A study of more than five million books, both fiction and non-fiction, has found a marked decline in the use of emotional words over time. The researchers form the University of Bristol used Google Ngram Viewer, a facility for finding the frequency of terms in scanned books, to search for more than 600 particular words identified as representing anger, dislike, fear, joy, sadness and surprise.
They found that almost all of the categories (类别) showed a drop in these “mood words” over time. Only in the category of fear was there an increase in usage.
“It is a steady and continuous decrease,” said Dr Alberto Acerbi. He assumed that the result might be explained by a change in the position occupied by literature, in a crowded media landscape. “One thing could be that in parallel to books the 20th century saw the start of other media. Maybe these media—movies, radio, drama—had more emotional content than books.”
Although both joy and sadness followed the general downwards trend, the research, published in the journal PLOS One, found that they also exhibited another interesting behaviour：the ratio (比率) between the two varied greatly, apparently mirroring historical events.
During the Roaring Twenties the joy-to-sadness ratio reached a peak that would not occur again until before the recent financial crash. But the ratio plunged at the height of the Second World War. Nevertheless, the researchers held a reserved opinion about their claim that their result reflected wider social trends. In the paper, they even argue that the reverse could be true.
“It has been suggested, for example, that it was the suppression (压抑) of desire in ordinary Elizabethan English life that increased demand for writing ‘filled with romance and sex’… perhaps,” they conclude, “songs and books may not reflect the real population any more than catwalk models reflect the average body.”
(Note：Answer the questions or complete the statements in NO MORE THAN TEN WORDS.)A study of more than five million books indicated a decline in “mood words” over time except
According to Dr Alberto Acerbi, one reason for the drop of “mood words” in books may be that
What were the two periods when the joy-to-sadness ratio was at its highest?
While the researchers found some changes in the use of “mood words” in books, they werenot sure that
A family in Guelph, Ontario is spending a year living “in 1982”. They’re doing it so their kids can see what life was like before technology like iPads, computers and even coffee machines was part of everyday life.
They have stopped using all technology from their home and are relying on the things people would have used back in the 80s. There is a box at the front door where people can put their cell phones in, while they’re visiting the family.
Blair McMillan and his wife Morgan want their kids—Trey, 5, and Denton, 2—to have a year without technology.
Instead of reading e-readers, they are reading books. Instead of using a GPS, they used paper maps. The home the family is living in was built in the 1980s. Even the way they dress and style their hair is from the 80s.
The whole idea started when young Trey was called to come outside. He didn’t because he was busy playing on the ipad. That’s why his dad thought of the idea of living “in 1982” for a year. The family plans to live like “it’s 1982” until April next year. To them, one of the hardest things was giving up their cell phone.【改编】 What will you do when you visit the family?
| A．The way you dress and must be from the 80s. |
| B．You must leave your cell phone at home. |
| C．You will put your cell phone outside before entering the room. |
| D．You can use the phone prepared by the family. |
【改编】How long do they live without technology？
| A．a year. | B．twenty years. |
| C．a month. | D．five years. |
【改编】To them,what is the hardest thing?
| A．Giving up reading e-readers |
| B．Give up GPS |
| C．The way they dress and style their hair is from the 80s |
| D．Give up cell phone |
One day Mr. Brown sees a young woman in the street with children. He is very surprised because all the children are wearing the same clothes. White caps, blue coats and yellow trousers.
“Are all these children yours?” he asks the woman.
“Yes, they are.” she answers.
“Do you always dress them in the same clothes ?” asks Mr. Brown.
“Yes,” answers the mother. “When we have four children, we dress them in the same clothes because we don’t want to lose any of them. It is easy to see our children among other children because they are all wearing the same clothes.
And now we have ten, we dress them like this because we don't want to take other children home by mistake. When there are other children among ours, it is easy to see them because their clothes are different.【改编】 How many children do Mr. Brown have？
| A．twelve | B．eleven | C．four | D．ten |
【改编】 Why are they in the same clothes,when they have four children？
| A．Because they don’t want to lose any of them. |
| B．She has so many children |
| C．They looks beautiful |
| D．It is easy to see their children among other children |
Why are they in the same clothes,when they have four children？
| A．Because she doesn’t want to take other children home by mistake. |
| B．They look clear. |
| C．Because she doesn’t want to lose any of them. |
| D．because she loves her children. |
Leadership is the most significant word in today’s competitive business environment because it directs the manager of a business to focus inward on their personal abilities and style. Experts on leadership will quickly point out that“how things get done”influences the success of the outcomes and indicates a right way and a wrong way to do things. When a noted leader on the art of management, Peter Drucker,coined the phrase“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things, he was seeking to clarify the distinctions he associates with the terms.
When Stephen Covey,founder and director of the Leadership Institute, explored leadership styles in the past decade, he focused on the habits of a great number of higllly effective individuals. His Seven Habits of Highly Effective People became a popular bestseller very quickly. His ideas forced a reexamination of the early leadership example, which centered on the feature that was found in the character ethic(道德)and the personality ethic. The former ethic suggested success was founded on modesty,loyalty,courage, patience, and so on. The personality ethic suggested it was one’s attitude, not behavior,that inspired success, and this ethic was founded on a belief of positive mental attitude. In contrast to each of these ideas, Covey advocates that leaders need to understand universal principles of effectiveness, and he highlights how vital it is for leaders to first personally manage themselves if they are to enjoy any hope of outstanding success in their work environments; To achieve a desired vision for your business, it is essential that you have a personal vision of where you are headed and what you value. Business leadership means that managers need to“put first things first,” which implies that before leading others, you need to be clear on your own values, abilities, and strengths and be seen as trustworthy.【改编】 What does the first passage infer?
| A．Leadership is doing the right thing. |
| B．Leaders should be good at doing things right. |
| C．Leaders should be good at ignoring distinctions. |
| D．Leaders needn't associate with the terms. |
【改编】What does Stephen Covey say?
| A．When people have little determination, they will be successful. |
| B．When people have good behaviour, they will gain success. |
| C．If people have positive mental attitude, they are likely to succeed. |
| D．If people have negative mental attitude, they are certain to succeed. |
【改编】 To be good leaders, what must managers pay close attention to?
| A．Universal principles of effectiveness． |
| B．Values，abilities and strengths． |
| C．Good qualities such as modesty． |
| D．Courage as well as patience． |
From a plane we can see the fields, cities, mountains or seas below．If we go into space, we see more and more of the earth．People and man-made satellites have been sent out into space to look at the earth carefully and people have learnt more about the earth in the last years．
The sea looks very beautiful when the sun is shining on it．But it can be very terrible when there is a strong wind．
The sea is very big, it nearly covers three quarters of the earth．The sea is also very deep in some places．There is one place in the sea is about 11 kilometres deep．The highest mountain in the world is about 9 kilometres high．If that mountain was put into the sea at that place, there would be still 2 kilometres of water above it!
In most parts of the sea, there are many kinds of fishes and plants．Some live near the top of the sea．Others live deep down．There are also a lot of small living things, and lots of fishes live by eating them．
The sea can be very cold．The further people go down, the sea becomes colder and colder．At one time only some men could go down into the deep sea．But, in 1970, five women scientists lived in the deep sea for fourteen days．【改编】 The land covers about _________ of the earth．
| A．1/3 | B．1/4 | C．1/2 | D．3/4 |
【改编】The fishes feed on _________.
| A．plants |
| B．small fish |
| C．small living things |
| D．islands |
【改编】What can we infer from the passage？
| A．The highest mountain is in the deepest place of the sea. |
| B．We can see the fields, cities, mountains or seas in everywhere. |
| C．In 1970, five men scientists lived in the deep sea for fourteen days. |
| D．The further people go down, the colder and colder the sea becomes. |
There once was a master who went to India．In those times, we didn't have the communications or airplanes or many kinds of transportation that we do now．So the master went to India on foot．He had never been to India before; perhaps he came from Persia．And when he got there, he saw a lot of fruit．In India they have plenty of fruit to sell, but much of it is expensive because they can't grow much due to the water situation．So he saw one basket, a big basket of some very red, long fruit．And it was the cheapest in the shop, not expensive at all．
So he went up and asked, "How much per kilo?" And the shopkeeper said, "Two rupees（卢比）．" Two rupees in India is nothing; it's like dirt．So he bought a whole kilogram of the fruit and started eating it．But after he ate some of it: Oh, my God! His eyes watered, his mouth watered and burned, his eyes were burning, his head was burning and his face became red．As he coughed and choked and gasped for breath, he jumped up and down, saying, "Ah! Ah! Ah!"But he still continued to eat the fruit! Some people who were looking at him shook their heads and said, "You're crazy, man．Those are chilies（辣椒）! You can't eat so many; they're not good for you! People use them as a condiment（作料）, but only a little bit to put into food for taste．You can't just eat them by the handful like that; they're not fruit!" So the stupid master said, "No, I can't stop! I paid money for them, and now I'll eat them．It's my money!"
And you think that master was stupid, right? Similarly, we sometimes do a lot of things like that．We invest money, time or effort in a relationship, business or job．And even though it's been a long time, bitter experience tells us it won't work, and we know there's no more hope that things will change in the future — this we definitely know by intuition（直觉）— we still continue just because we've invested money, time, effort and love into it．Just like the man who ate the chilies and suffered so much but couldn't stop because he didn't want to waste the money he'd paid．【改编】 Why did the master go to India on foot?
| A．Because he likes doing sports. |
| B．Because there aren't any kinds of transportation that we do now. |
| C．The price of transportation is very expensive. |
| D．Because the master had lots of time. |
【改编】 What can we infer about the master according to the passage?
| A．His eyes watered because the fruit he ate was delicious. |
| B．He came from Persia on his own． |
| C．He has been to India before. |
| D．He likes chilies very much. |
【改编】 What does passage want to tell us?
| A．To tell us we have to give up sometimes. |
| B．To share us a funny story about a silly master. |
| C．To show us a wise master. |
| D．To offer some information about buying fruits. |