【推荐1】We all experience “oh crap” moments. Running into the person you canceled a date with — while you’re on another date. Realizing you hit “reply all”on an e-mail that you’d do anything to have back. Whatever the situation, the first thing you probably do is freak out. Everybody does.

While many of us think that we’re cool in a crisis, science tells us that we seldom are. At the moment we need to be keenly aware of our surroundings, our attention can tunnel in on the scariest thing in the scene, leaving us unaware of the other sights, sounds, and even smells around us. Armed robbers go unidentified because witnesses remember little more than the guns. Our ability to remember the things we do notice also becomes compromised; we can be told something, and two seconds later we’ll forget. And we jump to conclusions. When we’re freaked out, we’re anything but at our best.

These normal human reactions can be reversed. Once you calm down, you’ll face the most routinely ignored challenge of any crisis situation — identifying what the crisis is really about. We tend to misdiagnose problems because we don’t practice for them. Do the thinking ahead of time so you can just find the solution when it’s showtime. This is why flight attendants suggest you find the closest exit before you depart — so you don’t have to go exit shopping after the plane has caught fire or is sinking into a river.     

Performing in a crisis is becoming more important for all of us, for two reasons. Back in the good old days, the reliability of most anything we used or did was far less than it is today. Now think about what happens to our preparedness as the possibility of something bad happening shrinks. Unless we practice what hardly ever happens, our ability to respond when it does happen tends to slip away. Reliability can kill you. Also, the systems we use today are more complex. There are seldom moving parts in plain view that allow us to see when things are about to go wrong. When complex systems lack transparency (透明度,显而易见), serious situations can “come out of nowhere.” We should all learn to breathe, recognize the situation, and carry out the plan that we were smart enough to prepare well in advance.

1. What does the underlined phrase “freak out” mean?

A．Be at one’s best.	B．Calm down gradually.
C．Run away immediately.	D．Panic or be scared.

2. Why do armed robbers go unidentified?

A．Because the witnesses jump to conclusions.

B．Because the witnesses focus on their scariest thing.

C．Because the witnesses forget what they have been told.

D．Because the witnesses are keenly aware of the surroundings.

3. Why is it more important for us to perform in a crisis today?

A．Because of less reliability and less complexity.

B．Because of more reliability and more complexity.

C．Because of worse transparency and less preparedness.

D．Because of better transparency and more preparedness.

4. What would the passage suggest doing in case a fire breaks out?

A．Taking a deep breath and dialing 119.

B．Staying cool and ignoring the challenge.

C．Calming down and remembering the situation.

D．Performing escaping and rescuing beforehand.

【推荐2】The brain has a powerful ability to remember and connect events separated in time. And now, in that new study in mice published in Neuron, scientists at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute have cast light on how the brain can form lasting links.

The hippocampus-a small, seahorse-shaped region buried deep in the brain-is an important headquarters for learning and memory. Previous experiments in mice showed that disruption (中断) to the hippocampus leaves the animals with trouble learning to associate two events separated by tens of seconds.

“The traditional view has been that cells in the hippocampus keep up a level of continuous activity to associate such events,” said Dr. Ahmed, co-first author of the study. “Turning these cells off would thus disrupt learning.”

To test this view, the researchers imaged parts of the hippocampus of mice as the animals were exposed to two different stimuli (刺激物): a neutral (神经的) sound followed by a small but unpleasant puff of air. A fifteen-second delay separated the two events. The scientists repeated this experiment across several trials. Over time, the mice learned to associate the sound with the soon-to-follow puff of air. Using advanced microscopy, they recorded the activity of thousands of neurons (神经元) , a type of brain cell, in the animals’ hippocampus over the course of each trial for many days.

“We expected to see continuous neural activity that lasted during the fifteen-second gap, an indication of the hippocampus at work linking the auditory sound and the air puff,” said computational neuroscientist Stefano Fusi, PhD. “But when we began to analyze the data, we saw no such activity.” Instead, the neural activity recorded during the fifteen-second time gap was sparse (稀少的). Only a small number of neurons worked, and they did so seemingly at random.

To understand activity, they had to shift the way they analyzed data and use tools designed to make sense of random processes. Finally, the researchers discovered a complex pattern in the randomness: a style of mental computing that seems to be a remarkably efficient way that neurons store information.

“We were happy to see that the brain doesn’t maintain ongoing activity over all these seconds because that’s not the most efficient way to store information,” said Dr. Ahmed. “The brain seems to have a more efficient way to build this bridge.”

In addition to helping to map the circuitry involved in associative learning, these findings also provide a starting point to more deeply explore disorders, such as panic and post-traumatic stress disorder.

1. What can we learn about the hippocampus?

A．It weakens with the memory decline.

B．It is a brain region crucial for memory.

C．It serves as a tool of learning languages.

D．It is involved in the visual area of the brain.

2. According to the passage, the traditional view is that ______.

A．associations of events require continuous neural activity

B．animals have trouble learning to associate two events

C．neural activity can hardly be replaced by associations

D．a 15-second delay is enough to separate two events

3. The new study in mice indicates that ______.

A．continuous activity happens as expected

B．no neurons stay active at intervals of 15 seconds

C．a complex pattern helps the brain learn associations

D．neuronal information is stored in well-designed tools

4. From the last two paragraphs, we can infer that the findings ______.

A．inspire deeper explorations of disorders

B．provide evidence for language learning

C．build a bridge between different parts of the brain

D．help map some aspects of a person’s experiences

【推荐3】I read somewhere that we spend a full third of our lives waiting. But where are we doing all of this waiting, and what does it mean to an impatient society like ours? To understand the issue, let’s take a look at three types of “waits”.

The very purest form of waiting is the Watched-Pot Wait. It is without doubt the most annoying of all. Take filling up the kitchen sink(洗碗池) as an example. There is absolutely nothing you can do while this is going on but keep both eyes fixed on the sink until it’s full. During these waits, the brain slips away from the body and wanders about until the water runs over the edge of the counter and onto your socks. This kind of wait makes the waiter helpless and mindless.

A cousin to the Watched-Pot Wait is the Forced Wait. This one requires a bit of discipline. Properly preparing packaged noodle soup required a Forced Wait. Directions are very specific. “Bring three cups of water to boil, add mix, simmer three minutes, remove from heat, let stand five minutes.”I have my doubts that anyone has actually followed the procedures strictly. After all, Forced Waiting requires patience.

Perhaps the most powerful type of waiting is the Lucky-Break Wait. This type of wait is unusual in that it is for the most part voluntary. Unlike the Forced Wait, which is also voluntary, waiting for your lucky break does not necessarily mean that it will happen.

Turning one’s life into a waiting game requires faith and hope, and is strictly for the optimists among us. On the surface it seems as ridiculous as following the directions on soup mixes, but the Lucky-Break Wait well serves those who are willing to do it. As long as one doesn’t come to rely on it, wishing for a few good things to happen never hurts anybody.

We certainly do spend a good deal of our time waiting. The next time you’re standing at the sink waiting for it to fill while cooking noodle soup that you’ll have to eat until a large bag of cash falls out of the sky, don’t be desperate. You’re probably just as busy as the next guy.

1. While doing a Watched-Pot Wait, we tend to ___________.

A．keep ourselves busy

B．get absent-minded

C．grow anxious

D．stay focused

2. What is the difference between the Forced Wait and the Watched-Pot Wait?\

A．The Forced Wait requires some self-control.

B．The Forced Wait makes people passive.

C．The Watched-Pot Wait needs directions.

D．The Watched-Pot Wait engages body and brain.

3. What can we learn about the Lucky-Break Wait?

A．It is less voluntary than the Forced Wait.

B．It doesn’t always bring the desired result.

C．It is more fruitful than the Forced Wait.

D．It doesn’t give people faith and hope.

4. What does the author advise us to do the next time we are waiting?

A．Take it seriously.

B．Don’t rely on others.

C．Do something else.

D．Don’t lose heart.

5. The author supports his view by _________.

A．exploring various causes of “waits”.

B．describing detailed processes of “waits”.

C．analyzing different categories of “waits”

D．revealing frustrating consequences of “waits”

【推荐1】Last summer, two nineteenth-century cottages were rescued from remote farm fields in Montana, to be moved to an Art Deco building in San Francisco. The houses were made of wood. These cottages once housed early settlers as they worked the dry Montana soil; now they hold Twitter engineers.

The cottages could be an example of the industry’s unusual love for “low technology”, a concept associated with the natural world, and with old-school craftsmanship（手艺）that exists long before the Internet era. Low technology is not virtual (虚拟的) —so, to take advantage of it, Internet companies have had to get creative. The rescued wood cottages, fitted by band in the late eighteen-hundreds, are an obvious example. Other companies are using a broader interpretation（阐释）of low technology that focuses on nature.

Amazon is building three glass spheres filled with trees, so that employees can “work and socialize in a more natural, park-like setting.” At Google’s office, an entire is carpeted in glass. Facebook’s second Menlo Park campus will have a rooftop park with a walking path.

Olle Lundberg, the founder of Lundberg Design, has worked with many tech companies over the years. “Our tech engineers are the ones who feel impoverished, because they’re surrounded by the digital world,” he says. “We’ve found that introducing real crafts is one way to regain their individual identity.”

This craft-based theory is rooted in history. William Morris, the English artist and writer, turned back to pre-industrial arts in the eighteen-sixties, just after Industrial Revolution. The Arts and Crafts movement defined itself against machines. “Without creative human occupation, people became disconnected from life.” Morris said.

Research has shown that natural environments can restore our mental abilities. In Japan, patients are encouraged to “forest-bathe”, taking walks through woods to lower their blood pressure.

These health benefits apply to the workplace as well. Rachel Kaplvin, a professor of environmental psychology, has spent years researching the restorative effects of natural environment. Her research found that workers with access to nature at the office - even simple views of trees and flowers - felt their jobs were less stressful and more satisfying. If low-tech offices can potentially benefit the brains and improve the mental health of employees then, fine, bring on the cottages.

1. The writer mentions the two nineteenth-century cottages to show that _________

A．Twitter is having a hard time

B．Old cottages are in need of protection

C．Early settlers once suffered from a dry climate in Montana

D．Internet companies have rediscovered the benefits of low technology

2. Low technology is regarded as something that __________

A．is related to nature	B．is out of date today
C．cosumes too much energy	D．exists in the virtual world

3. The writer’s attitude to “low technology” can best be described as __________

A．Critical	B．positive
C．worried	D．doubtful

4. What can be the best title for the passage?

A．Past Glories, Future Dreams

B．The Virtual World, the Real Challenge

C．High-tech Companies, Low-tech Offices

D．The More Craftsmanship, the Less Creativity

【推荐2】       Surprisingly, no one knows how many children receive education in English hospitals, still less the content or quality of that education. Proper records are just not kept. We know that more than 850,000 children go through hospital each year, and that every child of school age has a legal right to continue to receive education while in hospital. We also know there is only one hospital teacher to every 1,000 children in hospital.

Little wonder the latest survey concludes that the extent and type of hospital teaching available differ a great deal across the country. It is found that half the hospitals in England which admit children have no teacher. A further quarter have only a part-time teacher. The special children’s hospitals in major cities do best; general hospitals in the country and holiday areas are worst off. From this survey, one can estimate that fewer than one in five children have some contact with a hospital teacher—and that contact may be as little as two hours a day. Most children interviewed were surprised to find a teacher in hospital at all. They had not been prepared for it by parents or their own school. If there was a teacher they were much more likely to read books and do math or number work; without a teacher they would only play games.

Reasons for hospital teaching range from preventing a child falling behind and maintaining the habit of school to keeping a child occupied, and the latter is often all the teacher can do. The position and influence of many teachers was summed up when parents referred to them as “the library lady” or just “the helper”. Children tend to rely on concerned school friends to keep in touch with school work. Several parents spoke of requests for work being ignored or refused by the school. Once back at school children rarely get extra teaching, and are told to catch up as best as they can.

Many short-stay child-patients catch up quickly. But schools do very little to ease the anxiety about falling behind expressed by many of the children interviewed.

1. Which of the following statements is true?

A．Every child in hospital receives some teaching.	B．Not enough is known about hospital teaching.
C．Hospital teaching is of poor quality.	D．The special children's hospitals are worst off.

2. It can be inferred from the latest survey that________.

A．hospital teaching across the country is similar

B．each hospital has at least one part-time teacher

C．all hospitals surveyed offer education to children

D．only one-fourth of the hospitals have a full-time teacher

3. Hospital teachers are found________.

A．not welcomed by the children and their parents	B．necessary
C．not welcomed by the hospitals	D．capable

4. In order to catch up with their school work, children in hospital usually turn to________.

A．hospital teachers

B．schoolmates

C．parents

D．school teachers

5. We can conclude from the passage that the author is________.

A．unfavorable towards children receiving education in hospitals

B．in favor of the present state of teaching in hospitals

C．unsatisfied with the present state of hospital teaching

D．satisfied with the results of the latest survey

【推荐3】According to Oxford Dictionaries, morality means: “Principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior.” Though morality is a rather subjective subject, there are some principles that are universal across all cultures found by an Oxford University study: "help your family, help your group, return favors, be brave, obey superiors, divide resources fairly, and respect others, property”. The fact that these morals are found across 60 cultures from around the world demonstrates that morality, though subjective, is the cornerstone of keeping our societies together. Here are some reasons to be moral: without morality, a social life is almost impossible to maintain; having a good reputation and having a clear conscience is psychologically healthy; and most philosophies regard unselfish and principled behavior as important.

There is no doubt that without morals, a society cannot function effectively. A confused situation would appear. According to the Society of Morality, “We are social animals, and the actions we take - the things we do and the things we don’t do - have consequences on our environments and on the others around us. As a result, we need to be able to govern our behavior in the near term so as not to injure ourselves or our community in the long term. This system of controlling our actions and our thoughts in order to operate in a community is what we often refer to as morality”. Therefore, we need a set of morals in order to operate within a social circle and a social environment. Acting immoral usually results in being excluded from social activities or being avoided by a society based on laws and cultural standards.

Besides acting moral having a sociological need, it also has a psychological basis. Most people are concerned to some extent about their reputation. According to PsyPost, “A lot of economic models of human behavior assume that people are only rational (理性的)when they narrowly pursue their own self-interest, but history shows us that people are also tremendously concerned with being and appearing moral”. So, the fear of one’s reputation being damaged is often a strong motivator to be moral. And if someone has been immoral, most people go out of their way to make sure no one finds out, or to correct the behavior in order to not be caught. This goes in line with conscience as well. People generally feel in a better psychological state if they feel that their conscience is clean. A dirty conscience can result in a lack of sleep, anxiety, internal stress, and even illness.

On the side of philosophy, the study of ethics (伦理)comes into play. Most philosophers agree that one should rationally choose a set of standards of behavior in order to function. Though there is moral relativism, there are universal anthropological (人类学的)morals, as mentioned in the introduction. By the nature of our societies and cultures, we choose what we believe is right and wrong. But surprising, this rational behavior comes to a general agreement on morals. So, there is a fine line between moral relativism and moral absolutism. But the main thing to take away from this discussion is that philosophers generally believe that each individual has the right to rationally come up with a set of ethics to live by, and that it is healthy to do so.

1. The author discusses morality in the first paragraph in order to_________.

A．explain the relationship between morality and culture

B．describe the moral rules found all around the world

C．contrast the distinction between right and wrong

D．introduce the definition, principles and reasons of morality

2. It can be inferred from the passage that________.

A．acting moral allows us to fit into groups better

B．morality brings the system of controlling behaviors

C．acting immoral weakens laws and cultural standards

D．Our controlled behaviors establish sets of morals

3. Which of the following is the psychological basis for acting moral?

A．Pursuit of self-interest.	B．A clean conscience.
C．The concern about reputation.	D．A dirty conscience.

4. What does the author advise us to do according to the last paragraph?

A．To reach a general agreement on morals based on ethics.

B．To carve one’s own sense of ethics to operate in this world.

C．To choose between moral relativism and moral absolutism.

D．To exclude philosophers’ beliefs and solutions as well.

【推荐1】In the atmosphere， carbon dioxide acts rather like a one-way mirror the glass in the roof of a greenhouse which allows the sun's rays to enter but prevents the heat from escaping.

According to a weather expert's prediction， the atmosphere wilbe3C warmer in the year 2050thanitis today， if man continues to burn fuels at the present rate.If this warming up took place， the icecaps in the poles would begin to melt thus raising sea level several meters and severely flooding coastal cities.Also， the increase in atmospheric temperature would lead to great changes in the climate of the northern hemisphere(半球) ， possibly resulting in an alteration of the earth's chief food-growing zones.

In the past， concern about a man-made warming of the earth has concentrated on the Arctic because the Antarctic is much colder and has a much thicker ice sheet.But the weather experts are now paying more attention to West Antarctic， which maybe affected by only a few degrees of warming：in other words， by a warming on the scale that will possibly take place in the next fifty years from the burning of fuels.

Satellite pictures show that large areas of Antarctic ice are already disappearing.The evidence available suggests that a warming has taken place.This fits the theory that carbon dioxide warms the earth.

However， most of the fuel is burnt in the northern hemisphere， where temperatures seem to be falling Scientists conclude，therefore，that up to now natural influences on the weather have exceeded those caused by man.The question is：Which natural cause has most effect on the weather?

One possibility is the variable behavior of the sun.Astronomers at one research station have studied the hot spots and“cold”spots(that is， the relatively less hot spots) on the sun.As the sun rotates(旋转) ， every 27.5 days it presents hotter or“colder”faces to the earth， and different aspects to different parts of the earth.This seems to have a considerable effect on the distribution of the earth's atmospheric pressure， and consequently on wind circulation.The sun is also variable over along term：its heat output goes up and down in cycles， the latest trend being downward.

Scientists are now finding mutual relations between models of solar-weather interactions and the actual climate over many thousands of years， including the last Ice Age.The problem is that the models are predicting that the world should be entering a new Ice Age and it is not.One way of solving this theoretical difficulty is to assume a delay of thousands of years while the solar effects overcome the inertia(惯性) of the earth's climate.If this is right，the warming effect of carbon dioxide might thus be serving as a useful counter-balance to the sun's diminishing(减少) heat.

1. Why is the fuel consumption greater in then or them hemisphere， but temperatures there seem to be falling?

A．Mainly because the levels of carbon dioxide are rising.

B．Possibly because the output of solar energy varies.

C．Because the inertia of the earth's climate take effect.

D．Possibly because the icecaps in the poles are melting

2. On the basis of their models， scientists are of the opinion that

A．the climate of the world should be becoming cooler

B．the new Ice Age will be delayed by the greenhouse effect

C．the man-made warming effect helps to increase the solar effects

D．it will take thousands of years for the inertia of the earth's climate to take effect

3. If the assumption about the delay of a new Ice Age is correct，     .

A．the best way to overcome the cooling effect would be to burn more fuels

B．ice would soon cover the northern hemisphere

C．the increased levels of carbon dioxide would warm up the earth quickly

D．the greenhouse effect could work to the advantage of the earth

4. The purpose of the article is to explain     .

A．the greenhouse effect

B．the solar effects on the earth

C．the models of solar-weather interactions

D．the causes affecting weather

【推荐2】Hardware in general, and smartphones in particular, have become a huge environmental and health problem in the Global South’s landfill sites(垃圾填埋场).

Electronic waste (e-waste) currently takes up 5 percent of all global waste, and it is set to increase rapidly as more of us own more than one smartphone, laptop and power bank. They end up in places like Agbogbloshie on the outskirts of Ghana’s capital, Accra. It is the biggest e-waste dump in the world, where 10,000 informal workers walk through tons of abandoned goods as part of an informal recycling process. They risk their health searching for the precious metals that are found in abandoned smartphones.

But Agbogbloshie legally should not exist. The Basel Convention, a 1989 treaty, aims to prevent developed nations from unauthorized dumping of e-waste in less developed countries. The e-waste industry, however, circumvents regulation by exporting e-waste labelled as “secondhand goods” to poor countries like Ghana, knowing full well that it is heading for a landfill site.

A recent report found Agbogbloshie contained some of the most dangerous chemicals. This is not surprising: smart phones contain chemicals like mercury(水银), lead and even arsenic(砷). Reportedly, one egg from a free-range chicken in Agbogbloshie contained a certain chemical which can cause cancer and damage the immune system at a level that’s about 220 times greater than a limit set by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Most worryingly, these poisonous chemicals are free to pollute the broader soil and water system. This should concern us all, since some of Ghana’s top exports are cocoa and nuts.

Some governments have started to take responsibility for their consumers’ waste. For example, Germany has started a project that includes a sustainable recycling system at Agbogbloshie, along with a health clinic for workers. However, governments cannot solve the problem alone, as there is an almost limitless consumer demand for hardware, especially when governments’ green policies are focused on issues like climate change.

Only the manufacturers can fix this. A more economically sustainable and politically possible solution is through encouraging hardware manufacturers to make the repair, reuse and recycling of hardware profitable, or at least cost-neutral.

1. What can we infer from Paragraph 2?

A．Electronic waste requires more landfill sites.

B．Electronic waste is too complex to get fully recycled.

C．Electronic products need to be improved immediately.

D．Electronic pollution is a burning question in Agbogbloshie.

2. What does the underlined word “circumvents” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．Relaxes.

B．Abolishes.

C．Avoids.

D．Tightens.

3. What should be the biggest concern according to the text?

A．The violation of EFSA’s standards.	B．The threat of polluted food worldwide.
C．The lack of diversity in Ghana’s exports.	D．The damage to chicken’s immune system.

4. What does the author think is the best solution to the e-waste problem?

A．Letting governments take on the main responsibility.

B．Reducing customers’ demands for electronic products.

C．Governments adjusting their green policies about e-waste.

D．Manufacturers’ developing a sustainable hardware economy.

【推荐3】It’s late in the evening, time to close the book and turn off the computer. You’re done for the day. What you may not realize, however, is that the learning process actually continues in your dreams.

It might sound like science fiction, but researchers are increasingly focusing on the relationship between the knowledge and skills our brains absorb during the day and the often strange imaginings they generate at night. Scientists have found that dreaming about a task we’ve learned improves performance in that activity (suggesting that there’s some truth to the popular idea that we’re “getting” a foreign language once we begin dreaming in it). What’s more, dreaming may be an essential part of understanding, organizing and retaining what we learn.

While we sleep, research indicates, the brain replays the patterns of activity it experienced during waking hours, allowing us to enter what one psychologist calls a neural (神经的) virtual reality. A vivid example of such replay can be seen in a video researchers made recently about sleep disorders. They taught a series of dance moves to patients suffering from sleepwalking and related conditions. They then videotaped the subjects as they slept. Lying in bed, eyes closed, one female patient on the tape performs the dance moves she learned earlier.

This shows that while our bodies are at rest, our brains are drawing what’s important from the information and events we’ve recently encountered, then integrating that material into the vast store of what we already know. In a 2010 study, researchers reported that college students who dreamed about a computer maze (迷宫) task they had learned showed a 10-fold improvement in their ability to find their way through the maze compared with participants who did not dream about the task.

That study’s chief researcher Herbert Smith suggested that studying right before bedtime or taking a nap following a study session in the afternoon might increase the probability of dreaming about the material. Think about that as you go to sleep tonight.

1. What happens when one enters a dream state?

A．The body continues to act as if the sleeper were awake.

B．The neural activity of the brain will become intensified.

C．The brain once again experiences the learning activities of the day.

D．The brain behaves as if it were playing a virtual reality video game.

2. What does the brain do while we are sleeping?

A．It replaces old information with new material.

B．It processes and absorbs newly acquired information.

C．It regroups information and places it in different files.

D．It systematizes all the information collected during the day.

3. How can learning be enhanced according to Herbert Smith?

A．Staying up late before finally going to bed.

B．Having a period of sleep right after studying.

C．Having a dream about anything you are interested in.

D．Thinking about the chances of dreaming about the material.

4. What is the research discussed in the passage mainly about?

A．How study affects people’s dreams.

B．Why people learn more after sleeping.

C．What time students should study and sleep.

D．How dreaming may lead to improved learning outcomes.

【推荐1】Before the age of the smartphone, photographers had to learn how to use high-tech cameras and photographic techniques. Today, with the huge range of camera apps on our smartphones, we’re all good amateur photographers, since the quality of smartphone images now nearly equals that of digital cameras.

The new ease of photography has given us a tremendous appetite for capturing the magical and the ordinary. We are obsessed with documenting everyday moments, whether it’s a shot of our breakfast, our cat or the cat’s breakfast. Even photo journalists are experimenting with mobile phones because their near invisibility makes it easier to capture unguarded moments.

In the past, magazines published unforgettable photos of important people and global events that captured our imaginations. These photos had the power to change public opinion and even the course of history. But if there are fewer memorable images today, it’s not because there are fewer good images. It’s because there are so many, and no one image gets to be special for long.

As people everywhere embrace photography and the media make use of citizen journalists, professional standards appear to be shifting. Before digital images, most people trusted photographs to accurately reflect reality. Today, images can be altered in ways the naked eye might never notice. Photojournalists are trained to accurately represent what they witness. Yet any image can be altered to create an “improved” picture of reality. The average viewer is left with no way to assess the accuracy of an image except through trust in a news organization or photographer.

The question of the accuracy of images gets even trickier when photojournalists start experimenting with camera apps-- like Hipstamatic or Instagram --- which encourage the use of filters （滤镜）. Images can be colored, brightened, faded, and scratched to make photographs more artistic, or to give them an antique look. Photographers using camera apps to cover wars and conflicts have created powerful images--- but also controversy. Critics worry that antique-looking photographs romanticize war, while distancing us from those who fight in them.

Yet photography has always been more subjective than we assume. Each picture is a result of a series of decisions-- where to stand, what lens to use, what to leave in and what to leave out of the frame. Does altering photographs with camera app filters make them less true? There’s something powerful and exciting about the experiment the digital age has forced upon us. These new tools make it easier to tell our own stories--- and they give others the power to do the same. Many members of the media get stuck on the same stories, focusing on elections, governments, wars, and disasters, and in the process, miss out on the less dramatic images of daily life that can be as revealing.

Who knows? Our obsession with documentation and constantly being connected could lead to a dramatic change in our way of being. Perhaps we are witnessing the development of a universal visual language, one that could change the way we relate to each other and the world. Of course, as with any language, there will be those who produce poetry and those who make shopping lists.

1. According to the author, there are fewer memorable photographs today because_________.

A．the quality of many images is still poor

B．there are so many good images these days

C．traditional media refuse to allow amateur photos

D．most images are not appealing to a global audience

2. The author put the word “ improved” in quotation marks in order to _________.

A．indicate it’s a word cited from another source

B．stress that the picture of reality is greatly improved

C．draw audience attention to a word worth considering

D．show it’s arguable whether the picture is truly improved

3. Which of the statements does the author most likely agree with?

A．The daily life pictures are very expressive themselves.

B．Photographs of the digital age are more subjective than before.

C．Photos altered by filters of camera apps are too subjective to be true.

D．Many members of the media value daily life images over major social events.

4. What may be the best title for the passage?

A．Camera Apps Bury Authenticity

B．Photography Redefined: A Visual Language

C．Smartphone: Killer of Professional Photography

D．The Shifting Standards of Professional Photography

【推荐2】One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible insect. He lay on his armor-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked.

"What's happened to me?" he thought. It wasn't a dream. His room, a proper human room although a little too small, lay peacefully between its four familiar walls. A collection of textile samples lay spread out on the table—Samsa was a travelling salesman—and above it there hung a picture that he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and housed in a nice, gilded frame. It showed a lady fitted out with a fur hat and fur scarf who sat upright, raising a heavy fur muff (暖手筒) that covered the whole of her lower arm towards the viewer.

Gregor then turned to look out the window at the dull weather. Drops of rain could be heard hitting the window, which made him feel quite sad. "How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense," he thought, but that was something he was unable to do because he was used to sleeping on his right, and in his present state couldn't get into that position. However hard he threw himself onto his right, he always rolled back to where he was. He must have tried it a hundred times, shut his eyes so that he wouldn't have to look at the floundering legs, and only stopped when he began to feel a mild, dull pain there that he had never felt before.

He thought, "What a heavy career it is that I've chosen! Travelling day in and day out. Doing business like this takes much more effort than doing your own business at home, and on top of that there's the curse of travelling, worries about making train connections, bad and irregular food, contact with different people all the time so that you can never get to know anyone or become friendly with them." He felt a slight itch up on his belly; pushed himself slowly up on his back towards the headboard so that he could lift his head better; found where the itch was, and saw that it was covered with lots of little white spots which he didn't know what to make of; and when he tried to feel the place with one of his legs he drew it quickly back because as soon as he touched it he was overcome by a cold tremble.

He slid back into his former position. "Getting up early all the time," he thought, "it makes you stupid. You've got to get enough sleep. Other travelling salesmen live a life of luxury. For instance, whenever I go back to the guest house during the morning to copy out the contract, these gentlemen are always still sitting there eating their breakfasts. I ought to just try that with my boss; I'd get kicked out on the spot. But who knows, maybe that would be the best thing for me. If I didn't have my parents to think about I'd have given in my notice a long time ago, I'd have gone up to the boss and told him just what I think, tell him everything I would, let him know just what I feel. He'd fall right off his desk! And it's a funny sort of business to be sitting up there at your desk, talking down at your inferiors from up there, especially when you have to go right up close because the boss is hard of hearing. Well, there's still some hope; once I've got the money together to pay off my parents' debt to him—another five or six years I suppose—that's definitely what I'll do. That's when I'll make the big change. First of all though, I've got to get up, my train leaves at five."

1. According to the passage, Gregor initially believes his transformation is a ?

A．curse

B．disease

C．nightmare

D．fraud

2. The word "floundering" in paragraph 3 most nearly means ?

A．struggling

B．painful

C．pitiful

D．trembling

3. The author most likely includes a description of Gregor's itch in paragraph 4 to ?

A．remind the reader that Gregor has already turned into an insect

B．stress the disconnection between Gregors' thoughts and his actual situation

C．present important details about what Gregor's new body looks like

D．show that Gregor's thoughts are focused on the changes to his body

4. The main rhetorical (修辞的) effect of the final sentence of the excerpt ("First of all though, I've got to get up, my train leaves at five") is to ?

A．provide a solution to the conflict Gregor faces

B．foretell the conflict between Gregor and his boss

C．illustrate Gregor's flexibility and ability to move on

D．emphasize Gregor's extreme sense of duty

【推荐3】Regrets are often painful. A study suggests that some people can overcome them, said Jia Wei Zhang, a psychology graduate at the University of California. But this isn’t the case for everyone, he said.

The researchers wondered why some people report feeling improvement from regrets but others don’t. Does it lie in how people approach their regrets?

In the study, the researchers focused on self-compassion (自我同情) as a potential factor in why some people have an easier lime leaving their regrets behind them.

400 people attended an experiment. First, they were asked to write about their biggest regret. Half wrote something they did but wish they hadn’t done; the other half wrote something they didn’t do but wish they had. Then, the participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: self compassion, self-esteem and a control group. The self-esteem group was asked to respond by “talking to yourself about this regret from the aspect of confirming your positive qualities”.

The control group was asked to write about their favorite hobby rather than their regret. Then, they were asked about their feelings of forgiveness, acceptance and personal improvement following the exercise.

They found that the self-compassion group reported greater feelings of acceptance, forgiveness and personal improvement, compared with the control group and the self esteem group. In other words, focusing on your best qualities is not what helps you feel better about a regret. Rather, being compassionate toward yourself is what may make a difference, the researchers found.

It’s possible that people who practice self-compassion are able to confront their regrets and see what went wrong, so they can make a better choice in the future, Zhang told Live Science. Self-compassion pushes people to accept their regret instead of running away from it.

The researchers used an example of this from a previous study on breast cancer patients who were asked to try thinking about their treatment in a positive light before it began. The women who did so reported greater feelings of personal growth later on.

1. What does the underlined word “confront” in Paragraph 7 mean?

A．Handle	B．Forget.
C．Ignore	D．Show.

2. What were the students in the self-esteem group asked to do?

A．Think of a way out.	B．Write about their regrets.
C．Record their favorite hobbies.	D．Treat their regrets in positive ways.

3. Why were the participants asked about their good qualities?

A．To cover up their regrets.

B．To see if they have weaknesses.

C．To see if they have self compassion.

D．To help them feel better about their regrets.

4. What was the aim of mentioning the researchers’ study on breast cancer patients?

A．To show the method of the research.

B．To show the value of the acceptance.

C．To show the truth of people’s feeling.

D．To show the difficulty of the research.