1 . What makes a person a giver or a taker? The idea of "give vs. take" takes shape in all interactions (互动)and relationships of our lives. We're either giving advice, making time for people, or we're on the receiving end. We keep changing between the two based on different situations on a daily basis, if not an hourly one.
According to Adam Grant, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, most people are matchers. They make careful observations on takers and make it a point for them to pay something back. They hate to see people who act so generously towards others not receive any rewards. Actually, most matchers will try hard to improve and support givers so that they can get the good they deserve.
Is there a gender factor (性别因素) that plays a part in this?
A study led by Hannah Riley Bowles, a professor at Harvard University, focused on this question. She asked 200 senior managers to sit down in pairs where one person would act as the boss and the other as an employee to discuss salary rise. Male "employees" asked for an average salary of $146 k while the females asked for only $141 k. But why did they not bargain as hard as the men? Simply because they were more likely to be givers.
As a woman, I do enjoy the act of giving up my time, my knowledge, and my care and attention to others. I expect anything in return, but I do tend to pull myself away when I feel like I'm being taken for granted(被认为当然). I also tend to get upset when I see a loved one's continuous actions of kindness go unnoticed. So, it's safe to say I'm 50% giver, 35% matcher and 15% taker.
I do know someone, however, who is 99% giver. They're continually devoting their time, sharing valuable insights (见解) and going out of their way for everyone who crosses their path. Although they've changed the lives of many people, they hardly see any of it returned. But the universe is slowly repaying them; they're now extremely successful, well known for what they do.
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?| A．Most people think they are givers. |
| B．People are not always givers or takers. |
| C．An individual is born to be a giver or a taker. |
| D．Few differences exist between givers and takers. |
| A．Most people hate takers. |
| B．Most people prefer giving to taking. |
| C．Most people enjoy relying on themselves. |
| D．Most people balance giving and taking. |
| A．The role of giving and taking in jobs. |
| B．The gender difference in giving and taking. |
| C．The role of men and women in society. |
| D．The salary difference between women and men. |
| A．Giving is the shortest path to success. | B．Sharing is the greatest human quality. |
| C．No good deed goes undone. | D．Givers are worth respecting. |
2 . Most people would describe a dollar millionaire as rich, yet many millionaires would disagree. They do not compare themselves with teachers or shop assistants but with the other parents at their children's private schools. To count the number of rich people in the world, however, an arbitrary cut-off point is needed, and $1 million is as good as any. Capgemini defines anyone with investable property of $ l million or more as a “high-net-worth individual”. By this measure the planet has about 10 million millionaires. According to Capgemini and Merrill Lynch, a bank Credit Suisse, another bank, uses a less strict definition: a millionaire is anyone whose net assets exceed $1 million. That includes everything: a home, an art collection, even the value of an as-yet-inaccessible pension. The Credit Suisse "Global Wealth Report" estimates that there were 24.2 million such people in 2015, about 0.5% of the world's adult population. By this measure, there are more millionaires than there are Australians. They control $69.2 trillion in property, more than a third of the global total.
How did these people grow rich? Mostly through their own efforts. Only 16% inherited their stash. The most common way to get rich is to start a business: nearly half (47%) of the world's wealthy people are entrepreneurs.
You do not have to be a genius to build a million-dollar business, but it helps if you are intelligent and extremely hard-working. In their book “The Millionaire Next Door”, Thomas Stanley observed that a typical American millionaire is surprisingly ordinary. He does not live in the fanciest part of town — why waste money that you can invest? And his tastes are so plain that you can barely tell him apart from his neighbours. He buys $40 shoes, and his car of choice is a Ford.
Another 23% of the world's millionaires got rich through paid work, estimates Capgemini. A few vault easily over the million-dollar bar. Gregory Maffei, the boss of Liberty Media, earned $87,095.882 in 2010. The median pay for chief executives at the 456 largest publicly quoted firms in America was $7.23 million, according to the Hay Group, a consultancy. But the vast majority are skilled professionals or managers who have been careful with their money. An dentist in America makes about $200,000 a year. He may leave medical school heavily in debt, but after a lifetime of earning, saving and investing he can probably amass $1 million.
1. Those with a million dollars don't consider themselves rich because________.| A．they are too greedy for money to be satisfied | B．they know many who are more wealthy |
| C．they tend to compare themselves with richer people | D．they care more about their roles as parents |
| A．They like collecting works of art and investment |
| B．They account for one third of the total population |
| C．Many of them made great fortune overnight |
| D．Many of them became rich by trade |
| A．be wise in money matters | B．build up good relationship |
| C．learn from others | D．become skilled professionals |
| A．The Definition of Millionaire | B．What Makes a Millionaire |
| C．American Millionaire | D．Everyone Can Be a Millionaire |
3 . When their daughter Morey started kindergarten, the Belanger family were worried because their 6-year-old daughter is deaf. Rather than send her to a special school for deaf children, Morey's parents decided to give her a traditional school experience and send her to Dayton Consolidated School.
They worried if their daughter would be able to make friends. They also had concerns as how her classmates would treat her and whether her teachers would be able to help her learn effectively. But then the school had a response they never expected-teaching all students and staff sign language. That way, everyone could communicate with Morey on a personal level.
“I absolutely feel like it makes her feel welcomed.” said Morey's mom, “I think all the kids feel excited that they know another language and it's fun. It makes me happy to see her supported, loved and accepted. Morey is excited to go to school every day. She's made really good friends.”
Not only did they learn sign language, but they also put up sign language posters in the hall and equipped a special hearing system. Additionally, they provided extra training so that teachers could become more familiar with the language. “Morey, without even knowing it, has taught us so much” says headmaster Kimberly Sampietro. “She's brought a culture to our building that we didn't have before. Morey helps the whole class to learn the alphabet. The kids look up to her. They want her around, and they want to partner with her.”
Morey's hearing loss is a result of a condition that's so rare that it's never been named. However, thanks to the hard work and goodwill of her classmates and teachers, she can communicate with them on her terms.
1. What concerned the Belangers when Morey started kindergarten?| A．That they would have to separate from her | B．That they could hardly afford her education |
| C．Whether she could lead a normal school life. | D．Whether she could receive special training. |
| A．To equip them with one more practical skill. | B．To develop closer student-teacher relationships. |
| C．Out of concern for their teaching effectiveness. | D．Out of concern for a student with special needs. |
| A．Inspiring and considerate | B．Dull but worthwhile |
| C．Useful but complex | D．Shocking and contradictory |
| A．Morey is good at teaching others. |
| B．Morey isn't the only one who benefits. |
| C．Morey has become a symbol of the kindergarten. |
| D．Morey hasn't brought any changes to the kindergarten. |
4 . “Don’t tell anyone”. We hear these words when someone tells a secret to us. But it can be hard to keep a secret. We often tend to “spill the beans”, even if we regret it later.
According to Asim Shah, professor in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, US, keeping a secret may well “become a burden”. This is because people often have an “obsessive and anxious urge to share it with someone”.
An earlier study, led by Anita E. Kelly, a scientist at the University of Notre Dame, US, suggested that keeping a secret could cause stress. People entrusted (受委托的) with secrets can suffer from depression, anxiety, and body aches, reported the Daily Mail.
But with secrets so often getting out, why do people share them at all?Shah explained that people often feel that it will help them keep a person as a friend. Another reason people share secrets is guilt over keeping it from someone close to them. A sense of distrust can develop when people who are close do not share it with each other. “Keeping or sharing secrets often puts people in a position of either gaining or losing the trust of someone,” according to Shah.
He added that talkative people could let secrets slip out (泄露). But this doesn’t mean that it is a good idea only to share secrets with quiet people. A quiet person may be someone who keeps everything inside. To tell such a person a secret may cause them stress, and make them talk about the secret.
Shah said that to judge whether to tell someone a secret, you’d better put yourself in their position. Think about how you would feel to be told that you mustn’t give the information away. Shah also recommended that if you accidentally give up someone’s secret you should come clean about it. Let the person know that their secret isn’t so secret anymore.
1. What does underlined words “spill the beans” mean?| A．Cut up beans. | B．Burst into laughter. |
| C．Let out the secret. | D．Keep the words. |
| A．It can help promote friendships between people. | B．It can result in mental and physical problems. |
| C．It can result in a sense of distrust between friends. | D．It can harm relationships between friends. |
| A．It’s not a good idea to share your secrets with others. |
| B．It’s better to share your secrets with quiet people. |
| C．Quiet people suffer less stress from keeping secrets. |
| D．Talkative people are unlikely to keep secrets. |
| A．Buy the person a gift as an apology. |
| B．Stay away from the person. |
| C．Exchange a new secret with the person. |
| D．Tell the affected person what happened. |
5 . If you're planning to go on a diet, or if you suffer from serious conditions like diabetes (糖尿病), knowing exactly what and how much you're eating is essential. In this day and age, we have calorie and nutritional calculators even on our smartphones, but they act only as guides, whereas Panasonic's revolutionary new device, CaloRieco, actually analyzes the food on your plate and provides accurate information about in just a few seconds.
You've probably used calorie calculators before, and you know that they only offer general information. For example, a calculator will tell you the average number of calories in a hamburger, but it can't tell you exactly how many calories are in the hamburger. The same goes for nutrients like protein or fats. And this is what makes the new CaloRieco so special.
Displayed at a recent tech show, CaloRieco is a high tech device that uses light reflection technology to determine the nutritional values of almost any food and also provide accurate calorie estimates. All you have to do is put your plate in the box-shaped device and wait between 10 and 20 seconds for it to analyze all the food on there.
Once it's done analyzing the various ingredients in your meal, CaloRieco displays the number of calories, as well as the nutritional content on an LED display. According to Panasonic, the device is able to recognize the vast majority of foods, except soups and very dark dishes.
CaloRieco can also connect to your smartphone via an app, and send all the data about analyzed foods to your handheld, so you can access it whenever you need.
Panasonic said that its outstanding invention is aimed at dieters and diabetes sufferers, both of which make up a sizable market. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait a bit longer to get your hands on your very own CaloRieco, as the device presented at the show is just a prototype (样品) which needs to be improved. It's scheduled to hit the market sometime in the next few years, but the price remains a mystery.
1. What is special about CaloRieco?| A．It is a high-tech device working as a guide. |
| B．It makes use of light reflection technology. |
| C．It only offers general information of food. |
| D．It can present the exact data of analyzed food. |
| A．It needs a long time to analyze the food. |
| B．It can count the calories of all kinds of food. |
| C．It can display the food data on the smartphone directly. |
| D．It may be well received among dieters and diabetes sufferers. |
| A．Smartphone. | B．App. | C．Data. | D．Food. |
| A．It's perfect. | B．It's promising. | C．It's costly. | D．It's portable. |
6 . Procrastinators (拖延症患者)，take note: If you’ve tried building self-control and you’re still putting things off, maybe you need to try something different. One new approach: Check your mood.
Often, procrastinators attempt to avoid the anxiety or worry aroused by a tough task with activities aimed at repairing their mood, such as checking Facebook or taking a nap. But the pattern, which researchers call “giving in to feel good,” makes procrastinators feel worse later, when they face the consequences of missing a deadline or making a last-minute effort, says Timothy Pychyl, an associate professor of psychology at Carleton University.
Increasingly, psychologists and time-management consultants are focusing on a new strategy: helping procrastinators see how attempts at mood repair are destroying their efforts and learn to control their emotions in more productive ways.
The new approach is based on several studies in the past two years showing that negative emotions can damage attempts at self-control. It fills a gap among established time-management methods, which stress behavioral changes such as adopting a new organizing system or doing exercises to build willpower.
Researchers have come up with a playbook of strategies to help procrastinators turn mood repair to their advantage. Some are tried-and-true classics: Dr. Pychyl advises procrastinators to just get started, and make the doorstep for getting started quite low. “Procrastinators are more likely to put the technique to use when they understand how mood repair works,” says Dr. Pychyl, author of a 2013 book, “Solving the Procrastination Puzzle.” He adds,“A real motive power comes from doing what we intend to do—the things that are important to us.”
He also advises procrastinators to practice “time travel”—projecting themselves into the future to imagine the good feelings they will have after finishing a task, or the bad ones they will have if they don’t. This cures procrastinators’ tendency to get so stuck in present anxieties and worries that they fail to think about the future.
Another mood-repair strategy, self-forgiveness, is aimed at dismissing the self-blame. University freshmen who forgave themselves for procrastinating on studying for the first exam in a course procrastinated less on the next exam, according to a recent study led by Michael Wohl, an associate professor of psychology at Carleton.
Thomas Flint learned about the technique by reading research on self-control, including studies by Dr. Sirois and Dr. Pychyl. He put it to use after his family moved recently to a new house. Instead of beating himself up for failing to unpack all the boxes gathered in his garage right away, Mr. Flint decided to forgive himself and start with a single step. I’d say, "OK, I’m going to take an hour, with a goal of getting the TV set up, and that's it, he says; then he watched a TV show as a reward. Allowing himself to do the task in stages, he says, is “a victory.”
1. What does Timothy Pychyl mean by mentioning the “giving in to feel good” practice in Paragraph 2?| A．It probably does more harm than good. |
| B．It prevents procrastinators from giving up. |
| C．It helps procrastinators meet the deadline. |
| D．It effectively drives away anxiety and worry. |
| A．Sticking to one’s intention. |
| B．Doing things that really matter. |
| C．Getting started from a low doorstep. |
| D．Learning important techniques of mood repair. |
| A．To make their future plan more practical. |
| B．To accelerate the speed of finishing the task. |
| C．To stop people from worrying about their travel. |
| D．To free people from the present negative emotions. |
| A．Self-blame prevents students from putting things off. |
| B．Procrastinators are still able to get good scores in exams. |
| C．University freshmen can get rid of procrastination easily. |
| D．Self-forgiveness is an effective way to cure procrastination. |
7 . Norway aims to discover new resources beneath the sea, but its push into mining has raised environmental concerms.
Norway could license companies for deep-sea mining as early as 2023. That could place it among the first countries to harvest seabed metals. Copper, zinc and other metals are in high demand for electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines and solar energy centers. However, that could also place Norway on the front line of controversies over the environmental risks of mining the world’s unexplored seabeds.
Norway recently announced it was carrying out an environmental study needed to start mineral exploration and mining. Once that is completed, the govemment plans to have public comments on its environmental study and on a proposal to open areas for exploration and production by the end of 2022.
The demand for minerals is being driven by what are often called “clean” technologies. But the process of getting those minerals from the seabed could cause environmental problems.
Environmentalists including Britain’s David Attenborough have called for a temporary (暂时的) stop to deepseabed mining until more is known about how it affects sea life. The environmental group Greenpeace called for a total ban in a recent report. In another report, the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, known as the Ocean Panel, also called for greater knowledge about the effects of deep-sea mining. The Ocean Panel is cochaired by Norway and has 14 member states that want to shape policy on the world’s oceans.
Norway is known as a major oil producer. But, the country of 5. 4 million people wants to find something to replace its top industry that is better for the environment and can grow in the future.
The move toward deep-sea mining follows three years of expeditions(探险). The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, which carried out the work, said it found copper, zinc, cobalt, gold and silver. The expeditions also discovered large armounts of lithium and the rare earth metal scandium used in electronics and metal mixtures.
1. What does the underlined word “controversies”in paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Power. | B．Benefits. |
| C．Arguments. | D．Popularity. |
| A．Decide mining areas. | B．Ask for people’s opinions. |
| C．Start seabed mining at once. | D．Take action to protect nature. |
| A．Unsupportive. | B．Positive. |
| C．Unclear. | D．Uncaring. |
| A．Earning more money. | B．Controlling the areas. |
| C．Developing clean energy. | D．Learning about sea resources. |
8 . When I arrived in London, I couldn't speak a word of English. Not even "hello". I was 18. I'd been working for my dad's restaurant in Milan and I wanted a new experience. My friend from home lived in London and he used to tell me how incredible it was. I was really bored, so I took my luggage and left.
I was so lost when I arrived at Stansted. To me, English sounded like Chinese. I only arrived with a few hundred pounds. I lived with my friend in East London for a while. I couldn't find a job for a month. Finally I found a waiter role in a restaurant. At the time, I had nothing else going on in my life. I used to get up, go to work, and sleep. It was no difference every day. Then one day on my lunch break, I saw a Gymbox. When I took a look in, there was an amazing Muay Thai (泰拳) class. I used to do boxing when I was 15 but I wasn't that serious about it. There and then I joined the gym and signed up for the Thai boxing team.
I fell in love with it. I never missed a session (一场) . I started training a lot and the head coach said to me one day, "Do you want to fight?" I knew that's what I wanted to do. He put me in competitions and I won my first nine amateur games. After watching me progress, he offered to help me fight professionally. However, at one point I had a motorcycle crash and was out for 18 months. This year I've fought in Milan and London. I'd say I'm about 12 fights away from becoming a winner
Sometimes I can't believe how far I've come from that day I arrived in England. I think everything that's happened has been because I'm committed. But anyone could do it. If you put in 100%, you'll get there. I'm just happy because I did a positive thing with my life. It feels good.
1. What had the writer done before he came to London?| A．He had worked in a restaurant. | B．He had been a professional coach. |
| C．He had worked in a small company. | D．He had done nothing but travel around. |
| A．Exciting. | B．Scary. | C．Satisfying. | D．Dull. |
| A．Joining the boxing team. | B．Losing the competition in Milan. |
| C．Suffering from a motorcycle crash. | D．Being the head coach of the team. |
| A．Life is not all roses. | B．Difficulties make him stronger. |
| C．Failure is the mother of success. | D．Devotion makes him successful. |
9 . Getting paid to stay in bed all day sounds pretty good, but what if someone pays you $ 23, 000 to stay in bed for two months? That’s the deal that a medical research team in France is offering to 24 volunteers.
The researchers are looking for volunteers to help them study the effects of weightlessness (失重状态) on the human body and find ways to stop problems. Lying in bed isn’t exactly the same as being weightless, but the effects are alike.
When astronauts spend a long time in an environment with no gravity, their bodies change in many ways. After several months, their hearts don’t beat as hard. Their muscles become smaller and weaker. Their bones may be broken more easily. There may also be changes in the astronauts’ immune systems (免疫系统) and sleep habits.
The study will take 88 days. During the first two weeks, the volunteers will be tested to make sure of their levels of fitness. Then they will spend 60 days lying in bed with their heads lower than their bodies. They will have to do everything while lying down, including eating, brushing their teeth, and going to the bathroom. The rule is that they must have at least one shoulder touching the bed at all times. The last two weeks of the study will be spent trying to build up the volunteers’ fitness again.
Volunteers must be men between the ages of 20 and 45 who are in perfect health. The researchers completed one study in April. A second study will take place from September to December.
1. What’s the third paragraph mainly about?| A．How astronauts work in an environment without gravity. |
| B．Astronauts’ sleep habits in an environment without gravity. |
| C．Why astronauts’ bodies change in an environment without gravity. |
| D．The effects of an environment without gravity on astronauts’ bodies. |
| A．be women | B．come from France |
| C．be in excellent condition | D．be under twenty years old |
| A．How to build up astronauts’ fitness. |
| B．Researchers pay volunteers to stay in bed. |
| C．Effects of weightlessness on the human body. |
| D．Disadvantages of lying in bed for two months. |
| A．A medical magazine. | B．A short novel. |
| C．A grammar book. | D．A travel guidebook. |
10 . Sleep, considered a luxury by many, is essential for a person’s health and happiness. Researchers have found that inadequate sleep and tiredness increase a person’s risk of developing severe medical conditions, such as obesity, high blood sugar levels, and heart disease. Now, a new study has found that getting enough sleep is also the key to improving academic performance.
Jeffrey Gross, the university science professor who led the research, was not trying to find the relationship between sleep and grades when he handed out smart watches to the 100 students in his chemistry class. Instead, the professor hoped the wrist-worn devices (装置), which track a person’s physical activity, would show a connection between exercise and academic achievement.
While Gross’s data showed no relationship between these two factors (因素), the study found something surprising. As the researchers were analyzing their data, they noticed that there was a straight-line relationship between the average amount of sleep a student got and their results in the course’s 11 quizzes, three midterm tests, and the final exam.
Even more interesting, it was not enough for students to just head to bed early the night before a test. Instead, it’s the sleep you get during the days when learning is happening that matters most.
The time students went to bed each night was similarly important. Those who went to bed in early hours of the morning performed poorly, even if the total sleep time was the same as a higher- performing student. “When you go to bed matters,” Gross says, “If you go to bed at 10, or 12, or 1 at night, and sleep for seven hours, your performance is the same. But if you go to bed after 2, your performance starts to go down even if you get the same seven hours. So, quantity isn’t everything. ”
Perhaps the most interesting was the huge effect that small differences in sleep patterns had on the students’ grades. The entire course grades for students averaging six and a half hours of sleep each night were 25% lower than students who averaged just one hour more sleep. Similarly, students who changed their bedtime by even one hour each night had grades that dropped 45% below those with more regular bedtimes.
Who knew getting A’s just required some extra ZZZ’s?
1. Based on his original goals, which best describes Professor Gross’s research findings?| A．Complete. | B．Accidental. |
| C．Convincing. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．University student athletes. | B．Professor Gross’s own students. |
| C．Middle school chemistry students. | D．Volunteers from different universities. |
| A．Making the students wear a special watch. |
| B．Giving the students regular after-class quizzes. |
| C．Using students’ university entrance test results. |
| D．Using the students’ normal test and quiz grades. |
| A．A person who sleeps for a total of 7 hours each night. |
| B．A person who sleeps from 11 p. m. to 6 a. m. each day. |
| C．A person whose normal bedtime changes between 9 p. m. and 12 p. m. |
| D．A person who has a good night’s sleep the night before an important test. |
