1 . “Regrets, I’ve had a few. But then again, too few to mention,” Frank Sinatra chanted in his 1969 hit “My Way”. The song’s idea is attractive: that anyone can just declare what’s done is done and move on. Some take the declaration a step further and claim they have no regrets at all. Whether a boast or an actual attitude, “no regrets” suggests that life can and should be lived without looking through the rear-view mirror.
Easier said than done, though. In 2020, author Daniel H. Pink launched the World Regret Survey, the largest ever survey on the topic. With his research team, Pink asked more than 15,000 people in 105 countries, “How often do you look back on your life and wish you had done things differently?” 82% said regret is at least an occasional part of their life; roughly 21% said they feel regret “all the time.” Only 1% said they never feel regret.
If you are of the “no regrets” type, you might think that all this regret is a recipe for unhappiness. But that isn’t the case. True, being overwhelmed by regret is indeed bad for you. But going to the other extreme may be even worse. To rid yourself of regrets doesn’t free you from shame or sorrow; it leads you to make the same mistakes again and again. To truly get over our guilt requires that we put regret in its proper place.
As uncomfortable as it is, regret is an amazing cognitive (认知) achievement. If today your relationship with your partner has soured, your regret might mentally take you back to last year. You would remember your being mean and sensitive, and then imagine yourself showing more patience, being kind instead of hurtful at key moments. Then you would fast-forward to today and see how your relationship could be progressing instead of languishing.
But regret doesn’t have to be left unmanaged. The trick is to acknowledge it and use it for learning and improvement. You can be honest with yourself about what went wrong and use that knowledge to enjoy better relationships in the future.
1. What should we do if we have had a bitter quarrel with a close friend according to Frank Sinatra?| A．Attract more people to your argument. |
| B．Send him/her a letter of apology. |
| C．Boast about being more reasonable. |
| D．Forget about it and just let it go. |
| A．We can do nothing about regret. |
| B．Unhappiness results from regret. |
| C．Ignoring regrets is missing the opportunity to improve. |
| D．Ridding yourself of regrets helps free you from sorrow. |
| A．Improving. |
| B．Healing. |
| C．Showing up. |
| D．Breaking up. |
| A．Regret to become smarter-if you let it. |
| B．Long for a different past? Regret it! |
| C．Regret? Not my way! |
| D．Stay away! Regret will heal itself. |
2 . Parents. teachers, and anyone who regularly deals with teenagers know how difficult the adolescent(青春期的) years can be. Adolescents have always been known to do wild-even dangerous-things. This was thought to be due to the foolishness of youth. Now a study on the development of the brain has led to a new theory of why teens act the way they do.
Recently, scientists discovered that though our brains are almost at their full size by age 6. they are far from fully developed. Only during adolescence do our brains truly “grow up.” During this time, they go through great changes, like a computer system being upgraded. This “upgrade“ was once thought to be finished by a t age 12. Now, scientists have concluded that our brains continue to change until age 25. Such changes make us better at balancing our impulses (冲动) with the need to follow rules. However, a still-developing brain does this awkwardly. The result, scientists claim, is the unexpected behavior seen in teenagers.
The studies confirm that teens are more likely to take risks and behave in extreme ways. Fortunately, the news isn’t all negative. As brain scientists point out, the teen brain inspires such behavior in order to help teenagers prepare for adult life.
One way the brain does this is by changing the way teens measure risk and reward (回报). Researchers found that when teens think about rewards, their brains give off the chemicals that create pleasure. Researchers believe this makes the rewards outweigh the risks, and makes teens feel the excitement of new experiences.
Unfortunately, this hunt for rewards can sometimes lead teens to make bad decisions. However, it also means that teens are more likely to try new things or to be independent. The findings suggest that in the long run, the impulses of the teen brains are what help teens leave their parents’ care and live their own lives successfully.
1. What is the main purpose of the text?| A．To describe an experiment on the brains of teenagers. |
| B．To explain how teenagers’ brains affect their behavior. |
| C．To introduce a new discovery on teenagers’ intelligence. |
| D．To suggest that teenagers think differently from their parents. |
| A．They are at full size by age 6 |
| B．They begin to upgrade at age 12. |
| C．They are fully developed at age 18. |
| D．They finish developing at age 25. |
| A．The negative side of the research is not understood. |
| B．The way the teen brain works has some advantages. |
| C．The latest news of the research should be provided. |
| D．The impulses of a teenage brain should be controlled. |
| A．Changing into the adult pattern |
| B．Starting to weigh risk and reward |
| C．Creating connections with success |
| D．Giving off chemicals that create pleasure. |
| A．An independent brain. | B．A successful life |
| C．The role of parents in life | D．The rewards of findings |
3 . Procrastination (拖延)makes people live under constant stress. Making changes will lead to positive results, like relieving stress and increasing the quality of work, family time and joy. But how to?
If you’re a master procrastinator, stop making excuses and acknowledge the reasons why procrastination is bad.
You may feel fearful about the size of a task, proud of your productivity, and anxious about your time.
If you find yourself with some free time and you need to convince yourself to start working on a difficult task, follow the five-minute rule. Force yourself to work on a task for just five minutes, with the understanding that you can quit after five minutes if you like. This simple mental trick is usually just to get you started. And it will often turn into much more than five minutes.
◆Work on stuff earlier.
So, remember: Fighting procrastination is a life-long battle, but it’s a winnable one.
| A．Use the five-minute rule. |
| B．These emotions are quite natural. |
| C．You might think of the possible results. |
| D．Here are some ways to beat procrastination. |
| E．Pay special attention to the quality of your work. |
| F．Otherwise, you won’t be convinced there’s a need to change. |
| G．For master procrastinators, the idea of working too early on a task is stupid. |
SEL stands for “Social-Emotional Learning”, the label given to the “soft skills’”
Students today are coming to school with more fears, more anxiety, and
There have been many theories about why
Authors like Dr Jean Twenge subscribe
Dr Twenge’s
5 . Watching horror movies can sometimes lead to a person feeling frightened and unable to sleep. If you're frightened or anxious after watching a horror movie, you can face your fears by acknowledging what frightens you, talking about them, and thinking about them logically.
Acknowledge the things you are scared of. After watching a horror movie, you may be worried about zombies, ghosts, serial killers, vampires, or a myriad of frightening things. Think about what scares you, and acknowledge the things that you fear.
Be logical about what frightens you. Remind yourself that you are just as safe as you were before watching the movie. Use logical thinking to pick apart your fears. Tell yourself that it was a movie, not reality, and realize that the movie was designed to scare you.
Watch something funny.
| A．Overcome your fears |
| B．Talk about your fears |
| C．Follow up a scary movie with a comedy |
| D．Expose yourself to your fear if you have access to it |
| E．So the probability of your fear coming true is close to zero |
| F．Recognizing what makes you scared can help you deal with that fear |
| G．You can also try to distract yourself from your fears by watching something funny |
6 . Eating well and getting enough sleep is great for self-care. Self-care also means taking time to manage stress and practice self-compassion.
Breathe
Become mindful of your breathing. Take a few minutes each day to focus on your breathing. Start by taking a deep breath.
Accept
Accept yourself, your feelings and the imperfection of life. The path to self-care starts with acceptance of your struggles.
Write
Walk
An easy way to care for yourself is to take a walk. Walking can distract your mind and create space between you and the stress in your life. Walking can be a resource for healing. When you sit around thinking about upsetting things, it will not help you.
| A．When we accept them |
| B．If we wouldn’t accept ourselves |
| C．Begin a simple writing exercise |
| D．Research shows that running benefits health |
| E．At first, your breathing is short and shallow |
| F．If you start walking, your physical energy changes |
| G．Here are four simple ways to quiet your mind and ease your stress |
1. How does the man feel about his business?
| A．Worried. | B．Bored. | C．Satisfied. |
| A．Plant some flowers. |
| B．Do market research. |
| C．Go sailing with the woman. |
| A．Bored and tired. | B．Interested and excited. | C．Relaxed and relieved. |
9 . One night before bed, Christine Carter was sitting with her daughter on the sofa. They were making a list: Three Good Things of the Day.
Carter is a sociologist at the University of California, Berkeley. She studies how schools and families can develop positive emotions and help children lead healthier lives.
A key step toward happiness is learning how to describe emotions, even negative ones. Feeling blue?
Expressing gratitude is also important. Let’s say you often quarrel with somebody. Reflect on why you’re grateful for that person, and remember the good times. This makes it likely you’ll get along better tomorrow.
| A．But the surest way to happiness is kindness. |
| B．It’s better to accept the emotion than to ignore it. |
| C．Finding the positive doesn’t mean never being sad. |
| D．We can be ready to cope with hard times in the future. |
| E．Kindness is what you need most to avoid quarreling with others. |
| F．Making a list is their way of reflecting on things they are grateful for. |
| G．Keeping a diary contributes to positive feelings and reduce negative ones. |
10 . As both a parent and a college professor, I have witnessed the destructive effects of test anxiety. Students with it can say quickly the material and explain complex content in a relaxed environment but fail in an exam. When it matters the most, students with test anxiety can convey the least.
Some students turn to drugs. With any medicine, there is a concern for safety, particularly when it is with the brain, the body’s most complicated and important organ. A new study suggests there may be a choice to these drugs for students: an open-label placebo (安慰剂).
Placebos have long been known to effectively reduce symptoms for different illnesses. Traditionally, service of a placebo treatment requires some tricks, in that people believe they are receiving an active, effective treatment, but in reality, they are taking a sugar pill or an activity that has no medical help. An open-label placebo is different: people are told from the start that they are receiving a placebo that contains no medication. And yet Schaefer’s findings indicate that people may still benefit from it.
Why did the placebo work? At this point, scientists are not entirely sure. Human mental processes can be changed by environment. Taking the pills each day may have encouraged participants to think about test anxiety and may have also provided a sense that they were doing something to deal with it.
Finally, although participants taking the placebos did show improvement on a number of self-report measures, they had no benefit over the control group with respect to scores on their final exams. They may have felt better about taking their exams, but those feelings did not change into improved test scores.
Despite these limits, the present findings are appealing and suggest a low-cost, low-risk way for reducing an all-too common problem among students.
1. What can be inferred from the first paragraph?| A．Test anxiety prevents some students perform normally in exams. |
| B．Test anxiety can improve some students’ performance after exams. |
| C．A relaxed atmosphere helps students bring out their best in exams. |
| D．Some students’ performance in exams is connected with environment. |
| A．Because people feel it necessary psychologically. |
| B．Because people’s psychological feelings are at work. |
| C．Because placebos are made from sugar and taste sweet. |
| D．Because placebos are an open choice for the people taking it. |
| A．Taking placebos can reduce test anxiety. |
| B．Taking placebos can improve test scores. |
| C．Taking placebos is not as effective as taking drugs. |
| D．Taking placebos can increase sense of achievement. |
| A．Drug, a public concern for brain safety. |
| B．Test anxiety, a destructive factor in exams. |
| C．Open-label placebo, a free choice for students. |
| D．Placebo, a likely way to deal with test anxiety. |
