【推荐1】Several days ago, a doctor Lord Robert Winston from Britain took a train from London to Manchester, he found himself becoming steadily angry. A woman had picked up her phone and begun a loud conversation, which would last an unbelievable hour. Furious, Winston began to put the message about the woman on his twitter. He took her picture and sent it to his more than 40 ,000 followers.

As the train arrived at its destination, Winston had enough of the woman's rudeness. But the press were now waiting for her on the platform. And when they deliberately showed her the Lord's messages, she used just one word to describe Winston's actions: rude.

The story of Winston is something of a microcosm of our age of increasing rudeness, fueled by social media ( and often politics). What can we do to fix this?

Studies have shown that rudeness spreads quickly and virally, almost like the common cold. Just witnessing rudeness makes it far more likely that we, in turn, will be rude later on. Once infected, we are more aggressive, less creative and worse at our jobs. The only way to end a strain is to make a conscious decision to do so. We must have the courage to call it out, face to face. We must say, “ Just stop. ” For Winston, that would have meant approaching the woman, telling her that her conversation was frustrating other passengers and politely asking her to speak more quietly or make the call at another time.

The anger and injustice we feel at the rude behavior of a stranger can drive us to do odd things. In my own research, surveying 2 ,000 adults, I discovered that the acts of revenge people had been taken ranging from the ridiculous to the disturbing. Winston did shine a spotlight on the woman's behavior but from afar, in a way that shamed her.

We must instead fight with rudeness directly. When we see it occur in a store, we must step up and say something. If it happens to a colleague, we must point it out. We must defend strangers in the same way we'd defend our best friends. But we can do it with grace, by handling it without a trace of aggression and without being rude ourselves. Because once rude people can see their actions through the eyes of others, they are far more likely to end that strain themselves.

1. Why did the woman use the word “rude” to describe Winston's actions?

A．Because he behaved improperly and spoke loudly on the train.

B．Because he said rude words to the woman.

C．Because he lost his temper due to other people's rudeness.

D．Because he pointed out the woman's rude behavior in a wrong way.

2. What is the function of the third paragraph?

A．To draw a conclusion to the above story.

B．To act as a connecting link of the former and latter part.

C．To show us the positive and negative effects of the social media.

D．To tell us the ways to fix this kind of situation.

3. What does the underlined phrase mean in Paragraph 5?

A．Uncover.	B．Combat.
C．Concern.	D．Undertake.

4. According to the writer, how should we respond to some uncivilized behaviors?

A．We can only point out rudeness from familiar people.

B．Do nothing but wait for other people to fix it.

C．Both strangers and acquaintances deserve our friendly warning.

D．Take revenge on rude people by doing equally disturbing things.

【推荐2】Every year, billions of kilograms of fresh produce are wasted in the United States. Meanwhile, millions of poor Americans go hungry, without access to healthy and affordable meals.

Evan Lutz is enthusiastic about correcting that social injustice. And he combines that goal with enthusiasm for business. Lutz is CEO and founder of Hungry Harvest, a business which collects and sells “ugly” produce. These are fruits and vegetables that most food companies would throw away. More than six billion pounds are wasted each year due to surface imperfections.

“So I’ll give you an example.” Lutz says, “If you go to a grocery store you will see all the produce lineup shiny, perfect, of the same size and color. But on a farm, everything doesn’t grow the same way. So all that stuff that doesn’t grow the same way often gets thrown out. And what we do is take all that normally gets thrown out because of its odd size or shape, box it up and deliver it to our customers once a week.”

For Evan Lutz, giving back to others came form his upbringing. “When I was growing up, my parents taught me the values of giving back, and giving is a lot more powerful than receiving. We sell produce with a purpose and that doesn’t just mean we reduce food from going to waste. We hire people that were formerly in prison or were formerly injured or sick living in homeless shelters. They really wanted to get back on their feet for a second chance in life.”

Evan Lutz is really happy to be realizing great mission that he thinks can really revolutionize the food industry in America.

1. The social injustice in Paragraph 2 refers to the fact that _________.

A．vegetables and fruits that don’t taste good are thrown away

B．grocery stores only sell produce of the same size

C．poor Americans can not afford healthy food

D．much produce gets wasted while many Americans starve

2. What business does Hungry Harvest mainly do?

A．Deliver food for free.	B．Collect “ugly” produce and sell it.
C．Raise money for the poor.	D．Buy “ugly” produce and process it.

3. Why does Evan Lutz employ those people mentioned in Paragraph 4?

A．To provide them with a job.	B．To reduce labor costs.
C．To increase productivity.	D．To earn a better reputation.

4. What can be the best title for the passage?

A．Creating More Jobs for the Less Fortunate.

B．Putting Healthy Food on Dinner Table.

C．Giving Unused Produce a Purpose.

D．Making Profits from Shiny Produce.

【推荐3】Some futurologists have assumed that the vast increase of women in the workforce may portend (预示) a rejection of marriage.     1     In the past, only the earnings and financial prospects of the man mattered in the marriage decision. Now, however, things are quite different.

    2     Yet, it may be wrong to jump to any simple cause-and-effect conclusions. The impact of a wife’s work on divorce is actually as much as its impact on marriage decisions. The realization that she can be a good provider may increase the chances that a working wife will choose divorce over an unsatisfactory marriage.

But what is on the contrary is equally reasonable.     3     Given high unemployment and slow growth in real earnings, a working wife can relieve some of the household urgent financial burdens, thus strengthening her family’s financial and emotional stability.

Psychological factors also should be considered. For example, a wife blocked from a career outside the home may feel caged in the house.     4     On the other hand, if she can find fulfillment or self-satisfaction through work outside the home, work and marriage can go together to create a stronger and more stable union.

Another fact contributes to women’s inequality in marriage lies in the fact that in most cases, men have remained the main breadwinners. With higher earning capacity outside of the home comes the capacity to exercise power within the family.     5    

In conclusion, whatever is said, the impact of the growing female workforce on marriage actually varies from case to case, a stronger equal partnership or some new insecurities.

A．The opposite of this concern could encourage marriages.

B．She may view her only choice as seeking a divorce.

C．A working wife may rob a husband of being the master of the house.

D．Many women, according to this assumption, would rather work than marry

E．As the economy rebounds, the number of marriages also rise.

F．The increase in divorce rates is due to the increase in female workforce.

G．Tensions caused by financial problems often play a key role in ending a marriage.

【推荐1】Ever wonder how your brain works when making decisions bigger than medium spicy salad, like buying a car or accepting a job offer? Researchers from the University of Dundee in Scotland conducted a study that clarifies why you may want to have a small bite before making that big decision.

Benjamin Vincent from the University of Dundee’s Psychology department and his co-author Jordan Skyrnka tested 50 people two times: once when they followed their normal eating patterns and once when they did not eat anything during the day. Using three different types of rewards (food, money, and song downloads), the team discovered when presented with the choice of receiving the reward now vs. double the award at some point in the future, participants would usually volunteer to wait for 35 days to earn a larger bounty, but when they were hungry, they said they would only wait three days.

“We wanted to know whether being in a state of hunger had a specific effect on how you make decisions only relating to food or if it had broader effects, and this research suggests decisionmaking gets more present-focused when people are hungry,” Vincent said in a story about the study on the university’s website. “You would predict that hunger would impact people’s preferences relating to food, but it is not yet clear why people get more present-focused for completely unrelated rewards. Hunger is so common that it is important to understand the non-obvious ways in which our preferences and decisions may be affected by it,” he said.

In an earlier study of the subject by a team at Cambridge University in England, the researchers noted that serotonin (血清素) plays a major role in the decision-making process. “Since the raw material for making serotonin — an amino acid called tryptophan — only comes from diet, levels of the chemical decline between meals,” reports a piece in the Telegraph about the study. “This can lead to aggressiveness and impulsiveness (冲动),” say the team.

1. How did Benjamin Vincent and Jordan Skyrnka carry out their research?

A．By analyzing reasons.	B．By making comparison.
C．By giving examples.	D．By filling questionnaires.

2. The underlined word “bounty” in Paragraph 2 can be best replaced by

A．bonus	B．salary
C．income	D．fortune

3. What is the last paragraph mainly about?

A．What should be eaten to avoid aggressiveness.

B．How can we get enough serotonin from our diet.

C．What other factors will influence one’s decision-making.

D．How does a chemical function in the course of making a decision.

4. What is the best title of the passage?

A．Get Enough Serotonin from Your Diet

B．Being Hungry Makes a Wrong Decision

C．Having a Small Bite Makes a Wise Man

D．Decision-making with Larger Rewards

【推荐3】When a friend comes to you after a stressful day, how do you comfort him? Do you let him complain? Do you pour him a glass of coffee? Those could work. But a new study finds that a very effective technique is also simple and easy—hugging.

"Individuals who reported noticing the availability of a network of supportive individuals tend to show better adaptation when faced with stress. But just because you have a support network does not mean that you absolutely feel that support," said Michael Murphy, a psychology expert at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He wanted to know if people who received hugs regularly could handle anxiety and stress better.

So Murphy and his team interviewed 404 men and women every evening for two weeks, During these interviews, the participants were asked a simple yes or no question -whether somebody had hugged them that day-and a simple yes or no question of whether they had experienced conflict with somebody that day. They also were asked to respond to questions about negative and positive mood states.

And the researchers found that people who experienced a conflict were not as negatively affected if they received a hug that day as participants who experienced conflict and didn't get a hug. And   they   were also found not to carry the negative effect to the next day, while those who did not receive one would. The findings are in the journal PLOS   ONE.

Murphy does include this warning: "So our findings should not be taken as proof that people should just start hugging anyone and everyone who seems upset.A hug from one boss at work or a stranger on the street could be viewed as neither agreeable nor positive." The idea is to relieve stress.Not add to it.

1. What does paragraph 1 serve as?

A．A lead-in.	B．A background.
C．An argument.	D．A summary.

2. Why did the researchers interview those people?

A．To find out causes of their conflicts.

B．To test the influence of hugging.

C．To ask for advice on relieving stress.

D．To seek ways to comfort troubled people.

3. What does the underlined word " they" in paragraph 4 refer to?

A．404 interviewees.	B．Murphy and his team.
C．Participants getting a hug.	D．People receiving no hugs.

4. What do Murphy's words warn in the end?

A．The interview results prove their findings.

B．A boss should comfort workers by hugging.

C．People should hug others regularly and actively.

D．There are some limitations of their findings.