What processes does cognition consist of？

trying to determine exactly what intelligence is. Different investigators have emphasized different aspects of intelligence in their definitions. For example, in a 1921 symposium on the definition of intelligence, the American psychologist Lewis M. Ter-man emphasized the ability to think abstractly, while another American psychologist, Edward L. Thorndike, emphasized learning and the ability to give good responses to questions. In a similar 1986 symposium, however, psychologists generally agreed on the importance of adaptation to the environment as the key to understanding both what intelligence is and what it does. Such adaptation may occur in a variety of environmental situations. For example, a student in school learns the material that is required to pass or do well in a course; a physician treating a patient with an unfamiliar disease adapts by learning about the diseases; an artist reworks a painting in order to make it convey a more harmonious impression. For the most part, adapting involves making a change in oneself in order to cope more effectively, but sometimes effective adaptation involves either changing the environment or finding a new environment altogether.

Effective adaptation draws upon a number of cognitive processes, such as perception, learning, memory, reasoning, and problem solving. The main trend in defining intelligence, then, is that it is not itself a cognitive or mental process, but rather a selective combination of these processes purposively directed toward effective adaptation to the environment. For examples, the physician noted above learning about a new disease adapts by perceiving material on the disease in medical literature, learning what the material contains, remembering crucial aspects of it that are needed to treat the patient, and then reasoning to solve the problem of how to apply the information to the needs of the patient. Intelligence, in sum, has come to be regarded as not a single ability, but an effective drawing together of many abilities. This has not always been obvious to investigators of the subject, however, and, indeed, much of the history of the field revolves around arguments, regarding the nature and abilities that constitute intelligence.

What does the passage mainly discuss?

untouched by technology. 1. But unlike such other pervasive technologies as electricity, television and the motor car, computers are on the whole less reliable and less predictable in their behavior. This is because they are discrete state digital electronic devices that are prone to total and catastrophic failure. Computer systems, when they are "down," are completely down, unlike electromechanical devices, which may be only partially down and are thus partially usable.

Computers enable enormous quantities of information to be stored, retrieved, and transmitted at great speed on a scale not possible before. 2. This is all very well, but it has serious implications for data security and personal privacy because computers are inherently insecure. The recent activities of hackers and data thieves in the United States, Germany, and Britain have shown how all-too-easy it still is to break into even the most sophisticated financial and military systems. The list of scams perpetrated by the new breed of high-tech criminals, ranging from fraud in airline-ticket reservations to the reprogramming of the chips inside mobile phones, is growing daily.

Computers systems are often incredibly complex--so complex, in fact, that they are not always understood even by their creators (although few are willing to admit it). This often makes them completely unmanageable. Unmanageable complexity, can result in massive foul-ups or spectacular budget "runaways." For example, Jeffrey Rothfeder in Business Week reports that Bank of America in 1988 had to abandon a $20-million computer system after spending five years and a further $60 million trying to make it work. Allstate Insurance saw the cost of its new system rise from $8 million to a staggering $100 million and estimated completion was delayed from 1987 to 1993. Moreover, the problem seems to be getting worse: in 1988 the American Arbitration Association took on 190 computer disputes, most of which involved defective systems. The claims totaled $200 million--up from only $31 million in 1984.

3. Complexity can also result in disaster: no computer is 100 percent guaranteed because it is virtually impossible to anticipate all sorts of critical applications, such as saving lives, flying aircraft, running nuclear power stations, transferring vast sums of money, and controlling missile systems--sometimes with tragic consequences. For example, between 1982 and 1987, some twenty-two servicemen died in five separate crashes of the United States Air Force's sophisticated Blackhawk helicopter before the problem was traced to its computer-based "fly-by-wire" system. At least two people died after receiving overdoses of radiation emitted by the computerized Therac 25 X-ray machines, and there are many other examples of fatal computer-based foul-ups.

Popular areas for less life-threatening computer malfunctions include telephone billing and telephone switching software, and bank-teller machines, electronic funds-transfer systems, and motor-vehicle license data bases. Although computers have often taken the "blame" on these occasions, the ultimate cause of failure in most cases is, in fact, human error.

Every new technology creates new problems as well as new benefits for society, and computers are no exception. 4. But digital computers have rendered society especially vulnerable to hardware and software malfunctions. Sometimes industrial robots go crazy, while heart pacemakers and automatic garage door openers are rendered useless by electromagnetic radiation or "electronic smog" emitted from point-of-sale terminals, personal computers, and video games. Automated teller machines (ATMs) and pumps at gas stations are closed down because of unforeseen software snafus.

The cost of all this downtime is huge. 5. For example, it has

managers have achieved parity with men, this isn't tree. The glass (some say concrete) ceiling still exists in many places. So, if you're a minority, consider how this is affecting your advancement chances. Don't be bitter, but do get busy. It may be time to get out and find something better.

200 words. Your composition should be based on the following outline:

1．什么是错误?

2．怎样辩证地看待错误。

3．你怎样看待自己的错误。

4．你怎样看待他人的错误。

SHEET 2.

space research is a waste of money. Discuss.

You should write no less than 250 words. Write your article on ANSWER SHEET 2.

坐以待毙，但也不会为不可免的患难空耗精力与时间，而且即使对某些可免的灾难，他也宁愿屈服，如果避免这种不幸所做的努力会妨害他更重要的追求。许多人会因为一些小事出现差错而烦躁或者恼怒，他们也因此而浪费了许多本可以更好地利用的精力。在追求真正重要的目标时，过于情绪化是不利的，因为担心失败会使内心无法平静下来。在实际工作中，效率与我们投入的感情是不成比例的；甚至有时候感情会成为提高效率的阻碍。正确的态度是尽力而为，至于这个问题则接受命运的安排。认命通常有两种，一种缘于绝望，一种缘于无法抑制的希望。前者是错误的，后者才是正确的。

度上通过他们在市场上花钱购买他们最需要的货物和设施来决定厂家该生产什么。

己心灵脆弱。

actory in Swedesboro, N.J.【87】Inside, 26 machines wash them, core them, peel them, seed them, slice them, chill them. At the end of the line, 【88】they are dunked in a solution of calcium ascorbate and now deposited into little green bags featuring a jogging Ronald McDonald. From there,【89】 the bags make their way in refrigerated trucks to refrigerated containers in distribution centers, and then to thousand of McDonald's restaurants up and down the Eastern Seaboard. 【90】 No more than 14 days before leaving the plant, the fruit will take the place of French fries in some child's Happy Meal.

The apple slices, called Apple Dippers, are a symbol of how McDonald's is trying to offer healthier food to its customers 【91】and to answer the many critics who contend that most of its menu is poor nutritional quality. 【92】 McDonald's has also not introduced a variety of "premium" salads, which will soon be joined by a salad of grapes, walnuts-and, of course, apples.

【93】Yet it still remains to be seen these new offerings will assuage the concerns of public health officials and other critics of McDonald's highly processed fat-and calorie-laden sandwiches, drinks and fries. 【94】So far, however, they have not-at least not have entirely.But this much is already clear: just as its staple meals of burger and fries have made McDonald's the largest single buyer of beef and potatoes in the country, 【95】its new focus on fresh fruits and vegetables is making the company a minor player in $80 billion American produce industry.

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