• 2021-04-14
    Passage 1 Left-handers and Right-handers
    Imagine you are a left-hander. Suddenly everything in the world is changed. The door locks are on the wrong side of doors. The shift-gears in your car is in the wrong place. Handles on tin openers are on the wrong side and turn the wrong way.
    Twenty-five million Americans wake up every day in just such a sorry situation. They are one in ten of us who are left-handed and must face the world designed for the right-handed majority.
    Why we are left or right-handed remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of science. We know that nearly two out of three lefties are men and that left-handedness runs in families. According to one study almost half of the children of two left-handed parents will be left-handed. The Scots-Irish family Kerr produced so many left-handers that in 1470 the family built its house stairway with a reverse twist.
    On the other hand, heredity alone cannot explain lefties. 84 percent of them are born of two right-handed parents. And in 12 percent of twins, one will be right-handed, the other left.
    Perhaps the greatest puzzle of all is not why some people are left-handed, but rather why so few are. In fact, almost equal numbers of individuals will favor either the right or the left. However, scientists are trying to set things right and they are beginning to study the many ways left-handers differ from right-handers by considering how their brains work.
    1. Based on the passage, we know that of Americans are left-handers.
    A) 25% B) 10%
    C) 16% D) 12%
    2. We can say from the passage that .
    A) scientists have found out how left-handers' brains work
    B) people prefer to be right-handers
    C) left-handers lead a life in somewhat inconvenient way
    D) no other families have so many left-handers as the Kerrs
    3. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
    A) Half of the left-handers are men.
    B) Most of the twins are left-handers.
    C) There are more male left-handers than female ones.
    D) The greater part of left-handers have left-handed parents
    4. Why so few people are left-handers .
    A) has nothing to do with heredity
    B) is not known by scientists
    C) puzzles left-handed people
    D) is no concern of common people
    5. The word "reverse" (Last Line, Para.3) most probably means .
    A) contrary B) different
    C) ridiculous D) mysterious
    New Words and Expressions
    heredity 遗传 twist 弯曲,曲折处