1 . This question has fascinated behavioural scientists for decades: why do we give money to charity?
The explanations for charitable giving fall into three broad categories, from the purely altruisic (利他的)— I donate because I value the social good done by the charity. The “impurely” altruistic— I donate because I extract value from knowing I contribute to the social good for the charity. And the not-at-all altruistic— I donate because I want to show off to potential mates how rich I am.
But are these motives strong enough to enable people to donate as much as they would want to? Most people support charities in one way or another, but often we struggle to make donations as often as we think we should. Although many people would like to leave a gift to charity in their will, they forget about it when the time comes.
Many people are also aware that they should donate to the causes that have the highest impact, but facts and figures are less attractive than narratives. In a series of experiments, it was found that people are much more responsive to charitable pleas that feature a single, identifiable beneficiary(受益者), than they are to statistical information about the scale of the problem being faced. When it comes to charitable giving, we are often ruled by our hearts and not our heads.
The good news is that charitable giving is contagious—seeing others give makes an individual more likely to give and gentle encouragement from an important person in your life can also make a big difference to your donation decisions— more than quadrupling them in our recent study. Habit also plays a part— in three recent experiments those who volunteered before were more likely to do donate their time than those who had not volunteered before.
In summary, behavioural science identifies a range of factors that influence our donations, and can help us to keep giving in the longer term. This is great news not just for charities, but also for donors.
1. What can we learn about people who do charitable giving?| A．Most people support charity as often as they think they should. |
| B．Some people don’t want to leave a gift to charity until the time comes. |
| C．Those who donate because they can gain an advantage are purely altruistic. |
| D．Some people send money to charity simply to tell others they are wealthy. |
| A．Not revealing the names of the donors. |
| B．Showing figures about the seriousness of the problem. |
| C．Telling stories that feature a single, recognizable beneficiary. |
| D．Reminding people to write down what to donate in the will in advance. |
| A．People will learn from others and follow the suit. |
| B．Many people are familiar with charitable giving. |
| C．Charitable giving helps the beneficiary in all aspects. |
| D．Charitable giving can bring a lot of benefits to donors. |
| A．To persuade more people to donate. |
| B．To explain the science behind why people donate. |
| C．To criticize some false charitable giving behaviours. |
| D．To explore approaches to making people donate more. |
2 . Are you happy with your appearance?
“Almost all the girls with single-fold eyelids (单眼皮) in our class have had double eyelid operations,” Zeng, a Senior 2 student from Chengdu, told Xinhua. Zeng had the same surgery done this summer.
From popular photo-editing apps to plastic surgery (整形手术), it seems that large eyes, pale skin and a skinny body are the only standard for beauty these days. But can following this standard really make us feel good about ourselves?
“Many teenagers are upset about their appearance because they believe in unrealistic standards of beauty,” experts say.
However, trying to live up to strict standards can make us feel anxious. What troubles us is not just our “imperfect” looks, but the fact that we criticize ourselves too much.
| A．Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. |
| B．Body image anxiety is common among teenagers. |
| C．Guys care just as much as girls do about their body image. |
| D．Some teenagers might feel negative about their appearance. |
| E．It’s common for teenagers to feel confident about their appearance. |
| F．She and many of her classmates believe bigger eyes look more beautiful. |
| G．Perfect faces and bodies are everywhere in advertising, TV shows and social media. |
Few discoveries are as amazing as discovering the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an. But behind the lifelike masterpieces, there is a group of experts working hard
Lan Desheng, 52, is among the
Lan said that most of the Terracotta Warriors showed signs of decay (腐化) after being buried for thousands of years, which was made
6 . Temperatures in the Norwegian capital regularly drop to -10℃ during winter.
It’s
A young woman sitting next to the boy noticed him rubbing his arms. She immediately asked him, “Don’t you have a
Later, another woman gave him her scarf and then
“People should care as much about children in Syria as they are
| A．Thinking | B．Jumping | C．Sleeping | D．Trembling |
| A．heartbreaking | B．breathtaking | C．effort-making | D．history-making |
| A．upsetting | B．inspiring | C．troublesome | D．wise |
| A．schoolbag | B．companion | C．jacket | D．parent |
| A．inquired | B．explored | C．begged | D．confirmed |
| A．kindly | B．pretendingly | C．tiredly | D．purposely |
| A．carried | B．found | C．placed | D．wrapped |
| A．attempted | B．desired | C．offered | D．chanced |
| A．Interestingly | B．Actually | C．Amazingly | D．Naturally |
| A．expensive | B．public | C．hidden | D．mobile |
| A．donations | B．suggestions | C．demands | D．funds |
| A．despite | B．without | C．in | D．for |
| A．curious | B．confused | C．careful | D．concerned |
| A．noted | B．concluded | C．quoted | D．believed |
| A．cheating | B．filming | C．walking | D．training |
7 . Two very different movies were released on July 21 this summer in the West, bringing record numbers of people into cinemas as the “Barbenheimer (芭比海默)” trend took over social media.
Barbie and Oppenheimer have been huge hits around the world, with Barbie alone making over 1 billion US dollars just 17 days after release. This makes it Wamer Bros studio’s fastest movie to reach $1 billion and the film’s director, Greta Gerwig, the first-ever solo female filmmaker with a billion-dollar film.
Barbie and Oppenheimer are an interesting pair because of how different they are from one another. Barbie is about a famous toy coming to life and facing issues of sexism and finding her own identity. Meanwhile, Oppenheimer is a serious male-driven historical film about J. Robert Oppenheimer’s Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb. The release of these two huge, wildly different movies on the same day led to the creation of countless memes (表情包) under the Barbenheimer hashtag. Filmgoers have even gone to see both movies one right after the other, with some dressing up in pink for Barbie going on to see Oppenheimer as well.
Meanwhile, people have found some of the “Barbenheimer” memes disturbing. Atomic bombs killed many people and they think the memes made light of a very dark time in history. But the films have brought a healthy boost to cinema ticket sales around the world, helping an industry that has faced many challenges in recent years. The increasing popularity of streaming services and the COVID-19 pandemic have kept people out of cinemas. Now, the strikes from writers and actors over concerns of pay and about the use of artificial intelligence by film studios are also having an impact. Add to that a public tired of yearly big movies about superheroes and fast cars, as declining ticket sales suggest.
Described as a historic moment for the movie industry. “‘Barbenheimer’ will go down as one of the biggest and unexpected milestones in the history of cinema,” Paul Dergarabedian at Comscore told CNN.
1. What made Barbie a significant achievement for Wamer Bros?| A．Representing male-driven films. | B．Reaching $1 billion in record time. |
| C．Addressing issues about identity. | D．Greta Gerwig becoming the director. |
| A．They both feature female characters. | B．They were released on the same day. |
| C．They have opposite disturbing memes. | D．They explore completely different themes. |
| A．They have caused a decrease in streaming service. |
| B．They have stimulated cinema ticket sales globally. |
| C．They have motivated people to avoid the cinemas. |
| D．They have sparked controversy regarding sexism. |
| A．Increasing costs of film production. |
| B．Conflicts with social media platforms. |
| C．Filmgoers’ preference for superhero movies. |
| D．Disapproval from writers and actors over Al use. |
This year has seen many events in Chinese film industry. However, the launch of the Youku non-barrier cinema is
It should be noted that there are over 17 million people
That’s why barrier-free films appeared, namely broadcasting the
10 . In recent years American society has become increasingly dependent on its universities to find solutions to its major problems. It is the universities that have been to blame for developing the expertise to place men on the moon; for dealing with our urban problems and with our worsening environment; for developing the means to feed the world’s rapidly increasing population. The effort involved in meeting these demands presents its own problems. In addition, however, this concentration on the creation of new knowledge significantly impinges on the universities’ efforts to perform their other principal functions, the transmission and interpretation of knowledge-the imparting of the heritage of the past and the preparing of the next generation to carry it forward.
With regard to this, perhaps their most traditionally acknowledged task, college and universities today find themselves in a serious situation. On one hand, there is the American commitment, especially since World War Ⅱ, to provide higher education for all young people who can profit from it. The result of the commitment has been a dramatic rise in enrollments(登记入学) in our universities, coupled with a striking shift from the private to the public sector of higher education.
On the other hand, there are serious and continuing limitations on the resources available for higher education. While higher education has become a great ”growth industry“, it is also at the same time a tremendous drain(耗竭) on the resources of the nation. With the vast increase in enrollment and the shift in priorities away from education in state and federal(联邦的) budgets, there is in most of our public institutions a significant decrease in expenses for their students. One crucial aspect of this drain on resources lies in the persistent shortage of trained faculty(全体教师), which has led, in turn, to a declining standard of competence in instruction.
Intensifying these difficulties is, as indicated above, the concern with research, with its increasing claims on resources and the attention of the faculty. In addition, there is a strong tendency for the institutions’ organization and functioning to fulfill the demands of research rather than those of teaching.
1. According to Paragraph 1, what should be the most important function of American universities?| A．Sparing no effort to create new knowledge for students. |
| B．Enhancing students’ competence of tackling social problems. |
| C．Making experts on advanced industries out of their students. |
| D．Preparing their students to transmit the knowledge of the past. |
| A．more students and less investment | B．education quality and economic profit |
| C．low enrollment rate and high education demand | D．private ownership and American commitment |
| A．many public institutions have to cut down enrollments of students |
| B．teachers are not competent enough to perform satisfactorily in class |
| C．some institutions are forced to reduce the total expenses on research |
| D．there is keen competition for resources between public and private institutions |
| A．The improper distribution of American universities’ resources. |
| B．The increasing argument over American universities’ primary task. |
| C．The inability of American universities’ organization and fulfillment. |
| D．The growing focus on American universities’ function of research. |
