Everyone has good days and bad days.
Sometimes, you feel as if you’re on top of the world and all the questions on your maths test might seem easy. But occasionally you feel horrible, and you lose things and cannot focus on our schoolwork.
For more than 20 years, scientists have suggested that high self-esteem(自尊) is the key to success.Now, new research shows that focusing just on building self-esteem may not be helpful. In some cases, having high self-esteem can make people less likeable or more upset when they fail in something.
“Forget about self-esteem,” says Jennifer Crocker, a psychologist at the University of Michigan, US. “It’s not the important thing.”
Feeling good
Crocker’s advice may sound a bit strange. After all, feeling good can be good for you.Studies show that people with high self-esteem are less likely to be depressed, anxious, shy, or lonely than those with low self-esteem.
However, after reviewing about 18,000 studies on self-esteem, Roy Baumeister, a psychologist at Florida State University, has found that building up your self-esteem will not necessarily make you a better person.
He believes that violent people often have the highest self-esteem of all. He also said:“ There’s no evidence that kids with high self-esteem do better in school.”
Problems
All types of people have problems. People with high self-esteem can have big egos(自我) that can make them less likeable, said Kathleen Vohs, a psychology professor at Columbia University.People with high self-esteem tend to think more of themselves, VOhs says. People with low self-esteem are more likely to rely on their friends when they need help.
What to do
Researchers say it is best to listen to and support other people. Find positive ways to contribute to society. If you fail in something, try to learn from the experience. “The best therapy(药方) is to recognize your faults,” Vohs says. “It’s OK to say, ‘I’ m not so good at that,’ and then move on.” What does the underlined part “on top of the world” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?
| A．Quite helpful. | B．Extremely happy. |
| C．Very unlucky. | D．Rather upset. |
The conclusion drawn from the new research shows that high self-esteem_____.
| A．is not important at all |
| B．makes people more likeable |
| C．helps you do better at school |
| D．may not be the key to success |
Which of the following is TRUE according to Vohs?
| A．Feeling good doesn’t mean you lead a happy life. |
| B．People with high self-esteem always seek others’ help. |
| C．People with high self-esteem tend to be selfish. |
| D．People with low self-esteem are often more popular. |
We can infer from the text that the best therapy mentioned in the last paragraph is mainly for people_____.
| A．with high self-esteem |
| B．with low self-esteem |
| C．who contribute significantly to society |
| D．who are in need of support |
Most episodes（情况）of absent- mindedness- forgetting where you left something or wondering why you just entered a room-are caused by a simple lack of attention, says Schacter．"You're supposed to remember something, but you haven't encoded （译成密码）it deeply."
Encoding, Schacter explains, is a special way of paying attention to an event that has a major impact（影响）on recalling it later．Failure to encode properly can create annoying situations．If you put your mobile phone in a pocket, for example, and don't pay attention to what you did because you're involved in a conversation, you'll probably forget that the phone is in the jacket now hanging in your wardrobe（衣柜）．"Your memory itself isn't failing you,"says Schacter."Rather, you didn't give your memory system the information it needed."
Lack of interest can also lead to absent-mindedness."A man who can recite sports statistics from 30 years ago,"says Zelinski,"may not remember to drop a letter in the mailbox."Women have slightly better memories than men, possibly because they pay more attention to their environment, and memory depends on just that．
"Visual cues can help prevent absent -mindedness",says Schacter."But be sure the cue is clear and available,"he cautions．If you want to remember to take a medication（药物）with lunch, put the pill bottle on the kitchen table-don't leave it in the medicine chest and write yourself a note that you keep in a pocket．
Another common episode of absent-mindedness: walking into a room and wondering why you're there．Most likely, you were thinking about something else．"Everyone does this from time to time,"says Zelinski．The best thing to do is to return to where you were before entering the room, and you'll likely remember．We can learn from the passage that encoding ________．
| A．slows down the process of losing our memories |
| B．helps us understand our memory system better |
| C．gets us to recall something from our memories |
| D．helps us to find out the mobile phone in the pocket |
Why do women have better memories than men?
| A．They seldom use their mobile phones． |
| B．They are more nervous about the environment． |
| C．They are more interested in what's happening around them． |
| D．They usually take some special medicine to improve memories． |
The sentence underlined in Paragraph 4 means that ___________．
| A．a note in the pocket will easily get lost |
| B．putting something in sight can be a good reminder |
| C．taking medicine can get rid of absent-mindedness |
| D．people of absent-mindedness must take medicine with them |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．The causes of absent-mindedness． |
| B．The environment and memory． |
| C．A way of encoding and recalling． |
| D．The process of gradual memory loss． |
What's on
Oscar Film Themes Symphony Concert
Film highlights accompanied by live performances of movie theme music by the China Opera and Dance Drama Theatre Symphony Orchestra, which has recorded the music for many films．Familiar tunes will come from such flicks as Titanic, Jurassic Park and Waterloo Bridge．
Where: Nationality Cultural Palace Theatre When: March 8, 7：30 pm Admission：80-380 yuan Tel：6528 7674 ext 508
Fantastic View All the Way
The mountains in this area are not very high, but the vistas are excellent．This walk is gentle and very interesting, going through valleys, over passes, along a ridge and through a few little tranquil villages that are located in amazing places．Many sites along the walk offer panoramic view of the surrounding mountains．
Where: Pinggu, northeast of Beijing When: March 9, meet 8：30 am outside Starbucks at Lido Hotel, or 9 am at Capital Paradise front gate, return 5 pm Admission: adults 150 yuan, children 100 yuan Tel: 13701003694 Email: fjhikers @ yahoo．co．uk
Spring Greetings
Paintings in bold colors in a traditional Chinese style by young artist Tian Xifeng are displayed to welcome the spring．Tian is a student of famous bird-and-flower painting artist Wang Qing．He has won several prizes at various national painting exhibitions and developed a style emphasizing vivid close-ups of natural scenes．
Where: Melodic Gallery, 14 Jianwai Dajie, opposite Friendship Store When：till March 31, 9 am- 5 pm Admission: free Tel: 65188123
Cala, My Dog
Directed by Lu Xuechang, starring Ge You．The story is about a middle- aged working man, known as Lao Er, whose chief source of stability and comfort in life is his dog, Cala ．One day, when his wife is out walking Cala, a policeman confiscates the unregistered canine．As Lao Er endeavors to recover his dog , the difficult circumstances of his life are revealed．Chinese with English subtitle(字幕）．
Where: Dongchuang Theatre, 3 Xinzhongjie, Dongzhimenwai When: March 13 and 20, 8: 30 pm Admission: 20 yuan Tel: 64169253 If you are a music lover you can go to ________ on Women's Day．
| A．Capital Paradise |
| B．Dongchuang Theatre |
| C．Capital Gymnasium |
| D．Nationality Cultural Palace Theatre |
The exhibition held in Melodic Gallery ________．
| A．is open to the public from 7:30 am - 5pm till April lst． |
| B．presents the works by Tian Xifeng and his teacher |
| C．is to display some bird-and-flower paintings |
| D．costs the art lovers much money to visit |
Which of the following statements is NOT true?
| A．Both adults and children can take part in the walk in Pinggu． |
| B．Even you don't know English you can enjoy Cala, My Dog． |
| C．You'll have to dial 65188123 to book a ticket for the film． |
| D．You'll have a choice of two meeting places on March 9th. |
All the advertisements in this passage are about ________．
| A．music | B．movies | C．exhibitions | D．entertainments |
The majority of astronauts（宇航员）from America have been men．At the start of the space programme there was strong resistance from some people against having women in space．However, some women were very keen to become astronauts and in the end they were successful．In 1978, NASA began the first training programme for women astronauts．
Judy Resnick and Christa McAuliffe were both astronauts and they were both women, but in many other ways they were very different．Both of them were on Flight STS-5L-L．Judy Resnick was born in 1949 and studied engineering at university and went on to obtain a PhD in 1977．She was a member of the first group of women selected for astronaut training in 1978, and in 1984, she became the second woman in space．During that flight, she helped to launch three new satellites and she carried out a programme of research．She was, in many ways, a professional astronaut whose whole life was devoted to space travel．
Christa McAuliffe was born in 1948 and she was an astronaut almost by accident．In 1984, NASA decided to find a teacher who could accompany astronauts into space．They hoped that she would be able to communicate with students from space and encourage every one of them to be interested in space travel．Christa was a secondary teacher in history and social studies．She was a gifted teacher and she was selected from over 11,000 applicants to go on flight STS-51-L．She was also a very good communicator and she immediately established a very good relationship with the news media(radio, television and newspapers）．It was partly because of this that there was a great deal of interest and excitement about the flight．Thousands of students in schools and universities all around the country were looking forward to communicating with Christa in space．Millions of people were watching her flight with great interest．It is partly because of the excitement over McAuliffe's place in the flight that the disaster in 1986 had such an effect on people．We can learn from the first two paragraphs that ___________．
| A．Judy was against the idea of having women in space at first |
| B．Judy was the first woman selected for astronaut training |
| C．Judy helped to launch three new satellites at the age of 35 |
| D．Judy carried out a programme during her second space travel |
Christa McAuliffe was chosen for training because _______．
| A．she was popular with the news media |
| B．she expected to give history lessons in space |
| C．she was an excellent teacher and communicator |
| D．she made the students in space very excited |
The reason why there was great interest in Flight STS-51-L is that ________．
| A．both Christa and Judy got PhD degrees in the same year |
| B．a young secondary school teacher was on the flight |
| C．students were going to learn more about space travel |
| D．it was the first time for women to travel in space |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Two Astronauts | B．Flight STS-51-L |
| C．Travelling in Space | D．The Training Programme |
A recent study of ancient and modern elephants has come up with the unexpected conclusion that the African elephant is divided into two distinct (不同的) species
The discovery was made by researchers at York and Harvard universities when they were examining the genetic relationship between the ancient woolly mammoth and mastodon to modern elephants—the Asian elephant, African forest elephant and African savanna elephant
Once they obtained DNA sequences (序列) from two fossils (化石)，mammoths and mastodons the team compared them with DNA from modern elephants. They found to their amazement that modern forest and savanna elephants are as distinct from each other as Asian elephants and mammoths.
The scientists used detailed genetic analysis to prove that the African savanna elephants and the African forest elephants have been distinct species for several million years. The divergence of the two species took place around the time of the divergence of Asian elephants and woolly mammoths. This result amazed all the scientists.
There has long been debate in the scientific community that the two might be separate species but this is the most convincing scientific evidence so far that they are indeed different species.
Previously, many naturalists believed that African savanna elephants and African forest elephants were two populations of the same species despite the elephants’ significant size differences. The savanna elephant has an average shoulder height of 3.5metres while the forest elephant has an average shoulder height of 2.5metres. The savanna elephant weighs between six and seven tons, roughly double the weight of the forest elephant. But the fact that they look so different does not necessarily mean they are different species. However, the proof lay in the analysis of the DNA.
Alfred Roca, assistant professor in the department of Animal Sciences at the University of Minois, said, “We now have to treat the forest and savanna elephants as two different units for conservation purpose. Since 1950 all African elephants have been conserved as one species. Now that we know the forest and savanna elephants are two very distinct animals, the forest elephant should become a bigger priority (优先)for conservation purpose .”One of the fossils studied by the researchers is that of ________.
| A．the Asian elephant | B．the forest elephant |
| C．the savanna elephant | D．the mastodon elephant |
The underlined word “divergence” in paragraph 4means “________”
| A．evolution | B．exhibition | C．separation | D．examination |
The researcher’s conclusion was based on a study of the African elephant’s ____________
| A．DNA | B．height | C．weight | D．population |
What were Alfred Roca’s words mainly about?
| A．The conversation of African elephants. |
| B．The purpose of studying African elephants |
| C．The way to divide African elephants into two units |
| D．The reason for the distinction of African elephants |
Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
| A．Naturalist’s Belief about Elephants. |
| B．Amazing Experiment about Elephants |
| C．An Unexpected Finding about Elephants |
| D．A Long scientific Debate about Elephants |
To err is human. To blame the other guy is even more human.
Common sense is not all that common.
Why tell the truth when you can come up with a good excuse?
These three popular misquotes（戏谑的引语）are meant to be jokes, and yet they tell us a lot about human nature. To err, or to make mistakes, is indeed a part of being human, but it seems that most people don’t want to accept the responsibility for having made a mistake. They naturally look for someone else who could be responsible for the problem. Perhaps it is the natural thing to do. The original quote about human nature went like this：“To err is human, to forgive, divine（神圣的）.” This saying mirrors an ideal：people should be forgiving of others’ mistakes. Instead, we tend to do the opposite—find someone else to pass the blame on to. However, taking responsibility for something that went wrong is a mark of great maturity.
Common sense is what we call clear thought. Having common sense means having a good general plan that will make things work well, and it also means staying with the plan. Common sense tells you that you take an umbrella out into a rainstorm, but you leave the umbrella home when you hear a weather forecast for sunshine. Common sense does not seem to be common for large organizations, because there are so many things going on that one person cannot be in charge of everything . People say that in a large company, “the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing.”
And what is wrong with a society that thinks that making up a good excuse is like creating a work of art? One of the common problems with making excuses is that people, especially young people, get the idea that it’s okay not to be totally honest all the time. There is a corollary（直接推论）to that：if a good excuse is “good” even if it isn’t honest, then where is the place of the truth?According to the passage, which of following seems the most human?
| A．To search for truth. |
| B．To achieve one’s ideal. |
| C．To make fun of others’ mistakes． |
| D．To criticize others for one’s own error. |
Which of the following is NOT based on common sense?
| A．A man tries to take charge of everything in a large company. |
| B．A student goes out with an umbrella in stormy weather. |
| C．A company’s next move follows a good plan. |
| D．A lawyer acts on fine judgments. |
What is the author’s opinion about a good excuse?
| A．Making a good excuse is sometimes a better policy. |
| B．Inventing a good excuse needs creative ideas. |
| C．A good excuse is as rewarding as honesty. |
| D．Bitter truth is better than a good excuse. |
What would be the best title for his passage?
| A．A Mirror of Human Nature |
| B．To Blame or to Forgive |
| C．A Mark of Maturity |
| D．Truth or Excuse |