【推荐1】A recent study from psychologist Sarah Kucker at Oklahoma State University suggests shyness can influence a child’s performance in language tests, depending on the level of social interaction (互动交流) required to complete the test.

Shy children tend to keep quiet in everyday life, including communicating with others. The study points out that the behavior can make judging a child’s language abilities more challenging since shy children find it harder to verbally engage with testers (that’s when children are required to speak out) than during less socially demanding tests.

The research by Sarah Kucker was published in the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, and involved 122 children between the ages of 17 and 42 months. Each child underwent a series of three language tasks that required different levels of social interaction: a looking task, a pointing task, and a verbal task. In each, the children were asked to find a known object from a set of pictures. Parents reported their child’s shyness in an early childhood behavior survey.

The results showed significant differences in children’s performance across the tasks depending on shyness. Shyer children did worse in the verbal task than the less-shy children of the same age. However, all children performed well in the pointing task independent of their shyness level. The looking task produced more complicated results, meaning that shyer children were occasionally more accurate (精确的) but less likely to respond.

“A child’s shyness could strongly impact how they will behave in language tasks,” said Kucker. “When children are given language ability tests, testers should take into account the child’s shyness level, perhaps using tasks that are less socially demanding for them, such as pointing tasks instead of verbal ones.”

Kucker believes recognizing the impact of shyness will help to ensure language tests are more effective and provide a better understanding of a child’s language development.

1. What does the underlined word “verbally” in paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．In written forms.	B．With chosen pictures.
C．In spoken words.	D．With hand gestures.

2. What do we know about the research according to the text?

A．The children took one of three language tests.

B．The children were asked to speak in each test.

C．Shyer children did worse in most of the tests.

D．Shyer children did well in less interactive tests.

3. Which of the following may Kucker agree with?

A．Language test results are not accurate.

B．The level of language tests is too high.

C．The child’s shyness level is to be tested.

D．It’s unnecessary to take a language test.

4. Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

A．Shyness Slows Down Children’s Language Development

B．New Study Suggests Language Tests Should Be Changed

C．Children Find it Challenging to Communicate with Testers

D．Shyness Impacts Children’s Performance in Language Tests

【推荐2】Willful ignorance exists in large amount in daily life. People regularly look the other way rather than examining the consequences of their actions. Despite plenty of scientific evidence for climate change, for instance, many people still avoid engaging with facts about global warming.

We wanted to understand how common willful ignorance is and why people engage in it. After collecting data from multiple research projects that involved more than 6,000 individuals, we discovered that willful ignorance is common and harmful, with 40 percent of people choosing “not to know” the consequences of their actions to free themselves of guilt while maximizing their own gains. But we also found that about 40 percent of people are unselfish: rather than avoiding information about the consequences of their actions, they seek it out to increase the benefits to others.

In the experiments, the decisions were made in one of two settings. In the transparent (透明的) setting, decision-makers had information about how their choice would affect themselves and their partner. In an ambiguous (模糊的) setting, decision-makers knew how their choice would matter for themselves but not for their teammate — although they could request that insight.

The overall balance tipped toward selfishness when participants had the option to avoid information. Only 39 percent of people in the ambiguous setting made the choice that ultimately benefited their partner — a significant drop from 55 percent in the transparent condition.

If we can avoid putting a strong moral emphasis on decisions, it may make people feel less threatened and, as a result, be less willfully ignorant. Other research groups have found promising ways to do this. For instance, we could encourage people to think more positively about good deeds rather than guilt-trip them for what they have failed to do. Highlighting recent global achievements, such as healing the ozone (臭氧) layer, can inspire people to keep up the good work rather than feeling like the battle is lost and that the situation is hopeless.

In short, we can encourage one another and ourselves toward more selfless and generous actions.

1. Why do some people choose not to know the consequences of their actions?

A．To make easier choices to be a good person.

B．To increase their own benefits more than others’.

C．To avoid the influence of consequences on actions.

D．To get the most benefits without a sense of shame.

2. How can willful ignorance be prevented?

A．By focusing less on its morality.	B．By stressing its potential threat.
C．By being more positive about oneself.	D．By getting people aware of their actions.

3. Which part of the magazine is the passage taken from?

A．Culture.

B．Environment.

C．Psychology.

D．Biology.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．The reason for willful ignorance.

B．The results of willful ignorance.

C．The harmful effects of willful ignorance.

D．The influence of willful ignorance on environment.

【推荐3】In July 1915, sick James Murray, one of the early editors of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), defined one final word. He had devoted 36 years to the dictionary. Knowing he would not see the project complete, he wrote his last entry: for “twilight”.

The story of Murray’s final days is one of many memorable tales in “The Dictionary People”. Conceived (构思) in 1857, the OED was a huge crowdsourcing project comprising 3,000 people. The idea was to create a “descriptive” dictionary that tracked words’ use and meaning over time. Volunteers read widely, mailing in examples of how “rare, old-fashioned, new” words were used. What is surprising about this random method is that it worked, achieving order through the large number of contributors.

The origin story of Sarah Ogilvie’s book is almost as improbable as that of the dictionary itself. Ms Ogilvie, an editor for the OED, went into the archives (档案馆) of Oxford University Press and came across an old notebook. It had belonged to Murray and contained the names and details of the dictionary volunteers, most of whom had previously been unknown. “The Dictionary People” is her work of detective scholarship, presenting the lives behind the names.

The dictionary’s contributors are an engaging cast, including one of Karl Marx’s daughters and J. R. R. Tolkien. For some, the dictionary was something addictive: one contributor supplied 165,061 quotations. Murray, too, was assiduous. He once wrote to George Eliot to ask about a word choice in “Romola”, published 17 years earlier.

Ms Ogilvie’s book is full of strange but interesting tales. Many dictionary lovers engaged in another crowdsourcing fashion: collecting and measuring rainwater. The presentation of the book is irregular, too, taking its structure from the work it describes. For example, in her first chapter, “A for Archaeologist (考古学家),” she relates the early life of Margaret A. Murray, a pioneering Egyptologist. There are 26 alphabetical (按字母顺序排列的) chapters, each celebrating a group of contributors. This is a clever concept.

1. What did the OED’s volunteers do?

A．They deleted the words going out of use.

B．They listed instances of changes in word use.

C．They corrected the misuse of common words.

D．They added new words to keep up with the times.

2. What does paragraph 3 mainly tell us about “The Dictionary People”?

A．What Ogilvie achieved with it.	B．How Ogilvie told the stories in it.
C．What inspired Ogilvie to write it.	D．Who helped Ogilvie to complete it.

3. What does the underlined word “assiduous” in paragraph 4 mean?

A．Hard-working.

B．Easy-going.

C．Energetic.

D．Flexible.

4. What does the author think of Ms Ogilvie’s book?

A．Interesting and creative.	B．Encouraging and influential.
C．Traditional and funny.	D．Descriptive and surprising.

【推荐2】Genetic information is important because it stores, processes and transmits biological data from generation to generation. Some scientists even assume that knowing genetic information itself matters.

For example, in quantum mechanics (量子力学), there is a popular theory known as the “observer effect”, which states that the act of observing a phenomenon (usually by making some kind of measurement) necessarily changes that phenomenon. In other words, just by being there and having an interest in the outcome, we affect that outcome.

While the explanations behind the observer’s influence in quantum mechanics come down to the measuring instrument and not the observer’s conscious mind, we also see strong evidence for the “placebo effect” in medicine: a patient’s condition can improve if they just believe they are receiving an effective treatment. And those beneficial effects can happen even if the patient is not actually receiving that treatment or if the treatment doesn’t actually work.

If our minds truly do have power over our surroundings and our bodies, what does having the genetic information do to us? Does simply knowing more about our own physiology (生理机能) change it? A recent study on exercise and obesity suggests that the answer is yes.

Those who were told they were at low genetic risk for obesity produced 2.5 times more of the fullness hormone and claimed to feel fuller despite eating the same meal as they had one week prior. Those who were told they had lower endurance because of their genes did worse on their physical test than they had before receiving that information: they showed lower lung capacity and quit sooner.

Thus, having information about our genetic risk can lead to improvements in our physiology (as was true for the eaters of the study), but it can also put us at a disadvantage (as with the poor exercise performers). So we certainly need to be cautious of incorrect genetic information. But as the Stanford study shows, even if the genetic information we receive is correct, how we receive it is also important.

1. How does the “placebo effect” in medicine work?

A．The patient recovers with the timely treatment.

B．The patient’s condition worsens due to a lack of treatment.

C．The patient’s condition remains unchanged despite their belief.

D．The patient’s condition improves with the belief in the treatment.

2. According to paragraph 5, what happened to those who were told they were at low genetic risk for obesity?

A．They showed lower lung capacity.

B．They quit their physical test sooner.

C．They needed more food to satisfy their appetite.

D．They felt fuller with more fullness hormone released.

3. What is the author’s attitude towards having genetic information?

A．Positive.	B．Objective.
C．Ambiguous.	D．Negative.

4. What is the main idea of this article?

A．The great power of the observer’s mind.

B．The influence of knowing genetic information.

C．The amazing application of genetic information.

D．The connection between Quantum Mechanics and Medicine.

【推荐3】A human head will set you back about $640. An arm is less: that costs roughly $ 430. A leg, by contrast, is $1,600. But overall, human body parts come surprisingly cheap: getting an arm and a leg rarely costs an arm and a leg. There exists a surprisingly lively international trade in dead bodies for medical dissection(解剖). This trade is rarely discussed and relatively lightly regulated: there is no one head, or body, that directly oversees the imports of heads and bodies. This trade is also important, for it allows doctors to practise on real, dead humans before they practise on real, live ones.

It is not essential to use dead bodies to teach medical students: computer models exist. But for all the digital brilliance there are still things that flesh and blood can do that computers cannot—such as making these medics faint and offering more muted feelings. Looking at a model “isn’t quite the same as seeing the real thing in front of you”, says Dangerfield, the president of the British Association of Clinical Dissection. To hold a human skull in your hands is, Hamlet-like, to be unexcited rather than awed. A head, emptied of human, is surprisingly small; the bowl you use is more substantially sized.

Bodies help with practical considerations as well as emotional ones. Textbooks tend to offer knowledge that is just that. Similarly, computer models, like the human kind, tend to have square jaws and broad shoulders. Reality is much messier. Textbooks will tell you that there are three branches coming off the aorta(主动脉) but, says Dangerfield, it is “really common to see four or to see two branches”.

The demand for bodies, then, is there—but in many countries it is not matched by supply. There are American companies providing bodies trade services. But to use their services is, for British doctors “a last-resort sort of situation”. Until recently, however, they had little alternative. That is changing. In Nottingham City Hospital, there is a centre, created in 2011 by a shoulder surgeon, Angus Wallace.

1. According to Paragraph 1, the international trade in dead bodies is ___________

A．surprisingly expensive	B．based on medical research
C．loosely supervised	D．banned by regulations

2. Why Hamlet is mentioned in Paragraph 2?

A．To distinguish between digital and real skulls.

B．To describe the size of an emptied skull model.

C．To put medical research results in literature.

D．To emphasize the emotional value of dissection.

3. What’s the problem with dissection textbooks according to Dangerfield?

A．Inflexibility.	B．Overstatement.
C．Costliness.	D．Computerization.

4. What will be most probably talked about next?

A．The unfavourable status of bodies trade in Britain.

B．The solution to limited source of bodies in Britain.

C．The necessity of international bodies trade in Britain.

D．The consistent trade between America and Britain.