One of my China Dialogue colleagues in Beijing recently bought a Philips energy-saving light bulb to replace a standard one．He was happy with his choice．It may have cost 30 yuan （just under US$4．50） - ten times the price of a filament （灯丝） bulb - but he wanted to save energy as part of his low-carbon lifestyle．And according to the shopkeeper, he would save, in the long run, much more than the 30 yuan he was spending．
Yet only one month later, his expensive light bulb blew up, before he had saved even a small part of the purchase price．Will he stick to his high-cost, low-carbon lifestyle?
China's environmental organizations have started to advocate low-carbon lifestyles and the decrease of carbon footprints to help fight against climate change．But they have overlooked one fact: in China, low-carbon living comes at a high cost．It means buying energy-saving bulbs and appliances, and environmentally friendly building materials and daily goods．Cost can no longer be the only standard for purchases．An energy-saving and environmentally friendly product is more expensive than a standard alternative - whether it's a simple light bulb or the house it shines．For average consumers, even buying an ordinary bulb is a huge burden．How can we persuade ordinary people to choose an energy-saving residence? This is not a trend they can afford to follow; perhaps this fashion is only for the rich．
Most consumers today do not cause huge carbon dioxide （CO2） emissions．Their responsibility lies not in choosing a low-carbon lifestyle today, but in avoiding a high-carbon life in the future．The principle of "common but differentiated responsibility" - a basis of sustainable development - can be applied here as well．
In China, low-carbon living still is resisted by a lack of social infrastructure（基础设施）. Even if your salary allows you to make that choice, nobody is there to help you accomplish it．
Consider energy-saving homes. You need to find out whether or not the developer has used natural materials wherever possible; how effective the insulation（绝缘物、隔热物） is; and what the green credentials of installed equipment are．You can read up a little, but you'll still be lucky to avoid being puzzled by the developers' marketing．Many so-called energy-saving buildings are nothing of the sort, and some are even more energy-hungry than the average home - as Li Taige warned in his article "Energy-efficient buildings? Not always", on China Dialogue last August．What may probably be the best title of this passage?
| A．To purchase a cheap bulb - your wise alternative． |
| B．To choose an energy-saving residence - a must of your life |
| C．To learn a low-carbon lifestyle - each citizen's responsibility |
| D．To learn a low-carbon lifestyle - a promising but difficult purpose |
Why does the writer say this fashion is only for the rich in the fourth paragraph?
| A．Because the cost is a very important standard for purchases. |
| B．Because buying an ordinary bulb is very expensive. |
| C．Because energy-saving products are more expensive than the common alternatives. |
| D．Because rich people like to follow this trend. |
What does the writer think of energy-saving homes?
| A．Most of them are environmentally friendly. |
| B．They are musts of low-carbon lifestyle of Chinese. |
| C．They are huge burdens for Chinese people. |
| D．Many of them are more in name than in reality. |
We can infer from the passage that ____．
| A．Using energy-saving bulbs and appliances is a fashion． |
| B．It's easy for most Chinese to try to learn a low-carbon lifestyle． |
| C．All citizens in China don’t have the same responsibility in living a low-carbon lifestyle． |
| D．Most Chinese families cannot afford to purchase an energy-saving residence. |
What is the writer's attitude towards the low-carbon lifestyle?
| A．informative and entertaining |
| B．supportive but cautious |
| C．negative but wis |
| D．positive and active |
It may help you to know that there is no such thing as a perfect speech．At some point in every speech, every speaker says something that is not understood exactly as he has planned．Fortunately, the moments are usually not obvious to the listeners. Why? Because the listeners do not know what the speaker plans to say. They hear only what the speaker does say. If you lose your place for a moment, wrongly change the order of a couple of sentences, or forget to pause at a certain point, no one will be any the wiser．When such moments occur, don’t worry about them, Just continue as if nothing happened．
Even if you do make an obvious mistake during a speech, that don’t really matter. If you have ever listened to Martin Luther King’s famous speech – “ I have a dream”, you may notice that he stumble（结巴）his words twice during the speech．Most likely, however, you don’t remember．Why? Because you were fixing your attention on is message rather than on his way of speech-making. People care a lot about making mistakes in a speech because they regard speech-making as a kind of performance rather than as an act of communication. They feel the listeners are like judges in an ice-skating competition．But, in fact, the listeners are not looking for a perfect performer. They are looking for a well-thought-out speech that express the speaker’s ideas clearly and directly．Sometimes a mistake or two can actually increase a speakers’ attractiveness by making him more human．
As you work on your speech, don’t worry about being imperfect．Once you free your mind of this, you will find it much easier to give your speech freely．
The underlined part in the first paragraph means that no one will ___________．
| A．be smarter than you | B．notice your mistakes |
| C．do better than you | D．know what you are talking about |
You don’t remember obvious mistakes in a speech because ___________．
| A．your attention is on the content |
| B．you don’t fully understand the speech |
| C．you don’t know what the speaker plans to say |
| D．you find the way of speech-making more important |
It can be inferred from the passage that ___________．
| A．giving a speech is like giving a performance |
| B．one to two mistakes in a speech may not be bad |
| C．the listeners should pay more attention to how a speech is made |
| D．the more mistakes a speaker makes, the more attractive he will be |
What would be the best title of the passage?
| A．How to Be a Perfect Speaker |
| B．How to Make a Perfect Speech |
| C．Don’t Expect a Perfect Speech |
| D．Don’t Expect Mistakes in a Speech |
It is a matter of common observation that although incomes keep going up over the years，people never seem to become much better off! Prices are rising continuously．The condition is termed(称作) one kind 0f inflation, the money supply is becoming inflated so that each unit of it becomes less valuable．People have got used in recent years to higher and higher rates of inflation．
What could be bought ten years ago for one dollar now costs well over two dollars. It seems that this rate of inflation is tending to rise rather than to fall．If in the real world our money incomes go up at the same rate as prices，one might think that inflation does not matter．But it does when money is losing value，it lacks one of the qualities of a good money---stability (稳定) of value．It is no longer acceptable as a store of value；and it becomes an unsuitable standard of deferred(延期) payments．Nobody wants to hold a wasting possession，so people try to get rid of money as quickly as possible. Inflation therefore stimulates people spending，and prevents people from saving.
What does inflation mean?
| A．People’s money becomes more valuable |
| B．The problem of employment will be solved． |
| C．It’s easier for people to find better paying jobs． |
| D．Money keeps losing its value． |
From the passage．we can know inflation __________.
| A．seldom happens | B．is very common at present |
| C．is a must | D．has become less in recent years |
According to the passage，if incomes and prices rise together ______
| A．the business will become better | B．money will hold its value |
| C．inflation won’t be a problem | D．inflation will remain to be a problem |
In a period of inflation，people are likely to ______ ．
| A．put much money on the stock market(股市) |
| B．stop spending money |
| C．hold on to money as a dependable possession |
| D．spend money as soon as possible |
Next time a customer comes to your office, offer him a cup of coffee. And when you’re doing your holiday shopping online, make sure you’re holding a large glass of iced tea. The physical sensation（感觉） of warmth encourages emotional warmth, while a cold drink in hand prevents you from making unwise decisions—those are the practical lesson being drawn from recent research by psychologist John A. Bargh.
Psychologists have known that one person’s perception（感知） of another’s “warmth” is a powerful determiner in social relationships. Judging someone to be either “warm” or “cold” is a primary consideration, even trumping evidence that a “cold” person may be more capable. Much of this is rooted in very early childhood experiences, Bargh argues, when babies’ conceptual sense of the world around them is shaped by physical sensations, particularly warmth and coldness. Classic studies by Harry Harlow, published in 1958, showed monkeys preferred to stay close to a cloth “mother” rather than one made of wire, even when the wire “mother” carried a food bottle. Harlow’s work and later studies have led psychologists to stress the need for warm physical contact from caregivers to help young children grow into healthy adults with normal social skills.
Feelings of “warmth” and “coldness” in social judgments appear to be universal. Although no worldwide study has been done, Bargh says that describing people as “warm” or “cold” is common to many cultures, and studies have found those perceptions influence judgment in dozens of countries.
To test the relationship between physical and psychological warmth, Bargh conducted an experiment which involved 41 college students. A research assistant who was unaware of the study’s hypotheses（假设）, handed the students either a hot cup of coffee, or a cold drink, to hold while the researcher filled out a short information form: The drink was then handed back. After that, the students were asked to rate the personality of “Person A” based on a particular description. Those who had briefly held the warm drink regarded Person A as warmer than those who had held the iced drink.
“We are grounded in our physical experiences even when we think abstractly,” says Bargh.
According to Paragraph 1, a person’s emotion may be affected by ______.
| A．the visitors to his office | B．the psychology lessons he has |
| C．his physical feeling of coldness | D．the things he has bought online |
The author mentions Harlow’s experiment to show that ______.
| A．adults should develop social skills | B．babies need warm physical contact |
| C．caregivers should be healthy adults | D．monkeys have social relationships |
In Bargh’s experiment, the students were asked to ______.
| A．evaluate someone’s personality | B．write down their hypotheses |
| C．fill out a personal information form | |
| D．hold coffee and cold drink alternatively |
We can infer from the passage that ______.
| A．abstract thinking does not come from physical experiences |
| B．feelings of warmth and coldness are studied worldwide |
| C．physical temperature affects how we see others |
| D．capable persons are often cold to others |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Drinking for Better Social Relationships |
| B．Experiments of Personality Evaluation |
| C．Developing Better Drinking Habits |
| D．Physical Sensations and Emotions |
Negative （消极的）self talk and negative energy can affect you m many ways and cause you additional stress. Because of this，developing more Positive self talk’s an important way to reduce stress in your life. You can help yourself maintain a positive frame of mind 一which will help with positive self talk一by surrounding yourself with positive energy in your life. You can get that by adding some elements to your life.
Listening to music that not only has a soothing melody，but an uplifting message，can be great for developing positive self talk. Have you ever had a song “stuck in your head” for a few hours or days，the lyrics repeating themselves in your mind?’’ If those lyrics were positive and inspirational，that would be a good thing. It’s a much better mental soundtrack to have than a running stream of complaints，criticisms of self-limiting thoughts，or even songs that had more depressing or sad lyrics.
Books on strength, personal power, enlightenment, or self help can be good resources to help you change your outlook and the things you say to yourself. Rather than bringing habitual self-defeating thoughts，you can find yourself thinking of new can-do concepts when times get tough.
One of the most important ways you can get and keep positive energy in your life is with the company you keep. Do your friends uplift you，or bring you down? Are they critical，or complementary? Ideal friendships provide support when you’re down, fun when you’re up，wisdom when you’re lost，and positive regard. Good friends can inspire you to reach greater heights，and see your strengths even when you don’t always. Pay attention to how your friends make you feel，and if they’re less than supportive，start putting your energy and time toward people who are better suited to be your friend.
In addition，positive affirmations （肯定） can certainly change your self talk from negative to positive. Now，why not begin working positive affirmations into your life in some creative ways?
What does the passage mainly talk about?
| A．Reducing stress by surrounding yourself with positive energy. |
| B．Adding some elements to your life. |
| C．Getting positive energy from the company you keep. |
| D．Changing your self talk with positive affirmation. |
How many ways does the author suggest to maintain a positive frame of mind?
| A．3. | B．4. | C．5. | D．6. |
If you have something “stuck in your head”。 you probably ________.
| A．keep singing the same song for a long time |
| B．keep thinking of this thing all the time |
| C．regard the lyrics of a song as positive |
| D．are developing positive self-talk |
According to the passage，your best company should be those who __________.
| A．uplift you or bring you down | B．provide fun when you’re down |
| C．encourage you to do things even better | D．are less than supportive |
What will probably be talked about in the following paragraph?
| A．How negative self talk influences a person. |
| B．How positive self talk reduces stress in one’s life. |
| C．Some great ways of making great friends. |
| D．Some creative ways of practicing affirmation. |
Many years ago，when I was fresh out of school and working in Denver，I was driving to my parents’ home in Missouri for Christmas. I stopped at a gas station(加油站) about 50 miles from Oklahoma City，where I was planning to stop and visit a friend. While I was standing in line at the cash register(收款台)，I said hello to an older couple who were also paying for gas.
I took off，but had gone only a few miles when black smoke poured from the back of my car. I stopped and wondered what I should do. A car pulled up behind me. It was the couple I had spoken to at the gas station. They said they would take me to my friend’s. We chatted on the way into the city，and when I got out of the car，the husband gave me his business card.
I wrote him and his wife a thankyou note for helping me. Soon afterward，I received a Christmas present from them. Their note that came with it said that helping me had made their holidays meaningful.
Years later，I drove to a meeting in a nearby town in the morning. In late afternoon I returned to my car and found that I’d left the lights on all day，and the battery(电池) was dead. Then I noticed that the Friendly Ford dealership—a shop selling cars—was right next door. I walked over and found two salesmen in the showroom.
“Just how friendly is Friendly Ford？” I asked and explained my trouble. They quickly drove a pickup truck to my car and started it. They would accept no payment，so when I got home，I wrote them a note to say thanks. I received a letter back from one of the salesmen. No one had ever taken the time to write him and say thank you，and it meant a lot，he said.
“Thank you” — two powerful words. They’re easy to say and mean so much.
The author planned to stop at Oklahoma City________.
| A．to visit a friend | B．to see his parents |
| C．to pay at the cash register | D．to have more gas for his car |
The words “took off” underlined in Paragraph 2 mean “________”．
| A．turned off | B．moved off | C．put up | D．set up |
What happened when the author found smoke coming out of his car?
| A．He had it pulled back to the gas station. |
| B．The couple sent him a business card. |
| C．The couple offered to help him. |
| D．He called his friend for help. |
The battery of the author’s car was dead because________.
| A．something went wrong with the lights |
| B．the meeting lasted a whole day |
| C．he forgot to turn off the lights |
| D．he drove too long a distance |
By telling his own experiences，the author tries to show ________.
| A．how to write a thankyou letter |
| B．how to deal with car problems |
| C．the kindheartedness of older people |
| D．the importance of expressing thanks |
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