Life is hard－even harder than anyone thought it would be. When you were younger, you dreamed of the world being your playground, and you were told that you could do anything and be anyone you wanted. Somehow, though, things haven’t been the smooth sailing that you wanted them to be. The world seems to go against you, and the last thing you want to hear is “Cheer up!”
Still, there’s a couple of things you might not notice about your situation. Next time you’re down, maybe the following will provide motivation.
Firstly, not everything is bad. It’s a well-accepted fact that bad news makes for sensational (极好的) television ratings. The fact is that something negative catches a lot more attention than something positive, and that’s because it’s easy to see things in a negative light. However, that shouldn’t distract you from the bigger picture.
Resist the tunnel vision that results from constant negativity. Remember that even though there’s lots of really nasty stuff going on, you’re surrounded by some pretty awesome stuff as well.
You should also remember other people aren’t you. No one likes being compared to another person. What makes it even worse, if that’s even possible, is when you do it to yourself.
Stop comparing yourself to another person and you’ll realize that you’re much more awesome than you give yourself credit for.
Lastly, failure isn’t where the game stops. So you tried something new, but you didn’t follow through. Frustrated at yourself, you stop trying. As a result, your quality of life goes down terribly. You’ve given up on it, though, because you don’t see the point (since you failed the first time).
Now, you’re an adult. The things you are trying are much more complicated than five-year-old you. However, your behaviour shouldn’t change in the slightest－when you fail in something, that’s just more information in your data bank. You know that method doesn’t work, so try another one! And another one after that! Do this until you figure it out. Giving up is for losers, and you sure aren’t one of those.
1. The author mentioned bad news in order to show that .| A．bad news makes people see things in a negative light |
| B．bad news is more likely to catch people’s eyes |
| C．bad news attracts people to see positive things |
| D．bad news has a negative effect on television ratings |
| A．Unstable emotions. | B．Important events. |
| C．Amazing incidents . | D．Something unpleasant. |
| A．We will change our behaviour. |
| B．We will keep trying the old method. |
| C．We should learn from failure. |
| D．We should think in a more complicated way. |
| A．It inspires us to learn from negative experiences. |
| B．It compares negative and positive experiences. |
| C．It criticizes those who are affected by bad experiences. |
| D．It discusses how negative experiences affect others. |
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【推荐1】“I have cancer.” Mom said and held me in a tight hug. I could feel her chest shaking as she tried not to cry but failed.
For all of my twenty-four years, my mom had been supportive. Strength and protection had always flowed from her to me. Now I knew it would have to flow the other way around.
Mom didn’t stay down for long. After the shock of breast-cancer, she armed herself with a notebook and a pen and a thousand questions for the doctors. She took notes on white blood cell counts and medications(药物) with long names as though she were studying for entrance exams into medical school. “The not-knowing is the worst.” she said.
The operation was successful. The chemo(化疗) was the harder part. I went with Mom to every chemo treatment. She rarely complained, though her hair was gone and her toenails and fingernails fell out one by one. She joked that she could save money on nail polish and put it toward the doctor bills, even though she never wore nail polish. “Cancer can take my hair, my nails, my health, my very life. But it can’t take my smile.” Mom said.
Mom learned to share her fears with me, and it formed an even deeper bond between us. Yet I am certain there were fears she didn’t share because she was still protecting me—worries she only shared with Dad. Even in the darkest hours, she would just joke about the cancer. Mom always said, “When you look your greatest fear in the eye and laugh at it, you take away some of its power.”
Mom was one of the lucky ones. She did beat her cancer, though not without scars. From her, I’ve learned I may not get to choose what I face, but I do get to choose how I face it.
1. What does the author mean when saying “Now I knew it would have to flow the other way around”?| A．Cancer could be treated in the other way. |
| B．Mom would not be supportive anymore. |
| C．Mom had to stay stronger to beat cancer. |
| D．I should be the one being there for Mom. |
| A．Mom didn’t care about having cancer. |
| B．Mom was studying for entrance exams into medical school. |
| C．Mom had the determination to overcome cancer. |
| D．Mom felt down for long after knowing that she had cancer. |
| A．Optimistic and humorous. | B．Considerate and ambitious. |
| C．Determined and generous. | D．Caring and knowledgeable. |
| A．Luck counts in beating diseases. |
| B．Positive attitudes get one through hardship. |
| C．Complaint does no good to one’s health. |
| D．Sharing feelings helps reduce sufferings a lot. |
History is a record of what has happened in the past.
One of the benefits of history is reading how other people both famous and totally unknown have overcome tremendous challenges in their life. These challenges, although particular to a person, or to a certain time in the past, or occurring in a different country or culture, all convey the same thing.
Or, consider the story of Abraham Lincoln who managed to become President of the United States even though he suffered many setbacks and personal losses. Most of us only realize the success of Mr. Lincoln becoming President.
| A．History has a lot of influence on us. |
| B．Take for example the story of Thomas Edison. |
| C．History has some very unique qualities about it. |
| D．I am sure he was discouraged by his many failures. |
| E．They convey wisdom in their short stories of perseverance. |
| F．Few of us knew about the many challenges he had to overcome. |
| G．Only those with courage to face challenges can hope to live their dreams. |
【推荐3】The King received news one day that a group outlaws were committing some wrong and cruel acts on a distant border of the kingdom.
The news angered the King. He quickly gathered his army and started off for the distant border, leaving his kingdom unguarded and without a ruler.
On their long march, the King and his army made camp for the night wherever they could. One rainy day they stopped in a forest, seeking shelter under the trees. They unsaddled（卸鞍） their horses and steamed some peas, which they fed to their steeds(战马) in long narrow containers.
A monkey in a tree nearby saw the horses being fed, and he came racing down, fille9d both paws with peas, then climbed quickly up to a branch and settled down to eat. But as he opened one paw, a single pea fell to the ground. Without hesitation, my monkey jumped from his branch to hunt for the lost pea, and in doing so，he dropped all the other peas in his paws.
The King observed this foolish monkey and was greatly amused. He turned to his minister and asked: "Friend, what do you think of this monkey who would give up so much to retrieve so little?" "That is the way of the foolish," replied the minister, "they will give up much that is certain for a little that is uncertain." Then he added, "And we, Great King, are we not like the monkey in the trees. To gain so little we neglect (忽略 ) so much exactly like the monkey with its pea.
The King understood the blame and realized how very foolish he had been himself to leave his kingdom unguarded. He gave out orders to his men, and he and his army returned at once to their country.
1. What did the King do after he knew a group of bad guys were doing something illegal?| A．He asked the minister for advice. | B．He led his army to defeat them. |
| C．He found some monkeys to feed | D．He looked for shelters in the forest. |
| A．steaming some peas to feed the horses |
| B．amusing the King with the monkey’s trick |
| C．blaming the king gently using the monkey’s example. |
| D．going back and guarding the country. |
| A．bring up | B．get back |
| C．give away | D．come up |
| A．An Angry King | B．A Battle against the Outlaws |
| C．A Simple-minded Monkey | D．An Unguarded Kingdom |
The average American woman weighs 75.5 kilograms, far from the ideal weight for her average height. Her ticket on Samoa Air, at the $1 a kilogram rate, would cost $75.50. But let's be honest here. Since the average American woman is overweight, the ticket will cost her more.
Samoa Air Chief Executive Chris Langton said, “Planes are run by weight and not by seat. The plane can only carry a certain amount of weight and that weight needs to be paid.”He believes other airlines should adopt the policy.
It’ s not a new idea. I remember a newspaper columnist years ago who put forth the idea that the heavier among us should pay more for their seats on planes, trains and buses. Who hasn’ t been squeezed into a middle seat between two plus-sized folks on a flight? It’ s happened to me; one time my married seatmates had purposefully chosen their seats to have more space until a sold-out flight put me between them. Not one of my better flying experiences.
What if such a policy is adopted by some airlines in the United States? Could such pricing provide a much-needed motivation for Americans to reduce body weight? I hope so. But, as we know, more than one-third of us are obese and another third are overweight. The high probability is that the heavy customers will not suddenly lose weight or stop flying, but will instead choose a different airline, simply moving the supposed problem elsewhere.
There's no doubt that the heavier will suffer more discrimination (歧视). Discrimination against the overweight in the United States has increased by 66 percent over the last decade —“and is comparable to rates of racial discrimination, especially among women,”wrote Yale University researcher Rebecca M. Puhl. Your weight can affect your salary, your chances for employment, how others view you and even, now, your air fares.
“If the policy succeeds it may encourage the spread of body discrimination across different industries and the wider culture,” said one British editorial writer. He holds that it is companies' duty to provide equipment that meet the needs of their customers.
And we'll see how effective it is as a business model.
1. In Paragraph 3, Chris Langton _____.
| A．explained the reasons for the ticket policy |
| B．showed the difficulties of the ticket policy |
| C．expressed his doubt about the ticket policy |
| D．discussed the advantages of the ticket policy |
| A．they will possibly lose a lot of customers |
| B．there will be less overweight people |
| C．people will use other forms of transportation |
| D．the problem of overweight planes will be partly solved |
| A．women are less likely to suffer discrimination |
| B．racial discrimination is getting worse nowadays |
| C．the ticket policy will have little influence on the obese |
| D．the ticket policy will make body discrimination more serious |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Defensive. |
| C．Disapproving. | D．Casual. |
【推荐2】In the days before the internet, critical thinking was the most important skill that informed citizens could have. But in the digital age, according to Anastasia Kozyreva, a German psychologist, an even more important skill is “critical ignoring.” With such an overabundance of information, we need to first decide what’s worth our attention and time, and what’s not.
The first strategy is self-nudging. This involves avoiding low-quality information so that we have more quality time for ourselves. It also involves the removal of distracting things from the environment around you. Of course, we need to stay informed of world events, so we can’t just ignore the internet altogether. When you do go into social media, Kozyreva recommends setting time limits, which prevents you from losing track of time as you click on one attractive link after another.
The next strategy is lateral (横向的) reading. Its purpose is to improve judgments about the reliability of information, and to protect you from false and misleading information. The strategy involves opening a new web page to find out more about the source of the information. Likewise, it’s also good to check the source of the information in an internet post. Headlines are often cheating. They’re designed to attract attention, not provide information. The main idea of the article may be completely contrary to the implication in the headline. A sensational claim may provide a link with a headline that seems to support it, but a careful reading of the original source shows it doesn’t.
We live in a digital age in which we’re overwhelmed with information, much of it of poor quality. Train our critical ignoring skills and we can get the benefits of the internet while we avoid falling victim to those who try to control our attention.
1. Which of the following saying can best describe “critical ignoring”?| A．Rob Peter to pay Paul. | B．Make something out of nothing. |
| C．Birds of a feather flock together. | D．Separate the sheep from the goats. |
| A．Improving study equipment. | B．Managing our own time well. |
| C．Avoiding access to social media. | D．Staying informed of what happened. |
| A．By focusing on headlines. | B．By reading posts at random. |
| C．By searching for original sources. | D．By consulting authorities for advice. |
| A．To clarify a concept. | B．To promote an app. | C．To describe a scene. | D．To make a proposal. |
【推荐3】At your next meeting, wait for a pause in conversation and try to measure how long it lasts.
Among English speakers, chances are that it will be a second or two at most. But while this pattern may be universal, our awareness of silence differs dramatically across cultures.
What one culture considers a confusing or awkward pause may be seen by others as a valuable moment of reflection and a sign of respect for what the last speaker has said. Research in Dutch (荷兰语) and also in English found that when a silence in conversation stretches to four seconds, people start o feel uneasy. In contrast, a separate study of business meetings found that Japanese people are happy with silences of 8.2 seconds-nearly twice as long as in Americans’ meetings.
In Japan, it is recognized that the best communication is when you don’t speak at all. It’s already a failure to understand each other by peaking because you’re repairing that failure by using word.
In the US, it may start from the history of colonial (殖民地的) America as a crossroads of many different races. When you have a complex of difference, it’s hard to develop common understanding unless you talk and there’s understandably a kind of anxiety unless people are verbally devoted to developing a common life. This applies also to some extent to London.
In contrast, when there’s more homogeneity, perhaps it’s easier or some kinds of silence to appear. For example, among your closest friends and family it’s easier to sit in silence than with people you’re less well acquainted with.
1. Which of the following people might have the longest silence in conversation?| A．The Dutch | B．Americans |
| C．The English. | D．The Japanese |
| A．Speaking more gives the upper hand |
| B．Speak out what you have in your mind. |
| C．Great minds think alike without words |
| D．The shorter talking silence, the better |
| A．A four-second silence in conversation is universal |
| B．It’s hand for Americans to reach n common agreement |
| C．English speakers are more talkative than Japanese speakers. |
| D．The closer we and our family are, the easier the silence appears |
| A．Similarity | B．Difference |
| C．Diversity. | D．Misunderstanding |
