1 . Did you ever have to say “no” to somebody? Such as a classmate who asks to go to lunch with you? New research suggests that, at least socially, a rejection (拒绝) should not include an apology. In other words, saying you are sorry does not make the person being rejected feel any better. In fact, it might make the rejected person feel worse. That is surprising. Many people consider it to be good manners to say they are sorry when they turn down a request.
Gili Freedman is doing some related research at Dartmouth College. For her research, she asked over 1,000 people to respond to different examples of social rejection. In one example, the researchers asked people for their reaction (反应）after a person named Taylor asked to join a co-worker who went out to lunch every Friday. And Taylor was told “no”. But in some cases, the person rejecting Taylor offered an apology. In other cases, the people doing the rejection did not say they were sorry. People were asked how they would feel if they were being turned down, just as Taylor was. Most said they would be more hurt by a rejection with an apology than a rejection without an apology.
Freedman said the reason is that apologies make people feel like they need to say that the rejection was okay— even when they felt like it was not okay. Rejection without an apology lets them express their feelings of disappointment, hurt or anger more easily. Freedman also said that an apology often makes the person doing the rejection feel better—even as it makes the person being rejected feel worse.
Her research deals only with social communication. A business situation might be very different. “If a manager rejects a job interviewee or a boss must tell an employee that he or she is being fired from a job,” Freedman said, “reactions to apologies may be different.”
1. Why do people say they are sorry when they express rejection?| A．Because they think it is more polite. |
| B．Because they think it helps them express their dislike better. |
| C．Because they think apologies are the basis of communication. |
| D．Because they think it sounds more comfortable for the listener. |
| A．rejected others without an apology |
| B．offered an apology when rejecting others |
| C．would be more hurt by a rejection with an apology |
| D．were asked to answer the question in different situations |
| A．It makes the rejection more acceptable. |
| B．It makes a good impression on the listener. |
| C．It makes the communication more pleasant. |
| D．It makes the person doing the rejecting feel better. |
| A．The effect of an apology during a rejection. |
| B．Gili Freedman’s research on business situations. |
| C．A rejection with an apology in a business situation. |
| D．The difference between a social situation and a business one. |
2 . More than five million different kinds oforganisms(生物体) live on the Earth. For thousands of years, humans have searched for ways to organize thisdiversity(多样性). In the eighteenth century, a Swedish professor, physician, and naturalist named Carolus Linnaeus developed the system of naming and classifying organisms that we use today.
Linnaeus contributed to the modern classification of organisms in two ways. He first developed a convention for naming life forms.
Before Linnaeus came up with a standardized system of naming, there were often many names for a single species, and these names tended to be long and confusing. Linnaeus decided that all species names should be in Latin and should have two parts, one indicating thegents(plural: genera), a group that includes similar species and one indicating the specific name of the species. When written alone, the specific name is meaningless since many different species in different genera have the same specific name. The specific namefamiliaris, for example, is commonly used to describe species. Therefore, when used by itself, it would not describe any one organism. When the genus is also given, however, as inCanis familiaris, we know that the name refers to a specific organism: the domestic dog.
Linnaeus was also the originator of modern taxonomy, a system of classifying nature based onhierarchical(分层的) groupings. Linnaeus first grouped life forms into three broad groups, called kingdoms. These kingdoms were animals, plants, and minerals. He divided each of these kingdoms into classes, classes into orders, orders into genera (genus is singular) and then genera into species, grouping organisms according to shared physical characteristics.
Although modern taxonomists still use the hierarchical structure of Linnaeus’s classification system as well as his method of grouping organisms according to observable similarities, they have added hierarchical levels and significantly changed Linnaeus’s original groupings. The broadest level of life is now a domain. All living things fit into only three domains. Within each of these domains there are kingdoms. Each kingdom contains phyla (singular is phylum), followed by class, order, family, genus, and species.
In addition to the Linnaean kingdoms of plants andanimals, biologists recognizeprokaryotes,protists, andfungias separate kingdoms. Theprokaryotesare the oldest and most abundant group of organisms. They are also the smallest cellular organisms. Common bacteria, which have been known to survive in many environments that support no other form of life, fall into this category. Theprotistkingdom is made up of a variety of single-celled or simple multicellular organisms.Protistsdo not have much in common. They are, essentially, those organisms which do not fit into any other kingdom.Fungicompose a third kingdom. Like plants, the cells of fungi have cell walls, giving them a tube-like structure. However,fungido not produce their own carbon as plants do. Rather, they acquire nutrients by absorbing and digesting carbon produced by other organisms. Yeasts and mushrooms are examples offungi.
1. The writer gives the scientific name of the domestic dog in paragraph 3 in order to ________.| A．demonstrate Linnaeus’s method of classification |
| B．introduce the need for a better system of naming organisms |
| C．criticize the complexity of Linnaeus’s naming system |
| D．illustrate the necessity of including two parts when naming organism |
| A．The hierarchical structure of Linnaeus’s system for classifying is no longer in use. |
| B．Linnaeus’s original system of classification consisted of 3 domains. |
| C．Linnaeus’s original system of classification is used today with little modifications. |
| D．Modem taxonomists have added categories and regrouped organisms. |
| A．They do not share the characteristics of any of the other four kingdoms. |
| B．They are grouped together based on similar characteristics. |
| C．They are limited to single-cell organisms. |
| D．They acquire nutrients by eating other organisms. |
| A．the Father of Modern Taxonomy |
| B．Classifying Organisms |
| C．Development in Life Forms |
| D．Linnaeus’s Classification System |
3 . Facial expressions carry meaning that is determined by situations and relationships. For example, in American culture (文化) the smile is in general an expression of pleasure. Yet it also has other uses. A woman’s smile at a police officer does not carry the same meaning as the smile she gives to a young child. A smile may show love or politeness. It can also hide true feelings. It often causes confusion (困惑) across cultures. For example, many people in Russia consider smiling at strangers in public to be unusual and even improper. Yet many Americans smile freely at strangers in public places (although this is less common in big cities).Some Russians believe that Americans smile in the wrong places; some Americans believe that Russians don’t smile enough. In Southeast Asian cultures, a smile is frequently used to cover painful feelings. Vietnamese people may tell a sad story but end the story with a smile.
Our faces show emotions (情感), but we should not attempt to "read" people from another culture as we would "read" someone from our own culture. The fact that members of one culture do not express their emotions as openly as do members of another does not mean that they do not experience emotions.
Rather, there are cultural differences in the amount of facial expressions permitted. For example, in public and in formal situations many Japanese do not show their emotions as freely as Americans do. When with friends, Japanese and Americans seem to show their emotions similarly.
It is difficult to generalize about Americans and facial expressiveness because of personal and cultural differences in the United States. People from certain cultural backgrounds in the United States seem to be more facially expressive than others. The key is to try not to judge people whose ways of showing emotion are different. If we judge according to our own cultural habits, we may make the mistake of "reading" the other person incorrectly.
1. What does the smile usually mean in America?| A．Love. | B．Politeness. |
| C．Joy. | D．Thankfulness. |
| A．show friendliness to strangers |
| B．be used to hide true feelings |
| C．be used in the wrong places |
| D．show personal habits |
| A．Learn about their relations with others. |
| B．Understand their cultural backgrounds. |
| C．Find out about their past experience. |
| D．Figure out what they will do next. |
| A．Cultural Differences |
| B．Smiles and Relationship |
| C．Facial Expressiveness |
| D．Habits and Emotions |
4 . Regrets are often painful. A study suggests that some people can overcome them, said Jia Wei Zhang, a psychology graduate at the University of California. But this isn’t the case for everyone, he said.
The researchers wondered why some people report feeling improvement from regrets but others don’t. Does it lie in how people approach their regrets?
In the study, the researchers focused on self-compassion (自我同情) as a potential factor in why some people have an easier lime leaving their regrets behind them.
400 people attended an experiment. First, they were asked to write about their biggest regret. Half wrote something they did but wish they hadn’t done; the other half wrote something they didn’t do but wish they had. Then, the participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: self compassion, self-esteem and a control group. The self-esteem group was asked to respond by “talking to yourself about this regret from the aspect of confirming your positive qualities”.
The control group was asked to write about their favorite hobby rather than their regret. Then, they were asked about their feelings of forgiveness, acceptance and personal improvement following the exercise.
They found that the self-compassion group reported greater feelings of acceptance, forgiveness and personal improvement, compared with the control group and the self esteem group. In other words, focusing on your best qualities is not what helps you feel better about a regret. Rather, being compassionate toward yourself is what may make a difference, the researchers found.
It’s possible that people who practice self-compassion are able to confront their regrets and see what went wrong, so they can make a better choice in the future, Zhang told Live Science. Self-compassion pushes people to accept their regret instead of running away from it.
The researchers used an example of this from a previous study on breast cancer patients who were asked to try thinking about their treatment in a positive light before it began. The women who did so reported greater feelings of personal growth later on.
1. What does the underlined word “confront” in Paragraph 7 mean?| A．Handle | B．Forget. |
| C．Ignore | D．Show. |
| A．Think of a way out. | B．Write about their regrets. |
| C．Record their favorite hobbies. | D．Treat their regrets in positive ways. |
| A．To cover up their regrets. |
| B．To see if they have weaknesses. |
| C．To see if they have self compassion. |
| D．To help them feel better about their regrets. |
| A．To show the method of the research. |
| B．To show the value of the acceptance. |
| C．To show the truth of people’s feeling. |
| D．To show the difficulty of the research. |
5 . If spending is a measure of what matters, then the people of the developing world place a high value on brains. While private spending on education has not changed much in the rich world in the past ten years, in China and India it has more than doubled. Since brainpower is the primary generator of progress, this burst of enthusiasm for investing in private education is excellent news for the world. But not everybody is delighted. Because private education increases inequality, some governments are trying to stop its advance. That’s wrong: they should welcome it, and spread its benefits more widely.
① Education used to be provided by religious institutions or entrepreneurs. But when governments, starting in Prussia in the 18th century, got into the business of nation-building, they realized they could use education to shape young minds. As state systems grew, private schooling was left to the elite and the pious(虔诚的). Now it is enjoying popularity again, for several reasons. Incomes are rising, especially among the better off, at the same time as birth rates are falling. In China the former one-child policy means that six people---two parents and four grandparents---can pour money into educating a single child.
② All over the developing world, people want more or better education than governments provide. Where cities are growing at unmanageable speed, the private education is taking up the slack. In India the private education now educates nearly half of all children, in Pakistan more than a third, and in both countries the state education is shrinking. Even where the state does pretty well, as in East Asia, richer people still want better schooling for their children than the masses get. Thus, Vietnam, which has an outstanding state-school system for a poor country, measured by its performance in the OECD’s PISA test, also has the fastest-growing private education.
③ In most ways, this is an excellent thing, because the world is getting more and better schooling.
In rich countries, once the background and ability of the children who attend private schools are taken into account, their exams results are about the same as those in the state education. But in developing countries private schools are better---and much more efficient. A study of eight Indian states found that, in terms of learning outcomes per rupee, private schools were between 1.5 times and 29 times more cost-effective than state schools.
④ They tend to sort children by income, herding richer ones towards better schools that will enhance their already superior life chances. That is one reason why many governments are troubled by their rise.
Governments are right to worry about private education’s contribution to inequality, but they are wrong to discourage its growth. Governments should instead focus on improving the public education by mimicking(模仿) the private education’s virtues. Freedom from independent management is at the root of its superior performance and greater efficiency. Governments should therefore do their best to give school principals more freedom to innovate and to fire underperforming teachers.
To spread the benefit of private schools more widely, governments should work with them, paying for education through vouchers(代金券) which children can spend in private schools. And vouchers should be limited to students in non-selective schools that do not charge top-up fees; otherwise governments will find themselves helping the better off and increasing inequality.
The world faces plenty of problems. Governments should stop behaving as though private education were one of them. It will, rather, increase the chances of finding solutions.
1. What do we know about private education?| A．More developed countries enjoy it. |
| B．It attracts more and more investment. |
| C．Public education will replace it in the future. |
| D．It has helped governments to remove inequality |
| A．Filling the gap. | B．Setting the place. |
| C．Breaking the balance. | D．Avoiding the risk. |
| A．The population in Vietnam is shrinking dramatically. |
| B．Its state education is worse than other developing countries. |
| C．Some people want better education for their children than others. |
| D．The government intends private education to shape young minds. |
| A．① | B．② | C．③ | D．④ |
| A．Train school principals. | B．Sell vouchers to children. |
| C．learn from private education. | D．Fire underperforming teachers. |
| A．Private education should be based on state education. |
| B．Private education should be targeted at well-off families. |
| C．Governments should prevent the spread of private education. |
| D．Governments should celebrate the popularity of private education. |
6 . The assumption that depression is a disease has been supported by biologists, psychiatrists and companies producing medicine. Although advances in medical treatment have certainly been responsible for reducing much suffering, sticking to the disease model is preventing a more complete understanding of why we are so likely to suffer from depression, with at least 45% of people experiencing the condition in their lifetimes.
My recent review of theories and personal observations suggests that depression might serve some useful functions. We should not forget that depression has meaning, and that there is a real new life after recovery.
A recent study of depression in Holland showed that people seemed to cope better with hardships in life after depression than they were doing before it. In the group as a whole, liveliness, psychological health, social and spare-time activities, performance at work and general health all significantly improved upon recovery from depression.
Depression can lead to great insights(洞察力) and achievements. More than 2,000 years ago, Aristotle believed depression to be a state of great moral and spiritual value because of the insights it could bring. The philosopher John Stuart Mill wrote his famous work, Utilitarianism, at the age of 19 and became depressed at the age of 21. Upon recovery, he admitted that the experience had taught him an important lesson---that he should not sacrifice(牺牲) his social and emotional development to intellectual ambition.
Theories have suggested that depression could be a defense against the long-time stress. It is possible that depression defends us against the tendency to ignore our true needs by chasing unobtainable goals and helps to bring these needs into sharper focus.
Depression may bring about a “rebirth” because it removes a false idea about oneself. There is some evidence from scientific studies to show that depressed people are rather more realistic in their thinking than “healthy” individuals. With recovery, a new kind of truth could be found, which would do away with blind optimism: a more modest evaluation of the depressed person’s own ability, containing a more balanced picture of his or her life.
Depression may have forced our ancestors to look again at their strengths and weaknesses, and their coping strategies. Regardless of the reason for falling into depression, the journey has potential to make us better equipped, in a general sense, for life.
1. Which of the following is the disadvantage of treating depression as a disease?| A．People dislike being taken as patients. |
| B．The medical treatment costs a lot of money. |
| C．It prevents us from better understanding depression. |
| D．It stops people from getting a balanced picture of life. |
| A．take part in too many social activities |
| B．aim too high in intellectual achievement |
| C．write Utilitarianism at such an early age |
| D．consider too much about emotional needs |
a. It enables people to perform better at work
b. It makes it easier to achieve people’s dream.
c. It helps people to get a realistic view of self
d. It improves people’s ability to deal with difficulties
| A．abc | B．bcd |
| C．abd | D．acd |
| A．Ways to Address Depression |
| B．Brave Attitude to Depression |
| C．Depression: Disease or Rebirth? |
| D．Depression: Assumption or Reality? |
7 . In a major medical breakthrough, Tel Aviv University researchers have “printed” the world's first 3D vascularized (有血管的）engineered heart using a patient’s own cells and biological materials. Their findings were published on April IS in a study in Advanced Science.
“This is the first time anyone anywhere has successfully engineered and printed an entire heart,” says Prof. Tal Dvir of Department of Materials Science and Engineering, who led the research for the study. “This heart is made from human cells and patient-specific biological materials. In our process, these materials serve as the bioinks, something made of sugars and proteins that can be used for 3D printing of complex tissue models，” Prof, Dvir says. “People managed to 3D print the structure of a heart in the past, but not with cells or with blood vessels (血管).Our results demonstrate the potential of our approach for engineering personalized tissue and organ replacement in the future.”
According to Prof. Dvir，the use of “ native ” patient-specific materials is important to successfully engineering tissues and organs.
The researchers are now planning on culturing the printed hearts in the lab and “ teaching them to behave” like hearts, Prof. Dvir says. They then plan to transplant the 3D-printed heart in animal models.
“We need to develop the printed heart further，” he concludes. “The cells need to form a pumping ability ； they can currently contract (收缩），but we need them to work together. Our hope is that we will succeed and prove our method’s efficacy (功效)and usefulness. “Maybe, in ten years, there will be organ printers in the finest hospitals around the world，and these procedures will be conducted routinely. ”
1. What does Prof. Dvir think of an early 3D-printed heart?| A．It was highly practical. | B．It was too expensive. |
| C．It was personalized. | D．It was too simple. |
| A．It can be cultured in the lab. |
| B．It can match a patient perfectly. |
| C．It has been transplanted in animals. |
| D．It has been widely used in hospitals, |
| A．Ambiguous. | B．Positive. |
| C．Disapproving. | D．Cautious. |
| A．To explain the basic principle of 3D technology. |
| B．To introduce a breakthrough of medical research. |
| C．To doubt the medical value of a new invention. |
| D．To prove the effectiveness of the new technology. |
8 . Many small-business owners watched recent revelations about Facebook with mixed emotions. Like most Americans, they were surprised to discover how much information the social media giant collected on its users. But when it comes to small business, Facebook is a transformative advertising platform for small businesses, not easy to replace.
Let's say you own a small seafood restaurant, and Tuesday nights are $1 oyster （牡蛎）nights. Traditional advertising methods cost a lot and must be planned long in advance, and ifs hit-or-miss as to whether you actually get in front of oyster eaters. With Facebook, on Tuesday morning, with a few clicks, you can target Facebook users in your Zip code who love oysters and eating out （and are over age 21, so they can buy drinks, which is why you have $1 oyster nights）. And you can do this for as little as S20.
In my work with small businesses for more than 25 years, I've never seen a more effective method of micro-targeting prospects. Though Facebook is an effective tool for small-business, advertising does not justify （证明合理）the company's collecting vast amounts of data or allowing users' data to be invaded.
"Our primary concern was people's experience on Facebook," said Dan Levy, Facebook's Vice President. "Our teams have also been speaking to small businesses, and they want to make sure we're addressing the situation, and we are."
One concern small businesses want Facebook to address is protecting their uploaded lists. No one wants their customers' information misused or accessed by others, especially competitors.
Small-business owners are rightfully concerned about privacy. They don't want Facebook to know everything about them, and they don't want their customer lists to be let out to others.
But small businesses don't want to lose this effective advertising medium, either. Most Facebook ads are not invasive or offensive. And many receivers may actually benefit from receiving highly targeted ads—after all, those oyster lovers like learning about Tuesday night— $1 oyster night.
1. How does the author explain Facebook's function in Paragraph 2?| A．By performing an experiment. | B．By leading a survey・ |
| C．By analyzing the data・ | D．By giving an example. |
| A．Objective. | B．Supportive. |
| C．Doubtful | D．Respectful. |
| A．What people experience on Facebook. |
| B．That Facebook updates the lists constantly. |
| C．That their competitors benefit more from Facebook. |
| D．That Facebook will give away their customer lists. |
| A．Facebook is benefiting small businesses |
| B．Facebook, a mixed bag for small businesses |
| C．Facebook is protecting customers5 privacy |
| D．Facebook, a powerful advertisement tool |
9 . Art has always been a polarizing(分化的)subject.Some people like realism,others like abstract.But do you know why some people value art in the millions,while others see the same piece as little more than a child’s finger painting?
Many consider art to be quite random in terms of our likes and dislikes.But according to new research,there may actually be a scientific reason behind our fondness for certain works.The answer lies in how a person’s brain breaks down the visuals(视觉效果)of a painting combined with their judgment.
To prove their theory,neuroscientist(神经科学家)Kiyohito Iigaya and his team from the California Institute of Technology(Caltech)gathered more than 1,300 volunteers and asked them to rate 825 different paintings from four different art genres(类型).
After analyzing the data,scientists found that the same groups of people tended to prefer similar aspects of the same paintings.These characteristics were then grouped into“low-level”features like color and blending,and“high-level”features like the emotion behind the painting.
From this experiment,Caltech’s system was then able to predict an individual’s specific taste in art and organize different works into one group,according to the paintings’features and volunteers’preferences.
In a second test,researchers repeated the experiment on six volunteers,showing each 1,000 paintings while inside an MRI—a machine that scans a person’s brain activity.The test revealed(揭示)that the different features of a painting are sent to the part of the brain that deals with valuing items,allowing someone to form their overall opinion.
Finally,the team repeated the first test on new volunteers.Again,the algorithm(算法)was able to accurately predict individuals’art preferences.According to Iigaya,this shows that the factors that contribute to whether a person likes an image are universal,not random.
Lesley Fellows,a neurologist at McGill University who studies value judgments,stated,“We know a lot about‘how’the brain carries out actions,but‘why’is far less well understood.”
1. What did the Caltech team try to discover?| A．What kinds of artwork appeal to people. |
| B．Why only some people value art. |
| C．Whether an individual’s preference for art is predictable. |
| D．Whether one’s mood influences their opinion of artwork. |
| A．Some features of paintings were categorized（分类）. |
| B．It helped decide the types of paintings to be used. |
| C．Part of the brain to process paintings was identified. |
| D．Volunteers were grouped based on their response. |
| A．The brain reacted differently to different paintings. |
| B．MRIs influence people’s opinion of paintings. |
| C．Individuals have different valuing systems in their brain. |
| D．A certain part of the brain helps people judge paintings. |
| A．To question the Caltech team’s research. |
| B．To approve of the research on why we make value judgments. |
| C．To show there is still a lot left to learn about the brain. |
| D．To point out the focus of the future brain research. |
10 . Anecdotal evidence has long held that creativity in artists and writers can be associated with living in foreign parts. Rudyard Kipling, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, Paul Gauguin, Samuel Beckett and others spent years living abroad. Now a pair of psychologist has proven that there is indeed a link.
As they report in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, William Maddux of INSEAD, a business school in Fontainebleau, France, and Adam Galinsky, of the Kellogg School of Management in Chicago, presented 155 American business students and 55 foreign ones studying in America with a test used by psychologists as a measure of creativity Given a candle, some matches and a box of drawing pins, the students were asked to attach the candle to a cardboard wall so that no wax would drip on the floor when the candle was lit. (The solution is to use the box as a candleholder and fix it to the wall with the pin.) They found 60% of the students who were either living abroad or had spent some time doing so, solved the problem, whereas only 42% of those who had not lived abroad did so.
A follow-up study with 72 Americans and 36 foreigners explored their creative negotiating skills. Pairs of students were asked to play the role of seller of a petrol station who then needed to get a job and a buyer who would need to hire staff to run the business. The two were likely to reach a deadlock because the buyer had been told he could not afford what the seller was told was his minimum price. Nevertheless, when both negotiators had lived abroad 70 % struck a deal in which the seller was offered a management job at the petrol station in return for a lower asking price. When neither of the negotiators had lived abroad, none was able to reach a deal.
Merely travelling abroad, however, was not enough. You do have to live there. Packing your beach towel and suntan lotion will not, by itself make you Hemingway.
1. What is the purpose of mentioning the famous names in the opening paragraph?| A．To show the relationship between creativity and living abroad. |
| B．To indicate the link between artistic creation and life experience. |
| C．To emphasize how great these artists are. |
| D．To impress the importance of creativity. |
| A．William Maddux and Adam Galinsky have carefully designed the test. |
| B．Negotiators who had lived abroad are more flexible in negotiating. |
| C．American business students are less creative than those oversea students. |
| D．One's creativity is associated with the length one has spent abroad. |
| A．There exist sharp differences between travelling and living abroad. |
| B．You shouldn't lie on the beach when travelling. |
| C．Only real experience of living abroad can help drive creativity. |
| D．Living abroad is more meaningful than just travelling abroad. |
| A．A diary. | B．A magazine. |
| C．A novel. | D．A guidebook. |
