We often think about relationships on a scale from positive to negative. We are drawn to loving family members, caring classmates and supportive mentors. We do our best to avoid the cruel uncle, the playground bully and the jerk boss.
But the most harmful relationships aren’t the purely negative ones. They’re the ones that are a mix of positive and negative. We often call them frenemies, supposed friends who sometimes help you and sometimes hurt you. But it’s not just friends. It’s the in-laws who volunteer to watch your kids but devalue your parenting. The manager who praises your work but denies you a promotion.
Groundbreaking research led by the psychologists Bert Uchino and Julianne Holt-Lunstad shows that ambivalent (矛盾情绪的) relationships can be damaging to your health — even more than purely negative relationships.
Even a single ambivalent interaction can cause harm. In one experiment, people talked about controversial (具有争议性的) topics in front of a friend who offered feedback. The researchers had randomly assigned the friend to give ambivalent or negative comments. Receiving mixed feedback caused higher blood pressure than pure criticism. “I would have gone about the topic differently, but you’re doing fine” proved to be more distressing than “I totally disagree with everything you’ve said.”
The evidence that ambivalent relationships can be bad for us is obvious, but the reasons can be harder to read — just like the relationships themselves.
One reason is that ambivalent relationships are unpredictable. With a clear enemy, you put up a shield when you cross paths. With a frenemy, you never know whether Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde is going to show up. Feeling unsure can break the body’s calming system and activate a fight-or-flight response. It’s unsettling to hope for a hug while also preparing for a likely quarrel.
Another factor is that unpleasant interactions are more painful in an ambivalent relationship. It’s more distressing to be let down by people you like sometimes than by people you dislike all the time. When someone stabs you in the back, it stings more if he’s been friendly to your face.
1. Which of the following can be considered as a frenemy?| A．Your neighbor’s kid who advises you to study hard but kill his own time. |
| B．Your classmate who admires your hard work at first, but doubts your intelligence later. |
| C．Your mother’s friend who encourages you to spend more time on homework but less on smart phones. |
| D．Your father’s colleague who proposes you to do a reasonable amount of homework while ensuring enough sleep. |
| A．Upsetting. | B．Satisfying. | C．Inspiring. | D．Confusing. |
| A．The negative impact of ambivalent interactions is strong. |
| B．Ambivalent relationships have a long-lasting effect on your well-being. |
| C．The common cause of high blood pressure is ambivalent relationship. |
| D．Interactions in ambivalent relationships are more painful than those in negative ones. |
| A．Negative relationships are bad for health. | B．Ambivalent relationships are unpredictable. |
| C．Ambivalent Relationships are the most harmful. | D．Positive relationships are better than negative ones. |
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Friendship is a very important human relationship and everyone needs good friends. Friendship offers companionship, improves an individual self-worth and promotes good health. However making new friends comes easy for some people but for many of us the process is difficult and requires courage. Below are some helpful tips on how to make and keep friends.
Associate with others. The first step to making friends is associating with other people. Health clubs, places of worship and charities are some places where you can meet new people and build friendship. But attending these places is not enough. You will need to make yourself known by becoming an active member.
Be cheerful. A smile on the face is a sure way to attract new friends as people are always drawn to a cheerful disposition. No one wants to keep company with someone who constantly looks upset.
Start a conversation. Starting a conversation is the second most important step in making new friends. Do not wait to be spoken to；you can always start the conversation. Being able to make small talk is a very useful skill in relating with other people regardless of the environment or circumstance.
Stay in touch. For a friendship to grow you need to stay in touch. There are several ways of staying in touch with your friends and these include SMS, phone calls and online social networking sites.
Do things together. Choosing friends with common interest is important in establishing friendship as these interests would always bring you and your friend together and hanging out will always be a pleasant experience. The less you have in common with your friend the more likely the friendship will not grow.
Let it grow. It is a good thing to stay in touch but try not to choke your new friend with calls, messages or visits as this would likely wear him or her out and eventually they may not want to be your friend anymore. The best friendships are the ones that grow naturally.
Enjoy your friendship. The best way to enjoy your new friends is to allow them to be themselves. Try not to be critical of them and try not to change them from who they are to what you want them to be.
| Theme | Friendship, which has a positive |
on making and keeping friends | Be |
| Try to have a conversation with others | |
| Contact your friends in some ways, | |
| Choose friends whose interests are | |
| Remember not to find fault with or |
【推荐2】Not too many decades ago it seemed “obvious” both to the general public and to sociologists that modern society has changed people’s natural relations, loosened their responsibilities to kins and neighbors, and substituted in their place superficial relationships with passing acquaintances. However, in recent years a growing body of research has revealed that the “obvious” is not true. It seems that if you are a city resident, you typically know a smaller proportion of your neighbors than you do if you are a resident of a smaller community. But, for the most part, this fact has few significant consequences. It does not necessarily follow that if you know few of your neighbors you will know no one else.
Even in very large cities, people maintain close social ties within small, private social worlds. Indeed, the number and quality of meaningful relationships do not differ between more and less urban people. Small-town residents are more involved with kin than are big-city residents. Yet city dwellers compensate by developing friendships with people who share similar interests and activities. Urbanism may produce a different style of life, but the quality of life does not differ between town and city. Nor are residents of large communities any likelier to display psychological symptoms of stress or alienation, a feeling of not belonging, than are residents of smaller communities. However, city dwellers do worry more about crime, and this leads them to a distrust of strangers.
These findings do not imply that urbanism makes little or no difference. If neighbors are strangers to one another, they are less likely to sweep the sidewalk of an elderly couple living next door or keep an eye out for young troublemakers. Moreover, as Wirth suggested, there may be a link between a community’s population size and its social heterogeneity (多样性). For instance, sociologists have found much evidence that the size of a community is associated with bad behavior including gambling, drugs, etc. Large-city urbanites are also more likely than their small-town counterparts to have a cosmopolitan (见多识广的) outlook, to display less responsibility to traditional kinship roles, to vote for leftist political candidates, and to be tolerant of nontraditional religious groups, unpopular political groups, and so-called undesirables. Everything considered, heterogeneity and unusual behavior seem to be outcomes of large population size.
1. According to paragraph 1, it was once a common belief that people in modern society ________.| A．tended to acquaint themselves with people passing by |
| B．usually had more friends than small-town residents |
| C．bore great responsibilities to neighbors and relatives |
| D．could not develop very close relationships with others |
| A．lower the quality of relationships |
| B．show little concern for strangers |
| C．suffer from the lack of friendship |
| D．become suspicious of each other |
| A．the more likely it is to display stress |
| B．the more open-minded people are |
| C．the more similar its interests are |
| D．the better its quality of life is |
| A．Minor differences in the interpersonal relations between cities and towns |
| B．The positive role that urbanism has been playing in our modern society |
| C．Advantages and disadvantages of living in big cities or small towns |
| D．The strong feeling of alienation that city inhabitants are suffering |
【推荐3】It’s always been a rule in my family, spoken or unspoken, that you don’t waste food. With six children herself and having grown up in an even larger family through the Great Depression, my mother would never tolerate throwing out the amounts of food we see routinely these days in the dumpster. We were told simply to clean our plates, no matter whether we liked the taste or if we were not hungry or not. So this subject is deep in my genes and upbringing.
Estimates are that nearly one third of all food produced is wasted. USDA estimates 31% of food available at retail (零售)level is wasted. 12% of landfill material is food. 28% of agricultural land produces food which is wasted, says the FAO. 18% of vegetables, and 12% of the apple crop are lost at the farm level in the United States., say experts.
Luckily, there’s an “ugly food” movement picking up steam. “Ugly” foods are those that sellers and buyers often reject because of their appearance, like misshapen vegetables and bruised（擦伤的） fruits. Farmers dump them. Supermarkets and restaurants reject them. Now supermarkets and restaurants reject them. Consumers historically have avoided them. Now supermarkets feature the ugly. It’s fashionable. More artful terms are favored. A French supermarket chain is selling “inglorious” foods. The British chain ASDA uses “wonky（歪斜的）” (which to American ears might sound as bad as “ugly.”) Canada’s Loblaws uses “naturally imperfect.” Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who has cast himself as a promoter of the “good food movement,” has signed on with some British chains to support their efforts.
With the effort of Kretschmann Farm CSA’s we’ve taken the line that rather than throw away things which would be classified by others as ugly, inglorious, or imperfect, we would just give them to you and you could decide. Either we throw them away, or you can. Oftentimes this adds to the volume of the box, or makes it a little more urgent to consume (because sometimes those rejected foods are just very ripe!).
1. When the author was a kid, he .| A．often suffered from hunger |
| B．was not allowed to waste food |
| C．had to wash plates after a meal |
| D．didn’t like the taste of his food |
| A．Coming to an end. |
| B．Facing a challenge. |
| C．Making a selection. |
| D．Becoming more popular. |
| A．provides perfect food for customers |
| B．sells food mot of which is very ripe |
| C．tries to bring ugly food to customers |
| D．encourage the consumption of food |
【推荐1】A new study says one part of the human brain may become smaller as the result of a condition known as jet lag which results from flying long distances in an airplane. People with jet lag feel extremely tired for several days. They may also have problems in thinking clearly and remembering.
Recently a researcher at the University of Bristol in Britain reported the findings of his jet lag study, which involved twenty women who worked for international airlines. They had served passengers on airplanes for five years. These flight attendants flew across many countries and at least seven time zones. In the study, the flight attendants had different amounts of time to recover from jet lag. Half the women spent five days or fewer in their home areas between long flights. The other half spent more than fourteen days in their home areas.
The researcher took some saliva from the women’s mouths to measure levels of a hormone (荷尔蒙) that increases during stress. He tested them to see if they could remember where black spots appeared on a computer screen. And he took pictures of their brains to measure the size of the brain’s temporal lobes (脑叶).
It was found that the women who had less time between flights had smaller right temporal lobes. This area of the brain deals with recognizing and remembering what is seen. The same group performed worse and had slower reaction times on the visual memory test. And their saliva samples showed higher levels of stress hormones.
The researcher believes the brain needs at least ten days to recover after a long trip. He says airline workers told him their ability to remember got worse after working on planes for about four years. Other studies have shown that increased feelings of stress can cause a loss of cells in the part of the brain that controls memory.
Scientists say more tests are needed to study the effects of jet lag on the brain. They want to find out if too much jet lag could permanently affect memory.
1. What causes jet lag according to the passage?| A．Having a long trip. | B．Flying across many countries. |
| C．Making lengthy flight journeys. | D．Traveling across several time zones. |
| A．The process of the study. | B．The result of the study. |
| C．The meaning of the study. | D．The preparation of the study. |
| A．The women who have longer flights fail the memory test. |
| B．The women who have longer rest at home show better memory. |
| C．The women who rest more than 14 days produce more hormones. |
| D．The women who have less time in flight have smaller right temporal lobes. |
| A．Solution to Jet Lag | B．Influences of Jet Lag on the Brain |
| C．Jet Lag PermanentlyAffects Memory | D．FlightAttendants’BrainsAre in Danger |
【推荐2】A simple gesture can be formed into a child’s memory so quickly that it will cause the child to give a false answer to a question along with that gesture. A new finding suggests that parents, social workers, psychologists and lawyers should be careful with their hands as well as their words.
While memories of both adults and children are easy to react to suggestion, those of children are known to be particularly influenced, said lead researcher Sara Broaders of Northwestern University. Kids are used to looking to adults to tell events for them and can be misled even if not intentionally.
Previous research, for example, has shown that detail-loaded questions often cause false answers; when asked, say “Did you drink juice at the picnic?” the child is likely to say “yes” even if no juice had been available. It is not that the child is consciously lying, but rather the detail is quickly formed into his or her memory.
To avoid this problem, social workers have long been advised to ask children only open-ended questions, such as “What did you have at the picnic?” But an open-ended question paired with a gesture, briefly meaning a juice box, is treated like a detailed question. That is, children become likely to answer falsely.
And it isn’t just a few kids: 77% of children gave at least one piece of false information when a detail was suggested by an ordinary gesture. Gestures may also become more popular when talking with non-fluent language users, such as little kids, Broaders said as hand movements can impart meaning of unfamiliar words and phrases. “It certainly seems reasonable that adults would gesture more with children.”
In general, Broaders advises parents and other adults to “try to be aware of your hands when questioning a child about an event. Otherwise, you might be getting answers that don’t reflect what actually happened.”
1. What can we know about gestures from the text?| A．They are rarely used by people. | B．They have not any function at all. |
| C．They have certain effect on children. | D．They are often used by social workers. |
| A．Children are easy to tell lies. | B．These gestures are very attractive. |
| C．These gestures are used frequently. | D．Children’s memories are affected easily. |
| A．Where are you going Lucy? | B．What will you have for lunch? |
| C．Did you see anything else last night? | D．Did you cheat in the last English examination? |
| A．Tell apart. | B．Pass on. | C．Mix up. | D．Break up. |
【推荐3】Every year migratory（迁徙的） bats travel from Mexico to Bracken Cave, where they spend the summer consuming insects that would otherwise hungrily eat common food crops. But the bats have been showing up far earlier than they did two decades ago.
In a study, scientists at Rothamsted Research, used radar data from 160 U.S. weather stations to analyze activity in the Texas bat colony from 1995 through 2017. They discovered the creatures were leaving their winter quarters in Mexico earlier and reproducing sooner. They were also astonished to find increasing numbers of bats overwintering（过冬）at Bracken Cave instead of heading back to their cold weather quarters in Mexico. Overwintering is a sign that warmer temperatures change the bats' annual rhythms, Rothamsted biologist Phillip Stepanian says.
A separate study of migratory bats in Indiana, published last year, found that temperature variations affected arrival and departure times-likewise hinting at the potential influence of climate change. Joy O'Keefe, a biology professor and co-author of that study, says early arrival at their summer habitats could expose these bats to cold snaps（寒流）, and they could freeze to death.
Joy O’Keefe and her colleagues also found that changing bat migration times can also clash with rainfall patterns. Many insects that bats eat breed in seasonal lakes and puddles. If the bats arrive too early to benefit from summer rainfall and the resulting abundance of insects, they may struggle to feed their pups（幼崽） or skip reproduction altogether, O’Keefe says. She fears this shift could cause Midwestern bats to decrease toward extinction, which would be bad news for humans. “Declines in bat populations could have severe effects for crop success,” she says, adding that bats also “control significant disease vectors, such as mosquitoes.”
However, scientists are not certain that climate change alone is causing the Bracken Cave bat colony to migrate earlier. They have found a direct link between seasonal temperatures and bird migration, but bats are also influenced by factors such as changes in wind speed and direction. And there are other complications. “Bats are mysterious little animals that move mostly at night and are difficult to observe and track ,” Stepanian says. “We have this conceptual picture of what might be happening, but really tying it to the cause is the next step.”
1. What is the best title for the passage?| A．Bats’ habitants | B．Endangered bats |
| C．Bats’ migration | D．Bats, our good friends |
| A．bats prefer heading back to Mexico | B．bats delay their reproduction |
| C．warming affects bat migration | D．radar can be used to observe bats |
| A．bats are used to living in rainfall seasons |
| B．bats’ earlier migration might harm farming |
| C．insects' reproduction helps to spread disease |
| D．insects shortage makes bats reproduce earlier |
| A．Insects. | B．migration times. |
| C．Bats. | D．lakes and puddles. |
| A．Wind speed and direction affect bats. |
| B．It is difficult to observe and track bats. |
| C．Climate change makes bats migrate earlier. |
| D．Further research on the cause is necessary. |
【推荐1】Americans are worried about new technology. They are concerned that machines, including robots, will take over work now done by humans. These findings come from a new report by the Pew Research Center of Washington DC.
About 75 percent of Americans questioned by Pew said automation will increase income inequality between the rich and the middle class and the poor. And 64 percent of people expect automation to be so common in America that people will face difficulty finding things to do with their lives.
Some of the concerns about technology come from a distrust about whether machines will always make the right decision. Many Americans believe humans have better judgment in dealing with complex matters. One example is selecting a person for a job. Three quarters of Americans said they would not want to apply for a job that uses a computer program to choose the most qualified person.
Most Americans want the government to limit automation. For example, 87 percent support a requirement that all driverless vehicles have a human in the driver seat who can take control when needed. And 85 percent want to limit machines to mostly doing jobs that are dangerous or unhealthy for humans. And only 25 percent expect more jobs to come from automation, Pew said.
Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Facebook, spoke last May to graduating seniors from Harvard University in Massachusetts. His talk centered on the uncertain future facing young people. “Our generation will have to deal with tens of millions of jobs replaced by automation like self-driving cars and trucks,” Zuckerberg told the graduates.
Zuckerberg said young people will have to find projects that will bring both jobs and direct benefits to the people of the world. He said in his speech that 300,000 people worked to put a man on the moon, and millions of people built, the Hoover Dam as well as other great projects over the last 100 years.
1. What do Americans think of technology?| A．Useful. |
| B．Effective |
| C．Dangerous. |
| D．Undependable. |
| A．Use machines to do dangerous and harmful jobs. |
| B．Increase job chances by introducing machines |
| C．Select a person for a job by computer. |
| D．Get rid of all driverless vehicles. |
| A．Refuse self-driving vehicles. |
| B．Create new job chances. |
| C．Consider large projects. |
| D．Fight against robots. |
| A．New Technology Creates More Jobs |
| B．New Technology Makes New Unfairness |
| C．Americans Worry Robots Will Take Jobs |
| D．Robots Make Work Easy to Do for Workers. |
【推荐2】Climate change disproportionately affects the world’s most vulnerable people, particularly poor rural communities that depend on the land for their livelihoods and coastal populations throughout the tropics. We have already seen a chain of tough suffering that results from extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, floods, droughts, wildfires, and more.
For remedies, advocates and politicians have tended to look toward cuts in fossil-fuel use or technologies to capture carbon before it enters the atmosphere—both of which are crucial. But this focus has overshadowed the most powerful and cost-efficient carbon capture technology in the world. Recent research confirms that forests are absolutely essential in reducing climate change, thanks to their ability to absorb and isolate carbon. In fact, natural climate solutions such as conservation and restoration of forests, along with improvements in land management, can help us achieve 37 percent of our climate target of limiting warming to a maximum of two degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, even though they currently receive only 2.5 percent of public climate financing.
Forests’ power to store carbon dioxide is staggering: one tree can store an average of about 48 pounds in one year. Intact(完整的)forests could take in the CO2 emissions of some entire countries.
For this reason, policymakers and business leaders must create and enforce policies to prevent deforestation, foster, reforestation of degraded land, and promote the sustainable management of standing forests in the fight against climate change. Protecting the world’s forests ensures they can keep performing essential functions such as producing oxygen, filtering water and supporting biodiversity. Not only does the world’s entire population depend on forests to provide clean air, clean water, oxygen and medicines, but 1.6 billion people also rely on them directly for their livelihoods.
Unfortunately, a huge amount of forest continues to be converted into agricultural land to produce a handful of resource-intensive commodities - despite zero-deforestation commitments from companies and governments. So now is the time to increase forest protection and restoration. This action will also address a number of other pressing global issues. For example, in less developed, rural areas - especially in the tropics - community-based forest-management programs can forge pathways out of poverty. In the Peten region of Guatemala, for instance, community-managed forests boasted a near-zero deforestation rate from 2000 through 2013, as compared with 12 percent in nearby protected areas and buffer(缓冲)zones. These communities have built low-impact, sustainable forest-based businesses that have stimulated the economy of the region enough to fund the creation of local schools and health services. Their success is especially noticeable in a location where, outside these community-managed zones, deforestation rates have increased 20-fold.
1. Which of the following statements about natural climate solutions is true according to the passage?| A．They are the only effective strategies available to address the climate change. |
| B．They pale in comparison with the reduction in fossil-fuel use or technologies. |
| C．They can and should play a more important role in cutting carbon emissions. |
| D．They manage to limit warming to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. |
| A．documented | B．incredible |
| C．unsteady | D．negligible |
| A．The policies to prevent deforestation have borne fruit. |
| B．Developed countries are hit the hardest by climate change. |
| C．Economic growth contributes a lot to reducing deforestation. |
| D．Some governments fail to keep their promises to preserve forests. |
| A．Keeping forests undamaged can go a long way toward saving the planet. |
| B．A high-tech climate fix is required to dramatically lessen global warming. |
| C．Governments should work together with businesses to stop deforestation. |
| D．Sustainable management of forests is crucial in powering regional development. |
【推荐3】Have you ever had a burger without meat? You might think that a vegetable burger will take away the real meaning of a burger as it will not have the juicy taste of meat. Despite these concerns, the company, Beyond Meat, has managed to successfully make plant-based meat.
On May 2, the company became the first vegan company to become public. Beyond Meat’s initial share price was expected to range from $19 to $21. Impressively, just hours later, Beyond Meat’s stocks rose to $73!
Instead of killing animals, Beyond Meat obtains these components from different plants and combines them to make vegan meat. It contains pea protein that gives the chewy, meaty texture along with canola oil, coconut fat and other binding agents. In addition, the company uses beet juice to simulate the bloody look of beef! The plant proteins are subjected to intense heating, cooling and pressure so that their structure becomes fibrous and copies that of animal meat.
For people who have changed their diet but miss the taste of meat, Beyond Meat satisfies their taste buds. It also has all the nutrients and elements that meat has, but does not come from an animal.
Plant-based meat is also beneficial as fewer animals are killed. As our world’s population continues to grow beyond 7 billion, so does the demand for meat. Livestock farming is not sustainable as it requires more land, consumes more energy and is one of the largest producers of greenhouse gases. Beyond Meat uses 99 percent less water and 93 percent less land. It also has 90 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and it uses 46 percent less energy.
However, there are some people who do not like the smell of a Beyond Meat patty. Others question that processed foods are unhealthy and it is safer to choose whole vegetables instead. Regardless, with another company, Impossible Burger, looking to go public soon, as well as companies such as Tyson Foods and Nestle looking to enter the market, plant-based meat is here to stay. These companies hope to convince many people to switch from meat to plant-based alternatives.
1. Why did Beyond Meat’s stocks rise sharply?| A．People found it convenient to buy plant-based meat. |
| B．People believed the bright future of the company. |
| C．People preferred to spend more money buying meat. |
| D．People are becoming vegans in life. |
| A．What is made up of meat. |
| B．Why plants can be made into meat. |
| C．How plant-based meat is made. |
| D．Whether plant-based meat is allergenic. |
| A．It makes farming sustainable. |
| B．It contains all the nutrients people need. |
| C．It doesn’t have the taste of meat. |
| D．It is environmentally friendly. |
| A．Plant-based meat will become a new trend. |
| B．All people prefer plant-based meat. |
| C．Vegan companies produce unhealthy food. |
| D．The smell of plant-based meat is disgusting. |
