1 . You can’t walk into the office without Rihanna’s voice singing “work work work work work work” in your head. And that one line from Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” still makes you want to scream. These are commonly known as earworm songs—those sticky tunes that continue to play in your head. A recent study finds that more than 90% of adults report hearing earworm songs on a weekly basis.
Fortunately, most people report earworm songs as pleasant. But others find them annoying or even maddening. “Some people are troubled by them to the point that it disturbs life,” says Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis, a professor at the University of Arkansas who has studied earworm songs.
Margulis says earworm songs tend to have some predictable characteristics. For one thing, they tend to small parts of a song—not the whole track. And “the songs you’ve heard recently also have the most possibility to get stuck in your memory,” she says.
But sometimes something strange and unpredictable can also start a track paying in your head. “Once I was at the doctor’s office and saw a poster of a man who I thought looked like Gaston—a character from Beauty and the Beast,” Margulis recalls. A couple minutes passed, and she realized she couldn’t get “Be Our Guest”, the song in the movie, out of her head, even though she hadn’t thought of the tune in years. In that instance, she was able to identify her earworm’s trigger: the Gaston-looking man in the poster. “But the connections can be really unclear,” she says.
Margulis points out that, in all of human history, recorded music is a very new phenomenon. She says some have inferred that earworm songs are also new—the unintended consequence of being able to hear the same song played everywhere in the same way over and over again. So far, the convincing explanation for why human beings experience earworm songs remains a mystery. But there are some well-established ways to cast off the earworm songs.
“Finding a mentally demanding task and putting your mind on it usually shifts attention away from internal music. People tend to get earworms when performing tasks that don’t require their full attention—stuff like doing the dishes,” Margulis says.
Chewing gum can also help. When a song is stuck in our heads, it’s almost like we’re singing along with it. If you make your mouth do something else—chewing gum, eating a meal or talking with a friend—that can kick out the earworm.
You could also face your enemy. By listening to the full track that includes the passage stuck in your head, you may find “closure” and relief.
1. Which of the following is most likely to be an earworm song?| A．A song made up of simple words. |
| B．A song heard frequently these days. |
| C．A song sung by a most famous singer. |
| D．A song learned during one’s childhood. |
| A．Type. | B．Tune. |
| C．Cause. | D．Characteristic. |
| A．result from modern technology | B．be experienced over meals |
| C．help regain lost memories | D．hurt one’s hearing |
| A．Why we hear earworm songs. | B．Where to find earworm songs. |
| C．When we hear earworm songs. | D．How to get over earworm songs. |
2 . Do you like shopping? Or does the thought of wandering round the shops fill you with terror? For some of us, shopping is an enjoyable way of spending our spare time and our money. For me, it’s something I would rather avoid. Thank goodness for the Internet! It’s more convenient to buy CDs, electrical items, even food, from the comfort of your sofa. But that’s not the only reason: price is an important factor. We can buy goods and services cheaper online. But sometimes the problem is knowing what to buy. This has led to a type of shopping called “showrooming”.
Showrooming is something I’ve done. I will go to a shop to see, touch and try out products but then go home and buy them online at a knock-down price. I’m not alone in doing this. Research by a company called Foolproof, found 24% of people showroomed while Christmas shopping in 2013.
Amy Cashman, head of Technology at TNS UK, says the reasons for this new shopping habit are that “people are lacking time, lacking money and they want security about the products they are buying”. She explains that consumers are not only shopping online at home but they are using the Internet in store or on their smartphones to shop around.
But does this mean technology will kill shops? Certainly shops will change. They will have to offer more competitive prices or encourage people to buy more by giving in-store discounts or free gifts.
We mustn’t forget that buying in a shop means you can get expert advice from the sales assistant and you can get good aftercare. It’s good to speak to a real human rather than look at a faceless computer screen but at least by showrooming, you get the best of both worlds!
1. The two questions in Paragraph l are raised to ________.| A．introduce the topic |
| B．give two examples |
| C．compare different opinions |
| D．get answers from readers |
| A．Trying in shops and buying online. |
| B．Showing products in a room. |
| C．Buying something in a store. |
| D．Shopping on the Internet. |
| A．The lack of time. |
| B．The comfort of the sofa. |
| C．The shortness of money. |
| D．The security of the product. |
| A．critical | B．neutral |
| C．supportive | D．casual |
3 . My love for dogs goes as far back as my first memory. As a little girl，I collected dog toys. At 5 years old，I was ready and willing to run away with the family dog after the threat of giving him away when he chewed up the sofa. Luckily he stayed and my affection for man's best friend continued. As an adult，my reasons for wanting to adopt a dog were purely selfish. I wanted a companion. I wanted a young，energetic dog that would need long walks or runs to help keep mc active to stick to an exercise routine.
Little did I know that my four﹣legged friend and love for dogs would help me feel more at home in and fall in love with my Shanghai community. It seemed to me that being a tall blonde didn't already attract a lot of curious stares；add a 12﹣kilogram black dog that believes everyone is his best friend to the picture and locals seem even more intrigued. The decision to adopt Xiao Hei definitely fulfilled those early selfish desires，but the experience has also brought me closer to my neighbors and made me feel more at home.
A few months after I first brought Xiao Hei home，I spotted the group of elderly Chinese people who gather at the park. After realizing they go there most weeknights，I decided it would be a good way to help Xiao Hei socialize with other dogs. After a few visits，it was not only an opportunity for him to play but also a chance for me to practice my Chinese. "Most Chinese give their dogs English names，but you've given him a Chinese name. Very interesting，"they laughed. With that simple laugh，it seemed that barriers were broken and with each visit I felt more a part of the community.
1. Why did the author want to adopt a dog？| A．To practice Chinese. |
| B．To understand Chinese culture. |
| C．To feel at home． |
| D．To find a companion． |
| A．A Shanghai native. |
| B．A Chinese dog lover. |
| C．A foreigner in Shanghai. |
| D．A researcher on Chinese culture. |
| A．interested | B．excited | C．satisfied | D．frightened |
| A．The author once left home with her dog. |
| B．The author gets along well with her neighbors. |
| C．The author is good at the Chinese language. |
| D．The author will settle in Shanghai forever. |
4 . “Years ago when I was at the Grand Canyon, I remembered someone coming up to the canyon’s edge, taking a shot with a camera and then walking away, like ‘got it – done’, barely even glancing at the magnificent scene in front of him,” Linda Henkel, a scientist at Fairfield University, US told Live Science.
Henkel was surprised by how obsessed (痴迷的) people are with taking pictures these days — before dinner, during friends’ birthday parties, on museum tours and so on.
They keep taking pictures because they think that it helps record the moment, but as Henkel’s latest study has just found out, this obsession may prevent their brains remembering what actually happened, reported The Guardian.
In her study, Henkel led a group of college students around a museum and asked them to simply observe 15 objects and photograph 15 others. The next day the students’ memory of the tour was tested, and the results showed that they were less accurate in recognizing the objects and they remembered fewer details about them if they photographed them.
‘‘When people rely on technology to remember them — counting on the camera to record the event and thus not needing to attend to it fully themselves, it can have a negative impact on how well they remember their experiences,” Henkel explained.
But there is also an exception: if students zoomed in to photograph part of an object, their memory actually improved, and those who focused the lens (镜头) on a specific area could even recall parts that weren’t in the frame.
So basically, this study is saying that constantly taking pictures can harm your memory. But shouldn’t reviewing pictures we have taken help wake up our memories? This is true, but only if we spend enough time doing it.
“In order to remember, we have to access and interact with the photos, rather than just collect them,” Henkel told The Telegraph. However, previous research has shown that most people never take the time to look over their digital pictures simply because there are too many of them and they aren’t usually very organized on their computers.
1. Why did the author mention Henkel’s trip to the Grand Canyon at the beginning?| A．To complain about some tourists’ bad habits. |
| B．To give suggestions on how to enjoy one’s tour. |
| C．To point out people’s obsession with taking pictures. |
| D．To describe the beautiful view of the Grand Canyon. |
| A．Reviewing pictures always helps people bring back memories easily. |
| B．Taking pictures in a museum tour helps students recognize objects better. |
| C．People should spend more time taking pictures than studying real objects. |
| D．Pictures focusing on the details of objects probably improve people’s memories. |
| A．the camera | B．technology |
| C．the event | D．an object |
| A．People’s obsession with taking pictures and its influence. |
| B．Possible ways of using pictures to improve one’s memory. |
| C．Great harm to memory caused by taking pictures constantly. |
| D．A believable study into the negative impact of lining cameras often. |
5 . In a foreign country, a man visited a local restaurant. He didn’t speak their language. He ordered something indecipherable off the menu. When the waiter brought him a plate of delicious looking fried noodles, he smiled and made an OK sign at the waiter with his thumb and forefinger linked in a circle. Looking angry, the waiter then picked up the dish and thrown it to his lap. What he did wrong, he wondered. Well, nothing is quite as it seems when it comes to using hand gesture in another country.
Gestures have been used to replace words in many countries, and they are often specific to a given culture. Gesture may mean something complimentary in one culture, but is highly offensive in another.
The gesture “thumb-up” is commonly misinterpreted. In English, it is popularly known as ‘thumbs up’, despite the fact that the action is commonly performed with only one hand. English-speaking Caucasians use it to signal ‘OK’, which is the same meaning as O.K. ring gesture. The two can in fact be used almost interchangeably.
Avoid using this gesture in Southern Sardina or Northern Greece unless you want to invite a fight. While American, British and Australian would use the thumb up to signal hitch-hiking to the drivers, this message will not encourage a Greek driver or motorist to stop to give them a ride.
There are no right or wrong signals, only cultural differences. Lack of cultural understanding will lead to disharmony among people from different cultures. When we know what to look for, such encounters with other cultures are actually very interesting, fascinating and fun. It is certainty a great topic to discuss over a cup of coffee and cakes.
1. What did the man in the first paragraph do wrong?| A．He misunderstood the waiter. | B．He made the signal in a rude way. |
| C．He ordered something off the menu. | D．He didn’t realize cultural differences. |
| A．Full of aggression. | B．Full of admiration. |
| C．Full of complexity. | D．Full of certainty. |
| A．He will stop to give you a lift. |
| B．He will ask you to give him a HA. |
| C．He will get annoyed and fight against you. |
| D．He will make the same signal toward you. |
| A．To tell stories about different cultures. |
| B．To advise us to have an understanding of cultural differences. |
| C．To explain the meaning of different gestures. |
| D．To persuade people from different countries to live in harmony. |
6 . A gaming company in New Zealand is luring employees. from around the world by offering unlimited paid annual leave, a share in the company’s profits and no set work hours.
Dean Hall became famous in international gaming circles for being the lead designer on popular video game DayZ. After searching the world for a location for his new gaming studio, Rocketwerkz, New Zealander Hall settled on the small university town of Dunedin on the south island’s east coast, where land is cheap and creative start-ups have become an important pan of the city’s identity.
Rocketwerkz’s flexible work culture is now drawing talent from around the globe, with Hall receiving 300 messages of inquiry since a local newspaper wrote about his studio last week.
Last year, when the company was still in its infancy(婴儿期), baby cats would also make a regular appearance in the office as a form of fighting stress, and Friday afternoons are generally reserved for sports and games to end the week on a playful note.
“The first time I heard about the idea of unlimited paid leave in places like Silicon Valley it was about the problems it caused. A culture had appeared where employees took no leave,” said Hall.
“So to address that, our staff are issued the standard New Zealand annual leave of four weeks, but they can also take unlimited leave in addition to that.”
Emily Lampitt, from Britain, is a 3D junior artist who has been with the company for a year and a half. She says the flexible work culture was a huge factor in her decision to move to New Zealand.
“The flexibility here has made me feel much more relaxed” she says. I “That internal stress I used to feel in a traditional work environment has gone, so when I am at work now it is because I want to be, because I am passionate(有激情的), not because I am afraid of my boss or watching the clock.”
1. The underlined word “luring” in Paragraph I is closest in meaning to .| A．cheating | B．disturbing |
| C．inspiring | D．attracting |
| A．To show the company focuses on pressure relief. |
| B．To explain how the company motivates its staff. |
| C．To stress the significance of harmony in workplaces. |
| D．To introduce a new way to promote creativity |
| A．set a good example to Rochetwerkz. |
| B．didn’t work out as expected. |
| C．helped develop the local culture. |
| D．solved the problem of unemployment. |
| A．To encourage companies to be more flexible. |
| B．To describe what a creative company should be like. |
| C．To give a report on the flexible management of a company. |
| D．To discuss how to make a traditional company more competitive. |
7 . If you want to be productive， you must complete work． Almost everything we do has many stages to completion and in many situations， you don't actually create value until you finish the last stage． Farmers can't sell their grain until it is harvested． Automakers can't sell cars that have made it 90% of the way through the assembly line（生产线）． Most employers aren't going to pay you for having a degree unless you finished the last class and graduated．
Now all those things require starting， but if you have work in progress， the most valuable thing you can do is to pick something and finish it． Finishing is where you start benefiting from the value you've created． I've noticed that many successful people aren't the ones who are the smartest or have the best ideas． They are often the ones who do the best job of taking an idea and completing it． A good idea fully carried out is better than a great idea that never gets completed．
Does this mean you need to finish everything you start？ Not necessarily， but if you don't think something is worth finishing， be honest with yourself and terminate the project． Don't leave hundreds of half finished efforts lying around physically or mentally acting like you are going to come back and pick them up． If you need to drop something ， do so strategically and intentionally． If you've put significant effort into a project， you may still benefit from finishing it even if you wouldn't start it again based on changed circumstances． For example， if you are in your last few months before graduating from college and realize you don't want to career in what you are majoring in， you probably should go ahead and graduate because there is significant value in having the degree---even if you don't intend to actually work in that field．
What projects do you have that are currently in progress？ Can you find something and finish it？
1. Why do many people become successful according to the author？ ______| A．They are the smartest | B．They have the best ideas |
| C．They start things smoothly | D．They make ideas fully completed |
| A．Develop | B．End |
| C．Plan | D．Support |
| A．A man decides to finish all he starts to do |
| B．Farmers hurry to sell their crops before they are ripe |
| C．A college student chooses to study until he gets his degree |
| D．A student keeps a half-filled stamp album around for future use |
| A．Finishing vs． Starting | B．Well Begun is Half Done |
| C．Planning vs． Performing | D．It is Easier Said than Done |
8 . A company in San Francisco, California, has found a way to turn used plastic bottles into women’s shoes.
Every day, millions of Americans drink water and other liquids from plastic bottles. More than 60 million of them are thrown away each day. Many of the plastic bottles end up in landfills or are burned with other waste products.
A San Francisco start-up company called Rothy’s, however, turns this plastic waste into environmentally friendly shoes. Roth Martin is the company’s co-founder. He explains how they turn plastic into soft material for women’s feet. They take the plastic, clean it, and break it down into small pieces. Then they press them through a device that makes soft fibers. Those fibers are then combined together. This is done by a 3D machine. It is designed to reduce waste while making the shoes. The knitted stuff and the inner part of the shoe are then attached to the shoe’s outer part, called the sole (鞋底). This outer sole is also made from environmentally friendly material: responsibly sourced no-carbon rubber.
Rothy’s shoes are sold online. They are flat shoes, with either a rounded or pointed toe. They come in different colors and designs. They cost either $ 125 or $ 145 per pair, depending on the design. After American actress Gwyneth Paltrow discovered them last year, the demand for the shoes grew. Martin says there is no shortage of material to fill that demand. “We’re not going to run out of water bottles any time soon. So we have a limitless supply of material, and I think that is a good sign for our future.” When the environmentally friendly shoes wear out, customers can return them at no cost to a company that uses the recycled materials to make other products.
For now, the shoes are only available to be shipped in the United States. However, the company says it will add international shipping in the near future.
1. How are used plastic bottles usually dealt with?| A．They are buried or burned. |
| B．They are used to make shoes. |
| C．They are changed into soft materials. |
| D．They are returned to factories for reuse. |
| A．Attached. | B．Fixed. |
| C．Combined. | D．Repaired. |
| A．The design and color. | B．The reasonable price. |
| C．The company’s advertisement. | D．The star power of Gwyneth Paltrow. |
| A．To advertise a new kind of shoes. |
| B．To describe the process of making shoes. |
| C．To introduce a new way of recycling plastic waste. |
| D．To stress the importance of environmental protection. |
9 . Spending money on time-saving services reduces stress and boosts(增进）happiness，according to a new research, but shockingly, few of us do it.
Whillans, a professor at HBS said, “ Buying time helps to protect us from the stress in our lives caused by time pressure, and the feeling that we don’ t have enough minutes in the day to complete our tasks. ’’
The effect was clearest in the Canadian experiment, in which 60 working adults were given $40 to spend in two different ways. One weekend, they were told to spend the money on a material purchase—a gift for themselves. The next weekend, they were instructed to spend the $40 on anything that saved them time，from paying the neighbor ’ s kid to run errands (跑腿）to taking an Uber instead of a bus.
On the day they made the time-saving purchase, they felt happier, in a better mood, and lower feelings of time stress than on the day they bought a material purchase，’’ said Whillans.
The biggest surprise to the researchers was how few people would spend money on time-saving services. When they asked 98 working adults how they would spend a “windfall” of $40，only two percent named a purchase that would save them time.
“ One reason，’’ said Whillans，is that we' re very bad at remembering how much we hate doing certain tasks once the suffering has passed. That makes us less likely to take active steps to avoid that overburdened feeling in the future. ” But another possible cause is good old-fashioned guilt. “If you feel guilty about getting someone to clean your house for you, then you might get less happiness from outsourcing (外包）that task，” said Whillans，u or you might just be less likely to spend your money in that way. ’’
1. In the Canadian experiment, the participants .| A．were divided into two groups |
| B．were given $ 40 every two weeks |
| C．were asked to give money to a neighborJ s kid |
| D．were asked to spend the money in different ways |
| A．Paying much for a concert ticket. |
| B．Taking a regular bus to get to work. |
| C．Employing someone to clean the garden. |
| D．Buying themselves an expensive present. |
| A．no people would like to do it |
| B．a small percentage of people choose to do it |
| C．more people will do it if extra money is given |
| D．most people like the idea but don ’ t practice it in life |
| A．The good old-fashioned guilt. |
| B．The feeling of spending’money on goods. |
| C．The stress of having someone clean your house. |
| D．The discomfort when completing tasks we hate doing. |
10 . A loving father lost much weight after being shamed into dieting when he became so fat that he couldn't play with his young daughter. Chris Willis, 47, tipped the scales at 172 kg following a lifetime of fatty foods.
The dad cut out all the fatty foods he had enjoyed, and began exercising. He now weighs 105 kg after losing 10 kg every month since July. Chris had to take long pauses just to climb the stairs or walk more than a few yards, saying, "The hardest thing was seeing my little girl in the garden and not being able to join in because I was so unhealthy. But now I am making up for the lost time-we do so much together and it is just great."
Before switching to a healthy lifestyle, Chris would eat five slices of bread for breakfast as a mid morning meal before a full English breakfast. He would then eat a sandwich, a large pack of crisps and a pasty for lunch before chewing a whole packet of biscuits in the afternoon. For dinner Chris would demolish a curry, and ice cream, and also four pints of beer before feeding on fatty snacks all evening.
Chris said, "At 13, I was 118 kg and I remember a teacher pointing this out to the whole school. From then on I was picked on and bullied(欺负). My weight went up and up. But I now have a new-found freedom. My family and friends have been so supportive and my wife and daughter are so pleased for me. In fact it's them that I did it for more than anyone else. The whole journey has been amazing and I am still shocked myself that I have managed to lose so much weight." Chris is now aiming for a new target weight of 96kg.
1. What was the main reason for Chris losing weight?| A．He was bullied by others. |
| B．He weighed as much as 172kg. |
| C．He wanted to switch to a healthy lifestyle. |
| D．He was too unhealthy to play with his daughter. |
| A．Many years. |
| B．About 6 months. |
| C．About one year. |
| D．Since he was 13. |
| A．drink |
| B．absorb |
| C．consume |
| D．destroy |
| A．Power of father's Love |
| B．Harm of Fatty Foods |
| C．Importance of Health |
| D．Benefit of Exercise |
