What defines us? If pressed, I would answer that if there is any part of me that sits at my core, then surely it must be my moral center, my deep-seated sense of right and wrong.
And I often feel that I’m a slightly different person in each language I speak — more determined in English, more relaxed in French, and more emotional in Czech. Is it possible that, along with these differences, my moral guidelines also point in somewhat different directions depending on the language I’m using?
In a research led by Albert Costa, volunteers were presented with a moral dilemma known as the “train problem”: Imagine that a train is charging at five people standing on the track, unable to move. The only way to stop the train and spare the five people is push another stranger off a footbridge into its path. Costa and his colleagues found that posing the dilemma in a language that volunteers had learned as foreign tongue dramatically increased their willingness to push the sacrificial person off the footbridge, from fewer than 20% respondents using their native language to about 50% of those using the foreign one.
In another research conducted by Janet Greipel, volunteers read acts that many people find immoral, such as stories where someone cooked and ate his dog after it had been Keadby car. Those who read the stories in a foreign language perceived these actions less wrong than those who read them in their native tongue.
The difference in this judgment comes down to two separate and competing thinking patterns — one of these, a quick and direct feeling, and the other, careful deliberation about the greatest good for the largest number. When we use a foreign language, we unconsciously sink into the more deliberate mode simply because the effort of operating in our no-native language activates our cognitive system. This is similar to findings that reading math problems in a hard-to-read typeface (字体) makes people less likely to make careless mistakes.
1. What can we learn about the author from the first two paragraphs?| A．He invests time in studying language. | B．He perceives languages differ slightly. |
| C．He ignores the role of moral concepts. | D．He thinks languages relate to morals. |
| A．By carefully citing examples. | B．By collecting and listing data. |
| C．By conducting experiments. | D．By analyzing people’s habits. |
| A．To justify a thinking pattern. | B．To present a new finding. |
| C．To clarify the cognitive system. | D．To warn against making mistakes. |
| A．Morality. The Core of People | B．Languages: Insights into Judgments |
| C．Languages: A Shaping Power to Morality | D．Morality: A New Way to Learn Languages |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】A student is learning to speak British English. He wonders: Can I communicate with Americans? Can they understand me? Learners of English often ask: What are the differences between British and American English? How important are these differences?
Certainly! There are some differences between British and American English. There are a few differences in grammar. For example, speakers of British English say “in hospital” and “Have you a pen?” Americans say “in the hospital!” and “Do you have a pen?”. Pronunciation is sometimes different. Americans usually sound theirs in words like “bird” and “hurt”. Speakers of British English do not sound theirs in these words. There are differences between British and American English in spelling and vocabulary. For example, “color” and “honor” are British, “color” and honor” are American.
These differences in grammar, pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary are not important, however. For the most part, British and American English are the same language.
1. According to this passage, a student who is learning to speak American English might be afraid that_______.| A．British people cannot understand him | B．American people cannot understand him |
| C．the grammar is too hard for him | D．the spelling is too hard for him |
| A．spelling | B．pronunciation | C．grammar | D．all of the above |
| A．British people | B．Americans | C．children | D．teachers |
| A．little | B．much | C．some | D．great |
Neither Pine nor Apple in Pineapple
Have you ever asked yourself why people often have trouble learning English? I hadn’t, until one day my five-year-old son asked me whether there was ham in a hamburger. There isn’t. This made me realize that there’s no egg in eggplant either. Neither is there pine nor apple in pineapple. This got me thinking how English can be a crazy language to learn.
For example, in our free time we can sculpt a sculpture and paint a painting, but we take a photo. And when we are traveling we say that we are in the car or the taxi, but on the train or bus! While we’re doing all this traveling, we can get seasick at sea, airsick in the air and carsick in a car, but we don’t get homesick when we get back home. And speaking of home, why aren’t homework and housework the same thing?
If “hard” is the opposite of “soft”, why are “hardly” and “softly” not an opposing pair? If harmless actions are the opposite of harmful actions, why are shameless and shameful behaviors the same?
When we look out of the window and see rain or snow, we can say “it’s raining” or “it’s snowing”. But when we see sunshine, we can’t say “it’s sunshining”.
Even the smallest of words can be confusing. When you see the capitalized “WHO” in a medical report, do you read it as the “who” in “Who’s that?” What about “IT” and “US”?
You also have to wonder at the unique madness of a language in which a house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out, and in which an alarm is only heard once it goes off!
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race. That is why when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And that is why when I wind up my watch, it starts, but when I wind up this passage, it ends.
1. The author’s purpose to write the passage is .| A．to share the difficulty in learning different English words well |
| B．to show how interesting and creative the language of English is |
| C．to instruct how to spell difficult English words correctly |
| D．to analyze the reason for inventing the language of English |
| A．His trouble in learning English. | B．His son’s question. |
| C．The ham in a hamburger. | D．The apple in pineapple. |
| A．To reflect the creativity of the human race. | B．To prove the difficulty of learning English. |
| C．To explain how to learn English. | D．To introduce the history of English. |
| A．Words always have the same meanings. |
| B．Words can’t always describe what we feel. |
| C．Words sometimes confuse us. |
| D．Words can have different meanings in different situations. |
| A．By stating arguments | B．By making comparisons |
| C．By giving examples | D．By providing research results |
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【推荐3】Have you ever considered all the English expressions that include words about clothes? Let’s have a look.
People wear pants to cover the lower part of their bodies. We sometimes say that people who are nervous have ants (蚂蚁) in their pants. Sometimes, people may get caught with their pants down. They are found doing something they should not be doing. And, in every family, one person takes control. Sometimes a wife tells her husband what to do. Then we say she wears the pants in the family.
Pants usually have pockets to hold things. Money that is likely to be spent quickly can burn a hole in your pocket, Sometimes you need a belt to hold up your pants. If you have less money than usual, you may have to tighten your belt.
I always praise people who can save their money and not spend too much. I really take my hat off to them. Yet, when it comes to my own money, I spend it at the drop of a hat , which means I instantly spend it.
Boots are a heavy or strong kind of shoes. People who are too big for their boots think they are more important than they really are. I dislike such people. My father is an important person. He runs a big company. He wears a suit and tie, and a shirt, with sleeves (衣袖) that cover his arms. Some people who do not know him well think he is too serious and never shows his feelings openly. But I know that my father wears his heart on his sleeve.
1. Which of the following expressions can show someone is nervous?| A．Get caught with one’s pants down. |
| B．Have ants in one’s pants. |
| C．Wear the pants in the family. |
| D．Burn a hole in one’s pocket. |
| A．We mean he has done something wrong . |
| B．We mean, he used to live a rich life. |
| C．We mean he has, put on the wrong pants. |
| D．We mean he is short of money. |
| A．Someone who doesn’t save money. |
| B．Someone who earns much money. |
| C．Someone who never wastes his money. |
| D．Someone who spends more than he earns. |
| A．He gets angry easily. |
| B．He looks very serious. |
| C．He shows his feelings openly. |
| D．He often wears a suit and tie. |
【推荐1】The Philippines, a tropical island nation in the Pacific, will now require by law all graduating students from elementary school to college plant 10 trees each before they can graduate.
The law was supported in the House and is now sent to the Philippines Senate for action, Supporters of the law see this as an opportunity for the Filipino youth to help deal with climate change and air pollution and build a greener environment for their generation.
“To this end, the educational system shall be a centre of spreading continuous use of natural resources among the young to make them socially-responsible citizens, The House bill stated, which was authored by representative Gary Alejano.
Alejano estimates that over the course of one generation the bill will be responsible for 525 billion trees planted.This comes from over 12 million students graduating from elementary school each year, 5 million from high school and 500,000 from college, equaling 175 million new trees planted each year.
The Philippines consists of 7,641 islands in Southeast Asia.Across those islands,deforestation has been a primary environmental issue.Agriculture has led to a significant drop in forested areas across the Philippines. Through the 20th century, forested area in the Philippines decreased from 70 percent to 20 percent.It is estimated that 24.2 million acres of forests were cut down from 1934 to 1988, primarily from logging.
The performance of this new law could set off a situation, by which the Philippines switches from net loss to net gain of trees, a simple and powerful message to the Filipino youth with the potential for long term positive influence.
1. Why does the Philippines make the law to plant trees?| A．To create a better environment to live in. |
| B．To show the government is taking action. |
| C．To make sure students can graduate easily. |
| D．To raise people's awareness of education. |
| A．Natural resources. | B．The future generation |
| C．Powerful messages. | D．The educational system. |
| A．5 million. | B．50 million. |
| C．120 million. | D．175 million. |
| A．A.loss of soil. | B．Agriculture. |
| C．Climate change. | D．Air pollution. |
【推荐2】Roughly 2,000 years ago, Mount Vesuvius erupted, destroying the Roman city, Herculaneum. Now a group of scientists is working to figure out one of the great mysteries of that time—the scrolls of Herculaneum.
In 1752, workers digging in Herculaneum uncovered a home with over 600 scrolls. Most of the scrolls were made from papyrus-a paper-like material. The heat from the volcano had burned the scrolls so much that just touching them could make them fall apart. So scientists have been looking for ways to read the scrolls without opening them.
Brent Seales, a computer scientist at the University of Kentucky has been working on this for over 20 years. He uses a CT scanner to take 3D X-ray images. Then he uses a computer program to “unroll” the scroll, and gets pictures of what it looks like on the inside. In 2016, his team used this method to read a burned scroll found near the Dead Sea.
But the scrolls from Herculaneum are much harder. The ink is made from charcoal and water, and doesn’t show up well in CT scans. Still, Dr. Seales hoped to be able to find the writing on the scrolls by training an AI program to look for these patterns.
Though Dr. Seales was making progress, it was slowly going. Then Dr. Seales met with two businessmen. They had the idea of creating a contest for decoding the scrolls. The contest, called the Vesuvius Challenge, offered large prizes to people who met certain challenges in decoding the scrolls. About 1,500 people have taken part in the contest.
In August, Casey Handmer found a pattern that revealed where the ink had been on the scrolls. Soon afterward, Youssef Nader created an AI program that found a whole word: “πoρ
ραc”, which means “purple”. This was the first word ever read from these ancient scrolls. For their efforts, Mr. Handmer and Mr. Nader each won $10,000.
Now people are eagerly working to earn the contest’s $700,000 top prize, which is for decoding four longer sections of the scroll by December 31. The people behind the contest say that, with all the recent progress, it’s likely that someone will win this prize, too.
1. Why didn’t the scientists open the scrolls of Herculaneum?| A．The scrolls are too delicate. | B．There are no suitable tools. |
| C．The scrolls are poisonous. | D．The scientists lacked money. |
| A．Outdated CT scanner. | B．Limited scrolls for study. |
| C．Special composition of the ink. | D．Over-control from the businessmen. |
| A．Opening. | B．Understanding. | C．Hiding. | D．Destroying. |
| A．To compete for an academic award. | B．To uncover the history of Mount Vesuvius. |
| C．To cooperate with Dr. Seales in his research. | D．To win monetary prizes by decoding the scrolls. |
【推荐3】Dale Bolton was driving to his home in Toronto when he heard the statistic that changed his life. It was 2004 and he was listening to a speech that said there were over 34 million orphans in Africa. “I almost ran into a tree,” says Bolton. “The number was surprising.” He couldn’t stop thinking about it.
That statistic on a journey led the Boltons to create an organization Thrive for Good, a not-for-profit that gives communities the resources and knowledge to help grow their own crops. The couple raised money for funding orphanages and digging wells. However, As Bolton spent more time on that, he learnt that the agricultural yields on the continent were significantly lower than in other parts of the world, and came to believe that the problem was the way commercial agriculture had been introduced.
Bolton and his wife Linda decided to start small: by funding and training people to grow modest organic gardens. Bolton started an organic farming course in Kenya. There, he met Mootlan, a farmer’s son, who also believed in the power of small-scale, organic farming. Together they travelled around to help communities start what they came to call a “life garden.” Locals didn’t think it could be done at first, Mootlan remembers. “But once they started tasting the food, they were like ‘Wow.’”
After that first project, things moved quickly. “When we helped one village, three more villages asked for help,” says Bolton. Today, Thrive for Good has 80 employees, and it has helped more than 1,000 communities create healthy meals for almost 30,000 people. Since 2012, they’ve run a training school in Kitale. “I’m still planting seeds,” he says, describing how trainees from Kenya — as well as 19 other countries in Africa and beyond — head back home with a newfound knowledge to feed their communities.
1. What happened on Bolton’s way home in 2004?| A．He hit a tree. | B．He saw a kid behind a tree. |
| C．He made a life-changing speech. | D．He was surprised by some statistic. |
| A．To educate the poor. | B．To spread modern agriculture. |
| C．To help poor communities plant crops. | D．To look for good families to raise the orphans. |
| A．doubtful about it | B．curious about it |
| C．satisfied with it | D．mad at it |
| A．It is hard to run. | B．It is praised globally. |
| C．It is widely expanded. | D．It is unattractive to farmers. |
