Habits are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine. “Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting creatures,” William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st century, even the word “habit” carries a negative meaning.
So it seems contradictory to talk about habits in the same context as innovation (创新). But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel （平行的）paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.
Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try, the more creative we become.
But don’t bother trying to kill off old habits; once those ruts of procedure are worn into the brain, they’re there to stay. Instead, the new habits we deliberately press into ourselves create parallel pathways that can bypass those old roads.
“The first thing needed for innovation is attraction to wonder,” says Dawna Markova, author of The Open Mind. “But we are taught instead to ‘decide’, just as our president calls himself ‘the Decider’.” She adds, however, that “to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one. A good innovational thinker is always exploring the many other possibilities.”
“All of us work through problems in ways of which we’re unaware,” she says. Researchers in the late 1960s discovered that humans are born with the ability to approach challenges in four primary ways: analytically, procedurally（程序上的）, collaboratively (合作地) and innovatively. At the end of adolescence, however, the brain shuts down half of that ability, preserving only those ways of thought that have seemed most valuable during the first decade or so of life.
The current emphasis on standardized testing highlights analysis and procedure, meaning that few of us use our innovative and collaborative ways of thought. “This breaks the major rule in the American belief system—that anyone can do anything,” explains M. J. Ryan, author of the 2006 book This Year I Will … and Ms. Markova’s business partner. “That’s a lie that we have preserved, and it fosters（培养）commonness. Knowing what you’re good at and doing even more of it creates excellence.” This is where developing new habits comes in.
1. Brain researchers have discovered that .
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A．the forming of new habits can be guided |
B．the development of habits can be predicted |
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C．the regulation of old habits can be transformed |
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D．the track of new habits can be created unconsciously |
2.The underlined word “ruts” in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to .
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A．zones |
B．connections |
C．situations |
D．tracks |
3.Which of the following statements most probably agrees with Dawna Markova’s view?
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A．Decision makes no sense in choices. |
B．Curiosity makes creative minds active. |
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C．Creative ideas are born of a relaxing mind. |
D．Formation of innovation comes from fantastic ideas. |
4.The purpose of the author writing this article is to persuade us .
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A．to give up our traditional habits deliberately |
B．to create and develop new habits consciously |
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C．to resist the application of standardized testing |
D．to believe that old habits conflict with new habits |
A woman renewing her driver’s license at the County Clerk’s office was asked to state her occupation．She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself．
“What I mean is,” explained the recorder, “do you have a job, or are you just a …”
“Of course I have a job,” said Emily．“I’m a mother.”
“We don’t list ‘mother’ as an occupation… ‘housewife’ covers it,” said the recorder.
One day I found myself in the same situation．The clerk was obviously a career woman, confident and possessed of a high sounding title．“What is your occupation?” she asked．
The words simply popped out．“I’m a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations.”
The clerk paused, ballpoint pen frozen in midair.
I repeated the title slowly, and then I stared with wonder as my statement was written in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.
“Might I ask,” said the clerk with new interest, “Just what you do in this field?”
Coolly, without any trace of panic in my voice, I heard myself reply, “I have a continuing program of research (what mother doesn’t）, in the lab and in the field (normally I would have said indoors and out)．Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities (any mother care to disagree?), and I often work 14 hours a day (24 is more like it)．But the job is more challenging than most careers and rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money.”
There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk’s voice as she completed the form, stood up, and showed me out．
As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up (依托) by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants---ages 13, 7, and 3.
Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model (a 6 month old baby), in the child-development program, testing out a new vocal pattern．
I felt proud! I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable (不可缺少的) to mankind than “just another mother.”
Motherhood…What a great career! Especially when there’s a title on the door.
1.What can we infer from the conversation between the woman and the recorder at the beginning of the passage?
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A．The woman felt ashamed to admit what her job was. |
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B．The recorder was impatient and rude. |
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C．The author was upset about the situation that mothers faced. |
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D．Motherhood was not recognized and respected as a job by society. |
2.How did the female clerk feel at first when the author told her occupation?
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A．curious |
B．indifferent |
C．puzzled |
D．interested |
3.Why did the woman clerk show more respect for the author?
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A．Because the author cared little about rewards. |
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B．Because she admired the author’s research work in the lab. |
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C．Because she thought the author did admirable work. |
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D．Because the writer did something she had little knowledge of. |
4.What is the author’s purpose of writing the passage?
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A．To show how you describe your job affects your feelings toward it. |
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B．To argue that motherhood is a worthy career and deserves respect. |
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C．To show that the author had a grander job than Emily. |
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D．To show that being a mother is hard and boring work． |
The vitamins necessary for a healthy body are normally supplied by a good mixed diet, including a variety of fruits and green vegetables. It is only when people try to live on a very restricted diet, say that when trying to lose weight, that it is necessary to make special provisions to supply the missing vitamins.
An example of the dangers of a restricted diet may be seen in the disease known as “beri-beri”, which used to make large numbers of Eastern people who lived mainly on rice suffer. In the early years of last century, a Dutch scientist named Eijkman was trying to discover the cause of beri-beri. At first he thought it was transmitted（传播）by a germ（病菌）. He was working in a Japanese hospital, where the patients were fed on polished rice which had had the outer coverings removed from the grain. It was thought this would be easier for weak and sick people to digest.
Eijkman thought his germ theory was proved when he noticed the chickens in the hospital yard, which were fed on remains from the patients’ plates, were also showing signs of the disease. He then tried to separate the germ, which he thought was causing the disease, but his experiments were interrupted by a hospital official, who ordered that the rice without coverings, even though left over by the patients, was too good for chickens. It should be recooked for the patients, and the chickens should be fed on cheap, rough rice with the outer coverings still on the grain.
Eijkman noticed that the chickens began to recover on the new diet. He began to consider the possibility that eating unmilled rice（糙米）somehow prevented or cured beri-beri — even that a lack of some ingredient（成分）in the coverings may be the cause of the disease. Indeed this was the case. The element needed to prevent beri-beri was shortly afterwards separated from rice coverings and is now known as vitamin B. The milled rice, though more expensive, was in fact causing the disease the hospital was trying to cure. Nowadays, this terrible disease is much less common thanks to our knowledge of vitamins.
1.According to the passage, a good mixed diet ________.
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A．is suitable for losing weight |
B．should be only fruits and vegetables |
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C．normally contains enough vitamins |
D．is often difficult to arrange |
2.What do we know about the disease beri-beri?
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A．It killed large numbers of people. |
B．It resulted from lack of vitamins. |
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C．It was transmitted by milled rice. |
D．It was caused by diseased chickens. |
3.What can be the best title of the passage?
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A．A Good Mixed Diet |
B．New Discovery |
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C．The Dangers of Beri-beri |
D．The Importance of Vitamins |
When we found him, he was a sorry sight. His clothes were torn, his hands bleeding. Before we reached him, we saw him fall. He lay a moment. Then he pulled himself to his feet, walked unsteadily a few yards through the woods and fell again.
After we got him out, we went back to find the gun that he had thrown down. His tracks showed that for two days he had circled in the forest, within 200 yards of the road. His senses were so dulled by fear and tiredness that he did not hear the cars going by or see the lights at night.
We found him just in time.
This man, like others before him, had simply been frightened when he knew he was lost. What had been a near disaster might have turned out as only a pleasant walk, if he had made a few preparations before he stepped from the highway or off a known path.
Whatever sense of direction that a man may have, it’s still largely a question of observation. A skilled woodsman always keeps an eye on his surroundings. He notes the shape of a mountain, the direction water flows through a swamp, and the way a tree leans across a path. With these in mind, he is still likely to turn around many times, but he is seldom lost.
There are exceptions, of course, and once in a while a man does come across some strange problem that puts him into the “lost” situation. A rainstorm or sudden blizzard may catch him without a compass in his pocket. Darkness may find him in a rough area, where travel is dangerous without a light.
When this happens, the normal first reaction is the fear of being laughed at as a result of his poor knowledge in the woods. He may also be concerned about the inconvenience that he will cause his friends when he doesn’t show up. This false pride may lead him to keep on the move in a false effort to find his way against all difficulties.
The person who thinks ahead is seldom in great danger. He’ll be safe if he observes carefully, thinks ahead, and remains calm.
1.The writer suggested that if the man had not been found, he would have ______.
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A．been shot by a gun |
B．become confused |
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C．been attacked by wild animals |
D．been in great danger |
2.According to the text, if a person gets lost in the forest, at the very beginning, he would _____.
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A．worry about being laughed at |
B．push himself to find his way out |
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C．feel it is convenient to ask for help from his friends |
D．feel sorry that he didn’t study hard enough |
3.When a person tries to find his way in the woods, ________ is the most important.
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A．intelligence |
B．observation |
C．direction |
D．chance |
4.The writer tells the story of the lost man as an example of people who_______.
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A．go into the woods by themselves |
B．don’t know how to signal for help properly |
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C．are frightened when they think they are lost |
D．keep their head when they are in trouble |
—Thank you for picking me up in this remote area!
—_______. I’m just going in the same direction.
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A．With pleasure. |
B．None of your business. |
C．Take it easy. |
D．Think nothing of it. |
—How did you like Nick’s performance last night ?
—To be honest, his singing didn’t ________to me much.
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A．appeal |
B．belong |
C．refer |
D．occur |
