It was eight o'clock on a May morning, and Micah, my 17-year-old daughter, was already in our spare room upstairs. It had been her temporary eleventh-grade classroom ever since schools had moved to remote learning due to the pandemic.
From the kitchen, I listened for the sound of her tapping on her laptop or her talking with her classmates in their discussion sessions. We’d barely left the house for 10 weeks straight.
“Mom, everyone is hanging out today!” Micah’s voice echoed from upstairs. “Why can’t I?” I stepped up the stairs. Micah was lying on the floor wearing her pajamas, her laptop, school iPad and cellphone in front of her.
“It’s not fair,” she said.“ I have no one I can be with. I can ‘t wait until I’m 18 and can do what I want.”
We’d had this conversation before. Still, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. I was sick of being alone too. Even though Micah and I were home together more than we had been in years, we might as well have been living in separate worlds.
“Wanna watch videos later?” I asked. “Bake some cookies?”
“No, thanks.” Micah shook her head, as if the idea of doing something together was impossible.
I closed the door. I was used to Micah’s rejection, but it still made me upset. Teenage independence is healthy, but I worried if I didn’t find a way to bond with my girl soon, I might never be close to her again. She’d be 18 in the fall and had already convinced herself she didn’t need me anymore. Maybe she was right. No matter what I did, I couldn’t seem to reach her.
That evening, I logged onto a social app and saw a friend’s children playing with their new kitten. My mind went back to when I was in high school and our family moved. It was hard making friends. Mom surprised me with an eight-week-old gray kitten that I named Miss Muffet. Having a kitten to love and train brightened my days and got me through that difficult, lonely time. Maybe Micah would like a kitten.
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。
I asked if she wanted a kitten.
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In the car, Micah put the kitten under her chin.
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2 . “I think therefore I am”— mind over matter. What you expect from yourself and the world makes a big impact on the results of your efforts.
From a neuroscience perspective, the brain will believe anything you tell it, right and wrong. Research has shown that this phenomenon can have huge benefits when we approach a significant or difficult task. “We do know there’s the mind-body connection, which isn’t kind of mysterious or magical, and that this is in itself changing our physiology,” said David Robson, a science writer. “Think that you could catch up in a race or that your public speaking anxiety could help you perform better.”
Expectations, even negative ones, are meant to help our brains navigate (理解) a complicated world by simplifying our predictions of the wide range of outcomes to any situation. Those negative expectations can help us anticipate and avoid danger, but they aren’t always up to date with the context that surrounds us. And when you’re in the face of a challenge, inaccurate information can create obstacles of its own. Pessimistic thoughts really just put you in a position where you’re more vulnerable to actually experiencing that unpleasant or negative outcome.
Setting more positive expectations and hopefully acquiring the rewards starts with how you talk to yourself. When baseball players step up to the plate, they tell themselves they will knock it out of the park. Being aware of your thoughts and how you talk to yourself about a challenge can make a big impact.
We tend to see ourselves and our obstacles in two ways. Either our abilities are fixed or can grow, and our obstacles are a threat or a challenge. Shifting focus to believe that we can see difficulties as a challenge to be met rather than a threat to be avoided has been shown to result in more success. If you interpret that situation as a challenge, your physiological response will empower and equip you to be more creative and effective.
Having realistically optimistic expectations does better equip each of us to take up a challenge with our best resources, experts said.
1. What does the third paragraph mainly talk about?| A．The outcome of pessimistic thoughts. |
| B．The connection between the mind and body. |
| C．The advantages of positive expectations. |
| D．The pros and cons of negative expectations. |
| A．Thinking out loud. |
| B．Stepping up to the plate. |
| C．Challenging themselves. |
| D．Improving their abilities. |
| A．Avoiding threats and troubles. |
| B．Removing our obstacles in the way. |
| C．Shifting our focus to something else. |
| D．Regarding difficulties as challenges. |
| A．A history book. |
| B．A fantasy novel. |
| C．A science & wellness paper. |
| D．A sports & health report. |
