Clothes play a critical part in the conclusions we reach about who people are, who they are not, and who they would like to be. They tell us a good deal about the wearer′s background, personality, status, mood, and social outlook.
Since clothes are such an important source of social information, we can use them to influence people′s impression of us. Our appearance takes on particular significance in the initial phases of interaction. An elderly middle-class man or woman may be alienated (疏远) by a young adult who is dressed in an unconventional manner, regardless of the person′s education, background, or interests.
People tend to agree on what certain types of clothes mean. Adolescent girls can easily agree on the lifestyles of girls who wear certain outfits (套装), including the number of boyfriends they likely have had and whether they smoke or drink. Newscasters and announcers on TV are considered to be more convincing, honest, and competent when they are dressed conservatively. College students who view themselves as taking an active role in their interpersonal relationships say the costumes they wear change the way they feel about themselves and how they act. Perhaps you have used clothing to gain confidence when you face a stressful situation, such as a job interview, or a court appearance.
In the workplace, men have long had well-defined role models for achieving success. It has been otherwise for women. A good many women in the business world are uncertain about the appropriate mixture of “masculine”（男性）and “feminine”（女性）characteristics they should convey to men.
Male administrators tend to judge women more favorably for managerial positions when the women display less “feminine” grooming (打扮)— shorter hair, moderate use of make-up, and plain tailored clothing. As one male administrator confessed, “An attractive woman is definitely going to get a longer interview, but she won′t get a job.”
57. According to paragraph two, an elderly middle-class man and unconventionally-dressed young man are unlikely to____.
A. understand each other's lifestyle
B. share the same background or interests
C. influence their impressions of each other
D. interact in a positive way
58. The author uses the newscasters' example to show the idea that____.
A. certain clothing gives people more confidence
B. clothes have nothing to do with one's abilities
C. we tend to label people by their clothes
D. competent people always dress conventionally
59. Men's professional clothing can best be described as "_____".
A. conventional B. individualistic
C. out-of-date D. changeless
60. How should professional women dress according to the passage?
A. They must be dressed conservatively.
B. They don't have a certain dressing style to follow.
C. They choose either masculine or feminine clothing.
D. They can't wear unconventional outfits.
C
Of all the components of a good night’s sleep, dreams seem to be last within our control. In dreams, a window opens into a world where there is zero logic and dead people can speak. A century ago, Freud formulated(创立理论) his revolutionary theory that dreams were the hidden shadows of our unconscious desires and fears; by the late 1970s, neurologists(神经病学家) had switched to thinking of them as just “mental noise”—the random byproducts(副产品) of the neural repair work that goes on during sleep. Now researchers suspect that dreams are regulating moods while the brain is “offline”. And one leading authority says that these intensely powerful mental events actually can be bought under conscious control, to help us sleep and feel better. “It’s your dream,” says Rosalind Cartwright, chair of psychology at Chicago’s Medical Center. “If you don’t like it, change it.”
Evidence from brain imaging supports this view. The brain is as active during rapid eye movement sleep when most vivid dreams occur as it is when fully awake, says Dr. Eric Nofzinger at the University of Pittsburgh. But not all parts of the brain are equally involved: the limbic system or the emotional brain is especially active, while the prefrontal cortex—the center of intellect and reasoning, is relatively quiet. “We wake up from dreams happy or depressed, and those feelings can stay with us all day,” says Stanford sleep researcher Dr. William Dement. This link is shown among the patients in Cartwright’s clinic. Most people seem to have more bad dreams early in the night, progressing toward happier ones before awakening, suggesting that they are working through negative feelings generated during the day. Because our conscious mind is occupied with daily life we don’t always think about the emotional significance of the day’s events—until, it appears, we begin to dream.
There is probably little reason to pay attention to our dreams at all unless they keep us from sleeping or “We wake up in a panic,” Cartwright says. Those suffering from persistent nightmares should seek help from a therapist. For the rest of us, the brain has its ways of working through bad feelings. Sleep or rather dream on it and you’ll feel better in the morning.What does Rosalind Cartwright think of dreams?
| A．Dreamers can exercise conscious control over them. |
| B．They are shadows of our unconscious desires and fears. |
| C．People with more emotional changes dream more often. |
| D．They are actually products of our brain’s neural repairs. |
What is shown in Cartwright’s clinic?
| A．The functions of vivid dreams. |
| B．The relation of dreams to emotions. |
| C．The functions of different brain parts. |
| D．The secret of rapid eye movement sleep. |
Casual nightmare sufferers are advised to .
| A．ask for medical help |
| B．relax their mind during the day |
| C．don’t take the dreams seriously |
| D．realize the emotional significance of daily events |
B
Teenagers spend too much time using their cell phones and being connected online these days! Is this a new way to be more social or, does the technology really make them unsocial? And how will this constant connection affect them?
My daughter who is fifteen years old has a smart cell phone which means that she is constantly connected to the Internet and of course Facebook. To be around her means that you have to listen to constant “beeps” and sounds from the cell phone when her friends update their status. It makes me really stressed. But that is me. For my daughter, the cell phone is an extension to her body. She sleeps with her cell phone on the pillow; she eats with her cell phone nearby; She even takes the cell phone to the bathroom.
For the generation who has grown up with the Internet and cell phones, it is important for them to stay close to their cell phones. They get stressed when they are disconnected! And most of them haven’t experienced a life without cell phones. For them, being offline or not having a cell phone is like being totally isolated(与世隔绝的). And when they get online after a long disconnection they are so stressed out, because they have so much catching-up to do!
So how is this constant connection affecting the new generation who has been born with the opportunity to stay connected to the Internet all the time? I see them as guinea pigs(实验对象)! Because nobody knows how this will affect humans in the long run. No research has been done yet on long-term side effects of being constantly reachable and connected to others.
My conclusion is that teenagers’ addiction to cell phones makes them both social and unsocial. The new technology has changed the way they connect with people compared to former generations. They are more social and can be mobile but this also forces them to do more than one job at a time which distracts(分散) their attention and prevents them from focusing on the present, which makes them unsociable. No one knows how this use will affect humans. We will just have to wait and see.The author mentions her daughter to show .
| A．he importance of cell phones |
| B．how annoying her daughter is |
| C．what stress her daughter has created |
| D．teenagers’ constant connection to cell phones |
The underlined word “this” in the passage refers to .
| A．using cell phone at a young age |
| B．being online all the time |
| C．the feeling of isolation |
| D．being guinea pigs |
How does the overuse of cell phones affect teenagers?
| A．It stops teenagers from feeling alone. |
| B．It improves teenagers’ work efficiency. |
| C．It forces teenagers to do several things at the same time. |
| D．It breaks teenagers’ connection with former generations. |
What’s the author’s attitude towards teenagers’ constant connection to cell phone?
| A．Unconcerned | B．Uncertain |
| C．Disapproving | D．Disappointed |
请认真阅读下列短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
Dear Editor,
My family of four had a baggage allowance of two bags per person, but while collectively our weight allowance was under the limit, the airline wanted to charge us per person. Is this fair?
—Bob
A: Baggage allowances are a constant source of frustration for travelers, and none more so than the division of baggage allowances for a family. There was a time when a friendly smile and a knowing look might have saved you from a penalty, but not now when there’s little wriggle room given to the desk staff. Airline travel has gone budget almost right across the board, so if you want ease of passage, you have to pay for it and you have to plan in advance. You need to weigh your luggage before the flight and, if you’re with your family, you have learn to share that weight around before you get to the airport. Sad but true.
Dear Editor,
I put some of my finest smalls into a hotel laundry and they’ve come back shrunk and the wrong colour. The Austrian hotel told me that they were laundered by an outside company and it was at my own risk. What can I do?
—Bob
A: As a rule, one should be cautious about putting good quality clothes into a hotel laundry, unless it has a good reputation or you’ve had previous experiences there. As a guest, you may have signed a wavier(弃权声明书), but even if you did you still can chase it up with the hotel management or its international head office, if it’s part of a chain. There’s also a facility to chase up consumer concerns across the European Union even when you get home. You should contact the UK European Consumer Centre and they’ll help you fight your case, so don’t despair. But remember to be very careful with your smalls next time—perhaps you should take a good supply to avoid potential laundry damage.
What does the editor think of Bob’s problem?
| A．It’s serious. | B．It’s complex. |
| C．It’s frustrating. | D．It’s pretty rare. |
The editor seems to suggest Helen.
| A．bear the consequence herself |
| B．have a talk with the hotel staff again |
| C．ask the outside company to pay for her loss |
| D．turn to the UK European Consumer Centre for help |
Both the two letter’s writers.
| A．met problems when traveling by plane |
| B．had trouble with their consumer rights |
| C．decided to accept the editor’s advice |
| D．failed to enjoy their journey |
D
In recent years, our parenting culture began to send the message that competence（能力） was important for building self-confidence. However, that same parenting culture made a big mistake by telling parents they should tell their children how competent they were. Children can't be convinced that they are competent. Only your children can build their sense of competence.
However, you can do several things to encourage them to develop their own competence. First, you can give them opportunities to gain a sense of competence. You should allow your children to “get their hands dirty” in the daily life and find out what they are capable of.
These daily experiences allow your children to develop specific competencies that will be helpful to them as they grow up. Also, the more individual competencies children develop, the more they will view themselves as globally competent people.
Second, you can be sure that they gain the most value from their experiences. You can direct their focus to the competences that enabled those successes rather than some generic（笼统的） praise of the accomplishment itself. And you can also praise their accomplishments.
A great difficulty for parents is allowing their children to be wrong or do something poorly in the mistaken belief that these experiences will hurt their sense of competence. In fact, whether they do it well isn't important because success isn't really the goal. Instead, the goal is their willingness to keep trying.
Another mistake that parents make is that, after being unsuccessful when their children first try something, they try to correct them so they will succeed the next time they try. That's not to say that you can't lend a hand when they are struggling. But let them take the lead; if they really want your help, they'll ask for it.The passage is mainly about_____.
| A．the arts to praise children |
| B．the ways to help children develop ability |
| C．the ways to evaluate children’s ability |
| D．the proper ways to help children deal with failure |
What should parents say to help children gain value from their experiences?
| A．Well done! |
| B．You are the best! |
| C．You are really careful! |
| D．You’d better do as I do. |
Parents often make a mistake by ______.
| A．getting their children’s hands dirty |
| B．not realizing the harmful effect of failure |
| C．putting themselves into children’s shoes |
| D．telling their children how competent they are |
How did the writer develop the passage?
| A．By asking and answering questions. |
| B．By introducing different opinions. |
| C．By listing examples. |
| D．By giving explanations. |
In which section of a newspaper can you find this passage?
| A． Education | B．Health and Fitness |
| C．Home and Garden | D．Careers |
C
Conservationists have made plans to preserve and protect the world's most important species of coral, in a response to increasing threats that they say will lead to "functional extinction" within decades．
Led by scientists at the Zoological Society of London, the Edge Coral Reefs project has identified 10 coral species in most urgent risk of becoming extinct．The scientists say that reefs are under pressure from a variety of threats including rising sea temperatures due to climatic instability, increased acidity（酸性）, overfishing and pollution．
The Edge plan, which focuses on the most evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered species , will take a regional approach to conservation．This means focusing on the "coral triangle" around the Philippines, the West Indian Ocean around the Mozambique channel, and in the Caribbean channel．
"Coral reefs are threatened with functional extinction in the next 20-50 years, due predominantly to global climatic instability," said Catherine Head, coordinator of the reefs project．"In these regions, we'll be supporting and training in-country conservationists to carry out research and implement targeted conservation actions," she said．"Their projects will last for two years．We provide them with a whole host of tools to carry out their projects including funding and intensive training．" She added．
Coral reefs are the planet's most diverse marine ecosystem, known as the rainforests of the oceans．Despite taking up under 0．2% of the ocean floor, they provide food and shelter for almost a third of all sea life．If we lose the ecosystems, we lose not only the biodiversity, but we also lose the capability of people to obtain income and food from coral reefs．
Climatic instability, which leads to rising sea temperatures, causes corals to bleach(漂白)．Bleaching occurs when sea temperatures rise and this causes the coral tissue to expel their symbiotic algae called zooxanthellae - these are what give the coral their color．Bleached corals often die if the stress continues．Among the 10 species chosen to start the Edge project are the pearl bubble coral, a food source for the hawksbill turtle, and the Mushroom coral, which supports at least 15 brightly colored fish．What have conservationists done to react to the increasing threats to corals?
| A．They have taken measures to preserve and protect corals. |
| B．They are doing research into sea life. |
| C．They have identified some endangered corals worldwide. |
| D．They have prevented people from going to some areas. |
Which is NOT the reason for the extinction of corals?
| A．Rising sea temperature． | B．Human exploration． |
| C．Pollution． | D．Overfishing． |
According to the passage, coral reefs________.
| A．are known as the rainforests on the earth． |
| B．are threatened with functional extinction in the following 10 years． |
| C．takes up 2% of the ocean floor． |
| D．are the planet's most diverse marine ecosystem． |
The coral extinction will ________.
| A．help to keep the balance of the marine ecosystems |
| B．have no effect on the human life |
| C．cause the loss of one third of the marine life |
| D．destroy the rainforests on our earth． |
What does the writer mainly talk about in the passage?[
| A．Climatic instability and coral extinction． |
| B．A plan to protect coral from extinction． |
| C．Reasons for coral functional extinction． |
| D．A research about endangered coral reefs． |