The Science of Risk-Seeking
Sometimes we decide that a little unncessary danger is worth it because when we weigh the risk and the reward, the risk seems worth tasking. 1. Some of us enjoy activities that would surprise and scare the rest of us. Why? Experts say if may have to do with how our brains work.
The reason why any of us take any risks at all might have to do with early humans. Risk-takers were better at hunting, fighting, or exploring. 2. As the quality of Risk-taking was passed from one generation to the next, humans ended up with a sense of adventure and a tolerance for risk.
So why aren’t we all jumping out of airplanes then? Well, even 200,000 years ago, too much risk-taking could get one killed. A few daring survived, though, along with a few stay-in-the-cave types. As a result, humans developed a range of character types that still exists today. So maybe you love car racing, or maybe you hate it. 3.
No matter where you are on the risk-seeking range, scientists say that your willingness to take risks increases during your teenage years. 4. To help you do that, your brain increases your hunger for new experiences. New experiences often mean taking some risks, so your brain raises your tolerance for risk as well.
5.For the risk-seekers a part of the brain related to pleasure becomes active, while for the rest of us, a part of the brain related to fear becomes active.
As experts continue to study the science of risk-seeking, we’ll continue to hit the mountains, the waves or the shallow end of the pool.
A. Those are the risks you should jump to take.
B. Being better at those things meant a greater chance of survival.
C. It all depends on your character.
D. This is when you start to move away from your family and into the bigger world.
E. Thus, these well-equipped people survived because they were the fittest.
F. New brain research suggests our brains work differently when we face a nervous situation.
G. However, we are not all using the same reference standard to weigh risks and rewards.
It is quite apparent that competition surrounds every aspect of human life whether in the United States or the Amazon rainforest. Without it we would not have grown into primates (灵长类动物) . Or we would probably still be struggling to sharpen a bronze tool while crawling around on four legs in search of meat. Without competition, Columbus wouldn’t have discovered America and Edison would never have invented the light bulb.
Friendship, like all relationships between two people, involves competition. It isn’t competition in a traditional sense because there are no goals to be scored and no prize. Perhaps the ecological definition --- the simultaneous (同时) demand by two or more organisms for limited environmental resources, such as nutrinents, living space, or light --- better explains it.
As in nature, high school life is governed by a set of laws, similar to a shortened version of Darwin’s theory of evolution, overpopulation, and competition. There is an abundance of high school students and to distinguish them, ranking and categorizing (分类) take place. In high school, friendships learn to coexist with competition even though at times the relationship is rough. In fact, in some circumstance, competition is too much of a burden for a friendship to bear, causing it to fall apart. College admission is the final high school objective. Four years of hard work is to achieve good grades, and a student’s fate is determined not only by these achievements, but by the records of thousands of other seniors trying to achieve a similar recognition.
Nevertheless, by necessity, competition between students exists in all aspects of high school life. It sets and improves the standards in everything from sports to schoolwork. A healthy, friendly competition can have only benefits, but when it becomes too fierce, jealousy (妒忌) can tear friendships apart. Yet, despite all this, without competition, we would be lost.
1.What does the ecological definition mainly explain?
A. How to win the competition. B. What competition exactly is.
C. What the result of competition is. D. How friends compete with each other.
2.According to the writer, what causes the high school students to compete?
A. They know the laws of nature well. B. Friendship is a burden for them.
C. The number of them is too large. D. They are divided into different groups.
3.Which best describes the relationship of friendship and competition?
A. Friendship is always based on competition.
B. Competition is a result of lost friendship.
C. Competition is terribly harmful to friendships.
D. The degree of competition is vital to friendship.
4.What does the author think of “competition”?
A. Competition is certain to happen at school.
B. The result of competition are out of control.
C. Competition becomes fierce in high school.
D. Friendship is not as important as competition at school.
I start every summer with the best of intentions: to attack one big book from the past, a classic that I was supposed to have read when young and ambitious. Often the pairings of books and settings have been purely accidental: “Moby Dick” on a three-day cross-country train trip; “The Magic Mountain” in a New England beachside cottage with no locks on the doors, no telephones or televisions in the rooms, and little to do beyond row on the salt pond. Attempting “The Man Without Qualities” on a return to Hawaii, my native state, however, was less fruitful: I made it through one and a quarter volumes (册), then decided that I’d got the point and went swimming instead.
But this summer I find myself at a loss. I’m not quite interested in Balzac, say, or “Tristram Shandy.” There’s always “War and Peace,” which I’ve covered some distance several times, only to get bogged down in the “War” part, set it aside for a while, and realize that I have to start over from the beginning again, having forgotten everyone’s name and social rank. How appealing to simply fall back on a favorite — once more into “The Waves” or “Justine,” which feels almost like cheating, too exciting and too much fun to properly belong in serious literature.
And then there’s Stendhal’s “The Red and the Black,” which happens to be the name of my favorite cocktail (鸡尾酒) of the summer, created by Michael Cecconi at Savoy and Back Forty. It is easy to drink, and knocking back three or four seems like such a delightful idea. Cecconi’s theory: “I take whatever’s fresh at the greenmarket and turn it into liquid.” The result is a pure shot of afternoon in the park, making one feel cheerful and peaceful all at once, lying on uncut grass with eyes shut, sun beating through the lids...
1.What can we infer about the author from the first paragraph?
A. He shows talents for literature. B. He admires a lot of great writers.
C. He has a cottage in New England. D. He enjoys reading when traveling.
2.What do the underlined words “get bogged down” in paragraph 2 mean?
A. Be interrupted. B. Make no progress.
C. Get confused. D. Be carried away.
3.Why does the author say reading his favorite books feels like cheating?
A. He barely understands them. B. He finishes them quickly.
C. He has read them many times before. D. He should read something serious.
4.What can be a suitable title for the text?
A. To Read or Not to Read B. The Books of Summer
C. It’s Never Too Late to Read D. My Summer Holiday
The bristlecone pine is the longest-living thing on the earth. These trees, with their strangely-shaped, wind-beaten limbs(枝干), can live up to 5,000 years. But experts worry that a warming climate in some areas may threaten its future.
Researchers say warmer weather is permitting a similar kind of tree, the limber pine, to take over good growing places from the ancient bristlecone. They say the tree is being crowded out of mountainous areas where it grows.
“The bristlecone pine is the oldest individually growing organism,” researchers say. They grow in high mountain forests in eastern California, Nevada and Utah. In those mountains, the trees face high winds and extreme temperatures, which leave them with twisted limbs and shapes. “Even in such tough conditions,” Brian Smithers, a researcher at the University of California, said, “the limber pine is taking all the good spots.”
The limber pine is the bristlecone’s distant relative and competitor. It can also live a long time——up to 2,000 years. And it is usually found at lower altitudes, where temperatures are warmer. However, according to a three-year study which centered on trees that have started growing in the last 50 years in California’s White Mountains, most of the trees growing at higher altitudes were limber pines.
Scientists compared the competing species to two o1d men in a very slow race up a mountainside. This race between such slow-growing trees takes thousands of years. They say climate change is causing the competition.
Smithers said the bristlecone pines are not in danger of disappearing. But he assumes they could be crowded out of some places where they have grown for thousands of years.
The researchers say the findings show how climate change can affect the two kinds of trees. The information, they say, can help scientists understand more complex forests.
1.What’s the function of Paragraph 1?
A. To introduce a topic. B. To summarize the whole passage.
C. To describe the appearance of a tree. D. To praise the hard work of the experts.
2.What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 mean?
A. There will be older trees sent out of those mountains.
B. There will be more places covered with bristlecone pines.
C. There will be better limber pines replacing the ancient ones.
D. There will be fewer bristlecone pines growing in those areas.
3.According to the passage, the reason why limber pines can grow at higher altitudes is_________.
A. the high winds B. the difficult conditions
C. the changing climate D. the extreme temperatures
4.What is the researchers’ attitude towards the future of the bristlecone pine?
A. Positive. B. Concerned.
C. Enthusiastic. D. Indifferent.
The Costa Book Awards consistently pick winners that are both of the moment and subsequently endure. It’s our pleasure to confirm this year’s Category Winners.
First Novel Award Winner
Book: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
Author: Gail Honeyman
Eleanor is 31 years old; work finishes on a Friday and begins again on a Monday. Between, her only company will be two bottles of vodka and her own solitary, unique wit (机智) . It is contentment, of a kind, but an unexpected shared experience suddenly opens the door to possibility. Challenging reader expectations with a living, breathing character, Gail Honeyman’s debut is a funny and moving diamond.
Biography Award Winner
Book: In the Days of Rain
Author: Rebecca Stott
The Exclusive Brethren were a closed community who believed the world is ruled by Satan. Into this is born Rebecca. Her father had been an influential Brethren Minister. As her father lay dying, he begged her to help him write the memoir. He wanted to tell the story of their family who for generations had all been members of a fundamentalist Christian sect.
Poetry Award Winner
Book: Insider the Wave
Author: Helen Dunmore
To be alive is to be inside the wave, always travelling until it breaks and is gone. These poems are concerned with the borderline between the living and the dead ----- and the acutely intense being of both.
Children’s Award Winner
Book: The Explorer
Author: Katherine Rundell, Hannah Horn
Four children survive their aircraft plunging into the Amazon jungle, but for Fred and his friends it’s only the beginning of a cruel battle for survival. Brimming with adventure and a real command of character and incident, Rundell has few peers in superb children’s fiction.
1.What kind of life does Eleanor lead?
A. Funny and touching. B. Ordinary and happy.
C. Exciting and complex. D. Boring and lonely.
2.Why did Rebecca Scott write In the Days of Rain?
A. To pass on her family traditions.
B. To share the life of fundamentalist Christians.
C. To help her father fulfill his last wish.
D. To introduce beliefs of the Exclusive Brethren.
3.For a young adventurous soul, which book seems more appealing?
A. The Explorer. B. Insider the Wave.
C. In the Days of Rain. D. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine .
听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1.What does Carl think of his music life?
A. Interesting but busy. B. Helpful but boring. C. Worthwhile but tiring.
2.What is Carl’s problem at the moment?
A. Finding it hard to succeed.
B. Being tired of working early.
C. Lacking time to write songs.
3.Why would Carl go to a quiet place?
A. To be free from his work.
B. To locus on his songwriting.
C. To gain some life experience.
4.How would Carl probably enjoy himself if he had no work to do?
A. By going shopping. B. By talking with friends. C. By traveling around the world.
