In the 19th century, there used to be a model of how to be a good person. There are all these torrents of passion flowing through you. Your job, as captain of your soul, is to erect dams to keep these passions in check. Your job is to just say no to laziness, lust, greed, drug use and the other sins.
These days that model is out of fashion. You usually can’t change your behavior by simply resolving to do something. Knowing what to do is not the same as being able to do it. Your willpower is not like a dam that can block the torrent of self-indulgence. It's more like a muscle, which tires easily. Moreover, you're a social being. If everybody around you is overeating, you’ll probably do so, too.
The 19th-century character model was based on an understanding of free will. Today, we know that free will is bounded. People can change their lives, but ordering change is not simple because many things, even within ourselves, are beyond our direct control.
Much of our behavior, for example, is guided by unconscious habits. Researchers at Duke University calculated that more than 40 percent of the actions we take are governed by habit, not actual decisions. Researchers have also come to understand the structure of habits—cue, routine, reward.
You can change your own personal habits. If you leave running shorts on the floor at night, that'll be a cue to go running in the morning. Don’t try to ignore your afternoon snack craving. Every time you feel the cue for a snack, insert another routine. Take a walk.
Their research thus implies a different character model, which is supposed to manipulate the neural networks inside.
To be an effective person, under this model, you are supposed to coolly examine your own unconscious habits, and the habits of those under your care. You are supposed to devise strategies to alter the cues and routines. Every relationship becomes slightly manipulative, including your relationship with yourself. You're trying to arouse certain responses by implanting certain cues.
This is a bit disturbing, because the important habitual neural networks are not formed by mere routine, nor can they be reversed by clever cues. They are burned in by emotion and strengthened by strong yearnings, like the yearnings for admiration and righteousness.
If you think you can change your life in a clever way, the way an advertiser can get you to buy an air freshener, you’re probably wrong. As the Victorians understood, if you want to change your life, don’t just look for a clever cue. Commit to some larger global belief.Which of the following is the first-to-none element in the 19th-century character model?
A.Action. | B.Capacity. | C.Resolution. | D.Enthusiasm. |
The research at Duke University indicated that ________
A.One’s behavior is tough to change. |
B.Habit has an unidentified structure. |
C.Habit plays a vital role in one's behavior. |
D.Both habit and will power are of significance. |
According to the new character model, personal behavior could be altered through
A.techniques to break old routines. |
B.techniques to provide different physical cues. |
C.cues to change all the former unconscious habits. |
D.cues to manipulate the habitual neural responses. |
The booking notes of the play “the Age of Innocence”:
Price: $10
BOOKING
There are four easy ways to book seats for performance:
★in person
The Box Office is open Monday to Saturday, 10 a. m. -8 p. m.
★by telephone
Ring 01324976 to reserve your tickets or to pay by credit card(Visa, MasterCard and Amex accepted)
★by post
Simply complete the booking form and return it to Global Theatre Box Office.
★on line
Complete the on-line booking form at www. Satanfied theatre.com
DICOUNTS:
Saver: $2 off any seat booked any time in advance for performances from Monday to Thursday. Savers are available for children up to 16 years old, over 60s and full-time students.
Supersaver: half-price seats are available for people with disabilities and one companion. It is advisable to book in advance. There is a maximum of eight wheelchair spaces available and one wheelchair space will be held until an hour before the show.
Standby: best available seats are on sale for $6 from one hour before the performance for people eligible(suitable)for Saver and Supersaver discounts and thirty minutes before for all other customers.
Group Bookings: there is a ten per cent discount for parties of twelve or more.
School: school parties of ten or more can book $6 standby tickets in advance and will get every tenth ticket free.
Please note: we are unable to exchange tickets or refund money unless a performance is cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. If you want to book a ticket, you CANNOT _____
A.go to the Box Office on Sundays. |
B.ring the booking number and pay for the tickets by credit card. |
C.use the Internet. |
D.complete a booking form and post it to the Box Office. |
According to the notes, who can get $2 off?
A.The people who book the tickets on Fridays. |
B.An 18-year-old teenager. |
C.A 55-year-old woman. |
D.A 20-year-old full-time college student. |
If you make a group booking for a group of 14 adults, how much should you pay?
A.$120 | B.$126 | C.$140 | D.$150 |
American parents usually think that their child should not have more pocket money than the children with whom he regularly connects, even if they are wealthier.But neither are children expected to compare with the richer if a large family, heavy responsibilities, or other conditions make it necessary to give a child less spending money than is customary (惯例的)in the neighborhood.
Whatever the pocket money is, its entire use is not controlled by the parents, because a child learns to use money correctly only through dealing with it himself.If a seven-year-old child gets a quarter as a week pocket money and is made to put it all in his piggy bank to save it up, he gets no idea what the real use for the money is.He gets the shiny coins and they soon disappear.
The idea of a bank account is too early for so small a child, although he can be made to understand and enjoy saving his coins—not all of them, only a part of what he receives—to buy something he especially wants.By the time he is eight he is old enough to take part in the opening of his own savings account, parents may take him to the bank, open a savings account for him and encourage him to put a certain quantity or any checks he receives as gifts into the bank and watch his bank savings grow as entry by entry(存入) is made.
He will be saving, earning, and spending suitable quantities all along in order to learn how to manage money and to keep him in a favorable position with his friend.The boy who can't join his fellows in a sweet shop once in a while, because he has to save every cent he gets or earns for some big unknown project his parents have chosen for him, is a sorry child.Choose the best exolaration for the underlined part in the second paragraph.
A.It is a kind of bank run by children. |
B.It is a contralre in the shape of a pig for saving coins. |
C.It is a certain place in which pigs are raise. |
D.It is a bank whose building looks like a pig |
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A.Most of the rich people in America give children much pocket money. |
B.American children usually have their bank accounts until they are eight. |
C.American parents seldom care for their children's spending money. |
D.American children begin to learn how to manage money when very young. |
Suppose an 8-year-old child receives 10 dollars as his birthday gift, he may probably ____.
A.spend the money on the things he wants |
B.compare the gift with that of his friend |
C.have most of it saved in the bank |
D.put all the money in his piggy bank |
Why does the writer think the boy is a sorry one if he saves every cent he gets or earns?
A.Because he can not manage his money and is kept himself in an unfavorable position |
B.Because he can not join the fellows in a sweet shop once in a while |
C.Because he can not learn the use of money through spending it himself |
D.Because he can not have any other choice but save, earn of spend money |
When you close your eyes and try to think of the shape of your own body, what you imagine (or rather, what you feel) is quite different from what you see when you open your eyes and look in the mirror. The image you feel is much vaguer(模糊的) than the one you see. And if you lie still, it is quite hard to imagine yourself as having any particular size or shape.
When you move, when you feel the weight of your arms and legs and the natural resistance of the objects around you, the “felt” image of yourself starts to become clearer. It is almost as if it were created by your own actions and the feelings they cause.
The image you create for yourself has rather strange proportions(部分); certain parts feel much larger than they look. If you get a hole in one of your teeth, it feels enormous; you are often surprised by how small it looks when you inspect it in the mirror.
Although the “felt” image may not have the shape you see in the mirror, it is much more important. It is the image through which you recognize your physical existence in the world. In spite of its strange proportions, it is all one piece, and since it has a consistent(前后一致的) right and left and atop and bottom, it allows you to locate new feelings when they occur. It allows you to find your nose in the dark and point to a pain.
If the felt image is damaged for any reason—if it is cut in half or lost as it often is after certain strokes (中风)which wipe out recognition of one entire side –these tasks become almost impossible. What is more, it becomes hard to make sense of one’s own visual appearance. If one half of the “felt” image is wiped out or injured, the patient stops recognizing the affected part of his body. It is hard for him to find the location of feelings on that side, and, although he feels the doctor’s touch, he locates it as being on the undamaged side.According to the passage the “felt” imagethe mirror image.
A.is precisely the same as | B.is as clear as |
C.often differens from | D.is always much smaller than |
Which the following staterants is NOT true?
A.The felt Image is much more important because it helps you locate new feelings. |
B.When you are in bed with your eyes closed, it is not easy to imagine your image. |
C.When you move, the “felt” image of yourself starts to become clearer. |
D.The “felt” image is not so important as the mirror image. |
If a man loses the ability to recognize his right side,.
A.he can’t locate the doctor’s touch on his left side |
B.he can’t locate the doctor’s touch on his right side |
C.he loses his sense of touch on the left side |
D.he loses feeling on both sides |
What is this passage mainly about?
A.Stroke victims’“felt” images | B.Stroke victims’ mirror images. |
C.The importance of “felt” images | D.The importance of mirror images. |
According to Andrew, it never would have happened if he had not had a flat tire on Highway 10 last night at about 7:30. He was on his way to attend a three-day sales meeting when he had the flat. tyre. Unfortunately, he did not have a spare, so he pushed the car off the road, locked it up, and managed to thumb a ride back to Pine Grove. It was after eleven o'clock when he finally got home, and it was then that his real problems started.
When Andrew left home at about 5:30, he had told his wife not to expect him back until Thursday or Friday. Knowing that his wife was nervous about staying in the house alone at night, Andrew took the precaution of checking all the windows in the house to be sure they were locked, so that he could report to his wife that the house was secure. He convinced his wife that the house was burglar-proof, and that she would be perfectly safe, providing she bolted (闩上)the front door as soon as he drove away.
Andrew's only thought as he made his way in the dark to his front door was how surprised his wife was going to be to see him, since he was not supposed to be back until Thursday or Friday. He had forgotten about the bolt on the front door. When he turned his key in the lock and the door wouldn't budge, he remembered the bolt. And he remembered that he had carefully locked all of the windows.
Although Andrew didn't know it at the time, a next-door neighbor had seen him approaching the house and had watched him go up the steps to the front door. In the dark, it was impossible for the neighbor to recognize Andrew, and, besides, the neighbor knew that Andrew had gone out-of-town for a three-day meeting. As a matter of fact, Andrew had asked the neighbor to keep an eye on the house while he was gone.
Finding that he couldn't get in, Andrew began pounding(砰砰地敲) on the front door to get his wife to open the door. According to Andrew, however, his wife is a very sound sleeper, and he knew it was going to be hard to wake her up. In the meantime, because of all the noise he had been making, the neighbor was convinced that somebody was trying to break into the house; so she called the police.
When we talked to Andrew at the country jail this morning, he said that he still didn't understand how the police managed to circle the house without his seeing them. He stated that he had decided the only way to get in was to break one of the dining room windows, and that he was about, to hurl his briefcase into the window to break it when two of the officers grabbed him from behind.
Andrew could not make the officers believe that he lived there; so they took him off to jail. Apparently, he did succeed in convincing them that they ought to wake up the woman in the house to check his story. But there was no answer when they knocked at the door. He tried to explain to them that his wife was a very sound sleeper, but they concluded there was nobody in the house. As Andrew had a flat tyre on the way, he.
A.had to take another car to attend the meeting |
B.rode on a bike to attend the meating |
C.asked for a lift to go back home |
D.borrowed a car to go back home |
When Andrew was approaching the house.
A.he was sure he would pleasently surprise his wife |
B.he was deep in thought |
C.he was sure that his neighbor would help him |
D.he was worried about how to wake his wife up |
The underlined word “budge” in Paragraph 3 probably means.
A.move slightly | B.lock tightly | C.knock lightly | D.close tightly |
Why did the police officers take Andrew off to jail?
A.It was too late for them to contact Andrew’s wife. |
B.Andrew did not explain clearly why he broke into the house. |
C.They thought it unnecessary to check Andrew’s story. |
D.they concluded that Andrew’s story was a complete invention. |
Sometimes life gets a little dull. What used to be fun and different becomes boring. That is the time to look for something new. It is the time for a big idea to get your mind off everyday life. So why not search for extraterrestrial (地球外的) intelligence? Or even better, why not get your computer to do it for you?
Over two million people have joined the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence(SETI)project. Based in California, the SETI project analyzes information taken from a giant radio telescope based in South America. Its task is to look for signals from outer space that might prove that life exists on other planets.
Processing this information is far too big a job for one computer. So the SETI project workers divide the work among volunteers who visit their website. Each computer gets some information to work out from the SETI network through the Internet. This process is often known as “meta-computing”.
It is a wonderful thought. You are sleeping, eating a meal or going out with friends. All this time, your computer is searching the stars for signs that might show something is out there trying to get in touch. Volunteers are proud of being involved in the SETI project. It shows that they understand the potential (潜能) of computing. They know that it is more than just a way of working or playing games.
Meta-computing may also be creating intelligence as well as looking for it. This idea is based on the theory that human intelligence is created by the way in which different parts of the brain communicate with each other. As the saying goes, “The whole is more than the sum of its parts.” People who join the SETI project sometimes wonder whether their computer will become part of a huge network that has learned to think for itself.According to the writer, meta-computing may be creating intelligence.
A.because human beings are intelligent | B.because a computer works as the brain does |
C.because of a network of many computers | D.because of the number of computers |
Which of the following shows the order in which the SETI network works?
A.Radio telescope→SETI website→Volunteers’ computer→SETI base |
B.Radio telescope→SETI base→SETI website→Volunteers’ computer |
C.SETI base→SETI website→Volunteers’ computers→Radio telescope |
D.SETI base→Radio telescope→SETI website→Volunteers’ computers |
The underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refers to _____ .
A.extra-terrestrial intelligence | B.human intelligence |
C.the SETI project | D.meta-computing |
The passage mainly tells us about _____.
A.a new way to work on the computer |
B.a new way to work and play games |
C.a new way to search for life outside the earth |
D.a new way to make computers learn to think for itself |