Why do people drink too much, eat too much, smoke cigarettes or take drugs? What’s to blame for all the bad behavior? Most people would say that, while these self-destructive (自我毁灭的) acts can have many root causes, they all have one obvious thing in common: they are all examples of failures of self-control, lacking the will power to resist them.
According to a recent study, however, if you really think about it, something about that simple answer doesn’t quite make sense. In fact, it turns out that sometimes it’s having will power that really gets you into trouble.
Think back to the time you took your very first sip (啜饮) of beer. Disgusting, wasn’t it? When my father gave me my first taste of beer as a teenager, I wondered why anyone would voluntarily drink it. And smoking? No one enjoys their first cigarette — it tastes awful. So even though smoking, and drinking alcohol or coffee, can become temptation (诱惑) you need will power to resist, they never, ever start out that way.
Just getting past those first horrible experiences actually requires a lot of self-control. Ironically (讽刺的是), only those who can control themselves well, rather than give in to them, can ever come to someday develop a “taste” for Budweiser beer, Marlboro cigarettes, or dark-roasted Starbucks coffee. We do it for social acceptance. We force ourselves to consume alcohol, cigarettes, coffee and even illegal drugs, in order to seem experienced, grown-up, and cool.
These bad habits aren’t self-control failures — far from it. They are voluntary choices, and they are in fact self-control successes. Self-control is simply a tool to be put to some use, helpful or harmful. To live happy and productive lives, we need to develop not only our self-control, but also the wisdom to make good decisions about when and where to apply it.What do most people think causes bad behavior?
| A．Being forced by others. |
| B．Not having enough will power. |
| C．Enjoying their first experiences. |
| D．Following the examples of their friends. |
The author mentions his experience in the third paragraph to prove ____.
| A．will power helps develop bad habits sometimes |
| B．drinking beer is harmful to the health of teenagers |
| C．self-control should be developed when one is young |
| D．everyone can be challenged by different temptations |
In the last paragraph, the author stresses that ____.
| A．without self-control, no one can succeed |
| B．bad habits don’t always lead to bad results |
| C．applying self-control correctly is important |
| D．people can develop wisdom from bad behavior |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．My First Sip of Beer |
| B．Do You Have Will Power ? |
| C．Will Power Benefits Us |
| D．Dark Side of Self-control |
Microwaves may be great at warming up food, but what about warming people?
Using microwaves to directly heat owners of a room would save much of the energy wasted by heating walls and furniture. And despite popular ideas about microwaves, this technique would be safe, according to Charles R. Burlier of the Microwave Research Center in Marlborough, New Hampshire. Low-power microwaves only penetrate (贯穿) the skin (low-power microwave penetration in a ham is about 0.2 inches, for example) and with no negative effects.
To test this idea, Buffler subjected himself to microwaves in a special room using a standard 500-watt, 2459 MHz magnetron (磁控管). He found that a person will start to feel warmth at about 20 milliwatts per square centimeter (mw. / sq. cm. ) ; a satisfactory feeling of warmth occurs between 35 and 50mw. / sq. cm. By comparison, a person standing in noonday summer sun feels the amount of 85 mw. / sq. cm. And a frozen meat pie in your microwave oven receives about 1000 mw. / sq. cm.
In houses of the future, each room could be provided with its own magnetron, says Buffler. When you stepped into the living room, for example, a motion detector (运动感应器)would turn on the magnetron, filling the room with low-power microwaves. In the same way that a microwave oven heats up a hamburger, but not the plate it’s on, you would feel warmth from the microwaves without changing the temperature of your coffee table. (You could, however, make your favorite easy chair even more comfortable by treating it with a radiation-absorbing chemical.)
While it might be some time before homeowners are comfortable enough with the idea to set up whole-body microwave heaters in houses, Buffler says microwaves may attract livestock(家畜) farmers. Lambs that are born outdoors in winter, for example, are frequently lost to cold. Microwaves could warm the lambs safely and quickly.Which of the following can tell the main idea of the passage?
| A．A new heating system. | B．A new microwave oven. |
| C．A popular technique. | D．The magnetron. |
According to Paragraph 2, which of the following does not describe the characteristics of a microwave heater?
| A．It directly heats people in a room. |
| B．It heats walls and furniture in a room. |
| C．It is safe. |
| D．It saves energy. |
The test conducted by Buffler shows that when a person feels comfortable warmth, he receives about ________________.
| A．20 mw. / sq. cm. | B．40 mw. / sq. cm. | C．60 mw. / sq. cm. | D．85 mw. / sq. cm. |
According to Paragraph 4, which of the following fills the room with low-power microwaves?
| A．The magnetron. | B．The motion detector. |
| C．The microwave oven. | D．The radiation-absorbing chemical. |
Which of the following statements about microwave heaters would Buffler most probably agree with?
| A．Microwave heaters will soon be widely used by homeowners. |
| B．Microwave heaters sometimes make people feel uncomfortable. |
| C．Perhaps microwave heaters will be first used by livestock farmers, who wish to protect their lambs in winter. |
| D．Microwave heaters cannot be accepted by the public because they are somewhat unsafe. |
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Abu Dhabi tries to make a plan to celebrate the 25th wedding anniversary. He is considering to have a relaxing week with his wife to a quiet and picturesque mountain.
Blackstone Smith has been laid off recently. He is eager to find a new job to shoulder his responsibility to his family.
William Glaberson is considering to subscribe to an electronic version of newspapers. And the most influential ones such as the Guardian, the Washington News or the New York Times might be good choice.
Michelin Maynard badly needs an updated security system for his personal computer. His PC is so vulnerable to any attack that it has frequently collapsed.
Alissa J. Rubin is a professor in Columbia University. An expert on Asian political issues, he is tracking any report about political events in this area.
Prince Roman was a Polish nobleman, a captain in the army of Czar Nicholas of Russia. When his young wife died, the prince left the army and returned in sorrow to his native Poland.
In time, love for his country and its people took the place of his lost love. He joined a Polish rising against the Russians. The rising was crushed, and Prince Roman was taken prisoner. His relatives and friends begged the military court to have mercy on him.
The president of the court received these appeals kindly. He was a good Russian, but he was also a good-natured man. Russian hatred of Poles was not as fierce at that time as it became later; and the Russian felt sympathetic as soon as he saw the prince's thin, tired, sun-burnt face.
The court of three officers sat in a bare room, behind a long black table. Some clerks sat at the two ends, but no one else was there when the guards brought in the prince.
Those four walls shut out from Prince Roman all sights and sounds of freedom, all hopes of the future, all comforting thoughts. How much love for Poland remained in him then? How much love of life? He stood before his judges alone, having refused their permission to sit. He answered their first formal questions — his name and so on — clearly and politely although he felt too weary to talk.
Then the president of the court seemed to suggest how the young man could best help himself. He asked questions in a way that almost put the right answers in the prisoner's mouth.
“Didn't your wife's death drive you to despair? Wasn't your mind unbalanced by that sad event ?”
Prince Roman was silent.
"You were not fully responsible for you conduct, were you?"
Prince Roman was silent.
"You made a sudden blind decision to join the rising. You didn't realize that your actions were dangerous and dishonourable. Isn't that the truth of this unfortunate matter?"
The judges looked at the prisoner hopefully. In silence the prince reached for a pen and some paper. He wrote, "I joined the rising because I believe it was just." He pushed the paper towards the president, who took it and read it in silence.
Prince Roman was sentenced to hard work for life in the Siberian salt mines. It was a sentence of delayed death.
When Czar Nicholas read the report and sentence, he added in his own handwriting, "Make sure that this prisoner walks in chains every step of the way to Siberia."What does the passage tell us of Poland at the time?
| A．Polish officers in the Russian army had to return to Poland. |
| B．Russia was at war with Poland, so the Poles were enemies. |
| C．The Russians were very cruel rulers of Poland. |
| D．It was ruled by Russia, and Poles served in the Russian army. |
How much love for Poland remained in the prince when he stood trial?
| A．Not much, probably, after the failure of the rising. |
| B． More than he had ever felt before. |
| C．As much as he had ever felt. |
| D．The passage doesn't suggest an answer to the question. |
The questions which the president asked show that ______.
| A．he was trying to find excuse for the prince's conduct |
| B．the court wanted the prince to admit his own guilt |
| C．he wanted to learn the truth about the Polish rising |
| D．Prince Roman was a weak person |
In the trial, Prince Roman ______.
| A．was afraid to be responsible for his actions |
| B．blamed others for his actions |
| C．accepted responsibility for his actions |
| D．admitted his guilt |
According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
| A．The judges were less sympathetic than Czar Nicholas. |
| B．Czar Nicholas was as kind as the judges. |
| C．Czar Nicholas was not as sympathetic as the judges. |
| D．The judges were as cruel as Czar Nicholas. |
In a mountainous area of Brazil, there is a kind of beautiful butterfly which can kill men. If people meet them, they will come down in great quantities to bite and kill, sucking blood and flesh through the wounds they cause.
In June, 1966, a boy named Marl Andre who went into the mountains in search of butterfly specimens (标本) was killed by these butterflies. A country boy saw him when he was just about to catch a butterfly. Suddenly thousands of butterflies came down upon him, covering him all over. The boy struggled and cried as he tried to free himself from their attack. Finally he fell senseless to the ground. Police examined his body and proved that he had died of bites by butterflies.
In New Guinea, there is a kind of needlefish which also kills men. Needlefish likes light. At night, it will swim near the lights of fishing boats, then suddenly shoot out of water like an arrow to its target, and force its 3-inch sharp mouth into a human body. Of-ten people are thrust in the eye, or through the chest or stomach, resulting in death. Sometimes it will even attack the people in a fishing boat in broad daylight.
About 10 persons in the world are killed by sharks every year, yet more than 240 people are killed by needlefish every year.From the passage, we know that ______.
| A．butterflies are living in the mountains |
| B．all butterflies like sucking blood and eating fish |
| C．the butterflies in a certain part of Brazil can kill men |
| D．the more beautiful a butterfly is, the more dangerous it is |
Mari Andre was killed when he ______.
| A．went to Brazil | B．tried to catch a butterfly |
| C． entered the mountains | D．raised a net |
Needlefish comes out ______.
| A．sometimes at night | B．both at night and in the daytime |
| C．only when boats appear | D．usually in the daytime |
According to the story, each year needlefish kills ______.
| A．twice more than sharks do |
| B．about 10 more persons than sharks do |
| C．24 times more persons than sharks do |
| D．fewer persons than sharks do |
The best title for the passage is ______.
| A．Brazil Home of Dangerous Butterflies |
| B．Killer Butterflies and Needlefish |
| C．New Guinea—No Fit to Live in |
| D．Deaths Caused by Butterflies and Needlefish |
We live in a dangerous world. The figures for crime go up year by year. If you were attacked in the street, would you be able to defend yourself? Not very well probably, especially if someone was pointing a gun at you. We all see a lot of violence of films, but recently some programs on television showed how people can defend themselves without guns. For example, in one film a woman was attacked from behind. She threw the man, who was heavier and stronger than she was, over her head. Then she held him tightly on the ground. How? She knew Judo.
Jiu-jitsu, as judo is sometimes called, means "muscle science" in Japanese. The student of judo needs to learn a lot about the body, its bones and muscles. Judo uses a number of "falls", "holds" and "throws". Someone who does not know judo cannot defend himself against them. If you know judo you can defend yourself against a person who is stronger than you. You had better not practice judo on your friends unless they can fall without hurting themselves! Being strong is one thing, but using the body wisely is another. In judo, you use the other person's body to help you. You "throw" him to the ground and "hold" him there, so that he cannot move. Of course, it takes time and practice, but knowing judo is useful. In a violent world you ought to be able to defend yourself.According to passage, in fact "judo" is ______.
| A．the same as "Jiu-jitsu" | B．a kind of fighting |
| C． a kind of muscle science | D．is helpful to a strong man |
Why does the writer say the world is dangerous?
| A． The number of violence and crime is increasing every year. |
| B．Because many people carry guns. |
| C．Because there too many films. |
| D．Because people are not able to defend themselves. |
Which of the following statement is true about the woman in the passage?
| A．The woman held the man over her head. |
| B．The woman was heavier than the man. |
| C．The woman was able to defend herself. |
| D．The woman attacked the man from behind. |
If a man knows judo, he ______.
| A．will be good at muscle science. |
| B．will be able to avoid being attacked from his back. |
| C．may defeat any strong person. |
| D．can help himself by using the other person's body |
What's the best title for this short passage?
| A．How to defend oneself | B．Violence in films |
| C．How to practise judo | D．Something about judo |