【推荐1】Would you rather watch a new movie or an old favorite? Would you rather try a dish you have never had at a restaurant, or stick with something you know you will like? Researchers studying the “mere-exposure effect” have found that we often prefer the familiar over the novel.

In 1968, social psychologist Robert Zajonc published a landmark paper on the mere-exposure effect. His hypothesis was that simply being exposed to an object on a repeated basis was enough to make people like that thing.     1     He varied how often they read each word (up to 25 repetitions). Next, participants were asked to decide how positive or negative the meaning of each word was. Zajonc found that participants liked the words that they had said more often, and the words that had been read 25 times were rated the highest.

One place where the mere-exposure effect frequently occurs is in advertising.     2     Of course, there is a warning here: The mere-exposure effect does not happen to things we dislike in the first place.

Since Zajonc’s initial study, numerous researchers have investigated the mere-exposure effect. They have found that our liking for a variety of things (including pictures, sounds, foods and smells) can be increased with repeated exposure, suggesting that the mere-exposure effect is not limited to just one of our senses.

In the decades since Zajonc published his paper on the mere-exposure effect, researchers have also suggested several theories to explain why the effect happens. One of the leading theories is that mere exposure makes us feel less uncertain.     3     However, when we see the same thing over and over and nothing bad happens, we start to realize that there is nothing to be afraid of. Additionally, mere exposure increases what psychologists call “perceptual fluency.” The perspective is based on the idea that, when we have seen something before, it is easier for us to understand and interpret it, which puts us in a positive mood.

While psychologists are still debating what causes the mere-exposure effect, it seems that having been previously exposed to something can change how we feel about it.     4    

A．Researchers have found that the mere exposure effect occurs even if people do not consciously remember that they have seen the object before.

B．And it may explain why, at least sometimes, we tend to prefer things that are already familiar to us.

C．Just the mere exposure to the word was enough to make participants like it more.

D．According to this idea, we tend to be cautious around new things, since they could be dangerous to us.

E．The theory explains why seeing the same advertisement multiple times can make it seem more convincing to us.

F．To test this, Zajonc had participants read words in a foreign language out loud.

【推荐2】Indoor Plants

As with any house guests, indoor plants require a certain amount of basic, regular attention if they are going to feel at home. The first consideration when purchasing plants is to make reasonably sure that they are suitable for the condition in which they are going to be housed.

A general rule for most plants being brought indoors for the first time is to ensure that they have reasonable temperature of not less than 60 degrees Fahrenheit, a position out of cold air, safe from pets and not exposed to strong sunlight.

Plants love company. When plants are growing together, they create an atmosphere of damp around themselves which is far more beneficial than hot dry conditions. A group of plants will also present a more pleasing picture and provide an opportunity for a creative arrangement. There is no secret to this. Just rely on your natural feeling for harmony.

Watering and feeding plants are probably the two areas of care that are the least well understood, but, again, if you follow a few simple rules, your plants should do well. Cold Slightly warm water is therefore the answer. It is usually better to pour water on to the soil on the surface of the pot rather than put the water into the pot holder at the bottom. Avoid giving small amount of water at regular intervals- it is much better to wet the soil right through the pot in one go and then to allow it to dry noticeably before giving it a further watering.

The majority of indoor plants will be in active growth from March until October, and during this time, the established ones will benefit from regular feeding. This may mean feeding with a weak liquid fertilizer (肥料) at each watering or at intervals of a week or ten days with fertilizer at a standard strength. It is important, however, to ensure that plants are not fed when growth is inactive, when the soil in the pot is dry, or too soon after the plants has been potted up.

1. In Paragraph 2, the author mainly tells us to___________.

A．but plants that help clean indoor air

B．create a new environment with plants

C．put plants on the sunny side of the room

D．make sure of suitable conditions for plants

2. What’s the benefit of plants growing together?

A．It provides owners good company.

B．It helps the air around them slightly wet.

C．It makes it convenient to look after them.

D．It allows owners to draw a pleasant picture.

3. While watering the plants, what should we remember to do?

A．Use water that is a little warm.

B．Pour the water into the pot holder.

C．Give small amount of water at one time.

D．Consider further watering in dry weather.

4. What is the best time to feed the plants?

A．When the soil is dry.

B．When their growth is active.

C．When the temperature is high.

D．When they have just been planted.

【推荐1】Many of us enjoy doing it: you turn on the camera on your mobile phone and hold it at a high angle, making your eyes look bigger and your cheekbones more defined. You turn to your best side and click. There it is-your selfie.

Over the past several years , the “selfie” has become a well-known term across the globe. The Oxford English Dictionary added the word to their online dictionary and defined it as: “A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.”

Today it’s not difficult to find social web pages full of photos that people have taken of themselves and their friends. And selfie culture has become especially relevant to young people. As many as 91 percent of teenagers have posted photos of themselves online, according to a recent survey by the US Pew Research Center.

So what are the reasons for the rise of selfie culture?

“Ordinary people shows the cult（狂热）of the selfie,” Pamela Rutledge, a professor from the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, told Vogue magazine. “There are more photographs available now of ordinary people than models.”

Posting selfies also allows you to control your image online. “I like having the power to choose how I look, even if I’m making a funny face,” Samantha Barks, 19, a high school student in the US, told Vogue.

In addition to self-expression and documentation, selfies “allow of a close friendship for long-distance friends, because you can see each other’s faces every day”, wrote Casey Miller at The Huffington Post.

But Jill Weber, a US psychologist, is concerned that selfies might lead to social problems. “There’s a danger that your self-esteem may start to be tied to the comments and ‘likes’ you get when you post a selfie, and those comments and likes aren’t based on who you are-but based on what you look like,” Weber told Vogue. “When you get nothing or a negative response, your confidence can plummet.”

1. In the first paragraph, the author intends to ________.

A．tell us the fun of taking a selfie	B．describe what a selfie is
C．introduce where the selfie comes from	D．inform readers that the selfie is popular among teenagers

2. Why is selfie culture so popular according to the article?
a. It enables people to choose how they look.
b. It helps people improve their self-esteem.
c. It’s a chance for ordinary people to show off themselves.
d. It is believed to be a helpful way to develop a new friendship.
e. It is considered a good way to keep in touch with friends that are far away.

A．a, c, e

B．b, c, d

C．a, b, c

D．b, d, e

3. What is Jill Weber’s attitude towards selfies?

A．She thinks they are a good form of self-expression and documentation.

B．She believes the disadvantages of selfies outweigh the advantages.

C．She worries that people’s self-esteem might be affected by how others react to their selfies.

D．She thinks that selfies can help people learn about their friends based on who they really are.

4. The underlined word “plummet” in the last paragraph probably means ________.

A．rapidly develop

B．greatly exaggerate

C．become dangerous

D．quickly fall

【推荐2】We often hear that 60 is the new 50. Just check out images of your grandparents or great-grandparents and notice their stooped (驼背的) bodies, their wrinkled faces when they were barely pushing 60. What a contrast with energetic, gym-going sexagenarians (60几岁的人) of today!

A research, overseen by gerontologist Taina Rantanen, compared adults born in 1910 and 1914 with those born roughly 30 years later. Both birth groups were examined in person at age 60 and again at 70 with the same set of six physical tests and five measures of cognition.

According to the research, the later-born group could walk faster, had a stronger hand grasp and could use more force with their lower legs. On cognitive tests, the later-born group had better verbal fluency, and scored higher on a test matching numbers to symbols. But not everything changed across the generations: measures of lung function were surprisingly not changing, and there was no improvement in the short-term-memory task of recalling a series of digits.

There are many reasons why people are aging better, including improved medical care and a drop in smoking, but the key factor shown in the study of physical function was that the later-born adults were more physically active and had bigger bodies, which suggests better nutrition. For brain function, the key seems to be more years of education.

Education is a powerful influence on aging and health, says Luigi Ferrucci, scientific director of the U.S. National Institute on Aging: “With more education, you are probably going to have a larger income, which means you are more likely to go to the doctor, and have good nutrition.” He also points out that the average life span is seven years shorter in a poor state such as Mississippi than in a wealthier one such as California. “Here we still have lots of people who cannot take the drugs they need because they cannot pay for them,” he says. In short, 60 may be the new 50 for many of us but not for all.

1. How does the writer begin the passage?

A．By imagining a scene.	B．By making a comparison.
C．By raising a question.	D．By presenting an image.

2. Which of the following is true about the research?

A．Everything didn’t change across the generations.

B．The later-born group could hardly grasp things more tightly.

C．The later-born group did worse in matching numbers to symbols.

D．There was a little improvement in short-term memory in both groups.

3. According to the research, what contributes most to physically aging better?

A．Improved medical care.	B．Education.
C．Better nutrition.	D．Energetic images.

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．Many reasons contribute to people’s better physical function.

B．Today’s energetic sexagenarians have much better images.

C．Education is the key to people’s aging better.

D．People today are aging better in many ways.

【推荐3】With Chinese consumers hit by quarantine （隔离期）and travel restrictions as well as just cautious about going out to the shops due to the coronavirus epidemic（流行病），companies in China are experimenting with new tricks to make sales.

Oil giant Sinopec — keen to get customers back in their cars and help farmers due to roadblocks — launched a new project last month called "zerotouch" vegetable sales at its 6,000 gas stations in 147 Chinese cities. Consumers place and pay for orders on the app and when they drive up, gas station employees put the vegetables into their car trunk, eliminating any need for human-to-human contact.

"The coronavirus outbreak has made it difficult for people to shop as before," said Li Hong， vice president of Sinopec's convenience store sales division. "Travel demand has been falling, but demand for food is pretty rigid."

Mengniu Dairy, China's dairy producer, is racing to add more vending machines to the 10,000 it currently has, saying the epidemic has driven unexpectedly strong demand for the sales channel. Its system allows customers to order products like milk and yoghurt online which can then be picked up from their local vending machine. "The virus outbreak has decreased consumption for dairy products as people are unwilling to go to the supermarket," said Meng Fanjie, head of the company's Communist Party committee. Luckin Coflfee, a competitive rival to Starbucks, now also offers the sanitizer (消毒） products （e.g. hand soap） besides coffee. Liu Xingliaging, an independent retait analyst, said, however, that Luckin's strategy would have only a modest impact. “At best some users will place an order when they buy coffee, but nobody is deliberately choosing the Luckin app just to buy sanitizer.”

1. According to the passage, why did some companies adopt new selling methods?

A．Citizens were not allowed to go out.

B．The demand for travel and food declined sharply.

C．The coronavirus epidemic changed people's way of life.

D．Companies desired to grasp the chance to defeat their competitors.

2. What does the underlined word "eliminating" in Paragraph 2 most probably refer to?

A．meeting	B．removing
C．decreasing	D．limiting

3. The passage is written mainly to          .

A．illustrate the difficulty caused by the coronavirus epidemic

B．explain the changes made by some companies in the epidemic

C．describe the challenges some companies met during the epidemic

D．reveal the intelligence people showed in the coronavirus epidemic

【推荐3】Imagine you are doing this reading in this text on the computer; what else are you doing? Maybe you’re eating a sandwich or drinking a cup of Starbucks. Should you eat while reading?
There aren’t many believable numbers, but we do know the number of people who eat while sitting in front of some type of screen is growing. A recent study found that 33 percent of families always have the TV on during meal times and another 27 percent people have it on at least half the time. Another 10 percent may be texting, emailing or talking on a cell phone while eating.
Any type of these behaviors is bad, considering the following evidence:
A Canadian study found that children who watch more than three hours of cartoons a day are 50 percent more likely to be fat than children who watch fewer than two hours. The researchers concluded that more than 60 percent of overweight incidents can be connected with screen watching too much.
A three-week study found that adults who usually play with smartphones less burned 119 more calories per day.
One Chicago researcher found that people eat more potato chips while reading online than when they have the laptop turned off.
There has been very little investigation(调查) into eating with your eyes staring at a screen or reading a book, but it is likely that his mindless eating is related to weight gain. Simply speaking, your brain has no idea what is going on with your mouth because it is occupied by other things. You don’t notice how full your stomach is, and you often don’t even notice the taste or the act of chewing and swallowing, as a result of which, developing an adapted dietary habit is a must.
1. The author answers the question raised in the first paragraph with ________.

A．stories and explanations

B．examples and investigations

C．an argument and evidence

D．facts and descriptions

2. Which of the following statement is true?

A．Being focused while eating is a good way to have a good figure.

B．Adults’ weight is not affected by their eating habits.

C．There exist many investigations into eating while reading.

D．This text must be found on a website.

3. What can be the best title of this passage?

A．How Should You Lose Weight?

B．Should You Do Other Things While Eating?

C．Healthy and Unhealthy Eating Habits

D．TV and Eating

4. What will the author probably continue to write?

A．Express healthy eating ways.

B．Give more useful investigations into eating.

C．Describe the study about the old who watch less TV while eating.

D．Tell the proper ways to watch TV.