【正文】 iends. New research from Columbia University found that prompting (提示 ) someone who is learning a new language with images and reminders of their own culture could temporarily ruin everything that the brain was trying to build. When native Chinese students were asked to talk with a Caucasian avatar (白種人的虛擬頭像 ) and a Chinese avatar, their English skills were so different. Simply exposing students to a Chinese person affected their ability to speak English. Subjects who talked with the Chinese version felt more fortable in their speech, but they produced 11% fewer words per minute. They actually became less fluent speakers. To make sure it wasn’t just the avatar, researchers also showed people random images of China while the participants told a story. When pictures of their homeland appeared, fluency dropped 16% and volunteers were 85% more likely to use a literal (照字面的 ) translation, for example, calling pistachios “happy nuts”, because that’s literally what the Chinese word for pistachio means. When the students were shown pictures of fish with one swimming ahead of the others, their culture would change how they look at the photo. With Chinese prompt, like photos of the Great Wall or Chinese Dragon, etc. they saw more students thinking that the fish was being chased, while an American prompt, like pictures of Marilyn Monroe or Superman, saw those students believing that it was a leader fish. The bottom line is: when attempting to learn a new culture it is far better to surround yourself with that culture than create an island of the old one. 25. Why does the author use a question in the first paragraph? A. To raise a question. B. To arouse readers’ awareness. C. To introduce the topic. D. To tell a story. 26. The underlined word “pistachios” in the fourth paragraph refers to ______. A. pictures B. volunteers C. an image D. a kind of food 27. From the passage we can infer that ______. A. different images would change with different people B. different cultures would affect how students look at the photo C. with Chinese prompts, more students thought that it was a leader fish D. with an American prompt, more students thought that the fish was being chased 28. According to the research, which is a better way for a student in a foreign land to learn a new culture? A. To surround himself with that culture. B. To create an island of the old one. C. To see random images of China. D. To talk with a Caucasian avatar. C Many science fiction stories tell about explorers arriving in a new world. The explorers then use some kind of hightech device to test for breathable air or signs of life. But here on Earth, science fiction is being reality through a new sampling technology called environmental DNA, or eDNA for short. Scientists can use it to identify rare or invasive species, study biodiversity or estimate fish populations with just a little air or water. Ryan Kelly is an ecologist at the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs at the University of Washington in Seattle. He works in a laboratory there with other researchers. They study the geic material released by living creatures. “Essentially we can take a sample of soil or air — and in our case — water, and we can sequence（ to arrange the order of genes） the DNA out of it and tell you what is there.” Ryan Kelly says he and his research team are studying water samples collected from Puget Sound. He says the cost of gene sequencing has “been reduced greatly in recent years.” That makes DNA testing more widely available. Environmental DNA can be used in two ways. One is to identify the creatures that live in a certain place. The other is to confirm the presence or lack of a specific creature. Caren Goldberg heads the new eDNA lab at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. She is one of the first biologists in the northwestern United States to take the technology from the testing phase to actually using it. “It is extremely useful for species that are really hard to find. I have spent many hours looking for species that I was pretty sure were there — looking under rocks, looking in water, doing all kinds of surveys.” Caren Goldberg sees eDNA as a way to get answers more efficiently, safely and with less destruction pared to traditional survey techniques. Until recently, scientists depended on diving deep, ting or using an electric current to temporarily catch fish. “We’re absolutely at this point where proof ofconcept has been established. I don39。 I was traveling in a small place in New York. That place had no taxi for a short