A study of more than five million books, both fiction and non-fiction, has found a marked decline in the use of emotional words over time. The researchers form the University of Bristol used Google Ngram Viewer, a facility for finding the frequency of terms in scanned books, to search for more than 600 particular words identified as representing anger, dislike, fear, joy, sadness and surprise.
They found that almost all of the categories showed a drop in these “mood words” over time. Only in the category of fear was there an increase in usage.
“It is a steady and continuous decrease,” said Dr Alberto Acerbi. He assumed that the result might be explained by a change in the position occupied by literature, in a crowded media landscape. “One thing could be that in parallel to books the 20th century saw the start of other media. Maybe these media — movies, radio, drama, had more emotional content than books.”
Although both joy and sadness followed the general downwards trend, the research, published in the journal PLOS One, found that they also exhibited another interesting behaviour：the ratio (比率) between the two varied greatly, apparently mirroring historical events.
During the Roaring Twenties the joy-to-sadness ratio reached a peak that would not occur again until before the recent financial crash. But the ratio plunged at the height of the Second World War. Nevertheless, the researchers held a reserved opinion about their claim that their result reflected wider social trends. In the paper, they even argue that the reverse could be true.
“It has been suggested, for example, that it was the suppression (压抑) of desire in ordinary Elizabethan English life that increased demand for writing ‘filled with romance and sex’… perhaps,” they conclude, “songs and books may not reflect the real population any more than catwalk models reflect the average body.”
The word "decline" (paragraph 1) is closest in meaning to_________.
| A．increase | B．rise | C．decrease | D．change |
A study of more than five million books indicated a decrease in “mood words” over time except_______.
| A．in the use of the words of historical events |
| B．in the category of fear |
| C．in the category of literature |
| D．in the category of joy |
What’s the main idea of this passage?
| A．A study of emotional words. |
| B．A study about vocabulary in literature. |
| C．Reasons for the use of emotional words decreases in literature. |
| D．A study on increase in the category of fear. |
On a small farm in Mexico, there are no schools. A bus is the school! The driver of the bus is the teacher! It is a school bus, but it doesn't take children to school. It just goes round from place to place, and sometimes it comes to this farm. The bus will stay here for three months. The farmers call it a school on wheels (车轮).
Every time the bus comes, the farmers come running to it, shouting and laughing. They warmly welcome the school bus!
When the bus is on the farm, in the morning, the teacher teaches the small children. In the afternoon, the bigger children come to have their lessons because they must work in the morning. At night, the fathers and mothers come to school. They want to learn, too. How the farmers hope that some day they can have a real(真正的) school on their farm! . . The driver of the bus is ________.
| A．the teacher | B．the student | C．the farmer | D．the school |
.The bus school will ________.
| A．take children to school | B．stay there for lunch |
| C．take the fathers and mothers to school | D．go round from place to place |
. . When the school bus comes, the farmers are ________.
| A．sad | B．angry | C．be happy | D．disappointed(失望) |
. . Which one of the following is true?
| A．A school bus is a real school for farmers' children. |
| B．The bus school has no teacher at all. |
| C．The bus school has no students. |
| D．The children and their parents on the farm all come to the bus school to learn. |
Tom arrived at the bus station quite early for Paris bus. The bus for Paris would not leave until five to twelve. He saw a lot of people waiting in the station. Some were standing in line(排队), others were walking around. There was a group of schoolgirls. Their teacher was trying to keep them in line. Tom looked around but there was no place for him to sit.
He walked into the station cafe(咖啡馆). he looked up at the clock there. It was only twenty to twelve. He found a seat and sat down before a large mirror(镜子) on the wall. Just then, Mike, one of Tom’s workmates came in and sat with Tom.
“What time is your bus?” asked Mike.
“There’s plenty of time yet,” answered Tom.
“Well, I’ll get you some more tea then,” said Mike.
They talked while drinking. Then Tom looked at the clock again. “Oh! It’s going backward(倒行)!” he cried. “A few minutes ago it was twenty to twelve and now it’s half past eleven.”
“You’re looking at the clock in the mirror.” said Mike. Tom was so sad(难过). The next bus was not to leave for another hour. Since then Tom has never liked mirrors.、Tom went into the station cafe because.
| A．Mike asked him to have a cup of tea |
| B．it was quite early and he could find a seat there |
| C．he didn’t like to stay with the schoolgirls |
| D．he wanted to have a drink with his workmate there |
、What time was it in fact when Tom looked at the clock in the mirror?
| A．Half past twelve | B．Twenty to twelve |
| C．Half past eleven | D．Half past one |
、From the story we know that when we look at a clock in a mirror, we will find
.
| A．the time is right | B．it’s going slower |
| C．it’s going backward | D．it’s going faster |
、Which of the following is true?
| A．Tom arrived in Paris on time |
| B．The next bus would leave in half an hour |
| C．After that Tom didn’t like clocks any longer |
| D．Tom looked at the clock in the mirror only once |
、Which of the following is the title(题目) of the story?
| A．The Mirror of the Station |
| B．Not A Careful Man |
| C．Missing A Bus |
| D．The Clock In The Mirror |
We each have a memory（记忆力）. That’s why we can still remember things after a long time. Some people have very good memories and they can easily learn many things by heart, but some people can only remember things when they say or do them again and again. Many of the great men of the world have got surprising memories.
A good memory is a great help in learning a language. Everybody learns his mother language when he is a small child. He hears the sounds, remembers them and then he learns to speak. Some children are living with their parents in foreign countries. They can learn two languages as easily as one because they hear, remember and speak two languages every day. In school it is not so easy to learn a foreign language because the pupils have so little time for it, and they are busy with other subjects, too.
But your memory will become better and better when you do more and more exercises.、Some people can easily learn many things by heart because .
| A．they always sleep very well | B．they often eat good food |
| C．they read a lot of books | D．they have very good memories |
.、Everybody learns his mother language .
| A．at the age of six | B．when he is a small child |
| C．after he goes to school | D．when he can read and write |
.、Before a child can speak, he must .
| A．read and write | B．make sentences |
| C．hear and remember the sounds | D．think hard |
.、In school the pupils can’t learn a foreign language well because .
| A．they have no good memories | B．they have no recorders |
| C．they have too much time for it | D．they are busy with other subjects |
.、Your memory will become better and better .
| A．if you have plenty of good food |
| B．if you do more and more exercises |
| C．if you do morning exercises every day |
| D．if you get up early |
When Mr. David retired（退休）,he bought a small house in a village near the sea. He liked it and hoped to live a quiet life in it.
But to his great surprise, many tourists（游客）came to see his house in summer holidays, for it was the most interesting building in the village. From morning to night there were tourists outside the house. They kept looking into the rooms through the windows and many of them even went into Mr. David’s garden. This was too much for Mr. David. He decided to drive the visitors away. So he put a notice on the window. The notice said: “If you want to satisfy your curiosity（好奇心）, came in and look round. Price（价格）: twenty dollars.” Mr. David was sure that the visitors would stop coming, but he was wrong. More and more visitors came and Mr. David had to spend every day showing them around his house. “I came here to retire, not to work as a guide（导游）.” he said angrily. In the end, he sold the house and moved away..
、Mr. David’s house was that many tourists came to see it.
| A．so small | B．so quiet | C．so interesting | D．such interesting |
.
、Mr. David put a notice on the window in order .
| A．to drive the visitors away |
| B．to satisfy the visitor’s curiosity |
| C．to let visitors come in and look round |
| D．to get some money out of the visitors |
.
、The notice made the visitors .
| A．more interested in his house |
| B．lost interest in his house |
| C．angry at the unfair price |
| D．feel happy about the price |
.
、After Mr. David put up the notice .
| A．the visitors didn’t come any longer |
| B．fewer and fewer visitors came to see his house |
| C．more and more tourists came for a visit |
| D．no tourist would pay the money for a visit |
.
、At last he had to sell his house and move away because .
| A．he did not like it at all |
| B．he could not work as a guide |
| C．he made enough money and wanted to buy a new expensive house |
| D．he could not live a quiet life in it |
I Don’t Think I Wrote Wrong
Lao Yang was born in a small town. He liked reading when he studied at school. He thought the writers were respected(尊敬) and could get a lot of money. He wrote a lot of stories and posted them to the editorial departments (编辑部) but didn’t receive any answers.
Now he works in a factory. He’s busy at work. When he’s free, he always reads something. He always remembers he hoped to be a writer when he was young. One day, Xiao Ping, his ten-year-old daughter, came back. She looked worried and didn’t eat anything. She said Miss GAO, her Chinese teacher, told them to write a solicit article(征文) “My Father” that evening. But she did not know what to write.
“That’s easy,” said Lao Yang. “Let me help you.”
Then he sat down to write the solicit article at once. He easily finished it on time. He was sure Miss GAO would like it. But one afternoon he asked his daughter if the article had been chosen to post to the editorial department.
“My teacher said your article digressed from the subject(离题),” said the girl.
“I don’t think so,” Lao Yang shouted angrily. “I described(描写) just my father!”.. Lao Yang wrote a lot of stories because _______.
| A．he likes reading |
| B．he learned much at school |
| C．he wanted to be a writer |
| D．he wanted to help others |
.. Lao Yang posted the stories to the editorial departments, _______.
| A．and he got a lot of money | B．and he became a famous man |
| C．and he was respected | D．but he failed |
.. As _______, Lao Yang decided to help his daughter.
| A．he was a writer |
| B．he was free |
| C．he wanted to realize his ideal(理想) |
| D．he wanted to make his daughter happy |
. Lao Yang hoped _______.
| A．his article could surprise the teacher |
| B．his article could be chosen |
| C．the children could like his article |
| D．everyone could soon know him |
.. Lao Yang’s solicit article digressed from the subject _______.
| A．because he couldn’t write it at all |
| B．because he didn’t know his father well |
| C．because it was too bad to be chosen |
| D．just because he described his father |