1 . New research finds a link between poverty and poor decision making. The findings may explain why poor people sometimes make bad choices that continue their hardship.
Earlier studies have found the poor less likely to escape poverty. But there has been little research on why the poor make decisions that make their lives harder. Until recently, Eldar Shafir, a psychologist and his team did two experiments. One took place at a shopping center in New Jersey. The other was carried out among sugar cane (甘蔗) farmers in rural India.
The New Jersey experiment involved individuals with low paying jobs and others belonged to the middle class. All the volunteers were asked what they would do if their cars needed repairing.
The volunteers were given two imaginary situations. In the first, the car repair cost $150. In the second, $1,500.
“In the first, the poor and the rich performed equally well.”
“And when the repair cost $1,500, the poor performed significantly worse.” The poor lost about 13 IQ points on average. This is about the loss experienced when a person has not slept for one night.
The scientists then wondered if the same person reacted differently when he was rich and when he was poor. Once a year when the harvest comes in, the India sugar cane farmers earn most of their money, which often does not last through the year.
“So they find themselves basically rich after the harvest when the income comes in and poor just before the harvest.”
The researchers gave them tests similar to the ones taken by the people in New Jersey. They tested the Indian farmers before the harvest and after.
And the results were much the same as with the mall shoppers.
“They performed much more slowly and made many more mistakes when they were poor than when they were rich.”
Mr. Shafir says the results support 50 years of research that shows all humans have limited mental power to deal with things in life.
“And so the insight here is that, having not enough of something in a way makes it harder to make good decisions for everything else.”
1. What is true about earlier studies?| A．They were done by economists and psychologists. |
| B．They found it hard for the poor to become rich. |
| C．They explained why the poor make poor decisions. |
| D．They showed the poor care little about their wealth. |
| A．they had not slept for one night |
| B．it was just an imaginary situation |
| C．the increased price affected their decision |
| D．they didn’t take the second situation seriously |
| A．are smarter when they are poor |
| B．earn money all through the year |
| C．earn a lot of money so they think they are rich |
| D．feel rich after the harvest and poor before the harvest |
| A．It is hard for the poor to rid their poverty. |
| B．The poor will become much poorer. |
| C．Poverty weakens brain power. |
| D．Different experiments and their findings. |
2 . In mid-August, Hou Changliang and Lei Yudan finally held their wedding ceremony at Hou’s hometown in Shaoyang, central China’s Hunan Province.
During the past 11 years, Hou has been traveling and teaching in rural schools across three provinces in Southwest China. In 2011, he signed up for a program, funded by government agencies since 2003. The programme sends col graduates to China’s underdeveloped western regions to work for one to three years in different fields, such as education, agriculture and rural management.
Born into a rural family, Hou knows how life-changing education can be for a rural kid. When most young people were competing for places in big cities, Hou headed deep into the mountains. For Hou, the most difficult aspect of teaching in a remote village was not the poor working conditions or the low income that came with it. For two years, he batted to end the alarming dropout rate among his students in Dahua, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Locals often saw little reason to support school education for their children, especially girls. “The number of students tended to decrease after winter vacations” said Hou. “After the Chinese New Year, some were brought to big cities to work when they were old enough.”
Since the 1990s, working in cities has gradually become the main way of employment for rural laborers. Working in cities becomes the most popular pat for young people from rural regions to earn an income and become independent early, but at the cost of their education.
Studies into the high drop-out rate of rural students in middle school show that students from poor families often feel anxious about the burden of education on their parents and are more likely to drop out when they have poor grades.
“If I can’t change the parents’ mind, at least I can change the mind of my students-the future parents,” said Hou.
1. What is the purpose of the programme in China’s underdeveloped western regions?| A．To develop tourism. | B．To advance education. |
| C．To help with the rural development. | D．To provide jobs for college graduates. |
| A．The poor pay. | B．The fierce competition. |
| C．The high drop-out rate. | D．The hard working conditions. |
| A．They tend to obey their parents. | B．Their mind needs to be changed. |
| C．They feel great pressure to study. | D．Their grades are generally poor. |
| A．Battle for a change | B．Volunteer as a teacher |
| C．Poverty stands in the way | D．Education makes a difference |
In 2014, 40.8 percent of the people in the village of Bianjiang in Guizhou Province
As poverty alleviation (扶贫) proceeds and the road system in the village improves, industries such as fish, chicken farming and growing mums have been developed. Now, a family of five can earn an average of 10,000 yuan ($1,435) a year through employment and industry bonuses. China
Through the alleviation project, China, home to nearly one
4 . Last month, Dongxiang County in Gansu Province was officially removed from the “List of Poorest Counties in China”.
Landlocked in China’s northwest, Dongxiang County is
So, how did they do it?
Most of Dongxiang people are
The potatoes here are
Fan Chenyang, who works in the Dongxiang potato industry, said that one of the
Dongxiang County is also famous for its
| A．witness | B．access | C．home | D．entry |
| A．crew | B．population | C．police | D．children |
| A．farmers | B．fishermen | C．singers | D．hunters |
| A．unbelievable | B．acceptable | C．avoidable | D．understandable |
| A．center on | B．apply for | C．give up | D．suffer from |
| A．small | B．sweet | C．famous | D．expensive |
| A．cleaning | B．cutting | C．planting | D．preparing |
| A．rotten | B．baked | C．fried | D．hidden |
| A．rocks | B．products | C．chips | D．tools |
| A．wrong | B．different | C．main | D．tough |
| A．training | B．exhibition | C．festival | D．export |
| A．damage | B．development | C．spread | D．prevention |
| A．reducing | B．meeting | C．improving | D．judging |
| A．lamb | B．architecture | C．dancing | D．rice |
| A．appeal | B．return | C．decline | D．stop |
