The secret to eating less and being happy about it may have been cracked years ago—by McDonald’s. According to a new study from Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab, small non-food rewards—like the toys in McDonald’s Happy Meals—stimulate the same reward centers in the brain as food does.
The researchers, led by Martin Reimann, carried out a series of experiments to see if people would choose a smaller meal if it was paired with a non-food item.
They found that the majority of both kids and adults opted for a half-sized portion when combined with a prize. Both options were priced the same.
Even more interesting is that the promise of a future reward was enough to make adults choose the smaller portion. One of the prizes used was a lottery ticket（彩票）, with a S10, $50 or $100 payout, and this was as effective as a tangible gift in persuading people to eat less.
“The fact that participants were willing to substitute part of a food item for the mere prospect of a relatively small monetary award is interesting,” says Reimann.
He theorizes that it is the emotional component of these intangible prizes that make them effective. In fact, vaguely-stated possibilities of winning a prize were more effective than options with hard odds included.
“One explanation for this finding is that possible awards may be more emotionally provoking than certainty awards,” says Reimann. “The uncertainty of winning provides added attraction and desirability through emotional ‘thrills.’ The possibility of receiving an award also produces a state of hope—a state that is in itself psychologically rewarding.” In other words, there’s a reason why people like to gamble.
How might this knowledge be used to help people eat more healthily?
One possibility is a healthy option that offers the chance to win a spa（温泉疗养）weekend. Or maybe the reward of a half-sized portion could be a half-sized dessert to be claimed only on a future date. That would get you back in the restaurant—and make you eat a little less.
1.What do we learn about McDonald’s inclusion of toys in its Happy Meals?
A.It may shed light on people's desire to crack a secret.
B.It has proved to be key to McDonald’s business success.
C.It appeals to kid’s curiosity to find out what is hidden inside.
D.It may be a pleasant way for kids to reduce their food intake.
2.What is the finding of the researchers led by Martin Reimann?
A.Reducing food intake is not that difficult if people go to McDonald’s more.
B.Most kids and adults don’t actually feel hungry when they eat half of their meal.
C.Eating a smaller portion of food does good to the health of kids and adults alike.
D.Most kids and adults would choose a smaller meal that came with a non-food item.
3.What is most interesting in Martin Reimann’s finding?
A.Kids preferred an award in the form of money to one in the form of a toy.
B.Adults chose the smaller portion on the mere promise of a future award.
C.Both kids and adults felt satisfied with only half of their meal portions.
D.Neither children nor adults could resist the temptation of a free toy.
4.How does Martin Reimann interpret his finding?
A.The emotional component of the prizes is at work.
B.People now care more about quality than quantity.
C.People prefer certain awards to possible awards.
D.The desire for a future reward is overwhelming.
5.What can we infer from Martin Reimann’s finding?
A.People should eat much less if they wish to stay healthy and happy.
B.More fast food restaurants are likely to follow McDonald’s example.
C.We can lead people to eat less while helping the restaurant business.
D.More studies are needed to find out the impact of emotion on behavior.
When you first arrive in Oxford，it may take a little while for you to find your way around. The university is a large organization that is fully integrated into the city and has been evolving for 800 years. Some of the first things our students do when they arrive include finding a bike ( most students in Oxford find cycling is the best way to go around), setting up a bank account , getting their computer and mobile phone working , finding their department, getting to know their college and working out the best places to socialize.
One of the major events you will experience shortly after "coming up" to Oxford is matriculation. Matriculation is held at the University's Sheldonian Theatre and is the ceremony at which you are formally admitted to the university.
International students are invited to an orientation day at the start of the academic year. Sessions run throughout the day that will give you practical information about living and studying in UK and introduce you to other graduate students from all over the world who are starting their studies at Oxford at the same time as you , as well as to current Oxford graduate students and staff who will be able to help and advise you . The day covers topics such as studying and learning in the Oxford system, University services, information on living in Britain and culture differences, as well as addressing practical issues such as employment, immigration and visas, health and safety. You can choose which talks to attend and at the end of the day there is a social hour so you can meet fellow student.
Another good thing to experience early on is college dining. Most colleges have a tradition of regular formal hall dinners, which consist of three or four courses and the atmosphere of an evening out in a nice restaurant. On some of these occasions you can invite people around to your college for dinner and then they may return the favor. In this way you can get to know people studying your own and other subjects at the same time as visiting many often historical college grounds and dining halls.
Further information on your first few weeks at Oxford is available via the Students Gateway on our website and you can get first-hand accounts of what life at Oxford is like by watching videos of students talking about their experiences on our Wall of 100 Faces.
1.Which of the following is not the first thing for a newcomer to Oxford to do_______？
A.to find a best place to socialize
B.to set up a bank account
C.to go to the Sheldonian Theatre
D.to get mobile phone working
2.When do students feel they are truly admitted to Oxford University______？
A.They arrived in Oxford and settled down on campus．
B.They received the offer from the admission office．
C.They met the staff and took some required courses．
D.They experienced the matriculation in the university．
3.Why is an orientation important for international students？
A.It is a good chance to ask the staff for help．
B.It offers practical information about living and studying．
C.It helps get students' computers hooked to the Internet．
D.It can help deal with the problem of culture differences．
4."Return the favor"in the passage probably means___．
A.inviting you for dinner
B.visiting your historic college in return
C.sharing favorite videos
D.providing you with some good advice．
Recently China’s netizens took to the microblogging site Weibo to passionately critique pictures Of the Great Wall in Suizhong County Liaoning province(辽宁省绥中县).
And rightly so.
The New York Times described the flattened section as a “cement (水泥) skateboarding lane dumped (遗弃)in the wilderness .” Let me explain if you haven’t seen in the photos : smooth concrete（混凝土）covers the top, and battlements (城垛) along the edges were completely destroyed--work done in the name of “conservation. " The Great Wall has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site for decades recognizing China's diverse architectural history. Undoubtedly, this particular “conservation” represents a tragedy for the whole world.
As the tourism industry in China picks up, heritage sites are coming under greater public scrutiny(公众监督). Sites that I have visited such as the Summer Palace, Terracotta Warriors and Yu Garden each see millions of tourists every year. As a result, we have grounds to believe that historic sites do need conservation for fear that the inevitable crowds of tourists will trample (践踏) them into dust.
However ，conservation should not only improve physical accessibility it should also retain the character and enhance the experience. One need not look farther than Badaling or Mutianyu in Beijing. While this Great wall restoration provides significant employment opportunities and mostly protects the wall from destruction, it is not without fault. Many visitors complain of overcrowding , the “fakeness” of gauy (花哨的) new architecture and high ticket prices.
Moreover, there is no comprehensive (全面的) academic publication in any language about the Great Wall. Little scientific knowledge proves the truth of historical and political claims. For instance, UNESCO still claims that the Great wall can be seen from space while China's first taikonaut Yang Liwei stated otherwise.
Unfortunately, the restoration of the Great Wall in Suizhong cannot be changed back to what it was before. Then what can you young people do to support the Great Wall and other historic sites in China? At least it is within your power to learn about the rich history of heritage sites, observe guidelines when visiting them and encourage others to follow your example.
1.According to the New York Times , the restoration of the Great Wall was_______
A.of no importance B.far from satisfactory
C.worth the effort D.not too bad
2.According to the author, the main problem with restoration of the Great Wall was that________
A.It cost a large sum of money
B.It was only focused on physical accessibility
C.It was not approved by the loyal government
D.It was meant to development tourism industry in China
3.All the following statements about the Great Wall are true EXCEPT________
A.it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site several years ago
B.it can be found in different provinces of China
C.It attracts a large number of tourists every year
D.it cannot be seen from space
4.A student should________to contribute to the conservation of the historic Site in China.
①spread the information of how to go to those sites
②study the rich history of those sites
③obey the guidelines when visiting those sites
④point out other tourists' bad behavior when visiting those sites
A.①②③ B.①②④
C.①③④ D.②③④
According to sociologists, there are several different ways in which a person may become recognized as a leader of a social group.
In the family, traditional cultural patterns award_________ to one or both of the parents. In other _______, such as friendship groups, one or more persons may gradually emerge as leaders, although there is no formal process of _______.In larger groups, leaders are usually chosen formally through election or recruitment.
Although leaders are often thought to be people with unusual personal ability, decades of research have failed to produce consistent _______ that there is any category of "natural leaders". It seems that there is no set of personal qualities that all leaders have _______; rather, practically any person may be recognized as a leader if the person has _______ that meet the needs of that particular group.
Research suggests that there are typically two different leadership _______ that are held by different individuals. Instrumental leadership is leadership that emphasizes the _______ of tasks by a social group. Group members look to instrumental leaders to "get things done". Expressive leadership, on the other hand, is leadership that emphasizes the _______well-beings of a social group's members. Expressive leaders are less concerned with the overall goals of the group than with providing ____________ support to group members and attempting to decrease tension and conflict among them. Instrumental leaders are likely to have a rather secondary relationship to other group members. They give others and may ____________ group members who restrict attainment of the group's goals. Expressive leaders cultivate a more ____________ or primary relationship to others in the group.They offer ____________ when someone experiences difficulties and try to____________ issues that threaten to divide the group. As the difference in these two roles suggest, expressive leaders generally receive more personal ______________ from group members; instrumental leaders, if they are successful in promoting group goals, may enjoy a more distant respect.
1.A.burden B.leadership C.housework D.right
2.A.families B.societies C.cases D.researches
3.A.selection B.struggle C.recommendation D.register
4.A.evidence B.support C.approach D.pattern
5.A.in advance B.in brief C.in general D.in common
6.A.partners B.achievements C.skills D.qualities
7.A.selections B.roles C.challenges D.structures
8.A.assignment B.introduction C.completion D.division
9.A.joint B.financial C.social D.individual
10.A.political B.administrative C.emotional D.technical
11.A.discipline B.praise C.ignore D.identify
12.A.casual B.temporary C.personal D.stable
13.A.criticism B.sympathy C.estimate D.information
14.A.omit B.confuse C.raise D.resolve
15.A.imitation B.affection C.objection D.revenge
Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.
iPhone 7 being investigated after surfer claims it set his car on fire
Apple is investigating a report from an Australian man who claimed his iPhone 7 caught fire and destroyed his car, the company said on Friday.
Surfer Mat Jones told Channel 7 News that he 1. ( go ) into water off a New South Wales beach and left his new iPhone 7 bought last week, 2. ( wrap) in a pair of trousers in his car on the beach.
He said that 3. he returned from the water he saw smoke rising from the car. “As I looked into my car，I could not see inside the car, like all the windows were just black.”
A video footage(影像) taken from another phone showed the front seats, dashboard and stick melted and charred, and Jones said that he felt “pretty much like a big heat wave just came out of the car”.
Eventually the surfer was able to remove 4. was left of his clothes. “Ash was just coming from inside the pants. Once the pants were unwrapped, the phone was just melting inside.”
Jones said that he had not dropped the phone or physically damaged it, 5. happened to a Sydney man who fell off his bike and suffered burns from an iPhone. He also said that he had not used 6. non-Apple charging device.
A spokeswoman for Apple said the company was investigating the complaint. “We’re in touch with the customer and we’re looking into it,” she said.
Lithium-ion (锂离子) batteries 7. burst into flames because of physical damage or overheating. Apple’s 8.( big )smartphone competitor, Samsung, has begun an international recall of 2.5m Galaxy Note 7 devices after more than 100 devices started smoking, sparking or caught fire—in some cases 9. ( cause ) fire damage and injury.
Several other companies, including Hewlett Packard, Tesla and the makers of so-called “hoverboards”, have also experienced problems 10. their lithium-ion batteries, though the vast majority work without problems.
Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.
Barditch High School decided to an All-School Reunion. Over 450 people came to the event. There were tours of the old school building and a picnic at Confederate Park. Several former teachers were on hands to tell stories about the old days. Ms. Mabel Yates, the English teacher for fifty years, 1.(wheel)to the Park.
Some eyes rolled and there were a few low groans(嘟囔声)when Ms.Yates was about to speak. Many started looking at their watches and coming up with excuses to be anywhere instead of preparing to listen to a lecture from an old woman 2. had few kind words for her students and made them work harder than all the other teachers combined.
Then Ms. Yates started to speak:
"I can't tell you 3. pleased I am to be here. I haven't seen many of you since your graduation, 4.I have followed your careers and enjoyed your victories as well as crying for your tragedies. I have a large collection of newspaper photographs of my students. 5. I haven't appeared in person, I have attended your college graduations, weddings and even the birth your children, in my imagination."
Ms. Yates paused and started crying a bit. Then she continued:" It was my belief that if I pushed you as hard as I could, some of you would succeed to please me and 6.would succeed to annoy me. Regardless of our motives, I can see that you have all been successful in your 7.（choose） path."
"There is no greater comfort for an educator than 8.(see) the end result of his or her years of work. You have all been a great source of pleasure and pride for me and I want you to know I love you all from the bottom of my heart."
There was a silence over the crowd for a few seconds and then someone started clapping. The clapping turned into cheering, then into a 9. （deafen）roar(呼喊). Lawyers, truck drivers, bankers and models were rubbing their eyes or crying openly with no shame all 10. of the words from a long forgotten English teacher from their hometown.
