托福阅读机经背景材料：地球人忌讳的数字 本文关键词：阅读机，托福，忌讳，地球，背景
托福阅读机经背景材料：地球人忌讳的数字 本文简介：智课网TOEFL备考资料托福阅读机经背景材料：地球人忌讳的数字摘要:托福阅读机经虽然没有口语写作机经使用频率高，但托福阅读却是整个托福考试的重要部分。适当地掌握一些托福阅读技巧和背景材料对于我们备考托福阅读也是有所帮助的。托福阅读机经背人人都可以相信，1加1等于2。但7比13好──有些数字比其他数字
托福阅读机经背景材料：地球人忌讳的数字 本文内容：
智课网TOEFL备考资料
托福阅读机经背景材料：地球人忌讳的数字
摘要:
托福阅读机经虽然没有口语写作机经使用频率高，但托福阅读却是整个托福考试的重要部分。适当地掌握一些托福阅读技巧和背景材料对于我们备考托福阅读也是有所帮助的。托福阅读机经背
人人都可以相信，1加1等于2。但7比13好──有些数字比其他数字吉利──对一些人来说就没有道理了。这种数字上的好恶，可能会造成深刻的分歧。
上月早些时候，香港就曾发生过这样一种情况。房地产开发商恒基兆业地产有限公司(Henderson
Land
Development
Co.，简称恒基地产)一套复式公寓卖出5660万美元的天价，轰动一时。恒基地产说，这个数字创了亚洲住宅价格的纪录。这一销售结果公布过后，整套物业又因为其他引人瞩目的数字，再次引起轰动。在给这套位于干德道39号的楼盘编制楼层号码时，恒基没有遵循传统的一二三递增的方式。比如，39楼上面就是
60楼。最顶三层的号码，分别是66楼，68楼和88楼。
在拉斯维加斯，像7这样的幸运数字很受欢迎。图为2007年7月7日，很多情侣在曼德勒海湾酒店排队等待举行婚礼。这侵犯了一些人的秩序感。周日(10月
25日)抗议高房价的过程中，一些香港民主党立法会议员对这种牵强附会的编号方案表达了不满。刘慧卿说，你可以把底楼叫做88楼，但没有意义。你说你住
88楼，人们都以为你住88楼，而不是10楼什么的。
数字命理学(Numerology)相信，某些数字在表示数量之外，还有更多的意义。很久以来，这种信念都被数学家打入另册。根据数字的读音或字母表中跟数字对应的字母，数字命理学家对某些数字的态度或褒或贬。这样一种逻辑，让头脑中只有数理规律与属性的数学家们觉得，自己要比数字命理学家高明。
但很多数学家对于起初促使他们进入这个领域的那些数字，也存在一些爱憎。一些人也会出现数理逻辑上的矛盾，跟数字命理学家们的错误比起来，差别也不是那么大。
《数字的秘密人生》(The
Secret
Lives
of
Numbers)设计者列文(Golan
Levin)在电子邮件里写道，有人认为，数字多少是纯粹的、与迷信思维无涉，因为相比语词，它们总要“客观”些，但这样的观念没有考虑到，每一个观念，都是以富含情感与文化的各种信号所织成的锦缎的形式存在于我们的大脑中的。《数字的秘密人生》是一个互动项目，跟踪1到100万之间每一个整数的受欢迎程度。
威廉姆斯学院(Williams
College)数学家嘉里蒂(Thomas
Garrity)对数字9一直有着一种特殊的喜爱。但数字51却不在他的喜好之列。
他回忆自己的数学之路说，这可能跟我小时候有关，当时我经常以为51应该是质数，虽然51=3×17。但他说，自己不会以自己的好恶来做决定，比如说是避开大楼里的第51楼。嘉里蒂教授说，我可以理解人们对某些数字的一些细微的非理性情感，不过我不能理解人们以这样的情感为基础来做真正的决定。
但某些数字迷信还是被扩大化，特别是在涉及利润的时候。当香港恒基为迎合西式口味省掉13楼时，拉斯维加斯一家赌场为迎合香港赌客，楼层编号也略过了40到59楼。
恒基一位女发言人说，客户不喜欢带4的数字和不吉利的数字。这些数字有着更为丰富的蕴涵。
恒基所以按照它的方式编制楼层号码，是因为6和8能引起积极联想，4会引起消极联想。加州大学伯克利分校(University
of
California,Berkeley)名誉数学教授伍鸿熙(Hung-Hsi
Wu)说，在粤语和普通话中，8读起来像发财的“发”。因为这个原因，北京奥运会开幕选在了2008年8月8日的晚上8点。而数字4听起来很像“死”，所以人们会不顾一切地避免。6也被认为是吉利数字。
对6的偏爱和对4的排斥，影响了拉斯维加斯42层楼高的赌场曼德勒湾
(Mandalay
Bay)的开发商。这里的顶层都被命名为60层，61层和62层，因为它略过了40到59。
曼德勒湾业主美高梅金殿梦幻(MGM
Mirage)发言人阿布谢(Gordon
Absher)表示，这种决定缘于赌客被安排到这些楼层时可能有的一些观念。他说，你可能会觉得，我们作为赌场想给你带来厄运。
同样，希望减轻人们对13的恐惧的开发商，不能够避免一幢楼层数目不低于13的大楼里存在第13楼。但他们可以通过命名来让“13”消失。上世纪30年代，俄克拉荷马城(Oklahoma
City)的Skirvin酒店加盖第13层的时候，这层楼被命名为14楼。这座酒店在1988年停止营业，2007年被希尔顿(Hilton)收购后重新开张和命名，不过顶层的编号仍然没有变化。
芝加哥(Chicago)22层楼的Marc
Realty则把第13层楼命名为“14A”，把第14层命名为“14B”。这样就没有让上面的楼层名不副实。
Marc营销协调人克尔奇(Dan
Krc)说，这种安排让上面的楼层高度以一种直观的方式呈现。他说，“13恐惧症”似乎正在消失，Marc物业中被标为13楼的楼层，入住率并不比其他楼层低。
数字13引起的负面联想，源自于耶稣遭背叛前夕“最后的晚餐”当中的就餐者人数。而一些人相信，这种联想要追溯到史前时代──13是不能用十指或两只脚数尽的最小数目(显然脚趾头不算)。
但迪普奥大学
(Depauw
University)
退休数学教授、《数字命理学》作者达德利(Underwood
Dudley)表示，他无法对这些说法予以证实。达德利博士说，据我所知，必须有某个数字是不吉利的，而这个数字就是13。
美国威斯康星州梅库恩(Mequon,Wisc.)的数字命理学家凯(Beverly
Kay)并不害怕13。不过她说，她为顾客的生日和姓名赋予意义的工作，与数学是相通的。凯女士说，这是科学。
心理学家和历史学家一般都试图把这种信念跟人类的一种普遍倾向联系起来，这种倾向就是在不存在类型和系统的地方寻找类型和系统。在极端情况下，数字的情感联想可能会潜入强迫性的行为。在《数字的异想世界》(Strange
Brains
and
Genius)一书中，皮寇弗(Clifford
Pickover)深入研究了数字性强迫性紊乱的各种案例，发现这种紊乱可以跟任何数字发生联系。电子学先驱台斯拉(Nikola
Tesla)每天要用18块干净毛巾，并对3的倍数显示了强烈的偏好。
数学家一般不会达到台斯拉这样的极端，他们认为，他们对所有数字是一视同仁的，而这把他们和数字命理学家们区别开来。
例如加州大学伯克利分校教授里贝(Kenneth
Ribet)就说，他把一些质数视为“朋友”。其中一个是144,169，就像是12的平方跟了一个13的平方。另外一个比较容易记住的数字是1,234,567,891。
里贝教授说，数学家并没有怕见到或不愿见到的数字，因为我们对所有数字真的都很喜欢。他说，另一方面，我们当中一些人确实偏爱一些数字。
Everyone
can
agree
that
1+1=2.
But
the
idea
that
7
is
greater
than
13
--
that
some
numbers
are
luckier
than
others
--
makes
no
sense
to
some
people.
Such
numerical
biases
can
cause
deep
divisions.
And
that
is
what
happened
earlier
this
month
in
Hong
Kong.
Property
developer
Henderson
Land
Development
Co.
made
news
for
selling
a
condominium
for
$56.6
million,a
price
the
developer
called
a
residential
record
in
Asia.
But
after
that
sale
was
announced,the
property
began
making
news
for
other
unusual
numbers.
Henderson
is
labeling
the
floors
of
its
property
at
39
Conduit
Road
with
numbers
that
increase,but
not
in
the
conventional
1-then-2
way.
The
floor
above
39,for
example,is
60.
And
the
top
three
floors
are
consecutively
labeled
66,68
and
88.
This
offended
some
people
s
sense
of
order.
At
a
protest
Sunday
against
high
housing
prices,Hong
Kong
Democratic
Party
legislators
expressed
dissatisfaction
with
the
numbering
scheme
s
tenuous
relationship
to
reality.
You
could
call
the
ground
floor
the
88th
floor,but
it
s
meaningless,says
Emily
Lau.
When
you
say
you
live
on
the
88th
floor,people
expect
you
to
be
on
the
88th
floor,not
the
10th
floor
or
something.
Numerology,a
belief
that
certain
digits
have
greater
meaning
beyond
merely
their
quantity,has
long
been
been
viewed
as
a
kind
of
loony
uncle
to
mathematics.
Numerologists
favor
or
fear
certain
numbers
depending
on
factors
such
as
the
sound
of
the
words
for
those
numbers
or
the
letter
in
the
alphabet
they
correspond
to.
That
kind
of
reasoning
leads
some
mathematicians,who
are
governed
by
numerical
laws
and
properties,to
believe
they
have
one
up
on
numerologists.
点击下载：托福阅读机经背景材料
But
many
mathematicians
have
their
own
emotional
attachments
to
numbers
that
drove
them
to
enter
the
field
in
the
first
place.
Some
will
cop
to
having
numerical
crushes
that
might
not
look
that
different
from
numerologists
.
The
idea
that
numbers
are
somehow
pure
and
immune
to
superstitious
thinking,because
they
re
somehow
more
objective
than
words,doesn
t
take
into
account
the
fact
that
every
concept
exists
(in
our
minds)
in
an
interconnected
tapestry
of
emotionally
and
culturally
charged
signifiers,Golan
Levin,designer
of
the
interactive
project
The
Secret
Lives
of
Numbers,which
tracks
the
popularity
of
every
whole
number
between
one
and
one
million,writes
in
an
email.
He
considers
most
numerical
superstitions
harmless.
Thomas
Garrity,a
mathematician
at
Williams
College,has
always
had
a
particular
fondness
for
the
number
9.
The
number
51,however,doesn
t
make
his
favorites
list.
This
might
stem
from
childhood,when
I
regularly
thought
that
51
should
be
prime,even
though
51=3x17,he
says,taking
a
trip
down
mathematical
memory
lane.
But
he
doesn
t
base
decisions
on
his
preferences,for
instance
by
avoiding
the
51st
floor
of
buildings,he
says.
I
can
understand
people
having
slightly
irrational
feelings
about
particular
numbers,Prof.
Garrity
says.
I
don
t
get,though,people
making
real
decisions
based
on
such
feelings.
And
yet
some
numerical
superstitions
do
spread,especially
when
profits
are
involved.
A
Las
Vegas
casino
that
caters
to
Hong
Kong
high
rollers
also
skips
floors
from
40
to
59,while
Henderson
s
Hong
Kong
development
omits
the
13th
floor
to
cater
to
Western
tastes.
A
Henderson
spokeswoman
says
customers
don
t
want
the
fours
and
the
unlucky
numbers.
These
numbers
are
more
interesting.
Henderson
chose
to
name
the
floors
as
it
did
because
of
positive
associations
with
6
and
8,and
negative
ones
with
4.
In
Cantonese
and
Mandarin,the
word
for
eight
sounds
like
faat,which
means
prosperity.
Hence
the
Beijing
Olympics
starting
time
of
8
p.m.
on
Aug.
8,2008.
The
word
for
four,meanwhile,sounds
very
much
like
death,and
is
therefore
avoided
at
all
costs,says
Hung-Hsi
Wu,professor
emeritus
of
mathematics
at
University
of
California,Berkeley,who
was
born
in
Hong
Kong.
Six
is
also
considered
lucky.
A
preference
for
six
over
four
also
guided
developers
of
the
42-floor
Mandalay
Bay
casino
in
Las
Vegas.
There,penthouses
are
on
the
60th,61st
and
62nd
floor
because
Mandalay
Bay
skips
the
numbers
40
to
59.
Gordon
Absher,spokesman
for
Mandalay
owner
MGM
Mirage,says
that
decision
was
shaped
by
possible
perceptions
of
high
rollers
when
they
are
assigned
to
those
floors.
You
could
think
that
we
are
trying
to,as
the
casino,give
you
bad
luck,Mr.
Absher
says.
Similarly,developers
who
would
assuage
fears
of
13
can
t
avoid
the
existence
of
a
13th
floor
in
buildings
with
13
or
more
stories.
But
they
can
rename
it
out
of
existence.
When
a
13th
floor
was
added
to
the
Skirvin
Hotel
in
Oklahoma
City,in
the
1930s,it
was
named
the
14th
floor.
The
hotel
was
shuttered
in
1988
and
reopened
and
renamed
in
2007
by
Hilton,which
nonetheless
kept
the
name
for
the
top
floor.
The
22-story
headquarters
of
Chicago-based
Marc
Realty
avoids
throwing
off
the
numbers
in
higher
floors
by
labeling
the
13th
floor
14A.
It
labels
the
14th
floor
14B.
That
arrangement
keeps
the
elevations
of
the
upper
floors
straight
in
a
physical
sense,says
Marc
marketing
coordinator
Dan
Krc.
He
adds
that
triskaidekaphobia,or
fear
of
13,appears
to
be
fading,with
floors
labeled
13
in
Marc
properties
showing
occupancy
rates
are
no
lower
than
other
floors.
The
negative
associations
with
13
have
been
traced
to
the
number
of
diners
at
the
Last
Supper,before
the
betrayal
of
Jesus.
Some
believed
it
went
back
to
prehistoric
times
--
the
lowest
number
that
couldn
t
be
counted
on
ten
fingers
and
two
feet.
(Apparently,individual
toes
couldn
t
be
counted).
But
Underwood
Dudley,retired
professor
of
mathematics
at
Depauw
University
and
author
of
Numerology,says
he
wasn
t
able
to
verify
any
of
these.
As
far
as
I
can
tell,some
number
had
to
be
unlucky,and
it
was
13,Dr.
Dudley
says.
Beverly
Kay,a
numerologist
in
Mequon,Wisc.,doesn
t
buy
fears
of
13.
However,she
says
her
work
reading
meaning
into
clients
birth
dates
and
names
is
consistent
with
math.
This
is
scientific,Ms.
Kay
says.
Psychologists
and
historians
generally
have
tied
such
beliefs
to
the
broader
human
tendency
to
seek
patterns
and
systems
where
none
exist.
At
its
extreme,an
emotional
relationship
to
a
number
can
creep
into
obsessive-compulsive
behavior.
In
his
book
Strange
Brains
and
Genius,Clifford
Pickover
dug
through
case
studies
of
numerical
obsessive-compulsive
disorder,and
found
that
it
could
be
tied
to
just
about
any
numeral.
Electricity
pioneer
Nikola
Tesla
demanded
precisely
18
clean
towels
a
day
and
showed
an
intense
preference
for
multiples
of
three.
While
mathematicians
generally
don
t
go
to
Tesla-like
extremes,they
possess
a
generally
positive
outlook
about
all
numbers
and
that
distinguishes
them
from
numerologists,they
say.
For
example,Kenneth
Ribet,a
professor
of
mathematics
at
Berkeley,considers
some
prime
numbers
friends,he
says.
One
is
144,169,which
reads
like
12
squared
followed
by
13
squared;
another
the
easily
remembered
number
of
1,234,567,891.
Mathematicians
don
t
have
numbers
that
they
re
afraid
of
or
shy
away
from
because
we
do
really
like
all
of
the
numbers,says
Prof.
Ribet.
On
the
other
hand,some
of
us
have
favorites.
以上即为托福阅读机经背景材料：地球人忌讳的数字。的详细内容，对于同学们积累托福阅读机经的背景知识有一定帮助，也希望同学们在日常复习中自己也有意识地积累一些托福阅读背景素材。智课教育祝大家在考试中取得好成绩。