【推荐2】Life is difficult.

What do you think about life? Maybe most people say that life is difficult. But life is no longer difficult once we truly understand and accept it. Most people do not fully see this truth. Instead, they complain about their problems and difficulties as if life should be easy. It seems to them that their difficulties represent a special kind of suffering especially forced upon them or their families, their class, or even their nation.

What makes life difficult is that the process of facing and solving problems is a painful one. Problems, depending on their nature, cause us sadness or loneliness or regret or anger or fear. These are uncomfortable feelings, often as painful as any kind of physical pain. And since life causes an endless series of problems, life is always difficult and is full of pain as well as joy.

Yet, it is in this whole process of solving problems that life has its meaning.

Problems are the serious test that tells success from failure. When we desire to encourage the growth of the human spirit, we encourage the human ability to solve problems, just as in school we set problems for our children to solve. It is through the pain of meeting and working out problems that we learn. As Benjamin Franklin said, “Those things that hurt instruct.” It is for this reason that wise people learn not to fear but to welcome the pain of problems.

1. The writer probably used just one short sentence in the first paragraph to _________.

A．get readers’ attention	B．argue with readers
C．give an example	D．show his opinion

2. The saying from Benjamin Franklin “Those things that hurt instruct.” suggests that _________.

A．we do not learn from experience

B．we do not learn when we are in pain

C．pain teaches us important lessons

D．the pain of problems is not welcome

3. The passage mainly tells us that _________.

A．life is difficult because our problems bring us pain

B．people like to complain about their problems

C．we become stronger by facing and solving the problems of life

D．everybody has problems

【推荐3】The world we live in is becoming increasingly complex and uncertain. And with it, the conventional thinking of yesterday is no longer sufficient. Creating real breakthrough opportunities requires a fundamental change in our thinking. As Einstein said, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

There's no better example of this than the myth of the four-minute mile.

For centuries, runners had been attempting to run a mile in under four minutes. In the 1950s, the attempt to break the barrier took on renewed importance, and a number of famous runners publicly and unsuccessfully attempted the challenge. Many of the newspapers of the day began to question whether humans would ever be able to run a sub-four-minute mile. Then, in 1954, a man named Roger Bannister did the unthinkable. He broke through the imaginary barrier, running the mile in 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds. It was an amazing achievement.

But here's what's really interesting: it was only forty-six days later that another runner broke Bannister's record. And the following year, two new runners broke the four-minute mark in the same race. Dozens followed, and as of this writing, more than 1,400 runners have accomplished the goal, including one runner who ran two miles in less than eight minutes.

Did something change with respect to human body, track conditions, weather patterns, running shoes, or the human diet between the start of Bannister's race and the few years that followed? No. So what explains the sudden and dramatic explosion of athletic achievement?

The myth's unimaginable power over runners had lifted. What Bunnister had done was not just break the four — minute — mile barrier; he shattered(粉碎)the myth that created the barrier in the first place. This paradigm (榜样)had offered a set of actions available for runners to take. Runners were really free to run through the invented boundary.

Creating breakthroughs requires shattering the myths that limit our imagination and lock us into conventional thinking. Think about your own situation. What myths are you stuck in? And what would be possible if you had the courage to challenge the myths?

1. What is needed to create breakthroughs?

A．Conventional thinking.	B．Changes in our thinking.
C．Complex situation.	D．Einstein's encouragement.

2. What was the real barrier that kept runners succeeding in the four-minute mile?

A．The belief that it was unachievable.

B．Lack of professional training.

C．The poor track conditions.

D．Lack of sufficient diet.

3. The example of Roger Bannister is used to .

A．list a new record in the race	B．prove newspapers are wrong
C．show barrier can be broken	D．call on us to learn from him

4. What does the writer try to explain in Paragraph 6?

A．The power of the myth.

B．The achievements of Bannister.

C．The importance of running freely.

D．The significance of breaking barriers.

5. What is the best title of the passage?

A．Creating Breakthroughs	B．Accepting the Myths
C．Locking Your Imagination	D．Becoming the Best Athlete

【推荐1】We all do it. We put off that dreaded task for five more minutes, then for thirty minutes, then for another hour, until it doesn’t get done at all. And the worst part is we still weren’t able to enjoy our day. We spend so much time stressing over that looming task that it deprives us from actually being able to focus on other tasks.

Why do we do it? We know it never ends well. The problem is that the cycle can feel nearly impossible to break. We get so caught up in the cycle of procrastination that we almost forget how to effectively tackle hard tasks.

Here are five tips for nipping procrastination in the bud and taking back control over your daily life.

Tackle the most difficult task first.

You’re probably thinking “Duh, I already knew that.” But you may not have realized that there’s scientific backing for this suggestion. We only have a limited supply of willpower. Once it’s been used up for the day, chances of us tackling hard tasks are pretty slim. Dive into your hardest task when your energy level is at its highest. This will ensure the best results.

When we push the hard tasks to the end of the day, it takes a toll on our energy all day long. In the end, stressing for hours over the task we’re procrastinating negatively affects all the other tasks on our list.

So next time you’re scheduling the items on your list, make sure to start out with worst one. It may not necessarily be the largest, but it should be the one you’re dreading the most. By accomplishing it so early in the day, you will feel energized and productive. You’ll know the rest of the day is all downhill and cruise through the list with remarkable speed.

Divide the task into smaller tasks.

We tend to get overwhelmed when a giant project looms ahead of us. We don’t know where to start or what to do first. Keep in mind that forests are made up of individual trees. Though you may not be able to take down a whole forest at once, you could certainly start with one tree (or even a branch).

If you need to organize your entire kitchen, start by working on just one cupboard. Organizing one cupboard is much more feasible than trying to get everything done in one swoop. Make a commitment to complete a small step each day, and you’ll find the task becoming less and less daunting with each new task that you accomplish.

Set a mid-day alarm.

There’s nothing more guilt-inducing than ending a day and realizing you haven’t accomplished a single task. We can avoid this rut by setting an alarm on our phone to ring every day around 1 p.m. When the ringer goes off, assess how many things on your list have been attended to.

Re-plan your schedule for the remainder of the afternoon and shift it around to take care of the most important item first. If necessary, you can indulge in a second cup of coffee to jumpstart your “second morning.” By doing this, you will avoid going to bed at night mulling over all the things you didn’t get done.

Dedicate yourself for a small period of time.

To stimulate productivity, there’s an old trick of setting a timer for ten minutes. By frantically racing the clock for that short period, you’ll likely find you become engrossed in your tasks and continue working.

The feeling of dread that has been on your mind will quickly be replaced with a sense of pride and satisfaction. Seeing what you can accomplish in ten minutes when you put your mind to it is quite motivating.

Schedule your tasks on the calendar.

Creating a game plan will help you move past the initial paralysis you feel. Instead of just writing the tasks down in a to-do list, take it a step further and identify when and how you’ll accomplish it.

For example, plan to go to the grocery store at 4:00 p.m. and start cooking dinner promptly at 4:30. By clearing up the anticipatory stress, you’ll avoid a large part of the dread that holds you back. Creating the plan is half the battle!

Though it feels impossible, you have it in you to accomplish everything that you need to every single day. With a fresh perspective, a little prodding (敦促), and a detailed plan, you’ll be well on your way to ending the procrastination cycle once and for all.

1. The word “procrastination” most likely means _______.

A．hesitation

B．delay

C．distinction

D．diminution

2. The phrase “nipping procrastination in the bud” suggests that one should _______.

A．fully realize the importance and severity of the problem of procrastination

B．make an effort to keep the problem of procrastination well under control

C．take our time to identify the root problem of the habit of procrastination

D．prevent and cope with the issue of procrastination in the early stage

3. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．If we put off the hardest task to the end of the day, we can be more energetic.

B．It is of greater importance for us to see the “forest” than attend to the “tree”.

C．A small and steady step on the daily basis will make the task less overwhelming.

D．Having a second cup of coffee will help you compete morning commitment better.

4. Setting a timer for ten minutes will _______.

A．trick you into being more anxious and desperate

B．keep you more concentrated and productive

C．help you move past the initial paralysis you feel

D．prevent you from feeling guilty when going to bed at night

5. The article concludes that _______.

A．Many people have slim hope to completely get rid of procrastination circle

B．creating a good plan can help you win the battle against procrastination

C．everybody may tend to procrastinate and there is little need for guilt

D．it is more than hopeful to conquer procrastination with the listed requirements

【推荐2】According to a new study from Cornell University, about one-fifth of the global population, of 2 billion people worldwide, will be forced to resettle or go deeper inland by 2100 due to the continuous rise in sea level.

The study, published in the journal Land Use Policy, showed that the growing global population could make the matter worse. The researchers expected that there are about 1.4 billon “climate change refugees(难民)” in the world by 2060 and by 2100 the number of the displaced people due to the rising sea level could reach up to two billion.

“We’re going to have more people on less land and sooner than we think,” said lead author Charles Geisler, professor at Cornell. “The future rise in global average sea level probably won’t be gradual. Yet few policy makers are observing the significant barriers that coastal climate refugees, like other refugees, will run into when they move to higher ground.”

For the study, the researchers reviewed(回顾) potential problems that climate change refugees may face if they go deeper inland. The researchers identified these land difficulties with relocation using three organizing groups. Including depletion(损耗) zones, win-lose zones and no-trespass(不得擅自进入) zones. By doing so, the researchers were able to provide primary estimates of their toll(损失) on inland resettlement space. The researchers found that some inland regions were unlikely to support new waves of climate change refugees due to the remains of war, road developments and rare natural resources.

Apart from the rising sea level, increasing storm weather and the booming global population are also having a huge influence on the number of climate change refugees. Storm can push seawater further inland. The increasing global population requires more land even as the ocean swallows up rich costal zones and river deltas(三角洲). These force people to search for new places to move to higher ground.

1. What would happen if the sea level were to rise?

A．2 billion people would be “refugees” by 2060.

B．50% of the population would lose their homes.

C．Inland regions would become more crowded.

D．Coastal regions would be polluted seriously.

2. What can be inferred from Charles Geisler’s words?

A．The sea level will go up in a little-by-little way.

B．Moving to higher land isn’t the key solution.

C．Land and population vary according to climate change.

D．Policy makers should think more for climate change refugees.

3. Why do climate change refugees fail to move to some inland regions?

A．Because they can’t live a common life there.

B．Because they can’t adapt to the climate there.

C．Because they may consume more than expected.

D．Because they will destroy the natural resources.

4. What does the author stress in the last paragraph?

A．Global warming is a double-edged sword.

B．In the future climate will become worse.

C．The earth will see more climate change refugees.

D．Sea will bring humans more disadvantages.

【推荐3】When you hear “I have a dream…”, one of the most famous speeches in human history, you’ll never have the idea how the audience on the scene were fueled by emotional intelligence. When Martin Luther King. Jr. presented his dream, he chose language that would stir the hearts of his audience. Delivering this electrifying(震撼性的) message required emotional intelligence—the ability to recognize, understand, and manage emotions.

Emotional intelligence has been highly recommended by leaders, policymakers, and educators as the solution to a wide range of social problems. Emotional intelligence is important, but the uncontrolled enthusiasm has obscured (掩盖)a dark side. New evidence shows that when people sharpen their emotional skills, they become better at controlling others. When you’re good at controlling your own emotions, you can hide your true feelings. When you know what others are feeling, you can motivate them to act against their own best interests.

Social scientists have begun to document this dark side of emotional intelligence. In a research led by University of Toronto professor Jochen Menges, when a leader gave an inspiring speech filled with emotion, the audience was less likely to scrutinize (细察) the message and remembered the content. Ironically(讽刺 的是), audience members were so moved by the speech that they claimed to recall more of it.

The authors call this the awestruck effect, but it might just as easily be described as the dumbstruck effect. One observer reflected that Hitler’s persuasive impact came from his ability to strategically express emotions—he would “tear open his heart”—and these emotions affected his followers to the point that they would “stop thinking critically and just emote.”

Leaders who master emotions can rob us of our abilities to reason. If their values are out of step with our own, the results can be destructive. New evidence suggests that when people have self-serving motives, emotional intelligence becomes a weapon for controlling others.

Throwing light on this dark side of emotional intelligence is one mission of a research team led by University College London professor Martin Kilduff. According to these experts, emotional intelligence helps people disguise (伪装) one set of emotions while expressing another for personal gain. Professor Kilduff’s team writes, “The strategic disguise of one’s own emotions and the controlling of others’ emotions for strategic ends are behaviors evident not only on Shakespeare’s stage but also in the offices and corridors where power and influence are traded.”

Of course, people aren’t always using emotional intelligence for   nefarious ends. More often than not, high EQ is helpful in most aspects of our life. Emotional intelligence—like any skill—can be used for good or evil. So whether it is a gift or a curse lies in your hand.

1. Why does the author mention Martin Luther King, Jr?

A．To honor the great leader for his courage.

B．To recommend his speech to other leaders.

C．To introduce the major topic to readers.

D．To advocate a society with fewer problems.

2. Which of the following belongs to a dark side of emotional intelligence?

A．Developing the capability to control one’s own emotion.

B．Influencing people to do what brings disadvantages to them.

C．Appealing to the audience to concentrate and remember more.

D．Encouraging the moved audience to learn more of the speech.

3. What is the dumbstruck effect of Hitler’s emotional intelligence?

A．His followers would tear open their hearts to him.

B．His followers would express emotions strategically.

C．His followers would lose the ability to reason properly.

D．His followers would develop the self-serving motives.

4. How do people use their emotional intelligence for personal gain?

A．They disguise their true emotions and show another one.

B．They help their colleagues to build up confidence.

C．They present their strategic behaviors on the stage.

D．They lower their own dignity to gain popularity.

5. Which may mean the same as the underlined word in the last paragraph ?

A．Immoral.

B．Unimportant.

C．Illegal.

D．Uncontrollable.

6. What would be the best title for the passage?

A．The benefits of emotional intelligence.

B．The advantages and disadvantages of emotions.

C．The reasons for using emotional skills.

D．The dark side of emotional intelligence.

【推荐1】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2】The most thoroughly studied intellectuals in the history of the new world are the ministers and political leaders of seventeenth-century New England. According to the standard history of American philosophy, nowhere else in colonial American was “so much important attached to intellectual pursuits.” According to many books and articles, New England’s leaders established the basic themes and preoccupations of an unfolding, dominant Puritan tradition in American intellectual life.

To take this approach to the New Englanders normally mean to start with the Puritans’ theological（神学的）innovations and their distinctive ideas about the church --- important subjects that we may not neglect. But in keeping with our examination of southern intellectual life, we may consider the original Puritans as carriers of European culture, adjusting to New would circumstances. The New England colonies were the scenes of important episodes in the pursuit of widely understood ideals of civility and virtuosity.

The early settlers of Massachusetts Bay included men of impressive education and influence in England. Besides the ninety or so learned ministers who came to Massachusetts church in the decade after 1629, there were political leaders like John Winthrop, an educated gentleman, lawyer, and official of the Crown before he journeyed to Boston. These men wrote and published extensively, reaching both New World and Old World audiences, and giving New English an atmosphere of intellectual earnestness.

We should not forget, however, that most New Englanders were less will educated. While few craftsmen or farmers, let alone dependents and servants, left literary compositions to be analyzed. Their thinking often had a traditional superstitions quality. A tailor named John Dane, who emigrated in the late 1630s, left an account of his reasons for leaving England that is filled with signs. Sexual confusion, economic frustrations, and religious hope --- all came together in a decisive moment when he opened the Bible, told his father the first line he saw would settle his fate, and read the magical words: “come out from among them, touch no unclean thing, and I will be your God and you shall be my people.” One wonders what Dane thought of the careful sermons explaining the Bible that he heard in Puritan churches.

Meanwhile, any settlers had slighter religious commitments than Dane’s, as one clergyman learned in confronting folk along the coast who mocked that they had not come to the New World for religion. “Our main end was to catch fish.”

1. The author notes that in the seventeenth-century New England______.

A．Puritan tradition dominated political life.

B．intellectual interests were encouraged.

C．Politics benefited much from intellectual endeavors.

D．intellectual pursuits enjoyed a liberal environment.

2. Which of the following meaning is closest to that of the underlined word in para.2?

A．a virtue	B．an intelligent mind
C．a taste for fine arts	D．a nice character

3. It is suggested in paragraph 2 that New Englanders __________.

A．experienced a comparatively peaceful early history.

B．brought with them the culture of the Old World

C．paid little attention to southern intellectual life

D．were obsessed with religious innovations

4. The early ministers and political leaders in Massachusetts Bay______.

A．were famous in the New World for their writings

B．gained increasing importance in religious affairs

C．abandoned high positions before coming to the New World

D．created a new intellectual atmosphere in New England

5. The story of John shows that less well-educated New Englanders were often_________.

A．influenced by superstitions

B．troubled with religious beliefs

C．puzzled by church sermons

D．frustrated with family earnings

【推荐3】Eggs make for a delicious meal, and for the past few years, we’ve been able to enjoy them guilt-free. Now, they are declared as “bad egg” again.

Researchers from Northwestern University collected data from six previous studies that tracked the health of 29, 615 adults for about 18 years on average. After gathering results from the various studies, they concluded that 300 milligrams of cholesterol (胆固醇) per day slightly raised a person’s risk of heart disease. One egg contains about 186 milligrams of cholesterol.

“These participants weren’t given periodic questionnaires, they were given one questionnaire,” says Lauren Slayton, a nutritionist. “That’s like drawing conclusions about someone’s fashion sense by what they wore 20 years ago.” No one followed up to see if the diet reports were accurate or to find out whether people changed their diet.

Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, told NPR: “So much data have already been published on this topic, which generally show that low-to-moderate egg consumption (no more than one egg per day) is not associated with increased risk of heart attack.” Plus, there are also many other risk factors that contribute to heart disease.

Before you quit your breakfast favorite, you should know that this research is far from the last word on eggs. In other words, don’t feel like you have to drop eggs from your diet based on one study. If you’re concerned about your cholesterol, discuss your diet with your doctor—and consider your exercise routine and other health factors, too. If your heart risk is rising, you may want to check out the best—and worst—diets for your heart.

1. What is the writing purpose of the text?

A．To test what previous studies found.

B．To discourage people from eating eggs every day.

C．To measure how much cholesterol an egg contains.

D．To show the link between egg-eating and health risk.

2. What can we know from Lauren Slayton’s words?

A．The findings are out of date.	B．This kind of research is limited.
C．No one cares about the research.	D．The results should be tested again.

3. What does the author suggest people do in the last paragraph?

A．Consult the doctor often.	B．Seek for professional aid.
C．Do exercise on a daily basis.	D．Have a sharp mind in your diet.

4. What is the author’s attitude toward the research?

A．Cold.

B．Uncertain.

C．Doubtful.

D．Positive.

【推荐1】As Shanghai prepared to introduce mandatory(强制的) garbage sorting on July 1, games and toys that examined fun ways to spread information about the garbage sorting were to encourage younger people to take action.

A 15-second video of a game went on Chinese social media. In the video, players wearing VR(虚拟) headsets saw four different types of trash can in front of them, and had to throw different types of garbage into the right buckets(桶) to get points. Although it was not the only VR game in the place, visitors lined up around the booth to explore it because of the garbage-sorting theme.

“As a Shanghai, I am in great need of this game. Maybe I won’t need to check how to categorize(分类) each piece of garbage on my phone while going through all my garbage every day if I play this game more often, ” said ZhouZhou, a young Shanghai. But some social media users in Shanghai have complained about the difficulty of sorting different types of garbage.

Wu Xia, founder and CEO of VitrellaCore, the company that created the game, said the idea was to provide an interesting way of learning about garbage sorting. “It’s simple and easy to understand. People can practice sorting garbage without actually going through their trash, and it is a more effective method than using paper materials when training volunteers,” Wu said.

1. What is the purpose of the VR game?

A．Just for fun.

B．Teach students to sort garbage.

C．Do exercise.

D．Keep fit.

2. What do some people complain about?

A．It is too hard to sort garbage.

B．There are too many people lining up.

C．The VR game should be more interesting.

D．There are more ways to use paper materials.

3. What is the meaning of the underlined word in the last Paragraph?

A．successful

B．interesting

C．traditional

D．disappointing

4. What is the main idea of the text?

A．Young people like VR games more.

B．Shanghai performs mandatory garbage sorting.

C．Games were used to help young people sort garbage.

D．Learning by playing VR games is practical for the young.

【推荐2】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3】We tend to think of our dreams as being uniquely personal—nighttime stories built from our own experiences that help us process our day-to-day lives. While dreams can give us a look into our personal selves, scientists have collected data that suggests dreams make their way into our cultural fabric（结构）, showing themselves in ways that shape beliefs and expose collective anxieties.

Roger Ivar Lohmann of Trent University conducted research with the Asabano people of the rainforest of Papua New Guinea, a unique group who didn’ t have outside contact until 1963. His studies looked at how dreams shape their beliefs and actions.

According to Lohmann’ s research, dreams act as a sort of motivator or determinant of Asabano behavior. For instance, a dream may affect the way a person hunts or goes about treating medical conditions. The way dreams determine behavior is due to what Lohmann calls the “night residue” effect. This means that specific memories of dreams can affect the way a person acts when awake and inform their belief system.

Dreams also seem to have an effect on the way many define themselves within their own cultures, and how sometimes reaching a distinct definition can cause anxiety.

Matt Newsom of Washington State University spoke with college students in Berlin, and found many students had dreams surrounding conflicting views about their own identities（身份） in relation to what they saw as a return of German nationalism, which is a sensitive subject especially when we think of German identity as it’ s defined even many years after World War Ⅱ.

Many students had dreams that centered around anxieties like “Where do I belong?” Many students never talked with one another about identity struggles in their dreams, yet many reported having such dreams. Newsom noted that dreams can be helpful “for identifying （识别） unspoken social and historical anxieties present in a given society.”

All of this research suggests that dreams can do more than help explain the thought of a person; we can learn about entire cultures and collective attitudes as well.

1. What is the purpose of Lohmann’ s research?

A．To prove dreams can show personal selves.

B．To explore Asabano people’ s inside anxiety.

C．To find out the effect of dreams on beliefs and actions.

D．To learn about Asabano people’ s culture and tradition.

2. What troubles German college students?

A．Confusion about their identities.

B．Terrible dreams about World War Ⅱ.

C．Anxieties of talking about their dreams.

D．Conflicting views about German nationalism.

3. Which of the following is Newsom’s view about dreams?

A．They can predict a person’s future.	B．They can expose people’ s anxieties.
C．They can inspire people’s creativity.	D．They are the products of human society.

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．Dreams promote cultural progress.

B．Dreams can go into cultural fabric.

C．Dreams reflect people’s cultural background.

D．People’ s daily dreams are based on culture.