Reading Comprehension (40 minutes) Section A Directions: In this section , there is a passage w ith ten blanks . You are required to select one w ord for each blank from a list of choices gi v en in a w ord bank follo w ing the passage . Read the passage through carefully before making your choices . Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter . Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on the Ans w er Sheet . You may not use any of the w ords in the bank more than once . Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage. There are several methods we can use to reduce __ 36 __ about others : watching , without being noticed , a person interacting with others , particularly with others who are known to you so you can __ 37 __ the observed person's behavior with the known others' behavior; observing a person in a __ 38 __ where social behavior is relatively unrestrained or where a wide variety of behavioral responses are called for; deliberately structuring the __ 39 __or social environment so as to observe how the person respond; asking people who have had or have frequent __ 40 __ with the person about him or her; and using various __ 41 __ in face­to­face interaction to uncover information about another person—questions , self­disclosures , and so on. Getting to know someone is a never­ending __ 42 __ , largely because people are constantly changing and the methods we use to obtain information are often imprecise. You may have known someone for ten years and still know very little about him. If we accept the idea that we won't ever fully know another person , it enables us to deal more easily with those things that get in the way of accurate __ 43 __ such as secrets and deceptions. It will also keep us from being too surprised or __ 44 __ by seemingly inconsistent behavior. Ironically those things that keep us from knowing another person too well may be just as important to the development of __ 45 __ relationship. A) situation I) severe B) uncertainties J) strategies C) intense K) shocked D) knowledge L) task E) contact M) compare F) satisfying N) lack G) express O) physical H) realization Section B Directions: In this section , you are going to read a passage w ith ten statements attached to it . Each statement contains information gi v en in one of the paragraphs . Identify the paragraph from w hich the information is deri v ed . You may choose a paragraph more than once . Each paragraph is marked w ith a letter . Ans w er the questions by marking the corresponding letter on the Ans w er Sheet. Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities beyond Normal Limits A) There seems to be a simple way to instantly increase a person's level of general knowledge. Psychologists Ulrich Weger and Stephen Loughnan recently asked two groups of people to answer questions. People in one group were told that before each question , the answer would be briefly flashed on their screens — too quickly to consciously perceive , but slow enough for their unconscious to take it in. The other group was told that the flashes simply signaled the next question. In fact , for both groups , a random string of letters , not the answers , was flashed. But , remarkably , the people who thought the answers were flashed did better on the test. Expecting to know the answers made people more likely to get the answers right. B) Our cogniti v e and physical abilities are in general limited , but our conceptions of the nature and extent of those limits may need revising. In many cases , thinking that we are limited is itself a limiting factor. There is growing evidence that suggests that our thoughts are often capable of extending our cognitive and physical limits. C) Can our thoughts improve our vision? We tend to believe that an essentially mechanical process determines how well we see. Recent research by Ellen Langer and colleagues suggests otherwise. It is a common belief that fighter pilots have very good vision. The researchers put people in the mindset of an Air Force pilot by bringing them into a flight simulator . People were given green army uniforms; they sat in the pilot's seat , and performed simple flight maneuvers. They took a vision test while “flying” the simulator. A control group took the same vision test in the cockpit while the simulator was inactive. People's vision improved only if they were in the working simulator. D) To rule out the possible effect of moti v ation , the researchers brought another group of people into the cockpit and asked them to read a brief essay on motivation. After people finished reading , they were strongly urged to be as motivated as possible and try hard to perform well in the vision test. The test was conducted while the simulator was inactive. They did not show a significant improvement. E) Though we tend to think that our bodies respond to physical exercise in a mechanical way , merely changing our thoughts about our physical activity seems capable of changing our bodies. Hotel room attendants clean on average 15 rooms per day , each room taking between 20 and 30 minutes to complete. However , most hotel room attendants believe that they do not get regular exercise; and a lot of them believe that they do not get any exercise at all. Alia Crum and Ellen Langer told one group of hotel room attendants that their work provided the recommended exercise for a healthy lifestyle while another of hotel room attendants were not told the same thing. Four weeks later , people in the first group lost weight and reported other signs of physical health. People in the control group showed no such improvement. F) Recent research on placebos gives us signs about the mechanisms by which our mental activity causes these effects. In a conceptual reproduction of earlier work , Antonella Pollo and colleagues asked people to lift a certain amount of weight before and after drinking caffeine at high doses. The liquid in fact contained no caffeine , but the weight was secretly reduced after people drank it. That way , people learned to associate the liquid with less tiredness. Later , when people lifted the original weight after drinking the liquid , they experienced less tiredness. It seems that a central part of the nerve system held in check the tiredness response. G) Expectancies , such as expecting that one's work will bring about health benefits , are capable of producing physiological outcomes. Learned associations , such as the association between being an Air Force pilot and having good vision , can alter other cognitive processes , such as visual perception. Meanwhile , placebo effects observed in clinical research work via expectancies and learned associations created by fake operations , sham drugs , etc. Such expectancies and learned associations have been shown to change the chemistry and circuitry of the brain. H) These changes may result in such physiological and cognitive outcomes as less tiredness , less immune system reaction , increased hormone levels , and less anxiety. The interventions that resulted in better performance in a knowledge test or better vision are placebos outside of the clinical context. However , the nerve mechanisms by which they operate are probably similar. These are likely indications of an adaptation that helped us survive throughout our evolutionary history by helping us prepare for the future. For example , when subtle signs in an environment causes thoughts about a predator , that in turn causes physiological changes that prepare the body for the coming confrontation even before the predator comes into sight. I) If mindsets can change us , maybe we can purposely choose our mindsets to improve our abilities. We can choose to adopt a mindset that improves creativity , for instance. People who think of categories as flexible and actively focus on the novel aspects of the environment become more creative. Ellen Langer and Alison Piper introduced people to familiar or unfamiliar objects conditionally or unconditionally. If an object , say a dog's chew toy , was introduced unconditionally , its description simply read , “This is a dog's chew toy.” When the dog's chew toy was introduced conditionally , its description read , “This could be a dog's chew toy.” When an object is introduced conditionally , it is categorized flexibly; and it is easier to focus on the aspects of an unfamiliar object without preconceptions. When people were asked to solve a problem that required creative use of available objects , only people who were introduced conditionally to unfamiliar objects could solve the problem. 46. Expectancies and learned associations can change the way the human brain functions. 47. Our minds can be tricked by placebos in a controlled experiment. 48. The human evolutionary history reveals the adaption ability of the human beings to survive. 49. When people are introduced to something conditionally , they tend to be influenced less by their preconceptions. 50. Our cognitive and physical abilities can be strengthened by our thoughts. 51. It is possible for human beings to improve their abilities by consciously working their brains. 52. The research done by Ellen Langer and colleagues suggested that our vision can be improved by our thoughts. 53. The tiredness response in the human mind can be controlled by part of the nerve system. 54. Ulrich Weger and Stephen Loughnan believe that expecting to know the answers helps people to answer the questions right. 55. The perception that our bodies respond to physical exercise is found untrue by one research. Section C Directions: There are 2 passages in this section . Each passage is follo w ed by some questions or unfinished statements . For each of them there are four choices marked A ) , B ) , C ) and D ) . You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Ans w er Sheet . Passage One Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage. The Persian Gulf may be rich with money from oil , but i