1 . According to a recent study in the Journal of Consumer Research, both the size and consumption habits of our eating companions can influence our food intake. And contrary to existing research that says you should avoid eating with heavier people who order large portions(份), it's the beanpoles with big appetites you really need to avoid.
To test the effect of social influence on eating habits, the researchers conducted two experiments. In the first, 95 undergraduate women were individually invited into a lab to ostensibly(表面上)participate in a study about movie viewership. Before the film began, each woman was asked to help herself to a snack. An actor hired by the researchers grabbed her food first. In her natural state, the actor weighed 105 pounds. But in half the cases she wore a specially designed fat suit which increased her weight to 180 pounds.
Both the fat and thin versions of the actor took a large amount of food. The participants followed suit, taking more food than they normally would have. However, they took significantly more when the actor was thin.
For the second test, in one case the thin actor took two pieces of candy from the snack bowls. In the other case, she took 30 pieces. The results were similar to the first test: the participants followed suit but took significantly more candy when the thin actor took 30 pieces.
The tests show that the social environment is extremely influential when we're making decisions. If this fellow participant is going to eat more, so will I. Call it the “I’ll have what she's having” effect. However, we'll adjust the influence. If an overweight person is having a large portion, I'll hold back a bit because I see the results of his eating habits. But if a thin person eats a lot, I'll follow suit. If he can eat much and keep slim, why can't I?
1. What is the recent study mainly about?| A．Food safety. | B．Movie viewership. |
| C．Consumer demand. | D．Eating behavior. |
| A．Big eaters. | B．Overweight persons. |
| C．Picky eaters. | D．Tall thin persons. |
| A．To see how she would affect the participants. |
| B．To test if the participants could recognize her. |
| C．To find out what she would do in the two tests. |
| D．To study why she could keep her weight down. |
| A．How hungry we are. | B．How slim we want to be. |
| C．How we perceive others. | D．How we feel about the food. |
2 . How to Level up Your Self-Control
By definition, self-control is the ability to do something that benefits your long-term goals, instead of something that might satisfy your immediate desires.
Angela Duckworth, professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, says allocating resources between your present self and future self is an ongoing struggle. For example, exhibiting self-control over spending time on video games and social media, two of the most common temptations（诱惑）of the current era, means battling against age-old mechanisms in your brain.
If you're willing to look deeply into your tendencies and weak points, you can recognize the handful of problems that you need to work on.
The problem of looking at your cell phone too often, say, can be solved by putting it on mute or, better yet, sticking it in your bag until lunch.
Finally, Duckworth advises laying a foundation of self-control that you can build of in the future.
| A．One place to start would be the office |
| B．What problems do you need to work on |
| C．We've all experienced unproductive workdays |
| D．But for many of us, short-term satisfactions are irresistible |
| E．Why is exercising proper self-control so tricky for some, and how to do better |
| F．If you can resist resigning you may achieve more on your overall self-control |
| G．Removing the temptation from sight is key to ensuring you're faithful to your mission |
The Chinese New Year red envelope (红包) is one of
The red color
Generally, kids
4 . How do you get to Carnegie Hall(卡内基音乐厅)? "Practice, practice, practice" is the well known answer. But for some inspiring young musicians from the Afghanistan National Institute of Music in Kabul, the road to the famous concert hall was more difficult.
The Afghan Youth Orchestra(AYO) is made up of young people who study at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music. It was the first orchestra created in Afghanistan in 30 years.
Gulalai Norestani, 14, plays a traditional string instrument. Like many students. Gulalai became an orphan when her parents were killed during the ongoing war. Music is her salvation (救星) . "Music for me is a language of peace," Gulalai said. "It connects people."
Milad Yousufi, t 8, is a piano student. "Music is my life," he said. Milad also lost many of his family members during the war. When music was banned, he couldn’t even touch a piano. So as a 12-year-old boy, he started painting and drawing. "I used to draw a piano," he said. Finally, Milad was free to play a real piano. "Our dream came true," he said. "It is everyone's dream to play in Carnegie Hall."
And he has more dreams. "I have a dream to continue my education in America," he explained. "I am working hard to make that happen. Then t have a dream to come back to Afghanistan and teach and serve people."
Because of continuing limits in Afghanistan, Gulalai and Milad listen mostly to the king of classical music they played at Carnegie Hall. But Gulalai says she' s heard a bit of Jennifer Lopez and Shakira and she likes them. Milad says he has heard of Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, but Msn' t vet had a chance to listen to them.
Before Milad went onstage that night with the band of Afghan kids who had survived a war, I asked him if he had ever experienced true peace. "No. not yet," he answered, adding, "I hope I will be able to."
Later during the performance, as he played one of Carnegie Hall’s famous grand pianos, the look of pure joy on his face convinced me that he found peace in music.
1. What is Gulalai’s opinion on music?| A．It calms her down in the war. | B．It makes people understand each other. |
| C．It is a kind of violent language. | D．It saves her from the killing at war. |
| A．To serve his country . | B．To play a real piano. |
| C．To further study. | D．To play in Carnegie. |
| A．Classical music is not played in Afghanistan. |
| B．Gulalai knows Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber well. |
| C．The music Gulalai and Milad can hear is limited. |
| D．MiNd likes Jennifer Lopez and Shakira. |
| A．Traditional Afghan Music | B．Young Musicians |
| C．A Better Performance | D．A Peace in Music |
5 . Cassandra Warren, a baby-sitter, was in a rush and feeling a little overcome with work and planning her 200-person wedding. As she was getting invitations for her weddings in the mail one day last year, she hurriedly addressed one to her aunt and uncle in Oregon.
A week later, the invitation came back, with a handwritten note on the return envelope: “I wish I knew you. Congratulations! I’ve been married for 40 years—it gets better with age.” A $ 20 bill was inside.
Cassandra was at a professional crossroads and had been having a tough day. In fact, she nearly broke down, telling her husband-to-be, Jesse Jones, about her depression just as she opened the misdirected envelope. And the magic envelope wasn’t finished with its surprises. Cassandra looked closer and saw that on the envelope were “Live long and prosper”, a nod to space-based film Star Trek (《星际迷航》).
Casandra and Jesse have no idea who the anonymous note writer is. But they figure the Star Trek reference was because the person noticed the “fandom” corner of their invitation, which had both a Star Wars light-saber (光剑) and a Harry Potter wand (魔杖). “She assumed we’d understand her message,” Cassandra says. “Which we did.”
The following night Casandra and Jesse went out o dinner with a friend who was going overseas with the military. They happily put the $20 toward their bill. Then Casandra stopped by a store and bought another card—a thank-you card. She wrote her aunt and uncle’s incorrect address on the envelope again to “Kind Stranger.” Inside, she wrote, “Thank you for the note and taking the time to send it. Not many people would have done that. It was a big blessing after the day I was having. I am thankful for people like you still being in the world.”
1. What is the best title for the text?| A．Welcome to Cassandra’s wedding. | B．What if you invite a kind stranger. |
| C．Take your time to write a right letter. | D．Wedding invitation to the wrong address |
| A．She suffered a disease. | B．She was in bad mood. |
| C．She quarreled with Jesse. | D．She lost her job as a baby-sitter. |
| A．Nameless. | B．Warm-hearted. | C．Peace-loving. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．Cassandra made the same mistake the second time. |
| B．The return letter might be from the military friend. |
| C．The second letter was wrongly addressed on purpose. |
| D．Cassandra doesn’t know her uncle and aunt’s address. |
6 . Living in a foreign culture can be exciting, but it can also be confusing(令人迷惑的). A group of Americans who taught English in other countries recently discussed their experiences. They found that miscommunication was always possible, even over something as simple as “yes” and “no”.
On her first day in Micronesia, an island in the Pacific, Lisa thought people weren’t paying any attention to her. The day was hot. She went into a store and asked, “Do you have cold drinks？” The woman there didn’t say anything. Lisa repeated the question. Still the woman said nothing. She later learned that the woman had answered her: She had raised her eyebrows(眉毛), which in Micronesia means “yes”.
Jan remembered an experience she had in Bulgaria, a country in Europe. She went to a restaurant that was famous for its cabbage. She asked the waiter, “Do you have cabbage today？” He nodded his head. Jan waited, but the cabbage never came. In that country, a nod means “no”.
Tom had a similar problem when he arrived in India. After explaining something in class, he asked his students if they understood. They answered with many different nods and shakes of the head. He thought some people had not understood, so he explained again. When he asked again, they did the same thing. He soon found out that his students did understand. In India, people nod and shake their heads in different ways depending on where they come from. You have to know where a person is from to understand whether they mean “yes” or “no”．
1. The Americans teaching English in other countries found that they ________.| A．had problems with communication | B．needed to learn foreign languages |
| C．should often discuss their experiences | D．should go abroad for vacations |
| A．nodding heads | B．raising eyebrows |
| C．shaking heads | D．saying “no” |
| A．he didn’t know where the students came from |
| B．he didn’t explain everything clearly enough |
| C．some students didn’t understand his questions |
| D．he did not know much about Indian culture |
| A．In Bulgaria, nodding heads means “no” |
| B．Jan taught English on a Pacific island. |
| C．Lisa was trying to buy some cabbage. |
| D．In India，only shaking heads means “yes”. |
Traffic jams (堵塞) are a common problem in larger cities. In some cities, traffic jams get so bad during rush hour that it is sometimes
The system
8 . A new study by Chinese researchers has found differences in the brain activity of men and women addicted(上瘾的)to Internet gaming.
The study says addicted men have lower impulse control compared with women, indicating that men are more likely to become addicted to internet gaming.
Researchers from Renji Hospital, which is connected with Shanghai Jiaotong University, recruited 105 Chinese participants for the study, which had two groups - one with 32 men and 23 women addicted to gaming, and the other with 30 men and 22 women who were not addicted.
They completed a questionnaire for gaming addiction, and reported their gaming history and number of hours playing per week. Researchers also talked with their families to collect the information.
Through FMRI (磁共振扫描), researchers found that men addicted to gaming had lower brain activity in the brain region associated with impulse control, than nonaddicted men. The lower the activity levels, the poorer the impulse control. Addicted women, however, showed no differences compared with the healthy female group.
Researchers also studied the functional connectivity between brain regions, which were lower in men with addiction than in nonaddicted men, but showed no differences in the female groups.
Although there are some limitations, the findings suggest that activity levels displayed in the brain region could be biomarkers to evaluate the behavioral inhibitions of gaming-addicted men, they said.
Gaming disorder was listed as a mental disorder by the World Health Organization earlier this year. People with the disorder have impaired control over gaming and give it increased priority in their lives－to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other life interests and daily activities.
1. By FMRI scanning, researchers found .| A．addicted men have higher brain activities |
| B．addicted women have lower impulse control |
| C．addicted men are the same with nonaddicted ones |
| D．addicted women have no difference with nonaddicted ones |
| A．gaming disorder will influence our daily life |
| B．gaming disorder will play an active part in our activities |
| C．gaming disorder is not difficult to control |
| D．gaming disorder will become a part of our life |
| A．Researchers from Renji Hospital did the research independently. |
| B．53 men took part in the research. |
| C．Gaming disorder does harm to our lives. |
| D．The research has solved the problem completely. |
| A．To explain the beat way of getting rid of the Internet game addiction. |
| B．To show the latest brain research on differences between addicted men and women. |
| C．To describe internet gaming’s harmful effects on men and women. |
| D．To advise on the special use of internet gaming to men and women. |
9 . Every human being has a unique arrangement of the skin on his fingers and this arrangement is unchangeable. Scientists and experts have proved the uniqueness of finger-prints and discovered that no exactly similar pattern is passed on from parents to children, though nobody knows why this is the case.
The ridge (脊状) structure on a person's fingers does not change with growth and is not affected by surface injuries. Burns, cuts and other damage to the outer part of the skin will be replaced in time by new one which bears a reproduction of the original pattern. It is only when the inner skin is injured that the arrangement will be destroyed. Some criminals make use of this fact to remove their own finger-prints but this is a dangerous and rare step to take.
Finger-prints can be made very easily with printer's ink. They can be recorded easily. With special methods, identification (识别)can be achieved successfully within a short time. Because of the simplicity and low cost of this system, finger-prints have often been used as a method of solving criminal case. A suspected man may deny a charge but this may be in vain. His finger-prints can prove who he is even if his appearance has been changed by age or accident.
When a suspect leaves finger-prints behind at the scene of a crime, they are difficult to detect with the naked eye. Special techniques are used to “print” them. Some of the marks found are incomplete but identification is possible if a print of a quarter of an inch square can be obtained.
1. Scientists and experts have proved that the pattern of a human being's finger skin____.| A．is similar to his mother's |
| B．is valuable to himself only |
| C．is like that of others with the same type of blood |
| D．is different from that of all others |
| A．be changed partly | B．be replaced by a different one |
| C．be the same when the wound is recovered | D．become ugly |
| A．using printer's ink | B．injuring the inner skin |
| C．damaging the outer skin | D．damaging the colour |
| A．is complicated but reliable | B．is simple and not expensive |
| C．is expensive but easy to do | D．can bring a lot of money |
10 . Plastic-Eating Worms
Humans produce more than 300 million tons of plastic every year. Almost half of that winds up in landfills(垃圾填埋场), and up to 12 million tons pollute the oceans. So far there is no effective way to get rid of it, but a new study suggests an answer may lie in the stomachs of some hungry worms.
Researchers in Spain and England recently found that the worms of the greater wax moth can break down polyethylene, which accounts for 40% of plastics. The team left 100 wax worms on a commercial polyethylene shopping bag for 12 hours, and the worms consumed and broke down about 92 milligrams, or almost 3% of it. To confirm that the worms’ chewing alone was not responsible for the polyethylene breakdown, the researchers made some worms into paste(糊状物) and applied it to plastic films. 14 hours later the films had lost 13% of their mass — apparently broken down by enzymes (酶) from the worms’ stomachs. Their findings were published in Current Biology in 2017.
Federica Bertocchini, co-author of the study, says the worms’ ability to break down their everyday food — beeswax — also allows them to break down plastic. ＂Wax is a complex mixture, but the basic bond in polyethylene, the carbon-carbon bond, is there as well, ＂she explains, ＂The wax worm evolved a method or system to break this bond. ＂
Jennifer DeBruyn, a microbiologist at the University of Tennessee, who was not involved in the study, says it is not surprising that such worms can break down polyethylene. But compared with previous studies, she finds the speed of breaking down in this one exciting. The next step, DeBruyn says, will be to identify the cause of the breakdown. Is it an enzyme produced by the worm itself or by its gut microbes(肠道微生物)?
Bertocchini agrees and hopes her team’s findings might one day help employ the enzyme to break down plastics in landfills. But she expects using the chemical in some kind of industrial process — not simply ＂millions of worms thrown on top of the plastic.＂
1. What can we learn about the worms in the study?| A．They take plastics as their everyday food. |
| B．They are newly evolved creatures. |
| C．They can consume plastics. |
| D．They wind up in landfills. |
| A．identify other means of the breakdown |
| B．find out the source of the enzyme |
| C．confirm the research findings |
| D．increase the breakdown speed |
| A．help to raise worms |
| B．help make plastic bags |
| C．be used to clean the oceans |
| D．be produced in factories in future |
| A．To explain a study method on worms. |
| B．To introduce the diet of a special worm. |
| C．To present a way to break down plastics. |
| D．To propose new means to keep eco-balance. |
