閱讀理解

    A big focus of the criticism of computer games has concerned the content of the games being played. When the narratives of the games are analyzed they can be seen to fall into some genres. The two genres most popular with the children I interviewed were ‘Platformers’ and ‘Beat-them-ups.’ Platform games such as Sonic and Super Mario involve leaping from platform to platform, avoiding obstacles, moving on through the levels, and progressing through the different stages of the game. Beat-them-ups are the games which have caused concern over their violent content. These games involve fights between animated characters. In many ways this violence can be compared to violence within children’s cartoons where a character is hit over the head or falls of a cliff but walks away unscathed.

    Controversy has occurred in part because of the intensity of the game play, which is said to spill over into children’s everyday lives. There are worries that children are becoming more violent and aggressive after prolonged exposure to these games. Playing computer games involves feelings of intense frustration and anger which often expresses itself in aggressive ‘yells’ at the screen. It is not only the ‘Beat-them-up’ games which produce this aggression; platform games are just as frustrating when the characters lose all their ‘lives’ and ‘die’ just before the end of the level is reached. Computer gaming relies upon intense concentration on the moving images on the screen and demands great hand-to-eye coordination. When the player loses and the words ‘Game over’ appear on the screen, there is annoyance and frustration at being beaten by the computer and at having made an error. This anger and aggression could perhaps be compared to the aggression felt when playing football and you take your eye off the ball and enable the opposition to score. The annoyance experienced when defeated at a computer game is what makes gaming ‘a(chǎn)ddictive’: the player is determined not to make the same mistake again and to have ‘one last go’ in the hope of doing better next time.

    Some of the concern over the violence of computer games has been about children who are unable to tell the difference between fiction and reality and who act out the violent moves of the games in fight on the playground. The problem with video games is that they involve children more than television or films and this means there are more implications for their social behavior. Playing these games can lead to anti-social behavior, make children aggressive and affect their emotional stability.

1. What is the topic of this article?

     [A] How does playing computer games affect the level of violence in children

     [B] There is no difference between Platform games and ‘Beat-Them-Ups’.

     [C] How to control anger while playing computer games

     [D] How to make children spend less time on computer games

2. Which of the following games is supposed to contain violent content?

     [A] Sonic                     [B] Super Mario

     [C] Platformer                 [D] Beat-Them-Up

3. What does unscathed (Paragraph 1, Last line) probably mean?

     [A] unsettled                   [B] unbeaten
[C] unharmed                 [D] unhappy

4. According to the second paragraph, how does violence relate to playing computer games?

     [A] When losing computer games children tend to experience frustration and anger.
[B] Beat-Them-Ups are more popular with children therefore more likely to produce violent behavior.
[C] People who have good hand-eye-coordination tend to be more violent than others.
[D] The violent content in the games gets children addicted to the games.

5. According to the author, why do video games lead to violence more than TV or movies?

     [A] Because children cannot tell fiction from reality.

     [B] Because children like to act out the scenes in the games on the playground.
[C] Because computer games involve children more than TV or films.
[D] Because computer games can produce more anti-social behavior.

    In Brazil, the debate over genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, affects mostly soybean production. Brazil is the world's second largest producer of soybeans behind the United States and ahead of Argentina. Most European and Asian retailers want to remain GM free.

    Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Brazil are going on a media offensive to prevent the legalization of genetically modified crops. Environmentalists and consumer groups for years have been able to thwart government and companies' attempts to legalize altered food. In radio dramas that are being broadcast in remote regions, Brazilian NGOs are telling soy farmers the use of genetically modified seeds could endanger their health, their fields and their business. We are not saying that genetic engineering is, in principle, something bad; we say that we need more science to be sure that it will work in an appropriate way with no harm in the future, said campaign coordinator Jean-Marc von der Weid. This is both for health and environmental reasons. The other question is on economics. What we think is that in Brazil, if we approve the GMOs, we will lose a spectacular advantage that we have now. We are selling more to the international market, mostly for Europe and Asia, than we have done in our history, because we are not GMO contaminated.

    Another opposition group, ActionAid, has been organizing grass-roots support in Brazilian farming regions to rouse consumer sentiment against legalization. ActionAid public policy director Adriano Campolina says he is fighting for farmers to remain independent. When the small-scale farmer or a big farmer starts using this kind of seed, this farmer will be completely dependent on the transnationals, which control intellectual property rights over these seeds, he said.

    Brazilian scientist Crodowaldo Pavan said there should be checks on what multinationals can do, but that doesn't mean GM seeds should be banned. He says fears over their usage are unfounded. Despite the official ban, Dr. Pavan says up to one third of Brazil's soy crop is genetically modified, because GM seed is being smuggled from Argentina. Brazil's government has invested heavily in a GM project by the U.S. biotech company, Monsanto, but the project was put on ice following a successful court challenge by consumers.

    The anti-GMO groups are hoping the politicians' preoccupation with the October presidential election will give them time to gather enough support to defeat any future attempts to legalize genetically altered crops.

1. According to the passage, the issue in dispute in Brazil is ___________.

     [A] contamination of the environment by genetically modified crops
[B] Brazil’s standing in the international market
[C] the October presidential election
[D] the legalization of genetically modified organisms

2. According to the passage, Brazil is the world’s _____________ soybean producer.

     [A] largest                       [B] second largest
[C] third largest               [D] fourth largest

3. Which of the following statements is NOT true about NGOs in Brazil?

     [A] They believe genetically modified crops will harm the farmers’ health.
[B] They believe genetic engineering is altogether a bad practice.
[C] They believe scientific methods should be introduced to ensure GM brings no harm.
[D] They believe GMOs will harm Brazil economically.

4. Which of the following statements is true about the organization called ActionAid?

     [A] They encourage the farmers to produce genetically modified products.
[B] They encourage the farmers to depend on themselves for seeds.
[C] They strongly support the legalization of genetically modified products.
[D] They encourage the farmers to upgrade their farms to bigger ones.

5. What does the Brazilian scientist Crodowaldo Pavan say about genetically modified products?

     [A] Genetically modified seeds should be banned.
[B] Brazil government should crack down on the smuggling of genetically modified seeds.
[C] The fear over the use of genetically modified seeds is uncalled for.
[D] Consumers should file more law suits to protect their rights.

    That experiences influence subsequent behaviour is evidence of an obvious but nevertheless remarkable activity called remembering. Learning could not occur without the function popularly named memory. Constant practice has such as effect on memory as to lead to skilful performance on the piano, to recitation of a poem, and even to reading and understanding these words. So-called intelligent behaviour demands memory, remembering being a primary requirement for reasoning. The ability to solve any problem or even to recognize that a problem exists depends on memory. Typically, the decision to cross a street is based on remembering many earlier experiences.

    Practice (or review) tends to build and maintain memory for a task or for any learned material. Over a period of no practice what has been learned tends to be forgotten; and the adaptive consequences may not seem obvious. Yet, dramatic instances of sudden forgetting can be seen to be adaptive. In this sense, the ability to forget can be interpreted to have survived through a process of natural selection in animals. Indeed, when one's memory of an emotionally painful experience lead to serious anxiety, forgetting may produce relief. Nevertheless, an evolutionary interpretation might make it difficult to understand how the commonly gradual process of forgetting survived natural selection.

    In thinking about the evolution of memory together with all its possible aspects, it is helpful to consider what would happen if memories failed to fade. Forgetting clearly aids orientation in time, since old memories weaken and the new tend to stand out, providing clues for inferring duration. Without forgetting, adaptive ability would suffer, for example, learned behaviour that might have been correct a decade ago may no longer be. Cases are recorded of people who (by ordinary standards) forgot so little that their everyday activities were full of confusion. This forgetting seems to serve that survival of the individual and the species.

    Another line of thought assumes a memory storage system of limited capacity that provides adaptive flexibility specifically through forgetting. In this view, continual adjustments are made between learning or memory storage (input) and forgetting (output). Indeed, there is evidence that the rate at which individuals forget is directly related to how much they have learned. Such data offers gross support of contemporary models of memory that assume an input-output balance.

1. From the evolutionary point of view, ________.
[A] forgetting for lack of practice tends to be obviously inadaptive
[B] if a person gets very forgetful all of a sudden he must be very adaptive
[C] the gradual process of forgetting is an indication of an individual's adaptability
[D] sudden forgetting may bring about adaptive consequences

2. According to the passage, if a person never forgets, ________.
[A] he would survive best
[B] he would have a lot of trouble
[C] his ability to learn would be enhanced
[D] the evolution of memory would stop

3. From the last paragraph we know that ________.
[A] forgetfulness is a response to learning
[B] the memory storage system is an exactly balanced input-output system
[C] memory is a compensation for forgetting
[D] the capacity of a memory storage system is limited because forgetting occurs

4. In this article, the author tries to interpret the function of ________.
[A] remembering                  [B] forgetting
[C] adapting                         [D] experiencing