Thereasonwhyscienceexistsistoi-优题课

Happy Graduation, Seniors! Congratulations! What’s next? Below is some sociologically-inspired, out-of-the-box advice on work, love, family, friendship, and the meaning of life. For new grads from the two of us!
1. Don’t Worry About Making Your Dreams Come True
College graduates are often told: “follow your passion,” do “what you love,” what you were “meant to do,” or “make your dreams come true.” Two-thirds think they’re going find a job that allows them to change the world, half within five years. Yikes.
This sets young people up to fail. The truth is that most of us will not be employed in a job that is both our lifelong passion and a world-changer; that’s just not the way our global economy is. So it’s ok to set your sights just a tad below occupational ecstasy. Just find a job that you like. Use that job to help you have a full life with lots of good things and pleasure and helping others and stuff. A great life is pretty good, even if it’s not perfect.
2. Make Friends
Americans emphasize finding Mr. or Ms. Right and getting married. We think this will bring us happiness. In fact, however, both psychological well-being and health are more strongly related to friendship. If you have good friends, you’ll be less likely to get the common cold, less likely to die from cancer, recover better from the loss of a spouse, and keep your mental acuity as you age. You’ll also be able to face life’s challenges, be less likely to feed depressed, and be happier in old age.
Having happy friends increases your chance of being happy as much as an extra $145,500 a year does. So, make friends!
3. Don’t Worry about Being Single
Single people, especially women, are stigmatized in our society: we’re all familiar with the image of a sad, lonely woman eating ice cream with her cats in her pajamas on Saturday night. But about 45% of U.S. adults aren’t married and around 1 in 7 lives alone.
This might be you. Research shows that young people’s expectations about their marital status (e.g., the desire to be married by 30 and have kids by 32) have little or no relationship to what actually happens to people. So, go with the flow.
And, if you’re single, you’re in good company. Single people spend more time with friends, volunteer more, and are more involved in their communities than married people. Never-married and divorced women are happier, on average, than married women. So, don’t buy into the myth of the miserable singleton.
4. Don’t Take Your Ideas about Gender and Marriage Too Seriously
If you do get married, be both principled and flexible. Relationship satisfaction, financial security, and happy kids are more strongly related to the ability to adapt in the face of life’s challenges than any particular way of organizing families. The most functional families are ones that can bend. So partnering with someone who thinks that one partner should support their families and the other should take responsibility for the house and children is a recipe for disaster. So is being equally rigid about non-traditional divisions of labor. It’s okay to have ideas about how to organize your
family – and, for the love of god, please talk about both your ideals and fallback positions on this – but your best bet for happiness is to be flexible.
5. Think Hard About Whether to Buy a House
Our current image of the American Dream revolves around homeownership, and buying a home is often considered as a stage on the path to full-fledge adulthood. But the ideal of universal home ownership was born in the 1950s. It’s a rather new idea.
With such a short history, it’s funny that people often insist that buying a house is a fool-proof investment and the best way to secure retirement. In fact, buying a house may not be the best choice for you. The mortgage may be less than rent, but there are also taxes, insurance, and the increasingly common Home Owners Association (HOA) fees. You may someday sell the house for more than you bought it but, if you paid interest on a mortgage, you also paid far more than the sale price. You have freedom from a landlord, but may discover your HOA is just as controlling, or worse. And then there’s the headache: renting makes you avoid the stress of being responsible for repairs. It also offers a freedom of movement that you might cherish.
So, think carefully about whether buying or renting is a better fit for your finances, lifestyle, and future goals. This New York Times rent vs. buy calculator is a good start.

for new grads on work, love, family, friendship, and the meaning of life.
1. Don’t Worry About Your Dreams.	◆College grads are reminded to follow their passion. ◆The of us will not be taken on in an ideal job. ◆Just find a great job that can make your life full, even if it’s not perfect.
2. Make Friends.	◆Americans put a lot of emphasis on getting married. ◆Both psychological well-being and health are more strongly related to. ◆With good company, you will keep away from illness and have the to face challenges.
3. Don’t Worry about Being a Bachelor.	◆Single women adultsup 45% and around 1 in 7 lives alone. ◆If single, be actively in communities and do voluntary work.
4. Don’t Take Your Ideas about Gender and Marriage Too Seriously.	◆The most functional families are ones that can bend, that is to say , to be principled and more .
5. Think Hard About Whether to Buy a House.	◆Buying a home is often considered as a stage on the path to full-fledge. ◆In fact, buying a house may not be the best choice for you to invest and to secure retirement. ◆Renting you from the stress of being responsible for repairs and you can move freely as you wish.

Since it was founded a year ago, the babysitting pool has become increasingly popular in the United States. More and more mothers have joined it and have benefited from it. What attracts them most is the idea that you pay your babysitter not in cash, but in paper cards. When you join the babysitting pool, you are given thirty cards, which are worth 30-minute babysitting time each. For each half an hour while you are gone, the babysitter gets paid one card.
There are rules regulating this service. You should not watch more than three kids at a time including your own. On big holidays, such as Christmas and Thanksgiving, the babysitter should be paid twice as much, which means two cards for every half an hour. When you leave the babysitting pool, you should return all the cards. If you are out of cards, you cannot use money instead. You should have to baby-sit for others to earn enough cards so that you will have them handy when you yourself need a babysitter.
Many mothers think highly of this service. It keeps children in constant touch with one another, and makes life easier for the mothers. Since in most cases, the babysitter is the mother who watches other kids at her own home, it is still possible for her to do her own things while the kids play with each other. In fact most mother babysitters find that their own kids are less of a monster and easier to watch when they are around other playmates. Moreover, since the babysitting pool service does not involve money, it will not be a financial loss to the family.
In the past year, the babysitting pool has helped so many mothers with their work that they all think that it is indeed a good community service worth keeping.

阅读下面短文，根据以下要求：（1）汉语提示；（2）首字母提示；（3）语境提示，在每个空格内填入一个适当的英语单词，所填单词要求意义准确、拼写正确。
Friday Jan. 9,2009 Cloudy
This morning, on my way to school, I saw something lying by the roadside. To my s , it was a gold necklace. I quickly picked it and looked around. No one seemed to be looking for the lost necklace. Should I hand it in to the (最近的) police station?
But classes would begin in a minutes. I had no time to deal with it. So, I decided to t it with me to school for the time being. Soon I got to school, classed began. After class, I handed in the necklace to the headmaster, (告诉) him the story. He spoke h of my honesty. When school was over, I heard our school radio station broadcast the school (新闻) that (表扬) me for doing a good deed. Mom and Dad were overjoyed to hear my story.

阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（不多于3个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。（共10小题；每小题1.5分，满分15分）
In many countries,_ ___ is not unusual for families of different backgrounds to live together in the shared space. ____, in the United States, this idea may still be considered odd.
But this type of housing, ____(call) co-housing, is gaining ____(popular) in the United States, too. Co-housing complexes are popping up across the country. For many people, this way of life is a ___(relieve) to the busy modern lifestyle. A co-housing community has __(private) owned houses and shared land. There is often a “common house” with a kitchen and dining room, meeting room, and maybe a workshop of library or music room. About 25 co-housing communities ____(build) in recent years, and 150 more are planned.
A co-housing complex is a place ___ residents shop, cook, and eat together. Residents of a co-housing complex like its sense of shared community. Children have other kids to play ____which many families like. Other residents like the feeling of living in a “village”. Residents also say that they can live in co-housing for ___(little) money than they would pay for nearby apartments.

任务型阅读（共10小题，每小题1分，满分10分）
Visiting a new place can be a scary experience for a lot of people because it could include speaking in a language that most people are not comfortable with ---- English. So how can you keep away form this kind of situation? Learn how to speak English fluently. Here are 4 English speaking tips you must know to become a more confident English speaker.
1. Listen first.
One of the best English speaking tips is to listen carefully to understandable English EVERY DAY. Most people turn to textbooks to study English grammar rules, but you cannot learn the correct English pronunciation of the words merely by reading them. You do not need to learn grammar in detail because this can prevent you from speaking English fluently.
Instead, listen to how native English speakers pronounce and observe their mouth movements. Also watch English shows and movies to build on your English accent and improve your vocabulary.
2. Practice makes perfect.
Studies show that you’ll probably spend three months of practice every day in order to have strong mouth muscles. Read aloud in English for 15 to 20 minutes a day in front of the mirror, which helps in accent reduction and improves your English communication skills.
Also, practice with your friends and family. Talking with a good English speaker can help improvise (即兴发挥) your usage of words and formation of sentences.
3. Think in English.
One of the most effective English speaking tips is to think in English. What most English learners do in the early stages of learning is that they think of what they have to say in their native language, translate and then say it in English. This can be mentally tiring.
If your goal is to speak English fluently, you need to learn “thinking” in English. Make up the sentences in English as you think about them before saying them. With practice, you will be able to respond automatically in English.
4. Be more confident.
All these English speaking tips will be in vain if you are not that confident in your English speaking skills. It is quite natural to commit errors when learning a new language.
Try to relax if you’re speaking in English. When you speak at a normal speed, you’ll discover that you will be able to pronounce the words correctly and people will understand you. Most of the time, the person you are talking to is not even aware of your errors.
In a word, learning English does not happen overnight. It takes a lot of time, effort and practice. Don’t get too frustrated and never give up. Follow these English speaking tips and practice daily. Soon, you would learn to speak English fluently as if it is your own language.
English speaking tips you must know

Introduction	It’s many people’s dream to ____ the discomfort from being unable to speak English in a new place.
Tips	Listen first. v Seeking help from textbooks won’t enable you to learn the ____ English pronunciation. v Listen to how native English speakers pronounce and observe how their mouths ____. v Watch English shows and movies to improve your English accent and ____.
	Practice makes perfect. v Practice three months to ___ your mouth muscles. v Regular reading ____ can reduce accent and improve your English communication skills. v Practice with your friends and family.
	Think in English. v Thinking in your native language makes you ____ mentally. v Thinking in English will reward you with automatic ___ in English.
	Be more confident. v Committing errors is a necessary part of language learning. v Try to relax to speak at a normal speed and make yourself ____.
__	Learning English does not happen overnight.

Title: Four scientific_______
Passage outline	Supporting details
Sharing bed with your pet is a terrible idea	You will probably be infected with______. To reduce such risk, you should take your pet to visit the vet______.
Be______about vitamin supplements	Vitamin supplements actively increase the risk of______.
You can become_____ to solariums	The solarium may bring about changes to the______just like drugs do.
_____long exposure to artificial lights	You are likely to_____from breast cancer, obesity and depression after long exposure to artificial lights. The natural biorhythms of your bodies will be disturbed and you will find it not______to fall asleep.