Scientists have discovered a genetic defect that a...

Human feelings are affected by color unconsciously. Manufacturers have discovered by trial and error that sugar sells badly in green wrappings, that blue foods are considered by consumers as tasteless, and that cosmetics should never be packaged in brown. These discoveries have grown into a whole discipline of color psychology. Some of our preferences are clearly psychological. Dark blue is the color of the night sky and therefore associated with calm, while yellow is a key color in association with energy. For primitive men. activity during the day meant hunting and attacking, in which he soon saw as red, the color of blood and hunting and fire. So it was natural that green, the complementary color to red, should be associated with passive defense. Experiments have shown that colors also have a direct psychological effect. People, when exposed to bright red, show an increase in breathing rate, heart beat and blood pressure. Red is exciting. Similar exposure to pure blue has exactly the opposite effect, because it is a calming color. Because red has an implication of excitement, it is chosen as the signal for danger. Some analyses show that a vivid yellow can produce a more basic state of alertness and alarm. So fire engines and ambulances in some advanced countries are now rushing around in bright yellow colors that stop traffic dead.

If people are exposed to red, which of the following statements does NOT happen?

A．They feel afraid.

B．They breathe faster.

C．Their blood pressure rises.

D．Their hearts beat faster.

Gordon Shaw the physicist, 66, and colleagues have discovered what's known as the "Mozart effect," the ability of a Mozart sonata, under the right circumstances, to improve the listener's mathematical and reasoning abilities. But the findings are controversial and have launched all kinds of crank notions about using music to make kids smarter. The hype, he warns, has gotten out of hand.

But first, the essence: Is there something about the brain cells work to explain the effect? In 1978 the neuroscientist Vernon Mountcastle devised a model of the neural structure of the brain's gray matter. Looking like a thick band of colorful bead work, it represents the firing patterns of groups of neurons. Building on Mounteastle, Shaw and his team constructed a model of their own. On a lark, Xiaodan Leng, who was Shaw's colleague at the time, used a synthesizer to translate these patterns into music. What came out of the speakers wasn't exactly toe-tapping, but it was music. Shaw and Leng inferred that music and brain-wave activity are built on the same sort of patterns.

"Gordon is a contrarian in his thinking," says his longtime friend, Nobel Prize-winning Stanford physicist Martin Peri. "That's important. In new areas of science, such as brain research, nobody knows how to do it."

What do neuroscientists and psychologists think of Shaw's findings?' They haven't condemned it, but neither have they confirmed it. Maybe you have to take them with a grain of salt, but the experiments by Shaw and his colleagues are intriguing. In March a team led by Shaw announced that young children who had listened to the Mozart sonata and studied the piano over a period of months improved their scores by 27% on a test of ratios and proportions. The control group against which they were measured received compatible enrichment courses--minus the music. The Mozart-trained kids are now doing math three grade levels ahead of their peers, Shaw claims.

Proof of all this, of course, is necessarily elusive because it can be difficult to do a double- blind experiment of educational techniques. In a double-blind trial of an arthritis drug, neither the study subjects nor the experts evaluating them know which ones got the test treatment and which a dummy pill. How do you keep the participants from knowing it's Mozart on the CD?

In the first paragraph Gordon Shaw's concern is shown over ______.

A．the open hostility by the media towards his findings

B．his strength to keep trying out the "Mozart effect"

C．a widespread misunderstanding of his findings

D．the sharp disagreement about his discovery

听力原文： Researchers have discovered a link between drinking and thinking. A moderate amount of alcohol may help us keep our mental abilities as we age. Brain scans show alcohol abuse kills brain cells. But little is known about the effects of life long drinking. So moderate drinkers may want to toast new findings from researchers at Duke, and Indiana University. Dr. Joe Christian of Indiana University says men who have one or two drinks each day retain slightly stronger comprehension skills than the non-drinker or the heavy drinker. The doctor and his colleagues give metal tests to nearly 4,000 twins between ages of 66 and 76. The moderate drinkers had slightly better reasoning ability than their brothers or sisters who drink more or less. Other studies have found that alcohol in moderation can help the heart. But alcohol abuse can cause bone loss and other health problems. This study was presented at an alcoholism meeting in San Antonio.

(30)

A．Alcohol helps develop people's intelligence.

B．Heavy drinking is not necessarily harmful to one's health.

C．Controlled drinking helps people keep their wits as they age.

D．Drinking, even moderately, may harm one's health.

The fact that people can "see" things using other parts of their bodies apart from their eyes may help us to understand our feelings about color. If they can sense color differences then perhaps we, too, are affected by color unconsciously.

Manufacturers have discovered by trail and error that sugar sells badly in green wrappings, that blue foods are considered unpleasant, and that cosmetics (化妆品) should never be packaged in brown. These discoveries have grown into a whole discipline of color psychology that now finds application in everything from fashion to interior decoration. Some of our preferences are clearly psychological. Dark blue is the colour of the night sky therefore associated with passivity and calm, while yellow is a day color with associations and incentive (刺激). For primitive man, activity during the day meant hunting and attacking, while he soon saw a red, the color of blood and rage and the heat that came with effort. And green is associated with passive defense and self-preservation. Experiments have shown that colors, partly because of their physiological associations, also have a direct psychological effect. People exposed to bright red show an increase in heart beat, and blood pressure; red is exciting. Similar exposure to pure blue has exactly the opposite effect; it is a calming color. Because of its exciting connotations (涵义) , red was chosen as the signal [or danger, but closer analysis shows that 'a vivid yellow can produce a more basic state of alertness and alarm, so fire engines and ambulances in some advanced communities are now rushing around in bright yellow colors that stop the traffic dead.

Manufacturers found out that color affects sales ______.

A．by experience over a long period of time

B．by experimenting with different colors

C．by trying out color on blind people

D．by developing the discipline of color psychology

A．They will probably have a genetic defect.

B．They will feel dazzling.

C．They will lose their appetite.

D．They are more likely to be in positive moods.

The fact that blind people can "see" things using other parts of their bodies apart from their eyes may help us to understand our feelings about color. If they can sense color differences, then perhaps we, too, are affected by color unconsciously.

Manufacturers have discovered by trial and error that sugar sells badly in green wrappings, that blue foods are considered unpleasant, and the cosmetics should never be packaged in brown. These discoveries have grown into a whole discipline of color psychology that now finds application in everything from fashion to interior decoration. Some of our preferences are clearly psychological. Dark blue is the color of the night sky and therefore associated with passivity and calm, while yellow is a day color with associations of energy and incentive. For primitive man, activity during the day meant hunting and attacking, while he soon saw as red, the color of blood and rage and the heat that came with effort. And green is associated with passive defence and self-preservation. Experiments have shown that colors, partly because of their physiological associations, also have a direct psychological effect. People exposed to bright red show an increase in heartbeat, and blood pressure; red is exciting. Similar exposure to pure blue has exactly the opposite effect; it is a calming color. Because of its exciting connotations, red was chosen as the signal for danger, but closer analysis shows that a vivid yellow can produce a more basic state of alertness and alarm, so fire engines and ambulances in some advanced communities are now rushing around in bright yellow colors.

Manufacturers found out that color affects sales______.

A．by experience over a long period of time

B．by experimenting with different colors

C．by trying out color on blind people

D．by developing the discipline of color psychology