1 . Have you ever taken a personality test and found the results to be scarily accurate, checked your horoscope (星象学) and had everything come true or taken an online quiz that told you precisely what your favorite Disney princess means about you? Well, we certainly have done so too many times.     1         

We discovered that we’ve all been falling victim to the Barnum effect.     2    , despite the fact that the description is actually filled with information that applies to everyone. It was named after P.T. Barnum, a famous 19th century showman, who would famously say, “There’s a fool born every minute.”

    3     as pseudoscience (伪科学) — such as astrology and personality test — remains popular to this day. The Barnum effect explains why extremely general statements, such as the results of your personality test, seem so specific to you.

The key to success of astrology and personality test keep the statements as vague as possible, with a mix of mostly positive and some negative content.     4     See “At times you are extroverted and sociable, while at other times you are introverted and reserved”— who would not agree with that statement?

    5     Take everything you hear with several grains of salt.

8 . Strunino is a small town in Russia,which has about 200 people. People there don’t have to worry about buying bread thanks to a local store owner, bread has been given away (赠送) for free for eight years.

Mamoud has a small store in Strunino. About 8 years ago, Mamoud saw an old lady counting coins to pay for only a piece of bread. He felt sorry for the poor people and gave her the bread for free. That day, he made the decision to print coupons (优惠券). With them, poor people in Strunino could get white or black bread at his store. To make sure that people knew about his offer, he advertised (做广告) it in a local paper.

But that was only the beginning. Soon, Mamoud decided to offer bread to people with disabilities, large families with little money, and homeless people. News spread quickly, and soon poor people from neighboring villages started coming by his shop to receive coupons. Today, the store in Strunino gives away around 2,000 pieces of white bread and 1,000 pieces of black bread, every month.

Some people say that Mamoud’s kindness is a way to honor (表示敬意) his grandfather, but the man says that he just wants to make poor people’s life a little easier.

9 . Chloe Smith is a girl aged 6 from Atlanta, Georgia. One day, while taking a walk with her father near their home, she________something shiny under a pile of rubbish. She picked up the ________ to take home, as she often did on her treasure-hunting walks. Chloe was later ________ to discover she had found a stolen Olympic gold medal.

The medal belongs to former canoeist (划艇运动员) Joe Jacobi, who won gold while ________ for Team USA in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic games. The medal, along with other personal belongings, was ________ in May of 2016 when someone broke into Jacobi’s can. Though police managed to ________ some of his stolen items, they hadn’t been able to find his ________ Olympic medal. It may have been lost forever, if not for a 6-year-old girl’s treasure-hunting ________ .

Chloe’s dad had seen Jacobi’s story on the news, and ________ realized it was his stolen property. He found Jacobi’s email and sent him pictures of the treasure. After________ the medal, Jacobi was astonished, just speechless.

Chloe was ________ to give it back after speaking with Jacobi on the phone. ________, Jacobi promised to speak to her class when school begins again this fall. The ________ of this little girl reuniting an Olympian with his beloved possession is ________ . When we talk about character and doing the ________ thing, Chloe represents the Olympic values in every sense of the word.