1 . Housing officials say that lately they are noticing something different: students seem to lack the will, and the skill, to deal with ordinary conflicts. “We have students who are mad at each other and they text each other in the same room,” says a teacher. “So many of our conflicts are because kids don’t know how to solve a problem by formal discussion.”
And as any pop psychologist will tell you, bottled emotions lead to silent discontent (不满) that can boil over into frustration and anger. At the University of Florida, emotional conflicts occur about once a week, the university’s director of housing education says, “Over the past five years, roommate conflicts have increased. The students don’t have the person-to-person discussions and they don’t know how to handle them.” The problem is most dramatic among freshmen; housing professionals say they see improvement as students move toward graduation, but some never seem to improve, and they worry about how such students will deal with conflicts after college.
Administrators guess that reliance on cell phones and the Internet may have made it easier for young people to avoid uncomfortable encounters. Why express anger in person when you can vent (发泄) in a text? “Things are posted on someone’s wall on Facebook like: Oh, my roommate kept me up all night studying,” says Dana Pysz, an assistant director at the University of California, Los Angeles. “It’s a different way to express their conflict to each other, consequently creating even more conflicts as complaints go public.” In recent focus groups at North Carolina State University, dorm residents said they would not even deal with noisy neighbors on their floor.
Administrators point to parents who have fixed their children’s problems in their entire lives. Now in college, the children lack the skills to attend to even modest conflicts. Some parents continue to interfere (干涉) on campus.
1. What is the main reason for many roommate conflicts?| A．Students are not good at reaching an agreement about the problems. |
| B．Students are not satisfied with each other. |
| C．Housing directors are not responsible for them. |
| D．Students are not strong-willed. |
| A．Students, especially freshmen, should bottle up their dissatisfaction. |
| B．Students in Florida sit down and have a person-to-person talk once a week. |
| C．Not all students are able to handle conflicts by the time they graduate. |
| D．The number of conflicts among roommates has decreased in the past five years. |
| A．Disapproving. | B．Indifferent. | C．Supportive. | D．Unclear. |
| A．They should be involved in their children’s life on campus. |
| B．They should deal with their children’s problems in their whole lives. |
| C．They should constantly contact the administrators of the college. |
| D．They should teach their children the skills to tackle the conflicts. |
2 . More than one billion pounds of pumpkins are grown in the U.S. every year, and after they’ve been used for Halloween decorations, millions of them—large, mini, orange, white—will end up in a landfill (垃圾填埋场).
“Driving around after Halloween, you see people with pumpkins on top of their garbage bins. All of that will go to a landfill and become methane gas which warms the atmosphere in a shorter amount of time than carbon dioxide,” says Kay McKeen, the director of an environmental education organization based in State of Illinois. “And landfills—where we send as much as 40 percent of the food we produce—contribute to 14 percent of U.S. methane emissions every year.” That’s why, in 2014, McKeen began Pumpkin Smash.
For this collection event, local people can bring their used pumpkins to 69 different locations to send them off to trash bins, and of course smash them to pieces. Though the event is currently limited to several towns, but by their own calculations, the event has saved 538 tons of pumpkins from the landfill. “It puts nutrients (营养物) back in our soil, it saves water, and it doesn’t make methane gas,” says McKeen.
Baking and cooking offers an easier solution. Pureed (糊状的) pumpkin is a common ingredient in baked goods like breads and pies. Actually, pumpkins are full of vitamins and fiber, making it a great source of human nutrition. And according to the American Kennel Club, pumpkin mixed into dog food can even help settle a dog’s upset stomach. “They love it mixed with their dry dog food, and it’s very good for them,” says Anne Meier, president of the club.
1. Out of what did McKeen start Pumpkin Smash?| A．Company profit. | B．Educational purpose. |
| C．Food saving. | D．Environmental concern. |
| A．It is widely accepted nationwide. | B．It reduces the use of pumpkins. |
| C．It needs further improvement. | D．It creates a win-win result. |
| A．Place more smashing bins around. | B．Use pureed pumpkins in baking. |
| C．Treat dog diseases with pumpkins. | D．Expand the source of nutrition. |
| A．A local newspaper. | B．A story collection. |
| C．A biology textbook. | D．An academic article. |
Recently, Liu Genghong, a singer and composer from Taiwan, China,
In his livestreams, Liu and his wife always appear
Although Liu’s dance moves look simple, they are actually quite difficult for some viewers
4 . When Benjamin was in eighth grade, he quit the swim team. “I’m not Michael Phelps, why am I even on the team?” he said.
A US therapist who researches perfectionism at Northwestern University realized years later what had happened. Benjamin’s perfectionism was creating unrealistic standards. Unable to meet them, he quit.
“My perfectionism prompted high expectations, and that caused real suffering,” Benjamin said. He is not alone in feeling that perfectionism can lead to anxiety. So many millennials (千禧一代) suffer from the ills of perfectionism that psychologists are issuing warnings and schools are emphasizing the need to accept failure.
Northwestern has held meetings that offered tips on how students could deal with a perfectionism problem. Jessica, leading the events and researches, said every generation is a sponge for the messages it receives. “Millennials, more than any other generation in American society, are receiving clear messages around achieving, ” she said. “There’s an absence of messaging that trying your hardest is still OK.”
The American Psychological Association also found that recent generations of college students have reported higher levels of perfectionism than earlier generations. This “desire to achieve along with being overly critical of oneself and others” affects young people’s mental health, according to research data from over 40, 000 college students.
Researchers noted that social media adds comparative pressure, along with the drive to earn money and achieve career goals. Perfectionists often create unrealistic goals, which can lead to a higher risk of failure.
In college, Benjamin found himself surrounded by so many intelligent people that he felt he should have been achieving a higher level than he was. “It makes you feel kind of crazy,” he said.
This type of thinking can lead to people putting in less effort, which, as they fall behind, can create more anxiety. “It makes people feel kind of isolated. And that,” Benjamin added, “can cause students to drift away from their school.”
1. Why did Benjamin give up on the swim team?| A．Because he is not Michael Phelps. |
| B．Because he lacked the passion. |
| C．Because he couldn’t live up to his expectations. |
| D．Because swimming was too difficult for him to learn. |
| A．dream of becoming Michael Phelps | B．set up achievable standards |
| C．be surrounded by intelligent people | D．put less effort and feel anxious |
| A．Accepting failures. | B．Learning swimming. |
| C．Chasing perfectionism. | D．Befriending other people. |
5 . Personal growth doesn’t necessarily only happen when the conditions are perfect. Seeds tend to develop only when conditions are right. A seed will remain dormant (休眠) until moisture (湿度) and temperature are favorable for growth. Unfortunately, as humans, we don’t always have the luxury of growing when conditions are just right. Sometimes you must cultivate (促进) personal growth and flower where you’re planted, often in spite of external (外部的) circumstances.
For much of my life, I let external circumstances control my happiness. If things weren’t going well, then I wasn’t well. I told myself that I would be happier if conditions were right. With this mindset, I gave myself permission to stay emotionally dormant. I was waiting for things around me to change before I would do the work to become a better version of myself. In other words, I made my personal growth conditional on external circumstances.
The problem with waiting for change outside of yourself is that you might have to wait a very long time, maybe even forever. And if you stay dormant while waiting, you aren’t growing. You’re simply stuck in place. You certainly aren’t becoming the better version of yourself that you want to be.
If you want to engage in personal growth, like planting seeds, you have to do some work to make it happen. You can’t wait around for everything to fall into place. Start with pulling up your emotional weeds. Examine yourself and remove the pessimistic thoughts and behaviors that are holding you back. Then, work on the foundation that you have. Practice positive life habits that build your self-respect and happiness.
Personal growth is something you can fight for. It may not come naturally, but when you develop this mindset, you will flower no matter where you’re planted.
1. What is the author’s purpose in writing the first paragraph?| A．To stress the importance of personal effort in growth. |
| B．To complain about the lack of perfect conditions. |
| C．To highlight the influence of external circumstances. |
| D．To compare human development and seed growth. |
| A．Personal experiences. | B．Outside influence. |
| C．Sense of timing. | D．Positive thoughts. |
| A．To look for the right conditions. | B．To get emotionally prepared for failures. |
| C．To stop waiting and take action. | D．To keep yourself pure through gardening. |
| A．Happiness: You Are Your Own Master |
| B．Life Journey: Insist Till Efforts Bear Fruits |
| C．Growth: Flower in Any Circumstances |
| D．Life Changes: The Chance Is in Your Possession |
6 . As Tiger King 2 appeals to viewers, some fans feel sad about having to pay much for another streaming service subscription. And they take pity on the once-hot video technology which is now more likely to be a temporary coaster (杯垫) for your coffee: DVDs were once the future, but now the industry can hardly be turned around.
DVD sales once reached $16.3 billion and were 64% of the U.S. home video market. That was 2005.
However, this year just 300 million DVDs are expected to be sold worldwide, down from an average of 2 billion every year between 2005 and 2009. Instead, a rise in customers buying on-demand and digital copies of films and the launch of streaming services are what have reduced the DVD industry to such a state.
But there are still 300 million of the things, even if your collection is gathering dust on the bookshelf. While pop psychology would suggest that older generations hold on to their love of the physical disc, instead, those aged 25 to 39 are more likely than most to watch DVDs. They’re often collectors.
“DVDs are a sign of our identity and our personality,” says Tony Gunnarsson, an analyst of TV, video, and advertising. That’s why England-based radio producer Tom Green still stores around 300 DVDs, including the whole seasons of The Simpsons. They represent a part of my life, and a part of me,” Green says. Others continue to keep DVDs because of the excellent audio (声音的) quality.
For DVDs, to undergo a renaissance (复兴) similar to that experienced by cassette tapes will require a big shift. “We need to wait for the generation that have a fascination with DVDs to control the mainstream culture, but it seems to be nowhere in sight,” says Tom Green. “And the public see DVDs as nothing but outdated media.” Even so, there is a solid group of DVD consumers. And that’s perhaps why producers keep making DVDs and why committed collectors collect their discs.
1. What does the author intend to stress in Paragraph 1?| A．The fall of DVDs. |
| B．A possible way of reusing DVDs. |
| C．A recent trend in the film industry. |
| D．The big expenses of video streaming services. |
| A．It celebrated a shift in digital copies of films. |
| B．It suffered from an oversupply of DVDs. |
| C．It entered 64% of the U. S. households. |
| D．Its sales reached the peak. |
| A．They both appreciate the charm of DVDs. |
| B．They are both professional DVD advertisers. |
| C．They are both passionate about collecting things. |
| D．They both praise the audio quality of streaming services. |
| A．They may control the mainstream culture. |
| B．They can greatly benefit many collectors. |
| C．They are as important as cassette tapes. |
| D．They are hard to make a comeback. |
7 . We all have a tendency to fake laugh, particularly when authority figures in our lives try to make a joke that just doesn’t land. Though it might feel rude not to laugh when your in-laws or boss try to say something funny, pretending to do so might not be much better. It turns out, even if you think that your forced laughing sounds genuine, people are usually pretty good at separating truly spirited belly laughs from fake ones. But how can they possible know the difference?
Well, when researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles studied the acoustic and perceptual differences between real and fake laughter, they found that some of the sounds associated with genuine laughter is “really hard to fake.” In their study, the researchers determined that subjects were only fooled by 37 percent of fake laughter.
The most prominent factor distinguishing real laughter from fake laughter is duration — or, more specifically, the number of breaths taken in in between sounds. Seeing as it takes more effort and concentration to fake a laugh as opposed to do it genuinely, people tend to pause more in between their “ha-ha’s” when they’re faking it. Evidently, that pausing is pretty noticeable.
“A fake laugh is basically an imitation of a real laugh, but produced with a slightly different set of vocal muscles controlled by a different part of our brain,” Greg Bryant, the lead UCLA researcher on the study, explained. “The result is that there are subtle features of the laugh that sound like speech, and ... people are unconsciously quite sensitive to them.”
People have also proven to be emotionally sensitive to laughter as well. “Our rains are very sensitive to the social and emotional significance of laughter,” said Carolyn McGettigan, a scientist at Royal Holloway, University of London.
McGettigan conducted a 2014 study that recorded participants’ brain responses as they listened to the same people produce genuine laughter by watching funny videos, as opposed to fake laughter. “During our study, when participants heard a laugh that was posed, they activated regions of the brain associated with mentalizing in an attempt to understand the other person’s emotional and mental state,” she said.
So, while we may understand that certain social situations sometimes require fake laughter, most of the time, our instincts and emotional intelligence are just too smart to buy into them.
According to McGettigan, that’s a good thing. “Evolutionarily speaking, it’s good to be able to detect if someone is authentically experiencing an emotion or if they’re not,” she said. “Because you don’t want to be fooled.”
1. What do researchers at the University of California want to find out in this study?| A．What is the difference between a fake laugh and a real one. |
| B．Which part of the brain controls the sound of our laughter. |
| C．Why do people need to fake laugh when they don’t want to. |
| D．How to laugh as genuinely as possible when you are faking it. |
| A．you seem more concentrated when you laugh for real |
| B．you take more breaths when you try to fake a laugh |
| C．a fake laugh often happens after a sudden pause |
| D．a real laugh usually lasts longer than a fake one |
| A．Certain social situations may require us to fake a laugh. |
| B．Evolution has enabled us to recognize other’s emotions. |
| C．By instincts, we are able to tell a person’s mental state. |
| D．We can sense other’s emotional state when they laugh. |
1. What is the speaker?
| A．A reporter. | B．A researcher. | C．An official. |
| A．500. | B．300. | C．200. |
| A．Shortening the pilots’ night flying time. |
| B．Lengthening the working hours of the pilots. |
| C．Punishing the pilots sleeping during work. |
| A．Unscientific. | B．Useless. | C．Wise. |
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