首先，就文章题材而言，不同于往常的新旧文章搭配，此次三篇文章均为新题。最近人文艺术类型的文章考察的较为频繁，此次也不另外，在第一篇和第三篇文章中体现，分别是人物传记和音乐天才。第二篇天文类的文章，虽然属于频率较小的文章，最近有上升的趋势，很多同学对这类题材文章不熟悉，阅读速度因而相应下降。关于天文类的文章，多阅读此类文章，推荐Americanscientist 和nationalgeographic。整体而言，本次考试难易结合，一三篇对应的题目较易，特别是第三篇，全部题目基本上按序在文中出现。以下为各篇文章的具体细节。
Passage1 The extraordinary Watkin Tench
大致内容：Watkin Tench的传记类的文章，涉及到澳大利亚土著人，英国罪犯送往澳大利亚
T/F/NG
A great deal was known about Tench before arriving to Australia. FALSE
Tench drew pictures of what he saw during his journey? NOT GIVEN
generally treat convicts well. FALSE
Tench's opinion towards Aboriginals remained unchanged. FALSE
An Aboriginals gave Tench food as a gift when they first met. NOTGIVEN
Tench held unusual opinion in his time. TRUE
Short answers
What concrete information proved Tench had a good education background?
Diaries
What was used to control convicts?
Chains
Who told Tench to punish Aboriginals?
Governor Phillip
What activity did they engage on their way to H... River?
Food hunting
Where did the escaped convicts intend to go?
China
Where did Tench meet the first Aboriginal ?
Botany Bay
Related Passage:
Watkin Tench (1758?-1833), officer of marines and author, was born between May 1758 and May 1759 at Chester, England, the son of Fisher Tench and his wife Margaret (Margaritta). His father, a native of Chester, was a dancing master and proprietor of 'a most respectable boarding school', which was no doubt the source of Tench's very sound education and of the influential contacts, especially with the Wynne Williams family, which helped to launch him on his career. The year before Watkin's birth Fisher Tench became a freeman of Chester on the nomination of the mayor. Several children born before Watkin had died in infancy; only two, John and Watkin, survived their father, who died in 1784.
Read more at //adb.anu.edu.au/biography/tench-watkin-2719
Passage 2 making the images from space more accessible
大致内容：讨论业余天文学家的价值所在
段落信息匹配题 NB
A particular method used to improve the image from Titan C
What amateurs astronomers often see. E
The development of media used by amateur astronomer. G
The geographic highlights made by Lieken C
人名匹配题
How to utilize amateurs. Ed Flaspoehler
Amateur astronomers should be commened. Lebreton
Cooperation between professionals and amateurs would make people know how exciting the astronomy is. Robert MIlkey
The amateurs outnumbered professionals. Ed Flaspoehler
The developed technology would help amateur astronomers do scientific jobs. Robert MIlkey
Professionals have a better understanding than amateurs. Lieken
Sectence completion
Send the image through. Cassini spacecraft
Lieken's group was aware...store the image at a location in. Arizona University
In the 1990s, ...cheap digital cameras
Related Passage:
"Image is everything," goes the advertising adage. A curious twist of that notion emerged following the landing in January of the European Space Agency's (ESA) probe Huygens on Titan, Saturn's largest moon. The first images beamed from the probe via the Cassini spacecraft thrilled scientists but barely inspired most of the public. Peter Hartlaub, writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, lamented:
Read more at //www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/2005/5/improve-your-image
Passage 3. Musical experts
大致内容：音乐天才是先天决定的，还是后天大量练习成就的，其中大篇幅强调长时间练习的重要性。
单选题
what's the definition of "talent" in the first paragraph?
Brain structure different from others
What can we learn from violin players?
Not sure the change of brain size is the cause of effect of practice
The result of findings by experts suggest
Talent may have little to do with...
Y/N/NG
Ericsson's study has influenced other researchers. NOT GIVEN
The other areas have one thing in common. YES
Those who become world-scale practice regularly every day NOT GIVEN
Anyone who practiced over 10,000 will become a talent. NO
Current learning and cognitive skills support the practice theory. YES
选项式summary： Mozart
receive a lot of practice from his father......first symphony at the age of four.............
not popular, but..........inherited
Related Passage:
In response to my last post on Musical Geniuses, I was accused of being a simple minded nurturist, a proponent of environmental determinism. So I thought I would take a moment and elaborate on why people with extraordinary talent – like Mozart, or Michael Jordan, or this Jay Greenberg kid – aren’t testaments to genetics. Rather, they are testaments to neural plasticity and the benefits of practice.
Read more at //scienceblogs.com/cortex/2006/08/15/talent-and-practice/
(编辑：suyan)