1 . I’m in a coffee shop in Manhattan and I’m about to become the most disliked person in the room. First, I’m going to interrupt the man reading quietly near the window and ask for a drink of his latte. Next, I’m going to ask the line of people waiting to pay if I can cut to the front of the queue. This is how I chose to spend my last vacation. Here’s why.
Growing up, all I ever heard about was “EQ.” It was the mid-1990s, and psychologist Daniel Goleman had just popularized the concept of emotional intelligence. Unlike IQ, which tracked conventional measures of intelligence like reasoning and recall, EQ measured the ability to understand other people — to listen, to empathize (共情), and to appreciate.
My mother, an elementary school principal, prized brains and hard work, but she placed a special emphasis on Goleman’s new idea. To her, EQ was the elixir (万能药) that separated the good students from the great after they left school. She was determined to send me into the adult world with as much of this elixir as possible.
But when I finally began my first job, I noticed a second elixir in the pockets of some of my colleagues. It gave their opinions extra weight and their decisions added impact. Strangest of all, it seemed like the anti-EQ: Instead of knowing how to make others feel good, this elixir gave people the courage to do the opposite — to say things others didn’t want to hear.
This was assertiveness (魄力). It boiled down to the command of a single skill: the ability to have uncomfortable conversations. Assertive people — those with high “AQ”— ask for things they want, decline things they don’t, provide constructive feedback, and engage in direct confrontation (对峙) and debate.
A lifetime improving my EQ helped me empathize with others, but it also left me overly sensitive to situations where I had to say or do things that might make others unhappy. While I didn’t avoid conflict, I was always frustrated by my powerlessness when I had to say or do something that could upset someone. This is my problem and I’m working on it.
1. Why did the author act that way in the coffee shop?| A．To improve a skill. | B．To test a concept. |
| C．To advocate a new idea. | D．To have a unique vacation. |
| A．She thought little of IQ. |
| B．She popularized Goleman’s idea. |
| C．She was a strict mother and principal. |
| D．She valued EQ as the key to greatness. |
| A．EQ. | B．AQ. | C．Empathy. | D．Courage. |
| A．successful leaders | B．people pleasers |
| C．terrible complainers | D．pleasure seekers |
2 . Late last year, in the days before the Dosakian election, a video featuring a well-known journalist and a key candidate circulated on social networks. However, it was absolutely fake (虚假的). The International Press Institute has called this episode in Dosakia the first time that AI deepfakes — fake images, or videos generated by artificial intelligence — have influenced a national election greatly.
Security experts consider misinformation the biggest global risk recently — more dangerous than war, and extreme weather events. A constant stream of people is wrestling with this issue. Now even economists are joining in.
Economist Iyan Smith, and others conduct a real-world experiment to see whether simple, low-cost nudges, or interventions, can be effective. Instead of focusing on the supply side of misinformation like social media platforms, they pay attention to the demand side: increasing our capacity to identify the fake information.
The economists split participants randomly into four different groups. One group was shown a video demonstrating a convincing journey of two people from two different social groups who, before interacting, express negative stereotypes (刻板印象) about the other’s group, overcoming their differences and ultimately regretting unthinkingly using stereotypes to dehumanize one another. Another group completed a personality test that shows them their cognitive traits (认知特点) causing prejudice, hoping to increase their self-awareness, and decrease their demand for misinformation. A third group did both while a control group did neither.
The economists find the simple intervention of showing the video makes the participants over 30 percent less likely to “consider fake news reliable”. But the personality test has little effect. As for participants doing both, they were about 31 percent less likely to view true headlines as reliable. In other words, they became so skeptical that even the truth became suspect.
Smith and his colleagues are far from the first scholars to fight misinformation by helping people to think more critically. University of Weymouth psychologist Lisa Kindle also advocates similar ways to help reject misinformation in the wild.
1. What does the author intend to do in the first two paragraphs?| A．Highlight the risk of AI deepfakes. | B．Discuss the global threat landscape. |
| C．Describe Dosakia’s election outcome. | D．Introduce the concept of misinformation. |
| A．The cognitive trait. | B．The short video. |
| C．The personality test. | D．The negative stereotype. |
| A．Videos reduce misinformation. | B．Deepfakes may discredit truth. |
| C．Misinformation causes dehumanization. | D．Personality tests sharpen thinking skills. |
| A．Battling Fake News | B．Deepfakes in Elections |
| C．The Spread of Misinformation | D．Expanding Thinking Capacity |
3 . Whether you live in a house, cottage, flat or rented property, we all love and treasure our homes — so protecting your property with a comprehensive home insurance policy should be a priority. But what should you consider when purchasing your next home insurance policy? Here are some key points.
VALUE YOUR VALUABLES
We all take possessions away from the home, including items such as jewelry, mobile phones, tablets, and handbags. When buying home insurance, always discuss this. A policy that provides overseas cover means you can often save money on your travel policy — since you don’t need to insure these items twice.
WATCH OUT FOR WATER
If there’s damage to your property caused by an escape of water, you may have additional costs in removing and replacing any other part of the building while accessing the source of the leak. Trace and access cover is important as it could save you a substantial amount of money should your property develop a leak.
ACCIDENTS HAPPEN
One in four home insurance policies don’t include accidental damage cover. Accidental damage cover is recommended as even the most careful person could accidentally knock their television when decorating or even while cleaning the carpet.
It may surprise you to learn comprehensive home insurance — which includes all the important levels of cover as standard—may not cost as much as you might think. Leading insurance broker Higos Insurance Services recently revealed that 66 percent of their clients have paid less than 240 for their new home insurance policy in 2023.
1. How does overseas cover benefit a client?| A．By including travel essentials in it. | B．By enlarging coverage to home repairs. |
| C．By avoiding double-insuring valuables. | D．By offering discounts on travel packages. |
| A．Property cover. | B．Overseas cover. |
| C．Accidental damage cover. | D．Trace and access cover. |
| A．Property investors. | B．Travel insurance buyers. |
| C．Home insurance seekers. | D．Personal finance enthusiasts. |
4 . 300-Word-Fable Contest 2024
Our domestic annual fable contest is back for its eighth year. As ever, we look forward to reading yours! Listed below are some take-home messages for you!
The Rules:
Please make sure that stories are new, not published before and exactly 300 words long (not including the title). Entries may be used in all print and electronic media. Contributions can become world copyright (版权) of Granta. The judges’ decision is final.
Entry is open only to people living in the UK. It is not open to employees of Granta and all others associated with this contest, their immediate families and relatives living in an employee's household.
Terms and Conditions:
There are three categories-one for adults and two for schools: one for teenagers aged 12-18 and one for children under 12.
In the adults category, the winner will receive £1,000 and two runners-up will each receive £250. In the 12 — 18s and under-12s categories, the winners will each receive a selection of STAEDTLER products worth £150. The two runners-up in both categories will each receive a Kindle E-Reader.
Please submit your fables by 5 pm on February 19.
The editorial team will pick a shortlist of entries, which this year will be published by our partner nicereading. com. Winners of the categories will have an opportunity to write a longer version of their fables for inclusion in the book.
Highlights to keep in mind: the three best fables in each category will be posted on-line at granta.co.uk on February 27. You can vote for your favourite, and the one with the most votes wins the top prize. Voting will close at 5 pm on March 19 and the winning list will be published in our June issue.
1. Who will determine entries to become the world copyright of Granta?| A．The judges. | B．The writers. |
| C．The experts. | D．The audience. |
| A．A British man of 20. | B．A staff of Granta. |
| C．One of the organizers. | D．A brother of the staff. |
| A．At least eight days. | B．At least one month. |
| C．At most one month. | D．At most two months. |
5 . Our old, artificial Christmas tree was in rough shape by the time we retired it. At least a decade had passed since my wife and I bought the tree, a medium-size fake tree with built-in lights, at a Target in Brooklyn and carried it on the subway to our tiny apartment. Over the years, we dragged that tree from apartment, jammed it onto a moving truck to Los Angeles and later packed the weathered box onto another moving truck, this time to Chicago and our current home. By the end, layers of duct tape (强力胶布) held the box together, the wear and tear of a decade of delivering holiday cheer.
Our little tree looked run down, but it was the only tree our family ever knew. It stands proud and glowing in the background of photos of me and my pregnant wife during our last Christmas in Brooklyn without children. Our oldest was born a month later during a January snowstorm. The tree shows up again in the next year’s photos, this time surrounded by holiday gifts for a boy about to turn 1. Then it appears in photos of our son and his 1-month-old brother, this time with California palm trees just outside the door. And in more recent photos, our tree lights up windows overlooking shining Chicago snow. This year, after much debate, we decided to retire our dear old tree, with its bent branches and the lights that had burned out years ago. Rather than feel depressed, we used the moment to launch a new family tradition: our first real Christmas tree.
So here’s a toast to all your family’s traditions—the old and the new. I hope you enjoy this issue, which we have filled with stories of seasonal joy and holiday cheer. Happy holidays!
1. Where is the author’s present home?| A．In Chicago. | B．In Brooklyn. | C．In California. | D．In Los Angeles. |
| A．His budget was tight. | B．He was attached to it. |
| C．It was in good condition. | D．It was environmentally-friendly. |
| A．An editor. | B．A salesman. | C．A delivery man. | D．A home designer. |
| A．The finest diamond must be cut. |
| B．Out with the old, in with the new. |
| C．Old friends and old wine are best. |
| D．All things in their being are good for something. |
6 . “Why does grandpa have ear hair?” Just a few years ago my child was so curious to know “why” and “how” that we had to cut off her questions five minutes before bedtime. Now a soon-to-be fourth grader, she says that she dislikes school because “it’s not fun to learn.” I am shocked. As a scientist and parent, I have done all to promote a love of learning in my children. Where did I go wrong?
My child’s experience is not unique. Psychologist Susan Engel notes that curiosity — defined as “spontaneous (自发的) investigation and eagerness for new information” — drops greatly in children by the fourth grade.
In Wonder: Childhood and the Lifelong Love of Science, Yale psychologist Frank C. Keil details the development of wonder — a spontaneous passion to explore, discover, and understand. He takes us on a journey from its early development, when wonder drives common sense and scientific reasoning, through the drop-off in wonder that often occurs, to the trap of life in a society that denies wonder.
As Keil notes, children are rich in wonder while they are rapidly developing causal mechanisms (因果机制) in the preschool and early elementary school years. They are sensitive to the others’ knowledge and goals, and they expertly use their desire for questioning. Children’s questions, particularly those about “why” and “how,” support the development of causal mechanisms which can be used to help their day-to-day reasoning.
Unfortunately, as Keil notes, “adults greatly underestimate (低估) young children’s causal mechanisms.” In the book, Wonder, Keil shows that we can support children’s ongoing wonder by playing games with them as partners, encouraging question-asking, and focusing on their abilities to reason and conclude.
A decline in wonder is not unavoidable. Keil reminds us that we can accept wonder as a positive quality that exists in everyone. I value wonder deeply, and Wonder has given me hope by suggesting a future for my children that will remain wonder-full.
1. How does the author introduce the topic of the passage in paragraph 1?| A．By listing some statistics. | B．By presenting an explanation. |
| C．By making some comparison. | D．By asking some questions. |
| A．They annoy their parents too often. |
| B．They ask too many strange questions. |
| C．Their desire for fun disappears quickly. |
| D．Their desire to learn weakens sharply. |
| A．They control children’s sensitivity. |
| B．They slightly change in early childhood. |
| C．They hardly support children’s reasoning. |
| D．They develop by children’s questioning. |
| A．A news report. | B．A book review. |
| C．A research paper. | D．A children’s story. |
7 . Depending on your view, the recorder is an instrument of “incredible functions” or a tool of annoyance that has bothered primary schools for too many generations. But now, it faces extinction, with one of the UK’s top music schools reporting an 80% decline in the number of young people playing it in the last 10 years.
The instrument’s future is so imperiled that the European Recorder Teachers Association is trying to bring it back to life again so it does not leave the stage. The ERTA argues that if the recorder was good enough for the Beatles, it has a place in modern music today.
Tom Redmond, the principal of Chetham’s school of music in Manchester, said only three of its pupils practised the recorder, compared with 15 a decade ago. “More pupils were taking up the piano or other instruments,” said Redmond. “The ones that became really popular are the ones students spend more time playing alone. With the instruments being more socially based, there has been a decline, just like the recorder.”
Redmond also said that this problem extended “beyond the recorder itself” and was a mirror of the future of music. “Like removing any plant or animal from an ecosystem, removing the recorder has a huge chain effect beyond just the instrument. You need these instruments to create the inspiration for music, and without that, there is less excitement to learn music,” he said.
Chris Orton, a recorder tutor and chair of the ERTA, is leading the fight against the instrument’s extinction. He said, “The recorder is increasingly overlooked by students, and yet it has a rich history and incredible attractions. As well as making beautiful sounds, it’s an accessible instrument in that it is low-cost compared to other woodwind instruments, and it’s light and easy to carry.”
1. What does the underlined word “imperiled” in paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．In danger. | B．Full of hope. | C．Out of memory. | D．Beyond recognition. |
| A．Students are less excited to learn it. |
| B．Its disadvantages outweigh its advantages. |
| C．It requires more cooperation with other instruments. |
| D．Students are more likely to play high-end instruments. |
| A．Music education is essential for students. |
| B．The recorder shapes the future of music. |
| C．The recorder plays an important role in music. |
| D．Nature is a rich source of inspiration for musicians. |
| A．It needs to be improved. | B．It is inconvenient to play. |
| C．It is a priority for students. | D．It deserves more attention. |
8 . Many oohed and aahed after Sora amazed the world with its superb ability of creating videos directly from text instructions. Discussions about what the artificial intelligence model can do to make a difference continue.
Some said it could be a blow to traditional industries such as film and television making, looking forward to the day when a movie can be created right after a novel is put into the model. But others remain doubtful about how powerful the novel model can be in changing the landscape of AI application.
The text-to-video model, developed by a group of young talent from Microsoft-backed company Open AI, can produce videos up to a minute long while keeping visual quality, challenging AI products by Musk to some extent.
“Sora marks a great advance in the field of AI-generated content (AIGC).” Shen Yang, a professor in Tsinghua , argued. As one of the leading scholars in AI research in China, Shen leads a team conducting studies of the philosophy of AI. Shen sang high praises of Sora because, even if satisfied with his team’s AI-generated videos after a two-minute video on the Spring Festival produced by Shen’s team had recently made waves on social media platforms, he said, “Compared with the new model Sora, what we used are tools of the previous generation. There’s a huge gap in between…”
Shen highlighted that not only does the technology contribute to his productivity, but it also benefits his daily life. His wife was suffering from cancer, and he used Sora to assist in finding treatment, greatly prolonging (延长) her life. He even wrote a science fiction novel using Sora.
However, new technologies may not be good news to everyone. Many also concern about AI models’ safety since related rules are far from enough .
Sora is going to bring about changes in many fields. There is still much room to improve AI models. For instance, current AI models can’t draw characters accurately and quickly. Shop signs lack meaning in Sora’s demo (示范性的) video showing a woman walking down a street in Tokyo. But these problems are believed to be settled as models update.
1. Why does the author mention people’s different opinions towards Sora in paragraph 2?| A．To advertise open AI. | B．To reflect the conflicts. |
| C．To introduce Shen’s attitude. | D．To praise the significance of Sora. |
| A．Unconcerned. | B．Objective. | C．Favorable. | D．Reserved. |
| A．No safety rules. | B．Not enough accuracy if drawing quickly. |
| C．No model updating. | D．Not enough logic if showing videos |
| A．Sora: An AI video | B．Shen Yang: a video-making pioneer |
| C．Sora: A Powerful AI Tool | D．Shen Yang and AI-generated videos |
9 . While we might like to think we would rush to someone’s assistance, we know from studies that often people hang back and this can have tragic consequences.
One of the most famous examples of this is the tragic case of Kitty Genovese who was fatally stabbed (刺伤) in Kew Gardens, New York, in 1964. Subsequent investigations concluded that several people saw or heard what was happening, but did nothing to intervene. This has been termed the “bystander effect” — a well-known psychological phenomenon where individuals are less likely to offer help to someone when other people are present. The more people there are, the less likely they are to help.
There are various factors contributing to this effect — people think that others will get involved or intervene. Afterwards people often say they did not feel qualified or senior or important enough to be the one to intervene. It is also partly down to “pluralistic (多元化的) ignorance” — since everyone is not reacting to the emergency, they don’t need to either; it’s not serious because no one else is doing anything. After a serious incident where people have been affected by the bystander effect, they are often horrified that they didn’t do anything—they can’t believe they had not realized it was more serious or that they didn’t think to get involved.
The important thing to understand though is that other studies have shown that once people are aware of the bystander effect, they are less likely to be affected by it. Self-awareness is the best approach to it. When confronted with an emergency, think to yourself how you would behave if you were on your own. Ignore everyone else and how they are behaving and go with your courage — if you’d call an ambulance, do it. If you’d run for help, do it. If that’s how you would have behaved when you were on your own, then that’s probably the right course of action.
1. Why does the author mention “the tragic case of Kitty Genovese” in paragraph 2?| A．To present a fact. | B．To confirm a finding. |
| C．To predict a conclusion. | D．To illustrate an approach. |
| A．feel confident to intervene. | B．tend to help people in need. |
| C．be well aware of bad consequences. | D．feel shocked after a serious incident. |
| A．Think twice. | B．Follow others. |
| C．Step in at once. | D．Take action cautiously. |
| A．Behave Yourself | B．Don’t Be A Bystander |
| C．Action in An Emergency | D．Severity of Bystander Effect |
10 . What Does Our Body Language Reveal
Smiling is a powerful tool in your body language collection. Perhaps you smile a lot in the hope of appearing friendly.
If you’re trying to hide nervousness you’d better avoid smiling too much, too. Also be aware that nervous people often hug themselves, rub their forehead, and shift their body weight from one foot to another to create a slight rocking motion.
If you’re trying to show that you are listening sympathetically to what someone has to say, try tipping your head slightly and nodding very slightly. This gesture implies you are listening with interest. If you’re talking to someone and a third person joins, turn your body towards them slightly to include them and make them feel valued.
To build trust quickly? Try mirroring. Adopting a similar stance (站姿) to the person you are engaged with indicates your interest and helps develop trust. Use this with caution, though.
| A．Don’t obviously copy your companion. |
| B．Our body language speaks volumes about us. |
| C．Control these habits to appear more composed. |
| D．Our body language barely overshadows our verbal communication. |
| E．Just be aware that it might make you seem less professional at work. |
| F．We tend to position our body and feet toward the person of interest to us. |
| G．By contrast, a failure to angle your body towards them implies “Unwelcome”. |
