1 . The joy of giving is real, according to a study. Research presented in the Journal of the Association for Psychological Science shows that those who give gifts are happier — and happier for longer — than those who receive gifts.
Researchers conducted two studies last year. In one，participants were given $5 every day for five days and were required to spend the money on the same thing each day. Some participants were required to spend the money on themselves, while others were required to give to make a donation to charity. In a second experiment that was done online, participants played 10 rounds of a word puzzle game and each won 5 cents per round, which they could keep or donate.
In both experiments, participants reported their overall happiness. Those who donated their money showed that their happiness declined at a much slower rate than those who kept the money or spent it on themselves.
The researchers note that when people focus on an outcome, they can easily compare outcomes, which may diminish their sensitivity to each experience. When people focus on an action, they may focus less on comparison and instead experience each act of giving as a unique happiness-inducing event. Further analyses ruled out some potential alternative explanations, such as the possibility that participants who gave to others had to think longer and harder about what to give, which could promote higher happiness.
The results are especially interesting because according to one of the researchers, Ed O’Brien of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, they conflict with past research. “If you want to sustain happiness over time, past research tells us that we need to take a break from what were currently consuming and experience something new. Our research reveals that the kind of thing may matter more than assumed: Repeated giving, even in identical ways to identical other，may continue to feel relatively fresh and relatively pleasurable the more we do it,” O’Brien said.
So for all the holiday gifts you give this season, expect to feel happy and know that feeling is going to stick around for a while.
1. What’s the function of the first paragraph?| A．To lead to the topic. |
| B．To highlight the importance of the study. |
| C．To recommend a journal. |
| D．To persuade people to give gifts regularly. |
| A．To challenge the past research. |
| B．To rule out different experimental data. |
| C．To show the benefits of donation. |
| D．To make the conclusion more convincing. |
| A．Develop. | B．Show. | C．Reduce. | D．Lack. |
| A．Gift giving will result in longer happiness than receiving. |
| B．Thinking longer and harder on giving will promote higher happiness. |
| C．The feeling of happiness will disappear soon if people just give holiday gifts. |
| D．Taking a break from what were currently consuming will sustain happiness. |
2 . One rainy afternoon, I was on a cross-town bus when a young woman jumped on. She had a child with her who must have been about 3 or 4 years old.
The bus was full, bumpy, and it soon got noisy as her kid began crying because he couldn't sit next to his mother. There were a couple of open seats, but they weren't together. She was flustered and looked embarrassed.
Then another woman, a little older, stood up and moved so that the mother and child could sit together. The mom smiled as a thank-you. And then three words came out of the older woman's mouth that elevated the entire energy of that bus ride:“I've been there”.
Simple, undramatic and honest. In that moment, it seemed to unite people. Why? Because almost all experiences are shared human experiences. We forget that, as we forge (前进) through life, focused on our own troubles and needs—which are actually less unique than we think. How can these three words create more connection in your life? Ask yourself: “Where am I holding back?”
One thing I know for sure is this: Healing others helps heal yourself. I noticed this recently with my friend, Tracy, who took a new friend who had suffered miscarriage under her wing. Tracy had three of them before having her daughter two years ago. Our intellect needs a doctor to explain the medical side of things, yes. But our souls need human connection to help us along. No one can do that better than someone who has been exactly where you are.
Can the essence of these three words help you make a small difference right now? It can be as simple as volunteering your seat, sharing some helpful advice or even lightening the mood with a joke when you notice that someone's uncomfortable -because we're all in this together.
1. The underlined word “flustered” in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to ________.| A．upset | B．shocked |
| C．scared | D．relieved |
| A．The woman was on the bus and saw what had happened to the boy. |
| B．The woman once had the similar experience with that mother. |
| C．The woman got to her destination and was ready to get off the bus. |
| D．The woman took the exact seat that the boy was on just now. |
| A．Everyone has his or her own unique problem that is difficult to solve. |
| B．Doctors can help us get through when we have mental or physical problems. |
| C．One can indeed make a difference to those in need of help by doing simple things. |
| D．The author's friend Tracy felt better after she was comforted by her new friend |
| A．illustrate some ways of helping others in detail |
| B．appeal to readers to give timely help to those in need |
| C．show a harmonious world by telling some touching stories |
| D．praise those who are willing to help others in emergencies |
3 . If you were to throw, say, a banana skin out of your car while driving along the motorway, that would be a completely harmless action, due to the fact that it’s part of a fruit—right? Actually, no. A banana skin can take up to two years to be naturally processed, and a third of drivers confess they litter while driving, that’s a lot of thrown banana skin. An orange skin and a cigarette butt (烟蒂) have similar biodegrading (生物降解) time to that of a banana skin, but tin cans last up to 100 years; and plastic bottles last forever, as do glass bottles.
Despite the fact that longer-lasting materials will serve to damage the environment and its animals for longer, we can’t measure the danger of a certain type of rubbish by its lifetime. For example, despite having a fairly short length of biodegrading time, more than 120 tons of cigarette-related litter is thrown in the UK every day.
It’s not a cheap habit either: to keep our streets clean annually costs UK taxpayers £500 million, and when you include our green spaces, that goes up to £1 billion. So, it’s not surprising that if caught throwing rubbish, you could face a £20,000 fine or even prison time and, if you threw something dangerous, the court could give you five years to serve. Regardless of how serious these punishments might seem, however, among the reported cases only 2,000 were found guilty out of 825,000, so we still have some way to go in making sure people obey the rules.
1. What does the underlined word “confess” in Paragraph1 mean?| A．Defend. | B．Admit. |
| C．Determine. | D．Assume. |
| A．Glass bottles. | B．Tin cans. |
| C．Plastic bottles. | D．Banana skins. |
| A．The punishment for throwing rubbish illegally is rather light. |
| B．The harm of rubbish can be measured by its lifetime. |
| C．Cigarette-related litter and fruit skins can be ignored for their fairly short lifetime. |
| D．A small number of people felt guilty of illegally littering. |
| A．To call for people not to litter illegally. |
| B．To inform readers of different biodegrading terms. |
| C．To encourage people to use fewer plastic bags. |
| D．To attach significance to good behavior. |
4 . When we are kids, we are constantly being compared to others. Our parents may compare us to our siblings (兄弟姐妹). Our teachers probably compared us to other students. Kids compared us to other kids.
Those comparisons created either a sense of humiliation or a sense of pride. Either way, it has become second-nature. Everything we’d done has been followed by looking around and seeking validation (确认感).
Midway through my psychology PhD program at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, I felt that I lacked whatever magical ability is required to finish and publish a project. It seemed as though other graduate students were authoring several papers in the time it took me to complete a single experiment. I worked as hard as I could, but my progress seemed to be incremental (渐进式增加的) compared with theirs. When I shared these concerns with my adviser, she had a different take on the situation. “You’re not doing anything wrong,” she assured me, “you’re just pursuing a different kind of research.”
Comparing yourself to others is not necessarily a bad thing.
When you catch yourself comparing yourself to others, get curious about the feeling that is being triggered (引起). Is it jealousy? Is it obsession? Is it admiration? Is it love? Is it inspiration? Your triggered feelings will give you a clue as to what is going on within you.
Most likely, you are jealous because you wish you had what it takes to achieve what the other has achieved or to have what they have. Get curious and figure out why you still don’t have it and what would it take to get there. It is never a good idea to make yourself wrong for comparing yourself to others or to make yourself wrong for not getting where you wish to be.
But if all this comparison mounts to is bitter jealousy, then your problem is bigger than a simple comparison. Always bear in mind that your only competition is the one in the mirror and—believe me—it is the toughest competition of all.
1. Which of the following words has the closest meaning to the underlined word “humiliation” in Paragraph 2?| A．Virtue. | B．Shame. | C．Excitement. | D．Tiredness. |
| A．The author made great progress. |
| B．The author worried unnecessarily. |
| C．The author had magical power. |
| D．The author did something wrong. |
| A．Progress made with great effort. |
| B．Clues found through research. |
| C．Comparisons triggered by curiosity. |
| D．Emotions activated by comparisons. |
| A．How to view comparisons in a reasonable way. |
| B．How to seek validation when compared with others. |
| C．How to show second-nature in comparison with others. |
| D．How to get rid of feelings caused by comparisons. |
5 . Germans have a word “wanderlust” which translated into English would be “the desire to wander”. Nowadays the chance to travel is endless. Thanks to cheap air tickets, travelling abroad is very easy and sometimes it's even cheaper to fly out of the country than to travel within your own. So, yes, travelling is cheap but there have to be other reasons to travel and you're right. There are plenty of reasons!
I have always had this feeling of wanderlust. It started from me wanting to explore my local woods at the back of my garden as a young girl and as I have grown, so has my sense of adventure. And I found my local woods being replaced with the Brazil wetland, Pantanal, where I went last summer in search of jaguars, snakes and crocodiles. The thing with travelling is that it's always different. Even if you went to the same country, to the same town and stayed in exactly the same hotel, it would be a completely different experience. The people you meet will be different, and they will tell you their own travelling stories: stories of holiday romances, holiday worries and stories that seem so outrageous that you can hardly believe them until something similar happens to you.
Or maybe the difference is you? Maybe you have changed since last time you were there? And that's the thing with travelling—it changes you. When you travel you are forced to experience a new culture. Whether it's eating a guinea pig, or staying with a family where neither of you speak a common language and you have to communicate through hand actions and smiles, the experience gives me itchy feet to do it all again. And although wanderlust is a German word, the English idiom “to have itchy feet” has a similar idea. Someone who has itchy feet needs to leave or travel. This desire to explore is found not only in language but in us.
1. According to Paragraph 2, what is the most important part of travelling?| A．Having different experiences. |
| B．Hearing many travelling stories. |
| C．Experiencing holiday romances. |
| D．Taking more adventures. |
| A．interesting | B．surprising | C．moving | D．disappointing |
| A．Staying with a family without common languages. |
| B．Communicating through hand actions and smiles. |
| C．Eating a guinea pig with a family. |
| D．Experiencing a different culture. |
| A．give various reasons for travelling |
| B．encourage people to travel abroad |
| C．explain the German word “wanderlust” |
| D．share the writer's travelling experiences |
6 . Artificial Intelligence (AI) advice is as influential as human’s, but positive crowd views still overpower.
In a study, researchers found that machines that make recommendations—or AI experts—were as influential as human experts when the AI experts recommended which photo users should add to their online business profiles. However, both AI and human experts failed to budge them if their feedback was negative and went against popular views among other users, said S. Shyam Sundar, a professor of Media Effects.
Because people are increasingly using social media to look for feedback, studies suggest that expert opinions and the bandwagon（从众效应）effect may be important factors in influencing decisions, according to Jinping Wang, a doctoral candidate in mass communication and first author of the study. “Nowadays, we often turn to online platforms for opinions from other people—like our peers and experts—before making a decision,” said Wang. AI experts are often less expensive than human experts and they can also work 24 hours a day, which, Wang suggests, might make them appealing to online business.
The researchers also found that the AI’s group status—in this case, national origin was pointed out—did not seem to affect a person’s acceptance of its recommendation. Among human experts, however, an expert from a similar national origin who offered a negative opinion of a photograph tended to be more influential than a human expert from an unknown country who offered a similar negative rating of a photograph.
While findings that suggest group status may not affect whether a person values the view of AI experts sound like good news, Sundar suggests that the same cultural prejudice might still be at work in AI experts for they could be hidden in the programming and training data.
“It can be both good—and bad—because it all depends on what you feed the AI,” said Sundar. “While it is good to believe in AI’s ability to transcend（超越）cultural prejudice, we have to keep in mind that if you train the AI on pictures from one culture, they could give misleading recommendations on pictures meant for use in other cultural contexts.”
1. What do the underlined words “budge them” in Paragraph 2 mean?| A．Change users’ ideas. | B．Satisfy users’ needs. |
| C．Raise users’ spirits. | D．Fire users’ imagination. |
| A．Because AI experts are more knowledgeable. |
| B．Because AI experts are less influenced by feelings. |
| C．Because AI experts are always available and cost less. |
| D．Because AI experts are so new as to be more attractive. |
| A．An expert who has great achievements in arts. |
| B．An expert from countries with similar cultures. |
| C．An expert with better personality and attitude. |
| D．A foreign expert who is very popular worldwide. |
| A．People should have a mind of their own. |
| B．People should be able to tell good from bad. |
| C．People should be trained how to use AI properly. |
| D．People should know AI’s hidden cultural prejudice. |
7 . 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? |
8 . As my husband and I drove down a country road, we passed a fire station with a sign that read, "Are you ready for the next storm?” Our area had just been in the path of Hurricane Irma, causing downed trees and outages. We were stuck in the dark and cut off from the outside world.
We have had our share of storms in the past--a snowstorm and other heavy snows that knocked down trees, sometimes up to a week at a time. Those days in a cold house weren't fun, but we learned so much from those early storms, things that made later storms easier to bear.
Now we have stored up flashlights, lanterns and candles. We bought a battery-operated radio to keep up with the news. We stocked up on batteries so that we'd have plenty for extended power failures. We make sure our grill（烤架） is ready and its tank is full, and we purchase food that can be easily prepared and then cooked or heated on the grill. And we don't forget to buy emergency chocolate! We have book lights to read in the dark. We keep our car gas tanks full and have emergency cash on hand.
We're ready for the next storm, but we wouldn't have learned to do all those things if we hadn't encountered a storm in the past. The same is true spiritually. Those little storms in our lives are never fun, but they prepare us for the big storms--the big trials--that will come our way, They can teach us some valuable lessons.
Are you ready for the next storm? Now is the time to get ready. . . not when the storm arrives.
1. Which can replace the underlined word "outages” in paragraph 1?| A．weather change |
| B．virus' spreading |
| C．power failure |
| D．emotional reaction |
| A．The lessons that storms can teach us. |
| B．The importance of being ready for storms. |
| C．The necessities the author bought for her daily life. |
| D．The preparations the author made for the next storm. |
| A．It was rewarding. |
| B．It was annoying. |
| C．It was thrilling. |
| D．It was frightening. |
| A．Things will work out. |
| B．Keep something for a rainy day. |
| C．Don't stop regardless of the weather. |
| D．Sunshine always comes after the storm. |
9 . When I was a child, I often saw my Grandma throwing bread that was no longer fresh to birds. Not surprisingly, this attracted few birds. Later on, we discovered bird food at the local store. Feeding garden birds in the UK has come a long way since then. Today, the birds can enjoy many kinds of food: from plant seeds to sunflower hearts and from cakes to meat balls. All this comes at a huge cost of about £200m a year. Sometimes, I wonder if we might be feeding our garden birds better than our kids. But maybe it’s worth it. Our generosity is having an important effect on the behavior and even evolution of these birds.
Take the goldfinch for example. In the 1960s, this was a rare bird. Today, goldfinches can be seen in many gardens. Other new visitors include the spotted woodpecker, which has left its usual woodland for food on bird tables. Evolution is meant to progress slowly: over thousands of years. Yet during the past few decades, the beaks of many kinds of birds have become longer because birds with longer beaks can get more food, and then are more likely to live on.
Actually, the British habit of feeding garden birds goes back much further. During the sixth century, St Serf of Fife fed a robin in his garden; during the winter of 1890, workers in London were seen giving their lunches to songbirds. The real change took place in the 1980s, when a few farsighted businessmen realized that encouraging the British to be more generous to garden birds can help them make money. Therefore, various kinds of bird food and modern bird feeders were produced. As a result, the number of species using garden feeding stations increased very quickly, from about 10 to over 100. Then, in 2005, Springwatch came, which turned our love of garden birds into an entertainment show.
Is bird feeding completely good for birds? Not everyone thinks so. Studies by the Zoological Society of London have shown that by bringing together many birds, bird feeders may help the spread of disease. In Australia, some bird experts believe—probably wrongly—that bird feeding creates a “dependence culture”.
But we shouldn’t forget one major benefit of feeding garden birds—it connects millions of people to the natural world. This is especially important for people who seldom reach the wider countryside. As I write this, there comes some noise outside my window: several birds were singing and flying around in my garden. It’s a sight I could only imagine years ago, when feeding garden birds just meant throwing hard bread to them.
1. What does the author mean by saying the underlined part in Paragraph 1?| A．Feeding garden birds is a huge waste of money. |
| B．We spend quite a lot of money on the food of garden birds. |
| C．We should care more for our kids rather than garden birds. |
| D．Feeding garden birds can bring more joy than feeding kids. |
| A．These birds have given up traditional woodland. | B．Food for these birds becomes richer and better. |
| C．Longer beaks mean more chances of survival. | D．These birds grow faster than ever before. |
| A．It is completely good for birds. |
| B．It may help the spread of disease. |
| C．It connects more and more people to the natural world. |
| D．It may reduce birds’ ability to find food by themselves. |
| A．Annoyed. | B．Pleased. | C．Surprised. | D．Bored. |
10 . Misfortune sneaked into my family when I was thirteen.First, my mother fell ill and was hospitalized; then my father, in poor health himself, was filled with anxiety and worry.Both had to stay in the hospital, leaving my younger sister and me alone at home.
As the sun set in the west, fear rose in my heart.In the dim of night,the hills beyond the village loomed in a ghostly shape on the windows of our spacious room; the frightening howls of wolves often scared us out of our sleep.
Our cries for help were unlikely to reach the villagers, for our home was located in the school some distance away from the village.Suddenly I thought of the whistle my mother used for PE classes.I took out the whistle and, drawing a deep breath,I blew it as loudly as possible.Before long,a bustle of footsteps and voices came nearer and nearer,and flashlight beams crisscrossed outside our windows.Hearing my name called,I went to open the door, and there in front of me stood a group of familiar villagers, each with a hoe on the shoulder.The very sight of their kind faces and deeply concerned eyes drove the fear away from my heart.
“Now go to sleep, kid.We are staying out here tonight!” said one old man.Resting their hoes against the wall, they sat or squatted nearby,smoking Chinese pipes or chatting in loud voices....Gradually,I fell asleep.They didn't leave until daybreak; and at dusk they came again, banging their hoes on the flagstones as if to tell me: Don't be afraid, kid,we are here with you.No one dares to hurt you!
Afterwards, the bustle of footsteps and the clatter of hoes could be heard every night around our home as if on schedule.I know what they actually meant by making the "noises" was to remove fear from my mind and reassure me: they were right outside our windows!
Ever since then,I have been convinced that sound has "temperature" and that it can warm the hearts of lonely, fear-stricken people.
1. Which of the following is true according to the passage?| A．The "noises”made by villagers outside the author's windows accompanied the writer and his sister to sleep. |
| B．The author's home was far away from the village, and that's why he didn't dare to seek help from villagers. |
| C．At the sight of villagers' faces,the author still felt fearful from the bottom of his heart. |
| D．The author was left alone at home because both his parents fell ill and were in hospital. |
| A．surrounded | B．appeared | C．happened | D．reached |
| A．A Life-saving Whistle |
| B．The Story of Wolves and Villagers |
| C．The Temperature of Sound |
| D．The Misfortune of My Childhood |
| A．In a popular culture magazine |
| B．In a collection of literature |
| C．In a news report |
| D．In a tour guide |
