Mere is an astonishing and significant fact: Mental work alone can’t make us tired. It

Mere is an astonishing and significant fact: Mental work alone can’t make us tired. It sounds absurd. But a few years ago, scientists tried to find out how long the human brain could labor without reaching a stage of fatigue (疲劳).To the amazement of these scientists, they discovered that blood passing through the brain, when it is active，shows no fatigue at all! If we took a drop of blood from a day laborer, we would find it full of fatigue toxins (毒素）and fatigue products. But if we took blood from the brain of an Albert Einstein, it would show no fatigue toxins at the end of the day.

So far as the brain is concerned, it can work as well and swiftly at the end of eight or even twelve hours of effort as at the beginning. The brain is totally tireless. So what makes us tired?

Some scientists declare that most of our fatigue comes from our mental and emotional (情感的）attitudes. One of England’s most outstanding scientists, J. A. Hadfield，says, “The greater part of the fatigue from which we suffer is of mental origin. In fact, fatigue of purely physical origin is rare.” Dr. Brill, a famous American scientist, goes even further. He declares, “One hundred percent of the fatigue of a sitting worker in good health is due to emotional problems.”

What kinds of emotions make sitting workers tired? Joy? Satisfaction? No! A feeling of being bored， anger, anxiety, tenseness, worry, a feeling of not being appreciated - those are the emotions that tire sitting workers. Hard work by itself seldom causes fatigue. We get tired because our emotions produce nervousness in the body.

64. What surprised the scientists a few years ago?

A.        Fatigue toxins could hardly be found in a laborer’s blood.

B.        Albert Einstein didn’t feel worn out after a day’s work.

C.       The brain could work for many hours without fatigue.

D.       A mental worker’s blood was filled with fatigue toxins.

65. According to the author, which of the following can make sitting workers tired?

A.        Challenging mental work.

B.        Unpleasant emotions.

C.       Endless tasks.

D.       Physical labor.

66. What's the author’s attitude towards the scientists’ ideas?

A.        He agrees with them.

B.        He doubts them.

C.       He argues against them.

D.       He hesitates to accept them.

67. We can infer from the passage that in order to stay energetic, sitting workers need to _____ .

A.        have some good food

B.        enjoy their work

C.       exercise regularly

D.       discover fatigue toxins

【语篇解读】本文是一篇说明文。科学家们发现脑力劳动并不能使人感到劳累，使人感到累的是人的精神与情感状态，即：厌烦、生气、焦急、紧张、忧虑以及不被欣赏。

【解析】

64.C。细节推理题。难度：较易。找到关键词surprise，定位第一段。根据Mere is an astonishing and significant fact: Mental work alone can’t make us tired. It sounds absurd.（Mere是一个令人惊讶又有意义的事实：仅仅脑力劳动不能使我们觉得累。这听起来有点荒唐）。锁定答案C。

65.B。细节判断题。难度：较易。找到关键词句can make sitting workers tired，定位末段。根据A feeling of being bored， anger, anxiety, tenseness, worry, a feeling of not being appreciated - those are the emotions that tire sitting workers（一种厌烦、愤怒、焦急、紧张、忧虑、不被欣赏的感觉，这些是使脑力工作者感到累的情感因素）。因此，答案为B。

66．A。态度判断题。难度：较难。这是一篇说明文，文章的主旨或者作者的态度一般在首末段体现。文章的首段首句Mere is an astonishing and significant fact（Mere是一个令人惊讶又有意义的事实），作者的态度是惊叹与赞同的；在末段，作者得出结论：We get tired because our emotions produce nervousness in the body.（我觉得累是因为我们的感情在体内产生了紧张情绪）。因此，可以断定作者的态度是赞同的，而不是怀疑、争论或者犹豫。

解题思路：判断一个人的态度或者性格，一定要关注文章中描绘它的形容词和动词等。如文中的significant;declare;goes even further等。

67.B。推理判断题。难度：较难。通过文章的大意结构图，我们知道在文中的第二三四段作者给我们分析了科学家对致使我们劳累的因素进行的研究，在文中的末端得出了结论:不好的情绪致使体内产生紧张情愫从而使人觉得劳累。因此答案为选项B。enjoy their work（享受工作）。

【长难句学习】

 If we took a drop of blood from a day laborer, we would find it full of fatigue toxins (毒素）and fatigue products.

翻译：如果从一个做散工的人身上取一滴血，我们会发现它充满了疲惫因素和疲惫产物。

分析：句子的主句是we would find it full of fatigue toxins (毒素）and fatigue products.

full of短语做it的宾语补足语；if引导的从句为条件状语从句。