Decision-making under Stress
A new review based on a research shows that acute stress affects the way the brain considers the advantages and disadvantages, causing it to focus on pleasure and ignore the possible negative (负面的) consequences of a decision.
The research suggests that stress may change the way people make choices in predictable ways.
“Stress affects how people learn,” says Professor Mara Mather. “People learn better about positive than negative outcomes under stress.”
For example, two recent studies looked at how people learned to connect images(影像) with either rewards or punishments. In one experiment, some of the participants were first stressed by having to give a speech and do difficult math problems in front of an audience; in the other, some were stressed by having to keep their hands in ice water. In both cases, the stressed participants remembered the rewarded material more accurately and the punished material less accurately than those who hadn’t gone through the stress.
This phenomenon is likely not surprising to anyone who has tried to resist eating cookies or smoking a cigarette while under stress –at those moments, only the pleasure associated with such activities comes to mind. But the findings further suggest that stress may bring about a double effect. Not only are rewarding experiences remembered better, but negative consequences are also easily recalled.
The research also found that stress appears to affect decision-making differently in men and women. While both men and women tend to focus on rewards and less on consequences under stress, their responses to risk turn out to be different.
Men who had been stressed by the cold-water task tended to take more risks in the experiment while women responded in the opposite way. In stressful situations in which risk-taking can pay off big, men may tend to do better, when caution weighs more, however, women will win.
This tendency to slow down and become more cautious when decisions are risky might also help explain why women are less likely to become addicted than men: they may more often avoid making the risky choices that eventually harden into addiction.
1.We can learn from the passage that people under pressure tend to ______.
A.keep rewards better in their memory
B.recall consequences more effortlessly
C.make risky decisions more frequently
D.learn a subject more effectively
2.According to the research, stress affects people most probably in their ______.
A.ways of making choices B.preference for pleasure
C.tolerance of punishments D.responses to suggestions
3.The research has proved that in a stressful situation, ______.
A.women find it easier to fall into certain habits
B.men have a greater tendency to slow down
C.women focus more on outcomes
D.men are more likely to take risks
假定你是李华，你的美国朋友Tony打算假期再次来你市参加中文培训班。他想提前了解近年来你市的变化。请你给他写封回信，包括下列内容：
1. 环境更优美了；
2. 出行更方便了：
3. 传统文化更受重视了。
注意：1.词数100左右；
2.可适当增加细节，以使行文流畅。
Dear Tony,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧）, 并在其下写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线, 并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处, 多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Recently, it was reported that a girl got her feet stick in a waste pipe because she kept looking at her mobile phone. It sounds a kind of ridiculous. However, when we look people around us, we can find that new technologies take up much of people time. They like talking on the Internet, which makes themselves ignore things in real life. No matter what they are done, waiting for the bus or having dinners with some friends, smart phones are always in their hands. It seems that the smart phone had controlled their life total. Life is beautiful if we can fully enjoy it, and we will miss many amazing moments.
阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。
The Silk Road is in fact a1.(relative) recent term. These ancient roads had no particular name 2. in the middle of the 1800s, Baron Ferdinand Von Richthofen named the trade and communication network the Silk Road. Since then the term has been accepted globally.
In the 3.(nineteen) century, a new type of travelers stepped onto the Silk Road: archaeologists and geographers, enthusiastic explorers who were eager 4.(look) for adventure. Researchers who came from many countries traveled through the Taklamakan Desert, which is now in Xinjiang, to explore ancient sites along the Silk Road, leading 5.many discoveries and 6. (study), and most of all,a renewed interest in the history of these routes.
Today, many historic buildings and monuments still stand, 7. (mark) the passage of the Silk Road through hotels, ports and cities. What's more, the long-standing legacy（遗产）of this8.(remark) network is reflected in a large number of cultures, languages, customs and religions that 9.(develop) for many years along these routes. The passage of merchants and travelers of many different nationalities resulted not only in commercial exchange, but in a widespread and continual process of cultural interaction. Obviously,it has become 10.driving force in the formation of diverse societies.
With his leg lame and his teeth uneven, the boy almost thought of himself as the most unfortunate child in the world. He ______ played with his classmates; and when asked to answer questions, he always _____ his head without a word.
One spring, his father brought home some saplings(树苗). Each of his children would plant a sapling and he______，“Whoever grows his sapling best shall get a favorite gift.”The boy ______ wanted to get his father's gift. ______seeing his brothers and sisters watering the trees, he ______ an idea: he hoped the tree he planted would die soon. So after watering it once or twice, he never ____to it.
A few days later, when the little boy went to see his tree again, he was _____to find it not only didn't die, but also grew some ______ leaves. Compared with those of his brothers and sisters, his appeared greener. His father ______ his word, bought the little boy one of his favourite gifts and said from the tree he planted, he would surely become an outstanding ______when he grew up.
From then on, the little boy slowly became ______ and confident. One night, he suddenly _____his biology teacher once said that plants generally grow at night. Why not go to see his tree? When he came to the ______, he found his father was working near his tree with a ladle(长柄勺) . All of a sudden, he _______ : his father had been ______watering his small tree ! He returned to his room, tears______in his eyes.
Decades passed. The little boy didn't become a botanist. _______, he was elected President of the United States. His name was Franklin Roosevelt.
___ is the best nourishment (滋养品 ) of life; Even though it is______ a bucket of water, it can make the tree of life grow well.
1.A.ever B.seldom C.regularly D.frequently
2.A.put up B.looked up C.lowered D.raised
3.A.recommended B.promised C.joked D.advocated
4.A.curiously B.unwillingly C.certainly D.fortunately
5.A.And B.If C.Before D.Yet
6.A.occurred to B.objected to C.hit upon D.approved of
7.A.appealed B.turned C.adapted D.attended
8.A.astonished B.amused C.glad D.embarrassed
9.A.strange B.fresh C.rare D.irregular
10.A.kept B.broke C.supported D.expected
11.A.teacher B.gardener C.president D.botanist
12.A.innocent B.creative C.optimistic D.risky
13.A.missed B.recalled C.admitted D.recognized
14.A.courtyard B.field C.ground D.workroom
15.A.remembered B.understood C.wondered D.admitted
16.A.smartly B.miserably C.secretly D.cautiously
17.A.welling B.falling C.dropping D.wiping
18.A.Therefore B.Besides C.Moreover D.Instead
19.A.Love B.Warmth C.Disability D.Father
20.A.right B.still C.rather D.just
It was a little before nine o'clock on Tuesday night. 1. “Do you need a second helping of pudding?"a waitress asked. Antonio, who had already finished a plate of pasta,a Fish Stew and a slice of cake, couldn't answer it right away. The question might be common for most diners, but for him, it was entirely novel because he was homeless and was having the meal for free. 2. .He had no preparation for it.
3.But at night, it transforms itself into a pioneering place where homeless people such as Antonio can dine free of charge, at tables set with flowers, metal cutlery（餐具）and proper glasses.
The restaurant is the latest initiative（初步行动）from the charity Mensajeros de la Paz.It was founded 54 years ago by Father Angel Garcia Rodriguez. Its business model – using breakfast and lunch takings from paying customers to fund free evening meals for the homeless - is simple enough. 4. “The inspiration came from Pope Francis, who's spoken again and again about the importance of giving people dignity, whether it's through bread or through work," said Father Angel. “ 5.People with nothing can come and eat in the restaurant and get the same treatment as everyone else. It's just common sense."
A.By day, the Robin Hood restaurant, which sits on a side street near the center of Madrid,is a typical Spanish bar.
B.So we thought, why not open a restaurant with tablecloths, proper cutlery and waiters?
C.They plan to extend the scheme and hopes it will attract famous chefs to come to cook.
D.It was the first time that he had been asked such a question.
E.The homeless are treated with respect at the restaurant.
F.Antonio found himself facing a welcome dilemma.
G.Its aim, however, is a little ambitious.
