1 . Many people believe that working to the maximum is the secret to success, but research has found that moderation(适度) also gets results on the job.
In a study led by Ellen Langer of Harvard University, researchers asked people to translate sentences into a new made-up language. Subjects who practiced the language moderately beforehand made fewer errors than those who practiced extensively or not at all. High levels of knowledge can make people too attached to traditional ways of viewing problems across fields the arts, sciences, and politics. High conscientiousness is related to lower job performance, especially in simple jobs where it doesn’t pay to be a perfectionist.
How long we stay on the clock and how we spend that time are under careful examination in many workplaces. The young banker who eats lunch at his desk is probably seen as a go-getter, while his colleagues who chat over a relaxed conference-room meal get dirty looks from the corner office. “People from cultures that value relationships more than ours does are shocked by the thought of eating alone in front of a computer”, says Art Markman, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas, Austin. Social interaction has been shown to lift mood(情绪) and get people thinking in new directions and in ways that could help improve any post-lunch effort.
Markman also promotes off-task time. “Part of being a good thinker is experiencing things that are seemingly unrelated to what you are working on at the moment but give you fresh ideas about your work,” he says. “Also, there is a lot of research showing that a positive mood leads to higher levels of productivity and creativity. So, when people do things to increase their life satisfaction, they also make themselves more effective at work.”
1. What does Ellen Langer’s study show?A.It is worthwhile to be a perfectionist | B.Translation makes people knowledgeable. |
C.Simpler jobs require greater caution. | D.Moderate effort produces the best result. |
A.is good at handling pressure | B.works hard to become successful |
C.a has a natural talent for his job. | D.gets on well with his co-workers |
A.A good thinker is able to inspire other people. |
B.Experience unrelated to your job is useless. |
C.A cheerful mood helps make a creative mind. |
D.Focusing on what you do raises productivity. |
A.Middle-of-the-road work habits. | B.Balance between work and family. |
C.Long-standing cultural traditions. | D.Harmony in the work environment. |
When Dr. Henderson was assigning(指定) project mates for his psychology class, I secretly hoped he would pair me with my best friend or at least a classmate I could have some fun with. Above all, I hoped he wouldn't assign me to work with the fiercely competitive, extremely serious fellow who always wore dark clothes and apparently had a personality to match. As fate (命运)would have it, Dr. Henderson very deliberately matched everyone in class and announced that I would be working with the one person in class I wanted to avoid.
I went up to my new teammate and introduced myself. He looked at me as though I weren't there. I felt he treated me as though I would hold him back and probably make him fail to get an A in the course. He wasn't mean or abusive; he just gave me the impression he could do whatever project we dreamed up better if he did it alone.
Needless to say, I didn't look forward to an entire term of being brushed off, but I tried to make the best of it and didn't say anything for fear that I would make things worse.
The project required each team to develop a hypothesis (假说), set up an experiment to test the hypothesis, do the statistical analysis and present the findings. Whatever grade the team received would be shared by both students.
When my teammate and I met to discuss our project, I was uneasy. Here was this challenging student who had a reputation for single-mindedness and good grades—the exact opposite of me. I was outmatched. I actually wanted to drop the class at one point, but stopped short because I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of my chickening out. I decided to stick to it no matter what.
After long discussions we somehow agreed to do a study on the psychological well-being of teenagers. I wasn't sure what it meant exactly, but at least we had a topic.
注意:
1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右;
2. 至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语;
3. 结尾部分分为两段, 每段的开头语已为你写好;
4. 续写完成后, 请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Para 1. We started to meet regularly to draw up our plans.
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Para 2. One day I got word that he was admitted to hospital for a serious disease.
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3 . Researchers say they have translated the meaning of gestures that wild chimpanzees (黑猩猩) use to communicate. They say wild chimps communicate 19 specific messages to one another with a “vocabulary” of 66 gestures. The scientists discovered this by following and filming groups of chimps in Uganda, and examining more than 5,000 incidents of these meaningful exchanges.
Dr Catherine Hobaiter, who led the research, said that this was the only form of intentional communication to be recorded in the animal kingdom. Only humans and chimps, she said, had a system of communication where they deliberately sent a message to another group member.
“That’s what’s so amazing about chimp gestures,” she said. “They’re the only thing that looks like human language in that respect.”
Although previous research has shown that apes and monkeys can understand complex information from another animal’s call, the animals do not appear to use their voices intentionally to communicate messages. This was a significant difference between calls and gestures, Dr Hobaiter said.
Chimps will check to see if they have the attention of the animal with which they wish to communicate. In one case, a mother presents her foot to her crying baby, signaling: “Climb on me.” The youngster immediately jumps on to its mothers back and they travel off together. “The big message from this study is that there is another species (物种) out there. that is meaningful in its communication, so that’s not unique to humans,” said Dr Hobaiter.
Dr Susanne Shultz, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Manchester, said the study was praiseworthy in seeking to enrich our knowledge of the evolution of human language. But, she added, the results were “a little disappointing”.
“The vagueness of the gesture meanings suggests either that the chimps have little to communicate, or we are still missing a lot of the information contained in their gestures and actions,” she said. “Moreover, the meanings seem to not go beyond what other animal convey with non-verbal communication. So, it seems the gulf remains. ”
1. What do chimps and humans have in common according to Dr Hobaiter?A.Memorizing specific words. | B.Understanding complex information. |
C.Using voices to communicate. | D.Communicating messages on purpose. |
A.It was well designed but poorly conducted. |
B.It was a good try but the findings were limited. |
C.It was inspiring but the evidence was unreliable. |
D.It was a failure but the methods deserved praise. |
A.Difference. | B.Conflict. | C.Balance. | D.Connection. |
A.Chimpanzee behaviour study achieved a breakthrough |
B.Chimpanzees developed specific communication skills |
C.Chimpanzees: the smartest species in the animal kingdom |
D.Chimpanzee language: communication gestures translated |
One fall, my wife Elli and I had a single goal: to photograph polar bears. We were staying at a research camp outside “the polar bear capital of the world”-the town of Churchill in Manitoba, Canada.
Taking pictures of polar bears is amazing but also dangerous. Polar bears-like all wild animals should be photographed from a safe distance. When I'm face to face with a polar bear, I like it to be through a camera with a telephoto lens. But sometimes,that is easier said than done. This was one of those times.
As Elli and I cooked dinner, a young male polar bear who was playing in a nearby lake sniffed, and smelled our garlic bread.
The hungry bear followed his nose to our camp, which was surrounded by a high wire fence. He pulled and bit the wire. He stood on his back legs and pushed at the wooden fence posts.
Terrified, Elli and I tried all the bear defense actions we knew. We yelled at the bear, hit pots hard,and fired blank shotgun shells into the air. Sometimes loud noises like these will scare bears off. Not this polar bear though-he just kept trying to tear down the fence with his massive paws(爪子).
I radioed the camp manager for help. He told me a helicopter was on its way, but it would be 30 minutes before it arrived. Making the best of this close encounter(相遇), I took some pictures of the bear.
Elli and I feared the fence wouldn’t last through 30 more minutes of the bear's punishment. The camp manager suggested I use pepper spray. The spray burns the bears’ eyes, but doesn't hurt them. So I approached our uninvited guest slowly and,through the fence, sprayed him in the face. With an angry roar(吼叫), the bear ran to the lake to wash his eyes.
注意:1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右;
2. 至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语;
3. 续写部分分为两段,每段的开头语已为你写好;
4. 续写完成后,请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph1:A few minutes later, the bear headed back to our camp.________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph2:At that very moment, the helicopter arrived._______________________________________________________________________________________________________
注意:1. 词数80左右;2. 可适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
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6 . Challenging work that requires lots of analytical thinking, planning and other managerial skills might help your brain stay sharp as you age, a study published Wednesday in the journal Neurology suggests.
Researchers from the University of Leipzig in Germany gathered more than 1, 000 retired workers who were over age 75 and assessed the volunteers’ memory and thinking skills through a battery of tests. Then, for eight years, the scientists asked the same group to come back to the lab every 18 months to take the same sorts of tests.
Those who had held mentally stimulating(刺激), demanding jobs before retirement tended to do the best on the tests. And they tended to lose cognitive(认知) function at a much slower rate than those with the least mentally challenging jobs. The results held true even after the scientists accounted for the participants’ overall health status.
“This works just like physical exercise, ” says Francisca Then, who led the study. “After a long run, you may feel like you’re in pain, you may feel tired. But it makes you fit. After a long day at work-sure, you will feel tired, but it can help your brain stay healthy. ”
It's not just corporate jobs, or even paid work that can help keep your brain fit, Then points out. A waiter’s job, for example, that requires multitasking, teamwork and decision-making could be just as stimulating as any high-level office work. And “running a family household requires high-level planning and coordinating(协调), ” she says. “You have to organize the activities of the children and take care of the bills and groceries. ”
Of course, our brains can decline as we grow older for lots of reasons-including other environmental influences or genetic factors. Still, continuing to challenge yourself mentally and keeping your mind busy can only help.
1. Why did the scientists ask the volunteers to take the tests?A.To assess their health status. | B.To evaluate their work habits. |
C.To analyze their personality. | D.To measure their mental ability. |
A.By using an expert’s words. | B.By making a comparison. |
C.By referring to another study. | D.By introducing a concept. |
A.Retired Workers Can Pick Up New Skills |
B.Old People Should Take Challenging Jobs |
C.Your Tough Job Might Help Keep You Sharp |
D.Cognitive Function May Decline As You Age |
7 . I experienced years of loneliness as a child.
A bright spot for me turned out to be reading. My love of the written word began early as my mother read to me every evening.
My mother also encouraged me to make what I wanted. I tried making toy cars with cardboard boxes and constructing buildings from leftover cardboard and bits of wood my father gave me. When my mother saw my creations, she told me how creative my designs were.
A.I wasn't alone any longer. |
B.I enjoyed reading stories aloud. |
C.I was invited to play with another kid. |
D.I loved the colorful photographs in the books. |
E.Another habit I formed early was being outdoors. |
F.Thus, I began my lifelong interest in making things. |
G.My older brother couldn’t be bothered to play with me. |
Parents everywhere praise their kids. Jenn Berman, author of The A to Z Guide to Raising Happy and Confident Kids, says, “We’ve gone to the opposite extreme of a few decades ago when parents tended to be more strict.” By giving kids a lot of praise, parents think they’re building their children’s confidence, when, in fact, it may be just the opposite. Too much praise can backfire and, when given in a way that’s insincere, make kids afraid to try new things or take a risk for fear of not being able to stay on top where their parents’ praise has put them.
Still, don’t go too far in the other direction. Not giving enough praise can be just as damaging as giving too much. Kids will feel like they’re not good enough or that you don’t care and, as a result, may see no point in trying hard for their accomplishments.
So what is the right amount of praise? Experts say that the quality of praise is more important than the quantity. If praise is sincere and focused on the effort not the outcome, you can give it as often as your child does something that deserves a verbal reward. “We should especially recognize our children’s efforts to push themselves and work hard to achieve a goal,” says Donahue, author of Parenting Without Fear: Letting Go of Worry and Focusing on What Really Matters. “One thing to remember is that it’s the process not the end product that matters.”
Your son may not be the best basketball player on his team. But if he’s out there every day and playing hard, you should praise his effort regardless of whether his team wins or loses. Praising the effort and not the outcome can also mean recognizing your child when she has worked hard to clean the yard, cook dinner, or finish a book report. But whatever it is, praise should be given on a case-by-case basis and be proportionate(相称的) to the amount of effort your child has put into it.
1. What did the scientists do to the road?
A.They repaired it. | B.They painted it. | C.They blocked it |
A.It's warm. | B.It's brown. | C.It's smooth. |
A.To keep the birds there for a whole year. |
B.To help students study the birds well. |
C.To prevent the birds from being killed. |
A.strict | B.sympathetic | C.stubborn | D.sensitive |