In a paper just published in Science, Peter Gordon of Columbia University uses his study of the Piraha and their counting system to try to answer a tricky linguistic question. The Piraha, a group of hunter-gatherers who live along the banks of the Maiei River in Brazil, use a system of counting called "one-two-many". In this, the word for "one" translates to "roughly one" (similar to "one or two" in English), the word for "two" means "a slightly larger amount than one" (similar to "a few" in English), and the word for "many" means "a much larger amount".
This question was posed by Benjamin Lee Whorl in the 1930s. Whorl studied Hopi, an Amerindian language very different from tile Eurasian languages that had hitherto been the subject of academic linguistics. His work led him to suggest that language not only influences thought but, more strongly, that it determines thought.
While there is no dispute that language influences what people think about, evidence suggesting it determines thought is inconclusive. For example, in 1972, Eleanor Rosch and Karl Heider investigated the colour-naming abilities of the Dani people of Indonesia. The Dani have words for only two colours.- black and white. But Dr. Rosch and Dr. Heider found that, even so, Dani could distinguish and comprehend other colours. That does not support the deterministic version of the Whorl hypothesis.
While recognising that there are such things as colours for which you have no name is certainly a cognitive leap, it may not be a good test of Whorf’s ideas. Colours, after all, are out there everywhere. Numbers, by contrast, are abstract, so may be a better test. Dr. Gordon therefore spent a month with the Piraha and elicited the help of seven of them to see how far their grasp of numbers extended.
The tests began simply, with a row of, say, seven evenly spaced batteries. Gradually, they got more complicated. The more complicated tests included tasks such as matching numbers of unevenly spaced objects, replicating the number of objects from memory, and copying a number of straight lines from a drawing.
In the tests that involved matching the number and layout of objects they could see, participants were pretty good when faced with two or three items, but found it harder to cope as the number of items rose. Things were worse when the participants had to remember the number of objects in a layout and replicate it "blind", rather than matching a layout they could see. In this case the success rate dropped to zero when the number of items became, in terms of their language, "many".
And line drawing produced the worst results of all--though that could have had as much to do with the fact that drawing is not part of Piraha culture as it did with the difficulties of numerical abstraction. Indeed, Dr. Gordon described the task of reproducing straight lines as being accomplished only with "heavy sighs and groans".
Dr. Gordon focused his attention on the Piraha’ s counting ability because

A:numbers were a better test of Whorf’s belief B:colors could be found and seen anywhere C:the Dani could recognize more than two colors D:the Piraha had a better grasp of numbers

According to the text, the most important for the futurists to grasp is______.

A:the future world B:the present world C:what is happening now D:the world trends

Text 4

Dr. Gordon focused his attention on the Piraha’ s counting ability because

A:numbers were a better test of Whorf’s belief B:colors could be found and seen anywhere C:the Dani could recognize more than two colors D:the Piraha had a better grasp of numbers

Your mind like your body is a thing where the powers are developed by effort. This is a principal use, as I see it, of hard work in studies. Unless you train your body you can’t be a good sportsman, and unless you train your mind you can’t be much of a scholar. The four mi- les a boatman covers at top speed is in itself nothing to the good, but the physical capacity to hold out over the distance is thought to be of some value. So a good part of what you learn by hard study may not be retained forever, and may not seem to be of much final value, but your mind is a better and more powerful instrument because you have learned it. "Knowledge is power," but still more the ability of acquiring and using knowledge is power. If you have a trained and powerful mind, you are bound to have stored it with something, its value is more in what it can do, what it can grasp and use, than in what it contains; and if it were possible, as it is not, to come out of college with a trained mind and nothing useful in it, you would still be ahead, and still, in a manner, educated.

The man leaving college with a trained mind （）

A:is certain to succeed B:is successful in his studies C:is considered an educated person D:can grasp any problem

Your mind like your body is a thing where the powers are developed by effort. This is a principal use, as I see it, of hard work in studies. Unless you train your body you can’t be a good sportsman, and unless you train your mind you can’t be much of a scholar. The four mi- les a boatman covers at top speed is in itself nothing to the good, but the physical capacity to hold out over the distance is thought to be of some value. So a good part of what you learn by hard study may not be retained forever, and may not seem to be of much final value, but your mind is a better and more powerful instrument because you have learned it. "Knowledge is power," but still more the ability of acquiring and using knowledge is power. If you have a trained and powerful mind, you are bound to have stored it with something, its value is more in what it can do, what it can grasp and use, than in what it contains; and if it were possible, as it is not, to come out of college with a trained mind and nothing useful in it, you would still be ahead, and still, in a manner, educated.
The man leaving college with a trained mind ______.

A:is certain to succeed B:is successful in his studies C:is considered an educated person D:can grasp any problem

Passage Two
Your mind like your body is a thing where the powers are developed by effort. This is a principal use, as I see it, of hard work in studies. Unless you train your body you can’t be a good sportsman, and unless you train your mind you can’t be much of a scholar. The four miles a boatman covers at top speed is in itself nothing to the good, but the physical capacity to hold out over the distance is thought to be of some value. So a good part of what you learn by hard study may not be retained forever, and may not seem to be of much final value, but your mind is a better and more powerful instrument because you have learned it. "Knowledge is power," but still more the ability of acquiring and using knowledge is power. If you have a trained and powerful mind, you are bound to have stored it with something, its value is more in what it can do, what it can grasp and use, than in what it contains; and if it were possible, as it is not, to come out of college with a trained mind and nothing useful in it, you would still be ahead, and still, in a manner, educated.

The man leaving college with a trained mind （）

A:is certain to succeed B:is successful in his studies C:is considered an educated person D:can grasp any problem

Which of your two hands do you use much better Very few of us can use both of our hands equally well. Most of us are right-handed. Only about five people out of a hundred are left-handed. Newborn babies can grasp objects with either of their hands, but in about two years they usually prefer to use their right hands.
Scientists don’t know why this happens. They used to think that we inherited this tendency from our animal ancestors, but this may not be true. Monkeys are our closest relatives in the animal world. Scientists have found that monkeys prefer to use one of their hands more than the other, but it can be either hand. There are as many right-handed monkeys as there are left-handed ones. Next time you visit the zoo, watch the monkeys carefully. You’ll see that some of them will prefer to swing from their right hands, and others will use their left hands. But most human beings use their right hands better, and this makes life difficult for those who prefer to use their left hands.
Which of the following is true ______

A:When a child is two years old, he prefers to use both of his hands to grasp objects. B:Scientists have given the reason for this tendency. C:A monkey can use both of his hands equally well. D:Those who prefer to use their left hands live a difficult lif

Passage Two

The man leaving college with a trained mind ______.

A:is certain to succeed B:is successful in his studies C:is considered an educated person D:can grasp any problem

Passage 4 Which of your two hands do you use much better Very few of us can use both of our hands equally well. Most of us are right - handed. Only about five people out of a hundred are left - handed. Newborn ha bies can grasp objects with either of their hands, but in about two years they usually prefer to use their right hands. Scientists don’t know why this happens. They used to think that we inherited (继承) this tendency from our animal ancestors (祖先), but this may not be true. Monkeys are our closest relatives in the animal world. Scientists have found that monkeys prefer to use one of their hands more than the other, but it can be either hand. There are as many right - handed monkeys as there are left - handed ones. Next time you visit the zoo, watch the monkeys carefully. You’ 11 see that some of them will prefer to swing from their right hands, and others will use their left hands. But most human beings use their right hands better, and this makes life difficult for those who prefer to use their left hands.

Which of the following is true（）

A:When a child is two years old, he prefers to use both of his hands to grasp objects. B:Scientists have given the reason for this tendency. C:A monkey can use both of his hands equally well. D:Those who prefer to use their left hands live a difficult life.