1 . Billions of people deal with a nail-biting habit at some point in their lives. Many will go to great lengths to try to stop. And while not all of us are nail-biters, most of us do have a habit we’d like to kick. So what’s the best way to break one?
Research shows that intentions alone often fail to lead to long-term behavior change. This isn’t to say you can’t break a habit. Rather, by understanding the basis of habits, you can create better plans for changing them. For example, we know habits are often affected by environments and routines. Lying in bed may cause you to endlessly scroll through your phone, or watching TV on the couch may lead you to grab a sugary snack.
One of the most effective ways to manage behavior is to identify these locations or times of day. Then try to modify them by changing your routine or creating obstacles that make it more difficult to perform the habit in that space. Moving, switching jobs, or even starting a new schedule, are particularly great times to break a habit or build a new one.
One 2005 study tracked university students’ exercising, reading, and TV-watching habits before and after they transferred schools. When students were no longer around old environments and routines, their habits, even the strong ones, significantly changed.
For behaviors like nail-biting, a practice called habit reversal training can be helpful. Developed by psychologists in the 1970s, the aim is to change a habit by replacing it with another one that’s less detrimental. The training requires you to analyze and understand your habit cues, so you can effectively step in at the right times. For example, if you tend to bite your nails at work, keep a fidget toy at your desk in advance. Then, if a stressful email comes in, use the toy when you feel the urge to bite your nails.
Breaking a habit takes time, so remember to give yourself grace and have patience through the process.
1. Why does the author mention “a nail-biting habit” in Para. 1?A.To make a comparison. | B.To make a conclusion. |
C.To introduce the topic. | D.To attract readers’ attention. |
A.Having intentions alone. | B.Understanding the basis of habits. |
C.Making practical plans. | D.Adapting the environments or times. |
A.Harmful. | B.Helpful. |
C.Annoying. | D.Time-consuming. |
A.Difficulties in dealing with nail-biting. | B.Significance of habit reversal training. |
C.Useful tips on getting rid of a habit. | D.Necessity of having grace and patience. |
2 . Many years ago, a teenage boy named David arrived at a children’s institution in England. He was referred to me, a (an)
I recognized the limitations of psychology in
Gradually, David began to
David showed me how one can reach out to another person without
A.doctor | B.tutor | C.adviser | D.psychologist |
A.ashamed | B.depressed | C.disappointed | D.annoyed |
A.remained | B.seemed | C.fell | D.became |
A.feeling | B.understanding | C.addressing | D.causing |
A.relax | B.heal | C.speak | D.play |
A.peace | B.chaos | C.silence | D.pain |
A.backed | B.expected | C.struggled | D.cheated |
A.comfort | B.security | C.direction | D.belief |
A.open up | B.show off | C.break down | D.fit in |
A.regularly | B.slowly | C.actively | D.curiously |
A.communication | B.company | C.contact | D.recognition |
A.suffering | B.loss | C.participation | D.progress |
A.thinking | B.turning | C.bending | D.tripping |
A.chance | B.favor | C.duty | D.turn |
A.limitation | B.hesitation | C.regret | D.words |
3 . Cheerfulness is a powerful way to deal with a world that will always be tough and unjust in one way or another. It is a sign of strength in the face of difficulties. Different from fear, joy, or anger, cheerfulness isn’t something that overcomes you.
◎Acknowledge the difficulties.
Cheerfulness is an honest emotion because you’re not hiding from reality.
◎Don’t focus on the negative.
Whether in your personal life or in society, it’s easy to focus on what’s going wrong. But whatever you focus on, it grows. If you decide to focus on what’s going wrong, those problems will grow in your mind until they consume you.
◎Be grateful for what you have.
◎
No cheerfulness without laughter. So you can watch comedies, browse memes, or joke around with friends. Laughter strengthens your immune system, boosts your mood, makes you feel less pain, and protects you from stress. Laughter is cathartic (精神宣泄的) and infectious. Laugh and brighten the room.
A.Find your sense of humor. |
B.Deal with difficulties seriously. |
C.Focus on the good things you have. |
D.To a large degree, cheerfulness is a choice. |
E.You’re not covering your eyes and looking away. |
F.Acknowledge the problems, but don’t give them too much attention. |
G.Being cheerful will make you see the world and your own life in a different way. |
4 . BOOKS THAT CHANGED MY LIFE
Susie Dent is Britain’s most-loved word expert. She has two new books: Interesting Stories About Curious Words (John Murray) and Roots of Happiness (Puffin), both available now.
Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain Fournier
This was the first book that really stopped me in my tracks. I lapped up its romantic but melancholy (忧郁的) story of the dreamy world between childhood and adolescence. I’ve never found as acute a description of longing as I did here, and for many things: for the mysterious castle, for love, and for freedom. It is an mysterious and dreamy book. What adds to the magic is that this was the only story that Fournier wrote—he died on the front line in the early months of the First World War.
The Oxford English Dictionary
If I could take just one book to a desert island it would (of course) be the complete Oxford English Dictionary —all 20 volumes. It may sound predictable, but the OED is anything but. In its pages you’ll find comedy, passion, tragedy, and thousands of hidden stories. Even the simplest of words have had quite a journey— “nice”, for example, has gone from meaning “stupid” to “pleasant”. Add to that a host of words that have unaccountably disappeared when—to my mind—we could really do with them, and you have entertainment forever. And which of us hasn’t met an “ultracrepidarian”: one who loves to talk about something they know nothing about?
Maus and Maus II by Art Spiegelman
The graphic novels Maus and Maus Ⅱ by the American cartoonist Art Spiegelman are not easy reads, but they’re important ones. They’re really a tale within a tale, in which the narrator (叙述者) interviews his father about his experiences of the Holocaust and his liberation from a concentration camp. Here the Nazis are drawn as cats, and Jews are mice. Overarching it all is an unforgettable tale of a son’s relationship with his broken father. Given that German has always been my first love, it felt necessary to read these books. Spiegelman takes the unspeakable and gives it an immediacy I’ll never forget.
1. What is the probable purpose of this text?A.To recommend and classify. | B.To encourage and enrich. |
C.To introduce and inform. | D.To memorize and alarm. |
A.It inspires her to write stories. | B.It helps her describe something particular. |
C.It fuels her passion for referring to a dictionary. | D.It entertains her with the development of language. |
A.German geography. | B.Unexplained tales. |
C.Adapted life story. | D.Parent-child relationship. |
5 . There are a lot of good and logical reasons not to say what you think, especially when others disagree. Offending people isn’t nice, and it can lead to social consequences. Nodding along might seem practical or charitable, despite the fact that you are screaming disagreement on the inside. However, the true act of charity is to say what you really think. Your committing to complete honesty can be an act of love.
One of my friends takes honesty to the extreme. He calls talks with others that get to the complete truth of things, even difficult admissions in views, “love conversations”. Once two people have such a conversation, his theory goes, they can understand each other and act accordingly. As a philosophical matter, my friend’s belief of “love conversations” is Kantian. The German philosopher Kant argued that lying to others prevents them from making choices based on the truth, which is contradictory with friendship and love.
In the 1990s, Brad Blanton argued when the truth is hard to accept, telling it can have costs, including social disapproval and broken relationships. But it is worth the consequences because it can reduce stress, deepen connections with others, and reduce emotional reactivity.
Both sides can’t be right here. Either Kant, Blanton, and my friend are embracing a faulty theory, or our society is missing a big opportunity for moral growth. You might say that little white lies are a society lubricant (润滑剂). They can even seem virtuous. After telling a white lie, I sometimes pat myself on the back, turning my evil into a virtue inside my own head. Some lies might make life easier, but they don’t necessarily make life happier. I wouldn’t want my wife to tell me what she thinks I want to hear, as if we were strangers avoiding conflict, and finding out that she had done so would make me feel distrusted and therefore hurt our relationship. I don’t want a stranger to tell me she likes my writing if she doesn’t, because unreal compliments make me suspicious.
1. What can we learn from “my friend” in Paragraph 2?A.He admits other’s views with great honest. | B.He practices Kant’s philosophical theories. |
C.He loves to discuss philosophy with others. | D.He prevents himself from difficult choices. |
A.stressful and emotional | B.unacceptable and harmful |
C.thoughtless but courageous | D.challenging but deserving |
A.To distinguish his wife from a stranger. | B.To show his wife’s honesty and virtue. |
C.To argue for the importance of frankness. | D.To stress avoiding suspicion in marriage. |
A.Telling the truth can be an act of love. | B.The route to happier life lies in lies. |
C.Little white lies are actually virtuous. | D.Our society is being corrupted by lies. |
6 . They always say, “There is no time like the present.” And that is why “being in the now” is important, especially when you travel.
Do nothing.
Listen, really listen.
People often confuse the terms “hear” and “listen”. Hearing is receiving sounds by the ear, an act that simply happens.
Document almost everything.
Turn on the digital notepad on your smart phone, get a small notebook from the airport and write everything down during your holiday. At the end of your day, document what you did, where you went, how you got there, what you ate, who you met, etc.
Pay attention to your thoughts.
Your thoughts are louder than you think. They are just often drowned out by a garble of noises from your surroundings. Being on holiday is an excellent opportunity to pick at your own thoughts because you are removed from the noise and circumstances.
A.Copies of the relevant documents must be filed. |
B.It will not take up too much of your time but it makes a good travel memory. |
C.Staying still and doing absolutely nothing is the easiest. |
D.Stick some ticket stubs or receipts in it while you are at it. |
E.Listening, however, is something you consciously choose to do. |
F.So how can you grasp the concept of “being in the now” while you travel? |
G.It is a good time to pay attention to your thoughts because it helps put things into perspective. |
1. Which city will the man visit next week?
A.Cape Town. | B.Pretoria. | C.Bloemfontein. |
A.Climb Table Mountain. | B.Watch African penguins. | C.Cross the Atlantic Ocean. |
A.Two days. | B.Three days. | C.Four days. |
Susie Smith came home from school one day, and had no sooner entered the sitting room than she burst into tears.
“What is the matter, my dear child?” said her mother, drawing her daughter to her side and smiling.
“All our class must bring in compositions tomorrow morning, and I never, never can write one. We must write twelve lines at least, and I have written only a few words after trying nearly all the afternoon. See what work I have made of it!” sobbed Susie.
Mrs. Smith took the rumpled (皱巴巴的) and tear-stained paper which Susie held in her hand, and glanced at what she had written. In a careful hand she had tried to write upon three themes: Time, Temperance, and Industry.
Time is short. We should all improve our time.
Temperance is a very useful thing.
We should all be industrious if we wish to do anything in the world.
These sentences were all she had written. Susie continued, “I can’t think of another word to say upon any of these subjects, and I know I shall have to go to school without a composition, for I won’t be so mean as to copy one from a book, or to ask you or papa to write one for me.”
“That is right, my dear,” said her mother. “You will be far happier with a poor composition, if it is all your own, than with a fine one written by somebody else. But cheer up. You have not begun right—you have been trying to write upon subjects that you know nothing about. Run into the garden and play. I will call you in half an hour.” “But my composition,” began Susie. “Don’t think about your composition while you are gone,” said Mrs. Smith, “but have as pleasant a time as you can.”
It seemed but a few minutes to Susie before she heard her mother’s voice calling her. She went into the house at once—her hands full of sweet flowers, and her cheeks rosy with exercise. “Now, Susie,” said her mother, “I want you to sit by the window with this nice sheet of paper and a pencil, and write something about what you can see.”
“But my composition, mother,” said Susie, “when shall I begin that?” “Never mind your composition, my dear. Do this to please me, and we will talk about that by and by.” replied Mrs. Smith.
注意:1. 续写词数应为150左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Susie thought her mother’s request was a strange one.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“A composition!” exclaimed Susie. “Is that a composition?”
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________9 . Negative emotions have a bad reputation: they’re often seen as dangerous or destructive.
In a recent study, we tested this idea for the case of anger. We designed a series of experiments with more than 1, 000 participants. We found that people who got mad first were more successful than the other participants.
Negative emotions aren’t bad. They are incredibly important indicators that significant events are taking place.
A.But what does this mean for people’s life? |
B.People try to avoid them, contain them or ignore them. |
C.Across our studies, anger helped achieve challenging goals. |
D.Both actions have removed the obstacle: the crashing computer. |
E.So the next time one happens, don’t push it away-pay attention. |
F.When you are angry, you experience physical and emotional pain. |
G.In the midst of anger, however, it can be very easy to make careless mistakes. |
10 . I was then in my early twenties. Even though I was armed with a degree in Education, finding a
This year, when a golden opportunity
One day when the kids were
That experience showed me the
A.first-rate | B.well-paid | C.labor-saving | D.full-time |
A.escaped | B.demanded | C.arose | D.arranged |
A.jumped at | B.thought about | C.waited for | D.dreamt of |
A.occupied | B.amused | C.concerned | D.contented |
A.familiar | B.positive | C.strict | D.consistent |
A.evaluating | B.supporting | C.instructing | D.congratulating |
A.graded | B.dismissed | C.tested | D.taught |
A.note | B.gift | C.parcel | D.book |
A.judged | B.indicated | C.emphasized | D.accompanied |
A.hardened | B.touched | C.broken | D.gladdened |
A.simply | B.casually | C.carefully | D.eagerly |
A.reminder | B.treasure | C.proof | D.secret |
A.comfort | B.fortune | C.fantasy | D.privilege |
A.target | B.application | C.power | D.principle |
A.clarify | B.find | C.feel | D.spread |