a lot more interest in design and creativity and such talents are getting a much higher profile in the media. It’s evident with TV programmes such as Channel 4’s Scrapheap Challenge or BBC 2’s The Apprentice and Dragon’s Den, where people are given a task to solve or face the challenge of selling their idea to a panel.
And, thankfully, the image of the mad scientist with electrified hair working in the garden shed is long gone—although, there are still a few exceptions!
That’s not to say there aren’t problems. With the decline in manufacturing we are losing the ability to know how to make things. There’s a real skills gap developing. In my opinion, the government does little or nothing to help innovation at the lone-inventor or small or medium enterprise level. I would love to see more money spent on teaching our school kids how to be inventive. But, despite everything, if you have a good idea and real determination, you can still do very well.
My own specialist area is packaging closures—almost every product needs it. I got the idea for Squeezeopen after looking at an old tin of boot polish when my mother complained she couldn’t get the lid off. If you can do something cheaper, better, and you are 100 per-cent committed, there is a chance it will be a Success.
I see a fantastic amount of innovation and opportunities out there. People don’t realise how much is going on. New materials are coming out all the time and the space programme and scientific research are producing a variety of spin-offs. Innovation doesn’t have to be high-tech: creativity and inventing is about finding the right solution to a problem, whatever it is. There’s a lot of talent out there and, thankfully, some of the more progressive companies are suddenly realising they don’t want to miss out—it’s an exciting time.
Which of the following is the suggestion of the interviewer to the problem

A. The government should spend more money helping innovation.
B. The kids should cultivate their love of science and invention.
C. More inventor’s clubs should be set up.
D. Invention courses are necessary to children.

单项选择题

One of the more noted optical illusions in the annals of visual deception appeared in the night sky this week when a giant full moon appeared on the horizon. The giant ball of yellow-white light made the Moon appear to linger for longer, and Earth’s satellite seemed larger at that point in its journey across the sky than at any other position.
In fact, the size of the Moon in the sky does not vary and its apparent enlargement on the horizon is purely a trick of the eye. It was first written about by the ancient Chinese and Greeks—although scientists are still arguing over its cause. The illusion was especially visible on Wednesday night because this month’s full moon coincided with the summer solstice, while clear skies gave spectacular views as the moon rose slowly above the horizon. When the Moon is full, it and the Sun are on opposite sides of the sky. During summer, when the Sun rises high in our sky, the full moons are correspondingly low—allowing them to linger longer over the horizon.
The astronomer Sir Patrick Moore said that there was no doubt that when a full moon was low on the horizon it invariably looked bigger than when it was high up in the sky, but that this was purely an illusion. "The effect is visible at every full moon but was particularly good this time because the full moon was as low in the sky as it could ever be and appeared to hover above the horizon," Sir Patrick said.
One way of showing that the Moon does not really vary in size is to hold up a small coin to the sky to see how far away it can be held before it blocks out the Moon—it should do it at the same distance no matter where the Moon is positioned. "It has been known and commented on for many hundreds of years. An explanation was given by the last and greatest astronomer of ancient times, Ptolemy, who said the illusion was due to the fact that we were seeing the Moon across filled space and could compare it with objects such as trees and houses," Sir Patrick said.
The conventional explanation for the illusion today is that it is a combination of two psychological effects. The first is the Ponzo illusion, named after Mario Ponzo in 1913, who drew two identical bars across converging lines such as railway tracks. Both bars are the same size but the nearer looks smaller because the eye and the brain judge the farther bar to be bigger in proportion to its surroundings. This could explain why we perceive the Moon to be larger when it lies against a background of familiar objects such as trees and buildings.
However, critics of this idea point out that airline pilots flying at high altitudes sometimes experience the Moon illusion even without seeing any recognizable features on the horizon. And, curiously, the illusion disappears for many people when they bend down and watch a full moon through their legs.
The second explanation is that the brain does not see the sky as the "ceiling" of a true hemisphere, but rather as a flattened dome. In other words, objects that are overhead, such as flying birds, are perceived to be nearer than objects on the horizon—which is why we imagine objects on the horizon to be bigger than objects overhead.
But this explanation does not satisfy some scientists, either. In a theory similar in some ways to the Ponzo illusion, Professor Don McCready of the University of Wisconsin believes the true explanation rests in the fact that our brains tend to make objects smaller when they appear closer to us based on distance cues. When the Moon is on the horizon, the surroun-ding buildings and trees give us clues that it is very far away which causes the brain to perceive it to be larger than it would normally appear, Professor McCready said.
Which of the following is INCORRECT about Ponzo Illusion

A. It could explain why we perceive the Moon to be larger when it lies against a background of familiar objects.
B. The idea does not make sense without its surroundings or specific features on the horizon.
C. The idea puzzles many people when they watch a full moon through their legs.
D. It was named after Mario Ponzo in 1913.

单项选择题

Three years ago E]on College, a school of more than 4, 000 students with a rising academic reputation, decided it was no longer good marketing to be known as Fighting Christians and changed its mascot to the Phoenix, emblematic of its rebirth after a major fire in the 1920s.
Some alumni resisted, but the change produced nothing like the soul-searching the school went through when, five months later, it joined a major movement in US higher e-ducation by dropping the word "college" and renaming itself Elon University.
In the past 10 years, according to Higher Education Publications Inc. in Arlington, 161 other US colleges have done the same thing, for reasons that often have as much to do with image as academics. To make the situation more confusing, many of the new universities still advertise their collegelike atmosphere, while some institutions that call themselves colleges still tell potential applicants that they are just like universities.
Guess which image is more appealing to 21st-century teenagers and their tuition-paying parents George Dehne & Associates, a consulting firm, found that two-thirds of prospective students said they planned to enroll in a public or private university, not college. Dehne found that universities were more highly regarded than colleges by employers and graduate schools and more likely to be credited with having better students, a better social life, greater diversity of students, greater prestige and stronger science programs.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in Menlo Park, Calif. , classifies institutions based on the number and range of their academic program. "But the use of college, university or anything else in the name has nothing to do with it," said Alexander C. McCormick, senior scholar at the foundation. A few states regulate name changes of even private schools. In Oregon, a school that calls itself a university without authorization can be charged with "unlawful trade practices".
But in most cases, colleges can rename themselves if they choose, and very few of the bigger ones have resisted the temptation. Among the 228 universities ranked by U. S. News & World Report in its "America’s Best Colleges" guide, only three of them—Boston College (12,375 students), the College of William and Mary (7,500 students) and Dartmouth College (5,000 students)—insist on keeping the more intimate title.
The colleges that have made the switch call the renaming a reasoned response to the demands of students, faculty and modern preferences. Longwood College in Farmville, Va. , for instance, became a university in July because of the growth of its graduate programs and its effort to attain Division I athletic status among other factors.
Leo Lambert, the President of Elon University, said his school’s name change has worked out fine. He’s not sure there’s any connection, but applications have increased 30 percent since the switch, and campus visits are up 67 percent.
Lambert says he’s also seen signs of the power of the word "university". For instance, when he and his daughter Callie were visiting colleges last summer, they attended an information session at William and Mary. Although William and Mary officials said much about the virtues of intimacy, Lambert recalled, they also "took pains to make the point that they were really a university—law school, graduate programs, etc.—that chose to call itself a college.\
Which of the following is INCORRECT according to the passage

A. Renaming is a major movement in US higher education.
B. The reasons of renaming are closely related to the image as academics.
C. Only Dartmouth College has resisted the temptation of renaming.
D. It is found that two-thirds of the prospective students planned to enroll in a public or private university.

单项选择题

One of the more noted optical illusions in the annals of visual deception appeared in the night sky this week when a giant full moon appeared on the horizon. The giant ball of yellow-white light made the Moon appear to linger for longer, and Earth’s satellite seemed larger at that point in its journey across the sky than at any other position.
In fact, the size of the Moon in the sky does not vary and its apparent enlargement on the horizon is purely a trick of the eye. It was first written about by the ancient Chinese and Greeks—although scientists are still arguing over its cause. The illusion was especially visible on Wednesday night because this month’s full moon coincided with the summer solstice, while clear skies gave spectacular views as the moon rose slowly above the horizon. When the Moon is full, it and the Sun are on opposite sides of the sky. During summer, when the Sun rises high in our sky, the full moons are correspondingly low—allowing them to linger longer over the horizon.
The astronomer Sir Patrick Moore said that there was no doubt that when a full moon was low on the horizon it invariably looked bigger than when it was high up in the sky, but that this was purely an illusion. "The effect is visible at every full moon but was particularly good this time because the full moon was as low in the sky as it could ever be and appeared to hover above the horizon," Sir Patrick said.
One way of showing that the Moon does not really vary in size is to hold up a small coin to the sky to see how far away it can be held before it blocks out the Moon—it should do it at the same distance no matter where the Moon is positioned. "It has been known and commented on for many hundreds of years. An explanation was given by the last and greatest astronomer of ancient times, Ptolemy, who said the illusion was due to the fact that we were seeing the Moon across filled space and could compare it with objects such as trees and houses," Sir Patrick said.
The conventional explanation for the illusion today is that it is a combination of two psychological effects. The first is the Ponzo illusion, named after Mario Ponzo in 1913, who drew two identical bars across converging lines such as railway tracks. Both bars are the same size but the nearer looks smaller because the eye and the brain judge the farther bar to be bigger in proportion to its surroundings. This could explain why we perceive the Moon to be larger when it lies against a background of familiar objects such as trees and buildings.
However, critics of this idea point out that airline pilots flying at high altitudes sometimes experience the Moon illusion even without seeing any recognizable features on the horizon. And, curiously, the illusion disappears for many people when they bend down and watch a full moon through their legs.
The second explanation is that the brain does not see the sky as the "ceiling" of a true hemisphere, but rather as a flattened dome. In other words, objects that are overhead, such as flying birds, are perceived to be nearer than objects on the horizon—which is why we imagine objects on the horizon to be bigger than objects overhead.
But this explanation does not satisfy some scientists, either. In a theory similar in some ways to the Ponzo illusion, Professor Don McCready of the University of Wisconsin believes the true explanation rests in the fact that our brains tend to make objects smaller when they appear closer to us based on distance cues. When the Moon is on the horizon, the surroun-ding buildings and trees give us clues that it is very far away which causes the brain to perceive it to be larger than it would normally appear, Professor McCready said.
The passage suggests that there is ______.

A. no final answer to the Moon illusion
B. no final answer to the size of the Moon
C. a definite answer to the Moon illusion
D. no final answer to people’s visual illusion

单项选择题

Three years ago E]on College, a school of more than 4, 000 students with a rising academic reputation, decided it was no longer good marketing to be known as Fighting Christians and changed its mascot to the Phoenix, emblematic of its rebirth after a major fire in the 1920s.
Some alumni resisted, but the change produced nothing like the soul-searching the school went through when, five months later, it joined a major movement in US higher e-ducation by dropping the word "college" and renaming itself Elon University.
In the past 10 years, according to Higher Education Publications Inc. in Arlington, 161 other US colleges have done the same thing, for reasons that often have as much to do with image as academics. To make the situation more confusing, many of the new universities still advertise their collegelike atmosphere, while some institutions that call themselves colleges still tell potential applicants that they are just like universities.
Guess which image is more appealing to 21st-century teenagers and their tuition-paying parents George Dehne & Associates, a consulting firm, found that two-thirds of prospective students said they planned to enroll in a public or private university, not college. Dehne found that universities were more highly regarded than colleges by employers and graduate schools and more likely to be credited with having better students, a better social life, greater diversity of students, greater prestige and stronger science programs.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in Menlo Park, Calif. , classifies institutions based on the number and range of their academic program. "But the use of college, university or anything else in the name has nothing to do with it," said Alexander C. McCormick, senior scholar at the foundation. A few states regulate name changes of even private schools. In Oregon, a school that calls itself a university without authorization can be charged with "unlawful trade practices".
But in most cases, colleges can rename themselves if they choose, and very few of the bigger ones have resisted the temptation. Among the 228 universities ranked by U. S. News & World Report in its "America’s Best Colleges" guide, only three of them—Boston College (12,375 students), the College of William and Mary (7,500 students) and Dartmouth College (5,000 students)—insist on keeping the more intimate title.
The colleges that have made the switch call the renaming a reasoned response to the demands of students, faculty and modern preferences. Longwood College in Farmville, Va. , for instance, became a university in July because of the growth of its graduate programs and its effort to attain Division I athletic status among other factors.
Leo Lambert, the President of Elon University, said his school’s name change has worked out fine. He’s not sure there’s any connection, but applications have increased 30 percent since the switch, and campus visits are up 67 percent.
Lambert says he’s also seen signs of the power of the word "university". For instance, when he and his daughter Callie were visiting colleges last summer, they attended an information session at William and Mary. Although William and Mary officials said much about the virtues of intimacy, Lambert recalled, they also "took pains to make the point that they were really a university—law school, graduate programs, etc.—that chose to call itself a college.\
What can we infer from the passage

A. The main purpose for the school’s name change is to attract more applications.
B. The school’s name change has no much effect on the number of applications.
C. The school’s name change has damaged their academic image.
D. The school’s name change has improved their academic image and been more attractive to students.

单项选择题

Some believe that in the age of identikit computer games, mass entertainment and conformity on the supermarket shelves, truly inspired thinking has gone out of the window, But, there are others who hold the view that there is still plenty of scope for innovation, lateral thought and creative solutions. Despite the standardisation of modern life, there is an unabated appetite for great ideas, visionary thinking and inspired debate. In the first of a series of monthly debates on contemporary issues, we ask two original thinkers to discuss the nature of creativity. Here is the first one.
Yes. Absolutely. Since I started working as an inventor 10 or 12 years ago, I’ve seen a big change in attitudes to creativity and invention. Back then, there was hardly any support for inventors, apart from the national organisation the Institute of Patentees and Inventors. Today, there are lots of little inventors’ clubs popping up all over the place, my last count was 19 nationally and growing. These non-profit clubs, run by inventors for inventors, are an indication that people are once again interested in invention.
I’ve been a project leader, a croupier, an IT consultant and I’ve written a motor manual. I spent my teens under a 1950s two-tone Riley RME car, learning to put it together. Back in the Sixties, kids like me were always out doing things, making go-karts, riding bicycles or exploring. We learned to overcome challenges and solve problems. We weren’t just sitting at a PlayStation, like many kids do today.
But I think, and hope, things are shifting back. There’s a lot more interest in design and creativity and such talents are getting a much higher profile in the media. It’s evident with TV programmes such as Channel 4’s Scrapheap Challenge or BBC 2’s The Apprentice and Dragon’s Den, where people are given a task to solve or face the challenge of selling their idea to a panel.
And, thankfully, the image of the mad scientist with electrified hair working in the garden shed is long gone—although, there are still a few exceptions!
That’s not to say there aren’t problems. With the decline in manufacturing we are losing the ability to know how to make things. There’s a real skills gap developing. In my opinion, the government does little or nothing to help innovation at the lone-inventor or small or medium enterprise level. I would love to see more money spent on teaching our school kids how to be inventive. But, despite everything, if you have a good idea and real determination, you can still do very well.
My own specialist area is packaging closures—almost every product needs it. I got the idea for Squeezeopen after looking at an old tin of boot polish when my mother complained she couldn’t get the lid off. If you can do something cheaper, better, and you are 100 per-cent committed, there is a chance it will be a Success.
I see a fantastic amount of innovation and opportunities out there. People don’t realise how much is going on. New materials are coming out all the time and the space programme and scientific research are producing a variety of spin-offs. Innovation doesn’t have to be high-tech: creativity and inventing is about finding the right solution to a problem, whatever it is. There’s a lot of talent out there and, thankfully, some of the more progressive companies are suddenly realising they don’t want to miss out—it’s an exciting time.
What’s the central idea of the last paragraph

A. We should miss out the exciting time.
B. A variety of spin-offs are produced by the scientific research.
C. What the nature of innovation is.
D. What the nature of talent is.