2010年北京海淀区高考统一测试英语试题

　　D

　　Habits are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine.“Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting creatures,”William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st century, even the word“habit”carries a negative meaning.

　　So it seems contradictory to talk about habits in the same context as innovation (创新). But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.

　　Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try, the more creative we become.

　　But don’t bother trying to kill off old habits; once those ruts of procedure are worn into the brain, they’re there to stay. Instead, the new habits we deliberately press into ourselves create parallel pathways that can bypass those old roads.

　　“The first thing needed for innovation is attraction to wonder,”says Dawna Markova, author of The Open Mind.“But we are taught inst ead to‘decide’, just as our president calls himself‘the Decider’.”She adds, however, that“to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one. A good innovational thinker is always exploring the many other possibilities.”

　　“All of us work through problems in ways of which we’re unaware,”she says. Researchers in the late 1960s discovered that humans are born with the ability to approach challenges in four primary ways: analytically, procedurally, collaboratively (合作地) and innovatively. At the end of adolescence, however, the brain shuts down half of that ability, preserving only those ways of thought that have seemed most valuable during the first decade or so of life.

　　The current emphasis on standardized testing highlights analysis and procedure, meaning that few of us use our innovative and collaborative ways of thought.“This breaks the major rule in the American belief system—that anyone can do anything,”explains M. J. Ryan, author of the 2006 book This Year I Will…and Ms. Markova’s business partner.“That’s a lie that we have preserved, and it fosters commonness. Knowing what you’re good at and doing even more of it creates excellence.”This is where developing new habits comes in. 67.Brain researchers have discovered that .

　　A.the forming of new habits can be guided

　　B.the development of habits can be predicted

　　C.the regulat ion of old habits can be transformed

　　D.the track of new habits can be created unconsciously

　　68.The underlined word“ruts”in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to .

　　A.zones B.connections C.situations D.tracks

　　69.Which of the following statements most probably agrees with Dawna Markova’s view?

　　A.Decision makes no sense in choices.

　　B.Curiosity makes creative minds active.

　　C.Creative ideas are born of a relaxing mind.

　　D.Formation of innovation comes from fantastic ideas.

　　70.The purpose of the author writing this article is to persuade us .

　　A.to give up our traditional habits deliberately

　　B.to create and develop new habits consciously

　　C.to resist the application of standardized testing

　　D.to believe that old habits conflict with new habits

　　第二节(共5小题;每小题2分，共10分)

　　根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

　　E

　　The Mississippi

　　The Mississippi is a great river whose relationship with man goes way back beyond its discovery in the 16th century. The River Indians used it as a highway and as a source of food, and it was they who gave it its name—“misi”meaning“great”and“sipi”meaning“water”.When the length of its branch, the Missouri, is added to it, the Mississippi becomes greater. 71 . From the source of the Missouri to the tip of the delta (三角洲), it is 2, 480 miles long.

　　Great rivers are likely to suffer floods. In 1927 the Mississippi flooded 26 thousand acres, sweeping away farms, towns, everything in its path. In 1938 its floods drowned or killed 200 people and made millions homeless. Today the river has largely been controlled. 72 .

　　Industries have spread down some of the waterways of the delta, but otherwise the delta is a remote place, the homeland of a little colony of French Canadians that the British drove out of Nova Scotia in the 18th century. They still speak French, mixed with English, Indian, Spanish and Negro idioms. They keep to themselves, fanning the rich soil of the delta. 73 .

　　74 . Pioneers who first reached its banks wondered not only where it went, but what lay beyond. In 1764 the French founded a city on the right bank of the river, and named it after their king, Louis XV. This city, named St. Louis, became the jumping-off place for the adventurous men and women who opened up the Great Plains, and the way to the Far West.

　　Some 40 years earlier, at the beginning of the 18th century, the French had founded another city just above the Mississippi delta, New Orleans. 75 . New Orleans is one of the great ports of the world, and one of the greatest terminals for both sea and river traffic.

　　A.It was the Mississippi that made the city what it is

　　B.Levees, high banks built of earth, hold back the flood waters

　　C.Therefore, as we know, it’s the third longest river in the world

　　D.It is known that the“Great Water”has also been a frontier river

　　E.However, they paddled up and down the Mississippi in their boats to seek their fortune

　　F.The“Great Water”always remains a thread, for the streets of the city are below the level of the river

　　G. They call themselves Cajuns, who have actually been leading fairly primitive lives and preserving their own traditions

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