1 . Much of my work as a coach includes helping people make an important decision, such as “If I’m at a crossroads in my career, which path should I follow?” “If I’m considering offers, which one should I accept?”
Difficult decisions like these remind me of a comment made by Scott McNealy, CEO of Sun Microsystems for years during a lecture while I was in a business school at Stanford. He was asked how he made decisions and responded, “It’s important to make good decisions. But I spend much less time and energy worrying about making the right decision and much more time and energy ensuring that any decision I make turns out right.”
In fact, before we make any decisions, particularly those difficult ones, we’re anxious to focus on identifying the “best” option because of the risk of being “wrong”. But a side effect of that mindset (观念模式) is that we pay too much attention to the moment of choice and lose sight of everything that follows. It’s what happens next that finally determines whether a given decision was “right”.
Another aspect of this mindset is that our focus on making the “right” decision can easily lead to paralysis (麻痹), because the options we’re choosing among are so difficult to rank in the first place. How can we definitively determine in advance what career path will be “the best”, or what job offer we should accept? Obviously, we can’t.
Focusing on the effort after our decision not only helps us succeed, but also reminds us that we play a role in every outcome. Our control should be in our day-to-day activities rather than in our one-time decision.
1. Which of the following about Scott McNealy is TRUE?| A．He doesn’t think making good decisions is very important for him. |
| B．He tries his best to make his decision turn out right in the end. |
| C．He never cares about whether his decision is good or not. |
| D．He only focuses on the process rather than the outcome. |
| A．worry about the undesired result it may bring about |
| B．can’t find a good coach to give them advice |
| C．have no idea of what to expect |
| D．don’t know what to do next |
| A．Believe in yourself and choose what you want. |
| B．Stop worrying about making the right decision. |
| C．Making the right decision is very important. |
| D．Never help others make the right decision. |
Today, many children spend a lot of their free time playing games on the Internet. In the UK, 99% of kids aged 8 to 15 play video games. They spend almost 14 hours gaming a week. This information tells us that the benefits and dangers of video games must be carefully considered.
For many people, video games are fun. They have bright lights, funny cartoons and exciting stories. Everywhere you look, you can see children playing these games. They play on buses and trains, in restaurants and even at school.
Video games are educational too. They make kids think in a creative way and they have to move their hands and eyes quickly. This can improve the way that a child’s brain works. What’s more, video games make children use their imagination. The player has to do many creative things, like drawing, telling stories and building things. Video games are also good for children to learn about technology because they can learn how computers and other devices work while they play.
However, a recent study suggests that video games can also be bad for children. First, children can download many games for free. This means that parents often don’t know if their children are playing violent (暴力的) or scary (恐怖的) games. Second, many children spend too much time playing games on computers and this can lead to health problems. Third, if children spend too much time playing games instead of doing homework, they can have problems at school and get bad grades. Finally, video games can affect children’s social skills. If children spend too much time playing video games by themselves, they might not learn how to play with their friends.
In conclusion, it seems clear that video games have some advantages and some disadvantages. Parents should know what games their children are playing and how much time they spend on them. Parents should also make sure their children get enough exercise and spend time with other children.
1. How long do kids aged 8 to 15 in the UK spend on video games a week?2. Why are video games fun for many people?
3. What should parents know when their children are playing video games?
4. What do you think of video game playing? Why do you think so? (Please give two reasons.)
3 . Being Authoritative(权威的) Parents
Phrases like “tiger mom” and “helicopter parent” have made their way into everyday language.
Many of us find ourselves drawn to the idea that with just a bit more parental hard work and effort, we might turn out children with bright futures. But is there anything wrong with a kind of “overparenting style”?
Parental involvement has a long history of being studied. Many of the studies, carried out by Diana Baumrind, a famous psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that a good parent is the one who is involved and reacts to her child in a positive way, who sets high expectations but gives her child independence. These “authoritative parents” appear to hit the sweet spot of parental involvement and generally raise children who do better academically, psychologically and socially than children whose parents are not strict and less involved, or controlling and more involved.Why is this parenting style so successful?
Authoritative parents actually help improve motivation in their children Carol Daeck, a social phychologist at Stanford University, has done research that shows why authoritative parents raise mote motivated children. In a typical experiment, Dr. Dweck takes young children into a room and asks them to solve a simple puzzle. Most do so with little difficulty. But then Dr Dweck tells some, but not all, of the kids how clever they are. As it turns out, the children who are got told they’re smart are more motivated to solve increasingly difficulty puzzles. They also show higher levels of confidence and show greater progress in puzzle-solving.
As the experiment suggests, praising children’s talents and abilities seems to shake their confidence. Dealing with more difficult puzzles carries the risk of losing one’s status as “smart”. Dr. Dweck’s work strongly supports that of Dr. Baumrind, who also found that reasonably supporting a child’s independence and limiting interference(干涉) causes better academic(学术的) and emotional results.
The central task of growing up is to develop a sense of self that is independent and confident. If you treat your young child who is just learning to walk as if she can’t walk, you reduce her confidence. Allowing children to make mistakes is one of the greatest challenges of parenting. It is easier when they are young. The potential mistakes carry greater risks, and part of being a parent is reducing risk for our children.
1. According to the passage, a “tiger mom” ________.| A．helps her children realize their dreams | B．pays close attention to her children’s experiences |
| C．places reasonable expectations on her children | D．speaks her children’s everyday language |
| A．cause more problems in children | B．develop independence in children |
| C．face more challenges of children | D．lead to children’s academic success |
| A．a good game plays a big role in training young minds |
| B．bright children usually show less confidence in difficult games |
| C．puzzle-solving can give children the motivation they need |
| D．overpraising makes children less motivated and confident |
| A．children should not be given much freedom |
| B．parents should not increase the risk of challenging |
| C．children should correct mistakes with the help of their parents |
| D．parents should allow their children to learn from mistakes |
4 . Many people have talked about whether or not computing machines can think. Can they or can’t they?
Almost certainly, a machine can do any work in thinking that a person can do—if the correct way for doing the thinking work can be told exactly. Besides, many programs have been made to direct machines so that they work in very clever ways. Machines have been taught to play chess and to learn from what happens in the games so as to make their play better and better. Machines can beat many persons who play chess. Machines can translate from one language to another. They can prove statements. In geometry(几何) as taught in school. Machines can notice printed marks on paper, so that a person is no longer needed to look at the marks.
Computers can be used in many ways, such as business, science, industry, and government. Computers study oil-field examinations made by airplanes; they keep record of oil sales; they study the working condition of the machines; they help in planning and producing oil; and much more.
If people cannot tell exactly the correct way to do certain work in thinking, it is still a question how much of this work a machine can do. Suppose a person is “teaching” the machine and telling the machine “yes” when the machine is right, and “no” when the machine is wrong. Then the machine can keep on searching among possible ways for solving a problem-until the machine can do as well as the person, and perhaps much better.
But, what is thinking? People can agree about much that is thinking, and much that is not thinking; but they can’t reach agreement because the word “think” is not a scientific word with an exact meaning. A lot of the discussion is wasted breath because the persons are using different meanings of the word “think”.
People, however, have only had experience with machines that appear to think since 1944. It would be too early to say that after the next 200 years, machines will not be thinking. And to consider that machines can think gives people a big push to give to machines more and more work in thinking.
1. The underlined part in paragraph three is about computers used in ________.| A．education | B．industry | C．sports | D．government |
| A．There is much to say about thinking. | B．People discuss a lot about thinking. |
| C．People already know what thinking is. | D．There is no answer to what thinking is. |
| A．What Is Thinking? | B．Can Machines Be Taught to Think? |
| C．Can Machines Think? | D．Can Machines Beat All Checkers Players? |
Do you know the proverb “no pains, no gains”? It gives the impression that we ought to be suffering while we study. It seems that the only way to know if we’re putting in enough work is how much hardship we bear. We are totally taken up with study, shutting ourselves away for a big exam. Is that necessarily true?
When we haven’t taken the time to come up with another idea, we just shut ourselves in a room with a book. It’s no surprise that we find revision boring and difficult. Just as children learn from playing, we can learn from doing, or at least from study techniques that interest us, rather than make us switch off. Shutting ourselves away can make us learn to hate studying, leading to a situation where, instead of being able to concentrate on our work, we are troubled by how unfair it is that we must study. This can be part of a vicious(恶性的) cycle that traps us into ineffective revision, or poor progress fueling(增加) further annoyance.
Thankfully, working in the company of other people really helps fight against that. We just need to learn how to deal with distractions(分心). It’s not necessary to avoid all company, just lazy company. They constantly try to keep others in conversation. While studying in the same room with someone who is ironing or working out is perfectly possible. Of course, it’s also a good idea to avoid the company of people involved in activities where you would rather be playing than studying. Working while sitting next to someone playing video games is most likely to end with a new high score game rather than productive revision.
If being around others means working in a noisy environment, a pair of headphones and some background music can block out noises. They also act as a psychological barrier, so that people think twice before interrupting you. Besides, we should know friends and family can lessen feelings of isolation. And connecting with other people makes us happy, so it’s important not to give that up and to make sure that we take the time to socialize.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 2?| A．Good ideas are needed in terms of progress. |
| B．Ways that interest us can lead to effective revision. |
| C．Shutting ourselves away can help concentrate on work. |
| D．Revision is interesting and easy with study techniques for certain. |
| A．one should learn from certain activities that interest us |
| B．playing video games is helpful for an effective study |
| C．one shouldn’t study with the company of a video player |
| D．the more time one spends in playing games, the higher test scores one will get |
| A．spend no time socializing | B．give up others’ company at once |
| C．give signs of not wanting to be interrupted | D．force yourself to be used to the environment |
| A．To introduce an effective studying means. | B．To encourage us to work as hard as possible. |
| C．To remind us to balance activities and study. | D．To discuss the importance of family company. |
6 . A popular saying goes, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” However, that’s not really true. Words have the power to build us up or knock us down. It doesn’t matter if the words come from someone else or ourselves—the positive and negative effects are just as lasting.
We all talk to ourselves sometimes. We’re usually too shy to admit it, though. In fact, more and more experts believe talking to ourselves out loud is a healthy habit.
This “self-talk” helps us encourage ourselves, remember things, solve problems, and calm ourselves down. Be aware, though, that as much as 77% of self-talk tends to be negative. So in order to stay positive, we should only speak words of encouragement to ourselves. We should also be quick to give ourselves a pat on the back. The next time you finish a project, do well in a test, or finally clean your room, join me in saying “Good job!”
Often, words come out of our mouths without thinking about the effect they will have. But we should be aware that our words cause certain responses in others. For example, when returning an item to a store, we might use warm, friendly language during the exchange. And the clerk will probably respond in a similar manner. Or harsh (刻薄的) and critical language will most likely cause the clerk to be defensive.
Words have power because of their lasting effect. Many of us regret something we once said. And we remember unkind words said to us! Before speaking, we should always ask ourselves: Is it loving? Is it needed? If what we want to say doesn’t pass this test, then it’s better left unsaid.
Words have power: both positive and negative. Those around us receive encouragement when we speak positively. We can offer hope, build self-esteem (自尊) and encourage others to do their best. Negative words destroy all those things. Will we use our words to hurt or to heal? The choice is ours.
1. The main idea of the first paragraph is that ________.| A．negative words may let us down | B．positive words give us confidence |
| C．words have a lasting effect on us | D．nothing but words will hurt us |
| A．talking to ourselves always gives us courage |
| B．we can benefit from talking to ourselves |
| C．it does no harm to have “self-talk” when we are alone |
| D．almost everybody has the habit of talking to themselves |
| A．remind ourselves | B．amaze ourselves |
| C．relax ourselves | D．praise ourselves |
| A．people will always remember to be friendly |
| B．it is better to think twice before talking to others |
| C．negative words may help us make more progress |
| D．encouraging words surely lead to kind offers |
7 . How a Teacher Can Change Your Life
Smiling with satisfaction, Karin Anderson continued to conduct while dozens of students were playing their instruments, and Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony® fills the hall. The emotional (感情的) drama of conducting an orchestra (乐团) of teenagers is part of a typical day’s teaching for Karin. “Teaching is like surfing,” she says. “You have no idea what’s going to happen and there’s no guarantee (保证) that things will go according to plan. You have to be on guard at all times.” But the unpredictability of her students doesn’t make her job hard, she says. In fact, working with sometimes difficult teenagers, which she says might exhaust other teachers, is what keeps her coming back day after day.
Karin believes music lessons may have unexpected benefits. Research has found that they improve a child’s language development, and the reasoning skills extremely important to maths and science. “We can’t be sure if music really makes kids perform better academically, or if smarter students just naturally become involved with music anyway, but there might be a connection. Certainly, schools need something for those brighter students. It’s not so much giving them a release from studying hard, but more that they need to be stretched, and pushed in a different direction.”
But the benefits of music education are for everyone, not just the clever kids. Karin points out that there are strong connections between music and the motivation to learn, the ability to focus, and even someone’s confidence and tolerance.
Music can also help to create a positive, supportive learning environment, which Karin always tries to create in her orchestra. Being grouped by age, not ability, makes everyone new feel welcome and part of a family. “In school you’re very aware of social classes — the rich kids and the poor kids — and all the little groups that gossip all the time,” says orchestra member Laura Greene. “But in the orchestra, everyone is part of the group, and equally important. We’re all trying to improve together. We’ve all got unique talents.”
In Karin’s classroom, there are no awards decorating the walls. She says this might put the orchestra under pressure or make them worry about competition, though in fact the school has won many prizes, which she is clearly proud of. “What’s most important to me is that everyone works as a team,” she says. “It’s a magic moment when there’s absolute unity.”
Karin wants the orchestra to widen the horizons of everyone who joins. When some parents weren’t able to afford certain trips of the orchestra, Karin surprised everyone by organizing what she called “scholarships”, with the school paying part of the money to students who had been positive and cooperative. They weren’t awarded on the basis of who had a special gift for music.
In her office, Karin proudly displays a picture of another student. Karin says, “Thomas was smart, but he hated school, and he seemed cut off from his peers, alone in a world of his own. The orchestra made him come out of his shell.” After graduating, Thomas wrote to Karin, “I’m so grateful to you for allowing me to play the most beautiful music in the world, even though I never took it up professionally. I understand now that music educates the mind and the heart, and helps you to connect with others.”
©The Fifth Symphony was composed by Gustav Mahler and is one of his well-known works. Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) was an Austrian composer and conductor.
1. What is Karin’s attitude to teaching music?| A．It is about controlling the class. | B．It requires careful preparation. |
| C．It gives wonderful surprises. | D．It is emotionally tiring. |
| A．Teamwork is important in music lessons. |
| B．It is not worth making efforts for prizes. |
| C．Teachers should not ignore social classes. |
| D．Gifted students should have more chances. |
| A．It reduces academic pressure. | B．It changes one’s attitude. |
| C．It builds up self-confidence. | D．It presents new challenges. |
Life in the 22nd century will be different from that in the 21st century, because many changes will take place.The population is growing fast.There will be more and more people in the world and most of them will live longer than before.Computers will be much smaller and more useful, and there will be at least one in every home.And computer studies will be one of the most important subjects at school.
People will work fewer hours than they did in the 21st century, and they will have more free time for sports, watching TV and traveling.Traveling will be much easier.And more people will go to other countries for holidays.
There will be changes in our food, too.More land will be used for building new towns and houses.Then there will be less room for cows and sheep, so meat will be more expensive.Maybe no one will eat it every day; instead they eat more vegetables and fruit.In this way people will be healthier.
Work in the future will be different, too.Robots will do dangerous and hard work.Because of this, many people will not have enough work to do.This will be a problem.
1. Why will life in the 22nd century be different from that in the 21st century?2. What will people’s food be like?
3. How will people’s work change?
When people talk about smart work and hard work, they usually wonder which one is more important.In fact, smart work is more important.But working smartly is very hard. This is not a wordplay.It is not easy to be smart.
What is "smartness"?
People are smart when they can find out a way to bring more results with less effort(努力).If you can achieve the same results without putting in a lot of work, you are smart.The person pushing the vehicle is smart, because he is using the knowledge and wisdom(智慧), and the hard work of some other people.
How can we work smartly?
Creating that wheel isn't easy.It needs a great thinker, followed by an engineer's hard work.It then needs a handy man.Only then does it become easier to push the material using the machine.So, smart work is not easy at all.
Besides, being smart takes a lot of effort.People need to read more, keep learning new things, try to learn from others' experiences and sharpen their thinking skills.They need to predict the results before putting any effort in any direction, and being able to manipulate the given resources(资源) to meet their needs.
Human beings are smart.The human history shows our smartness.We don't need to go hunting for our food any more, because we were smart enough to find out that farming could bring much more food with much less effort.We then developed modern tools for farming.
Humans also invented the Internet, the wheel, clothes, the smart phones—all the tools that help us to work smartly.All of this is hard, but that hard work makes us smart.Because of smartness, we are much better off today in terms of happiness and richness.
So remember: Work hard to become a smart person.
1. Which of the following is the example of smartness?| A．People go hunting for food. | B．People read many books. |
| C．People use vehicles to carry things. | D．People talk to others with body language. |
| A．to make use of | B．to find out |
| C．to ask for | D．to think about |
| A．How to Be Smart? | B．What is Smartness? |
| C．When to Work Hard? | D．Hard Work?Smart Work! |
10 . “You expect your friends to see you in a positive manner, but they also are observers of the personalities that could cause you an early death,” said Joshua Jackson, an assistant professor of psychology in Arts & Sciences.
Published in the journal Psychological Science, the study shows that your personality at an early age can predict how long you will live across 75 years and that close friends are usually better than you at recognizing these traits. “Our study shows that people are able to observe and evaluate（评价）a friend’s personality exactly enough to predict early death years down the road,” Jackson said. “It suggests that people are able to see important characteristics related to health even when their friends were, for the most part, healthy and many years from death.”
While other studies have shown that a person’s view of his or her own personality can be helpful in evaluating death risks, there has been little research on whether a close friend’s personality evaluation might also predict the chances of a long life.
To explore this question, Jackson and colleagues analyzed data（数据）from a longitudinal study that in the 1930s began following a group of young people in their mid-20s. The study included wide-ranging data on participant（参与者）personalities, both self-reported and as reported by close friends.
Using information from follow-up studies and searches of death certificates（ 证 书 ）, Jackson and colleagues were able to record dates of death for all but a few study participants. Peer（同龄人）evaluations of personality were stronger predictors of death risks than were self-evaluations of personality.
“There are two possible reasons for the advantage of peer evaluations over self- evaluations,” Jackson said. “First, friends may see something that you miss; they may have some insight that you do not. Second, because people have several friends, we are able to average the characteristics of any one friend to get a more trustworthy evaluation of personality. With self-reports, people may miss certain sides of themselves and we are not able to counteract（抵抗）that because there is only one you, only one self-report.”
The study also shows some gender differences in self-evaluation: Men’s self-evaluations of personality were somewhat useful in predicting their lifespans（寿命）, whereas the self-reports of women had little predictive value.
“This is one of the longest studies in psychology,” Jackson said. “It shows how important personality is in influencing important life outcomes like health, and that information from friends can play a critical role in understanding a person’s health issues.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 2?| A．People’s health is related to their friends. |
| B．An early personality evaluation helps us live longer. |
| C．The study shows most people can live across 75 years. |
| D．Friends can predict lifespans better than us. |
| A．advice | B．understanding | C．influence | D．imagination |
| A．Men predict their lifespans more exactly than women. |
| B．People with more close friends have better personalities. |
| C．Self-evaluations have advantages over peer evaluations. |
| D．The findings are based on participants’ disease data. |
| A．Psychology studies may influence personality development. |
| B．Best friends play an important role in treating certain diseases. |
| C．Friends’ personality evaluations can help recognize health risks. |
| D．Personality has little important effect on people’s health. |
