1 . The film was awful. After an hour, I whispered to my wife, “Come on, let’s go home.” She replied, “No way. We’ re not throwing away thirty dollars.” “That’s no reason to stay,” I protested. “The money’s already gone regardless of whether we stay or leave. This is the sunk cost fallacy (谬误) at work!” But she just stared at me angrily and I had to sink back down in my seat.
The sunk cost fallacy is most dangerous when we have invested a lot of time, money, energy, or love in something. This investment becomes a reason to carry on, even if we are dealing with a lost cause. The more we invest, the greater the sunk costs are, and the greater the urge to continue becomes.
The sunk cost fallacy is frequently seen in investors. Often they base their trading decisions on acquisition prices. “I lost so much money with this stock (股票). I can’t sell it now,” they say. This is unreasonable. The acquisition price should play no role. What counts is the stock’s future performance. Strangely, the more money a stock loses, the more likely investors tend to stick by it.
This behavior is driven by a need for consistency. After all, being consistent means being reliable. We really dislike it when things don’t match up. If we stop a project halfway, we admit that we once thought differently. Carrying on with a meaningless project delays this painful realization and keeps up appearances.
“We’ve come this far ...” “I’ve read so much of this book already...” “But I’ve spent two years doing this course...” If you recognize any of these thought patterns, it shows that the sunk cost fallacy is at work in a corner of your brain.
Of course, there may be good reasons to continue investing in something, but make sure not for the wrong reasons, such as to make non-recoverable investment s look reasonable. Wise decision making requires you to forget about the costs in the past. No matter how much you have already invested, only your assessment of the future costs and benefits counts.
1. Why does the author mention his film-watching experience?| A．To describe a scene. | B．To introduce the topic. |
| C．To state the writing purpose. | D．To provide background information. |
| A．They keep holding the falling stock. | B．They become more confident in the stock. |
| C．They value the stock’s future performance. | D．They ignore the acquisition price of the stock. |
| A．Evaluating the lost costs. | B．Focusing on consistency. |
| C．Seeking help from others. | D．Weighing up potential profits. |
2 . After his father was rushed to the hospital with gastrointestinal bleeding, 43-year-old Yanatha Desouvre began to panic. So he did the one thing he knew would calm himself: He wrote.
“I’m so scared,” he started. “I don’t know what I’ll do if I lose my dad.”
Over the next few weeks, Desouvre filled several notebooks, writing about his worry as well as his happy memories with his dad. Sometimes Desouvre cried as he wrote. Often he laughed. “Writing allowed me to face my fear.” says Desouvre, “My pen was a tool to process the pain.”
He is in good company. A considerable body of research shows benefits to writing about a traumatic (创伤的) experience or difficult situation in a manner that psychologists refer to as “expressive writing”. People who do this, recording their deepest thoughts and feelings, often show improved mental and physical health, says James Pennebaker, PhD, a psychology professor at the University of Texas, Austin.
Expressive writing is a specific technique, and it’s different from writing in a journal. The idea is to reflect honestly and thoughtfully on a particular trauma or challenge, and to do it in short sessions.
Expressive writing works because it allows you to make meaning out of a painful experience, experts say. Recognizing that something is bothering you is a crucial first step. Translating that experience into language forces you to organize your thoughts. And creating a narrative gives you a sense of control.
But expressive writing isn’t a magical panacea. It shouldn’t be used as a replacement for other treatments. And people coping with a severe trauma or depression may not find it useful to do on their own, without medical treatment.
“My expressive writing gave me the courage to face my fears.” Desouvre says, “And I believe it has helped me discover the hope I need to heal.”
1. Why does the author mention Desouvre’s story?| A．To prove Desouvre’s writing skill. |
| B．To develop a new way to face fear. |
| C．To present the idea of expressive writing. |
| D．To demonstrate Desouvre’s love for his father. |
| A．It contributes to overall well-being. | B．It offers a sense of self-satisfaction. |
| C．It takes the place of medical treatments. | D．It requires the ability of language translation. |
| A．Sharing the narrative. | B．Identifying the challenge. |
| C．Putting down the feelings. | D．Reflecting on the experience. |
| A．Assumption. | B．Convention. |
| C．Condition. | D．Solution. |
3 . African elephants call each other and respond to individual names, something that few wild animals do, according to a new research published recently. The names are one part of elephants’ low rumbles (持续而低沉的声音) that they can hear over long distances across the savanna (热带草原). Scientists believe that animals with complex social structures and family groups that separate and then reunite often may be more likely to use individual names.
It’s extremely rare for wild animals to call each other by unique names. Humans have names, of course, and our dogs come when their names are called. Baby dolphins invent their own names, called signature whistles, and parrots may also use names: Each of these naming species also possesses the ability to learn to pronounce unique new sounds throughout their lives, a rare talent that elephants also possess.
While dolphins and parrots have been observed addressing each other by imitating (模仿) the sound of others from their species, elephants are the first non-human animals known to use names that do not involve imitation, the researchers suggested. Elephants make a wide range of sounds, from loud calls to rumbles so low that they cannot be heard by the human ear. Names are not always used in the elephant calls. But when names are called out, it is often over a long distance, and when adults are addressing young elephants, adults are also more likely to use names than calves, suggesting it could take years to learn this particular talent. The most common call is “a harmonically rich, low-frequency sound”, according to the study in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.
When the researchers played a recording to an elephant of their friend or family member calling out their name, the animal responded positively and energetically, ears flapping and trunk lifted, to recordings that contained their names. Sometimes elephants entirely ignored calls addressed to others.
“Elephants are incredibly social, always talking and touching each other. This naming is probably one of the things that strengthens their ability to communicate to individuals,” said co-author and Colorado State University ecologist George Wittemyer, who is also a scientific adviser for nonprofit Save the Elephants. “We just cracked open the door a bit to the elephant mind.”
1. What is African elephants’ rare talent in paragraph 2?| A．The reply to their names. | B．The invention of their own names. |
| C．The unique sounds to call others. | D．The ability to hear far-away rumbles. |
| A．They can be learned through time. | B．They are seldom used to call names. |
| C．They are imitated from other species. | D．They can hardly be heard by humans. |
| A．They addressed others. | B．They ignored the sound. |
| C．They touched each other. | D．They moved their body parts. |
| A．Naming makes elephants socially active. |
| B．Elephants’ minds deserve further exploration. |
| C．Interaction between elephants develops better. |
| D．Operations on elephants’ brains need to be done. |
4 . “Helicopter (直升机) parenting” describes a style of raising children where parents are over-protective and do too much. The term describes parents who hover over their kids at home and on the playground like a helicopter. Today, modern technology allows these helicopter parents to hover from even far away. They can give their children directions at any moment from anywhere.
Julie Lythcott-Haims wrote a book titled How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kids for Success. In her book, she gives readers a closer look at this parenting style. She also explains why parents should stop it.
Julie Lythcott-Haims says she experienced the effects of helicopter parenting first- hand when she worked as dean of first- year students at Stanford University. The incoming students, or freshmen, she says, were very smart and accomplished on paper. But many were unable to take care of themselves. “They were turning to parents constantly for guidance, for problem- solving, to have them make the choice about something.”
Lythcott-Haims warns this kind of parenting has many short-term wins but long-term costs that harm the child. She uses an area common to most children-a playground. Lythcott-Haims suggests letting your child get a little hurt.
“If you do your child’s homework, it will be perfect. That is what she calls the short- term win. The long-term cost is that your child may not feel capable. And he does not become a determined learner, meaning he will give up easily when faced with a difficult problem to solve.” So what can parents do if they want to break the over-parenting “helicopter” cycle? Reading Julie’s book, you can follow some ways to stop hovering over your children. In a word, when kids have all the skills to take care of themselves, they will be prepared for adulthood.
1. The underlined words “hover over” in Paragraph I probably mean “______”.| A．deal with | B．fly over | C．stare at | D．circle around |
| A．Short- term wins can harm the kids. | B．Getting protection from parents is necessary. |
| C．Trying to make decisions should be valued. | D．Learning from failure is helping kids. |
| A．Encourage them to do what they can do. | B．Help them grow with parents’ protection. |
| C．Guide them in doing as parents do or say. | D．Prevent them from playing on a playground. |
| A．How to Break the Over- Parenting Cycle | B．How to Help Adults with Their Problems |
| C．Helicopter Parenting Is Well Worth Trying | D．Helping Children Too Much Is Hurting Them |
5 . These days, almost everyone has a camera on them via their phone. It’s true that there’s no substitute (代替物) for a professional camera when it comes to quality, but with a few simple steps, you can capture some pretty amazing shots with your smartphone too.
Take multiple shots. One of the best things about smartphone photography is that you can take as many photos as you want and there is no need to print them off to see the results.
Use HDR mode.
Edit your photos. The editing tools or some apps on your phone can help you adjust the color, brightness and more. After being edited, your photos will look significantly better.
Finally, if you want to know how to take a professional photo with your phone, the best tip of all is to practice!
| A．Use natural light. |
| B．Are you ready to learn how? |
| C．And you’ll definitely be proud of your photos. |
| D．Why can’t we take good photos with smartphones? |
| E．This mode is increasingly common on many smartphones. |
| F．This makes it much easier to learn and improve from your results. |
| G．Try different modes on your phones to find the proper lighting condition. |
6 . The topic of China’s “slash youth” has fueled heated debate on social media recently, drawing attention to the diverse pursuits of the younger generation.
The slash youth, which could also be called slashers or slash-generation — means those who refuse to be defined or bound by just one personal identity. They are keen to present themselves as multiple and sometimes distinct identities, such as a nurse and model, a teacher and stand-up comedian, and an engineer and band player. Rather than material comforts, they pursue meaningful achievement.
A diverse career can enable them to develop new experiences and talents as well as social and professional networks, leading to greater flexibility in life and work, recognition and satisfaction.
A study on “slash youth” published in the China Youth Research magazine analyzes the background of this phenomenon: with part of modern society’s structured organization and stability norms (规范) broken, flexible labor markets and structural unemployment have emerged, dispelling the sense of job security of the young people in employment. Young people also face the dilemma of self-actualization (自我实现), including the sense of powerlessness, lost sense of value and lack of self-identity in the profession, which forces them to re-find the meaning of work.
“The ‘slash life’ shows that our society is becoming more and more diversified and inclusive, and it welcomes everyone’s self-fulfillment,” said Shi Yanrong, an associate researcher from Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences. “Young people no longer have to rely on work and money for their sense of self-worth. They tend to create their own identities.” The researcher added that against the background that people have multiple interests and are willing to pay for these interests nowadays, the “slash life” of the youth would drive the growth of a new economy, just as animation culture affected the market.
1. What attracts younger generation to pursue multiple identities?| A．Meaningful self-fulfillment. | B．Public concern. |
| C．Booming job market. | D．Material comforts. |
| A．Highlighting. | B．Stimulating. | C．Removing. | D．Increasing. |
| A．It inspires young people’s creativity at work. |
| B．It enables young people to earn high incomes. |
| C．It reflects the increasing tolerance of the society. |
| D．It increases people’s confidence in young generation. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Dismissive. | C．Disapproving. | D．Ambiguous. |
7 . In the 1960s and 1970s, some writers and university professors called themselves “futurists”. These futurists tried to forecast the future.
Because so much of our daily life will be integrated with computers, virtual reality will become an actual, real reality for many of us. This virtual world will at times seem as real as — if not more real than — the actual world around us. Without leaving home, you will be able to take tours of foreign countries, or even get a medical exam by a doctor in another city.
Much research is being done to unlock the human mind. Using technology that is being developed now, people in the future may be able to not just read someone else’s mind, but also record their thoughts like one would record a movie.
As a result of such advances, in the future, some people who are badly injured may become more robot than human.
We should all eagerly view the future as a great adventure — a new world waiting to be explored. Who knows exactly what we will find?
| A．Speaking of medicine, people with brain injuries will be able to find new hope. |
| B．That is, their brains will control their robotic body parts so they can live their lives normally. |
| C．Only a few of their predictions were right, and all of them missed the computer revolution. |
| D．Artificial hands are made stronger and faster than human ones and work very well. |
| E．Some other research involves using robotic technology to replace human functions. |
| F．Many new parts will be made to replace broken human body ones. |
| G．This should make us hesitate before we try to predict the future. |
8 . The estimated number of monarch butterflies migrating (迁徙) to Mexico for winter has reached its second - lowest level ever for the 2023 to 2024 overwintering season. The estimate, based on the size of the butterflies’ hibernating forest area, has dropped by about 59% from the previous year, according to officials.
Experts are pointing to extensive heat and drought as well as climate change for the major decline. Now monarch butterflies face three primary threats, including habitat loss for their breeding and overwintering; the use of pesticides, which can be toxic (有毒的) to the butterflies or can kill their food source, milkweed; and climate change, which can shift their migratory patterns. By the 2022 to 2023 overwintering season, World Wildlife Fund reported a 22% drop in the amount of overwintering monarch butterflies in Mexico.
According to WWF, monarch butterflies once covered about 45 acres of forested land in Mexico during their 1996 to 1997 overwintering season. Last year, they covered 5.5 acres. With the 59% decline, the 2023 overwintering season saw the butterflies covering just 2.2 acres, The Associated Press reported. The lowest coverage ever recorded was 1.65 acres from 2013 to 2014. The largest amount of butterflies observed for the current overwintering season were around the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.
“This is not the first time we’ve observed changes in the locations of the largest monarch colonies,” Jorge Rickards, general director of WWF Mexico, said in a statement. “It’s telling us that we need to strengthen conservation and restoration measures not only in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, but also outside of it.” According to the Center for Biological Diversity, monarch butterflies have declined by 85% in the past 20 years. The eastern monarch butterflies migrate from Canada and the U. S. to Mexico for overwintering. Western monarchs, which overwinter in California, have declined 99% in the past two decades.
In 2020, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service noted that these butterflies do warrant protections under the Endangered Species Act, but there were higher-priority species to consider for listing. Biologist Ryan Drum, who works with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, told The Associated Press that the latest count would be considered this year when officials consider whether to list migratory monarch butterflies as threatened or even endangered.
1. What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?| A．More butterflies are migrating to Mexico. |
| B．The number of butterflies is getting larger. |
| C．The size of forest area is decreasing faster. |
| D．Monarch butterflies are facing survival crisis. |
| A．By listing concrete numbers. |
| B．By describing typical scenes. |
| C．By interviewing some scientists. |
| D．By making reasonable predictions. |
| A．Increase the number of the butterfly reserves. |
| B．Observe the changing number of the butterflies. |
| C．Take more actions to protect the butterflies. |
| D．Distinguish eastern butterflies from western ones. |
| A．Resist. | B．Need. | C．Support. | D．Provide. |
9 . At a class meeting in Glacier Peak High School, when the teacher asked students what they want do if they knew they wouldn’t fail, most wanted to be very rich or start a business. But the blind (盲的) Ali Steenis said she wanted to drive a car. The room went silent and everyone was kind of taken aback by it, but she didn’t give it much thought.
Weeks later, Ali and her classmate Brooklyn Dana were sitting at a school hall. The lights were weak and a row of smaller tea lights illuminated (照亮) a way in the hall. Suddenly, Ali told Brooklyn it looked pretty. She explained she can see lights when the area around her is dark. Suddenly, Brooklyn had an idea of making Ali’s wish come true.
Brooklyn told their teacher his idea and the teacher praised it and told him, “We had a car that had a brake (刹车) on the right side.”
The ideas was simple: Lay out a track (车道) lined with lights in the school parking lot (停车场), Ali could drive in and do it on the 18th birthday.
The preparation took a lot of helping hands. When Brooklyn shared the idea with the manager of the South Everett Home Depot, he jumped on board. The company brought many Christmas lights. Some people from the Home Depot came out on Saturday to fix the lights in the cold.
The day finally came. Ali’s family drove her to the school. Ali thought they were just picking up some friends before heading to Seattle to celebrate her birthday. At the school, her friends told her the secret. Ali said she was completely caught off guard and was really excited. She got behind the wheel for the first time in her life. With the help of another teacher, they slowly headed down the illuminated track.
Ali drove three laps (圈). She said while a part of her would have loved to keep going, she couldn’t wait to thank her friends and those who helped make her dream come true.
1. How did other students feel on hearing Ali’s wish?| A．Nervous. | B．Excited. | C．Upset. | D．Surprised. |
| A．Ali could see lights in the dark. | B．Ali enjoyed watching tealights. |
| C．Ali had the natural ability to drive. | D．Ali could drive a custom-made car. |
| A．By building Ali a parking lot. | B．By making a specialized track. |
| C．By adding Christmas lights to a car. | D．By teaching Ali how to drive safely. |
| A．Ali drove the car all by herself. | B．The track was protected by guard. |
| C．The driving plan took Ali by surprise. | D．Ali planned to spend her 18th birthday at school. |
10 . The Tradition of Zongzi
Zongzi is a traditional Chinese food that is especially popular during the Dragon Boat Festival, which takes place near the summer solstice. It is made of glutinous rice(糯米)and various fillings, which are wrapped in bamboo leaves. The rice is often mixed with ingredients such as meat, beans, or nuts, and then it is secured with a string before being cooked.
The history of zongzi is rich and dates back to the Warring States period of ancient China. It is said to have originated as a way to commemorate the famous poet Qu Yuan. When Qu Yuan died, the local people wrapped rice in leaves and threw them into the river as an offering to his spirit and to feed the fish so they would not eat his body.
Making zongzi is an art that has been passed down through years. Each family may have its own way of preparation. The process involves carefully selecting the bamboo leaves, washing them, and then filling them with the sticky rice and fillings. The art lies in folding the leaves to encase the rice and securing the zongzi so that it holds its shape during cooking.
Zongzi comes in different shapes and sizes. Some are triangular, while others may be rectangular or cylindrical. The shape often depends on the region and the family's tradition. After they are wrapped, zongzi are boiled or steamed for several hours until the rice is soft and the flavors are well combined.
Today, zongzi is enjoyed not only in China but also in many other parts of the world where Chinese communities celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival. It symbolizes unity and remembrance and has become a part of the festival's celebration.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 1?| A．Zongzi is only eaten during the winter. |
| B．Zongzi is a traditional food for the Dragon Boat Festival. |
| C．Zongzi is made with non-glutinous rice. |
| D．Zongzi does not require any fillings. |
| A．To forget. |
| B．To celebrate. |
| C．To criticize. |
| D．To remember and honor. |
| A．It is very easy and requires no skill. |
| B．It is a lost art that few people know. |
| C．It is a traditional art that has been passed down through years. |
| D．It involves using machinery to wrap the zongzi. |
| A．but they all have the same filling. |
| B．and they are only cooked by machine. |
| C．which often depends on the region and family tradition. |
| D．but they are always wrapped in the same way. |
| A．It is a traditional Chinese dessert. |
| B．It symbolizes unity and remembrance. |
| C．It is the favorite food of Qu Yuan. |
| D．It is used to predict the weather. |
