example,one circle contained 50 dots and the other 49).Participants were then asked to determine how confident they were in their decision on a scale from less to more confident than normal.

During the course of two experiments,we found that bilinguals and monolinguals were equally likely to choose the circle containing the highest number of dots.However,monolinguals were better able than bilinguals to discriminate between when they were right and when they were wrong.In other words,bilinguals had less insight into their performance than monolinguals.This went against our initial predictions,as we expected to find a bilingual advantage in meta cognitive processing.These results indicate that bilingualism may be associated with cognitive disadvantages as well as benefits.

59.From Paragraph 2 we can learn that nowadays the scientific community______. A.has denied the special benefits of bilingualism

B.has changed its way to understand how the bilingual mind works C.thinks there is almost no difference between monolinguals and bilinguals D.tries to prove whether monolinguals have more advantages than bilinguals 60.How is the last paragraph mainly developed? A.By analyzing causes. C.By following time order.

B.By describing a process.

D.By making a comparison.

61.What is the author's attitude towards bilingualism? A.Supportive.

B.Doubtful.

C

At first glance,price-comparison websites are an example of capitalism at its best.But it has caused fierce competition on price and eviscerated profits.Towers Watson,a consultancy,said that \￡1 billion a year.

Consumers should celebrate that;the firms' losses are their gains.But there is a catch.Comparison sites introduce a new layer of costs,including their own advertising campaigns.In theory,competition in the market for comparison sites ought to keep those costs down.But David Ronayne of Warwick University argues that consumers often lose out from comparison sites.They earn a commission for each shopper who uses them for consumption such

C.Objective. D.Ambiguous.

as buying insurance.That referral（委托）cost is included in the price the consumer ends up paying.If the increased costs outweigh the saving the comparison enables,consumers end up worse off.

These worries are not just theoretical.In 2014,Britain's competition regulator found that many comparison sites were using their contracts with retailers（零售商）to ban them from offering lower prices elsewhere.That weakened rivals' incentive（对手的动机）to cut fees,because prices on their site could not fall.By keeping prices similar,the contracts also reduced the incentive for consumers to search on multiple sites,thus helping sites retain their users.

Weaker incentives to lower commissions mean weaker incentives to lower costs,too.That might explain why comparison websites advertise so heavily,and sometimes offer free gifts to those who use them.In a recent paper,Ben Edelman of Harvard Business School and Julian Wright of the National University of Singapore argue that when a site knows that the prices merchants provide through it will always be the lowest available,it increases investment in attracting customers,safe in the knowledge that the merchants and at last consumers will bear the cost.

Is there any way to ensure the market for price comparison is competitive?Asking consumers to check multiple websites defeats the point of using them.One solution is to have only one site,but regulate it as a public utility（功用）. Alternatively,the governments could run the site itself.But creating good search and comparison sites may be too hard for them.It is much better to acknowledge that consumers will always have to do some comparison themselves to \

Websites that compare the comparison sites can help,although it is easy to see how they could fall prey to the same problems.Any firm with captive users（被动用户）,be it a comparison site a search engine,or a social-media platform,can charge a high price for access to the eyes of its customers.For all their innovation,Internet middlemen are not unlike supermarkets.Shoppers would never imagine that a single store had the lowest price for all the items they need. 62.According to the first two paragraphs,price-comparison websites______. . A.will offer smart consumers the best deals B.will bring insurance firms increased profits C.can help keep the costs of insurance firms down

D.may raise the price that consumers pay for their purchases

63.Current comparison sites tend to put most of their efforts in______. A.lowering commissions C.attracting consumers

B.contracting with retailers D.cutting operating costs

64.According to the last two paragraphs,the author probably agrees that______. A.it's desirable to have only one comparison site and have it run by the government B.it's advisable that comparison sites with captive users charge a high price for its service C.consumers should check multiple comparison sites before making a purchasing decision D.websites that compare the comparison websites can help to build a competitive market 65.The passage mainly conveys the idea that comparison sites______. A.create an effective channel for smart consumers B.are competition's friends and enemies at the same time C.offer win-win deals between consumers and retailers D.have caused a new form of competition among retailers

D

Despite the general rule for quiet demanded by libraries,they've been the subject of some fairly significant noise. Children's Laureate（儿童桂冠作家）,Chris Riddell,along with eight former Children's Laureates,has written an open letter to Justine Greening,the British Secretary of State for Education,demanding an investigation into school library service closures（关闭）.

Why should parents or pupils be concerned whether or not school libraries close?Are they surely just mausoleums（陵墓）to the paper-bound past?Or are they rooms that are of little use to today's Internet-connected student population,who have access to a world of books and information through their digital devices?

Quite simply,school libraries,as well as their librarians,are critical to our children's future. Research has proved this to be the case.The level of development of a school library is a highly accurate predictor of academic success,which means that parents should perhaps go so far as to compare the libraries of the schools they are considering,rather than look at league tables,when seeking the right schools for their children.Chris Riddell and his fellow former Laureates are absolutely right to emphasize the importance of librarians in introducing children to life-changing books and turning them into lifelong readers.Reading is a skill that needs to be developed.

Librarians play the crucial role of introducing pupils to different genres or authors,as well as encouraging children of varying abilities to read—from the reluctant readers to those with higher than average reading ages.

However,if libraries were to have a \description\a love of reading and promoting literacy（误写能力）is just one of their essential roles.The other role is,to be at the very centre of learning,a resource,for students to use in acquiring knowledge.Ultimately,as students get older they need to become increasingly experienced readers for information,as well as,hopefully,for pleasure.They need to be able to find out and access,through reading and understanding,the answers to their questions themselves.

Independent learning skills are very much in demand by pupils and parents,as well as universities and employers,because real education is about so much more than just academic success or grades on a piece of paper.As Mary Beard,Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge,pointed out,\simple truth is that we can't teach all that we would like them to know.\

Talking of libraries,we would always focus on the collection of books and the dissemination（传播）of knowledge to aid learning.Therefore surely,it makes sense that if libraries are given the right status and adequate resources,they will play a vital role in the development of these much-needed independent learning skills.This has never been more important than in today's information age,when everything we need to know is only a few clicks away.

Libraries and librarians should be central in helping pupils understand how to access data or knowledge for their studies or interests—regardless of whether this is from a book an online resource or a journal.

It is equally important that libraries guide students on how to \available to them—a vitally important skill given that the Internet contains a large amount of mistakes and misinformation.But,of course, libraries can only offer this support and guidance if they are properly valued and resourced,which means that we need as many voices as possible to be \

Chris Riddell is encouraging children to ask their teachers where their school library is.Perhaps parents also need to be asking their current and prospective schools about the same question.Let's make the \—it needs to be uncomfortably deafening（震耳欲聋