“Oh, my God! Did I really just send that text?” Most people have said something that they wish they could take back. And if they had paused to think about it first, they probably would have acted differently. Pausing doesn’t pay off just when you speak. Scientific studies have shown that making a habit of pausing before you do something can actually have a big impact on how your life turns out.
In making decisions we rely on two areas of the brain. One area creates and processes emotions; the other governs logical thought. The type of decision, how we feel about it, and how prepared we are to handle it help determine which brain area has the most influence.
But our age also plays an important role. Thinking through the consequences of one’s actions is actually harder for teens because the area controlling logical thought is not fully developed until around age 25. This is why teens often feel an intense emotional drive to act impulsively--it’s how their brains are structured! Though this tendency to act without considering the outcomes can lead to problematic situations, impulsivity during the developmental years evolves because it makes teens more open to new experiences and ideas. This openness helps teens become independent adults.
The key to making impulsivity work for you--instead of against you--is to train your brain by practicing pausing. This doesn’t mean you stop taking risks or being open to new experiences. But you won’t know if the risk is worth it until you think it through. Deciding to take a risk based on logic shows self-control, not impulsivity.
What are different ways to pause? You might take a deep breath, count to 10, or ask, “Is this worth it?” Different strategies work for different people. Whatever works for you, keep doing it! By practicing pausing, you can actually change your brain. This means that over time, pausing, instead of immediately reacting, becomes your “natural” response. And with this change, people are on their way to enjoying the life rewards that come with high levels of self-control--even if they weren’t natural--born pausers!What challenges teenagers________?
| A．Giving natural response. |
| B．Making logical decision. |
| C．Acting before thorough thinking. |
| D．Choosing brain-training strategies. |
An impulsive person tends to __________.
| A．think through a risk in advance |
| B．show high level of self-control |
| C．consider or accept new ideas |
| D．change ideas frequently |
According to the passage, by training one’s brain, one can __________.
| A．stop taking risks |
| B．fully develop one’s brain |
| C．become more open to new experience |
| D．reduce the influence of emotional drive |
What is the best title for the passage________?
| A．Discover the Brain Function |
| B．Crying Over the Spilt Milk |
| C．Push the Pause Button |
| D．Impulsivity Works |
“The first and best of victories for a man is to conquer himself; to be conquered by himself is, of all things, the most shameful,” says Plato. Self-control is at the root of all the advantages. Let a man give in to his impulses (冲动) and feelings, and from that moment he gives up his moral freedom.
A single angry word has lost many friends. When Socrates found in himself any temper or anger, he would check it by speaking low in order to control himself. If you are conscious of being angry, keep your mouth shut so that you can hold back rising anger. Many a person has dropped dead in great anger. Fits of anger bring fits of disease. “Whoever the gods would destroy, they first make them mad.” “Keep cool,” says Webster, “anger is not argument.” “Be calm in arguing,” says George Herbert, “for fierceness makes error a fault.”
To be angry with a weak man is to prove that you are not strong yourself. “Anger,” says Pythagoras, “begins with foolishness and ends with regret.” You must measure the strength of a man by the power of the feelings he conquers, not by the power of those which conquer him.
Self-control is man’s last and greatest victory.
If a man lacks self-control he seems to lack everything. Without it he can have no patience, no power to govern himself; he can have no self-confidence, for he will always be controlled by his strongest feeling. If he lacks self-control, the very backbone and nerve of character are lacking too. What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．Self- control is important for a man |
| B．We should learn to be strong. |
| C．A man who keeps cool won’t lose any game. |
| D．The great heroes in history knew how to control themselves. |
What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 mean?
| A．If you are mad, the gods will fail you. |
| B．If you lose your temper first, gods will fail you first. |
| C．If you can’t control yourself, you will be crazy. |
| D．If the gods want to fail you, they will make you mad first. |
Which of the following is NOT true, according to passage?
| A．The first and best of victories for a man is to conquer himself. |
| B．You will make a small mistake serious if you don’t keep cool. |
| C．You must measure a man’s strength by the power of the feelings which conquer him. |
| D．Anger begins with foolishness and ends with regret. |
Which of the following can’t help you avoid anger, according to the passage?
| A．Being calm in arguing |
| B．Checking your temper or anger by speaking low. |
| C．Keeping your mouth shut |
| D．Trying to make the other angry first. |
If a man lacks self-control,______________________________
| A．He will always be controlled by all the people all the time. |
| B．He will began with foolish everything every day and lack the strength. |
| C．Moral strength and nerve of character will lack as well. |
| D．He will have power of gover himself. |
When it comes to human resources, hiring highly-skilled staff is not usually enough for a company to function successfully. Besides the knowledge in their particular fields, employees must always have additional skills-----those of co-operation. In the case that work tasks can only be carried out by communicating with people, accepting common decisions, solving problems, sharing information and helping one another, teamwork skills are important.
While some jobs may require talent, the ability to work as a team is learned. There are no complicated formulas(规则); you don't need to have any special qualities or exceptional mental abilities. Individuals can be effective as a team if they have developed certain behaviors or habits of communication. Many companies, clubs and organizations use team building activities. Team building activities may include a number of teamwork elements. They are aimed at encouraging active participation in task accomplishment while all members have their roles as individuals and are able to co-operate towards a common goal as a team.
Many team building activities focus on problem solving and discussing team issues; thus argument as a way to common consensus (共识) is encouraged. Team building activities often involve recognition and identification of team member skills, talents, knowledge, and experiences which allow the team members to learn more about each other and fully utilize (利用) those skills where appropriate（合适的）. Many team activities are focused on developing keys to trust during challenging times.In the author's opinion, which of the following is important for a company to be successful?
| A．Specialized knowledge. | B．Highly-skilled staff. |
| C．Exceptional talent. | D．Teamwork skills. |
According to the second paragraph, co-operation skills______.
| A．require special qualities and abilities |
| B．are learned while working in a team |
| C．need exceptional mental abilities |
| D．are quite complicated to learn |
Team building activities are good for______.
| A．hiring employees with special talent |
| B．encouraging employees to co-operate |
| C．helping employees work independently |
| D．training employees in their special fields |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．Team Building | B．Problem Solving |
| C．Communication Skills | D．Company Management |
In Canada you can find dogs, cats, horses, etc. in almost every family. These are their pets. People love these pets and have them as their good friends. Before they keep them in their houses, they take them to animal hospitals to give them injections(注射) so that they won’t carry diseases. They have special animal food stores, though they can get animal food in almost every kind of stores. Some people spend around two hundred Canadian dollars a month on animal food. When you visit people’s houses, they would be very glad to show you their pets and they are very proud of them. You will also find that almost every family has a bird feeder in their garden. All kinds of birds are welcomed to come and have a good meal. They are free to come and go and nobody is allowed to kill any animal in Canada. They have a law against killing wild animals. If you killed an animal, you would be punished. If an animal happened to get run over by a car, people would be very sad about it.
People in Canada have many reasons to like animals. One of them might be: Their family ties are not as close as ours. When children grow up, they leave their parents and start their own life. Then the old will feel lonely. But pets can solve this problem. They can be good friends and never leave them alone.The passage mainly talks about ______.
| A．how to keep diseases from pets | B．Canadians have pets as friends |
| C．how to take good care of pets | D．life of the old in Canada |
Pets are given injections in animal hospitals ______.
| A．in order to keep them safe | B．after being taken home |
| C．because they carry diseases | D．because they are sick |
The word “bird feeder” in the second paragraph probably means ______.
| A．a person who gives food to birds | B．a container that has food for birds |
| C．something that catches birds | D．an animal that eats birds |
“Well, what did I say？Buck’s a real fighter, all right,” said Francois the next morning when he discovered that Spitz had disappeared and that Buck was covered in blood．
“Spitz fought like a wolf,” said Perrault, as he looked at the bites all over Buck．
“And Buck fought like ten wolves,” answered Francois. “And we'll travel faster now. No more Spitz，no more trouble.”
Francois started to harness the dogs. He needed a new lead-dog, and decided that Solleks was the best dog that he had. But Buck jumped at Solleks and took his place．
“Look at Buck！” said Francois，laughing. “He's killed Spitz，and now he wants to be lead-dog．Go away, Buck！”
He pulled Buck away and tried to harness Solleks again．Solleks was unhappy too. He was frightened of Buck, and when Francois turned his back，Buck took Solleks’ place again. Now Francois was angry．
“I'll show you! ” he cried，and went to get a heavy club from the sledge．
Buck remembered the man in the red coat，and moved away. This time，when Solleks was harnessed as lead-dog，Buck did not try to move in．He kept a few meters away and circled around Francois carefully. But when Francois called him to his old place in front of Dave, Buck refused．He had won his fight with Spitz and he wanted to be lead－dog．
For an hour the two men tried to harness him．Buck did not run away，but he did not let them catch him．Finally，Francois sat down，and Perrault looked at his watch．It was getting late. The two men looked at one another and smiled. Francois walked up to Solleks，took off his harness， led him back and harnessed him in his old place．Then he called Buck. All the other dogs were harnessed and the only empty place was now the one at the front. But Buck did not move．
“Put down the club,” said Perrault．
Francois dropped the club, and immediately Buck came up to the front of the team．Francois harnessed him, and in a minute the sledge was moving．
Buck was an excellent leader. He moved and thought quickly and led the other dogs well. A new leader made no difference to Dave and Solleks; they continued to pull hard．But the other dogs had had an easy life when Spitz was leading．They were surprised when Buck made them work hard and punished them for their mistakes. Pike，the second dog，was usually lazy；but by the end of the first day he was pulling harder than he had ever pulled in his life. The first night in camp Buck fought Joe，another difficult dog，and after that there were no more problems with him．The team started to pull together，and to move faster and faster．
“I've never seen a dog like Buck!” cried Francois, “Never! He's worth a thousand dollars. What do you think, Perrault? ”
Perrault agreed．They were moving quickly，and covering more ground every day. The snow was good and hard，and no new snow fell．The temperature dropped to 45°C below zero, and didn't change．
This time there was more ice on the Thirty Mile River, and they crossed in a day．Some days they ran a hundred kilometers，or even more. They reached Skagway in fourteen days; the fastest time ever．The writer mentioned “the man in the red coat” in the passage to show that____.
| A．the man in the red coat once beat Buck severely with a club. |
| B．Buck remembered Francois was the man in the red coat. |
| C．the man in the red was quite friendly to Buck in his memory. |
| D．Buck remembered Francois was a friend of the man in the red coat. |
Why did Buck fight Joe the first night in camp?
| A．He wanted to get rid of Joe. |
| B．He wanted to make some trouble. |
| C．He was interested in fighting with others. |
| D．He wanted to teach Joe a lesson. |
According to the passage, which of the following is true about the other dogs?
| A．Dave stood in the second position in the team. |
| B．Joe was always quite lazy in the team. |
| C．Pike was a trouble-maker in the team. |
| D．Solleks was hard-working in the team. |
What did Francois think of Buck at the end of the passage?
| A．annoying | B．admirable | C．aggressive | D．average |
Which of the following best shows that Buck was an excellent leader?
| A．He killed Spitz at the beginning of the story. |
| B．He punished them for their mistakes. |
| C．He fought Joe the first night in camp. |
| D．They reached Skagway in the fastest time ever. |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．The Fight with Dogs | B．The New Lead-dog |
| C．A Dog Called Buck | D．A Real Fighter |
It is common to have difficulties sleeping during the day. Humans are naturally wired to sleep best at night and be awake during the day. However, modern work schedules require some people to try to accommodate the unnatural schedule of shift（轮班）work — being awake at night and sleeping during the day.
In order to make this adjustment, you need to pay special attention to your sleep environment and your preparation for sleep. If shift work is a necessary part of your work life, here are some suggestions that may help.
Arrange to sleep uninterrupted in a quiet, dark room. This means you may have to turn off or unplug your phone, hang darkening curtains on the windows or wear a sleep eye mask, and train your family and friends to leave you alone while you sleep.
Fit in a nap（小睡）. When your daytime sleep period is too short, taking a short nap of less than 30 minutes just before work or on a break has been shown to improve alertness and enhance performance.
Develop and follow a sleep routine. It's best if you go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day. Try not to vary this too much on weekends. Your body likes routine.
Take extra care to make healthy choices. You may be tempted to reach for unhealthy foods or nicotine to stay awake or alcohol to try to sleep. But ultimately these choices are more harmful than helpful.
If you have tried all these things and are still having problems getting enough quality sleep during the day, talk to your doctor or a sleep specialist. Sometimes medications（药物治疗）may be helpful and safe. In other cases, there may be an underlying sleep disorder that needs to be addressed. The purpose of the text is to.
| A．persuade workers to have a god sleep. |
| B．advise night workers to keep healthy |
| C．encourage workers to do day work |
| D．help night workers to sleep well |
What does the author recomusend?
| A．A suitable account of alcohol to help sleep. |
| B．A regular life on weekday’s and weekends. |
| C．A dark room without phoebes to sleep in. |
| D．A break for sleeping anytime during the day. |
On which condition should a person turn to a sleep specialist for help?
| A．If he suffers from a sleep disorder for the first time. |
| B．If a good sleep environment is greatly needed for him. |
| C．If he falls to get quality sleep through his own efforts. |
| D．If he has the problem of bailing to sleep in the daytime. |
We can learn from the test that.
| A．night workers need a long time to fall asleep |
| B．constant breaks at work help to improve performance |
| C．it is difficult to create a good sleep environment |
| D．night work requires people to adjust their body clocks |