What's that one thing you really should do, but keep putting off? We all have them: time-consuming, or difficult chores we're afraid of and drag out until the last minute — if we complete them at all.
But what if we could drive ourselves into those boring tasks by pairing them with something we really enjoy? Research suggests that combining the things we want to do, with the thing we should do, could be a nice trick to reach our goals. The method is known as "temptation bundling" and it allows you to combine two differing, but complementary activities at the same time.
"I only let myself get a footbath when I'm doing some work," says Katherine Milkman, a professor of behavioral economics at the University of Pennsylvania. Another example? Going to your favorite restaurant but with a difficult colleague, or someone you're supposed to spend time with, such as a relative.
In short, it's pairing something you like with something you don't like, offering you incentive to do something you might be putting off.
Exercise is one activity routinely treated as a boring task — so Milkman used it in an experiment to know how temptation bundling works in reality.
In her experiment. Milkman encouraged students to exercise while listening to addictive, page-turning audiobooks. One group, which could only access the audiobooks while at the gym, were 51% more likely to exercise than the control group, which were able to listen when they liked. Another group, whose access to the audiobooks was not restricted but who were merely encouraged to bundle the activities, were 29% more likely to exercise than the control group.
The benefit of "temptation bundling" comes from doing two things at once that go well together, says Milkman. "The secret is to bundle tasks that require different effort. For instance, if one task requires focus or concentration, you want the other not to be too distracting — reading while listening to a podcast is very difficult, for example, while cooking and listening is more realistic." Milkman adds.
1.Temptation bundling can help us to______.
A.avoid delaying what should be done in time.
B.solve two problems at a time.
C.put what we have learned into practice.
D.improve our ability to face a chore.
2.The two percentages 51% and 29% in paragraph 6 show that_____.
A.many people treat exercise as a boring task.
B.most people consider listening to audiobooks a boring thing.
C.combining two activities at the same time can contribute to each other.
D.the control group do the worst in dealing with physical exercise.
3.Which of the following is true according to this passage?
A.Cooking and listening can be combined because neither needs focus.
B.Combining two differing, but complementary tasks is popular among us.
C.Milkman's experiment shows that temptation bundling is effective.
D.Temptation bundling is suitable for reading and listening to a podcast.
4.This passage is intended to tell us_____.
A.what benefits pairing two tasks will bring us.
B.how to get a boring task completed.
C.what tasks can be paired with each other.
D.how to identify the bad habit of putting off.
Since App Store was set up, it has been selling consumers one simple thing — choice. Whether you wanted to play games, read the news, or do a thousand other things, there was something for whatever you desired.
Then something funny happened. Logging into the App Store today is like going into a shopping mall with only a coupon (优惠券) for one thing: There's so much choice; it might be easier to give up than to choose.
It isn't consumers who are burdened, though. Too much content of all kinds also has economic effects. When countless choices are available, it causes pressure, pushing prices down and driving us a bit crazy.
So what is the way forward? It may well be to tum less choice itself to the marketing strategy. There are already signs that this is happening. Firstly content companies are looking to prevent their offerings from getting lost in the tons of stuff. Most obvious is Disney, which is planning to open its own streaming service next year. The point is to narrow the focus so that those seeking Disney cartoons will have one place to go, rather than being around various services.
Yet if that represents a careful first step, there are more extreme options too. Consider the idea of a wine club: from tens of thousands of bottles each year, subscribers (用户) pay someone to select the most interesting ones. Perhaps what comes next for digital content is similar — carefully selected offerings from trusted sources that put choices in the hands of someone else in order to get rid of the anxiety of choosing.
Up to now, too much choice in digital media has only one solution: the algorithm (运算法则). But we've seen the trouble with algorithms on You Tube. They feed you only what you've already said you like, not things you may not know you're into. Worse, they have a tendency to serve up disturbing content. The way forward can't simply be more or better algorithms.
Instead, it's time for digital companies to start thinking about how to put limits on things: on how much we can use a device, or what we are available to choose from.
As we move further into the digital revolution, what people ask for is clear: Less.
1.What will too much choice of content on the market result in?
A.The shutdown of companies. B.Anxiety of consumers.
C.Poor quality of products. D.Negative influence on economy.
2.Why is Disney planning to open its own streaming service?
A.To improve its marketing strategy.
B.To help people focus on less choice.
C.To encourage more people to visit Disney.
D.To provide consumers with various services
3.In what way may a wine club and digital content in the near future be similar?
A.Someone else will be employed to make a choice for consumers.
B.Both of them will offer only a few options.
C.Consumers will refuse to choose from too many options.
D.Both of them will make a change about their products.
4.What do we know about the algorithm?
A.It manages to offer what consumers will possibly like.
B.It helps to remove disturbing content from digital media.
C.it offers consumers things based on what they've said they like.
D.It'll solve the problem of having too much choice.
If you're a book lover, you have a pile of books on your bedside, or a bookshelf in your library with a “to read” sign on it. Yet you can't stop yourself from adding to the pile. This can lead to feelings of guilt over your new purchases. But I'm here to tell you to stop worrying.
What you have is an antilibrary, and it's a very good thing. The term comes from writer Umberto Eco. He is the owner of a large personal library. He separates visitors into two groups: those who react with “Wow! What a library you have! How many of these books have you read?” and the others who get the point that a private library is not something to show off but a research tool. Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. Indeed, the more you know, the larger the rows of unread books. Let us call this collection an antilibrary.
If you think you already know everything about a subject, you're cutting yourself off from a stream of information at an artificial point. So a growing library of books you haven't read means you're consistently curious about the unknown. And that attitude is a great foundation for a lifelong love of learning.
So don't feel guilt over your unread books. Those books will be there for you when you do want them, and as you build your library of read and unread books, you can start using it as you would use a bigger library. Certain books may become references more than read-throughs. Or you may find that a book you bought five years ago has special relevance today. Letting the role of books evolve in your life is a healthy sign of curiosity. That's good for you and good tor the world around you.
1.What does the underlined word "antilibrary in Paragraph 2 refer to?
A.Feelings of guilt over new books. B.A pile of books on the bookshelf.
C.The collection of unread books. D.A large personal library.
2.Which of the following will the writer agree with?
A.The unread books you bought years ago are of no use.
B.You don't have to read every book from cover to cover.
C.Read books are of more use than unread books.
D.You shouldn’t purchase new books until the unread ones are covered.
3.What does the writer think of someone having lots of unread books?
A.Approving. B.Doubtful.
C.Critical. D.Indifferent.
When Ariyah Georges was born 15 weeks early, she weighed only one pound, 12 ounces. Her mother, Jovan, knew how important breastfeeding was, especially for a premature (早产的) baby like Ariyah, so she began pumping milk to feed her through a tube. But two days later, Jovan felt dizzy and feverish — 104 Fahrenheit degrees, in fact. She had a blood disease and was close to full shock.
She was separated from others for nearly two weeks at the regional Northern Virginia hospital where she'd delivered. During that time, she could still pump breast milk, but Ariyah couldn't consume it because of the risk of infection. Without it, the newborn was particularly easily affected by diseases. There are many cases like this, which creates the need for the milk donation.
Enter donor milk breast milk purchased by hospitals for mothers who aren't able to produce enough milk on their own, due to health complications, stresses, or other factors. The milk comes from milk banks, organizations that collect and screen breast milk from those women willing to donate. Usually processed in intensive-care units, the milk is only available by prescription.
In recent years, both milk banks and the use of donated human milk have risen swiftly in the United States. In 2011, 22 percent of NICUs used donor breast milk; four years later, that number doubled to nearly 40 percent, and went even higher for the most intensive NICUs — as much as 75 percent. There are 23 milk banks in the United States recognized by the Human Milk Banking Association of North America, or HMBANA, double the number that existed five years ago.
But as the demand for donor milk rises, banks must find more charitable donors — a task made more complicated by informal networks of milk sharing that happens online. And many of the most vulnerable infants are still not being reached.
1.Jovan couldn't feed her baby Ariyah on her breast milk because_______.
A.Ariyah was a premature baby B.Jovan couldn't produce enough milk
C.Jovan was separated from others D.Jovan was in poor health.
2.By telling the story of Ariyah and her mother, the writer wants to______.
A.tell us what to do if mothers cannot produce enough milk.
B.remind us of the importance of breastfeeding the newborn.
C.introduce the topic of an increasing need for donated human milk.
D.warn us against the risk of the newborn being affected by diseases.
3.How is the writer's idea mainly developed in Paragraph 4?
A.By following time order. B.By listing statistics.
C.By giving examples. D.By making predictions.
4.What problem are milk banks now faced with?
A.It's difficult to find enough charitable donors.
B.networks of milk looking for donors online are informal.
C.The milk purchased from milk banks cannot reach infants' home.
D.The number of women willing to donate breast milk are decreasing.
One of the most popular beliefs in parenting is the so﹣called Mozart effect， which says that listening to music by the Austrian composer Wolfgang Mozart can increase a child's intelligence． Some pregnant women have even gone so far as to play Mozart recordings on headphones pressed against their bellies． And it's not hard to see how Mozart's name became associated with accelerated development． He was history's greatest child genius， performing astonishing music for kings and queens at an age when many of us were content with tuneless singing "I'm a Little Teapot"．
So， if you have kids or you're expecting to have them， how seriously should you take the Mozart effect？ Will the child who doesn't listen to Mozart in the cradle （摇篮） be limited to an ordinary life？ Are you a bad parent if your kids don't know about any works of Mozart？
Relax． There is no scientific evidence that listening to Mozart improves children's cognitive abilities． The whole idea comes from a small study done in 1993， which found that college students who listened to Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major （K 448）showed some improvement in a test of spatial （空间的） skills． This finding was later described as something extremely amazing by a musician， Don Campbell， in a book． Campbell's claims about the super powers of Mozart's music were repeated endlessly in the media and fueled a craze for Mozart﹣based enrichment activities． In 1998， for example， the governor of Georgia in the USA requested funds to send classical﹣music CDs to all parents of newborns in the state．
Since then， scientists have examined the claim that Mozart increases intelligence and found no evidence for it． The original experiment with college students was reviewed in 1999， and the increase in the students' spatial skills was found to be negligible． In 2007 the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research asked a team of experts to examine the scientific literature regarding Mozart and child development， and they found no reason to believe that it increased intelligence．
1.People relate Mozart to children's intelligence development because he ．
A.owned extraordinary music talent.
B.could perform music as a child.
C.offered music to pregnant women.
D.was an royal Austrian composer.
2.What can we know about the small study in 1993？
A.It added to the popularity of Mozart's music．
B.It found no evidence for supporting Mozart effect．
C.It helped college students make academic progress．
D.It urged Georgia's governor to spread classical music．
3.What does the underlined word "negligible" probably mean？
A.Sudden．
B.Insignificant．
C.Average．
D.Steady．
4.What can be the best title for the text？
A.New Findings： Mozart Effect to Be Proved.
B.Secrets Uncovered： History of Mozart Effect.
C.Does Listening to Mozart Make Kids Smarter？
D.How Does Mozart Improve Kids' Intelligence？
Your brain isn't necessarily the same age as the rest of you． Now， it may be possible to predict how quickly a person's brain will age throughout life based on tests taken when he or she is three years old．
A person's biological age may be a better indicator of their health than their real age． Brain age can be measured using brain scans and machine﹣learning to determine if a person's brain looks older or younger than the average healthy brain for people of the same age．
To find out if brain age might reveal anything about a person's health in midlife， Max Elliott at Duke University in North Carolina and his colleagues assessed the brains of 869 adults in New Zealand who have undergone regular medical and cognitive （认知的） testing since they were 3 years old．
When the volunteers， all aged between 43 and 46， underwent MRI brain scans， the team found that their brain ages ranged from 23 to 71． Those with older brain ages performed worse on tests of cognition， memory and IQ． The researchers also found that some people have a very advanced brain age but their bodies seem to be ageing slowly， and vice versa （反之亦然）． However， the team found that those who had the highest scores on cognitive tests when they were 3 years old went on to have the youngest﹣looking brains．
This suggests we might be able to tell who is at risk of accelerated brain ageing early in life． Researchers hope that predicting brain ageing earlier in life could allow treatments for conditions like dementia （痴呆） to be started sooner． This means treatments might have a better chance of working．
We don't yet have a way to treat brain ageing， but given the known benefits to the brain of healthy eating and exercise， these aren't a bad place to start．
1.What helps predict the speed of one's brain ageing？
A.One's health condition．
B.A test result at the age of 3．
C.The actual age of one's brain．
D.A machine for medical check．
2.What is the purpose of Elliott's research？
A.To find out why people look older or younger．
B.To measure people's brain age at different stages．
C.To discover whether brain age can be measured by machines．
D.To explore the relationship between brain age and future health．
3.What is Paragraph 4 mainly about？
A.The influence of cognitive tests．
B.The procedure of Elliott's study．
C.The information about volunteers．
D.The findings of the brain research．
4.What do the findings of the research imply？
A.We should test our brain age earliest possible．
B.People suffering dementia can go on working．
C.Brain ageing could be predicted at an early age．
D.Healthy eating and exercise can cure brain ageing．
