1 . It’s no secret that reading good news feels a lot better than reading bad news. Like, would you rather bite into a lemon, or sip on a fresh glass of lemonade?
In fact, good news, known as solutions journalism, is becoming more popular, as publishers and news stations discover the benefits of sharing positive stories. Good Good Good is one of them.
“If it bleeds, it leads.” has long been a saying used in the media to describe how news stories about violence, death and destruction draw readers’ attention.
A.Share good news with people around you. |
B.It’s just that we don’t hear as much about them. |
C.But the “bad news” has its place in the world. |
D.It provides a more balanced view of the world. |
E.And so, negative news stories are everywhere on news media. |
F.Heartwarming stories make you cry and feel good. |
G.The news media company is devoted to providing good news intentionally. |
2 . Is forgiveness against our human nature? To answer our question, we need to ask a further question: What is the essence of our humanity? For the sake of simplicity, people consider two distinctly different views of humanity. The first view involves dominance and power. In an early paper on the psychology of forgiveness, Droll (1984) made the interesting claim that humans’ essential nature is more aggressive than forgiving allows. Those who forgive are against their basic nature, much to their harm. In his opinion, forgivers are compromising their well-being as they offer mercy to others, who might then take advantage of them.
The second view involves the theme of cooperation, mutual respect, and even love as the basis of who we are as humans. Researchers find that to fully grow as human beings, we need both to receive love from and offer love to others. Without love, our connections with a wide range of individuals in our lives can fall apart. Even common sense strongly suggests that the will to power over others does not make for harmonious interactions. For example, how well has slavery worked as a mode of social harmony?
From this second viewpoint of who we are as humans, forgiveness plays a key role in the biological and psychological integrity of both individuals and communities because one of the outcomes of forgiveness, shown through scientific studies, is the decreasing of hatred and the restoration of harmony. Forgiveness can break the cycle of anger. At least to the extent the people from whom you are estranged accept your love and forgiveness and are prepared to make the required adjustments. Forgiveness can heal relationships and reconnect people.
As an important note, when we take a Classical philosophical perspective, that of Aristotle, we see the distinction between potentiality and actuality. We are not necessarily born with the capacity to forgive, but instead with the potential to learn about it and to grow in our ability to forgive. The actuality of forgiving, its actual appropriation in conflict situations, develops with practice.
1. What is Droll’s idea about forgiveness?A.People should offer mercy to others. |
B.Aggressive people should learn to forgive. |
C.Forgiveness depends on the nature of humanity. |
D.People who forgive can have their own welfare affected. |
A.To forgive is to love. | B.To dominate is to harm. |
C.To fight is to grow. | D.To give is to receive. |
A.Favorable. | B.Reserved. | C.Objective. | D.Skeptical. |
A.Forgiveness is in our nature. | B.Forgiveness grows with time. |
C.It takes practice to forgive. | D.Actuality is based on potentiality. |
The buzzwords (时髦术语) “brittle college students” have gone viral on the Internet recently among mounting concerns over
Such comments have caused heated discussions over the declining physical
“These young people were mainly diagnosed (诊断) with trauma, abdominal pain, chest tightness, hyperventilation, acute alcoholism, and cholecystitis. Most cases were caused by
A report pointed out that unhealthy lifestyle is common
4 . More than 50 million people in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere follow pastoralism(游牧) as a way of life. The practice has survived for so long because it is designed to change with the environment. Pastoralists move with animals to find new lands and water, leaving behind eaten plants to regrow.
Mongolia is well known for its pastoralism. Agvaantogtokh and his family are herders(牧民). On horseback, he rides with nearly a thousand sheep and goats to help them find water. Sometimes, he and his wife, Nurmaa, stop to help struggling young ones, weak after a difficult winter.
For families like Agvaantogtokh’s, pastoralism is more than a profession. It is a cultural identity that connects generations. At its heart is the human connection to animals. While they consider the animals as their property, they also see them as living beings working alongside them.
Researchers say herders believe in “animal agency”. Agvaantogtokh lets his animals choose the food they eat and where they find water. To him, restricting an animal’s movement and asking it to eat the same thing each day is like putting a person in prison.
In Mongolia, weather extremes are a part of life. When Agvaantogtokh thinks about climate change, he is concerned about humans and animals. Continuous dry and warm weather affects Mongolia. Since 1940, the government says, average temperatures have risen 2.2 degrees Celsius. To keep their practice alive, pastoralists seek ways to modernize. In Mongolia, Lkhaebum recently began using a small vehicle to more easily search for horses. The family uses electricity and has other technologies including a TV and a washing machine. They also use a cellphone to follow the weather and access social media where herders share information.
One of the biggest threats to pastoralism comes from within. Nurmaa and Agvaantogtokh’s 18-year-old daughter studies medicine. Their son spoke about becoming a herder when he was a child, but not anymore. “I won’t regret anything if my child won’t be a herder,” Nurmaa said. “I would like them to do what they desire to do.”
1. What contributes to the survival of pastoralism?A.Huge pastoralist populations. | B.Adaptation to the environment. |
C.Herders’ desire to travel to new places. | D.Slow development of modernization. |
A.The distinct identity of animals. | B.A poorly-paid profession. |
C.An out-of-date lifestyle. | D.The bond between man and animals. |
A.Animals’ living in cages. | B.Animals’ eating the same thing. |
C.Animals’ struggling in shelters. | D.Animals’ moving around freely. |
A.Modern technology. | B.No government support. |
C.Young people’s disinterest in it. | D.Lack of information exchange. |
5 . Smartphones and other digital devices control and consume our attention. This is true for young people. On public transport, they are checking social media or playing an addictive game rather than sleeping. Very few people are reading a book or having a conversation with fellow travelers.
Children today are digital natives. This means they have never known life without internet access. They have been raised on clicks. They jump from content to content without a second thought. In the words of the philosopher Han in his 2021 book Non-things, this kind of nonstop excitement means that we quickly come to need a new exciter. We get used to seeing reality as a source of exciters and surprises. We struggle to focus our attention on any one thing. This will disturb our cognitive (认知) system.
Books can train the brain to deeply focus its attention on one task while mobile devices encourage us to hang over the surface of things, but we do not fully grasp them. When we receive information in large amounts, it stops being meaningful. When faced with a large amount of it, our brains react by blocking the information. But the discarded content does not simply disappear from our minds. Instead, it remains. This prevents us from figuring out what we are interested in. It limits our attention length.
Mobile phone addiction and the way young people learn are both directly connected to the concept of mind wandering. Too much information input makes us switch off and lose attention. And this can be damaging in the long term.
In order to recover attention, the brain needs to take a break. It needs to find time and space where it can be free from constant noise. Adults can make the effort to find these much-needed spaces to focus attention. Children, on the other hand, have not yet gained this. They run the risk of never recovering their attention spans. If we give children and teenagers access to digital devices before they have developed these skills, their attention will be free to wander. It will then become harder and harder for them to focus on a task for the necessary amount of time.
1. What is a common scene among the young on public transport?A.They are talking with each other. | B.They are usually sleeping. |
C.Most of them are absorbed in reading. | D.They are lost in their phones. |
A.It reduces our ability to focus. |
B.It weakens our need for fun immediately. |
C.It increases our interest in traditional media. |
D.It enables us to see reality as a source of surprises. |
A.Mobile devices help us to fully understand books. |
B.Smartphone addiction stops us forming a lasting attention. |
C.Being exposed to smartphone information blocks our brain. |
D.The information we get will disappear soon from our minds. |
A.A science magazine. | B.A book review. |
C.A biology textbook. | D.A smartphone ad. |
6 . If you had to make one life choice, right now, to set yourself on the path to future happiness, what would it be?
Would you choose to put more money into savings each month? To change careers?
Meanwhile, all day long we are surrounded by messages about what will make us happy, like ads. Other messages are in our daily living. When a friend buys a new car, we might wonder if a newer car would make our own life better. Over time we develop the feeling that our life is here, now, but the things we need for a good life are over there, or in the future.
Looking at life through this lens, it’s easy to believe that the good life doesn’t really exist, or else that it’s only possible for others. However, the truth is: The good life is a complicated life. For everybody, the good life is joyful and challenging.
A.Full of love, but also pain. |
B.Fame was now lower on the list. |
C.Would you decide to travel more? |
D.They are always just out of reach. |
E.What have you achieved in the past years? |
F.It’s only human nature to pursue material comforts. |
G.In a survey, millennials were asked about their most important life goals. |
7 . Getting your kid to bed at night is one of the most difficult things you’ll ever have to do. Most kids are so full of energy that they’ll tire you out before they’re halfway through their store of energy. An easy way to encourage your child to get into bed is to give in and allow some iPad screen time. However, as you’ve probably already guessed, it’s really not a great idea.
Researchers at Arizona State University carried out a study with 547 kids between the ages of 7 and 9. Their parents tracked how much screen time the kids were allowed along with their sleeping patterns. They also had the kids wear wristwatches called actigraphs that could help researchers keep track of how long the kids were sleeping. The study found that kids who did not engage in screen time before bed slept for 23 more minutes every week and also went to sleep about 34 minutes earlier than their iPad-using counterparts (同伴). Although that might not seem like so much more time, quality of sleep is very important in children’s development.
The 2018 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey showed that good-quality sleep can influence a child’s life in many ways, including affecting grades. Students with an “A” average slept for 30 or more minutes per night (an average of 6.71 hours) than those with a “D” or “F” average (averaging 6.16 hours). Of course, getting to sleep on time and sleeping enough helps contribute to improved performance in school.
As hard as it is, it’s really important not to give in and hand over an iPad to a child who is about to go to bed. Just like it’s important for adults to go to sleep without any distractions (分心), it’s even more important for kids. The one comforting thought is that finally they’ll outgrow this stage, and soon you’ll have to worry about waking them up as teenagers.
1. What’s the function of paragraph 1?A.To explain an idea. | B.To introduce the topic. |
C.To offer some advice. | D.To summarize the whole text. |
A.affected their health seriously | B.contributed to their sleeping late |
C.reduced their sleeping time greatly | D.made no difference to their sleeping quality |
A.The benefits of quality sleep. | B.The process of the survey. |
C.The ways of improving grades. | D.The different performances of students. |
A.Unclear. | B.Supportive. | C.Doubtful. | D.Negative. |
8 . Walking in the city is very different from walking in the park. A small psychology study suggests urban(城市的) environments can slow your step and possibly increase your mental load. A walk through nature, on the other hand, appears to ease your mind and quicken your pace. The findings show that natural settings may potentially reduce cognitive (认知的)tiredness and improve reaction times straight away. The study, which includes two experiments with two different approaches, was conducted among 65 university students in the lab.
The first of the two experiments in the new study focused on people’s way of walking and cognitive load. During this trial, participants were fitted with sensors and a dozen motion control cameras were set up to watch them repeatedly walk down a 15-metre room at their natural speed. The wall opposite them showed an image of either a nature scene or a city scene. After each walk, participants were asked to rate their feelings of discomfort in the visual environment. On the whole, when walking in city settings, people reported more discomfort and they walked at a slower pace, indicating a higher cognitive load.
The second experiment dug into some of the higher-level cognitive processes that might be at play. In the trial, participants were asked to distinguish between basic visual shapes on the computer while also in the presence of a natural or urban image(the same ones from the first experiment). Measuring reaction times in both natural and urban settings, the team found results to support their idea. In urban environments, participants were slower in distinguishing between simple shapes. The authors think this is because urban environments are more distracting(令人分心的) for our brains and take longer to process, but more research is needed to prove that idea.
1. How were the experiments conducted mainly?A.By comparing. | B.By giving data. |
C.By giving examples. | D.By explaining facts. |
A.It can make us feel relaxed and react quickly. | B.It can activate our thinking and speed up our step. |
C.It can make us less tired and improve our memory. | D.It can make us become more focused and creative. |
A.They had a lower cognitive load. | B.They had to slow down their pace. |
C.They couldn’t concentrate properly. | D.They felt uncomfortable after walking. |
A.Urban environment makes us more concentrated. | B.People’s feelings are decided by their pace of walking. |
C.The result of the experiments is widely appreciated. | D.People tend to get tired more easily walking in the city. |
9 . We all may know someone we consider to be a picky eater, who tends to dislike some common food regularly and causes social embarrassment when ordering at restaurants. But for some people picky eating can actually become a serious disorder, and clinical definitions of picky eating behaviors often include people who only consume around 20 different kinds of foods for a long period of time.
“Having restricted diets can lead to nutritional deficiencies (缺陷) as well as health problems like heart disease, poor bone health and dental issues,” explained Lorenzo Stafford, one of the authors on the latest study. “There is also a social cost because normally enjoyable moments between family members can easily turn into stressful, anxious, and conflict-causing situations when picky eaters feel ashamed or pressured to eat certain food.”
A new research homed in on the effect of plate color on food desirability for picky eaters. The experiment was based on a foundational study from 2018 which looked at the way different colored food bowls affected a person’s sense of taste.
Using a design similar to the 2018 research, the new experiments had participants rate the sweetness, saltiness and overall desirability of a snack food eaten from different colored bowls. In this instance the snack was salt and vinegar potato crisps consumed from either a red, blue or white bowl. Around 50 participants were recruited (招募) and classified as either picky or non-picky eaters based on a standard questionnaire.
The results revealed picky eaters considered the snack to be saltier when it was eaten from a red or blue bowl compared to the white bowl. And overall, picky eaters found the snack generally less desirable when eaten from a red bowl.
It is worth mentioning that a recent survey estimated nearly one in five American adults could be clinically classified as picky eaters. So exploring ways to help these people better engage with more types of food could result in valuable health outcomes.
1. Which of the following may be a picky eater?A.Tom who ate only some bread this morning. | B.Lisa who only has vegetables for losing weight. |
C.Peter who often orders little at restaurants. | D.Alex who likes only a small range of dishes. |
A.Health problems caused by picky eating. |
B.Moments that are ruined by picky eaters. |
C.Potential consequences of picky eating. |
D.Quotes of Lorenzo to support the research findings. |
A.Bowls of different colors directly affect appetite of eaters. |
B.Blue color bowls can make the food in them saltier for eaters. |
C.Food in red bowls seems less attractive to picky eaters. |
D.The color of the bowl can change the taste of the dishes. |
A.To show ways of enhancing people’s appetite effectively. |
B.To stress the importance of reducing picky eaters’ anxiety and stress. |
C.To encourage us to raise picky eaters’ awareness of healthy eating. |
D.To call on researchers to help picky eaters try a wider variety of foods. |
During the May Day holiday, numerous messages of people looking for dazi, or activity partners for traveling,
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