1 . For some it is the sound of a bouncing basketball. For others the clearing of a throat. For Dr. Jane Gregory the list includes pigeons, ticking clocks and the sound of popcorn being eaten. “I cried on the plane the other day because I couldn’t figure out the volume on my new headphones and so I couldn’t block out the sound of a guy sniffing,” she says. Gregory is among those who experience misophonia, a phenomenon in which particular sounds can prove unbearable, triggering(引起)emotions from anxiety and panic to shame and anger. Now in her book, Sounds Like Misophonia, the academic is on a mission to explore what’s behind it, and to help those affected cope.
Gregory, a clinical psychologist at the University of Oxford, suggests misophonia is far from being a simple sensitivity to sound. It can be fed by a complex interplay of factors, including a lower ability to filter out certain noises, the association of negative meanings with particular sounds, and the burden of feelings associated with an emotional response to them.
Yet, the phenomenon was largely unknown until the 2010s. In one study, researchers asked people with high and low traits of misophonia to listen out for a “trigger” sound in the presence of a masking sound. Both groups detected the trigger just as easily. “The person with misophonia had a more intense reaction, but only after they identified what the sound was,” adds Gregory. Those results, she says, suggest that people with misophonia are not inherently better at detecting particular sounds, such as a sniff or a rustle—rather they might be listening out for them more, or not be as good as others at tuning them out. This is a trait, Gregory speculates, that might have offered our ancestors an evolutionary advantage, such as helping them to detect hiding predators. Another implication of the research, Gregory says, is that it is not just the auditory features of the sounds that cause negative reactions but the meaning attached to them. An example would be a reaction to the jingling of a dog’s collar after being frightened by an aggressive dog.
Gregory hopes her book will support those too often told to ignore sounds. She says: “The emotional reaction is much more complex than just being annoyed... They feel trapped and helpless when they encounter these sounds. If you think it’s nothing, then you’re not experiencing what this person is experiencing.”
1. Misophonia is a phenomenon where ________.| A．people fail to recognize particular sounds | B．specific sounds cause negative emotions |
| C．different feelings are mixed up together | D．people lose control of their emotions |
| A．Trigger sounds of similar origins. | B．Disability to ignore certain sounds. |
| C．Understanding of particular sounds. | D．Inborn ability to tell certain sounds. |
| A．To detect certain sounds is a solution to misophonia. |
| B．People with misophonia are well understood by others. |
| C．People can benefit from misophonia in some situations. |
| D．Objects related to sounds may trigger negative reactions. |
Nowadays, a lot of young people seem to spend much of their free time either watching television or playing computer games. Certainly, these things are entertaining, but they don’t contribute much to developing their brains. Many believe that reading books, and especially fiction, is a much more effective way of achieving this. The most obvious benefit we get from reading a good story is a growing vocabulary. We come across new words in reading and try to understand these words through context. Gradually, we become more confident with complex words. In addition, we improve in other areas such as speaking and writing just by reading regularly.
It has also been established that reading fiction is a good way of developing a good self-image. Non-readers or poor readers often have low opinions of themselves. Besides, they may perform poorly in other subjects because they cannot read and understand the material.
Most importantly, however, reading fiction helps us to develop our brains. The human brain can work well when we just do regular things, like driving or walking. However, learning expert Dr. Brian E. Walsh suggested that it can perform more effectively when an element of surprise is added, because this helps to build connections in the brain. In this respect, the positive effects of reading may be much stronger than previously thought.
Recent research has shown that the brain reacts more strongly to unpredictable than to predictable things. This may explain why people enjoy reading fiction, which generally contains lots of unpredictable things. Reading fiction enables us to experience fresh scenarios(情节) and identify with the people we are reading about. When we mentally create the scenes, the look of the characters, the smells, and the sounds in the book, we are exercising our brain. The brain is challenged. This is a positive thing because it will continue to grow and develop if properly stimulated. The more it is used, the better it becomes.
1. How does reading help us improve vocabulary?2. What are the problems for people who seldom read according to the passage?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
> Reading fiction has more positive effects on our brain since fiction shows more predictable things in our daily life.
4. Apart from what are mentioned in the passage, what other benefit(s) have you gained from reading fiction?
During Darwin’s time, people believed that all species
| rewarding preparation gain solution overcome passionate associate with promote impression |
1. The best way to learn is to put what we
2. Being
3. The Olympic Games aim to
4. To get an advantage in the competition, careful
5. As everyone knows, the power of devotion can help us
6. Being honest about your problems is an important step towards finding the
7. In China, it’s commonly believed that if we could have good handwriting, others would have a good
8. Since our friends have a big influence on us, we should
9. Volunteering at the animal shelter was a valuable and
1.介绍活动相关信息（时间、地点、活动内容等）；
2.邀请他分享自己近期阅读收获并介绍阅读方法。
提示词：英语读书会 Reading Circle
注意：1.词数不少于60词；
2.邮件的开头和结尾已为你写好，不计入总词数。
Dear Tom,
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours Sincerely,
Li Hua
President, Student Union
7 . A national activity, which aims to make people more strictly follow laws on the illegal (非法的) wildlife trade, will try to find out a large number of cases, in which millions of animals and plants are killed. If you would like to do some volunteer work for wildlife protection, then the activity will be suitable for you.
What should the activity do?
The activity will be really important, which aims to take away illegal gains from the lawbreakers and force them to receive punishments. This activity will also take away their wildlife products and illegal hunting tools. What’s more, all the lawbreakers will be taken to the police station.
What’s the purpose of the activity?
The activity is to stop the complete connection with the illegal wildlife trade across the country, including illegal hunting, killing, transportation and the action of buying and using the wildlife products. The government says that China will have its strong official action to punish those who work on illegal wildlife trade.
What’s your duty?
During the activity, the government hopes you can help check carefully part of tools, main stations and natural environment of the wildlife. You and other volunteers will be working together to help the experts build a law system (系统) that will cover all areas and leave no stone unturned.
What’s the future plan?
The next step is to increase the ways of working for wildlife resource information and management. We need lots of efforts so that the situation of national protection for wildlife will become satisfying one day.
1. Why will the national activity be carried out?| A．To ask people to raise some kinds of wildlife. |
| B．To ask people to keep watching wildlife from now on. |
| C．To make people get to know some animals and plants. |
| D．To make people follow laws on the illegal wildlife trade. |
| A．To give lawbreakers punishment in order to protect wildlife. |
| B．To give some illegal products away to the people in poor areas. |
| C．To prevent lawbreakers from making more tools to hunt wildlife. |
| D．To stop the public from entering natural environment of wildlife. |
| A．Fine all of the lawbreakers. | B．Have a strong official action. |
| C．Build new useful management. | D．Start a new transportation system. |
| A．To check all the dangerous stones in all areas. |
| B．To help build a law system together with others. |
| C．To take away part of the tools from lawbreakers. |
| D．To help build more stations with the help of experts. |
| A．punish all the lawbreakers in the area | B．protect all the national animals in China |
| C．stop illegal wildlife trade all over the world | D．reduce illegal wildlife trade to a certain degree |
How can we gain benefits from feedback practices while reducing their disadvantages? There are some ways to help you.
Feedback works best for the people whose main goal is self-improvement. It should be given in a developmental approach and future-focused, highlighting areas in which the recipient (接收者) can improve, and offering clear, actionable strategies.
First, we should consider using terms besides “feedback”. Some studies have suggested replacing “feedback” with terms such as “advice”, which often contain more practical information. Offering feedback as advice encourages recipients to focus on improving their future performance.
Next, focus on the advantages. Excellence in teaching is often influenced by our own feelings, with lots of effective approaches for any given topic. Research suggests we improve ourselves when others focus on our advantages. A key to effective feedback is highlighting existing patterns of excellence.
Then, we must learn how to give feedback. Delivering feedback can be challenging, especially if the person receiving the feedback is the person who has the same social position as you or the information could be sensed as critical (批评的). To avoid such situations, reducing unpleasant messages may help.
Receiving feedback, as well as giving it, is a skill. Therefore, helping teachers build skills around receiving practice-based information, feedback, or advice, such as listening with an open mind, thinking critically about the information, asking for specific advice and “making a thoughtful choice” about the quality and effectiveness of the feedback, can improve the whole process.
Finally, focus on the “what” of feedback. While much attention is given to the “how” of feedback delivery, the real value lies in the “what” of feedback, that is the richness of its information. “High information” feedback should include two important points: checking the correctness of the teacher’s approach when there is only one correct method and offering information to fill gaps in understanding and guide the recipient towards a desired approach.
We know that feedback is quite important for teachers’ professional development. After reading the information above, with established effective feedback methods, we can make the feedback process more effective and useful for more teachers in ways that finally improve students’ learning.
1. Whom does the feedback work best for? (不多于10个单词)2. How can we encourage recipients to focus on improving their future performance? (不多于7个单词)
3. What is a key to effective feedback? (不多于7个单词)
4. How can we avoid challenging situations when giving feedback? (不多于6个单词)
5. What does this passage mainly talk about? (不多于8个单词)
Paper money, much more convenient than metal coins,
10 . For many of us, the desire to speak a foreign language is overshadowed by the idea that it’s a long journey or that there’s no practical reason to learn. However, research has shown that speaking two languages has many advantages in this connected world today. Businesses with people around the world need someone who is not only capable of communicating in another language but also culturally aware and open-minded. Many companies prefer the people who are able to speak more than one language since they have faced more difficult situations in their language learning than the people who only speak one language, thus they desire to deal with more challenges in the work.
While creativity can be a difficult thing to measure, researchers have attempted to measure creative ability in a number of ways. One of the tools that are most widely used to understand creativity is a test known as the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT). The TTCT was first introduced in 1962 by Ellis Paul Torrance and measures one’s divergent (发散的) thinking in some key areas.
Divergent thinking is how well and how quickly your mind can solve problems. A study conducted by the University of Mashhad collected the TTCT results of the people who speak only one language and the people who have learned two languages and clearly showed that the second of the two groups performed better.
Some reasons for this could be that people who speak two languages are often faced with situations where they must consider various things, which can have an effect on problem-solving ability.
Language allows you to express your thoughts to other people, but what if there are no words to express what you’re thinking and feeling? Understanding a second language can allow you to express something you may not be able to with only one language.
Because language is linked to culture, you will find that by speaking more than one language you have a better understanding and appreciation of other cultures. This allows you to establish stronger connections with people from other cultural backgrounds. Nelson Mandela once said: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” Communicating in someone’s native language is not only a great way to show respect, but also helps you develop a deeper personal connection that goes beyond just being understood.
1. What does the underlined word “overshadowed” in Paragraph 1 most probably mean?| A．Reduced. | B．Encouraged. | C．Controlled. | D．Strengthened. |
| A．show no interest in new ideas | B．communicate more with others |
| C．receive more money for their work | D．want to perform more difficult tasks |
| A．Its results can tell us how creative we are. |
| B．It can be used to develop divergent thinking. |
| C．It trains our minds to solve problems quickly. |
| D．It offers us measures to handle different situations. |
| A．Understanding what they said. | B．Speaking their native languages. |
| C．Teaching them our native languages. | D．Expressing thoughts in our native languages. |
| A．Benefits of Leaning a Second Language |
| B．Importance of Understanding Other Cultures |
| C．TTCT: A Useful Tool for Language Learning |
| D．Second Language: An Advantage in Your Work |
