Curiosity is what drives us to keep learning, keep trying, keep pushing forward. But how does one generate (产生) curiosity, in oneself or others? George Loewenstein, a professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, offered an answer in the classic1994 paper, “The Psychology of Curiosity.”
Curiosity arises, Loewenstein wrote, “when attention becomes focused on a gap in one's knowledge. Such information gaps produce the feeling of deprivation (匮乏) labeled curiosity. The curious individual is motivated to obtain the missing information to reduce the feeling of deprivation.” Loewenstein's theory helps explain why curiosity is such a force: it's not only a mental state but also an emotion, a powerful feeling that drives us forward.
Scientist Daniel Willingham notes that teachers are often “so eager to get to the answer that we do not devote enough time to developing the question.” Yet it's the question that stimulates (刺激) curiosity; being told an answer stops curiosity before it can even get going.
In his 1994 paper, George Loewenstein noted that curiosity requires some basic knowledge. We're not curious about something we know absolutely nothing about. But as soon as we know even a little bit, our curiosity is aroused and we want to learn more. In fact, research shows that curiosity increases with knowledge: the more we know, the more we want to know. To get this process started, Loewenstein suggests, take steps with some interesting but incomplete information.
Language teachers have long used communication in exercises that open an information gap and then require learners to communicate with each other in order to fill it. For example, one student might be given a series of pictures for the beginning of the story, while the student's partner is given a series of pictures showing how that same story ends. Only by speaking with each other (in the foreign language they are learning, of course) can the students fill in each others' information gaps.
1. When one notices a gap in his knowledge, he .| A．desires to fill it |
| B．tends to be afraid |
| C．might get tired and sad |
| D．will become focused on his learning |
| A．Answers are more important than questions. |
| B．Teachers should be eager to get to the answer. |
| C．Teachers know how to stimulate students’ curiosity. |
| D．Teachers are partly to blame for students’ hating school. |
| A．have read a lot of books | B．know little about something |
| C．have some related information | D．are given incomplete information |
| A．Why students hate school. |
| B．Why curiosity is important. |
| C．How to stimulate curiosity. |
| D．What makes people hungry for knowledge. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】How to Use a Modern Public Library
Has it been a while since your last visit to a public library? If so, you may be surprised to learn that libraries have changed for the better.
Check out a book. While libraries still lend out books, you’ll find it easier to get a copy of whatever you’re looking for, thanks to a cooperative network of area libraries. With such networks, libraries share their books with each other through the use of delivery truck.
Check out other items. The library is now a multimedia place, loaded with information in many formats.
Start a business using the help of your local library. If you want to have a business of your own, your local library can become a launch space for it. In library books and computers, you can find information on starting a business.
| A．Learn a foreign language. |
| B．Join targeted reading groups. |
| C．The book you’ve requested is delivered to the nearest station. |
| D．Days are gone when they were dusty little rooms with books. |
| E．You can borrow movies on DVDs, music on CDs, and popular magazines. |
| F．Here you can find plenty of articles and other references that you may want to check out. |
| G．Many libraries will help you with locally supplied information about business management. |
【推荐2】The term “crocodile tears” refers to insincere sadness. This term has an etymology dating back several centuries. As early as the fourth century, crocodile tears are referenced in the literature with the meaning of insincere sorrow. It is said that crocodiles weep while eating their hunted animals because they are sad; however, this sadness is not honest.
The term “crocodile tears” became widely popular after it was documented in a fifteenth-century book titled The Voyage and Travel of Sir John Maundeville. A passage from the book reads: “These crocodiles kill men and they eat them weeping.”
As you may already know, crocodiles likely feel bad about little-especially feeding. However, the assumption of the crocodile-tears metaphor may be true. In a 2007 paper published in BioScience titled “Crocodile Tears: And they eat them weeping”, researchers observed 7 crocodiles in cages during feeding time at a reserve (4 caimans and 3 American alligators). The researchers observed the crocodiles outside of water at feeding stations to better find out whether weeping developed.
Five of the seven crocodiles developed something like tears in their eyes before, during or after feeding. The researchers suggest that these crocodile tears occur because a crocodile hisses (发嘶嘶声) while it eats, and this hissing forces air through the spaces in the bone behind the nose and out of the eyes in the process of picking up nasolacrimal secretions (鼻泪分泌物).
In humans, crocodile tears are a medical condition that causes a person to weep while eating. Crocodile tears typically occur because of a temporary loss of facial control due to damage of the facial nerve. Specifically, when the facial nerve grows again, it does so incorrectly thus resulting in tears during chewing food.
1. From the 2007 paper published in BioScience, we can know that ________.| A．not all the 7 crocodiles developed weeping |
| B．crocodiles especially feel bad about feeding |
| C．the crocodiles were carefully observed inside the water |
| D．crocodile tears occur because a crocodile hisses after it eats. |
| A．is a medical condition that causes a crocodile to weep |
| B．became widely popular as early as the fourth century |
| C．refers to pretended sadness |
| D．proved to be only an assumption |
| A．a reference book containing articles on various topics |
| B．the origin and history of a particular term |
| C．a printed sheet of paper that are given free to advertise |
| D．the application and influence of a new theory |
| A．when the term “crocodile tears” got popular in literature |
| B．how researchers made the experiment on crocodiles |
| C．why crocodile tears typically occur in humans |
| D．what the real truth is about crocodile tears |
【推荐3】Can you remember a time when you woke up from a fantastic or strange dream? Maybe you were afraid and turned on the light or the dream was so good you wanted to sleep longer.
For hundreds of years, people thought dreams were messages from gods or spirits. Today, too, many people can remember a time when they saw a place or person in their dream and then, later, the dream happened in real life.
Around the 18th and 19th centuries, there were two popular ideas about dreams. One said that the things we see in our dreams are things we keep in our subconscious (潜意识) because we don’t want or need to think about them when we’re awake.
If you want to understand the dream messages, you have to match them to what’s happening in your life.
| A．How can you understand the messages? |
| B．But perhaps both ideas are a little bit right. |
| C．Now you can match your dreams to your daily life. |
| D．One way to help you do this is to keep a dream diary. |
| E．But do you think your dreams are telling you something? |
| F．Most people have four to six dreams every night after the age of ten. |
| G．The opposite idea said that while we’re sleeping, the brain organizes memories and thoughts from the day. |
【推荐1】Street art is a very popular form of art that is spreading quickly all over the world. You can find it on buildings, sidewalks, street signs and trash cans (垃圾桶) from Tokyo to Paris, from Moscow to Cape Town. Street art has become a global culture and even art museums and galleries (画廊) are collecting the works of street artists.
Street art started out very secretly because it was illegal to paint on public and private things without permission (允许). People often have different opinions about street art. Some think it is a crime and others think it is a very beautiful new form of culture.
Art experts say that the street art movement began in New York in the 1960s. Young adults painted words and other images on walls and trains. This colorful style of writing became known as graffiti (涂鸦). Graffiti art showed that young people wanted to be against society. They travelled around cities to create paintings that everyone could see. In many cases, they had trouble with the police and the local government.
Street artists do their work for different reasons. Some of them do not like artists who make so much money in galleries and museums. They choose street art because it is closer to the people. Some artists try to express their political opinion in their works. They often want to protest (抗议) against big firms. Others like to do things that are forbidden and hope they don’t get caught. Advertising companies also use street art in their ads because it gives people the impression of youth and energy.
In Today’s world the Internet has a big influence on street art. Artists can show their pictures to the audience all over the world. Many city residents, however, say that seeing a picture on the Internet is never as good as seeing it live. The street art movement lives with the energy and life of a big city. There, it will continue to change and grow.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 1?| A．Street art has a long history. |
| B．Street art is a new form of culture. |
| C．Street art can be found in art museums. |
| D．Street art is popular around the world. |
| A．In Tokyo. | B．In Paris. | C．In New York. | D．In Moscow. |
| A．Graffiti artists often had trouble with the police and the local government in the 1960s. |
| B．Most art experts think painting on walls and trains is a crime. |
| C．Street art started out secretly because few people liked it. |
| D．It is illegal for street artist to travel around big cities. |
| A．Because it impresses people with youth and energy. |
| B．Because it is the fastest way to introduce a new product. |
| C．Because it helps them save much money. |
| D．Because it is cheap. |
【推荐2】Large language models (LLMs) have become a household name thanks to the role they have played in bringing generative (生成式) AI to the forefront of the public interest, as well as the point on which organizations are focusing to apply generative AI into numerous business functions and use cases.
LLMs, like ChatGPT, are trained on huge amounts of data — mostly everything on the Internet, including soft copies of countless printed books. They can “learn” different kinds of things in their reading — not just words but also phrases, symbols and mathematical equations.
LLMs’ arrival has triggered a heated debate among experts in the field. At the heart of the debate is whether LLMs actually understand what they are saying and doing, rather than just seeming to. Some researchers have suggested that LLMs do understand, and can reason like people. But computer scientist Melanie Mitchell holds a different view.
Consider this letter-string problem: You start with abcd and the next string is abce. If you start with ijkl, humans almost always say the second string should end with m. And so do LLMs. They have, after all, been well trained on the English alphabet. But suppose you raise the problem in a different order, such as a u c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t b v w x y z. Humans are still very good at solving letter-string problems. But LLMs usually fail. They are not able to generalize’ the concepts (概念) used on an alphabet they know to another alphabet.
“Being dependable and doing the right thing in a new situation is the central part of what understanding actually means,” Mitchell says. Human understanding, she says, is based on “concepts” — basically mental models of things like situations and events. Concepts allow people to infer cause and effect and to predict (预测) the probable results of different actions — even in new cases.
1. Why do LLMs receive public attention?| A．They give us free access to all e-books. | B．They can perform a wide range of tasks. |
| C．They make ChatGPT part of our life. | D．They will create large numbers of jobs. |
| A．Caused. | B．Hosted. | C．Rejected. | D．Marked. |
| A．Shape our views on technology. | B．Read an English passage. |
| C．Understand the world like humans. | D．Answer general questions. |
| A．A guidebook. | B．A research plan. | C．A children’s story. | D．A science magazine. |
【推荐3】Challenging work that requires lots of analytical thinking, planning and other managerial skills might help your brain stay sharp as you age, a study published Wednesday in the journal Neurology suggests.
Researchers from the University of Leipzig in Germany gathered more than 1,000 retired workers who were over age 75 and assessed the volunteers’ memory and thinking skills through a series of tests. For eight years, the scientists asked the same group to come back to the lab every 18 months to take the same sorts of tests.
Those who bad held mentally stimulating (刺激), demanding jobs before retirement tended to do the best on the tests. And they tended to lose cognitive (认知) function at a much slower rate than those with the least mentally challenging jobs. The results held true even after the scientists accounted for the participants’ overall health status.
“This works just like physical exercise,” says Francisca Then, who led the study. “After a long run, you may feel like you’re in pain, you may feel tired. But it makes you fit. After a long day at work — sure, you will feel tired, but it can help your brain stay healthy.”
It’s not just corporate jobs, or even paid work that can help keep your brain fit, Then points out. A waiter’s job, for example, that requires multitasking, teamwork and decision-making could be just as stimulating as any high-level office work. And “running a family household requires high-level planning and coordinating (协调),” she says. “You have to organize the activities of the children and take care of the bills and groceries.”
Of course, our brains can decline as we grow older for lots of reasons — including other environmental influences or genetic factors. Still, continuing to challenge yourself mentally and keeping your mind busy can only help.
1. Why did the scientists ask the volunteers to take the tests?| A．To assess their health status. | B．To evaluate their work habits. |
| C．To analyze their personality. | D．To measure their mental ability. |
| A．By using an expert’s words. | B．By making a comparison. |
| C．By referring to another study. | D．By introducing a concept. |
| A．unless you work for the corporate, you cannot keep your brain fit |
| B．working as a waiter could be as mentally challenging as being an office clerk |
| C．any job that challenges your brain is good for your brain |
| D．running a family household without pay can’t help your brain stay healthy |
| A．Retired Workers Can Pick Up New Skills |
| B．Old People Should Take Challenging Jobs |
| C．Your Tough Job Might Help Keep You Sharp |
| D．Cognitive Function May Decline As You Age |
【推荐1】Giving is one of the main ways of understanding the value of money—but it often gets ignored. When we pay close attention to what we want for Christmas or birthdays and spending lots of money on our loved ones, why not take the time to teach your sons or daughters a little bit about giving back? Here are 4 activities which can help your children know what is the real meaning of “giving".
Donating （捐赠）Online
Because your children have seen all the fun and games from the charity organization Children in Need fundraising, it's the perfect time to show them how easy it is to donate money to charity online and how rewarding this can be. If they have a go Henry card, they can even do this themselves directly using their own money earned from playing the games that develop intelligence （智力）.
Time： Saturday every week
Giving Things to Charity
Giving their extra things to charity can help kids see how much value their things have. Explaining the money from selling their things and helping others can make them feel how lucky they are.
Time： Sunday every week
Volunteering within the Community （社区）
Whether it's clearing rubbish from a park or visiting the elderly, volunteering is certainly the most direct way for your children to understand what we mean when we say “giving". This really helps understand the value of giving some of their time.
Time： Monday every summer vacation
Getting Them to Actively Raise Money for Something
Help them discover something they really care about and get their mind set on how they could raise some money for people in need. Making cakes and selling them at school, selling some of their own things or even washing the neighbors' cars are great ways in which children can make a difference to something they care about.
Time： Tuesday every winter vacation
1. Who is the text mainly written for?| A．Guides. |
| B．Parents. |
| C．Teachers. |
| D．Tourists. |
| A．It is held every day. |
| B．It allows selling cakes online. |
| C．It requires volunteers' ID cards. |
| D．It accepts the money earned from playing games. |
| A．Donating Online. |
| B．Giving Things to Charity. |
| C．Volunteering within the Community. |
| D．Getting Them to Actively Raise Money for Something. |
【推荐2】Some plants get so hungry that they eat flies, spiders, and even small frogs. What’s more amazing is that these plants occur naturally (in special environments) in every state. In fact, they’re found on every continent except Antarctica.
You’ve probably seen a Venus’ flytrap. It’s often sold in museum gift stores, department stores, and even supermarkets. A small plant, it grows 6 to 8 inches tall in a container. At the end of its stalks (茎) are specially modified leaves that act like traps. Inside each trap is a lining of tiny trigger hairs. When an insect lands on them, the trap suddenly shuts. Over the course of a week or so, the plant feeds on its catch.
The Venus flytrap is just one of more than 500 species of meat-eating plants, says Barry Meyers-Rice, the editor of the International carnivorous (食肉的) Plant Society’ s Newsletter. Note: Despite any science-fiction stories you might have read, no meat-eating plant does any danger to humans.
Dr. Meyers-Rice says a plant is meat-eating, only if it does all four of the following “attract, kill, digest, and absorb” some from of insects, including flies, butterflies, and moths. Meat-eating plants look and act like other green plants -- well, most of the time.
All green plants make sugar through a process called photosynthesis (光合作用). Plants use the sugar to make food. What makes “meat-eating” plants different is their bug-catching leaves. They need insects for one reason: nitrogen. Nitrogen is a nutrient that they can’t obtain any other way. While almost all green plants on our planet get nitrogen from the soil, “meat-eating” plants can’t. They live in places where nutrients are hard or almost impossible to get from the soil because of its acidity. So they’ve come to rely on getting nitrogen from insects and small animals. In fact, nutrient-rich soil is poisonous to “meat-eating” plants. Never fertilize them! But don’t worry, either, if they never seem to catch any insects. They can survive, but they’ll grow very slowly.
1. According to the passage, carnivorous plants ________.| A．only grow in wild field | B．are rare to see |
| C．are as common as flies | D．cannot grow on Antarctica |
| A．its numerous long an thin stalks | B．a container where it grows |
| C．its insect-catching leaves | D．the lining of tiny trigger hairs |
| A．carnivorous plants are dangerous |
| B．carnivorous plants are fictional |
| C．carnivorous plants occasionally eat book |
| D．carnivorous plants are harmless to humans |
| A．Carnivorous plants cannot grow in acid soil |
| B．Carnivorous plants can grow in nutrient-poor soil |
| C．Carnivorous plants will die if they cannot catch any insects |
| D．Carnivorous plants can get nitrogen from nutrient-rich soil |
【推荐3】San Francisco is a tourist attraction. Come and explore its cultural scenes and chase your creative spirit.
Museums
San Francisco’s must-see museums cover various topics. See fine art from antiquity (古代) to the 20th century at the Legion of Honor. Explore the most striking contemporary works at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Learn different cultures at the Asian Art Museum, the Contemporary Jewish Museum, and the Museum of the African Diaspora. Enjoy unconventional visual art at the Museum of Craft and Design.
Theaters
Whether you’re looking for the latest Broadway smash (当红作品), a 19th-century classic, or an avant-garde (前卫派) surprise, San Francisco’s theaters have what you’re looking for. The Curran develops daring new works, while Broad way SF (Broadway San Francisco, LLC) brings the best of Broadway to its Orpheum and Golden Gate theaters. The San Francisco Opera regularly stages the classics in inventive new ways.
Dance
San Francisco is a city of dance. America’s first professional ballet company was founded here in the 1930s. The 20-year-old San Francisco International Hip Hop Dance Festival attracts performers from all over the world. Companies like the Alonzo King LINES Ballet push the boundaries of what dance (and dancers) can accomplish. There are enough dance festivals to plan your trip around, including the Bay Area Dance Week in spring and the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival in June.
Cultural Festivals
A city as diverse as San Francisco always has plenty to celebrate, and the annual festivals that celebrate our citizens’ heritage are a great example of art uniting community. From the Chinese New Year Parade in February to Carnaval in May and our numerous winter holiday traditions, San Francisco offers cultural festivals all year round that can add unexpected excitement to your visit.
1. If you’re interested in Jewish culture, you can visit_______________.| A．the Legion of Honor |
| B．the Museum of Craft and Design |
| C．the Contemporary Jewish Museum |
| D．the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art |
| A．The Broadway SF operates most of San Francisco’s theaters. |
| B．The Curran Theater regularly stages the 19th-century classics. |
| C．The San Francisco Opera can give visitors an avant-garde surprise. |
| D．The Golden Gate and Orpheum theaters belong to the same company. |
| A．In January. | B．In February. |
| C．In May. | D．In July. |
【推荐1】Two women going on a journey to green their city is the best way to describe the founders of Utility, Portland's low-waste and reuse company. It started in January 2019 and opened its first retail shop in April. Its founders, Rebecca Rottman and Nadine Appenbrink, are deeply committed to sustainability and supporters of zero waste.
They started Utility as a second job for both and as a personal journey, looking for clean products that didn't come in plastic. Their goal is to reduce the amount of single-use plastics by allowing people to bring their own reusable containers when they buy environmental friendly home and personal care items.
Every week the women teamed up with local stores to sell their goods and to refill products for returning customers. Now they are operating only online for pickup or local delivery in the Portland area. It is really easy, the company said. Just shop online and choose a container. Then select pickup or delivery. The products include all-natural dish bar soap and a wide variety of plastic-free kitchen tools.
While not completely zero waste, Utility is striving to get extremely close. Appenbrink said, “We are all on a journey. And we want to be as approachable as possible. Utility is to raise awareness about this lifestyle.” They are focused on careful growth because Utility will never ship products because of the carbon footprint involved in shipping.
There are zero waste stores in other communities, like Clean Kilo in Birmingham UK, but they are real brick and mortar (实体的) buildings. Utility's concept is so simple that it can be followed almost anywhere. Zero waste markets are the way to the circular economy that is needed to stop plastic waste, reduce our carbon footprint and have a sustainable future.
1. Why did Rebecca and Nadine found Utility?| A．To satisfy people's basic needs. | B．To offer job chances to local people. |
| C．To raise money for a personal journey. | D．To promote the use of reusable containers. |
| A．Reducing their carbon footprint. | B．Offering more home-made products. |
| C．Providing low-price shipping service. | D．Expanding their market internationally. |
| A．It is a hard job to stop plastic waste. | B．It is easy to copy Utility's practice. |
| C．Zero waste stores should run offline. | D．Traditional shops produce more waste. |
| A．Two women are going on an eco-travel |
| B．Single-use plastics are replaced in Portland |
| C．A community online shop helps Portland go zero waste |
| D．A Portland company is changing plastic into green products |
【推荐2】Specialists say that it is not easy to get used to life in a new culture. “Culture shock" is the term these specialists use when talking about the feelings that people have in a new environment. There are three stages of culture shock, say the specialists. In the first stage, the newcomers like their new environment. Then, when the fresh experience dies, they begin to hate the city, the country, the people, and everything else. In the last stage, the newcomers begin to adjust to their surroundings and, as a result, enjoy their life more.
There are some obvious factors in culture shock. The weather may be unpleasant. The customs may be different. The public service systems-the telephone, post office, or transportation-may be difficult to work out. The most simple things seem to be big problems. The language may be difficult.
Who feels culture shock? Everyone does in this way or that. But culture shock surprises most people. Very often the people having the worst culture shock are those who never had any difficulties in their home countries and were successful in their community. Coming to a new country, these people find they do not have the same established positions. They find themselves without a role, almost without an identity. They have to build a new self-image.
Culture shock gives rise to a feeling of disorientation(迷惘). This feeling may be homesickness. When homesick, people feel like staying inside all the time. They want to protect themselves from the strange environment, and create and escape inside their room for a sense of security. This escape does solve the problem of culture shock for the short term, but it does nothing to make the person familiar with the culture. Getting to know the new environment and gaining experience-these are the long term solutions to the problem of culture shock.
1. When people move to a new country, they______| A．will get used to their new surroundings with difficulty |
| B．have well prepared for the new surroundings |
| C．will get used to the culture of the country quickly |
| D．will never be familiar with culture of the country |
| A．language communication | B．weather conditions and customs |
| C．public service systems | D．homesickness |
| A．the fewer difficulties you may have abroad | B．the more difficulties you may have abroad |
| C．the more money you will earn abroad | D．the less homesick you will feel abroad |
| A．to escape unfamiliar environment | B．to overcome the feeling of homesickness |
| C．to stay inside all the time | D．to get familiar with the new culture |
【推荐3】Will doing housework save you a trip to the gym? If you think so, you need to think again. A new study finds that people who do housework as their weekly exercise tend to be heavier than those who get their exercise by doing sports.
In fact, the more time people spend on performing housework as exercise, the heavier they tend to be. The finding is shocking, because people thought more physical activities — no matter what the form — would always lead to a lower weight.
Richard Cotton, an exercise physiologist, agreed that it is hard to lose weight only by doing housework. You’ll get the most reward for your time if you add some traditional physical activities, he said. For example, 30 minutes of sweeping floors bums about 130 calories, while 30 minutes of riding a bike bums 400 calories. But some housework does give you exercise. For example, 30 minutes of washing the clothes by hand bums 215 calories, close to what you would bum in 30 minutes of combined jogging and walking.
The study collected information from more than 4 ,600 people who were interviewed about their weekly physical activity. About 42 percent of them had 150 minutes of physical activity per week. Of those people, nearly two-thirds said that at least 10 minutes of their weekly activity was spent doing housework. Women and older people tended to report more time spent in doing housework as part of their physical activity. In other words, if the researchers didn’t count housework as a type of physical activity, just
20 percent of women had enough physical exercise.
Therefore, it is possible that people who said they exercised by doing housework were not really honest about the time or length of the activity, researchers said. "After all, the combination of different physical activities is the best choice," Cotton said.
1. Why does the author raise a question at the beginning of the passage?| A．To invite some readers to answer it. | B．To draw readers' attention to the topic. |
| C．To test readers' knowledge about sports. | D．To show the importance of going to the gym. |
| A．Sweeping floors. | B．Riding a bike. |
| C．Washing the clothes. | D．Cleaning the garage. |
| A．We should do various physical activities. |
| B．We should exercise by doing housework. |
| C．Jogging and walking are the best kinds of sports. |
| D．The more housework we do, the heavier we'll be. |
