1 . Culture can affect not just language and customs, but also how people experience the world on surprisingly basic levels.
Researchers, with the help of brain scans, have uncovered shocking differences in perception(感知) between Westerners and Asians, what they see when they look at a city street, for example, or even how they perceive a simple line in a square, according to findings published in a leading science journal
In western countries, culture makes people think of themselves as highly independent entities(实体) .When looking at scenes, Westerners tend to focus more on central objects than on their surroundings. East Asian cultures, however emphasize inter-dependence. When Easterners look at a scene, they tend to focus on surroundings as well as the object.
Using an experiment involving two tasks, Dr Hedden asked subjects to look at a line simply to estimate its length, a task that is played to American strengths. In another, they estimated the line's length relative to the size of a square, an easier task for the Asians.
The level of brain activity, by tracking blood flow, was then measured by Brain Scanners. The experiment found that although there was no difference in performance, and the tasks were very easy, the levels of activity in the subjects’ brains were different. For the Americans, areas linked to attention lit up more, when they worked on the task they tended to find more difficult--estimating the line's size relative to the square. For the Asians, the attention areas lit up more during the harder task also--estimating the line's length without comparing it to the square. The findings are a reflection of more than ten years of previous experimental research into east-west differences
In one study, for instance, researchers offered people a choice among five pens, four red and one green. Easterners were more likely to choose a red pen while Westerners were more likely to choose the green one.
Culture is not affecting how you see the world, but how you choose to understand and internalize(使内化) it. But such habits can be changed. Some psychological studies suggest that when an Easterner goes to the West or vice versa, habits of thought and perception also begin to change. Such research gives us clues on how our brain works and is hopeful for us to develop programs to improve our memory, memory techniques and enhance and accelerate our learning skills.
1. According to the passage, Chinese people are most likely to_________.| A．emphasize independent thinking more |
| B．always focus more on their surroundings |
| C．focus on the context as well as object |
| D．think of Westerners as highly independent entities |
_________.| A．the task is much easier |
| B．the blood flow is tracked |
| C．people begin to choose colors |
| D．the task is more difficult |
| A．They indicate that culture has a great impact on the way people talk and behave. |
| B．They show that Easterners and Westerners have great differences in perceiving the world |
| C．They suggest that people's habits of thought and perception can be changed in different cultures. |
| D．They make it clear that Easterners and Westerners lay emphasis on different things |
| A．Easterners prefer collectivism to individualism |
| B．East Asian cultures lay more emphasis on independence |
| C．It took over ten years to find out how to improve our brainpower |
| D．Americans will change their habits of perception when they're in Britain |
1.
| A．In the 1870s. | B．In 1926. | C．By 1940. | D．By 1817. |
| A．He wanted to cut back production costs. |
| B．He wanted the working people to earn more money. |
| C．He thought the Americans’ life should be organized in a better way. |
| D．He thought the five-day workweek was good for the economy. |
| A．People drink a lot of alcohol. |
| B．Night movies sell more tickets. |
| C．TV shows more films of murder and love. |
| D．People do things with emotion and purpose at night. |
What comes first: the optimism or the good health?
Optimism, defined as the general expectation that the future will be favorable, could provide ways to improve health, some researchers believe. But scientists remain unsure if optimism goes ahead of health improvements, or vice versa.
A recent study suggests that most people can’t help but to think optimistically. This study was conducted by Ed O’Brien, a social psychologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The findings suggest that people have a natural tendency to think positively about their future.
Participants were asked to create a list of imaginary personal experiences that would make them happy or unhappy over the course of the next year. They then ranked how difficult it was to plan that list and how happy they believed they would be in the future overall. The easier it was for people to think of positive future experiences, the happier they imagined they would be. However, there was no relationship between easily developing negative future experiences and expecting to be unhappy as a result.
O’Brien concluded that people seem to discount the possibility that future negative events will make them happy overall, suggesting that optimism might come more naturally. “We’re not as used to thinking about the future in terms of things that are going to go wrong.” O’Brien’s study is one of many to find that people are consistently optimistic about their future, predicting pleasant experiences and discounting unpleasant ones. If optimism may lead to better health and people generally tend to think optimistically, what does this mean for the connection between mental and physical health? “If we can make sure that optimism comes before healthy states, we might be able to involve and improve people’s optimism,” Boehm explained. However, it’s difficult to determine what comes first: the optimism or the good health.
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4 . A Different Kind of Spring Break
For many American university students, the week-long spring break holiday means an endless part on a sunny beach in Florida or Mexico. In Panama City Beach, Florida, a city with a permanent population of approximately 36,000, more than half a million university students arrive during the month of March to play and party, making it the number one spring break destination in the United States.
A week-long drinking binge is not for everyone, however, and a growing number of American university students have found a way to make spring break matter. For them, joining or leading a group of volunteers to travel locally or internationally and work to address problems such as poverty, homelessness, or environmental damage makes spring break a unique learning experience that university students can feel good at.
During one spring break week, students at James Madison University in Virginia participated in 15 “alternative spring break” trips to nearby states, three others to more distant parts of the United States, and five international trips. One group of JMU students traveled to Bogalusa, Louisiana, to help rebuild homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Another group traveled to Mississippi to organize creative activities for children living in a homeless shelter. One group of students did go to Florida, but not to lie on the sand. They performed exhausting physical labor such as maintaining roving invasive plant species that threaten the native Florida ecosystem.
Students who participate in alternative spring break projects find them very rewarding. While most university students have to get their degrees before they can start helping people, student volunteers are able to help people now. On the other hand, the accommodations are far from glamorous. Students often sleep on the floor of a school or church, or spend the week camping in tents. But students only pay around $250 for meals and transportation, which is much less than some of their peers spend to travel to more traditional spring break hot spot.
1. How many university students travel to Panama Beach City every March for spring break?| A．Around 36,000. | B．Around 50,000. |
| C．Around 500,000. | D．Around 10,000. |
| A．doing too much of something | B．studying for too long |
| C．refusing to do something | D．having very little alcohol |
| A．One group of JMU students worked on homes damaged by a hurricane. |
| B．Children living in homeless shelters enjoy creative activities. |
| C．Some students work to help the environment on alternative spring break trips. |
| D．University students do different types of work on alternative spring break trips. |
| A．university students spend more than $250 for traditional spring break trips |
| B．university students complain about the accommodations on alternative spring break trips |
| C．university students may take fewer alternative spring break trips in the future |
| D．university students would prefer to wait until they have their degrees to start helping people |
