1 . Recently, I was walking with some parents when we came across a five-pound note lying on the ground. We stood around it for a moment, a bit awkwardly, until someone suggested putting it on a nearby bench. Then one of the parents remarked that we’d probably have behaved differently — that is, we would have just taken the money — had we been alone.
This relates to a classic question in studies of human generosity: do we behave more selfishly when we aren’t being observed? The debate goes on across the psychological and biological sciences, as well as in popular culture, about whether kindness can exist in a competitive world.
Yom Kippur is a Jewish (犹太人的) religious holiday when Jewish people fast and ask for forgiveness for the wrongs they’ve committed. One of the points of Yom Kippur is to behave better regardless of who is watching. There’s an evolutionary beauty to the teachings of Yom Kippur, which are the products of thousands of years of cultural changes and evolution.
The Maasai people of Kenya practice osotua: relationships between people that operate based on need. When someone forms an osotua relationship with another, they enter into an unwritten contract to help their partner in times of need. And hunter-gatherer groups, which can represent the circumstances our species evolved in, have many similar examples.
Cultural evolution helps to explain the existence and complexity of these systems. Cultural changes are far faster than biological evolution, allowing intelligent species like humans to develop behavioral adaptations for managing complex social environments. Osotua, or any other practice that helps to maintain good treatment of others in society, is the result of tens of thousands of years of cultural trial and error. The customs passed down over time are those that help us to develop as cultural groups.
The study of those changes has helped us to understand how we successfully spread around the world as cooperative groups. Biological evolution has helped humans be more cooperative, but cultural changes have accelerated this process.
Cultural evolution helps us to overcome our selfish natures. Try to understand rules before you ignore them — and next time you find a fiver on the ground, you might think about the awkward situation your discovery represents.
1. What made the parents feel a bit awkward?| A．The difficulty sharing the money. |
| B．The difficulty finding the owner of the money. |
| C．The thought of putting the money on the bench. |
| D．The thought of keeping the money for themselves. |
| A．To highlight a fact. | B．To draw a conclusion. |
| C．To make a comparison. | D．To support an argument. |
| A．It evolves much slower. | B．It takes much less time. |
| C．It is a more complex process. | D．It makes humans more cooperative. |
| A．How cultural evolution takes place. | B．Why people sometimes behave selfishly. |
| C．Why kindness exists in a competitive world. | D．How kindness spreads throughout the world. |
Crosstalk, Xiangsheng in Chinese, is a
There are four
Jump into a taxi in Beijing, and chances are that your driver will be listening to a radio broadcast of a crosstalk show. These days, more and more foreigners are becoming interested in
In the USA, there is a famous Christian group who drive carriages instead
The first religions started thousands of years ago,
内容包括：
1. 中国人自称龙的传人的原因；
2 .你如何看待这种文化差异。
注意：1.词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇:传人descendants；图腾totem；皇帝的，至高无上的imperial
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
6 . There’s something about the New Year that always makes me read my horoscope (星象) to see what lies ahead. I don’t believe in any of it really but there’s comfort in being told that the next 12 months will bring health, wealth and happiness. Well, it’s usually over optimistic, isn’t it?
There are many other people who are also skeptical about astrology (占星术) and its belief that knowledge of the position of the stars and planets can help us understand our personality or predict human affairs. However, despite the lack of scientific evidence in its favour, astrology has been around for thousands of years, and is believed by millions of people in both the West and the East.
The West has its star signs every month and the East has its animals every year. I’m a Pig. When I first found out I was a Pig person I was a little disappointed, and my friends (powerful Dragons, friendly Dogs and fierce Tigers) laughed. Pigs have a bad reputation— people think they’re dirty animals that smell horrible.
In the Chinese zodiac (生肖) there are 12 animals and according to one legend, when Buddha left the earth, only 12 animals came to say goodbye to him. As a reward Buddha named a year after each of the animals in the order that they came to him, and the pig came last. So I thought I was unlucky being a Pig but this isn’t so.
It appears that Pigs are kind people who are helpful and giving. They tend to make good friends as they are faithful, thoughtful and trusting. Pigs are happy, optimistic people and have lots of fun—that sounds OK to me! However, Pigs are often naïve (幼稚的) and apparently it’s easy to cheat a Pig. They are also likely to react without thinking, and they’re not that great with money either. Pigs, it seems, get along with Sheep and Rabbits but, interestingly, not other Pigs, who they should stay clear of.
1. Finding out that he was a Pig person, the author felt ________.| A．a little unhappy | B．very excited |
| C．quite proud | D．a little surprised |
| A．The lonely life of Buddha. | B．The features of Pig people. |
| C．The advantages of being a Pig. | D．The origin of the Chinese zodiac. |
| A．They are innocent. | B．They are very lazy. |
| C．They are very smart. | D．They are moneymakers. |
| A．Give in to. | B．Fight against. |
| C．Keep away from. | D．Make friends with. |
