Have you ever heard someone say, “you totally look like you’re a Jessica” or something similar? People seem to think that they know what kind of person a “Jessica” or a “Michael” looks like. Why is this?
According to a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, humans tend to associate people’s names with their appearance(外表), and can even’ guess someone’s name based on how they look.
Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, collected thousands of photos of people’s faces. They labeled each photo with four names. Then, they asked volunteers to guess which of the four names was correct.
The volunteers were able to guess the right name 38 percent of the time. It seems that certain characteristics of faces give them clues about someone’s name, Reader’s Digest reported.
However, this only worked when the volunteers looked at names from their own culture. In addition, the volunteers were not as good at guessing the real names of people who used nicknames more often than their real names. This may show that a person’s appearance is affected by their name only if they use it often.
This kind of face-name matching happens “because of a process of self-fulfilling prophecy(自我实现预言), as we become what other people expect us to become.” Ruth Mayo from the university told science news website EurekAlert.
Earlier studies have shown that gender and race stereotypes(刻板印象) can affect a person’s appearance. The researchers believe there are also similar stereotypes about names. For example, people tend to think that men named Bob should have rounder faces because the word itself looks round. People may think that women named Rose are beautiful. They expect them to be “delicate” and “feminine(女性的)”, just like the flower they are named for.
1. What was the purpose of the study?| A．To find out today’s most popular English names. |
| B．To learn how names influence personality. |
| C．To find out whether names relate to their looks. |
| D．To show how men’s names are different from women’s. |
| A．lights. | B．attentions. | C．methods. | D．hints. |
| A．They tend to become what others expect them to become. |
| B．They want to please everyone around them. |
| C．They don’t want to be different from others. |
| D．They like to copy famous people who share the same name. |
| A．Earlier studies about stereotypes are limited. |
| B．Stereotypes about names can bring good results. |
| C．Stereotypes about names can affect people’s looks. |
| D．It’s not always bad to be influenced by the expectations of others. |
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【推荐1】Digital reading appears to be destroying habits of “deep reading”. Astonishing numbers of people with years of schooling are actually illiterate and ignorant. This month’s Ljubljana Manifesto (宣言) explains: “The digital field may promote more reading than ever in history, but it also offers many temptations to read in a superficial(肤浅的)and scattered manner— or even not to read at all. This increasingly endangers higher-level reading.”
That’s frightening, because “higher-level reading” has been essential to civilization. It enabled the enlightenment and an international increase in empathy. Without it, we would suffer a lot. As the Ljubljana Manifesto notes, “one-third of Europeans struggle even with lower-level reading skills.” More than one-fifth of adults in the US “fall into the illiterate/functionally illiterate category”. Separately, post-pandemic reading scores for American 13-year-olds are the lowest in decades. And the Washington-based Center for Global Development recently estimated that literacy in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa among those with five years of schooling has decreased by 10% this past half century.
Experts in the Ljubljana Manifesto record the demerits of digital reading: “Recent studies of various kinds indicate a decline of critical and conscious reading, slow reading, non-strategic reading and long-form reading.” When you read a book on paper, you can be entirely inside the experience, absorb hundreds of pages of details thoroughly and begin to capture the world’s complexity. But online, says Maryanne Wolf of UCLA, we are “skimming, scanning, scrolling(滚屏)”. The medium is the message: doing deep reading on your phone is as hard as playing tennis with your phone. Recently, a bright 11-year-old told me I was wasting time on books: he absorbed more information faster from Wikipedia. He had a point. But digital readers also absorb more misinformation and seldom absorb fine perspectives.
In short, as professors from Northwestern University foresaw in 2005, we are returning to the days when only an elite (精英) “reading class” consumes long texts, which is a worrying problem.
1. What can we learn about digital reading from paragraph 1?| A．Digital reading has solved the problem of illiteracy. |
| B．Digital reading has lessened the practice of deep reading. |
| C．Digital reading has made deep reading accessible to wider readers. |
| D．Digital reading has aroused a greater appreciation for deep reading. |
| A．To display the popularity of digital reading. |
| B．To highlight the advantages of deep reading. |
| C．To present the unfavorable situation of literacy. |
| D．To stress the illiterate’s lower-level reading skills. |
| A．Effects. | B．functions | C．Features. | D．Drawbacks. |
| A．Advantages of digital reading. | B．Benefits of higher-level reading. |
| C．Ways to encourage digital reading. | D．Measures to practice deep reading. |
【推荐2】It’s commonly thought that people get into bad financial situations because of poor decision-making skills.
In a separate study conducted in 2018 at the University of Texas, the brains of more than 300 people aged between 20 and 89 were scanned and analyzed for signs of good cognitive function. Among those aged between 35 and 64, it was found that those with better financial situations had healthier brains, including characteristics linked to having a better memory and a lower risk of dementia when elderly. However, in younger adults (those aged 20 to 34), there did not seem to be any connection between wealth and brain health.
It’s not difficult to guess why poverty might have these effects. People who live in poorer conditions often have difficulty affording healthy food.
| A．But is poverty really caused by poor thinking? |
| B．Unwise decisions people make, to a greater degree, contribute to tight budgets. |
| C．They are more affected by negative environmental elements such as pollution. |
| D．Taken together, these results indicate that long-term poverty only gradually causes wear and tear on the brain. |
| E．Therefore, the scientists concluded that poor thinking plays a major part in one’s future financial condition. |
| F．This suggested that the distraction of worrying about their bad finances made the poor people perform worse than those with no financial worries. |
| G．One study in the journal Science in 2013 showed that people’s abilities to solve problems can be significantly affected by their current financial situation. |
【推荐3】The continuous increase in the number of COVID-19 cases worldwide has had a deep and broad effect on how we live and interact with one another, resulting in many changes that are likely to be long-lasting.
For example, to reduce contact during COVID-19, shaking hands, a standard style of greeting used by officials and businessmen has been replaced. In the US, the country hardest-hit by the outbreak， with over 36 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 610,000 deaths, the top health official said such social gatherings should end, even when COVID-19 is over. Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told The Wall Street Journal, “I don’t think we should ever shake hands ever again, to be honest with you.” Neel Gandhi, a professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, told ESPN, a US sports broadcaster, “When we talk about transmission, the hands are the place that I focus on the most.”
If such advice from health experts is followed, it will produce a big shift in human behavior，However, some people are finding alternative ways to greet one another at a time when direct contact is disapproved of. In South Korea, bowing deeply has become popular. In Australia, officials have suggested that people pat each other on the back instead of shaking hands.
Handshakes are just one form of contact that has largely ended during COVID-19, along with hugging and high-fives. As many people worldwide rebuild their social lives, experts are predicting that some degree of social contact will disappear for good.
Chen Xuefeng, deputy director of the Institute of Psychology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said, “In the post-COVID-19 era, people are likely to behave more discreetly for a while. They will pay more attention to themselves, such as caring for their health, spending more time alone, moving offline activities online, socializing less and saving more.” Chen added, “This new way of life means that some industries where old habits are deep-rooted will face challenges in upgrading.”
1. What does Anthony Fauci suggest doing in the face of COVID-19?| A．Ending social gatherings. |
| B．Avoiding handshakes. |
| C．Moving offline activities online. |
| D．Using a standard style of greeting. |
| A．By data. | B．By example. | C．By experiment. | D．By imagination. |
| A．Humorously. | B．Confidently. | C．Cautiously. | D．Instantly. |
| A．Old unnecessary habits worldwide. |
| B．Traditional forms of communication. |
| C．The disasters in the post COVID-19 era. |
| D．The social contact changes caused by COVID-19. |
【推荐1】A new coffee shop in Shanghai has gotten a lot of attention online for its creative approach to serving customers.
Hinichijou opened on Dec. 3 and has a rather minimalist (简约主义者的) design. With no tables or chairs—or even a door—it is just a grey wall with an uneven hole. After customers place their order by scanning a QR code on the wall, their coffee is served through the hole—by a fury bear claw (爪).
Having baristas (咖啡师) wear the bear paw prop (道具) has definitely drawn customers, with many flocking to the business to get videos of this novel approach to customer service. And if they’re lucky, they may even get a pat on the head or handed arose.
“Having your coffee handed to you by a fluffy (毛茸茸的) paw is a rather heart-warming experience,” said one satisfied customer.
While the concept is indeed endearing (惹人喜爱的), it isn’t the only factor keeping business flowing.
The baristas behind the bear claw are actually bearing impaired. Wang Haiqing, one of the café’s three founders, said that they were hired through the China Disabled Persons’ Federation. According to Wang, one of the reasons Hinichijou was founded was to provide more employment opportunities to disabled people. The story behind the shop “has melted the hearts of customers and Chinese internet users,” CGTN noted.
Wang hopes that customers feel the love and warmth from the employees, while also supporting the rights of those with disabilities.
1. What make Hinichijou a special coffee shop?| A．It has gotten a lot of attention online. |
| B．It has a minimalist design. |
| C．It has a creative approach to serve customers. |
| D．It has a QR code on the wall for customers to scan. |
| A．They are the founders of the China Disabled Persons’ Federation. |
| B．They are all with hearing disability. |
| C．They wear the bear paw prop in order to draw customers. |
| D．They offer a pat and hand arose to every customer. |
| A．To provide more jobs to disabled people. |
| B．To support the rights of animals. |
| C．To create heart-warming experience for customers. |
| D．To support the rights of disabled people. |
【推荐2】Dozens of honey bees, which usually feed on wild flowers after leaving their hives (蜂房) in the campus gardens, were tricked into the cottage to feed from an artificial flower. Only one bee was allowed in at a time, and their visits to artificial flowers were videoed and timed under different fan speeds, which mimicked (模拟) calm and windy days.
But the researchers are trying to help them: it is a controlled experiment that reveals how high wind speeds significantly reduce the efficiency of their feeding.
With no wind, the bees on average took nectar (花蜜) from 5.45 flowers during their 90-second time trial. When wind speeds were increased, this fell to an average of 3.73 flowers.
Researchers also examined the indirect impact of higher winds by moving the flowers.
The findings reveal that, while flower movement did not appear to have an effect on the bees, the movement of air from the fans made them much more hesitant to take off from a flower, with time taken ranging from an initial 0.05 seconds to 54 seconds.
Georgia Hennessy, lead author of the research, said that one possible reason for the wind causing hesitancy was that small increases in wind speed reduced the bees’ body temperature, so they require longer to warm up the flight muscles required to take off.
“With wind speeds predicted to increase in the years ahead, understanding how we can help bees in a changing climate is becoming ever more pressing. Although we can’t do much to control or stop the wind, we can take steps to reduce its impact on bees, such as placing hives in sheltered locations,” said Hennessy.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization warned last year that the decline in global bee populations was a “threat to global food security and diversity”.
Dave Goulson, professor of biology at the University of Sussex, said:“Bees already face many pressures in the modern world, such as loss of habitats and exposure to pesticides (杀虫剂), and a great many are in decline. Coping with increasingly windy weather under climate change may be the final straw.”
1. What task did the researchers set for the bees?| A．Identifying the new route. |
| B．Surviving in extreme conditions. |
| C．Feeding under different wind speeds. |
| D．Distinguishing various kinds of flowers. |
| A．A full stomach. |
| B．Loss of balance. |
| C．Changed flower positions. |
| D．Reduced body temperature. |
| A．Stop the wind. |
| B．Restore their habitats. |
| C．Address climate change. |
| D．Prohibit the use of pesticides. |
| A．Loss of bees causes failure of food crops |
| B．Bees are on the decline as global heating worsens |
| C．Bees may struggle in winds caused by global warming |
| D．Artificial flowers are used for threatened bee populations |
【推荐3】Olympic host cities are generally considered to be equipped with advanced technology and expensive facilities. Now, people can just go there for a little Olympic-level entertainment.
Athens, Greece (1896 and 2004)
Home to the first modern Olympic games in 1896, Athens' history of the Olympic tradition dates back several thousand years. Every four years, the Olympic torch is lit at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens before beginning its long journey to the new host city. Visitors can walk through the Olympic Velodrome in the Olympic Sports Complex and step back in time at the 50,000-seat stadium.
Barcelona, Spain(1992)
These days Barcelona is among the world's most visitable cities even without Olympic fame, but that isn't always the case. The telecommunications tower built for the games by Spanish architect Calatrava is also an iconic(图像的） device of the city's skyline, and its Olympics stadium- Montjuic Stadium is regularly used to host A-list musical performances like The Rolling Stones, Madonna, and Beyonce.
St Moritz, Switzerland(1924 and 1948)
Appropriately, the town that invented Alpine tourism has hosted the Winter Olympics twice, and continues to make use of its many sports facilities-if you can afford to get there. Stay at the Kulm Hotel for the easiest access to the Kulm Country Club, where guests can skate on the same lake used by mid-century Olympians, or test your courage on the Olympia Bob Run, one of the few places where you can ride a full-speed Olympic bobsled(双人雪橇） on a run constructed entirely of ice.
Sydney, Australia (2000)
The turn-of-the-century Sydney Summer Olympics were named the "Green Games" by the International Olympic Committee (10C) and were designed to introduce a more environmentally conscious way of hosting the event. The structure that best shows Sydney's efforts to be an example of continuing Olympic development is the ANZ Stadium.
1. Where does the host city get the Olympic torch lit?| A．At the Panathenaic Stadium. |
| B．At the Olympic Sports Complex. |
| C．At the Montjuic Stadium. |
| D．At the ANZ Stadium. |
| A．Those fond of ice-sports. |
| B．Those fond of listening to opera. |
| C．Those interested in popular music. |
| D．Those interested in Olympic history. |
| A．Their designers are from Spain. |
| B．They are thought poorly of by the IOC. |
| C．They are hosted in an environmentally friendly way. |
| D．Their design intention is proposed by Sydney authority. |
