1 . Everyone complains. Even if you argue that you are the happiest person in the world, you still complain sometimes. Sometimes you complain without even realizing it, but rarely is it ever helpful.
When you find yourself thinking or saying a negative comment about something or someone, stop and force yourself to say something positive instead. Seek the help of a cheerful friend to change you when you complain and help you to see the positive in the situation.
Make a list of things you are grateful for.
You often complain about the things you don’t have without noticing those things you already have. Be grateful for what you have in your life because you are lucky simply for being yourselves.
Learn to adapt to the changes.
There are many things you can’t change.
Allow yourself to vent (发泄) your feelings every once in a while.
Constantly ignoring negative thoughts could add up. If you are really going through a rough time, don’t be afraid to share your feelings with a close friend or family member or see a therapist.
Find what makes you happy.
| A．Sometimes this list can be easy, full of hobbies you enjoy. |
| B．The best and only thing you can do is to accept them. |
| C．Change the way you think. |
| D．Are you constantly complaining about your present job? |
| E．Set down things you are thankful for and you’ll see that you don’t have any reason to complain. |
| F．Make friends with positive people. |
| G．So how can you manage to force yourselves to end complaining? |
2 . The Failed New Year’s Resolution: Three Tips to Get on Track
January is officially over, and many people are taking stock of their progress towards New Year’s resolutions. The fact is that you probably haven’t kept up with them as much as you hoped. But that’s not your fault.
Practice self-compassion
Many people talk to themselves in harsh ways when struggling with new habits, believing self-criticism will help them reach their goals. Research shows, however, that the opposite is true. Self-compassion is more effective for personal improvement, especially when facing failure.
Resolutions are often phrased as definitive goals. I will exercise daily. I will kick desserts.
Solve problems by overcoming barriers
If you are struggling to maintain your desired habits, there are evidence-based techniques available to help you.
| A．Set all-or-nothing goals |
| B．Change your resolutions into intentions |
| C．One such skill is called missing links analysis |
| D．Setting specific behavioral goals can be effective |
| E．If you’re persuaded to give up on your resolutions |
| F．Old habits tend to die hard, and new habits tend to die easy |
| G．When you are upset about yourself for not keeping resolutions |
3 . Libraries. They have that reassuring smell of well-read pages, are peaceful, have free Internet and, of course, abundant books.
But guess what? There’s a new kind of library sweeping the nation — a tool library — and it’s just as cool, but in all sorts of different ways.
It’s often said that the average electric drill is only used for 11 minutes in its entire lifetime. Granted, it doesn’t take that long to drill a hole, but still — that’s crazy. Yet the majority of households have one, even though DIY is actually a really infrequent activity for most people.
What if you could just borrow tools when you need them, and drop them back so that they can be used by someone else all the time you’re not DIY-ing? Well, in some parts of Scotland, you now can. Membership-based tool sharing services are popping up in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling, Linlithgow and Cumbernauld. They work just like a normal library but instead of books, you can borrow a massive range of tools and equipment when you need them, then drop them back when you’re done.
Zero Waste Scotland’s Andrew Pankhurst recently renovated (翻新) his house using the Stirling Tool Library. He said, “It’s amazing. It had all the tools I was looking for, and some I didn’t even realize I needed.”
And that’s the beauty of a tool library. Borrow a tool, use it for one afternoon at a small amount of cost of buying it and instead of it cluttering up your house gathering dust, it’s back off to a busy life all across town, week in and week out.
The tools available to borrow are mainly received as donations. The tool library will then repair them if needed and PAT test for safety ready to be borrowed and saved from going to landfill.
So next time you have a job to do around the house, why not borrow rather than buy?
1. What can we learn from paragraph 3?| A．The electric drill is worth buying. |
| B．People dislike to use out-of-date tools. |
| C．Most of the tools aren’t often used at home. |
| D．DIY is a really frequent activity for most people. |
| A．Familiar. | B．Practical. |
| C．Essential. | D．Disappointing. |
| A．Clearing up. | B．Piling up. | C．Throwing out. | D．Breaking up. |
| A．Borrowing Is the New Buying |
| B．Please Make a Donation Today |
| C．When in Doubt, Go to the Library |
| D．Today a Reader, Tomorrow a Leader |
4 . Temptation (诱惑) is part of life. It is commonplace to find yourself in situations—for instance, choosing between a delicious dessert versus sticking to a diet, or playing video games instead of studying.
Unsurprisingly, research shows that people with greater self-control experience benefits such as success at school and work and greater satisfaction in their relationships. But there’s growing evidence that self-control can also come with various downsides.
The hidden costs of high self-control also extend beyond the social area to affect a person’s emotional life. For instance, consider the experience of regret. Research has shown that, when people reflect on their more distant past, they tend to regret having too much self-control rather than not having enough.
Even the positive beliefs that people hold about those who have high self-control, such as that they will perform better on group projects, can have negative effects.
Self-control is something nearly all of us try to be better at. But it’s also important to recognize that there can also be some costs to having limitless willpower.
| A．Self-disciplined people are less likely to forgive others. |
| B．People with higher self-control tend to enjoy better health in life. |
| C．We can all benefit from understanding both sides of this research literature. |
| D．Some of the costs of high self-control are social and reputational (有关声誉的). |
| E．These ideas can create heightened expectations for the high self-control person. |
| F．So enacting this self-control may actually lead you to feel less satisfaction down the road. |
| G．During these times, you likely hope to make the ‘right’ decision that drives you towards your long-term goals. |
Jokes and humor are often considered unimportant. This is understandable: they are, by definition, not serious. Yet jokes and humor are beneficial for health through their stress-relieving properties. For example, they can stimulate blood circulation and aid muscle relaxation, both of which can help reduce stress.
But why do we respond, in powerful and rewarding ways, to things that are objectively meaningless? Scientists have spent years studying how humor works in the brain and on the various types of jokes that produce it.
Puns, the most familiar type of jokes, are where specific elements of language convey different meanings at once. For example, “Why did the golfer wear two pairs of trousers? In case he got a hole in one.” “Here” hole in one has two possible interpretations: one pair is damaged or someone’s ball goes into the hole the first time he hit it. We may not actually laugh at them, but their simplicity and familiarity make most people recognize the humor in puns. Therefore, the brain’s humor processes are still engaged.
How does humor arise from the brain? Our brains have developed a system to recognize when things don’t match expectations. If normality is overturned, it means we don’t know what’s going to happen, which creates tension. However, the system that recognizes incongruity (不一致) also resolves it, by providing an explanation, or at least a confirmation that the incongruity has no negative consequences. This removes the uncertainty, easing the tension. After that, we learn something new and expand our mental model, experiencing a rewarding feeling.
Basically, thanks to these complex systems in our brains, humor comes from something being surprising, unexpected or wrong in some way, as long as the incongruity is resolved without negative consequences. If the incongruity is not resolved, humor is absent. If the answer to “Why did the golfer wear two pairs of trousers?” is “in case the metal eagle that lives in his gold bag attacks him”, that’s not funny. This would explain why unreal humor is often hard to get right.
1. What is the benefit of jokes and humor?2. Why can people recognize the humor in puns?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
>People can work out humor from something being surprising, unexpected or wrong in some way, as long as the incongruity remains unsolved.
4. Apart from the benefit mentioned in the passage, what other benefit(s)can you get from humor? (In about 40 words)
6 . My morning routine varies little from day to day. I walk the dog, eat breakfast at the kitchen counter with Katie and Matt, and then settle in for a day at the computer. And because I work mostly from home, I have learned that little walks into the outside world are important for psychological well-being. So before I begin attempting to put sentences together, I walk over to a little coffee shop in my neighborhood, and chat with the folks behind the counter.
The coffee shop is on the other side of the historic Chesapeaker & Ohio Canal from my house. Whenever in season, tourists line up to take a slow boat, if not to India, at least into the 19th century.
One warm day last fall, I turned the corner to see one of the boatmen sitting alone on the boat, bathed in early-morning light. He was playing the violin. The scene stopped me in my tracks. What I witnessed could only be described as a perfect moment. Ten seconds at most. But months later I still remember just standıng there, watching, listening, and taking it all in.
We all have such moments put before us. Little surprises. Whether we’re wise enough to see them is another thing.
I thought of the violin man one Sunday afternoon while reading the biographies of those killed in the Columbia incident. The specialist Laurel Clark, talking from the shuttle a few days before it was to land, said it was blissful to see the simple unexpected wonders of space like a sunset. “There’s a flash; the whole payload bay turns this rosy pink,” she said. “It only lasts about 15 seconds, and then it’s gone.”
I once had a friend who had a strange habit that never stopped to amuse me, maybe because I never quite knew when she was going to spring it on me. It could come in the middle of a particularly lively dinner with old friends. Out of the blue, she’d say, “Stop! I want to remember this moment.” I realize now, after her death, what wise advice that is.
1. The author goes out for a walk every day in the morning mainly because __________.| A．she needs to walk the dog and enjoy the fresh air |
| B．she considers that it is good for her physical health |
| C．she hates to be left alone at home when others are out |
| D．she benefits psychologically from contacting the outside world |
| A．enjoyable | B．valuable |
| C．sensible | D．reasonable |
| A．develop a good habit |
| B．enjoy life to the fullest |
| C．catch the valuable moments in life |
| D．be willing to follow friends’ advice |
Quiet the Complainer
For years, Jane Booth’s mother made lengthy airing of complaints. It got so bad that Jane felt it was ruining the quality of their time together, so she finally spoke up and helped her mother realize how often she complained. It turned out that Jane’s intervention not only helped her mother-it also helped their relationship.
You may not be as direct as Jane was to her mother, but there are other ways to get a constant complainer to end. To be effective, it helps to correct misbeliefs about complaining in the first place. In fact, even the kindest most considerate people complain. And complaining doesn’t always have a negative impact. Sometimes, complaining can change an unfavorable situation into a more desirable one. Other times, it can foster new relationships with people we don’t know well.
The problems start when complaining becomes the default mode（默认模式）“When we have a need to be heard, we repeat ourselves,” says Dian Killian, a life coach, “the satisfaction for frequent complainers comes from attention, so they are never satisfied with any suggestion to address the problems that they highlight resolution isn’t their aim.”
So, how do you quiet a constant complainer, for the sake of your health and his？
Change the subject. Some complainers will switch gears if you shift the conversation in a direction that interests them.
Summarize the complaint. If your complainer keeps repeating himself, he may stop if you demonstrate that you’re listening.
Challenge the person to act. When a constant complainer tells you about his latest problem, ask nicely what he’s done to improve it.
Be honest. When you have things to do, tell the complainer that you must cut the conversation short-especially if it’s someone who’s complained to you many times before.
When someone stresses you out with lots of negativity, it’s important to talk about the problem. Otherwise, if you bottle up your feelings and continue listening to repeated complaints, you may grow annoyed or start avoiding the person.
Remember: Quieting a constant complainer can be beneficial to both of you.
1. What did Jane Booth do to stop her mother complaining?2. According to Paragraph 2, what are the misbeliefs about complaining?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
Complaining frequently is a way that people ask for suggestions for their problems.
4. Your friend has been constantly complaining about almost everything in life. What would you do to help him?（about 40 words）
8 . Upgrade your problems
In 2017, I spent all my money buying my first flat — which meant I had no money to fix my first homeowner’s problem. I was sleeping on an air mattress because I couldn’t afford furniture. Then I noticed a leaky pipe under the bath, which created a wet puddle (水坑). I couldn’t afford a plumber (水管工) but I didn’t want to introduce myself to the neighbour by crashing through their wet ceiling.
The only option left for me was that I had to solve the problem on my own. I took the bus to a nearby store and talked with the nice guy behind the counter. He explained how to fix it and sold me a pipe cutter and a bit of pipework. I went back home, pushed my head under the bath, and got the job done.
It taught me a lesson that has since become a bit of motto for me: Upgrade your problems.
Having a wet bathroom floor is a problem — and the day before I bought the place, I would have had a landlord to call. But once the place was mine, this became my problem. I saw this as progress: You must own your own property to take care of this sort of situation.
Years later, when I founded my professional services company with my business partner, Adam, this motto became core to how we approach the business. There have been many problems, and there will continue to be new ones. However, we remember the reason we have these problems — it’s because we run our own business! A late-paying customer is a problem, but it’s one we encounter only if we have paying customers.
That is why I still keep the pipe cutter on my desk today. It reminds me that, no matter my level of frustration (挫败), I am fortunate to face the problems I do. The more I solve them, the more I upgrade to even better ones.
1. What did the author notice in his first flat?2. How did the author solve his problem with the bath?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
The author still keeps the pipe cutter on his desk today because it reminds him of his success in business.
4. What else would you do when you encounter problems in life? (In about 40 words)
9 . The COVID-19 lockdown worried me. I worried about what the weeks and months ahead might look like. I decided to take the idea of “love the neighbour” seriously.
On a Saturday morning, I made a sign that said, “Have a nice day,” and stuck it on my kitchen window, with a smile face. A while later that day, the neighbour living across from me, taped up a sign on the window with a message for us. “Thank you. You too!” We went on like this for a few days, back and forth, like an echo, and I thought of how this would be a nice story for us all：move from strangers in the beginning to good friends in the end.
Somewhere around Day 5, I positioned “Beaker the Muppet” in the window, and they responded with a cute stuffed dog. Then I put a note of a Mary Oliver poem about spring to raise the bar. Maybe I was showing off. Sure enough, no “echo” this time.
The next day, Dewey was barking at their dog in the backyard. I saw one of the guys when I went out to stop my dog. “Sorry, we didn’t find a poem,” he said. “We meant to,” he added. “And then we never did.” “That’s okay,” I replied. And we both went back inside.
During the following days, I also ran into the neighbour in the driveway some times as we walked our dogs, and found the note already started to feel a little silly. What if my notes were a chore to them, and not a charm?
For months, I had avoided my favorite blocks sidewalk that cut through my neighbourhood. Going for walks these days made me sad, or mad, because the story had no good ending.
I kept thinking, “How do I love you, my neighbour, like I’m supposed to? I have decided after this is all over, I will finally have all my neighbours over for dinner.”
Maybe we can have a little laugh together about how we tried to be kind. We’ll say even during the hard time, nothing can lock us.
1. Which of the following can explain he underlined expression “raise the bar” in paragraph 3?| A．Make it more difficult. |
| B．Have more fun. |
| C．Remove the barrier. |
| D．Invite them out for a drink. |
| A．She became annoyed. |
| B．She felt relieved. |
| C．She felt closer to the neighbour. |
| D．She became uneasy. |
| A．Communication cannot last long without meeting face to face. |
| B．The idea of “Love the neighbour” kept the author positive. |
| C．The author changed the walk routes in order to take a shortcut. |
| D．A social gathering can solve all the problems of neighbourhood. |
10 . Ryuichi Sakamoto, the Japanese composer who died on March 28, 2023, was a talented musician. For many, his combination of noisy notes and joyous ones made him timeless and avant-garde (前卫的). But for me, Sakamoto was first and foremost a creator of complex emotions.
Before I learned to love Sakamoto, my mother loved him. After her days studying textiles (纺织) at a women’s college in our hometown of Nagoya, Japan, she would come home and play the Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence theme over and over. When she sat at her piano bench, she was trying to mold herself into the most attracting woman that she could be. Still, her childhood desire for a bigger life never died. Years later, when she played it again on that same piano, now transported to our Chicago home, her hands would crash down on Sakamoto’s drumming and upset bridge. It seemed that she buried herself in her younger dream and at the same time got lost in the reality of living away from her home and family. Both the joy of a fulfilled dream and the sorrow of its harsh realities mixed in Sakamoto’s score, pervading (弥漫) our living room.
Following in my mother’s footsteps, I too learned to play Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. I played it in an open music room at college, where I was quite depressed under the gaze of strangers as well as excited about becoming my own adult. I played Sakamoto again in my then-boyfriend’s grandparents’ sitting room, the piece now reflecting my struggle to see how my Japanese and American self could fit into this white family, even though I was in love.
Sakamoto’s genius for telling the contradictions (矛盾) of existence arises again and again. I’m still playing Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, now at the electric piano in my living room, as I puzzle through becoming a new mother, frightened and thrilled at the same time. Maybe someday my daughter will play Sakamoto’s music, and it will help her understand her life too.
1. The author loves Sakamoto for_________.| A．his Japanese identity |
| B．his talent as a composer |
| C．his way to combine notes |
| D．his creation of mixed emotions |
| A．Contented with her current life. |
| B．Joyful and sorry at the same time |
| C．Annoyed with the difficult bridge |
| D．Lonely and upset away from home. |
| A．The life and accomplishments of Ryuichi Sakamoto. |
| B．The challenges of being a Japanese-American woman. |
| C．Contradicting emotions aroused by Sakamoto’s music. |
| D．A mother and daughter’s shared love for playing the piano. |
