1 . Self-esteem is the ruling view you have of yourself. This includes your beliefs about your inner qualities and how you think others see you.
People with healthy self-esteem don't need to boast about themselves to others. People with low self-esteem may tell you how much everyone loves them, what a great job they do at work, and how amazing they are at pretty everything under the sun even though they really wonder if it's true. People may see them as obnoxious or “full of themselves”.
If you're starting to think you may have low self-esteem, you can work on the way you talk to yourself. When you turn off negative self-talk, you can open the floor to positive reinforcements and access the courage to show different sides of yourself. It isn't going to feel good at first, though. Keep going until it becomes less and less and maybe even a few awkward laughs in the mirror may help.
However, in serious cases of low or even non-existent self-esteem, you may want to call in a professional or a specialist. Good mental health is important, and professionals doing psychotherapy do not pass judgement or give corrections.
| A．Self-esteem is not always rooted in reality, though. |
| B．You have the power to shape a new self-perception. |
| C．This encourages you to speak openly without worry. |
| D．The real test of character is whether they can learn from their mistakes. |
| E．Self-esteem refers to a person's overall sense of his or her value or worth. |
| F．People with a healthy level of self-esteem present themselves with a casual confidence. |
| G．With some practice and persistence, you will win this internal struggle to see your self-worth. |
| A．lack | B．cuisine | C．security | D．purchase |
What may well be the oldest metal coins in the world have been identified at an ancient abandoned city known as Guanzhuang in China. Like many Bronze Age (青铜时代) coins from the region, they were cast in the shape of spades with finely carved handles. These ancient coins existed during an in-between period between barter (以物易物) and money, when coins were a novel concept, but everybody knew that agricultural tools were valuable.
Reading about this incredible discovery, I kept thinking about the way modern people represent computer networks by describing machines as having “addresses”, like a house. We also talk about one computer using a “port” to send information to another computer, as if the data were a floating boat with destination. It’s as if we are in the Bronze Age of information technology, grasping desperately for real-world reference to transform our civilization.
Now consider what happened to spade coins. Over centuries, metalworkers made these coins into more abstract shapes. Some became almost human figures. Others’ handles were reduced to small half-circles. As spade coins grew more abstract, people carved them with number values and the locations where they were made. They became more like modern coins, flat and covered in writing. Looking at one of these later pieces, you would have no idea that they were once intended to look like a spade.
This makes me wonder if we will develop an entirely new set of symbols that allow us to interact with our digital information more smoothly.
Taking spade coins as our guide, we can guess that far-future computer networks will no longer contain any recognizable references to houses. But they still might bring some of the ideas we associate with home to our mind. In fact, computer networks — if they still exist at all — are likely to be almost the indispensable part of our houses and cities, their sensors inset with walls and roads. Our network addresses might actually be the same as our street addresses. If climate change leads to floods, our mobile devices might look more like boats than phones, assisting us to land.
My point is that the metaphors of the information age aren’t random. Mobile devices do offer us comfort after a long day at work. In some sense, our desire to settle on the shores of data lakes could change the way we understand home, as well as how we build computers. So as we cast our minds forward, we have to think about what new abstractions will go along with our information technology. Perhaps the one thing we count on is that humans will still appreciate the comforts of home.
1. Many Bronze Age coins were made into the shape of a spade because ___________.| A．a lot of emphasis was put on agriculture |
| B．this stylish design made the coins valuable |
| C．these coins also served as agricultural tools |
| D．the handles made the coins easily exchanged |
| A．To show they both used to be new concepts when first invented. |
| B．To explain abstract digital worlds are different from concrete coins. |
| C．To suggest computers will experience dramatic changes as coins did. |
| D．To highlight their same importance in our civilizational transformation. |
| A．Flexible. | B．Essential. | C．Wasteful. | D．Alternative. |
| A．What Coins and Computers Bring Us |
| B．How Agriculture Loses to Digital Industry |
| C．How Bronze Age Develops to Information Age |
| D．What Ancient Money Tells Us About the Future |
| A．crisis | B．convention | C．stereotypes | D．substances |
| A．crashed | B．conducted | C．suspended | D．sustained |
| A．confirmed | B．reflected | C．charged | D．diagnosed |
| A．precious | B．unique | C．productive | D．complicated |
8 . If you’ re reaching for the last piece of pizza at a party, and meanwhile see another hand going for it, your next move probably depends on how you feel and whom the hand belongs to. Your little sister — you might just grab the pizza. Your boss — you probably will give up. But if you’re hungry and feeling particularly confident, you might go for it.
Now researchers have made progress in understanding how mammals’ brain encodes social rank and uses this information to shape behaviours — such as whether to fight for that last pizza slice. They discovered that an area of the brain called the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) was responsible for representing social rank in mammals; changes to a mouse’s mPFC affect its dominance (支配) behaviour. But it was unknown how the mPFC represented this information and which neurons (神经元) were involved in changing dominance behaviour.
In the new study, Professor Kay Tye let groups of four mice share a cage, allowing a social hierarchy (等级) to naturally develop — some mice became more dominant and others more subordinate. As soon as the mice were paired up, he discovered, the activity of their mPFC neurons could predict — with 90 percent certainty — the rank of their opponent.
“We expected animals might only signal rank when they are in a competition,” says co-researcher Nancy. “But it turns out animals walk around with this representation of social rank all the time.”
When the researchers next asked whether the activity of the mPFC neurons was associated with behaviour, they found something surprising. The brain activity patterns were linked with slight changes in behaviour, such as how fast a mouse moved, and they also could predict — a full 30 seconds before the competition started — which mouse would win the food reward.
The winner was not always the more dominant, but the one engaged in a “winning mindset”. Just as you might sometimes be in a more competitive mood and be more likely to snatch that pizza slice before your boss, a subordinate mouse might be in a more “winning mindset” than a more dominant mouse and end up winning.
The areas of the mPFC associated with social rank and “winning mindset” are next to one another and highly connected. Signals on social rank impact the state of the brain involved in “winning mindset”. In other words, a subordinate mouse’s confidence and “winning mindset” may partially decrease when faced with a dominant one.
“This is further evidence to suggest that we are in different brain states when we are with others compared to when we’re alone,” says Tye. “Regardless of who you’re with, if you’re aware of other people around you, your brain is using different neurons.”
1. The author writes Paragraph 1 in order to ________.| A．tell an interesting story | B．present a typical example |
| C．introduce a major topic | D．provide a convincing proof |
| A．The mPFC neurons. | B．The researchers. |
| C．The brain activity patterns. | D．The changes in behaviour. |
| A．mPFC neurons change dominance behaviour. |
| B．Brain activities can influence social hierarchy. |
| C．Dominant opponents boost “winning mindset”. |
| D．Social rank and “winning mindset” affect behaviour. |
| A．Those eager to win may succeed. | B．When alone, we are more confident. |
| C．Social rank guides competitive behaviour. | D．“Winning mindset” establishes dominance. |
9 . What Is Good Citizenship?
Good citizenship is generally defined as how a citizen performs a role to become a useful member of society. This involves duties and responsibilities that may be expressed through laws and regulations.
Citizenship, in its general sense, is being part of a community.
A good citizen is an important part of a progressive state. As covered by the social contract theory, a government is established to manage interaction among citizens, define an individual’s rights, enforce these rights, and make sure just compensation (补偿) is obtained when these rights are not obeyed.
| A．There are many characteristics of good citizenship. |
| B．Being a good citizen is important in improving the community. |
| C．Apart from these characteristics, a good citizen knows and obeys the laws of the land. |
| D．In turn, the citizens hand over to the government the powers that may limit some freedom. |
| E．This may also involve your behaviors expressed through the recognition of right and wrong. |
| F．As citizens, we care about others and being good members of our communities and our country. |
| G．Good citizenship lies in the recognition that members of a community work together to improve their lives and their relationship with one another. |
| A．reserved | B．vulnerable | C．esteemed | D．demanding |
