【推荐2】Some students get so nervous before a test. They do poorly even if they know the material. Sian Beilock, a professor at the University of Chicago in Illinois, has studied these highly anxious test-takers. The students start worrying about the results. And when we worry, it actually uses up attention and memory resources.

Professor Beilock and another researcher, Gerardo Ramirez, have developed a possible solution. Just before an exam, highly anxious test-takers spend ten minutes writing about their worries about the test.

The researchers tested the idea on a group of twenty anxious college students. They gave them two short maths tests. After the first one, they asked the students to either sit quietly or write about their feelings about the upcoming second test.

Professor Beilock says those who sat quietly scored an average of 12% worse on the second test. But the students who had written about their fears improved their performance by an average of 5%. Next, the researchers used younger students in a biology class. They told them before final exams either to write about their feelings or to think about things unrelated to the test. Professor Beilock says highly anxious students who did the writing got an average grade of B+, compared to a B- for those who did not.

“What we showed is that for students who are highly test-anxious, and who’d done our writing intervention (干预), all of a sudden there was no relationship between test anxiety and grades. They were performing just as well as their classmates who don’t normally get nervous in these tests.”

But what if students do not have a chance to write about their fears immediately before an exam? Professor Beilock says students can try it themselves at home or in the library and still improve their performance.

1. How can one’s attention and memory resources run out according to paragraph 1?

A．If they keep thinking about how to solve a problem.

B．If they keep thinking about others’ good performance.

C．If they keep thinking about something bad might happen.

D．If they keep thinking about how to remember the materials.

2. What did the researchers do to carry out the study according to paragraph 3?

A．They gave the students a medical examination.

B．They asked about their habits and hobbies.

C．They observed their performance in class.

D．They tested their theory on the students.

3. What did the researchers concentrate on?

A．Text anxiety and grades.	B．Learning and memory.
C．Process and results.	D．Health and lifestyle.

4. Where can you most probably find the text?

A．In a journal of geography.	B．In a journal of literature.
C．In a journal of politics.	D．In a journal of science.

【推荐3】Never go into a supermarket hungry! This is a good piece of advice. If you go shopping for food before lunchtime, you’ll probably buy more than you plan to. Unfortunately, however, just this advice isn’t enough for consumers these days. Modern shoppers need an education in how and how not to buy things at the store. First, you check the weekly newspaper ads. Find out the items that are on sale and decide if you really need these things. In other words, don’t buy anything just because it’s cheaper than usual! “New and Improved!” or “All Natural” on the front of a package influence you. Instead, read the list of ingredients (contents) on the back. Third, compare prices: that is, you should examine the prices of both different brands and different sizes of the same brand.

Another suggestion for consumers is to buy ordinary items instead of famous brands. Ordinary items in supermarkets come in plain packages. These products are cheaper because producers don’t spend much money on packing or advertising. The quality however, is usually as good as the quality of well-known name brands. In the same way, in buying clothes, you can often find high quality and low prices in brands that are not famous. Shopping in discount clothing stores can help you save a lot of money. Although these stores aren’t very attractive, and they usually do not have individual dressing rooms, not only are the prices low, but you can often find the same famous brands that you find in high-priced department stores.

Wise consumers read magazine ads and watch TV commercials, but they do this with one advantage: knowledge of the psychology behind the ads. In other words, well-informed consumers watch for information and check for misinformation. They ask themselves questions: Is the advertiser hiding something in small print at the bottom of the page? Is there any real information in the commercial, or is the advertiser simply showing an attractive image? With the answers to these questions, consumers can make a wise choice.

1. All the following statements are true about the phrase “ordinary items“ in Paragraph 2 except________.

A．ordinary items never say “New and Improved” or “All Natural”

B．ordinary products are usually cheaper than famous brands

C．producers spend less money on packaging of ordinary items

D．the quality of ordinary items is usually as good as that of famous brands

2. What does the writer think about ads?

A．They are believable.

B．They are attractive.

C．They are full of misinformation.

D．They are helpful to consumers.

3. One of the author’s suggestions to consumers is________.

A．to make use of ads

B．not to buy items with words like “New and Improved” or “All Natural”

C．to buy high quality items such as famous brands after lunch

D．to buy any ordinary items instead of famous brands