What Causes Déja Vu?
It’s a frightening feeling: You walk into a place you know you’ve never been before but are overwhelmed by a sense of familiarity-a memory you can’t quite reach. Has this all happened before? Most people experience ‘this sensation, known as déjà vu, at some point in their lives. It’s a hard feeling to study, though, because it tends to arise spontaneously and be shaken off easily.
Déjà vu means “already seen” in French, a term possibly coined by French philosopher Émile Boirac. In a 2009 study, Cognitive psychologist Anne Cleary of Colorado State University and her colleagues found that viewing these sneakily similar scenes was more likely to cause feelings of déjà vu than viewing dissimilar scenes-suggesting that perhaps there is some environmental trigger for the brain to call out, “Hey, I recognize that!” even when it’s never seen the scene before.
While Cleary’s research shows that a slight familiarity can result in déjà vu, Akira Robert O’Connor, a cognitive psychologist at the University of St. Andrews says, in spontaneous déjà vu cases, it’s quite possible that the familiarity feeling is random. Supporting this random-misfire hypothesis is the fact that young people actually experience more déjà vu than older people. Younger brains are a little more excitable, more likely to fire more quickly rather than holding back, O’Connor says.
Older people may also be less adept (擅长的)fact-checkers when false feelings of familiarity arise, says Chris Moulin, a cognitive neuropsychologist at the Grenoble Alpes University. Older adults still recognize such false familiarity. “It’s not perhaps that older adults are not generating false familiarity, ” Moulin says. “It’s just that they don’t have, anymore, that certainty that what they’re experiencing is false. ”
This is a normal part of aging, not the conflation (合并)of déjà vu with reality that people with dementia (老年痴呆症)may experience. So enjoy the feeling of having felt it all before while it lasts, Generation Z.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2 . Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words asfar as possible.
How to Be a Successful Team Leader?
Every well-organized team needs to have an outstanding leader with specific skills. Sometimes the leader’s abilities can come to affect the whole team. Although we students are still young, it’s never too early to cultivate leadership skills.
A team consists of both leaders and followers. Neither side can exist and work effectively without the other. What is essential to the role of leader is the ability to unite the whole team. A great leader enables their team to achieve a common goal through the giving of clear directions and support. Meanwhile, everyone on a team also desires personal success, so a balance can be hard to strike. If a leader doesn’t have fierce determination, the followers will lose their confidence and things will not be done well.
What’s more, a successful and charming leader ought to be able to handle interpersonal relationships well. They should be honest, fair, objective and impartial (公正的) when it comes to both rewards and punishments. These kinds of leaders are trustworthy, and thus, the working atmosphere will only come to be improved. They are role models who can have a strong influence on the whole team.
To become a powerful leader at school, students have to take the initiative in connecting with their fellow students. Good communication skills allow people to build good relationships, which is an essential part of being a good leader. If you find it hard to express your ideas clearly to those who you collaborate with, it may be rather difficult for you to be a good leader.
It’s a well-known fact that, whatever field you wish to work in, leadership skills are necessary for anyone who desires to have a successful career. So it’s never too early to train yourselves as promising future leaders.
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“Books will soon disappear in schools,” Thomas Edison announced in 1913: they would, he believed, soon be replaced by silent films. Each new wave of information technology - radio, television, computers - has led to similar predictions.
Like teachers, digital educational technology comes in many forms, from wonderful to awful. But, used properly, it now deserves more prominence (重要性) in schools - especially in poor countries where human teachers are often ignorant, absent or both.
According to a recent World Bank study of seven sub - Saharan African countries, half of nine - year - olds cannot read a simple word and three - quarters cannot read a simple sentence. The reason is terrible. The same study found that only 7% of teachers had the minimum knowledge needed to teach reading and writing effectively. When classrooms were inspected to see whether a teacher was present, half the time the answer was no. As for the absence of teachers, if expensive teachers do not turn up to class, government would, surely, fire them? Easier said than done. Poor governments often lack the money to check on teachers in distant villages.
Several recent studies suggested - tech can help. It seems to bring about bigger improvements in poor countries than in rich ones. Some of the scarce resources being spent on teachers could therefore be better spent on ed - tech. That does not mean dumping computers on schools in the hope that children will understand how to use them. Instead, it means providing schools with software that children can use with minimal help from an adult, that sends teachers prompts about what they are supposed to be teaching and that allows the authorities to check on whether the teacher is in the classroom.
Technology is no cure - all. Good traditional teachers are not outdated, and are never likely to be. And authorities need to hold teachers to account. But ed - tech can help greatly - by monitoring pupils and teachers alike, assisting the best teachers and, most important, making up for the failings of the worst.
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《二十一世纪英语报(2lst Century)》组织了一个题为“报考本市大学还是外地大学？”的讨论，下表是你班同学的一些观点。请根据下面的提示写一篇报道你班讨论情况的短文。
| 赞成报考外地大学的理由 | 赞成报考本地大学的理由 |
| 1.锻炼独立生活的能力 | 1.离父母近，可互相照顾 |
| 2.交友机会更多 | 2.环境好，利于学习 |
| 3.可以为将来的工作获取更多经验 | 3.节约开支 |
Is Fridge Really Necessary?
The fridge is considered necessary. It has been so since the 1960s when packaged food list appeared with the label: “Store in the refrigerator.”
In my fridgeless Fifties childhood, I was fed well and healthily. The milkman came daily, the grocer, the butcher, the baker, and the ice-cream man delivered two or three times a week. The Sunday meat would last until Wednesday and surplus (剩余) bread and milk became all kinds of cakes. Nothing was wasted, and we were never troubled by rotten food. Thirty years on, food deliveries have ceased, fresh vegetables are almost unobtainable in the country.
The invention of the fridge contributed comparatively little to the art of food preservation. A vast way of well-tried techniques already existed -natural cooling, drying, smoking, salting, sugaring, bottling….
What refrigeration did promote was marketing-marketing hardware and electricity, marketing soft drinks, marketing dead bodies of animals around the globe in search of a good price.
Consequently, most of the world's fridges are to be found, not in the tropics where they might prove useful, but in the wealthy countries with mild temperatures where they are climatically almost unnecessary. Every winter, millions of fridges hum(嗡嗡响) away continuously, and at vast expense, busily maintaining an artificially-coo1ed space inside an artificially-heated house -while outside, nature provides the desired temperature free of charge.
The fridge's effect upon the environment has been evident, while its contribution to human happiness has been insignificant. If you don't believe me, try it yourself, invest in a food cabinet and turn off your fridge next winter. You may miss the hamburgers, but at least you'll get rid of that terrible hum.
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Will people reduce car use in 20 years？
Nowadays, the ownership of cars is no longer being recognized as a symbol of one’s wealth and social position. Tracking back to the past when only the rich were qualified to possess private cars, we couldn’t help marveling at the historic change such a convenient invention brought to people’s daily lives. Nevertheless, the increase in the number of car owners is spelling many negative effects. These rising problems also cause some people to predict that the use of cars might be reduced in two decades.
Above all, the use of cars remarkably threatens our environment, if such a tendency is not brought under control in time, the Earth will no longer be a suitable place for humans to survive in the future. People have to face the consequence. It is a reality from which no one is able to escape. Every day, thousands of private cars are emitting tons of exhausted gas that seriously pollutes the air. The carbon dioxide leads to the worldwide greenhouse effect, which causes the sea level to rise and produces negative impacts on weather. In addition, more energy is being wasted because of the production of private cars. In order to build a resource-conserving and environment-friendly society, people ought to reduce the use of cars.
In fact, diversified measures are being taken by the government to limit the use of cars. If such a tendency continues, the effect will be shown in the near future. For example, to reach the goal of building a safe and harmonious society, Beijing Traffic Management Bureau has restricted regional traffic in rush hours on working days. A number of private cars are prohibited on no-driving-days.
Last, the advancement of public transportation systems also helps change car owners’ way of travelling. Efforts are being made to construct more agreeable networks of buses, subways, trains and airplanes. In the meanwhile, advances in technology might help cut down the cost of travelling in public vehicles.
Are your children getting on your last nerve? Did a coworker's comment rub you the wrong way? There's no need to plug the steam coming out of your ears. In fact, science now gives you full permission to release those emotions; you might actually be happier for it. If that seems counter—intuitive(违反直觉的), hear us out. A new study suggests that people tend to be happier if they can feel and express emotions as they want. That goes for unpleasant emotions like anger and hatred, too.
An international team of researchers recruited 2,300 university students from the United States, Brazil, China, Germany, Ghana, Israel, Poland, and Singapore. They then asked the participants to tell them which emotions they desired and which ones they actually felt, and then compared those responses to how the participants rated their overall happiness or life satisfaction.
The results showed an interesting trend. While participants wanted to experience more pleasant emotions, they reported higher life satisfaction if the emotions they experienced matched those they desired. More surprising still, 11 percent of people wanted to feel less of positive emotions, such as love and empathy, and 10 percent of people wanted to feel more negative emotions, such as hatred and anger.
At first glance, these result might seem confusing. But there's a simple explanation, according to the study's authors. Happiness is "more than simply feeling pleasure and avoiding pain," they write. It is also learning to release negative emotions when you feel them, instead of ignoring them or bottling them up.
"If you feel emotions you want to feel, even if they're unpleasant, then you're better off," lead researcher Dr Maya Tamir from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem told the BBC News website. 71
Ann Grand: a visual thinker
Ann Grand is a visual thinker. When somebody speaks to her, the words are instantly translated into pictures. like a video in her head. Unlike most people, her thoughts move from ideo-like images to generalizations and concepts. Furthermore, her memories usually appear in her imagination in order of time. and the image visualized are always specific. For example. if she thinks about a chimney, she sees detailed pictures. like the one in her old house. and then those in her hometown. That one word can turn into a full-length video in her head. Grand's mind works like the Internet search engine which produces dozens of images of an object a user is searching for.
Visual thinking has enabled Grand to build entire systems in her imagination, which works similarly to a computer program because it can produce three-dimensional design simulations. This was important to her as an equipment designer for the livestock industry. Before she started construction on her designs, she would test-run the equipment in her mind. She formed mental pictures of her designs in every possible situation, with different sizes and breeds of cattle and in different weather conditions. This process made it possible for her to correct mistakes before construction started.
Grand's mind is also sensitive to details, which was important in her work with cattle. Her sharp awareness of the visual world led to noteworthy observations about animals. She noticed many little things that most people would not consider that scared the cattle. For example, a coat on a fence or a pipe on the floor would frighten them away. Grand's visualization abilities have also helped her understand the animals she has worked with. This led her to create designs ranging from sweeping, curved fences intended to reduce the stress experienced by animals that were going to be killed to systems for handling sick cattle and pigs.
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There's more of a connection between food and culture than you may think.
On an individual level, we grow up eating the food of our cultures. Many associate foods from our childhood with warm feelings and fond memories, tying us to our families.On a large scale, food operates as an expression of cultural identity, Traditional cuisine (烹饪法) is passed down from one generation to the next. Immigrants bring the food of their countries where they go, and cooking traditional food is a symbol of pride for their ethnicity (民族特色) as well as a means of coping with homesickness.
Many immigrants open their own restaurants and serve traditional dishes. However, the food does not remain exactly the same. Some ingredients needed to make traditional dishes may not be readily available, so the taste and flavour can be different from what they would prepare in their home countries. Additionally, immigrants who sell dishes have to alter the original dishes to satisfy a wider range of customers. Alterations to original dishes can create new flavors that still preserve the cultural significance of the dish.
What stays the same is the extent to which each country or community's unique cuisine reflects its unique history, lifestyle, values, and beliefs. For example, in China, harmony is a vital characteristic in almost every aspect of life. This is reflected in Chinese cuisine, where almost every flavour is used in a balanced way. Throughout history, Chinese people are of the belief that food not only needs to be nutritious but also needs to look appealing, so they put a lot of effort into decorating the dishes，with vibrant red as their traditional colour.
As the world becomes more globalized, it is easier to access cuisines from different cultures. We should not only accept our traditions through our culture's food but also become more informed about other cultures by trying their foods. It is important to remember that each dish has a special place in the culture to which it belongs, and is special to those who prepare it. Food is a window to culture, and it should be treated as such.
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China’s Film Industry Finally Joins the Space Race
China was a latecomer to space exploration, and in the movies, it has been a latecomer to science fiction, too. But that is about to change.
The country’s first blockbuster set in space. “The Wandering Earth,” opens Tuesday amid grandiose expectations that it will represent the dawning of a new era in Chinese film making.
“The Wandering Earth,” shown in 3-D, takes place in a distant future in which the sun is about to expand into a red giant and devour the Earth. Therefore, earth’s governments rally and come up with a novel solution: they speckle the planet with 10,000 gigantic jets, and blast it out of its orbit and off on a hundred-generation journey to a new home 4.2 light-years away. However, a malfunction of the Earth Engine system leaves the planet caught in Jupiter’s gravity, and gradually being pulled toward destruction. A frantic group of workers have to scramble to reactivate the jets and correct the Earth’s course.
So far, the reviews have been positive. “Filmmakers in China see science fiction as a holy grail,” said Raymond, an independent critic, who noted that Hollywood had set the technological standards, and thus audience expectations, very high.
“The Wandering Earth” is adapted from works by Liu CiXin, the writer who has led a renaissance in science fiction here, becoming the first Chinese winner of the Hugo Award for the genre in 2015. His novels are sprawling epics and deeply researched. That makes them plausible fantasies about humanity’s encounters with a dangerous universe.
The openings also come as China reached a milestone in space: the landing of a probe on the far side of the moon in January. Although decades behind Russia and the United States, China has now put astronauts in orbit and has ambitious plans to join — or even lead — a new age of space exploration.
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