【推荐1】What leads to success in school?     1     “Perseverance” for example, seems to be a better predictor of success than IQ in school and beyond. Researchers have also demonstrated that having a “growth mindset” is associated with academic success which happens when a person recognizes that abilities are not fixed but developed through practice.

Researchers are exploring other characters that might contribute to success.     2     Data was collected on happiness and grades from 435 students at St Andrew’s including elementary, middle and upper school students.

    3     Specifically, researchers found a statistically significant correlation(正相关) between happiness and students’ grades from elementary schools through high schools. Students often reported that happiness, or positive feelings like enjoyment or fun, supported their schoolwork.     4     It has been found that a network of supportive relationships is at the heart of happiness. Results showed that the quality of students, relationships with teachers and peers predicted their happiness. Across all ages, students with positive relationships were more likely to be happy.

Although voiced in different ways and time and again students of all ages emphasized that their relationships are fundamental to their happiness. These results suggest that there is an important relationship between happiness and academic achievement. More research is needed to explore the relationships among happiness social networks, and achievement in a school setting.     5    

A．But what supports students to be happy?

B．But are happier kids sure to get ahead academically?

C．Recent research suggests success is partly driven by the character.

D．In recent studies, they explored the relationship between happiness and marks.

E．Psychology research showed a link between happiness and success in the workplace,

F．The results revealed students who are reported to be happier had higher grades.

G．By coincidence, the findings of this study are consistent with earlier ones in psychology.

【推荐2】As Frans de Waal, a primatologist (灵长动物学家), recognizes, a better way to think about other creatures would be to ask ourselves how different species have developed different kinds of minds to solve different adaptive problems. Surely the important question is not whether animals can do the same things humans can, but how those animals solve the cognitive (认知的) problems they face, like how to imitate the sea floor. Children and some animals are so interesting not because they are smart like us, but because they are smart in ways we haven’t even considered.

Sometimes studying children’s ways of knowing can cast light on adult-human cognition. Children’s pretend play may help us understand our adult taste for fiction. De Waal’s research provides another interesting example. We human beings tend to think that our social relationships are rooted in our perceptions, beliefs, and desires, and our understanding of the perceptions, beliefs, and desires of others — what psychologists call our “theory of mind.” In the 80s and 90s, developmental psychologists showed that pre-schoolers and even infants understand minds apart from their own. But it was hard to show that other animals did the same. “Theory of mind” became a candidate for the special, uniquely human trick.

Yet de Waal’s studies show that chimps (黑猩猩) possess a remarkably developed political intelligence — they are much interested in figuring out social relationships. It turns out, as de Waal describes, that chimps do infer something about what other chimps see. But experimental studies also suggest that this happens only in a competitive political context. The evolutionary anthropologist (人类学家) Brain Hare and his colleagues gave a junior chimp a choice between pieces of food that a dominant chimp had seen hidden and other pieces it had not seen hidden. The junior chimp, who watched all the hiding, stayed away from the food the dominant chimp had seen, but took the food it hadn’t seen.

Anyone who has gone to an academic conference will recognize that we may be in the same situation. We may say that we sign up because we’re eager to find out what other human beings think, but we’re just as interested in who’s on top. Many of the political judgments we make there don’t have much to do with our theory of mind. We may show our respect to a famous professor even if we have no respect for his ideas.

Until recently, however, there wasn’t much research into how humans develop and employ this kind of political knowledge. It may be that we understand the social world in terms of dominance, like chimps, but we’re just not usually as politically motivated as they are. Instead of asking whether we have a better everyday theory of mind, we might wonder whether they have a better everyday theory of politics.

1. According to the first paragraph, which of the following shows that an animal is smart?

A．It can behave like a human kid.

B．It can imitate what human beings do.

C．It can find a solution to its own problem.

D．It can figure out those adaptive problems.

2. Which of the following statements best illustrates our “theory of mind”?

A．We talk with infants in a way that they can fully understand.

B．We make guesses at what others think while interacting with them.

C．We hide our emotions when we try establishing contact with a stranger.

D．We try to understand how kids’ pretend play affects our taste for fiction.

3. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Neither human nor animals display their preference for dominance.

B．Animals living in a competitive political context are smarter.

C．Both humans and some animals have political intelligence.

D．Humans are more interested in who’s on top than animals.

4. By the underlined sentence in the last paragraph, the writer means that ________.

A．we know little about how chimps are politically motivated

B．our political knowledge doesn’t always determine how we behave

C．our theory of mind might enable us to understand our theory of politics

D．more research should be conducted to understand animals’ social world

【推荐3】Adolescents refer to boys and girls at high-school level—more specifically the second, third and forth years of high schools. In dealing with students at this level, we must bear in mind that to some degree they are at the difficult stage, generally called adolescence.

Students at this level are likely to be confused mentally. They usually find it hard to concentrate on what they intend to do and often have romantic dreams.     1     They lack frankness and are usually very easily affected by their own emotions but hate to admit it. They are driven either by greater ambition, probably beyond their capability, or by extreme laziness caused by the fear of not succeeding or achieving objectives.     2    . They are willing to work, but they hate to work without obtaining the result they think they should obtain.

Regarding school issues, although they seldom say so, they really want to be consulted and given an opportunity to direct their own affairs, but they need a good amount of guidance. They seldom admit that they need this guidance and they frequently rebel against it. But if it’s intelligently offered they accept it with enthusiasm. As to personal beliefs, most of adolescents are trying to form political ideals and they have a tendency to be sometimes extremely idealistic, and at other times conventional, blindly accepting what their fathers and grandfathers believed in.     3    . On the one hand they are too modest and on the other hand unreasonably boastful. They tend to be influenced more by a strong character than by great intelligence.

    4    . Having a better understanding of the characteristics and needs of young people at this age is a task that falls both on educators and other people involved. It may also help the young go through this difficult and critical stage of life in a more constructive manner.

A．The critical abilities are beginning to develop in adolescence.

B．Their view on life usually falls on two extremes.

C．Of all periods of life, this is what may best be called the “plastic age”.

D．They are basically timid or self-conscious.

E．Despite that, it is also in this period that strong ties between teachers and students develop.

F．Fundamentally they want to be kept busy but they refuse to admit it.

【推荐1】Getting more followers is something we usually associate with social media or micro messaging apps. But soon we could all have a new type of follower—a robotic one.

Dozens of robots and technology fans gathered in Boston, US, earlier this month for the Robot Business conference. The latest developments in the world of robotics were shown to the public, and this time the trend was robots following people.

Perhaps the most exciting development on show was the ability of drones (无人机) to follow you from the air, acting as your own personal cameraman or photographer. One example is 3-D Robotics’ Iris+ drone, developed by a US-based company.

The drone is fitted with cameras and has a “follow me” function. It connects with your GPS-enabled Android device, like a mobile phone. Then it flies and follows you around, shooting action film of you from above. The software in the drone makes sure that you’re always in the center of the frame.

It can keep working for 15 minutes, as long as there aren’t too many trees for it to crash into. This could be exciting for anyone who loves action sports or wants to be the star of their own short film.

But what if you want to be one of those celebrities (名人) who have helpers carrying all their bags and doing all their chores? A robot called Budgee can help.

Budgee, made by 5 Elements Robotics, is literally a basket on wheels.It is designed to help elderly and disabled people, or simply anyone who doesn’t have enough arms for grocery bags, Wired magazine reported.It can carry up to 22.7 kg of items.

To make Budgee follow them, its owner will have to wear a small device and use an app to set the distance between themselves and the robot.Budgee even sends a text message when it can’t keep up with its owner.

“I want you to look at the robot like he’s your buddy, he’s your friend. There’s a relationship you develop with the robot,” Wendy Roberts, CEO of 5 Elements Robotics, told gigaom.com.

It might not be quite the same as robotic assistants we’ve seen in movies such as Disney’s Wall-E, where robots cater for our every need, but that idea doesn’t seem quite so far-fetched now.

1. The drone developed by a US-based company can ________.

A．fly around you and take videos from above

B．decide who to put in the center of the frame

C．be used to take pictures and make phone calls

D．keep working for 15 minutes in any conditions

2. According to the article, Budgee is most likely to be targeted at ________.

A．staff in supermarkets

B．elderly and disabled people

C．those who love action sports

D．celebrities who need a close buddy

3. The main purpose of the article is to ________.

A．tell the reader about two new types of robots

B．urge people to buy the drone and Budgee

C．call on people to develop relationships with robots

D．analyze why the two types of robots can lead a trend

【推荐3】Learning New Vocabulary during Deep Sleep

Sleeping time is sometimes considered unproductive time. This raises the question whether the time spent asleep could be used more productively, e.g. for learning a new language? Up-to-now sleep research focused on the stabilization and strengthening of memories that had been formed during wakefulness. However, learning during sleep has rarely been examined. There is enough evidence for wake-learned information undergoing a revision by replay in the sleeping brain. The replay during sleep strengthens the still weak memory and leaves the newly acquired information in the pre-existing store of knowledge.

If re-play during sleep improves the storage of wake-learned information, then first-play, i.e. the initial processing of new information, should also be possible during sleep.

The research group of Katharina Henke examined whether a sleeping person is able to form new semantic（语义的）associations between played foreign words and translation words during the brain cells’ active states, the so-called “Up-states.” It turned out to be that what they thought was reasonable. When we reach deep sleep stages, our brain cells progressively coordinate their activity. During deep sleep, the brain cells are commonly active for a brief period of time before they jointly enter into a state of brief inactivity. The active state is called “Up-state” and the inactive state “Down-state”. The two states alternate（交替）about every half-second.

New evidence for sleep-learning challenges current theories of sleep and theories of memory. The concept of sleep that we are separated from the physical environment is no longer reasonable. "It’s false that complex learning be impossible during deep sleep," says Simon Ruch, co-first-author. "In how far and with what consequences deep sleep can be applied for the acquisition of new information will be a topic of research in upcoming years," says Katharina Henke.

The research group of Katharina Henke is part of the Interfaculty Research Cooperation (IRC). Thirteen research groups in medicine, biology and psychology are part of the IRC. The aim of these research groups is to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms（原理）involved in sleep and consciousness.

1. Which of the followings haven’t sleep researchers achieved so far?

A．People can learn vocabulary during deep sleep.

B．Memories can be stable and strong during sleep.

C．Wake-learned information can appear in the sleeping brain.

D．Re-play during sleep improves the storage of wake-learned information.

2. What can be inferred from Paragraph 3?

A．“Up-state” and “Down-state” appear in turn during deep sleep.

B．“Up-states” is another name for the brain cells’ active states.

C．Semantic associations are important for language learning.

D．The brain cells’ active states are central for sleep-learning.

3. What will researchers do within several years according to the passage?

A．Make study in the following fields such as medicine and biology.

B．Separate us from the physical environment.

C．Apply deep sleep for information learning.

D．Discover the concept of sleep.

4. What is the main purpose of the passage?

A．To introduce a new way of vocabulary learning.

B．To gain a better understanding of the mechanisms.

C．To challenge current theories of sleep and theories of memory.

D．To explain the possibility of vocabulary learning during deep sleep.