You might have heard of the expression “a guilty pleasure”—maybe it’s the chocolate bar you buy on the way home from work, or the new clothes that you don’t really need.
Perhaps not. Psychologists have suggested that buying things for yourself can make you feel better as it provides an opportunity to take control of your situation.
Of course, there are also examples of people turning to destructive behaviour when faced with stressful circumstances. People might spend money that they don’t have or turn to dangerous addictions. Psychologist Leon Seltzer considers the difference between self-indulgence and self-nurturing.
| A．Exams are vital for students. |
| B．Self-indulgence can have negative consequences |
| C．The difference becomes evident when students manage exam pressure |
| D．They also recommend embracing activities that could dampen your spirits |
| E．Besides, you should avoid things that may make you feel worse afterwards |
| F．It comes from the idea that when we treat ourselves, it can sometimes leave us feeling guilty |
| G．It can give you social contact as well as a confidence boost from changes you make to your self-image |
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【推荐1】Psychological First Aid
Psychological first aid can be an excellent tool to relieve mental health struggles. In this article, we’ll explore the definition, significance, and usage of it.
·What is psychological first aid?
In terms of its definition, experts from the University of Glasgow describe psychological first aid (PFA) as something that can be used to support people who have experienced disasters or other crises.
·Why is mental health first aid important
Mental health first aid can be a crucial tool to ensure that people are able to cope with difficult experiences and build resilience (承受力).
PFA enhances resilience by offering constant support, which will surely increase perceived (感知) capacity to deal with a difficult situation, and improve willingness to accept support and assistance from others.
·
While PFA can be used to offer support to anyone who has painful experiences, there are certain circumstances that can arise where it can be particularly useful.
In some of these situations, people having experienced a lot of disasters, will need professional help from consultants because they suffer from serious mental problems.
| A．What can psychological first aid be used for? |
| B．How can you practise mental health first aid for others? |
| C．It is a kind of ability to recover after experiencing difficulties. |
| D．There are many people with mental health problems in the world. |
| E．It provides a framework, employed to offer support in a respected way. |
| F．For those without severe mental issues, it can help them to handle struggling things. |
| G．Apart from it, the experts further say that PFA is considerate and supportive assistance for depressed people. |
【推荐2】How to Get Rid of Stress?
Nowadays, stress is one of the major causes of mental illess and physical illness. Everybody has met and experienced it. It lives in our homes, workplaces, and even follows us wherever we go.
First, we get stressed because we choose to get stressed. This is ridiculous(荒谬的), you might say. You’re right.
Second, we get stressed because we don’t do what we should do.
Choosing not to get stressed is not easy. Initially(最初), it takes effort because you are used to going with the flow of your learned behavior.
| A．Stress is harmful for our health. |
| B．But do you know why we can’t get rid of it? |
| C．Let’s take on our own responsibility right now. |
| D．What benefits can we get from being stressed? |
| E．So we need to overcome our laziness to be stress-free. |
| F．Who would believe that stress is a choice that we make? |
| G．This is because we’re lazy or we don’t have faith in ourselves. |
【推荐3】Women interpret emojis differently to men, research suggests. Scientists say this is because these small digital emojis, used to express an idea or emotion, can be ambiguous and be understood differently by different people.
The researchers recruited 523 adults (49% men and 51% women) to review 24 different emojis. Each emoji — taken from Apple, Windows, Android, and WeChat platforms — represented one of the six emotional states labelled by the team: happy, disgusted, fearful, sad, surprised, and angry.
They found women were able to more accurately interpret happy, fearful, sad and angry emoji labels compared to men. No gender differences were observed for surprised or disgusted emoji, the team said. Dr Ruth Filik, associate professor in the School of Psychology at The University of Nottingham, said: “What I found most interesting and surprising is that there are so many individual differences in how people interpret these emojis.
“It is important to note that the results reflect how often participants labelled the emoji in the same way as the researchers. So, we should think of the results in terms of there being differences across people in how they interpret emojis, rather than some people being better at it than others. We should keep these differences in mind when using emojis in our messages.”
The researchers said that those emojis can add both slight differences as well as potential ambiguity to messages sent via texts, emails or even social media. To understand more about how emojis are interpreted, the team recruited 270 people from the UK and 253 from China, who were aged between 18 to 84 years old.
Each emoji was assigned an emotion label by the researchers, which they say may not correspond exactly with the emoji as used in real life. In addition to gender, the team also found age to play a role in how emoji are interpreted, with younger adults faring better than the older ones in matching the emoji with their assigned labels. Those in the UK were also better at labelling the emoji in the same way as the researchers compared to their Chinese counterparts.
The researchers say ambiguity of emojis is worth further research, “especially when communicating across gender, age, or cultures.”
1. Which aspect of the team’s research is NOT mentioned in paragraph 2 and 3?| A．Its participants. | B．Its samples. | C．Its conclusion. | D．Its significance. |
| A．Researchers are not better at labelling emojis than participants. |
| B．Females are better at perceiving the meanings of emojis than males. |
| C．Proper caution is necessary when sending emojis to different people. |
| D．Males and females have different understandings of disgusted emojis. |
| A．To make ambiguous emojis have concrete and clear meanings. |
| B．To explore how emojis are interpreted by extending research angles. |
| C．To figure out how young adults do well in matching emojis with labels. |
| D．To prove that Britons are better at labelling emojis than Chinese people. |
| A．Ambiguity of emojis deserves further research. |
| B．Age and culture play a role in how emojis are perceived. |
| C．Secrets behind different understandings towards emojis. |
| D．Pay attention to differences of emojis when sending messages. |
【推荐1】When we see a person in deep sorrow， our immediate reaction is to lend a hand． Not to do so would be a moral failure． But what if we see an animal in deep sorrow， does the same logic apply？
This question was raised following the "rescue" of a group of penguins from an icy gully in Antarctica． It was filmed for the BBC wildlife series Dynasties．
The film crew was alarmed when they saw that a group of penguins had fallen into a gully and been trapped with their young． The crew dug a shallow ramp so that a few of the penguins could save themselves．
The case has taken the international media by storm． Viewers watching this episode let out a sigh of relief on social media． "I'm so glad． I understand not getting directly involved， but a helping hand isn't intervening right？" viewer Kathryn Shaw tweeted．
However， others think that human intervention is unnatural． It's an unwritten rule among documentary filmmakers that they are there to observe， not to intervene， according to CBS News． For example， in another episode of Dynasties， David the chimpanzee， was left to die after he was filmed being beaten up by other chimps．
"Tragedy is a part of life． You can't have sunshine throughout your life． To have done anything else would only make matters worse and distort （扭曲）the truth，" said the show's creator David Attenborough，according to The Times．
In this case， however， Mike Gunton， the executive producer of the series， said that this was a one-off situation． "There were no animals going to suffer by intervening． It wasn't dangerous． You weren't touching the animals and it was just felt by doing this…they had the opportunity to not have to keep slipping down the slope，" he told the BBC．
Such cases are familiar to Paul Nicklen， wildlife photographer for National Geographic．
"I have a practical view when it comes to the natural rhythm （节律）of life，" he told Metro． "If it's ever a dangerous situation， no matter how gut-wrenching， you stay out of the way． Even when you are watching a male polar bear eat the young．"
But he said that he would help animals if he saw no real gain or disruption （扰乱） to the ecosystem．
Indeed， there will always be two sides to the coin， and human beings will forever be conflicted in such circumstances． "There's no rule book in those situations． You can only respond to the facts that are right there in front of you，" Will Lawson， the show's director， told Daily Mail．
1. The case has taken the international media by storm because ______ ．| A．people all over the world prefer documentaries of Antarctica |
| B．people were very curious about how the penguins died |
| C．what the film crew did upset people all over the world |
| D．it has caused a heated discussion on human intervention in wildlife |
| A．highly embarrassing | B．slightly worrying |
| C．very comforting | D．extremely upsetting |
| A．is a topic rarely mentioned by international media |
| B．once resulted in chimpanzee's death directly |
| C．is usually not expected in making documentary films |
| D．surely breaks the natural rhythm of life |
【推荐2】Studies have been done on the connection between humor and genes. The most common ones involved researchers observing the same twins and looking at how genes affect their sense of humor. There was a study with 390 adult twins who were asked to rate 48 cartoons of different humor varieties based on how funny they found them. The conclusion was that environmental influences played a more important role in what the twins found funny than genetics.
However, there is more to be said about this topic. A recent study proved a clear connection between genetics and emotions like laughter. This study tested 336 adults by showing them funny clips from movies and humorous comics. Researchers then examined the gene and positive emotional expressions, which they referred to as laughing and smiling. And even though the research has collected evidence on how there can be a connection between laughing and smiling behaviors and genes, we still need more similar studies before considering the results as a fact.
While genetics play an important role in the formation of many character traits, our sense of humor is too complex to be attributed to one factor. Moreover, your sense of humor can change throughout your whole life, which is why simplifying humor and basing it only on genetics isn’t reliable.
When we’re young, we learn to talk and do regular activities by observing people and things around us. While growing up, you are exposed to jokes that people around you make and find funny. You will pick up behavioral signs and develop your sense of humor based on all of that. It’s not a surprise that your sense of humor is based on the sense of humor of the people you grew up with, rather than on the genes of your ancestors.
Our sense of humor is a subjective field that depends on social factors, such as the influence of your family and friends, social circle, upbringing in a particular country and culture, etc. For that reason, it doesn’t mean that you will be humorous just because your parents or grandparents are funny.
1. What was found in the study about twins?| A．Humor wasn’t related to genes. |
| B．Environment mattered more than genes in humor. |
| C．The twins’ humor was mainly affected by genes. |
| D．The twins rated similarly about cartoons. |
| A．More research is needed to confirm the recent study result. |
| B．There is no connection between genes and positive emotions. |
| C．The recent study tested 336 adult twins by showing them funny clips. |
| D．The research proved the connection between laughing behaviors and smiling behaviors. |
| A．The sense of humor is just decided by one factor. |
| B．The sense of humor can’t change once developed. |
| C．The sense of humor can be obtained by observing and following others. |
| D．The sense of humor is a relatively simple one of people’s all character traits. |
| A．Can you be born humorous? | B．Is humor a necessity? |
| C．Can you develop your humor? | D．Is being humorous beneficial? |
【推荐3】As the coronavirus outbreak continues,many Americans are fearful of using public transportation.They also are looking for ways to get exercise without having to go to a gym,as well as ways to enjoy the outdoors.
In the United States,bicycles at big stores like Walmart have sold out.And small bicycle stores cannot keep up with demand for"family-style"bicycles:the low-cost,easy-to-ride models.
The bicycle industry is seeing its biggest sales increase since the oil crisis of the 1970s.The increase in bicycle demand began in March as countries began to close down.
Of course,you can only buy a bicycle if you can find one bicycle.In the U.S.,the shortages now mean it may take many months to get one.
In Bar Harbor,Maine,Brian Smith bought a new bicycle for one of his daughters.She is a competitive swimmer who could not get to the pool to practice. His family now goes for rides several times a day.Bicycling helps them all get exercise and enjoy the fresh air.
Maybe that's the bottom line.It's really fun to ride bikes,"Smith said.
| A．But what's the biggest reason they go on rides? |
| B．High demand is not the only reason for the shortage. |
| C．Then who has benefited greatest from riding bikes? |
| D．The rise in bicycle sales is not happening just in the United States. |
| E．In April,the sale of bicycles for adults increased 200 percent in the United States. |
| F．However,no bicycles have been imported from abroad like China since the end of last year. |
| G．So,it may not be surprising that the pandemic(流行病）has led to a major increase in bicycle sales. |
