1 . For the first time, scientists have measured what actually happens with face-to-face interactions when employees start to work at an open-plan office, and their results show these modern workspaces are not as cooperative as you’d think.
Two researchers from Harvard Business School and Harvard University wanted to test whether removing walls at a real-world workplace really increases interactions between co-workers. “To our knowledge, no prior study has directly measured the effect on actual interaction that results from removing walls to create an open office environment,” Ethan S. Bernstein and Stephen Turban write in the paper. To that end, they approached two multinational companies that were re-organizing their office spaces at the global headquarters, and enlisted small groups of employees for two studies.
For eight weeks before the office redesign and eight weeks afterward, the researchers tracked employees’ social interactions and locations. This data was analyzed together with email and instant messaging information from the company’s servers to measure differences in how people were communicating with each other.
What they found was a pretty astonishing difference in face-to-face interactions — but not in the direction you might think. Across both experiments, employees’ social interactions in person decreased by a crazy 70 percent, while emails saw an uptick by roughly 20 to 50 percent.
So, instead of spending more time cooperating with co-workers in the new space where everyone could see them, people got their heads down and tried to preserve their privacy any way they could. According to these results, it appears that being forced into a more open-plan environment can make people switch from chatting to others in person to sending an email or using instant messaging instead.
As the team notes, it’s not automatically a bad thing, but it can certainly change work dynamics in an unexpected way. “That can have important consequences for how — and how productively — work gets done,” the researchers conclude.
1. How did the two multinational companies redesign their offices?| A．By expanding the total floor areas. |
| B．By updating the computer servers. |
| C．By changing the employees’ locations. |
| D．By tearing down the space boundaries. |
| A．To reduce the risk of privacy leaks. |
| B．To establish efficient communication. |
| C．To facilitate indirect social interaction. |
| D．To transform traditional work patterns. |
| A．Further relevant research needs conducting. |
| B．Their research findings are of practical value. |
| C．Their team intends to change working environment. |
| D．People hold different opinions on how work gets done. |
| A．Real-world workplaces increase employees’ interaction. |
| B．Work dynamics don’t have much effect on work efficiency. |
| C．Modern workspaces change workers’ way of communication. |
| D．Open-plan offices can’t promote cooperation between co-workers. |
2 . We have a small wooden board suspended on a tree in our back garden to feed some of the parrots and squirrels that populate our neighbourhood.
They visit in the morning and evening to see if we have
The squirrels are usually the quietest of the creatures that visit, while the parrots are the bossiest. Sometimes, one of the squirrels will
One day in July last year, something quite
| A．put on | B．put up | C．put down | D．put out |
| A．board | B．tree | C．garden | D．house |
| A．play | B．sleep | C．hide | D．stand |
| A．aggressive | B．adorable | C．admirable | D．alarming |
| A．rice | B．banana | C．rock | D．bread |
| A．content | B．desire | C．relief | D．expectation |
| A．take | B．blow | C．push | D．chase |
| A．common | B．abnormal | C．unusual | D．unlucky |
| A．fight | B．attack | C．quarrel | D．invasion |
| A．instead of | B．in case of | C．in spite of | D．in time of |
| A．pulled | B．cast | C．pushed | D．threw |
| A．constantly | B．immediately | C．finally | D．reluctantly |
| A．get down to | B．eat up | C．looked up to | D．went on with |
| A．declared | B．agreed | C．assumed | D．proved |
| A．means | B．continues | C．intends | D．warns |
3 . You jerk(猛然一动)awake in the middle of the night in confusion. Is there a figure standing in the corner of the room? Your brain begs your legs to move, but nothing happens. The anxiety increases. Your eyes scan the room. Just as you’re about to hit peak panic, you sit up and the figure disappears.
You’ve just experienced sleep paralysis(瘫痪), which is the name experts give to all sorts of weird things that occur during sleep. It happens when the brain temporarily disables the body to prevent it from acting out the vivid dreams occurring during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. It often comes with a feeling of immobility, and a sense of choking. The good news is, it’s absolutely normal, even if it’s terrifying.
But when sleep paralysis happens outside of deep sleep—when a person is just dozing off—it can be “disruptive of the architecture of sleep,” said Baland Jalal, a researcher who investigates the phenomenon. That could lead to more sleep paralysis.
While not everyone who has sleep paralysis experiences hallucinations(幻觉), seeing a person or a ghost in the room is the most common vision, said Jalal. The mechanisms behind sleep paralysis remain unclear, but research indicates that certain risk factors may increase the likelihood of experiencing a jerk, including extreme exercise before sleep, inadequate sleep, emotional stress and worry, and excessive stimulant consumption (like caffeine and nicotine), especially later in the day.
“For most people, it is not indicative of any kind of disease. If you are really worried about it, regular sleep and other simple relaxation techniques, like meditation, deep breathing and yoga, may help,” said Dr. Nathaniel Watson, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. While the experience feels frightening, the episodes last only a few seconds or minutes at most. Most people slip out of it as quickly as they fell into it, he said.
1. What is sleep paralysis?| A．A frightening dream that interrupts sleep. |
| B．A physical symptom of anxiety disorders. |
| C．A mental disease that affects sleep quality. |
| D．A brief state of being conscious but frozen. |
| A．Involuntary cough. | B．Unreal sensation. |
| C．Sharpened vision. | D．Sustained immobility. |
| A．It is caused by inadequate sleep. | B．It can be a warning signal of diseases. |
| C．It is a temporary disturbing experience. | D．It can be prevented by extreme exercise. |
| A．Common Myths About Sleep Paralysis |
| B．Sleep Paralysis: How It Affects Sleep Patterns |
| C．Ways to Prevent and Cope with Sleep Paralysis |
| D．Sleep Paralysis: Why We Jerk Awake and Can’t Move |
Decorative stove artwork attracts a growing number of
An old wooden stove,
It was once common for farmhouses, especially those along the lower reaches of the Yangtze River,
Most of those engaged
Last Tuesday, China’s traditional tea-making
The tea processing techniques and social practices in China consist
Since ancient times, Chinese people
The traditional tea making techniques are
Tea appears in many places in Chinese daily life, such as home, workplace, teahouses, restaurants and temples
6 . Maillard Reaction: What You Need To Know About It
Have you ever wondered why bread tastes delicious after toasting? Or coffee tastes strong after roasting?
What Is The Maillard Reaction?
The Maillard reaction is a chemical reaction between proteins (蛋白质) and sugars in food, with heat being the main enabler (推动者).
Let’s use a BBQ example to make things easy to follow. The Maillard reaction occurs when you put a piece of steak on a hot grill (烧烤架). The steak has proteins and sugars in it. The hot grill contains heat. Put everything together and you’ve got the whole Maillard effect going on.
How Do You Control Maillard Reaction?
| A．Where Can You Find Maillard Products? |
| B．How Does The Maillard Reaction Occur? |
| C．And the same magic happens when you make a steak. |
| D．Heat is the most effective way to control the Maillard reaction. |
| E．For example, brushing egg wash on breads before baking can encourage burnt taste. |
| F．The reaction is named after the French scientist Louis-Camille Maillard for its discovery in the early 1900s. |
| G．With these two happening, your food always tastes better, smells more amazing, and looks more attractive. |
7 . Researchers recently studied 3, 000 middle and high school students. Among them were 618 teenagers with one parent who lived away from home for long periods of time because of work. The researchers wanted to know how the work of these “fly-in, fly-out” parents might influence the health of their children.
A higher percentage of teenagers who experienced the long absence of a parent had emotional (情感的) or behavioral problems compared with those whose parents worked more traditional hours. This supports earlier research finding high percentages of emotional problems in teenagers who often returned to an empty house after school or whose parents were seldom at dinner.
Findings also suggest that parents don’t have to be home all the time to be present in their children’s lives, but it helps to be home at certain times. And the best parental presence for a teenager may sometimes be like a potted plant.
Many parents of teenagers have known this to be true and find ways to be present without trying to start a conversation. One friend of mine quietly does housework each evening in the sitting room where her teenagers watch TV. They enjoy one another’s company without the need to talk. Another friend usually accepts his daughter’s invitation to work or read nearby while she sits and does her homework. Perhaps, that, at least for some families, is the best way for teenagers and their parents to stay close.
In fact, many years of research suggest that children use their parents as a safe base from which to explore the world. Studies tell us that young children quietly follow their parents’ movements from room to room, even while carrying on with their own activities. Perhaps our teens, like babies, feel most at ease when their parents are still around. They don’t want to stay away from parents who allow them freedom. A new school year is at hand, so as parents we could offer our teenagers a “potted flower” as a gift, whose quiet and steady (稳定的) presence will give them a great day.
1. What’s the purpose of the recent research?| A．To show the necessity of parents’ company all the time. |
| B．To support earlier research on teenagers’ emotional problems. |
| C．To find connections between parents’ long absence and children’s health. |
| D．To compare “fly-in, fly-out” parents with those working traditional hours. |
| A．They got more used to being alone. |
| B．They were more likely to have trouble with their feelings. |
| C．They showed more dislike for traditional working hours. |
| D．They had dinners with their parents more often. |
| A．Giving children a great day. | B．Being present in children’s life. |
| C．Allowing children enough freedom. | D．Staying with children quietly and steadily. |
| A．To set examples for children to follow. | B．To guide children to explore the world. |
| C．To take good care of children as babies. | D．To give children a sense of safety and relaxation. |
8 . Today was a really big day for me. The last time I spoke in class was three years ago and it was terrible. I tried to say the letter “W” and made that strange sound. Everyone laughed and I haven’t spoken in class since.
But it’s been going really well lately. I’ve got a great doctor and I’m allowed to use my computer in class all the time. And guess what? This is really big news! When I listen to music on my headphones I can speak without stuttering (结巴)! That’s why I agreed to talk at the science fair today.
So I arrived at school early this morning to practise with my group. Our project is about using bacteria (细菌) to eat plastic. Unfortunately, when it was my turn to speak, I was so nervous that I chose the wrong music on my MP3 player. So instead of Mozart I was listening to my dance collection. The problem is that when I have dance music on the headphones I can’t stop myself talking in the same rhythm (节奏) as the music. So it just sounds like I’m rapping (说唱)!
Most people in school had never heard me speak before. They were really surprised when I started doing a rap about bacteria that eat plastic. I could see they were laughing at me. But when I finished they all stood up and cheered.
After we finished, everyone wanted to know me. They didn’t know about my secret use of the music on my headphones, so they just thought I was a great rapper! I checked my phone at lunchtime and I’ve got 187 new friend requests!
1. How did the author get through his school life for the past three years?| A．He refused to speak in class. |
| B．He made lots of friends in school. |
| C．He spent much time practising speaking. |
| D．He took part in many after-school activities. |
| A．The author’s doctor. | B．The music of Mozart. |
| C．The famous rapper. | D．The author’s MP3 player. |
| A．He gave a speech. | B．He danced to the music. |
| C．He did some scientific research. | D．He said thanks to his classmates. |
| A．Worry. | B．Regret. | C．Joy. | D．Doubt. |
China has named 24,126 primary, and middle schools across the country specialist football schools
China aims to have 50,000 schools specializing in youth football by
In the past four years, local education departments have trained about 40,000 football teachers, 8,000 of
10 . Mark Twain looked down upon those people who think it is possible for someone to learn how to write a novel. “A man who is not born with the novel-writing gift has troublesome time of it when he tries to build a novel”, he said.
But now new technology is making a difference to help an author write a novel. Michael Green, a US data scientist-turned-novelist, felt that technology could help him.
He said that the process had become difficult to manage: “In the midst of editing, I got to the point where I started feeling like I had a lot of plots and characters” he said “I had all these documents on the deeper aspects of the world I was creating. I was worried about not being able to keep track of it all. That is when I switched into my more data science-minded approach to solving a complex problem with a lot of different places.”
Green went on to create Lynit, a digital platform to help authors plan and weave together the many elements that form a story, such as the themes, characters and major events.
“As the author gets a new idea that they want to bring into the story they are able to input it into a natural framework,” he said “piece by piece they are adding to the story. As new ideas come in, they change, maybe by creating new nodes (节点) new relationships.”
Once the book has been published, technology is also playing an ever-increasing role in publicity and connecting with readers. Websites and APPs from specialist firms allow authors to participate in live-question-and-answer sessions with their audience. Michael Green believes technology will become even more important as a new generation of tech savvy (精通技术的) writers becomes more well known.
“What I’m finding with the Generation Z and even younger writers is that they are looking for technology to give them guidance,” he said, “They see it as a tool to learn and grow with rather than extra work.”
1. What difficulty did Green face in writing his book?| A．He felt that he was not creative enough |
| B．He would reduce important plots |
| C．He had trouble organizing his thoughts. |
| D．He was afraid the characters wouldn’t attract readers |
| A．It creates new relationships for others |
| B．It can generate images based on words |
| C．It can translate thoughts into sentences |
| D．It brings authors closer to their readers |
| A．Tech-savvy writers become known thanks to technology |
| B．Young writers rely too heavily on technology. |
| C．Technology should be prevented as extra work |
| D．New technology matters to growing young writers |
| A．What Can We Learn from Mark Twain? |
| B．Can Technology Help Authors Write a Book? |
| C．How Can Authors Become Skilled in Technology? |
| D．Do We Really Need Technology as Our Guidance? |
