1 . Do you play video games? If so, you aren’t alone. Video games are becoming more common and are increasingly enjoyed by adults. The average age of gamers has been increasing and was estimated to be 35 in 2016. Changing technology also means that more people are exposed to video games. A new breed of casual gamers has come, who play on smart phones and tablets at spare moments throughout the day. But do they have any effect on our brains and behavior?
Over the years, the media have made various claims about video games and their effect on our health and happiness. “Games have sometimes been praised or demonized, often without real data backing up those claims. Moreover, gaming is a popular activity, so everyone seems to have strong opinions on the topic”, says Marc Palaus, who with his colleagues wanted to see if any trends had appeared from the research to date concerning how video games affect the structure and activity of our brains. They collected the results from 116 scientific studies, 22 of which looked at structural changes in the brain and 100 of which looked at changes in brain functionality and behavior.
The studies show that playing video games can change how our brains perform; and even their structure. For example, playing video games affects our attention, and some studies found that gamers show improvements in several types of attention, such as sustained attention or selective attention. Video games can also be addictive, and this kind of addiction is called “Internet gaming disorder”. Researchers have found functional and structural changes in the neural (神经的) reward system in gaming addicts. These neural changes are basically the same as those seen in other addictive disorders.
So, what do all these brain changes mean? “We focused on how the brain reacts to video game exposure, but these effects do not always translate to real-life changes,” says Palaus. As video games are still quite new, the research into their effects is still in its babyhood.
1. What factor causes a new breed of casual gamers to appear?| A．Video games become more and more attractive. |
| B．The pressure from work becomes bigger and bigger. |
| C．Modern adults are usually very curious about new things. |
| D．The development of technology makes games easily accessible. |
| A．Why video games affect brains. |
| B．How video games function in daily life. |
| C．What effects video games have on gamers’ brains. |
| D．Which brain regions are affected by video games. |
| A．By experiencing video games. | B．By interviewing video gamers. |
| C．By doing scientific experiments. | D．By analyzing new scientific studies. |
| A．Because their physical health is damaged. |
| B．Because their memory systems are disturbed. |
| C．Because their neural reward systems are changed. |
| D．Because their communicative ability is weakened. |
| A．video games bring harm instead of benefits |
| B．the influence of video games needs a further study |
| C．there should be certain laws to regulate video games |
| D．the average age of video gamers has been increasing |
Why would human beings waste a third of their lives sleeping when they could be doing more important things like looking after their families or working? Some scientists believe sleeping helps recharge the body. while others think it is important for strengthening newly formed memories. Now, there is new evidence which suggests that the purpose of sleep may be to forget some of the millions of new things we learn each day.
The neurons in the human brain consist of fibers called dendrites (树突). These grow as we learn new things and connect the brain’s cells to each other at contact points called synapses (突触). The larger the dendrites become and the more cells they connect, the more information we store.
In 2018. Giulio Tononi and Chiara Cirelli, both biologists at the University of Wisconsin Madison, suggested a new idea: The things our brains learn each day result in so many synapses that things start to get a little messy. Sleeping allows us to sort through (整理) the “noise” and dispense all the unnecessary information. leaving behind only the most important memories.
Recently, the university’s research has provided direct evidence to support the theory. The experiment involved analyzing 6. 920 synapses in the brain shavings from two groups of mice over a four-year period: one group had been allowed to sleep, while the other had been kept awake and entertained with toys. The researchers discovered that the brain shavings of the sleeping mice had nearly 20 percent fewer synapses than those that had been kept awake and entertained.
It was also evident during the study that the brain does not shave every synapse. 20% of neurons remained unchanged: these were most likely well established memories. Therefore. although we may be sleeping to forget some of what we’ve learned, the brain “forgets” in a smart way.
Most researchers believe clearing our brains is not the only purpose of sleep.
Resting our minds and bodies has also been found to help with other biological functions like strengthening our immunity. Though scientists may never agree on a single reason. they are all sure of one thing — a good night’s rest is essential for our health. So try and spend at least a third of your day sleeping!
1. What’s the purpose of sleeping according to the new discovery?(no more than 15 words)2. What’s the main idea of Paragraph 2?(no more than 10 words)
3. What does the underlined word “dispense” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?(no more than 5 words)
4. What agreement do all the scientists probably reach about sleeping according to the text?(no more than 10 words)
5. Do you think a good night’s sleep will benefit your next-day study? Please explain in your own words. (no more than 20 words)
3 . People have speculated (思索) for centuries about a future without work. Some imagine that the coming work-free world will be defined by inequality: A few wealthy people will own all the capital, and the masses will struggle in a wasteland. A different prediction holds that without jobs to give their lives meaning future people will simply become lazy and depressed.
But it doesn’t necessarily follow from findings like these that a world without work would be filled with dissatisfaction. Such visions are based on the downsides of being unemployed in a society built on the concept of employment. In the absence of work, a society designed with other ends in mind could provide strikingly different circumstances for the future of labor and leisure.
These days, spare time is relatively rare for most workers. “When I come home from a hard day’s work, I often feel tired.” says John Danaher, a lecturer at the National University of Ireland, adding, “In a world in which I don’t have to work. I might feel rather different — perhaps different enough to throw myself into a hobby with the enthusiasm usually reserved for professional matters.”
Daniel Everett, an anthropologist (人类学家) at Bentley University studied a group of hunter-gathers in the Amazon called the Piranha for years. According to Everett, while some might consider hunting and gathering as work, hunter-gatherers don’t. “They think of it as fun.” he says. “They don’t have a concept of work the way we do.”
Everett described a typical day for the Piraha: A man might get up, spend a few hours fishing, have a barbecue, and play until the evening. Does this relaxing life lead to the depression and purposelessness seen among so many of today’s unemployed? “I’ve never seen anything like depression there, except people who are physically ill.” Everett says. While many may consider work necessary for human life, work as it exists today is a relatively new invention in the course of human culture. “We think it’s bad to just sit around with nothing to do,” says Everett. “For the Piraha, it’s quite a desirable state.”
1. How does the author introduce the topic in Paragraph 1?| A．By comparing wealthy people with the majority. |
| B．By giving a definition to inequality in society. |
| C．By listing different predictions of a work-free world |
| D．By picturing a lazy and depressed atmosphere. |
| A．Challenges. | B．Losses. | C．Disadvantages. | D．Risks. |
| A．work plays an important role in our future life |
| B．people’s work-free future life will be full of charm |
| C．people don’t know how to balance work and life |
| D．higher unemployment makes life tougher for workers |
| A．To justify John Danaher’s opinion. |
| B．To show a future life without work. |
| C．To compare different views on work. |
| D．To introduce the Piraha in the Amazon. |
| A．Some people dislike a work-free world. |
| B．The Piraha don’t think they are working at all. |
| C．Future people might become lazy and depressed. |
| D．Daniel Everett prefer to sit around doing nothing |
4 . Hearing aids usually bring to mind images of ugly, ineffective devices mainly worn by the elderly. But this ill repute is quickly changing, as they’ve recently taken a turn thanks to two innovators, Dr. Marco Vietor and Paul Crusius, who now lead the fastest-growing hearing aid company in the world—hear.com.
Hear.com’s years of research led to the development of two game-changing hearing aids—the Silk and Styletto. These impressive devices pack cutting-edge technology in designs that are practically invisible. They also use a unique way that has been clinically proven to deliver better-than-normal hearing so you can clearly understand speech in any environment. With additional features like Bluetooth and rechargeability, today’s hearing aids are attracting even younger customers skilled in tech.
But hear.com knows it’s not just about tech and design. They’ve put an enormous effort into the entire experience to make hearing care more accessible and more affordable. “Everyone should be able to hear well to live well,” Crusius says. “And it’s very individual. Each person’s hearing loss is different and requires a personalized approach to find the best solution.”
“We hear with our brains, not our ears. And it takes at least 30 days for our brain to adjust and relearn how to hear again with new hearing aids,” Dr. Vietor says. “To guarantee your best outcome with hearing aids, we developed the industry’s first 30-day program, Hearing Success Program, so customers have that extra level of care and knowledge to succeed.”
And it’s working. Hear.com has now helped more than 100,000 customers improve their hearing. Their A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and 5-star rating on the customer review platform, Trustpilot, speaks for itself.
Hear.com’s “never corporate” and “customer first” approach also helps drive the company’s success, encouraging employees to act like owners and put customers first. “We’re investing heavily in shaping our company culture,” Crusius says. “Individuals who work at hear.com say they are here to do more than a job. They’re helping change lives all around the world.”
1. What does the underlined part “this ill repute” in Para 1 refer to?| A．Hearing aids being too expensive to afford. |
| B．Hearing aids ignoring the needs of the elderly. |
| C．Hearing aids developing at a really slow pace. |
| D．Hearing aids being poor in design and function. |
| A．The popularity of hear.com’s hearing aids. |
| B．The innovations in hear.com’s hearing aids. |
| C．The benefits brought by hear.som’s hearing aids. |
| D．The effort hear.com’s made to develop hearing aids. |
| A．Add attractive features to hearing aids. |
| B．Help customers adjust to new hearing aids. |
| C．Find the possible causes for customers’ hearing loss. |
| D．Educate people about the consequences of hearing loss. |
| A．They take pride in their work. |
| B．They lack a sense of belonging. |
| C．They reject the company culture. |
| D．They cooperate well with review platforms. |
| A．Products and services of a hearing aid company. |
| B．Hearing problems in the elderly. |
| C．The company culture of hear.com. |
| D．Younger customers’ interest in hearing aids. |
5 . The Memorial Art Gallery (MAG) opened its doors again this weekend for the University of Rochester’s Clothesline Arts Festival. This event has been an annual tradition at the Centennial Sculpture Park right outside the MAG for the last 62 years. Initially organized with less than 100 artists showing their work on clothes lines and fences, this festival has attracted over 500 artists from across the nation.
The park was decorated with colorful tents where artists proudly displayed their works. Each tent was a story within itself — a display of skill, creativity, and years of experience.
Piche Design, a unique custom creation art store owned by Chuck Peashy, had one of the most interesting tents: an eye-catching, old setting with lamps shaped like musical instruments. “People come to me with objects that belonged to their long-gone loved ones, and I make beautiful items out of those for them. It is, indeed, rewarding,” said Peashy.
Jill Schiller started doodling (涂鸦) when she was very young. Her hobby gave way to a series of super cool modern designs. She now draws with Swedish weaving techniques on scarves, carpets, bags, and T-shirts in her tent. Schiller believes that it is evidently a great method of expressing creativity and emotion.
George Banagis’ tent, which presented watercolor and pen and ink pieces, had a variety of options. His complicated pen and ink illustrations were available in the original full-size versions, which were made after weeks of effort, and also small, affordable postcards, notepads, and other souvenirs. Visitors loved this inexpensive form of art and flooded inside to buy.
Visitors also experienced all seven continents in one tent, Tatarzyn Photography. From penguins lined up on an Antarctic coastline to swans and wandering African elephants, Ted Tatarzyn has traveled all around the world to catch these moments of amazing creatures with a camera. “This is actually my second career,” said Tatarzyn, who interestingly worked at Kodak for many years before its shutdown. He then started touring around the world for the pictures.
Strolling across the little artistic showcases is a learning experience that every student should take advantage of. And Clothesline had many other stories to tell.
1. What was the Clothesline Arts Festival most probably named after at first?| A．The hosting place of the festival. | B．The diverse artists joining the event. |
| C．The unique way of displaying works. | D．The cloths and various materials used. |
| A．It focuses on the musical instrument design. | B．It helps people recall their loved ones. |
| C．It repairs valuable things for people. | D．It mainly sells classical furniture. |
| A．They are both about art drawings with strong personal styles. |
| B．They are both popular among university students. |
| C．They both display products with local cultures. |
| D．They are both about inexpensive paintings. |
| A．Travel experience sharing. | B．Artistic creativity training. |
| C．Professional camera skill teaching. | D．Animal photos displaying. |
| A．To remember a 62-year-old tradition. | B．To recommend some excellent artists. |
| C．To advertise a secondhand market. | D．To introduce a special artistic festival. |
6 . When faced with the decision to get out of bed or have a few more minutes of sleep, which do you choose? Believe it or not, that decision could make a world of difference in the rest of your day.
About 85 percent of Americans use an alarm clock to wake up in the mornings, according to sleep researcher Till Roennenber. And while there are no official numbers on snoozing (打盹), a quick survey of social media makes it clear that hitting the snooze button is a popular choice for many people.
As to how the snooze button will affect your day, scientists have mixed opinions. Some scientists think people who hit the snooze button in the mornings are actually clever, creative and happy while some said that hitting the snooze button will ruin your life, or at least your day. “I feel that hitting the snooze button has got to be one of the worst things that ever happened to human sleep,” researcher Jonathan Horowitz said. “The chances of you ‘snoozing’ and actually experiencing a meaningful rest are close to zero.”
According to some sleep experts, when hitting the snooze button, you are in fact confusing your body and mind, and throwing yourself into a deep state of being sleepy. The body needs some time to wake up, so, when returning to what will be a light sleep for a brief period of time, you are putting your body back into a sleep mode before waking it again. At that point your body won’t know what it wants, resulting in a sort of half awaken state.
If you really want to take advantage of an alarm clock, the key is to form a healthy sleep cycle. Focus your efforts on getting enough sleep each night and waking up at the same time each day so that when your alarm goes off you feel rested.
1. What can we infer about hitting the snooze button from the first two paragraphs?| A．People do it just for fun. | B．It is a common practice. |
| C．People take it seriously. | D．It is a wise decision. |
| A．cheating | B．improving |
| C．damaging | D．relaxing |
| A．It brings people a meaningful rest. |
| B．It turns people into lazier ones. |
| C．It helps people adapt to a new day. |
| D．It affects people to some extent. |
| A．Forming a good sleep habit. | B．Waking up a bit earlier. |
| C．Taking another light sleep. | D．Adding an extra alarm. |
| A．Secrets behind Snoozing in the Morning |
| B．Ways to Keep Refreshed after Wake-up |
| C．The Snooze Button: A Good Choice? |
| D．Snooze to Avoid the Light Sleep Mode |
7 . There’s a song by the great Jamaican singer Bob Marley called So Much Trouble In The World. Marley understood that part of the reason why there are so many problems in the world is the lack of tolerance between people. The UN understands this too that’s why it made Nov 16 “International Day for Tolerance”.
But first of all, what is tolerance? French philosopher Voltaire (1694 — 1778) can give us some help. According to him, tolerance “is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty (脆弱) and error; let us pardon each other’s folly — that is the first law of nature.”
Nobody’s perfect. When we’re tempted to criticize another person, we should perhaps remember our own imperfections first.
Very often, people don’t realize that they’re intolerant. This is because intolerance has a lot to do with ignorance. For example, the UN’s campaign is in part about the treatment of females by males. But often, the behavior of men toward women is intolerant because men don’t put themselves in the shoes of women.
It’s worth thinking a little about the words “tolerance” and “intolerance”. Are they the best words to describe the evils of which we’re speaking here? To agree to be “tolerant” of someone isn’t necessarily a very respectful thing. When someone is tolerated, it implies that there’s something wrong with them.
But it seems wrong that people should agree to “tolerate” people with black skin, for example. And should women think they have received the respect they are due when men agree to “tolerate” them?
Still, what Voltaire said stands: We humans are not perfect and this weakness is something that we all share. That’s the reason we should be tolerant.
It’s a little like generosity. We can give things to another person, and we can also give our forgiveness. Bob Marley understood this. In the song mentioned above, he advised: “Write your love on a rock so it stays for eternity (永恒); write your hate in the sand so the waves will wash it away.”
1. What’s the purpose of the UN “International Day For Tolerance”?| A．To arouse peoples awareness of tolerance among people. |
| B．To celebrate the founding of the UN. |
| C．To solve the problem of global community. |
| D．To change people’s opinions towards globalization. |
| A．being willing to express your love to others |
| B．trying to overcome your imperfections |
| C．giving a hand to vulnerable groups (弱势群体) |
| D．accepting each other’s weaknesses |
| A．They are used to finding faults. |
| B．They consider tolerance a kind of frailty. |
| C．They don’t see things from the angle of others. |
| D．They are intolerant of themselves too. |
| A．Humans are advised to treat others better. | B．Humans learned to find faults in others. |
| C．Humans need to give something to others. | D．Humans will change their attitudes to others. |
| A．The origin of the International Day of Tolerance. |
| B．The meaning and importance of tolerance. |
| C．The philosophy behind Bob Marley’s song. |
| D．Effective ways to show tolerance. |
8 . A recent study found that experiencing or even just anticipating uplifting events in daily life was related to feeling less depressed that same day. The study, conducted by Professor Lisa Starr at University of Rochester, found that a decrease in depression was especially marked when the experience included interpersonal uplifts, such as participating in fun activities with friends or family.
A number of laboratory-based studies suggest that the mood of people with depression is relatively unresponsive to positive stimuli(刺激物). In other words, when people with depression experience a positive event in the laboratory—like receiving a financial reward—their mood is unlikely to improve markedly. The issue here is that laboratory research doesn’t always translate to real-life settings.
The Rochester study is one of a growing number of studies examining how real life events with direct relevance to study participants affect their mood. The authors wanted to know if people with different levels of depression felt better when good things happened to them. The answer is simple—yes. The same is true for the expectation of good things to come.
The study included 157 young adults of whom two-thirds had mild, moderate, or severe depressive symptoms. The remaining third had no symptoms, allowing the authors to examine whether the level of depressive symptoms changes the way people respond to positive experiences. The study subjects completed a two-week online diary, tracking their mood as it related to recent and anticipated positive events in their lives—like time spent with friends, or exercising.
Those who reported higher levels of depressive symptoms at the beginning of the study, showed stronger associations between daily uplifts and lower daily depressive symptoms, particularly when the uplifts were interpersonal in nature.
“The findings have really important implications for treatment and are compatible with a treatment model called Behavioral Activation, which suggests that if you can help depressed people to engage in positive experiences—despite their low motivation to do so—their mood may improve,” says Starr. In other words: If you’re feeling seriously blue, make an effort to do something fun with friends.
1. What did the new study find?| A．Sociable people are less likely to experience depression. |
| B．People with depression are good at predicting the future. |
| C．Every one of us experiences depression from time to time. |
| D．Positive social activities can reduce people’s depressive mood. |
| A．They produced little effect. | B．They were laboratory-based. |
| C．They were financial rewards. | D．They were related to real-life events. |
| A．How the study was conducted. | B．What the result of the study is. |
| C．What affects participants’ mood. | D．How long the study took. |
| A．Those with no depressive symptoms. |
| B．Those with mild depressive symptoms. |
| C．Those with severe depressive symptoms. |
| D．Those with moderate depressive symptoms. |
| A．Unrelated. | B．Consistent. | C．Comfortable. | D．Popular. |
In life, once on a path, we tend to follow it, for better or worse. What’s sad is that even if it’s the latter, we often follow a certain path anyway because we are so used to the way things are that we don’t even recognize that they could be different. Psychologists call this phenomenon functional fixedness.
This classic experiment will give you an idea of how it works — and a sense of whether you may have fallen into the same trap:
People are given a box of tacks (大头钉) and some matches and asked to find a way to attach a candle to a wall so that it burns properly. Typically, the subjects try tacking the candle to the wall or lighting it to fix it with melted wax (石蜡). The tacks are too short, and the candle doesn’t fasten to the wall. So how can you accomplish the task? The successful technique is to use the tack box as a candle holder. You empty it, tack it to the wall, and stand the candle inside it.
To think of that, you have to look beyond the box’s usual role as a container just for tacks and reimagine it serving an entirely new purpose. That is difficult because we all suffer — to one degree or another — from functional fixedness. The inability to think in new ways affects people in every corner of society. The political theorist Hannah Arend coined the phrase frozen thoughts to describe deeply held ideas that we no longer question but should. In Arendt’s eyes, the complacent reliance on such accepted “truths” also made people blind to ideas that didn’t fit their worldview, even when there was ample evidence for them. Frozen thinking has nothing to do with intelligence, she said, “It can be found in highly intelligent people.”
Another context in which frozen thinking can turn truly dangerous is medicine. If you land in the hospital, it’s natural to want to be treated by the most experienced physicians on staff. But according to a 2014 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), you’d be better off being treated by the relative novices.
1. What does “functional fixedness” mean?2. How is the candle attached to the wall?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
▶Frozen thinking is common among ordinary people but less found in those with high IQ.
4. How can you avoid frozen thoughts in your daily life? (In about 40 words)
10 . “It’s raining. It’s pouring. The old man is snoring (打鼾). He bumped his head when he went to bed, and he couldn’t get up in the morning.” Why couldn’t the old man in the children’s song get up? (Let’s kindly suppose that he just didn’t want to get up) This was possibly because in the absence of sunlight, the body was still producing the hotmon (激素) melatonin (褪黑素), which makes people sleepy.
There are many ways that rainfall affects human behavior. But how much does rain really affect people’s moods and behavior?
In 2008, researchers from the University of Minnesota and Lanzhou University published a paper. They proposed that decreased rainfall was influential in social upheaval (社会动荡) and the downfall of the Tang, Yuan and Ming dynasties in ancient China. This is thought to be related to reduced rice cultivation.
But how might rain affect social behavior in the modern world? A 2009 New York Times investigation found that murder rates in New York drop significantly on rainy days. Meanwhile, in Britain, Dr. Peter Langmead-Jones of Greater Manchester police published a study in 2015 detailing an analysis of 6.6 million police records over one decade in Manchester. “ The research showed that the heavier the rainfall, the lower the recorded crime,” he said.
Langmead-Jones also found that there is a strong association between heavy rain and relatively few violent crimes recorded including domestic abuse (家庭暴力). This might be because heavy rain stops people from going out to buy alcohol and the reduced alcohol consumption results in fewer crimes.
It’s not all good news though. One study in 1997 concluded that the behavior of children can predict oncoming storms — they were observed to exhibit their worst behavior when barometric (气压的) pressure fell. Another study in 2012 found that women are much more likely to be affected psychologically by rain and that they report much lower levels of life satisfaction than men on rainy days.
For all the complaints about rain, it does have some characteristics that hold broad appeal. The sound of raindrops can be very comforting and often features in sleep — inducing relaxation apps. The theory behind this is that the pitter patter of raindrops is a form of “pink noise”. It can decrease brain activity and consequently improves the quality of sleep. So if it’s raining where you are, the best thing to do may be to have a nap.
1. The author uses the lyrics of a song in the first paragraph to ______.| A．introduce the interesting song to readers |
| B．voice his understanding of why the old man couldn’t get up in the morning |
| C．illustrate one way that wet weather influences human behavior |
| D．explain why people often get up late on rainy days |
| A．Success. | B．Prosperity. | C．Failure. | D．Development. |
| A．people prefer to take a nap at home when it’s raining |
| B．most people are depressed on rainy days |
| C．people are too lazy to go out when it’s raining |
| D．alcohol consumption is reduced due to wet weather |
①decreased grain output
②relatively few criminal records
③higher chance of feeling low in spirits
④more possibility of feeling sleepy
| A．①②③ | B．①②④ | C．①③④ | D．②③④ |
| A．The sound of raindrops helps people sleep better. |
| B．On rainy days, all people can get more sleep. |
| C．It offers a good chance to listen to relaxing music. |
| D．People feel more satisfied with themselves when it’s raining. |
