Since we are social beings, the quality of our lives depends in large measure on our interpersonal relationships. One strength of the human conditions is our possibility to give and receive support from one another under stressful(有压力的) conditions. Social support makes up of the exchange of resources among people based on their interpersonal ties. Those of us with strong support systems appear better able to deal with major life changes and daily problems. People with strong social ties live longer and have better health than those without such ties. Studies over types of illnesses, from depression to heart disease, show that the presence of social support helps people defend themselves against illness, and the absence of such support makes poor health more likely.
Social support cushions stress in a number of ways. First, friends, relatives and co-workers may let us know that they value us. Our self-respect is strengthened when we feel accepted by others in spite of our faults and difficulties. Second, other people often provide us with informational support. They help us to define and understand our problems and find solutions to them. Third, we typically find social companionship supportive. Taking part in free-time activities with others helps us to meet our social needs while at the same time distracting(转移注意力) us from our worries and troubles. Finally, other people may give us instrumental support — money aid, material resources, and needed services — that reduces stress by helping us resolve and deal with our problems.Interpersonal relationships are important because they can _______.
| A．make people live more easily |
| B．smooth away daily problems |
| C．deal with life changes |
| D．cure types of illnesses |
The researches show that people's physical and mental health _______.
| A．lies in the social medical care systems which support them |
| B．has much to do with the amount of support they get from others |
| C．depends on their ability to deal with daily worries and troubles |
| D．is related to their courage for dealing with major life changes |
Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word “cushions” ?
| A．takes place of | B．makes up of |
| C．lessens the effect of | D．gets rid of |
Helping a sick neighbor with some repair work in spare time is an example of _______.
| A．instrumental support | B．informational support |
| C．social companionship | D．the strengthening of self-respect |
What is the subject discussed in the text?
| A．Interpersonal relationships. | B．Kinds of social support. |
| C．Ways to deal with stress. | D．Effects of stressful conditions. |
The $11 billion self-help industry is built on the idea that you should turn negative thoughts like “I never do anything right” into positive ones like “I can succeed.” But was positive thinking advocate Norman Vincent Peale right? Is there power in positive thinking?
Researchers in Canada just published a study in the journal Psychological Science that says trying to get people to think more positively can actually have the opposite effect: it can simply highlight how unhappy they are.
The study’s authors, Joanne Wood and John Lee of the University of Waterloo and Elaine Perunovic of the University of New Brunswick, begin by citing older research showing that when people get feedback which they believe is very positive, they actually feel worse, not better. If you tell your stupid friend that he has the potential of an Einstein, you’re just underlining his faults. In one 1990s experiment, a team including psychologist Joel Cooper of Princeton asked participants to write essays opposing funding for the disabled. When the essayists were later praised for their sympathy, they felt even worse about what they had written.
In this experiment, Wood, Lee and Perunovic measured 68 students’ self-esteem. The participants were then asked to write down their thoughts and feelings for four minutes. Every 15 seconds, one group of students heard a bell. When it rang, they were supposed to tell themselves, “I am lovable.”
Those with low self-esteem didn’t feel better after the forced self-affirmation. In fact, their moods turned significantly darker than those of members of the control group, who weren’t urged to think positive thoughts.
The paper provides support for newer forms of psychotherapy (心理治疗) that urge people to accept their negative thoughts and feelings rather than fight them. In the fighting, we not only often fail but can make things worse. Meditation techniques, in contrast, can teach people to put their shortcomings into a larger, more realistic perspective. Call it the power of negative thinking.What do we learn from the first paragraph about the self-help industry?
| A．It has produced positive results. |
| B．It is a highly profitable industry. |
| C．It is based on the concept of positive thinking. |
| D．It was established by Norman Vincent Peale. |
What does the word “underline” mean (Line 4, Para. 3)?
| A．point out | B．lay emphasis on | C．pay no attention to | D．take for granted |
Which of the following is TRUE about the Canadian researchers’ study?
| A．Encouraging positive thinking many do more good than harm. |
| B．Self-affirmation can bring a positive change to one’s mood. |
| C．There can be no simple therapy for psychological problems. |
| D．Forcing a person to think positive thoughts may lower their self-esteem. |
What do we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．Meditation may prove to be a good form of psychotherapy. |
| B．People can avoid making mistakes through meditation. |
| C．Different people tend to have different ways of thinking. |
| D．The effects of positive thinking vary from person to person. |
With the development of society and economy, animals and their habitats are getting pushed aside as households decrease in size and increase in number.
Small numbers of people per household on average use more energy and goods per person. Greater numbers of households require more natural resources for construction. The possible result of this problem may be insufficient natural resources to meet consumer demand without endangering habitats important to biodiversity.
Personal freedom and social choice may come at huge environmental cost. Direct costs include visible damage to animal habitats and plant life. Indirect costs include the release of more greenhouse gases.
The effects of such “personal freedom and social choice” have already surfaced in south-west China’s Wolong Nature Reserve. In Wolong, they found that a reduced average household size was directly tied to an increase in homes, and thus an increase in the amount of firewood consumed for cooking and heating. The rise in wood fuel use has contributed to disappearance of forests and to the loss of habitats for giant pandas.
Curious about whether other parts of the world were experiencing similar phenomena, they got the support of a team of researchers including Stanford’s Paul Ehrlich, well-known for his population studies, to find out the household dynamics in 141 countries between 1985 and 2000. Their study proved that the difficult choice of Wolong is part of a global trend.
In the 76 countries considered biodiversity “hotspots”, such as the United States, Brazil, Australia, and Kenya, the number of households grew by 3.1% every year, while the population increased just 1.8%. Meanwhile, the number of people per home dropped from 4.7 to 4.0. The decline in household size has resulted in 155 million additional households in hotspot countries, almost always limiting biodiversity.
In the 10 non-hotspot countries — those without high-density areas of animal and plant species — similar results were found, though on a lesser scale. Even in countries experiencing population decline, such as New Zealand, the number of households still increased because of a reduction in household size.What does the underlined word “insufficient” mean?
| A．Plenty of. | B．Not enough. | C．Abundant. | D．Little. |
It can be learned from the passage that China’s Wolong Nature Reserve_____
| A．is facing the same threat as many other parts of the world |
| B．sets a good example in protecting animals |
| C．is a place where giant pandas and their habitats are not affected |
| D．is a place where animals and their habitats are seriously damaged |
Which of the following is best supported by the last two paragraphs?
| A．Biodiversity is better kept in countries with smaller populations. |
| B．Biodiversity is better kept in hotspot countries. |
| C．The threat to nature from reduction in household size is a worldwide problem. |
| D．Both hotspot countries and non-hotspot countries face the threat of the same scale. |
What does the passage mainly talk about?
| A．Reduced household size leads to an increase in household number. |
| B．Modern homes consume more natural resources. |
| C．How to meet consumer demand without endangering animals and their habitats. |
| D．Reduction in household size as well as increase in household number threatens nature. |
Recently, online high schools in America have sparked (激发) a debate about whether or not taxpayers’ money should be used to support online education. Online schools receive the same amount of funding as all other public schools, even though they don’t have to pay for rent or school equipment. States should use their educational funds to improve education at real schools, not to support online programs.
Some students only use online classes to supplement their school work. They benefit from the social experience of a traditional high school, while still taking online courses.
However, about 90 thousand students in America receive their education only from online schools. 50 thousand of these students take courses at Florida Virtual School, the largest online school in the country. While this method of schooling helps students who live in remote regions, most school systems are upset that they are losing more students each year to these online programs.
Although online learning allows children to work at their own pace, these online schools have only one teacher per several hundred students. Often, teachers can’t give struggling students the help they need as they are unable to talk face-to-face with them, to find exactly what they’re having difficulty with.
Additionally, even though online schooling accommodates (顾及) students who live in more remote states, students in online programs may suffer in social situations because they will not learn valuable communication skills from their schooling. Similar to students who are home schooled, those who take only online classes won’t learn social etiquette (礼节), and will be treated differently by their peers.
Online schooling might be useful for places where there are not enough students for a real school, such as agricultural regions, but states should only spend taxpayers’ money on online schools in extreme cases.What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Whether students should study at online schools. |
| B．Whether online schools should be allowed to exist. |
| C．Whether taxpayers should pay for online schools. |
| D．Whether traditional schools should be replaced. |
According to the passage, online schooling _____.
| A．is helpful to students living in remote regions |
| B．allows students to work together |
| C．makes it possible for students to get immediate help |
| D．develops students’ critical thinking |
According to Paragraph 5, the author worries that students at online schools _____.
| A．might lose interest in learning |
| B．would play online games |
| C．could not receive teachers’ help |
| D．could not become fully developed |
What is the author’s attitude?
| A．Taxpayers should not pay for online schools at all. |
| B．Taxpayers should pay more for online schools than real schools. |
| C．Taxpayers’ money should be spent on online schools conditionally. |
| D．Taxpayers should support online schools in different ways. |
Ibrahim became disabled after contracting polio (小儿麻痹症) when he was three years old. At first his parents, like many other parents of disabled children in Niger, did not want to send him to school. They were worried he would be laughed at by his classmates.
Despite his disability, and his parents’ doubts, Ibrahim was determined to go to school. “When I was eight,” Ibrahim says, “other kids of my age were going to school while I stayed at home. I did not like that. So, I pestered (缠着) my parents until they finally let me go to school.”
Ibrahim’s parents sent him to a private school nearby. Although the journey to and from school was a short one, it still wasn’t easy for Ibrahim. He had to use his hands to help him move along, protecting them with plastic slippers. But at least he was getting an education.
However, after only a year in school, Ibrahim’s education was interrupted when his parents separated. His mother did not have the means to continue paying for his tuition.
In 2007, Ibrahim received some money to be fitted with a leg brace (支架), corrective shoes and his first pair of crutches (拐杖). Now that he was more mobile than before, the most important thing for him was to find a way to go back to school.
“I wanted to start school again last October,” Ibrahim says. “After my mother told me she could not afford it, I went to visit some of my relatives for support. And I collected 5,000 francs CFA (US $8) to pay my tuition for half a year. I will find the rest of the money somehow.”
Ibrahim attends a school in which he is the only disabled student. According to his teacher, he is among the top five students in a class of 55. Why did Ibrahim’s parents prefer Ibrahim to stay at home?
| A．There was a lot of housework for him to do. |
| B．They had no money to pay for his tuition. |
| C．There were not enough schools in the country. |
| D．They were afraid the students would make fun of him. |
How did Ibrahim go to school before his parents separated?
| A．He went to school on his wheelchair. |
| B．He went to school on his parents’ bicycle. |
| C．He walked to school with the support of his hands. |
| D．He walked to school using a pair of crutches. |
Ibrahim’s education was interrupted because of his _____.
| A．parents’ doubts | B．lack of tuition | C．physical disability | D．terrible mood |
The best title for the passage might be _____.
| A．A long way to go | B．Determined to learn |
| C．The only disabled student | D．I did not like that |
Jeans are very popular especially with teenagers. It’s said that the material came originally from Nimes, a city in France. These jeans were particularly created for the sailors, who loved wearing jeans very much. These jeans could be worn when wet and it could even be rolled over with ease. This was particularly useful when the sailors were busy with their everyday work.
Our favorite pair of blue, jeans was originally worn by workers particularly during World War II. Perhaps the strong and durable(耐用的) look made these blue jeans popular among all the factory workers. A strange thing that can be noticed happened in the early period of the 1950s when blue jeans worn by teens were considered to be a form of being against others. Besides, adults who wore blue jeans were not allowed to enter a movie theatre. It was only during the 1960s that blue jeans were accepted as a fashion trend in the United States of America. Movie stars wore them in films and in public. Many young people follow them.
The different looks of the regular blue jeans which are enjoyed by people were introduced by the mid 1950s. It was Donald Freeland who gave jeans a whole new look and brought it to the front. Originally, jeans were always worn loose. At first, jeans worn by men had the zipper(拉链)on the front. However, for women, it was on the side. By the late 1960's , the zipper finally was on the front side for women as well.
Today, there are many new designs that are being created by fashion designers to meet the increasing demands from jean lovers! A pair of basic blue jeans, however, is one such piece of clothing that will never go out of fashion! When you open one's cupboard, there is always one pair of jeans one likes best.The sailors originally were interested in wearing jeans because jeans .
| A．could give them a pleasant look | B．were convenient and easy to use |
| C．were cheaper than other trousers | D．could be washed and made easily |
According to the passage, blue jeans .
| A．were once a sign of being against their parents |
| B．were popular with people of different ages in the 1950s |
| C．began to be poplar with American people in the 1960s |
| D．have been worn by the factory workers after World War II |
The following all lead to the popularity of jeans EXCEPT .
A．American cul ture |
B．v arious designs |
| C．movie stars' influence | D．its cloth quality |
It is known from the passage that .
| A．Donald Freeland gave jeans a whole new design |
| B．the zipper was always on the front side of all jeans |
| C．The jeans were introduced into America in the 1950s |
| D．Donald Freeland was the first to make jeans popular in the world |
In the last paragraph, the writer is trying to .
| A．show his interest in blue jeans |
| B．tell us the popularity of jeans |
| C．praise the benefits of blue jeans |
| D．discuss the development of jeans |
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