If, like me, you’re the kind of person who finds it hard to make decisions, then Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink might just be the book you have been waiting for. Because Blink is all about rapid cognition — that is, those moments when we make snap judgements, for example, when meeting someone for the first time or looking at something we’re thinking of buying.
He analyses exactly what goes on in our heads when we make split-second decisions and compares this to the thought processes involved when we take longer to come to a decision. Interestingly he claims that, “There are lots of situations — particularly at times of high pressure and stress — when fortunately haste does not make waste.”
What makes Blink a really interesting read is the number of stories that Gladwell includes to support his theories. One such story involves doctors in the Emergency Room at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. After told to change the way of diagnoses, instead of asking for information such as the patient’s age and weight and medical history, they were going to focus only on the patient’s blood pressure. And now Cook County is one of the best places in the US at diagnosing chest pain.
Of course, there are occasions when we leap to the wrong conclusion. In his research, Gladwell discovered that almost all the CEOs of the top companies in the US are tall. There is no actual relationship between height and intelligence, but for some reason, corporations overwhelmingly choose tall people for leadership roles. There is something going on in the first few seconds of meeting a tall person which makes us think of that person as an effective leader, which unfortunately stops us from making an informed decision.
All in all, Blink is a fascinating study on an activity that we all do several times a day. Read it and make better decisions.
1. What does the underlined word “snap” in the first paragraph mean?A.Instant. | B.Decisive. | C.Hesitant | D.Important. |
A.By obtaining the patients’ medical history. |
B.By basing diagnoses on patients’ blood pressure. |
C.By abandoning regular ways of diagnosing patients. |
D.By inquiring about current health condition of the patients. |
A.Tall people tend to be capable leaders. |
B.A person’s height and intelligence are closely related. |
C.CEOs of top companies usually draw right conclusions. |
D.The first impression of a person can result in bad judgement. |
A.To honor a writer. | B.To recommend a book. |
C.To introduce a research. | D.To explain a phenomenon. |
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【推荐1】Below is a list of the most worthwhile writing competitions available.
TALF Flash Fiction Competition
The theme of this contest from Theme Arts and Literature Festival is "The Prime of Lile" in recognition of the l5th anniversary of the death of Muriel Spark. You can deal with this theme in any genre (体裁) and in any way you choose, although you are limited to 500 words.
Prizes : £200, £100, £50.
Entry Fee : £8.
Wild Nature Poetry Award 2022
Here we have a new contest from Indigo Dreams Publishing. It is for poems of up to 48 lines on the subject of cruel sports, wildlife in general, the natural world, or the environment.
Prizes: £200, £100, £75.
Entry Fee: £5.
SPM Poetry Book Competition
This international contest from Sentinel Poetry Movement is for full-length poetry collections on any theme and in any style. To enter, you submit up to 20 pages initially. If shortlisted (入围), you have to submit the full collection before December 31 .
Prizes: £500, £250, £100.
Entry Fee: £25.
Poetry Space Competition 2022
Here's a new contest from Poetry Space, an online platform for modern poetry from around the world, which requires poems of up to 40 lines on any subject. You have to be over 16 to enter. The judge is Rosie Jackson, a poet and creative writing tutor.
Prizes: £300, £200, £100.
Entry Fee: £5.
1. What is special about TALF Flash Fiction Competition?A.It requires no entry fee. | B.It is about a certain theme. |
C.It has the longest history. | D.It was started by a famous person. |
A.SPM Poetry Book Competition. | B.Poetry Space Competition 2022. |
C.Wild Nature Poetry Award 2022. | D.TALF Flash Fiction Competition. |
A.It is a yearly contest. | B.Anyone can take part. |
C.It has more than one limit. | D.In offers the most prize money. |
【推荐2】Critic Andrew Robinson reviewed some of the best science picks.
Assyria
Eckart Frahm
Basic Books(2023)
The world’s first empire developed and flourished in Assyria in the eighth and seventh centuries BC, and has long been seen as the epitome of barbarism (野蛮的缩影). But, as Assyriologist Eckart Frahm reveals in his deeply informed, challenging history, Assyria produced many techniques of the modern world. Its innovations included long-distance trade and complex communications networks.
Hands of Time
Rebecca Struthers
Hodder & Stoughton (2023)
Rebecca Struthers, the first professional watchmaker in the United Kingdom to earn a PhD in horology (钟表学), explores a series of key moments in watchmaking from the past 500 years. Mechanical timekeepers, she argues, have influenced human culture as much as the printing press. Imagine trying to catch a train by depending on the sun’s position, or to perform an organ transplant without measuring the patient’s heart rate precisely.
The Deep Ocean
Michael Vecchione et al.
Princeton University Press (2023)
“For most people, the deep ocean is out of sight and out of mind,” write three zoologists and an oceanographer. The zone starts where dim sunlight can no longer support photosynthesis (光合作用), about 200 metres down. This guidebook removes ignorance with superb colour photographs of astonishing organisms, accompanied by detailed descriptions and brief essays.
Tenacious Beasts
Christopher J. Preston
MIT Press (2023)
Humans and domestic animals make up 96% of the mass of the world’s mammals. The outlook for wildlife remains terrible, writes philosopher Christopher J. Preston. But he describes signs of hope in his well-travelled, thoughtful study of recoveries. He visits farmland, grassland, rivers, forests and oceans, exploring why only certain species are recovering.
1. What is Assyria?A.A historian. | B.A modern city. |
C.An ancient country. | D.An old emperor. |
A.Eckart Frahm. | B.Stoughton. |
C.Michael Vecchione. | D.Christopher J. Preston. |
A.They are all about modern science. |
B.They are published in the same year. |
C.They all have influenced human culture. |
D.They all deepen our understanding of nature. |
Aging Wisely Life from Fifty to Seventy-five Years Viola B. Mecke, Ph.D., ABPP With retirement, life is expected to be easier. Four stages of retirement are described, showing how pleasures and contentment mix with complexities of bring fears, problems that may loneliness, and sorrows. www.xlibris.com Hardback | Paperback | E-book $28.99 | $16.99 | $3.99 | Cosmic Quest C. Argon Cosmic Visitors were high-energy carriers from the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way galaxy. They needed to rent abandoned earth bodies for their planets’ DNA diversity and Cosmic Quest. www.authorhouse.com Hardback | Paperback | E-book $31.99 | $20.99 | $3.99 |
The Black Three Gene Skipworth Grayville never had a black basketball player. Now it has three. A block doctor just moved to the town whose three sons took Weston to the Ohio State basketball championship. www.authorhouse.com Hardback | Paperback | E-book |Audiobook $23.99 | $13.99 | $3.99 | $9.99 | Jazzy and Rhumbì Dorl Seider This heartwarming and adventurous tale is told from the perspective of two smart kitties, Jazzy Girl Muffin and Rhumbi Boy, who secretly influence their humans Boy, who secretly influence their humans to love and rescue more animals. www.xllbris.com Hardback | Paperback | E-book $40.99 | $32.99 | $3.99 |
Tackle Box Troubles Fish Tale #1: Sammy Spinner Susan Duke Sammy Spinner is the newest fishing lure to join Tackle Box Troubles. Can Sammy learn fishing tips to catch really big fish, or will he find himself in trouble? www.xlibris.com Hardback | Paperback | E-book $22.99 | $14.99 | $5.99 | The Origin and Future of Mankind Shaun Dowling Shaun Dowling describes in detail how the universe was formed, how our planet developed, when life appeared, and how it has evolved over time. www.authorhouse.com Paperback | E-book $21.55 | $4.99 |
A.Cosmic Quest. | B.Jazzy and Rhumbi. |
C.Tackle Box Troubles. | D.The Origin and Future of Mankind. |
A.They are all intended for kids. | B.They each have a digital version. |
C.They all have three different prices. | D.They can be downloaded from the same website. |
A.A book review. | B.A library poster. | C.An academic column. | D.A book advertisement. |
●Fruit and vegetables are normally close to the entrance. This makes people think they are going into an open-air market and makes them feel positive.
●Stores are usually decorated in colors that make people feel healthy and happy. All the supermarkets belonging to one company have the same colors to make people feel at home.
●A person blinks(眨眼) an average of 32 times a minute. US research has shown that a certain type of lighting can reduce this to 14 times a minute. This can make customers feel sleepy, and they then
buy more goods.
●Goods placed at the end of an aisle (走廊) often sell five times more than those placed in the middle of the aisle. Stores often move goods that they particularly want to sell, such as those nearing their sell-by date, to these sites.
●Most shoppers buy bread, so the bakery counter is situated as far away from the entrance as possible. Customers will have to walk past hundreds of other products to reach it.
●Drinks are usually located near the exit. Supermarkets hope that customers will buy because they are in a good mood as they finish their shopping experience.
●Silence makes shoppers feel uncomfortable. Supermarkets like to make sure that there is quite a lot of pleasant background noise.
●Security cameras are not just for catching shoplifters. Supermarkets also follow a few shoppers through the shop so that they can observe what routes people take. This information helps them to rearrange their products to appeal to more customers.
1. What is the passage mainly about?
A.Why supermarket plans are similar to each other. |
B.What factors contribute to supermarkets’ success. |
C.Why some supermarkets appeal to more customers. |
D.What supermarkets do to encourage customers to buy more. |
A.They are more likely to be sold there. |
B.They may give shoppers a bad feeling. |
C.They are less attractive than other products. |
D.They are what supermarkets want to give up. |
A.Shoppers like carrying vegetables around the supermarket. |
B.Cameras are used to improve the supermarkets' layout. |
C.Lighting in supermarkets helps shoppers to stay alert. |
D.Background noise will make shoppers sleepy. |
【推荐2】Sports can help us a lot. Taking exercises can make us strong. In collective sports like basketball, volleyball or football, we will learn the importance of cooperation. And sports can also help us relax after work or study.
However, as the saying goes, “there are two sides of everything.” Sometimes we may hurt other players or ourselves if we are not careful enough when participating in sports activities. What’s more, too much or hard practice can be bad for our health.
Sports can make us healthy both physically and psychologically. It is also a good way for people to know each other and can improve friendship between people. So long as we are careful enough, sports can do us nothing but good.
1. Too much exercise can be ________ for us.A.good | B.enough | C.bad | D.helpful |
A.help people to know each other. | B.improve friendship between people. |
C.do us nothing but good if we are careful. | D.All of the above. |
A.Sports can help us relax after work or study. |
B.Sports can only make us healthy physically. |
C.Sometimes we may hurt other players or ourselves when participating in sports. |
D.Basketball and volleyball are both collective sports. |
A.take part in | B.be interested in |
C.be fond of | D.take into |
A.Sports and health | B.Everybody must do sports |
C.Sports are nothing to people | D.No one likes sports |
【推荐3】About ten men in every hundred suffer from color blindness in some way. Women are luckier, only about one in two hundred is affected in this matter. Perhaps, after all, it is safer to be driven by a woman!
There are different forms of color blindness. In some cases a man may not be able to see deep red. He may think that red, orange and yellow are all shadows of green. Sometimes a person cannot tell the difference between blue and green. In rare cases an unlucky man may see everything in shades of green -a strange world indeed.
Color blindness in human beings is a strange thing to explain. In a single eye there are millions of very small things called “cones”. These help us to see in a bright light and to tell difference between colors. There are also millions of “rods”, but these are used for seeing when it is near dark. They show us shape but no color.
Some insects have favorite colors. Mosquitoes prefer blue to yellow. A red light will not attract insects, but a blue lamp will. In a similar way human beings also have favorite colors. Yet we are lucky. With the aid of the cones in our eyes we can see many beautiful colors by day, and with the help of the rods we can see shapes at night. One day we may even learn more about the invisible colors around us.
1. According to the passage, with the help of the “cones”, we can _________.A.tell different shapes | B.see in a weak light |
C.kill mosquitoes | D.tell the difference between blue and green |
A.Women are more careful. |
B.There are fewer color-blind women. |
C.Women are fonder of driving than men. |
D.Women are weaker but quicker in thinking. |
A.red light | B.yellow light |
C.blue light | D.green light |
A.color and its surprising effects | B.women being luckier than men |
C.danger caused by color blindness | D.color blindness |
【推荐1】Many people who want to lose weight often choose to go on a diet. But is this really the best way? With celebrities (名人) speaking about new diets that have helped them become slim (苗条的) in advertisements (广告), more and more people are turning to dieting. Some shops begin to sell diet products such as diet milkshakes, snack bars and even diet pills. However, such popular products and diets are often found to be extremely unhealthy.
Most of these popular diets work by cutting down on a certain nutrient (营养素) from your food intake (摄入量). For example, some diets work by cutting down on carbohydrates (碳水化合物). This means the body must use its fat reserves for energy. This might help you lose weight. However, by cutting a particular food group out of your diet, you are starving your body of a nutrient that it needs, which could leave you feeling weak, tired or even bad-tempered. Besides, these diets are often unsuccessful in the long run.
Generally, one of the most effective ways of losing weight is to cut down on calories. The recommended (推荐的) calorie intake for an adult male is 2,500. If a man consumes more than 2, 500 calories each day, then he is likely to gain weight. However, if he consumes less, then he is likely to lose weight.
In fact, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals all play an important role in staying healthy, which is why they all should be included in your meals. Of course, some foods can be eaten in moderation (节制) as an occasional snack. For example, a bar of chocolate every once in a while won’t cause you any problems.
So, instead of spending money on popular diet pills or special weight loss foods, try to eat healthy balanced meals containing foods from all food groups. So, next time your friends tell you that they are going on a diet, tell them that eating a healthy balanced diet is a much better choice.
1. What can we know about the popular diets mentioned in the para. 1?A.They are effective to lose weight. | B.They are extremely unhealthy. |
C.They help get people slim. | D.They can replace people’s everyday meals. |
A.By reducing calorie intake. | B.By forming a strict diet. |
C.By taking regular exercise. | D.By having diet products. |
A.Diet products should be moderately taken. |
B.Keeping a balanced diet is the best policy. |
C.It’s necessary to reduce carbohydrates intake. |
D.Going on a diet should be stopped immediately. |
A.Foods and health. | B.Human and nature. |
C.Economy and technology. | D.Sports and exercise. |
【推荐2】The Best Cooking Apps
SideChef
SideChef is one of the best food recipe apps and it makes learning easy and fun at the same time. This recipe book app has a built-in library that allows beginners or experienced people to choose from over 16,000 recipes.
Features of SideChef:
●Try out new recipes from all around the globe.
●Customize (定制) your meals according to your needs.
●Purchase your ingredients directly from the app.
Forks Over Knives
The name of Fork Over Knives comes from a film. If you are thinking of eating a plant-based diet, the app is right for you. Forks Over Knives has over 50 leading chefs who recommend the right recipe to you.
Features of Forks Over Knives:
●Over 400 recipes of plant-based foods.
●High quality pictures of dishes that will make you hungry.
●Read articles on healthy diets.
Tasty
This app is a cooking coach for people who don’t know how to cook. With a step-by-step short video guide, you can learn something new easily.
Features of Tasty:
●Step by step instructions to make recipes.
●Recipe suggestions for every day, every week, or major holiday.
●Save recipes that you like the most and open them later to cook your meal.
Allrecipes Dinner Spinner
Allrecipes Dinner Spinner is an app that helps you find a recipe that is perfect for your skill level. You can choose worldwide cooking styles like African, Asian and European.
Features of Allrecipes Dinner Spinner:
●Search for a variety of ingredients to satisfy your taste.
●Explore food from different corners of the world.
●Share your favorite recipes and cooking tips with people all around the globe.
1. Which app is the most suitable for those who can’t cook?A.SideChef. | B.Forks Over Knives. |
C.Tasty. | D.Allrecipes Dinner Spinner. |
A.It has the largest number of recipes. |
B.It contains some information about healthy eating. |
C.It can save your favorite recipes. |
D.It can give you suggestions about everyday recipes. |
A.Buy ingredients from all around the world. |
B.Try new food made by professional chefs. |
C.Learn cooking tips from the leading chefs. |
D.Share your cooking ideas on it. |
【推荐3】A house is the most expensive thing most people will buy. Very few people have enough money of their own to buy a home, so they have to borrow money from a bank. Borrowing money from a bank to buy a house is called “take a mortgage (抵押)”. The bank usually lends money or gives a mortgage for twenty-five years. Houses are so expensive that many people nowadays have to borrow as much as $ 50 000. In other words, they will have a $ 50 000 mortgage.
How can you get a mortgage? When you find a house you like, you go to a bank. The bank will research you financial history and decide if they think you are a good risk. They will want to know what kind of job you have, what kind of salary you make, and how long you have had the job. They will also want to know how much money you have. In addition,the banks will require a down payment. Depending on which state you live in, the bank may require as much as 30% of the-price of the house as a down payment. The bank will then lend you the rest of the money to buy the house. Many people are never able to buy a house because they cannot save enough money for the down payment.
1. What does a house mean in the United States?A.It is a dream which many people can hardly realize. |
B.It is so expensive that many people cannot really buy them. |
C.It is the most important property that many people try to buy. |
D.It doesn‘t belong to people if they can’t borrow money from the bank. |
A.has twenty-five years to pay back the money |
B.has more than twenty-five years to pay back the money |
C.has less than twenty-five years to pay back the money |
D.has about twenty-five years to pay back the money |
A.Money borrowed from a bank as a mortgage. |
B.Money paid to a bank before the mortgages is given. |
C.Interest received by a person who borrows money as the mortgages. |
D.Interest charged by a bank on a mortgage. |
A.How to Save Money on the House |
B.How to Borrow Money from a Bank |
C.How to Take a Mortgage |
D.How to Buy a House |