Decisions, decisions! Our lives are full of them, from the small ones to the life-changing. The right to choose is central to everyone. Yet sometimes we make bad decisions that leave us unhappy or full of regret. Can science help?
Most of us know little about the mental processes that lie behind our decisions. Luckily, what psychologists(心理学家)are finding may help us all make better choices. Here are some of their amazing discoveries to help you make up your mind.
Consider your emotions. You might think that emotions are the enemy of decision making, but in fact they are a part of it. Whenever you make up your mind, your brain’s emotional centre is active. University of Southern California scientist, Antonio Damasia, has studied people with damage to only the emotional parts of their brains , and found that they were unable to make basic choices about what to wear or eat. Damasia thinks this may be because our brains store emotional memories of past choice, which we use to help the present decision-making.
However, making choices under the influence of an emotion can greatly affect the result. Take anger, for example. A study by Nitika Garg of the University of Mississippi and other scientists found the angry shoppers were more likely to choose the first thing they were offered rather than considering other choices. It seems that anger can lead us to make quick decisions without much thinking.
All emotions affect our thinking and motivation（动机），so it may be best to avoid making important decisions under their influence. Yet strangely there is one emotion that seems to help us make good choices. The American researchers found that sad people took time to consider the various choices on offer, and ended up making the best choices. In fact many studies show that people who feel unhappy have the most reasonable view of the world.According to the text, what may help us make better decisions?
| A．To think about happy times. |
| B．To make many decisions at a time. |
| C．To stop feeling regretful about the past. |
| D．To learn about the process of decision-making. |
What does the underlined word “central” mean?
| A．中心的 | B．中央的 | C．起决定作用的 | D．后悔的 |
Damasia’s study suggests that ________.
| A．emotions are the enemy of decision making. |
| B．our brain has nothing to do with decision making. |
| C．people with physical damage find it hard to make up their minds. |
| D．our emotional memories of past choices can affect present decisions. |
Why are angry shoppers more likely to choose the first thing they are offered?
| A．They often forget their past choices. |
| B．They make decisions without much thinking. |
| C．They tend to save time when shopping. |
| D．They are too angry to bargain. |
What do we learn from the text?
| A．Emotions are a part of decision-making. |
| B．Sad people always make worse choices. |
| C．No emotion seems to help us make good choices. |
| D．Only sad feeling affect our thinking and motivation. |
Hearing live music is one of the most pleasurable experiences available(可得的) to human being. The music sounds great, it feels great, and you get to watch the players as they play it. No matter what kind of music you love, try listening to it live.
This guide focuses(聚焦) on classic music, a tradition that originated before recordings, radio, and the Internet, back when all music was live music. In those days live human beings performed for other live human beings, with everybody together in the same room. When heard in this way, classic music can have a special excitement. Hearing classic music in a concert can leave you feeling refreshed and energized. It can be fun. It can be romantic(浪漫的). It can be spiritual(心灵的).
Classical music concerts can seem like snobby(高傲的) affairs full of foreign terms and unusual behavior. It can be hard to understand what’s going on . It can be hard to know how to act. But don’t worry. Concerts are no stranger than any other amusement(消遣), and the rules of behavior are much simpler and easier to understand than the stock market, football, or system software programs.
If you haven’t been to a live concert before, or if you’ve been confused(困惑的) by concerts, this guide will explain, so you can relax and enjoy the music.From Paragraph 1, we can see that the writer encourages us _______.
| A．to watch the musicians to make music |
| B．to experience the spirit of classical music |
| C．to attend live concerts and enjoy live music |
| D．to get pleasure from different kinds of music |
Which of the following can replace the underlined word “originated” in Paragraph 2?
| A．listened | B．started |
| C．performed | D．disappeared |
The writer considers that live classical music _______.
| A．is full of foreign terms |
| B．is too difficult to understand |
| C．is stranger than other amusements |
| D．is exciting to both players and listeners |
SPECIAL EVENTS THIS WEEKEND
Captain Good Fellow
Do your children enjoy interesting stories, funny games, and exciting dances? Captain Good Fellow will be ready to teach all these things to children of all ages at the City Theatre on Saturday morning at 10:00, Free.
Walking Tour of the Town
Forget your worries on Saturday morning. Take a beautiful walk and learn about local history. Meet at the front entrance of City Hall at 9:30. Wear comfortable shoes!
Films at the Museum
Two European films will be shown on Saturday afternoon at the Museum Theatre. See Broken Window at 1:30. The workers will be at 3:45. For further information, call 4987898.
International Picnic
Are you tired of eating the same food every day? Come to Central Park on Saturday and enjoy food from all over the world. Delicious and not expensive. Noon to 5:00 pm.
Take Me out to the Ballgame
It’s October, and tonight is your last chance to see the Redbirds this year. Get your tickets at the gate. It might be cold; don’t forget sweaters and jackets.
Do You Want to Hear “The Zoo”
“The Zoo”, a popular rock group from Australia, will give their first US concert(音乐会) tomorrow night at 8:00 at Rose Hall, City College.You can probably eat Chinese, Italian, and Arab food ________.
| A．at Central Park on Saturday |
| B．at the Ballgame |
| C．at 5:00 pm |
| D．at the front entrance of City Hall |
If you are going on the Walking Tour, don’t forget ________.
| A．your worries |
| B．your beautiful walk |
| C．your learning about local history |
| D．your comfortable shoes |
“The Zoo” is ________.
| A．a park with lots of animals |
| B．US concert |
| C．a music group |
| D．going to give the concert at 8:00 am |
With the development of economics (经济), the problem of left-behind children (留守儿童) has become a serious social problem. More and more people have realized we should do something to help them.
One of the biggest problems is that the children are all hungry for the love from their parents. Many of them can just get a call or a letter from their parents half a year, a year or even several years, which makes some children lost their parents’ faces. When they meet their own troubles, they have no one to talk with. Nobody gives them enough care.
Because of being too far away from their parents, the left-behind children’s study is the second biggest problem. From a survey (调查) about their study, only two per cent of the children get good results, while ten per cent of them are common and eighty-eight per cent of them are poor. What a pity!
There are also many other problems of the left-behind children, such as having no ability to protect themselves, unhealthy lifestyles, spending too much pocket money and being crazy about Internet and so on.
In a word, to solve all the problems of the left-behind children needs the government, families and schools to try their best together.Which problem is NOT mentioned in the passage?
| A．Having no place to live. |
| B．Being crazy about the Internet. |
| C．Unhealthy lifestyles. |
| D．Not study well. |
What’s the meaning of “some children lost their parents’ faces”?
| A．Some children lost their parents. |
| B．Some children couldn’t find their parents. |
| C．Some children can’t remember what their parents look like. |
| D．Some children can’t get any information about their parents. |
Which of the following sentences is RIGHT?
| A．All of the left-behind children aren’t good at study. |
| B．The left-behind children can see their parents often. |
| C．The left-behind children have much money. |
| D．The left-behind children problem is a social problem. |
What is the best title of the article?
| A．The Left-behind Children |
| B．What is Left-behind Children |
| C．The Problems of the Left-behind Children |
| D．How to help Left-behind Children |
There was once a young man called Paul in a village in the USA. Paul was very lazy because his father was a rich farmer and he didn’t have to work. Mr Smith, a neighbour of his, was a blacksmith (铁匠). He used to work in his shop all day. Paul spent hours and hours watching how the blacksmith worked every day. “Young man, why don’t you try your hand to make a shoe tack (铁钉), even it is only to pass the time?” said the blacksmith one day, “ Maybe it will be useful to you some day.” Finally, the lazy boy began to have a try. After practicing some times, he became skilled and could make very nice tacks.
Years later, Paul’s father died and he lost all the things because of a war (战争). He had to move to another country and live by himself. It happened that there were many shoemakers paying high prices to buy tacks for the shoes, because in that part of the country there was a great need of tacks for soldiers’ shoes. Paul went to talk with them. He told them that he would make the tacks if they could help him find a workshop in the village. The shoemakers agreed. Then Paul made a lot of money by making tacks. “How funny it is!” he said to himself, “Even by making shoe tacks, one can become rich.”What’s the Chinese meaning of skilled?
| A．熟练的. | B．适应的. |
| C．自信的. | D．巧妙的. |
How many kinds of people appeared in the story except Paul ?
| A．Five. | B．Four. | C．Three. | D．Two. |
What can we learn from the story?
| A．Making tacks is important. |
| B．Wars can make people hard-working. |
| C．Nothing is difficult to learn. |
| D．Everything you learned may be useful. |
I began to send e-mails when I was 17. I discovered Google 5 years later. Now, I use the internet all the time. The Internet has become so popular that 90 percent of 12-to-17-year-olds in the United States use the internet, and about half of these kids use it every day. They visit chat rooms and send e-mails. They go to websites to get information for their homework.
"Kids are now living in a virtual(虚拟的) world," says Greenfield, an expert at University of California, "As the Internet is becoming more and more important for our life, we should worry about one question: Is the Internet good or bad for kids? "
"It's ***to answer the question because the Internet involves(涉及) so many things," says Justine, who is from Northwestern University. "They include online computer games, news, messages and even e-mails to your grandmother." So more and more people believe that the online world can be helpful in some ways but dangerous in others.
“Although it's not easy to tell whether it's good or bad,”says Justine, "the Internet, at least, is very useful and can be used widely by everyone in the world.The writer discovered Google at the age of .
| A．5 | B．12 | C．17 | D．22 |
Greenfield .
| A．is an expert from Northwestern University |
| B．wants to stop all the kids from using the Internet |
| C．is worrying about whether the Internet is good or bad for kids |
| D．thinks that the Internet is good for all the kids in the world |
in the passage should be the word ““.
| A．difficult | B．possible |
| C．easy | D．Good |