Empathy
Last year, researchers from the University of Michigan reported that empathy, the ability to understand other people, among college students had dropped sharply over the past 10 years. __71__ Today, people spend more time alone and are less likely to join groups and clubs.
Jennifer Freed, a co-director of a teen program, has another explanation. Turn on the TV, and you’re showered with news and reality shows full of people fighting, competing, and generally treating one another with no respect. __72__
There are good reasons not to follow those bad examples. Humans are socially related by nature. __73__ Researchers have also found that empathetic teenagers are more likely to have high self-respect. Besides, empathy can be a cure for loneliness, sadness, anxiety, and fear.
Empathy is also an indication of a good leader. In fact, Freed says, many top companies report that empathy is one of the most important things they look for in new managers. __74__ “Academics are important. But if you don’t have emotional intelligence, you won’t be as successful in work or in your love life,” she says.
What’s the best way to up your EQ (情商）? For starters, let down your guard and really listen to others. __75__
To really develop empathy, you’d better volunteer at a nursing home or a hospital, join a club or a team that has a diverse membership, have a “sharing circle” with your family, or spend time caring for pets at an animal shelter.
|
A．Everyone is different, and levels of empathy differ from person to person. |
|
B．Having relationships with other people is an important part of being human—and having empathy is decisive to those relationships. |
|
C．Humans learn by example—and most of the examples on it are anything but empathetic. |
|
D．“One doesn’t develop empathy by having a lot of opinions and doing a lot of talking,” Freed says. |
E. Empathy is a matter of learning how to understand someone else—both what they think and how they feel.
F. Good social skills—including empathy—are a kind of “emotional intelligence” that will help you succeed in many areas of life.
G. That could be because so many people have replaced face time with screen time, the researchers said.
A new study suggests that the roundtheclock availability that cell phones have brought to people's lives may take a toll on family life. The study，which followed more than 1,300 adults over 2 years, found that those who consistently used a mobile phone throughout the study period were more likely to report negative “spillover” between work and home life—and，in turn，less satisfaction with their family life.
Spillover essentially(本质上)means that the line between work and home begins to become unclear. Work life may invade home life when a parent is taking jobrelated calls at home，for instance—or family issues may start to take up work time. For example，a child may call mum at work，telling her “microwave exploded”，explained Noelle Chesley，an assistant professor of sociology at the University of WisconsinMilwaukee and the author of the study. The problem with cell phones seems to be that they are allowing for even more spillover between work and home.
This may be especially true for working women，the study found. Among men，consistent use of mobile phones seemed to allow more work issues to creep (潜入)into family time. But for women，the spillover tended to go in both directions. Being “connected” meant that work cut into home time，and family issues came into work life.
Cell phones seem to be opening more lines for stressful exchanges among family members. But there may be ways to control the spillover，according to Chesley. Employers, she said，could look at their policies on contacting employees after hours to make sure their expectations are “reasonable”．For their part，employees could decide that cell phones go off during family time, Chesley said.
1.What does the underlined phrase “take a toll on” probably mean in Paragraph 1?
|
A．Explaining. |
B．Founding. |
C．Extending |
D．Damaging. |
2.According to Chesley，what is the best solution to the problem caused by cell phones?
|
A．Separate work hours from family time. |
|
B．Refuse to use cell phones. |
|
C．Ignore coming calls during family time. |
|
D．Encourage women to stay at home. |
3.We can learn from the passage that ________.
|
A．cell phones affect men as much as women |
|
B．cell phones seem to be convenient to families |
|
C．cell phones make the line between work and home unclear |
|
D．we can do nothing to solve the problem |
4.What is the main idea of the passage?
|
A．How to control the negative spillover caused by cell phones. |
|
B．How work life invades home life. |
|
C．Consistent use of cell phones makes people feel less satisfied with their work. |
|
D．Cell phones cause negative “spillover” between work life and home life. |
Inside the pleasingly fragrant cafe, So All May Eat(SAME) in downtown Denver ,the spirit ofgenerosityis instantly noticeable :donation box stands in place of a cash register. Customers here pay only what they can afford, no questions asked.A risky business plan, perhaps, but SAME Café has done one unchangeable thing in the Mile High City for six years: Open only at midday, the restaurant allows poor local customers who cannot pay to work as volunteers instead. They can act as waiters and waitresses, and dishwashers, or look after the buildings and equipment for the cafe.
It’s based on trust, and it’s working all right”, says co-owner Brad Birky, who started the café in 2006. Previously volunteering at soup kitchens, the Birkys were dissatisfied with the often unhealthy meals they served there. “We wanted to offer quality food in a restaurant where everyone felt comfortable, regardless of their circumstances,” Birky says. SAME’s special lunch menu changes
daily and most food materials are natural and grown by local farmers. The café now averages 65 to 70 customers (and eight volunteers) a day. And the spirit of generosity behind the project appears to be spreading. In early 2007,one volunteer who had cleared snow for his meals during t he long
winter said goodbye to the Birkys, He said he was going to New Orleans to help with the hurricane clearing up,” says Birky.
1.What can we learn about the soup kitchens the Birkys previously worked for?
|
A．They refused to have volunteers. |
|
B．They offered low quality food. |
|
C．They provided customers with a good environment. |
|
D．They closed down because of poor management. |
2.According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
|
A．The customers who cannot pay can work as volunteers instead. |
|
B．More volunteers will go to new Orleans for the hurricane cleanup. |
|
C．Many new cafes will be opened to offer free lunches in the town. |
|
D．The lunch menu has remained the same since the café was started. |
3.The author’s attitude towards running such a café is_______
|
A．unfavorable |
B．doubtful |
C．cautious |
D．approving |
What’s delicious to eat and comes in a variety of colors? Eggplant! And no, it has nothing to do with chickens! This strangely named vegetable is, however, as versatile as an egg．It can be steamed, fried, and baked．It can be eaten by itself or combined with meats and other vegetables．
Eggplant was first grown in India in the 5th century BC．Its popularity soon spread to China and then throughout Asia．Finally, during the Middle Ages the vegetable made its way to Europe．At that time, eggplant was not the shiny purple vegetable most people know today．Instead, it’s like a white egg．Due to this egg - like appearance, eggplant got its name．In its early days, the vegetable was so bitter that people often called it a “mad apple.” This nickname started because people believed its bitterness was bad for one' s health．People actually thought eggplant could cause madness and cancer．
Fortunately today people know that eggplant doesn't cause insanity or cancer．In fact eggplant is so healthy that it may prevent cancer．In addition, the brain and the heart benefit from this super vegetable．Since it's high in fibre, eggplant can improve digestion．
Italy, Turkey, Egypt, China and Japan are the leading growers of eggplant in the world today．Depending on its location, eggplant may be purple, green, orange or yellow - white．And it can be as small as a tomato or as large as a cucumber．Dish varieties range from simple to complex, with all of them being delicious．
Today, thousands of people gather in Loomis, Calif, for the annual Loomis Eggplant Festival．The main activity at the festival is eating delicious eggplant dishes．There is plenty more to do and see, though．Recipe contests, arts and crafts, performers, races and children's activities all “egg – cite” festival - goers．Most people at the festival would agree—eggplant is an “egg—cellent” vegetable．
1.Eggplant got its name because of its _____．
|
A．appearance |
B．taste |
C．color |
D．value |
2.Which of the following does NOT belong to the qualities of eggplant?
|
A．It can be cooked in various ways． |
|
B．It is easy to digest． |
|
C．It can prevent cancer． |
|
D．It is valuable and priceless． |
3.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
|
A．Eggplant can be eaten to cure cancer |
|
B．Eggplant used to taste bitter． |
|
C．India produce the most eggplant in the world today． |
|
D．Eggplant has a history of nearly 1,000 years． |
4.Most people come to the Loomis Eggplant Festival to_____．
|
A．see arts and crafts |
|
B．enjoy food with eggplants |
|
C．take part in recipe contests |
|
D．promote eggplant |
When Frida Kahlo's paintings were on show in London, a poet described her paintings as “ a ribbon （丝带）around a bomb”. Such comments seem to suggest Kahlo had a big influence on the art world of her time. Sadly, she is actually a much bigger name today than she was during her time.
Born in 1907 in a village near Mexico City , Kahlo suffered from polio（小儿麻痹症）at the age of seven. Her spine （脊柱）become bent as she grew older. Then, in 1925, her back was broken in several places in a school-bus accident. Throughout the rest of her life, the artist had many operations, but nothing was able to cure the terrible pain in her back. However, the accident had an unexpected side effect. While lying in her bed recovering, Kahlo taught herself to paint.
In 1929, she got married to Diego Rivera, another famous Mexican artist. Rivera’s strong influences on Kahlo’s style can be seen in her early works, but her later works from the 1940s, known today as her best works, show less influence from her husband.
Unfortunately, her works did not attract much attention in the 1930s and1940s, even in her home country. Her first one-woman show in Mexico was not held until 1953.For more than a decade after her death in 1954, Kahlo’s works remained largely unnoticed by the world, but in the 1970s her works began to gain international fame at last.
1.What does the phrase “a much bigger name” in paragraph 1 most nearly mean?
|
A．a far better artist |
|
B．a far more gifted artist |
|
C．a much stronger person |
|
D．a much more famous person |
2.The terrible pain Kahlo suffered was caused by .
|
A．polio |
|
B．back injuries |
|
C．the operations she had |
|
D．her bent spine |
3.Kahlo’s style had become increasingly independent since the .
|
A．1950s |
B． 1930s |
C．1940s |
D．1970s |
4.What is author’s attitude toward Kahlo?
|
A．Devotion |
B．Sympathy |
C．Worry |
D．Encouragement |
If we were asked exactly what we were doing a year ago，we should probably have to say that we could not remember. But if we had kept a book and had written in it an account of what we did each day，we should be able to give an answer to the question.
It is the same in history .Many things have been forgotten because we do not have any written account of them .Sometimes men did keep a record of the most important happenings in their country，but often it was destroyed by fire or in a war．Sometimes there was never any written record at all because the people of that time and place did not know how to write．For example，we know a good deal about the people who lived in China 4，000 years ago, because they could write and leave written records for those who lived after them．But we know almost nothing about the people who lived even 200 years ago in central Africa, because they had not learned to write．
Sometimes, of course，even if the people cannot write，they may know something of the past．They have heard about it from older people，and often songs and dances and stories have been made about the most important happenings，and these have been sung and acted and told for many generations, for most people are proud to tell what their fathers did in the past．This we may call “remembered history”．Some of it has now been written down. It is not so exact or so valuable to us as written history is，because words are much more easily changed when used again and again in speech than when copied in writing．But where there are no written records，such spoken stories are often very helpful．
1.Which of the following ideas is not suggested in the passage?
|
A．“Remembered history”，compared with written history，is less reliable |
|
B．Written records of the past play the most important role in our learning of the human history． |
|
C．A written account of our daily activities helps US to be able to answer many questions． |
|
D．Where there are no written records．there is no history． |
2.We know very little about the central Africa 200 years ago because ___
|
A．there was nothing worth being written down at that time |
|
B．the people there ignored the importance of keeping a record |
|
C．the written records were perhaps destroyed by a fire |
|
D．the people there did not know how to write |
3.“Remembered history” refers to ___．
|
A．history based on a person’s imagination |
|
B．stories of important happenings passed down from mouth to mouth |
|
C．songs and dances about the most important events |
|
D．both B and C |
4.“Remembered history”is regarded as valuable only when ____.
|
A．it is written down |
B．no written account is available |
|
C．it proves to be time |
D．people are interested in it |
5.The passage suggests that we could have learned much more about our past than we do now if the ancient people had _____
|
A．kept a written record of every past event |
|
B．not burnt their written records in wars |
|
C．told exact stories of the most important happenings |
|
D．made more songs and dances |
