英语 热门试卷

                                C

       PeteRichards was the loneliest man in town on the day that little Jean Grace openedthe door of his shop．

       Pete'sgrandfather had owned the shop until his death．Then the shop became Pete's．The front windowwas full of beautiful old things: jewelry of a hundred years ago, gold andsilver boxes, carved figures from China and Japan and other nations．

       On thiswinter afternoon, a child stood there, her face close to the window．With large and seriouseyes, she studied each piece in the window．Then, looking pleased, shestepped back from the window and went into the shop．Pete himselfstood behind the counter．His eyes were cold as he lookedat the small girl．" Please," she began, " would you let me lookat the pretty string of blue beads in the window?" Pete took the string ofblue beads from the window．The beads were beautiful againsthis hand as he held the necklace up for her to see．

       "Theyare just right," said the child as though she were alone with the beads．"Will youwrap them up in pretty paper for me, please? I've been looking for a reallywonderful Christmas present for my sister．

       "Howmuch money do you have?" asked Pete．

       She put ahandful of pennies on the counter．"This is all Ihave," she explained simply．"I've been saving themoney for my sister's present．"

       Petelooked at her, his eyes thoughtful．Then he carefully closed hishand over the price mark on the necklace so that she could not see it．How could he tellher the price? The happy look in her big blue eyes struck him like the pain ofan old wound．

       "Justa minute," he said and went to the back of the shop．"What's yourname?" he called out．He was very busy aboutsomething．

       "JeanGrace," answered the child．

       When Petereturned to the front of the shop, he held a package in his hand．It was v/rappedin pretty Christmas paper．

       "Thereyou are," he said．"Don't lose it on the way home．"

       She smiledhappily at him as she ran out of the door．Through the window hewatched her go．He felt more alone than ever．

       Somethingabout Jean Grace and her string of beads had made him feel once more the painof his old grief．The child's hair was as yellow as the sunlight; her eyes wereas blue as the sea．Once upon a time, Pete had loved a girl with hair of thatsame yellow and with eyes just as blue．And the necklace of bluestones had been meant for her．

       But onerainy night, a car had gone off the road and struck the girl．After she died,Pete felt that he had nothing left in the world except his grief．The blue eyes ofJean Grace brought him out of that world of self-pity and made him rememberagain all that he had lost．The pain of remembering wasso great that Pete wanted to run away from the happy Christmas shoppers whocame to look at his beautiful old things during the next ten days.

       When thelast shopper had gone, late on Christmas Eve, The door opened and a young womancame in．Pete could not understand it, but he felt that he had seenher before．Her hair was sunlight yellow and her eyes were sea-blue．Without speaking,she put on the counter a package wrapped in pretty Christmas paper．When Pete openedthe package, the string of blue beads lay again before him．

       Did thiscome from your shop?" she asked．

       Petelooked at her with eyes no longer cold．"Yes, it did," hesaid．

       "Are thestones real?"

       "Yes．They aren't thebest turquoise（绿松石）, but they are real．"

       "Canyou remember to whom you sold them?"

       "Shewas a small girl．Her name was Jean．She wanted them for hersister's Christmas present．"

       "Howmuch were they?"

       "Ican't tell you that," he said．"The seller never tellsanyone else what a buyer pays．"

       "ButJean has never had more than a few pennies．How could she pay forthem?"

       "Shepaid the biggest price one can ever pay," he said．

       For amoment there was no sound in the little shop．Then somewhere in the city,church bells began to ring．It was midnight and thebeginning of another Christmas Day．

       "Butwhy did you do it?" the girl asked．

       Pete put thepackage into her hands．

       "Thereis no one else to whom I can give a Christmas present," he said．"It isalready Christmas morning．Will you let me take you toyour home? I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas at your door．"

       And so, tothe sound of many bells, Pete Richards and a girl whose name he had not yet learnedwalked out into the hope and happiness of a new Christmas Day.

Pete did not say the price of the necklace because ______.

                                C

       PeteRichards was the loneliest man in town on the day that little Jean Grace openedthe door of his shop．

       Pete'sgrandfather had owned the shop until his death．Then the shop became Pete's．The front windowwas full of beautiful old things: jewelry of a hundred years ago, gold andsilver boxes, carved figures from China and Japan and other nations．

       On thiswinter afternoon, a child stood there, her face close to the window．With large and seriouseyes, she studied each piece in the window．Then, looking pleased, shestepped back from the window and went into the shop．Pete himselfstood behind the counter．His eyes were cold as he lookedat the small girl．" Please," she began, " would you let me lookat the pretty string of blue beads in the window?" Pete took the string ofblue beads from the window．The beads were beautiful againsthis hand as he held the necklace up for her to see．

       "Theyare just right," said the child as though she were alone with the beads．"Will youwrap them up in pretty paper for me, please? I've been looking for a reallywonderful Christmas present for my sister．

       "Howmuch money do you have?" asked Pete．

       She put ahandful of pennies on the counter．"This is all Ihave," she explained simply．"I've been saving themoney for my sister's present．"

       Petelooked at her, his eyes thoughtful．Then he carefully closed hishand over the price mark on the necklace so that she could not see it．How could he tellher the price? The happy look in her big blue eyes struck him like the pain ofan old wound．

       "Justa minute," he said and went to the back of the shop．"What's yourname?" he called out．He was very busy aboutsomething．

       "JeanGrace," answered the child．

       When Petereturned to the front of the shop, he held a package in his hand．It was v/rappedin pretty Christmas paper．

       "Thereyou are," he said．"Don't lose it on the way home．"

       She smiledhappily at him as she ran out of the door．Through the window hewatched her go．He felt more alone than ever．

       Somethingabout Jean Grace and her string of beads had made him feel once more the painof his old grief．The child's hair was as yellow as the sunlight; her eyes wereas blue as the sea．Once upon a time, Pete had loved a girl with hair of thatsame yellow and with eyes just as blue．And the necklace of bluestones had been meant for her．

       But onerainy night, a car had gone off the road and struck the girl．After she died,Pete felt that he had nothing left in the world except his grief．The blue eyes ofJean Grace brought him out of that world of self-pity and made him rememberagain all that he had lost．The pain of remembering wasso great that Pete wanted to run away from the happy Christmas shoppers whocame to look at his beautiful old things during the next ten days.

       When thelast shopper had gone, late on Christmas Eve, The door opened and a young womancame in．Pete could not understand it, but he felt that he had seenher before．Her hair was sunlight yellow and her eyes were sea-blue．Without speaking,she put on the counter a package wrapped in pretty Christmas paper．When Pete openedthe package, the string of blue beads lay again before him．

       Did thiscome from your shop?" she asked．

       Petelooked at her with eyes no longer cold．"Yes, it did," hesaid．

       "Are thestones real?"

       "Yes．They aren't thebest turquoise（绿松石）, but they are real．"

       "Canyou remember to whom you sold them?"

       "Shewas a small girl．Her name was Jean．She wanted them for hersister's Christmas present．"

       "Howmuch were they?"

       "Ican't tell you that," he said．"The seller never tellsanyone else what a buyer pays．"

       "ButJean has never had more than a few pennies．How could she pay forthem?"

       "Shepaid the biggest price one can ever pay," he said．

       For amoment there was no sound in the little shop．Then somewhere in the city,church bells began to ring．It was midnight and thebeginning of another Christmas Day．

       "Butwhy did you do it?" the girl asked．

       Pete put thepackage into her hands．

       "Thereis no one else to whom I can give a Christmas present," he said．"It isalready Christmas morning．Will you let me take you toyour home? I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas at your door．"

       And so, tothe sound of many bells, Pete Richards and a girl whose name he had not yet learnedwalked out into the hope and happiness of a new Christmas Day.

The eyes of Jean Grace brought Pete out of his world of self-pity and he ______.

                                C

       PeteRichards was the loneliest man in town on the day that little Jean Grace openedthe door of his shop．

       Pete'sgrandfather had owned the shop until his death．Then the shop became Pete's．The front windowwas full of beautiful old things: jewelry of a hundred years ago, gold andsilver boxes, carved figures from China and Japan and other nations．

       On thiswinter afternoon, a child stood there, her face close to the window．With large and seriouseyes, she studied each piece in the window．Then, looking pleased, shestepped back from the window and went into the shop．Pete himselfstood behind the counter．His eyes were cold as he lookedat the small girl．" Please," she began, " would you let me lookat the pretty string of blue beads in the window?" Pete took the string ofblue beads from the window．The beads were beautiful againsthis hand as he held the necklace up for her to see．

       "Theyare just right," said the child as though she were alone with the beads．"Will youwrap them up in pretty paper for me, please? I've been looking for a reallywonderful Christmas present for my sister．

       "Howmuch money do you have?" asked Pete．

       She put ahandful of pennies on the counter．"This is all Ihave," she explained simply．"I've been saving themoney for my sister's present．"

       Petelooked at her, his eyes thoughtful．Then he carefully closed hishand over the price mark on the necklace so that she could not see it．How could he tellher the price? The happy look in her big blue eyes struck him like the pain ofan old wound．

       "Justa minute," he said and went to the back of the shop．"What's yourname?" he called out．He was very busy aboutsomething．

       "JeanGrace," answered the child．

       When Petereturned to the front of the shop, he held a package in his hand．It was v/rappedin pretty Christmas paper．

       "Thereyou are," he said．"Don't lose it on the way home．"

       She smiledhappily at him as she ran out of the door．Through the window hewatched her go．He felt more alone than ever．

       Somethingabout Jean Grace and her string of beads had made him feel once more the painof his old grief．The child's hair was as yellow as the sunlight; her eyes wereas blue as the sea．Once upon a time, Pete had loved a girl with hair of thatsame yellow and with eyes just as blue．And the necklace of bluestones had been meant for her．

       But onerainy night, a car had gone off the road and struck the girl．After she died,Pete felt that he had nothing left in the world except his grief．The blue eyes ofJean Grace brought him out of that world of self-pity and made him rememberagain all that he had lost．The pain of remembering wasso great that Pete wanted to run away from the happy Christmas shoppers whocame to look at his beautiful old things during the next ten days.

       When thelast shopper had gone, late on Christmas Eve, The door opened and a young womancame in．Pete could not understand it, but he felt that he had seenher before．Her hair was sunlight yellow and her eyes were sea-blue．Without speaking,she put on the counter a package wrapped in pretty Christmas paper．When Pete openedthe package, the string of blue beads lay again before him．

       Did thiscome from your shop?" she asked．

       Petelooked at her with eyes no longer cold．"Yes, it did," hesaid．

       "Are thestones real?"

       "Yes．They aren't thebest turquoise（绿松石）, but they are real．"

       "Canyou remember to whom you sold them?"

       "Shewas a small girl．Her name was Jean．She wanted them for hersister's Christmas present．"

       "Howmuch were they?"

       "Ican't tell you that," he said．"The seller never tellsanyone else what a buyer pays．"

       "ButJean has never had more than a few pennies．How could she pay forthem?"

       "Shepaid the biggest price one can ever pay," he said．

       For amoment there was no sound in the little shop．Then somewhere in the city,church bells began to ring．It was midnight and thebeginning of another Christmas Day．

       "Butwhy did you do it?" the girl asked．

       Pete put thepackage into her hands．

       "Thereis no one else to whom I can give a Christmas present," he said．"It isalready Christmas morning．Will you let me take you toyour home? I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas at your door．"

       And so, tothe sound of many bells, Pete Richards and a girl whose name he had not yet learnedwalked out into the hope and happiness of a new Christmas Day.

By saying "She paid the biggest price one can ever pay," Pete meant that Jean Grace     .

                                A

    Rene Descartes’ explanation of pain has long been acknowledged in medicine. He proposed that pain is a purely physical phenomenon — that tissue injury makes specific nerves send a signal to the brain, causing the mind to notice pain. The phenomenon, he said, is like pulling on a rope to ring a bell in the brain. It is hard to overstate how deeply fixed this account has become. In medicine, doctors see pain in Descartes’ terms as a physical process, a sign of tissue injury.

    The limitations of this explanation, however, have been apparent for some time, since people with obvious injuries sometimes report feeling no pain at all. Later, researchers proposed that Descartes’ model be replaced with what they called the gate control theory of pain. They argued that before pain signals reach the brain, they must first go through a gating mechanism in the spinal cord (脊髓). In some cases, this imaginary gate could simply stop pain signals from getting to the brain.

    Their most amazing suggestion was that what controlled the gate were not just signals from sensory nerves but also emotions and other “output” from the brain. They were saying that pulling on the rope may not necessarily make the bell ring. The bell itself (the mind) could stop it. This theory led to a great deal of research into how such factors as mood, gender, and beliefs influence the experience of pain. In a British study, for example, researchers measured pain threshold and tolerance levels in 53 ballet dancers and 53 university students by using a common measurement: after putting your hand in body-temperature water for two minutes to establish a baseline condition, you put your hand in a bowl of ice water and start a clock running. You mark the time when it begins to hurt: that is your pain threshold. Then you mark the time when it hurts too much to keep your hand in the water: that is your pain tolerance. The test is always stopped at 120 seconds, to prevent injury.

    The results were striking. On average female students reported pain at 16 seconds and pulled their hands out of the ice water at 37 seconds. Female dancers were almost three times as long on both counts. Men in both groups had a higher threshold and tolerance for pain, but the difference between male dancers and male non-dancers was nearly as large. What explains that difference? Probably it has something to do with the psychology of ballet dancers --- a group known for self-discipline, physical fitness, and competitiveness, as well as by a high rate of chronic (慢性) injury. Their driven personalities and competitive culture evidently accustom them to pain. Other studies along these lines have shown that outgoing people have greater pain tolerance and that, with training, one can reduce one’s sensitivity to pain.

    There is also striking evidence that very simple kinds of mental suggestion can have powerful effects on pain. In one study of 500 patients undergoing dental procedures, those who were given a placebo injection (安慰剂) and promised that it would relieve their pain had the least discomfort --- not only less than the patients who got a placebo and were told nothing but also less than the patients who got actual drug without any promise that it would work.

    Today it is abundantly evident that the brain is actively involved in the experience of pain and is no more bells on a string. Today every medical textbook teaches the gate control theory as fact. There’s a problem with it, though. It explains people who have injuries but feel no pain, but it doesn’t explain the reverse, which is far more common --- the millions of people who experience chronic pain, such as back pain, with no signs of injury whatsoever. So where does the pain come from? The rope and clapper are gone, but the bell is still ringing.

The author refers to “chronic back pain” as an example of something that is _______.

                                B

    Going to school means learning newskills and facts in such subjects as reading, math, science, history, art ormusic. Teachers teach and students learn, and many scientists are interested infinding ways to improve both the teaching and learning processes.

    Some researchers, such as Sian Beilockand Susan Levine, are trying to learn about learning. Beilock and Levine arepsychologists at the University of Chicago. Psychologists study the ways peoplethink and behave, and these researchers want to know how a person’s thoughtsand behavior are related.

    In a new study about the way kidslearn math in elementary school, Beilock and Levine found a surprisingrelationship between what female teachers think and what female students learn:If a female teacher is uncomfortable with her own math skills, then her femalestudents are more likely to believe that boys are better than girls at math.

    “If these girls keep gettingmath-anxious female teachers in later grades, it may create a snowball effect on their math achievement,”Levine told Science News. The study suggests that if these girls grow upbelieving that boys are better at math than girls are, then these girls may notdo as well as they would have if they were more confident.

    Just as students find certain subjectsto be difficult, teachers can find certain subjects to be difficult tolearn—and teach. The subject of math can be particularly difficult foreveryone. Researchers use the word “anxiety” to describe such feelings: anxietyis uneasiness or worry. (Many people, for example, have anxiety about going tothe dentist because they’re worried about pain.)

    The new study found that when ateacher has anxiety about math, that feeling can influence how her femalestudents feel about math. The study involved 65 girls, 52 boys and 17 first-and second-grade teachers in elementary schools in the Midwest. The studentstook math achievement tests at the beginning and end of the school year, and theresearchers compared the scores.

    The researchers also gave the studentstests to tell whether the students believed that a math superstar had to be aboy. Then the researchers turned to the teachers: To find out which teacherswere anxious about math, the researchers asked the teachers how they felt attimes when they came across math, such as when reading a sales receipt. Ateacher who got nervous looking at the numbers on a sales receipt, for example,was probably anxious about math.

    Boys, on average, were unaffected by ateacher’s anxiety. On average, girls with math-anxious teachers scored lower onthe end-of-the-year math tests than other girls in the study did. Plus, on thetest showing whether someone thought a math superstar had to be a boy, 20 girlsshowed feeling that boys would be better at math—and all of these girls hadbeen taught by female teachers who had math anxiety.

    According to surveys done before thisone, college students who want to become elementary school teachers have thehighest levels of anxiety about math. Plus, nine of every 10 elementaryteachers are women, Levine said.

    This study was small,and it’s often difficult to see large patterns in small studies, David Gearytold Science News. Geary, a psychologist at the University of Missouriin Columbia, studies how children learn math. “This is an interesting study,but the results need to be interpreted as preliminary and in need ofreplication with a larger sample,” Geary said. That means that the results arejust showing something that might be happening, but more studies should bedone. If more studies find the same trend as this one, then it’s possible thata teacher’s anxiety over math really is affecting her female students.

The underlined part in paragraph 4 most probably means that girls may ______.

阅读理解(共10小题；每小题2.5分，满分25分)

    阅读下面材料，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C 和D）中，选出最佳选项。

                                A

    Rene Descartes’ explanation of pain has long been acknowledged in medicine. He proposed that pain is a purely physical phenomenon — that tissue injury makes specific nerves send a signal to the brain, causing the mind to notice pain. The phenomenon, he said, is like pulling on a rope to ring a bell in the brain. It is hard to overstate how deeply fixed this account has become. In medicine, doctors see pain in Descartes’ terms as a physical process, a sign of tissue injury.

    The limitations of this explanation, however, have been apparent for some time, since people with obvious injuries sometimes report feeling no pain at all. Later, researchers proposed that Descartes’ model be replaced with what they called the gate control theory of pain. They argued that before pain signals reach the brain, they must first go through a gating mechanism in the spinal cord (脊髓). In some cases, this imaginary gate could simply stop pain signals from getting to the brain.

    Their most amazing suggestion was that what controlled the gate were not just signals from sensory nerves but also emotions and other “output” from the brain. They were saying that pulling on the rope may not necessarily make the bell ring. The bell itself (the mind) could stop it. This theory led to a great deal of research into how such factors as mood, gender, and beliefs influence the experience of pain. In a British study, for example, researchers measured pain threshold and tolerance levels in 53 ballet dancers and 53 university students by using a common measurement: after putting your hand in body-temperature water for two minutes to establish a baseline condition, you put your hand in a bowl of ice water and start a clock running. You mark the time when it begins to hurt: that is your pain threshold. Then you mark the time when it hurts too much to keep your hand in the water: that is your pain tolerance. The test is always stopped at 120 seconds, to prevent injury.

    The results were striking. On average female students reported pain at 16 seconds and pulled their hands out of the ice water at 37 seconds. Female dancers were almost three times as long on both counts. Men in both groups had a higher threshold and tolerance for pain, but the difference between male dancers and male non-dancers was nearly as large. What explains that difference? Probably it has something to do with the psychology of ballet dancers --- a group known for self-discipline, physical fitness, and competitiveness, as well as by a high rate of chronic (慢性) injury. Their driven personalities and competitive culture evidently accustom them to pain. Other studies along these lines have shown that outgoing people have greater pain tolerance and that, with training, one can reduce one’s sensitivity to pain.

    There is also striking evidence that very simple kinds of mental suggestion can have powerful effects on pain. In one study of 500 patients undergoing dental procedures, those who were given a placebo injection (安慰剂) and promised that it would relieve their pain had the least discomfort --- not only less than the patients who got a placebo and were told nothing but also less than the patients who got actual drug without any promise that it would work.

    Today it is abundantly evident that the brain is actively involved in the experience of pain and is no more bells on a string. Today every medical textbook teaches the gate control theory as fact. There’s a problem with it, though. It explains people who have injuries but feel no pain, but it doesn’t explain the reverse, which is far more common --- the millions of people who experience chronic pain, such as back pain, with no signs of injury whatsoever. So where does the pain come from? The rope and clapper are gone, but the bell is still ringing.

The author implies that the reason why the gate control was “amazing” was that it _______.

                                B

    Going to school means learning newskills and facts in such subjects as reading, math, science, history, art ormusic. Teachers teach and students learn, and many scientists are interested infinding ways to improve both the teaching and learning processes.

    Some researchers, such as Sian Beilockand Susan Levine, are trying to learn about learning. Beilock and Levine arepsychologists at the University of Chicago. Psychologists study the ways peoplethink and behave, and these researchers want to know how a person’s thoughtsand behavior are related.

    In a new study about the way kidslearn math in elementary school, Beilock and Levine found a surprisingrelationship between what female teachers think and what female students learn:If a female teacher is uncomfortable with her own math skills, then her femalestudents are more likely to believe that boys are better than girls at math.

    “If these girls keep gettingmath-anxious female teachers in later grades, it may create a snowball effect on their math achievement,”Levine told Science News. The study suggests that if these girls grow upbelieving that boys are better at math than girls are, then these girls may notdo as well as they would have if they were more confident.

    Just as students find certain subjectsto be difficult, teachers can find certain subjects to be difficult tolearn—and teach. The subject of math can be particularly difficult foreveryone. Researchers use the word “anxiety” to describe such feelings: anxietyis uneasiness or worry. (Many people, for example, have anxiety about going tothe dentist because they’re worried about pain.)

    The new study found that when ateacher has anxiety about math, that feeling can influence how her femalestudents feel about math. The study involved 65 girls, 52 boys and 17 first-and second-grade teachers in elementary schools in the Midwest. The studentstook math achievement tests at the beginning and end of the school year, and theresearchers compared the scores.

    The researchers also gave the studentstests to tell whether the students believed that a math superstar had to be aboy. Then the researchers turned to the teachers: To find out which teacherswere anxious about math, the researchers asked the teachers how they felt attimes when they came across math, such as when reading a sales receipt. Ateacher who got nervous looking at the numbers on a sales receipt, for example,was probably anxious about math.

    Boys, on average, were unaffected by ateacher’s anxiety. On average, girls with math-anxious teachers scored lower onthe end-of-the-year math tests than other girls in the study did. Plus, on thetest showing whether someone thought a math superstar had to be a boy, 20 girlsshowed feeling that boys would be better at math—and all of these girls hadbeen taught by female teachers who had math anxiety.

    According to surveys done before thisone, college students who want to become elementary school teachers have thehighest levels of anxiety about math. Plus, nine of every 10 elementaryteachers are women, Levine said.

    This study was small,and it’s often difficult to see large patterns in small studies, David Gearytold Science News. Geary, a psychologist at the University of Missouriin Columbia, studies how children learn math. “This is an interesting study,but the results need to be interpreted as preliminary and in need ofreplication with a larger sample,” Geary said. That means that the results arejust showing something that might be happening, but more studies should bedone. If more studies find the same trend as this one, then it’s possible thata teacher’s anxiety over math really is affecting her female students.

Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?

                                B

    Going to school means learning newskills and facts in such subjects as reading, math, science, history, art ormusic. Teachers teach and students learn, and many scientists are interested infinding ways to improve both the teaching and learning processes.

    Some researchers, such as Sian Beilockand Susan Levine, are trying to learn about learning. Beilock and Levine arepsychologists at the University of Chicago. Psychologists study the ways peoplethink and behave, and these researchers want to know how a person’s thoughtsand behavior are related.

    In a new study about the way kidslearn math in elementary school, Beilock and Levine found a surprisingrelationship between what female teachers think and what female students learn:If a female teacher is uncomfortable with her own math skills, then her femalestudents are more likely to believe that boys are better than girls at math.

    “If these girls keep gettingmath-anxious female teachers in later grades, it may create a snowball effect on their math achievement,”Levine told Science News. The study suggests that if these girls grow upbelieving that boys are better at math than girls are, then these girls may notdo as well as they would have if they were more confident.

    Just as students find certain subjectsto be difficult, teachers can find certain subjects to be difficult tolearn—and teach. The subject of math can be particularly difficult foreveryone. Researchers use the word “anxiety” to describe such feelings: anxietyis uneasiness or worry. (Many people, for example, have anxiety about going tothe dentist because they’re worried about pain.)

    The new study found that when ateacher has anxiety about math, that feeling can influence how her femalestudents feel about math. The study involved 65 girls, 52 boys and 17 first-and second-grade teachers in elementary schools in the Midwest. The studentstook math achievement tests at the beginning and end of the school year, and theresearchers compared the scores.

    The researchers also gave the studentstests to tell whether the students believed that a math superstar had to be aboy. Then the researchers turned to the teachers: To find out which teacherswere anxious about math, the researchers asked the teachers how they felt attimes when they came across math, such as when reading a sales receipt. Ateacher who got nervous looking at the numbers on a sales receipt, for example,was probably anxious about math.

    Boys, on average, were unaffected by ateacher’s anxiety. On average, girls with math-anxious teachers scored lower onthe end-of-the-year math tests than other girls in the study did. Plus, on thetest showing whether someone thought a math superstar had to be a boy, 20 girlsshowed feeling that boys would be better at math—and all of these girls hadbeen taught by female teachers who had math anxiety.

    According to surveys done before thisone, college students who want to become elementary school teachers have thehighest levels of anxiety about math. Plus, nine of every 10 elementaryteachers are women, Levine said.

    This study was small,and it’s often difficult to see large patterns in small studies, David Gearytold Science News. Geary, a psychologist at the University of Missouriin Columbia, studies how children learn math. “This is an interesting study,but the results need to be interpreted as preliminary and in need ofreplication with a larger sample,” Geary said. That means that the results arejust showing something that might be happening, but more studies should bedone. If more studies find the same trend as this one, then it’s possible thata teacher’s anxiety over math really is affecting her female students.

What is the finding of the new study?

                                A

    Rene Descartes’ explanation of pain has long been acknowledged in medicine. He proposed that pain is a purely physical phenomenon — that tissue injury makes specific nerves send a signal to the brain, causing the mind to notice pain. The phenomenon, he said, is like pulling on a rope to ring a bell in the brain. It is hard to overstate how deeply fixed this account has become. In medicine, doctors see pain in Descartes’ terms as a physical process, a sign of tissue injury.

    The limitations of this explanation, however, have been apparent for some time, since people with obvious injuries sometimes report feeling no pain at all. Later, researchers proposed that Descartes’ model be replaced with what they called the gate control theory of pain. They argued that before pain signals reach the brain, they must first go through a gating mechanism in the spinal cord (脊髓). In some cases, this imaginary gate could simply stop pain signals from getting to the brain.

    Their most amazing suggestion was that what controlled the gate were not just signals from sensory nerves but also emotions and other “output” from the brain. They were saying that pulling on the rope may not necessarily make the bell ring. The bell itself (the mind) could stop it. This theory led to a great deal of research into how such factors as mood, gender, and beliefs influence the experience of pain. In a British study, for example, researchers measured pain threshold and tolerance levels in 53 ballet dancers and 53 university students by using a common measurement: after putting your hand in body-temperature water for two minutes to establish a baseline condition, you put your hand in a bowl of ice water and start a clock running. You mark the time when it begins to hurt: that is your pain threshold. Then you mark the time when it hurts too much to keep your hand in the water: that is your pain tolerance. The test is always stopped at 120 seconds, to prevent injury.

    The results were striking. On average female students reported pain at 16 seconds and pulled their hands out of the ice water at 37 seconds. Female dancers were almost three times as long on both counts. Men in both groups had a higher threshold and tolerance for pain, but the difference between male dancers and male non-dancers was nearly as large. What explains that difference? Probably it has something to do with the psychology of ballet dancers --- a group known for self-discipline, physical fitness, and competitiveness, as well as by a high rate of chronic (慢性) injury. Their driven personalities and competitive culture evidently accustom them to pain. Other studies along these lines have shown that outgoing people have greater pain tolerance and that, with training, one can reduce one’s sensitivity to pain.

    There is also striking evidence that very simple kinds of mental suggestion can have powerful effects on pain. In one study of 500 patients undergoing dental procedures, those who were given a placebo injection (安慰剂) and promised that it would relieve their pain had the least discomfort --- not only less than the patients who got a placebo and were told nothing but also less than the patients who got actual drug without any promise that it would work.

    Today it is abundantly evident that the brain is actively involved in the experience of pain and is no more bells on a string. Today every medical textbook teaches the gate control theory as fact. There’s a problem with it, though. It explains people who have injuries but feel no pain, but it doesn’t explain the reverse, which is far more common --- the millions of people who experience chronic pain, such as back pain, with no signs of injury whatsoever. So where does the pain come from? The rope and clapper are gone, but the bell is still ringing.

From the passage we know that ________.