Anna Jones is a journalist,
The turtle dove is the UK’s fastest-declining bird species, according to a recent study. The data,
6 . I was lucky enough to test into the best high school in the city. But then came my
I knew I had to work to ground myself. My earliest strategy involved keeping quiet and trying to
Fortunately, my first round of grades turned out to be
I loved any subject that involved writing and labored through math. I had classmates who were always a step or two ahead of me, whose achievements seemed effortless, but I tried not to let that get to me. I was beginning to understand that if I put in extra hours of studying, I could often
A.excitement | B.satisfaction | C.anger | D.worry |
A.freed | B.dogged | C.warmed | D.guided |
A.observe | B.admire | C.support | D.calm |
A.Or | B.So | C.But | D.For |
A.guess | B.doubt | C.interest | D.risk |
A.excellent | B.average | C.different | D.unique |
A.responsibility | B.friendship | C.confidence | D.teamwork |
A.suddenly | B.frequently | C.accidentally | D.slowly |
A.close | B.notice | C.locate | D.create |
A.expecting | B.trying | C.wondering | D.suffering |
7 . Twelve-year-old Mathew Flores is different from other kids. He loves junk mail, and these ads were the only reading materials he could find. Once he asked his mailman if he could offer him some.
The question surprised the mailman. He asked the boy the reason, and then shared the story on Facebook. “Today while delivering mail, I saw a boy reading ads, and he asked me for more mail. In fact, he wants to go to the library, but his family is very poor and he doesn’t have money to take the bus.”
The mailman then asked his Facebook friends if they could give some books to the boy. He wrote, “Most kids want computers or mobile phones! But what he wants is books. It’s great to see his unusual wish, and you may have seen him smile when I said I could help him!” “He is counting on me,” he said. “So I am counting on you!”
The mailman thought the Facebook post might bring in 50 to 60 books. But it was passed on quickly. People from around the world, including the UK, Australia and India, have sent books. Hundreds of books have been delivered to the boy’s door, with hundreds more still on their way.
When books first started arriving, Flores was surprised at what happened. “I thought they were mistaken, but they indeed were for me.” He says that he can’t wait to share the books with other kids, and has promised to read every one.
1. How is Flores different from other kids?A.He sells books. | B.He likes reading. |
C.He delivers mails. | D.He wants to be a mailman. |
A.took him to the library | B.paid for his bus tickets |
C.offered him some junk mail | D.posted his story on Facebook |
A.He is honest. | B.He is hardworking. |
C.He is confident. | D.He is warmhearted. |
A.A junk mail | B.An unexpected gift |
C.An excellent job | D.An interesting book |
Storyboards are a set of drawings to tell a story and a powerful way to visually present information. The original storyboards,
Leaf-cutter ants are interesting.
10 . We rely on our memory not only for sharing stories with friends or learning from our past experiences, but we also use it for crucial things like creating a sense of personal identity. Yet evidence shows that our memory isn’t as consistent as we’d like to believe.
There are countless reasons why tiny mistakes might happen each time we recall past events, ranging from what we believe is true or wish were true, to what someone else told us about the past event, or what we want that person to think.
And whenever these mistakes happen, they can have long-term effects on how we’ll recall that memory in the future.
Take storytelling for example. When we describe our memories to other people, we might ask ourselves whether it’s vital to get the facts straight, or whether we only want to make the listener laugh. And we might change the story’s details depending on the listener’s attitudes. It isn’t only the message that changes, but sometimes it’s also the memory itself. This is known as the “audience-tuning effect”, showing us how our memories can change automatically over time, as a product of how, when, and why we access them.
In fact, sometimes simply the act of rehearsing(复述) a memory can be exactly what makes it susceptible(易受影响的)to change. This is known as “retrieval-enhanced suggestibility”. In a typical study of this effect, participants watched a short film, then took a memory test a few days later. But during the days between watching the film and taking the final test, two other things happened. First, half of the participants took a practice memory test. Second, all of the participants were given a description of the film to read, which contained some false details. Participants who took a practice memory test shortly before reading the false information were more likely to reproduce this false information in the final memory test.
Why might this be? One theory is that rehearsing our memories of past events can temporarily make those memories malleable. In other words, retrieving(找回)a memory might be a bit like taking ice-cream out of the freezer and leaving it in direct sunlight for a while. By the time our memory goes back into the freezer, it might have naturally become a little misshapen, especially if someone has influenced it purposely in the meantime.
These findings lead us to wonder how much our most treasured memories have changed since the very first time we remembered them. Remembering is an act of storytelling, after all. And our memories are only ever as reliable as the most recent story we told ourselves.
1. According to the “audience-tuning effect”, our memories can ________.A.change our personal identity | B.correct mistakes on their own |
C.determine our attitudes to others | D.be affected by how we handle them |
A.Practice can make imperfect. | B.Storytelling brings back memories. |
C.Rehearsing contributes to better memories. | D.Memory abilities vary from person to person. |
A.Acceptable. | B.Valuable. | C.Changeable. | D.Controllable. |