How You Open Your Car Door Matters to Cyclists
The “Dutch Reach” isn’t a new dance move or a random You Tube challenge. 1. And you might keep your car door safe in the process, too. All you have to do is change how you open your door.
Typically, a person sitting in the driver’s seat of a car opens the door with the hand closest to it. It makes sense since doors are designed to be opened that way. Pull the handle and the door is open. But if you happen to do that at the wrong time, you may unknowingly create an obstacle for a passing cyclist. The cyclist might be knocked down off the bike. 2. Clearly, the solution is for the person exiting the vehicle to check for traffic. However, the car door design and long-time habits have made the process automatically. 3. Open your car door with your other hand using the Dutch Reach. So instead of using your left hand, reach for the door handle with your right. This will force you to turn your body. At the very least, you’ll look into your side view mirror to check for any traffic.
4. All Dutch are taught it. It’s part of regular driver education. The technique dates back about 50 or 60 years in the Netherlands. In 2016 an American named Michael Charney started the Dutch Reach Project. He wanted to popularize the practice in the United States. Charney’s efforts may be paying off. 5.
A. The car door is likely to be damaged by the fast-moving bicycle.
B. The Dutch are used to opening their car doors this way.
C. Several states now include the Dutch Reach in their drivers’ handbooks.
D. It’s a simple move that can help prevent harm to cyclists.
E. People are trying to change the way to open the car.
F. It is easy to do once you are used to it.
G. Luckily, there’s a simple way to solve the problem.
“Does my smile look big in this?” Future fitting-room mirrors in clothing stores could subtly adjust your reflection to make you look--and hence feel--happier encouraging you to like what you see.
That’s the idea behind the Emotion Evoking System developed by Shigeo Yoshida and colleagues at the University of Tokyo in Japan. The system can manipulate, or in other words, control your emotions and personal preferences by presenting you with an image of your own smiling or frowning face.
The principle that physiological changes can drive emotional ones that laughter comes before happiness, rather than the other way around- is a well-established idea.
The researchers wanted to see if this idea could be used to build a computer system that manipulates how you feel. The system works by presenting the user with a web-camera image of his or her face as if they were looking in a mirror. The image is then subtly altered with-software, turning the corners of the mouth up or down and changing the area around the eyes, so that the person appears to smile or frown.
Without telling them the aim of the study, the team recruited(招募)21 volunteers and asked them to sit in front of the screen while performing an unrelated task. When the task was completed, the participants rated how they felt. When the faces on screen appeared to smile, people reported that they felt happier. On the other hand, when the image was given a sad expression, they reported feeling less happy.
Yoshida and his colleagues tested whether manipulating the volunteers emotional state would influence their preferences. Each person was given a scarf to wear and again presented with the altered webcam image. The volunteers that saw themselves smiling while wearing the scarf were more likely to report that they liked it, and those that saw themselves not smiling were less likely.
“The system could be used to manipulate consumers’ impressions of products,” say the researchers. For example, mirrors in clothing-store fitting rooms could be replaced with screens showing altered reflections. They also suggest people may be more likely to find clothes attractive if they see themselves looking happy while trying them on.
“It’s certainly an interesting area,” says Chris Creed at the University of Birmingham, UK. But he notes that using such technology in a shop would be harder than in the lab, because people will use a wide range of expressions. “Attempting to make slight differences to these and ensuring that the reflected image looks believable would be much more challenging,” he says.
Of course, there are also important moral questions surrounding such subtly manipulative technology. “You could argue that if it makes people happy, what harm is it doing?” says Creed. “But I can imagine that many people may feel manipulated uncomfortable and cheated if they found out.”
1.What’s the main purpose of the Emotion Evoking System?
A. To see whether one’ s facial expressions can be altered.
B. To replace the mirrors in future clothing-store fitting rooms.
C. To see whether laughter comes before happiness.
D. To see whether one’s feeling can be unconsciously affected.
2.What can we learn about the web-camera image in the study?
A. It recorded the volunteers’ performance in the task.
B. It attempted to make the volunteers feel happier.
C. It gave the volunteers a false image.
D. It beautified the volunteers appearance in the mirror.
3.What does Creed mention as a limitation of the technology
A. It only deals with a limited number of facial expressions.
B. It only works in clothing stores.
C. It only makes subtle changes to people’s expressions.
D. It only changes the areas around the mouth and the eyes.
4.What does Creeds comment on the moral issues with this technology imply?
A. People should make their decisions independently.
B. Technology is unable to manipulate people.
C. Nothing is more important than happiness.
D. People should neglect the harm of the technology.
Everybody loves a fat pay rise. Yet pleasure at your own can vanish if you learn that a colleague has been given a bigger one. Indeed, if he has a reputation for slacking, you might even be outraged. Such behaviour is regarded as “all too human,” with the underlying assumption that other animals would not be capable of this finely developed sense of grievance(不满,不平). But a study by Sarah Brosnan and Frans de Waal of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, which has just been published in Nature, suggests that it is all too monkey, as well.
The researchers studied the behaviour of female brown capuchin monkeys. They look cute. They are good-natured, co-operative creatures, and they share their food readily. Above all, like their female human counterparts, they tend to pay much closer attention to the value of “goods and services” than males.
Such characteristics make them perfect candidates for Dr. Brosnan’s and Dr. de Waals study. The researchers spent two years teaching their monkeys to exchange tokens for food. Normally, the monkeys were happy enough to exchange pieces of rock for slices of cucumber. However, when two monkeys were placed in separate but adjoining chambers, so that each could observe what the other was getting in return for its rock, their behaviour became markedly different.
In the world of capuchins, grapes are luxury goods (and much preferable to cucumbers). So when one monkey was handed a grape in exchange for her token, the second was reluctant to hand hers over for a mere piece of cucumber. And if one received a grape without having to provide her token in exchange at all, the other either tossed her own token at the researcher or out of the chamber, or refused to accept the slice of cucumber. Indeed, the mere presence of a grape in the other chamber(without an actual monkey to eat it) was enough to induce resentment(愤恨)in a female capuchin.
The researchers suggest that capuchin monkeys, like humans, are guided by social emotions. In the wild, they are a co-operative, group-living species. Such cooperation is likely to be stable only when each animal feels it is not being cheated. Feelings of righteous indignation(愤慨), it seems, are not the preserve of people alone. Refusing a lesser reward completely makes these feelings abundantly clear to other members of the group. However, whether such a sense of fairness evolved independently in capuchins and humans, or whether it stems from the common ancestor that the species had 35 million years ago, is, as yet, an unanswered question.
1.In the opening paragraph, the author introduces his topic by ________.
A. making a comparison B. justifying an assumption
C. making a conclusion D. explaining a phenomenon
2.The statement “it is all too monkey” (Last line, Paragraph I) implies that ________.
A. resenting unfairness is also monkeys nature
B. monkeys are also outraged by slack rivals
C. monkeys, like humans, tend to be jealous of each other
D. no animals other than monkeys can develop such emotions
3.Dr. Brosnan and Dr. de Waal have eventually found in their study that the monkeys ________.
A. prefer grapes to cucumbers
B. will not be co-operative if feeling cheated
C. can be taught to exchange things
D. are unhappy when separated from others
4.What can we infer from the last paragraph?
A. Monkeys can be trained to develop social emotions.
B. Cooperation among monkeys remains stable only in the wild.
C. Animals usually show their feelings openly as humans do.
D. Human indignation evolved from an uncertain source.
The world famous Boston Symphony Orchestra normally performs at Symphony Hall in Boston, Massachusetts. But its summer home is the Tanglewood Music Center in western Massachusetts.
The Boston Symphony Orchestra also has a summer program at Tanglewood. It is designed for young singers, musicians and those who create musical works. Great composers like Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein and John Adams have worked There.
Serge Koussevitzky led the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1940. At the time Europe was at war. The United States did not enter World War I until the end of 1941. Mr. Koussevitzky persuaded people in the music industry to open a music school at Tanglewood, the BSO’s summer home. He wanted young, gifted musicians toattend the school for free.
But within two years, the program almost came to an end. “The BSO trustees(托管人) wanted to close the school because of the war and Koussevitzky was angry, and wrote a letter calling it an ‘act of artistic vandalism(损坏)’. And he said, ‘Now is the time when the world needs to be hearing this music’,” says Jeremy Eichler, a music critic for The Boston Globe newspaper. “This music” was not Just works by Beethoven or Brahms. It was the sounds of the time.
Mr. Koussevitzky chose composer Aaron Copland to head the school. “In establishing Aaron Copland as the head of the school not as the head of composition, he was making a very specific statement…And I think he felt very strongly that paying attention to the music of one’s own time is the way to ensure that there will be a future,” says Jeremy Eichler.
Paul Hindemith was a refugee (难民) from the war in Europe. He was chosen as the first head of Tanglewood’s music composition department. He and Copland decided that the school would be a place where composers write new musical works.
Their first performance was Alleluia, a piece written by American composer Randall Thompson. Alleluia has opened the school’s program every summer since it was first performed. Since it opened, Tanglewood’s young musicians, singers and conductors have performed many new compositions. They include the first American performance of Benjamin Britten’s opera Peter Grimes. This year, for its 75th anniversary, the center asks composers to write 34 new pieces of music.
1.What happened to the Tanglewood Music Center?
A. Aaron Copland once worked as the head of the school.
B. Many young, gifted musicians attended the school in 1941.
C. It was closed in 1943 because of the World War II.
D. It was created by Serge Koussevitzky in 1940.
2.Which of the following is in agreement with Serge Koussevitzky’s opinions?
A. The great music should be the reflection of the time.
B. The young should have the chance to learn music for free.
C. The head of a music school should be a composer.
D. The traditional music should not be emphasized.
3.It can be referred that the Tanglewood Music Center attaches importance to .
A. performing new works every year
B. the compositions of famous musicians
C. working with famous composers
D. the young talented musicians creation.
4.What’s the passage mainly about?
A. The great changes taking place in the Tanglewood Music Center.
B. A brief introduction to the Tanglewood Music Center.
C. The development of the Tanglewood Music Center.
D. The events that make the Tanglewood Music Center famous.
Restaurants play a major part in defining the characteristics of a city. They reveal the diversity of the place, the pace of the nightlife and the financial health. Beijing, a metropolis that is home to 20 million people, has tens of thousands of restaurants. Here are some special restaurants in Beijing.
● Diaoyutai State Guest Restaurant
Traditionally, Diaoyutai State Guest Restaurant only served visiting dignitaries（达官贵人）. But since1980, it has opened to the public. It offers not only Chinese cuisine at its best but also secluded dining experience in an otherwise buzzing（嘈杂的）metropolis.
Location: No. 2 Fucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing
Cost: $222.01 per person
● Heritage in Wanda Plaza
Heritage offers French cuisine, which is famous for its rich taste and subtle nuances.
Location: Wanda Plaza, No 93 Jianguo Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing
Cost:$ 125:49 per person
● Kyoto Kaden Minokichi Kaiseki-Ryori in Pangu Hotel
As the only 7 star hotel in Beijing, Kyoto Kaden Minokichi Kaiseki-Ryori is undoubtedly the most expensive restaurant in the city. Kaiseki is a traditional multicourse Japanese diner. Kaiseki only uses seasonal ingredients and is prepared by master Japanese chef to reflect change of season.
Location: Pangu 7 Star Hotel, Beijing 27 Central North 4th Ring Road Chaoyang District, Beijing
Cost: $1159. 29 per person
● China Grill
People come for food but stay for the view. Situated on the top floor of a landmark building in the heart of CBD, China Grill offers an unparalleled view of Beijing landscape.
Location: 66/F Park Hyatt, 2 Jianguomen Wai, CBD, Beijing
Cost: $ 130. 79 per person
1.What does the underlined word “secluded” mean in the second paragraph?
A. Fashionable. B. Peaceful.
C. Popular. D. Crowded.
2.What can we learn about Kyoto Kaden Minokichi Kaiseki-Ryori?
A. It only served visiting dignitaries when first opened.
B. Its food is prepared by master Chinese chef.
C. It is located in Haidian District in Beijing.
D. It is the most expensive restaurant in Beijing.
3.What is special about China Grill among the restaurants mentioned above
A. It is the only one that serves Chinese food.
B. It is the cheapest one of the four.
C. You can enjoy the view of Beijing when dining there.
D. It is famous for its rich taste.
假定你是李华，你的朋友Peter想了解你校于五月举办的中国传统文化艺术节。请你给Peter写封回信，内容包括:
1. 举办艺术节的目的；
2. 介绍你最喜欢的一个艺术节活动；
3. 邀请Peter参加并告之艺术节活动的时间。
注意:
1. 词数 100 左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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