1 . When making choices, people assume that they pick what they like. However, research suggests that we like something strictly because we have chosen it. In other words, we dislike things we don’t choose. And this phenomenon has existed since we were babies.
In an experiment, US researchers brought several 10 to 20-month-old babies into a lab and gave them two same bright and colorful soft blocks to play with. They set each block far apart, so the babies had to crawl to one or the other—a random choice. After the baby chose one of the toys, the researchers took it away and came back with a new option. The babies could then pick either the toy they didn’t play with before, or a brand-new toy.
It turned out that the babies reliably chose to play with the new toy rather than the one they had not chosen.
In follow-up experiments, when researchers instead helped choose which toy the baby would play with, the phenomenon disappeared. “As if they were saying, ‘Hmm, I didn’t choose that object last time, because I guess I didn’t like it very much” said Lisa Feigenson, co-author of the study.
This is a very important phenomenon in life, Feigenson noted. Adults will less like the thing they didn’t choose, even if they had no real preference in the first place. It looks like babies do just the same.
It shows that the act of making choices changes how we feel about our options. The random choices might become our preferences. “They are really not choosing based on whether they are novel or what they prefer,” said Alex Silver, co-author of the study.
This new finding explains why adults build unconscious preference when they make choices between the same things. Justifying(证明有道理) choice is somehow fundamental to the human experience. “I chose this, so I must like it. I didn’t choose this other thing, so it cannot be so good. Adults make these inferences unconsciously,” Feigenson said.
Such tendency makes sense to us as we live in a consumer culture and must make so many choices every day, between everything from toothpaste brands to styles of jeans.
Next, researchers will look at whether too many choices could be a problem for babies as they certainly are for adults.
1. What is the purpose of the experiments?| A．To test whether people choose what they like. |
| B．To see why babies prefer new toys to old ones. |
| C．To explain how babies and adults make choices differently. |
| D．To study if too many choices could create problems for people. |
| A．Babies prefer bright and colorful toys. |
| B．Babies’ preference largely affects their choices. |
| C．Babies prefer adults to help them make choices. |
| D．Babies’ previous random choices affect their preference. |
| A．It entirely changes our styles to choose. |
| B．It helps us make wise decisions in a consumer culture. |
| C．It promotes the relationship between adults and babies. |
| D．It helps us understand our unconscious preference for choices. |
| A．Babies like what they choose | B．Random choices matter |
| C．Too many choices puzzle the adults | D．Preference affects the choice |
2 . After their business trip, John and Mary returned, eager to see their lovely children. As they drove into their hometown feeling glad to be back, they noticed
But John
But John drove up and stopped and they were both horror-stricken to see the whole house in
In spite of Mary’s disagreement, John
The baby-sitter had left them at this home while she did some shopping.
1.| A．direction | B．mistake | C．danger | D．smoke |
| A．home | B．plant | C．store | D．kitchen |
| A．ran | B．walked | C．drove | D．rode |
| A．at | B．off | C．to | D．on |
| A．whispered | B．nodded | C．disagreed | D．required |
| A．ruins | B．pieces | C．flames | D．silence |
| A．pushed | B．seized | C．greeted | D．stopped |
| A．basement | B．department | C．house | D．hall |
| A．went | B．reached | C．asked | D．rushed |
| A．heavily | B．slightly | C．partly | D．terribly |
| A．If | B．As | C．Since | D．Unless |
| A．comforted | B．delivered | C．recognized | D．protected |
| A．cheering | B．freezing | C．waiting | D．suffering |
| A．many | B．several | C．three | D．two |
| A．dangerous | B．foolish | C．practical | D．painful |
| A．Therefore | B．So | C．Instead | D．But |
| A．wide | B．endless | C．narrow | D．dirty |
| A．particular | B．interesting | C．familiar | D．fortunate |
| A．car | B．sunlight | C．crowd | D．arms |
| A．rescued | B．found | C．lost | D．missed |
3 . Have you gotten price shock lately when you looked at the cost of a new car? It’s not your imagination .The average price of a new car is the highest ever for the first quarter, according to CNBC. At $33, 319, the price is about $1,000 more than in 2018. Because of that, new car sales dropped by as many as 2.5 million units compared to the same quarter last year.
You’d think the drop might concern car makers, but as it turns out, the increase of the price reflects a choice. Many carmakers are stopping producing less expensive cars in favor of SUVS and pickup trucks, which bring in bigger profits(利润).
“Carmakers always say they build what people want.” The Wall Street Journal reporter Dan Neil said. “But they never mention the fact that they spend billions telling people what they want. It wasn’t that consumers wanted to have a truck that was as big as a house. No, that was a gradual process. And it has been mainly pushed by carmakers because bigger equals more profits.”
In late 2018, Ford announced it was gradually stopping producing its Fiesta, Focus, and C-max models in the United States while continuing to make the Mustang and Focus Active. Other big carmakers did the same, with General Motors ending production of the Chevy Volt, Cruz, Impala, Buick Lacrosse. Cadillac XTS, and Cadillac CT6 in the United States. And Fiat Chrysler is putting the Dodge Dart and Chrysler 200 to an end. “I can tell you right now that both the Chrysler 200 and the Dodge Dart, as great products as they were, are the least financially rewarding business that we’ve carried out in the last eight years,” said Fiat Chrysler CEO.
So where does that leave consumers? Well, if you’re in the market for an SUV or a top-of-the-line pickup truck, you can expect better features. But if you’re looking for a smaller, less expensive car you might be squeezed (挤)out of the market. More and more buyers are likely to look to used cars instead. But before car shopping, make sure you know the secrets car dealers don’t want to tell you.
1. What caused the drop in new car sales this year?| A．The decline of cars quality | B．The rising price of new cars |
| C．The change of market demand | D．The decrease of carmakers’ number |
| A．Carmakers always know the true need of consumers |
| B．Carmakers produce bigger cars because of the social trend |
| C．Consumers really depend less on carmakers in buying cars |
| D．Consumers’ shopping decisions are influenced by carmakers |
| A．are driven by profits | B．can be unwise sometimes |
| C．may influence the quality of cars | D．fail to meet some people’s demands |
| A．Most people don’t prefer small cars any more. |
| B．Producing small cars brings less profit to carmakers. |
| C．Small cars can’t provide better features for consumers. |
| D．Buying second-hand cars is a good choice for some people. |
4 . 
Cheating can happen in a lot of different ways.When people cheat,it’s not fair to other people，like the kids who studied for the test or who the true winners of a game were.
Many people like the action of cheating.In their opinion,it makes difficult things seem easy,like getting all the right answers on the test.But it doesn't solve the problem of not knowing the material and it won't help on the next test—unless the person cheats again.
Some people lose respect for cheaters and think less of them.The cheaters themselves may feel bad because they know they shouldn't get that good grade.And,if they get caught cheating,they will be in trouble at school，and maybe at home,too.
Some kids cheat because they're busy or lazy and they want to get good grades without spending the time studying.Other kids might feel like they can’t pass the test without cheating.Even when there seems to be a “good reason” for cheating,cheating isn’t a good idea.
If you were sick or upset about something the night before the day and couldn’t study,it would be better to talk with the teacher about this.And if you don’t have enough time to study for a test because of swim practice,you need to talk with your parents about how to balance swimming and school.A kid who thinks cheating is the only way to pass a test needs to talk with the teacher and his or her parents so they can find some solutions together.Talking about these problems and working them out will feel better than cheating.
1. What does the author think when kids cheat in class?| A．It is unfair to other people. |
| B．It does harm to their health. |
| C．Teachers should punish them. |
| D．Teachers shouldn't stop them at once. |
| A．Because they think the material in the test is very difficult. |
| B．Because they want to do better than the others. |
| C．Because cheating can make hard things seem very easy. |
| D．Because they have little time to study their lessons. |
| A．Some kids can’t pass the test without cheating. |
| B．Why kids cheat in the test. |
| C．Cheating isn’t a good idea. |
| D．Some kids don't spend the time studying. |
| A．Cheaters are often thought highly of. |
| B．People show no respect for those who cheat. |
| C．Parents whose kids cheat are often in trouble. |
| D．Kids cheat in the test because of swim practice. |
5 . Our teenagers are lonely. A new study by Harvard’s Making Caring Common (MCC) shows just how that feeling has been common and become serious during the past year when we had to keep the social distance. One year’s online learning and life in the bedrooms rather than the classrooms or dorm rooms can make teenagers feel lonelier than before. Teenagers have been more likely to be influenced by loneliness than older adults.
Experiencing loneliness is certainly sad, but it is also perilous. Researchers found that 63％ of the young were suffering from bad sleep, anxiety, and poor health during the lockdown(活动限 制 ) and that nearly a quarter had started or increased some bad habits, including smoking, drinking and staying up late to deal with their feelings.
About half of the young people in the study, who said they had felt lonely, explained that over the past weeks not one person had taken more than just a few minutes to ask how they had been lately. It made them feel they had no one who really cared about them. Their parents thought they had much free time after lessons and it seemed that they only worried whether their children could perform their schoolwork at the level they once did. They didn’t know the problem.
Sian Leah Beilock, the president of Barnard College, explains that young people depend on social media, which makes them especially weak to social media’s harms. She also suggests that fewer close friends may explain some of the feelings of loneliness. She reports that in 1985 the average American had three close friends with whom they could share important things about their lives. In 2004, that number had dropped to just two friends. And in 2019. one in five millennials(千禧一代) had no friends at all.
These levels of loneliness are heartbreaking. MCC suggests, as a nation, we first should focus on teaching the young to make meaningful connections between people and support them.
1. What is the finding of MCC’S study?| A．Every teenager has lonely moments. |
| B．Parent-child communication becomes less. |
| C．Teenagers care too much about others’ opinions. |
| D．Lockdown lifestyles increase teenagers’ loneliness. |
| A．Dangerous. | B．Funny. | C．Helpful. | D．Uncommon. |
| A．Their parents misunderstood them. |
| B．They found their schoolwork heavy. |
| C．They needed more care and attention. |
| D．Their online courses made them bored. |
| A．Teenagers are short of outdoor exercise. |
| B．Teenagers should make more close friends in real life. |
| C．Teenagers enjoy developing close relationships online. |
| D．Teenagers should avoid sharing important things online. |
The factory
7 . Teenagers are in the age group of 13 to 19 years. The age group is thought to be the turning points of both boys and girls. They hardly take any notice of their health and they tend to eat junk food, have less sleep and more dangerously, try smoking, drinking and even drugs. All of these are bringing out many health problems to teenagers all around the world.
Researches show that 17.4 percent of the US teenagers are overweight, and the number of teenagers with diabetes and heart diseases is increasing rapidly. This is mainly due to the lack of proper food intake. Teenagers highly prefer fast and junk food which is the main reason for these health problems. Another problem faced by teenage girls is their need to be thin. This has been put into the teenage minds by the media. Girls tend to eat less and go or an unhealthy diet.
Teenagers are passing the most curious stage of their lives when they are eager to try out everything they see around them. This can be either in sexual activities or trying smoking drinking and drugs. The diseases caused by these factors can be deadly and incurable. Drinking, smoking and drugs can cause cancers and heart diseases. Sexually Transmitted Diseases(STD) are a major problem among teenagers. Diseases such as Hepatitis can be transmitted to another teenager by a simple kiss; AIDS is another high risk for teenagers when having sexual activities.
Teenagers are young; they have very little knowledge of these risk factors. It is up to us parents and teachers to guide them. They must have a good control of their lives, well-balanced diet and good exercise. Staying away from all bad habits such as drinking, smoking and sexual activities will give them a much happier and healthier life. We must help our kids to choose the correct path and become better citizens to the country and better humans to the world.
1. What is the main reason for more teenagers being overweight according to researchers?| A．They have less sleep time. | B．They don’t have proper diets. |
| C．They smoke and drink too much. | D．They are short of enough exercise. |
| A．Diabetes | B．Hepatitis | C．Heart diseases. | D．Hepatitis and AIDS |
| A．Parents. | B．Teenagers. | C．Researchers. | D．Doctors |
8 . Rolling hills and endless green grasslands – those pictures often appear in our mind when we think of the country lifestyle. When outdoor activities were limited in many countries across the world during the pandemic (疫病), social media(媒体) seemed to be filled by pictures of village life. So, why is living in the countryside becoming increasingly popular – and is it really good to consider a slower life?
It is understandable that some people would want to give up the crowded and noisy city streets for the traditional country life – especially during a period like a pandemic. Having more time to stay indoors and the periods of working from home get people to think about what they want from life. But it's not just about having a greener place to look at out of your window.
It has been proved that living in the countryside does good to you. There's less air pollution in the countryside, which reduces the possibility of developing some diseases for breathing the polluted air. You also get more chances to take long walks and see the beautiful countryside, meaning you can get more exercise. Less noise, more walks and better air can also lead to less stress and a longer life, according to studies done by the British government in 2012.
However, there are some things that need to be considered. Living far from the city means that some people may feel lonely. And as people get older, life far from doctors or public transport could become a bit of a challenge. So, if you're considering a change of life and moving to a picturesque village, there are both advantages and disadvantages to consider before taking action.
1. What did people like to share in their social media during the pandemic?| A．Pictures of life in the countryside. | B．Pictures of their outdoor activities. |
| C．Pictures of life in cities. | D．Pictures of working at home. |
| A．fresher air | B．more chances of exercise |
| C．working at home. | D．beautiful countryside views |
| A．A man who lives near a noisy factory. |
| B．A man who lives a busy life with no time to exercise. |
| C．A man who lives in a heavily polluted city. |
| D．A man who lives in a peaceful village, jogging every morning. |
| A．living in the countryside is good for many old people. |
| B．people should think twice before moving to the countryside. |
| C．people feel lonely in cities so they want to move to the countryside. |
| D．there are more advantages than disadvantages in moving to the countryside. |
Computer games represent the first digital media technology and often most of the teenagers in other countries are using these games. But on the other hand,
In Britain and the USA, the managing directors and presidents of big companies are often accused of being ‘fat cats’, i.e. bosses
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