People may typically think of memory as the recollection of the past. Memory enables people to learn from past experiences and apply that knowledge in present circumstances. It is a vital part of our identity. So is culture, the way of life specific to a group of people.
Cultural memory is the constructed understanding of the past that is passed from one generation to the next through text, oral traditions, monuments and other symbols. Cultural memory is often amassed in objects, such as museums or historical monuments. To understand culture, humans access a mass of cultural symbols, such as books. Artifacts (历史文物) of the past provide insights into where we came from. Libraries and the Internet keep a seemingly boundless amount of data on what it means to be part of a culture. Cultural memory is the longest-lasting form of memory.
Like all forms of memory, cultural memory has important functions. For example, it makes the experiences a nation owns clear. It provides us with an understanding of the past and the values of the group to which we belong. Besides, it creates a form of shared identity and a means for communicating this identity to new members. The most powerful forms of cultural memory may involve memories of past disastrous experiences undergone by groups of victims. For example, in Russia, their role in World War Ⅱ — in which tens of millions of Russians were killed — is still an important part of modern Russian identity. Because all groups have cultural memory, it can bring about a spirit of resistance or survival among threatened groups.
The main function of cultural memory is not to recall the past, whether it is good or bad. Rather, it is to use knowledge of past experiences to avoid making the same mistakes again and again. Aleida Assmann, a professor who has worked on memory theory since the 1960s, calls this “remembering forward”. Cultural memory enables people to adapt to their culture; it enables cultures to adapt to new circumstances by keeping traces (痕迹) of what worked in the past.
1. What is the function of the first paragraph?| A．Reporting a discovery of cultural memory. |
| B．Leading to the concept of cultural memory. |
| C．Introducing the importance of memory in identity. |
| D．Making a connection between memory and culture. |
| A．Stored. | B．Overlooked. | C．Evaluated. | D．Created. |
| A．the features of cultural memory | B．the formation of cultural memory |
| C．the role of big events in Russian identity | D．the impact of cultural memory on identity |
| A．Pass previous wisdom down. | B．Keep traces of history. |
| C．Get people to know about the past. | D．Remind people of their identity. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Many of us spend part of each day surrounded by strangers, whether on our daily commute (上下班往返), or sitting in park or cafe. But most of them remain just that-strangers. However, new evidence has shown that plucking up (鼓起) the courage to strike up conversation might be good for our health.
Nicholas Epley from the University of Chicago and Juliana Schroeder from the University of California are behavioural scientists. They wanted to know whether solitude is a more positive experience than interacting with strangers, or if people misunderstand the consequences of distant social connections. They found that many people feel uncomfortable and frightened talking to others and their research suggested that when we make an initial conversation “we consistently underestimate (低估) how much a new person likes us.” It seems we think that all the things could go wrong and why someone wouldn’t want to talk with us.
Their research involved an experiment with a group of Chicago commuters and found that “every participant in our experiment who actually tried to talk to a stranger found the person sitting next to them was happy to chat.” From this and other research, the conclusion is that connecting with strangers is surprisingly pleasant and it has a positive impact on our wellbeing. It’s true that talking can make you feel happier and happiness can lead to better mental health.
However, if you’re’ an introvert (性格内向者), the thought of speaking to someone new might make you anxious. But the American research found “both extroverts (性格外向者) and introverts are happier when they are asked to behave in an extroverted manner.” So maybe, if you’re a loner, it’s time to come out of your shell and make some small talk with a stranger-it could be the beginning of a new friendship.
1. What does the underlined word“solitude”in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Being calm. | B．Being pleasant. | C．Being alone. | D．Being healthy. |
| A．Because we don’t trust a new person. |
| B．Because we can’t find a common topic. |
| C．Because we like distant social connections. |
| D．Because we carry a negative voice in our head. |
| A．Making a small talk. | B．Sitting next to a stranger. |
| C．Sharing personal details. | D．Behaving in polite manner. |
| A．How to be an extrovert. | B．Talking to strangers. |
| C．How to speak to strangers. | D．Making new friends. |
【推荐2】Shopping therapy (疗法) is the practice of using the shopping experience to help overcome depression (沮丧) or other emotional problems.
Many people benefit from shopping therapy. One of the most obvious things is the enjoyment people get from the items they buy.
People who don't actually have any money to buy things still benefit from shopping therapy. For them, simply browsing (浏览) can be a nice experience.
The simple act of leaving home and spending time around other humans is another possible reason for the effectiveness of shopping therapy.
| A．So shop until you start feeling better. |
| B．That’ s because it helps them form future shopping plans. |
| C．Many people shop for this reason without even realizing it. |
| D．Other people have the feeling of achievement after shopping. |
| E．Many people have gone into debt due to shopping therapy addiction. |
| F．There is sometimes a sense of community in the shopping experience. |
| G．Most people find joy in buying new things, no matter how small they may be. |
【推荐3】More and more online shopping platforms now offer consumers a detailed look into products’ historical prices. But how does this information influence buying decisions?
To explore this question, we conducted a series of experiments with a total of more than 5,000 business school students and working adults. We measured the impact of different kinds of price shifts on people’s interest in purchasing products and identified several consistent trends:
First, when consumers saw that the price today was lower than it had been in the past, they were more likely to buy now, because the current price seemed like a good deal.
However, the picture gets more complicated when you consider the frequency of historical price shifts: In our studies, we found that if consumers were shown at least three changes in the same direction, they were likely to assume the price would continue to move in the same direction. While if they were only shown one or two changes in the same direction, they expected the price to change in the opposite direction.
So what does this mean for sellers? It may be tempting to slowly lower the price over time. However, our data shows that this can lead consumers to assume that the price will continue to fall, making them hesitant to buy. But if they just see a single price drop, they ‘re more likely to expect a reversal in the near future, pushing them to buy the product now.
Our findings can also help buyers make more informed decisions about whether and when they choose to make a purchase. As with any irrational bias (非理性的偏见), awareness of the natural tendency to expect trends to continue and single large changes to reverse can help consumers question this assumption before acting on it. Instead of letting this arbitrary (武断的) expectation guide buying decisions, consumers may benefit by doing a bit more research around the underlying factors driving price shifts. Buyers may also benefit from learning more about a product’s longer-term price history, fluctuations (波动), and typical industry-wide price ranges, to avoid being disproportionately influenced by near-term price changes. It’s also always a good idea to think about both how urgent your need for a given product is, and your own risk tolerance for a potential price increase, as this can affect whether it’s worth it for you to wait and see if the price falls.
Of course, there are countless factors that influence both consumers’ decisions around whether and when to buy and sellers’ decisions around how to price their products. But it’s important for both sides to recognize the key role that expectations play in influencing these decisions.
1. Which of the following is true about the experiment?| A．It proves that people’s interest in the product drives the purchasing behavior. |
| B．E-commerce platforms turn to it to connect with customers and boost sales. |
| C．It’s designed to figure out the purchasing decision process based on pricing. |
| D．Business school students make up the whole control group for comparison. |
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
| A．decide on the assumptions that long-term price trend will continue |
| B．research longer-term price history, price ranges and hidden factors |
| C．put off the purchase for better deals because of the unsustainable market |
| D．cooperate with sellers while putting aside the personal risk and urgency |
| A．How do price changes influence buying decisions? |
| B．Why should products’ historical prices be shown? |
| C．When is the best time for consumers to purchase? |
| D．What do businesses need to price their products? |
We may have 750 friends online，but we’re lonely
My phone and my laptop are within constant touching distance, whether Tm eating, drinking, in the shower, or watching the football. Before I get up every morning, I check my email, my texts and my Twitter feed. By the time I’ve got out of the shower, it’s time to do it again. I have a constant drip-drop of information from any of the 750 online friends and followers that I associate with.
I feel isolated. During working hours, I chatter away on social-networking sites, delaying tasks. I am in a constant state of distraction. Paradoxically（矛盾地), I no longer see the very people I want to see because I have been ‘talking’ to them all day.
Last weekend, I threw a dinner party. The moment that the food arrived, one best friend aged 26 got up to make a phone call while my other best friend, 27, sat through dinner checking Twitter for football scores.
The terrifying thing is that none of us can go cold turkey.
That's the problem with social networking. You are hardwired in, but you are always the same cool distance apart.
| A．Yet I have never felt lonelier. |
| B．I dropped Facebook for six months last year, but came back because I was missing invitations. |
| C．I am not alone in feeling like an island. |
| D．the thrill is looking for things to listen to rather than the listening. |
| E．What’s worse is that I didn’t think either was being rude. |
| F．Whatever I’m doing, wherever I am, I’ll tell you about it. |
【推荐2】How many bosses could rely on their employees threatening to quit in mass if they were abruptly forced out? Sam Altman received such a show of support from more than 700 staff after he was fired from Open AI that he was swiftly restored to his position by the board. But this level of loyalty is not typical and may not always be a good thing.
Management experts say staff who are loyal to their employer are inclined to invest more time and effort in their jobs, helping to create an engaged and higher performing workplace. In turn they receive promotions and pay rises. They have a greater sense of belonging and potentially a longer career at the same organisation. But it is not all rosy. People who are too loyal are more likely to take actions that are deemed wrong to keep their jobs and protect their employer, according to a 2021 academic paper. They might overlook wrongdoing and be less likely to expose corruption. Loyalty is sometimes seen as such a force for good that it can be used to justify bad behavior.
Often companies and senior bosses are the real winner a of employee loyalty. Research led by Matthew Stanley at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business published this year, found that managers were more likely to exploit loyal individuals. Stanley recruited almost 1,400 managers to read about a fictional 29-year-old employee called John, who worked for a company that was trying to keep costs down. They had to decide how willing they would be to ask John to work longer hours and take on more work without more pay. Researchers created various situations including labelling John as loyal versus other traits such as honest and fair. Managers were more willing to ask loyal John to take on the burden of unpaid work.
However, Consultancy Gallup’s latest state of the workplace report showed that half of the 122, 416 employees who took part in a global survey were looking out for new work. “You can’t guarantee anyone will stick around these days,” says a consultant who advises boards. This is particularly true of younger generations. They trust their bosses less and are not as patient when it comes to career progression, seeing little benefit in keeping their heads down and following orders if they do not see results quickly.
1. What does the author want to say by mentioning Sam Altman in Paragraph 1?| A．Open AI’s staff loyalty is quite high. |
| B．Staff loyalty’s rosy side in the work. |
| C．Sam Altman could count on his employees. |
| D．This level of loyalty is not always good. |
| A．Through global surveys concerning a fictional employee named John. |
| B．By creating different situations to ask John ta take on more unpaid work. |
| C．By asking managers to make decisions about work arrangements of John. |
| D．By recruiting managers to read fiction about work traits like loyal and honest. |
| A．Loyalty can be used by management to exploit employees. |
| B．Younger generations are more patient towards their employers. |
| C．Employees who are loyal are more likely to report wrongdoing. |
| D．Loyalty to an employer always leads to a positive work environment. |
| A．How Job Loyalty Affects the Work Environment? |
| B．Why Staff Loyalty is Not Always a Good Thing? |
| C．Are Loyal Employees More Likely to be Promoted? |
| D．Does Work Loyalty Help Career Progress More Quickly? |
【推荐3】As the coronavirus pandemic has unfolded, conspiracy (阴谋) theories about the virus have become an increasingly visible element of the timeline. Some conspiracy theorists combine their ideas with elements of pseudoscience (伪科学) which can result in unfounded beliefs—for example, that 5G technology, vaccines and genetically modified foods are part of a secret plan to spread the virus for purposes of controlling the public. Others point the finger at wealthy charitarians—Bill Gates, for example –accusing such individuals of having released the virus or of using the pandemic to test vaccines on poorer populations.
These theories have significant consequences for individuals and societies, especially when they are supported by political and business leaders, or other trusted members of the community. They can decrease people’s willingness to follow social distancing directives and negatively impact people’s views on scientific findings. A pandemic is an especially dangerous time for conspiracy theories.
So why, exactly, do these strange ideas spread, especially among our relatives, friends and neighbors who otherwise seem like reasonable citizens who take notice of scientific evidence and make sensible decisions about the health and safety of their families?
Belief in conspiracy theories has roots in a number of factors. For example, those who have suffered misfortune are more likely to support conspiracy theories as a means of explaining their undesirable lot in life. But when it comes to a global pandemic—and the deaths and collapsing economy that it has brought about—three factors are key: uncertainty, anxiety and powerlessness.
The less people feel in control of their world, the more likely they are to seek out ways to restore control—to fight their sense of powerlessness. When events are out of our control, the psychological burden can be relieved by turning to alternative explanations for these events. In this case, we might choose to believe that the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, was created in a lab and intentionally spread to cause harm. Such conspiracy theories explain what has happened and why, and offer us psychological relief.
The story is similar for anxiety and uncertainty. The pandemic has increased people’s worries about their physical, mental and economic health both in the short term and in the distant future. Conspiracy theories cannot remedy these circumstances. However, they can provide peace of mind that these unpleasant consequences are no fault of one’s own. Choosing to believe that COVID-19 is a hoax can reduce anxiety by playing down the severity of the circumstances. It’s a purely psychological effect, to be sure—but, then again, we primarily live in our own heads.
To some extent, the object of the conspiracy theories –the virus –is itself the source of the undesirable psychological states that promote belief in such theories. But this is not to say that our minds, and the conspiracy theories they adhere to, are completely at the mercy of an unmanageable virus. Political and social leaders can ease pandemic-caused anxiety and uncertainty by visibly taking the threat seriously, including steps to promote public health and to reduce the negative economic impact on people. And avoiding engaging in conspiracy theories themselves could limit the likelihood of the public turning further toward conspiracy theories for relief.
1. It can be inferred from the first paragraph that __________.| A．conspiracy theories about coronavirus are not rare with the spread of COVID-19. |
| B．people are likely to be misguided by conspiracy theories based on pseudoscience. |
| C．charitarian as Bill Gates is, he purposely released the virus in order to test new vaccines. |
| D．the general public aren’t convinced that genetically modified foods help spread the coronavirus. |
| A．Serious economic consequences. |
| B．Decreased faith in influential figures. |
| C．Increased support for public health orders. |
| D．Public suspicion over scientific findings. |
| A．reduced the severity of the COVID-19 crisis |
| B．scientifically explained the origins of the coronavirus |
| C．offered psychological relief in the current circumstances |
| D．predicted the long-term economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis |
(1) avoid talking about conspiracy theories
(2) deal with the COVID-19 crisis seriously
(3) explain how ridiculous these theories are
(4) stress that everything will return to normal
| A．(1)(2) | B．(3)(4) | C．(1)(3) | D．(2)(4) |
【推荐1】The yogurt that’ s past its sell-by date. The banana in your lunch that turned brown. The leftovers in the fridge that you forgot to eat. For most people, all that food goes right into the garbage can.
Eight to ten percent of global greenhouse gas emissions (放) are related to food waste, according to a report by the U. N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “When you throw away an egg or a sandwich,” says Yvette Cabrera, food waste vice director at the Natural Resources Defense Council ( N. R. D. C. ) ,“you’ re also throwing away all the resources that went into producing those things.”
That includes not only all the water, land, and fertilizer (化肥) that went into producing that food, but also the massive amounts of fossil fuels used to power the farms, transport the food, and create the packaging.
Then there’s the issue of what happens to food after it’s thrown out. More food ends up in U.S. landfills than any other type of trash. Food rotting in landfills produces methane (甲烷), a greenhouse gas that’s roughly 25 times more powerful at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, which is produced by burning fossil fuels.
Food waste is a difficult problem to solve, though, in part because it happens for different reasons depending on the country. In developing nations,40 percent of food is lost before it ever reaches people’s homes, because many of those countries lack the technology and tools to preserve food.
It's another story in wealthier countries, where most of the food is wasted in people’s kitchens. Americans, for example, throw out a quarter of their groceries each year, on average, according to the N. R. D. C. That's like going to the grocery store, leaving with four bags of groceries, and then throwing one of them into the garbage before you get home.
1. What does the passage mainly talk about?| A．The problem of food waste. | B．The awareness of food saving. |
| C．The necessity of food diversity. | D．The ways of preservation. |
| A．The leftovers in the fridge. | B．The packaging for products. |
| C．The thrown egg or sandwich. | D．The resources to produce food. |
| A．Provide a persuasive example. | B．Add more background information. |
| C．Discuss a more serious consequence. | D．Summarize the previous paragraphs. |
| A．Storage. | B．Transportation. |
| C．Processing. | D．Consumption. |
【推荐2】Lonely? You’re hardly alone. Since COVID-19 struck, few teens have been able to spend as much time at school or with friends as they used to. But even before the COVID-19, loneliness was becoming a growing problem for teens. And the trend (趋势) appears throughout industrial nations across the world. That’s the finding of a new study.
In America, the share of lonely teens jumped from 18 percent in 2012 to 37 percent in 2018. Overall, during those years, the share of girls reporting loneliness basically doubled in the countries studied. The increase in boys was somewhat smaller.
The new study connected rising loneliness to a greater use of smartphones and the Internet. Jean Twenge works at San Diego State University. He and his team found that since 2012, U.S. teens have been spending less time together face-to-face. So this increase in loneliness started long before the COVID-19 made such meet-ups unsafe.
“Smartphones can help us connect with friends,” says Twenge. “But they can also make us feel excluded (受排挤的).” Girls, especially, may feel this way. One reason may be that they post more photos than boys. Studies have shown that if those images don’t get many “likes’’, it can affect a teen’s mental health. And then there’s “phubbing” (低头族). It’s that moment in which a friend or a family member takes out a phone and plays with it, ignoring everybody else.
The new study mainly refers to a survey called the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Some one million teenage students from 37 countries took this survey in 2000, 2003, 2012, 2015 and 2018. Its questions mostly dealt with education. But they also included six statements about loneliness, such as, “I feel awkward and out of place in my school.” The good news: Even in 2018, most teens around the world still felt liked and included at school. But the fact that so many were reporting loneliness is a worrisome trend.
1. What’s a finding of the new study?| A．People struggle with COVID-19. | B．More girls than boys suffer loneliness. |
| C．Teens are eager to connect with friends. | D．There are more girls than boys in the U.S. |
| A．What leads to friends’ ignorance. | B．What benefits girls’ mental health. |
| C．How smartphones lead to loneliness. | D．How smartphones help teens communicate. |
| A．It explains the problems teens face. | B．It is the reference (参考) of the new study. |
| C．It lists the statements about loneliness. | D．Its result brings us much concern about teens. |
| A．A Growing Number of Teens Feel Lonely. | B．Loneliness Contributes to Failure at School. |
| C．COVID-19 Greatly Affects American Teens. | D．A New Study Shows Teens’ Life on the Internet. |
【推荐3】For all its drawbacks, aging brings a benefit: social relationships generally improve. Older individuals have fewer but closer friendships, avoid conflicts, and are more optimistic compared with younger adults. Now, 20 years of data on chimpanzees suggest they, too, develop more meaningful friendships as they age.
“The finding challenges a long-standing assumption that humans mellow (成熟) with age because we are aware of our approaching death.” said Zarin Machanda, a professor at Tufts University. But finding the same pattern in chimps suggests a simpler explanation: It could be an evolved trait found in a wider range of species. Zarin and her colleagues gathered data from the Kibale Chimpanzee Project, which has tracked wild chimpanzee behavior in Uganda’s Kibale National Park since 1987. Because chimps are socially similar to humans — they live in large groups and engage in both cooperative and antagonistic (敌对的) relationships throughout their lives — they serve as an ideal test group for studying changes in social behavior. The researchers zeroed in on the males, who had more purely peer-to-peer relationships than females.
Combing through 21 years of behavioral logs on 21 chimps aged 15 through 58, the researchers found that older males (aged 35 and up) had more mutual friendships than younger ones. Older “friends” would sit together and groom one another on a regular basis, whereas younger chimps were more likely to engage in one-sided relationships, in which they groomed preferred elders who rarely returned the favor. As males age and fall in rank, they stop competing for dominance and “tend to give up”. Forming these cooperative relationships with peers could help older males maintain their status, helping them fend off challenges by younger and fitter chimps.
The team are eager to see whether other chimpanzee groups—and female chimpanzees—also experience this mellowing with age. Machanda says the theory could also be tested in other long-lived social species. Next, however, the team will take a deeper look at how social bonds might benefit aging chimps - and whether the same mechanisms could be at work in humans. “There is a lot more to learn,” Machanda says.
1. The author writes Paragraph 1 to ________| A．introduce the topic about the finding on chimps. |
| B．compare chimps with humans in social behaviors. |
| C．show that humans mature as they age is a mere misunderstanding. |
| D．stress that aging is very terrifying not only for humans but also for animals. |
| A．Because chimps look like humans in so many ways. |
| B．Because chimps are easy to track down in the wild. |
| C．Because chimps bear resemblance to humans in social behaviors. |
| D．Because chimps live in large groups together throughout their lives. |
| A．It took the researchers 21 years to study the elderly chimps. |
| B．Older males exhibit mutual friendship among the group. |
| C．Younger males prefer to groom the elders because they respect them. |
| D．Elderly chimps will continue to fight to maintain their status as they age. |
| A．There’s no need to study the female chimpanzees for the theory. |
| B．It would be better to test other species who live a short life as well. |
| C．They have learned fairly enough about how aging affects animal behaviors. |
| D．The study on aging chimps would help better understand human interactions. |
