Sharon downsized her parents’ home and then cleared out her father’s stuff after he died. “So much of it hadn’t been used in years. So I decided that we wouldn’t do the same thing to our children.” Sharon spent six months looking over each object in her home. Each day, she sold, donated or threw one away. “It was liberating,” she said. “Now, life is much simpler and the clutter (杂乱) is gone.”
This process has its own reality TV show, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning. Inspired by a best-selling book by Magnusson, 89, three Swedes travel across the Atlantic to help Americans clean house and face death. “A loved one wishes to inherit (继承) nice things from you,” mentions Magnusson in her book, “not all things from you.” If you’re lucky enough to meet your material needs, then letting go of some of your stuff, or not buying it in the first place, can bring immediate benefits. The clutter is linked to stress and anxiety, even depression. Prioritizing relationships and experience over possessions has been proven to boost our happiness.
What is Swedish death cleaning? It isn’t about clearing out closets. It’s about rethinking your relationship with things. Rather than making do with less, it’s about getting more from the things that make you happy. Death cleaning happens to agree with scientists’ understanding of our relationship with things and why we’re unwilling to part with them. Decades of research has shown that we subconsciously see our possessions as physical extensions of ourselves. For most of us, of course, a degree of attachment is healthy, but it’s not the number of things or the quality that matters. It’s about the symbolic meaning of it. That can bring a lot of happiness.
Things take up space in our minds, well beyond what our storerooms and garages hold. By clarifying what’s important and what’s not, you make room. Your loved ones can receive what they might like before you go, relieving themselves of the burden of cleaning up once you’re gone.
1. Why does the author mention Sharon’s experience in paragraph 1?| A．To lead to the topic. | B．To make a comparison. |
| C．To support an argument. | D．To reach a conclusion. |
| A．To reduce the waste. | B．To remember their loved ones. |
| C．To boost their happiness. | D．To make the reality TV show. |
| A．The quantity. | B．The popularity. |
| C．The significance. | D．The degree of attachments. |
| A．Old Stuff: a Heavy Burden or a Sweet Memory. |
| B．Everyone’s Stuff: Physical Extensions of Himself. |
| C．The Way to Deal with Your Belongings: Give Away. |
| D．Swedes’ Secret to Happiness: You Aren’t Your Stuff. |
相似题推荐
One day I thought about all those women on the Titanic who refused sweet foods at dinner that fateful（命中注定的）night to cut out fatty foods. From then on, I’ve tried to be a little more changeable.
I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, “How about going to lunch in half an hour?” She would stammer (结巴地说),“I can’t , I have clothes to wash. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday. I had a late breakfast. It looks like rain.” She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.
We live on promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect. We’ll go back and visit the grandparents when we get our baby, Stevie, toilet-trained. We’ll enjoy when we replace the living room carpet. We’ll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.
Life has a way accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we wake up, and all we have to show for our lives is a long list of “I’m going to”, “I plan on” and “Someday, when things settle down a bit”.
I love ice cream. But my lips had not touched ice cream in 10 years. The other day I stopped the car and bought an ice cream. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.
Now, go have a nice day. Do something you want to. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you say? And why are you waiting?
1. The author mentioned（提到）the women on the Titanic to ________.
| A．prove that cutting out fatty foods is difficult |
| B．tell people to enjoy themselves sometimes |
| C．encourage people to stick to regular daily things |
| D．tell us the importance of refusing unhealthy foods like sweet foods |
| A．Angry. | B．Happy. | C．Humorous. | D．Regretful. |
| A．moving more quickly |
| B．going slower |
| C．becoming more difficult |
| D．getting more disappointing |
| A．Getting an ice cream every day. |
| B．Knowing what one wants completely. |
| C．Visiting loved ones as long as one has time. |
| D．Putting off the things that could bring us joy. |
I was sitting in a beginner calligraphy (书法) class when a student asked the teacher, “What do I need to become a professional calligrapher?” The answer, to our surprise, was pen and paper. “The materials are no different from those of a beginner calligrapher,” the teacher explained, “The difference between a beginner and a professional calligrapher is not in the tools they use, but in the time and efforts they put into learning and practising.”
The same goes for any professional at their skill. When we look up to the expert, we think that increasing the quality of materials or having excellent resources is what makes them great. Actually, the time they spend learning something new and achieving their goals is more important. However, we tend to look for a shortcut, a direct way to achieve the goal.
My current goal is to become an independent filmmaker. What would it take? What would I need to make the best movies? I too, wanted the shortcut. After watching online videos about filmmaking, I realized I had all that I needed to achieve my goal. It just took time and efforts to succeed.
We easily get caught in wasting time looking for a shortcut. In the end, we lose energy and motivation (动机). We do things to go fast rather than go far. We focus on the end result instead of allowing ourselves to enjoy the journey. Go for it. Reach farther to become your best self.
1. What tools does one need to become a calligrapher?2. What is the meaning of the underlined word “shortcut”?
3. What is the author’s current goal?
4. What is the passage mainly about?
5. What is your goal in high school? How will you achieve it?
【推荐3】When I was a child of seven years old, my friends, on a holiday, filled my pocket with coppers. I went at once to a shop where they sold toys for children. Being charmed with the sound of a whistle that I had seen by the way, in the hands of another boy, I handed over all my money for one. I then came home and went whistling all over the house, much pleased with my whistle, but disturbing all my family. My brother and sister, and cousins, when I told of the bargain I had made, said I had given four times as much as the whistle was worth. They put me in mind of what good things I might have bought with the rest of the money, and laughed at me. Thinking about the matter gave me more shame than the whistle gave me pleasure.
This, however, was afterwards of use to me, for the impression continued on my mind, so that often when I was tempted (诱惑) to buy something I don’t need, I said to myself, “Don’t give too much for the whistle,” and I saved my money. As I grew up, came into the world and observed the actions of men, I thought I met with many, very many, who “gave too much for the whistle.” When I saw some man too eager for court favor (宫廷的恩宠), wasting his time at court gatherings, giving up his rest, his liberty, his virtue, and perhaps his friends, for royal favor, I said to myself “This man gives too much for the whistle.” When I saw another kind of popularity, constantly taking part in political affairs, neglecting(疏忽) his own business, “He pays, indeed,” said I, “too dear for his whistle.”
If I knew a miser (守财奴) who gave up every kind of comfortable living, and the joys of friendship for the sake of gathering and keeping wealth—“Poor man.” said I, “you pay too dear for your whistle.” When I met a man of pleasure who devoted himself to having a good time, perhaps neglecting his health, “Mistaken man,” said I, “you are providing pain for yourself, instead of pleasure; you are paying too dear for your whistle.” If I saw someone fond of appearance of who had fine clothes, fine houses, fine furniture, fine earrings, all above his fortune, and for which he had run into debt, and ends his career in a prison. “Alas,” said I, “he has paid dear, very dear, for his whistle.”
In short, the miseries of mankind are largely due to their putting a false value on things—to giving “too much for their whistles”.
1. What does the whistle stand for in the passage?| A．A thing that is not worth wishing for. |
| B．A warning that we needn’t neglect. |
| C．A symbol of wealth and fame. |
| D．A toy that pleased the writer. |
| A．Think twice before you leap. |
| B．Don’t buy things that you don’t need. |
| C．Never let the loss outweigh the gain. |
| D．Working hard is the only way to success. |
| A．A whistle. | B．A playboy. |
| C．A politician. | D．A businessman. |
| A．A man who pursues pleasure even at the cost of his health. |
| B．A man who worships wealth more than everything else. |
| C．A man who gets into debt to buy beautiful things. |
| D．A man who wastes his time for useless things. |
【推荐1】The sharing economy has grown in recent years to include everything from apartment sharing to car sharing to community tool sharing. Since 2009, a new form of sharing economy has been emerging in neighborhoods throughout the US and around the world-Little Free Libraries. The libraries are boxes placed in neighborhoods where residents can take out and leave books. Little Free Libraries come in all shapes and sizes. Some libraries also have themes, focusing on books for children, adults, or tour guides.
In 2009, Tod Bol built the first Little Free Library as a gift to his mother, a devoted reader. When he saw the people of his community gathering around it, exchanging conversations as well as books, he knew he wanted to take his simple idea further. "I think Little Free Libraries open the door to conversations we want to have with each other." Bol said.
Since then, his idea has become a movement, spreading from state to state and country to country. According to Little Free Library. org, there are now 18,000 of the little structures around the world, located in each of the 50 US states and 70 countries in Europe, Africa and Asia.
The Internet has helped to spread Little Free Libraries. But an Atlantic article says the little structures serve as a cure for a world of e-reader downloads. The little wooden boxes are refreshingly physical and human. For many people, the sense of discovery is Little Free Libraries' main appeal: "A girl walking home from school might pick up a graphic novel that gets her excited about reading; a man on his way to the bus stop might find a volume of poetry that changes his: outlook on life," says the Atlantic article. "Every book is a potential source of inspiration."
1. How do Little Free Libraries get their books?| A．Tod Bol donated them. | B．Citizens shared them. |
| C．US government provided them. | D．The communities bought them |
| A．He wanted to promote his idea worldwide. |
| B．He was inspired by the sharing economy. |
| C．They can offer neighbors more chances to talk. |
| D．They are a' gift to please his mother. |
| A．benefit the spread of the Internet | B．help cut down on e-reading |
| C．promote (encourage) e-reader downloads | D．call on human to care about each other |
| A．they connect strangers together | B．they are located all over the world |
| C．they are in various shapes and sizes | D．they may give readers a sense of discovery |
【推荐2】More People Are Leaving the Rat Race for the Simple Life
Time is more precious than money for an increasing number of people who are choosing to live more with less—and liking it.
Kay and Charles Giddens, two lawyers, sold their home to start a B&B hotel. Four years later, the couple dishes out banana pancake breakfast, cleans toilets and serves homemade chocolate chip cookies to guests in a B&B hotel surrounded by trees on a hill known for colorful sunsets.
“Do I miss the freeways? Do I miss the traffic? Do I miss the stress? No,” says Ms. Giddens, “This is a phenomenon that’s fairly widespread. A lot of people are reevaluating their lives and figuring out what they want to do. If their base is being damaged, what’s the payoff?”
Simple living ranges from cutting down on weeknight activities to sharing housing, living closer to work, avoiding shopping malls, borrowing books from the library instead of buying them, and taking a cut in pay to work at a more pleasurable job.
Vicki Robin, a writer, lives on a budget equal to a fifth of what she used to make. “You become conscious about where your money is going and how valuable it is,” Ms. Robin says, “You tend not to use things up. You cook at home rather than eat out…”
Janet Luhrs, a lawyer, quit her job after giving birth and leaving her daughter with a nanny for two weeks. “It was not the way I wanted to raise my kids,” she says, “Simplicity is not just about saving money; it’s about me sitting down every night with my kids to a candlelit dinner with classical music.”
Mrs. Luhrs now edits a magazine, Simple Living, which publishes tips on how to buy recycled furniture and shoes, organize potluck dinners instead of expensive receptions, and generally how to consume less.
“It’s not about poverty,” Mrs. Luhrs explains, “It’s about conscious living and creating the life you want. The less stuff you buy, the less money goes out of the door, and the less money you have to earn.”
1. Simple living includes ________.| A．building a home library | B．living in the countryside |
| C．enjoying a colorful night life | D．sharing housing with others |
| A．has an interest in classical music | B．spends more time with her kids |
| C．works as a reporter of a magazine | D．helps people buy recycled clothes |
| A．By using figures. | B．By asking questions. |
| C．By giving examples. | D．By making comparisons. |
【推荐3】Marian Bechtel sits at West Palm Beach’s Bar Louie counter by herself, quietly reading her e-book as she waits for her salad. What is she reading? None of your business! Lunch is Bechtel’s “me” time. And like more Americans, she’s not alone.
A new report found 46 percent of meals are eaten alone in America. More than half (53 percent) have breakfast alone and nearly half (46 percent) have lunch by themselves. Only at dinnertime are we eating together, 74 percent, according to statistics from the report.
“I prefer to go out and be out. Alone, but together, you know?” Bechtel said, looking up from her book. Bechtel, who works in downtown West Palm Beach, has lunch with co-workers sometimes, but like many of us, too often works through lunch at her desk. A lunchtime escape allows her to keep a boss from tapping her on the shoulder. She returns to work feeling energized. “Today, I just wanted some time to myself,” she said.
Just two seats over, Andrew Mazoleny, a local videographer, is finishing his lunch at the bar. He likes that he can sit and check his phone in peace or chat up the barkeeper with whom he’s on a first-name basis if he wants to have a little interaction (交流). “I reflect on how my day’s gone and think about the rest of the week,” he said. “It’s a chance for self-reflection. You return to work recharged and with a plan.”
That freedom to choose is one reason more people like to eat alone. There was a time when people may have felt awkward about asking for a table for one, but those days are over. Now, we have our smartphones to keep us company at the table. “It doesn’t feel as alone as it may have before all the advances in technology,” said Laurie Demeritt, whose company provided the statistics for the report.
1. Why does Bechtel prefer to go out for lunch?| A．To meet with her co-workers. |
| B．To catch up with her work. |
| C．To have some time on her own. |
| D．To collect data for her report. |
| A．He makes videos for the bar. |
| B．He’s fond of the food at the bar. |
| C．He interviews customers at the bar. |
| D．He’s familiar with the barkeeper. |
| A．The trend of having meals alone. |
| B．The importance of self-reflection. |
| C．The stress from working overtime. |
| D．The advantage of wireless technology. |
【推荐1】Researchers from the University of Bath have developed motion capture technology that enables you to digitize（数字化）your dog with only one camera. The software could be used for a wide range of purposes, from helping vets diagnose lameness（跛）and monitoring recovery of their dog patients, to behavior supervision.
The University of Bath's motion capture research centre digitised the movement of 14 different breeds of dogs. Wearing special doggie motion capture suits with markers, the dogs were filmed under the supervision of scientists doing a range of movements. They used these data to create a computer model that can accurately predict and copy the poses of dogs when they re filmed without wearing the motion capture suits. This model allows 3D digital information for new dogs-their shape and movement-to be captured without markers and expensive equipment, but using a single RGBD camera instead.
The researcher Kearney said, “This is the first time RGBD images have been used to track the motion of dogs using a single camera, which is much more affordable than traditional motion capture systems that require multiple cameras. This technology allows us to study the movement of animals, which is useful for applications such as detecting lameness in a dog and measuring its recovery over time.”
The team has also started testing their method on digital images of other four-legged animals including horses, cats, lions and gorillas, with some promising results. They aim in the future to extend their animal dataset to make the results more accurate；they will also be making the dataset available for non-commercial use by others. “Our research is a step towards building accurate 3D models of animal motion along with technologies that allow us to very easily measure their movement.” said Kearney.
1. What is special about the new software mentioned in Para 1?| A．It equips your dog with a motion capture suit. |
| B．It can be useful for pets to behave themselves. |
| C．It helps you monitor dogs using only one camera. |
| D．It offers a wide range of entertainment applications. |
| A．A special computer model must be set up in advance. |
| B．The dogs must wear motion capture suits without markers. |
| C．The dogs must be in the supervision of multiple cameras. |
| D．3D digital information must be sent into the cameras. |
| A．To make the dataset available for more profits. |
| B．To make more accurate models of animal diseases. |
| C．To extend the animal dataset to improve its accuracy. |
| D．To test RGBD cameras on other four-legged animals. |
| A．To encourage a new method of safe dog-walking. |
| B．To introduce a new motion capture technology. |
| C．To explain the applications of diagnosing dogs' diseases. |
| D．To prove the efcts of the technology on different animals. |
【推荐2】A new study on the link between chili (辣椒) and dementia (老年痴呆) may be bad news for spicy food fans as researchers have found that eating lots of chili may cause an increased risk of dementia.
The study, led by Zumin Shi, associate professor at the College of Health Sciences of Qatar University, analyzed 4,582 Chinese adults aged 55 and above between 1991 and 2006 and found evidence of faster cognitive (认知) decline in those who consistently ate more than 50 grams of chili a day.
“Chili is one of the most commonly used spices in the world and particularly popular in Asia compared to European countries,” Li said in the press release. “In certain regions of China, such as Sichuan and Hunan, almost one in three adults consume spicy food every day.”
“Chili consumption was found to be beneficial to body weight and blood pressure in our previous studies. However, in this study, we found negative effects on cognition among older adults,“ Shi said in a press release published on Tuesday.
Chili intake included both fresh and dried chili peppers but not sweet capsicums or black peppers, explained Ming Li of the University of South Australia, an author of the study. Capsaicin is the active component in chili which reportedly speeds up metabolism (新陈代谢) and fat loss, and inhibits vascular disorders (抑制血管紊乱), but this is the first longitudinal (纵向的) study to investigate the association between chili intake and cognitive function, researchers said. The researchers said people of normal body weight may be more sensitive to chili intake than overweight people and so their memory and weight suffer a lot.
Worldwide, around 50 million people have dementia, and Alzheimer's disease is the most common form that may contribute to 60 to 70 percent of the cases, according to the World Health Organization. At present, no treatment can cure dementia or change its progressive course.
1. What is Paragraph 3 about?| A．The planting of chili. | B．The popularity of chili. |
| C．The bad effects of chili. | D．The custom of eating chili. |
| A．Overweight seniors. | B．Overweight teenagers. |
| C．Seniors of normal body weight. | D．Teenagers of normal body weight. |
| A．body weight | B．blood pressure |
| C．cognitive abilities | D．metabolism |
| A．Eating chili causes dementia. |
| B．Chili is the main cause of dementia. |
| C．Avoiding chili could help dementia. |
| D．Eating too much spicy food might cause dementia. |
【推荐3】In recent years, scientists have found a surprising phenomenon: In many cultures around the world, parents don’t struggle to raise helpful, kind kids. From ages 2 to 18, kids want to help their families. They wake up in the morning, voluntarily do the dishes, hop off their bikes to help their dad carry groceries into the house and when somebody hands them a cake, they share it with a younger sister or brother before taking a bite themselves. You can find these charitable kids among farmers, hunters and fishermen,
During the past four years, I’ve been interested in learning what are these parents doing to nurture such helpfulness in their kids? While doing the research, I traveled to three of the world’s most honored cultures — the Maya, Inuit and Hadzabe, and describe what I found in my new book—Hunt, Gather, Parent.
Supported by psychologists, my research result shows that parents raising helpful children welcome young children and babies into family chores and work — even if the child will make a bit of a mess or slow down the work, just opposite to many of American parents. What they say is that, “I know they are not going to do a good job, but to create more work for me.” In fact, turning down help from kids can have a bad influence, destroying their desire to help and possibly stop their desire to take care of their families.
“Given request at an early age, the children would start to act on what’s needed, and then the less likely parents need to be telling them what to do later,” Lew-Levy, a psychologist in Harvard University, says “You can pull back on the teaching, and kids just do it on their own.” But how does a parent let a young baby help with a task they can’t actually do yet — especially a task that may be too dangerous for them? You can find specific instructions in the following chapter.
1. What does the underlined word “charitable” mean in paragraph 1?| A．Selfish. | B．Dependent. | C．Helpful. | D．Curious. |
| A．Patient and serious. | B．Open-minded and thoughtful. |
| C．Influential and risky. | D．Hardworking and adventurous. |
| A．Children just act on what their parents tell them to do. |
| B．Parents should allow kids to do whatever they want. |
| C．Parents are unlikely to tell children what to do at an early age. |
| D．Children are more voluntary when given requests at a young age. |
| A．How can We Parent Caring Kids? |
| B．How to Be Kind Parents? |
| C．The Helpful Children in Some Cultures |
| D．The Growing Experiences of Helpful Children |
