Happiness, as I see it, comprises five elements: spiritual well-being (meaning and purpose), physical well-being (nutrition, exercise), intellectual well-being (curiosity, deep learning), relational well-being (kindness and generosity), and emotional well-being (cultivating positive emotions). As an interdependent aggregate of these five elements of SPIRE, happiness is about much more than experiencing pleasure.
As Aristotle put it, happiness is the ultimate purpose of life, meaning how we spend our everyday lives is ultimately guided by what we think would make us happier. This is not a good or a bad thing. It simply is, like the law of nature. Even people who are tirelessly working for an important cause, for example, to get rid of world hunger, are doing it because they find their work meaningful. Meaning is an element of happiness.
One barrier to happiness has to do with the expectation that happiness is an unbroken chain of positive emotions. This expectation, however, prevents people from experiencing happiness because painful emotions don’t go away but grow stronger when we reject them.
The second barrier has to do with equating happiness with success. It’s a commonly held belief that happiness can be attained by achieving certain goals, like money or fame. People tend to think if they finally find success, they will automatically become happy.
The third barrier has to do with the way people pursue happiness. We want to be happy for many reasons. After all, we are constantly told that happiness is good for our health, relationships, and work outcomes. Yet, if I wake up in the morning and decide to pursue happiness straight, I will become less happy.
But how? Indirectly. As is known, if you look up at the sun directly, you’ll hurt yourself. But if you take the same sun rays and break them down, you’ll enjoy the colors of a rainbow. Similarly, pursuing happiness directly can hurt us; pursuing it indirectly—by breaking it down into something like the SPIRE elements—can contribute to our well-being. Starting a meditation practice, exercising, performing acts of kindness, learning something new, or expressing gratitude for what we have are all indirect ways of pursuing happiness.
1. What does the underlined word “aggregate” probably mean in the first paragraph?| A．Combination. | B．Conclusion. | C．Accumulation. | D．Association. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Suspicious. | C．Objective. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．Being a success leads one to happiness. |
| B．Refusing negative feelings helps us obtain happiness. |
| C．Going after happiness directly makes one feel happy. |
| D．Pursuing one aspect of SPIRE can boost our well-being. |
| A．To make a contrast. | B．To make an analogy. |
| C．To conclude the argumentation. | D．To answer the previous question. |
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【推荐1】Some people live to climb the highest mountains. Some people live only dreaming about it while others live to avoid ever climbing at all. But one thing is certain, all people encounter mountains in their life.
When I was a little girl, my family moved to a tiny town at the bottom of a big mountain. One day after school, while exploring the green woods of this magnificent mountain, I almost fell on a set of stairs. What could these steps lead to? Curiosity got the best of me as I knew it would be starting to get dark soon. I started climbing up those strangely mysterious steps.
I climbed and climbed. There was nothing but just green bushes and these steps. I had to reach the top! But it was now getting real dark. If I kept going I might not be able to see my way back. My mom would be worried sick if I didn’t come home soon. So I ran back home almost in the dark while trying not to get too scared.
Anxiously I went to bed dreaming about what I would find at the top of this magical mountain. Could there be a castle up there? Maybe I would find a monster(怪物). Maybe I was taking the risk of never coming back home. Or, maybe all I would find was absolutely nothing! But something inside me was going to climb that mountain at all cost. I could hardly wait to try this adventure again.
Now we live in a world surrounded by the "can’t do" attitudes. We all fall down. We all have doubts and regrets. Still we must climb and dream about what’s at the top of our mountain. Monsters may appear or the night will fall. But never ever give up on your dream! Never let anyone tell you, "You can’t." Dream big and climb high!
1. What made the author start to climb up the stairs to the mountain top? (no more than 5 words)2. Why did the author hurry back home without reaching the top of the mountain? Give two reasons. (no more than 15 words)
3. How would you describe the author in terms of personalities according to Paragraph 4? (no more than 10 words)
4. How do you understand the underlined sentence in the last paragraph? (no more than 5 words)
5. What’s your attitude towards the "mountain" in your life? Please explain. (no more than 20 words)
Personal growth doesn't necessarily only happen when the conditions are perfect. Seeds tend to develop only when conditions are right. A seed will remain dormant (休眠) until moisture (湿度) and temperature are favorable for growth. Unfortunately, as humans, we don't always have the luxury of growing when conditions are just right. Sometimes you must cultivate personal growth and flower where you're planted, often in spite of external circumstances.
For much of my life, I let external circumstances control my happiness. If things weren't going well, then I wasn't well. I told myself that I would be happier if conditions were right. With this mindset, I gave myself permission to stay emotionally dormant. I was waiting for things around me to change before I would do the work to become a better version of myself. In other words, I made my personal growth conditional on external circumstances.
The problem with waiting for change outside of yourself is that you might have to wait a very long time, maybe even forever. And if you stay dormant while waiting, you aren't growing. You're simply stuck in place. You certainly aren't becoming the better version of yourself that you want to be.
If you want to engage in personal growth, like planting seeds, you have to do some work to make it happen. You can't wait around for everything to fall into place. Start with pulling up your emotional weeds. Examine yourself and remove the pessimistic thoughts and behaviors that are holding you back. Then, work on the foundation that you have. Practice positive life habits that build your self-respect and happiness.
Personal growth is something you can fight for. It may not come naturally, but when you develop this mindset, you will flower no matter where you're planted.
1. What does the underlined word “cultivate” in paragraph 1 probably mean? (1 word)2. What affected the author's growth most in the past? (no more than 3 words)
3. What does the author suggest you do if you want to engage in personal growth? (no more than 10 words)
4. What does the passage mainly talk about? (no more than 15 words)
5. What do you think is the most important in personal growth? Why? (no more than 20 words)
【推荐3】Courage is a highly admired virtue. When asked to describe courage, most people conjure up (脑中浮现) the image of an individual running into a burning building, or maybe a hero saving the world. But there's another form of bravery that's much more important because it comes up more often. It's called moral courage.
Moral courage is the ability that allows us to face our fears and to conquer our darkest fears. It’s the ability to face the future without knowing what is certain. It’s the ability to stand tall and confront those who oppose us, those who prevent us from realizing who we are and what we are. But most importantly, it’s the ability to stand up for what’s right, even though there are risks that stand in your way. Sara Anderson once said that "It takes great courage to faithfully follow what we know to be true."
The potential of showing moral courage has the power of changing the world. It was because of the moral courage that Mahatma Gandhi was able to make India free from British rule. He fought bravely against them without the use of any weapon by presenting great moral courage. In this way, he also became a great example for the people of the whole world. It is not that we remember Gandhi because of his body or beauty. We remember him because of the great ideas and principles of his life.
Moral courage is essential not only for a noble life, but a happy one. Without moral courage, we have no control over our lives. Our fears destroy our spirit and make us trapped in depression. Mark Twain said, “Courage is not the absence of fear but the resistance of fear, the mastery of fear.” If our fears cause us to lose confidence in the power of virtue, we will lose something very precious.
People with moral courage rarely get medals, but it is the best marker of true character and a virtue others can be proud of. We must try to develop the power of moral courage that will surely help in ending injustice and wrong and grant us a better world.
1. What is the main function of Paragraph 1?| A．To make a comparison. |
| B．To propose a definition. |
| C．To introduce the subject. |
| D．To provide the background. |
| A．the willingness to face and conquer fears |
| B．the capacity to stick to what is right |
| C．the ability to confront opponents |
| D．the desire to control whoever opposes you |
| A．Moral courage can make a difference to the world. |
| B．Moral courage makes people faithfully follow the truth. |
| C．Moral courage is essential for leading a happy life. |
| D．Moral courage restricts great ideas and principles. |
| A．Courage is being brave without any fear. |
| B．Courage is a spirit to overcome the fear. |
| C．Having a fear can limit our future lives. |
| D．Fear can stop us from achieving our goals. |
| A．To end injustice and wrong. |
| B．To pursue excellent virtues. |
| C．To strengthen moral courage. |
| D．To create a better world. |
【推荐1】Researchers have recorded penguins making sounds underwater for the first time — the first time such behavior has been identified in seabirds. These animals, like other seabirds, are highly vocal on land. They are known to communicate when their heads are above the water in the ocean, possibly for the purposes of group formation.
However, until the latest study — published in the journal Zoological Science — it was not known whether penguins made sounds underwater, like some other air-breathing marine predators, such as whales and dolphins. For their research, a team of scientists led by Andréa from Nelson Mandela University in South Africa, wanted to investigate this issue. To do so, they fitted adult penguins from three species with video cameras featuring built-in microphones.
To the surprise of Andréa and her colleagues, the team recorded a total of 203 underwater vocalizations from the penguins in the underwater footage they captured over a month-long period in 2019. These are the first recordings of seabirds producing vocalizations underwater. “I couldn’t believe it. I had to replay it many times,” Andréa said.
The vocalizations that the team recorded — which sound like rapid whoops — were very short in duration, lasting about 0.06 seconds on average. And all of these sounds were emitted（发出）during dives in which the animals were searching for food. Currently, it is not clear why the penguins are making these sounds; however, they only produce them while hunting. In fact, more than 50 percent of the vocalizations were immediately preceded by an acceleration movement or followed by an attempt to hunt.
According to the researchers, this suggests that the sounds are related to hunting behavior — especially because the penguins tend to be alone when they make them, indicating that communication was not the purpose. The researchers guess that the penguins may be using the vocalizations to stun(使昏迷) their prey. However, much more research is required to determine why the penguins make these sounds, the scientists note.
1. How does Andréa’s team conduct the study about penguins?| A．By recording penguins’ sounds on land. |
| B．By fixing electronic devices on the penguins. |
| C．By observing penguins’ activities underwater. |
| D．By catching different kinds of adult penguins. |
| A．Penguins’ sounds are too low to hear. |
| B．She doubts if penguins could make sounds. |
| C．Penguins seldom make sounds underwater. |
| D．It’s not easy to obtain penguins’ sounds underwater. |
| A．When they take a deep breath. |
| B．When they dive to hunt for food. |
| C．When they teach their babies diving. |
| D．When they communicate with their partners. |
| A．Cautious. | B．Negative. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Indifferent. |
【推荐2】A new method of lie detection shows that lie tellers who are made to multi-task while being interviewed are easier to spot. The extra brain power needed to concentrate on a secondary task other than lying was particularly challenging.
Professor Aldert Vriji from the University of Portsmouth designed an experiment to identify lie tellers. The 164 participants in the experiment were first asked to give their levels of support or opposition about various societal topics that were in the news. They were then given a truth or lie condition by chance and interviewed about the three topics that they felt most strongly about. Truth tellers were instructed to report their true opinions while lie tellers were instructed to lie about their opinions during the interviews.
For the secondary task, participants were given a seven-digit (数字) car number and instructed to recall it back to the interviewer. Half of them received additional instructions that if they could not remember the car number during the interview, they may be asked to write down their opinions after the interview.
Participants were given the opportunity to prepare themselves for the interview and were told it was important to come across as convincing as possible during the interviews — which was incentivized by being entered into a prize draw.
The results showed that lie tellers’ stories sounded less reasonable and less clear than truth tellers’ stories, particularly when lie tellers were given the secondary task and told that it was important.
“The pattern of result suggests that the introduction of secondary tasks in an interview could help lie detection but such tasks need to be introduced carefully. It seems that a secondary task will only be effective if lie tellers do not neglect it. This can be achieved by either telling interviewees that the secondary task is important, or by introducing one that cannot be neglected,’’ said Professor Vriji.
1. What can we learn about participants in the experiment?| A．Some truth tellers gave false opinions in the interview. |
| B．Not all participants knew the importance of the secondary task. |
| C．Participants didn’t express opinions about news topics. |
| D．Participants chose a truth or lie condition by themselves. |
| A．Motivated. | B．Chosen. | C．Completed. | D．Corrected. |
| A．When participants took it seriously. |
| B．When participants had strong brain power. |
| C．When participants paid little attention to it. |
| D．When participants had the chance to prepare. |
| A．Interviewing Lie Tellers. | B．Covering up the Truth. |
| C．Challenging a Secondary Task. | D．Exposing Liars by Distraction. |
【推荐3】
pine cone
In the past many studies placed too much emphasis on how animals are trained to learn. But recently more and more studies have focused on how animals equip themselves to learn.
One study started with a school field trip to a pine forest where many pine cones were discovered, stripped (剥壳) to the central core. So the investigation was directed at finding out what was eating the pine seeds and how they managed to get them out of the cones. The culprit proved to be the black rat, and the technique was to bite each cone from base to top, following the growth pattern of the cone.
Urban black rats were found to lack the skill. However, babies of urban mothers cross-fostered by stripper mothers acquired the skill, whereas babies of stripper mothers fostered by an urban mother could not. Clearly the skill had to be learned from the mother. In the case of rats, the youngsters take cones away from the mother when she is still eating them, allowing them to acquire the stripping skill.
Another study, Bird Behaviour, provides a different view of the adaptiveness of social learning. It concerns the seed caching (hiding) behaviour of Clark’s Nutcracker and the Mexican Jay. The former is a specialist, caching about 30,000 seeds in scattered locations that it will recover over the months of winter; the Mexican Jay will also cache food but is much less dependent on this than the Nutcracker. The two species also differ in their social structure: the Nutcracker prefers living alone while, the Jay, in social groups.
The experiment is to discover if a bird can remember where it hid a seed but also if it can remember where it saw another bird hide a seed. The design is funny with a cacher bird hiding food in a room, while watched by a caged observer bird. Two days later, cachers and observers are tested for their discovery rate against estimated random performance (预估随机表现). Both cachers performed above chance. More surprisingly, jay observers were as successful as jay cachers, whereas nutcracker observers did no better than chance. It seems that, whereas the Nutcracker is highly skilled at remembering where it hid its own seeds, the social living Mexican Jay is more adept at remembering, and so making use of, the caches of others.
1. Urban black rats were able to learn to strip when ________.| A．living with stripper babies | B．fostered by urban mothers |
| C．fed by stripper mothers | D．eating cones by themselves |
| A．the Mexican Jay benefits from social living |
| B．the Clark’s Nutcraker has better learning skills |
| C．Nutcraker observers perform well in remembering |
| D．Jay cachers are only good at hiding food |
| A．skills are equipped in childhood | B．skills improve by practice |
| C．animals study through playing | D．animals learn by examples |
【推荐1】Everything we know suggests that the universe is unusual. It is flatter, smoother, larger and emptier than a “typical” universe predicted by the known laws of physics. If we reached into a hat filled with pieces of paper, each with the specifications of a possible universe written on it, it is unlikely that we would get a universe anything like ours in one pick—or even a billion.
The challenge that cosmologists face is to make sense of this specialness. One approach to this question is inflation—the hypothesis (假设) that the early universe went through a stage of fast expansion. At first, inflation seemed to do the trick. A simple version of the idea gave correct predictions for the spectrum of fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background.
But a closer look shows that we have just moved the problem further back in time. To make inflation happen at all requires us to fine-tune the initial conditions of the universe. And unless inflation is highly tuned, it leads to a runaway process of universe creation. As a result, some cosmologists (宇宙学家) suggest that there is not one universe, but an infinite number, with a huge variety of properties: the multiverse. There are an infinite number of universes in the collection that are like our universe and an infinite number that are not. But the proportion of infinity to infinity is undefined, and can be made into anything the theorist wants. Thus the multiverse theory has difficulty making any firm predictions and threatens to take us out of the area of science.
These other universes are unobservable and because chance dictates the random distribution of properties across universes, suggesting the existence of a multiverse does not let us get to anything about our universe beyond what we already know. As attractive as the idea may seem, it is basically a sleight of hand, which turns an explanatory failure into an apparent explanatory success. The success is empty because anything that might be observed about our universe could be explained as something that must, by chance, happen somewhere in the multiverse.
We started out trying to explain why the universe is so special, and we end up being asked to believe that our universe is one of an infinite number of universes with random properties. This makes me suspect that there is a basic but unexamined assumption about the laws of nature that must be overturned.
Cosmology has new questions to answer. Not just what are the laws, but why are these laws the laws? How were they chosen? We can’t just hypothesise what the initial conditions were at the big bang, we need to explain those initial conditions. Thus we are in the position of a computer program asked to explain its inputs. It is clear that if we are to get anywhere, we need to invent new methods, and perhaps new kinds of laws, to gain a scientific description of the universe as a whole.
1. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true of our universe?| A．There are several hypotheses about its early stage. |
| B．There are more than one billion universes similar to ours. |
| C．It is expanding at a greater speed that it did at the stage of the big bang. |
| D．It is different from the predictions made according to the laws of physics. |
| A．It hasn’t been challenged. | B．It doesn’t make much sense. |
| C．It is by far the most reasonable approach. | D．It is the simple version of a complicated idea. |
| A．process | B．prediction | C．trick | D．infinity |
| A．believes the idea of the multiverse will help us to understand our universe better |
| B．argues there is a fixed proportion of universes like ours to those unlike ours |
| C．holds computer programs can work better than humans in cosmology |
| D．thinks some laws of nature that we take for granted may be false |
【推荐2】Modern buildings are set up on a large scale in the city. Should they be allowed to be built next to older buildings in a historic area of a city? In order to answer this question, we must first examine whether people really want to preserve the historic feel of an area. All historical buildings are not attractive. However, there may be other reasons — for example, economic reasons — why they should be preserved. So, let us assume that historical buildings are both attractive and important to be the majority of people. What should we do then if a new building is needed?
In my view, new architectural styles can exist perfectly well alongside an older style. Indeed, there are many examples in my hometown where modern designs have been placed very successfully next to old buildings. As long as the building in question is pleasing and does not dominate its surroundings too much, it often improves the attractiveness of the area.
It is true that there are examples of new buildings which have spoilt the area they are in, but the same can be said of some old ones too. Yet people still speak against new buildings in historic areas. I think this is simply because people are naturally conservative （保守的）and do not like change.
Although we have to respect people's feelings as fellow users of the buildings, I believe that it is the duty of the architect and planner to move things forward. If we always reproduced what was there before, we would all still be living in caves. Thus, I would argue against copying previous architectural styles and choose something fresh and different, even though that might be the more risky choice.
1. What is the author's view of historical buildings in Paragraph 1?| A．Some of them are unattractive. |
| B．Many of them are too old to preserve. |
| C．They don't offer the historic feel of an area. |
| D．They are more pleasing than modern buildings. |
| A．We should reproduce the same old buildings. |
| B．Buildings shouldn't fit in with their surroundings. |
| C．Some old buildings have reduced the interest of the area they are in. |
| D．No one knows why people are against new buildings. |
| A．destroy old buildings |
| B．put things in a different place |
| C．respect people's feelings |
| D．choose new architectural style |
| A．To explain why people dislike change. |
| B．To warn that we could end up living in caves. |
| C．To answer the questions people show great interest in. |
| D．To argue that modern buildings can be built in historic areas. |
【推荐3】The study of psychology is facing a crisis. The Research Excellence Framework (the Ref) has led to a research culture which is holding back attempts to stabilize psychology in particular, and science in general. The Ref encourages universities to push for groundbreaking innovative, and exciting research in the form of 4* papers, but it does not reward the efforts of those who replicate studies.
The point of replicating a study is to test whether a statistically significant result will appear again if the experiment is repeated. Of course, a similar result may not appear – casting into questions the validity of the results from the first experiment.
Last year, the Open Science Collaboration attempted to replicate 100 studies from highly ranked psychological journalists. While 97% of the original studies had a statistically significant result, just 36% of the replications had the same outcome. Equally worrying: when an effect did appear, it was often much smaller than previously thought.
Recent data calls into question some widely influential findings in psychological science. These problems are not confined to psychology however – many findings published in scientific literature may actually be false.
Science is supposed to be self-correcting and reproducible is a cornerstone of the scientific method. Yet, we simply aren't invested in replicating findings. We all want to be good researchers and understand more about how the world works. So why are we so reluctant to check our conclusions are valid?
Because no incentive is provided by the system we carry out our research in. In the UK, the Ref ranks the published works of researchers according to their originality (how innovative is the research?), significance (does it have practical or commercial importance?), and rigour (is the research technically right?). Outputs are then awarded one to four stars. 4* papers are considered world-leading. The cumulative total of 3* and 4* papers determines research funding allocation and has a knock-on effect on institutional position in league tables(排名表) and therefore attractiveness to students. Obviously, the more publications, the better.
Worrying, many academics admit to engaging in at least one questionable research practice in order to achieve publication. Examples of this include: coming up with a theory after data is collected, stopping collecting data when an effect appears in case it disappears later, or only reporting the significant effects from collected data. Others simply fabricate data-Dutch psychologist Diederik Stapel shockingly falsified data from more than 50 studies.
The Ref completely harms our efforts to produce a reliable body of knowledge. Why? The focus on originality – publications exploring new areas of research using new paradigms, and avoiding testing well-established theories – is the exact opposite of what science needs to be doing to solve the troubling replication crisis. According to Ref standards, replicating an already published piece of work is simply uninteresting.
With the next Ref submission just four years away, many researchers are effectively faced with a choice: be a good scientist, or be a successful academic who gets funding and a promotion.
1. What crisis is the study of psychology facing?| A．The Ref has led to a revolution in not only psychology but also science. |
| B．The universities are encouraged to generate more groundbreaking research. |
| C．The Ref’s indifference to replications of studies has led to worrying effects. |
| D．The Ref tends to set up a different standard for replications of studies. |
| A．Scientific studies may not prove scientific. |
| B．Science needs to be updated frequently. |
| C．Journals should be stricter with studies, |
| D．It is getting hard to count on scientists. |
| A．a reliable body of knowledge |
| B．publications exploring new areas |
| C．tests of well-established theories |
| D．uninteresting replications of studies |
| A．is a system for assessing the quality of research in UK universities |
| B．provides UK researchers with funding and job opportunities |
| C．recognizes researchers' work and adds to their attractiveness to students |
| D．is planning to change its standard before the next Ref submission |
| A．Reform the standards that have been set up by the Ref. |
| B．Avoid using false research practices to test old theories. |
| C．Give up possible funding and promotion given by universities. |
| D．Contribute to the solution to the replication crisis. |
