1 . Say you are out clothes shopping and you see something that brings you back to a special time from your childhood when you were surrounded by friends and family. Suddenly, you find yourself buying an expensive shirt that makes you feel like a kid again. According to new study inthe Journal of Consumer Research, we're more likely to spend money when we're feeling nostalgic.
"We wondered whynostalgiais so common in marketing. One reason could be that someone might be more likely to buy something when they are feeling nostalgic," write authors Jannine D. Lasaleta(Grenoble École de Management). Constantine Sedikides(University of Southampton), and Kathleen D. Vohs(University of Minnesota).
The author conducted six experiments that looked at how much people were willing to spend, donate, and value money when feeling a sense of social connectedness brought by nostalgia.
In one study, people asked to think about the past were willing to pay more for a set of products than people asked to think about new or future memories. Another study showed an increased willingness to give more money(but not time)to others after recalling, reflecting, or writing about a nostalgic past life event. Besides, people asked to think about a nostalgic event were less willing to bear unpleasant sounds in exchange for a set amount of money than people asked to think about an ordinary event.
This information is useful to companies looking to arouse feelings of nostalgia in their promotions and product lines as well as charitable and political organizations looking to raise funds(资金)for others. During times of recession(萧条), the authors notice that people are less willing to spend their money and add that nostalgia could be used to help promote economic growth. "We found that when people have higher levels of social connectedness and feel that their wants and needs can be achieved through the help of other, their ability to keep control over their money becomes less pressing(急迫的)," they conclude.
1. What does the underlined word "nostalgia" in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．A feeling of sadness that makes you think there is no hope for the future. |
| B．A feeling of sadness because something is not as good as you expected. |
| C．A feeling of sadness mixed with shame because you know they have done something wrong |
| D．A feeling of sadness mixed with pleasure and when you think of happy times in the past |
| A．people end to spend more money when planning for the future |
| B．recalling the past can increase people's willingness to make a generous donation |
| C．people are unwilling to stand unpleasant sounds even if they are given much money |
| D．reflecting on the past will give people a clear idea of how much they have spent on others. |
| A．Social connectedness plays the most important role in promoting economy. |
| B．The findings of the new study are of no use in promoting economic growth. |
| C．The more people feel socially connected, the less control they will keep over money. |
| D．Charitable and political organizations refuse to raise funds during times of recession. |
| A．Do people keep control of their money in ordinary events? |
| B．Do people think more about the future than the past? |
| C．Do people like to be brought back to their childhood? |
| D．Do people spend more when thinking about the past? |
2 . Salad plants have already been grown in old shelters and tunnels. Urban farming is a regular topic of interest at places like the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, where leaders consider whether the world's food system, blamed for causing both obesity and malnutrition, can be fixed. There are already plenty of urban farming projects around the world, particularly in the US, Japan and the Netherlands, from urban fish and plant farms to vertical farming.
“It's becoming an expanding industry,” said Richard Ballard, one of the founders of the farm Growing Underground. “There're several other businesses starting up in London in containers, and there are other vertical farms around the country now.”
Growing Underground is not a standard farm. The rows of crops could be in almost any tunnel, but these plants are 100 feet below Clapham High Street and show that urban agriculture is, in some cases at least, not a fad. The underground farm has occupied a part of the Second World War air-raid shelters for nearly five years, and Ballard is planning to expand into the rest of the space later this year.
Growing Underground supplies herb and salad mixes to grocery shops, supermarkets and restaurants. Being in London creates an advantage, Ballard says, as they can harvest and deliver in an hour.
He adds other advantages. Being underground means temperatures never go below 15℃ surface greenhouses need to be heated. They can do more harvests: 60 crops a year, compared with about seven in a traditional farm. Electricity to power the lights is a major cost, but the company believes renewable energy will become cheaper.
Similar British companies include the Jones Food Company in Lincolnshire, while in the US AeroFarms has several projects in New Jersey, and Edenworks in Brooklyn.
1. What do we know about urban farming?| A．It leads to a healthier lifestyle. | B．It is rarely discussed at the WEF. |
| C．Different farming methods are used. | D．Local governments pay efforts to develop it. |
| A．A dream that's easy to realize. | B．A field controlled for a long time. |
| C．An approach to a serious problem. | D．A fashion that’s popular for a short time. |
| A．It is more productive than a traditional farm. | B．It provides food directly to the customers. |
| C．Its major products are herbs and salads. | D．It uses less energy than a greenhouse. |
| A．Current food system causes health problems |
| B．Growing Underground attracts more people |
| C．Traditional farming will be replaced soon |
| D．Urban farming is still thought costly and time-consuming |
3 . On Wednesday, nearly 300 kids will take part in the National Spelling Bee. Fewer will make it to the following day’s semifinals, where one mistake means elimination(淘汰). I’d bet that many of them will be silently praying—not on the first word. I knew it because I was there 17 years ago.
I was 14 year old then. My mother and I had flown from Kentucky to Washington, but she was no strange to the capital. My older sister had already competed at nationals.
When my sister was 14 and I was 12, we trained together. We began with the Suggested List given out at school—hundreds of words printed on a poster that folded up like a map. When the words along the creases(折痕) began to disappear, we bought additional spelling bodes.
Sometimes my mother tested us, reading words most English teachers wouldn’t know how to pronounce, let alone my Indian-born mother. When she pointed out the misspelled words, I blamed her accent for my errors!
When it was my turn, I approached the microphone and waited for my first word.
The announcer was somewhere to my left, a man who pronounced clearly. “Barbican,” he said.
It seemed that my competitors were secretly complaining at the relative ease of my word. Would they laugh at me if I couldn’t spell it? Would my mother be disappointed in me? That last syllable could go two ways: C-A-N or C-O-N. Which one was right? Finally I decided on C-O-N.
Of course, I was eliminated and guided to the Comfort Room, where parents couldn’t enter. Inside, recent losers were sitting around a table abundant with junk food.
We casually mentioned the words that defeated us, like a special ceremony to welcome each new arrival. Then we changed the subjects if we’d already moved on from missed words and lost opportunities.
Eventually, I went out and saw my mother.
“Well,” she said, “I guess you won’t be doing this again.” Yes, next year I would be 25 and not allowed to take part in the competition.
1. What does the underlined word in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．the difficulty of the first word. | B．The fierce competition. |
| C．The nervousness of the kids. | D．The strict rules. |
| A．she was unable to relax | B．the announcer had an accent |
| C．her competitors disturbed her | D．she didn’t practise hard enough |
| A．She met her mother. | B．She comforted new arrivals. |
| C．She talked with other losers. | D．She watched the competition. |
| A．She was disappointed in the author. |
| B．The author would be beyond the age limit. |
| C．She didn’t want the author to suffer again. |
| D．The author had no interest in the competition. |
4 . Nowadays, we’re now eating twice as much fish as we were 50 years ago. While this growing demand for seafood is good for our health, it’s harming life in the oceans. Almost 60 percent of global fish are fully exploited (开发) and 30 percent are actually disappearing.
By 2050, with a predicted human population of around 10 billion and climate change decreasing fish populations at a rate of 20 to 30 percent for every 1°C rise in sea temperature, we may be seeking novel fish sources.
But fear not. A solution could be in sight, say researchers who have figured out the area of ocean suitable for aquaculture (水产养殖). The study, led by Rebecca Gentry of the University of California, Santa Barbara, identified areas up to 200 metres deep that are right for farming fish and shellfish, but currently unexploited.
We would only need to farm a tiny part of the space identified — no larger than Lake Michigan — to match current production from wild-caught fisheries (渔业), the team says. Better still, if we used all ocean space suitable for aquaculture, we could produce as much as 15 billion tons of fish annually. That’s 100 times more than we currently eat each year.
All of this suggests we could farm our way out of the fisheries crisis and possibly global food security problems. People want to eat more seafood, and we seem to have plentiful space to farm it. It sounds so simple – except that it’s not.
For starters, not all suitable areas will become fish farms for many reasons, such as worries about habitat damage or local disagreement. Then there’s the bigger problem of unintended effects. Rather than save wild fisheries, aquaculture can denigrate them further by spreading disease and pollution, not to mention the senseless practice of using small wild fish as feed for larger farmed fish.
Knowing that we have enough space we need to grow aquaculture offers some comfort. But there are also plenty of warnings. And if we continue consuming large amounts of wild-caught fish, we may soon have to accept that our diet will change in ways we haven’t expected.
1. What is the main reason for farming fish in the ocean?| A．Ocean exploitation. | B．Environmental protection. |
| C．Growing need for fish. | D．The diversity of fish. |
| A．We can produce adequate amounts of fish in tiny space. |
| B．We can solve the global food security problems. |
| C．It is simple and practical to raise fish in the ocean. |
| D．All suitable ocean areas can become fish farms. |
| A．Harming. | B．Benefiting. |
| C．Polluting. | D．Promoting. |
| A．Positive. | B．Objective. |
| C．Negative. | D．Indifferent. |
5 . Do you remember the last time you received a postcard? The UK’s family-owned oldest postcard firm, which has been publishing postcards and calendars since 1880, will close this December. The reason? It says instead of penning a card, people are putting photos up on Facebook or Instagram or using WhatsApp to show friends and family at home just how much fun they’re having.
If you get a postcard from someone who’s away somewhere, it’s as much the thought that they’ve gone through the hassle (麻烦) of choosing a postcard, working out where to get a stamp from, finding a postbox and then the postcard making that journey through to you. That’s the value of the postcard. But that time has gone.
Brothers Charles and Harry Salmon, the fifth generation of the family to run the firm, said the popularity of social media had had a huge impact on the business. People are also tending to take shorter holidays, meaning they are likely to have arrived home long before their postcards. As a result the business was no longer viable.
“Increasingly challenging trading conditions and changes to the nature and size of the market for its publications have resulted in uncertainty over the future of its trade,’’ the brothers wrote in a letter to suppliers and newsagents.
As a result they were announcing a proposal to withdraw from publishing. The number of postcards sold each year is reported to have seen a sharp decline to about five million from 20 million just 25 years ago. But the firm said that as well as the drop in the number of postcards sent, “we have also had to consider that there are no more members of the family who wish to join the business.”
1. What’s the value of sending a postcard?| A．It’s a symbol of sympathy. | B．It’s a journey of love. |
| C．It’s an act of patience. | D．It’s a way of passing time. |
| A．likely to exist. | B．worthy of praise. |
| C．short of money. | D．possible to change. |
| A．UK’s oldest postcard firm set to close. |
| B．Postcard industry booming in the future. |
| C．UK’s postcard firm through a tough time. |
| D．Postcard industry needing support to survive. |
| A．A book review. | B．A business column. |
| C．A hi-tech advertisement. | D．A finance report. |
6 . I have a memory of being about five years old, picking up a beautiful grilled(烧烤的) cheese sandwich made for me by my hard—working mother and turning it over to see that the other side was burned. Suddenly, what I thought was the perfect sandwich was not so perfect. Mom had tried to hide that fact from me. There was no question; I ate it anyway without complaining. However, that moment has stuck in my mind for many years. Now, at the age of 43 as a mother of two children and as a biology professor where I am routinely the “academic mother” of hundreds of students every year, I find that I believe in The Grilled Cheese Principle. Here is what I mean.
Making a grilled cheese sandwich is easy, right? But when I think of how many burned grilled cheese sandwiches I have eaten, or I have made myself, I realize that most of the grilled cheese sandwiches I have known have had at least one burned side. The thing is that although it is a relatively easy thing to make I can also easily lose focus, and before long the sandwich is burned. For my mother, the first side was usually perfect and the second side got burned due to her being distracted. For me, I have tended to burn the first side, but then I more carefully monitor the second side. Either way, the grilled cheese sandwich suffers because it has not been given the attention it deserves.
So, I have learned that even the simplest task deserves my full attention. When I am multi-tasking, I am doing none of the tasks well. And when I allow myself to be distracted, I am not in the present moment—not paying attention to the small details of living or enjoying the process.
So now, I believe the best way to make a perfect grilled cheese sandwich is to make only one at a time and give it my full attention.
1. How did the writer react to the sandwich with burned side?| A．He ate it with full complaints. |
| B．He showed no interest. |
| C．He thought it was still perfect. |
| D．He was deeply impressed with it. |
| A．Even simple things deserve full attention. |
| B．Losing focus makes the sandwich burned. |
| C．Self-made sandwiches are always burned. |
| D．we should make only one sandwich at a time. |
| A．serve | B．watch | C．burn | D．sell |
| A．Never do multi-tasks. |
| B．Learn to appreciate the burned sandwiches. |
| C．Nothing is perfect. |
| D．Devote yourself to one thing at a time. |
7 . There’s actually a famous sort of legend(传说) where everyone has these really, really long chopsticks(筷子), too long for them to feed themselves. And so in hell, everyone goes hungry, because they can’t pick up food and put it in their mouths. But in heaven, people take the same chopsticks and then feed each other.
Chopsticks are used widely. Across much of Asia, about 1.5 billion people use chopsticks in their daily lives. Different cultures have slightly different variations of chopsticks. Chinese chopsticks tend to be long and round, Korean chopsticks are flatter and often made of metal and Japanese chopsticks tend to be round and very, very pointy.
Chopsticks are actually really common in American society today. But there was definitely a time in the late 1800s when Asian men, because they ate rice with sticks, were of a different quality than American men, who ate proper meat with a knife and fork. But when China and the United States began their diplomatic engagement(外交接触) in the 1970s, Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, had to practice eating with chopsticks. As Asian cooking has moved from the East into the West, chopsticks have interestingly become part of the experience.
Chopsticks can date from the Shang dynasty which is about 3000 years ago, and they loved tripods(鼎) during that time. So when you cooked with these big tripods, chopsticks were actually really useful, because it was a way for you to reach without getting burned as the water was boiling in these really big pots. Chinese culture has knives and has forks. It uses them in many cases for cooking. But in the dining room, it is the chopsticks.
1. Why does the author mention the legend in Paragraph 1?| A．To give examples. | B．To make comparisons. |
| C．To raise questions. | D．To introduce the topic. |
| A．Forms. | B．Features | C．Changes. | D．Kinds. |
| A．People loved to use tripods because of chopsticks. |
| B．Chopsticks have been used since the ancient times. |
| C．Chopsticks may get you burned by the boiling water. |
| D．People use knives and forks to follow Chinese culture. |
| A．Chopsticks can do the same job as knives and forks. |
| B．Chopsticks have become more popular across the world. |
| C．Chopsticks have caused trouble in diplomatic engagement. |
| D．Chopsticks will be replaced by knives and forks in the future. |
8 . So many things can keep you from seeing your loved ones in person, from busy schedules to long distances to a rather unexpected COVID-19 virus. Fortunately, thanks to modern technology, the people we miss are often only a phone call or text message away. But if you’re someone who prefers to type out messages. you may want io reconsider. A new study, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, found that communication that included voice, like a phone call or video chat, created stronger social relationships than communication through typing, like text messaging or email.
In the study, researchers used various experiments to measure relationships. In one, they asked 200 people what it would be like to reconnect with an old friend by email or by phone and then asked them to do one or the other. Although people anticipated that a phone call would be more awkward, hearing someone’s voice actually made the experience better.
“People reported they did form a stronger relationship with their old friend on the phone compared with email, and they did not feel more awkward,” said Amit Kumar, an assistant professor of marketing at the McCombs School of Business.
In another experiment, the researchers had strangers connected by either texting, talking over video chat, or talking using only audio. They found that both forms of voice communication — whether video or audio only — made the strangers feel significantly more connected than when they communicated by text.
Sabrina Romanoff, a Harvard psychologist, says people tend to text or email instead of calling because of convenience, as they see it as a controlled form of communication where they can “communicate information exactly in the way they want without unexpected additions by the other person.”
Romanoff says that in reality, texting can make it hard to determine the true meaning behind a conversation. “A phone call is actually more convenient when considering the pet effects of the message,” she explains. “Each party is more present, and therefore, able to understand the meaning behind the content without thinking about the endless possible meanings behind words.”
1. What does the passage mainly tell us?| A．Texting does harm lo social relationships. |
| B．Voice communication brings people closer. |
| C．A phone call does more good than a text message. |
| D．People prefer a text message rather than a phone call. |
| A．By comparing. | B．By reasoning. | C．By imagining. | D．By discussing. |
| A．Ensured. | B．Refused. | C．Expected. | D．Disagreed. |
| A．texting makes them feel more connected |
| B．they feel awkward when making a phone call |
| C．texting helps communicate their information exactly |
| D．calling helps determine the true meaning behind the conversation |
9 . Malmon was a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania when she got a call from her mother that would change her life: Her fun, outgoing older brother, Brian, had taken his own life.
When Malmon returned to school after Brian’s funeral, she was still grieving. But when she looked for help on campus, there was no place to turn. “Back then,” says Malmon, “students weren’t encouraged to talk about their mental health. I started reflecting on the fact that there was an urgent need to get that conversation going.”
She was only 19 and had no experience with mental health issues, but that didn’t stop her from launching Open Minds at Penn. Now, 20 years later it is the largest young adult mental health organization in America, with more than 550 branches at high schools and colleges. “What I’m most inspired by is that my generation and the generations coming behind me are taking on mental health as a social justice issue,” says Malmon. “Open Minds is changing not only their campuses, it’s changing their families too.”
Open Minds’ peer-to-peer education techniques are more important than ever. The American College Health Association’s 2019 National College Health Assessment found that 45 percent of students reported feeling so depressed in the previous 12 months that it was difficult to function; 66 percent felt deep anxiety; and 13 percent seriously considered suicide—the act of killing oneself.
Malmon’s goal has always been to remind the public to pay attention to the language we use to talk about mental illness. The word “suicide” is an example. You don’t commit a heart attack or cancer, says Malmon. “Suicide is the only death where we use that word ‘commit,’” she says. “If we take that word out of our daily talk, we can make significant changes in how we think about suicide and people are brave to talk about it and reach out for the help they need as soon as they need it.”
1. What contributed to Malmon launching Open Minds?| A．Her professor’s instruction. | B．Her brother’s death. |
| C．Her desire for success. | D．Her mother’s encouragement. |
| A．Feeling sad. | B．Feeling ashamed. |
| C．Feeling shocked. | D．Feeling awkward. |
| A．Positive | B．Uncaring | C．Favorable | D．Disapproving |
10 . A teenager of 17 walks into a corner store and grabs a Coca-Cola, but the cashier refuses to sell it to him because he is underage. That rule is expected to soon become reality in parts of Mexico, as lawmakers in several states push legislation (立法)to keep junk food away from children. know it can sound a bit difficult but we have to take action now," says Lopez, a lawmaker in Oaxaca's Congress.
More than 70,000 Mexicans have died from COVID-19, the world's fourth-highest recorded death toll, tracked by Johns Hopkins University. 89% of those who died in Mexico had an underlying medical condition such as obesity, diabetes (糖尿病)，high blood pressure and heart problems. That has led to a new urgency to change diets so that the younger generation doesn't suffer those illnesses.
The critics, however, say the leaders are using preexisting health conditions in COVID-19 patients to distract from a weak government response to the virus outbreak. Yet few people would deny that the country consumes large amounts of sugar-sweetened drinks and processed snacks with little nutrition --- or that Mexico has a major weight problem.
Oaxaca's governor approved the state's junk food prohibition last week. Legislators still have to complete the legal systems, and punishment could include fines and even jail. Lopez says legislators from all over the country have called her for advice. Many other states are debating a junk food ban. However, a nationwide law would not be easy. "There are powerful commercial interests that least want it to happen, but we must prioritize the well-being of our children," Lopez says.
1. What is Lopez 's attitude towards the junk food?| A．Negative. | B．Neutral. |
| C．Positive. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．Keep distance. | B．Avoid illnesses. |
| C．Break away. | D．Shift attention. |
| A．Selling children junk food has been banned nationwide in Mexico. |
| B．Most Mexicans who died of COVID-19 had other health problems. |
| C．The younger generation doesn't suffer any weight problems. |
| D．People who break the prohibition in Oaxaca will only be warned. |
| A．Teenagers. | B．Legislators. |
| C．Soft drink companies. | D．State governors. |
